Subject: Israel News - Jan 26 - Feb 1, 1998
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 00:53:58 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Israel News
Israel News
January 26 - February 1, 1998
PEACE PROCESS
ARAFAT CALLS FOR "THE STATE OF PALESTINE"
IINS News Service -Israel-1/26/98
According to senior PLO Authority (PA) negotiator Saeb Erekat,
during last week's meetings between PA Chief Arafat and US
President Clinton, Arafat called upon the US to recognize
the sovereign State of Palestine. Erekat stated no US response
has been received. Other senior PA officials were quoted to have
made statements on PA Radio that the declaration of a state would
take place in the not-too-distant future.
ARAFAT SAYS ARAB SUMMIT WILL BE HELD TO DISCUSS
MIDEAST DEADLOCK
January 26, 1998 By Edith M. Lederer,
Associated Press LONDON (AP)
An Arab summit will be convened to discuss the deadlocked Middle
East peace process, Yasser Arafat announced Monday. The
Palestinian leader has been trying to drum up support for a
summit of Arab leaders since his meeting with President Clinton
in Washington on Friday failed to produce major progress. The
time and place for an Arab summit were still under discussion.
PLO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE REFUSES TO AMEND CHARTER
ON ISRAEL'S DESTRUCTION
Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters RAMALLAH,
West Bank January 31, 1998
In a surprise development, the PLO's Executive Committee has
taken no action to amend articles in the Palestinian charter
which Israel views as seeking its destruction. The Palestinian
Information Minister told reporters the committee had only
"reviewed" a letter President Yasser Arafat gave to President
Clinton last week which listed the charter clauses annulled by
the PNC. He o gave no reason why the committee failed to act on
the charter. "We discussed political developments... the most
important point that we affirmed is the need to abide by the
(interim peace) agreement and to implement it precisely," he said
about the committee's deliberations.
As a condition for handing over more West Bank land, Israel wants
the full PNC, which has more than 450 members, to convene to
amend the charter, rejecting the PLO's position that the PNC
changed the offending articles two years ago. Arafat has
rejected the demand.
ALBRIGHT ANNOUNCES MORE MIDEAST TALKS
February 1, 1998 JERUSALEM (AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Sunday that
Israel and the Palestinian Authority would send envoys to
Washington next week for more talks on how to break their
stalemate in peacemaking. But after separate meetings with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian
President Yasser Arafat, she vented her frustration at the
failure of both leaders to take what she called the
"hard decisions" needed for a breakthrough.
"We have been stalled at this point in the peace process,
negotiating the same issues for a long time frankly, far too
long. There is far too much at stake for this to go on,''
Albright told a news conference in Jerusalem. "It is no longer
enough to simply talk about wanting peace. It is time to make
the difficult decisions and exercise the leadership necessary to
achieve it." Albright said her talks with Netanyahu and Arafat
during her visit, only her second in just over a year as
secretary of state, had yielded merely "minimal" progress.
STRIFE IN ISRAEL
IDF INTELLIGENCE CORPS CHIEF: "TERROR ATTACK
EXPECTED SOON"
Summary of Israeli newspapers 1/28/98
"The Hamas is planning on perpetrating a large scale attack in
the near future either within the Green Line or in the
territories" -- this was the assessment expressed by IDF
Intelligence Corps Commander Maj. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon. The hard
core terror cells affiliated with Hamas' military wing are still
active and move freely in the field. "We can see that the Hamas
has sufficient potential to perpetrate a terror attack and it is
willing to perpetrate a large scale attack, such
as a suicide bombing attack," Ya'alon underscored. He added that
the Hamas had recently gained in strength and that its foothold
was good, reported Ma'ariv.
HAMAS PLANNED TO ABDUCT MK
Summary of Israeli newspapers 1/28/98
One of the Hamas terror cells recently caught intended to abduct
an MK, among other acts of terror according to Yediot Aharonot. =
Despite the progress that has been made in the investigation, the
warnings issued by the security establishment of the possibility
of a terror attack have remained intact. Knesset Chairman MK Dan
Tichon said last night that the security in the Knesset had been
up-graded. "Anyone who comes here can see that." The
interrogation of the members of the Hamas cell arrested last week
furnished the information that Hamas planned on abducting an MK
and detonating a car bomb in the vicinity of Tel Aviv's old
central bus station.
