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To:            arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News Brief:  Friday, Sept. 21, 2001
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 / Tishrei 4, 5762
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. U.S. PRESSES, BUT PERES AND ARAFAT WILL NOT MEET
   2. SHARON: "ARAFAT IS OUR BIN LADEN"
   3. "CEASEFIRE" BROKEN LAST NIGHT, RE-STARTED THIS MORNING
   4. CHENEY WANTS TO GO AFTER HIZBULLAH
   5. PALESTINIANS SUPPORT STRIKES AGAINST U.S. TARGETS
***As we go to press:  Arabs of the Palestinian Authority violated the 
"ceasefire" this afternoon by throwing at least three firebombs at IDF 
soldiers in Hevron and Rachel's Tomb.
1. U.S. PRESSES, BUT PERES AND ARAFAT WILL NOT MEET
Israel's security cabinet decided last night, despite strong American 
pressure, not to allow Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to meet with Yasser 
Arafat.  However, at the same time it kept the door slightly ajar by 
continuing the policy of military restraint.  IDF soldiers are now 
forbidden to open fire at terrorists unless immediate danger is apparent.
Peres, who sorely wishes to meet with Arafat, acknowledged that the U.S. 
wants the meeting, "in order that the Arab world not think that the 
American war against terrorism is one against Arabs."  Speaking on Israel 
Radio this morning, Peres claimed, "The Americans are not asking us to give 
up territory or our right to self-defense, but merely that we should sit 
with Arafat."  Labor party ministers Vilnai, Itzik, Cohen, and Sneh said 
that Israel should adhere to American wishes on this matter.
However, most of the security cabinet ministers were against a Peres-Arafat 
meeting.  They were bolstered by IDF Intelligence Chief Maj.-Gen. Amos 
Malka, who told them that Arafat has absolutely no intention of changing 
his policies and that his ceasefire order this week is merely a tactical 
ploy.  The ministers were told that Arafat has "done nothing but talk, and 
his underlings understand that, except for blowing themselves up in suicide 
attacks within pre-1967 Israel, they can do whatever they want."
Minister Shlomo Benizri (Shas) asked Malka to present the army's position 
regarding a Peres-Arafat meeting, but Sharon did not allow him to 
answer.  Benizri said that a meeting now with Arafat would again grant him 
legitimacy "just when he is already on the ropes," and other ministers 
agreed.  Even Peres' request to Arafat to arrest the murderers of Sarit 
Amrani yesterday went unanswered.  Although Peres said that Arafat assured 
him the murderer would be arrested, Israeli security has learned that the 
PA released the murderer after arresting him briefly for a 
"conversation."  Amrani, mother of three children between the ages of two 
months and four years, was murdered yesterday morning outside Tekoa in 
eastern Gush Etzion, and her husband Shai was seriously wounded.
It is still possible, however, according to Israeli diplomatic sources 
quoted in Ha'aretz, that Peres and Arafat will meet tomorrow night, 
depending on the "security situation."  Translated, this means that if the 
48-hour ceasefire that Prime Minister Sharon demanded five days ago holds 
for at least 36 hours [Palestinian sources announced that the ceasefire 
began this morning], this will be sufficient.  Other Israeli news sources 
reported that the meeting had been postponed "indefinitely."
2. SHARON: "ARAFAT IS OUR BIN LADEN"
Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson asked Yesha leader Yaakov "Ketzaleh" Katz today 
why he feels that Israel should not, as Peres said, "accede, just this 
once, to the American request to meet with Arafat."  Ketzaleh answered,
"Just as Bush will not agree to meet with Bin Laden, so too we must not 
meet with Arafat.  Public opinion polls published recently by Israel's most 
popular newspapers show that 80-90% of the public believe that what Bin 
Laden is to the United States, Arafat is to Israel and the Jewish 
people.  Not for naught has Prime Minister Sharon said repeatedly that 
'Arafat is our Bin Laden.'  [ed. note: Sharon told the Knesset this past 
Sunday, "Arafat chose a strategy of terrorism and established a coalition 
of terrorism.  Terrorist actions against Israeli citizens are no different 
from Bin-Laden's terrorism against American citizens.  It was Arafat who, 
dozens of years ago, legitimized the hijacking of planes.  It was 
Palestinian terrorist organizations that began to dispatch 
suicide-terrorists.  All extremist movements have receive redoubled 
legitimacy from Arafat since the murder of the Israeli athletes at Munich, 
and the murders of children at Avivim and Ma'alot."]
