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Subject: Arutz-7 News: February 16-18, 1999 / Israel in the News
Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 16:33:02 -0800
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Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, February 16, 1999
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Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Tuesday, February 16, 1999 / Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5759
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BEN-AMI, BEILIN, VILNA'I CAPTURE TOP LABOR SPOTS
2. POLLS AND SURVEYS

* * * SPECIAL INSERT: Quotes on Chief Justice Barak's judicial activism

1. BEN-AMI, BEILIN, VILNA'I CAPTURE TOP LABOR SPOTS
Final results of yesterday's Labor primaries will be released tonight, but
preliminary results show no major surprises. MK Shlomo Ben-Ami was listed
on 100% of the ballots counted thus far, such that he will be placed third
on the Labor party list for the upcoming elections - after party leader
Barak and Shimon Peres. The top 12 will apparently be as follows:

1- Ehud Barak
2- Shimon Peres
3- Shlomo Ben-Ami
4- Yossi Beilin
5- Matan Vilna'i
6- Avraham Burg
7- Ra'anan Cohen
8- Uzi Baram
9- Dalia Itzik
10- Binyamin Ben-Eliezer
11- Chaim Ramon
12- Eli Goldschmidt

Labor MK Ephraim Sneh, who placed 12th in yesterday's balloting (#16 on the
final list), was not pleased with the results. "The high placing of
Beilin, Burg, Baram, and Ramon proves that Labor is going heavily towards
the left. The 'security-minded' positions now have less support in Labor."
Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "This is the most leftward-leaning list
that Labor has ever fielded." MK Yossi Beilin said with satisfaction, "The
heart of Labor beats on the left."

Ma'ariv political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi discussed with Arutz-7
today the results of the Labor primaries. He is doubtful that the "waning
Labor party - whose national branches are relatively inactive - will be
rejuvenated by the list that was chosen." When asked the reason for the
low morale, Yerushalmi explained, "Ehud Barak is convinced that Labor
cannot win in its current format. With his 'One Israel' movement [to
include David Levy's Gesher party and members of the Meimad party], Barak
wants to blur certain previously-clear lines, by building something
different in its place. When Labor activists began to see the old party
disintegrating, they became less enthusiastic." Yerushalmi said that these
developments were foreshadowed by the recent municipal elections, during
which Labor's Jerusalem branch collapsed when local party leader Chaim
Cohen joined Likud Mayor Ehud Olmert's list. He added that a similar
breakdown is happening in the municipality of Petach Tikvah.

2. POLLS AND SURVEYS
A new survey released by noted pollster Minna Tzemach predicts 30 Knesset
seats for Labor in the next election, 23 for the Likud, and 15 for the
centrist party. Meretz and the National Religious Party will receive 7
seats each (down from their current 9 each), Shas 9, Begin 3, and Moledet
2, according to the survey. Polls continue to show that no candidate will
receive over 50% of the vote in the Prime Ministerial election, and that
Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak will reach the second round. Pollsters
continue to examine the possibility that Yitzchak Mordechai will make it to
the second round, however. In this unlikely scenario, he is foreseen to
beat Netanyahu by a 48% to 41% margin, while a second-round battle between
Barak and Netanyahu is currently "too close to call." Mordechai is
attempting to capitalize on this, and last week warned university students
that if he doesn't reach the second round, "Netanyahu will be re-elected."

SPECIAL INSERT:
Following is a sampling of quotes by leading judicial and other figures
regarding the controversial judicial activism of Supreme Court Chief
Justice Aharon Barak. The quotes were gathered by Manof and Hatzofeh.

Former President and Atty. Chaim Herzog:
"In a democracy, according to Barak, the courts are placed above the
government. In my humble opinion, this approach endangers, in certain
cases, the very basis of democracy."

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Moshe Landau:
"How can it be considered democratic to allow an oligarchic body such as
the Supreme Court to review decisions that were made in a democratic fashion?"

Supreme Court Justice Michael Cheshin:
"Judicial activism smacks of a legal grab. humility and modesty are good
traits for any person, and a judge is a person."

