HHMI Newsgroup Archives

To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Thursday, October 12, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
   <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 / Tishrei 13, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:

   1. TWO ISRAELI SOLDIERS LYNCHED IN RAMALLAH; IDF RETALIATES
   2. THE RETALIATION
   3. REACTIONS
   4. PALESTINIAN SHOOTING ATTACKS INCREASED LAST NIGHT
   5. REACTIONS BY YESHA LEADERS

1. TWO ISRAELI SOLDIERS LYNCHED IN RAMALLAH; IDF RETALIATES

The IDF reacted to today's brutal lynching of two Israeli soldiers in Ramallah with five bombing raids on carefully-selected buildings in Ramallah and Gaza.

Today's events began when two soldiers, on their way back to their army base in or near Beit El after a short furlough from their reserves duty, were brutally lynched by a wild mob of Arabs.  Palestinian sources falsely reported that they were undercover agents.  The Israelis entered the city by mistake, and were detained by the Palestinian police.  After they were brought to the police station in central Ramallah, a crowd of between 1,000 and 2,000 Arabs broke into the building, overcame the police, and murderously beat and killed the Israelis.  Some of the Palestinian police took part in the lynch.  The body of one of the Israelis was dragged around the city chained to a car.  Television pictures show Arabs in the window of the station, alternately beating and stabbing someone inside and gleefully making a V sign out the window; the video clip can be seen on Arutz-7's homepage, <www.israelnationalnews.com>.

The soldiers were viciously beaten all over their bodies.  Military officials who handled the bodies told Arutz-7 that they were "deliberately tortured and abused...  The bodies were mutilated and torn to pieces.  There was great difficulty in recognizing them..." The bodies will not be autopsied unless specific permission is received from the families of the dead soldiers; as of now, such permission has not been received.

At approximately 5 PM this afternoon, Palestinian Arabs shot at an Israeli news-crew from Channel Two television; two cameramen were wounded.  Arabs shot at Israeli targets near Adam and in Hevron late this afternoon; no one was hurt.

2. THE RETALIATION
In Ramallah, the targets of the first IDF bombing attack, at approximately 3:00 PM, were Palestinian television buildings, from where heavy incitement against Israel is broadcast daily; Arafat's headquarters; and the police station where the lynch occurred.  Two of four Palestinian television stations ceased broadcasting afterwards, and Palestinian Radio is broadcasting weakly, if at all.  A second attack two hours later targeted other buildings in Ramallah.  Military installations in northern Gaza were bombed as well, including five Palestinian Authority ships and a floor of
the Palestinian police that housed the Tanzim force.

IDF officials made clear today that today's retaliatory bombings were "a symbolic signal to the PA that we will no longer show restraint in the face of continued attacks...  This shows that the IDF will from now on initiate attacks, and not only react."  The officials emphasized, however, that the army is not interested in an escalation.  The IDF says that all PA officials were warned three hours in advance that their buildings were in danger.  The army is prepared for a possible escalation on the part of the Palestinians.  IDF tanks are now surrounding all PA towns.  Arafat's headquarters and home in Gaza were not bombed, contrary to some reports.

Gaza security chief Muhammad Dahlan told Gazan Arab residents that IDF troops and tanks had filled Gaza streets.  The IDF spokesman dismissed these reports, and said that the PA is now waging a propaganda war.  PA officials said that the IDF bombings today are a "declaration of war on the PA."

The residents of Psagot, bordering immediately adjacent to the Ramallah suburb of Al Bireh, were instructed to enter their bomb shelters.  The cellular phone system in the PA areas is on the verge of collapse, and Palestinians have been called upon by their leaders not to use their cellular phones.

3. REACTIONS
Communications and Housing Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said after the lynching: "There is no peace process, period. It is dead, it is behind us. Arafat wants war, that's all."

Interior Minister Chaim Ramon, a leader of the peace camp, said, "In the end, there will be peace, because there has to be.  But meanwhile, Arafat has made a very big mistake, which will cost his people a terrible price.  On the very verge of peace, he has chosen to go the way of war...  In his schizophrenic personality, his desire to attain diplomatic gains was apparently overcome by his violent, terrorist nature..."

MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz), after the bombings: "Barak reached the limit of his restraint, I think this retaliatory action was unavoidable.  After the lynch of today, and all the events of the past days, I estimate that there was no other choice, as the situation was deteriorating and if there was no reaction on our part, it would have continued to deteriorate."

