HHMI Newsgroup Archives

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, February 27, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2001 / Adar 4, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN WITH THE RIGHT-WING PARTIES
2. LABOR PARTY DELAYS CHOOSING MINISTERS
3. COURT RECOGNIZES RIGHT OF JEWISH PRAYER ON TEMPLE MOUNT

1. NEGOTIATIONS TO BEGIN WITH THE RIGHT-WING PARTIES
Somewhat out-shadowed by the ongoing furor in the Labor party - which stormily decided last night to join the unity government with the Likud - the coalition negotiations with the right-wing parties will begin in earnest this evening. The Shas and Yisrael B'Aliyah parties both demand the Interior Ministry, while the National Religious Party demands Education and Communications; the three have said that they will not settle for less. The Likud negotiating team will meet with the parties in size-order - Shas (17 Knesset seats), National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu (7), followed (out of order) by Yisrael B'Aliyah (4), the NRP (5), and United Torah Judaism (5).

In addition, all the religious parties have banded together against granting the Chairmanship of the Knesset Law Committee to a Labor member, even for only half the government's term. The post was originally promised to MK Benny Elon of National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu, but the Likud apparently gave in to a Labor demand to renege on it. National Union leader MK Rehavam Ze'evi, speaking with Arutz-7 today, stopped short of saying that the party would insist that Elon receive the post under all circumstances. In another interesting development, the NRP now backs MK Tzvi Hendel - who left the NRP for the National Union two years ago - for Deputy Defense Minister for Settlement Affairs.

Arutz-7 spoke with Shas Knesset faction head MK Ya'ir Peretz, who said: "Our demands are clear: social portfolios, such as Interior, Religious Affairs, Health, and Labor and Welfare, as well as an additional one because of the new arrangement [under which every three Knesset seats entitle the party to a ministerial portfolio]. In addition, we absolutely demand the passage of the Tal Committee law [enabling the exemption of yeshiva students from army service, under certain circumstances]."

Peretz then said, "Let me give you a scoop, which you can broadcast here for the first time: Shas, NRP, Yisrael B'Aliyah, and Yisrael Beiteinu - the faction heads of all these parties wrote to Sharon demanding that the change to the direct election law [of the Prime Minister] take effect not from the next Knesset, but from the one after that. [A preliminary version of the bill was passed by a Knesset committee today, but it still must go through its second and third readings.] Otherwise, we will not sit in a government headed by MK Ariel Sharon." The small parties are known to be in favor of "direct election" because it allows voters to vote not only for Prime Minister, but also for one of the other parties - thus leading to an increase in the strength of the small parties.

"Finally," said Peretz, continuing the list of his party's coalition demands, "we demand that the Law Committee be headed not by someone from Labor, but by someone to whom Jewish values are close to his heart." The other religious parties join Shas in this demand, as mentioned above.

2. LABOR PARTY DELAYS CHOOSING MINISTERS
The Labor party's Central Committee will not choose its government ministers for the unity government until early next week, and not this Thursday as was originally planned. If the decision is not changed - see below - the elections are to be held in the following manner: Potential candidates who are interested in either the Foreign Affairs, Defense, or Agriculture portfolios will specify which one of the three they wish to run for, and the three elections will be held simultaneously. Shimon Peres is expected to be the only candidate for Foreign Affairs - although Avraham Burg has also expressed interest - while for Defense, Matan Vilnai, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, and Ephraim Sneh will likely run. The losers in these elections, plus other candidates, will then have a run-off election; the one who scores highest will have his choice of the remaining portfolios, then the next-highest will choose, etc., until all six of the ministries promised to Labor by the Likud - plus two ministers-without-portfolios - have been filled.

Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon said today that he would not feel obligated to accept any choice of ministers made by the Central Committee. He was referring specifically to the Defense Ministry; Matan Vilnai's relationship with IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha'ul Mofaz are not positive - a situation which Sharon feels would hamper the government's defense policy and activities.

