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June 21 - 25, 2004
- DISENGAGEMENT PLAN
- Palestinian Factions Reject Egypt and Jordan's Security Role After Disengagement
- Sharon Won't Allow Egypt to Serve as Mediator with Palestinians
- Egypt Gives PA Two Months to Implement Reforms
- Mofaz, U.S. Envoy Burns Meet over Gaza Pullout
- Disengagement Plan Ready by August
- DIPLOMACY
- Eritrea To Open Embassy in Israel
- Israel Hails House Vote on Bush Mideast Stance
- SECURITY
- Palestinian Security Officer Arrested for Assisting Ashdod Bombers
- Islamic Jihad Leader in Nablus Nabbed
- IDF Operation in Nablus Ongoing
- SOCIETY
- Israel Bans Raising of Dangerous Dogs
- Tel Aviv University Opens Door to 30 Underprivileged Students
- Gay Pride Parade Underway in Tel Aviv
- JEWISH WORLD
- "Auschwitz Treasure" Found
- ECONOMY & HIGH-TECH
- Israel Promotes High Tech Products in China
- Security Fence Also Contributes to Economy
DISENGAGEMENT PLAN Palestinian Factions Reject Egypt and Jordan's Security Role After Disengagement
Tuesday, June 22, 2004Ten Palestinian factions have come out against an Egyptian and/or Jordanian security role in Gaza and/or the West Bank following an Israeli withdrawal, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. A joint statement issued in Gaza and signed by Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front, the Democratic Front, and smaller organizations, states that a security role for Egypt and Jordan would suggest that the Palestinian people - and not Israel - is the problem. The Palestinian factions said they wanted Egypt and Jordan to be talking about support for the Palestinian struggle and not about the re-organization of the Palestinian security system.
Egypt offered to send military experts to Gaza to help retrain Palestinian security forces but attached a number of conditions, including sweeping reforms of the Palestinian security branches. Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is due to hold talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat on Wednesday in Ramallah. Arafat had agreed to Egypt's offer to help reform the Palestinian Authority's security forces.
Sharon Won't Allow Egypt to Serve as Mediator with Palestinians
Wednesday, June 23, 2004Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today that despite the importance of Egypt's role in talks regarding the future of the Gaza Strip, he would not allow Egypt to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians, HA'ARETZ reported. Sharon made the comments as Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman was slated to arrive to Jerusalem today. Suleiman met with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah today, after meeting with representatives from the European Union and United Nations. Despite Sharon's rejection of an Egyptian mediation role, Suleiman told the international officials that Egypt was determined to move the disengagement plan forward with cooperation from both Israel and the Palestinians.
"We attach vast importance to Egyptian activity in the Gaza Strip and along the border, but I don't intend to allow Egypt to become a mediator between Israelis and Palestinians," Sharon said. He also said he would not allow Egypt to raise the issue of Israeli-Palestinian talks in Gaza or of comprehensive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. The disengagement plan, he said, would remain unilateral. Sharon said renewing negotiations with Palestinians via Egyptian mediation would thwart the disengagement plan and endanger the internationally backed road map to peace.
Meanwhile, Egypt is demanding that the Israel Defense Forces cease operations in the Gaza Strip as a precondition to deploying security advisers to the area. Cairo has proposed that international forces be deployed at the Gaza port and airport after the IDF withdrawal.
Egypt Gives PA Two Months to Implement Reforms
Thursday, June 24, 2004Egyptian intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman has given the Palestinians two months to reform their security organizations and appoint senior officials to assume security responsibility for the Gaza Strip, HA'ARETZ reported. The Egyptian envoy presented a detailed timetable to Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Wednesday on how to secure the Gaza Strip. The plan includes an overhaul of the Palestinian security forces and a truce declaration by September, followed by the rounding up of weapons and dismantling of terrorist groups. Suleiman, who met Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, said he was "very pleased" with the meeting, adding that Egyptian advisers could enter Gaza "within a few months."
Palestinian sources, however, said the meeting was tense and featured several confrontations between Suleiman and Arafat.
