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To:            arutz-7@arutzsheva.org
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@a7.org>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Thursday, Feb. 10, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Thursday, February 10, 2000 / Adar Aleph 4, 5760
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. BACK TO NORMAL?
  2. THE MEDIA'S ANGLE
  3. SPEAKING UP FOR JERUSALEM
  4. FROM THE OFFICIAL HIZBULLAH WEBSITE:

1. BACK TO NORMAL?
Life in southern Lebanon and northern Israel has returned to routine. Israelis in the north have been allowed to leave their shelters, as Hizbullah announced that it will not shoot katyushas into Israel for now. Israeli jets attacked terrorist strongholds in the Zalya region this morning, and Hizbullah and Israeli forces exchanged fire in the afternoon. Israel also bombed targets north of the security zone.

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh and Danny Yatom, head of the Prime Ministerial Security Staff, announced this morning that if Hizbullah shoots at Israeli soldiers from within civilian areas, Israel will return the fire.  On the other hand, Israel announced today that the Grapes of Wrath Monitoring Committee - composed of Israeli, Syrian, Lebanese, US and French representatives - will convene tomorrow in Nakura, in southern Lebanon, following Israel's agreement to participate.  The Likud said today that the Barak government missed a chance to change the Lebanese situation "from the foundations."  The opposition party added that the government's consent to participate in the talks tomorrow is a great mistake that returns Israeli soldiers to being hostages of Syria and Hizbullah.

The ArabicNews.com news service reports today that the Syrian Minister of Electricity inspected the damage that resulted from Israel's strike on the Jamhour power station in Beirut.  He promised that what was destroyed would "be rebuilt by the one people in Syria and Lebanon."

The Lebanon Daily Star claims that Hizbullah has gained "the moral high ground" after this week's events.  "Foreign diplomats in Beirut suggested... that Hizbullah has gained an enhanced reputation... by refraining from launching katyusha rockets across the border," the paper writes.  The Star quotes an unnamed European diplomat to the effect that Israel has violated the Grapes of Wrath understandings while Hizbullah has adhered to them, and another diplomat said that his colleagues agree that Hizbullah acted wisely in the way it "limited" its operations.

2. THE MEDIA'S ANGLE
The Israeli press has one and only one goal these days: to get the IDF out of southern Lebanon.  So says Meir Uziel, the founding editor of Makor Rishon, in yesterday's Ma'ariv.  Interviews conducted by Voice of Israel's military correspondent Carmela Menashe, as well as on the television news, consistently feature soldiers who favor an IDF withdrawal.  Uziel also noted the graphic video clips aired on Monday night after a Hizbullah attack on an IDF outpost that killed one and seriously injured four other IDF soldiers.  "These images are aimed at weakening the public will, in an effort to convince the viewers of the need for capitulating to Hizbullah," Uziel told Arutz-7.  "There are many, many IDF soldiers and officers that would like to see us hit even deeper into Lebanon, and smite the terrorists more forcefully, in short - to win this war. But you don't hear their voices [on radio or television].  Anyone who would air these views would be accused of brainwashing by those in charge of  the demoralization campaign."

Chief Military Censor Brig.-Gen. Yitzchak Shani said today that the broadcasting of the interviews with the soldiers was not submitted for approval before being aired - in violation of the relevant regulations.

Uziel was critical of the comparison increasingly being made in the press between Israel's presence in southern Lebanon and America's role in the Vietnam war.  "This is a ridiculous equation, and it testifies to a certain short-sightedness on the part of those who make it," he said.  In addition to the fact that Israel shares a border with Lebanon while Vietnam was thousands of miles away from the U.S., Uziel noted that the end of the American involvement in Vietnam did not bring peace to that region, but rather to "greater losses and to the strengthening of the North Vietnamese forces."

Some of the opinions expressed by IDF soldiers regarding their continued presence in southern Lebanon have been picked up by Arab news services.  An article in today's Jordan Times, entitled "Israeli soldiers appeal for end to Lebanon bloodshed," states as follows: "Israeli soldiers on active service in Lebanon issued a personal appeal on Wednesday for an immediate withdrawal from the battlefields across the border after the death toll in their ranks over the past two weeks rose to six...  'I don't want to be the last soldier killed in Lebanon,' a member of a parachute unit told public radio as he headed towards his position in the occupied buffer zone in south Lebanon...  'What's the good of staying in Lebanon and putting our lives in danger when the army has its hands tied for political reasons and cannot act as it should," [another soldier] said."

