Subject: Israel in the news - April 20-26, 1998 Date: Wed, 13 May 1998 01:32:10 +0000 To: "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
From: Eddie Chumney To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com Subject: Israel in the News - April 20-26, 1998 Israel in the News April 20 to April 26, 1998 PEACE PROCESS EU ATTEMPTING TO 'INTERNATIONALIZE' JERUSALEM: >From FYI by Lee Underwood 4/18/98 Yediot Aharonot reports Incoming Mossad Chief Efrayim Halevi has proposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu to act against the European Union's (EU) intention to turn Jerusalem into an international city. Halevi reported that the EU is formulating a series of steps to internationalize Jerusalem. Among other things, a proposal was raised to give the consulates of the EU countries in Jerusalem additional powers and to encourage them to act vis-a-vis the PA. Egypt also plans to raise similar proposals to the international community. Egyptian Foreign Minister 'Amr Musa has already discussed the issue with the pope in their meeting in Rome several days ago. In light of these developments, the Foreign Ministry will hold a discussion on the steps Israel will implement against the proposals that threaten Israel's sole sovereignty over Jerusalem. (ZINC) ALBRIGHT TO MEET MIDDLE EAST LEADERS IN LONDON April 20, 1998 Washington U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders separately in London May 4 in a new quest for a breakthrough in Mideast peace efforts, the State Department said Monday. News of Albright's plans to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was first disclosed by British Prime Minister Tony Blair during a visit to Gaza. United States Is looking for the two sides to make hard decisions and Washington could break off mediation efforts if the London meetings proved as unsuccessful as other recent negotiating sessions had been. MIDEAST DRIFTING INTO VOLATILE SITUATION, BRITISH REPORT WARNS 'U.S. MUST ACT TO PREVENT ISLAMIC INTIFADA' By Sharon Sadeh, Ha'aretz Correspondent Ha'aretz 4/24/98 London A situation of "no war and no peace" will characterize the Middle East in the near future and given the mistrust between the sides, violent events appear to be inevitable, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said yesterday. The IISS warns that a complete breakdown of the peace talks between Israel and the Arab states could be accompanied by the outbreak of a new Intifada, this time fomented by extremist Islamic groups but with the encouragement of Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). The report says that "most observers" believe that only the United States has the "influence and the authority" to get the peace process back on track. The impression that Washington is not interested in exercising its influence to the fullest has had an adverse effect on its traditional leadership in the region, the IISS survey maintains. PA WARNS OF EXPLOSION IINS News Service - Israel - 4/23/98 The PLO Authority (PA) called on the United States Wednesday to pressure Israel to accept US proposals during upcoming talks in London, warning that the zero hour in the peace process was approaching. "The situation is very dangerous right now. We are close to the last 15 minutes before either the situation explodes or the picture becomes clear," said Nabil Abu Rudeina, a top aide to PA Chief Yassir Arafat. "We demand the United States put pressure on Israel to accept the American proposals" over a promised Israeli troop withdrawal from the West Bank (Judea and Samaria). US TO PRESENT PLAN FOR 13% PULLBACK IN LONDON By Herb Keinon and news agencies (April 26) Jerusalem Post US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright intends to officially present a US plan for a 13.1 percent pullback to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat during their London meetings next month, senior government sources quoted Netanyahu as saying last night, during an inner-cabinet meeting at his residence. The prime minister is expected to launch a last-ditch effort, in meetings this week with US envoy Dennis Ross and Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Martin Indyk, to dissuade the US from pursuing such a course. ROSS - INDYK PUSHING FOR 13% Arutz Sheva 4/26/98 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will convene the security mini-cabinet Sunday afternoon for yet another session on the proposed withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu met last night with American mediators Dennis Ross and Martin Indyk, in another unsuccessful attempt to find an agreed-upon formula for the withdrawal. Ross and Indyk met today with Defense Minister Mordechai, and will meet also with Ministers Sharon and Ne'eman. The Americans demand a 13% withdrawal, but the mini-cabinet is not willing to surpass 11%. ISRAEL WARNS PALESTINIANS NOT TO DECLARE STATE WITHOUT AGREEMENT April 26, 1998 By Josh Krist, Associated Press Jerusalem (AP) Israel warned the Palestinians on Sunday against unilaterally declaring an independent state next year after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat again asserted his right to do so. The sharp exchange came as a pair of U.S. envoys were holding meetings with both sides to lay the groundwork for a round of high-level London talks on May 4. Mediator Dennis Ross, accompanied by Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, and were to meet later Sunday with Arafat. A day earlier, Arafat told reporters in Gaza that the Palestinians would press ahead with a declaration of statehood in May 1999 whether or not there is an agreement with Israel. "It's our right, and we're going to declare it,'' said Arafat, who has made similar assertions in the past. Top Netanyahu aide David Bar-Illan said Sunday that such a move would not only violate the peace accords but result in "the total scuttling of the agreement.'' "It is the kind of move which leaves Israel free to take unilateral moves, too,'' he told The Associated Press. However, he refused to say whether that was an implied threat to annex parts of the West Bank. Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who met Sunday with Arafat, tried to calm the waters, saying he hoped neither side would have to resort to unilateral steps. "Nobody has to threaten anybody,'' he told reporters in Gaza. "I think the thing to do is reach an agreement ... We have agreed that by May 1999 we have to conclude our negotiations with the Palestinians, and I hope this will happen.'' PREPARATIONS FOR WAR - MIDDLE EAST IDF INTELLIGENCE : 'IRAN WILL HAVE MISSILES THAT CAN STRIKE ISRAEL BY END OF THIS YEAR' - SYRIA BLOCKING LEBANON WITHDRAWAL DEMANDS GOLAN HEIGHTS By Gideon Alon, Ha'aretz Legal Affairs Correspondent, Ha'aretz 4/22/98 By the end of the year, Iran will have completed a long-range, ground-to-ground missile with enough range to strike Israel, a senior Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer told members of a Knesset committee yesterday. Russia is providing Iran with the technology it needs to develop the missile - a "Shihab-3" with a range of 1,300 kilometers He added that Syria is moving to derail the Israeli initiative to withdraw from Lebanon according to UN Security Council Resolution 425. The officer said Syria sees Israel's initiative as an effort to drive a wedge between Syria and Lebanon. The officer added that Syria is dictating the Lebanese response to the Israeli initiative. Prime Minister Elias Hrawi and President Rafiq al-Hariri have repeatedly stated that Lebanon will not conduct separate negotiations with Israel and that there is a linkage between the demand for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and from South Lebanon. Syria, led by Assad, remains firm in its determination to recover control of the Golan Heights, preferably through political means. The officer noted that Syria fulfills its obligations under the agreements with Israel and said that war with Syria is not likely. But the batteries and tunnels that Syria deployed in the Golan recently are in violation of these agreements, the officer said. UN officials are still investigating an Israeli complaint about the deployment. ARAFAT HAS 60 PER CENT MORE POLICEMEN THAN ISRAEL International Christian Embassy Jerusalem - 4/22/98 Yasser Arafat's "police" force is 60 per cent larger than the Israel Police - despite the fact the Israeli population is more than 2/3 larger than that living under the Palestinian Authority. The force, whose size Israel says is a blatant violation of the Oslo Accords, oversees one of the most policed people on earth. In the PA areas, there are an estimated 40,000 policemen --16,000 more than the number allowed by the Oslo Accords -- for a population of around 2,4 million. In Israel (pop. 5,92 million), 25,082 policemen are deployed. (PA: one policeman for every 60 residents; Israel: one policeman for every 236 residents.) ARAB NATIONS AGREE TO ANTI-TERROR PACT IINS News Service - Israel - 4/21 According to a Middle East News Agency report yesterday, Arab nations have decided to sign a pact calling for an end to terror. The decision follows years of debate on the issue. The new anti-terror pact however, will fall short of including attacks against Israel. Such attacks will not be defined by the Arab nations as an "act of terrorism." The pact is to be signed at a meeting of interior and justice ministers from the 22-member Arab League in Cairo on Wednesday. The new pact calls upon the Arab nations to cease all financial assistance to any organization that takes part in terrorism. The pact also refers to Israel as a "terrorist state," and therefore, the agreement is not binding regarding attacks against the Jewish State. MUBARAK IN FRESH TALKS WITH ASSAD BBC 4/24/98 Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, is holding talks in the Syrian port of Latakia with President Assad. Correspondents say their meeting is likely to focus on issues to be raised next week when the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, visits Cairo. The Latakia meeting is also likely to consider the results of talks between Syrian and Lebanese leaders on the Israeli offer to withdraw from southern Lebanon in return for security guarantees. Last week, Mr Mubarak and Mr Assad rejected the Israeli offer at a meeting in Cairo US WARNS SADDAM OVER UN INSPECTORS >From Tom Rhodes in Washington - London Times 4/21/98 The United States issued an implicit warning to President Saddam Hussein last night, harshly accusing Iraq again of failing to observe United Nations mandates over weapons inspections. In some of the strongest language employed against Baghdad since the most recent crisis was resolved in February, the State Department accused the regime of continuing to lie about weapons and said the time when UN sanctions against Iraq could be lifted was "far away". A report circulated in New York last week by Richard Butler, head of the UN Special Commission (Unscom), offered a pessimistic account of how the Iraqis had behaved since signing the UN-Iraq Memorandum of Understanding, the document that marked the end of the recent showdown. U.S. SAYS IRAQ HAS VIOLATED U.N. ARMS DEMANDS April 26, 1998 Washington U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said