HHMI Newsgroup Archives

To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Sunday, July 22, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, July 22, 2001 / Av 2, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. G-8 PROVIDES ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PALESTINIAN TERRORISM
2. IS ARAFAT A MARKED MAN?
3. NETANYAHU VS. SHARON

1. G-8 PROVIDES ENCOURAGEMENT FOR PALESTINIAN TERRORISM
Official Palestinian Authority security organs issued a call last night for their terrorist-operatives in the field to cease all violence, saying that a ceasefire now is in the "Palestinian national interest." However, Israeli security sources predicted that the call would fall on deaf ears, following yesterday's announcement by the G-8 countries in favor of agreed-upon international observers. The Israelis feel that the G-8's call merely "whetted" the Palestinians' appetite for more gains, and that they will resume intense violence when the G-8 conference adjourns.

(Foreign Minister Shimon Peres explained to incoming US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer that the UNIFIL international observer in southern Lebanon never succeeded in preventing attacks, and that Hamas would in any event not allow monitoring forces into areas where bombs and suicide bombers are prepared.)

Terrorism and violence have in fact not abated. Mortar shells were fired at Netzarim in Gaza this afternoon, although they fell short and landed in an area under PA control. Earlier, terrorists attempted to murder several Jews when they fired at their cars outside Netzarim; one car was hit, but no one was hurt. Arabs shot at Israeli soldiers today on the approach road to Mount Eval north of Shechem. There were no injuries, and the soldiers returned fire. This morning's attacks included an attempted Arabs bombing of a schoolbus in the Mount Gilboa region, east of the PA city of Jenin, Palestinian gunfire at an Israeli motorist on a Shechem bypass road; and the light wounding of a soldier in a grenade attack in southern Gaza near the Rafiach Crossing to Egypt - soldiers returned fire.

Arabs threw four grenades during the course of last night at the IDF Southern District Coordinating Office in Gaza near N'vei Dekalim. A Border Guard base near Bethlehem was similarly attacked. In both cases, no one was hurt, and soldiers returned fire. Palestinians also attacked near Tul Karem, and two armed terrorists near Netzarim, in Gaza, were engaged in battle with Israeli forces before they fled.

2. IS ARAFAT A MARKED MAN?
A full-page ad in the weekly Makor Rishon newspaper is the latest subject of radio talk-shows, political condemnations, and even criminal charges. The ad, signed by Moshe Feiglin and other leaders of Zo Artzeinu - the "This is Our Land" protest organization established in 1995 against the Oslo policies of the Rabin government - called for nothing less than the murder of Yasser Arafat. "In these days of bloodshed," it reads, "at least one Jew a day is sacrificed on the Moloch altar of peace and restraint, by direct order of arch-murderer Arafat, may his name be blotted out. The government of Israel, instead of crushing the head of the snake, and preventing vital supplies from reaching the leadership of the murderous terrorist organization that he established, allows him in practice to murder us at will. We call upon everyone within whom the spirit of justice and integrity still flows, and finds himself with the opportunity, to kill Arafat." Feiglin and the other signatories write that they expect to be put on trial for their call, and that whoever heeds their call will as well, but "we are turning to the courageous of spirit amongst us."

Feiglin told Arutz-7's Shai Ben-Tekoa today that he expects to be tried and not exonerated: "It's true that Prof. Ze'ev Sternhall, writing in Ha'aretz, gave advice to the Palestinians not to commit terrorism in pre-1967 Israel, and only to kill settlers in Judea and Samaria, and it's true that he will not be made to stand trial, but with us it will certainly be different; this is Israel, what can we do... We are in a situation where, ever since Oslo, everything is completely mixed-up, and as Isaiah said, people think that good is bad, and bitter is sweet, and Arafat is our ally, and the settlers are our enemies... At one point or another, there has to be someone who will get up and say that the King is naked..."

Boaz Heinemann, the youngest member of the Israeli underground of the 1980's, was asked by Israel Radio today what he thought of the call to murder Arafat. His response: "The IDF instructions clearly state that if one sees a man engaged in terrorist activities, you may open fire. Arafat is the man behind the constant terrorist activities against Jews, so I don't see the problem." He admitted, however, that it would be better if Arafat would be killed in an official operation, rather than by a private citizen.