Former IDF Chief of Staff Shachak related to this issue as well during his talk with Arutz-7 today.  When asked how is it that our soldiers don't believe that they can defeat Hizbullah in battle, Shachak answered, "I don't agree with what they said, but I'm glad that soldiers can say what they feel, even if what they say happens to please Hizbullah."

3. SPEAKING UP FOR JERUSALEM
The United Forum for the Integrity of Jerusalem convened last night for its first public meeting.  Formed to fight the government's intention to transfer outlying Jerusalem neighborhoods to the
Palestinian Authority, the group is headed by Agudat Yisrael head Rabbi Menachem Porush and Yesha Council chairman Benny Kashriel.  MKs Ariel Sharon (Likud), Yigal Bibi (NRP), Benny Elon (National Union), and Yuli Edelstein (Yisrael B'Aliyah) also participated in last night's session. Bibi declared that the NRP would not remain in the government "even one day" if part of Abu Dis is handed over to the Arabs.

4. FROM THE OFFICIAL HIZBULLAH WEBSITE:
Hizbullah is fighting Israelis in southern Lebanon, but its goal is Jerusalem.  So it states on its official website:

 "The Zionist invasion of Lebanon [in 1982] led to the occupation of the capital Beirut, making it the second Arab capital to be occupied during the Arab-"Israeli" conflict, with Jerusalem being the first. This crossroad speeded up the presence of Hizbullah as a struggle movement that is totally affiliated in the long complicated and complex fight against the Zionist enemy. The starting point of that struggle being the Zionist occupation of Palestine, and then to many of the Arab lands in Egypt, Syria and Jordan leading up to Lebanon.  All that led to the establishment of the identity of Hizbullah as a struggle movement against the Zionists...  Hizbullah's ideological ideals sees no legitimacy for the existence of "Israel"...  we also find the slogan of the liberation of Jerusalem rooted deeply in the ideals of Hizbullah."

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To:            arutz-7@arutzsheva.org
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@a7.org>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News Brief:  Friday, February 11, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Friday, February 11, 2000 / Adar Aleph 5, 5760
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. DIPLOMATS TALKS AS BATTLE RAGES IN LEBANON
  2. LOBBYING FOR THE GOLAN

1. DIPLOMATS TALKS AS BATTLE RAGES IN LEBANON
The international committee responsible for tracking the implementation of the 1996 Grapes of Wrath understandings convened in Nakoura, southern Lebanon, this morning - in the shadow of intensive Hizbullah mortar attacks on the IDF's Beaufort outpost in the security zone.  Minister Chaim Ramon had earlier declared the understandings "non-existent," and other government officials echoed his sentiments. The Likud has attacked the government's consent - announced only yesterday - to participate in the talks and give the understandings new life. 

American officials continue to make efforts to resume the peace-talks between Syria and Israel in Washington.  They are working on both the resumption of working-group meetings and the holding of higher-level meetings. 

2. LOBBYING FOR THE GOLAN
Over 100 volunteer lobbyists of AFSI (Americans For a Safe Israel) and CIPAC (Christians' Israel Action Campaign) spent two days this week in what they termed an "overwhelmingly favorable" effort to convince U.S. Congress members not to support U.S. involvement in post-withdrawal peace-keeping operations in the Golan.  The message to the Representatives and Senators stressed two primary points in relation to the Golan giveaway talks:  no U.S. troops on the Golan, and no billions of American taxpayers' dollars for what AFSI called "the fraudulent deal being brokered by Clinton between Syria and Israel." The lobbyists later reported that there was no one among the Representatives "who favored the idea of U.S. troops being sent as
sitting ducks to the Golan, where they would be at the mercy of the Syrian terrorists."

Other talking points against an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan with which the Congressmen agreed included the tremendously high costs the U.S. would be expected to pay, the critical security value of the Golan to Israel, the loss of 30% of Israel's water sources, and the tragedy of moving 18,000 Golan residents from their homes, schools, and businesses. "There were even some who agreed that Israel's right to the Golan went back to the biblical days when the tribes of Dan and Menashe lived on the Golan," concluded the AFSI report.

