March 7-11 , 2005

• SECURITY
  • Two Border Policemen Wounded in Hebron Shrine Attack
  • Israeli Arab Suspected of Planning Attack on Knesset
  • Jihad Man Linked to Tel Aviv Bombing Killed
• SYRIA & LEBANON
  • Syria Announces Partial Withdrawal from Lebanon
  • 500,000 Pro-Syrian Protestors Answer Hezbollah's Call to Demonstrate in Beirut
  • Syrian Troops Pull Out of Most of North Lebanon
• DIPLOMACY
  • Talks on Jericho Handover to PA End Without Agreement
  • Mofaz, Mubarak Reach 'Basic Agreement' on Philadelphi Route
  • EU Parliament Brands Hezbollah a Terror Group - But Decision Is Non-Binding
• ECONOMY & HIGH-TECH
  • High Hopes for Israeli Biological Computer on Chip
  • Jerusalem-Based Seed Stage VC Firm Helps Best of Israel's Start-Ups Take Off
  • Israel Ranks High in Technology Report
  • U.S. Consortium Buys Legendary Elite's Chocolate Factory in Ramat Gan
• HOME
  • Cabinet Will Discuss Report on Unauthorized Outposts Sunday
  • PM Sharon Says All of Likud Should Back Budget, or Government Will Fall
• CULTURE
  • Israeli Film - "Walk on Water" - a Big Hit in the United States

 

SECURITY

Two Border Policemen Wounded in Hebron Shrine Attack
Monday, March 7, 2005

Two border policemen who were manning a checkpoint at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron were wounded, one seriously, when shots were fired at them from the Kasbah of Hebron, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The wounded were evacuated to a hospital in Jerusalem. A manhunt has been launched in an attempt to apprehend the perpetrators of the attack. A Palestinian man was arrested nearby in possession of a note claiming his intention to perform an attack.
"Jews will continue to pray at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron," Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said today in response to the shooting attack. Sharon added, "This attack sharpens Israel's position that for terror to stop, the Palestinians must fight with determination against the terrorists and those who send them."
In another incident, Palestinians opened fire Sunday night at an Israel Defense Forces position in the Jewish town of Kadim in northern Samaria. No injury or damage was reported.

 

Israeli Arab Suspected of Planning Attack on Knesset
Monday, March 7, 2005

Security services have arrested an Israeli-Arab from the western Galilee suspected of planning to carry out an attack in the Knesset, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Information released for publication this afternoon revealed that the 20-year-old suspect, who was arrested three weeks ago at the Aksa Mosque in Jerusalem, had planned to apply for a job as a construction worker at the parliament building. He had already begun preparing explosives for the attack. Even though, the suspect did not visit the Knesset premises, but he had an "operative plan" for carrying out a bombing.
About 200 workers are employed in the construction of a new wing at the Knesset, including foreign workers and Israeli Arabs.
In parallel, the suspect was also preparing an assault against an Israel Defense Forces base, as well as the kidnapping of a soldier.

 

Jihad Man Linked to Tel Aviv Bombing Killed
Thursday, March 10, 2005

An elite unit operating in a village near the West Bank city of Tul Karm killed today a wanted Islamic Jihad man believed to have played a central role in a suicide bombing outside a beachfront Tel Aviv nightclub last month, HA'ARETZ reported. Five Israelis were killed and scores were injured when the bomber set off his explosive belt around midnight on February 25 beside the Stage nightclub.
Security officials said that in addition to his involvement in the Tel Aviv bombing, the man was part of a cell that had built a car bomb that Israel Defense Forces troops disarmed last week, and that he was planning further attacks.
In other news, more than 20 Palestinian gunmen burst into a large gathering of the ruling Fatah party on today, ordering people out of the building and firing shots into the air. Roughly 1,200 Fatah members had gathered in a Ramallah hotel to discuss upcoming parliamentary elections when the gunmen burst into the building. The gunmen were part of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades.

