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From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Sunday, January 14, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, Jan. 14, 2001 / Tevet 19, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. OFFICIAL P.A. ANTI-SEMITISM: DONKEY DRESSED IN A TALLIT
   2. P.A. EXECUTES COLLABORATORS
   3. "THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS THE HEART"
   4. YAHALOM FOR SHARON

1. OFFICIAL P.A. ANTI-SEMITISM: DONKEY DRESSED IN A TALLIT
Hundreds of Palestinians, including leading Palestinian Authority and Fatah officials, conducted a hate-filled rally against Israel on Friday, complete with a donkey clad in a tallit [Jewish prayer shawl, known as a Jewish religious symbol all around the world] treading over a swastika-adorned Israeli flag.

The hatred - which was manifest in Ramallah, the city in which two Israeli soldiers were brutally lynched three months ago - also featured the burning of an Israeli flag, speeches against Clinton's bridging proposals, and calls not to give up on the "right of return" or Jerusalem.  Afterwards, some of the demonstrators made their way to the northern entrance of the city, where they began shooting at IDF soldiers and attacking them with large rocks.

2. P.A. EXECUTES COLLABORATORS
Yesterday's two executions by the Palestinian Authority of collaborators with Israel place the PA, Israel's General Security Service, and international human rights' organizations such as Amnesty and B'Tselem in a bad light.  So say some Israeli legal sources today.  Allan Bani-Odeh and Magdi Mikkawi were executed by the Palestinians for assisting Israel in the assassination of terrorist leaders.  The executions took place in Gaza and Shechem, in front of cheering crowds of thousands.  Tel Aviv attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, who volunteered to represent one of yesterday's two executed Palestinians last month, says that the sentence was handed down after only a two-hour trial; "the world can now see that the PA is a 'banana republic' with a brutal justice system that completely disregards human rights."

"Where are the international organizations like Amnesty International, Middle East Watch and B'Tselem," questioned Darshan-Leitner, "which made no effort at all to save Bani-Odeh?"  This morning, B'Tselem director Eitan Fellner condemned the executions - but said that he sees no difference between them and the recent Israeli policy of targeting and killing Palestinian terrorist leaders.  "The Israelis are trying to prevent terrorist attacks," he said, "while the Palestinians are trying to prevent cooperation with Israel in what they consider terror against the PA."  Prime Minister Barak condemned the PA executions, saying that they are reminiscent of "dark periods in history."

Atty. Leitner said that after she wrote to the GSS asking it to take immediate action to save Bani-Odeh, the organization denied that he was a GSS agent. "These agents endangered their lives in Israel's war against Palestinian terrorists," she said today, "and when these agents are captured, the GSS must do for them whatever it would do for any of its soldiers taken prisoner on the battlefield by any of its enemies. The GSS simply abandoned Bani-Odeh to the Palestinian security forces."  The PA has announced that additional executions will take place this week.

Israel Resource News Agency reports that Voice of Palestine radio reported prominently on the executions of the two men convicted of "cooperation" with Israel.  IRNA notes that, "This is the only use of 'cooperation' in the context of Israel that has been heard on Palestinian radio," despite the current efforts supposedly being made for "security cooperation" with Israel.  Palestinian human rights organizations reported to Israel's Channel Two last night that Arafat's regime has assembled a list of more than 20,000 Palestinians who are slated for execution for working for Israel.

A committee of Arab supporters of Israel - branded as collaborating traitors by Palestinians - has petitioned the Supreme Court to order the government to cut off all ties with the Palestinian Authority. The reason given for the suit:  the executions by the PA of collaborators with Israel.  The committee states that the executions are in violation of the Oslo accords, and places many collaborators in mortal danger.

3. "THE TEMPLE MOUNT IS THE HEART"
Rabbi Yehuda Amital, co-Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion and leader of the left-wing religious party Meimad, likens the possibility of giving away the Temple Mount to a Torah law for which one should "be killed and not violate."  Makor Rishon newspaper reports that during his Tenth of Tevet lecture to his students nine days ago, Rabbi Amital said, "Just like the life of an individual is not the supreme value, and there are prohibitions [such as idol worship] which we are commanded to uphold even at the expense of our lives, so too in our national life there are values for which the society and the state must place itself in danger.  In our national life, there are issues that are 'red lines,' for which we must 'be killed and not violate.'"  Giving up our sovereignty on the Temple Mount can be thought of as one of these, Rabbi Amital said, adding that a society that places the sanctity of life above every other single value, "will deteriorate to ethical corruption.  Peace, too, no matter how important it is, is not the sole supreme value, and there are things which we may not give up even for peace."  He also said that giving away the Temple Mount would lead to the detachment of masses of Jews from their Judaism, as it would be a break from "historic Judaism."