Most of Labor's government ministers - who were not happy with last nights' choice of the above system - convened this morning to discuss its ramifications. Ministers Beilin and Ben-Ami, leading opponents of the national unity government, did not arrive at the meeting, but other objectors such as Minister Yuli Tamir and Avraham Burg did show up. Former Police Minister Moshe Shachal explained why the above system is illegal, according to party rules - but his opinion was overruled. In the end, the ministers decided to leave the matter for the party's Law Committee - in the hope that a way will be found to bypass yesterday's Central Committee decision.

Excerpts from yesterday's fiery speech by Interior Minister Chaim Ramon, a proponent of the unity government:

"Ehud Barak and the government went for a permanent-status agreement, which you always wanted, Yossi Beilin. But this was a negation of Oslo! Because I always said that whoever wanted a permanent-status agreement - that is, all or nothing - would get nothing! I said this at the government meetings, time after time after time! I said this before Oslo, during Oslo, and after Oslo! Barak said, 'Let's go for broke, so that Arafat would have to make some hard decisions!' But I said, 'Is our own public ready for the hard decisions?' Was it ready to go for the division of Jerusalem, the [give-away] of 95% [of Judea and Samaria], the return of tens of thousand of Arab refugees, the uprooting of 50,000 settlers? No! I said this over and over! I told Ehud that he is gambling! What would have happened had he reached an agreement, and then it would have been rejected by the Israeli public?! This would have been a deathblow to peace! I told him, Why don't you listen, like a leader must, to what the public is saying?! We have stopped listening!"

3. COURT RECOGNIZES RIGHT OF JEWISH PRAYER ON TEMPLE MOUNT
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court found three Chai VeKayam Temple Mount activists - including Yehuda Etzion - innocent this morning of behaving violently in an attempt to forcefully enter the Mount, six years ago. Hon. Shimon Feinberg ruled that before the police take measures against Jews who wish to exercise their right to pray at the holy site, they should disperse the Moslem disturbers-of-the-peace who aim to prevent Jewish prayer there. This is the first time that an Israeli court has recognized the rights of Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

A one-time government decision preventing a group led by the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren from praying there in 1967 - a decision that has never been renewed - is the only basis the police have for forbidding Jewish prayer there. Etzion told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today, "This is totally wrong, as that was a one-time decision, for that particular situation. As surprising as it may sound, no government since then, not even the Barak government, ever made a blanket decision forbidding Jewish prayer there. On the contrary - other decisions were made forbidding prayer there on certain specific days; this proves that the decision of 1967 was never seen as a permanent ban on Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount." Today's decision is expected to be appealed by the State Prosecution.

In a related item, the General Security Service has been pushing the government for a while now to open the Temple Mount to Jewish visitors. Ha'aretz reports today that the GSS feels that the frustration among the groups wishing to visit the holy site is great, and that if an outlet is not found for the rage, it could explode into violence. The arrest two days ago of ten Temple Mount activists who attempted to enter is only the tip of the iceberg, the GSS feels. The site has been closed to Jewish visitors since the beginning of the mini-war five months ago.

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com,arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor<neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, February 28, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2001 / Adar 5, 5761
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
--- See below for subscription instructions ---

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. SHARON'S COALITION MAZE
2. TEMPLE MOUNT DESTRUCTION INTENSIFIES

1. SHARON'S COALITION MAZE
The coalition negotiations continue to limp along. The Likud negotiators met last night in Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert's office with most of the right-wing and religious parties, and Olmert said that he hopes the process will be completed by the end of the week.  Both Shas and Yisrael B'Aliyah claim that the Interior Ministry that they covet will be theirs. The Labor party, for its part, will choose its Cabinet members this Friday. Sharon sent a message to Peres, saying that only someone with "appropriate credentials" will be acceptable for the post of Defense Minister.

