HHMI Newsgroup Archives
To:
arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From:
Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News:
Thursday, January 13, 2000
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Thursday, January 13, 2000 / Sh'vat 6, 5760
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BARAK ADMITS FULL WITHDRAWAL
2. ANOTHER FORCIBLE EVACUATION FROM MAON
3. ISRAELI REACTION TO PAPAL VISIT
4. SYRIA CALLS ON BARAK TO BE STRONG AGAINST OPPONENTS
1. BARAK ADMITS FULL WITHDRAWAL
The Prime Minister admits, for the first time, that he has agreed
to
withdraw from the entire Golan Heights. A rough copy of the
agreement with
Syria formulated by the Prime Minister's Office and published in
Ha'aretz
today indicates that Barak is willing to withdraw up to the
international
border, except for an Israeli presence on Mt. Hermon. The
Israeli version
also stipulates that only IDF soldiers will be withdrawn from the
Golan,
but not Israeli residents - as opposed to the Syrian demand that
no Israeli
presence remain in the Golan. Opposition leader Ariel
Sharon says that the
publication of Barak's desire to keep the Golan settlements in
place is
merely a "Machiavellian trick," since it is clear to
all that it will be
impossible to live under a Syrian regime. "Barak is
merely hoping in this
way to soften up the opposition to a Golan withdrawal,"
Sharon said today.
Even Meretz leader Yosi Sarid says that the idea of the Jews
remaining in
the Golan Heights is "a good one, but not practical."
Michal Reikin, a member of the Golan Residents Committee, when
asked if she
was happy with the news, said, "Look, if this was actually
an ultimative
demand by Barak - that we be allowed to remain in our homes -
then this
could be the beginning of an understanding by Barak that the
Golan
settlement enterprise must not be allowed to be destroyed.
But I have my
doubts that this is so. I think that this is merely his
attempt to show
that there was some bargaining going on there - but according to
our
reports, this is simply not true... This is of course a
beginning, and
cannot be ruled out altogether, but obviously we must carefully
examine
whether we will be able to grow and develop, or whether we have
simply been
decreed to a slower death."
The Prime Minister's office responded to the publication of the
memo by
stating that it is a preliminary American paper without legal
validity, and
that Israel has already made numerous comments to it.
2. ANOTHER FORCIBLE EVACUATION FROM MAON
The police and army, using an inordinate measure of force,
evacuated this
morning some 150 Dor Hemshekh [Next Generation] members from the
Maon farm.
Hundreds of other activists attempting to reach the farm
before dawn today
were prevented from doing so, when police tracked the buses hired
by Dor
Hemshekh. Maon was evacuated and razed two months ago in
the framework of
the "outposts compromise" between Prime Minister Barak
and the Yesha
Council. The farm was built by Dov Dribben and two friends;
Dribben was
murdered by a band of local Arabs over two years ago.
Arutz-7's Effie Meir reports that many of teenaged participants
walked up
to 15 kilometers to bypass the army's checkpoints. The
reason for today's
attempt to take over the farm was explained by activist Hevron
Shilo: "The
army until now was here to protect the site, as the agreement
stated. This
past Thursday, the army simply left, and Arabs took over and
destroyed
whatever was left. We promised - and we're not politicians,
so we keep our
promises - that if the army leaves, we'll be back. So we
came."
Correspondent Meir reported that one activist behaved in what was
clearly
an exaggeratedly violent manner: "He struck a policeman and
lightly injured
him. He acted in a way that was obviously different than
everyone else,
and the other activists feel that he may be another
agent-provocateur of
the GSS." Twelve of the would-be settlers were
arrested. Dor Hemshekh
leader Shimon Ricklin promised that they will return to Maon yet
again, "to
ensure that this site remains in Jewish hands."
3. ISRAELI REACTION TO PAPAL VISIT
Israel greeted the official announcement of Pope John Paul II's
visit to
Israel with mixed emotions. Amidst its satisfaction at the
Pope's
impending trip, the government also expressed disappointment -
according to
CNN's interpretation - that his only visits to important Jewish
sites would
be to the Western Wall and Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial.
