Israel in April 2001 State of War Persists
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Palestinian Leader Threatens Bloodshed if U.S. Embassy is moved to JerusalemFrom an interview conducted by the Palestinian newspaper Al hayat Al jadida (4/4/01) with Faisel Husseini, Minister of Jerusalem Affairs, Palestinian Authority:
Q: What will happen if Collin Powel implements the decision of Congress to move the U.S. Embassy [in Israel] to Jerusalem?
A: There is no question that this act will push the region into a struggle much bloodier than any we have seen in the past.
Al Hayat Al Jadida (4/4/01) [ Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il ]
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Baghdad is ready to cooperate with the Jordanian King to settle the differences between Iraq and KuwaitIraq-Regional, Politics, 4/9/2001 - Iraq has announced its readiness to cooperate with the Jordanian King Abdullah II in the contacts the latter intends to make concerning relations between Iraq and Kuwait, in implementation of what was agreed upon at Amman's summit. However, Iraq had accused both Saudi Arabia and Kuwaiti of intensifying the atmosphere in the region.
In a live meeting with the Iraqi satelite TV, the Iraqi foreign minister Muhammad saeed al-Sahaf said: " we will deal with our brothers in Jordan, objectively and clearly in regard to the relations between Iraq and Kuwait...
This step came after the two states signed a free trade agreement in January this year. An agreement which is expected to increase the Egyptian exports to Iraq to almost $ one billion annually.
The agency quoted the Egyptian minister of business sector Mukhtar Khattab as saying that the agreements which were signed during the trade exhibition in Baghdad will open the door quickly before more Egyptian commodities to enter the Iraqi markets. Some 180 companies took part in the exhibition which was held last week and exhibited products including foodstuffs, medicines and electrical equipment.
Khattab added that these companies won exportation contracts to export 5299 of small coaches and trucks at a cost of USD 228 million and 100,000 tons of iron and steels at a cost of USD 34 million.
- In Beirut, "The Islamic Movement in Iraq" on Sunday circulated a statement in which it warned against the American project to partition Iraq. The movement said: " the people's pocket's project which the Americans promote together with their hireling in the region is part of a Zionist strategy carried out by the US to create a new tense spot for flairing the civil war."
- [Source: http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010409/2001040935.html ]
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Syrian UN Security Council seat vexes Israel's security counselorsHa'aretz 4/10/01 - Foreign policy mandarins in both the Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister's Office are divided over what to do about Syria's application - and nearly certain shoo-in - as the Asia bloc representative on the UN Security Council for the coming two years... as Syria is seen having the votes to win the coveted seat, Jerusalem should be objecting to Damascus getting such an important role in the world body... noting that Syrian President Bashar Assad has become a vehement supporter of the Palestinian Intifada, and has been routinely attacking Israel with particularly vituperative rhetoric, most recently at the March summit of the Arab League in Amman. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rarely commented publicly on Syria since taking office, though he did spend some of his time with President Bush last month in the White House discussing Damascus. Sharon told Bush that Syria's support of the most radical anti-peace elements in the Middle East, including support for Hezbollah in Lebanon and its hosting of rejectionist groups in Damascus, should keep it on the U.S. list of countries that support terrorism.
But those opposed to fighting a Syrian seat, while appreciating the argument for launching a campaign, argue about the results. Since Israel will be unable to prevent the vote in favor of Syria getting its two-year term on the council, it would be a wasted diplomatic effort to fight the vote. Some sources in the PMO's office agree with that tack, saying that Israel could even benefit from having Syria on the council, at the very least using the fact that an enemy country has such an important role at the U.N. as proof that the body is hostile to Israel.
If there is a decision to fight the vote, the main target of Israel's campaign will be Washington. Syria is one of the countries on Washington's list of states that support terrorism. How will an American ambassador to the U.N. vote in favor of letting Syria onto the council? Israeli diplomats will ask. On the other hand, Washington wants to draw Syria into the anti-Iraq coalition. Like Israel, Washington also hasn't made up its mind what to do about the Syrian candidacy. [via: imra@imra.org.il ]
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INTERVIEW: Sharon says no evacuation of settlements, stay on Golan, Israel will annex security zones if PA declares stateHa'aretz - 4/10/01 - "I do not see any reason to evacuate any settlements. So long as there is no peace, we will stay sitting there. If after some time, God willing, there will be peace, there will certainly be no reason for them [the settlers] not to stay there," he said.