Ma'ariv political commentator Menachem Rahat explained to Arutz-7 today some of background information on the talks: "Sharon is afraid of too big a government - it could number 28-32 ministers; the biggest until now was 26, under Yitzchak Shamir. This is caused by the fact that it's a unity government... One solution may be for Yisrael B'Aliyah and the NRP to receive only one minister each instead of two... A major problem is that some parties want the same portfolios, such as Shas and Yisrael B'Aliyah regarding Interior... Some things are more or less decided, however: Finance will go to Likud, probably to Silvan Shalom; Education, too, will probably go to Limor Livnat of the Likud; Agriculture will almost for sure go to Shalom Simchon of Labor, since no one is running against him... The Jerusalem Affairs Ministry, if it exists, will go to Jerusalem Mayor Olmert.  Environment has no takers so far. Health is promised to Shas, namely to Shlomo Benizri. Interior may be given to the Likud's Ruby Rivlin, but then both Shas and Yisrael B'Aliyah have to be compensated with heavy portfolios - such as Education, in which case, however, the NRP will jump and quit the coalition..."

Rabbi Yitzchak Levy, leader of the National Religious Party, confirmed this last point in a talk with Arutz-7 today. He said, "It's one thing for the Likud to say that Sharon promised to keep Education for the Likud - but to then give it to another party, this would be an insult to the entire party... In truth, I think everything can be solved easily, and it must be solved, because the main thing is for the government to get started already and fight the terrorists. Take today, for example: Palestinians shot at Kfar Saba, inside the Green Line - this is an escalation, it shows that no one is invulnerable, and whoever shoots at Yesha will shot in the cities as well."

Journalist Yoav Yitzchak reports that Likud MK Uzi Landau appears to be headed for the post of Public Security Minister. Landau, formerly head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, was likely to be a prime candidate for Defense Minister in a narrow right-wing government.

2. TEMPLE MOUNT DESTRUCTION INTENSIFIES
Intense Moslem Waqf desecration on the Temple Mount continues. Yisrael Caspi, of the Committee to Prevent Temple Mount Desecration, told Arutz-7 today:

"Our aerial pictures of two days ago show severe damage to the eastern wall of the great pit that was dug in Nov '99, a wall that was very important to the Antiquities Authority in terms of dating many findings and layers there... There has also been brutal damage by tractors to a building that is over 1,300 years old. We have not seen such damage in almost a year... What is happening is that the Waqf has been working furiously over the past month, with the feeling that the government is doing nothing to stop them and they can do what they want, at least until the new government comes in. They bring in hundreds of Israeli-Arab volunteers every Saturday, to tile more and more areas, and carry out other work... We, including some of the top archaeologists in the country, have written some ten letters over the past year to the Prime Minister and Public Security Minister Ben-Ami, and we have not received any answer at all... I told Ben-Ami that, as a professor of history, he will not be forgiven by history for the damages that he is allowing on the Temple Mount; he had no answer..."

Caspi continued,

"We demand that the new government take steps and prevent the Moslems from destroying Jewish artifacts there. This is absolutely not a political, religious, or ideological matter; rather, any sane government must realize, from a historic, scientific, archaeological, cultural standpoint, that it must immediately stop the damage being done to the Jewish artifacts there. There is no security justification whatsoever for the current situation - all it takes is a decision and determination by the government to carry it out."

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com,arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor<neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, March 1, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, March 1, 2001 / Adar 6, 5761
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
--- See below for subscription instructions ---

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. SHARON'S CABINET APPOINTMENTS
2. LABOR PARTY PREPARES TO CHOOSE MINISTERS TOMORROW
3. SHARON WANTS TO ADD "LOVE OF HOMELAND"
4. BARAK FINALLY SEEKS TO TAKE ACTION ON TEMPLE MOUNT

1. SHARON'S CABINET APPOINTMENTS
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon has come to a final decision on some of the ministers of his new government. He has given the Interior Ministry to the religious Shas party - Eli Yeshai will assume the post - and the Ministry of Construction and Housing to the National Religious Party's Rabbi Yitzchak Levy. The agreements regarding the Shas and NRP appointments were reached in consultations at Sharon's home with Likud negotiators Uri Shani and Ehud Olmert.

The Education and Justice ministries will go to Sharon's own Likud party. MK Tzippy Livni will be the Justice Minister, and the Education Minister will be either Limor Livnat or Meir Shetreet. Shas and the NRP are supporting Livnat, such that her chances of garnering the appointment are very good.

