Subject: Israel in the News: Week ending June 19, 1998
Date:    Mon, 22 Jun 1998 23:47:14 +0000
To:      "Arutz-7 List"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

 

>From    Bridges for Peace (100274.2306@compuserve.com)
To:      heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: [BFP-UPDATE] Update from Jerusalem

TO:   Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Dir. - Jerusalem
DATE: June 19, 1998


                                Week Ending: June 19, 1998

1) ARAFAT OFFERS HAMAS CABINET POSITIONS
2) PA PREPARING FOR VIOLENT STRUGGLE WITH ISRAEL
3) NETANYAHU CLARIFIES POSITION ON FINAL STATUS TALKS
4) ARAFAT NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE DELAYED
5) POPE MEETS ARAFAT ON MIDEAST PEACE
6) NETANYAHU DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM THE PINCHASI ANTI-MISSION BILL


1) ARAFAT OFFERS HAMAS CABINET POSITIONS

        PA/PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat has asked Hamas to join his cabinet
as part of a reshuffle, PA/PLO Secretary-General Tayeb Abdul Rahim
announced. Arafat's decision came on the eve of a planned Palestinian Legislative
Council meeting with PLC members threatening a no-confidence vote against
the PA/PLO because of its failure to deal with corruption. Gaza Hamas
leader Mahmoud Zahar said the movement's spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed
Yassin, would return to Gaza and would decide on Arafat's offer after his
return.

        Meanwhile, Hamas terrorist Sheikh Yassin said from Cairo that he
plans to return to Gaza before the end of the week, "to continue the path
of the Jihad." Yassin has rejected Arafat's offer to join him in the
Palestinian leadership, saying that such a thing is totally out of the
question.

        According to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, Arafat's offer
was a "blatant violation and ridicule of the Oslo accords, as the
Palestinian Authority is obligated to "systematically fight against all
expressions of violence and terrorism" - not invite them into their
government."

2) PA PREPARING FOR VIOLENT STRUGGLE WITH ISRAEL - Gen. Dayan

        Major General 'Uzi Dayan, the outgoing commander of the Central
Command, stated that the Palestinian Authority [PA] is getting ready for a
violent struggle with Israel.

        Our correspondent Yoram Kohen reports that Maj. Gen. Dayan told
journalists, "The Palestinians, through guidance from above, are getting
ready for a long-term struggle with Israel in which they will use force."

        Maj. Gen. Dayan stressed that although their preparations are
primarily aimed at a defensive struggle, they also pose a threat to the
Jewish settlements in the territories. (Israel Television Channel 1 Network
in Hebrew -Murray Kahl)

3) NETANYAHU CLARIFIES POSITION ON FINAL STATUS TALKS

        "First of all, you should know that we are not talking about an
agreement on the second redeployment only.  We are discussing the second
redeployment, the third redeployment, reciprocity and the conditions for
entering the permanent settlement. This is a complete package, and we hope
that it will bring about a permanent settlement, or negotiations for a
permanent settlement.  No one can butt in here and say that we are
promising to achieve a permanent settlement; we hope that it will be
achieved within a year, and we must be prepared for all possibilities.
Therefore, this package agreement is an agreement of fateful importance for
the State of Israel.  Therefore, we are investing every effort in it.  The
effort focuses on two of these four issues.  I think that we have made
progress on two of them more than the others, but when the package is
completed, and with Palestinian goodwill, it will be completed, we can
present it in an orderly manner to the press as well...Nothing will make me
deviate from my obligations to Israel's security and the achievement of
real peace - peace with security." (Communicated by Prime Minister's Media
Advisor)

4) ARAFAT NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE DELAYED

        The Palestinian Legislative Council accepted President Yasser
Arafat's request that it delay a no-confidence motion and give him 10 days
of grace to form a new cabinet.

        The 88-member self-rule body had set a Monday deadline for Arafat
to shake up his government in order to stamp out alleged corruption or face
a possible no-confidence vote for the first time since Palestinian
elections two years ago.

