Subject: Arutz-7 News: February 23-24, 1998
Date: Tue, 24 Feb 1998 23:52:46 +0000
To: "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 18:30:45 +0200
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Monday, February 23, 1998
Arutz Sheva News Service
Monday, February 23, 1998 / Shevat 27, 5758
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. NETANYAHU ON IRAQ AGREEMENT
2. SHITREET BLASTS OPPOSITION HYPOCRISY
3. NETANYAHU ON OSLO AND THE RELEASE OF TERRORISTS
4. ISRAEL IN FIRST (LAST) PLACE
1. NETANYAHU ON IRAQ AGREEMENT
Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his first reaction to the agreement reached
between the U.N.'s Kofi Anan and Saddam Hussein, said today, "We will have
to wait to see an exact copy of the agreement. If Saddam in fact agreed to
all the American conditions, and will allow unlimited access to all the
weapons sites, then he has capitulated. But we'll have to wait and see."
He rejected the criticism raised by his domestic opposition of the
government's handling of the crisis, and said that the government "did
exactly what it is supposed to do in such situations - provide the maximum
protection for its citizens." Defense Minister Yitzchak Mordechai also
took a "wait and see" attitude, and met with top IDF and security figures
to discuss the situation. Home Front Command preparations will continue,
for the time being.
2. SHITREET BLASTS OPPOSITION HYPOCRISY
Opposition leaders criticized the government's leadership during the
crisis, and said that Israel's panicky reaction showed its enemies how it
may be overcome. Coalition leader Likud MK Meir Shitreet scathingly
attacked the opposition's hypocrisy. "Their remarks are an insult to the
public's intelligence. When the crisis started, while the government was
calming public fears, the opposition came out with alarmist announcements,
saying war was on its way and that we must prepare immediately. Some
opposition MKs even turned to the courts to demand that gas masks be
distributed without delay. Now that the crisis may be over, they attack
the government, which was forced to deal with the public panic that the
opposition caused."
3. NETANYAHU ON OSLO AND THE RELEASE OF TERRORISTS
Regarding the stalled Oslo process, the Prime Minister said today, "Israel
and the Palestinians are holding contacts at various levels, and discussing
various issues, including the industrial park and the airport. I hope
these efforts will succeed, but there is no substitute for direct talks;
external pressures cannot help, but only a true mutual desire to see
progress. This desire certainly exists on our part, but it means that the
PA must stop things like the release of terrorists, sixty of whom have been
released by the Palestinian Authority in the past month."
4. ISRAEL IN FIRST (LAST) PLACE
Maariv reports today that an international survey has shown that Israeli
school students are in first place in number of hours spent watching
television. An average eighth-grade student in Israel, according to the
poll, watches 3.3 hours of TV a day, while his American counterpart watches
2.6 hours. Iranian eighth-graders watch 1.8 hours a day, and the Swiss
watch television the least - 1.3 hours a day. Time spent on homework:
Israel - 2.8 hours daily, Iran - 6.4 hours.
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From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, February 24, 1998
Arutz Sheva News Service
Tuesday, February 24, 1998 / Shevat 28, 5758
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Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. SHAMIR: "NOT ONE MILLIMETER"
2. ANALYSIS OF IRAQ CRISIS
1. SHAMIR: "NOT ONE MILLIMETER"
"Menachem Begin never returned Israeli land to our enemies. He felt
that Sinai was not an integral part of Israel, and that it could be
ceded for a true and lasting peace." So said today former Prime
Minister Yitzchak Shamir, during a visit to the Arutz Sheva studios
today. In a radio interview with News Editor Haggai Segal, Shamir
said that there is no reason for Prime Minister Netanyahu to give up
even a millimeter of land to the Palestinians. Responding to a caller
who asked why he attacks Netanyahu in public statements, Shamir said,
"Of course I would rather have Netanyahu than Barak as Prime Minister,
for Barak represents the Oslo regime. But as long as Netanyahu is
already Prime Minister, I feel that I am certainly entitled to express
my opinions if he gives in to Arafat."
2. ANALYSIS OF IRAQ CRISIS
Ha'aretz Arab affairs correspondent Guy Bechor told Arutz-7 today that
Saddam Hussein did "pretty well" for himself with the agreement he
signed with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan. He listed the following
of Saddam's achievements: A "re-thinking" about sanctions by the UN;
international legitimacy, as evidenced by the reactions of Russia,
France, the Arab countries, and others; a mutual "agreement", as
opposed to the "imposition" of terms following the 1991 war. Bechor
also said that Israel was never really a factor in the mini-crisis
initiated by Iraq, and that Saddam Hussein even sent messages and
hints to this effect. "Basically, he was telling us that we shouldn't
get involved, and certainly not do anything stupid like a preemptive
attack, because his goals were limited and did not concern us," Bechor
said. "Unfortunately, Israel didn't quite understand the message."
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From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 Op-Ed: MY ENEMY'S FRIENDS
MY ENEMY'S FRIENDS
by Yedidya Atlas
Arutz Sheva Israel National Radio
February 16, 1998
In This Article:
1. ALBRIGHT AND ARAFAT: COMMUNICATION CRISIS
2. PALESTINIANS GO ALL OUT FOR SADDAM
3. ARAFAT/SADDAM CONTACTS HAVE NOT CEASED
4. NO AMERICAN RESPONSE
1. ALBRIGHT AND ARAFAT: COMMUNICATION CRISIS
During their Gaza meeting three weeks ago, U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright told Yasser Arafat that Palestinian support for
Iraq must cease. Palestinians sources say that voices were raised at
the meeting when Albright strongly insisted that Arafat do his share
in fighting terror, and that she even threatened to leave the room at
one point. "He doesn't seem to understand what I'm talking about!"
she said with exasperation. The Secretary's entreaties were useless.
