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To:            arutz-7@arutzsheva.org
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@a7.org>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Thursday, February 3, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Thursday, February 3, 2000 / Sh'vat 27, 5760
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. WITHDRAWAL MAP TOTALLY ISOLATES JEWISH COMMUNITY
  2. ARAFAT MIFFED AT BARAK
  3. YESHA DANGERS
  4. POLL: BARAK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSOCIATIONS
  5. ISRAELI "ASSOCIATIONS" ON WALL ST.
  6. U.S. GENERAL: PEACE DEPENDS ON ISRAELI GOLAN


1. WITHDRAWAL MAP TOTALLY ISOLATES JEWISH COMMUNITY
As it stands now, the next withdrawal will - for the first time in the history of the State of Israel - leave an Israeli town totally surrounded by non-Israeli controlled territory. Yesha Council leaders are making a last-ditch effort to have the plans changed, such that the 14-family community of Negohot, north-west of Otniel in the southern Har Hevron region, will not be abandoned and isolated. 

Negohot is only four kilometers west of Moshav Shekef, which is within the Green Line (in pre-1967 Israel).  A road between the two is planned, but will not be completed for a few months.  The road, in any event, will not solve the mortal problems that will face the community if the withdrawal is executed as planned.  Huberman explained that Negohot is "socially, politically, religiously, educationally, and work-wise connected with the towns of southern Har Hevron, and not with Shekef," and Yigal Livner of Negohot told Arutz-7 today:

 "We all work either in Har Hevron or in Jerusalem [which is accessible only via Har Hevron], our children go to school there, etc., and to disconnect us from these areas will be our death blow. Even in Netzarim, in Gush Katif, at least the road that leads to it is under Israeli control...  We are told that there have not been any terrorist attacks in Area A [under total Palestinian control]; of course that's true, since Israelis don't travel in Area A!  The exception is Jericho, where the PA has a clear interest [a casino] in preserving the peace.  How long are we going to be able to travel on a Palestinian-controlled road?  All they have to do is to instruct one of their policemen to harass one of us along the road - not even to shoot at us, just merely to detain us for a few hours - and that will be the end of Negohot." 

Livner said that he and his townsmen are still hoping that the withdrawal plans will be changed.  Arutz-7 correspondents Haggai Huberman and Kobi Sela report that five other communities will be nearly-completely isolated under the current withdrawal map:  Ganim and Kadim near Jenin, and Karmei Tzur, Beit Haggai, and Otniel south of Hevron. 

2. ARAFAT MIFFED AT BARAK
The meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat at Erez Checkpoint in Gush Katif this afternoon ended without agreement, and the two did not even hold the joint press conference that they had planned for afterwards.  Arafat was reportedly upset that he was not shown a map of the planned withdrawal, and Foreign Minister David Levy confirmed as much for reporters waiting outside.  Levy also listed among Arafat's gripes the fact that no Jerusalem areas were included in the withdrawal.  American mediator Dennis Ross, who is presently in the region, said this morning that he would not present American compromise proposals until the gaps between the sides had narrowed. 

At a Yesha Council-organized protest near the Erez Junction today, a giant balloon was released with the words, "Uprooting Communities Tears Apart the Nation." 

3. YESHA DANGERS
Police and volunteers are searching for 42-year-old Meir Pollack, a flower-grower from Kfar Liman near Nahariyah.  He was last seen two days ago by an Israeli driver who said that he had dropped him off at the Bnei Dror junction, near the Green Line.  Pollack had just returned from the Arab village of Kfar Ya'abed, where he had gone for business reasons. 

The IDF decision to significantly reduce its protection over communities in Judea and Samaria still stands.  As of next Wednesday, Feb. 9, five Jordan Valley towns - including Kibbutz Gilgal, Mecholah (only 300 meters from the Jordanian border), and Tomer - will be left without protection.  There have been several instances of penetrations through this border of late.  In protest, the townships of the Shomron Regional Council, a western neighbor of the Jordan Valley, will leave their gates totally open on Wednesday, and will inform the authorities that the army is responsible for whatever may happen there that day.

4. POLL: BARAK IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ASSOCIATIONS
The associations scandal:  A vast majority of Israelis - some 74% - feel that Ehud Barak is responsible for the operation of the illegal associations that promoted his election as Prime Minister.  Such are the results of a new poll conducted by Globes-Smith.  In addition, some 62% believe that the Prime Minister's image of trustworthiness has been damaged.  Nevertheless, 71% of those questioned also believe that Barak will succeed in extricating himself from the current predicament.  Likud MK Michael Eitan was asked today about the last statistic:  "What are you in the Likud doing to ensure that the scandal does not fall from the headlines?"  Eitan responded, "We are meeting right now in Likud party headquarters on this issue, and we will in fact not let this matter rest.  It is clear that the public does not totally understand the extent of this issue, because only certain parts of the Comptroller's Report have been widely publicized, and the entire matter is fairly complex.  We will try to rectify this, and little by little people will begin to understand more about what happened, and the extent of the corruption that went on..."  Eitan said that both he and the State Comptroller have additional information on the illegal methods utilized by Labor.