``The special session...will be postponed for the requested period to be
held on Thursday June 25,'' Council speaker Ahmed Korei told reporters
after a majority of lawmakers voted to accept Arafat's request for a 10 day
delay. (Daniel Sternoff)

5) POPE MEETS ARAFAT ON MIDEAST PEACE

        The sixth meeting between the pope and Yasser Arafat lasted a
quarter of an hour. Their talks focussed on peace in the Middle East, on
the accords that need to be complied with, and on the situation in
Palestine.

        We have this report from Fabio Zavattaro. "The peace process is
threatened from all sides and the Palestinian people's situation is tragic:
Yasir 'Arafat was visiting the pope for the sixth time. Vatican spokesman
Joaquin Navarro Valls underscored this aspect of the private talks -- 13 minutes in all --
between Pope John Paul II and the Palestinian leader. He added that the
pope reiterated to Arafat the Holy See's support for the peace process that
must go on with the good will of all the sides involved; for compliance
with commitments made; and for respect for international law.

        In other words, the Vatican is concerned over what is happening in
the Middle East, over the increasing number of new obstacles being strewn
in the path of peace. Hence the pope's words appealing for a renewed effort
for an increasingly effective dialogue and for a process capable of leading
to true peace. All this, against the backdrop of a long-awaited trip by the
pope to the Middle East and to Jerusalem, and also to Bethlehem where John
Paul II was invited to go by Arafat at the end of their previous
conversation in December 1996." [Rome RAI Uno Television Network in Italian
-- state-owned television network]

6) NETANYAHU DISTANCES HIMSELF FROM THE PINCHASI ANTI-MISSION BILL

        Last month the Prime Minister and his coalition partners voted in
favor of a preliminary bill which called for three years imprisonment or
50,000 NIS ($14,000) fine to anyone "exhorting" another to change their
religion.  Both Jews and Christians expressed dissatisfaction with such an
anti-democratic piece of legislation that would limit freedom of speech,
freedom of conscience and freedom of religion.

        The following is a letter from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to
Mr. Abraham Foxman, National Director of the Anti-Defamation League [ADL],
describing his position on this bill.

Dear Abe,

        Thank you for your letter.  I fully understand your concern about
the anti-missionary bill.

        The bill passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset.  These
preliminary readings are usually declarative and practically
inconsequential.  Bills introduced by coalition members are usually voted
for, almost automatically, by all coalition members present.  Then they go
to the relevant committee for deliberations.
This bill is different from the previous one, but it is also unacceptable
to us.  Coalition leader MK Meir Shetreet has pledged that it will die in
committee.

        Let me assure you again that Israel will pass no laws which limit
freedom of religion and contravene the international conventions to which
it is signatory.

        With kindest regards,

        Sincerely,

        Benjamin Netanyahu

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

WHO ARE WE?

     For those who are new to the list, Bridges for Peace is a Christian
charitable organization, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. Since 1977, we
have been working to build Christian-Jewish understanding and support for
the people and land of Israel. We do this through twelve different aid
projects to help the people of Israel, while disseminating information
about Israel and teaching Christians about the Hebraic roots of
Christianity. We have national offices in Israel, the U.S., Canada, the
U.K., S. Africa, Japan and Brazil.

     To receive more information and our other publications, send your
e-mail and postal mailing address to: 100274.2306@CompuServe.com

We also invite you to look at our WEB SITE at:
                   http://www.bridgesforpeace.com

        WEEKLY UPDATE SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION: Feel free to forward this
update information to anyone on your e-mail list. To receive it, all they
need to do is simply send an e-mail message that only says:
subscribe bfp-update <your name>.  Send  to listproc@grmi.org
To unsubscribe, simply send the message: unsubscribe bfp-update to the same
address.