"Therefore," Ketzaleh continued, "we must fight Arafat the same way the 
U.S. wants to fight Bin Laden.  The Jewish people, together with the 
Christian majority in the United States, are against all forms of pressure 
by the Bush Administration on Israel to agree that we should continue to be 
killed, as one woman was yesterday, as a result of passivity towards 
Arafat.  Sharon himself said that we will give all help to the United 
States, except for that which will hurt our security."
Q. "Is there no room for compromise?"
Ketzaleh: "Every compromise invites more terrorism.  The United States 
allowed the terrorists to take advantage of their democracy by allowing 
them free entry from Saudi Arabia and other countries, by not checking up 
sufficiently on where their monies came from or were going, etc. - and were 
rewarded with these cataclysmic terrorist attacks.  It is not ethical for 
the Bush administration to press us to do anything that could lead to 
continued terrorism within Israel."
Q. "Peres warns that Bush and Powell will meet with Arafat and include him 
in the worldwide coalition, 'but if I don't meet with him then we will not 
be included.'  What is your response?"
Ketzaleh:  "If he does meet with Arafat, then it will make it that much 
easier for Bush to meet with Arafat and include him in the coalition.  What 
we have to do is continue to pressure them not to meet with Arafat, who is 
responsible for the same type of terrorism that they are trying to 
fight...  The fact is that Peres has always been warning us that we have to 
give in, etc. and it is exactly this approach of his that has led not only 
to Oslo and all its tragedies, but even to the terrible World Trade Center 
attack."
3. "CEASEFIRE" BROKEN LAST NIGHT, RE-STARTED THIS MORNING
Palestinian sources now say that the ceasefire with Israel took effect 
early this morning, and that since then there has been total quiet 
throughout Judea and Samaria.  Arafat had originally announced the 
ceasefire a few days ago.  Last night, there was heavy Arab fire against 
the IDF's Tarmit outpost in Gaza, as well as a roadside bomb near Brachah 
in the Shomron.  Six Israeli soldiers were wounded by Palestinian fire in 
Gaza yesterday afternoon.
The Yesha Council reacted gravely to the army's new restrictive open-fire 
orders today, warning that the new restrictions in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza 
are liable to cost even more Israeli lives.  The new orders forbid opening 
fire unless there is clear mortal danger.   Similarly, entry into 
Palestinian Authority-controlled territory (Area A) is now forbidden.  The 
Council calls upon Prime Minister Sharon to "stop the obsessive chase after 
Arafat, the Middle East's Bin Laden."
4. CHENEY WANTS TO GO AFTER HIZBULLAH
Despite the position of U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who is 
responsible for the force being exerted on Israel to meet with Arafat, 
there are those in the Bush Administration who are in favor of a more 
militant position.  Vice President Dick Cheney and Pentagon officials favor 
expanding the American military option, and want to add Hizbullah in 
Lebanon and even Iraq to the list of military targets.  So reported the 
Israeli daily Yediot Acharonot today.
5. PALESTINIANS SUPPORT STRIKES AGAINST U.S. TARGETS
Palestinian Media Watch recently re-published a poll commissioned ten 
months ago that shows the extent of Palestinian support for a terrorist 
strike against the United States.  PMW <pmw@netvision.net.il> reports that 
the spontaneous Palestinian celebrations after the horrific attacks in the 
United States were in fact "genuine expressions of the deep hatred of 
America that has been promoted by Palestinian Authority leadership for 
years."  The poll shows that 73% of Palestinians support military action 
against American targets in the region, and that among academics, those who 
supported such attacks reached the rate of 77%.  The poll was reported in 
the official PA newspaper Al Hayat Al Jadida on Nov. 11, 2000.
