TO: Friends (and friends of friends) of Bridges for Peace
FROM: Clarence H. Wagner, Jr., International Director - Jerusalem
Israel
in the News
Week
Ending: November 19, 1999
1) MASTERMIND OF MUNICH MASSACRE TO RECEIVE PALESTINE PRIZE
2) KISSINGER SEES NO END TO CONFLICT IN THE MIDEAST
3) VATICAN CONFIRMS POPE'S VISIT TO ISRAEL
4) ARCHBISHOP: CHURCH PLAYED ROLE IN ANTI-SEMITISM
5) LEADING CARDINAL STRESSES JEWISH LINK TO JERUSALEM
6) VIOLENCE AND THE PEACE PROCESS IN THE PALESTINIAN MEDIA
1) MASTERMIND OF MUNICH MASSACRE TO RECEIVE PALESTINE PRIZE
The Palestine Prize for Culture named after Mahmoud Hamshari is to
be granted this year to Abu Daoud, mastermind of the 1972 massacre of
Olympic athletes in Munich, the prize committee announced.
Abu Daoud will receive the prize, amounting to 10,000 French
francs, for his book, "Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich," in which he
describes how he planned and implemented the killing of 11 Israeli athletes
at Munich. The prize, to be awarded in Paris next month, is named after
Mahmoud Hamshari, the PLO representative to Paris who was assassinated in
1973.
Mahmoud Daoud Odeh, aged 62, was among the leaders of the "Black
September" group which planned the take over of the Israeli pavilion. In
the wake of his book's publication, in which Abu Daoud admitted for the
first time his planning of the Munich attack, the German police issued an
arrest warrant against him. In France, Abu Daoud was declared a "persona
non grata" - thus it is likely that a representative of his will be sent to
receive the prize in Paris. (IMRA, by Fayez Abbas, Yediot Aharonot,
November 14, 1999)
2) KISSINGER SEES NO END TO CONFLICT IN THE MIDEAST
According to former United States Secretary of State. Dr. Henry
Kissinger, despite progress being made in the Oslo process, nothing will
bring an end to the strife in the region. "When the document is signed, a
new phase will start of new complexity," Kissinger said. "One does not come
to the view that the drama is now over." Serving in the Nixon
administration, it was Kissinger who was instrumental in achieving
agreements between Israel and Egypt and Israel and Syria. (IsraelWire,
November 12, 1999)
3) VATICAN CONFIRMS POPE'S VISIT TO ISRAEL
Pope John Paul II will visit Israel
in March, Vatican official
said on November 17, in the first confirmation of the trip.
Archbishop Crescenzio Sepe gave the
confirmation at a news
conference updating Vatican plans for celebrations of the millennium.
The trip will take place toward the
end of March and probably
include stops in Jerusalem and Nazareth, Sepe said. John Paul would be
expected to visit Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but a proposed stop in Nazareth
was recently put in doubt by Vatican complaints over plans to build a
mosque near the Church of the Annunciation. (The Jerusalem Post, November
18, 1999)
4) ARCHBISHOP: CHURCH PLAYED ROLE IN ANTI-SEMITISM
Milwaukee Archbishop, Rembert
Weakland, said centuries of
anti-Semitic Catholic preaching helped make the Holocaust possible and
apologized for any role Catholics have played in denigrating or threatening
Jews.
"I acknowledge that we
Catholics - by preaching a doctrine that
the Jewish people were unfaithful, hypocritical, and God-killers - reduced
the human dignity of our Jewish brothers and sisters and created attitudes
that made reprisals against them seem like acts of conformity to God's
will," Weakland said last week. "By doing so, I confess that we Catholics
contributed to the attitudes that made the Holocaust possible."
Religious scholars say Weakland's
remarks are in line with the
Vatican's recent efforts to begin improving Jewish-Catholic relations. But
the address was particularly notable for its bluntness and breadth,
scholars said.
"It was the most thorough
repudiation of the teaching of contempt
[of the Jews] I've ever seen," said Richard Lux, a professor at Sacred
Heart School of Theology. "It was really overwhelming."
Weakland's statements were made at
Congregation Shalom during the
25th anniversary celebration of the Catholic-Jewish Conference.