        It is been our goal to send you news items to help you more
effectively pray for Israel in accordance with Psalm 122:6.  Therefore, in
addition to the news items, we are adding PRAYER FOCUS, where applicable,
so that you can pray along with us for Israel. We will also continue to
intersperse positive news items so that our message is not just crisis
oriented.  We don't want to be just another news service provider, but send
an interpretative message ultimately focusing on prayer for Israel.

        Although this Weekly News Update and Prayer Focus from Israel is
free and will remain so, subscribers who appreciate the bulletins and who
can afford to do so, are invited to help us cover our costs by sending a
one-time or occasional gift, or a regular donation. We are a non-profit,
charitable organization.  Please make your check/money order to Bridges for
Peace and mail it to: Bridges for Peace, POB 7304, Jerusalem, Israel.  A
receipt will be sent, which is tax-deductible in the US and Canada.

        Thanks to Becky Brimmer, Glen Haines, and Martha Farmer for their
assistance in this week's review.

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

From:          "Pam Staley" <daystar@i1.net>
To:                heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject:       ARAFAT DUMPS OSLO FOR HAMAS


  "THE NATIONAL UNITY COALITION FOR ISRAEL"

The Largest Coalition of Pro-Israel Jewish and Christian Organizations
in the USA Convened by Voices United for Israel 3965 W. 83rd St. #292,
Shawnee Mission, KS 66208 Phone 913-432-7900    Fax: 913-432-7997

Web site:http://www.mindspring.com/~voicesunited
email: voicesunited@mindspring.com

OP-ED ARTICLE
JUNE 22, 1998
CONTACT: ESTHER LEVENS

===============================================================


ARAFAT DUMPS OSLO FOR HAMAS

What is Arafat's commitment to the Middle East Peace Process?

His invitation to Hamas, reported in the June 14 Jerusalem Post under
the banner headline "Arafat invites Hamas to join PA cabinet", prompts
us to examine his intent and his historic Oslo record.

As part of the peace contract Arafat agreed to fight terror, prevent
radical Islamic groups from developing military capability, and
eliminate terrorist activities from territories under his control. 
The agreement amounted to a renunciation of violence, a willingness to
dismantle terrorist networks and destroy the terrorist infrastructure.
 The Israeli contract negotiated by Prime Minister Rabin has generated
criticism because it lacks oversight and guarantees for fulfilling
commitments.

Chairman Arafat's most important promises, to eliminate terrorism in
Palestinian-ruled territories and formally eliminate terrorist
incitement from the PLO Charter, are contradicted by his actions in
the years following Oslo.  Rather than punishing terrorists and
eliminating terrorist infrastructure, Arafat has legitimized terrorist
organizations and included leaders in his government who espouse
terrorism. At every level of the Palestinian government
representatives continue to promote terrorism and Arab Rejectionism.

The reality of Arafat's actions makes a painful joke of the position
he assumes in the peace process.  Areas under Arafat's control have
become massive breeding, recruitment and training grounds for radical
Islamic and secular Arab terrorist organizations.  Palestinian
military intelligence and police force incorporate, or are in active
collaboration with, terrorist organizations.  For example, on June 13,
1998 in an interview given by Palestinian Preventive Security Services
head, Col. Jibril Rajoub to Radio Algiers said "Naturally, we the
Palestinian Authority and in the Fatah movement consider Hamas to be
part of the process of national  Palestinian liberation."  These
remarks on national radio by a high-level government official are
contrary to Oslo and send a very clear message in support of Hamas and
terrorism.

More Israelis have been killed by acts of terrorism after the
initiation of the Peace Process than in a comparable period since the
formation of the state.  These murders indicate that Israelis are
still regarded as the enemy, rather than co-sponsors of mutual
peaceful goals.  It is impossible for the Israeli police to stop the
bombings and murders because Arafat's territories are terrorist
havens.  Instead of pursuing and convicting those who commit crimes
against Israelis and pro-Israeli Palestinians, the terrorists find
safety in Palestinian-ruled territories and live there freely.  In
their safe haven, terrorists obtain weapons which are then exported or
smuggled to other terrorists.  In addition to his public inflammatory
rhetoric, by refusing to extradite known terrorists back to Israel,
Arafat reveals both tacit and overt support for terrorist activities
in direct violation of the Oslo Accords.