******************************************************************
To:            arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com 
From:          Arutz-7 Editor<feedback@israelnationalnews.com> 
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Sunday, Sept. 23, 2001
Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Sunday, Sept. 23, 2001 / Tishrei 6, 5762
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. PERES-ARAFAT MEETING PUSHED OFF AGAIN
   2. SHARON EXPLAINS
   3. PERES WANTS OUT
   4. WSJ: U.S. SHOULD NOT SHUN ISRAEL
   5. ZOA: CHENEY IS RIGHT
1. PERES-ARAFAT MEETING PUSHED OFF AGAIN
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon announced at the start of today's Cabinet
meeting that Foreign Minister Shimon Peres would not meet with Yasser
Arafat today.  Sharon told the ministers that it is impossible to hold
the meeting while the violence and mortars continue, and after the PA
released the murderer of Sarit Amrani this past Thursday.
The announcement followed last night's and this morning's news reports
that Sharon and Peres had agreed yesterday that the meeting would
probably take place this afternoon.  Several national-camp government
ministers met with Prime Minister Sharon this morning, where they
apparently applied strong political pressure to call off the meeting. 
National Infrastructures Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in an interview
with Voice of Israel Radio, refused to say whether his party -
National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu - would quit the coalition in the
event of a Peres-Arafat meeting.  He explained why he opposes the
meeting:
 "85% of the Israeli public [according to a Channel 2 poll of last
night] is against the meeting; there is a clear majority within the
government, against this meeting.  But what is most critical is that
all the security organs say firmly that Arafat is continuing with
terrorism and has not changed his plans.  The murderer of the young
mother from Nokdim was in the custody of the PA - and they released
him; just last night three mortar shells exploded in a Gush Katif
community.  This is not terrorism?."  When asked if he would quit the
coalition, Lieberman said, "I hope it is Peres who quits and not us. 
More important right now than a national unity coalition with Peres is
the security of Israel's citizens...  It doesn't matter if there are
48 hours of quiet now; what matters is that he has not changed his
basic position that terrorism against Israel is legitimate."
Housing Minister Natan Sharansky told Arutz-7 this morning that as far
as he knows, there has been no concrete American pressure to hold the
Peres-Arafat meeting, "although it's true that the White House is
interested in maintaining quiet here in our region. This does not
mean, however, that we must let Israeli citizens serve as live flesh
for Palestinian terrorism merely to ensure that there be quiet."
Shas party leader Minister Eli Yeshai is firmly against the meeting as
well, and although Peres tried to explain to him that the meeting is
important because the Americans want it, Yeshai was not convinced.
2. SHARON EXPLAINS
Prime Minister Sharon, speaking with Fox News today, reminded the
world that Yasser Arafat is a terrorist, and explained that there had
been 88 acts of Palestinian violence against Israelis in the past five
days.  Sharon noted that these included the murder of a young mother,
"whose three-month-old baby refuses to be comforted or to drink from a
bottle, and cries only for her mother."
The Prime Minister said that Arafat had personally given the orders
for the murder of two U.S. diplomats and one from Belgium in 1973. 
Sharon said again that he would approve a meeting between Peres and
Arafat if there were 48 hours of quiet, but said that meanwhile there
are emergency warnings of impending suicide terrorist attacks in
Israel.
3. PERES WANTS OUT
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, still reeling from the perceived blow
dealt him by Prime Minister Sharon and the decision to forbid a
meeting with Arafat, is said to be thinking of resigning.  This
afternoon he expressed his wish to go "on vacation," but Labor party
ministers asked for an urgent meeting with Sharon to discuss the
threat, and asked Peres to hold off on his decision until afterwards. 
The meeting will take place tomorrow at noon.
Political analysts say that there are only slim chances that Labor as
a whole will quit the coalition, since popular support for the party
is at an all-time low.  Several Labor ministers, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said that they see no reason to resign from the
government.  Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, who may yet become the
leader of the Labor Party following the disputed internal elections
three weeks ago, criticized Sharon for insisting on 48 hours of quiet
before allowing a Peres-Arafat meeting.
4. WSJ: U.S. SHOULD NOT SHUN ISRAEL
"Fair-Weather Friends? America shunned Israel during the Gulf War.
