News and Media - Israeli Consulate, SF

Prime Minister Sharon Vows to Crack Down on Terrorists

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has today (Thursday), 11.9.2003. instructed the security forces to act relentlessly, continuously and determinedly to eliminate the terrorist organizations and take all appropriate measures against their leaders, commanders and operatives until their criminal activity is halted.

The aforementioned activity will continue night and day, uninterruptedly, until such time as the Israeli government is satisfied that the Palestinian Authority is taking tangible steps to dismantle and eliminate the terrorist organizations.

Events of recent days have reiterated and proven again that Yasser Arafat is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel will work to remove this obstacle in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing.

Israel is not interested in the question of the identity of the Palestinian Prime Minister; however, Israel must underscore its position that it will negotiate only with a Prime Minister who acts immediately to dismantle and remove the terrorist organizations, implements and carries out full reforms of the Palestinian Authority, and fully upholds the other commitments that the Palestinian Authority has taken upon itself according to the roadmap, as it has been adopted by the Israeli government.

The Israeli government rejects any idea of a ceasefire as a way of dealing with terror; terror will stop only after the terrorist organizations have been dismantled and liquidated. This is the obligation of the Palestinian Authority and it will be judged solely by its actions and results, not by its statements and declarations.

To these ends, the Cabinet authorizes Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz to use such military forces as may be necessary for increased activity against the terrorist organizations; the Cabinet further directs that the necessary means for the foregoing be put at the disposal of the security forces.

The Cabinet has decided to accelerate the construction of the security fence.

By the Prime Minister's Media Adviser

Cabinet Communique
From MFA: http://www.mfa.gov.il/mfa/go.asp?MFAH0nry0

U.S. Blocks Cabinet Move to Exile Arafat

The United States yesterday blocked Israel from immediately expelling Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat from the territories. However, the security cabinet approved a decision in principle to "remove" Arafat, "in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing."

The Americans contacted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday night to demand that they must not expel Arafat. In return they promised to insist that new Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qureia should fulfill the PA's obligation under the road map peace plan to fight terrorism rather than making do with temporary hudnas (cease-fires).

Yesterday afternoon, after meeting Mofaz, IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon and the heads of the intelligence agencies, Sharon convened the diplomatic-security cabinet to discuss Israel's response to Tuesday's terror attacks in Tzrifin and Jerusalem.

Mofaz had initially advocated either killing or expelling Arafat, and the IDF even began preparing for such a contingency.

But under American pressure he changed his mind and recommended that the cabinet pass a decision in principle to remove Arafat but leave implementation for a later date. Sharon supported the compromise and submitted it to the security cabinet.

The session opened with presentations by the heads of the intelligence agencies, all of whom agreed that Arafat is growing stronger, effectively controlling the PA and posing the main obstacle to diplomatic progress. However, they disagreed on what to do about him.

Major General Aharon Ze'evi-Farkash, head of Military Intelligence, favored deporting him, but Ya'alon and Shin Bet security service chief Avi Dichter were opposed.

Sharon then read the proposed resolution, which contained several elements. It declared that the security forces would "act relentlessly, continuously and determinedly to eliminate the terrorist organizations ... until such time as the Israeli government is satisfied that the Palestinian Authority is taking tangible steps to dismantle and eliminate them," and authorized Mofaz to call up the reserves if necessary for this purpose.

It also approved accelerating construction of the separation fence. It stated that Israel would "negotiate only with a [Palestinian] prime minister who acts immediately to dismantle and remove the terrorist organizations," and that Israel "rejects any idea of a cease-fire as a way of dealing with terror."

However, the clause relating to Arafat was deliberately vague: "Events of recent days have reiterated and proved again that Yasser Arafat is a complete obstacle to any process of reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel will work to remove this obstacle in a manner, and at a time, of its choosing."

Sharon said the security cabinet would reconvene to decide whether the time had come to implement the decision, which could theoretically refer to either expelling or killing Arafat. But when Mofaz explicitly raised the question of killing him, Sharon interrupted: "I request that you not say that."

In the end, the resolution was supported by all the ministers present except Interior Minister Avraham Poraz (Shinui), who argued that "there is no point in making decisions in principle if you don't intend to do anything."

The decision provoked angry reactions from the Palestinians. Arafat's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the decision did not "turn a hair" on Arafat's head but "we advise the Israelis not to take this step, whose meaning is calamity and a declaration of war on the Palestinian people."

Minister for International Cooperation Nabil Sha'ath said the decision itself was "a declaration of war on the Palestinian people," and though the PA had received American and European assurances that the decision would never be carried out, "anything could happen with this [Israeli] government."

Some 4,000 Palestinians converged on Arafat's office in Ramallah to express support for him after the cabinet decision and a few thousand more staged demonstrations of support in other cities in the West Bank and Gaza.

The U.S. State Department responded by reiterating America's opposition to Arafat's expulsion, saying that though it continued to regard Arafat as "part of the problem, not part of the solution," it believes that expelling him would make the situation worse.

By Aluf Benn, Arnon Regular and Nathan Guttman

U.S. blocks cabinet move to exile Arafat
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/339467.html

EU Blacklists Entire Hamas Organization as Terror Group

The European Union yesterday increased pressure on Hamas by adding the entire organization to the EU's terrorist list. It is not yet clear if the decision will include a crackdown on European-based charities that allegedly funnel money to the Islamic group.