Other overt and covert abrogation's of Oslo flourish under Arafat's
leadership: anti-Semitism abounds in educational curricula, textbooks,
TV, and radio, in the PLO Charter, governmental acts, and public
speeches.  The Palestinian Authority (PA), Arafat's governmental arm,
supports Iraq and its terrorist acts against Israel and her allies.

For proof of Arafat's rejection of peace, one need look no further
than a speech by Arafat himself dated April 16, 1998 on the
anniversary of Abu-Jihad's martyrdom.  "Let us see more revolution. 
Therefore, more escalation of our blessed intifadah; more
steadfastness, firmness, and faith; and more great epics with the
souls of our righteous martyrs and the pure blood of our wounded.  Let
us turn the land into a flaming fire under the feet of the invaders
[Israel].  It is the will of the free and the honorable, and it is the
will of our children, women, men, and aged to press the wound and
embrace heaven in martyrdom or victory."

And still President Clinton continues to push Israel to give up at
least 13 percent more of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinians,
ignoring Arafat's violations of the Oslo Accords and his lack of
commitment to the peace process.  We at the National Unity Coalition
for Israel strongly object to this imposed pressure for Israel to
vacate more precious land, until Arafat demonstrates a true commitment
to peace.

The goals of the Oslo Accords and those of Hamas are not compatible. 
As long as terrorism and Arab Rejectionism flourish under Arafat and
the PA (and remain unchallenged by President Clinton) further land
concessions simply reinforce the Arab objective of eradicating Israel.
 The Clinton policy of supporting Arafat without eliminating Arab
Rejectionism from Palestinian principles and practices endangers
Israel in the present, and sows the seeds of her destruction in the
future.  This is the belief of the National Unity Coalition for
Israel.

=========================

The National Unity Coalition for Israel is an alliance of 200
Christian and Jewish organizations representing 40 million Americans,
the largest pro-Israel network in the U.S.

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

Friday, June 19, 1998       25 Sivan 5758 
The Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    Jewish groups blast pope's plans to meet
                    antisemitic envoy 

                    By ELLI WOHLGELERNTER and KARL PFEIFER 

                    JERUSALEM (June 19) -- Jewish groups are outraged
                    over Pope John Paul II's plans to meet today with
                    a professor of theology who has accused the Jews
                    of ritual murder.

                    The pope's three-day visit to Austria is to
                    include a meeting with the Vienna-based diplomatic
                    corps, whose members include Dr. Robert Prantner,
                    envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary
                    of the Knights of Malta.

                    In a December 5 article in the Austrian
                    publication Zur Zeit Prantner argued that rather
                    than the Catholic Church apologizing to the Jews
                    for centuries of antisemitism, the Jews should
                    apologize for "their deplorable crimes... against
                    Catholic children like the holy martyr-child
                    Anderl von Rinn, against adults in the days before
                    Easter... and for the blood of murdered
                    Christians, spilled by Jewish hands, which cries
                    to heaven, too."

                    Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal
                    Center's Israel office, said "this theologian,
                    Prantner, is basically saying that the blood libel
                    is true - we're in 1998 for God's sake! This is
                    outrageous. This is taking us back to the Middle
                    Ages. This guy is the antithesis of everything the
                    present pope has worked on in terms of
                    Catholic-Jewish relations and is a dark stain on
                    the Austrian church unless this person is totally
                    condemned by their leadership."

                    The Knights of Malta is a Catholic lay order.
                    While Prantner is not a diplomat, he is an
                    employee of the Vatican, according to Rabbi David
                    Rosen, director of the Israel office of the
                    Anti-Defamation League.

