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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Israel in the News
Israel
in the News
April
18 to April 24, 2000
TEMPLE MOUNT
TEMPLE MOUNT FAITHFUL TO ALIGHT TO MOUNT ON SUNDAY
IsraelWire - 4/21
In keeping with its longstanding tradition, members of the Temple
Mount Faithful organization will on Sunday, the third
intermediary day of the Passover Holiday, attempt to pray on the
Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. The participants will
march with Israeli flags, proclaiming Israeli sovereignty over
the Old City, while protesting the stronghold placed on the Mount
by the PLO Authority (PA) and the Moslem Wakf Authority, both
having banned Jewish prayer on the site, the holiest site to the
Jewish people. Participants will meet at 9:30am in the Western
Wall Plaza, near the Western Gate (Mugrabi Gate), and then
attempt to enter the Temple Mount complex as a group.
TEMPLE MOUNT FAITHFUL DENIED FREEDOM OF WORSHIP ON TEMPLE MOUNT
IsraelWire - 4/24
Members of the Temple Mount Faithful organization on Sunday, the
third intermediary day of Passover, were denied entry to the
al-Aksa Mosque compound known as the Temple Mount, the holiest
site to the Jewish people, site of the First and Second Temples.
The members of the organization repeatedly attempt to alight to
the Mount on Jewish holidays in the hope they may be permitted to
pray. Despite being under Israeli control, the actual daily
control was placed in the hands of the Moslem Wakf Authority
which does not permit Jews to pray at the location.
As usual, the group was turned away by police but was later
permitted entry to the Mount as individuals or in very small
groups. Temple Mount Faithful leader Dr. Gershon Solomon
admitted there attempt to enter the compound is a political
statement.
"We came to say that no one we will remove us from this place.
We are here forever and we should do everything in our lives for
the cause. Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will be forever the
capital of Israel," Solomon told his followers.
JERUSALEM
ABDULLAH ENVISIONS AN 'OPEN JERUSALEM'
On his first visit to Israel, Jordanian king stresses Amman's
interest in success of Palestinian track By Aluf Benn and Revital
Levi-Stein Ha'aretz Correspondents and Agencies 4/24/00
Jordan's King Abdullah and his wife Rania, accompanied by a host
of ministers, took a brief sail across the Gulf of Aqaba
yesterday from Aqaba to Eilat to make his first visit to Israel
since ascending to his country's throne. His visit to Eilat
lasted only four hours, but included a private meeting with Prime
Minister Ehud Barak, a brief tour of the southern resort town -
which he called "beautiful" - and a visit to a fish breeding
plant in the sea, where he expressed great interest in ways to
bring the technology to Jordan and concern over environmental
issues.
The visit included ministerial-level meetings between Regional
Cooperation Minister Shimon Peres, Industry Minister Ran Cohen,
Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and their Jordanian
counterparts, including Jordan's water minister, industry
minister and tourism minister. Although no joint press
conference took place - despite advance scheduling for such an
event - the king conducted taped interviews with Israel TV, in
which he called his relationship with Barak "terrific,"
expressing "admiration" for Barak's "courage - and great
responsibility."
He told Israel TV that he envisions a political solution for
Jerusalem that has "two levels." One is a division of the city
into two political domains, and the other a declaration of
Jerusalem as an open city to all three Abrahamic religions -
Judaism, Christianity and Islam - and he declared that Jordan is
the guardian of the city's holy places for Islam.
According to the king, Jordan has a direct interest in the
final-status agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"There are questions that affect us on a daily basis, like
security and borders. The refugee issue and Jerusalem are close
to our hearts, and the water problem has to be solved at the
bilateral, trilateral and regional level."
As if to emphasize the point, while the king met with Barak, his
ministers and their Israeli counterparts met to discuss
outstanding issues ranging from progress on joint tourism
projects like an international airport at Evrona, the border
crossing point where the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty was
signed by Abdullah's father King Hussein and the late Prime
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, to the thorny issue of Israel allowing
Jordan more trade into the West Bank.
ISRAELI ARMY DESTROYS PALESTINIAN HOMES, TENTS NEAR JERUSALEM
By Laurie Copans, Associated Press Jerusalem April 23, 2000
The Israeli army destroyed several Palestinian homes and tents
early Sunday in a suburb of Jerusalem, an army spokesman said.
One person was left hospitalized after the demolition. The
structures were built without permission from Israeli authorities
in an area located within the confines of the West Bank
settlement of Maale Adumim, an army spokesman said. The
Palestinian homeowners say they have documents to prove the land
is theirs and they did not have permits to build since it is
almost impossible for them to obtain them.
