From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
To: "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 1997 03:10:15 +0000
Subject: Israel News: December 18-22, 1997
PEACE PROCESS
JERUSALEM OUR CAPITAL
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida [The PA's Daily] [11.28]
Faisal Al-Huseini, who holds the Jerusalem portfolio in the
Palestinian Authority, stated in an interview with the Jordanian
newspaper, 'Al-Aswak': "If Israel persists in not recognizing
Palestinian sovereignty in the eastern part of Jerusalem, it is
the Palestinian side's right to demand its rights from the
[Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea ... The Palestinians
are not prepared to relinquish sovereignty over East Jerusalem
and want Jerusalem to be the capital of both states, with its
eastern part as the capital of the Palestinian state under
sovereignty of the Authority, while keeping open arteries between the
two parts of the holy city."
ARAFAT'S ADVISOR: DECLARATION OF PALESTINIAN STATE IN NEAR
FUTURE
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida 12/03/97
"Advisor to President Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said that 'the
Palestinian state [has already] been established de facto and
will be established officially in the near future.' In an
interview with Radio Monte Carlo, Abu Rudeina said that the
signed Palestinian-Israeli agreement dictates a complete
withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza [with] a safe passageway
between them. This agreement, should it be implemented,
guarantees the unity of Palestinian lands, something which will
prepare the ground for the establishment of a state. Abu Rudeina
added: 'We feel that there will be no security and no peace for
anyone without the establishment of a Palestinian state whose capital
is occupied Arab East Jerusalem .'"
ARAFAT: OUR STATE ALREADY EXISTS
By Margot Dudkevitch and Mohammed Najib - Jerusalem Post
RAMALLAH (December 3) -- The Palestinian state already exists,
Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat said Tuesday in
response to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's Monday statement
that Israel would annex the Jordan Valley and other territories
if Arafat unilaterally declares a state. Arafat said: "Let it be
quite clear to all that the state of Palestine exists and al-Kuds
al-Sharif (Jerusalem) that was occupied in 1967 will be its capital."
US TO ARAFAT: SIT QUIETLY - WE WILL APPLY PRESSURE
by Shimon Shiffer, Yediot Aharonot, December 4, 1997
"You keep quiet and we will pressure Israel to take a decision
which is acceptable both to you and us." This was the message
the United States conveyed to Arafat. A report concerning the
contacts between Arafat and the United States was received from
the Jordanian Prime Minister, who met with Arafat in Ramallah two days
ago. He reported that Arafat said that American Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright told him that Israel's proposed withdrawal from 6
to 8 percent of the West Bank was unacceptable to her and that she
planned to intervene with Netanyahu to increase the extent of the
withdrawal to double digit figures.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister reinforced this message; "The
Americans asked us to refrain from reacting to the Israeli
Government's decision until they succeed in bringing about a
decision that is acceptable to them regarding the extent of the
withdrawal."
U.S. GOVERNMENT DELIVERS ULTIMATUM TO NETANYAHU
by Orly Azulai-Katz, Yediot Aharonot, December 4, 1997
The United States has warned Israel that it will publicly support the
establishment of a Palestinian State, with the Jordan River as its
Eastern border, if Israel does not carry out the three withdrawal
stages which it agreed to in the Oslo agreement. This message was
delivered yesterday by a senior official in the American
administration who stated that 1997 was disastrous for the peace
process and that during the month of December it will be necessary to
make up for all that was not done in the previous 11 months. The
United States is attempting to formulate its own initiative, as it
feels that the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have
reached an impasse and it will not be possible to reach a final
settlement without the establishment of a Palestinian
ALBRIGHT URGES ISRAEL TO MAKE `CREDIBLE' WITHDRAWAL, SETS NEW
TALKS
2.40 p.m. EST (1940 GMT) December 6, 1997
By Barry Schweid, Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Israel
Saturday to decide on a more swift, "credible,'' withdrawal on
the West Bank than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed
and said she would be looking for an answer by mid-December.
