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August 23-27, 2004
- OLYMPIC 2004
- Windsurfer Friedman Wins Israel's First Ever Olympic Gold
- Israel's Gold Medalist to Carry Flag in Closing Ceremony
- DISENGAGEMENT PLAN
- Gaza Settlement Evacuation to Be Carried Out by IDF
- Plans for Gaza Pullout to Be Completed in September
- IDF Splits Gaza into Three After Renewal of Qassam Fire
- DIPLOMACY
- Israel-EU Hold Advanced Talks on Wider Europe Plan
- Shalom Praises French Fight Against Anti-Semitism
- Gaza Settlers Start Pro-Evacuation Group
- Shalom Meets Palestinian Counterpart in Italy
- SECURITY
- 12-Year-Old Israeli Boy Wounded in Shooting Near Hebron
- 1,000 Israelis Killed Since Launch of Palestinian Terror
- IDF Soldier Wounded in Ax Attack
- Palestinians Call for Kidnapping Soldiers
- Israeli Defense Official: Arrow Missile Can Intercept Iran's Shihab-3
- PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS
- Arafat and Dahlan Hold Conciliatory Meeting in Ramallah
- PA Intelligence Officer Shot by Gunmen in Gaza
- ARCHEOLOGY
- Two Ancient Towns Uncovered in Unprecedented Archeological Discovery
- ARTS
- Eilat Jazz Festival Opens Today
OLYMPIC 2004 Windsurfer Friedman Wins Israel's First Ever Olympic Gold
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Gal Friedman won the gold medal today for the windsurfing event in Athens giving Israel its first ever gold at the Olympics, HA'ARETZ reported. Friedman - the first Israeli to win two Olympic medals after winning the bronze in 1996 - finished the last of the event's 11 races in second place, but took the gold by scoring 42 points. After Friedman crossed the finish line, he took a victory dip and then wrapped himself in an Israeli flag. Residents of Friedman's hometown of Karkur, near Hadera, streamed to the family's house to celebrate. "It's very, very hard to believe that he succeeded in doing this," said Friedman's father, Uri. President Moshe Katsav congratulated Friedman and invited him for a meeting to give him a "hug." "I'm happy together with everyone about this win," Katsav said. "We all had great expectations that Gal would do this."
Also today, Roei Yellin qualified for the Men's K1 1,000 meter final, after finishing third in the semifinal. The final will take place next Tuesday.
Israel's Gold Medalist to Carry Flag in Closing Ceremony
Thursday, August 26, 2004Windsurfer Gal Fridman, who made history Wednesday by winning Israel's first-ever Olympic gold medal, will stay in Athens until Tuesday in order to carry the national flag in the closing ceremony of the Games, HA'ARETZ reported. After his victory, Fridman, 28, said, "it's a dream come true, it's unbelievable that I've become the first Israeli to win a gold medal. I felt like the whole country was watching me and pushing me from behind."
Fridman, who took a bronze in Atlanta in 1996, was not selected for the Sydney Games and gave up the sport for two years before returning to win the world title in 2002.
Meanwhile, Israel's Larisa Pesakovitch qualified for the finals of the women's 500-meter kayak event today, after finishing third in the semifinal.
Other Israeli athletes were less successful however, with kayaker Michael Kalganov failing to reach the men's 500-meter final after finishing eighth in the semifinal.
Maya Arusi also lost in the Taekwondo under-49kg event against Dalia Contreras of Venezuela by 5-1.
Israel first entered the Games in 1952 but had to wait 40 years for its first medal, on the judo mat in Barcelona.
DISENGAGEMENT PLAN Gaza Settlement Evacuation to Be Carried Out by IDF
Monday, August 23, 2004The evacuation of settlements under the disengagement plan will be carried out under the supreme authority of IDF forces, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee today, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The evacuation operations will be carried out in cooperation with police forces and border policemen, and a large reservist force will also be drafted to aid in the operations. Mofaz's decision comes after months of controversy in the cabinet over which branch of law enforcement - the police or the army - should be responsible for carrying out the evacuations.
Meanwhile, the administrative body established to oversee compensation to settlers as part of the Gaza disengagement plan formally opened for business Sunday, headed by Yonatan Bassi. According to an announcement put out by the Prime Minister's Office, the 10-person staff, known by its Hebrew acronym as the Sela (Aid for Gaza Strip Residents) Administration, will act as "the sole government body which will have direct and continuous connections with the settlers." The Sela administration will be responsible for transferring the money to the evacuated settlers, but the sum will be established by a committee under the chairmanship of Aharon Abramowitz, the Justice Ministry's director-general.
