HHMI Newsgroup Archives
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Monday, January 22, 2001
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Jan. 22, 2001 / Tevet 27, 5761
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BEN-AMI: "AGREEMENT NEEDED - EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF UNITY"
2. PERES IS "BOWED OUT" - FOR NOW
3. SHARON'S "EXTREMISM"
4. TEMPLE MOUNT EMERGENCY
1. BEN-AMI: "AGREEMENT NEEDED - EVEN AT THE EXPENSE OF UNITY"
Prior to last night's opening session of the marathon talks being held
in Egypt's Taba resort in Sinai, Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said
that now is not the time for unity. "We must reach an agreement with
the Palestinians," he said, "even at the expense of tearing the nation
apart and a split. Unity is a recipe for no decision." MK Tzippy
Livni, asked for her reaction today, said, "The public is sick and
tired of those who arrogantly think that they can force their minority
will on the majority. Ariel Sharon, on the other hand, recognizes the
need for consensus, and said again today, even though not all of us
liked hearing it, that a national unity government is the only
solution..."
Labor party Minister Chaim Ramon said yesterday that he objects to the
Taba talks, calling them "not appropriate, not ethical, not proper."
Following the first session of the talks last night, the government
agreed to approve the entry of 16,000 Palestinian workers from Judea
and Samaria into pre-1967 Israel. The employees must be married and
over the age of 35.
2. PERES IS "BOWED OUT" - FOR NOW
Some of Shimon Peres' supporters held a press conference today to
announce that they were calling off their activities on behalf of
their "candidate." "Now is the time for us to unite on behalf of the
common goal of ensuring that Sharon is not elected," they said. They
left a door open, however, adding, "We are sure that Barak will know
how to take responsibility if the situation demands it." Other Peres
supporters objected to the press conference. A spokesman for Peres
said that he had no comment.
3. SHARON'S "EXTREMISM"
The Barak campaign has a new target: Ariel Sharon's interview in the
New Yorker magazine. "The interview shows the true face of the extremist Sharon," according to Barak staffers. "Get the shelters
ready. He will not bring peace, but only [Avigdor] Lieberman [ed.
note: see below]." Some excerpts from the interview showing Sharon's
"extremist" views: "Arafat is a murderer and a liar... Peace cannot be
achieved - only a no-warfare agreement... The Moslems turn their back
to the Temple Mount when they pray." MK Rehavam Ze'evi (National
Union) said that he thinks worse things of Arafat. Former Defense
Minister Moshe Arens (Likud) says that Sharon did not say anything
new, and that the interview will not hurt his chances of being
elected.
Yasser Arafat, too, is unhappy with Sharon. "He refuses even to shake
my hand," complained Arafat, who has overseen the murder of dozens of
Israelis, to the Daily Telegraph. Arafat said that a victory by
Sharon in the upcoming election would be a "real catastrophe." Nabil
Shaath, Palestinian Coordinator of International Cooperation, said
today that the Palestinians are prepared to continue the negotiations
for peace if it helps Barak win the election.
MK Avigdor Lieberman, head of the Yisrael Beiteinu party and a staunch
supporter of Sharon for Prime Minister, caused the Likud some
embarrassment when he was quoted as calling for a re-conquest of Beit
Jalla. To Arutz-7, however, he said that he was misquoted, and summed
up as follows: "I said three things. One is that Israel will
certainly not initiate an attack against any of its neighbors. The
second thing is that the Barak government has dealt a mortal blow to
the army's deterrence, and we must do everything we can to restore it. Third, the next government must define its clear red lines. For
instance, I can promise you that the next government will not allow
Jerusalem to be shot on for even one day, no matter what the cost. In
addition, there will be absolutely no negotiations while there is
enemy fire." In reaction to criticism that he is taking too strong of
a right-wing line, he said, "I don't know how to measure this. If we
think back to [the late Labor party Prime Minister] Golda Meir, for
instance, and the views that she expressed, I think she would probably
be outlawed today..."
4. TEMPLE MOUNT EMERGENCY
The Antiquities Authority convened today for an emergency meeting, in
light of the heavy damage caused to the Temple Mount by the most
recent Moslem Waqf construction there. No decisions were made,
however. In compliance with an order by Prime Minister Barak, the
Waqf has halted work there, but has given no guarantee as to how long
it will do so. Police Chief Shlomo Aharonishki denied today that any
"new" excavations are being carried out on the Temple Mount. Other
sources, though, maintain that the Moslems have dug two tunnels: one,
about 50 meters long, connects the Al Aksa Mosque to Solomon's
Stables, and another, some 35 meters long, leads out of the Ramah at
the Dome of the Rock - the raised portion on which most experts
believe the Holy Temples were centered. The tons of dirt are taken
out of the Temple Mount via a secret entrance dug in Solomon's Stables
about a year ago. In addition, construction, excavation, and flooring
have been carried out on the Mount's eastern side, near Mercy Gate.
See "http://www.templemount.org/solstables.html"
for map.
