Subject: Arutz-7 News: April 22-23, 1998
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 23:31:21 +0000
To: "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il, arutz7-b@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Wednesday, April 22, 1998
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Wednesday, April 22, 1998 / Nisan 26, 5758 / 11 days to the Omer
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. MK ELON ON MOLEDET JOINING COALITION
2. OTHER REACTIONS
3. ARIEL SHARON: DISTANCING FROM JUDAISM WAS A CASUALTY OF ZIONISM
4. ILLEGAL STRUCTURES LEFT STANDING
5. KLEINER: "WHY MAKE ARAFAT'S WORK EASIER?"
6. MORE FOREIGN CURRENCY LIBERALIZATIONS
7. HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
1. MK ELON ON MOLEDET JOINING COALITION
MK Benny Elon (Moledet) said today that the talks between his party and the
Likud regarding the option of Moledet joining the coalition will not
conclude within the next few days. Speaking on Arutz-7 today, Rabbi Elon
said that he remains committed to the letter he co-signed several weeks
ago, in which some 10 Knesset Members threaten to topple the government if
it decides to execute another withdrawal from Yesha. He said that he would
not do anything that would show any support for the Oslo accords, except
for recognition of its tragic results and the need to protect every
community in Yesha and Israel's vital interests there. His colleague,
party leader MK Rehavam Ze'evi, appearing on national television last
night, sounded somewhat more inclined to join the government, saying, "A
withdrawal will occur whether we are part of the government or not."
Ze'evi told IMRA today that he fears a repeat of the events of 1992, when
the right wing helped bring down the Shamir government, paving the way for
Rabin's election as Prime Minister and the Oslo accords.
2. OTHER REACTIONS
The possibility of Moledet's joining the coalition has been the subject of
varied responses from the political right. The Yesha Council rushed a
letter to Ze'evi, requesting that he not renege on his signature on the
above letter. MK David Magen (Gesher) said, "This will change the
political map completely. If Moledet joins the government, and signals in
this way its acceptance of the Oslo accords, then it means that there is no
more real right-wing in Israeli politics." MK Nissan Slomiansky (National
Religious Party) said, "Moledet in the government could be a great addition
to our struggle against a further withdrawal. But if the condition for
their joining is that they remain even if there is a withdrawal, and merely
vote against it for the record, then this will harm the cause." Dr. Ron
Breiman, of the Professors for a Strong Israel, wrote, "The coalition will
sway Moledet to the left more than Moledet will sway it to the right. What
good will come of this? It will hurt the ability of the Knesset Land of
Israel front to prevent the giving over of additional parts of Judea and
Samaria to the terrorist army of the PLO/Hamas."
3. ARIEL SHARON: DISTANCING FROM JUDAISM WAS A CASUALTY OF ZIONISM
National Infrastructures Minister Ariel Sharon says that a second
withdrawal from Judea and Samaria must be made contingent upon the
Palestinian Authority's fulfillment of all of its obligations - including
reducing the size of its police force. Speaking before the Friends of Bar
Ilan University last night, Sharon said that he had the merit of being a
prime force in establishing the Jewish communities in Yesha, and that they
were strategically-situated for Israel's security and water needs. He
praised the religious community and Religious Zionism, saying that one of
the casualties of the Zionist revolution was the distancing of many Jews
from Judaism. He said, "I, unfortunately, am not religious, but I am a
Jew. For some, the distancing from their Judaism meant the distancing from
their roots." He said that if it were up to him, he would allocate all
foreign donations towards education.
Speaking afterwards with Arutz-7's Kobi Sela, Sharon said that Israel must
continue to rule over a security zone 20 kilometers wide west of the Jordan
River, and 10 kilometers west of the Dead Sea. He said that a second
withdrawal must also be contingent upon the Americans making their position
regarding a third withdrawal unambiguously clear.