Plans for Gaza Pullout to Be Completed in September
Tuesday, August 24, 2004Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz announced today that security officials would finish preparations for the planned evacuation of the Gaza Strip in September and present their report to the security cabinet and the government, HA'ARETZ reported. Top level security officials have been holding discussions focused on security aspects of the evacuation, the inherent risks, issues pertaining to civilian matters, and Egypt's role following the disengagement. Officials estimate that the evacuation will cost between NIS 1.5 to 2 billion.
Mofaz noted that security officials are taking into account all possible scenarios, including the need to evacuate under attacks by Palestinian terrorist groups or while facing resistance from settlers.
In comments made before the Knesset Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, Mofaz revealed Monday that defense officials were planning to call up reservists during the evacuation of settlements in the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank. The reservists will be combined with the regular units to carry out evacuations.
IDF Splits Gaza into Three After Renewal of Qassam Fire
Thursday, August 26, 2004The Israel Defense Forces split the Gaza Strip into three sections today, following the resumption of Qassam rocket attacks on the Negev town of Sderot and the launching of mortar fire on Jewish towns in Gush Katif in the southern Gaza, HA'ARETZ reported.
Five Sderot residents were treated for shock after two rockets fell on the town, one hitting a storage room in a residential courtyard.
On Wednesday, the IDF delayed evacuating three caravans erected at Giv'at Assaf, an unauthorized outpost located between the Jewish towns of Beit El and Ofra. Hundreds of settlers gathered at the site overnight Wednesday in an effort to prevent soldiers from carrying out the evacuation. Also on Wednesday, the IDF evacuated two caravans from the outpost of Noffei Nehemia, near Rachelim, south of Nablus.
DIPLOMACY Israel-EU Hold Advanced Talks on Wider Europe Plan
Tuesday, August 24, 2004A high level European Union delegation was to hold one day of talks in Jerusalem today with Israeli officials over Israel's participation in the European Neighborhood Program, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Oded Eran, Israel's ambassador to the EU in Brussels, said the goal of these talks, the fifth round of negotiations, was to reach agreement on an action plan by mid-September for Israel's participation in this program.
The European Neighborhood Program, also known as the Wider Europe initiative, is an initiative to upgrade the EU's relations with a circle of some 14 countries bordering the enlarged EU. The ultimate goal of the program is to allow free access of goods, services, capital and people between EU members and participating states. Israel, along with Jordan, Moldova, Morocco, Tunisia, Ukraine and the Palestinian Authority are the first to negotiate with the EU regarding participation in this program.
Shalom Praises French Fight Against Anti-Semitism
Wednesday, August 25, 2004Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom, visiting today a Jewish soup kitchen in Paris that was firebombed in an attack Sunday, said that he was confident French authorities were doing everything in their power to fight anti-Semitism, HA'ARETZ reported. "The French government is doing everything it can in order to fight against those extremists," said Shalom, standing outside the burned-out shell of the soup kitchen. Shalom had previously urged French officials and judges to punish anti-Semitic culprits more severely.
France has seen 160 anti-Semitic attacks so far this year, compared to 75 in the same period of 2003, according to French Interior Ministry figures. Few of these have led to arrests and convictions. Shalom warned against the rise in anti-Semitic attacks in other European countries as well.
In other news, Shalom is slated to meet his Palestinian counterpart Nabil Sha'ath in Rimini, Italy, on Thursday, after the completion of his French visit. This will be the first meeting the two have held since last May.
Gaza Settlers Start Pro-Evacuation Group
Thursday, August 26, 2004Settlers in the Gaza Strip community of Rafiah Yam intend to establish an organization urging Israel's immediate evacuation of the Gaza Strip, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The initiative - known as Shuvi - has so far accumulated about 65,000 signatures. The Shuvi branch in Rafiah Yam would be the first openly pro-evacuation group to arise in any of the West Bank or Gaza Strip settlements - although there are apparently hundreds of settlers who quietly support their own evacuation in exchange for financial compensation. The move is already raising tensions between moderate and radical settlers, the latter opposing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan.
Shalom Meets Palestinian Counterpart in Italy
Friday, August 27, 2004Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom held a meeting with his Palestinian counterpart, Nabil Shaath, on Thursday in the Italian resort of Rimini, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the talks were extremely useful, and he was impressed by the parties' will to find a recipe to resolve the Middle East problems. He said, the fact that the two ministers traveled to Italy to meet, was an obvious sign of their willingness to keep open a channel of dialogue.