3. NETANYAHU VS. SHARON
The Likud Central Committee will convene tonight, and despite the drama that the media are drumming up, a major clash between the Sharon and Netanyahu camps does not appear to be in the offing. The two camps have already come to an agreement on some of the major issues regarding tonight's scheduling, such as the fact that former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will speak at 7:30 PM, and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will speak at 8 PM; both of them will receive television coverage from both major channels. The Likud Director-General evaluated that on a scale of 0 disturbances to 10 (=the event blows up), it will probably be about 3. He said that the real political struggle would only be in 2003, when the party is to choose its leader and Prime Ministerial candidate.

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Monday, July 23, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, July 23, 2001 / Av 3, 5761
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. ISRAEL IS CONSIDERING INCREASED CIA PRESENCE

***SPECIAL INSERT: "Ha'aretz, the Lie of the Land"

1. ISRAEL IS CONSIDERING INCREASED CIA PRESENCE
It's still unclear whether Israel does or does not agree to an increased CIA presence to oversee security measures. In light of greater pressure for international observers, as expressed at the G-8 conference, some reports last night and this morning were that Israel had agreed "in principle" to the idea advanced by Egyptian President Mubarak, and that the proposal now awaits the consent of the Americans. The CIA was originally assigned to oversee the implementation of security aspects of the Wye Agreement of 1998.  However, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee today that such reports were nothing more than "rumors and speculation." He said that a formal proposal had not yet been presented to the government, adding that he would not reject such a plan outright. Sharon emphasized again that he remains adamantly opposed to an international observer force in Judea and Samaria.

Sharon said today, following yesterday's Likud Central Committee session at which Binyamin Netanyahu's anti-restraint policies received a much warmer welcome than did Sharon's pro-restraint line, that he will "not take the nation to an unnecessary war because some people yelled and shouted." Last night, as well, in response to shouts of opposition during his speech, Sharon responded angrily, "You scream, I'll fight terrorism." He said that his plan contains three elements: Immediate, short-range responses to attacks; active defense in Israeli-controlled areas, especially of roads; and active thwarting of terrorists and attacks. He explained that his policy is based on military and diplomatic considerations, noting that "nothing is more important than unity for Israel's security." However, analysts continue to surmise that a major "successful" terrorist attack - such as the one that was prevented in Haifa yesterday - could lead to a major Israeli offensive.

Dr. Daniel Pipes, director of the Philadelphia-based Middle East Forum, has some suggestions for Sharon that fall somewhat short of war - and other that don't. Pipes, editor of the Middle East Quarterly, wrote in The Jerusalem Post last week that Israel must take more active steps, such as: "Bury suicide bombers in potter's fields rather than deliver their bodies to relatives (who turn their funerals into frenzied demonstrations). Freeze the financial assets of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, the PLO, and the PA. Prevent PA officials (including Arafat) from returning to the PA. Permit no transportation of people or goods beyond basic necessities. Shut off utilities to the PA." Pipes continued with another list to follow this one: "Implement the death penalty against murderers. Seize weapons from the PA and make sure no new ones reach it. Re-occupy areas from which gunfire or mortars are shot. Raze the PA's illegal offices in Jerusalem, its security infrastructure and villages from which attacks are launched. Capture or otherwise dispose of the PA leadership. Destroy the PA. Reach separate deals with each Palestinian town or village."

SPECIAL INSERT:
Excerpts from "Ha'aretz, the Lie of the Land"
by Andrea Levin, Executive Director of CAMERA
(Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America)
<www.camera.org

In a familiar syndrome, many otherwise impartial American journalists newly posted in Israel slip quickly in their reporting into unmistakably hostile views of the country. Why?

One factor is their sources in the Israeli media. As Eric Weiner, former Jerusalem bureau chief for National Public Radio, told a Palestinian media symposium, every working day began with scanning local papers for stories. He relied especially on what he termed the "very respectable [Israeli] newspaper" Ha'aretz. Like NPR, countless other media cite Ha'aretz writers regularly, while a global audience reads the paper's English Internet edition online.

