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To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, October 3, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
   <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2000 / Tishrei 4, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES; "WORST MAY BE AHEAD"
   2. HEVRON, JOSEPH'S TOMB, BAT HEFER, AND NETZARIM
   3. ISRAELI GOV'T: SHARON NOT TO BLAME
   4. ISRAELI-ARABS ON THE WARPATH
   5. YESHA TRAVEL LIMITATIONS
   6. YESHA CONTINUES TO GROW, DESPITE ALL
   7. EXCERPTS FROM A WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE

1. CEASEFIRE COLLAPSES; "WORST MAY BE AHEAD"
Hints that the Israeli-PLO ceasefire agreement of this morning had failed began trickling in most of the day, but the clearest sign came late this  afternoon when Arabs began firing on distant Israeli targets at the Ayosh junction, north of Ramallah.  Deputy Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon  told reporters today, "We totally withdrew our forces from the area, so
that it could not be claimed that we were causing provocations - but it didn't work, and the Palestinians resumed the violence.  This is something that is clearly organized by the PA, and could be stopped with one order [from Arafat]."  Ya'alon said that he believes the worst of the riots are still ahead of us, and noted that Israeli-Arabs and Yesha Arab instigators are working together.

Riots and violence resumed in several other places in the early afternoon:

* In the Israeli-Arab towns of Um el-Fahm, Taibe, and Tira, residents threw firebombs and rocks at policemen.

* In the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan, rocks were hurled on IDF positions at the foot of the Hermon.

* Rocks and riots were the order of the day in Khan Yunis, Jenin, and near Jericho.

* In Jerusalem, two firebombs were thrown at Armon HaNetziv, and rocks were hurled on outlying Ramot houses.

* Border Guard jeeps were fired on in at least two cases this morning.

Forests near Dolev in Binyamin, and Sakhnin and Kibbutz Yodfat in the Galilee, have been set ablaze.  A policeman was hurt by a stone at the Arab village of Daburiye, at the foot Mt. Tavor, west of Tiberias.

Several roads are still closed throughout the Galilee and Yesha, including the Givat Ze'ev- Modi'in highway.  A Molotov cocktail and many rocks were thrown at passing cars on the road.  Israeli cars are travelling on the Nachal Iron (Wadi Ara) highway - adjacent to Um el -Fahm - only in Border Guard-accompanied convoys.

The Binyamin community of Psagot - where one soldier was injured - and Gaza were the scenes of gunfire exchanges throughout the night, while the Arabs of Haifa, Acre, and Nazareth rioted last night.

2. HEVRON, JOSEPH'S TOMB, BAT HEFER, AND NETZARIM
The most severe violence today took place this afternoon in Hevron, western Tulkarm, Netzarim, Shechem, and near Nazareth.  In Hevron, shots were fired towards Beit Hadassah at about 4 PM, and a homemade explosive was hurled towards the homes in Admot Yeshai.  These caused no casualties or damage.  One Border Guard policeman was wounded by rocks thrown at him by Hevron Arabs, and one Arab was reportedly killed.  Hevron residents say, despite this, that the policemen have been instructed not to fire back at the stone throwers, and that they are therefore responding with rocks of their own.

A battle was raging this afternoon in the area of Joseph's Tomb in Shechem, and a large fire was reported in the area of the Tomb-yeshiva compound.  Residents of nearby Elon Moreh reported hearing three large explosions near the area of the compound.  The yeshiva suffered major damage in a fire under similar circumstances during the battles of four years ago.

At the Bat Hefer Industrial Park, near Tulkarm, another building was set afire today, after three Jewish factories were torched last night.  Firemen have been instructed by security forces not to approach the area.  In Tulkarm itself, a protracted gun battle took place between IDF soldiers and armed Palestinians this afternoon.  IDF forces in the industrial area saw a Palestinian with a LAU missile; they fired at him, but he escaped.

Severe rioting resumed shortly before 1 PM at the Netzarim Junction today, and the IDF has again been forced to resort to the use of combat helicopters.  Arab snipers are attempting to shoot Israeli soldiers, and one Palestinian has apparently been killed.  A Gaza Coast Regional Council spokesperson told Arutz-7 today that Netzarim has essentially been under siege since Saturday morning.  Basic food supplies have been delivered by helicopter.  Other roads in Gush Katif are open.