 

SYRIA & LEBANON

Syria Announces Partial Withdrawal from Lebanon
Monday, March 7, 2005

Syria will pull its forces in Lebanon back to the eastern Bekaa by the end of March according to announcements by the presidents of Syria and Lebanon, HA'ARETZ reported. However, Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud delayed a decision on a complete Syrian withdrawal to a later date. Shortly after the announcement, five Syrian military trucks loaded with furniture headed east up the Lebanese mountains, marking the apparent first movement of the pullback.
Lebanon's exiled opposition leader and former general Michel Aoun dismissed the move, calling it a "maneuvering to win time." France and Germany renewed calls today for a full and complete withdrawal of Syrian troops and services as soon as possible. The United States said on Sunday that it would not stand by as Assad takes "half measures" in Lebanon, promising to step up pressure for a complete and immediate withdrawal by May elections.
Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz assessed in remarks broadcast today that Syria would be forced to pull its troops from Lebanon before May.

 

500,000 Pro-Syrian Protestors Answer Hezbollah's Call to Demonstrate in Beirut
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

About half a million pro-Syrian protesters crowded a central Beirut square today, chanting anti-American slogans and wildly waving Lebanon's flag in answer to a nationwide call by Hezbollah to demonstrate against US-led intervention and counter weeks of massive anti-Syrian rallies, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Two huge vertical banners at the front of the square read, in English: "Thank you Syria" and "No to foreign interference," a reference to American, French and United Nations pressure to get Syrian troops out of the country.
Syria announced Monday it would pull its troops to Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley by March 31, and then later to the Syrian border. The agreement between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud did not give a timeline for full withdrawal, nor did it say whether Syrian intelligence would also leave, a key demand of the Lebanese opposition.
According to HA'ARETZ, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom told United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday that Israel had observed that Syria had recently been bolstering its intelligence forces in Lebanon. During the meeting in New York, Shalom asked Annan to pressure Syria to implement the UN decision to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.

 

Syrian Troops Pull Out of Most of North Lebanon
Friday, March 11, 2005

As almost all Syrian troops left their positions in north Lebanon today, the United Nations called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to present a timetable for the full withdrawal of his army and intelligence officers from Lebanon, HA'ARETZ reported. A day ahead of his meeting with the Syrian leader, UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen said today that the UN expected Assad to produce a timetable for the full withdrawal.
Speaking in Amman, where he sought Jordanian support for UN Security Council Resolution 1559 on Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, Larsen indicated he was optimistic about his meeting with the Syrian president in Damascus on Saturday. Larsen is also due to meet Lebanese officials in Beirut on Sunday.
A security source said the Syrians had not yet vacated two major intelligence offices and two military positions in and around the town of Tripoli, but he added they could do so within 24 hours. All other military positions, including a large base at an airstrip, were evacuated overnight and thousands of soldiers and hundreds of vehicles crossed into Syria, witnesses said.
Syrian forces first entered Lebanon in 1976 early in the civil war. Their numbers have declined to 14,000 from a peak of 40,000, but they had never before left positions in the north.

 

DIPLOMACY

Talks on Jericho Handover to PA End Without Agreement
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Talks between Israeli and Palestinian security officials on the transfer of the West Bank city of Jericho to the Palestinian Authority ended without agreement today, HA'ARETZ reported. While the two sides had made headways on the matter Tuesday night during a two-hour meeting at the Erez junction in Gaza between Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, they were unable to fully bridge their differences today.
Senior Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad told Army Radio earlier today that the handover of Jericho "could be this evening, it could be in the next few days." The Palestinians' ability to prove they can halt terror after the Jericho handover is a condition for giving control over other West Bank cities later, Gilad said.
Meanwhile, Mofaz will make a one-day trip to Cairo on Thursday to hold talks on the disengagement plan with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

 

Mofaz, Mubarak Reach 'Basic Agreement' on Philadelphi Route
Thursday, March 10, 2005