The government
cryptically announced yesterday, "The government of Israel
is convinced
that the Pope, too, regrets that due to circumstances beyond
control, he
will be unable to dedicate more of his time to study in depth the
resurrection and renewal of the Jewish people in the land of
their
forefathers."
4. SYRIA CALLS ON BARAK TO BE STRONG AGAINST OPPONENTS
The Syrian newspaper Al-Ba'ath calls upon Ehud Barak not to give
in to the
demands of Israelis who object to the giveaway of the
Golan. "It is
dangerous for the Barak government to listen to racists and
murderers who
caused the fall of the Peres government when they dragged him to
carry out
the slaughter in Kfar Kana." The paper said that the
giant pro-Golan rally
this week in Tel Aviv was an act of blackmail by the Israeli
government
against the American administration.
*********************************************************************
To:
arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From:
Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News
Brief: Friday, January 14, 2000
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Friday, January 14, 2000 / Sh'vat 7, 5760
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. GOLAN PEOPLE DON'T LIKE NEW PLAN
2. ABU DIS OR HAR HEVRON, BUT NOT BINYAMIN
1. GOLAN PEOPLE DON'T LIKE NEW PLAN
Representatives of the Golan Residents Committee wish to meet
urgently
with Prime Minister Ehud Barak, in light of his proposal
that the 32
Jewish communities remain in the Golan under Syrian
sovereignty. The
GRC does not accept the proposal, explaining that "like the
entire
Zionist settlement enterprise in Israel, the Golan communities'
purpose is to establish Israel's borders and to manifest its
sovereignty." The organization sees the Barak gesture
as a direct
result of the massive outpouring of objections to uprooting the
Golan
towns. Residents of the community of N'vei Ativ - the
northernmost
Golan town - were quoted today as saying that they will protect
their
homes "at any cost."
The Syrians, for their part, did not totally reject this
proposal, and
undertook to look into the legal aspects of having Israeli
citizens in
Syrian territory. Nevertheless, the Syrians are not
expected, in the
end, to accept this condition.
It was reported yesterday that an IDF simulation game had
recently
found that the Golan Heights would be of limited less value in
the
event of war than previously thought. The exercise found
that if war
were to break out under the present circumstances, Israel would
lose
thousands of dead, and hundreds of missiles would fall upon
Israel's
territory. Analyst Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA, speaking on
Arutz-7 last
night, noted, however, that the simulation's conclusions do not
seem
to take into account what would happen in case of a Syrian attack
if
Israeli forces were *not* situated in the Golan. Lerner
also notes
that the rough drafts of the peace agreement with Syria do not
include
clauses specifying respect for human rights, the repeal of
hostile
legislation, and acting to remove pejorative references to Israel
from
conventions of which Syria is a member - clauses that do appear
in the
Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty.
2. ABU DIS OR HAR HEVRON, BUT NOT BINYAMIN
The coming withdrawal from areas of Judea and Samaria, scheduled
for
next Thursday, will be different than that drawn up by former
Prime
Minister Netanyahu. Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman
reports
that a basic change made by Ehud Barak is to decrease the extent
of
the withdrawal in the Ramallah-Binyamin area, and to increase it
either in the Southern Har Hevron area or by giving over Abu Dis,
just
east of Jerusalem.
Binyamin residents will benefit in that the Wallerstein Road, for
instance - which leads from Beit El to Dolev - will not pass
between
two totally-Palestinian areas. On the other hand, most of
the Har
Hevron area will come under total Palestinian control, leaving
Beit
Haggai and Otniel largely surrounded by PA areas. Har
Hevron can be
largely spared, however, if the security cabinet agrees this
Sunday to
withdraw from Abu Dis instead. This would enable the
terrorist cells
in the Har Hevron region to remain under Israeli military control
-
but would be the beginning, say Jerusalem area leaders, of the
division of Jerusalem.
**********************************************************************
To:
arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From:
Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News:
Sunday, January 16, 2000
Arutz Sheva News Service
<www.ArutzSheva.org>
Sunday, January 16, 2000 / Sh'vat 9, 5760
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. MORE P.A. DEMANDS
2. MORE ZO ARTZEINU ACTION
3. SYRIAN INTRANSIGENCE
1. MORE P.A. DEMANDS
The next Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria, scheduled for
this
coming Thursday, has been postponed until Prime Minister Barak
returns
from his next round of talks with the Syrians in the U.S.