4. ILLEGAL STRUCTURES LEFT STANDING
A document released by the Defense Ministry shows that most of the
illegally-built Arab structures are not razed by the authorities. Out of
775 buildings built illegally by Arabs in Israeli-controlled territories
last year, the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria razed only 290 -
about 35%.
5. KLEINER: "WHY MAKE ARAFAT'S WORK EASIER?"
MK Michael Kleiner, head of the Land of Israel Knesset front, met with
Prime Minister Netanyahu on what Kleiner called Netanyahu's "inclination"
to carry out a withdrawal from 11% of Judea and Samaria. "I told him that
any withdrawal from more than 1 or 2% of the area makes some of our vital
interests painfully vulnerable, including water resources, and that we
cannot agree to this. Several Jewish communities will be almost totally
surrounded by Palestinian territory, as is Netzarim in Gaza. I asked why
he would proceed with a sterile interim arrangement, when no one has
promised that there would not need to be a third withdrawal, and there will
still have to be a permanent-status arrangement with more concessions. I
said that Arafat himself says that no matter what, he will declare a
Palestinian state in May 1999, so why do you want to make his work easier
for him?... He did not have any answers for me."
6. MORE FOREIGN CURRENCY LIBERALIZATIONS
The Bank of Israel has announced a further round of liberalization in
foreign currency regulations, including the following measures: 1)
permission for foreign residents to undertake unlimited shekel/foreign
currency futures deals, 2) local banks may make unlimited purchases of
shekels from foreign banks, and 3) greater freedom for Israeli citizens to
pay wages to foreigners in foreign currency. These liberalizations will
come into effect on May 1, 1998. The relaxation of foreign currency
regulations are part of the central bank's plan, announced in August 1997,
to make the New Israel Shekel fully convertible during 1998.
7. HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE TONIGHT AND TOMORROW
Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies will begin tonight in Yad Vashem
Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. Communications Minister Limor Livnat will
address the participants. Prime Minister Netanyahu, together with four
other government ministers, will join thousands of Jewish youth in Poland
tomorrow for the March of the Living program. A Hebrew University study
has found that 100,000 Sephardic Jews were killed during the Holocaust,
including Jews from Libya and Iraq. On Sunday, Yad Vashem will display a
special exhibit of appreciation for 20 diplomats from around the world who
saved tens of thousands of Jews during the Holocaust years. The
exhibition, entitled "Visas for Life," was brought over from the United
States.
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From: Arutz-7 Editor <editor7@virtual.co.il>
To: arutz-7@ploni.virtual.co.il,arutz7-b@ploni.virtual.co.il
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, April 23, 1998
Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Thursday, April 23, 1998 / Nisan 27, 5758 / 12 days to the Omer
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. MARCH OF THE LIVING
2. SAMPLING OF HOLOCAUST DAY QUOTATIONS
3. RUBENSTEIN DEFENDS SPECIAL YESHA REGULATIONS
4. YESHA LEADERS SEE MAP OF 11% WITHDRAWAL; HAETZNI MAKES
IMPASSIONED PLEA
5. EUROPE TO BLACKLIST YESHA?
6. EFFORTS TO END U.S. SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN BROADCASTING
1. MARCH OF THE LIVING
The March of the Living set off at 2 PM this afternoon (Israel time)
on its walk from Auschwitz to Birkenau, headed by Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu and Poland's Prime Minister Janusz Tomaszewski.
7000 Jewish youth from all over the world, including over 1500 from
Israel, took the same path that many of their relatives took on a
"death march" in the early 1940's, as a symbolic tribute to their
memory and to the vibrancy of the Jewish people. The Polish
authorities have warned anti-Semitic elements not to attempt to
disturb the commemoration ceremonies. Prime Minister Netanyahu will
visit the Warsaw Ghetto tomorrow, and will meet with heads of the
Polish Jewish community.