While Netanyahu has suggested a testing period of up to five
months for tougher Palestinian anti-terrorism measures, Albright
pressed for quicker action.
"We would like to see a credible further redeployment," she said
at a joint news conference here with Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat. "We want to make sure there is a combination of quality
and quantity." For his part, Arafat declared: "I am not asking
for anything more than is in the agreements between us and the
Israelis."
ALBRIGHT KEEPS UP THE PRESSURE - MURRAY KAHL'S COMMENTS
I&GN 12/6/97
Ignoring all the words coming out of Israel that demands
compliance by the PA with signed agreements, US Secretary of
State Albright publically chastised Prime Minister Netanyahu and
demanded a more swift, "credible," withdrawal on the West Bank
than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed. She said
she would expect an answer by mid-December 17 in a yet
undisclosed European city.
To further embarrass the Netanyahu, Albright said at a joint news
conference with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. "We would like to
see a credible further redeployment, we want to make sure there is a
combination of quality and quantity." Whether Netanyahu will
acquiesce to Albright's demands appear hazy as his unclear demands
of the last week have shown.
Displaying a high degree of hubris, Albright paid lip service to
Arab inspired terror and said "The Palestinian Authority can do
more to prevent terrorist attacks on Israel. There is always
more that can be done." However, no demands to Arafat were made
public, and many see this as encouraging even more terror as a
way to gather more land and with quiet US participation. I&G
News, December 6, 1997
EUROPEANS MOVE TO CURTAIL MANY RELIGIOUS GROUPS
By Larry Witham The Washington Times
A network of psychiatric, legal, media and socialist groups are
pressuring European governments to outlaw or curtail the
activities of well-known religious organizations, a new report
states. With groups such as Catholic charismatics, Hasidic Jews,
Baptists, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Quakers, Buddhists -- and the
YWCA -- now being listed as "dangerous sects" by state panels,
American human rights groups are raising concerns.
"Without being alarmist, we think an international discussion
should be started," said Massimo Introvigne, a Roman Catholic
scholar from Turin, Italy. Europe's anti-sect movement is made
up of "liberal rationalists," he said . "They criticize the
'rising tide of irrationality.' Since religion is not
disappearing, they are quite angry about that." Mr. Introvigne,
who works with hundreds of scholars in Europe, issued a report on
religious liberty at a Washington press conference this week.
"We don't claim it is a real persecution," he said, but added
that "these things are escalating to a kind of avalanche." =
The European trend was reported at time when religious
persecution around the world is getting more attention in
America, and Congress had threatened to limit aid to the Russian
government if it enacts tough new laws curtailing all but a few
historic religions.
********************************************************************
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, December 18, 1997
Arutz Sheva News Service
Thursday, December 18, 1997 / Kislev 19, 5758
------------------------------------------------
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. THREE-HOUR MEETING IN PARIS
2. THREATS PUT ON HOLD
1. THREE-HOUR MEETING IN PARIS
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met for three hours this morning with
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Paris. He told reporters
afterwards that he did not provide specific percentages of Judea and
Samaria to be transferred to the Palestinians, but rather outlined the
security needs of Israel according to which the extent of the withdrawal
would be determined. He said that he emphasized to Secretary Albright that
the entire process is contingent upon the Palestinians fulfilling their
obligations. Netanyahu added that he and Albright had agreed on certain
measures that he prefers to present to his government before he announces
them in public.
Two groups demonstrated outside the hotel at which the meeting was being
held today. Israeli family members of victims of Arab terror, several of
whom were arrested by the French police, protested against the lack of
American pressure on the Palestinians to transfer terrorists to Israel. .
Alongside them demonstrated a group of Israeli and French Jews in support
of Prime Minister Netanyahu and against the one-sided American pressure on
Israel.