Hebrew University Prof. Ruth Gavison, a director of the Association for
Civil Rights in Israel:
"No Supreme Court in the world has taken upon itself such powers. The
judges of the Supreme Court represent a particular segment of Israeli
society: Ashkenazi secular men. It is not clear why the entire Israeli
society must live according to its dictates."

Former Supreme Court Justice Yaakov Maltz:
"The Supreme Court has crossed red lines, and is harming the dominion of
the Knesset."

Former Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin:
"My confidence in Aharon Barak is shaken. He wishes to acquire a
reputation of one who cannot be swayed, but in practice he gives in to
public trends."

Former Supreme Court Justice Menachem Elon:
"The theory [that the Supreme Court may intervene in Knesset activities]
has no basis in reality."

Former Supreme Court Justice Tzvi Tal:
"When the Court must decide between individual civil rights and Jewish
values, the former has until now been given the upper hand. This should
not be so in a Jewish state. When the Declaration of Independence states
that Israel will be a Jewish and democratic state, the intention was not
that 'Jewish' should trail behind 'democratic,' but rather that both values
should be equal in importance. Judges who have not been trained in Torah
cannot be sufficiently attuned to the central importance of the Jewish
roots. They relate to the religious values as a social phenomenon that can
be either accepted or rejected. It appears to me that if the Court was
more aware of our national-religious values, the result would have been
different." (relating to the Supreme Court ruling granting recognition to
same-sex marriages)

Prof. Tzvi Tzameret:
"The unnecessary expansion of the Supreme Court's powers is a threat to
democracy."

Ma'ariv reporter Ben-Dror Yemini:
"[The left-wing party] Meretz. loves to run to the Supreme Court in order
to circumvent the Knesset. They are attempting to create the impression
that the Court is a branch of a very specific political grouping in Israel."

Atty. Yisrael Kluf, a member of the Bar Association Central Committee:
"When the Court determined. that everything is judiciable and that the
Court is authorized to nullify laws. it took powers that it never had and
that were very close to - if not further than this - those of other
branches. Once it began to void administrative decisions because they were
'not reasonable,' and to replace them with its own decisions, it became the
final arbiter on large and small questions of Israeli society."

Hebrew University Political Science Prof. Shlomo Avinery:
"The Court's judicial activism of the past few years has caused not a
small portion of the population - and not only extreme hareidim - to view
the Court as its enemy."

Meretz MK Dedi Tzucker:
Aharon Barak's phrase, 'the enlightened public,' is. one of the most
provocative statements that have been heard to date. What is this? - The
Court is 'ours' and we will 'hand down' to the 'lower classes' Western
values.?" (referring to Justice Barak's opinion that a judge in cases
involving value choices should be guided by the values of ``the enlightened
society in whose midst he dwells.'')

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To: arutz-7@a7.org
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@a7.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: February 17, 1999
Reply-to: netnews@a7.org

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Wednesday, Feb. 17, 1999 / Rosh Chodesh Adar, 5759
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. BARAK ORDERS RE-TRIAL FOR CONVICTED MURDERERS
2. ARAB VIOLENCE UP

1. BARAK ORDERS RE-TRIAL FOR CONVICTED MURDERERS
Chief Justice Aaron Barak has ordered a retrial for the five Arab men
sentenced by the Haifa District Court to life imprisonment for
abducting, murdering, and sexually assaulting 14-year-old Danny Katz
in December 1983. At the time, the prisoners confessed their guilt to
police interrogators,
but later testified that their confessions were forced. According to
Israel's Channel 2 news, Justice Barak came to his decision after much
uncertainty and in the face of staunch opposition from
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein, State Attorney Edna Arbel, and
the police department. An assistant to Barak said that Barak utilized,
for the first time, a new judicial principle - legislated into the law
less than three years ago - by which a retrial may be ordered without
new evidence, but merely because of an accumulation of several doubts
leading to the conclusion that justice may not have been served.