on Sunday Iraq had failed to meet U.N. requirements on the destruction of nerve gas and other weapons of mass destruction. Cohen said in an interview with Fox Television that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had previously acknowledged his arsenal included 50 Scud missiles with chemical warheads, 25 missiles armed with biological agents, and four tons of VX nerve gas. "He has an affirmative obligation to prove to the inspectors that he has destroyed what he has admitted in the past that he had,'' Cohen said, referring to U.N. arms inspections teams led by Richard Butler. "He (Saddam) has to show where, when, how all these systems were destroyed,'' Cohen said. But he said Butler's latest report to the United Nations, to be debated by the Security Council on Monday, showed that Iraq had failed to meet these obligations. US TO PAY DEARLY FOR ANY ATTACK ON IRAQ Iraq (FTI) - 4/24/98 The official Iraqi newspaper, al-Iraq, yesterday said declared that the US would have to pay dearly if it attacks Iraq for sending military helicopters into Western-declared no-fly zones. It accused the US of giving free rein to its aggressive policies and despotic practices against Iraq. It also said that the no-fly zones were illegally declared by the US and its allies following the 1991 Gulf War. According to the newspaper, "the time of issuing unfair and ready-made resolutions dictated by Washington against Iraq is gone forever and... a new era... is in the offing". IRAQ: SANCTIONS WILL BRING HEAVY PRICE Baghdad (Reuters) - 4/23/98 Iraq's cabinet said on Thursday its enemies would pay a heavy price if sanctions were maintained, A cabinet statement issued after a meeting headed by President Saddam Hussein said a "new state of affairs" would be created if the embargo was kept on. "The world now has two options - either to lift the embargo or maintain it. The first will lead to some sort of relationship, understanding, and cooperation, while the second will lead to a new state of affairs. We have no alternative but to make our enemy feel that it has to pay a heavy price if it decides to maintain the embargo on our people," the statement said. ************************************** OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST PREPARATIONS FOR ANTI-MESSIAH ZEROING CHRIST OUT OF THE CALENDAR - CHANGING SET TIMES? Weekend News Today Source: Weekend Discussion Groups/ World Magazine Apr 21, 1998 If secularists can call for taking God out of public schools, why not take Christ out of the calendar? That's the plan of the Year Zero Campaign. In the article "The year zero campaign," Chris Stamper reported that Alan Dechert, a computer programmer for the city of Sacramento (who's trying to help fix the 2000 bug for a living), wants the year after 1999 to be year zero. According to Mr. Dechert, we live in a New Age and the days of A.D. need to be replaced by N.E. (New Era). "Most people in the world are not Christian," the Unitarian Universalist says. "Many feel that a numbering system that is not based on any religious event would be more reasonable and fair." The less controversial reason for year zero is that starting with zero means there will less confusion over the beginning and ending of decades and centuries. The big Internet bookseller, Amazon.com, offers his year zero calendar. Year zero sounds like a fringe movement, but so is every other piece of political correctness: Christmas break is now winter vacation. The traditional calendar makes Jsus the center-point of human history, but the new calendar would erase the past and start history over from scratch. The new beginning of human history would be the advent of the computer age. Is this the "Shades of Daniel 7:25?" wonders Ruth, who sounded the alarm in Weekend Disccusion Groups (See Y2K-- Changing set times?). Ruth quotes a verse from Daniel 7:25, "He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. " ARMY DEBUTS 'SMART CARD' FOR RECRUITS Scan this News 04/22/98 April 6, 1998 The United Press International reported this past week that the Army has begun issuing 18,750 "smart cards" to basic training recruits at Fort Sill, Okla., as part of a year-long pilot program. The smart cards, which resemble credit cards, will be issued to recruits throughout the Army. Microchips embedded in the cards identify users by their fingerprints, rather than a personal identification number, the article said. Recruits will use the cards to buy toiletries, clothing and stamps, get haircuts and make telephone calls during basic training. To buy an item, recruits go to special terminals around the base, insert their smart cards and put their index fingers on a sensor. If their fingerprint matches the card's, the amount of the purchase is deducted from the value of their account. Defense Finance and Accounting Service spokesperson Fran Gurka, who is coordinating the smart card program, said: "The card offers a sense of security not available with cash. When recruits were paid in cash, if they lost it, tough luck" according to the UPI article. It also stated that a lost smart card "can be easily replaced and because each card is keyed to a recruit's fingerprint, it cannot be used by others." The article reported that the $4 million smart card pilot program is a joint project of the Army, the Treasury Department, Mellon Bank, the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, and the Army and Air Force Exchange Service. The UPI article does not mention it but the military smart cards are referred to by the Army as "M.A.R.C." cards. **********************************************************************