Monday,
July 14
Terror
Groups Threaten to End Cease-fire if PA Tries to Disarm
Them
The Hamas
and the Islamic Jihad Sunday threatened to end the cease-fire
on attacks against Israelis if the Palestinian Authority
tried to confiscate their weapons, Israel Radio reported.
In a joint statement, publicized in the Gaza Strip, the
organizations said that the PA would be responsible for
the "results" if their weapons were confiscated.
Seemingly, the militant groups were referring to terror
attacks against Israelis if their weapons were taken away.
Despite Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's demand that the
terror organizations be disarmed before IDF forces withdraw
from Palestinian cities, Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud
Abbas has said that he will not confiscate the militant's
weapons in fear of a civil war. (From Jerusalem Post)
more
Missing
Taxi Driver Feared Kidnapped by Terrorists
Security forces
and police launched an intensive manhunt in the Ramallah
area on the suspicion that Ramat Gan taxi driver Eliyahu
Gorel, 61, is being held by terrorists there. Gorel was
reported missing on Friday after transporting passengers
to Jerusalem. Gorel's telephone call home stating that
he was okay was abruptly interrupted and his abandoned
taxi was discovered in an Arab neighborhood in north Jerusalem.
According to family members, another call was received
from Gorel's mobile phone on Saturday night and someone
with an Arabic accent reported that no harm would come
to the taxi driver. Both phone calls originated in the
Ramallah area. Palestinian security forces are cooperating
in the search. "There is close cooperation on this
matter," a senior Palestinian security official told
ynet. "Like in other matters, our goal is to maintain
the cease-fire and prevent anyone from harming it."
"It is not yet clear whether there is a connection
between the taxi driver's disappearance and the Palestinian
demand for a release of security prisoners," Israel
Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishky said. (From Israel
Insider) more
New
Palestinian Poll Reflects Changing Views on “Right
of Return”
Just ten percent of Palestinian
refugees living in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan and
Lebanon are interested in coming back to their former
homes in Israel, according to a survey conducted by a
Ramallah research institute. The director of the survey,
Khalil Shikaki, says that most of the refugees understand
that returning to Israel entails accepting an Israeli
citizenship, in addition to conforming to laws and life
in Israeli society. The survey included interviews with
4,500 people. Approximately half said they would like
to live in an independent Palestinian state, while 17
percent preferred to stay in their current home. Similar
surveys conducted in the past have reported some 95 percent
demanding the right of return, but the question of whether
the refugees would actually put their right into action
was never posed to them.
Dozens of furious Palestinian refugees wrecked Shikaki's
office on Sunday to stop him releasing the survey, pelting
him with eggs, overturning tables and smashing windows.
(From Ha'aretz) more
PM
Sharon Meets with his British Counterpart Tony Blair
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met
with his British counterpart Tony Blair on Monday evening
for talks, during which Sharon was expected to urge a
rethink of British support for Palestinian Authority Chairman
Arafat. Earlier in the day, British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw told Sharon that Britain would continue to
work with Arafat, despite Sharon's contention that the
Palestinian leader should be removed from power, a British
official said. During the meeting, Blair was to emphasize
Britain's opposition to the West Bank separation fence.
British sources told Haaretz that the security fence would
harm Israel's security interests in the long run. Sharon
was to ask Blair to remove Britain's unofficial embargo
of weapons sold to Israel. The embargo prevents British
firms from getting export licenses to Israel for security
items likely, in Britain's opinion, to assist Israel in
its military conflict with the Palestinians. Last year,
Britain refused 84 out of 245 Israeli requests for importing
essential military items. The difficulties have remained
despite Blair's past explicit commitments to ease the
policy toward Israel. (From Ha'aretz) more
FM
Shalom Asks European Soccer Officials for Return of International
Matches in Israel
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
met with senior European soccer officials Monday to ask
for Israel to be allowed to host international matches
after a gap of almost two years. "I think it would
be a very good signal to the people of the State of Israel,"
Shalom told reporters. International matches are currently
banned in Israel because of security concerns. Shalom
said he told UEFA Chief Executive Gerhard Aigner and other
officials that a cease-fire and the peace process in the
Middle East have brought stability back to the country
and security can be guaranteed. Shalom said he brought
with him letters of support from eight European foreign
ministers. "I think the time has come," he said.