Meanwhile, according to MA'ARIV, Shalom has appealed to Europe not to support any eventual Palestinian UN resolution aimed at sanctions or boycotts against Israel over its security barrier. "I believe that Europe should vote against the Palestinian resolution. It is a very extreme one," he said while attending a roundtable on peace at a religious conference in northern Italy. Palestinians have hinted they might ask the UN to consider sanctions or some form of economic punishment in September.
SECURITY 12-Year-Old Israeli Boy Wounded in Shooting Near Hebron
Tuesday, August 24, 2004A 12-year-old Israeli boy was lightly wounded when shots were fired at the car he was traveling in on the Trans-Judea Highway, west of Hebron, on Monday night, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. He was taken to Jerusalem's Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem, for treatment. On Monday afternoon, an Israeli man was lightly wounded in a Palestinian stabbing attack when he went to repair a car-wash machine in a West Bank village, near Kalkilya, under Palestinian control.
According to MA'ARIV, security forces operating in Bethlehem today detained Adnan Abayat, who is considered the commander of the Fatah-Tanzim in the city. In addition to Abayat, forces arrested another Tanzim operative by the name of Ratham Nabhan. Both were hiding in a local hospital in which soldiers discovered several assault rifles, a Mag machine gun and large amounts of ammunition.
Abayat has been wanted for four years. He is suspected of planning several suicide bombings, which Israel's security forces managed to foil. Abayat is also suspected of involvement in the murder of an IDF officer in a Tunnels Highway shooting attack in 2001, and of perpetrating the attack at the Tkoa junction in which two Israelis were killed and another pregnant woman was seriously injured.
1,000 Israelis Killed Since Launch of Palestinian Terror
Tuesday, August 24, 2004The number of Israeli fatalities in the current conflict with the Palestinians exceeded 1,000 last week according to the Israel Security Agency, HA'ARETZ reported. Only two of the country's wars - the War of Independence and the Yom Kippur War - have claimed more Israeli lives than the current wave of Palestnian terror, which began on September 29, 2000. In the Six-Day War, 803 Israelis lost their lives, while the War of Attrition claimed 738 Israeli lives along the borders with Egypt, Syria and Lebanon.
According to Israeli numbers, the current conflict has killed 2,124 Palestinians. The figures show that of the various Palestinian groups and organizations, Hamas has suffered the highest number of fatalities: 466. Fatah's Tanzim organization has lost 408 members and Islamic Jihad, 205. The Palestinian security forces - Force 17, the Palestinian police, General Intelligence, and the counter security apparatus - have lost 334 members.
IDF Soldier Wounded in Ax Attack
Wednesday, August 25, 2004An Israel Defense Forces soldier was moderately injured Tuesday night in an ax attack outside an army base in the Upper Galilee, HA'ARETZ reported. The police have established the attack had been carried out by a Druze citizen of Israel who had served in the Border Police. The military identity card the attacker was carrying was apparently his own.
The assailant targeted one of two troops guarding the entrance to the Amiad base, one of the largest IDF bases in northern Israel. He was dressed in the uniform of either an IDF soldier or a Border Police officer. When one of the soldiers refused to allow him into the base, he attacked him. The wounded soldier is being treated at Rebecca Sieff Hospital in Safed for moderate wounds caused when the ax struck him in the back and penetrated his lungs. The attacker was killed.
Palestinians Call for Kidnapping Soldiers
Friday, August 27, 2004Fatah and Islamic Jihad called on Thursday for the kidnapping of Israel Defense Forces soldiers and settlers to boost their campaign to release Palestinian prisoners, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The move comes in the wake of the failure of the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners to attract worldwide attention.
Masked gunmen read out the statement to journalists in Gaza City according to which their members had been instructed to kidnap IDF soldiers and settlers in order to use them as a bargaining chip with Israel. The statement revealed that a joint Fatah-Islamic Jihad had tried to kidnap a soldier three months ago, but failed because of tough security measures. The statement also criticized the Arab and Western media for failing to highlight the hunger strikers' story. Israeli Prison officials noted on Thursday some 400 Palestinian security prisoners had broken their hunger strike.
Israeli Defense Official: Arrow Missile Can Intercept Iran's Shihab-3
Friday, August 27, 2004The Arrow anti-ballistic missile is capable of intercepting an Iranian Shihab-3 missile, despite its failure to do so in a test off the California coast, Aryeh Herzog, the Defense Ministry official in charge of the Arrow project, said today, HA'ARETZ reported. The Arrow, which is being developed by Israel and the United States, failed Thursday to destroy a target missile simulating an Iranian Shihab-3 and a Scud-D of the type Syria possesses. Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron said Thursday night that the test was substantive. "Most of the systems tested worked. There was a malfunction that needs to be sorted out, and we will continue to prepare to meet development of any future threats." Herzog added that, "since 2002, the Air Force's system, which is operational, is capable of intercepting Iranian Shihab-3 missiles, and we are certainly confident in this." Thursday's test came about a month after a successful test in which a Scud missile was destroyed in a direct hit.