Soldiers went to homes in the village of Issawiyeh in the middle
of the night and evacuated the occupants, said Omar Darwish, a
local resident. Six homes and 48 tents were destroyed without
warning. One Palestinian was hit on the head in a fight with
soldiers and was evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem, where he
was reported in stable condition, said Darwish, who witnessed the
demolitions. He said 80 people were left homeless. The soldiers
also uprooted some 150 olive trees in the operation, he added,
but the army denied that any trees were taken down.
ISRAEL
ISRAELI RABBI ATTACKED BY VIOLENT MYSTIC FOR DENYING "MESSIAH"
JERUSALEM, April 23 (AFP) -
An Israeli rabbi has been attacked for the second time in six
months by the same man, an ultra-Orthox Jew who accuses him of
not accepting another rabbi as the Jewish messiah, police said
Sunday. Levy Bistritzky, rabbi of the northern city of Safed,
was seriously wounded late Saturday when Meir Baranes tried to
run him over with a car. Baranes is due to appear in court later
Sunday, police said. The two men are both members of the
ultra-Orthodox movement Habad, whose former spiritual leader was
the late rabbi Menahem Schneerson.
Baranes has repeatedly accused Bistritzky of refusing to accept
that Schneerson was the Jewish messiah. He stabbed the rabbi six
months ago, sending him to hospital for several days. A
spokesman for the Habad movement said Baranes had come to
religion only several years ago following a "mystical" experience
and had been expelled from the group because of his "violent
character." Baranes recently staged an ancient ceremony of
malediction against Pope John Paul II before the pontiff's
first-ever trip to the Holy Land.
ISRAEL - PA PEACE PROCESS
ARAFAT AND CLINTON TO MEET AS TALKS WITH ISRAEL STYMIED
JERUSALEM, April 18 (AFP) -
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is due to meet US President Bill
Clinton Thursday in a bid to speed up peace talks with Israel as
the mid-May deadline looms for the next stage of the Palestinian
peace track. A third round of talks kicks off April 24 in
Washington but little progress has been visible so far. The
chief Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo told AFP last
Thursday that the second round of talks ended with an exchange of
texts on a structure for a framework accord.
Arafat's White House meeting comes nine days after Clinton held
talks in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. At
the end of that meeting, the two leaders made a commitment to
relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian talks, but did not offer any new
proposals.
The two sides are increasingly pessimistic both about the chances
of reaching a framework accord on the final status agreement by
the middle of May, and also about finalising the details of the
definitive agreement by September 13, as they have pledged to do.
"The gap is still wide" between the two sets of negotiators, the
Palestinian representative in the United States Hassan Abdel
Rahman told AFP. They are divided not only about the thorny
issues left for the final status agreement, but even about
details of Israel's last pullback which was stipulated in the
1993 Oslo peace accords.
The Palestinians argue that after Israel completes its third and
final withdrawal, it should not control more than 10 per cent of
the West Bank -- leaving under Israeli control only Jewish
settlements, military zones and east Jerusalem, all of them
issues left to be decided in the final status negotiations. The
Israelis have confirmed their commitment to complete the
withdrawal by the end of June, but say they are not in a position
to spell out the extent of the pullout in detail.
CLINTON-ARAFAT SUMMIT REMINISCENT OF GENEVA FIASCO
Int'l Christian Embassy Jerusalem 4/21/00
One week after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, US
President Bill Clinton welcomed Palestinian Authority chairman
Yasser Arafat to the White House Thursday evening in an effort to
accelerate the pace of anemic final-status talks between the two
sides. Clinton reportedly was "encouraged" by their discussions,
but with his presidential muscle waning and Arafat showing no
signs of flexibility, it looks increasingly doubtful the parties
will meet "a very tight time line" for a framework agreement by
May and permanent peace treaty by September.
Both Clinton and Barak appear to finally be giving their full
attention to the troubled Palestinian talks, after exhausting the
Syrian track of any current possibilities for an historic, grand
compromise. But the same recipe which beached the negotiating
process with Damascus in Geneva last month seems primed to repeat
itself in the Oslo end game, as Israel is offering substantial
concessions while the PA refuses to budge from square one.
Clinton and Arafat huddled for three hours of talks last night,
and Clinton emerged upbeat over the "very positive dynamic" and
ready to play "a more intensified role" in the process, according
to a senior US official. The increased US involvement was long
demanded by the PA and finally agreed to by Barak when he met
with Clinton last week.