Health Minister Roni Milo, of the Center Party, handed in his resignation from the government today.  His resignation letter states that as early as July, during the Camp David talks, he said that he would not be able to serve in a government that would agree to give up the Temple Mount.

Popular protests against the government's policies continue.  Women in Green stood outside the Cabinet meeting this morning, chanting, "Only Three Weeks Left for this Government of Blood."...  A convoy of cars from Pisgat Ze'ev - the northern Jerusalem neighborhood that is threatened with isolation and encirclement under the Clinton/Barak Jerusalem plan, and where a firebomb was thrown Friday night - set off for the Prime Minister's home last night.  Close to 100 cars joined in the spontaneous protest...  At the Furedis Junction in the Haifa/Zikhron Yaakov area, a rally was held under the theme, "The Temple Mount is the Heart." ...

4. YAHALOM FOR SHARON
Shas and Likud party leaders met this afternoon for a campaign-strategy planning session.  Cooperation between the two parties on behalf of Ariel Sharon's Prime Ministerial campaign has
been lame thus far.  The election will be held on Feb. 6th.  Earlier today, Sharon met with National Religious Party faction head MK Sha'ul Yahalom.  Yahalom told Arutz-7 afterwards, " Sharon told me unequivocally that he would never agree to a division of Jerusalem, nor to a withdrawal from the Jordan Valley, and that all the settlements will remain in place because he sees all of them as being in necessary security zones."  Yahalom added a word of caution:  "I would advise all my friends on my [political] right not to press Sharon too hard, and allow him some room for vagueness - after all, we don't want only the right-wing to vote for Sharon, we want also some of the center..."

Asked if thought that there was a possibility of war breaking out if Sharon wins, Yahalom said, "I think that there is a greater possibility of such if Barak remains Prime Minister - because if he doesn't reach an agreement, then the Palestinians will wage war, but if he does reach an agreement, then our security will be as weak as if there was a war - even IDF Chief of Staff Mofaz says the agreement as currently formulated is very dangerous for Israel..."

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From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Monday, January 15, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Jan. 15, 2001 / Tevet 20, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. FRIEND OF VICTIM TALKS ABOUT SECURITY SITUATION IN GAZA
   2. CANDIDATES' REMARKS
   3. ARAB MAN, SUSPECTED OF COOPERATING WITH ISRAEL, WAS MURDERED

1. FRIEND OF VICTIM TALKS ABOUT SECURITY SITUATION IN GAZA
Shai Chemo, a friend of Roni Tzalach and a fellow-resident in the small community of Kfar Yam, spoke today about the security situation in Gush Katif (south Gaza): "I took part in the search last night for my friend Roni, and with all due respect, I was ashamed of the IDF's performance.  The army took such a long time to show up and dispatch search teams that we civilians began the search on our own.  We found, right across from the entrance gate to [the Jewish town of] N'vei Dekalim, a powerful pair of IDF binoculars inside an Arab greenhouse. The greenhouse was a full-fledged observation post, where the binoculars were used to note every single car that entered N'vei Dekalim [the "capital" of Gush Katif], and everything was written down in notebooks.  We showed this to the battalion commander, and he was in total shock.  The army has no idea of what is happening here in Gush Katif.  Anyone who thinks that the residents here are extremists - I can just say that I live in the community of Pe'at Sadeh, and there is another place here called Rafiach Yam; both were established here in Gush Katif by the Labor party; we are aligned with the party of Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak.  It was not the National Religious Party, or another right-wing party, that built these towns - it was Labor.  Extremists?  We are accomplished farmers, whose produce is chosen for export, and trying to provide for our families...  And we have been abandoned.  The problem is that there is no one to talk to. There is a government in this country, and it has abandoned us.  The army's hands are tied...  Roni [last night's terrorist victim] arrived here in the framework of his army service, fell in love with the place, established a family in Kfar Yam, developed a farm here - he was one of those who are the pride of Gush Katif.  He was a family man, he has one son, and I heard today that his wife is in her second month of pregnancy...  How can it be that shots are fired here every night and all night upon our homes, bombs go off on the road, and people are murdered?  It does not cease to amaze me how the Israeli government, for every slap in the face it receives, turns its other cheek for another slap. "We are settling the Land of Israel, and we love this area.  We live here; we came here to build meaningful lives; and we have founded successful farms and agricultural enterprises.  We are connected to this place with our hearts, and despite all that is happening here, we will continue to live here in Gush Katif - even though Ehud Barak wants to retreat from here, and retreat from the Temple Mount, and retreat from Judea and Samaria, and the Golan Heights - the guy wants to give up the whole country..."

