"NEWSWEEK" Exposes PA Corruption
Arutz 7, May 22,2000In a detailed expose published in the May 22 edition of Newsweek entitled "Something Rotten in Palestine," journalists Daniel Klaidman and Matt Rees describe Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority as a "Mafia State."
The article begins with a description of how the PA confiscated land from local resident Mahmoud Hamdouni in April, 2000, in order to build a multi-million dollar casino there. "Accused by Palestinian security services of treason two years ago, he was freed from jail only after he signed over his land to the Palestinian Authority," writes Newsweek. The article details various examples of corruption among top PA officials, and notes that the corrupt system is perpetuated by Arafat's practices. Newsweek predicts that in the near future, Palestinians will direct most of their fury not at Israel, but at the corrupt Arafat regime.
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Palestinians to Get Parts of Jerusalem
excerpted from an article by Nadav Shragai, Ha'aretz, May 16,2000Barak promised that Greater Jerusalem would remain part of the Israel prior to the national elections. However, at this point it is obvious that "Greater Jerusalem" is a literary term. By the time this issue of the DFJ goes to press, Abu Dis, Eizariya, and Suwahra may already have been given over to the Palestinian Authority, as a good will gesture to the Palestinians before the upcoming third and final West Bank redeployment.
On May 15, Barak pushed through a speedy decision to relinquish these three neighborhoods. The vote in the cabinet was 15-6 and 56-48 in the Knesset (Parliament).
Abu Dis is of special importance to Yasser Arafat who keeps asking for this neighborhood, which overlooks the Temple Mount from an area near to the Mt. of Olives. In various scenarios regarding the permanent settlement, Abu Dis has been mentioned as the future capital of the Palestinian state because of its geographic proximity to Jerusalem. The Palestinian Authority has erected a large building there, which could serve as a Palestinian Parliament Building.
Abu Dis may not be a mere 1,000 steps away from the Temple Mount, as one slogan put it at the right-wing rally held at Zion Square, but it is, in fact, very close to the Western Wall. By foot, it takes half an hour to go from Abu Dis to the Temple Mount; by car, the journey lasts just a few minutes. Jews from the Mea She'arim neighborhood who purchased land in Abu Dis during the first decades of the last century believed that the property belonged to Jerusalem. Their belief derived largely from the fact that hilly areas in Abu Dis afford a clear view of the sacred Temple Mount area. Abu Dis is also part of the area which Yitzhak Rabin and the Labor Party once demarcated as "Greater Jerusalem." As a matter of fact, nothing is more "Greater Jerusalem" than Abu Dis.
While Barak and his Cabinet colleagues promised that Greater Jerusalem would remain part of the state of Israel, their oath was taken in a different era, prior to the national elections a year ago. Since that time, it would appear that Barak has come to regard "Greater Jerusalem" as a kind of literary term.
Beyond Abu Dis, Barak's offer to the Palestinians includes Anata, the birthplace of the prophet Jeremiah, which is within shooting range of Pisgat Ze'ev; (a Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem) and also Suwahara, which borders the city's municipal boundaries in the south. The thin strip formed by these sites represents merely an advance deposit being given to the Palestinians - the final bill will be submitted to us, within Jerusalem itself.
Abu Dis is part of a corridor to Jerusalem. More serious than the corridor itself is the site to which it leads - the Temple Mount, Yasser Arafat's declared objective. Has the government of Israel decided to give it up?
If Barak has committed himself to holding a referendum about withdrawing from the Golan Heights, then it clearly behooves him to seek the people's consent about moves pertaining to the Temple Mount, the site most sacred to the Jewish people, as well as the corridor leading to the Mount itself. Barak should also ask the people about any future concession of civilian authority in areas within Jerusalem, and the current concession involving the thin belt which is still left, ringing around the outskirts of the city.
Strangely enough, experts' security concerns that found their way to the media when Jewish construction at Har Homa and Ras al-Amud was on the agenda are stifled today, when a move as precarious as the handing over of the Jerusalem belt to the Palestinians is being considered. The concealed truth is that security officials have in recent weeks expressed grave concerns about Abu Dis' proximity to the Temple Mount, and about the possibility that Arafat and the PA might exploit its location to undermine Israeli control on the Mount. Security officials also fear that Arafat will capitalize on the territorial contiguity stretching between the belt-area neighborhoods being given to him now and Arab areas within Jerusalem city limits, in order to blur the city's municipal boundaries and increase his own influence in Jerusalem.
