HHMI Newsgroup Archives

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Sunday, May 6, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, May 6, 2001 / Iyar 13, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. OFFICIAL SYRIAN ANTI-SEMITISM
2. HEVRON CEMETERY DESECRATED AGAIN
3. ISRAEL RECEIVES MITCHELL REPORT

1. OFFICIAL SYRIAN ANTI-SEMITISM
Syrian President Bashar Assad's official speech of welcome to Pope John Paul II yesterday contained clearly anti-Semitic clauses. The speech shows that anti-Semitism in the official Syrian press is not of an incidental nature, but is rather part of a consistent government policy. Excerpts from Assad's welcome:

"[You, the Pope, embody] the summit of responsibility for maintaining those values [love, tolerance and equality among human beings], especially [since] there are those who invariably attempt to subject all people once and again to the journey of ailments and agony. Therefore, our brethren in Palestine are being murdered and tortured, justice is being violated, and as a result territories in Lebanon, the Golan and Palestine have been occupied by those who even killed the principle of equality when they claimed that God created a people distinguished above all other peoples. We notice them aggressing against Moslem and Christian Holy Sites in Palestine... They try to kill all the principles of divine faiths with the same mentality of betraying Jesus and torturing him, and in the same way that they tried to commit treachery against Prophet Mohammad...

Assad also noted some eternal truths, but apparently had in mind irregular applications for them:

"The application of heavenly tenets requires taking a stand against those who oppose them. Equality means that dealing with other peoples should not be governed by psychological complexes or claims of distinction above other peoples. Justice means restoration of rights to those who deserve them. Land and houses in Lebanon, Syria and Palestine belong to their owners. It also means return of the refugees to their homeland. Love means refraining from killing Arabs out of hatred, and to teach children not to bear malice against others. Truth is realized by refraining from distorting current and historical facts and from claiming rights and history which have no basis."

The Syrian President further noted that Islam makes no distinction among people - except if they are not "G-d-fearing:"

"Islam spread throughout the world advocating justice, love and equality among human beings with no distinction between one and another except by God fearing."

2. HEVRON CEMETERY DESECRATED AGAIN
Hundreds of mourners at the funeral of long-time Kiryat Arba-Hevron resident Chaim Mageni today were shocked to find that the old Jewish cemetery in Hevron had been, yet again, badly desecrated over the weekend by Arab vandals. Mageni, 56, who passed away suddenly on Friday, is survived by his wife Shoshana, their ten children, and ten grandchildren. The couple moved to Hevron in 1968 and helped found Kiryat Arba, to where they moved, in 1971. He was a professional Land of Israel tour guide specializing in the Hevron area.

Gravestones in the cemetery were found to be smashed, large pieces of marble were scattered nearby, the gravesite of Menucha Rachel Slonim was desecrated, and the stone floor above the cemetery was smashed to pieces. A Hevron spokesman issued the following statement: "If the Arab cemetery in Hevron had been desecrated by Jews, CNN, The New York Times, as
well as the entire Israeli media would blare out how Jewish extremists had vandalized and desecrated, etc. Yet when Arabs, time and time again, destroy Jewish graves, no one pays any attention. In many European countries, guards are stationed at Jewish cemeteries in ensure their well-being. Yet in Hevron, the Israeli government and security forces see no reason to protect Jewish cemeteries from continued desecration... Hevron residents have offered to guard the cemetery, but the IDF refuses to grant permission..." Photos of the desecration can be seen at "www.hebron.org.il/pics/cemetdesc.htm". 