The last international match held in Israel was in October
2001. Since then, soccer's governing bodies have said
the security situation is too uncertain and Israeli clubs
and the national team have had to play their home matches
in third-country venues - primarily Cyprus, Italy and
Turkey. UEFA's Emergency Committee plans to consider whether
to lift the ban on international matches in Israel at
the end of the month. "We
think there is a huge change in the region and this huge
change can bring with it the fruits of the peace process
to the Israeli people," Shalom said. "I think
one of those fruits is that we will be able to watch football
games in Israel. Football is the main sporting interest
in Israel and it is very important for us." (From
Ha'aretz) more
Tuesday,
July 15
Palestinian
Man Murders 24-Year-Old Israeli in Tel Aviv
The third fatal
attack on Israelis since the Palestinian declaration of
a "hudna" (cease-fire) is raising concerns that
the cease-fire has run its short course. An East Jerusalem
Arab stabbed one man, and injured two others in a knife
attack at a seaside restaurant in Tel Aviv early Tuesday.
Israel Police reported that Fatah-related Al-Aqsa Martyrs
Brigades were responsible for the attack, and Israeli
security sources fear that the latest attack could herald
the resumption of terror attacks. However, both Fatah
leaders and leaders of various cells of the brigades denied
involvement in the attack, and declared that they remain
dedicated to the hudna.
Witnesses said a Palestinian man wielding an ornate Oriental
dagger flailed at a security guard, slashing him in the
collarbone, and at passersby, killing Amir
Simhon, 24, of Bat Yam. The terrorist tried to gain
access to the Tarbin bar and restaurant on the Jaffa-Tel
Aviv promenade, but was blocked by alert security guard
Dado Zohar. After a brief struggle the attacker unsheathed
his dagger, stabbed Zohar and ran to the center of the
bar, screaming "Allahu Akbar." Gil Magnezi,
the bar's proprietor, snatched up a bar stool and rushed
the terrorist, who raced out of the bar. Magnezi and two
other customers charged the terrorist, pursuing him 300
meters down the boardwalk and onto an adjacent street.
Meanwhile one of the pursuers, a 30-year old lawyer from
Tel Aviv, grabbed a pistol from the security guard of
the adjacent Yaffa restaurant and began firing at the
fleeing terrorist. One of the bullets struck the fleeing
Palestinian in the leg, and dropped him to the street.
(From Jerusalem Post) more
British
Foreign Secretary Rejects Israel's Call to Boycott Arafat
British Foreign
Secretary Jack Straw on Monday praised Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon for the "courageous steps" he took
in implementing the road map, despite the ongoing "war
of terror," a senior member of Sharon's delegation
said. Welcoming Sharon, Straw said: "We know the
huge amount of work you have been doing to help, in very
great difficulties, the peace process between the Israelis
and Palestinians. We commend you for that." The source
said the meeting with Straw was an agenda-setting prelude
to Sharon's dinner for with Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Straw politely but firmly rejected Sharon's appeal to
the British government to cease its contacts with Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. Sharon reportedly told
Straw that Arafat not only threatens the road map, but
also the standing of PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Sharon, in turn, politely but firmly rejected an appeal
by Straw to cease work on the security fence, noting that
it is "a security fence, not a political fence."
He told Straw it is designed to help protect Israelis
from suicide bombers, and its continued construction is
not intended to prejudge or preempt future negotiations.
Sharon expressed an understanding of the need to release
Palestinian prisoners, saying: "We'll go along with
it." However, he was adamant that "those who
have blood on their hands" would not be released.
(From Jerusalem Post) more
PA
Denies Confiscating Weapons
Palestinian Authority security
officials denied Monday that PA security forces in the
Gaza Strip have launched a campaign aimed at collecting
illegal weapons from Palestinian factions. "What
you saw on television was not real; it was part of a drill,"
a senior PA security official told The Jerusalem Post.
"We carried out an exercise with the participation
of 600 policemen. That's all. We didn't launch any major
operation." Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip
reported seeing hundreds of policemen in the streets of
Gaza City Friday night searching vehicles at makeshift
roadblocks.
Hamas and Islamic Jihad issued a joint statement warning
the PA against trying to confiscate their weapons. They
said such a move would lead to the collapse of the cease-fire.