At that encounter, Barak also outlined for Clinton a number of
areas where he was willing to make serious concessions in order
to close the wide gaps on such thorny final-status issues as
borders, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem. At the weekly
Israeli Cabinet session this past Sunday, Barak expounded on his
new proposals, suggesting he was prepared to turn over contiguous
territory in up to 80% of Judea/Samaria that the Palestinians
need for a viable state, including Arab suburbs just outside the
municipal boundaries of Jerusalem.
But PA officials rejected these offers even before Clinton could
convey them in person to Arafat, leaving frustrated officials in
Jerusalem lamenting that "unless [Arafat] shows some flexibility"
the sides will not be able to reach the framework agreement by
next month. "We hope Arafat will present some pragmatic
positions... some willingness to compromise, because otherwise we
will not be able to reach agreement," one government official
said earlier on Thursday.
But PA cabinet member Hassan Asfour promptly responded yesterday
that Arafat would have "nothing new to say to Clinton," and that
there is no room for additional flexibility from the Palestinian
side. "We have nothing new to add... We were the party which
made a historical concession in 1993 and not the Israelis," said
Asfour, referring to the original Oslo deal which saw Israel
actually extricate Arafat's PLO from a political and financial
wasteland.
After their White House session yesterday, an Administration
official allowed that "[b]oth sides need to understand that
they're going to have to compromise," to reach a framework deal
by next month's target date. "At the end of this, to reach
agreement, neither side is going to get 100 percent of what they
are asking for," he counseled.
Ever since final-status talks formally opened in earnest last
November, Arafat has yet to concede one inch of ground on his
maximal demands - a "Judenrein" Palestinian state in all of
Judea/Samaria and Gaza with its capital in east Jerusalem, and
the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. He has
threatened that if Israel does not capitulate by the September 13
deadline for a final peace accord, he plans to unilaterally
declare independence regardless of Israeli opinion.
After greeting Arafat at the White House, Clinton told reporters
that huge differences remained, but said he was optimistic.
"We've reached a very serious time in the peace process... we're
working hard on it," he said. "I think you all know what the
issues are between the Israelis and the Palestinians that are
difficult, but I think they can be bridged."
Clinton added: "There are risks and difficulties involved for
Chairman Arafat, there are risks and difficulties involved for
Prime Minister Barak, for the Palestinian people and for the
Israeli people. I believe they are not nearly as great as the
risks and difficulties of not making a peace agreement, so I hope
they will do it."
To help push matters along, the US at some point in the coming
weeks may offer "creative suggestions," according to State
Department spokesman James Rubin, who briefed reporters just
after Arafat lunched with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
in her Georgetown home earlier on Thursday.
The talks on the framework agreement are set to begin after the
Jewish Passover holiday, which ends April 26. Negotiators will
meet in Israel and Palestinian areas, rather than in Washington,
as they have done in two previous rounds. Press reports say the
PA is reneging on its earlier acceptance of Eilat as the venue
for this third round of renewed final-status talks.
CLINTON OFFERS TO HOLD SUMMIT TO BROKER PALESTINIAN PEACE DEAL
Copyright 2000 Nando Media Copyright 2000 Scripps McClatchy
Western Service by Leo Rennert, Nando Washington Bureau
Washington April 22, 2000
In a final bid to win his most prized diplomatic trophy,
President Clinton has decided to take a personal hand to broker a
full-scale Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement. The president
has offered to hold a three-way summit with Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to seal the
deal by mid-September, White House officials said Friday.
It's a high-risk strategy because it goes against the grain of
Barak's wishes to minimize U.S. involvement lest it could tempt
Arafat to stiffen his bargaining position with Israel in hopes of
getting better terms from Clinton's direct intervention.
Clinton's gambit also could backfire at home if he's seen as
applying excessive pressures on Israel just as the U.S. elections
swing into high gear, potentially generating new rifts with Vice
President Al Gore's presidential campaign and Hillary Rodham
Clinton's Senate race in New York.
But after separate White House meetings last week and this week
with the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Clinton agreed to raise
the stakes and intensify the U.S. role in final-status
negotiations. Both sides are aiming for a Sept. 13 accord but
remain sharply divided over key issues like the size of a
Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem, the future of
Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and
water rights.
Following a couple of bilateral bargaining rounds here in recent
weeks that achieved no breakthroughs, talks will resume in the
Israeli resort city of Eilat on April 30 - with U.S. Middle East
envoy Dennis Ross joining Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.