The bombings were preceded by militant remarks by two government ministers - Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Dalia Itzik.  The latter called for military offensives that will hurt the other side.  Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, National Religious Party, said after the lynch, "The Palestinian Authority has officially turned into a body that cooperates with bloodthirsty Arab mobs.  This is a war for all intents and purposes, and we must relate to the PA representatives in this way."

MK Rehavam (Gandi) Ze'evi (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) said this morning after the lynch:  "Tanzim head Marwan Bargouti must be considered a wanted criminal and must be arrested.  Electricity should be closed off to Ramallah, and no traffic should be allowed in or out; Arafat's air traffic must be stopped, Barak must resign, and Beilin must be fired and leave public life."

4. PALESTINIAN SHOOTING ATTACKS INCREASED LAST NIGHT
Close to 30 Palestinian shooting incidents took place last night and today. Palestinian police opened fire this morning on IDF soldiers in the Gush Katif junction; no one was hurt. Earlier, a firebomb was thrown at a Jewish school in Jaffa; a classroom was burnt. Not far from there, a Jewish boy was stabbed yesterday. Last night, there was heavy firing in Psagot - where bullets penetrated one house - and in Hevron, where three soldiers were wounded. The Jews of Hevron, for the umpteenth time, demanded that the army take over the hills of Abu Sneinah overlooking the Jewish homes and where much of the shooting originates - as was promised for such circumstances at the time of the signing of the Hevron withdrawal agreement by the Netanyahu government in early '97.

Other shootings took place outside N'vei Tzuf, wounding one Jew, and three soldiers were lightly wounded in shooting incidents in Gush Katif and Halhoul; Palestinians fired shots outside Rechelim, Luban a-Sharkiyeh (north of Ramallah), Tulkarm, Rafiah, and elsewhere.

5. REACTIONS BY YESHA LEADERS
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rabbi of the Shomron town of Brachah, said: "There is no choice.  The solution proposed by [some on the left] to give away the settlements in Yesha is not an option.  If we withdraw, it must be all the way to the sea.  What, do they think that if we retreat to a narrow strip along the coast, they won't want to attack us?  Our only option is to defeat them."  He said that he met with army leaders this week, and told them that many of his townspeople have begun to despair of the army's ability to protect them.  "The soldiers plead with us to do speak to the politicians with whom we have connections, because they see Arabs coming to bombard Jewish cars with rocks, and the government does not allow them to shoot!"  When asked if he is then in favor of an all-out offensive, he said, "Yes, 100%!  It should begin with killing... the top commanders who drive the mobs.  Yes, I am wary of the world's reaction, but it will be against us in any event, so it might as well come when we are strong."

I am in favor of an all-out attack.  It should begin with killing Arafat, and then the top Palestinian commanders that drive the mobs.  Yes, I am wary of the world's reaction, but it will be against us in any event, so it might as well come when we are strong."

Elon Moreh resident Benny Katzover spoke to Voice of Israel radio after the murder of the two soldiers today and the resulting Israeli bombing of PA buildings in Ramallah:  "I was part of the funeral for Hillel Lieberman, who was murdered this past weekend.  He was murdered after the IDF pulled out of Joseph's Tomb; this move  - the abandonment of Jewish holy sites - was translated by the Palestinians as a weakness, and led to the lynch of Lieberman.  When Israel decided not to act harshly against Shechem residents, who carried out that lynch, we were offered a second lynch, today in Ramallah.   Why does the Israeli military respond only after it costs us in Jewish lives?"

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To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News Brief:  Friday, October 13, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Oct. 13, 2000 / Tishrei 14, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. ANCIENT JERICHO SYNAGOGUE SET ABLAZE BY PALESTINIANS
   2. REACTIONS TO THE ANCIENT-SYNAGOGUE BURNING
   3. BARAK ATTEMPTING TO EXPAND GOVERNMENT

1.  ANCIENT JERICHO SYNAGOGUE SET ABLAZE BY PALESTINIANS
A mob of Palestinian Arabs from Jericho set the ancient "Shalom Al Yisrael" synagogue on fire last night, and the wood structure was burnt to the ground. Palestinians prevented Israeli fire trucks from putting out the fire.  About two hours later, the Israel Air Force bombed a Palestinian Authority police academy building in Jericho, in retaliation.  Early this morning, the Air Force bombed targets in Shechem as well.  A French news agency reports that Israel Air Force planes circled targets in Lebanon this morning.

Minister of Diaspora Affairs Rabbi Michael Melchior (Meimad) told Israel Radio today that the mistake of Oslo was that Israel did not do enough to stop the Palestinian Authority's continuing and intense incitement to hatred of Israel, to the extent that was reflected in the brutal lynching of the two Israeli soldiers by the crazed Palestinian mob.