Although Ha'aretz bills itself as "an independent newspaper with a broadly liberal outlook," many of the opinion writers and some reporters espouse views of the extreme far left, and factual accuracy is often sacrificed to their political predilections. Reporter Amira Hass, for example, has just been ordered by the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court to pay $60,000 in damages to the Jewish community of Hebron for her false and incendiary report that Jewish residents there had abused the corpse of a dead Arab shot by Israeli Border police in a violent incident. The allegations were disproved by multiple televised accounts of the event. [Her] stories, replete with distorted and inaccurate charges that Israel is an "apartheid" state, steals Palestinian water, callously targets Palestinians over the age of 12 with sniper-fire, and generally subjugates Arabs out of sheer viciousness, are posted on countless anti-Israel websites. So also is the commentary of a score of other Ha'aretz writers (Gideon Samet, Gideon Levy, Akiva Eldar, Baruch Kimmerling, Ze'ev Sternhell, Joseph Algazy, Danny Rubenstein, Moshe Reinfeld and many more), in the company of other favorites of such websites like Noam Chomsky, Hanan Ashrawi and Edward Said... Indeed, a look at such sites and the content of the Ha'aretz articles posted suggests that Ha'aretz writers are in the vanguard of those making the Palestinian case against Israel.

Hass and the extreme among her colleagues are also eagerly quoted by the most virulent anti-Israel commentators in the American media [such as The Orlando Sentinel's Charley Reese and Connecticut's Hartford Courant's Amy Pagnozzi]...

Another Israeli journalist based at a different newspaper, Yediot Ahronot's Nahum Barnea, wrote in November 2000... that there are Israeli reporters who do not pass the "lynch test." These are journalists who could not bring themselves to criticize the Palestinians even when two Israelis were savagely murdered by a Palestinian mob in Ramallah. Which journalists? Gideon Levy, Amira Hass and Akiva Eldar of Ha'aretz... The ultimate political effects of prestigious Israeli media disseminating continuous and often inflammatory anti-Israel misinformation in English in the era of the Internet should not be underestimated.

(With thanks to IMRA - www.imra.org.il - which notes that the Hebrew edition of Ha'aretz frequently includes material unfavorable to the Palestinians that does not make it into the English edition. At times the deletions of only a sentence or two are critical.).

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, July 24, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Tuesday, July 24, 2001 / Av 4, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. TEMPLE MOUNT LONGINGS
2. P.A. IGNORES OBLIGATIONS TO ARREST TERRORISTS, BUT DEMANDS RECIPROCITY
3. IN BRIEF

1. TEMPLE MOUNT LONGINGS
The Temple Mount Faithful have once again petitioned the Supreme Court for permission to hold a Tisha B'Av prayer service alongside the gates of the holy site. The day of Tisha B'Av, this coming Sunday, is one of national mourning for the destruction of the two Holy Temples on that very site, 2,000 and 2,500 years ago respectively. The police object to the service, in fear of strong Arab reactions. In early April, the Supreme Court rejected a more grandiose request by the Temple Mount Faithful to be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount during the upcoming Passover holiday. The judges at the time accepted the government position that riots could result if such permission were granted to the Jews. The Prime Minister's Office announced at the time that Sharon had instructed the security forces to "find the way to allow Jews to enter the site."

2. P.A. IGNORES OBLIGATIONS TO ARREST TERRORISTS, BUT DEMANDS RECIPROCITY

Two of Israel's highest-ranked security figures - Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Sha'ul Mofaz - both acknowledged today that there is no ceasefire, and that the Palestinians are continuing their campaign of violence apace.  When asked today about the involvement of Force 17 forces in terrorist attacks, Mofaz replied that it has been known for some time that members of various PA security forces are responsible for perpetrating terror attacks. Ben-Eliezer, talking to reporters about the most recent terrorist in Pisgat Ze'ev last night, said, "There is no ceasefire, nor is there anything that comes close to a ceasefire."

The Palestinian Authority reportedly plans to submit a list of 50 "Israeli right-wing extremists" and demands that Israel arrest them for their "barbaric crimes against the Palestinians." The Palestinian Authority demands "reciprocity," saying that just as Israel has submitted to the PA a list of wanted terrorists, the PA has similar demands. However, senior Israeli security sources said today that Israel's GSS head Avi Dichter will refuse to accept the list, saying that it is just a "gimmick with which Israel has no plans to cooperate."

Ynet published six of the list's names today: Hevron Jewish Community spokesman Noam Arnon, Hevron activists Noam Federman and Baruch Marzel, Arutz-7 Editor Haggai Segal, Hevron rabbi Uzi Sharbaf, and Education Minister Limor Livnat's brother Noam Livnat. Some of them were members of the famous "Jewish underground" of the 1980's.