3. ISRAEL RECEIVES MITCHELL REPORT
"It could have been worse." This, essentially, was the Israeli response to the Mitchell Committee report on the Arab violence of the past several months. The report was presented to Israeli and PLO leaders Friday. Prime Minister Sharon told his Cabinet today that its findings were "reasonable" in that it did not blame Israel and his own visit to the Temple Mount for the violence. Sharon said, however, that it was regrettable that it did not specify that the Palestinians were responsible for the fighting. The committee's recommendations to "freeze all settlement activity, including the 'natural growth' of settlements," and to evacuate "isolated settlements" such as that in Hevron, are also not considered acceptable to Israel. "We do not believe that the issue of settlements is relevant to the present cycle of violence," said Minister Danny Naveh. Israel has long rejected any form of conditional cessation of violence. Israel was happy, however, with the rejection of PA demands to internationalize the conflict.

The report, prepared by a five-man committee headed by former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, also found that "both sides should immediately implement an unconditional cessation of violence. The PA should make efforts to jail terrorists and stop sniper fire, and should ensure that Palestinians with Israeli work permits are "free of connections to [terrorist] organizations..." Israel, for its part, should use only "nonlethal responses" to the firebomb-and-rock hurling mobs, and should release impounded PA tax funds to the organization which has been attacking it for the past seven months.

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

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, May 7, 2001 / Iyar 14, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. SNEH: AMERICANS SHOULD VISIT ISRAEL
2. ARENS: DOUBLE GOLAN POPULATION
3. KATZAV ANSWERS ASSAD
4. NEGOTIATING TRACKS LEADING NOWHERE

1. SNEH: AMERICANS SHOULD VISIT ISRAEL
Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, appearing last week before the Conference of Presidents of Major American-Jewish Organizations, called upon them to show solidarity with Israel and to visit it during its difficult hour. "It's a disgrace that a large share of the cancellations of El Al trips are by American-Jewish groups," he said.  "American Jewry must set a personal example and fly to Israel on El AL." Amos Hermon, Director of Education in the Jewish Agency, says that the problem is that the insurance companies refuse to insure trips to Israel because of the State Department travel advisories, "although, despite this, some 4,000 American Jews have still visited in Israel of late..."

2. ARENS: DOUBLE GOLAN POPULATION
The IDF has established a new observation post above the Tunnels Highway checkpoint, outside Beit Jala. The new point is located below the homes of Beit Jala from where Palestinian terrorists have been sporadically shooting at cars for the past several months.

Israel destroyed eight of ten buildings in the headquarters of PA General Intelligence Chief Tawfiq Tirawi two days ago. At least 17 terrorists were reported wounded when the buildings were set ablaze by Israeli tank shells. The attack came as a result of continuing terrorist attacks on Israeli targets in the Jordan Valley.

Yesterday's quick IDF penetration into Palestinian-controlled Beit Jala has led to newspaper headlines blaring that the IDF now has a green light to act in Area A [under full Palestinian control]. "Is this in fact Israel's new policy?" asked Arutz-7's Haggai Segal of former Defense Minister and current Likud MK Moshe Arens today. 

Arens:

"This is not the first time that the IDF is entering Area A, and it's obvious that we cannot wage a war if the other side knows that there is an imaginary line behind which he can run and be totally safe. Picture the War of Independence: if Israel had set itself a rule not to cross the lines set by the Partition Plan of 1947, the war would have gone on until today - it would have been impossible to ever end it!..."

Asked about the feasibility of toppling Arafat's regime, Arens said, "Two things are clear: One, Arafat is responsible for the terrorist attacks and all the latest victims, and two, we will not reach any agreement with Arafat at the head of the PA. I don't know if we'll reach an agreement with the PA after Arafat, but certainly not with him."

Arens was asked for his opinion on the government's Judea and Samaria policy of "natural-growth construction only." Arens first said that this issue is a prime example of Israel not always falling in line with American demands: "I don't think we ever received America's blessing for building settlements in Yesha, but we did it because we felt that it was important for the State of Israel... I don't see a great need to build new settlements at this time, and the natural-increase idea is therefore very reasonable and correct. What is very important is to double the Jewish population in the Golan - this is something that we can do."