2. REACTIONS TO THE ANCIENT-SYNAGOGUE BURNING
"A Palestinian Authority that burns people by day, and synagogues at night, has no right to exist."  So said former MK Chanan Porat, who was very active on behalf of maintaining a Jewish presence at the site over the past few years, to Arutz-7 last night.  "We must know that our mission today is to put an end to this body, and to return to all of Eretz Yisrael and its holy sites. I have no doubt that we will have to return to Jericho and Shechem, because if not, these places will continue to serve as bases from which the murderers will shoot at us..." MK Benny Elon called on the government to retaliate for the desecration of yet another holy Jewish site by bombing the nearby Palestinian Authority casino. "We must hit Arafat in his pocket," Elon
said, "which will make more of a dent in him than all the Palestinian children that he sends to be killed."

Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau recalled that after the NRP's Chanan Porat and Chaim Falk turned to him almost seven years ago on the matter of the Jewish site in Jericho, "I turned to then-Prime Minister Rabin, and he promised that a yeshiva would be allowed to operate there. He later came back to me with a letter showing a special clause in the Oslo I agreement, stipulating that a 'Jewish spiritual center' would operate there, and that Israelis would be allowed to travel back and forth."

Yisrael Medad, member of the Executive Board of the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue - the name comes from the words that appear on the ancient mosaic floor there - released the following statement: "The act of senseless vandalism that is the destruction of the Shalom Al Yisrael Synagogue in Jericho, stoked by evil minds and fed by a cruel hatred, will be answered. The 1,250-year old mosaic floor will be restored to the best of our ability, and Jewish prayers and sounds of Torah learning will again be heard in the city that was the first of the conquests of Joshua in the Land of Israel."

3. BARAK ATTEMPTING TO EXPAND GOVERNMENT
A national-emergency government is apparently in formation, although many questions remain unanswered.  Prime Minister Barak will meet with heads of most of the Knesset factions today.  The Meretz party announced that it would not yet respond to Barak's invitation to join such a government, as it is not yet clear what its diplomatic policies will be.  The planned government will not involve the distribution of portfolios - too complex a task for the short time available - but is scheduled to include almost all the parties of the Knesset.  It was agreed that the government would be formed for the period of a month - during which time issues such as the secular revolution would be frozen - and would then be reconsidered in light of the circumstances.

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To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Sunday, October 15, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, Oct. 15, 2000 / Tishrei 16, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. FOURTH ISRAELI CAPTURED BY HIZBULLAH
   2. VIOLENCE CONTINUES
   3. NO CONDITIONS FOR SUMMIT
   4. PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT TO MURDER JEWS

1. FOURTH ISRAELI CAPTURED BY HIZBULLAH
Sheikh Nasrallah, head of the Hizbullah terrorist organization, announced this morning that it had captured a high-ranking Israeli officer.  Only several hours later did the terrorists release the name of their prisoner:  Chanan Tennenbaum, whom they termed "head of the Mossad."  Shortly afterwards, Israel confirmed that such a man exists, that he was a reserves soldier abroad on private personal business, and that it sees his kidnapping as a "very grave" incident.  Hizbullah is currently holding three Israeli soldiers it captured eight days ago along the Lebanese-Israeli border.

2. VIOLENCE CONTINUES
Palestinian shooting incidents and disturbances continued today, at Rachel's Tomb, Hevron, the Ayosh junction north of Ramallah, and elsewhere.  A car overturned on the Tunnels Highway between Israel and Gush Etzion when Arabs threw rocks at it; four Jewish passengers were lightly injured.

Government spokesman Nachman Shai said yesterday that there had been 30 Palestinian shooting incidents against Israeli targets in the preceding 24 hours.  These included heavy gunfire at the Jewish neighborhood in Hevron, from the Abu Sneinah hills.  An Army Radio reporter noted that the army's fortifications in the area are not effective.  Hevron spokesmen remind their listeners again that the government promised, at the time of the army's withdrawal from most of Hevron, that should the high ground, such as Abu Sneinah, be used to attack Jewish targets, the army would retake the areas.  One soldier was lightly wounded by Arab-hurled rocks.

Several incidents took place in Jerusalem:  a firebomb was hurled last night at the tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik, and two others were thrown at a Hadassah-Mt. Scopus Hospital building; no one was hurt.  A bus going to the Western Wall was bombarded by stones.  On the road from northern Jerusalem to Binyamin in Samaria, Arabs shot at Israeli soldiers near the Arab village of Hizme, near Pisgat Ze'ev.  Around Jerusalem, boulders were hurled down at cars on the Ma'aleh Adumim highway, and Israeli cars were stoned near Beitar.  In the Galilee, Arabs stoned two Egged buses last night on the road from Acre to Carmiel; one woman was lightly hurt.

