Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, April 20, 2001

HHMI Newsgroup Archives

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

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Apr. 16, 2001 / Nissan 23, 5761 - Tonight's count: 9 days to the Omer
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. ISRAEL DESTROYS SYRIAN RADAR INSTALLATION IN LEBANON
2. PRAISE FOR ATTACK FROM THE LEFT
3. ARAB MK CONDEMNS ISRAELI ATTACK AS "CRIMINAL"
4. ARABS CONDEMN ISRAELI ATTACK

1. ISRAEL DESTROYS SYRIAN RADAR INSTALLATION IN LEBANON
Israel attacked a Syrian position in Lebanon last night, for the first time in five years. Israel Air Force fighter planes attacked a radar installation north of the Beirut-Damascus road at around 1AM. The Syrian site, located some 20 kilometers east of Beirut, was destroyed by six air-to-ground missiles fired by four IAF planes.

The mission was a retaliatory raid for Hizbullah's Saturday missile attack that claimed the life of St.-Sgt. Elad Litvak, who will be buried today. In addition, two other soldiers were killed by Hizbullah fire along the northern border in the past several months, and three soldiers and one Israeli businessman were kidnapped in late 2000 and are still being held captive by Hizbullah. Syrian officials claim that three of their men were killed in last night's attack.

The government stated today that Hizbullah had been acting with Syrian approval and help. It further noted that despite the fact that Israel was in total compliance with the UN resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon, Hizbullah was continuing its acts of aggression against Israel. The statement also said that the Israel holds the governments of Lebanon and Syria responsible for ending the Hizbullah terrorist attacks across the international border.

2. PRAISE FOR ATTACK FROM THE LEFT
The air strike drew praise from across the Israeli political spectrum. Former Minister Yossi Beilin (Labor) said that the air strike was "correct and just." Science and Culture Minister Matan Vilnai (Labor), a former IDF major-general, similarly stated that Israel has no other way to tell the Syrians that continued Hizbullah terrorist attacks across the border would not be tolerated. MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said the move was "justified but perhaps not wise" at this time, as it "may lead to increased Hizbullah attacks..." Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi said that now the Syrians will begin to be afraid, instead of the Jews in the Galilee.

The decision to launch the attack on the Syrian target was made at an emergency meeting of the security cabinet yesterday. Prime Minister Sharon, Foreign Minister Peres, and Defense Minister Ben-Eliezer had convened first, but Sharon could not convince them of the need for the attack. He therefore convened the entire security cabinet, of which 13 members showed up and voted 11-2 to approve the strike. Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh said that his reservations concerned the timing of the attack, but agreed that the raid was necessary and justified.

3. ARAB MK CONDEMNS ISRAELI ATTACK AS "CRIMINAL"
Arab MK Abdel Malek Dahamshe took an original stance on last night's Israeli attack of the Syrian installation. He sent a fax this morning to Syrian President Bashar Assad condemning the Israeli attack and expressing sorrow over the deaths of the three Syrian soldiers. "I would like to express my condolences over the Government of Israel's criminal attack, which is a declaration of war not only on the Palestinians but also on the Syrians," wrote MK Dahamshe.

MKs Rabbi Chaim Druckman (National Religious Party) and Tzvi Hendel (National Union) sharply condemned Dahamshe; Rabbi Druckman said that the Arab MK represents the enemy and that his place is not in the Knesset, but in the Syrian parliament. "This is a fifth column in the Knesset who is abusing Israel's freedom of expression and democracy to harm it," Rabbi Druckman said. He plans to submit a complaint to the Knesset Ethics Committee.

MK Yossi Sarid (Meretz) said that Dahamshe's letter to Assad is "another one of the mistakes that the Arab MKs have made." MK Michael Kleiner (Herut) called for the removal of Dahamshe's parliamentary immunity, saying he violated his oath to faithfully serve the State of Israel. Kleiner said that Dahamshe should be charged with interfering with Israel's foreign policy - a crime that is punishable by a seven-year prison sentence.

4. ARABS CONDEMN ISRAELI ATTACK
Jordan's Foreign Minister arrived in Israel this morning, and met with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres. Contrary to earlier rumors, the Jordanian did not cancel his visit in reaction to Israel's air strike against the Syrian radar station in Lebanon - but he did say that the attack is "damaging to the peace process." Egypt was very critical of Israel's attack, saying that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon has been shown to be devoid of value. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk a-Shara threatened Israel today: "Israel made a major mistake when it carried out this aggression, and will suffer a great blow in response at the appropriate time." Palestinian sources called the attack a "dangerous escalation."