Benny Liss of Israel's Second Channel Television, who provided
exclusive photos of the excavations that helped force Barak to take
some action to stop the works, helped Arutz-7 listeners understand the
absurdity of the situation by recounting the following story: "In
1948, a neighborhood was built in the town of Beit She'an [south of
the Sea of Galilee, just north of the Jordan Valley], and it was
called Shikun D. One day, it was discovered that a site of major
archaeological importance lay under the neighborhood. Since that
time, every single day an inspector makes the rounds of the
neighborhood and makes sure that no one so much as inserts a shovel in
the ground; if he catches someone digging in the ground for whatever
purpose, he issues him a ticket. Because it is a protected
archaeological site, the law does not permit the residents there to
enlarge their houses or plant a garden. And yet on the Temple Mount,
our most important archaeological site in the world, there is
absolutely no supervision, and tons of precious artifacts are dug up
and thrown into the garbage..."
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From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
To: <arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com>;<arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, January 23, 2001
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2001 / Tevet 28, 5761
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. REPORTS FROM TABA: BARAK DELEGATION PREPARED TO GIVE MORE OF JERUSALEM
2. BEN-AMI ON OSLO AND UNITY
3. LOOKING AHEAD
4. COLD PEACE WITH EGYPT GETS COLDER
1. REPORTS FROM TABA: BARAK DELEGATION PREPARED TO GIVE MORE OF
JERUSALEM
Palestinian sources in Taba say that the talks are going
well, to wit, Israel has now agreed to give up also the Western Wall
and the Mt. of Olives. They claim that Israel has proposed a "special
arrangement" for these areas and the entire Old City, involving
Israeli-Palestinian sovereignty; the Palestinians have proposed
international sovereignty. It was also reported that the Israelis
presented, for the first time, a list of towns that they are willing
to uproot. Israel Radio also reported today, based on a "senior
source in the Israeli delegation," that Israel had offered an
arrangement whereby a "special authority" would rule eastern
Jerusalem, including the Western Wall and all places that are "holy to
the three major faiths."
The Israeli delegation would not confirm the above information, and
said only that there had been a "significant closing of the gaps"
between the two sides. The Prime Minister's Office issued another
clarification early this afternoon: "The holy sites will remain under
Israeli sovereignty in any agreement... Israel will maintain the
affinity of the Jewish nation and the Jewish tradition to the site,
giving expression to the special character of the city as a holy site
to all the religions." Later, Prime Minister Barak, appearing before
new immigrants in Herzliya this afternoon, denied the reports more
categorically: "There is no question. In any arrangement, the
Western Wall, the Jewish Quarter, the City of David [to the south of
the Temple Mount], and Mt. of Olives will all be under Israeli
sovereignty, period." In short, the future of Jerusalem remains in
doubt.
2. BEN-AMI ON OSLO AND UNITY
Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami was interviewed by Israel's daily
Yediot Acharonot on Friday. He seemed to condemn the Oslo process in
stronger terms than have been sounded by many on the opposite side of
the political spectrum: "I sat last week with the Palestinians [during
the negotiations], and I asked myself, why is that I have the feeling
that if there is no agreement, their world will not fall apart? This
means that the option of 'no agreement' does not particularly scare
them. I asked myself why? Here is the problem of Oslo. Oslo gave
them what they have now, which is - and it doesn't matter what words
you use - a state for all intents and purposes. They have embassies,
a budget, an army, offices, ministers, everything... If there were no
Oslo, and we would have had negotiations on a final-status arrangement
with their leadership-in-exile, when they had nothing, it could be
that the distance between an arrangement and [nothing] would have been
clearer to them. Today, when they have Gaza, Jericho, Shechem, and
everything else, they don't have the feeling that they will lose
anything if there is no agreement."
In the same interview, Ben-Ami related to the "relative" need for
Jewish unity: "As democrats, we understand that every agreement [with
the Palestinians] involves a split in the nation. This is sad, but it
is unavoidable. If we strive for a broad consensus from right to
left, something that we all agree on, maybe we will live in peace
amongst ourselves - but we will not have an agreement with the other
side... We understand that in order to make this difficult
breakthrough, there is no choice but to go with a divided people.
Only war unites. Peace, sad to say, divides."
3. LOOKING AHEAD
Whether it is Ariel Sharon or Ehud Barak who will form a new
government this coming February, he will face a host of immediate
problems when he takes office - but Arutz-7's Ariel Kahane reports
that the most pressing economic problem will be the need to pass a new
annual budget for 2001. "The law stipulates that if a new budget is
not passed by Jan. 1, the previous year's budget continues to be in
force," Kahane explained today. "But if a new national budget is not
passed by March 31, only some seven weeks after the election, new
elections - for both the Prime Minister and the Knesset - must again
be held. This is not an enticing prospect for whoever is Prime
Minister at the time... One ironic possibility is that if Sharon is
elected, he may not have time to prepare a budget significantly
different than the one prepared by the present government - thus that
the Likud may find itself attempting to pass a Labor-prepared budget,
while Labor will find itself objecting to a budget that it itself
largely prepared..."
4. COLD PEACE WITH EGYPT GETS COLDER
Israel's Foreign Ministry condemned the Egyptian decision not to allow
Israeli representatives to participate in the annual
Euro-Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce forum. Israel appealed to
European Union Commission responsible for the meeting, and the event
will be rescheduled for a later date. The refusal of the Egyptian
Chamber of Commerce to accept Israeli representatives contravenes the
normalization agreements between Israel and Egypt, stated a Foreign
Ministry statement.
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