The NRP and Yisrael Beiteinu parties have each been seeking two ministerial appointments, but the Likud has decided that they will have to suffice with one each, plus one or two deputy ministers. United Torah Judaism will not receive a ministry, but rather the chairmanship of the Knesset's Finance Committee.

Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yuri Stern was asked today about anonymous "warnings" from the direction of the Likud to the effect that "the small parties had better stop demanding too much, or they'll find themselves out of the government altogether." Stern told Arutz-7, "This is just part of the psychological warfare during the negotiations. It was not at all the tone that we heard during our talks with Likud members, and in any event it would be political suicide for the Likud to abandon us." Arutz-7's Haggai Segal then asked, "Why? Maybe you're viewed as a safe bet, as even if the Likud is abandoned by Labor, you'll always be happy to join the Likud government..."

Stern replied, "One thing we learned from Netanyahu's and Barak's terms in office - and especially the way they fell from office - is that a Prime Minister who takes his natural partners for granted and abuses them, falls apart at the end. Arik Sharon understands this very well. " Stern said that his party is not particularly concerned about the exact guidelines and "sacrifices for peace, and the like," because "everyone knows that the Palestinians are far from ready to come to any agreement with us, thus that this is a moot point right now. The main issue is how the government will respond to the terrorism." He said that his party, and in fact the entire right-wing camp, has not given up on its demand that MK Benny Elon head the Knesset Law Committee: "It is unprecedented that the chairman of this committee be a Knesset Member who does not support the government."

The candidacy of Yisrael Beiteinu leader MK Avigdor Lieberman for a ministerial position is again in doubt, as Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has indicted him on yet another charge. Following the dropping this week of charges regarding the MK's alleged insulting of a police officer, Rubenstein has now charged Lieberman with throwing rocks and hitting his neighbor's children in his Judea community of Nokdim. Lieberman denies the charges, and says that this is merely another example of the political use of the Justice Department and the police. It is not clear, however, whether he will be able to serve as a Cabinet minister given the charges hanging against him.

2. LABOR PARTY PREPARES TO CHOOSE MINISTERS TOMORROW
Labor Party candidates for the positions of minister and deputy minister in Ariel Sharon's government have submitted their names, and the elections will be held tomorrow. Fourteen candidates are contending for eight ministerial jobs and four contenders are vying for vice-ministerial slots. Shimon Peres is the only candidate for Foreign Minister, and Shalom Simchon is the only candidate for Agriculture Minister. For Defense Minister, three candidates are in the running: Matan Vilnai, Ephraim Sneh, and Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. In a separate election for the remaining posts, the candidates are Dalia Itzik, Nissim Zvilli, Ra'anan Cohen, Salah Tarif, and others.

Aides to Ariel Sharon say that if the Labor Party's Central Committee chooses Ephraim Sneh as Defense Minister tomorrow, Sharon will not be bound by the decision. Sharon, they say, prefers Binyamin Ben-Eliezer for the job, and will grudgingly accept Matan Vilnai, but he will not agree to take Sneh. The Likud is working to speed up coalition negotiations with the right-wing parties. At this stage it appears that the Likud is close to agreements with Shas and the NRP, but there are big problems in talks with the National Union, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Yisrael B'Aliyah.

3. SHARON WANTS TO ADD "LOVE OF HOMELAND"
Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon wants the Knesset to change the army's ethical code. In a discussion with students and youth-movement representatives last night, Sharon said that in consultation with the Chief of Staff he would like to add a chapter concerning the value of "love of the homeland." Sharon also said that one reason that he wants a Minister of Education from the Likud is that he wants to emphasize Zionist values such as love of the land.

4. BARAK FINALLY SEEKS TO TAKE ACTION ON TEMPLE MOUNT
A comprehensive meeting on ways to counteract the Moslem Waqf's construction works on the Temple Mount was held this morning in the office of outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Many archaeologists and Temple Mount groups have sharply criticized Barak's lack of action against the construction, despite their many warnings that the works are causing irreversible damage to Judaism's holiest site. The Prime Minister's staff dismissed the criticism, however, saying that the Prime Minister has now concluded that the police evaluation of the damage as "minimal" was not accurate.