Mrs. Mira Katz, Danny's mother, has sharp criticism for Barak's
decision: "The lower-court conviction of the murderers withstood two
separate appeals to higher courts, and passed a special review by
Justice Meir Shamgar, President of the Supreme Court, who reviewed an
87-page brief and stated categorically that there is no need for a
retrial." She said that the murderers told the investigators things
about Danny that only those who killed him could have known, and that
they also reenacted the murder. "Two of them were also convicted of
raping and murdering a young woman at around the same time," Mrs. Katz
said. "Barak's decision was influenced by a political lobby,
including the uncle of one of the murderers, the mayor of [the Arab
village of] Sakhnin. Barak had this case for two years, and now, on
the eve of the elections, he suddenly announces a retrial. Only
political considerations from the left are governing this decision.
Absolutely no new evidence has been presented, and nothing has
changed. This is simply a license to release additional murderers in
the future."

2. ARAB VIOLENCE UP
The number of Arab nationalistically-motivated violent crimes in
Jerusalem increased in 1998 by 25%. Police statistics show that the
increase occurred mainly in the last three months of the year, when
the Palestinian Authority began its struggle for the release of
Israeli-incarcerated terrorists. The total number of such incidents
in the capital last year was 2230 - the vast majority of which were
stonings and Molotov cocktail attacks, but which also included nine
murderous attacks.

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To: arutz-7@a7.org
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@a7.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Thursday, February 18, 1999
Reply-to: netnews@a7.org

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.a7.org>
Thursday, Feb. 18, 1999 / Adar 2, 5759
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
--- See below for subscription instructions ---

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

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1. TV TALKS MORE TO OPPOSITION
2. NRP ACTIVISM
3. RELIGIOUS ISSUES: CULTURAL BATTLE... TEMPLE SITE PRAYER...
2000-YEAR MARKETING

1. TV TALKS MORE TO OPPOSITION
Israel's two television stations interview more opposition
personalities than those from the coalition. So concludes a new report
prepared by Gil Samsonov, Chairman of the Board of the Israel
Broadcasting Authority. During the month of January, opposition party
members appeared 5% more often than their coalition counterparts on
public television's Channel 1, while interviews on Channel 2
(privately-run) featured 15% more opposition than coalition members.
Channel One's leading interviewee in January was Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu, but the next seven spots - Amnon Shachak (centrist
party), Yitzchak Mordechai (who left the Likud and became the head of
the centrist party on Jan. 24), Moshe Arens (Likud), Dan Meridor
(centrist party), Ehud Barak (Labor), Yossi Beilin (Labor), and
Avraham Baige-Shochat (Labor) - included only one of his political
allies.

2. NRP ACTIVISM
Transportation Minister Sha'ul Yahalom (National Religious Party) has
succeeded in convincing Prime Minister Netanyahu - presently serving
as Acting Finance Minister - to halve the upcoming rise in public
transportation fares. According to the automatic twice-yearly fare
adjustments, which are determined by the consumers price index, the
fares were to have increased by 6.5% this coming March 1. Instead,
they will go up by 3.25%... Knesset Law Committee Chairman MK Chanan
Porat wrote today to Chief Justice Aharon Barak, asking him to
postpone the Supreme Court deliberations on the question of Reform
conversion ceremonies until after the elections. Porat implied that
the next Knesset will legislate the Ne'eman commission compromise on
the matter into law... MK Prof. Avner Chai Shaki announced that he
will not run in the upcoming NRP primaries. Shaki served as a Knesset
Member in the last four Knessets (the 11th to the 14th), as well as in
the 7th Knesset, and held the positions of Minister of Religious
Affairs and Deputy Education Minister. He has been offered the post
of Honorary President of the World Mizrachi movement...

3. RELIGIOUS ISSUES: CULTURAL BATTLE... TEMPLE SITE PRAYER...
2000-YEAR MARKETING

A new seven-day-a-week supermarket, named Drugstore-2000, will open
in the heart of Jerusalem this Shabbat. The Meretz representative in the
Jerusalem municipality, Ornan Yekutieli, says that this will be a
"proper Zionist response to the hareidi demonstration against the
Supreme Court" - a wry reference to right-wing calls for new
settlements in response to terrorist attacks. A municipality
spokesman said that the opening of the store on Sabbaths will be in
violation of city by-laws. Hareidi representatives have already
announced that they will protest the opening of the store on Sabbaths.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported yesterday that Israel is
considering allowing Jewish "zealots" to pray on the Temple Mount. The possible
change is in response to a plan by the Moslem Waqf to change the
status quo there and move the office of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem
to the Mount, the site of the First and Second Temple. Yehuda Etzion,
a leader of the Temple Mount Loyalists, told Arutz-7 today, "We have
been working for such an announcement for a long time. It is too bad
that it may be the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem who may bring it about."