While all sides insist that breakthroughs can be fashioned only
by Israel and the Palestinians, Ross will be in a position to
offer bridging suggestions and coax each camp to show greater
flexibility. With Arafat having warned that he may unilaterally
proclaim a Palestinian state if a Sept. 13 deadline passes
without a comprehensive final-status agreement, the White House
calendar calls for early involvement of the top leaders if Ross
fails to make headway"
LEBANON
LEBANON WARNS ISRAEL ON WITHDRAWAL FEARS
By Miral Fahmy BEIRUT (Reuters) April 18, 2000
Lebanon hailed Tuesday an Israeli decision to quit the south but
told the Jewish state to expect turbulent borders if the pullout
precedes a peace deal. Monday Israel formally told the United
Nations it intends to end its 22-year-old occupation of southern
Lebanon by July 7, prompting fresh warnings from Beirut of a
surge in violence if it withdraws without a peace deal with
Lebanon's political master Syria.
Lebanese Prime Minister Selim al-Hoss said the Israeli retreat
was a landmark victory. ``For the first time in the history of
the Arab-Israeli conflict, Israel is forced to leave Arab
territories,'' Hoss said in a statement. But separately he
warned that only peace would guarantee an orderly withdrawal and
secure borders for Israel, adding that Lebanon refused to be
responsible for any frontier violence or for the fierce Israeli
reprisals it was likely to draw.
"If Israel, one of the Middle East's biggest military powers,
cannot keep its border with Lebanon secure, how can it hold
Lebanon responsible?'' he was quoted as saying. ``Border
security is linked to stability, and this cannot be achieved
without a comprehensive peace settlement. "Since Israel is
avoiding a peace, it is totally responsible for any breaches of
the border. An agreement ensures an orderly, problem-free
withdrawal. We would have liked the withdrawal to occur within
the framework of an agreement,'' Hoss added.
South Lebanon is the Middle East's last active battlefront, where
guerrillas are fighting Israel's occupation. Lebanese President
Emile Lahoud has raised the specter of attacks on Israel by
Palestinians from Lebanon -- reviving an image that disappeared
in Lebanon's civil war. Tuesday, guerrillas in south Lebanon
fired Katyusha rockets at northern Israel, Israeli army officers
said. They were apparently fired in retaliation for Israeli
artillery attacks that killed one Syrian worker and wounded three
in Lebanon.
UN PUSHES AHEAD WITH 425 PLANS
Int'l Christian Embassy Jerusalem 4/21/00
The UN Security Council on Thursday formally acknowledged and
welcomed Israel's official letter of notification committing the
IDF to a withdraw from the south Lebanon security zone by July 7,
and gave the go-ahead to draft plans for a UN role in the pullout
based on UNSC resolution 425.
The council adopted a statement confirming receipt of the written
announcement signed by Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy and
delivered on Monday to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. "The
Security Council shares the view expressed by the
secretary-general .... that cooperation by all parties concerned
will be required in order to avoid a deterioration of the
situation," the statement said.
Annan has verbally assured Israel the UN will use its "mandate"
under resolution 425 to assist with and certify Israel's
withdrawal and act to restore calm along the border area. On
Wednesday, he again indicated he likely will ask the Security
Council to strengthen UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in the area to
fill the resulting security vacuum, with most sources reporting
the current contingent of 4500 troops will be boosted to 7000.
"Obviously we will have to go in with the right strength and the
right force to be able to undertake our mandate, to defend our
mandate and ourselves," Annan said Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the London-based Arabic newspaper AL-HAYAT reported
yesterday that South Lebanon Army leaders will be going to
Washington next week for a series of meetings with US State
Department officials to discuss the future of their local militia
after the pending IDF withdrawal. The article claimed the US
will agree to accept endangered SLA officers and militiamen who
seek asylum in America.
Other reports circulating on the internet and confirmed in the
Beirut daily AN-NAHAR on Thursday say the IDF will be ordered to
disarm the SLA in the weeks ahead of a withdrawal. The reports,
citing French and Israeli sources, indicate the Israeli army will
move to pull out all tanks, heavy artillery, armor, armed
vehicles, anti-aircraft guns, and sophisticated equipment in the
SLA's possession. SLA barracks, communication systems and
command posts also will be dismantled, leaving SLA soldiers with
only light personal weapons.
ANTI-SEMITISM
ARSONISTS ATTACK GERMAN SYNAGOGUE ON HITLER'S BIRTHDAY
ERFURT, Germany, April 21 (AFP) -
Extremists marked the anniversary of the birth of Adolf Hitler by
trying to set fire to a synagogue in Erfurt in the former east
Germany, police said Friday. But as condemnations of the attack
grew, prosecutors and police said it could have been carried out
by Hitler sympathisers or extreme left militants wanting to blame
neo-Nazis. Molotov cocktail was thrown at the back of the town
centre building late Thursday, but neighbours raised the alarm
and put out the fire before it caused damage, police said.
