From: Eddie Chumney
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Israel in the News: Sept 1-12, 1999
ISRAELI EXPERT WARNS 2000 DROUGHT WILL AFFECT DRINKING WATER
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: Ha'aretz Mon Sep 6,1999
A top water expert warned yesterday that if there is a drought
next winter like the one last winter, Israel's drinking water
supply could be affected, forcing pumping of water from below the
red lines of Lake Kinneret and the underground aquifers of the
country.
Ze'ev Golani, a top expert at Mekorot and a member of the
Operations Committee of the State Water Commission, made the
prediction yesterday at Tel Aviv University. He said that there
already has been a drop below the red line of the mountain
aquifer and that water reserves are declining quickly. He warned
that if there is a drought this coming winter, Israel will lack
some 350 million cubic centimeters of water, forcing the Water
Commission to drastically cut back on agricultural water and even
then, there would be a deficit of some 200 million cubic meters
of water. "Since we have no plans for suicide," said Golani, we
have no choice but to pump water from below the red lines."
ISRAELI TREASURY PLANNING 43% WATER HIKE
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: IsraelWire Sun Sep
5,1999
If Finance Minsiter Avraham Shohat has his way, the price of
water to the Israeli consumer will increase 43 percent. The
price for the commercial user would increase 19.5 percent and
farmers would be required to pay an additional 20 percent. The
proposed increase would yield the treasury NIS 385.7 million
annually.
PEACE PROCESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II MEETS WITH ARAFAT IN ITALY
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: IsraelWire Mon Sep
6,1999
Pope John Paul II met with the Chairman of the PLO Authority (PA)
Yassir Arafat on Sunday, in Italy. During the meeting, the Pope
expressed his hopes that the agreement signed Saturday night
between Israel and the PA would bring peace to the region and
both nations. Arafat issued an invitation to the Pope to visit
holy sites under the PA autonomous control. The Pope responding,
"I hope, I hope." During his two-day stay in Italy, which was
interrupted for the Saturday night signing of the Wye-2 Agreement
in Alexandria Egypt, Arafat met with other senior Church
officials as well as a Sunday morning meeting with Israel's
Minister of Regional Development Shimon Peres.
EU SENDING ARAFAT LETTER OF GUARANTEE FOR NEW ACCORD: ENVOY
Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt,
Sept 5 (AFP)
The European Union will send Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat a
letter guaranteeing some points in the accord he signed here
early Sunday with Israel, EU special envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos
said. "The foreign ministers of the 15 (EU members) held a
meeting in Finland today and decided to give a letter of
guarantee to Arafat on several points in the accord, a revised
version of last October's Wye River Memorandum."
The letter, which will be sent Sunday, says "the EU undertakes to
facilitate the implementation of all the points of the accord."
The European body "supports the implementation of all the interim
accords signed independently of the final-status" agreement,
which is supposed to be wrapped up in a year. The European Union
also "backs the right to Palestinian self-determination,
including the right to a state, while asking the parties to try
to reach a negotiated solution," the letter said.
The letter "conforms to the language of the Berlin declaration,"
it added. The declaration, adopted by the European Union in
March, called for the option of a Palestinian state and the
immediate implementation of this right. "The European Union asks
the parties to avoid any unilateral act, especially concerning
(Jewish) settlements," the letter concluded.
PALESTINIANS WANT FULL STATE
By Dana Budeiri, Ramallah, West Bank (AP)
Just days before the start of talks on a final peace agreement
with Israel, Palestinians said Tuesday they will not accept
anything less than a state encompassing all of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, with east Jerusalem as its capital. Negotiations are
to begin next Monday and end by September 12, 2000, according to
the latest land-for-security agreement, signed Saturday in Sharm
el-Sheikh, Egypt. They are to tackle the contentious issues of
Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, the fate of Jewish settlements,
and borders. ``I hope that we can, by the September 2000 date,
declare jointly with Israel the establishment of a Palestinian
state, with east Jerusalem as its capital,'' said Saeb Erekat,
the top Palestinian negotiator. Such talk could rankle Prime
Minister Ehud Barak's government, which envisions continued
Israeli sovereignty over all of Jerusalem, an Israeli presence in
parts of the West Bank, and a Palestinian entity with less than
the powers of an independent state.
The Palestinians insist that refugees who fled Israel in the1948
war that followed the creation of the Jewish state, and their
descendants, must be allowed to return to their former homes.
Israel rejects that, offering compensation and favoring
naturalization in the countries where the people now live.
Palestinians want control over borders, a power Israel has said
it will not relinquish. Barak also has said he plans to maintain
blocks of Jewish settlements in disputed land under Israeli
sovereignty; the Palestinians want their removal under a final
settlement.