2. THREATS PUT ON HOLD
MK Michael Kleiner (Gesher-Likud), chairman of the Eretz Israel Knesset
front, said before the Netanyahu-Albright meeting that he does not believe
Netanyahu's promises that he will not present maps of the upcoming
withdrawal to Albright. He told Arutz-7 that he stands by his statement of
yesterday in which he called Netanyahu a "Pharaoh who weakens Israel and
brings us closer to war." Kleiner said that as soon as the government
decides on a unilateral withdrawal, he and other coalition MKs will vote
no-confidence in the government. He did not deny the fact that his party
leader, Foreign Minister David Levy, is responsible for much of the
internal pressures upon Netanyahu to cede more territory, and said, "I am
still convinced by Levy's speech immediately after the first Oslo accords,
in which he decried the dangers of the agreement."
Yesha Council leaders who met with the Prime Minister yesterday said that
he promised that the execution of the next withdrawal would be contingent
upon a Palestinian agreement to cancel the third withdrawal. They said,
however, that their decision whether to act to topple the government
depends on Netanyahu's actions, not his promises.
3. ANTI-PRESSURE PROTEST
Dozens of Shomron-city Ariel residents demonstrated outside the American
Embassy in Tel Aviv this morning, against the current American pressures on
the Israeli government. Ariel Mayor Ron Nachman said, "We are here to tell
the Americans that we are not a banana republic. Clinton is continuing the
policies of [former President George] Bush, who attempted to bring down an
Israeli government by withholding the loan guarantees. Clinton has grossly
intervened in Israeli affairs in the past, when he made clear his
preference for Shimon Peres in the previous election. The Americans will
be responsible for a bloodbath if they do not refrain from their pressures
upon us."
***************************************************************************
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Friday, December 19, 1997
Arutz Sheva News Service
Friday, December 19, 1997 / Kislev 20, 5758
------------------------------------------------
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS
2. VOICES OF YESHA
1. WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said today that he proposes a
permanent arrangement in which the Palestinians will receive Yesha
areas that are densely-populated with Arabs. He said that no
pressures in the world would convince his government to make decisions
in opposition to the Israeli national interest. He emphasized again
that Israel insists on Palestinian compliance before any additional
withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. In any event, there will be a
five-month hiatus between a decision to withdraw and the actual
withdrawal, in order to verify Palestinian intentions. "This is the
difference between us and the previous government," said the Prime
Minister.
The government ministers are planning to take a working tour of areas
in Judea and Samaria this coming Monday, on the eve of their decision
on the permanent-status map. American mediator Dennis Ross is
scheduled to arrive in Israel next week, in an attempt to finalize
details of the next withdrawal. He plans to have Arafat sign a
commitment to renew security cooperation with Israel.
2. VOICES OF YESHA
Various opinions are being sounded amongst the residents of Judea and
Samaria concerning the recommended approach to the Oslo process at
this time. Nekudah editor Uri Elitzur writes in today's Yediot
Acharonot that the heads of the Yesha Council are "aging generals
fighting the previous war." He said that our challenge now is to
fight from within the Oslo framework to attain the best deal possible
for the Yesha communities.
Rabbi Zalman Melamed, rabbi of Beit El and chairman of the Yesha
Rabbis Council, published an open letter in HaTzofeh today, in which
he demands that the National Religious Party stand unambiguously
against any further withdrawal whatsoever. "I was shocked to see an
NRP proposal for the permanent status," wrote Rabbi Melamed, "that did
not include the most important thing: there shall be no further
withdrawals. The transfer of territories implies a recognition,
Heaven forbid, that they have a claim to this land. This is totally
forbidden..." Rabbi Melamed concluded, "If the NRP does not [stand
firm on this point], I will issue a call to support and vote for a
party that has total loyalty to Eretz Yisrael."