The
Palestinians demand that eastern-Jerusalem suburb Abu Dis be
turned
over to full Palestinian control, while Israel is only willing to
grant the PA administrative control there. The Palestinians
also
claim that the previous withdrawal only gave them 4.7% of Yesha,
instead of the promised 5%; they say that Israel calculated the
total
area of Judea and Samaria without including eastern Jerusalem,
the
Latrun enclave, and part of the Dead Sea. Israel claims
that the base
figure of approximately 55,000 square kilometers for the entirety
of
Judea and Samaria was agreed upon between the sides years ago.
Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman says that Barak postponed
the
upcoming withdrawal - the last of several stages of the second
Oslo
withdrawal - because he wanted the third and final stage of the
Oslo
withdrawals to be linked to a declaration of final-status
principles
with the PA. The third stage of withdrawals is slated for
Feb. 11,
"but a declaration of principles is still very far
off," according to
Huberman. "Therefore, Barak's hope of linking the last
withdrawal and
the declaration of principles does not seem to be in the
cards. Barak
can't even be sure that there will be an agreement on such
principles,
in which case there might not be a third withdrawal."
Another factor that prompted the delay, Huberman explained, is
Barak's
expectation that Arafat would initiate an artificial map crisis,
as he
did prior to the most recent withdrawal. "Then Arafat
would meet
Clinton this week, " Huberman said, "and would complain
about the maps
and Abu Dis and the like. Barak just didn't want this headache
now.
Barak's move could very well backfire on him, though: the
postponement
could invite even more pressure from Clinton, who may argue that
Barak
'owes Arafat one' for delaying the withdrawal."
Regarding Barak's upcoming trip to Washington to meet again with
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk A-Shara, Interior Minister Natan
Sharansky (Yisrael B'Aliyah) asked Barak at today's weekly
Cabinet
meeting why he is so anxious to leave so quickly for yet another
round
of talks. Barak responded that Israel is under no pressure
in this
matter. Shas leader and minister Eli Yeshai said that the
talks with
Syria are being conducted incorrectly, and that it is
unacceptable for
the Prime Minister to travel abroad every week. Yeshai,
echoing a
point made by the Likud opposition party, added that A-Shara's
counterpart, Foreign Minister David Levy, should be heading the
Israeli delegation instead of Prime Minister Barak.
2. MORE ZO ARTZEINU ACTION
Moshe Feiglin, head of the Zo Artzeinu (This is Our Land)
organization, sees no reason to rest. After the group's
large rally
protesting the Moslem Waqf 's desecration of the Temple Mount, Zo
Artzeinu members will gather in Ariel's Eshel Hotel this evening
to
review plans for their next major effort: a parade of
vehicles from
Gamla in the Golan Heights, and from other areas of the country,
to
Jerusalem. Within the capital, marchers will continue in a
procession, carrying torches to the Kidron Valley, at which the
Waqf
dumped over 100 truckloads of the remains of archaeological
treasures
from under the Temple Mount. Feiglin told Arutz-7 today
that the
Gamla-Jerusalem procession is being carried out in coordination
with
the police: "At this point, we don't plan to operate beyond
the law.
We hope that what will do will have its impact, and we won't have
to
[take more extreme measures]."
Feiglin explained that the purpose of the nation-wide event
"is to
connect the struggle for the Golan and Yesha to the struggle for
our
heart, Jerusalem... The need to stress the Jerusalem issue is
related
not only to its centrality in Jewish life, but to the extent to
which
its abandonment is going unnoticed... With Jerusalem, there
are no
referenda, no Knesset votes, or any major events to raise public
awareness. They are simply stealing Jerusalem from right
under our
noses! Sure, we have heard lofty talk from politicians for
years now
- you know, 'Jerusalem will forever remain the undivided capital
of
Israel,' and the like. But we all understand that this
rhetoric is a
simple con-job," he said.