HARSH VERBAL EXCHANGE BETWEEN INDYK AND BARAK
IsraelWire-9/9
Martin Indyk, former US ambassador to Israel and current
Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East Affairs, harshly
criticized the policy of Prime Minister Ehud Barak in everything
concerned with the signing of the Wye-2 (Sharm el-Sheik)
agreement. The conflict began with a harsh verbal exchange
between Barak and Indyk during the nighttime meeting between
Barak and US Secretary of State Albright last week. The sides
were attempting to find a formula that would bring about the
signing of the agreement between Israel and the PLO Authority
(PA).
Indyk criticized Israel's negotiations, saying that Israel should
have suggested the amended agreement only after beginning the
implementation of the Wye agreement. Indyk said to Barak that
for Arafat this was a test of reliability. Barak answered that
he had no problem of reliability and that Indyk could have told
Arafat that Israel is serious. When Indyk answered that in
retrospect, it would have been better for Israel to say that,
Barak responded sharply, telling Indyk that he would appreciate
him speaking in a different manner.
Sources close to Barak confirmed the harsh exchange of words.
American diplomats are also aware of the conflict, but both sides
are making an effort to improve the atmosphere. During the
reception held after the signing of the agreement, the two
appeared to have reached a reconciliation.
ARAFAT: REFUGEES TO RETURN TO HOMELAND
Beirut, Lebanon, Sept. 10 (UPI)
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says all Palestinians living in
the Diaspora have the right to return to their homeland,
rejecting their settlement in host countries. Arafat, in an
interview with Lebanon's An Nahar newspaper in the Libyan city of
Sirte where he was attending an African summit as an observer,
said the Palestinians "strongly refuse settlement" because
"talking about settlement is a crime." He said: "It is the right
of the Palestinians wherever they are and live to return to their
homeland safe. Thus, this is one of the main issues of the final
status talks (with Israel): Jerusalem, refugees, settlements,
border and water." Israel and the Palestinians agreed last
Saturday to start final status talks on Sept. 13. Six major
issues related to Jerusalem, Jewish settlements in the West Bank
and Gaza, Palestinian refugees, water, borders and external
security are on the agenda.
MAJOR PLO OPPOSITION GROUP FEARS SECRET AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL
Copyright 1999 Nando Media 1999 Agence France-Press Damascus
September 11, 1999
One of the main opposition groups within the Palestine Liberation
Organization expressed fears Saturday that Yasser Arafat's
Palestinian Authority could make a secret deal with Israel over
the final status of the Palestinian territories. The Damascus-
based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) issued
a statement pointing to the tightness of the timetable set out
under Sunday's Sharm el-Sheikh agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians, which gave the two sides only a year to reach a
final settlement. The PFLP said the timeline raised serious
questions as to whether the talks were not already under way
without the Palestinian people being informed, like the secret
talks that preceded the 1993 Oslo deal on Palestinian autonomy.
The PFLP attacked the Sharm agreement as giving Israel "fresh
concessions," in particular as to which Palestinian political
prisoners were eligible for release, and on a delay in the
declaration of a Palestinian state. It also called on the
Palestinian Authority to release all the Palestinian militants it
is holding, in order to encourage "a fruitful inter-Palestinian
dialogue."
BARAK HINTS AT PROVISIONAL PALESTINIAN STATE
Reuters September 12, 1999 Jerusalem
Prime Minister Ehud Barak indicated Sunday that Israel could
offer the Palestinians a provisional state next February if it
became clear that they could not reach a final peace settlement
within a year. In a radio interview broadcast on the eve of a
ceremony to launch 12 months of "final status'' negotiations with
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Barak said long-term
''interim arrangements'' were better than no deal at all. "If we
get a framework deal on the final status agreement that includes
the answers to the fundamental problems, we will have taken a
huge step forward,'' Barak told Israel Radio. "If we don't
achieve this, but together with the Palestinians we reach a
conclusion that the solution is a set of long-term interim
agreements on most of the issues, this would be an important
achievement,'' Barak said. He did not refer openly to statehood,
but he has said in the past that a Palestinian state in some form
is all but a reality.