****************************************************************

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, April 17, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2001 / Nissan 24, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. IDF RETALIATION
2. WARNINGS COME TRUE
3. OREN SHACHOR: NEGOTIATIONS NOW ARE IRRELEVANT

1. IDF RETALIATION
IDF air and ground forces attacked Palestinian Authority-controlled Biet Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip last night, in retaliation for the mortar shells fired from there onto the Israeli city of Sderot yesterday. An Arab para-military policeman was killed and about 30 people were wounded, most of them lightly, in the Israeli attack. The attack's targets included a Force 17 training base in central Gaza, the office of the Tanzim chief in Dir el Balah, Preventive Security headquarters in Sheikh Radwan, and others. Israeli attacks continued this morning, with tank fire directed again at terrorist targets in Biet Hanoun.

In addition, the IDF is holding areas in PA-controlled Gaza, has divided it into three separate sections, and has closed crossings into Gaza. Israeli forces are deployed in Biet Hanoun and along the Karni-Netzarim road, blocking Arab traffic between one side of Gaza and other. The IDF spokesman made it clear that there is no intention to capture PA-controlled Area A, and that the IDF forces will withdraw once the Palestinians "act against terrorism from within their territory." It was acknowledged, however, that the mission could last a long time.

Life in Sderot was back to routine today, although its schoolchildren were treated to emergency exercise drills. Five mortar shells were fired last night at the city, well within the Green Line; no one was hurt. National Infrastructures Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer each visited the town today. Iz a-Din el-Kassam, Hamas' military arm, has claimed responsibility for the Sderot attack.

The decision to retaliate was made at a meeting called last night by Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, with the participation of IDF Chief of Staff Mofaz, his deputy Brig.-Gen. Yaalon, and other defense leaders. A statement issued afterwards by Ben-Eliezer's office said, "In light of the intolerable shooting actions against Israeli towns, the order [was given] to the IDF to take action within the Gaza Strip in order to clarify to the Palestinians that the State of Israel will not accept this type of incident."

Early this morning, the IDF shelled Palestinian terrorist targets in Tulkarm, east of Netanya.

2. WARNINGS COME TRUE
Some intense research by Arutz-7 correspondents Ariel Kahane and Yosef Mantinband has turned up the following anti-Oslo warnings, among many others, that were sounded over the years in the media and the Knesset. Immediately after the Oslo Agreement was announced in the late summer of 1993, many politicians began warning of its dire consequences. Then-opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu told Arutz-7 at the time: "For the first time, they are talking about internal control [of Judea, Samaria, Gaza] for Arafat and external control for the IDF. This means that this very large area will be under Arafat's control. And when murderous cells go out from there to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, or to any of the other new 'border' towns that will now be created, what will do? The IDF won't be allowed to go in and get them!"

Then-Likud MK Moshe Katzav said during the fateful Knesset session in which the Oslo Agreement was accepted in September '93: "Tell me please, Mr. Foreign Minister [Peres] and Mr. Defense Minister [Rabin, who was also Prime Minister], how will you prevent a little van traveling within Arafat's Yesha areas from loading up with katyushas and shooting towards the coastal cities? How will you prevent [katyushas from being shot towards] Ashkelon, Netivot, Sderot, Ofakim, and Ashdod?"

In December 1996, Arutz-7's Kobi Finkler reported that Yasser Arafat had issued "clear instructions for every Palestinian to buy weapons from wherever he can - from Israel or from elsewhere, to smuggle, buy, or steal... and to obtain heavy guns - preferably Kalachnikov rifles..."

Even before the Oslo agreements and the withdrawal from Gaza, Rehavam (Gandi) Ze'evi, presently serving as Tourism Minister, told the Knesset in March '93: "Every time there is a wave of terrorism, all sorts of 'experts' say that we should unilaterally get out of Gaza. If we do so, the Gaza Strip will become a cancerous thorn of terrorism, 1,000 times more dangerous than it is now. What will we do when katyushas are fired from Biet Yachie on Ashkelon and from Biet Hanoun on Sderot?"