Jews at the anniversary celebration
admitted to being stunned by
the remarks. "I thought it was startling," said Daniel Lehrman, an
assistant rabbi at Shalom who co-resided with Weakland. "I was completely
unprepared for it and it was really astounding. It moved every Jewish
person I've spoken to immeasurably." (AP, The Jerusalem Post, November 15,
1999)
5) LEADING CARDINAL STRESSES JEWISH LINK TO JERUSALEM
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini,
leader of the diocese of Milan, the
largest Roman Catholic diocese in Europe, and one of the leading figures in
the Catholic Church, stressed the uniqueness of Jerusalem as a holy place
for the Jews, in contrast to Christians and Moslems. At an address in the
International Convention Center in Jerusalem on Nov. 11, 1999, he said, "We
recall that while in other religious traditions, new spiritual centers
arose, such as Rome and Mecca, for the Jewish tradition, Jerusalem is one
and eternal."
In his address, Martini also
noted that in contrast to the
Northern Italian Lombards of the first Crusade, who came to Jerusalem to
conquer it, he and the members of his group had come on a spiritual quest.
They came, he said, in a spirit of repentance and atonement. (Jerusalem
Post, Nov. 12, 1999)
6) VIOLENCE AND THE PEACE PROCESS IN THE PALESTINIAN MEDIA
Curses for Rabin on His Memorial Day
Columnist, 'Atallah Abu Subh Ph.D.,
writes in the Hamas weekly,
Al-Risala, "...To Yitzhak Rabin: On your memorial day they turned you into
a myth. But I say: 'Let Allah condemn you to hell.' You have been a
murderer, a spiller of blood and a racist. You are from amongst the first,
replete with animosity and rot to your bones. The make-up that is put on
our faces in order [for us to] see you through is rotten, and even if it is
fastened with nails - we will remove it in disgust, no matter how long it
takes. We are confident that whatever was built on a lie - remains a lie.'
To conclude, I say: '[let] Allah's curse be upon you in both this world
and the Hereafter.'"
Calls for Martyrdom
Palestinian Authority (PA) Deputy
Minister of Culture, Yahya
Yakhlaf, in a commemoration ceremony of the Kufr Qasem massacre of 1956
said: "...What took place in Kufr Qasem [43 years ago] is repeated [these
days] in new ways... The land plundering policy [of Israel] is still the
practical application of Zionism [while] defending the land and martyrdom
[Istishhad] are the practical application of [Palestinian] national
[commitment]..." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999)
Former leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh 'Abdallah Nimr
Darwish, at the same event said: "...The [Israeli] attack on the land...
gives the attacked the right to fight against it, [while] the [Israeli]
attack on the people gives them the right to choose martyrdom [Shahada]..."
(Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999)
References to the "Armed Struggle"
Abu Ali Mustafa, Secretary General
of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] - who was recently allowed into the PA by
Israel, stated: "...Our right to struggle is a legitimate right and we will
apply all forms of struggle and adhere to our principles and to our
people's historical rights. The PFLP [will not] give up the 'Armed
Struggle' alternative..." (Fasl Al-Maqal, November 5, 1999)
Palestinian Legislative Council
Chairman, Ahmad Qurei', [aka "Abu
'Alaa"], during a visit to China stated: "...Either [we achieve] a just
peace that will guaranty the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian
people, including [the] Return, self determination, and the establishment
of an independent [Palestinian] state with Jerusalem as its capital - or
there will be no peace but [rather] a return to the struggle in all its
forms." (Al-Ayyam, September 24 1999)
[Israeli-Arab] Knesset member,
Muhammad Baraka, stressed the need
to devise a strategy of combat on the ground in order to enter the final
status negotiations [in a better position]. He said, "...The Palestinian
people cannot enter these negotiations on the basis of the [present]
balance of power, because with this balance of power - we [are sure] to
lose. [Therefore], we must establish an active balance of power on the
ground..." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 7, 1999)
Muslim Clergy Voice, Claims to Jerusalem and the Need for Jihad
Sheikh 'Ikrimeh Sabri, the PA appointed Mufti of Jerusalem and
Palestine, in the Friday sermon in the Al-Aqsa mosque [November 5, 1999]
stated: "...The entire Islamic nation has to act to terminate the Israeli
occupation of the holy city and strengthen in it the presence of the
Murabitun [Muslim warriors holding the front lines]. It is the religious
[Islamic] duty [Fardh 'Ein] today, of each and every Muslim male and
female...