3. ISRAELI GOV'T: SHARON NOT TO BLAME
Israeli politicians are largely in consensus that MK Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount last week is not to blame for the current violence.  Prime Minister Barak told Israel Radio on Friday that Palestinian incitement after Sharon's visit was to blame for that day's violence in Jerusalem.  At yesterday's Cabinet meeting, the ministers were unanimous in blaming Yasser Arafat for the "premeditated and staged riots."  In a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday, MK Sharon protested the State Department's accusation that it was his visit to the Temple Mount that ignited the violence:

"I find it most regrettable and disturbing that your spokesman has been swayed by slanderous propaganda on the part of the Palestinian leaders and media, intended to put pressure on Israel and the U.S. to make additional concessions in the negotiations, under threat of violence if their demands are not met...

"Israel's security establishment has publicly presented its conclusions that the violent riots and armed confrontations are part of a premeditated and organized campaign initiated by the Palestinian Authority, [which] began over ten days ago in the Netzarim area in Gaza...

"These riots have spread out through the deliberate incitement (prior to the visit) by the 'Tanzim' (the armed militia of Chairman Arafat's Fatah organization).  Last Friday, Arafat instructed the 'Tanzim' to escalate the riots.  Moreover, Palestinian Security Chiefs have been directly involved in inciting the violence and in ordering Palestinian Police to open fire on Israeli soldiers, Police and civilians.  Arab Members of the Knesset have contributed to and joined this violent campaign by repeated incitement calling Arab Israelis as well as Palestinians to resort to violence prior,
during, and after my visit to The Temple Mount...

"The united city of Jerusalem [and the] Temple Mount are under full Israeli sovereignty.  Neither I, nor any Israeli citizen, need to seek permission from the PA or from any foreign entity to visit there or any other site which is sovereign territory of the State of Israel."  [full text provided by IMRA]

4. ISRAELI-ARABS ON THE WARPATH
Prominent Israeli-Arabs came out with warlike statements today. Famous Arab actor Ahmed Bakri, who lives in the Galilee, said that the Arabs of Israel must begin an armed struggle to obtain what they deserve.  MK Azmi Bishara said that there is an increase in the willingness of Israeli-Arabs to sacrifice their lives on behalf of the Al-Aksa mosque.

Prime Minister Barak and several government ministers met for over three hours today with Israeli-Arab leaders, in the wake of the violent outburst from this sector over the past few days. Several Israeli-Arabs have been killed during violent demonstrations over the past few days.  Barak promised the leaders "peace, equality, and partnership."  Although he said yesterday that no country could afford to tolerate the violence to which we have been witness of late, he said at today's meeting that police must not fire during Israeli-Arab riots unless their lives were in clear
danger.  The Prime Minister promised to establish a committee to look into the events of the past days.

MK Benny Elon, leader of the National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu Knesset faction, expressed shocked dismay at Barak's meeting with the Israeli-Arab leaders today.  Speaking with Arutz-7, he said, "The Wadi Ara highway [the main artery between central Israel and the Tiberias-Jezre'el Valley area] is closed to traffic because of Arab violence, and Barak is meeting with the leaders?!  This is simply unbelievable!  He has apparently learned nothing!"

A group of right-wing protestors stood outside the Prime Minister's Office while he met with the Israeli-Arab leaders.  They held signs reading, "Israeli-Arabs - a Fifth Column" and "Haters of Israel - Out!"  MK Michael Kleiner and supporters have begun an initiative to rescind the citizenship of Arabs who take part in anti-Israel nationalistic activity.  "Israeli-Arabs must choose between the right to vote and the right to throw stones - they can't have both," he said.

A sample incident, reported by Y-net (Yediot Acharonot's website):  Yaakov Ben-Hamu, 35, of Kibbutz Beit Alfa, was driving east along the Wadi Iron (Wadi Ara) highway yesterday, between Um el-Fahm and Afula, when his way was blocked some 15 masked Arabs.  They noticed that he was Jewish, dragged him out of the car, and began kicking and punching him.  The driver of a passing bus saw what was happening and picked him up; there was nothing left for Ben-Hamu to do but watch out the window as the Arabs torched his car.  He submitted a complaint at the nearby police station.  A similar incident happened later in the same area, when a bus driver was forcibly removed from his vehicle, and the bus was set ablaze.

