TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem

                        Bridges for Peace - Israel in the News
                                Week Ending: June 25, 1999

1) KWARA JEWS ARRIVING
2) IMMIGRATION UPDATES: RUSSIAN JEWS
3) NETANYAHU REVEALS CLINTON DOUBLE CROSS ON POLLARD

1) KWARA JEWS ARRIVING

     The flight, consisting of 76 Ethiopian immigrants (17 families)
who arrived in Israel on Tuesday night (June 22), was planned to be
the first of 40 weekly flights.  The operation, with the full
cooperation of the Ethiopian government, will bring the remaining
3,800 Ethiopian Jews to Israel, which in the words of Jewish Agency
officials will end a decade-old quest to reach the homeland.
(IsraelWire, June 24, 1999)

2) IMMIGRATION UPDATES: RUSSIAN JEWS

         A Jewish Agency official said, June 17, it expects Jewish
immigration from Russia and the former Soviet republics to increase
substantially. Speaking at the agency's Eastern Immigration Subcommittee,
Ala Levi, head of its delegation to Russia, Belarus and the Baltic region,
said the assessment is based on the sharp increase in visa
applications, requests for initial information and participation in
ulpan classes.  Levi said, "The feeling is that big numbers are
coming."

          Requests coming out of Russia for initial information regarding
immigration have doubled from 2,000 to 4,000 in one month.  In January
of this year, 5,000 potential immigrants were attending agency-run
ulpanim (Hebrew language schools) while in February and March, about
9,000 people per month attended.

          Demand for Hebrew classes traditionally decreases during the
summer months, when Russians are going on vacations or raising crops
for the winter, but this year "the majority of the people are not
planning now for next winter; they are planning to leave," Levi said.

          Enrollment in Hebrew classes is actually increasing, and
substantially.  Levi said new classes have to be opened to accommodate
the swelling numbers.

          According to Levi, anti-Semitism is considered to be three times
as important a factor to influence an immigrant's decision to leave as
it was a year ago.

          Other reasons for leaving include political and economic
instability that has roiled Russia and the Baltic area in recent
years.

          In May, 4,441 immigrants arrived in Israel from the former Soviet
Union, up from 2,666 from the same period a year ago, more than a 60%
increase.  (ICEJ, June 18, 1999)

3) NETANYAHU REVEALS CLINTON DOUBLE CROSS ON POLLARD

          Netanyahu plans in the book he is currently writing to publish
several details that will considerably embarrass the president of the
United States.  In one of the chapters, Clinton will earn the title
"International Swindler."

          And this is the story.  In September '98, Yom Kippur Eve, Clinton
and Netanyahu met for a conversation in the White House, during the
course of which Netanyahu agreed to attend the conference at Wye
Plantation with Yasser Arafat on condition that Clinton would act to
immediately release the spy Jonathan Pollard.  Clinton, according to
Netanyahu and his closest advisors, agreed to the condition. Netanyahu
explained to him that this gesture would help him to get the support
from his constituents for the painful part of the agreement he
expected to sign - continuation of the withdrawal from the
territories.  "Bibi went to Wye knowing that Clinton would immediately
release Pollard with the signing of the agreement with the
Palestinians," the advisors of the departing Prime Minister said this
week.

          During the course of the Wye summit the matter of Pollard was
discussed several times between Clinton and Netanyahu.  There were
only a few in on the great secret: ministers Sharon, Mordechai and
Sharansky.

          At the end of the conference, at 5:00 AM, after arrangements had
already been made for the signing ceremony, Clinton put his hand on
Netanyahu's shoulder and asked him to step aside with him so he could
tell him a few things.  One of those present in the room saw Clinton
and Netanyahu as they spoke from a distance.  "Netanyahu turned pale,
and Clinton hugged him."  The man said this week.

          When Netanyahu returned to the center of the room, he told his
advisors and ministers that Clinton had announced to him that he could
not honor his promise to release Pollard.  "We were shocked," said one
of them.