Both east and west Jerusalem belong
to the Arabs and Muslims
because it is a Waqf land. Our properties in west Jerusalem are more than
70% of its territory and Israelis do not in fact have any land in
Palestine..." (Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, November 6, 1999)
Hamas leader, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin,
in a message to a Muslim
gathering in Jenin, celebrating the prophet's ascension to heaven,
according to the Islamic tradition, stated: "...On this anniversary, we
renew our commitment to Jihad until the land of Palestine is liberated,
[for] it is a holy and Waqf land that cannot be surrendered..."(Al-Hayat
Al-Jadida, November 6, 1999) (MEMRI, November 18, 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, Australia and our Spanish World office
located in Puerto Rico.
We also invite you to look at our WEB SITE at:
http://www.bridgesforpeace.com
Co-Editors: Becky Brimmer and Clarence Wagner. Thanks to
Glen Haines
and Charleeda Sprinkle for their assistance with gathering articles and
proof reading.
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From voicesunited for Israel
To: heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: ISRAEL NEWS 11-18-99
From THE NATIONAL UNITY COALITION FOR ISRAEL
A Coalition of 200 Jewish and Christian Organizations Representing 40
Million Americans, dedicated to the security of Israel.
Phone: (913) 432-7900 Fax: (913) 432-7997
Email: <voicesunited@mindspring.com>
See our Web Page at: <http://www.Israel-unitycoalition.com>
____________________
Today's Headline(s):
1. Betraying Israel by cal Thomas
2. Jew-Baiting by JINSA Report
3. Flattery Wont Work by David Bar-Illan
1. Betraying Israel - By Cal Thomas, November 16, 1999
One is tempted to compare the kiss offered by first lady Hillary
Rodham Clinton to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's wife
to the kiss Judas gave Jesus when he betrayed him in the Garden of
Gethsemane --but the analogy breaks down because both Clinton and Suha
Arafat are betraying Israel.
In a statement nearly as outrageous as those made by Holocaust
deniers, Suha Arafat claimed: "Our people (the Palestinians) have been
submitted to the daily and intensive use of poisonous gas by the
Israeli forces which have led to an increase in cancer cases among
women and children." She also asserted that Israel has contaminated
water sources with "chemical materials." Those Israelis are so clever.
They can poison air and water in ways that affect only Palestinians,
while Jews escape harm. Following an outcry by Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Barak and some Jewish leaders in the United States, Clinton
belatedly issued an objection to Arafat's remarks. Too little, too
late.
At this point in the so-called "peace process," it wouldn't matter if
Yasser Arafat were captured on videotape acknowledging he has no
intention of living up to any agreement and that his ultimate
objective is to use the negotiations to weaken Israel to the point
where it won't be able to withstand a final assault from armed
Palestinians and Israel's Arab neighbors. Arafat, in fact, has made
numerous statements in which he has strongly hinted at or openly
stated these objectives, but the Europeans, Americans and the United
Nations merely blink, since they want the issue to go away. They don't
care if Israel disappears in the process. There are peace prizes to be
awarded and legacies to be ensured.
Facts no longer matter. Newsweek reported last week that the National
Security Agency learned it was Yasser Arafat who supplied the weapons
for the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut in which 241
U.S. Marines died. No matter. President Clinton lobbies for $400
million in aid to the PLO on top of an initial $500 million that has
never been properly accounted for, amid reports that it was misspent.
Clergy appointed by Arafat at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem regularly
preach sermons calling for the "liberation" of all the land, pre-1967
Israel included, in a Jihad that is "the responsibility of all
Muslims." Various media controlled by the Palestine Liberation
Organization (PLO) accuse Israel and the West of employing Nazi
tactics against them, which is ironic given the Nazi-like rhetoric of
many PLO leaders and Arab states against Jews and the West.
Terrorists responsible for the deaths of innocent Israelis and
visiting Jewish civilians are praised on PLO TV as saints and heroes.