Reactions:

MK Michael Kleiner: "This is a threat to murder. The government must supply them with personal protection, just as it does with MK Ahmed Tibi after he makes one of his statements."

MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu): "The list does not deserve any reaction, except for the liquidation of the Palestinian Authority."

Haggai Segal: "The PA never would have dreamed of publicizing a list like this if the government had treated it like the terrorist organization it is. This treatment will not bring quiet, but in the end will lead to the placing of Arik Sharon himself on lists like these."

Noam Federman: "We also have lists, and some PA heads have already felt it... The security sources did not advise me as to how to be more cautious, and because of their recommendation, I don't have weapons with which to protect myself. I think they'll be happy if the Arabs kill us..."

Noam Arnon: "Sometimes dangerous dogs walk free. The ones who should be blamed are not the dogs, but rather whoever brought them here and let them go free - namely, Peres and Beilin. Sharon, too, is also to blame for allowing them to continue to talk. I don't have any demands or expectations from the terrorists; they are monsters."

The Yesha Council: "Every Israeli citizen is on the Palestinian list. If the government thinks that this list is serious, we demand that they be afforded protection."

3. IN BRIEF

The number of tourists coming to Israel in June of this year was 97,400 - a 55% drop compared to June of last year. People in transit totaled 3,500 - an 89% increase. In the nine months of the Oslo War, from Oct. 2000 until June 2001, the number of air tourists fell 46% compared to the monthly average the year before - from 186,000 to 101,000. In the first six months of 2001, 690,000 tourists came (including 12,500 in transit), 53 percent less than in the first half of 2000...

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, July 25, 2001 / Av 5, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. ISRAEL KILLS HAMAS LEADER
2. P.A. TO DEMAND ISRAELI ARRESTS
3. TEMPLE MOUNT TO BE REMEMBERED FROM AFAR
4. SHARON WOOS EITAM

1. ISRAEL KILLS HAMAS LEADER
PA sources report that Hamas terrorist leader Salah Darwazeh was killed this afternoon when the IDF fired six rockets at his BMW car in the Biblical city of Shechem (often known by its Latin name of Nablus). Darwazeh, 37, considered one of the leaders of Hamas there, was very active in preparing several of the large terrorist attacks of the past few months, including the suicide killings in Netanya on March 4 and May 18. Eight Israelis were killed in these attacks, and 130 were injured. He was also a central figure in the attempted suicide attack at the French Hill junction in March; no one was killed in that incident. Hamas leaders said they would "cause pain to the Zionist enemy" in response to the killing.

2. P.A. TO DEMAND ISRAELI ARRESTS
Palestinian Authority officials will submit to Israel today the list of "wanted Jews" whose arrest they demand. Israel will apparently refuse to accept it, saying that it is merely a gimmick to cover up for the PA's refusal to arrest its own terrorists. Possibly in reaction to this, a PA security source said that the Palestinians would submit the list to the Americans, and not to the Israelis.

Six names on the list are known as of now: Hevron Jewish Community spokesman Noam Arnon, Hevron activists Noam Federman and Baruch Marzel, Arutz-7 Editor Haggai Segal, Hevron rabbi Uzi Sharbaf, and Education Minister Limor Livnat's brother Noam Livnat. Some of them were members of the famous "Jewish underground" of the 1980's. The Yesha Council calls upon Prime Minister Sharon to call off tonight's scheduled security meeting with Palestinian leaders. Beit El Mayor Uri Ariel said today that no self-respecting country would sit with terrorist organization leaders who send their men to kill children in Pisgat Ze'ev and Haifa.

MK Ahmed Tibi told a Jordanian newspaper that if the PA avenges the deaths of the three members of the Tamizi family, "I will not condemn it." He was referring to the killing this past Thursday night outside the Arab village of Idna - even though it is not clear whether the murderers were Jews or Arabs. No Israeli officials have seen the bodies, and the only eyewitnesses to the crime were Arabs. The Tamizi family was known to have had connections with Israeli security sources; Arabs killed one of the family in Hevron, and another Tamizi also had had run-ins with terrorists.