But there was at least one person who didn't believe the warnings, and even mocked them: Yitzchak Rabin. In 1995, he scornfully said: "We know all the scare-stories of the Likud. They promised [when the first Oslo agreement was signed] that there would be katyushas from Gaza. It's been a year already that the Gaza is mostly under PA control, and there haven't been any katyushas, and there won't be any... The Likud is simply scared to death of peace, and for this reason is reacting in a truly childish manner." The original Hebrew recording can be heard at
http://www.a7.org/metafiles/asx/heb-perm/rabin-no-shells.asx.

3. OREN SHACHOR: NEGOTIATIONS NOW ARE IRRELEVANT
"Today Sderot, Tomorrow Ashkelon." This is the title of an article by Gen. (res.) Oren Shachor in today's Ma'ariv, wherein he writes, "Mortar fire on Sderot has changed the rules of the game... The Palestinians' message is that it's not only Gilo, but rather, 'today Sderot, tomorrow Ashkelon'... This is no longer a low-intensity clash, nor an armed intifada, but a continuing war of attrition with no end in sight... What should Israel do now? Only massive and determined military action against security and economic targets of the PA, including entering Area A - and remaining there if we have to - will cause the PA to 'blink' and to look for a way to climb down from its way of violence... It is clear that now is no time to talk about returning to any sort of diplomatic negotiations, except for pragmatic security coordination, if such a thing is at all possible."

Maj.-Gen. (res.) Shachor served as head of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria in the early-to-mid 1990's. Then-PM Netanyahu suspended him from the Israeli negotiating team with the Palestinians after it was discovered that he had systematically leaked to opposition head Shimon Peres details of the negotiations with the PLO.

Shachor explained to Arutz-7 today why he wrote what he jokingly said a "right-wing extremist" could have written: "The situation has changed drastically. The Palestinian leaders have switched disks, and the dream of the window of opportunity during Rabin's time has now closed. They are no longer interested in negotiations."

Arutz-7's Haggai Segal: "Maybe they were never interested in the first place?" Shachor: "Here is where I disagree with you. There was a hope among some of the Palestinians, but it ended at Camp David, when then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak thought he could make an all-or-nothing deal. A partial deal could have been made... We could have received security assurances, such as in the Jordan Valley, regarding which I think Barak offered too much... But now we can't talk about talks any longer for two reasons: First of all, because the Palestinians are no longer interested, and secondly, from our point of view, I don't see how we can continue talks from the high level of offers that Barak made, especially in view of the fact that even that high level did not satisfy Arafat... It's irrelevant and very hard to prove now whether it was possible or not possible to ever have reached an agreement..."

Segal: "[The reason I ask is because] the title of your article, "Today Sderot, Tomorrow Ashkelon," was actually said by [Likud MK] Benny Begin seven years ago..." Shachor: "So I say again, it's a matter of timing. In my opinion, there was a chance to reach partial agreements on reasonable terms, where they would have a state and we would have security, and to get used to things over time. But now it is all spilt milk. I am not sure that when Benny Begin said this it was correct, but certainly now it is true. Both sides made mistakes - don't think that I am excusing the Palestinians from responsibility. Arafat had a great chance and he missed it, and now we have no partner."

Segal: "How then do you see the future?" Shachor: "Heh, this is the big question. I assume that if we are determined, and work on our national strength, and our deterrence, then at the end we will reach a situation where, as I wrote, they will blink and want to return to the table... It will take time... The major change today is that the PA is running the show, leading the warfare against us."

Segal: "Well, that didn't start today - Arafat smuggled in three terrorists on his first trip to Gaza!" Shachor: "Uh, I am saying that Arafat and other PA leaders acted this way before, and this is part of the mistakes that he made throughout the process. When you make peace, it must be built on trust. We can analyze it after-the-fact, but what is clear to me now is that we have no partner for peace."

*******************************************************

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Apr. 18, 2001 / Nissan 25, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. THE RUSHED WITHDRAWAL
2. TWO EXPLANATIONS

1. THE RUSHED WITHDRAWAL
Israel began withdrawing its forces from Palestinian Authority-controlled areas in Gaza around midnight last night - only slightly more than 24 hours after the IDF had entered Gaza. Knesset members of the nationalist camp criticized the quick departure, and the media were rife with speculation regarding the reasons for the decision, whether there was a disagreement between the army and the government, who knew about the decision, and when they were informed.