The gathering of international Christian decision-makers being hosted
by the Tourism Ministry, beginning this Friday, will be carried live on
the Internet. Hundreds of Christian religious leaders are arriving in
Israel to discuss plans for year-2000 celebrations, and the opening
session, along with scenes from their tours of Israel, will be able to
be seen at <www.realtime2000.com>. Tourism Minister Moshe Katzav says
that he views the Holy Land 2000 conference as an extremely important
event by which to "market" the year 2000 in Israel to the Christian
world.

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

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

JERUSALEM

SHARON TO MEET WITH THE POPE
IsraelWire-2/7/99

Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon is scheduled to meet sometime in
February with Pope John Paul-II according to Vatican source Aaron
Lopez. In this, Sharon's first meeting with the holy see, the
minister will reiterate Israel's unwillingness to divide Jerusalem as
was the case prior to its liberation in the June 1967 Six Day War.
Sharon will explain that Israel always has and will continue to permit
freedom of worship to all religions, and will ensure the preservation
of sites holy to all peoples. Sharon is also expected to invite the
Pope to visit Israel in 2000.

Sources in the PLO Authority (PA) report that Yassir Arafat will
also be meeting with the Pope shortly after Sharon's visit.

ANGLICAN AND GREEK-ORTHODOX LEADERS DISCUSS JERUSALEM
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: Arabic News Sat Jan 30, 1999

Patriarch Ignatuis IV Hazim for Antioch and the all-East for the
Greek-Orthodox church met on Thursday in Damascus with Anglican
Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey for a round of talks. The
meeting was attended by the secretary general of the Middle East
Churches Council Rev. Riyadh Jarjour, and the bishop of
Jerusalem and the Middle East for the Anglican church, Rabah Abu
al-Asaal. Talks dealt with issues pertaining to occupied
Jerusalem and the attempts made by Israel to "Judaize the holy
city."

The participants underlined the need to enable the Palestinian
people to restore their national legitimate rights, underlining
the importance of preserving the Arab-Christian presence in the
holy city. Patriarch Ignatius and Archbishop Carey asserted the
need for united and serious efforts to preserve the Arab identity of
the city and perpetuate Arab-Christian presence in it, so the holy
city is not to undergo measures eliminating its Arab identity.

A source said that at a recent conference of archbishops of the
worldwide Anglican church it was very clear they support the
rights of the Palestinian people to establish their own
independent state on their national soil and that Jerusalem,
being very important for the three divine religions (Judaism,
Christianity and Islam) cannot be a key for peace if it remains
under the authority of the Israeli occupation. He stressed that
Jerusalem would be the capital of the Palestinian state.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY SLAMS ISRAEL'S JERUSALEM POLICY
Paris AFP 31 Jan 99 Damascus

The Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey Sunday criticised
Israeli policy towards Jerusalem, and said the holy city should
belong to all three religions associated with it. "Jerusalem
belongs to us all. For Christians and Moslems and Jews it is a
holy place, and we believe that all religions should be able to
worship freely in Jerusalem," he told journalists at the end of
his four day visit to Syria. "I am a Christian leader concerned
about Christians in the Holy Land but also I respect the freedom
of Moslems and Jews as well," he said.

He recalled that a recent conference of Anglican bishops from all over
the world stressed its commitment to UN resolutions as they affect
Palestinians and Israelis. "It is peace with justice that this region
so badly needs," he said, adding that he deplored the recent Israeli
drive to create more settlements. He said he was greatly impressed by
the coexistence of Christians and Moslems in Syria, and called for
further dialogue between the different religious communities.

On Sunday Carey met Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, and
discussed the Middle East situation with him. Carey praised the
"constructive role" played by Assad, who told him Syria wanted a
"just and comprehensive peace, based on international law." The
Archbishop ends his four-day visit to Syria on Sunday, and
travels to Lebanon. He was invited to the region by the Middle
East Council of Churches.