5. ISRAELI "ASSOCIATIONS" ON WALL ST.
A Wall Street Journal editorial yesterday, entitled "Clintonism in Israel," laced into U.S. President Clinton's influence on the methods used by Barak's Prime Ministerial campaign - methods which have now gotten some Labor party officials, and possibly Barak himself, into hot water.  The editorial mentions that the associations scandal "looks a lot like the 'soft' money campaign that helped Mr. Clinton regain the White House in 1996," and notes that Tal Zilberstein - who is named in the State Comptroller's report as a main player in the scandal - runs the Tel Aviv office of Clinton's advisors Greenberg, [James] Carville, and Shrum.  "It doesn't seem entirely coincidental that some of the rich foreign donors bankrolling Mr. Barak in this fashion were also prominent supporters of the Clinton Administration." The paper attacks the "ends-justifies-the-means" approach of some Labor party officials, and concludes, "Mr. Clinton clearly hopes that his legacy will include peace deals between Israel, Syria and the Palestinian Authority.  But it appears that the ghosts of his campaigns past may have helped undermine the credibility Mr. Barak will need to accomplish such goals."

6. U.S. GENERAL: PEACE DEPENDS ON ISRAELI GOLAN 
The Golan continues to welcome guests, in its campaign to strengthen a consensus around its importance to the State of Israel.  Following a visit yesterday by former Chief Rabbi Avraham Shapira and other rabbis, the four Shas party government ministers - Yeshai, Suissa, Benizri, and Cohen - toured the area today.  Benizri told Arutz-7 today that the official Shas position on the Golan is far from uniform. 

Other visitors yesterday included a group of Four-Star generals from the United States, who are visiting Israel this week as part of an initiative by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA).  "Peace between Israel and Syria is greatly dependent on Israel maintaining control of the Golan Heights," one of them - General (ret.) John Foss - told Arutz-7's Ron Meir today.  Foss said that he has had an interest in the Golan Heights since 1984, when he first visited there with now-Centrist party leader Yitzchak Mordechai, who then served as an IDF General in charge of the army's infantry and paratroopers. "We went to a training exercise up there, but we also had an opportunity to look and see what an important piece of ground that is," Foss said. "There are tremendous advantages to Israeli keeping the Golan height militarily, it is obviously the high-ground and provides access for the intelligence information..."  

The main focus of the group's visit is the prospect of an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.  Foss was asked about Ehud Barak's statement during the Shepherdstown talks that the ballistic capabilities of Middle Eastern states have rendered much of the Golan Heights' security value obsolete.  Foss disagrees: "As an infantry officer, I will tell you that it is very much the soldiers on the ground that will stop an invading force and protect the people, because we've had missile for years and years. They were used in World War II - and they don't change the overall equation of the importance of a piece of ground like that."  Correspondent Meir proposed a scenario in which Syria initiates a missile attack on central Israel: "In such a case, wouldn't the main threat be the heart of the country as opposed to its northern border?"  Foss answered, "A tremendous number of missiles would have to be used [by Syria to overcome Israel in that manner].  And if you look at recent operations such as Kosovo - even the NATO forces were unable to unleash that many missiles in a short period of time.  It took 77 days of air operations to cause Milosevich to withdraw his forces out of Kosovo."

Gen. Foss has also been an outspoken opponent on the stationing of U.S. troops on the Golan in the  framework of an Israel-Syria peace deal.  He was one of the 11 high-ranking signatories of an October 1994 study entitled, "U.S. Forces on the Golan Heights: An Assessment of the Benefits and Costs."  In that study, Gen. Foss noted that U.S. forces on the Golan would differ appreciably from the American experience fielding a peacekeeping Multilateral Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai: "The MFO is a small international command, remote from the Egyptian-Israeli border, manning small monitoring outposts distant from any civilian population centers and lightly armed.  By contrast, a U.S. Golan deployment would be located in a confined geographic area, directly in the path of any military action between Israel and Syria, between two heavily armed military forces and close to population centers dominated by fanatical terrorist groups, committed to harming American citizens and interests," Foss explained.

The full interview with Gen. Foss can be heard on Arutz-7's website at www.a7.org/engclips/030200/foss-golan.ram.


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TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem

Weekly News Update and Prayer Focus from Israel
Week Ending: January 28, 2000

1) US CHRISTIANS TO FUND ETHIOPIAN AID PROGRAM
2) ARAFAT: THIS IS THE YEAR FOR OUR STATEHOOD
3) "SYRIA WILL NOT PREVENT OUR WAR AGAINST ISRAEL"
4) OFFICIAL PA MAP OF ISRAEL
5) SYRIA SHARPLY CRITICIZES ISRAEL OVER WRITTEN GUARANTEE


1) US CHRISTIANS TO FUND ETHIOPIAN AID PROGRAM

A major project to aid Ethiopian immigrants, which will include job training, educational programs, and assist families in crisis, was approved by the Absorption Ministry earlier this week. It will combine the efforts of various ministries, the Joint Distribution Committee, and the Jewish Agency.