***********************************************************************
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Sunday, December 21, 1997
Arutz Sheva News Service
Sunday, December 21, 1997 / Kislev 22, 5758
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Check out this week's Arab Press Survey
<www.a7.org>
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. KIRYAT ARBA AND HEVRON ON STRIKE
2. COALITION HEAD MAKES NON-GOV'T-LIKE RECOMMENDATIONS
3. GOOD TERMS FOR PALESTINIANS
4. NETANYAHU'S REMARKS CAUSE ARAB STORM
1. KIRYAT ARBA AND HEVRON ON STRIKE
In light of the continuing government sessions on the future
withdrawal and permanent-status arrangement in Judea and Samaria, and
the Albright-Netanyahu-Arafat contacts, the communities of Hevron and
Kiryat Arba declared a general strike for today. All schools and
municipal offices were closed, and close to 3000 residents, including
many from Eli and Maaleh Levonah, demonstrated outside the Prime
Minister's office in Jerusalem, during the cabinet meeting. 2000
people participated in a special prayer service last week at the Tomb
of the Prophet Natan and the Seer Gad in Halhoul, outside Hevron.
This site is usually off-limits to Jewish visitors and worshippers.
Violence flared up in Hevron today. A home-made bomb was thrown at
IDF soldiers today, and stones were thrown at Jewish homes; no one was
hurt.
2. COALITION HEAD MAKES NON-GOV'T-LIKE RECOMMENDATIONS
Transportation Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy demanded in today's
Cabinet meeting that coalition chairman MK Meir Shitreet (Likud) be
discharged from his position. Levy was reacting to Shitreet's remarks
in favor of the uprooting of Yesha communities and the establishment
of a Palestinian state. Levy said that Shitreet cannot continue to
head a coalition whose guidelines he openly opposes. Shitreet made
the remarks at a gathering of coalition MKs and Palestinian Authority
representatives - including a terrorist who sat in Israeli prison for
21 years - in Greece last week.
Minister Michael Eitan raised the demand of the Third Way party to
uproot Yesha communities. He said that whoever take this position
will have to face a similar demand to uproot communities in the Golan.
3. GOOD TERMS FOR PALESTINIANS
A new security agreement is in the process of being formulated between
Israel and the Palestinians, under the direction of the American
Central Intelligence Agency. According to the agreement, Israel will
confiscate weapons from citizens who support terror activities. No
Palestinian commitment to transfer the 34 terrorists who have been
demanded by Israel is mentioned in the agreement. The Palestinians
also rejected a demand to arrest specific terrorists listed by Israel.
4. NETANYAHU'S REMARKS CAUSE ARAB STORM
Egyptian President Mubarak said that Prime Minister Netanyahu's
remarks on Friday are a "regression," and that "the Egyptian nations
is enraged to hear such things." Palestinian Authority Chairman
Arafat said, "This is a violation of the signed agreements. The
Palestinian nation vows to liberate [Judea and Samaria] from the
Israeli conquest." The remarks that aroused their ire were made by
Mr. Netanyahu on Friday, when he said, "I will not return to the May
1967 borders. Those were war-borders, which almost led to the
annihilation of the State of Israel. I have no plans to turn Israel
into a 10-kilometer wide state... This is our Land, our homeland... I
propose a permanent arrangement where in the densely-Arab populated
areas are under Palestinian control, while the areas that are vital
for our security and that are basically empty will be under our
control."
Other Netanyahu quotes from his appearance at the Jewish Journalists
Convention in Jerusalem:
"How is it that we are always pictured as the side that causes the
Oslo process to fail, and not the Palestinians? The answer is that
there is apparently a 'truth' above and beyond the facts, and that is
that 'Israel is not allowed to be in Judea and Samaria,' and nothing
else - not the Palestinian cooperation with terrorism, and not the
fact that they don't fulfill their obligations - matters. I say to
you that we should be there - it is our Land, our homeland. We have a
difference of opinion with the Palestinians, and we are willing to
talk about them, but such an injustice as has been done to the truth
in this case has never been done to any other truth... For four years
we have been receiving nothing but promises from the Palestinians, but
nothing else. Murderers of little children and mothers are free to
sit around in Palestinian cafes, and are not transferred to Israel as
stipulated by the agreements... The claim that our government has
halted the peace process is not true. [Before we took office] there
wasn't peace, there were only two and a half years of terrible
terrorism, which we decided to stop, and to go directly to the
permanent-status talks.