PEACE PROCESS

DEADLINE ON WYE AGREEMENT PASSES AS ISRAEL, PALESTINIANS SWAP
BLAME
Copyright 1999 Nando Media 1999 Reuters News Service
By Howard Goller Jerusalem January 31, 1999

Palestinians angry at missing a peace deadline called on the U.S. and
Europe on Sunday to force Israel to implement their part of Wye River
land-for-security deal. Under the deal negotiated at the Wye
plantation near Washington in October, Israel was to have completed a
phased handover of 13 percent more of the West Bank by late January in
return for a Palestinian crackdown on militants and other steps.
"Today we have officially contacted the United States and the European
Union countries," Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters.
"We have told them that the deadline for the implementation of the Wye
River agreement ends today and that they should act to compel Israel
to meet its obligations," he added.

PLO OFFICIAL FOR COORDINATION WITH SYRIA TOWARD ISRAEL
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: Arabic News Tue Feb 2,
1999

Chairman of the PLO political department Farouk Qaddoumi has
asserted in Amman the need for coordination with Syria concerning the
Middle East peace process and a united Arab position toward Israel's
position. In a statement to the Jordanian daily al-Dustour issued in
Amman on Monday, Qaddoumi called for "returning to the roots and to
reintegrate Arab negotiation tracks" to come up with one Arab
delegation to negotiate. Qaddoumi added that the Palestinian cause
should not be taken from the Arab lap, otherwise huge losses will be
inflicted on it. Qaddoumi condemned the US stances as being totally
aligned to Israel, continuing support for Israeli policy and unable to
take measures that force Israel to commit itself to peace.

ARAFAT SAYS STATEHOOD DATE 'SACRED'
BBC 1/31/99

Yasser Arafat has warned world leaders the target date of 4 May
for a declaration of Palestinian statehood is "sacred". The
Palestinian leader was speaking at the World Economic Forum in
Davos, Switzerland, as the 31 January deadline for the full
implementation of October's Wye River agreement passed.

Mr Arafat, speaking at the start of a five-day trip to Europe and the
United States, said of 4 May: "It is a sacred date, it is not a
Palestinian date, it is an international date. You remember it has
been agreed upon and signed by Russia, by America, by the European
Union, by Norway, by Jordan, by Egypt, in the presence of the Japanese
foreign minister and the representative of Mr Kofi Annan. So it is
not a bilateral agreement, it is an international agreement."

US LAWMAKERS OPPOSE PALESTINIAN DECLARATION
Reuters February 3, 1999 Washington

A bipartisan group of lawmakers Wednesday urged President Clinton to
make clear to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat that the United States
opposes a unilateral declaration of independence in Palestinian
territory. The group of 70 members of the House of Representatives
and two senators introduced a resolution expressing congressional
opposition to the statehood move by the Palestinian Authority.

"A unilateral declaration of statehood by the Palestinians would
doom the peace process,'' Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas
Republican, said at a news conference. The United States has
opposed a declaration of independence, but the lawmakers said
Clinton should state the U.S. position more forcefully.

Arizona Rep. Matt Salmon, a main sponsor of the resolution and
Republican member of the House International Relations Committee, said
Clinton should make clear to Arafat in talks this week that the United
States would not recognize a Palestinian state if one is declared
unilaterally on May 4. That date will mark the end of a five-year
period specified in the Oslo peace accords in which Israel and the
Palestinians were to decide the future of the Palestinian territories.

Arafat, in Washington to attend a national prayer breakfast
Thursday, told Secretary of State Madeleine Albright Wednesday
that Palestinians were still discussing the issue.

But lawmakers expressed fears that if Palestinians declared their
territory to be an independent state, the peace process would end in
renewed conflict with Israelis. "A unilateral declaration of
Palestinian statehood is an immediate invitation to a declaration of
war and would probably have just that end result,'' Rep. Jerrold
Nadler, Democrat of New York, said.

ISRAEL STANDS ALONE DEFENDING SETTLEMENT POLICIES AT U.N.
February 5, 1999 By Danica Kirka, Associated Press United Nations (AP)

Israel stood alone at the U.N. General Assembly on Friday,
defiantly defending its settlement policies while ambassador
after ambassador denounced its actions in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. The Palestinians appealed for support from delegates at
the emergency U.N. session, charging that Israel was blatantly
disregarding the terms of an October Mideast peace agreement with
settlement programs. They claimed the actions also violated the
Geneva conventions, which deal mainly with nations' actions during
wartime.