5. YESHA TRAVEL LIMITATIONS
Bitterness continues to abound in Yesha regarding the travel limitations instituted by the army on Jewish civilian traffic.  The towns were closed to incoming and outgoing traffic all night, and only buses and convoys of cars were permitted from many of the towns this morning.  By the afternoon, only Beit El residents were still forced to travel by convoy.  Orders for this evening have not yet been formulated, but it is assumed that they will be the same as last night.  Yesha leaders met with O.C. Central Commander Maj.-Gen. Yitzchak Eitan last night in what was described as a "difficult" meeting.  Several of them announced that they would no longer adhere to the above orders.

President Moshe Katzav wrote to Yesha residents today:  "You are fulfilling an important national mission. I wish to encourage you in the face of the wave of Palestinian violence against you."

6. YESHA CONTINUES TO GROW, DESPITE ALL
A new neighborhood will be dedicated in the city of Kiryat Arba tomorrow, comprised of 42 housing units.  Two other neighborhoods are under construction there as well.

7. EXCERPTS FROM A WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE, OCT. 2, 2000:
"So who is to blame for this [the current wave of violence]? The New York Times faults Mr. Sharon for 'provocatively leading his supporters to the Temple Mount.'  That view is seconded by the U.S. State Department and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, not to mention Mr. Arafat and his minions. But we take a dissenting view. In visiting the Temple Mount, Mr. Sharon was exercising his right to visit a site open to the public. That right belongs to him no less than to anyone else, Israeli, Palestinian or otherwise. And it belongs to him precisely because the Temple Mount falls under Israel's tolerant stewardship, rather than the previous, exclusionary Jordanian regime...  Rather, blame for the violence must fall squarely upon those who started it, which in every instance so far seems to have been the Palestinians. How is it, we'd like to know, that in a society as tightly controlled as is the Palestine Authority's, were riots and attacks on Israeli military outposts allowed to occur? Why were Palestinian security forces, who under Article 8 of the Oslo are supposed to ensure public order and security, joining the battle? Who among the top leaders of the Palestinian Authority authorized -- or at least did nothing to stop -- the violence? Perhaps the State Department, so voluble in condemning Mr. Sharon, should seek answers to those questions.

"While they're at it, they may also wish to ponder why it is that Palestinian tempers have flared just as the Israeli government seems prepared to make unprecedented concessions on the re-division of Jerusalem...  It's certainly not because of Mr. Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount. Indeed, if Mr. Sharon can be faulted for anything, it's that his visit served the propaganda purposes of the Authority by supposedly demonstrating that the area is no place for Jews. The violence in Jerusalem is best explained by the fact that the hitherto "non-negotiable" city is suddenly up for grabs. The Palestinian Authority thus has a keen interest in making East Jerusalem utterly ungovernable for Israel, and it's a safe bet that it will repeatedly wink at further violence, even if that means endangering the lives of its own people. If so, remind yourself that it was the "peace process" that delivered them to their fate."

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To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
   <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 / Tishrei 5, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1.ARAFAT SETS CONDITIONS FOR MEETING
   2. ARABS ATTEMPT TO CONQUER JEWISH SITES IN GAZA
   3. TRACKING THE VIOLENCE
   4. ISRAELI-ARAB VIOLENCE HITS ISRAELI PUBLIC LIKE THUNDER
   5. MA'ARIV ACCUSES
   6. IF HE'S BEATEN, HE MUST BE PALESTINIAN
   7. YESHA COUNCIL DEMANDS
   8. SHARON CLEARED IN CHICAGO

1.ARAFAT SETS CONDITIONS FOR MEETING
The Rosh HaShanah Arab Assault carries on.  Palestinians continue tofire on Israelis, while Prime Minister Barak waits patiently in Paris to see if Yasser Arafat will agree to meet with him.  Barak, who arrived in Paris this morning, met first with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, then with French President Chirac, and then again with Albright.  Arafat, for his part, met with Chirac, who is serving as the current president of the European Union, and has not yet decided whether he will join the Barak-Albright meeting.  The U.S. guaranteed Barak that Arafat would show up.  Barak, who will return to Israel tonight, is being replaced by Shimon Peres as Acting Prime Minister and by Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as Acting Defense Minister.