Five days after EU foreign ministers, reacting to last month's deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem, agreed to add political offshoots of Hamas to the terrorist blacklist, ambassadors in Brussels reached preliminary agreement on implementing the decision, diplomats said.

Currently, the EU blacklists only the Hamas military wing, which has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, including two this week that killed 15 people.

Diplomats and EU officials said the new list, which awaits approval probably today or tomorrow from ministers before it becomes official, was "in line" with the foreign ministers' decision, but remained vague.

"There is no specific mention of names or other organizations," an EU diplomat said. "It is `Hamas' as such."

That could make it difficult for authorities to freeze the funds of allegedly affiliated groups or individuals, as the U.S. did last month. On August 22, after the Jerusalem bombing, the Bush administration froze the U.S. assets of six senior Hamas leaders and five European-based organizations that it said raised money for the radical group and called on others to do the same.

But EU sources said a group of intelligence experts has begun examining the steps that should be taken against Hamas in the wake of the decision, and this review could result in a decision to freeze certain organizations' assets.

A senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official, Gideon Meir, called yesterday's EU decision "very, very helpful" for saving Middle East peace efforts. "As long as the Hamas has the ability [to conduct] terror activity, it means that the peace process will never be able to get off the ground," he said during a visit to Germany.

Meir said the that the issue of freezing assets remained on the agenda and would be studied more in depth.

The move to blacklist Hamas was led by Britain, Netherlands and Denmark. For months, their efforts were blocked by France, Belgium and Greece, which argued that a blacklist would undermine the peace process because Hamas represents a significant portion of the Palestinian public. They also worried about hurting the group's extensive social services network. This week, however, all three holdouts changed their positions.

On Monday, the EU head office, which administers aid, said that it would not be able to make up for any services that lose funding because of the blacklist, adding that that would be up to the Palestinian Authority. Earlier yesterday, the EU again demanded that the Palestinian Authority crack down on terrorism in the wake of Tuesday's bombings.

"The European Union wishes to reaffirm its strongest condemnation of these two terrorist attacks, as well as the organizations that planned and executed them," the EU presidency said in a statement on behalf of the 15 governments.

It warned that the "resurgence of terrorist attacks is claiming an intolerable toll of innocent Israeli citizens, it is obstructing the efforts of the international community to restore peace in the region and it is damaging the interests of the cause of the Palestinian people."

By Sharon Sadeh

EU blacklists Hamas as terror group
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/339447.html

Oil Traces Found East of Kfar Sava

There could be reservoirs of 100 million barrels of oil at the Meged-4 well east of Kfar Sava, exploration company Givot Olam said yesterday in announcing the findings of geological studies.

Givot said the analysis indicated reservoirs of oil at depths of 4,800 meters in rocks dating to the Lower Cretaceous Period (50 million years ago), and the oil-bearing layer could be 20 meters thick.

The announcement referred to "oil in place," a category that doesn't indicate how much oil could actually be extracted from the site or whether it would be of commercial value.

Based on a recovery rate of 50-60 percent, then the value of the find would be around $1.4-$1.6 billion. Market analysts doubt it is possible to produce economically viable amounts of oil from the Meged-4 site.

Nevertheless, participation units in Givot Olam jumped 18 percent in trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Thursday.

This is not the first potential oil find by Givot Olam. In the past, it announced that drilling in the Meged-2 well to the depth of 5,200 meters in the Rosh Ha'ayin region near Tel Aviv had indicated the presence of an oil accumulation with gas. However the rock formation at the site, south-east of Meged-4 in the Rosh Ha-ayin area, did not allow for oil production. A later exploration at Meged-3 found no oil deposits.

By Amiram Cohen

Oil traces found east of Kfar Sava
From Ha'aretz: http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=339643&contrassID=1&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y

Researchers Create Watermelon Picking Robot

A team of Israeli and US researchers has designed a watermelon-picking robot endowed with artificial vision to do the job of harvesting. The robot is the result of a collaboration of three Israeli Institutes of higher learning including Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Agricultural Research Organization and Purdue University of the US.
Harvesting watermelon has always been relatively expensive because the process is labor-intensive.

The machine consists of a mobile platform on which are mounted an image-processing system, air blowers and a mechanical arm with a gripper attached. Tractor power pulls the platform through the field while cameras take pictures that the system analyzes. The air blowers ruffle the foliage to expose the fruit. When the harvester sights a melon bigger than a certain size -- and therefore presumed to be ripe -- it extends the gripper to grab the fruit and lift it off the ground.

Onboard software evaluates the image's shape, brightness, and texture to locate the melons. Knives connected to the gripper slash the stalk, and the gripper places the melon on a conveyor belt.

The harvester, named VIP ROMPER, guides itself down rows of maturing melon plants with only occasional human steering corrections.

In field tests, VIP ROMPER correctly identified melons ripe for picking 85% of the time. Prof. Yael Edan of Ben Gurion University said that she estimates a two-armed version could attain a picking rate of one and a half seconds per melon.

Watermelon is grown in 90 countries with worldwide production exceeding 50 billion pounds per year.

Ben-Gurion University said that the robot is now being commercialized.

Researchers announce watermelon picking robot
From Globes: http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/DocView.asp?did=723212

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