 "We thought that Bibi should go back to Clinton and tell him: 'if
that is the case then there is no agreement with the Palestinians.  You lied
to me.'  Our problem was that we did not want to find ourselves again
in the terrible situation that in both Israel and the world Netanyahu
would be presented as a liar, and would not talk at all about the real
liar. Foreign Minster Sharon, who was summoned to the room, was of the
opinion that the agreement must not be signed.  Minister Sharansky
also said that the signing ceremony must be postponed.  At the end,
after Clinton promised to continue acting for the release of Pollard,
the Israeli side folded. The signing ceremony was held with some
delay, and Pollard remained in prison."

          Netanyahu plans to reveal his full account in his book, in which
Clinton will be presented as a scoundrel who did not intend, from the
outset, to honor his part in the process that led to the Wye
conference. (By Shimon Shiffer, Originally appeared in Hebrew in
Yediot Ahronot Newspaper, June 18, 1999, translated By Aaron Lerner)

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TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem

                    Bridges for Peace - Israel in the News
                                Week Ending: July 9, 1999

1) RARE JESUS COINS FOUND NEAR SEA OF GALILEE
2) ISRAELI DIG FINDS TRACES OF LOST CITY OF ABRAHAM
3) HIZBULLAH THREATENS TO LAUNCH ATTACKS FROM WITHIN ISRAEL

1) RARE JESUS COINS FOUND NEAR SEA OF GALILEE

           Rare coins bearing the likeness of Jesus that were discovered
near the Sea of Galilee can now be seen in a special exhibit that has just
opened at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Institute of Archaeology. The
coins on display are part of the largest collection of  "Jesus coins" ever
discovered at an archaeological site.

        The coins, some with inscriptions in Greek such as "Jesus the
Messiah, the King of Kings" and "Jesus, the Messiah, the Victor," were
found last fall in archaeological excavations in Israel, directed by Prof.
Yizhar Hirschfeld and Oren Gutfeld of the Hebrew University Institute of
Archaeology, at the site of ancient Tiberias, just south of the present
city on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Those excavations yielded the
largest cache of objects from the Islamic period ever uncovered in Israel.

          Among the some 1,000 bronze items that were found at the time
were 82 coins. It was only later examination of those coins which revealed
the magnitude of the discovery. The examination showed that 58 of them bore
the likeness of Jesus, some with inscriptions. The coins are of the type
known scientifically as "anonymous folles," said Prof. Hirschfeld, meaning
coins which contain neither the name or image of the ruler of the time -- a
relatively rare phenomenon. The coins were minted in the Byzantine empire
and were produced over a period from the second half of the 10th century to
the second half of the 11th centuries, he said. An analysis of the coins
was done by Gabriela Bijovsky, a doctoral student in archaeology.

          Some of the coins and other metal objects from the Tiberias
excavations can be seen in the new exhibit, entitled "House of the
Bronzes," at the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology.  Many types of
bronze utensils displaying exquisite craftsmanship are shown, including
large candelabra, decorative bowls with writing in the ancient Kufic Arabic
script, jugs, pots, bells and other vessels. The utensils date mostly from
the 10-11th centuries C.E., the period of the Islamic Fatimid rule in the
region.

          The items were found in three large clay pots hidden under the
floor of a structure. The identity of the owner of the structure is not
known, although he could have been a dealer in metal objects who hid his
merchandise in fear of invasion by the Crusaders at the end of the 11th
century. As things happened, the Crusaders did invade and destroy ancient
Tiberias, though fortunately they did not discover the cache that has now
been uncovered. The city was at that time the capital of the Urdun district
and had a mixed Jewish, Moslem and Christian population.

          In view of the historical interest generated by the approaching
millennium, the "House of Bronzes" exhibit, including the "Jesus coins,"
will remain open at the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology into the
year 2000, said the curator and designer of the exhibit, Gila Hurvitz.
(Jerry Barach, July 7, 1999)

2) ISRAELI DIG FINDS TRACES OF LOST CITY OF ABRAHAM

          Archaeologists believe they have found the heart of the ancient
city of Hebron, where Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch, lived 3,700 years ago.