What are the movement's short and long-term goals? Feiglin:
"In the
short run, we want to show the government, Israel's
decision-makers,
that what is going on will not be quietly tolerated. The
Jewish
people will respond when they understand that Jerusalem is being
forfeited, and we have to be the ones to wake them up to what is
happening. We must first and foremost look to
ourselves to change
things! Someone who just sits at home, who does not go and
cry out
and protest against what is happening, cannot blame anyone later
- not
Rabin, not Barak, not Bibi - no one... For the long run, we
submit
that the answer is neither 'right' or 'left,' and we will
consolidate
ourselves as an alternative national faith movement."
3. SYRIAN INTRANSIGENCE
Syrian newspapers write today that no Israeli residents will be
allowed to remain in the Golan following its transfer to
Syria. The
state-controlled Tishrin writes that Syria demands not only the
withdrawal of Israeli military forces but also of the
residents. The
Syrian Times writes that Syria will reject Israel's Golan water
demands.
A survey of 1000 American citizens conducted by John McLaughlin
and
Associates and published in the Middle East Quarterly indicates
that
64% oppose the stationing of American troops on the Golan Heights
as
part of a peace agreement between Israel and Syria. Almost
the same
number oppose a multi-billion dollar package to Syria in exchange
for
peace with Israel.
***********************************************************************
To:
arutz-7@arutzsheva.org
From:
Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@arutzsheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News:
Monday, January 17, 2000
Arutz Sheva News Service
<www.ArutzSheva.org>
Monday, January 17, 2000 / Sh'vat 10, 5760
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. DRY-OUT TO CONTINUE
2. SYRIA: NO TALKS UNTIL ISRAEL AGREES TO WITHDRAW
3. GALILEE NEXT?
1. DRY-OUT TO CONTINUE
The Yesha Council accuses the government of essentially
"carrying out
a drying-out policy in every sense of the word" in Judea and
Samaria.
Council leaders met with Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh
last
night, in what they described as a "very difficult"
meeting. Sneh
told them that he will not approve any construction activity in
Yesha
other than for schools, health, landscaping, etc. He
expressed anger
at the Council's campaign against the government's plan to give
Abu
Dis to the Palestinian Authority. Sneh told Arutz-7 today
that even
those areas that the government intends to keep in Israeli
sovereignty
"do not have to be built up all the time. Our
intention is that until
the end of the talks - which we plan to conclude by the end of
the
current year - there will be no changes in the map."
Sneh said that small neighborhoods of "20 houses" would
not be a
problem to approve, and that by-pass roads are not being
frozen. Sneh
also claimed that there is no intention to give over Abu Dis to
the
Palestinians. Prime Minister Barak also said today, in
response to a
question on the topic, "We will carry out the next
withdrawal from
6.1% of Yesha within three weeks. I do not think that Abu Dis
will be
included in this withdrawal."
Yesha Council spokesman Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, speaking with Arutz-7
today, did not accept what Sneh said. "There are even
freezes in
places that are in the national consensus, such as Ma'aleh Adumim
-
the entire Yesha Council and others had to spend hours simply
getting
approval from the Deputy Defense Minister's office for two
buildings
in Ma'aleh Adumim to be switched on the zoning plan - and the
like...
We don't buy his sweet-talking answers - for instance, he said
that
there are by-pass roads being planned, and that he is fighting
for
them to be budgeted. If so, why didn't they simply appear
in the
just-passed national budget?" Mor-Yosef concluded,
"He was given to
understand that we will give him until the end of the week, and
if the
answers that we receive then are not sufficient, we will take
action
in the field."
2. SYRIA: NO TALKS UNTIL ISRAEL AGREES TO WITHDRAW
Following hours of uncertainty and Syrian threats not to show up
for
the next round of talks with Israel in Shepherdstown, Damascus
now
says officially that it will not renew the talks until Israel
agrees
to retreat all the way up to the June 4, 1967 borders.
Radio Damascus
said this afternoon that the mission of the Shepherdstown
"borders"
working-group was to draw the exact line of the June 4, '1967
border,
and not to discuss the extent of the withdrawal.
The Prime Minister's Office says that it has not received an
official
notice of cancellation of the talks, which were scheduled to
resume
this Wednesday. "If they want to push off the
talks," said Prime
Minister Barak today, "let them." The Syrians
have denounced Israel
for leaking an American memorandum on a rough draft of the peace
treaty - but have said nothing about their own, earlier leak of a
different version of the agreements to a London paper.