The Chicago-based International Fellowship for Christians and Jews, an organization working to foster better relations between Jews and Christians and raise money for Israel from Evangelical Christians, donated $10 million over two to three years for the project, which was developed jointly by the group and the Absorption Ministry. The ministry has promised $3 million for initiatives in the coming year. The fellowship has donated millions of dollars over the years for Ethiopian absorption.

Half of the money for the program, which will begin in March, will be used for 11 separate projects dealing with employment training, counseling, and placement services for Ethiopians. A special job-training program for army veterans, a three-year nursing program, and a program to train bus drivers are among the projects. Thirty percent of the funds will go to programs for families in economic, health, or social crisis, and the remaining 20% is slated for 12 educational programs.

"The Jewish world should know that Christians are concerned about Jews and about Israel," said Micha Feldman, a former Israeli consul in Ethiopia who was instrumental in initiating the program. Most of the 150,000 donors are Christian. Feldman said that Absorption Minister Yael (Yuli) Tamir is working on raising additional funds from the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs. (by Tamar Hausman, Jerusalem Post, January 28, 2000)

2) ARAFAT: THIS IS THE YEAR FOR OUR STATEHOOD

"This year is the year" for declaring an independent Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said on January 24. "It is a fundamental thing that this year is the year of the state." Arafat told reporters, on his return to Gaza from talks with US President Bill Clinton in Washington and European Union officials in Brussels. He was commenting on plans to convene the Palestinian Central Council in Gaza on February 2.

PA Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nabil Amr said the declaration of statehood and a date for statehood would top the agenda. Arafat did not specify a date, but he noted that Israel and the Palestinians had set September 13 as the target date to complete talks on a permanent agreement.

PA Minister for Planning Nabil Shaath said Clinton promised the Palestinians that a final peace agreement would be reached before the end of the year. Arafat has said previously that Palestinians reserve the right to declare an independent state in September.

One PA official said he does not expect any dramatic declaration, or a new date for such a declaration at this stage. PA officials concede that it is unlikely the US will back a unilateral declaration of statehood. Europe has said that it will recognize a state after September, but the officials said the EU will probably make its decision dependent on the state of the negotiations, and would coordinate with the US.

Amr said the central council will also discuss the constitution, and will ask for a report from the PLO committee and the Arab League committee working on a draft. (By Lamia Lanoud and Reuters. Jerusalem Post, January 25, 2000)

3) "SYRIA WILL NOT PREVENT OUR WAR AGAINST ISRAEL"
In an interview with the Reuters News Agency, the leader of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization announced that talks between Israel and Syria would not prevent continued attacks against Israel by the terror organization. Abdallah Ramda'an Salah told Reuters, Syria which began peace negotiations with Israel does not plan to take actions against us as a result of a peace deal with Israel." "We realize that war is a strategic option for the Palestinian people and we will continue to wage war against Israel in any way possible until we achieve all our rights and the our lands which are being occupied." (IsraelWire, January 24, 2000)

4) OFFICIAL PA MAP OF ISRAEL
The official Palestinian Authority (PA) maps of Israel depict all of Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem as under Palestinian rule. The State of Israel does not appear on the map and the area of the map west of Judea and Samaria is a blank white area. Jerusalem neighborhoods are listed as "colonies." The map, prepared by the PA's International Planning & Development Office, under the direction of Dr. Nabil Shaath, is multi-colored and drawn to a scale of 1:130000. The map's title reads "West Bank Governorates Palestine." The map details Judea and Samaria following the first stage of implementation of the Oslo agreement in September 1999. (HaTzofe newspaper, January 25, 2000)

5) SYRIA SHARPLY CRITICIZES ISRAEL OVER WRITTEN GUARANTEE
The Syrian media lashed out at Israeli leaders for falling short of issuing a written guarantee concerning a total withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Syria has called upon Israel to issue a guarantee in writing to the United States in order for the talks to resume between the two countries. The Syrian state-run press stated on January 24 that Israel has committed to such a withdrawal, which was the premise for Damascus agreeing to the Shepherdstown negotiations. Round three of the peace negotiations between Damascus and Jerusalem, which was to have resumed on Jan. 19, was postponed due to a unilateral Syrian decision not to attend. (IsraelWire, January 25, 2000)


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WHO ARE WE?
For those who are new to the list, Bridges for Peace is a Christian charitable organization, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. Since 1977, we have been working to build Christian-Jewish understanding and support for the people and land of Israel. We do this through twelve different aid projects to help the people of Israel, while disseminating information about Israel and teaching Christians about the Hebraic roots of Christianity. We have national offices in Israel, the U.S., Canada, the U.K., S. Africa, Japan, Brazil, Puerto Rico and Australia.

We also invite you to look at our WEB SITE at: http://www.bridgesforpeace.com

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