Iraq's Kurds support relations with Israel, Massoud Barzani

BAGHDAD -- The president of Iraq's Kurdistan province, Massoud Barzani, says he has no objection to establishing diplomatic relations with Israel. "Establishing relations between the Kurds and Israel is not a crime since many Arab countries have ties with the Jewish state," Barzani said in an interview with the Saudi daily al-Hayat.	Kurdistan Leader : Massoud Barzani
He said when the time comes and an Israeli Embassy is opened in Baghdad he will ask that an Israeli consulate be also established in Erbil, the capital of Iraq's Kurdistan. Barzani, who heads the powerful Kurdistan Democratic Party, said the disputed oil center of Kirkuk in northern Iraq is part of Kurdistan and should be returned to the province, as it was cut out from it by the former Baath regime. He described rampant terrorism in Iraq as "a dangerous illness, which should have been treated radically right from the beginning, while now we fear it has become chronic."

Israelis 'train Kurdish forces'

By Magdi Abdelhadi  Arab affairs analyst, BBC News Arabs have long accused Kurds of co-operating with Israelis The BBC has obtained evidence that Israelis have been giving military training to Kurds in northern Iraq. A report on the BBC TV programme Newsnight showed Israeli experts in northern Iraq, drilling Kurdish militias in shooting techniques. Kurdish officials have refused to comment on the report and Israel has denied it knows of any involvement. The revelation is set to cause enormous problems for the Kurds, not only in Iraq but also in the wider region. Israel is seen as an enemy of Arabs and Muslims, both inside Iraq and elsewhere in Arab and Muslim countries. 'Against Israeli law' Kurdish politicians will most likely come under pressure to explain what their semi-autonomous government has been up to. Israeli security experts who spoke to the BBC said they could not have worked inside Kurdistan without the knowledge of the Kurdish authorities. The news will most probably increase tension between the Kurds and Iraq's Arab population, both Sunnis and Shias, reinforcing fears that the Kurds are pursuing a secessionist agenda. This would be a serious blow to efforts for national reconciliation at a time when hundreds of Iraqis are killed every month in inter-communal violence. Iraq's neighbours, too, will be outraged. Iran and Syria, which have long accused the Kurds of allowing the Israelis to operate on Iraqi territory, will most likely demand an explanation from the government in Baghdad. The Israeli government says it is conducting an investigation into the BBC report because it is against Israeli law to export military know-how without prior permission. 'Conspiracy evidence' The BBC report will be like the smoking gun the Arab media has spent years looking for. Ever since the US-led invasion of Iraq began over three years ago, Arab journalists have been speaking of Israelis operating inside the autonomous region of Kurdistan. They said this was evidence that toppling Saddam Hussein was only the first chapter in a wider American-Israeli conspiracy to eliminate threats to their strategic interests and re-draw the map of the Middle East. Syria and Iran, which have common borders with Kurdish areas, are believed to be the primary target.