The Taba Convention: Prologue and 1st 17 pages (Book now widely available)

The Taba Convention is available on Kindle, Nook and other ebook sites $2.99 ONLY. Links on my website at www.stephenwayers.com

PROLOGUE

            Peace in the Middle East had always seemed impossible, a dream that could never approach reality. Another war was always just around the corner, inevitable. Deep-rooted hatred of the other side lay embedded within both the Arab and Israeli national souls. Politicians gave speeches about the need to negotiate, but no one broke the status quo. Talking of peace was always in fashion, and all politicians were doing their best to look as if it were possible all along.

            The President of the United States had finally run out of patience with both the Israelis and the Palestinians. He instructed the Secretary of State to announce unilaterally that agreement had been reached, and that a peace convention would be held in September.

            The Israelis woke up to headlines in both the  Yediot Ahronoth and Maariv newspapers that screamed up at them from the newsstands: "Peace convention to be held in Taba. U.S President forces hand of Prime Minister and Palestinians. Agreement to be signed at Taba."

            The Israeli left rejoiced. The right was enraged. The Palestinian leadership was taken by surprise. Most people were happy at the chance that peace was perhaps near. The world waited. Would it be possible? With so many against peace at any cost, could the President pull off the biggest foreign policy coup of generations?

            Was the Taba Convention about to make peace in the Middle East a reality?

 http://www.amazon.com/Taba-Convention-Jordan-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00558VK5G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AZC9TZ4UC9CFC&s=digital-text&qid=1308091111&sr=1-1

CHAPTER ONE

ALP GRUM, CANTON GRAUBUNDEN, SWITZERLAND.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 10TH.

             A crisp, high-altitude summer breeze took the heat out of the relentless sunshine. The crystal clear visibility and views were breathtaking. Two thousand meters up, Alp Grum was the highest point reached by the open tourist trains that left St. Moritz. The train climbed the mountains before making its laborious way down into Tirano in Italy. The view was picture-perfect, a Swiss postcard—even down to the cows with bells grazing in the lush green pastures on the mountainsides.

            The morning had been excruciatingly boring for Yuval Eisenstadt of the Mossad. He had followed the Palestinian activist since leaving Israel, catching the same flight two days earlier out of Ben Gurion International to Kloten Airport. Since arriving in Zurich, the Palestinian had done nothing to arouse suspicion.

The Mossad always dispatched two agents when tailing people abroad, but this mission seemed so routine that only Yuval had been assigned. It was a break with agency protocol. Yuval had tried to argue the decision with no success. He did not like being alone. He felt naked, exposed.

            Mohammed Iyad from Gaza had been the model tourist; he strolled the Limmat-Quai and window-shopped on the famous Zurich shopping street, the Bahnhofstrasse. It would be extremely difficult to lose Iyad in Zurich. Shunning modern suits, Iyad wore the traditional Thoub one-piece gown with a brown belt holding in his considerable girth. The Keffiyeh Arab headdress figured prominently on his large round head. He stood out like a sore thumb among the colorful summer crowds of tourists and the exquisitely suited Swiss bankers going about their business.

Yuval knew from the briefing in Jerusalem that his quarry Iyad was involved in furniture imports and supplies to shops and hotels in Israel. He had expected to follow Iyad on a tour of Swiss factories that made the wooden country-style furniture that he imported. He had been wrong. Apart from a brief stop at a large shop on Niederdorfstrasse where he had seen Iyad in earnest conversation with another Arab for about ten minutes, the two days had been spent endlessly walking the beautiful, clean streets of Zurich.