3. KATZAV ANSWERS ASSAD
President Moshe Katzav has a sharp response to Syrian President Bashar Assad for his anti-Semitic speech welcoming the Pope to Syria two days ago. Assad contrasted Israel with those who maintain the values of love, tolerance and equality among human beings, and accused the Jews of "kill[ing] the principle of equality when they claimed that God created a people distinguished above all other peoples... They try to kill all the principles of divine faiths with the same mentality of betraying Jesus and torturing him, and in the same way that they tried to commit treachery against Prophet Mohammad..."

Katzav noted today, "Syrian President Bashar Assad spent many years studying ophthalmology but, apparently, did not find time to study either general history or Jewish history. [He] is young and has both the opportunity and the time to enrich his knowledge of human history... [Assad's father] did not bequeath his son a will of crudeness and anti-Semitism." Katzav also had some criticism of the Pope and the Vatican for not responding to "the Syrian President's historically erroneous remarks."

4. NEGOTIATING TRACKS LEADING NOWHERE
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yet again today that Israel would conduct diplomatic negotiations only after the violence and terrorism have been completely halted. He said this to visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Jozias Van Aartsen, adding, "Arafat is wasting very precious time; terrorism and violence will yield him nothing." Sharon stressed that his primary obligation is to the security of Israel's citizens: "If the PA does not act to halt the violence, Israel will be obliged to do so without, however, intending to escalate the situation... We are suffering daily losses and there is no country which can tolerate this."

Regarding the Egyptian-Jordanian initiative - which Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Mussa said yesterday has "zero chances of developing into something" - Prime Minister Sharon asserted that a testing period for the halting of violence is necessary.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, looking at the bright side of the Mitchell Report, said yesterday that it was "fair and balanced." He noted the following positive points: It established that a settlement cannot be forced on the sides but must rather be agreed upon; it determined that the Palestinians must cease their violence; and established, for the first time in an international document, that the riots were not caused by Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount.  Peres did not mention, however, that the Report recommends a settlement freeze in exchange for a stop to PA violence, and otherwise equates between the two; asks Israel to use only "nonlethal force" against Palestinian rock-and-firebomb throwers; and recommends a possible unilateral withdrawal from "settlements that are focal points for substantial friction."

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, May 8, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, May 8, 2001 / Iyar 15, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. ISRAEL SEIZES HEAVY WEAPONS SHIPMENT SMUGGLED TO P.A.
2. VATICAN CITED FOR LACK OF RESPONSE

***ARUTZ-7 RADIO SHORTS

1. ISRAEL SEIZES HEAVY WEAPONS DESTINED FOR P.A.
"The extent of these weapons makes a mockery of all our security-coordination meetings with the Palestinians," said Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. "We talk about peace and returning to the negotiating table, while they are preparing for war." He was referring to the discovery on Sunday of a vessel laden with heavy weapons headed for the Gaza coast from Lebanon. The shipment contained four anti-aircraft Strella missiles, 120 anti-tank missile launchers, rocket-propelled grenades, and mortar shells. In addition, there were Kalachnikov submachine guns with 13,000 bullets, Katyusha rockets with a range of 8.5 kilometers - as opposed to the 1.5-kilometer range of the mortars used by the PA until now - as well as dozens of RPG launchers, mortar bombs, mines, and more. The shipment was sent by terrorist leader Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Israeli officials invited international diplomats to see the wide array of weapons saved from reaching their destination in the PA.

Prime Minister Sharon disclosed today that the captured Lebanese boat was a veteran of three previous arms-smuggling missions to Gaza.  Military sources informed the government that the Palestinians are trying to enhance their store of anti-aircraft shoulder missiles in order to limit Israeli aviation over Judea and Samaria. Although the PA has denied any connection to the shipment, Israeli sources totally dismiss these claims and say that the PA helped organize the smuggling operation. The Oslo and Wye Agreements forbid the PA from holding weapons such as Katyushas, rockets, and mortar launchers, and it is bound to hand them over to U.S. officials for destruction.