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From: Judean Voice [jsid@eachanii.dorsai.org]
To: Judean Voice
Subject: Clinton To Rescue Barak Again


Judean Voice News And Commentary
Jsid@Dorsai.org

News We Doubt You've Seen-Views We Doubt You've Heard

AMERICANS TO BANKROLL ARAB-GOLAN REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak may have a harder time than he ever could have imagined convincing the Israeli masses that his campaign did not receive millions of  "illegal dollars" from mysterious American, Canadian and English sources, in view of the recent news-breaking story about U.S. government officials meddling, once again in Israeli domestic politics.

According to a story published in Yediot Ahronot, Feb. 11, 00, U.S. Embassy officials in Israel have been holding meetings with Arab Israeli leaders to recruit their services and help persuading enough Arab Israelis to actively participate in the upcoming referendum which will decide the fate of the Golan Heights. The Americans believe, that without, a serious turn-out of Arab voters, Prime Minister Barak will not hold the majority he needs to surrender the Golan Heights to the Syrians. While it is obvious to the American government that many Arab Israelis are against Israeli sovereignty and Israel's right to the Golan Heights, the Americans realize that they will need an exceedingly high percentage of Arab Israelis to vote so that they can offset the strong Jewish majority who are opposed to the surrender of the Golan.

The Americans believe that the Arabs are the swing vote in the referendum for the Golan. And have expressed interest in financing the campaign necessary to bring out a massive amount of Arab Israeli voters on referendum day.

Judean Voice Commentary:

Barak has the most powerful attorneys and advertising agents in the world to help convince the Israeli public that he was elected fairly and that he did not violate the law when his campaign received massive funding from mysterious American and other foreign sources. Instead of the issue being who really sponsored Barak's lavish campaign ads the issue has been reduced to whether or not Barak had  a loop-hole to absorb the American cash.

We are all supposed to believe that Clinton's closest spin-doctors and advertising marketing agents are volunteering for the new task of convincing Israelis to surrender the Golan out of their love for Israel. At the same time, American officials openly speak of interfering directly with the next campaign among Arab Israelis. And so we can look forward to another democratic elections in Israel.

The right-wing, nationalist camp in Israel will have to compete with the incumbent government, the leftist anti-nationalist camp, the anti-Jewish Arab citizens of Israel and foreign American experts and sponsors with an infinite source of cash.

This is not a sovereign nation. The Israelis are slaves to the U.S. Barak is Clinton's new toy. The fate of Israel is decided by Washington and not by the majority of Jews in Israel.

Kahane was right. The Arabs have become the swing-vote in Israel. The Americans and Arabs with the help of a minority of Israeli Jews should not have too much difficulty reducing "Israel down to size." That is why Kahane had to be taken out of the picture. That is why the Kahane heirs have been outlawed and silenced. They are the only ones who can save Israel from the Arabs,  the Americans and themselves. Only Kahane addresses the crucial question Should Israel be a Western style democracy or a Jewish state. This is the question of the hour. Israel's existence and Jewish character is now being decided by Clinton and the Arabs who live in Israel. The natural survival instinct of the majority of Israeli Jews cannot win until the Kahane platform is reintroduced into the Israeli political debate. The Americans, Arabs and Israeli-Jewish leftist minority will continue to try and do everything to kill the voice of Kahane. The Israel right in their infinite stupidity will continue to ostracize the Kahanists, "so as not to make themselves look extreme," and Clinton will continue walking his new toy down the path of self destruction.

There is nothing more important than legalizing the Kahane truth which is based upon the authentic Jewish idea. There is nothing more important than saving Israel from disappearing. The Arab and other foreign influence and rule in and over Israel must be reduced and broken before it is too late.

Will Israel be a Jewish state or will it become Palestine?

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To:            (IL/ROOT & BRANCH ASSOCIATION, LTD.), rb@rb.org.il
From:          "Root & Branch Association, Ltd." <rb@rb.org.il>
Subject:       Arabs and Jews/Commentary:  THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE
               ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT by Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Please visit our Website at http://www.rb.org.il


************R&B OMNIBUS************


The ROOT & BRANCH INFORMATION SERVICE distributes news, features and commentary on Jews, Judaism and Israel.  Views expressed in items that we distribute are those of the authors alone.


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Arabs and Jews/Commentary:  THE UNDERLYING CAUSE OF THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT


by Prof. Paul Eidelberg

Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Bar-Ilan University
President, Foundation for Constitutional Democracy in the Middle East
Columnist, Jewish Press Member, International Council, Root & Branch Association, Ltd.