Arafat said he would meet with Barak only if he receives "international guarantees for the defense of the Palestinians."  He later set three conditions:  all shooting must stop, Israeli forces
must be withdrawn, and an international investigation of the events of the past days must be held.  Israel has totally rejected the last condition, and Albright didn't even bring it up in her meeting with Barak, according to Israeli sources.  Tomorrow's scheduled Sharm a-Sheikh summit between Barak and Arafat is dependent on the results of today's meetings.

***As we go to press:  A meeting of Barak, Arafat, and Albright has in fact begun, although no prior agreement on an international investigation was reached.

Barak has been widely criticized by his political opposition for, in the words of National Religious Party MK Sha'ul Yahalom, "leaving behind a burning fire and scorched earth to go talk with the man responsible for it.  Barak is shaming the State of Israel and its inhabitants by participating in this 'summit of humiliation.'"  Opposition leaders demand that Barak meet with Yesha leaders and with the opposition.

Meretz MK Zahava Gal'on says that her party should make its joining the coalition conditional on the appointment of an Arab minister to the government, "to show that we are reducing discrimination."

2. ARABS ATTEMPT TO CONQUER JEWISH SITES IN GAZA
After a short respite of a few hours, heavy exchanges of fire resumed this afternoon at the Netzarim junction in Gaza.  After Palestinian snipers shot at the Israeli outpost there, Israel responded with machine-gun and helicopter fire towards the Palestinian "twin towers" [tall buildings] there.  Israeli forces have also been rushed to Gush Katif, where a mob of Arabs has gathered outside the gates of the IDF command post.

Early this morning, the Palestinians opened a new direction of attack on the Jewish town of Netzarim.  Hundreds of them marched along the seashore, to the west of the town, and then attempted to break through Netzarim's gates while throwing stone blocks and the like.  They were repelled by the IDF.  This method of Palestinian attack is a departure from past Palestinian practice of attacking from the road on the east.

3. TRACKING THE VIOLENCE
Shooting incidents have been sharply on the upswing in the Palestinian violence.  They included an incident this afternoon in which an Israeli passenger was wounded lightly when shots were fired on a public bus on its way to Gush Etzion.  The incident occurred between the road's two tunnels, and Egged has announced that it has stopped service along the road.  Shots were also fired this afternoon at buildings in Beitar Illit, cars near the Latrun junction, at Netzarim, and at Joseph's Tomb.  Senior officers in Shechem told residents of nearby Elon Moreh that the Palestinian snipers are aware of the Israeli policy of "selective and restrained retaliatory shooting," and therefore hide behind a group of civilians when they shoot upon Israeli soldiers.

IDF Chief of Staff Mofaz said today that he would consider a possible evacuation of soldiers from Joseph's Tomb, if an "unreasonable danger to the soldiers there" develops.  Israel Radio reported that the army requested twice, over the past four days, that the soldiers be removed from the compound in Shechem, but the government objected, for fear that this would lead to a greater Palestinian appetite for more such gains.

Noam Arnon, the spokesman for Hevron's Jewish community, reports that an Arab sniper fired overnight from a hill overlooking the Avraham Avinu neighborhood.  Jews this morning found some ten bullet holes in a home, a car, and a kindergarten.  No one was hurt.  "We warned Binyamin Netanyahu," said Arnon, "when he agreed to withdraw from Hevron, that the Arab hill controls the area and that Israel should not abandon it - but Netanyahu didn't listen.  We must retake the hill."  A pipe bomb was also later hurled at an army base in the center of Hebron.

A short but violent Arab outburst occurred today in Jaffa, when a mob of Arabs attacked Israeli and international journalists.  An Israeli and Italian reporter were wounded...  Several Israeli soldiers were wounded over the night and early morning - one by gunfire at the Adam junction north of Jerusalem's Pisgat Ze'ev, one in Gush Etzion, and two in Morag in the Gaza Strip when Arabs opened fire on a bus.  An Israeli woman was hurt by bricks thrown at her car near Ariel...  Well over 40 cases of rock-throwing at Jewish cars have been registered in Lod and Ramle over the past 24 hours...  Arab-instigated violence was reported in Jerusalem's Armon HaNetziv neighborhood, on the Modi'in-Givat Ze'ev highway, the Kiryat Arba-Kiryat Gat road, and near Eli...  Over 100 cases of arson have been reported.  One of the latest is a giant blaze between Rosh Ha'Ayin and Petach Tikvah, which is advancing towards the Jewish communities of Matan, Nirit, and Yarchit...