          On the site of an Israeli settlement, in territory claimed by
both Arabs and Jews, excavations have uncovered a 9-foot-thick city wall
and fortified tower that have been dated to the middle bronze period, circa
1700BC.

          Scholars say this is about the time when, according to the
biblical story, Abraham - who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac
as a test of faith - came to the city.

          Between the tower and the city wall, researchers have unearthed
two stone-walled rooms that they believe also date back to the period of
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose 12 sons became the founders of the 12
tribes of ancient Israel. Artifacts found in the rooms include silver
jewelery, bronze axe-heads, two scarabs and the handle of a dagger.

          "You usually find such things in tombs because people were buried
with their belongings, but to find them here on the floor gives us a more
precise date," said Emanuel Eisenberg, in charge of the work.

          Royal seals from the period of the kings of Israel several
hundred years later were found in another layer, clearly identifying the
location as biblical Hebron. "This is the ancient city of Hebron - no doubt
about it," said Eisenberg.

          The archaeological site is on the edge of Tel Rumeida, a mound
across which scholars believe the city once stretched eight acres. By
digging down through the tel, archeologists have been able to sift nearly
4,000 years of history.

         Modern Hebron, however, has an uncertain future. Seven Israeli
families have lived in temporary housing on Tel Rumeida since 1984. The
enclave is one of three islands of Israeli settlement left in Hebron after
Israel handed over control of most of the city, with its population of
120,000, to the Palestinians in 1996.

          The archaeological work was licensed two weeks before the Israeli
general election in May as a "rescue excavation" to research the site
before permanent homes are built there for the settlers. The Palestinians
want all of Hebron to be handed over. They believe the city's 550 Israelis
should leave.

          Dr Hamdan Taha, director-general of the Palestinian ministry for
archaeology, said the excavation had been politically motivated. "We think
the site should be protected as an archaeological site without any
ideological attempt to threaten and endanger a cultural heritage that
represents the ancient history of Hebron," he said.

          Officials at the Israeli antiquities authority privately agree.
"If such a significant site were inside Israel proper, the law would
prohibit anything being built on it," a senior Israeli archaeologist said.

          Persuading the settlers to go, however, will be difficult. David
Wilder, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, said the excavation
proved their right to live there.

          "We always knew this was the site of the ancient city; now these
excavations have found positive proof of Jewish presence from the time of
the patriarchs," said Wilder. "In terms of Jewish roots and heritage, what
more do you need?" [Pictures of the excavations are accessable at
http://www.hebron.org.il/TelRumeida/trdig.htm]   (by Matthew Kalman, The
Sunday Times, London, July 4 1999)

3) HIZBULLAH THREATENS TO LAUNCH ATTACKS FROM WITHIN ISRAEL

          Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Hizbullah guerilla
organization has threatened to send "fighters" inside Israel to launch
attacks if Israel continues its military operations against targets in
southern Lebanon. Nasrallah called for an end to the presence of "Israeli
occupational forces." During a Lebanese television interview, the Hizbullah
leader addressed the Katyusha attack against northern Israel communities
which claimed two lives, injured over one dozen persons and caused tens of
millions of shekels worth of damage. (IsraelWire, July 4, 1999)

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TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem

                    Bridges for Peace - Israel in the News
                                Week Ending: July 16, 1999


1) RUSSIAN JEWISH LEADER ATTACKED
2) CRITICAL WATER SHORTAGE
3) IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA: "WE WANT ALL OF PALESTINE"
4) US FIRST LADY SUPPORTS ISRAEL'S CLAIM TO JERUSALEM
5) LIKE OLD TIMES IN MOSCOW

1) RUSSIAN JEWISH LEADER ATTACKED

          MOSCOW - A young man with a swastika tattooed on his chest
walked into Moscow's Choral Synagogue and repeatedly stabbed a prominent
Jewish leader Tuesday (13th July) in the latest outbreak of
anti-Semitism in Russia.

