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Subject: Israel in the News: January 14-31, 1999
Date: Sun, 7 Feb 1999 16:42:31 -0800
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From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
Subject: Israel in the News

TEMPLE MOUNT

'ARAFAT 'ID PRAYERS NOTE HOPE OF PRAYING IN JERUSALEM
Ramallah Voice of Palestine in Arabic 18 Jan 99 - Kahl's I&G News

President Yasir 'Arafat performed 'Id al-Fitr prayers at the
Shaykh 'Ijlin Mosque in the Jihad al-Wazir Cultural Center in
Gaza this morning. He was accompanied by a large number of PLO
Executive Committee members, ministers, and heads of security
agencies. 'Adil al-Za'nun in Gaza reports further.

After performing the 'Id prayers at the Shaykh 'Ijlin Mosque a
short while ago, President Yasir 'Arafat congratulated the
Palestinian people and the Arab and Islamic nation on the
occasion. He said: During these blessed days, I pray to Almighty
God that the Arab and Islamic nation will do its best so that
al-Aqsa Mosque, the first of the two Qiblahs [direction in which
Muslims turn in prayer] and third holiest place, where Prophet
Muhammad, God's peace and blessings be upon him, made his
nocturnal journey to heaven -- and the cradle of Christ -- will
be free and we all can pray there. The President said he hoped
that prisoners and detainees will be released soon. Addressing
them, he said: Be patient and rely on God. Soon we will pray
together in the al-Aqsa Mosque. The President is now laying
wreaths of flowers on the tombs of martyrs at the Martyrs
Cemetery in eastern Gaza. He will then continue his tour.

ISRAEL'S NETANYAHU SACKS DEFENSE MINISTER
Reuters January 23, 1999 Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sacked Defense Minister
Yitzhak Mordechai Saturday, accusing him of plotting with
political opponents to mount a challenge at an early general
election in May. In a letter to Mordechai, Netanyahu said: "You
cannot remain as defense minister in a government led by Likud
and your departure will take effect officially 48 hours after
this letter is delivered to you.''

"In the past weeks I have come to realize that your personal
ambition supersedes any other consideration,'' Netanyahu began
the letter. He accused Mordechai of negotiating with parties out
to topple Likud, hoping to secure the defense minister's job in
the next government. "No one should be above the principles on
which he was elected,'' Netanyahu said. "He who betrays the
principles of the voters who elected him is neither worthy of
belonging in our ranks, nor fit to be in our leadership.
Therefore, our ways must part.''

PEACE PROCESS

ARAFAT WILL DELAY INDEPENDENCE - IF U.S. BACKS THE CALL:
Announcement would come at Bethlehem festivities for Christmas
and millennium
By David Makovsky, Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent 1/18/9

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is ready to
negotiate with the U.S. on a postponement of a declaration of
statehood on May 4th, with the most likely date being December
31st, the eve of the new millennium and just before the start of
the Palestinian leader's favorite tourism project - Bethlehem
2000 - sources close to the Palestinian leader say.

Arafat's willingness to negotiate the postponement is based on
the assumption that a declaration on the eve of an Israeli
election would provide Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an
electoral boost. Furthermore, a delay would give any newly
elected Israeli government six months to fashion its policies on
final status issues - or else the Palestinian Autonomy would
unilaterally declare statehood at the end of 1999. Sources close
to Arafat say he wants U.S. agreement to a new date, believing
this could isolate Israel on this issue.

NETANYAHU SAYS POSTPONEMENT OF PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD NOT ENOUGH
January 20, 1999 By Jack Katzenell, Associated Press Jerusalem
(AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that even if
Yasser Arafat postpones a declaration of statehood until the end
of the year, Israel will not resume West Bank troop withdrawals
promised in recent peace accords. Netanyahu froze implementation
of the U.S.-brokered land-for-security deal with the Palestinians
five weeks after it was signed, in part because of Arafat's
repeated pledges to declare independence.

Netanyahu, who staunchly opposes Palestinian statehood, told
reporters Wednesday that it is not enough for Arafat to postpone
the declaration. Netanyahu said Arafat must agree to negotiate a
permanent settlement, and also carry out other commitments made
in October's Wye accord brokered in Maryland by President
Clinton, such as clamping down on militants opposed to peace with
Israel. "If he carries out all his commitments ... then yes, I
think we would be able to move forward,'' Netanyahu told
reporters.

