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IRANIAN PRESIDENT: TWIN BILLS WILL NOT GO TO EXPEDIENCY COUNCIL
Iran's Guardians Council rejected a bill to amend the election law on 12 August, and the next day President Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami said he will not forward this piece of legislation to the Expediency Council, IRNA reported. The Expediency Council normally mediates when there are impasses between the parliament and the Guardians Council, but Khatami expressed the hope that the legislative bodies can resolve their disagreement before the upcoming parliamentary election, which is scheduled for February. Guardians Council spokesman Ebrahim Azizi explained on 12 August that the parliament did not address discrepancies that had resulted in rejection of the bill previously, and he added that in some cases the problems have gotten worse, IRNA reported. BS

LEGISLATION'S REJECTION LEADS TO CALL FOR REFERENDUM.

At least one parliamentarian, Jafar Golbaz, has reacted to the Guardians Council's rejection of the election law by calling for a national referendum, ILNA reported on 13 August. Golbaz said rejection of the bill comes as no surprise because the Guardians Council is "like a book that has been printed a million times and everyone is familiar with it." Nevertheless, he said, the parliament did its utmost to follow the normal legislative process. Golbaz said such an issue can be put to the public. Article 59 of the constitution permits direct recourse to a popular vote on extremely important matters, if such a request is approved by two-thirds of the legislature. Article 177 states that the constitution may be revised through a referendum. BS

source: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 7, No. 154, Part III, 14 August 2003

Comment: Will he get the 2/3 majority for this then it will be a possible way to a peaceful transformation.

Dahlan Seizes Millions Iran Sent to Jihad

August 15, 2003
Ha'aretz
Ze'ev Schiff

The Palestinian preventive security apparatus, under Mohammed Dahlan, recently seized USD 3 million sent from Iran for the Islamic Jihad organization in the territories.

The money, which arrived indirectly via Arab countries, was confiscated by the Palestinian Authority (PA), and then distributed to charity organizations.

In the seven weeks since agreeing on the cease-fire, the PA has taken steps to reduce incitement against Israel and to tighten its control over PA funds. However, the control is not complete and PA chairman Yasser Arafat and his security services have their own funds.

Israeli sources say the Palestinian leadership sees these acts as fighting terrorism. Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Security Minister Dahlan have not carried out any real action against the terror organizations. Even the "90-day plan" on security issues that Dahlan presented to the United States is hardly being implemented, except for organizational steps, the Israeli sources say.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=329764&sw=Iran

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