While Jerusalem sources called the initiative "serious and ambitious," the government is also skeptical and has reservations with the Egyptian plan. Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom told the intelligence chief in a meeting later in the day that "Arafat is acting to undermine the Egyptian plan as he did in the past." Shalom said he was skeptical due to Israel's belief that Arafat supports attacks on Israelis.
Mofaz, U.S. Envoy Burns Meet over Gaza Pullout
Friday, June 25, 2004Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz held talks with Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns in Tel Aviv regarding Israel's position on the Egyptian plan for the Gaza Strip following an Israeli withdrawal, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Burns is scheduled to meet a number of top Palestinian officials before going to Jordan on Saturday. He said his regional tour was "part of an effort to mobilize support for Israel's [disengagement] initiative to try to make a success of it."
Before the meeting, Mofaz said that the defense establishment had set itself the goal of completing its plans to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by the end of August. Mofaz also expressed doubt in the willingness of the Palestinian Authority to carry out reforms in its security services, as demanded by the international community and Egypt. Mofaz also said Israel would not leave the Philadelphi Corridor unless convinced that Egypt would put an end to the weapons smuggling through the border between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt. Mofaz said Israel welcomed Egypt's involvement, "but the test is in the results."
Disengagement Plan Ready by August
Friday, June 25, 2004Chief of the General Staff Lt. General Moshe Ya'alon and other senior officers presented the three-staged disengagement plan to Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz on Thursday and noted its implementation could start by August, MA'ARIV reported. The plan is based on three stages: preparation for withdrawal, the withdrawal itself and measures for the "day after". It includes the establishment of rear control centers, the withdrawal from military bases, the removal of all equipment and arms, and the redeployment along the anti-terrorism fence around the Gaza Strip. In the near future, the Israel Defense Forces will begin exercises in preparation for the plan's implementation.
The military plan also emphasizes the need for the IDF to continue acting against the terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip after the disengagement. Mofaz proposed several possibilities for continuing to secure the Phildelphi route along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, including digging a deep canal that would serve as an obstacle for smugglers.
DIPLOMACY Eritrea To Open Embassy in Israel
Monday, June 21, 2004During the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting today, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom announced that Eritrea would be opening an embassy in Israel, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL reported. This development comes in the wake of intensive efforts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to both improve and establish relations with Arab and Muslim countries. Israel opened an embassy in Eritrea in 1993, two years after it achieved independence from Ethiopia. Eritrea, whose population is 50 percent Muslim, is an observer in the Arab League and is located strategically in the Middle East region, bordering Ethiopia and Sudan with the Red Sea to its north.
Israel Hails House Vote on Bush Mideast Stance
Thursday, June 24, 2004The U.S. House of Representatives voted today to "strongly endorse" President George W. Bush's April 14th declaration rejecting key Palestinian demands for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 war borders, HA'ARETZ reported. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's senior aide Dov Weisglass said this decision marked "one of the most important days in Israel-United States relations".
"Put simply," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, who sponsored the resolution, "Israel must not retreat behind its 1949 borders, and there is no so-called right of return for refugees."
The second part of the resolution, under Senate review, supports international efforts to bolster the Palestinians' ability to fight terrorism and prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat to Israel's security. The Senate is expected to ratify the measure, which supports Sharon's disengagement plan, by a wide margin.
SECURITY Palestinian Security Officer Arrested for Assisting Ashdod Bombers
Tuesday, June 22, 2004An officer in the Palestinian Preventive Security Service was arrested about two weeks ago on suspicion of helping the two suicide bombers who carried out the attack at the Ashdod Port to infiltrate into Israel, MA'ARIV reported. The attack claimed the lives of 10 people and wounded 12 others. Security authorities apprehended 39-year-old Mua'in Atallah, a northern Gaza Strip resident, at the Karni crossing on June 4. As a Palestinian officer, Atallah was responsible for security at the crossing, which is used to transfer merchandize between Israel and the Strip. During his interrogation, the officer revealed that he had assisted Hamas as well as Fatah's military wing, the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, to smuggle the two suicide bombers into Ashdod. According to Atallah, several days after the attack at the Ashdod Port, the Hamas planned to carry out a double suicide bombing in an Israeli city. The officer also disclosed information about the intention of terror organizations to establish a fake truck company which would use its apparent business of transferring goods from Gaza to Israel to smuggle suicide bombers into the country.