SECURITY SYSTEM REPORT DETERMINES: BEDOUIN SECTOR
BECOMING MORE EXTREME
Summary of Israeli newspapers 1/28/98
A report prepared by the security forces several months ago warns
of growing extremism within the Bedouins in the Negev. "The
Bedouins have developed distrust towards the establishment, and
feel that a deliberate policy is being implemented to lead them
into a backward state." Recently the Islamic religious streams
have grown more powerful within the Bedouins in the Negev, and 16
mosques now exist in their settlements -- twice their number
several years ago.
HAMAS CHIEF SAYS ARAFAT MUST JOIN IN HOLY WAR
Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters PARIS
January 30, 1998
Sheik Ahmed Yassin, spiritual head of the Islamic militant
movement Hamas, said in an interview published Friday that
President Yasser Arafat's sole option now was to join a jihad
against Israel.
"Faced with the collapse of the pseudo-peace process in which we
in Hamas never believed, Yasser Arafat now only has one option
left: resuming the jihad (holy war), in other words, joining us
on the battlefield," Yassin said. He said Arafat's Palestine
Liberation Organization "committed a fatal mistake when it lay
down its arms in exchange for vain promises," a reference to a
land-for-peace deal with Israel. "The Israeli enemy has been
trying to push us into a (Hamas vs. PLO) civil war for four years
but we will not give them that pleasure," Yassin said.
The cleric vowed Hamas would fight against Israel "until the
complete recovery of our rights, our lands, the reunification of
our families and the release of all our prisoners. There is no
choice but armed struggle."
Asked about fundamentalist suicide attacks against Israeli
civilians, he replied: "What about our civilians? Those who were
massacred in Hebron, on the esplanade of Al-Aqsa Mosque in
Jerusalem, in refugee camps in Lebanon, don't they also count?
"What should we do? Kiss the hand of those who have taken our
homes and lands and continue to occupy us? Never. We are ready
to pay the price of blood. All means are legitimate," he said.
Yassin added: "If Israel stopped attacking our civilians tomorrow,
then we would cease attacking theirs. In the meantime, the
armed struggle must continue because it's the only way."
PREPARATIONS FOR WAR
IRAQ CAN ARM 25 MISSILES WITH BIOLOGICAL WARHEADS
AND BLOW TEL AVIV AWAY
Ha'aretz 1/28/98 By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Military Correspondent
Iraq still has enough biological material to arm about 25
surface-to-surface missiles, according to authoritative Western
sources. Iraq has declared that it has destroyed all but two of
the conventional missiles supplied to it by the Soviet Union, but
the sources say Baghdad continues to conceal some 75
nonconventional warheads. Although Iraq continues to claim it
has almost no missiles left, it continues to maintain missile
units within its military that include large numbers of officers
and soldiers.
At the same time, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has set up a
special unit to maintain his biological weapons system and keep
UN inspectors from discovering it, the sources say. The unit,
which consists of an elite force drawn from the Republican Guard
and from Saddam's personal bodyguards, is commanded by one
of the Iraqi ruler's sons. The unit's men undergo a rigorous selection
process based on their loyalty to Saddam.
The UN inspectors discovered that the unit's members were always
posted in the vicinity of the presidential palaces. This was one
of the reasons that the West concluded that biological weapons
were being stored in the palaces.
In the meantime, the head of the United Nations inspection team
in Iraq, Richard Butler, told the New York Times Tuesday that
Iraq had a sufficient quantity of biological weapons to destroy
the population of Tel Aviv. Butler confirmed earlier reports
that his team had evidence that Iraq had loaded biological
weapons onto missile warheads.
"They've never given us an honest declaration," Butler said. "The
declarations have always been incomplete." While he did not
specify the nature of the evidence or exactly how the team
obtained it, he said Iraqis had enough biological material such
as anthrax or botulin toxin to "blow away Tel Aviv" and that some
of the missiles "were very crude, but they work.
IRANIAN OFFICIALS CALL FOR TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL
Intl Christian Embassy Jerusalem 1/28/98
During the annual commemoration of "Jerusalem Day" at the
weekend, Iranian officials called for the complete destruction of
Israel, YEDIOT AHRONOT reports. Speaking at the festivities,
during which Iran expressed sympathy for the Palestinian cause,
former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani said he was
certain the day would come when the "useless Zionist entity" would
be no more. Iranian authorities published an official statement
calling on Muslims throughout the world to combine their resources
in order to support the Palestinians and bring about the "complete
destruction of the State of Israel".