That would be an even bigger mistake this time."  These words crown an
article by Wall Street Journal contributing editor Seth Lipsky,
published September 19, 2001.  Excerpts thereof:
 "The worst moment in America's relations with Israel came...  when
Saddam Hussein began launching Scud missiles at the Jewish state.  Wanting to
scramble its fighter aircraft and other forces to attack what Scud
positions it could find, Israel sought from the Pentagon the aircraft
codes known as IFF, which means "Identify Friend or Foe."  The
Pentagon refused. President Bush the elder refused to intervene...
"Forty-one years later, as the Scuds arced into Tel Aviv, the idea
that America would ask Israel to stand down in the fight to destroy the
enemies she shared with America seemed bizarre and even dangerous. 
President Bush persisted, not wanting to offend the Arab members of
the Gulf War coalition... There were those who suggested that he ought
to make a willingness to fight alongside Israel a price of joining the
coalition.  Instead, Mr. Bush held out to Israel the hope that from
the victory of the gulf coalition would come the talks that would
finally bring peace between Israel and its Arab enemies.
"The end result, though not the direct result, was the disaster of
Oslo, the folly of which finally became clear even to its boosters with the
terrorist war the Palestinian Arabs launched against Israel in the
wake of Camp David II...
"The knowledge of this history is no doubt the reason why, in recent
days, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been resisting the pressure
from the State Department that it stand down from its defense during
the attacks by the Palestinian Arabs so as to aid in the forming of a
coalition between America and Israel's Arab enemies in the war against
Osama bid Laden...  But it would not be surprising to see the issue
re-emerge as a defining question as to how deeply the current
President Bush understands the nature of the war he is entering...
 "No doubt President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell abhor
racism as much as any other leaders. But when the price of joining in a
conference against it became the isolation and denigration of Israel,
it walked out.  That has to give hope that should the price of the
antiterrorism coalition become the exclusion of the very countries
that are most closely allied with our values, the administration will
hear the inner voice of conscience and find another way to fight the
war."
4. ZOA: CHENEY IS RIGHT
The Zionist Organization of America strongly supports U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney's position that the forthcoming U.S. action
against terrorists should include strikes against the Hizbullah
terrorist group and Iraq.  A ZOA press release provides a list of
evidence linking Bin Laden and Hizbullah, and notes that Hizbullah is
on the official U.S. government list of terrorist groups.  Hizbullah,
according to the ZOA, has carried out numerous attacks on Americans,
including:
* the car-bomb attack killed 241 Americans, and 29 others, at the
U.S. Marine barracks in Lebanon on Oct. 23, 1983;
* the bombing of the U.S. embassy annex in Beirut on September 20,
1984,  killing 20 people;
* the car-bomb attack that killed 16 people at the U.S. embassy in
Beirut on April 18, 1983;
* and the June 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, during which the
hijackers murdered a passenger, U.S. Navy diver Robert Stethem.
*******************************************************
To:            arutz-7@israelnationalnews.com, arutz-7b@israelnationalnews.com 
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <feedback@israelnationalnews.com> 
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Monday, Sept. 24, 2001 
Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Sept. 24, 2001 / Tishrei 7, 5762
------------------------------------------------
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. PERES AND ARAFAT WILL MEET, AFTER ALL
   2. PRIME MINISTER SHARON WILLING TO GRANT ARABS PALESTINIAN STATE
   3. SNEH: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY "STABBED ISRAEL IN THE BACK" 
   4. OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF ISRAELIS AGAINST PERES-ARAFAT MEET
1. PERES AND ARAFAT WILL MEET, AFTER ALL
Despite the murder of yet another Jewish woman this morning, and
despite the fact that some 4/5 of the Israeli public is against a
Peres-Arafat meeting, and despite the fact that MK Tzvi Hendel notes
that "there is no American pressure, except for that exerted by Colin
Powell, on Israel to hold such a meeting" - it now appears that Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon has allowed Foreign Minister Peres to meet with
PLO terrorist chief Yasser Arafat tomorrow evening.  The two announced
that the meeting would take place "in the near future and at the
appropriate time."  It appears that the two wish the meeting to take
place before the Wednesday night-Thursday holiday of Yom Kippur.  Some
reports, however, say that the meeting will take place immediately
after Yom Kippur.