North of Jerusalem, between Ramallah and Beit El, an Arab driver heading for Israel's military court tried to break through the Israeli checkpoint; soldiers fired, hit a window of the car, and the car sped off.  In Gush Katif (southern Gaza), there was shooting today at Israeli soldiers, and rocks and firebombs were hurled at Israeli bases there.

On the other hand, at last night's soccer game at Jerusalem's Teddy Stadium, two people shouted, "Kahane was right!" - and were arrested for 'incitement.'

3. NO CONDITIONS FOR SUMMIT
Prime Minister Barak has agreed to take part in a summit meeting tomorrow in Sharm a-Sheikh, with the participation of Yasser Arafat, U.S. President Clinton, King Abdullah of Jordan, and a European Union representative; the meeting will be hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  Barak told his Cabinet today that he believes that, in the end, the peace process will continue, but that Arafat is currently not ready.

Tanzim head Marwan Bargouti said today that the PA's agreement to take part in tomorrow's summit does not mean the end of the intifada against Israel.  "The battle for Al-Aksa [a mosque on the Temple Mount] will continue until the establishment of a Palestinian state," he declared.

The official Israeli position regarding the summit meeting was expressed in a press briefing last night by Nachman Shai, recently appointed as Coordinator of Information Policy for the government during the ongoing crisis with the Palestinians.  Shai said that there are "no preconditions for the summit" from either the Israeli or the Palestinian side.  He emphasized Israel's "demands - not preconditions - that we expect the Palestinians to respond to, to carry out: ... The summit should put an end to the recent violence which was initiated by the Palestinians [and] should produce an agreement on the operational steps that Chairman Arafat will take in order to avoid further violence...  We insist that those [Hamas and Islamic Jihad] terrorists [released by the PA] will be immediately be arrested and put back in jail...  [The] ongoing incitement in the Palestinian media, especially television and radio, against Israel... has to be stopped immediately
by the Palestinians."  Another demand was the disarming of the Tanzim organization, and a Cabinet statement today added also the "preservation of holy places, such as Joseph's Tomb and the Shalom al Yisrael synagogue."

Shai also said that there will be no diplomatic negotiations at the summit; "[these] will take place in the future, when there is no violence."  He also made sure to emphasize that Israel had not agreed to an international inquiry into the violence that began over two weeks ago, but only to "fact-finding."

Opposition leader Ariel Sharon of the Likud says that if Ehud Barak makes the slightest move to advance the Oslo process during tomorrow's meeting, the opposition will try to topple his government.   Coalition whip MK Ophir Pines-Paz reiterated that the government does not need Sharon's warnings, since its policy is that there will be no diplomatic negotiations until the violence has been controlled. Approximately half of the Likud Knesset faction is against establishing a national-emergency government at present.  They say that if a cease-fire is achieved tomorrow, there will no longer be an emergency situation, and the moves to topple the government could proceed as before.  The Likud MKs will convene tonight to decide the matter.

4. PALESTINIAN INCITEMENT TO MURDER JEWS
Palestinian Television continued over the weekend to re-broadcast excerpts from a Friday sermon in the Zayed bin Sultan Aal Nahyan mosque in Gaza.  Translation supplied by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI):

"The Jews are Jews, whether Labor or Likud...  They do not have any moderates or any advocates of peace.  They are all liars...  O brother believers, the criminals, the terrorists are the Jews, who have butchered our children, orphaned them, widowed our women and desecrated our holy places and sacred sites.  They are the terrorists.  They are the ones who must be butchered and killed, as Allah the Almighty said:  'Fight them: Allah will torture them at your hands, and will humiliate them and will help you to overcome them, and will relieve the minds of the believers...  The cost and the dowry of this bride, the dowry of this paradise, is that we fight in the path of Allah, and kill and be killed. Allah has purchased from the believers their persons and their property in return for the promise that they shall have paradise, for they fight in the cause of Allah, and they slay the enemy and are slain.  This is a promise that He [Allah] has
made incumbent upon Himself, as set out in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Koran.  The Jews are the allies of the Christians, and the Christians are the allies of the Jews, despite the enmity that exists between them.  The enmity between the Jews and the Christians is deep, but all of them are in agreement against the monotheists against those who say, 'There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger,' that is they are against you, O Muslims.  Even if an agreement of Gaza is signed - we shall not forget Haifa, and Acre, and the Galilee, and Jaffa, and the Triangle and the Negev, and the rest of our cities and villages.  It is only a matter of time...  Have no mercy on the Jews, no matter where they are, in any country. Fight them, wherever you are.  Wherever you meet them, kill them.  Wherever you are, kill those Jews and those Americans who are like them."