2. CANDIDATES' REMARKS
In an interview with a local radio station in Tel Aviv today, Prime Minister Ehud Barak refrained from promising that he would not transfer sovereignty over the Temple Mount to an international body. Regarding the possibility that he would be called upon to quit the race in favor of Shimon Peres, Barak said that such a move would not affect the final result of the election.  "Both Shimon Peres and I have learned not to trust pre-election polls," he said.  Likud Prime Ministerial candidate Ariel Sharon, touring the Negev (southern Israel) today, expressed his objections to Barak's plan to give away the nearby Halutza sands.  "I have said explicitly, and I say so again:  this area will not be handed over under any circumstances," Sharon said.  "Those of you who are concerned over my commitment in this area, you have a choice between two options: one candidate says he plans to give away this area - while the other says he will not give it away, but you are concerned that he might bend under pressure. The choice is yours."

Minister Peres has drawn sharp criticism from left and right for comments he made yesterday asking Arafat to minimize terrorist activity until the Israel elections.  Peres said, "The 1996 [elections] were decided [in favor of the Likud] by the wave of terrorism.  We demand that during election time, there be no terrorism at all.  We demand that the Palestinians really make a 100% effort to halt the terrorism."

3. ARAB MAN, SUSPECTED OF COOPERATING WITH ISRAEL, WAS MURDERED
The bullet-riddled body of 38-year-old Mahmud Musa Abdul Rachman was found today in the Arab village of Burkin, near Shechem, in mid-western Shomron.  His neighbors say that he worked in the past with Israeli intelligence authorities, and was shot outside his home.

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From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, January 16, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2001 / Tevet 21, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. TALKS RESUME; AGREEMENT WARNING ISSUED
   2. SHARON PROMISES GUSH KATIF
   3. MITCHELL TEAM SNEAKS UP TO TEMPLE MOUNT
   4. MORE P.A. KILLINGS OF COLLABORATORS EXPECTED

1. TALKS RESUME; AGREEMENT WARNING ISSUED
The murder of Roni Tzalach stopped the talks between Israel and the Palestinians - for barely 24 hours.  Even so, Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami met secretly last night with Abu Ala. Today, Muhammad Dahlan met in an undisclosed location in Jerusalem with Ben-Ami and Gilad Sher.  MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman (National Religious Party) demanded that Ben-Ami, as Internal Security Minister, not meet with Dahlan - but rather arrest him.  "Dahlan's hands are red with Jewish blood, including the schoobus attack in Kfar Darom," Rabbi Druckman said.

Minister Matan Vilna'i said today that if it turns out that the PA was behind the recent murder of Roni Tzalach, the talks would immediately be halted.  The fact that Tanzim terrorists committed the killing does not "qualify," he implied.

Stubborn reports continue to be received that some form of agreement between Israeli and Palestinian representatives many be signed this Thursday, two days before U.S. President Clinton leaves office.  Peres said that yesterday that, "with hard and spirited work, [it] could happen," while the Prime Minister's Office said that chances for such were very slim.  Minister Vilna'i left the question open, suggesting that we "wait until Thursday to see what happens."  MK Rehavam Ze'evi (National Union) was among the first to warn that such an agreement was likely.  Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet, for the second time today, at Erez Checkpoint tonight.

Meanwhile, the Likud continues to say it will not be bound by any such agreement.  Binyamin Netanyahu participated with Ariel Sharon in a dedication ceremony this afternoon for a new building in the name of Col. Yoni Netanyahu - the former Prime Minister's brother, who was killed while commanding the Entebbe rescue in 1976.  Netanyahu said today, "The understandings being reached between Barak and the Palestinians are not worth the ink with which they are written."  When running for office in 1996, Netanyahu said that he would not nullify the Oslo Accords (although he did promise - in vain - not to carry out the Hevron Agreement).

2. SHARON PROMISES GUSH KATIF
Ariel Sharon, Likud candidate for Prime Minister, visited the Jerusalem hunger strikers - who are into day #17 - today.  They are protesting the government's conducting of talks with the Palestinians before the latter have ceased their violence, as well as the intention to give up Jerusalem.  Sharon reiterated his promises not to give away Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley, and the Yesha communities.  In response to a question, he emphasized that the Jewish parts of Gaza would also not be given away.  "Look, not everything the Labor party did was bad," he said.  "When it decided to establish Jewish towns there, and when Golda Meir decided to build Netzarim, there were good reasons - and those reasons still stand."