Israel and Egypt have reached a basic agreement on an Israeli pullout from the Philadelphi route, where Egypt would provide security, Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz said today after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Mubarak asked that Israel pull its troops out of the zone, located on the border between Gaza and Egypt, when it implements the disengagement plan this summer.
Israel has said it will eventually leave the zone - but not immediately - owing to the ongoing weapons smuggling by Palestinians through tunnels across the border.
Mofaz admitted to reporters there was "some disagreement we faced about Philadelphi." But after talks with Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Mofaz said, "I think that we reached basic agreement. We need another meeting to finalize this issue."
Mofaz's held talks with the Egyptian officials as part of his first visit to Egypt since becoming defense minister. The trip is a personal invitation from Mubarak.

 

EU Parliament Brands Hezbollah a Terror Group - But Decision Is Non-Binding
Friday, March 11, 2005

In a non-binding decision, the European Parliament has branded Hezbollah a terror group and urged European Union ministers to take actions against the organization, YNET reported. "The Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hezbollah. The (EU) Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them," the non-binding resolution adopted by a big majority said. The resolution, which also renewed a call for Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon, was adopted with 473 votes in favor, eight against, and 33 abstentions.
The EU is under pressure from the United States and Israel to add Iranian-backed Hezbollah to its list of outlawed terrorist organizations, obliging member states to seize its assets and take action against its members. But several EU governments have so far been reluctant to take the measure, including France, Spain and Britain.

 

ECONOMY & HIGH-TECH

High Hopes for Israeli Biological Computer on Chip
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

A pioneering biological computer - composed entirely of DNA molecules and enzymes built on a gold-coated chip - has been developed by scientists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The model represents a significant improvement over its previous version reported three years ago in a joint paper in the journal Nature by the Technion's Prof. Ehud Keinan and a group from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot that included Yaakov Benenson, Prof. Ehud Shapiro and Prof. Zvi Livneh.
While the original computer could accept up to 765 different programs, the new computer accommodates up to a billion; this increase represents a dramatic advance in terms of the potential mathematical operations and complexity of problems that may be solved using a biological computer. The results, which open a wide variety of applications in data encryption and cancer diagnosis, are published this week in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

 

Jerusalem-Based Seed Stage VC Firm Helps Best of Israel's Start-Ups Take Off
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

Israel's leading seed stage venture capital firm, JVP Studios, has already manage to fund five start-ups in only 18 months of operation, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The Studio, which acts as the seed stage arm of venture capital firm Jerusalem Venture Partners, uses an aggressive development strategy consisting of taking ideas from inception to market in only 12 months.
"VCs don't usually invest in the seed stage. There's too much work," said Eli Wurtman, who together with Haim Kopans founded the Studio. "They typically like to invest further down the road. But you need to pass through the seed stage if you want a big company. Today there is a huge pent up demand for pre-seed investment. When we opened our doors we were overloaded with requests," he added.
In the past year alone, Wurtman met with some 300 entrepreneurs to hear their ideas. He then chose the cream of the crop to become the five start-ups.
The Studio typically makes an initial investment of $500,000 - $1m. with a $5m.- $6m. follow-up. When the start-ups graduate from the Studio they can rely on the $400m. JVP fund for ongoing support.

 

Israel Ranks High in Technology Report
Thursday, March 10, 2005

Israel was ranked 18 out of 104 countries in the World Economic Forum's Global Information Technology 2004-2005 Report, which assesses the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on the development and competitiveness of nations, YNET reported. Although Israel's ranking is two spots lower than the 2002-2003 report results, the country showed excellent scores in variables such as levels of technological sophistication, the quality of scientific research institutions, and the availability of venture capital and mobile phone penetration. Singapore was ranked as the top economy in exploiting global ICT developments, ahead of Iceland and Finland. According to the report, the United States, which ranks fifth, maintains global leadership in the business readiness component of the rankings, as well as in variables such as the quality of its scientific research institutions and business schools, and the availability of training opportunities for the labor force.