The entry into several Gaza areas late Monday night followed the firing of a few mortar shells into the city of Sderot, within Israel-proper, early that evening. Political and military leaders explained throughout yesterday the need and justification for the wide-scale operation. Gaza battalion commander Brig.-Gen. Ya'ir Naveh told reporters late yesterday afternoon, "We will remain [in Gaza] for days, weeks, or months, as long as it takes." The sudden withdrawal orders last night therefore took the army by surprise - and speculation abounded that they were connected with the harsh words spoken yesterday by U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher. Speaking for U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Boucher said that Israel's reaction was "excessive and disproportionate."

Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that as Defense Minister, he stands behind both the entry into and the withdrawal from the Palestinian-controlled areas in Gaza, and that he does not plan to bounce the responsibility onto anyone else. He defended Naveh's remarks of yesterday as a form of warning to the Palestinians not to renew their mortar attacks. However, this approach was belied by an IDF spokesman's statement that blamed Naveh for "speaking on a matter that was not within his realm of authority." Ra'anan Gissin, chief spokesman for the Prime Minister's Office, also criticized Naveh by saying that he mis-spoke by implying that the army might remain in Gaza for an extended period. Gissin said that the decision to withdraw was not made under American pressure, and was in fact made yesterday afternoon, well before the State Department's harsh criticism.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha'ul Mofaz took another approach. He told government ministers today that both he and Naveh were aware in advance of the decision to pull out by last night, and that Naveh had only meant that the IDF has the ability to remain there for as long as it wanted. But IDF Southern Command officers said that at yesterday afternoon's army meeting about future steps to be taken in Biet Hanoun, the word "withdrawal" was not even mentioned.

The questions being asked today, therefore, are the following: Did Israel withdraw its forces suddenly because of American pressure? Or did the government plan in advance to remain there only for a short time? When was the army informed of the plans to withdraw? Was the government seeking to blame the army for whatever went wrong?

2. TWO EXPLANATIONS
The answers are complicated by conflicting reports regarding Prime Minister Sharon. He was heard saying yesterday morning that the IDF would remain in Gaza for at least a number of weeks - but at least one government member, Finance Minister Silvan Shalom, said that Sharon told him yesterday at 11 AM that he planned to withdraw the forces before nightfall.

One possibility, therefore, is that from the beginning there were no plans to remain in Gaza for an extended period. Arutz-7's political commentator Shai Ben-Tekoa says that Israel's military advantage lies in its maneuverability: "It should get in and out fast. Why remain in a Lebanon-style security zone and turn ourselves into sitting ducks?" Similarly, military analyst Ze'ev Schiff, apparently writing before news of the pullout became known, wrote in today's Ha'aretz, "The forces' orders were to 'sterilize' the area and make it difficult to operate mortars. They were given permission to stay in the area as long as operationally necessary... At the same time, it was clear to the troops they would be there only for a short time... In any case, there is no intention of setting up a security zone along the lines of the one in southern Lebanon."

However, others fear that the decision to withdraw may have been instigated by American pressure. Senior army officers told Ynet, "It is obvious that Naveh is being made a scapegoat, in order to avoid having to tell the public that the decision was made because of American pressure." Yoram Ettinger, former Israeli liaison to Congress, implies that if this was in fact the case, it was a mistake:

"The criticism leveled by the State Department spokesman was very low-key, and certainly not sharp. In previous cases, when the U.S. wished to transmit a sharp message to Israel, it knew how to do it - either by the President himself, or the Secretary of State, they threaten to cut foreign aid, and the like. None of these elements were present, because the Administration's approach simply does not jibe with a sharp condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza..." He noted that other Administration spokesmen and officials took a much milder tone on this matter, calling for the PLO to stop the violence together with a call for Israel to withdraw. "In short, what the Americans did should not be interpreted as pressure," Ettinger concluded.

Short-term tensions do exist, however. To defuse this, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres spoke with Powell today, and told him, "If we would have told you in advance that this was a limited- ime operation, and that we have no intention of capturing PA-controlled areas, I assume that the unpleasantness and your announcement could have been avoided." Peres also spoke with the Foreign Ministers of Great Britain, Sweden, Norway, and Turkey. He had his own explanation of Brig.-Gen. Naveh's remarks of yesterday: "He meant that the IDF and its officers are prepared to stay in the area as long as necessary, in accordance with government instructions."

Opposition head Yossi Sarid (Meretz) said that Sharon "both blinked and zig-zagged with this withdrawal from Gaza - and this zig-zag was even greater than those of his predecessor Ehud Barak."