Sharon believes that the presence of Jewish settlements in the territories is of twofold importance - historical and strategic. "Is it possible at this time to relinquish control over the mountain aquifer, which provides us with a third of our water? Is it possible to give up the frontier area in the Jordan Valley? In any case, the settlements will sit where they are. They guard both the birthplace of the Jewish people and also grant us essential strategic depth to protect our existence."
Regarding the nature of a future accord on Jerusalem, Sharon says that "we have no right to make concessions in Jerusalem. We simply have no right." Regarding an agreement with the Syrians, Sharon said, "We cannot come down from the Golan Heights." Withdrawing from the Golan or the Jordan Valley would be a "real existential threat," he said.
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An Arab- Israeli war is expected in JuneRegional-Israel, Politics, 4/10/2001 - A report sneaked by the Israeli military intelligence, known as "Amaan," described as secret, expected the possibility of a war to be erupted between the Arabs and Israel in June. [Source: http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010410/2001041005.html ]
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Assimilation: will it spell the end of the Jews?4/11/01 - Religious leaders are appalled that Jewish communities continue to shrink. Could the watering down of Judaism threaten their very survival? In the second of a three-part series, Graham Turner talks to Jews in Britain and the United States about their fears - and to others, Orthodox and converts among them, who are determined to defy the tide 'AMERICA is finishing Hitler's work," declared James Adelman, a Jewish lawyer who lives near Chicago. Like a good many other Jews, he is deeply worried by the steep decline and dilution of the Jewish community in the United States because so many young Jews are "marrying out".
Orthodox future? The British Jewish community has fallen to 260,000 "The trouble," he said, "is that America is such an open, tolerant society. You can fight an enemy who persecutes you, but how can you fight a friend who offers you a drink? In the last three years, I haven't been to a single wedding where both partners were Jewish. I think the Jewish culture in America will simply disappear."
"They're killing us with kindness in this country," agreed Betty Nan Obermayer, wife of a former newspaper owner, who lives in Virginia. "Assimilation is inevitable and, as that goes on happening, we'll lose our historical identity. In its present form, Judaism in America is doomed."
Her husband, Herman, added that he had seen a cartoon in a magazine which showed two people standing under a chuppa, a Jewish marriage canopy. The woman had a Star of David on her back, the man a cross. The caption was "The Final Solution", and there hadn't even been a question mark after it.
All three of the Obermayers' married daughters have chosen husbands from outside the Jewish community. Herman Obermayer shrugs his shoulders. If your children decided to marry non-Jews, what were you going to do about it?
The sense of dismay is patent, and the statistics certainly look ominous. In America, six out of 10 Jews are marrying out. In Britain, according to Rabbi Charles Middleburgh, the leader of the Jewish Liberal community, it is as many as two thirds.
The consequences for the future of the community in both countries are dire. "Where there's a mixed marriage," said Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, who runs the World Union for progressive Jewry in New York, "only 28 per cent of the children are raised Jewish. In the next generation, a mere six per cent identify themselves as Jewish. So, in just two generations, you've eliminated the Jewish line.
"The anti-Semites obviously got it wrong. Instead of persecuting the Jews, which only served to perpetuate Jewish identity, what they should have done was to embrace us."
Once, Jews who married out were severely stigmatised. "Thirty years ago," said the comedian Jackie Mason, "their parents would have killed them. Now, they don't even object."
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, one of the US Supreme Court justices, told me that she wasn't at all disappointed that her daughter had married a Catholic. He was a fine young man, whereas the first Jewish boy she had been out with was "unbearable". Her grandchildren are not being brought up in either religion, but know about both.
Jewish religious leaders across the world are appalled by what is happening. To the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, the rate of marrying out spells "massive demographic devastation and confusion". In Britain, the Jewish community has fallen from 450,000 in the Fifties to 260,000 today.
In America, where the birth rate among all Jews is the lowest of any ethnic community, Jews now make up only two per cent of the population, half what it was 40 years ago. Israel Lau, the Chief Rabbi of Israel, says the Jews have lost more to "attrition" than they did to the Holocaust.