ISRAELI WANTS MORE MILITARY, LESS ECONIMIC AID FROM U.S.
January 28, 1998 By David Briscoe, Associated Press WASHINGTON
(AP)
Israel's finance minister met with U.S. officials Wednesday on a
quest for more American military assistance while reducing the
total $3 billion in U.S. aid his country gets each year. The
plan, Neeman said, also would address Israel's "ever-growing
security needs.''
The Israeli proposal, being worked out with Congress and the
Clinton administration, would increase military assistance to
Israel over 10 years by a third, to $2.4 billion, and gradually
drop the $1.2 billion in economic assistance. The current $3
billion in total annual U.S. aid to Israel is far more than given
to any other country. Gadi Balpiansky, a spokesman at the Israeli
Embassy, said more than $1.3 billion of the U.S. military
assistance goes to buy American equipment.
SHOULD ISRAEL BE ATTACKED, IT WILL DROP A NEUTRON
BOMB ON BAGHDAD
Summary of Israeli newspapers 1/30/98
While US aircraft carriers file into the Gulf, Israel's defense
ministry tests out its "hot line" to the Pentagon set up last
year around the time of the previous Gulf crisis. The United
States made clear that it would supply Israel with equipment
needed to confront the Iraqi threat. Yediot Ahranot carried a
British Times bit which yesterday quoted western intelligence
sources assessing that Israel would drop a neutron bomb on
Baghdad were Iraq to fire missiles with chemical or biological
warheads at Israel.
BOMB SHELTER SHORTAGE
Arutz Sheva 1/30/98
Israel faces a shortage of bomb shelters in schools throughout
the country. Figures released yesterday show that 300,000
children may find themselves without a shelter in which to take
refuge in case of emergency. Shmuel Abuhab, chairman of the
Local Councils Education Committee, said today that in the light of
these grave findings, regular classes will not be able to be held
during an emergency.
He said that the cost of building the missing shelters would be
about 500 million shekels, rendering this clearly impractical.
Abuhab demands that a plan for dispersing the students to nearby
public buildings be prepared before it is too late.
CABINET CONSIDERS MASS INOCULATIONS AGAINST
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE January 29, 1998 By Dafna Linzer,
Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)
Fearing that the escalating U.S.-Iraq crisis will lead to an
attack by Saddam Hussein's forces, hundreds of Israeli children
and their parents spent hours in line at gas mask centers
nationwide Thursday. They came to replace masks and get protective
bassinets for babies and atropine syringes to counteract the
effects of nerve gas.
Israeli officials said the likelihood of an attack was remote,
but admitted they were considering a program of mass inoculation
against a biological attack.
The Israeli army spokesman, speaking on the customary condition
of anonymity, also warned Thursday that Gulf War-era gas masks
were no longer functional and needed to be replaced. Although
Israelis are not required to own gas masks, any citizen can
obtain one from the army.
ISRAEL ASKS U.S. FOR BIOLOGICAL ANTIDOTES
By Ze'ev Schiff, Ha'aretz Military Editor - Ha'aretz 2/1/98
The United States has agreed in principle to supply Israel with
vast quantities of vaccine against biological weapons, especially
anthrax. Hundreds of thousands of doses of the serum will either
be prepositioned in Israel, for Israeli or American use, or
rushed over from stores in the U.S. in case of emergency. The
Americans began increasing production of the vaccine after the
U.S. army recently ordered millions of doses to inoculate
soldiers who could be dispatched to high risk areas, like the
Persian Gulf.
The Israeli request for vaccines was made long before the present
crisis between Iraq and the U.S. over Iraq's continuing attempts
to produce weapons of mass destruction and the missiles to
deliver them. When the Iraqis started developing biological
weapons after the 1991 Gulf War, several countries, including
Israel, began planning their defenses against possible attack.
Israel had to take into account the fact that countries like Syria and
Iran had also been developing biological weapons for some time.
The difficulty in producing large amounts of vaccine is not
because of any complexity involved, but because there are very
few plants world-wide that actually do it. During the Gulf War,
Israel bought a large consignment of anti-anthrax vaccine at a
cost of $10 million. Like any other medication, though, the
vaccine stocks have to be renewed from time to time.
Experts on biological warfare say the vaccines are effective and
together with other precautions can considerably reduce the
dangers posed by biological attack. Of course, this depends on
the availability of the vaccine and an efficient means of
distribution. It also requires early diagnosis and, in the field,
adequate battle procedures.