"You should not permit this to pass,'' said Nasser al-Kidwa, the
Palestinian U.N. representative. "No state should be permitted
to reject and challenge the will of the international community
and no state should be allowed to be above the law.'' The
Palestinians want the General Assembly to adopt a resolution
backing a special conference of the countries that signed the
Geneva conventions that would exclusively discuss the settlement
issue.

Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dore Gold, rejected the initiative,
charging that conventions meant to protect civilians in time of
war were being manipulated to block housing projects. "The
Geneva conventions and international humanitarian law are,
finally, important for the state of Israel and the Jewish people,
particularly given the atrocities that our nation underwent in the
course of World War II,'' he said. "To apply to the case of Israel
alone a convention created to prevent those same atrocities is not
just offensive, it is vulgar.'' The Geneva conventions established a
code of conduct for the treatment in wartime of prisoners as well as
the sick and wounded. It also says an occupying power must guarantee
the protection of civilians in the area it occupies.

The session wrapped up Friday without a vote and is expected to
continue Monday. The United States, usually Israel's staunchest
supporter at the United Nations, is expected to speak on the
issue next week.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOTES FOR CONFERENCE ON ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS
February 9, 1999 By Randall Hackley, Associated Press United
Nations (AP)

Over Israeli and U.S. objections, the U.N. General Assembly
overwhelmingly approved a resolution Tuesday calling for an
international conference on Israeli settlements in traditionally
Arab areas which the Palestinians claim are illegal. The vote
was 115-2 with five abstentions.

The resolution contends that Israel is violating the Geneva
conventions by constructing new settlements in traditionally Arab east
Jerusalem and on other lands the Israelis captured in 1967. It calls
for a conference of the signatories to the 1949 Fourth Geneva
Convention to be convened on July 15 in the Swiss city to consider
measures to enforce the convention "in the occupied Palestinian
territory, including Jerusalem.''

"Undoubtedly, this has a great importance,'' the Palestinian U.N.
observer, Nasser Al-Kidwa said after the vote. "We look forward to
the convening of that conference on time.'' he said. "We look forward
to the expected important results.''

ISRAEL REJECTS UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION TO CONVENE GENEVA
CONVENTION SIGNATORIES
February 10, 1999 - Communicated by Foreign Ministry Spokesman

Israel completely rejects the United Nations General Assembly's
resolution yesterday (Tuesday), 9.2.99, to convene the
signatories of the Geneva Convention for a discussion on the
territories, which was passed out of narrow political motives and not
because of humanitarian considerations. As such, the resolution will
harm, first and foremost, the integrity of the international
humanitarian institutions, which are supposed to be free of any bias
and prejudice. This would be the first time that these bodies are
activated by the UN, which is a completely political body. The
all-consuming politicization of the UN will also consume the
humanitarian bodies and impair their ability to carry out their
responsibilities.

ISRAEL LASHES OUT AT EU, BUT SAYS NO LINK TO FISCHER VISIT
February 11, 1999 Jerusalem (AP)

Little by little, visiting German Foreign Minister Joschka
Fischer's tightly packed schedule fell apart Thursday. First,
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved a midmorning
meeting to the evening. Then, Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon
canceled talks, citing doctors orders to rest at home after an
auto accident this week. At the same time, Netanyahu's top
adviser, David Bar-Illan, lashed out at European Union countries
for supporting a U.N. resolution calling for a conference of the
signatories of the 1949 Geneva conventions to consider measures to
stop Israeli settlement activity.

However, Bar-Illan insisted there was no link between Israel's
displeasure with the EU and Fischer's sudden schedule changes.
Germany holds the rotating EU presidency. "Fischer's visit is
very welcome. Fischer has made some statements favorable (to
Israel),'' Bar-Illan said.

Netanyahu initially offered no explanation for postponing his
meeting with Fischer. Bar-Illan said that Netanyahu later phoned the
German visitor to explain that he was forced to change the time of
their meeting because he needed to deal with a domestic crisis.

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