          Leopold Kaimovsky, the 52-year-old director of the Jewish
Cultural Center in Moscow's Choral Synagogue, was in grave condition
after surgery at a Moscow hospital, a doctor said. Dr. Alexei
Lazarevich, chief of intensive care at Moscow's emergency Hospital No.
36, said Kaimavsky had been stabbed in the knee, thigh, shoulder, face
and stomach. "He lost a lot of blood," the doctor said, adding that
the stomach wound was especially serious.

          The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Nikita Krivchun, was
detained by guards at the synagogue, then turned over to police. The
Interfax news agency described him as a student at a Moscow law school
who claimed he was not acting for any political group. "I've never met
this man before. I never knew him personally. I have nothing against
him. It was not an act of revenge against him. It was a polictical
act," he said. "I have a slogan, 'Struggle with Evil.' Struggle with
Evil, that is with Judaism."

        Jewish Agency executive chairman, Sallai Meridor, said, " We are
watching what kind of condemnations and level of condemnation there
will be by the authorities to this incident...This is a serious
incident. We are talking about the stabbing of a person who was very
active in the community. It occurred in the most symbolic place for
Russian Jewry, the synagogue in Moscow."

        Meidor noted an increase in anti-Semitic rhetoric and incidents in
Russia which provided the background for such an attack, particularly
statements made in the Russian Duma calling for liquidating the Jews,
which have still not been condemned there.

        He termed the increase in immigration from Russia over the first
half of this year "a dramatic development," noting that about
two-and-a-half times more Jews came from there last month compared to
June last year. (Jerusalem Post, Wire Reports, July 14, 1999)

2) CRITICAL WATER SHORTAGE

    Minister of Environmental Affairs, MK Dalia Itzik, warned of the
dangerously low water level in Israel as a result of the significantly
less than normal winter rainfall. Experts in government agencies and
among the research community are calling on the government to declare
a state of emergency and implement stringent water saving measures.
Experts also point out that if the coming winter does not yield
significantly more than a normal season's rainfall, the situation in
the region next spring and summer will reach an unprecedented critical
level. (IsraelWire, July 14, 1999)

3) IRANIAN AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA: "WE WANT ALL OF PALESTINE"

          Hussein Sheik Al-Islam, the Iranian Ambassador to Damascus,
stated to the London-based Arab daily Al-Hayat on July 9, 1999, that
Iran supports Syria in its attempts to renew peace negotiations in
order to retrieve the occupied Golan. The Iranian Ambassador noted
that Israel would be forced to withdraw because of its casualties in
Southern Lebanon, due to Hizbullah's operations. He further emphasized
that Hizbullah would continue its operation after the renewal of the
negotiations.

        Ambassador Sheik Al-Islam forecasted that "Israel would cease to
exist within fifty years" and that the conflict between the Hebrew
State and the Arab countries, "would not come to an end with the
signing of peace agreements because we want all of Palestine and
Jerusalem."

          The Ambassador was asked about Iran's position regarding the
latest "signals" between Damascus and Tel Aviv of "renewing
negotiation as soon as possible." His answer was: "We support Syria in
retrieving its rights and the Golan Heights, or any occupied Arab
land. Furthermore, we and the Syrians want more than that; we want the
retrieval of all of Palestine and Jerusalem." He said he expected that
the parties would resume negotiations "soon" and that there would be
"great achievements before the American President engages in the 2000
elections, because Clinton will exercise pressure to reach a peace
agreement."

          Answering another question, the Iranian Ambassador said,  "the
positive Syrian signals aim, among other things, at evading American
pressure, due to the momentum that Barak brought with him, as a
so-called man of peace."

         He also stated that Israeli withdrawal from Southern Lebanon
"means an admission of two defeats: the first, is a military defeat,
caused by the operations of the Islamic Resistance [i.e. Hizbullah];
the second, is an admission of a political defeat, because Israel is
forced to withdraw from the Golan as a result of its casualties in
Southern Lebanon."