                    "The Knights of Malta is a lay order in which he
                    serves as their ambassador," Rosen said, "and
                    which still has status within the Catholic Church,
                    and therefore it's certainly within the power of
                    the Catholic Church to tell the Knights of Malta
                    to clip this fellow's wings."

                    Prantner was a lecturer at the theological
                    seminary at the Heiligenkreuz monastery, a member
                    of Engelwerk, a right-wing Catholic organization,
                    and is a former director of studies at the
                    political academy of the Oesterreichische
                    Volkspartei.

                    "He has some significant credentials within the
                    Catholic Church," Rosen said. "In certain areas of
                    academic specialization, as well as diplomatic
                    representation, he might be perfectly competent.
                    But that doesn't in any way detract from the fact
                    that he has publicly on record made some of the
                    most outrageous antisemitic comments - and has not
                    been publicly chastised by either the local church
                    or the Vatican, despite letters that we have sent
                    to the headquarters of the Knights of Malta in
                    Rome."

                    The blood libel accusing Jews of the ritual murder
                    of Anderl von Rinn took place in the 17th century
                    and was used to incite pogroms against the Jews.
                    It was condemned in 1985 as a falsehood by
                    Innsbruck Bishop Reinhold Stecher, who also banned
                    pilgrimages to the Church of Rinn, which had
                    become a shrine as the purported place of the
                    ritual murder.


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

Friday, June 19, 1998       25 Sivan 5758 
Jerusalem Post - Internet Edition


                    Israeli Mission trying to block PLO upgrading
                    status at UN 

                    By MARILYN HENRY 

                    NEW YORK (June 19) -- The Israeli Mission to the
                    UN is scrambling to meet with up to 40 ambassadors
                    by the week's end to block support for a General
                    Assembly resolution that would upgrade the PLO's
                    status at the UN.

                    It appeared yesterday that the debate in the
                    General Assembly, tentatively scheduled for
                    Wednesday, might be canceled because support for
                    the resolution was uncertain. The resolution was
                    sponsored by the Arab states.

                    There also were complaints yesterday that the
                    Palestinians had reneged on vows to the US to stop
                    using the UN as a forum to vex the Israelis.

                    Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke Wednesday
                    with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and was
                    told that the European Union was unlikely to
                    support the Palestinian status change, a
                    high-ranking Israeli source said yesterday.

                    A senior Israeli official said yesterday that, in
                    1996, Palestinian deputy leader Abu Mazen promised
                    US ambassador Madeleine Albright, in the presence
                    of then foreign minister David Levy, that he would
                    tell the PLO observer to stop raising
                    Palestinian-Israeli issues at the UN. Last
                    December, according to the official, Palestinian
                    Authority leader Yasser Arafat made a comparable
                    commitment. Those pledged were unfulfilled, the
                    official said, adding: "If we made a commitment
                    like that and didn't come through, the world would
                    come down on us like a ton of bricks."

                    Elli Wohlgelernter adds:

                    Netanyahu reacted harshly yesterday to reports of
                    the planned effort by the PLO to upgrade its UN
                    status, saying this constituted a violation of the
                    Oslo Accords.

                    "Well, we're well aware of this effort, and it's
                    not a new one. It happens to be a violation of the
                    basic agreement that we have with the
                    Palestinians. And there is an agreement that final
                    status issues are not going to be determined
                    unilaterally but will be determined in a
                    negotiation," he told reporters in his office
                    yesterday. "Now if the Palestinians say we don't
                    care, we push for status in the UN, that will
                    immediately say that we have to respond."

                    Netanyahu added: "I think this would be a complete
                    subversion of any possibility of achieving an
                    agreement. We communicated this yesterday with the
                    American government, I talked to Prime Minister
                    Blair yesterday on this, and I'm going to speak to
                    other European leaders today, because I think that
                    they obviously speak of peace, they want peace,
                    this will be a tremendous blow to peace."

***********************************************************************
1