Islamic Jihad Leader in Nablus Nabbed
Wednesday, June 23, 2004A Palestinian terrorist was killed in Nablus this morning, during an operation to nab the head of the Islamic Jihad in the area, Muhanad Mahmoud Mohammed Abu Aisha, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. During the arrest operation, one of Abu Aisha's assistants, Shadi Haled Mahmoud Salim, 26 from Salfit, was shot and killed as he attempted to draw a pistol and fire at soldiers. Abu Aisha, 24, was taken in for interrogation. Security officials said he was responsible for manufacturing explosive belts used by Islamic Jihad suicide bombers from Nablus and for numerous shooting attacks in the Nablus area. In the northern Gaza Strip village of Beit Hanoun, IDF troops shot and killed at least four Palestinians over the past two days as part of a continuing operation to thwart kassam-rocket fire into Israel.
IDF Operation in Nablus Ongoing
Thursday, June 24, 2004Israel Defense Forces combat troops and armored forces are operating in Nablus and the nearby Balatah refugee camp today searching for bombs and carrying out arrests of Palestinian fugitives, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The operation is mainly focused on the Tanzim infrastructure in Nablus, the West Bank's largest city. So far, IDF forces have arrested four fugitives, and the city's residents have been requested to hand over more Tanzim members who are reportedly hiding in the city's Kasba. A 20-kilogram bomb was discovered and detonated safely.
The operation in Nablus came a day after security forces captured a Tanzim terrorist cell from the city and the refugee camp. The cell members were planning a major suicide bombing in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, alert guards at an outpost in the northern Gaza Strip spotted two armed men attempting to sneak into the nearby Jewish town of Dugit and shot them dead before dawn today. In a search after daylight, troops located the bodies of the Palestinian infiltrators just 30 meters away. They discovered they had been wearing IDF uniforms and were armed with Klashnikov assault rifles, ammunition clips and hand grenades.
Earlier, IDF forces killed a Palestinian man who was detected digging under the fence surrounding the Gaza Strip town of Bedolah.
SOCIETY Israel Bans Raising of Dangerous Dogs
Monday, June 21, 2004Following the killing last week of a four-year-old Israeli girl, Aviva Ganon, by an American Staffordshire Terrier, the Ministry of Agriculture has prepared a set of regulations that will prohibit eight "dangerous" breeds of dogs from being raised in Israel, MA'ARIV reported. Ganon's death was the first case in Israel in which a person was killed by a dog attack. Ganon, who was home at the time with her mother, sustained serious wounds to the neck and face and was pronounced dead by Magen David Adom medics upon their arrival.
The new regulations require that dogs considered dangerous that are already in Israel be neutered by the end of the year. Included in the ban are Bull Terriers, Pitbulls and Rottweilers. Meanwhile, Minister of Agriculture Yisrael Katz instructed Dr. Zvi Galin, the municipal veterinarian of Tel Aviv, today to immediately put to sleep the dog that mauled Ganon to death in Tel Aviv.
Tel Aviv University Opens Door to 30 Underprivileged Students
Wednesday, June 23, 2004A new program admitting students from outlying areas to the faculty of law at Tel Aviv University (TAU), without requiring psychometric testing as an entry criterion, will be implemented in the coming academic year, HA'ARETZ reported. Next week, 30 outstanding high-school graduates from deprived socioeconomic backgrounds in development towns and the Arab sector will receive letters from the Education Ministry, informing them that they may begin studying at TAU in the fall. Students can begin their studies right away, or reserve the right to begin when they have completed their army service; the program is thus suited to both Jewish and Arab students. The university and the ministry said the program would help close social gaps. The program was initiated by the dean of the TAU faculty of law, Prof. Ariel Porat, and developed in cooperation with Hannah Neeman, the director of the Education Ministry's post-elementary education department. According to Neeman, the program has two goals: closing social gaps and encouraging excellence. "We can now tell students who would never have dreamt of getting to university, that if they work hard and excel, the door is open to them." Porat, who has set aside 30 of 340 places available to new students in the faculty, stressed that these young people were no less outstanding than others; rather they are excellent students from a weak economic background, which usually prevents them from enrolling in prestigious faculties.