3. TEMPLE MOUNT TO BE REMEMBERED FROM AFAR
Members of the Temple Mount Faithful were not surprised this morning when the Supreme Court rejected their petition for permission to pray on the Temple Mount this coming Tisha B'Av (Sunday). Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak, together with Justices Dalia Dorner and Tova Strassberg-Cohen, accepted the position of the police that the "sensitive security situation" does not permit Jewish entry to the Mount at this time. The police will permit the group to march around Jerusalem with a symbolic "foundation stone." Barak told the movement's chairman Gershon Solomon, "Our heart is with you, but we cannot help you."

4. SHARON WOOS EITAM
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met yesterday with Brig.-Gen. (res) Effie Eitam, and the two discussed various issues related to Zionist settlement, education, and Land of Israel values. The Prime Minister expressed his solidarity with, and great appreciation for, the residents of Judea and Samaria, and reiterated the government's commitment both to the residents' peace and security and to the strengthening of the settlement enterprise. On the political level, Sharon asked Eitam to join the Likud.

A former Galilee Formation Commander, Eitam resigned from the army late last year after he a) was widely criticized for having called Arafat an "arch-terrorist," and b) was passed over for promotion to the rank of Maj.-Gen. in a move widely assumed to have been connected with the yarmulke on his head and his political beliefs. Eitam has been rumored to be interested in either starting a new party, heading the National Religious Party, or starting a large educational institution.

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To: arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From: Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, July 26, 2001

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Thursday, July 26, 2001 / Av 6, 5761
------------------------------------------------

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BEN-AMI: THE WEST HAS A "JEWISH COMPLEX"
2. PALESTINIANS DEMAND END TO LIQUIDATIONS
3. LIKUD IN ARIEL

1. BEN-AMI: THE WEST HAS A "JEWISH COMPLEX"
Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak agreed to the principle that 100% of Yesha was a Palestinian prerogative, and was in fact willing to transfer Israeli territory to the PA in exchange for the three settlement blocs that were to remain Israeli. Former Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami confirmed this two days ago in a closed forum of both right and left-wing members in Jerusalem. Ben-Ami said that when even this offer was rejected, he became convinced that there was no chance for a final-status agreement between the sides, and that the only arrangement possible would be one forced upon them by the international community.

Other excerpts from Ben-Ami's remarks:

"The dispute between us is also about values and existential principles... The West and Europe have a complex with the Jews, one that influences how they look at the situation here... This is
manifest in the media. Hundreds of people die in conflicts all over the world, and no one pays any attention. But when one Palestinian is killed, immediately CNN breaks into its regular broadcasts for news flashes - once when the death occurs, and again for the funeral...

"We have a religious conflict also with the Christians; it is very deep and will remain open even after we solve the problems with the Moslems..

"Ever since Oslo, Arafat has been preparing the PA for war against Israel. On an area of only 500 square kilometers, what does he need 11 security agencies for? He told me personally that he was greatly encouraged by the success of only 500 Hizbullah fighters in evicting Israel from southern Lebanon. If we unilaterally withdraw from Yesha, it will leave us with a hostile state on our doorstep. If we remain in Yesha, this will also cost us. Israel must decide which price it wants to pay."

2. PALESTINIANS DEMAND END TO LIQUIDATIONS
Last night's security cooperation meeting in Tel Aviv between Israel and the PA was stopped after 90 minutes, when it became clear that no progress was being made. Palestinian negotiators later announced that they would hold no further such meetings until Israel ends its policy of targeting and killing wanted Arab terrorists. The Palestinians did not present their list of wanted Israelis to Israel, as they had threatened; a PA source said that they gave a list of 30 such figures to the CIA officials there, but Israeli officials said that the subject was not raised at all. Israeli officials had stated that they would not accept such a list, which they said was designed only as a gimmick to draw attention away from the PA's refusal to fulfill its commitment to arrest a few dozen wanted terrorists.

3. LIKUD IN ARIEL
Likud Knesset Members made a day-long visit to Ariel today, one of the two cities in Yesha (the other is Ma'aleh Adumim). The MKs met with settlement leaders, heard security briefings, and held a political-diplomatic discussion. Prime Minister Sharon said there that the Americans have their own interests in the Middle East. "They want to increase their activity against Iraq," he said, "and they therefore want the Arab nations with them. I see this as a warning light." Regarding the security meetings with the Palestinians, Sharon said that they serve a healthy purpose of preventing clashes between the sides.

Yesha Council leaders met with Prime Minister Sharon on Tuesday night, in what was described as a "difficult atmosphere." Sharon accused his competitor, former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, of trying to drag him into a war.

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