REPORT: TOP-SECRET US PLAN FOR RESETTLING PALESTINIAN REFUGEES
By Douglas Davis London Jerusalem Post January 22,1999

A top-secret US plan has been devised for permanently resettling
five million Palestinian refugees in the US, Europe, Australia,
and Israel, as well as in other Middle East states, according to
the Saudi-owned daily Asharq al-Awsat. The US plan for resolving
the refugee issue, widely expected to be among the most
contentious in final-status negotiations, is said to propose that
Israel absorb 75,000 refugees and that the population of the West
Bank be doubled within eight years.

The London-based daily said that despite the "extreme secrecy"
with which the report is regarded by Palestinians and Jordanians,
it has now been distributed to states which currently host major
concentrations of Palestinian refugees. According to the paper,
the US report puts the number of Palestinian refugees throughout
the world at some 5,000,357 and notes that their resettlement
will "close the file" on the subject.

ISRAEL'S MORDECHAI LASHES NETANYAHU WITH BRIMSTONE
Reuters January 24, 1999 Jerusalem

Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Mordechai wielded the Bible as a
dagger against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a day after the
Israeli leader sacked him for consorting with his political enemies.
In his final cabinet meeting as defense chief, Mordechai, 54, donned a
skullcap and read a verse from the Book of Psalms implying Netanyahu
was a liar and an enemy of peace.

"Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips and a deceitful
tongue,'' Mordechai said, citing Psalm 120. "My soul hath long
dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I
speak, they are for war,'' he said.

Mordechai, a relative dove, has criticized Netanyahu's suspension of
the land-for-security peace accord they negotiated with the
Palestinians last October and has for weeks been weighing his
political future in their ruling Likud party.

Netanyahu Saturday night fired Mordechai, who tops the polls as
the most popular cabinet minister, and accused him of plotting to oust
the Likud-led government in elections next May as a leader in a new
centrist party. "He organized a conspiracy to topple the government
in which he was serving,'' Netanyahu, 49, told Israel Radio Sunday.
Mordechai was fired amid mounting speculation that he will take over
the leadership of a new centrist party being formed by ex-army chief
Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former Likud Finance Minister Dan Meridor and
Roni Milo, the former Likud mayor of Tel Aviv.

ARENS SWORN IN AS NEW ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER
Copyright 1999 Nando Media 1999 Agence France-Press Jerusalem
January 27, 1999

Moshe Arens, a veteran hawk of Israel's nationalist Likud party,
was sworn in as defense minister Wednesday after parliament
confirmed his nomination by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Arens took the oath of office after deputies in the 120-member
Knesset approved his appointment by a vote of 31 to 10 with six
abstentions, with the opposition coming from leftist deputies.

Arens, 73, came out of retirement to replace the moderate Yitzhak
Mordechai, who was fired by Netanyahu on Saturday for planning to join
a centrist opposition party and challenge him for the prime
ministership in May elections. The Likud stalwart already held the
defense portfolio twice, including during the 1991 Gulf War, and he
joins Netanyahu and the hardline Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon in a
hawkish team to run Israel's defense and diplomacy up to the May
polls.

PEACE PROCESS

ARAFAT MAY DELAY PLANNED DECLARATION OF STATEHOOD
IsraelWire 1/25/99

PLO Authority (PA) Chairman Yassir Arafat indicated that he might be
willing to delay his planned unilateral declaration of Palestinian
statehood IF the United States and the European Union agree to the
recognition of a Palestinian state and [IF] Israel agrees to certain
conditions. According to PA officials who spoke on Sunday, they
explained that representatives of the 15-nation EU have recently met
discreetly with PA officials and suggested Arafat postpone declaration
of a state from May to an unspecified date.

"Arafat is willing to consider delaying a Palestinian state until
December this year IF the EU and the US recognize the state, and IF
Israel meets certain Palestinian demands," said a PA official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity. "These demands include freezing
Jewish settlement building on occupied Palestinian land and
implementing the Wye River deal," the official said, referring to the
Wye memorandum land-for-peace deal signed in the White House in
October 1998.

In addition, the official said, Arafat wanted an international
commitment to accept December 31 as the new deadline to conclude
the interim deals signed with Israel. "IF we have international
commitments to accept a new date such as December 31, then we
would delay. IF we don't have a deal with Israel by then, we then have
the right to declare a state that should be recognized by the world,"
another official said.

FATAH OFFICIAL ARGUES FOR STATE DECLARATION IN MAY
London AlSharq alAwsat, 24 Jan 99 - Kahl's I&G News

Muhammad Ghunaym, also known as AbuMahir, member of the Fatah
Central Committee, has declared that he supports the declaration
of a Palestinian state on 4 May 1999. In a statement to AlSharq
AlAwsat, AbuMahir added that 4 May marks the end of the interim
period at which the Palestinian people will have the right to
epitomize Palestinian sovereignty, which is a right supported by
international legitimacy. The Israeli occupation authorities,
however, have been overlooking this right, he maintained.