There are two possible scenarios for the use of biological
weapons: (1) An isolated act by a terrorist group or (2) a more
massive and sustained attack by a regular army. In both cases,
the country attacked needs hundreds of thousands, if not millions
of vaccine doses. It is not yet clear whether Israel and the
United States will choose the prepositioning option, as is the
case with various types of ammunition, or whether they will
prefer to have stocks set aside in the United States to be rushed
over in case of need.
US ASSURES ISRAEL OF ADVANCE WARNING
By Jay Bushinsky, Eitan Rabin, and News Agencies Jerusalem Post
2/1/98
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's meeting late last
night with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was mainly intended
to offer American assurances that Israel will get early warning
of an Iraqi attack. This means prompt sharing of operational
intelligence, as well as guarantees that the alert system used
during the 1991 Gulf War would be functioning. That system gave
Israelis two minutes' warning of incoming Scud missiles, which
were detected by a satellite monitoring station in Australia.
OTHER MIDDLE EAST DEVELOPMENTS
JORDAN'S KING HUSSEIN TELLS HEIR HE HAS BEEN SICK FOR MONTHS
January 31, 1998 By Jamal Halaby, Associated Press AMMAN, Jordan
(AP)
In an emotional letter to his brother and heir, King Hussein
complained of being sick for months, suffering from fatigue,
fever and weight loss. Hussein, 62, revealed in the letter
broadcast Saturday by state-run Jordan Television that he has
been undergoing treatment in the United States and England. In
his letter to Crown Prince Hassan, Hussein said a bacteria had
attacked his lymphatic glands and "caused high fever every now
and then, weight loss and fatigue.'' "I hope I will be fully
recovered,'' Hussein said. The king was on vacation Saturday in
Ascot, England.
One of Hussein's private physicians said the monarch's condition
was not serious and his fever has gone. He told The Associated
Press that the bacteria attacks lymphatic glands, causing a viral
inflammation that normally takes a few months to disappear. He
said the king's "condition had improved and he is now in fine
shape.'' The surgeon said the bacteria was discovered in October
when physicians took samples of Hussein's lymphatic glands. The
samples did not detect any malignancy, he said.
In 1992, the king underwent surgery to remove cancer from his
ureter and left kidney. He has been undergoing checkups since the
surgery, and doctors have said he is free of malignant growths.
In April, surgeons at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.,
removed a benign growth from Hussein's prostate. Hussein said in
his letter that he went to the Mayo Clinic in November for
treatment.
JORDAN'S HUSSEIN WON'T HELP SADDAM
By Jay Bushinsky, Eitan Rabin, and News Agencies Jerusalem Post
2/1/98
Jordan's King Hussein has promised he will not provide any help
to Saddam Hussein in the event another war should break out in
the Gulf, which would prevent Iraq from receiving aid via Jordan,
as it did in 1991. Hussein, who is vacationing in England,
discussed the matter with Albright during her stop there, and has
also discussed it with Israeli defense officials, defense sources
said.
ULTRA-ORTHODOX UNITE AGAINST COMPROMISE WITH
LIBERAL STREAMS
January 28, 1998 By Jack Katzenell, Associated
Press JERUSALEM (AP)
Efforts to negotiate a compromise with liberal streams of
Judaism on conversions are "blasphemy'' and must stop,
ultra-Orthodox rabbis said in a ruling published Wednesday. The
ruling makes it increasingly unlikely that Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu will pull off the compromise needed to keep
his governing coalition afloat and prevent a rift with Diaspora
Jews.
Netanyahu faces a Feb. 10 deadline to complete an agreement on
conversions that would satisfy the ultra-Orthodox as well as the
liberal Reform and Conservative movements. On that day, the
Supreme Court is to hear an appeal by the Conservative movement
seeking recognition of conversions performed by its rabbis in
Israel.
If the liberal streams go ahead with the legal action, the
ultra-Orthodox parties in Netanyahu's coalition have said they
will push legislation through parliament that will encode the
ultra-Orthodox monopoly over conversions in Israel into law. If
they do not succeed, the threaten to withdraw from Netanyahu's
government and bring it down.
**************************************************************************
To educate, train and equip for study both the Jew and
Non-Jew in the Rich Hebraic Heritage of our Faith.
Please visit the Hebraic Heritage Ministries
Web Site located at:
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2175/index.html
Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l