ARAFAT AIDE: PALESTINIANS WILL DECLARE STATE IF ISRAEL RENEGES ON
AGREEMENTS
September 12, 1999 By Sari Bashi, Associated Press Jerusalem (AP)
Palestinian officials said Sunday they were surprised by
suggestions that Israel may forego a final peace deal, and said
Palestinians would unilaterally declare a state if Israel reneges
on its obligations. The officials spoke on the eve of the
resumption of final peace talks, which are supposed to determine
the ultimate status of the Palestinian entity and the fate of
Jerusalem, claimed by each side as its capital. Chief
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat balked at Barak's suggestion
that, in the case of a deadlock, long-term interim agreements
could replace a final arrangement. "I'm surprised,'' Erekat told
Israel TV, urging Barak to "rise to the occasion'' and seize the
opportunity presented by the resumption of final status talks,
expected to take place on Monday. "The Israeli people must
prepare themselves to live in their own state, next to a
Palestinian state ... with east Jerusalem as its capital,''
Erekat said.
Entering the negotiations, the two sides expressed different
expectations. The Palestinians said a final peace deal must be
reached within a year, while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak
said that the parties may conclude after a year that a deal
cannot be reached and drop their efforts altogether. Presumably,
if interim agreements were to be extended in lieu of a final
status arrangement, Jerusalem and large chunks of the West Bank
would remain under Israeli control. Barak has declined to
specify what he means by long-term interim agreements.
EGYPTIAN PAPER CALLS FOR MURDER OF ALL AMERICAN JEWS
Tzemach News Service Week Ending: 11 September 1999 / 1 Tishri
5760
An Egyptian government newspaper has published an article
praising Buford Furrow, the neo-Nazi who shot up the Jewish
Community Center in Los Angeles last month, wounding five people,
four of them children. The article, in the 13 August 1999 issue
of the Egyptian government newspaper AKBAR AL-YOM [which has a
circulation of over 700,000, and is the weekend edition of the
government daily AL AKBAR] stated that Furrow "has a goal to
annihilate the Jewish race in the United States. I ask god to
assist him in his efforts to attain this goal. Let us all join
together saying, 'May it be god's will" (REUTERS, August 20,
1999).
The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging the Clinton
administration to use the over $2-billion Egypt receives in US
military and financial aid each year as leverage to persuade
Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak to publicly repudiate the article
and fire the newspaper's editor, who is a government appointee.
In a letter to Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, ZOA President
Morton A. Klein points out that the call for the murder of all
American Jews includes "Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
State Department officials Martin Indyk and Aaron Miller,
National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, the US Ambassador to
Egypt, Daniel Kurtzer, ten US Senators and numerous members of
the US House of Representatives". (ISRAELWIRE, ISRAEL LINE)
HOLY SEE: SATISFACTION FOR THE ARAB-ISRAELI AGREEMENT VATICAN
CITY, September 5, 1999 (VIS)
At midday today Holy See Press Office Director Joaquin
Navarro-Valls made the following declaration:
"Today, September 5, 1999, in his summer residence of
Castelgandolfo, the Holy Father John Paul II received in audience
Yasser Arafat, president of the Palestinian National Authority.
On the same occasion, President Arafat also met with Cardinal
Secretary of State Angelo Sodano. In the course of the meeting,
President Arafat explained the contents of accords that have been
reached concerning application of the Wye Plantation Agreement,
signed together with his Israeli counterpart at Sharm El Sheikh,
Egypt. The Holy See, in expressing its satisfaction and its
hopes in the results attained, has not failed to encourage the
parties to continue the process they have begun, underlining the
importance that peace holds for the two peoples. Finally,
gratification was expressed for the desire to arrive at the
signing of an accord between the Holy See and the PLO on a number
of juridical questions concerning the presence and activity of
the Catholic Church in territories controlled by the Palestinian
Authority."
POPE TO VISIT MT. SINAI IN DECEMBER
Weekend News Today By Andra Brack Source: Jerusalem Post Fri Sep
3,1999
Pope John Paul II is to visit Mt. Sinai in early December on the
first of two planned visits to the Middle East. Archbishop
Damianos, abbot of St. Catherine's, the Greek Orthodox monastery
at the foot of what many believe is the mountain on which Moses
received the Ten Commandments, said this would be an historic
first visit by a pope. The archbishop said Vatican officials had
come to makepreliminary arrangements, but it was still not clear
exactly how long the pope would stay. Apparently, Damianos said,
the pope would come to Sinai on December 5, following his visit
to Iraq, where he was planning to go to Ur, the birthplace of
Abraham.
The visit to Iraq and Egypt is to precede a projected visit tothe
Holy Land, including Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian
Authority,which is unofficially slated for March 24, the date of
the Roman Catholic Feast of the Annunciation. According to
Vatican sources in Jerusalem, the Holy Land visit has not yet
been made official because of unhappiness over the situation in
Nazareth, where Moslems are continuing to demand that a mosque be
erected on a plot which the municipality had earmarked for a
plaza to be used by Christian pilgrims.
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