One thousand steps, more or less, from the Western Wall, Barak is now taking a step, which will pave the way for Arafat and the PA to enter straight into the heart of Jerusalem. It's difficult to imagine that the Prime Minister isn't aware of the risk he's taking, especially since Arafat and his associates haven't concealed their intentions for a single moment.
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Christian Leaders Worried About Visa Rules
by Haim Shaprio, Jerusalem Post(DFJ-MayJun00) Israel's Interior Ministry regulations, intended to prevent farmers and industrialists from bringing in foreign workers posing as volunteers, could harm local Christian institutions dependent on volunteers from abroad, and could even force some to close, according to Christian leaders in Jerusalem.
Their concern follows an Interior Ministry announcement saying the minister is to set new criteria for volunteers. The ministry said this was necessary because various organizations were exploiting the status of the volunteers to hire foreign workers.
The criteria, the ministry said, were established during a meeting between the directors-general of the Interior, Agriculture and Labor ministries, together with the director of the Interior Ministry's population registry, Herzl Golan, who is to be responsible for formulating the new criteria.
The ministry said volunteers would only be given a four-month visa and those bringing them into the country would have to provide guarantees ensuring the volunteers indeed left at the proper time.
In a letter to Interior Minister Natan Sharansky, Father Marcel Dubois, president of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel, said that if the regulations were extended to Christian institutions, many would have to close.
Those affected include hospitals and homes for disabled children, which take in children from all sectors of the Israeli population. Also affected would be service organizations that assist immigrants, the handicapped, Holocaust survivors, and the elderly, Dubois said.
Other Christian institutions that depend on volunteers include schools, which enable local Christians to maintain their traditions and Christian students from abroad to learn about the Land of Israel and its people.
The regulations would also affect Christian holy places and pilgrim centers, which minister to Christian pilgrims who form a large part of the tourist industry and thus contribute to the national economy.
"Evident is the loss to all sectors of the population in Israel, not merely to the Christian minority, and to the State of Israel itself," Dubois said.
Dubois said that representatives of some 50 Christian institutions had already attended an emergency meeting to discuss the situation and convey their concern to Sharansky.
A ministry spokesperson said on March 30 that the ministry automatically gives visas to those recommended by the Religious Affairs Ministry's department for Christian communities. But, Rev. Petra Heldt, executive secretary of the Ecumenical Theo-logical Research Fraternity in Israel, said that she knew of those who had been denied a visa, despite the Religious Affairs Ministry's recommendation. Heldt added that the ministry had recently appeared to be adopting a more aggressive stance toward Christian institutions, telling Christian clerics who had formerly dealt with the Interior Ministry offices in west Jerusalem that they must go to the offices in east Jerusalem, where the officials speak only Arabic.
In a related development, Rev. Ray Lockhart, director of the Israel Trust of the Anglican Church, said that the Interior Ministry had recently rejected all 12 of its applications for work permits for foreign workers, the first time that such a thing had happened.
"We understand that there is unemployment and they want us to hire local people, but as a Christian organization we do need people who understand the organization's need," Lockhart said.
These new regulations would negatively affect Bridges for Peace and other Christian organizations whose principle aim is to help Israel and the Jewish people. Therefore, fax your concerns that these regulations should only be for the building and farm industry, and not affect the Christian and Jewish religious institutions in Israel whose volunteers are freely providing a service to the nation, not exploiting jobs. Send your letters to Israel Interior Minister, Natan Sharansky, HaKiryah, Jerusalem; fax# 972-2-566-6376; and Director of Jerusalem affairs, Haim Ramon: fax# 972-2-530-3727.
PRAYER FOCUS: Pray that Christian Organizations will not be penalized by the new rules for volunteer visas. Bridges for Peace depends on the assistance of 40 volunteers in Israel. Without their help, it would impossible to assist the needy, and carry on with our many programs in Israel. Pray that an accommodation can be reached with the Israeli officials.
SCRIPTURE: "The Lord will keep you from all harm, He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore" (Psalm 121:7-8).
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