Although Sharon reacted to today's murder with the shrewd observation
that "There is no ceasefire," and although he has been insisting on 48
hours of total quiet before allowing Peres to meet with Arafat, he
apparently was cowed by Peres' threats to "go on vacation" and veiled
threats of American disapproval.  In a private talk this morning, the
two agreed that Peres would meet with Arafat tomorrow in Gaza. 
Arafat, for his part, has said that he will be glad to meet with Peres
at any time, in the knowledge that such a meeting would grant him
legitimacy as a peacemaker as the world gets set to battle terrorism.
2. PRIME MINISTER SHARON WILLING TO GRANT ARABS PALESTINIAN STATE
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated last night, in an address to the
Teachers Union, that Israel is willing to grant the Palestinians an
independent state.  "Neither the Turks nor the British nor the
Jordanians nor the Egyptians" offered to create a Palestinian State,
said the Prime Minister.  Israel is willing to do so, he said, if the
Palestinians prove that they can enforce peace in Judea, Samaria and
Gaza.  Sharon said that PLO leader Yasser Arafat has made a serious
effort to reduce the warfare:  "He even went to Rafiach to bring quiet
to that area - something he has never done before."  [Ed. note:  A
Channel Two news report directly from the nearby IDF's Tarmit outpost,
where at least 20 grenades were hurled at the soldiers, indicated that
Arafat had not been particularly successful.]
The Yesha Council reacted to the Prime Minister's comments by saying
that "only a blind and callous leader" would offer the Palestinians an
independent state, "as the territory already in their control has
become a hotbed of terrorism and a base for suicide bombers." 
Minister of Tourism Rehavam Ze'evi stated that the proposal is in
contradiction to the coalition agreement, and that such a radical
proposal was never brought to the ministerial cabinet for approval.
3. SNEH: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY "STABBED ISRAEL IN THE BACK"
Much like his French counterpart last week, the British Foreign
Secretary painted Israel as a catalyst of terror rather than one of
its main victims.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday, on the eve of an
unprecedented visit to Iran, that international terrorism is fed by
the "fury in the Moslem world over the suffering of the Palestinian
Arabs."  Straw is due to arrive today in Iran, with the apparent
intention of getting that Moslem state to join the international
coalition against terrorism.  The Foreign Secretary will stop in
Israel on Tuesday.
Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh, in an angry reply to Straw's
comments, said that they portray Israel as a cause of terrorism rather
than a victim of it.  An exasperated Sneh repeatedly called such
comments on the eve of the British Foreign Secretary's trip to Iran "a
stab in the back to Israel."  Iran is known to be one of the chief
sponsors of international terrorism through the Hizbullah and other
organizations.
4. OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF ISRAELIS AGAINST PERES-ARAFAT MEET
Several polls taken over the past few days show that an overwhelming
majority of Israelis do not support a meeting between Foreign Minister
Shimon Peres and PLO leader Yasser Arafat. A Channel Two poll reported
on last night showed that 85% of those polled objected to such a
meeting. Similarly a self-selected poll on the Israeli MSN website
indicated that more than 76% of 7000 respondents voted against the
meeting.
Irrespective of Israeli public sentiment in the matter, Foreign
Minister Shimon Peres said that calling off the meeting, as happened
yesterday, could lead to an increase in terrorist attacks. Media
reports indicated that the U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell called
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an attempt to pressure him to allow the
Peres-Arafat meeting.  According to Knesset Member Tzvi Hendel
(National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu), "the only person in the Bush
Administration pushing for a meeting between Peres and Arafat is Colin
Powell.  There is no American pressure for a meeting."  The Prime
Minister's Office also has denied that there is any American pressure.
 Shimon Peres, on the other hand, has publicly taken the opposite
tack.
According to MK Hendel, "There never was such a high level of sympathy
for the State of Israel in Congress and in the American media as there
is today. Whoever says that there is American pressure is lying." 
Hendel believes that the meeting would only cause tremendous damage to
Israel and prevent it from acting to dismantle the Palestinian
Authority.  "We all know that the overwhelming majority is against
Peres. Even at the Labor Party meeting today everyone criticized him,"
said Hendel.
*******************************************************

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