JERUSALEM, D.C. (David's Capital), Yom Sheini (Second Day - "Monday"), 1 Adar I, 5760 (Christian Date:  February 7, 2000) (Muslim Date:  1 Thul-Quada, 1420), Root & Branch:  Why Arabs want to destroy Israel receives only superficial commentary by students of the Arab-Israel conflict.

Most say the Arabs want to destroy Israel because it is a Jewish state. Notice, however, that the state's ruling elites are only nominally Jewish. This includes not only Ehud Barak, Israel's Prime Minister, but Aaron Barak, the President of Israel's Supreme Court, the most powerful court in the world, and the only one that scorns the legal and moral heritage of its own people.

Others say that the Arabs want to erase Israel from the map of the Middle East because it is democracy that threatens, by its example, the autocratic power structure of the Arab-Islamic world.  And yet, despite the veneer of democracy -- periodic multiparty elections -- anyone who has studied the great political philosophers from Aristotle to John Stuart Mill would see that, such is the concentration of power in Israel's government, on the one hand, and such is the impotence of its legislature on the other, that Israel should be classified as an oligarchy.

(Since the government owns or controls almost 90 percent of the country's assets, Israel may rightly be called a corporate state).

Still other commentators say that the Arabs want to annihilate Israel because Islam is a militant and expansionist religion.  Although there is truth to this point of view, the question remains:  What is there about Israel that the Arabs most detest or fear if it is not, strictly speaking, a Jewish as well as democratic state?  Could it be the state's SECULAR character, its having ever been dominated by secularists? 

Consider what two Arab commentators say.

One writes:  "The propagandists of secularism, who leave out of account the religious factor in the Palestine problem, ignore the fact that this is the only bone of contention in the world which has persisted for thirty centuries".

Another Arab spokesman declares:  "Apart from the political conflict, there is a basic philosophical and spiritual incompatibility between the two contending nationalisms.  Even if all political disputes were to be resolved, the two movements, Zionism and Arab Nationalism, would remain, spiritually and ideologically, worlds apart -- living in separate 'universes of discourse' which are incapable of communication or meaningful dialogue".

Notice that neither of these Arab spokesmen regard territory or geographical boundaries as a decisive issue in the Arab-Israel conflict. Which means that Israel's "territory for peace" policy is
doomed to fail, indeed, that the so-called peace process cannot but lead to Israel's territorial dismemberment.

Territorial nationalism, however, was the paramount principle of secular Zionism.  That being the case, the "peace process" signifies -- as indeed it has -- the end of secular Zionism!

What is crucial here, however, is not the noun "Zionism", but the adjective "secular".  From the Arab point of view -- which, after all, is of decisive significance -- it is Israeli secularism that
constitutes the greatest threat to Arab-Islamic civilization, as may be read in the pages of Muslim scholars such Harvard-educated Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr.

To be sure, Arabs murdered Torah-true ("religious") Jews even before the establishment of the secular state of Israel.  But anti-Zionism was the principal motive of such murders, and the Zionist movement was dominated by secularists -- one may even say atheists.

In short, Arab hostility toward Israel is primarily motivated by the fact that Israel is ruled by IRRELIGIOUS Jews -- and it makes no fundamental difference whether these Jews belong to the political Left or the political Right.

In other words, THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF THE ARAB-ISRAEL CONFLICT IS JEWISH REJECTION OF, OR INDIFFERENCE TO, THE G-D OF ISRAEL.

This conclusion accords with basic Jewish sources as well as with Jewish history.  When Jews turn away from G-d, G-d turns away from Jews.  Stated another way, when Israel fail to exalt G-d's name, G-d will use various instruments, be it the United Nations or the Arabs, to condemn and humiliate Israel.

The underlying and hidden cause of the Arab-Israel conflict, therefore, is nothing less than Israel's failure -- and this applies to many religious Jews -- to act as the G-d-bearing nation, the nation chosen to exemplify in word and deed ethical monotheism.

This underlying cause is obscured by the very brilliance of well-intended critics of the "peace process".  Which is why they have had no discernible impact on the obviously irrational and suicidal course of Israel's government.  The same critics would accomplish infinitely more if they would but recognize that the irrational and suicidal nature of the "peace process" is a consequence of the godless character of Israel's government.

They would then see that Abdul Rauf el-Codbi el-Husseini ("Yasir Arafat") is merely an instrument of divine providence.   He is simply facilitating the demise of a secular state, a precondition of Israel's spiritual redemption.

Shalom from Jerusalem,


Prof. Paul Eidelberg

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