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To:            arutz-7@IsraelNationalNews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@IsraelNationalNews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Monday, October 16, 2000

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 / Tishrei 17, 5761
------------------------------------------------


TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. PALESTINIAN SHOOTINGS AND ATTACKS ESCALATE
   2. THE STONE THAT WAS REJECTED - "EVEN MA'ASU HABONIM"
   3. CHRISTIANS SUPPORT ISRAELI JERUSALEM
   4. 94 SENATORS SUPPORT ISRAEL

1. PALESTINIAN SHOOTINGS AND ATTACKS ESCALATE
Palestinian shootings on Israeli targets increased this afternoon, after a short period of relative calm.  Arabs shot at Israelis in two locations near Shechem, at the Ayosh junction north of Ramallah, and elsewhere.  These incidents were generally accompanied by rock-throwings and other violence.  All in all, two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded, while two Palestinians were killed.  Other Arab violence took place in Beit Sahour, along the road to Beitar Illit, Bethlehem, and other places.

Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem was specially opened for the Chief Rabbis to pray there - the violence of the past two weeks has caused prevented its opening - and Palestinian youths took advantage to throw rocks at the soldiers there.  The IDF regional commander in Shechem said today that the army is continuing to act with "the restraint that comes from strength, in order not to escalate the situation still further."

A Palestinian policeman fired, from a moving car, at a convoy of Israeli cars near the Gush Katif junction late this morning.  Near Shechem, Palestinians opened fire several times on an Israeli tractor working on a bypass road there.  Palestinians fired on the Binyamin town of Psagot early this afternoon; no one was hurt in the above incidents.

2. THE STONE THAT WAS REJECTED - "EVEN MA'ASU HABONIM"
Gershon Solomon and the Temple Mount Faithful were again prevented from ascending to the Temple Mount this holiday - something which has become somewhat of a tradition. The police say that the Mount must be closed to the group because of threats of violence broadcast by Voice of Palestine Radio. Solomon and associates were planning to lay the cornerstone for the rebuilding of the Holy Temple.  Over 10,000 worshippers arrived at the Western Wall this morning for the traditional Priestly Blessing ceremony held every Pesach and Sukkot.

3. CHRISTIANS SUPPORT ISRAELI JERUSALEM
A unique petition calling for a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty, signed and endorsed by millions of Christians worldwide, was presented on Saturday night by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem to Diaspora Affairs Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior.  The occasion was the ICEJ's 21st Annual Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, which, despite the violence that has rocked the region and caused many tourists from canceling their trips to Israel, was attended by over 4,000 delegates - more than 90% of those who had signed up.  The petition was signed by over 100,000 Christians from 118 countries, and was endorsed by Christian ministries representing another 15 million members around the world.  The petition supports "Israel's exclusive claim to sovereignty over united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. We commend Israel for its exemplary record in guaranteeing access to the biblical sites in Jerusalem and throughout Israel, and support the continuation of Israel in this role."

Patrick Goodenough, of the ICEJ, recently told Ruth Matar of Women in Green on Arutz-7 that when he and a friend once went up to the Temple Mount to pray, "we were prevented from doing so by Moslem Waqf officials there."  Ruth Matar then played, on air, a quote of Yasser Arafat explaining his refusal to agree to Israeli sovereignty on the Mount with the words, "I cannot betray the Christian people."

4.  94 SENATORS SUPPORT ISRAEL

Ninety-four Senators have signed a letter to President Clinton expressing solidarity with the State and people of Israel at this time of crisis, condemns the Palestinian leadership for encouraging the violence and doing little to stop it, urges the administration to veto the passage of unbalanced resolutions at the U.N. Security Council, and calls on all parties to revive the peace process.  The letter also calls on President Clinton to take all necessary steps to secure the return of the three Israelis soldiers kidnapped by Hizbullah terrorists.  The letter begins, "We write to you to express both our solidarity with the State of Israel at this moment of crisis and our profound disappointment and frustration with PLO Chairman Arafat. It is, of course, unacceptable for him to resort to violence at any time. But to usher in a deliberate campaign of violence now, when the Government of Israel has been willing to consider unprecedented and painful compromises to achieve a final peace agreement, can only cast deep and troubling doubts about his desire for peace."
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