************************************************************************

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, April 19, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, April 19, 2001 / Nissan 26, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. HOLOCAUST DAY AND STORY
2. DAN MARGALIT AND THE KNITTED YARMULKES

1. HOLOCAUST DAY AND STORY
Israelis from all walks of life, in their homes, cars, businesses, and on the street, stopped and stood silently for two minutes this morning in honor of the six million Jews slaughtered by the Nazis in the Holocaust 60 years ago. Today was Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah). At Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, the "Every Person Has a Name" ceremony was held today, in the course of which the names of Holocaust victims were read aloud. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer read the names of Moroccan Jews who were transported to Poland and murdered there.

Prime Minister Sharon said at the central ceremony last night that Israel is the only place in the world where Jews have the right and privilege of defending themselves on their own. Six survivors who established their lives anew in the State of Israel lit torches at the ceremony. One of them was 67-year-old Dina Levine Baitler, born in Vilna, Lithuania. When she was six, her father was deported to Siberia by the occupying Russian forces. The next year, in 1941, the Germans captured Vilna, and soon after took many of the Jews to an open pit and opened fire. Dina, slightly wounded by a shot in her leg, fell into a pit among the corpses. "At night," she described to Yad Vashem's quarterly magazine, "I heard a voice of a woman asking in Yiddish if anyone else was alive. There were wounded people who called out for help. The guards. heard them, came back, and started to shoot again." Towards morning, Dina pulled herself out of the pit and headed towards the forest. She wandered through the forests and villages for the rest of the war begging for food and shelter; a woman helped her assume the false identity of a Polish orphan. After the war, she returned to Vilna and was placed in a Jewish orphanage. She immigrated to Israel with her husband in 1960, and today has two children, ten grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter.

Another torch-lighter, Mordechai Wiesel, 86, was one of 21 children in his family; only he and two others survived the Holocaust. He was liberated from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in May 1945.

Video films on the Holocaust and related topics are being screened throughout the day at the Holocaust Studies Institute in Kibbutz Tel Yitzchak. At a memorial ceremony there last night, former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Beisky attacked the Pope and the Western countries for their silence in the face of the monstrous events of the Holocaust, but said that we will never forget the "brave Righteous Gentiles who saved what they could." Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies will end this evening.

2. DAN MARGALIT AND THE KNITTED YARMULKES
Noted television show host and newspaper commentator Dan Margalit, who says he "respects the Torah's commandments but feels no need to fulfill them," spoke with HaTzofeh's Yehudit Gurfein this past Friday about Israeli society today. His comments:

"To my sorrow, I have no Talmudic knowledge, and I was exposed to Mishnah and Medrash only at a late age... It saddens me that the young generation in Israel is prevented from being exposed to Judaism's spiritual richness... I greatly fear a situation in which the State of Israel will not be conquered by an enemy, but will disintegrate on its own because of loss of its identity."

Gurfein: "What should be done to ensure that this does not happen?"

Margalit: "The youth should be directed to rebel against the generation of parents that have become bourgeois, and to rebel against the 'sacred value' of personal success. The young must tell their parents that they don't want to travel to Paris again for Passover, but rather to celebrate it together at home and to learn its significance. The youth must rediscover their Judaism. They should come out against the prevailing mode of giving goyish names to the kids so that they will have an easier time abroad. We need a spiritual revolution and a generation of leaders that acts not out of personal interests but out of concern for the nation and the country. Enough already of this 'self-fulfillment'' that leads to the disintegration of Israeli society. Aside from the religious-national public, every group in Israel sees only its narrow interests. Only the 'knitted yarmulke' public, in my opinion, really cares about what happens to the whole of society."

Gurfein: "As a media person, have you publicly said or written these things?"

Margalit: "Truthfully, no. And this is the first time that I've been asked about them."

*******************************************************

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News Brief: Friday, April 20, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Apr. 20, 2001 / Nissan 27, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINE:

CNN POLL LEAVES OUT SOME ANSWERS
Questions about CNN's objectivity in reporting the Middle East violence continue to arise. The following CNN poll question was asked on Tuesday, April 17, and provided a choice of only the two answers that appear below: Is Israel justified in occupying part of Gaza over its security concerns? * Yes; but Israel should look to leave Gaza quickly * No; Israel's move is only meant to inflame the situation http://www.cnn.com/POLL/results/1493751.content.html.

*******************************************************

Return to Newsgroup Archives Main Page

Return to our Main Webpage

�2011 Hebraic Heritage Ministries International. Designed by Web Design by JB.