"We agreed that the Palestinian people need the weapons
of resistance and that these weapons belong to the people,"
Islamic Jihad spokesman Muhammad al-Hindi said. "We
agreed that these weapons are a red line which the PA
would not trespass." (From Jerusalem Post) more
Wednesday,
July 16
Kidnapped
Taxi Driver Rescued; Abductors Not Backed by Main Militant
Groups
The Israel Defense Forces said Wednesday
that the Palestinians behind the kidnapping of Israeli
taxi driver Eliyahu Gurel - freed in a midnight West Bank
raid by IDF commandos - were not backed by main Palestinian
militant groups, relieving some tensions threatening the
fragile cease-fire. The IDF said the kidnappers likely
abducted Gurel in hopes of passing
him on to militants; the attempt to move their captive
apparently failed. "We know for sure that the motives
for the kidnapping were [terrorist] motives," an
IDF colonel told reporters. Media reports said the kidnappers
demanded an unspecified sum of money, as well as the release
of 2,000 jailed Palestinians, including Fatah leader Marwan
Barghouti, the assassins of slain cabinet minister Rehavam
Ze'evi, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants. Special
forces located Gurel in an abandoned building in Beitounia,
west of Ramallah. Soldiers from the crack Sayeret Matkal
unit broke into the building, to find Gurel alone and
bound, after his captors apparently fled. Gurel, 61, arrived
back at his Tel Aviv home in the early hours of Wednesday
morning to find a street party in progress, with neighbors
toasting his safe return with champagne and vodka. He
had been missing since Friday night. (From Ha'aretz) more
See also: Rescued
abductee Eliyahu Gurel tells of his ordeal
Arafat
Calls Upon Children to Become 'martyrs'
Yasser Arafat on Friday called
on Palestinian children to follow the example of Fares
Odeh, a 13-year-old boy from Gaza who has been immortalized
posthumously by a photograph showing him throwing stones
at an IDF tank. Arafat was speaking at a reception at
his headquarters in Ramallah for hundreds of children
from Jerusalem participating in summer camps, which include
in their programs a visit to Arafat's office. Arafat has
often cited Odeh's case in speeches praising the role
of children in confronting IDF soldiers in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip. (From Jerusalem Post) more
Palestinians
Confirm no Massacre in Jenin
A new study to be released next
month, based on an extensive review of Palestinian sources,
confirms that the Palestinian death toll in the 2002 IDF
incursion into Jenin was 52, at least 34 of whom were
armed, contradicting earlier Palestinian claims that thousands
had died. Some 23 IDF soldiers died in the battle as well.
The study indicates for the first time that Palestinian
terror organizations saw themselves as "armed combatants"
and not as civilians. The study's significance is that
it uses Palestinian sources to rebut the original Palestinian
claims. "The study directly contradicts the baseless
charges made by PA leaders that Israel had massacred 500
Palestinians in Jenin," said Dore Gold, director
of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, which sponsored
the study. "That blatant lie made its way from the
screens of CNN to the UN Security Council." The battle,
which was a part of Israel's Operation Defensive Shield
against terrorism, took place from April 4-11, 2002. In
the days after the event, Palestinian sources said hundreds,
if not thousands, had been killed in the attack. Media
worldwide initially reported the IDF's activities as a
massacre, but in the months afterward, virtually all organizations
investigating the massacre claims rejected the initial
Palestinian assertions. Israel was effectively cleared
of the massacre charges in an August report by the United
Nations. The report blasted armed Palestinians for operating
inside civilian refugee camps and termed their methods
"breaches of international law that have been and
continue to be condemned by the United Nations."
(From Jerusalem Post) more
Israeli
Alex Averbukh is No. 2 Pole Vaulter in the World
The
number two pole vaulter in the world, and European champion,
is an Israeli - Alex Averbukh. The International Association
of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rating was determined
based on Averbukh's vaulting results of the past two years.
With 1,333 points, he is only 10 shy of the world champion
pole vaulter, Tim Lobinger of Germany. Averbukh, holder
of Israel's record for pole vaulting, immigrated to Israel
from Siberia in 1999. Averbukh became the first-ever Israeli
to win a medal in the World Athletics Championships in
Spain. Then, in August 2002, he brought Israel its first-ever
gold medal in a major athletics tournament with a first-place
finish in the pole vault in the European Athletics Championships.
(From Arutz Sheva) more
Thursday,
July 17
Foreign
Ministry Launches Campaign Against Israel Bashing at UN
Palestinian incitement against
Israel needs to end not only on PA television and radio,
but also on CNN and in the UN General Assembly, senior
foreign ministry official David Granit said Thursday.
According to Granit, this will be one of the key messages
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will deliver in a speech
Monday to the foreign ministers of the enlarged EU. Shalom
is expected to challenge the EU foreign ministers and
say that if the EU views itself as an active partner in
the road map process, it is incumbent upon it to take
action against the anti-Israel resolutions in UN bodies,
both by voting against them, and ensuring that the Palestinians
and Arab states tone down the rhetoric. Granit, the foreign
ministry's deputy director general for UN and International
Organizations, said Shalom's appeal to the EU foreign
ministers will be the opening shot in an all-out campaign
to put an end to the endless flow of anti-Israeli resolutions,
many of them virulent, coming out of various UN forums.