Arutz-7's representative at the March of the Living, Meir Gross, said
that he could not help but note the revolution manifest at the
occasion, and how it has been brought about by the existence of the
State of Israel: "To think that the Polish policemen are guarding the
Israeli Prime Minister and the Jewish youth, and are not allowing
Polish traffic on the very streets through which their parents and
grandparents herded the Jews to their death five decades earlier... my
heart overflows..."
2. SAMPLING OF HOLOCAUST DAY QUOTATIONS
The following were heard on today's Arutz-7 News Magazine in honor of
Holocaust Day:
MK Yosi Sarid (Meretz) - whose father changed his family name from
Schneider to Sarid ("remnant") after most of his family was wiped out
by the Nazis - at a Knesset ceremony entitled "Every Person has a
Name": "My parents' families were taken to the forest, and dumped
into the pit there, and from our entire village barely a remnant was
left. I would like to mention the name of my mother's father Shlomo
Yaakov Gruber, and my mother's mother Batya Leah Gruber, and my
mother's sister Hinda Dichter, her husband Shikel Dichter, their three
daughters Drozhne, Shulamit, and Miriam, and my father's sister Liba
Schneider..."
Shoshana (Cassuto), who found refuge from the Nazis in an Italian
monastery for close to a year when she was 7.5 years old: "The lower
levels of the church were often helpful to the Jews, some for purely
humanitarian reasons, and others - as in my case - from a desire to
convert us to Christianity. But there is no doubt that a single word
from the Pope would have improved the picture drastically. I
understand that there were political reasons for his silence, but it
seems to me that when a genocide is being committed, political
considerations should be set aside."
Eli Dahan, chairman of the Beitar Youth Organization in Israel, which
held a vigil outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv this morning: "We
have never bought anything from Germany. It is true that today some
of the Germans are not at all the same as their parents and
grandparents, but regarding the period of the Holocaust, we do not
differentiate between the Germans and the Nazis. After the terrible
events that transpired, we have an obligation to remember and to teach
the younger generation those events... We have had contacts with
Germans in only one area, and this is in regard to our efforts - so
far not very successful - to have them establish a Holocaust Museum in
Germany."
3. RUBENSTEIN DEFENDS SPECIAL YESHA REGULATIONS
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein responded today to Transportation
Minister Shaul Yahalom's query to him about the existence of special
and more stringent police regulations for the Jewish residents of
Judea and Samaria. Yahalom had claimed that the very existence of
such regulations is a blow to the principle of equality before the
law. Rubenstein wrote that the special guidelines were formulated not
because of a difference between people, but because of "judicial
differences" stemming from the special circumstances of the area in
which they live. He explained that because of the complex nature of
the situation in Yesha - overlapping authorities of the police and the
army, a military rule over a civilian population, the confrontation
between two ethnic groups, and mostly because of a feeling of
insufficient law enforcement - these guidelines were necessary.
Rubenstein rejected any attempt to blame the State Attorney's Office
for Jews being unable or unwilling to defend themselves. "The murder
of Dov Dribben shows that there is a need to make order in this area,
with a general policy that will not leave the question of
land-ownership in the hands of private people," wrote the
Attorney-General.
4. YESHA LEADERS SEE MAP OF 11% WITHDRAWAL; HAETZNI MAKES IMPASSIONED
PLEA Several leaders of the Jewish communities in Yesha were permitted
to see the map of the planned 11% withdrawal. They were reportedly
very upset at what they saw, and said that the withdrawal would leave
many Jewish Yesha townships as isolated Jewish enclaves amidst the
Palestinian autonomy. Arutz-7 has learned that the map was transferred
this week from the IDF Planning Wing to the Central Command for
preparations for actual execution. Atty. Elyakim Haetzni, a member of
the Yesha Council, made an impassioned plea over Arutz-7 today,
calling upon his colleagues to act to topple the government. A large
rally is planned by the Yesha Council for this Sunday opposite the
Prime Minister's Office, in protest of the planned withdrawal.