For this, we had to reach a hard decision to adopt Oslo, but unlike
our predecessors in government, for this we demanded reciprocity... Not
only do the Palestinians not fight terror, but they release those who
were in jail, like the planner of the terrible Dizengoff Center
attack... Israel is not prohibited by the Oslo agreement from
building in the settlements, which comprise altogether 3/4 of a
percent of Yesha. The Palestinians, on the other hand, are building
outside their cities on a much greater scale, illegally, and against
the Oslo agreement. So who's creating facts on the ground, us or
them?"
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a group of
American Jewish leaders on Friday that Arafat "could forget about
another withdrawal if he does not carry out his security commitments
efficiently and completely."
************************************************************************
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News Brief: Monday, December 22, 1997
Arutz Sheva News Service
Monday, December 22, 1997 / Kislev 2, 5758
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TODAY'S HEADLINE:
PA AGAINST CONVERTS TO CHRISTIANITY
Britain's Daily Telegraph reports on violent Palestinian Authority
treatment of Moslems who have converted to Christianity. The paper
claims that Arafat is conducting a campaign of intimidation and
harassment against them, including threats, beatings, and
imprisonment. One such victim told the Telegraph that he was forced
to run away from his village after the Palestinian police demanded
that he return to Islam. Another one said that he and his friends are
forced to pray in secret, for fear of the Palestinian authorities.
************************************************************************
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 16:23:38 -0500
From: newsdesk@iipub.com (MED News Desk)
To: headline@iipub.com (Mid-East Dispatch)
Subject: MED Daily Headline News
Reply-to: newsdesk@iipub.com
THE MID-EAST DISPATCH
DAILY HEADLINES NEWS REPORT
** 1. NETANYAHU HOLDS FIRM
At the start of yesterday's Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu
announced the establishment of a directors-general committee, headed
by the director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, that will deal
with the emergency unemployment problems, especially the severe
problem in Ofakim.
The Cabinet continued the political discussion. At the beginning of
the meeting, the prime minister presented a number of aspects relating
to the discussion, and stated the following:
A. The American administration has not been given maps, nor has it
been told of the extent of the further redeployment. In addition, no
agreement has been made to slow construction in Judea and Samaria.
B. The purpose of the discussions that the Cabinet is conducting is to
clarify Israel's interests in the negotiations on the final status
agreement with the Palestinians.
C. One of the fundamental mistakes of the Oslo agreement is in
determining a redeployment by Israel in the interim stage, without the
government determining its objectives for the final status agreement.
The Cabinet is now correcting this distortion, so that each interim
step that it decides on will be compatible with Israel's interests in
the final status agreement.
D. A look at what has been presented to the government thus far, shows
that up till now what we have in common is grater than what divides
us. In any permanent settlement with the Palestinians, the areas and
interests vital to Israel will be ensured: the Jordan Valley - the
security area in the east, the area around Jerusalem, a security area
in the west along the line dividing the Palestinian Authority and
Israel, the Jewish communities, their development areas and their
approach roads, Israel's vital water interests and sites of
historical, religious or national value.
E. In concluding the discussion after it takes a field tour next week,
the Cabinet will be able to determine Israel's interests which it sees
as the basis for negotiations on the final status agreement, and will
be able to reach a decision on the interim stage of the further
redeployment.
At today's Cabinet meeting, the Cabinet continued the political
discussion. The first draft of a document detailing the obligations
of the Palestinians in accordance with the particulars of the Note for
the Record of 15.1.97 (the document of responsibilities resulting from
Hebron Agreement.)
Prime Minister Netanyahu told the ministers that at the meeting with
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, he will explain Israel's
conception of its national interests. He stressed that settlement is a
national interest, and that Israel intends to maintain all the
settlements, the areas surrounding them essential for their existence,
and the network of roads leading to them. {GPO 12/17}
**********************************************************************
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