The Palestinians say that as a result of the meeting, Arafat decided
to send the PLO's ambassador to Iraq and PA Minister of Public Works,
Azzam Al-Ahmed, with a letter of support to Iraq. But this is nothing
new.
In a November 12, 1997 article in the official PA newspaper, Al-Hayat
Al-Jadeeda, the following appeared: "The aggression against Iraq is
aggression against Palestine... anyone who does not say 'no' now to
the United States is the enemy of Palestine..." A month later in a
speech given at the Islamic Summit in Teheran, Arafat called for
canceling the "cruel" UN sanctions against Iraq, as well as the
sanctions against Libya and the Sudan.
2. PALESTINIANS GO ALL OUT FOR SADDAM
Since the stormy Albright-Arafat meeting, nearly all of the cities
within the Palestinian Authority have had mass marches and
demonstrations in public support of Saddam Hussein. The two recent
large pro-Iraqi and anti-U.S. demonstrations in Ramallah and Jenin,
accompanied by the commensurate burning of American and Israeli flags,
were simply copies of a similar march in Bethlehem the day before
which led to violence against Israeli soldiers stationed in Rachel's
Tomb nearby. The frenzied chanting and the burning of American and
Israeli flags led one TV journalist to comment, "if one didn't know
these pictures were being taken in Ramallah, one could easily think it
was in Baghdad or Teheran."
Strong and open support for Saddam Hussein has been officially
expressed by the official Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda in its editorials.
Senior PA officials openly declare their support for Saddam while
attacking the United States. PA Minister of Communications and Postal
Service, Immad Al-Faluji, for example, told the newspaper on February
2, 1998: "The US threat to strike Iraq exposes the double standards
[of] American policies... Any American attack on Iraq would ruin
stability as well as security for the Middle East."
But that was mild compared to the remarks of Sheik Isma'il
Al-Nawahdha, in the weekly Friday prayer sermon broadcast on the PA's
official Voice of Palestine radio station on January 30, 1998: "Oh
Allah, divide our enemies. Oh Allah, grant victory to the Iraqi Muslim
People over the hateful America and its allies."
3. ARAFAT/SADDAM CONTACTS HAVE NOT CEASED
Considering that Arafat demonstratively backed Saddam Hussein in the
1991 Gulf War, the above should come as no surprise. An article in
the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam, December 6, 1997, quoted PA Minister
of Public Works, Azzam Al-Ahmed, as follows: "Contacts between Arafat
and Saddam Hussein have not ceased for even a moment [throughout] the
latest crisis in Iraq... Arafat has emphasized to Saddam that the
Palestinian people stand by the side of their brothers, the Iraqi
people, regarding the threats they face." A month later, Al-Ahmed,
serving as the aforementioned special envoy from Arafat, brought
Saddam a second letter with these sentiments.
Yasser Arafat, under the apparent assumption that he can spit in
America's face and official Washington will comment about the rain,
allowed his tightly-controlled Palestinian press to publish a
provocative anti-American piece. The subject was a joint communique
issued by PLO factions, under the leadership of Arafat's own Fatah,
which was published in the eastern Jerusalem newspaper Al-Quds on
January 19, 1998, just four days before Arafat's White House meeting
with President Clinton.
The communique read: "The purpose of the American provocations against
the Iraqi government and its people is to humiliate the Arab Nation
and harm Iraq. The United States uses its influence to put pressure
on the international [inspection] committee in a way that serves its
purpose in continuing the siege on Iraq. The PLO factions condemn the
American policy that contains nothing but hatred of Iraq and the Arab
people." While hardly the stuff to bring President Clinton closer to
his cause, there were no reports of any public administration
criticism of the Palestinian support for America's foe.
4. NO AMERICAN RESPONSE
While Arafat paid lip service to placate an embarrassed Clinton
administration, and called for a halt to the public marches replete
with televised anti-American chants and flag burnings, throngs of
ranting Palestinians continued to march in Shechem (Nablus) and Hebron
the next day. Considering Arafat's violent totalitarian regime, no
such mass demonstrations could occur without, at least, his tacit
approval. Meanwhile, Arafat sent another letter of support to
Baghdad, and his special envoy, Azzam Al-Ahmed, told reporters: "We
are informing President Saddam Hussein of the strong support of the
Palestinian nation and the Palestinian Liberation Organization for
Iraq, and of our firm objections to the American threats to use
military strength."
While the Clinton administration remains publicly obtuse to Arafat's
consistent support of the wrong side, it should consider an article by
Hafez al-Barghuti, editor of Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda. Entitled "America's
Arrogance", and published on November 15, 1997, the article reads,
"History will not remember what is known as the United States, but it
remembers Iraq, the cradle of civilization.... History remembers every
piece of Arab land, because it is the bosom of human civilization, but
the murderers of humanity, the creators of the barbaric culture and
the blood-suckers of nations [i.e., the U.S.], are doomed to death and
destined to shrink to a microscopic size."
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at a scholarship
ceremony for Druze and other minority students in Acre last week, put
it succinctly: "Whoever stands with Saddam Hussein, the symbol of mass
destruction, does not stand for peace."
* * * * * * *
Yedidya Atlas is a senior correspondent for Arutz-7 Israel National
Radio and for Israel's conservative weekly newspaper Makor Rishon.
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