Gay Pride Parade Underway in Tel Aviv
Friday, June 25, 2004Some 150,000 people are expected to participate in the Gay Pride Parade which began at 1 P.M. today in Tel Aviv and is scheduled to last until 7 P.M, HA'ARETZ reported. The parade, which is in its seventh year of existence, began at Rabin Square with decorated floats and dancers moving to rock music, and is due to end with an event at Ganei Yehoshua. About 1,000 police officers, soldiers and volunteers provide security for the event.
The theme of this year's parade is "proud families" - lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender - and it will also include for the first time a group of disabled gays and lesbians. The public figures slated to speak at the event include Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid (Shinui), Yahad chairman Yossi Beilin, MK Eitan Cabel (Labor) and deputy Tel Aviv mayor, Yael Dayan. Among the performers appearing at the event will be Maya Buskila, the Pik Sisters and Tal Segev.
JEWISH WORLD "Auschwitz Treasure" Found
Tuesday, June 22, 2004"Auschwitz treasure", a movie that depicts the search for ritual articles and works of art that were hidden by Jews in a city located near the extermination camp before the German invasion in 1939, is now in production, MA'ARIV reported. The film director, Yaheli Gat, began the search four years ago after hearing the testimony of a Holocaust survivor. After an intensive search, he found two Jews who had survived the death camp and discovered a written testimony that confirmed the story. According to the survivors, the treasure had been hidden under the floor of the city's synagogue, which was subsequently destroyed by the Nazis.
After five years of endless bureaucratic hassles with Polish authorities, the search at the site of the synagogue - which has today become a forested area - began this month. "At first we thought we would not find anything because we had found out that the Germans dug through part of the structure and built bunkers on the synagogue premises", Gat said. But in spite of early skepticism, good news arrived on Monday: The diggers found a large cache of artifacts that had been hidden in the synagogue.
ECONOMY & HIGH-TECH Israel Promotes High Tech Products in China
Wednesday, June 23, 2004Israel sees China as its top trade priority over the next 10 years and hopes to increase business ties between the two countries in the fields of security and high-tech as Beijing gears up to host the 2008 Olympics, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Minister of Industry and Trade Ehud Olmert arrived on Monday in China on a nine-day trade mission that includes a 200-member delegation of Israeli businesspeople. Olmert cited telecommunications and homeland security as key targets for Israeli businesses. Other promising business areas include biotechnology, environmental industries and agriculture, he said.
Chinese-Israeli trade has grown by an average of 20 percent a year to more than $1.8 billion last year, Xu Guanhua, China's minister of science and technology, said. He noted that Israel was China's third largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa. On Tuesday, members of Olmert's delegation signed two business deals. One was an agreement with Valuelink Investments, a venture capital company with offices in New York state, Shanghai and Israel, to set up an investment fund of $150 million to finance the use of Israeli high-tech in China. Partners in that deal included a local university and the People's Daily, the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party. The other deal, which involves the U.S.-Israeli investment company Infinity Venture Capital Fund, will set up a $75 million fund to invest in high-tech businesses in China and Israel.
Security Fence Also Contributes to Economy
Wednesday, June 23, 2004In addition to being an a successful tool to stop terror attacks, the counter-terrorism fence has contributed to an increase in the gross domestic product and resulted in a 0.3 percent decline in unemployment, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz said on Tuesday, HA'ARETZ reported. Mofaz said the fence is one of the country's largest-ever infrastructure ventures costing between NIS 8-9 billion (NIS 5 billion has already been allocated to its construction). Annual maintenance of the fence will cost NIS 170,000 per kilometer, or NIS 85 million a year, which will be paid by the Defense Ministry. Mofaz said direct employment on the fence has given paying jobs to 5,400 people, including 3,400 in construction. The improvement has offset the economic harm done by terror, encouraged investment, and helped tourism.