Sharon also said that he would not give away the Halutza Sands in the Negev, which the Barak government has offered the PA in exchange for the remaining percentages of Judea and Samaria on which are located "immoveable" towns such as Ma'aleh Adumim.   He accused Barak for "endangering the country" by trying to reach an agreement so that he can present it to the electorate before the elections.

"We will run a positive, clean campaign, without attacking Barak personally."  So said today Likud MK Meir Shetreet, one of Sharon's campaign managers.  He acknowledged that the campaign has now changed its slogan from "Only Sharon will Bring Peace" to,  "I have 'bitachon' [which means both confidence and security] in the peace of Sharon."  He sounded a bit defensive as he explained, "This is not considered a change.  We knew all along that there was a chance that we would change it.  We wanted to start off the campaign by emphasizing Sharon's connection to peace - because, after all, as soon as you say the name Sharon, you already know that this means security.  Now that we have made it clear that Sharon also equals peace, and since security is now more on the mind of the public than is peace, we would like to emphasize again that Sharon's peace will be accompanied by security...  By the way, if we come up with another motto in two weeks, don't say again that we have 'changed our motto' - because I'm telling you now that we may well do this."

Shetreet did not deny that one of the campaign TV ads for Sharon will feature the candidate and Arafat: "We are not embarrassed that Sharon met with Arafat for many hours in Wye..." He summed up by saying, "Our goal is to win this election, and we have to get every vote."

3. MITCHELL TEAM SNEAKS UP TO TEMPLE MOUNT
Voice of Israel Radio reported yesterday that Foreign Ministry officials were "shocked" to learn that members of the Mitchell Committee - assigned by the U.S. to investigate the violence of the past months - had visited the Temple Mount without Israeli permission or accompaniment.  Israeli officials said that this was a "gross violation" of previous understandings, according to which the committee was to visit the Temple Mount only with an Israeli escort. However, PA representatives from the Waqf refused to meet with them under such conditions, and so the committee members decided to ascend the Mount without informing Israel.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron will meet this afternoon with Moslem religious leaders.  They will discuss the possibility of establishing a joint committee that will attempt to find ways to deal with the matter of the Temple Mount.

4. MORE P.A. KILLINGS OF COLLABORATORS EXPECTED
Another apparent Arab "collaborator" with Israel has been killed.  The body of Murshad Kassim, 40, was found this morning near Jenin; he had moved out of his home in the Arab areas of Samaria in the early 90's for fear that he would be killed for his work with the Israelis, but returned to live there within the last few years.  He is the second Palestinian in recent days to be killed by his fellows for cooperating with Israel; two others were executed by the PA on Saturday for the same.

In contrast with public condemnation of the PA for the rushed  trials-and-executions that has been sounded across the Israeli political spectrum this week, Shimon Peres said that the executions by Arafat's PA are no different than those in George W. Bush's home state of Texas.  Ruth Matar of Women in Green noted, however, that, prior to the Texas executions, "there had been a full and fair trial, and the defendants were able to, and did, appeal their respective verdicts."

PA officers and Hamas leaders both announced plans for continued operations against suspected collaborators in the coming days.  Hamas said it would cooperate with the PA in apprehending and punishing those who cooperated with Israel.  A general amnesty has been offered to collaborators who come forward of their own volition in the coming weeks and divulge all information regarding their Israeli contacts and their methods.

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From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 17, 2001 8:36 AM
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, January 17, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2000 / Tevet 22, 5761
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. RESTRICTIONS DROPPED, ISRAELI NEGOTIATOR QUITS
   2. THE RACE TO SIGN

1. RESTRICTIONS DROPPED, ISRAELI NEGOTIATOR QUITS
Despite the continued Palestinian terrorism in Gaza - including the murder of Roni Tzalach on Sunday night - talks between Israeli and Palestinian representatives continue at a steady pace.  Though army sources note a drop in Arab shootings, to only 3-5 for each of the last few days, Palestinians did shoot at several Israeli targets in Gaza last night.  At the same time, at the Erez Checkpoint not far away, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were agreeing on the further easing of security restrictions:  The PA's Dahaniyeh airport will be re-opened after a one-day closing, as will the Rafiach and Karni crossings, Palestinian workers will be allowed to cross into pre-1967 Israel, and the main north-south Gaza highway, which passes by Kfar Darom, will be re-opened to Palestinian traffic.

In response to the opening of the airport, MK Tzvi Hendel said this morning, "Apparently, the murder of a Jew is worth a one-day closure of the airport."