Investigators believe the attack was timed to coincide with the
April 20 birthday of the dictator, which is celebrated by Nazi
sympathisers.
*******************************************************************
Jerusalem Post -
Internet Edition
April
17, 2000
From
the Website
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/04/17/News/News.5565.html
Barak may
move up part of West Bank pullout
By Danna
Harman and Lamia Lahoud
JERUSALEM
(April 17) - Prime Minister Ehud Barak
told
the cabinet yesterday he is willing to move up
part
of the West Bank withdrawal planned for June to
the
next several weeks as a confidence-building
measure.
Barak
said he had decided to make this offer to spur
the
peace talks with the Palestinians after his meeting
with
US President Bill Clinton in Washington last week,
when
they decided to accelerate the Palestinian track.
The
offer also comes just ahead of Clinton's planned
meeting
on Thursday with Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser
Arafat.
Officials
in Barak's office said the size of this
"advanced
withdrawal" would be about 3 percent of the
West
Bank. The size of the June pullback - the third
redeployment
under the Sharm e-Sheikh Memorandum - is
still
being negotiated.
Barak
said the negotiations are "making progress," and
he
hopes to reach a framework for the permanent-status
agreement
by the end of next month, followed by the
third
redeployment a month later. US special Mideast
envoy
Dennis Ross is due in the region at the end of
the
month.
Once
again Barak laid out before the ministers his
vision
of a future Palestinian entity. Careful as
always
not to use the word "state," Barak said that
such
an entity would be contiguous and its citizens
would
have the right of free movement. He indicated it
would
include areas on the periphery of Jerusalem, such
as
Eizariya and Abu Dis.
"We
all pray toward Jerusalem, that is true," said
Barak.
"But no one prays towards Eizariya or Abu Dis.
Let's
not get confused here."
Barak
said further he would insist any future
Palestinian
entity be demilitarized and promised an
absolute
majority of settlers would remain in
settlement
blocs under Israeli sovereignty. He also
reiterated
his position that Israel would not take
either
legal or moral responsibility for the
Palestinian
refugees and that they would therefore not
be
allowed back in the country.
Nabil
Abourdeneh, an aide to Arafat, rejected Barak's
conditions.
"Israel must fully withdraw from all
occupied
Palestinian land, including Jerusalem," he
said.
"THE
PALESTINIAN STATE IS A DONE DEAL," Education
Minister
Yossi Sarid said at the cabinet meeting. "And
now
all that is left is to discuss the borders and
character
of this state. Unfortunately the statehood
card
is not worth as much as it used to be. In the past
we
could say that we would hand it out in return for
far-reaching
Palestinian concessions, whereas now it is
pretty
much a given."
Minister
Haim Ramon told Israel Radio that, "It is
clear
that a Palestinian state will be set up," adding
only
that first, the Palestinians must stop demanding
all
of the West Bank. Minister for Regional Cooperation
Shimon
Peres, in turn, publicly urged Barak to break
the
taboo and embrace the concept of a Palestinian
state.
"We
said we don't want to rule over another people. If
we
don't want to rule over another people, let the
other
people rule over itself. It means a Palestinian
state,"
Peres told Army Radio. "It must be announced
immediately.
There's no point to waiting. The
alternative
is either a binational state or Bosnia or
Kosovo
or such things."
In
Washington, Arafat plans to ask Clinton to guarantee
that
the agreements between Israel and the Palestinians
will
be signed and implemented according to a
timetable,
Nabil Abu Rudaineh, an adviser and spokesman
for
Arafat told The Jerusalem Post.
Arafat
will also ask Clinton for continued US
involvement
in the talks. "We want the Americans to
continue
their efforts and remain involved... and
witness
every detail," he added.
A PA
source said that US special envoy Dennis Ross and
his
peace team would attend the next session of talks.
"
It is not decided yet if they will attend the opening
session
only or if they will attend all the sessions,"
a PA
official said.
Meanwhile,
in response to Barak being quoted as ready
to
accept a Palestinian state on 70%-80% of the West
Bank,
Palestinian National Council Speaker Ahmed Qurei
said
Palestinian lands are not up for bargaining.
"We
will not agree to bargain over percentages of land.
We
are not buying or selling cheese or tomatoes in a
market,"
he said.
*******************************************************************
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