Barak told
reporters today that if the Syrians think they can pressure
Israel by
threatening to hold up the talks, they will not succeed.
The Golan
Residents Committee stated today, "In order to avert a
situation
wherein we are left with neither the Golan nor peace, the
government
must stop the talks with Assad, and leave the Golan under Israeli
control, as most of the public wants."
Representatives of the Committee met today with Chief Rabbi
Yisrael
Meir Lau and the Chief Rabbinate board. At one point, Peace
Now
activists burst into the meeting, eliciting a strong condemnation
from
the Rabbis. The Chief Rabbis said that the Golan is an
intrinsic part
of the Land of Israel regarding Halakhic [Jewish legal] matters,
but
that on issues of Israeli sovereignty, they must hear the
government's
opinion before expressing their own.
3. GALILEE NEXT?
Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane reports on possible Israeli concessions
and
ramifications of an agreement with Syria and Lebanon:
"One Israeli
concession that has been discussed has been a symbolic
demilitarization of none other than the Galilee. It's not
clear what
this means exactly, but it is reminiscent of the consent once
given by
Yitzchak Rabin for Syrian officers to be present on Mt. Meron in
the
Galilee, in exchange for an Israeli presence on Mt. Hermon in the
Golan. The spirit of such proposals seems to jibe with
something that
Gen. (res.) Amos Gilbo'a told Arutz-7 last week. He said,
'I was
present at a session of the Council for Peace and Security when a
senior IDF officer said that the Galilee is not a vital interest
for
the existence of the State of Israel. He said that in the
worst case,
if we give away the Golan, and a war breaks out, and the Syrians
capture the northern Galilee, it would not be so terrible.
It was
simply traumatic for me to hear a senior IDF officer speak this
way.'"
"In the western Galilee," continued Kahane, "other
measures are
planned in case of a pullback from southern Lebanon. The
army has
written a letter to the heads of communities on the northern
coast,
telling them that for the first few months after a withdrawal,
the
coastline from Nahariya up to Rosh HaNikra [about 12 kilometers]
will
be declared a closed military area [in case terrorists attempt to
attack Israel via the water]. This decision has already
been the
subject of strong objections from local residents, many of whom
depend
on water sports and tours for their sustenance. Sasi
Shemesh, head
of the Achziv resort, said that the law will have damaging
economic
results, and is not very enforceable - 'but I gave up a long time
ago
trying to find logic in the authorities' decisions...'"
*************************************************************************
To:
arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From:
Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News:
Tuesday, January 18, 2000
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Tuesday, January 18, 2000 / Sh'vat 11, 5760
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BARAK HOSTS ARAFAT
2. TALKS CONTINUE, DESPITE SYRIAN ANNOUNCEMENT
3. YESHA CITY THREATENS TO CANCEL PROTECTION
4. B'NAI BRITH CHANGES POSITION ON ARAFAT
1. BARAK HOSTS ARAFAT
Prime Minister Ehud Barak hosted Yasser Arafat in his home in
Kokhav
Ya'ir last night for a meeting that lasted several hours.
Barak
attempted to convince Arafat to agree to a delay of up to two
months
in the third Oslo withdrawal, which - according to Barak's plan -
was
to have been executed together with the signing of final-status
principles. An agreement on such principles, however, is
still
apparently far off. Arafat reportedly demands, in return, that
the
third withdrawal be significantly larger than the 1% of Yesha
that has
been mentioned by Israeli leaders until now. The final
stage of the
2nd Oslo withdrawal, scheduled for this week, will take place
within
three weeks, according to Barak.
2. TALKS CONTINUE, DESPITE SYRIAN ANNOUNCEMENT
The Syrians have called off the next round of talks with Israel,
which
was to have begun in Shepherdstown, West Virginia,
tomorrow. Assad
demands that Israel agree to withdraw to the June 4, 1967 border.
Barak refuses to give such a commitment- although it was learned
today
that IDF personnel completed within the past few days a study of
the
exact location of the pre-Six Day War border.