Haetzni said, "In contract law, it is known that if two parties are
contractually bound to each other, and Party A informs Party B that he
plans to breach the agreement in six months' time, Party A can say
that that announcement is itself a violation, and Party A need not
continue to implement the agreement. This is of course also simple
human logic. In the case of the Oslo agreements, neither side is
allowed to alter the current interim status until there is an
agreement on the permanent-status arrangements. However, Arafat has
announced that whether or not permanent-status talks are held or come
to an agreed-upon conclusion, he plans to declare a Palestinian state
in May 1999. So why should we continue to implement the agreement?...
We have a situation where Arafat has established what will be the
permanent status, and he wants us to help him with the state that he
wants to establish: we should provide him with an airport, a sea port,
safe passage, and territorial contiguity. Without these things,
Arafat can't declare a state - what, he would declare a state on eight
isolated islands of land? It's as if he's asking Netanyahu, "Please
pass me that rope over there so that I can hang you with it next May"
- and all this with the Americans looking on and encouraging Netanyahu
to give him the rope."
Arutz-7's Haggai Segal said, "Netanyahu might feel that he wants to
implement this next stage so that he can tell the world that at least
he has kept his side of the deal." Haetzni responded, "That's what he
said when he executed the Hevron agreement! If he keeps on using that
logic, he'll also do the same when it comes to a permanent status, and
at the end he'll have given over the same or more as what [Labor's
Ehud] Barak would have given. But the truth is, this 11% that is
being discussed is already bad enough - it will bring destruction upon
the entire Yesha enterprise. People will not come to live here, etc...
At this rally on Sunday the Yesha Council must call for the toppling
of the government! 100,000 people must go out to the streets."
5. EUROPE TO BLACKLIST YESHA?
Yediot Acharonot reports that a "black list" of products made by Jews
in Judea and Samaria has been prepared by a European Community
commission. The products, including agricultural goods, processed
foods, wines, flowers, and others, will be heavily taxed. According
to the Paris Protocol - the economic appendix to the Oslo agreements -
products made in Israel and the Palestinian autonomous areas,
including the Jewish townships in Yesha, receive full or partial
exemptions on import tariffs. Victor Harel, Deputy Director-General
of the Foreign Ministry for Economic Affairs, said that if the
Europeans change this arrangement, Israel will see this as a grave
violation of the Oslo accords. A senior Ministry official said that
the diplomatic harm that will be caused to the Oslo process by the
imposition of taxes on Yesha products would be greater than the
economic damage. Yesha Council head Aharon Domb said, "The European
Community is apparently not familiar with the Yesha residents. When
they press us and close us in, we find even more ways to develop and
broaden ourselves." Adam Keller, spokesman for Peace Bloc, an
organization which called for a boycott of Yesha products several
months ago, admitted that members of his group had helped European
diplomats details prepare the "blacklist."
6. EFFORTS TO END U.S. SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIAN BROADCASTING
United States Republican Congressmen, together with the National
Jewish Coalition, are hoping to end American funding of the
Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation. "Why should people who preach
hate, divisiveness, bigotry and prejudice get a dime?" said Rep. Jon
Fox of Pennsylvania. The hate that is broadcast on the PBC is
documented on video tapes made and distributed by a group called Peace
for Generations. One sample tape shows children proclaiming their
devotion to becoming martyrs and talking of their desire to give their
blood for their homeland. David Bedein, a media analyst for the
Institute for Peace Education who closely follows Arabic-language
broadcasts and speeches in Israel, told Arutz-7 that he has never
heard a pro-Jewish or pro-peace statement on the Palestinian
broadcasts. He said that he and Peace for Generations will continue
their efforts to provide documentation of Palestinian incitement,
despite the difficulties. U.S. funding to the PBC has totalled about
$500,000 since 1994. The campaign to end the funding is likely to be
supported by Democratic legislators as well.
Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel
((((ARUTZ-7 ENGLISH RADIO BROADCASTS))))
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