Voice of Israel reporter Yoni Ben-Menachem said today, "A government minister reminded me that in 1994, after the 'Gaza and Jericho first' agreement, then-Likud MK Ariel Sharon told the Knesset that it will only be a matter of time before the PA fires Katyushas from Gaza onto Ashkelon; later, then-Labor party Minister Chaim Ramon mocked Sharon and said, 'Where are the Katyushas that you promised us?' Now it looks like we will soon see them..."

Israeli defense leaders said today that the Palestinians already have weapons of the type that were seized Sunday. Smuggling of weapons to the PA has been taking place for years, chiefly via underground tunnels from Egypt to Rafiach and in Arafat's plane. Other Palestinian VIPs, whose cars went unchecked through Israeli checkpoints, also smuggled in various weapons. A security source told Arutz-7 today, "Almost every time a VIP car returned from Jordan, we saw that it was heavily weighted down - but we were not allowed to check it."

Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman, together with other military correspondents, met today with a "very senior army officer." Who exactly was the officer? "I am only allowed to say that he is a very senior officer, with an emphasis on the 'very.'" Huberman recounted his impressions of the meeting:

"The senior officer revealed that the army knows for sure of mortar shells and anti-tank weapons in Judea and Samaria - both within the PA and in other terrorist organizations. He said that the PA is not interested in using them now, but as the situation escalates, there is a good chance that it will use them. He further told us that the army's goal is not to find and seize each individual weapon, but rather to deter the PA from using them - by following any such use with such a hard strike that they will realize it's not in their interest to use them. When we asked the officer where these weapons are located, he said, 'in the northern Shomron and all over Yesha.'"

Huberman noted that media reports falsely quoted the senior officer to the effect that last night's terrorist murder outside Itamar took place in an "unapproved outpost." Huberman said, "I would like to make clear that he did not call it illegal, but merely said that the Civil Administration issued a stop-work order and that the matter is under investigation. He emphasized clearly that he was in no way offering any sort of justification for the murder..."

2. VATICAN CITED FOR LACK OF RESPONSE
Pope John Paul II is on his way to Malta, following his three-day visit in Syria that featured his failure to respond to what the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem termed the "anti-Semitic invective and political manipulations of youthful dictator Bashar al-Assad."

The ICEJ today expressed "complete rejection" of what it called Assad's "vicious anti-Semitic statements," as well as its "disappointment at the Vatican's failure to timely rebut this immoral attack on the Jewish people." Assad had equated the conditions of Arabs in Judea and Samaria to the suffering of Jesus at the hand of Jews. ICEJ's Executive Director Rev. Malcom Hedding said, "It was clear from the start that the Syrian Government was determined to exploit the Pope's visit for devious political purposes. The Vatican has no excuse for failing to foresee this and then remaining silent to Assad's pernicious charges against the Jews concerning the sufferings of Jesus. This repeats the Church's mistakes of the past." Regarding yesterday's papal visit to Kuneitra, which was destroyed during the Syrians' attacks on Israel in the Six-Day and Yom Kippur Wars and which the Syrians purposely left in its desolation, Hedding stated, "The setting negates the message [of peace], since the ruins of Kuneitra are primarily a testimony to Syria's undying animosity towards Israel."

ARUTZ SHEVA RADIO SHORTS

"The Oslo process was born in sin. Not only was it against the law - which prohibited meetings with a terrorist organization - but it was known to be against the law and was done maliciously. Yuli Tamir was Minister of Absorption the Barak government. On August 13, 1999 she gave an interview to the newspaper HaAretz in which she said: 'Look, we all cheered the Oslo Agreement despite the fact that it wasn't conceived in a democratic fashion. The contacts were secret, there was no transparency, and they lied to the public. In this matter, what the Right claimed was true. It was presented only at the last minute as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition. There were several flaws in the democratic nature of the process. Nevertheless, we enthusiastically adopted it, in my opinion, justifiably. I suppose that we don't want a dictatorial peace; anything but that. But... had they told us 'okay gentlemen, there will be a dictatorship for a year at the conclusion of which there will be peace and the peace will lead to prosperity and justice' would we have bought it or not?'