This year's Palestine Prize for Culture will go to Abu Daoud,
mastermind of the 1972 Olympic bombing in Munich that killed 11
Israeli athletes. This is not the behavior or language of people who
want to make peace with their neighbors.
This is the behavior and language of war, the objective of which is
the complete annihilation of the Jews and eradication of the state of
Israel. The only way "peace" negotiators can continue with this sham
is by ignoring the words and actions of those negotiating in bad
faith. The PLO negotiators think they are carrying out Allah's will
and that it is legitimate to lie about their intentions to the pagan
and secular infidels on the Israeli and American side. Islamic
extremists are taking advantage of secularists in the Israeli and
American governments and pragmatists like Bill Clinton who wants a
"legacy in foreign affairs that he hopes will cover up his notorious
domestic affairs. If the Jews have to die, who cares? They've died
before. We'll just build them another museum.
We see Israeli soldiers yanking fellow Jews from "settlements" and
hear Barak speaking of a ghetto-type fence to keep Israel's enemies
out. But neither evictions of Jews from land nor fences will protect
Israel. Fences, in fact, have been used in the past to contain Jews in
order to kill them more efficiently. As for kissing the target for
destruction, Judas wasn't the only one to employ the tactic. The Mafia
has long done the same, kissing the one selected for death. With
Hillary Clinton and Suha Arafat smooching each other, we have a new
scenario. The one who is about to die is not present. Her name is
Israel.
The writer is a nationally syndicated columnist.
2. Jew-Baiting - JINSA Report (Jewish Institute for National Security
Affairs) - November 12, 1999
Who gets today's prize for most jaw-dropping remark?
It could be the "first lady" of the PA. Suha Arafat said, "Our people
have been submitted to the daily and intensive use of poisonous gas by
the Israeli forces which have led to an increase in cancer cases among
women and children" and that Israel has contaminated water sources
with "chemical materials."
It could be the First Lady of the United States. Mrs. Clinton sat
politely in the face of an offense against Jews that would have driven
any remotely sensitive person out of the room. She gets a second
chance at the prize for later issuing a flip statement, complimenting
her husband's wisdom in urging "the parties to refrain from making
inflammatory charges or engaging in excessive rhetoric and to deal
with any issues at the negotiating table." Her words raised Suha's
blood libel to the status of an "issue" for Palestinian-Israeli
"negotiation."
Or maybe The New York Times. Hard on the heels of firing pro-Israel
sage A.M. Rosenthal, NYT headed its story on pg. 27, "Palestinians
Criticize Israel" and noted, "her hosts excoriated Israel for its
alleged toxic contamination of Palestinian air and water." Clever,
those Jews, contaminating Palestinian air without contaminating Jewish
air.
The rhetoric is ugly, but there is a bigger problem here. The
Palestinians have burned American flags, threatened a Speaker of the
US House of Representatives, called for Saddam to drop chemical
weapons on Israel, and teach children the joy of martyrdom through the
murder of Jews. Yet Mrs. Arafat and her cohorts have no fear of an
adverse American reaction. And they are right.
The Clinton Administration -and Mrs. Clinton -still treat the PA as a
"partner," not a patently anti-American organization on probation for
a bloody history and intransigent political philosophy. We have made
this case before:
"The Palestinians (made) common cause with practically every enemy of
the West from the 1960s through the 1990s. From the Soviets, the Bader
Meinhof, the Red Brigades, the East German Stasi, the Japanese Red
Army, and continuing with Saddam and the Iranian Mullahs, it is hard
to find a friend of theirs that we should want to do business with -
and that includes certain Western European governments.
"The Palestinians violate the Oslo Accords most egregiously by not
changing their Charter; by having twice the allowed number of men
under arms; by not extraditing wanted terrorists as required; by
fomenting hatred and a love of violence among their people -including
children; and by threatening others with violence. Since the PA
governs 97% of all Palestinians formerly living under Israeli
occupation, America as well as Israel should worry about thee
consequences.
"Under no circumstances should the United States view Israel and the
PA as having equal claim to America's partnership and forbearance.
Israel is a democratic, pro-Western partner in a variety of economic,
social, military and political ventures. We share values including the
rule of law, a free press, and the right to dissent."
We ought to share disgust for Jew-baiting. Mr. President, we're
waiting.