Many of these resolutions, he said, can be characterized
as the type of incitement the PA has obligated itself
to put an end to under the road map. (From Jerusalem Post)
more
Friday,
July 18
PMs
Sharon and Abbas to Meet on Sunday
Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon will meet Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas
on Sunday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom told
the New York Times in an interview published today. Both
the Israeli and Palestinian prime ministers will meet
with U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington within
the next 10 days – Abbas on July 25, and Sharon
four days later. Abbas will also travel to Egypt, Jordan
and the Persian Gulf states ahead of his meeting in Washington.
"I'm very encouraged, I must tell you, much more
than I was before," Shalom said, referring to the
talks with Abbas. "I believe that this new leadership,
that speaks differently – it might be that they
mean differently." Shalom is slated to address the
foreign ministers of the European Union on Monday before
heading to Washington for his own meetings with Vice President
Dick Cheney and other U.S. Administration officials. "Next
week is going to be a very, very intensive political week,"
he said.
In Washington, Sharon will hold a meeting with Bush, White
House spokesman Scott McClellan said Thursday. "The
two leaders will discuss efforts to advance the peace
between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as a range
of bilateral and regional issues," McClellan said
at a briefing. (From Ha'aretz) more
Britain,
Israel to Share Intelligence; Blair Calls on Arab World
to Recognize Israel
Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have agreed
to strengthen diplomatic coordination between the two
countries, particularly in the realm of exchanging sensitive
intelligence information. The two premiers decided to
appoint two contact people in each of their offices to
facilitate a direct intelligence link.
Meanwhile, Blair in a speech to the U.S. Congress on Thursday
said that the war on terror would not be won without peace
between Israel and the Palestinians. "There is one
cause terrorism rides upon, a cause they have no belief
in but can manipulate," he said. "I want to
be very plain: This terrorism will not be defeated without
peace in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine."
In the first address to Congress by a British prime minister
since Margaret Thatcher in 1985, Blair said that the entire
Arab world had to recognize the State of Israel and end
incitement against both Israel and Jews. "Here it
is that the extremist is able to confuse in the mind of
a frighteningly large number of people the case for a
Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel, and to
translate this moreover into a battle between East and
West, Muslims, Jews and Christians,” Blair said.
"May this never compromise the security of the State
of Israel,” he continued. “The State of Israel
should be recognized by the entire Arab world, and the
vile propaganda used to indoctrinate children, not just
against Israel but against Jews, must cease.” "You
cannot teach people hate and then ask them to practice
peace,” he said. “But neither can you teach
people peace except by according them dignity and granting
them hope. Innocent Israelis suffer. So do innocent Palestinians.”
(From Ha'aretz) more
Hamas,
Jihad Men Now on List of 400 Considered for Release
Between 40 to 60
Hamas and Islamic Jihad activists are now included on
the list of some 400 Palestinian prisoners Israel is considering
releasing, government sources said yesterday. They said
the Shin Bet has so far come up with a list of nearly
400 prisoners, but that the work of filtering those who
can be released continues, and the number could grow.
(From Ha'aretz) more
Food
Exports to North America Reach $59m. in Jan – May
Food exports to North
America rose 33 percent to $59 million in the first five
months of 2003, compared to the same period last year,
the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry's economic representatives
in North America reported Tuesday. Food exports to the
US, which are projected to reach $150m. by year's end,
have continually increased in the past few years due to
growing popularity of locally made food products.
The "Fine Foods from Israel" project, a campaign
showcasing some of the most popular Israeli food products
available in North America, is claimed by the ministry
to have boosted sales of Israeli food products in the
U.S, Canada, and Mexico. The program, spearheaded by Israeli
Economic Attache in New York Zohar Peri and by the Israeli
Export Institute, is attempting to harness the general
good-will of North American consumers regarding Israel
in order to boost food sales.
The initiative came about partly in response to the boycott
of Israeli products in many European markets, added ministry
officials.
Peri explained that the project, launched in August 2002,
was meant to motivate Jews and other supporters of Israel
in North America to buy Israeli food products by giving
them a taste of the varied and often gourmet foodstuffs
that are produced locally.
Peri noted that the Israeli producers reporting the largest
rise in North American sales were those which, for both
logistic and marketable reasons, appeal to the American
appetite. For example, different types of healthy grain
exports from Israel showed a marked rise in sales since
the start of the initiative. Similarly, according to Peri,
recognizable Israeli brand names made further inroads
within the North American market. (From
Jerusalem Post)