Mail has not reached or left several Jewish communities south of Hevron - Beit Haggai, Adurah, and Otniel - for three days.  A Postal Authority spokesman said that the army had requested that travel in the area be minimized.

Damaged estimated at over four million shekels has been caused at many intersections within the Green Line.  Traffic lights, lampposts, highway fences, and signs were uprooted by the Israeli-Arab "demonstrators."  Voice of Israel Radio reported today that it is not yet clear who will pay for this damage.  Official statistics show 49 Arabs dead and 1,878 wounded since the beginning of the violence.

Shlomo Gravitz, a senior Jewish National Fund leader, reacted today to the forest fires in northern Israel:  -  "There have been 80 cases of arson in the past day, destroying thousands of dunams of forest.  It is definite that they were all arson, without exception.  It was systematically done - torching one place after another, in order to destroy the forests of the Land of Israel.  In several areas, the Arabs even tried to prevent firemen from putting out the fires.  They themselves desecrate the same land that they claim to hold holy."

4. ISRAELI-ARAB VIOLENCE HITS ISRAELI PUBLIC LIKE THUNDER
Gershon Adani, a 35-year-old father of two, from the Galilee town of Oshrah near Acre, described what happened to him yesterday:

"I was on my way home, when suddenly I was stopped by a mob of Israeli-Arabs.  They were stopping all the drivers, and asking to see their papers.  They let the Arab drivers go, but not the Jewish ones. I started to tell them that I was their neighbor, and have lived here among them for years, etc., but they began pelting me with bricks, rocks, and anything else...  I ran into the car, locked the door shut, and somehow was able to get through the roadblock.  I was hurt very badly.  I got to a police checkpoint, but they couldn't help me because the ambulance was not able to get through the Arab roadblock."

Adani said, "I was among those who believed in co-existence and the like.  But now, I don't know, something has really changed in my thinking...  I don't know if we can go back to what it was like before...  I am not optimistic about the future."

Erez Kreisler, head of the Misgav Regional Council in the Galilee, responded to the above:

"In the past few days, there have been 170 incidents here: 30 attacks on Jewish towns, 10 firebombs and shooting, 20 roadblocks, 40 cases of rocks and bricks, and 70 cases of arson.  This is a real war situation - our children didn't go to school, and we were stuck inside our towns.  Only after it was understood that there was an existential danger to the towns did we get help from police and army.  [Regarding the future of Jewish-Arab relations:] We worked hard for years to plant the seeds of cooperation and harmonic co-existence, and what we have harvested is hatred.  I believed that we could live together... I knew that there would be disputes, but I never dreamt that it would reach such an existentially-dangerous extent as actual attempts to
burn our towns down to the ground."

Journalist Amnon Lord of Makor Rishon, a former Peace Now member, discussed his reaction, and that of his left-wing friends, to the present Israeli-Arab violence:

"What is clear is that something very serious is happening, true seismic shockwaves...  It has even surprised me to a certain extent, because though I have changed some of my opinions [over the years], I never thought I would come to this conclusion:  Israel's Arabs are our number-one enemy.  Some of my friends on the left have also come to this conclusion, but they are surprised, and say that it is a bitter truth."

5. MA'ARIV ACCUSES
Israel's daily paper Ma'ariv, not known for its right-wing views, editorialized today:

"Over the years, leaders of the Arab public explained that the continuing discrimination against Israeli Arabs is what led to feelings of bitterness and frustration.  There was much justice in
such remarks.  But it is now clear that the traditional claim of discrimination is only a cover for the true motive.  Those who are outraged over discrimination demonstrate, but do not shout 'Death to the Jews'.   Those who shout 'Slaughter the Jews' do not want a working sewage system, but rather a Palestinian state on the ruins of Israel."