The pessimists, what is more, believe there is worse to come. Leo Kramer, a Washington businessman, forecasts that the number of Jews in America will be halved within the next 25 years. Gertrude Himmelfarb, one of America's leading social historians, believes that what she calls "the frenzy of inter-marriage" will produce "a point of diminishing returns, where you no longer have a critical mass of Jews - that's to say, enough people to reinforce your own convictions. At that point, the saving remnant will not save any more."
To religious Jews, this entire crisis is the result of a laxity in observance, a failure to take Judaism seriously. There is no doubt that, in the years after the war, a great many British and American Jews were only too ready to dump religious practices that not only made no particular sense to them but also set them apart from the Gentile community. They wanted to be both accepted and successful.
...more at ... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000579381554028&rtmo=gjngwNku&atmo=99999999 &pg=/et/01/4/11/tljew11.html
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Annan proposes own peace planHa'aretz - 4/13/01 - UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has released his own plan for reducing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, calling for a renewal of the political negotiations.
In a statement issued Wednesday in New York, Annan warns the violence could get out of control, and says taking security steps is not enough to end the violence. He thus rejects Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's argument that there should be no negotiations under fire...
The UN chief urges both sides to cease all violence and to fully implement the Sharm el Sheikh understandings - which called for a cease-fire, the appointment of the Mitchell Commission to investigate the violence, and renewal of the negotiations for a permanent settlement. He says Israel should "lift the siege" on Palestinian territories and transfer to the Palestinians (the) taxes Israel collected on the Palestinian Authority's (PA) behalf. "These steps could return the parties to the table," said Annan's statement...
Another diplomat stepping up involvement in the region is Xavier Solana, who conducts foreign relations for the European Union.
Three weeks ago, at the EU summit in Stockholm, Solana was assigned the task of preparing a report on how Europe can play a more active role in the region.
Meanwhile, Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdulilah al-Khatib is expected in Israel next week for meetings with Sharon and Peres to formally present a Jordanian-Egyptian proposal for calming the hostilities and renewal of the political process. [Source: http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=4/13/01&i d=116944 ]
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'Four U.S. rejections scuttled Security Council resolution'4/13/01 - by Amira Hass Ha'aretz - Four U.S. 'noes' scuttled chances of a European proposal for a UN Security Council resolution that would have recommended ways - including "a mechanism for defense" - to halt the deterioration in the situation between Israel and the Palestinians, European sources said yesterday.
The four noes, say sources in the behind-the-scenes talks, shocked the representatives of the four European countries that put together the resolution - Ireland, Britain, Norway and France. One European source declared less than diplomatically that, "The American noes proved that Israel is a full member of the Security Council, and has the veto as well."
The Americans did not want any mention of the settlements, the Geneva Convention and international law; they opposed mention of the word "siege"; and they objected to any mention of the principle of land-for-peace, said European sources.
The Europeans said they got the impression that Washington wanted only a UN call for an end to the violence and an opening of the roads out of Palestinian towns and villages. "An economic sweetener," is how one diplomatic source described it.
The sources added that, if there was one incident above all that turned the Americans against any compromise on a resolution, it was the murder of 10- month-old Shalhevet Pass in Hebron by a Palestinian sniper.
On March 27, the United States cast a veto on a resolution submitted by the non-aligned countries in coordination with the Palestinian delegation to the UN. In Israel, it was reported that the European proposal was not submitted because of Palestinian objections: Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had not wanted to appear at the Arab League Summit, then under way in Amman, as someone ready to compromise on the Palestinian issue...
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Netanyahu's proposed Israel-Syria peace treaty14 April 2001 - The following is the text of the photocopy of "Treaty of peace between Israel and Syria" that illustrates an article appearing in the 13 April edition of Yediot Ahronot. The illustration does not include paragraphs 6,7, and 8 and are translated back to English from the Hebrew translation of Yediot Ahronot. The article is under the byline of Eitan Amit from New York.
It purports to be the proposed agreement that Ronald Lauder presented on behalf of then Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
Yediot Ahronot reports that Netanyahu's office emphasizes he did not agree to withdrawal to the 1923 line (next to the Kinneret) but rather to "base" a border on it - leaving open just where the border would be. The number of months for the period of the withdrawal was left blank.
TREATY OF PEACE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SYRIA
Israel and Syria have decided to establish peace between them. The peace will be based on the principles of security, equality, respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of both. The Parties agree to the following provisions.