"Those are very candid words, and what they mean is that every death, every injury, every orphan and every widow caused by the illegal Oslo process - both Jew and Arab - is the responsibility of those who brought it upon us. And it means that instead of meeting today with the American president and secretary of state, as the representative of the Israeli government, Shimon Peres should be standing before the bar of justice because of the crime of Oslo. And the same is true of Hershfeld and Pundak and Beilin and all those criminals who brought this upon us. And if Israel is to be a nation of law, these people must be indicted. Certainly, they should be given the opportunity to prove their innocence, but they must answer for what they have done.
The law demands it and history demands it." From the Jay Shapiro Hour <mailto:jay@IsraelNationalNews.com> Hear the Show:
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/metafiles/asx/shows/shapiro.asx  

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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, May 9, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, May 9, 2001 / Iyar 16, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. MK SHTEINITZ: ISRAEL MUST DISARM PLO
2. MUSINGS BY SHARON AND PERES
3. U.S. CRITICIZES ISRAEL

1. MK SHTEINITZ: ISRAEL MUST DISARM PLO
MK Dr. Yuval Shteinitz (Likud) demands that Israel disarm the PLO and its armed forces. Speaking yesterday at the Israel Center in Jerusalem, and again today on public radio, Shteinitz warned that "national security is much more important that personal security," and asserted that any ceasefire achieved in the short run would come at the expense of a necessary strike at the source of the problem. Journalist David Bedein, director of the sponsor of yesterday's talk, the Israel Resource News Agency, reports that Shteinitz is chairman of special Knesset Foreign and Security Relations subcommittee on Defense Planning and Policy.

Bedein writes today, in the name of Dr. Shteinitz, that Israel has ignored for too long the growth of the Palestinian security forces, from the agreed upon number of 24,000 in the Oslo II agreement of 1995, to 60,000 Palestinian soldiers who are now under arms. "The PA is engaged in a well-planned war of attrition," Shteinitz said, "that could last for many months and years if Israel does not act immediately to stem the flow of weapons smuggling into the PA, by closing every possible artery of supplies, from the PA airport in Gaza to every possible roadblock..."

He demanded that Israel increase its military pressure on the Palestinian security services, and called for the IDF to immediately attack PA army bases, PA ammunition dumps, PA officers and all the bunkers where weapons can be stored.

2. MUSINGS BY SHARON AND PERES
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave an evasive answer today to the question of whether Arafat is Israel's partner in peace. He told reporters today, "Whoever causes the killing of Israeli citizens is not a partner." He then added, "If there is total quiet [non-violence], we will certainly be happy to renew the negotiations with whoever stands at the head of the Palestinian Authority."

The Prime Minister lavished great praise on the residents of Judea and Samaria: "They are essentially the great heroes of this period, they are standing at the front line of the State of Israel. I can only say that I have a great admiration for their activities."

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, during his meetings in Berlin today, said that if Europe would demand definitively that Arafat stop the terrorism, as does the U.S., and return to the negotiating table, the chances that he would do so would improve.

3. U.S. CRITICIZES ISRAEL
The U.S. sharply condemned the double murder in Tekoa - but this followed some criticism of Israel last night regarding its settlement policy in Judea and Samaria. The State Department spokesman said that Israel should not allocate extra monies to Yesha "settlements" at this time. "Such activity could worsen the present situation, which is hard enough as it is, and is a provocation," the spokesman said.

Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pilossof, who recently re-joined the Labor party, was asked her opinion this afternoon of the American criticism. "There is a problem with the settlements," she said, "but I don't think it's the issue now. First the violence must be stopped, and then we'll be able to sit down and talk."

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