          Regarding the future of Hizbullah after the signing of peace
agreements, the Iranian Ambassador to Syria said that Hizbullah, "has
several roles: military, political, and security. Achieving a peace
settlement - rather than peace - means that Hizbullah would continue
to play a political role in Lebanon. More important than that,
Hizbullah will activate its security and intelligence capabilities,
otherwise, why would its leadership expend all of its efforts and
resources to increase these capabilities?"

     Ambassador Sheik Al-Islam was asked whether Hizbullah would stop
its operations according to Barak's request "to build up trust for
withdrawal from South Lebanon." His answer was: "the relevant
parties--Syria, Lebanon, and Iran--are smarter and to experienced to
do that, because continuing the operations will pressure Israel to
withdraw. I expect the operations to continue after the resumption of
the peace talks." (MEMRI, July 9, 1999)

4) US FIRST LADY SUPPORTS ISRAEL'S CLAIM TO JERUSALEM

          As she continues her bid for the New York State Senate seat,
United States First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken a new
position on Israel's right to Jerusalem as its "eternal and
indivisible capital of Israel." She went on to say that Jerusalem is
the "eternal and indivisible capital of Israel" and it is her belief
that the US embassy in the Jewish State should be located in its
capital, Jerusalem. Mrs. Clinton made the statement in her letter to
Mandell Ganchrow, president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish
Congregations of America. Mrs. Clinton was responding to a request
from the prominent US Jewish leader, who was interested in knowing her
position on Israel, Jerusalem and the Middle East conflict.

    Hillary Clinton's new behavior prompted Bill Safire to describe
her as a "pathological liar." Her letter was a transparent bid for
Jewish votes in her newly adopted state of New York. Not surprisingly,
the Clinton Administration immediately sought to distance itself from Hillary's
remarks. Hillary is well-known for her views which are opposite to her
current statements:

   *  During the 1980s - served on the board of the New World Foundation.
   Most contributions went to the PLO.

   *  February 1996 - hosted a reception at the White House for
   leaders of organizations with known ties to and/or who have acted
   as apologists  for Hamas terrorists.

   *  January 29, 1998 - hosted reception to mark the Muslim day when
   the Ramadan fast is broken. Outside organizers included defender of
   militant Islamic fundamentalism.

   *  May 1998 - used a television interview broadcast by the Voice of
   America to declare her support for the creation of a Palestinian
   state.

    Hillary Clinton's record is not that of an individual committed
to a "strong and secure Israel." (IsraelWire, Center for Security Policy,
TNS, July 11, 1999)

5) LIKE OLD TIMES IN MOSCOW

           It was like a scene from the Cold War, Syrian President Hafez
Assad being greeted with bear hugs in the Kremlin and lavished with
promises of aid and friendship. That is the welcome Assad got this
week on his first Russian visit in nine years.  Russia is trying to
reassert itself as a great power. Moscow and some of its Soviet-era
allies want to rebuild traditional links to counter what they see as
US global domination. The Syrian daily, TISHREEN, stated "The
Syrian-Russian cooperation is an urgent need to return balance to the
region which has been shaken due to the US individuality in
international decisions and the one axis policy." Syria, in
particular, wants Moscow's support to offset or limit US influence in
the Middle East. Assad brought with him a $2 billion shopping list of
Russian weapons, including the advanced Su-29 fighter jet and the
S-300 anti-aircraft missile, Russian officials said. While no deals
were announced, both leaders promised close military and technical
cooperation.

          Syria, with its own economy in trouble, owes Moscow some $12
billion for Soviet-era arms shipments.  With little hope of the debt
being paid soon, Russian officials indicated that new arms sales were
still possible. A Russian diplomat stated that Russia will ignore the
protests of the US and continue negotiating the sale of arms to Syria.
(AP, GLOBES, TNS, July 11, 1999)

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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, Brazil and our Spanish
World office located in Puerto Rico.

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

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