1. The state of war between the Parties will be terminated and peace will be established between them upon the signing of this Treaty.
2. Israel will withdraw from the Syrian lands taken in 1967, in accordance with Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, which establish the right of all states to secure and recognized borders and the "land for peace" formula, to a commonly agreed border based on the international line of 1923. The withdrawal will be effected in 3 stages over a period of [.] months with full normalization being completed by the end of withdrawal (exchange of ambassador at the outset).
3. Due to the existing agreements between Syria and Lebanon, negotiations between Syria and Israel and negotiations between Lebanon and Israel should proceed simultaneously, both in solution and in the signing of peace agreements between Syria and Israel and Lebanon and Israel.
4. Each Party undertakes to ensure that acts or threats of violence will not originate from its territory. Syria will make every effort to assure an end to paramilitary activities and other hostile acts of violence against Israel emanating from Lebanon.
5. The prevention of the danger of surprise attack is a high-priority objective of the agreed-upon security arrangements. These will be based on mutuality and reciprocity and confined to relevant areas on both sides of the border, taking into account geographic differences. Such differences will be made up for in order to redress the balance in the implementation of the security arrangements.
+++[The section below translated back from Hebrew]+++
6. Security arrangements will go into effect with the establishment of three zones, on the two sides of the border, in stages that will be parallel to the stages of the Israelis withdrawal (as marked on the attached map [IMRA the article says there was no map]): A. Demilitarized zone. B. Limited force and weapons zone. C. Zone limited to defensive weapons.
7. In order to strengthen the stability and to preserve trust existing observation and warning stations will remain on the Golan. In accordance with the development of relations between the Parties, Israeli presence will be integrated into a multi-national observation center, with observers from Syria, France and the USA.
8. The peace will include full normalization of relations, mutual recognition, the opening of embassies and economic relations - on condition that they are in accordance with the laws of the two States and are in accordance with international peace (laws).
++++ Remainder from original English
9. The issue of water is to be addressed in accordance with international laws and norms, assuring present water use and the development of new water resources.
10. Syria will seek the achievement of a comprehensive peace in the region with the real and lasting peace between Syria and Israel at its forefront. Both Parties agree to prevent the entry of military forces of a third party, in circumstances which may threaten the security of the other Party. Both Parties will seek to cooperate with other states to enhance regional security and stability.
[Separate assurance. there will be a total cessation of hostilities in Lebanon upon the signing of this declaration] [in hand writing] Aug. Sat. 29, 98 - via: imra@imra.org.il
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A Model of the Temple Brought to the Temple Mount During Pesach Pilgrimage of the Faithful MovementApril 15, 2001 - It was, firstly, a message to the G­d of Israel that His end-time servants, the Faithful Movement, are ready for the rebuilding of His house on the Temple Mount, both spiritually and physically, and that the efforts for the architectural plans will continue even more intensively in the near future. At the same time it was also a clear message to the Arab enemies of Israel who now occupy the Temple Mount and have closed its gates to Jews and Israelis and non-Moslems that their foreign occupation and pagan worship can no longer continue and very soon the time will come when G­d, together with a brave and visionary Israeli Government will remove them and their pagan shrines from the holy mountain of the G­d and people of Israel. It was also a message to all the nations who support the Arabs and the PLO terrorist organisation on the Temple Mount that they cannot prevent the G­d of Israel and His prophetic end-time plans to redeem His holy mountain from a foreign pagan presence and to allow Israel to rebuild His holy temple at this time.
The model is a perfect representation of the Second Temple as a basis for the Third Temple. It is so real that a viewer can feel that one is walking in the temple itself and its chambers.
It was a very exciting and historic moment when the model was carried up to the western gate of the Temple Mount which was closed to the Faithful and the model. It was the first time since the destruction that the Temple Mount and many thousands of Israelis again saw the temple, despite the fact that it was only a model. However the testimony was very clear and exciting and everyone could feel the presence of the G­d of Israel and the march of history in this end-time event. People came and expressed their excited emotions when they touched and even kissed the model with tears in their eyes. Men and women, the elderly and the young, started to pray or to sing Psalms around the model as if they were in the temple itself.