The Waqf, whose head is appointed by Yasser Arafat, is in administrative control of the Mount. The Temple Mount Faithful group has submitted yet another urgent request to the Supreme Court to stop the Waqf's work, and to order police to ban the entry of heavy equipment. The group claims that the Waqf, even at these very hours, is causing damage to important remains of a wall of the Second Temple.

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com,arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor<neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, March 2, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Mar. 2, 2001 / Adar 7, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BEN-ELIEZER TO BE DEFENSE MINISTER
2. MOSLEMS AGAINST CHRISTIANS

1. BEN-ELIEZER TO BE DEFENSE MINISTER
The Labor party chose Brig.-Gen. (res.) Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, currently serving as Construction and Housing Minister, as the man to fill the post of Defense Minister in Ariel Sharon's new government. Three of the eight Labor party ministers are now known: Shimon Peres will be Minister of Foreign Affairs, and MK Shalom Simchon will be Agriculture Minister; both faced no opposition in their quests for the posts. Ben-Eliezer ran against former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Matan Vilnai and Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh for the Defense Ministry; he received 45% of the vote of the party's Central Committee members, while Sneh received 32.5% and Vilnai received 22.5%.  Ben-Eliezer is regarded as relatively hawkish within his party, and was known to be Ariel Sharon's preferred choice among the three candidates.

The Yesha Council (Council of Jewish Communities in Judea and Samaria) congratulated Ben-Eliezer on his appointment: "The Council anticipates that Ben-Eliezer and Prime Minister Sharon will bring about the desired turnaround in Israel's defense policy, and will replace capitulation with initiative and victory." Meretz leader MK Yossi Sarid said bitingly, "The natural candidate for the Sharon government has been chosen. Ben-Eliezer and Sharon will no doubt share the common language of force."

The next round of voting in the Labor party began at noon for the five remaining Cabinet positions - including two without portfolio - in the new government. Among the candidates are Sneh, Vilnai, Dalia Itzik, Raanan Cohen, Salah Tarif, and several former Labor Knesset Members.  The results should be known later in the afternoon. Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon plans to present his new government next Wednesday afternoon in a festive ceremony in the Knesset, and the Likud negotiators are working to complete the talks with the right-wing parties by then.

2. MOSLEMS AGAINST CHRISTIANS
"First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people." This is how some observers describe the strategy of the Moslems, who see as their this-worldly destiny the replacement not only of Judaism [the Saturday people] but also of Christianity. Evidence of their anti-Christian and anti-U.S. policies were seen in terrorist attacks of recent years, including at the World Trade Center in New York and American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; the failed plans to blow up tunnels in New York; and the burning not only of Israeli flags but also of American flags at many Arab demonstrations.

Moslem anti-Christian hatred has also come to the fore in Israel; Israeli Maj.-Gen. Yaakov (Mendy) Orr, IDF liaison for Judea and Samaria, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week that "vandalism of Christian graves" in the PA-controlled areas has been on the rise of late. According to Orr, some fifty Christian families from the Bethlehem-area town of Beit Sahour alone tried to emigrate in the last month.

On March 3, 1999, then-U.S. Senator Connie Mack, who had just returned from a visit in Israel, told the Senate, "I had another profound meeting during the week. I met one evening, privately - secretly - with Arabs who were being persecuted for the Christian faith... One man [who was arrested by the Palestinian Authority police] was beaten and hung from the ceiling by his hands for many hours on charges of selling land to Jews, [but] he was poor and had no land. [His son said he was] held hostage to prevent him from talking with people about his faith... It caused me to ask, 'How can the people of Israel find peace when the Palestinian Authority engages in coercion and torture based only upon religious beliefs?'"

In January 2000, the Palestinian Authority forcefully took over the Russian Orthodox church in Jericho. In July 1997, PA para-military police burst into a monastery in Hevron, beat and dragged out the monks and nuns, injuring five monks and three nuns. The Zionist Organization of American (www.zoa.org) reports that two American courts recently granted asylum to Palestinian Christian Arabs, on the grounds that they would be persecuted for their religious beliefs if they return to PA-controlled territory.

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