PALESTINIAN AFFAIRS Arafat and Dahlan Hold Conciliatory Meeting in Ramallah
Monday, August 23, 2004Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat met with his former security chief Mohammed Dahlan for reconciliatory talks today in the PA leader's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, HA'ARETZ reported. The two have not met since before July's outbreak of civil unrest in the Gaza Strip, believed to have erupted in protest of corruption within the PA and due to a growing dissatisfaction with Arafat's rule. Arafat supporters, however, claim Dahlan instigated the unrest.
Dahlan has broken ranks with Arafat and demanded reform within the ruling Fatah party and the government. Last week, Arafat admitted to making "mistakes" and pledged to clean up the PA, but his speech to Palestinian lawmakers included few specifics, and he refused to put any of his pledges on paper.
PA Intelligence Officer Shot by Gunmen in Gaza
Wednesday, August 25, 2004Three Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a convoy carrying the deputy Palestinian intelligence chief close to the Shati refugee camp in the Gaza Strip today, wounding him the chest and killing two members of his entourage, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The assassination attempt seemed to show that instability and the struggle for power among various Fatah-related groups continue despite a meeting earlier this week between Gaza Strip strongman Muhammad Dahlan and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat aimed at ending internal dissentions in the Strip.
The three masked gunmen peppered Tareq Abu Rajab's convoy with bullets causing his car to flip over. Suffering four bullet wounds including two shots to the chest, Abu Rajab was rushed to an Israeli hospital for treatment. Abu Rajab is second-in-command to Intelligence chief Amin al-Hindi, whose intelligence agency has recently taken a stance critical of Arafat. Al-Hindi and Rajab are said to be closely linked to the Egyptian intelligence apparatus including its leader Omar Suleiman.
ARCHEOLOGY Two Ancient Towns Uncovered in Unprecedented Archeological Discovery
Friday, August 27, 2004Israeli archeologists have uncovered a 5,000-year-old Canaanite city and a 2,000-year-old Jewish village from the Second Temple period alongside each other in the Modi'in area, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The adjacent ancient sites, which were known to exist but had remained untouched until now, lie on a barren, wind-whipped hilltop spanning 120 dunams near the present-day Israeli town of Shoham. The area of the sites was to be converted into an industrial zone, but the finds - which include the remnants of ancient streets in each city, being excavated now by archeologists from the Antiquities Authority - will be exhibited in an archeological park.
The rural Jewish town uncovered at the site existed from about 100 BCE to 135 CE, until the Bar Kochba revolt, said archeologist Dr. David Amit. Excavations at the ancient village have uncovered a 2,000-year-old street, Jewish coins from the time of the rebellion, wine presses, as well as a mikve (Jewish spiritual bath).
Adjacent to the Jewish village lies a 5,000-year-old Canaanite city from the Early Bronze Age, dating to approximately 3,000 BCE. The well-planned city, which dates back to the time between Noah and Abraham, is thought to have been home to several hundred people.
ARTS Eilat Jazz Festival Opens Today
Monday, August 23, 2004The 18th Red Sea Jazz Festival in Eilat, which began today and will last until Thursday, is featuring prominent international and national jazz musicians, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Among the most famous foreign musicians are veteran saxophonist-flutist Charles Lloyd, guitarist John Scofield, bass player Charlie Haden and female drummer Cindy Blackman's quartet. "Traditionally, the Eilat jazz festival has been a middle-of-the-road event," said perennial artistic director Danny Gottfried, "but [this year] I wanted to see how the Israeli public reacts to a slightly more progressive program. It's the most open, and least traditional, of any Red Sea festival so far."
The non-mainstream end of the festival program also features French trumpeter Erik Truffaz, who mixes modern dance rhythms with drum 'n' bass, hip hop as well as rock 'n' roll, and American trumpeter Russell Gunn, who weaves Cuban, Brazilian and African sentiments with rap and progressive jazz, liberally laced with urban noise.
The festival also provides some homegrown artists a chance to play in front of big audiences, as well as rub shoulders with their better-known counterparts. Musicians such as trombonist Avi Lebovich, guitarist Yottam Silberstein and saxophonist Tevet Sela will be among the Israeli musicians to play during the festival.