Suddenly their dreams, desires, hopes and prayers of almost 2000 years started to be fulfilled. Everyone felt as if a great step towards the rebuilding of the temple had been taken and that the next step, the rebuilding of the temple itself, will come to pass. It was during the festival of the Pesach pilgrimage when hundreds of priests blessed many thousands of Israelis in front of the Western Wall when the hearts of the priests and Israelis were directed to the top of the holy mountain which is behind the wall and the location of the Holy of Holies where the G­d of Israel dwells. These blessings were performed by the priests during the festivals in the temple while they were covered with their prayer shawls and their hands were raised with their fingers spread to form the image of a shin - the first letter of the name of the G­d of Israel. We believe and know that soon they will again do it in the right place inside the temple on the Temple Mount.
This year we could not bring the omer to the Temple Mount because this year is a shmita year, the 7th year when the ground has to remain unplanted and unharvested. In temple times a special part of the fields in Israel was planted specifically for the production of the omer offering so that this holy sacrifice which was only for G­d Himself was not prevented. Also this offering only for G­d was brought to the temple from the safiach, the grain which had sprouted from seeds which had fallen during harvest of the previous year and which had not been tended to except that the plants had been protected from animals and other pollution or damage because it was holy and dedicated as an offering to G­d in the temple. We could not plant a special part of land for the omer or take it from the safiach because this can only be done when the temple exists. We are praying and will do our best to see that next year the omer will be brought to the rebuilt temple.
The march and the pilgrimage of the Temple Mount Faithful Movement to the Temple Mount took place during this Pesach at a very critical time in Israel when the violence of the terrorists of the murderer, Arafat, continues. The terrorists, Yasser Arafat and his friend Faisel Housseini, warned the Prime Minister of Israel, Ariel Sharon, against opening the Temple Mount to Jewish pilgrims. Over the last six months, the Temple Mount has been closed by the Arabs to Jews and Christians since the beginning of the violence. The last Jew to visit the Temple Mount was Ariel Sharon himself in September last year. As we stated in our previous report, the Prime Minister commanded the security forces of Israel to find a way to open the Temple Mount to Jews and Christians. When the Temple Mount Faithful came to the Temple Mount last Tuesday, 10th April 2001, they found all the gates of the Temple Mount closed to them and to everyone else. Hundreds of young Arabs demonstrated inside the Temple Mount beside the Western Gate to prevent the Faithful from entering. Later, when the Faithful marched to the other gates of the Temple Mount the did they sam thing at those gates after having been inflamed to do so by Faisel Husseini. Unfortunately, Ariel Sharon did not fulfil his promise and did not disperse this violent demonstration of the Arabs in the most holy place of the G­d and people of Israel and all the earth and open the gates to the Faithful and all the Israelis and tourists. It was a demonstration of weakness in the eyes of the Arab terrorists and it encouraged them to continue their violence.
Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement P.O. Box 18325 Yochanan Horkanos 4 Jerusalem 91182 Israel - gershon@templemountfaithful.org http://www.templemountfaithful.org ______________________________
PA officials slam U.S. position on conflict - "blind support" for IsraelHa'aretz Sun, 15 Apr 2001 - The attitude of the current U.S. government to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is "the worst of all previous American administrations," charged Nabil Sha'ath, a senior minister in the Palestinian Authority, in a recent interview to the Voice of Palestine radio station.
In similar vein, top Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said, "There appears to be blind support for Israel in the American administration and it is not functioning according to the guidelines that previous U.S. administrations had adopted in the peace process - that is, in terms of United Nations resolutions 242 and 338."
The American administration was finding it easier to confront the Arab and Muslim world rather than the Zionist lobby in the United States, Erekat said.
Refering to a number of recent interviews with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that were published in the Israeli press, Erekat added: "In fact, there is no room for any cooperation with this [Israeli] government. Sharon is not interested in peace, but in Palestinian capitulation both on the ground and at the negotiating table."
Erekat described Sharon's view of the ways in which the peace process may move forward - for example, a long-term interim agreement between the two sides - as giving "a green light" to the settlement enterprise in the territories.
Sha'ath met Friday in Gaza with former justice minister Yossi Beilin. The Israeli opposition lawmaker said that he saw his role as "creating room for hope that would facilitate the achievement of a just solution through negotiations and without aggression. [Source: IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis Website: www.imra.org.il ]