 

U.S. Consortium Buys Legendary Elite's Chocolate Factory in Ramat Gan
Friday, March 11, 2005

A group of U.S. developers, headed by Isaac Katan and Eli Weinstein, bought this morning the site of the legendary Elite chocolate factory building in Ramat Gan for $44 million from Strauss-Elite, GLOBES reported. The deal is subject to receiving the first payment by March 31, and receiving full payment and approval of the Urban Building Plan (UBP) by the end of the year. If these conditions are not met, the deal will be cancelled. The developers plan to build a modern residential and office complex on the site.
Built in 1934, the structure is currently used as the headquarter of the merged Strauss-Elite. The building has become a local icon, giving its name to the adjacent intersection - the "Elite junction".
Katan and Weinstein mainly develop property in New York, New Jersey, and Florida. Over the years, they have made a number of large deals. They said that they now intended to invest in Israeli real estate.

 

HOME

Cabinet Will Discuss Report on Unauthorized Outposts Sunday
Wednesday, March 9, 2005

The cabinet will discuss in its weekly meeting on Sunday a report on unauthorized outposts released today by Attorney Talia Sasson, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Sasson held a press conference on the issue at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem today. More than half the unauthorized outposts accounted for in the West Bank, she revealed, were built on land whose ownership was unclear, or which entirely or partly belonged to Palestinians.
Sasson added that, carrying out her study, she had found a total of 105 unauthorized outposts, 54 of which were built on land not owned by the state. She recommended that all of the 15 outposts built on Palestinian-owned land be dismantled immediately and given back to their rightful owners.
In the six months given to her to present her findings, she managed to investigate the Ministry of Construction and Housing, the Settlement Department of the World Zionist Organization, the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria and the Defense Ministry adviser on settlement affairs. She said that each body had contributed to the establishment and development of unauthorized enterprise over a period of almost 13 years.

 

PM Sharon Says All of Likud Should Back Budget, or Government Will Fall
Friday, March 11, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned Thursday that unless the entire Likud Knesset faction voted in favor of the 2005 budget, the government would likely fall, HA'ARETZ reported. "We are facing a problem today," Sharon said addressing a Likud gathering in Tel Aviv. "And our problem is that there is a group within the Likud faction that is threatening to vote against the budget and thereby topple a Likud government (.) and I am sure that you will make every effort to prevent the toppling of the Likud government."
Despite his ongoing efforts, Sharon has yet to muster a Knesset majority in favor of the 2005 state budget. Sharon and Cabinet Secretary Yisrael Maimon met Thursday with MKs David Tal (One Nation) and Yosef Paritzky (Shinui) in an attempt to secure their support. Tal said he would vote against the budget unless his demands for more funds for welfare matters were met. Paritzky said he would abstain, but added that he would cast a vote in favor of the budget if the Knesset passed a law that allowed individuals barred from marrying under Jewish law to get married in Israel.
Over the coming days, Sharon will meet with Likud and opposition lawmakers in an attempt to garner a majority for the budget.

 

CULTURE

Israeli Film - "Walk on Water" - a Big Hit in the United States
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

An Israeli film - "Walk on Water " - screened in 10 movie theaters in the United States since last Friday entered the weekend list of top grossing films at no. 29, YNET reported. The movie earned $63,000, or an impressive $6,300 per theater. Starring Lior Ashkenazi, "Walk on Water" depicts the relationship between a Mossad agent and the two grandchildren of a notorious Nazi, whom the agent is trying to track down.
"Walk on Water," which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in 2004, was already a big hit in Israel.
Its director Eytan Fox just returned from a promotional tour in the United States. "We did intense public relations (for the film); these were 10 crazy days in which we traveled to New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Washington," Fox said. "The reviews in the important newspapers, including the New York Times, were mostly positive. There were many profile pieces in the papers," he added. The film will be distributed in additional U.S. cities on March 18.

Walk on Water is scheduled to open at over half a dozen theaters in the Pacific Northwest over the next month. To see the list, please visit: http://www.walkonwaterthemovie.com/dates.htm

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