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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
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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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