Subject: Israel in the News - April 20 - May 10
Date:    Thu, 14 May 1998 00:25:45 +0000
To:      "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

 

From:    Eddie Chumney
To:      heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Israel in the News


                          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)


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).


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.

**********************************************************************

From: Eddie Chumney
To:  heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Israel in the News


                          Israel in the News
                      April 26 - May 10, 1998


PEACE PROCESS

NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL WILL FIGHT IF PALESTINIANS MAKE STATE NOW
April 28, 1998 By Nicolas B. Tatro, Associated Press JERUSALEM
(AP)

Delivering one of his toughest statements yet on Palestinian
statehood, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of
retaliation before accepting "a new Iraq or Iran'' on Israel's
doorstep.  Netanyahu spoke Monday in reaction Palestinian leader
Yasser Arafat's pledge that he would press ahead with a
declaration of statehood if there was no peace settlement by May
4, 1999, the deadline set in the Oslo accords.

"It's our right, and we're going to declare it,'' Arafat told
reporters over the weekend in the autonomous Gaza Strip. He has
made similar assertions before.

Netanyahu said any such declaration before a permanent peace
would be rejected. But he refused to say what steps might be
taken. The most likely option would be the annexation of disputed West
Bank land by Israel.  "We cannot accept and mustn't accept the
formation of a new Iraq or Iran next to our doorstep,'' Netanyahu told
the Foreign Press Association. "If the Palestinians react with
unilateral actions, so will we.''

ISRAEL SAYS 13 PCT LAND TRANSFER IMPOSSIBLE
May 3, 1998 JERUSALEM Reuters

A spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday
it would be "utterly impossible'' for Israel to accept a
U.S.-proposed handover of another 13 percent of West Bank land to
Palestinians.

Communications chief David Bar-Illan, speaking ahead of crucial
meetings in London on Monday with U.S. Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, told Reuters: "I think the administration
knows our position. It would be utterly impossible for Israel to
adhere to a withdrawal of 13 percent.''

"These are not interest rates that we are discussing but chunks
of land that are essential for our security and the prime
minister has reiterated over and over again that he will not do
anything that would jeopardize Israel's security,'' said
Bar-Illan, who travels with Netanyahu to London.

ARAFAT RAISES SPECTER OF CHAOS IF TALKS FAIL
May 4, 1998 L