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami is in Cairo, briefing Egypt's President Mubarak on the latest developments in the talks.  Ben-Ami will meet with Arafat tonight.  Israeli and Palestinian delegations will meet in Jerusalem today, for the third such meeting in two days; the Israelis will apparently show them maps of the areas from which the Barak government intends to withdraw.  The Palestinian delegation includes such figures as Muhammad Dahlan, who has been responsible for a number of murderous attacks against Israelis over the past few weeks.

A senior member of the Israeli delegation to the Palestinian talks, Yisrael Hason, has resigned his position.  He explained that he cannot accept Barak's policies in the negotiations.  Hason served in the past as Deputy Director of the General Security Service.

2. THE RACE TO SIGN
Will the above talks lead to an agreement of some sort?  No one is ruling it out completely, but even Shimon Peres - who said earlier this week that with "hard work" it could be done - said today that the chances of signing an agreement before the Feb. 6 Prime Ministerial election are slim.  Culture and Sport Minister Matan Vilnai, another Israeli player in the talks, told Arutz-7's Moshe Priel today that in his opinion, no "agreement" will be signed, "although there is still a chance that a joint declaration of principles could be formulated."

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, leader of the Israeli delegation, refuses to give up, and feels that Clinton's departure from the scene this Saturday need not be seen as a deadline.  The talks are currently running without American intervention, Ben-Ami observes, and they can therefore continue until the Israeli election.  Prime Minister Ehud Barak, for his part, also apparently believes that there is little or no chance of reaching an agreement before the upcoming election.

MK Rehavam Ze'evi (National Union) explained to Arutz-7 today how he came to announce earlier this week that an agreement is likely to be signed tomorrow:  "A high-ranking source told me that a document - I don't even know if Barak knew about it - had been prepared for signing on Thursday, the last working day before Clinton leaves office.  I haven't spoken to this source since then, but he agreed to divulge three clauses in this document: 250,000 Palestinian refuges are to enter Israel within five years; Israel is to withdraw from eastern Jerusalem, and a bridge that will be under Palestinian sovereignty will connect Gaza and Ramallah." In answer to a question, Ze'evi said that he is "not at all sure that there will be such a signing - Peres is pushing hard for it, while Barak is a bit more restrained - and I wasn't even sure if I should go public with this, but I finally decided that even if I come out looking like a false-alarmist, it's important to go public with it if only to cause the agreement *not* to be signed."

Journalist Roni Shaked, who covers Judea and Samaria for Yediot Acharonot, told Arutz-7 today that he does not thing anything will come of the current talks, "but one thing is clear:  Arafat has not budged even one millimeter in any of his positions.  He continues to demand a total withdrawal from 100% of Yesha, including Jerusalem - and regarding the 'right of return,' they continue to demand neighborhoods in pre-1967 Israel such as Katamon [in Jerusalem] and Lod, exactly as before." Shaked said that Arafat would like to have his achievements to date - i.e., the latest Israeli concessions - set down in writing so that the new Bush Administration could use them as a basis for continuing the process, but "on the other hand, he [Arafat] doesn't want just 'principles,' but rather more concrete and implementable clauses."

Remarks last week by Farouk al-Kadoumi, director of the PLO Political Department, appear to bolster this point.  He told Voice of Palestine Radio, "We refuse any restraints or limitations that would give Israel the opportunity to maneuver [around the issue of refugees]...  There's no getting away from it: Public and world opinion in this matter [realizes] that the question of Palestine is fundamentally, and before anything else, about the return of the refugees to their homes. Secondly, the carrying out of resolution 181 that calls for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state according to the Partition Plan [of 1947, which leaves Israel divided into three sections, without Be'er Sheva, Beit Shemesh, and half of the Galilee].  Also, there [must be] an independent Palestinian state possessing a sovereignty that has no other conditions placed upon it by Israel or by American proposals...  The American proposals now want to be called a declaration of principles.  Well, that is refused.  It would deal with things in a general way. That is why we refuse such a declaration of principles. We need specific details, clearly..." [With thanks to Michael Widlanski and Israel Resource News Agency]

An editorial in Ma'ariv newspaper today feels, as well, that the talks are leading nowhere: "The continuing contacts between Israel and the Palestinians are like the last gasp before death... Both sides have already given up hope for an agreement.  The chances for a dramatic, last-minute breakthrough are diminishing...  As of now, Prime Minister Barak - in consultation with his image doctors - believes that last-minute diplomatic progress will only damage him in the polls and on election day.  Given this situation, the negotiations are being conducted out of sheer inertia."

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