Journalist David
Bedein of the Israel Resource news agency notes that despite
press
reports of a "deadlock in the talks" and the like, the
Israeli-Syrian
working groups continue to meet in Shepherdstown. He said
that State
Department Spokesman James Rubin said specifically last week that
the
presence of Barak and A-Shara would not be necessary in order for
the
talks to continue.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar of Bar Ilan University's Arabic Language Department told
Arutz-7's Ron Meir today
www.a7.org/engclips/180100/kedar-assad.ram that though the
Syrians' feigned toughness is part of normal Middle East
negotiating
tactics, Assad refuses to allow the issues of borders and
normalization to be equated, and that for Assad, "receiving
the entire
Golan is everything."
The Syrian Times wrote today, "The American Administration
is called
upon not to stand by Israel... Syria asserted that she
refuses the
policy of deception, procrastination, and intransigence being
practiced by the Israeli side." Syria's Tishrin
newspaper wrote on
Sunday, "There are half a million Syrian immigrants who are
waiting to
return to Golan, regain their properties, and live normally under
the
Syrian flag... Israel has no choice but the complete
withdrawal from
Golan and southern Lebanon." The paper emphasized that
Syria will not
sign any peace agreement unless Israel's dispute with Lebanon is
resolved, which requires reaching "a fair solution for the
Palestinian
refugees [in Lebanon]."
3. YESHA CITY THREATENS TO CANCEL PROTECTION
The Yesha Council continues its struggle against the army's
decision
to reduce - by 40% - military protection for Yesha communities.
Council Chairman Benny Kashriel, who is also the Mayor of Ma'aleh
Adumim, threatens to call off public guard duty throughout his
city,
and will advise other municipal heads to do the same. In a
letter to
Prime Minister and Defense Minister Barak, Kashriel writes that
municipal authorities are responsible for education, health, and
the
like, and "need not serve as security networks in place of
the Israel
Defense Forces." Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman
reports that
O.C. Central Command Maj.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon has complained to
Barak
about the cuts that were forced on him. Of the 500 soldiers
who have served until now as guards in Yesha communities, 202 will be cut
by
February 9, and 52 of them have already been reassigned to other
positions. In the western Shomron, the cuts will reach 56%,
and the
residents themselves will have to take up the slack.
Arutz-7's Ron Meir asked Yesha Council spokesperson Yehudit Tayar
today whether Kashriel's threat to remove the security personnel
from
within Yesha cities was "not cutting off his nose to spite
his face."
Tayar explained that it would be pointless to worry about the
safety
of children, for instance, only while they are in school -
"but what
happens to the children when they are at home, or on the way to
school?" She said that they must be protected there as
well. "I
think it is rather a question of the Prime Minister understanding
that
he can't play this trick... he can't have selected pockets
[throughout the country] where he says that the onus is on the
local
council, the city, or the Yesha Council... The protection
of the
citizens of Israel falls under the jurisdiction of the Israeli
army or
the police. It is unthinkable that the Prime Minister would
simply
say 'I'm washing my hands of it - it's your problem
now.'" The entire interview can be heard at
www.a7.org/engclips/180100/tayar-guard.ram.
4. B'NAI BRITH CHANGES POSITION ON ARAFAT
Journalist David Bedein of the Israel Resource news agency also
reports that several American Jewish organizations have combined
forces to lobby for U.S. aid to Syria as part of an Israel-Syria
peace
deal. One of those groups, the B'nai Brith Anti-Defamation
League,
sent ten representatives to the Middle East this week, who met
with
leaders not only of Israel, but also of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and
Damascus. "The ADL leaders met with Yasser Arafat on
Sunday night,"
Bedein told Arutz-7 yesterday. "I personally feel that
meeting with
Arafat and confronting him with his wayward ways has a certain
value,
but the ADL members did not ask him even one difficult
question. They
did, however, present him with a painting as a gift."
Bedein added that his conversation with one ADL mission member
revealed that the latter had "simply no idea of Arafat's
'indiscretions'" - such as the continuing anti-Israel
incitement in
the PA school curriculum or Arafat's insistence on providing PA
refuge
to murderers of Jews. The same ADL, several years ago,
wrote a letter
to New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani expressing support for the
Mayor's
decision to deny Yasser Arafat the "unqualified hospitality
of the
City of New York... We believe that support for the peace
process
does not require embracing Arafat."
**************************************************************************
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