6. IF HE'S BEATEN, HE MUST BE PALESTINIAN
This past Saturday, The New York Times and many other papers published a picture - supplied by the Associated Press - of an angry Israeli policeman and a badly-beaten and bloodied man, with the caption, "An Israeli policeman and a Palestinian on the Temple Mount."  The picture can be seen at <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>. Dr. Aaron Grossman, of Chicago, Ill., sent the following letter to the Times:

"Regarding your picture on page A5 (Sept. 30) of the Israeli soldier and the Palestinian on the Temple Mount - that Palestinian is actually my son, Tuvia Grossman, a Jewish student from Chicago.  He, and two of his friends, were pulled from their taxicab while traveling in Jerusalem, by a mob of Palestinian Arabs and were severely beaten and stabbed.  That picture could not have been taken on the Temple Mount because there are no gas stations on the Temple Mount and certainly none with Hebrew lettering, like the one clearly seen behind the Israeli soldier attempting to protect my son from the mob."

Tuvia Grossman was on his way to the Western Wall on Friday afternoon, and has been hospitalized ever since with head injuries and a stab wound.  He told Arutz-7 today,

"I was in a taxi on the way to the Kotel [Western Wall] and we got stoned...  [They took me out of the car and beat me and] I gave a scream, and for a second they let go of me, and I said Shma Yisrael, because I thought it was all over...  After they let go of me, I ran - even though I had a knife in my leg, G-d gave me the strength to run and I was able to make it up the hill where there were soldiers by the gas station and they took care of me.  But I was being beaten for around 5 or 6 minutes with a rock on the top of my head, and I was stabbed in the back of my leg and kicked and punched all over my body."

"[When I saw the mis-captioned AP picture] I was extremely, extremely upset.  People see a picture of a youth and they think that it's a Palestinian being beaten by Israelis, it changes their world view and makes them think that it's the Israelis beating up the Arabs.  I was extremely upset.  It was totally the opposite.  That policeman was yelling at the Arabs to back off, and was protecting me from them - so to change it around and to say that he was beating me, that's just total distortion, and the world must be notified about how this is not true - the Jews are the ones suffering at the hands of the Arabs."

The Times published a correction today, in which it identified Tuvia Grossman as "an American student in Israel" - not as a Jew who was beaten by Arabs.  The "correction" also noted that "Mr. Grossman was wounded" in "Jerusalem's Old City" - although in fact it occurred in n Arab-populated neighborhood of Jerusalem, not in the Old City.  An Associated Press spokesman told Arutz-7 that it was looking into the matter.

7. YESHA COUNCIL DEMANDS
The Yesha Council - the Council of Jewish Communities of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza - released the following statement today:  "The Yesha Council demands that Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, protect the citizens of Israel on both sides of the green line.  We demand that he order the Israeli Army to prevent violence, and not hold the citizens of Israel hostage by closing road arteries to us, while Arab traffic is allowed to freely travel on the roads...  These violent riots were orchestrated by the Palestinian Authority and coordinated with Israeli Arabs and Bedouin. The time has come for the Israeli public and the world Jewish community to realize that the Jewish communities of Yesha are only the appetizers for Arafat and that it is his intention to take all of 'Palestine.'  ...It is common knowledge that there are hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons within the Arab towns and villages. We demand that the terrorists are
restrained and shootings be prevented.  The leadership of Yesha has given fair notice to the heads of the army, that if they will not open the roads, then we will open them."

8. SHARON CLEARED IN CHICAGO
Yet another voice "clearing" Ariel Sharon of responsibility for the Rosh HaShanah Arab Assault appeared in a Chicago Sun-Times editorial yesterday.  Excerpts:

"The rioting in Israel is Ariel Sharon's fault, right? Wrong. From the start of the rioting, complaints have been heard about the visit by Israeli opposition leader Sharon to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem last week. But however provocative that was, it should be remembered that the visit was a nonviolent act. Sharon threw no stones, ignited no Molotov cocktails, fired no shots. Those came from the Palestinians. The responsibility for the killings--including the heart-wrenching death of that 12-year-old boy recorded by a TV camera--and injuries in this terrible violence falls on Yasser Arafat and the Palestinians.

"In visiting the Temple Mount, Sharon was making a statement about the importance of the holy site to Jews and about the opposition by him and many Israelis to Prime Minister Ehud Barak's willingness to relinquish some sovereignty over Jerusalem to the Palestinians. Political statements inspire passions, but that is not a reason to avoid them. In America's long history, anti-war protesters, civil rights advocates and labor activists launched demonstrations knowing they would provoke a violent response..."
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