Ghunaym explained that the peace process unleashed in Madrid and
Oslo regarded international legitimacy as the bedrock of Middle
East peace. Similarly, this process regarded the negotiations
that took place as a vehicle for upholding the provisions of
international legitimacy.

Ghunaym affirmed that the Palestinians view the end of the
interim period as the date on which the Palestinian people will
have restored their national rights, chief among which is their
right to establish a state on their soil. He indicated that the
declaration of a Palestinian state is a corollary that must be
subsequent to the end of the interim period, which is not the
raison d'etre of this state, especially since the Palestinian
state already exists with its people and territory. Furthermore,
the relevant international legitimacy resolutions, chief among
which is [UN General Assembly] Resolution 181, support the
inception of such a state.

PA OFFICIAL CONFIRMS STATE TO BE DECLARED ON 4 MAY
Jerusalem Al-Quds, 24 Jan 99 p 3 Exclusive to Al-Quds from
Amman/Intermedia - Kahl's I&G News

A Palestinian official has confirmed that the Palestinian
leadership abides by the decision to declare an independent
Palestinian state on 4 May 1999 and that there will be no
retraction on this important matter. The official responsible for the
refugees and displaced people's file and member of the PLO Executive
Committee, Dr. As'ad 'Abd-al-Rahman, has said that the absence of a
reference to the state declaration issue in the Palestinian
leadership's statement, which it issued after the meeting it held last
week, does not whatsoever mean that there has been a change in the
known Palestinian stance; the decision to declare the state on 4 May
is fixed and has been confirmed repeatedly in earlier statements.

He added: "It is not logical for the PLO to abandon its demand
for a state and to tone down its aspirations at a time when sides that
previously did not accept this declaration have now expressed their
acceptance, be that the result of conviction or need, that the
Palestinian state is about to become an existing reality." He affirmed
that over 140 states in the world recognize in principle the
Palestinian state.

The Palestinian official said that there are many international
factors in favor of the establishment of the Palestinian state
and that amid this situation, the Palestinian leadership cannot
retract from what has become a reality. He confirmed the
determination to declare the application of Palestinian
sovereignty over Palestinian territory on 4 May 1999.

PALESTINIAN MINISTER ON 4 MAY
London AlSharq alAwsat in Arabic 29 Jan 99 Kahl's I&G News

[Interview with Jamil alTarifi, the Palestinian Authority's Civil
Affairs Minister, by a corespondent in Amman]

[AlSharq alAwsat] Will the independent Palestinian state be
declared on 4 May or will this declaration be postponed? What are the
gains that could be achieved in either case?

[AlTarifi] We regard the principle of declaring the Palestinian
state as a sacred one. We have to exercise it because it is one
of the Palestinian people's national objectives after their long
years of struggle and the rivers of noble and pure blood they
have shed. They have always seen the right to selfdetermination
and the establishment of a state with Jerusalem as its capital as
unshakable and noble objectives. May 4 was certainly underlined on
several occasions as the date for declaring the state because it is
the date set for completing the finalstage negotiations. This date
remains valid for us. But there are discussions with the Europeans,
Americans, and our Arab brothers that revolve about the fact that
there are Israeli elections and other conditions and events which
affect and are affected by the Palestinian decision. The discussions
also revolve around whether it is possible to postpone the declaration
in return for their firm commitment to guarantee recognition of the
Palestinian demand for a state, especially as this date is not only
Palestinian but also international under the Oslo agreements'
conditions and stipulations. These agreements were signed at the White
House in the presence of US President Bill Clinton, Egyptian President
Husni Mubarak, King Husayn, and other leaders from Europe and Japan.
So how can we possibly say that the state will be declared on, for
example, 4 November and not 4 May? If we do so, then it means that we
are giving the green light for any Israeli prime minister to say: Why
4 November? Make the declaration on 4 January 2000. The Palestinian
leadership is still discussing the issue and there are contacts with
the EU countries and the US Administration, which are focusing on one
point only, namelywhat price will we get for the postponement? Will
there be a commitment to stop the settlement activities? Will these
countries commit themselves to recognizing the independent Palestinian
state officially and promptly on the day that is agreed on for
declaring it? This is why I am asserting that the state will be
declared on 4 May and this will not be given up.

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Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l