3. Flattery Won't Work - By David Bar-Illan - Jerusalem Post - November
17, 1999
Prime Minister Ehud Barak is disarmingly frank about the reason he
incessantly praises Syria~s president Hafez Assad. "There should be no
doubt about Israel's desire to achieve peace," he says.
He may also believe, as numerous democratic leaders have done, that
dictatorial megalomania can be placated by excessive flattery. With
Assad's ego properly massaged, Barak seems to think, he will deign to
grace the negotiation table with his presence.
But by calling the Syrian dictator a great leader, a man of his word
and the shaper of modem Syria (a dubious compliment), Barak not only
insults the intelligence of his listeners -and the truth -but he gives
coveted respectability and invaluable ammunition to a tyrant on the
State Department's list of terror sponsors. Worst of all, he repeats
the mistakes of all his predecessors by playing the peace process game
according to Syrian rules.
These rules are nothing if not simple: Israel relinquishes all the
territories it won in the war of 1967, and Syria signs a peace
agreement with Israel in return. Isn't that the meaning of the
"territory for peace" principle, accepted by the whole world,
including Israel?
This formula has become so politically correct that few in government
seem to question the wisdom of exchanging a vital strategic asset for
a treaty with a dictator who has never kept an agreement. The
relinquishment of the Golan is now taken for granted, and those who
warn that it may invite war are dubbed enemies of peace. It seems
incredible that only seven years ago Yitzhak Rabin declared that
abandoning the Golan would be tantamount to forsaking Israel's
security.
Nothing has changed since then, except that now the notion that a
peace agreement is in itself the ultimate strategic asset, a notion
which should never be applied to aggressive dictatorships, has become
the conventional wisdom. And the measure of security has become the
"warmth" of the relationship with former enemies. As Rabin put it, the
depth of withdrawal will be determined by the depth of the peace.
Yet no one seriously expects Syria to abide by contracts of
"normalization" any more than Egypt adheres to the numerous and
painstakingly detailed normalization agreements it signed 20 years
ago.
Realizing that normalization is a pipe dream, Barak has adopted the
formula suggested two years ago by then-Defense minister Yitzhak
Mordechai: the depth of withdrawal depends on the depth of security.
Full withdrawal can only materialize if security arrangements are
airtight. Such arrangements would include American manned early
warning stations on the Hermon, and American troops to serve as "trip
wire" on the Golan.
It is a proposition which ignores the wholly understandable penchant
of American troops to retreat, as they did in Lebanon and Somalia, in
response to terrorist attacks. But what makes the arrangement even
less realistic is that it would entail tremendous expenditures
-estimated at $20 billion-$30 billion - to compensate Israel for the
loss of an invaluable strategic as set which gives a potential
aggressor enormous advantage. And since Syria will have to be enticed
into the "peace circle" with American economic and military aid,
American expenditures would be so prohibitive that Congress would
never approve them.
The only minister in Barak's government who seems to understand the
folly of seeking peace by coddling dictators is Interior Minister
Natan Sharansky. Having spent nine years in the Soviet Gulag, he knows
the nature of the beast from bitter personal experience. In a recent
lecture in Washington he suggested that instead of making Israeli
withdrawals contingent on unobtainable normalization goals or
reversible security arrangements, Israel should link its concessions
to democratization. The more democratic, open, and accountable the
"peace partner" becomes, the more Israel can deem territorial
concessions a risk worth taking.
Advocates of instant peace, including the administration, strenuously
object to this approach. They point to the treaties with Egypt and
Jordan as precedents that should apply to Syria. It may not be an
ideal peace, they say, yet it is better than war. But the nature of
the current Syrian dictatorship, and the Israeli military
vulnerability that relinquishing the Golan would cause, render this
analogy irrelevant.
Others claim that since no Arab state is a democracy, waiting for
democratization is at best an exercise in futility. But a mere decade
ago, no one expected Eastern Europe, with its long anti-democratic
tradition, to overthrow repressive dictatorships and stride toward
democracy. What overcame this tradition was the natural human craving
for freedom, bolstered by Western support for democratic dissident
movements.
In the Middle East too, what will bring peace is the nourishing of
democratic values and institutions, not the lionization of ruthless
dictators.
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