-Caveat Lector- >From ArabicNews.CoM Sharon, Netanyahu deny Russian mediation with Syria Syria, Politics, 4/14/99 Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon has denied news published by the Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday that he asked the Russian leadership to convey a verbal message to Syria including a proposal to resume negotiations between Syria and Israel. At the meantime, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also denied such news. Israel Radio quoted Sharon as saying in a special interview that this news is null, adding that such an issue was not debated in his talks with officials in Moscow. Sharon added during the interview that he opposes withdrawal from the Golan in the context of a settlement with Syria and opposes withdrawal from or in the Golan. Sharon added that he supports Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon without being linked to a settlement with Syria. He added that his talks with the Russians dealt with how to urge Syria to stop its aid to the Hizbullah party. On Tuesday, the Israeli daily Haaretz said that Sharon asked Russia to convey a verbal message from Israel to Syria including a proposal to resume negotiations between the two sides according to two stages. The first stage is based on withdrawal from south Lebanon. Such a withdrawal starts and ends before and after the Israeli elections and it is preferable that Russia will carry out the mediation, while during the second stage discussions will deal with Israel's withdrawal from the Golan and determining the security and peace agreements between Israel and Syria. This stage would start after the reelection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli paper said Sharon's proposal did not indicate the volume of the area from which Israel will withdraw or the response to the Syrian demands to return back to the 1967 border. Estimates note that Syria will reject these proposals. Haaretz added that the question of the Russian mediation between Israel and Syria was on top of topics tackled by Sharon in Moscow. The paper, on the other hand, said Syria finds that Russia cannot carry out such a mediation without an active role played by Washington, saying, "Damascus understands that without U.S. involvement in the process, there would be neither a carrot nor a stick in Russian hands to force Israel to complete the second stage of the deal." The reasons for President al-Assad's postponed visit to Russia Syria, Reporter's View, 4/14/99 The visit of Syrian President Hafez al-Assad to Moscow was important in its timing and then in postponing this visit so current international developments would not make the visit lose its significance. News of the visit was aired by Moscow before Damascus, who kept silent until the Russian ambassador in Damascus volunteered to reveal some of the secret in a press conference in which he tackled the issue of the sale of Russian armaments to Syria. The Russian ambassador then said that nobody has the right to oppose this arms deal and that Russia had sent a note of protest to Washington in this regard, referring to the US plan to sanction Russian companies involved in the transaction. Only then Damascus did break its silence on the eve of the declared date of the visit, saying it was necessitated by the need to rebalance contradicted international relations and to reactivate the Russian role in the Middle East peace process. Al-Assad's decision to postpone the visit was wise indeed (is in light of) the Russians have been deeply involved in the Yugoslav issue, the intensified pressures on President Yeltsin and Sharon's visit to Moscow. But most possibly the direct reason behind the postponement was the persistence of the Russian side to receive Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon whose visit was coincided with President al-Assad's set visit to Moscow, especially as Sharon put on top of agenda of his talks with Russian officials the issue of resuming military cooperation between Syria and Russia. What is also more possible is that Russia preferred to listen to Sharon instead of signing a large arms deal with President al-Assad in subjugation to US and Israeli pressures not to resume military cooperation between Moscow and Damascus. Israel waiting for final plans to minimize troops in south Lebanon Lebanon, Politics, 4/14/99 Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Arens is now waiting for the final army plans to minimize down to one thousand soldiers the number of Israeli troops in occupied south Lebanon, sources said Tuesday. The sources added that the Monday attack in the Beaufort Castle where an Israeli soldier was killed in a mine blast planted by Hizbullah has not changed the Israeli decision to bring down the number of soldiers serving in south Lebanon. Arens told the Israeli Knesset defense and foreign affairs committee on Monday that he has not received any criticism from within the army of his plan to minimize the Israeli military presence in south Lebanon. The move is seen as one of Israel's attempts to reduce the number of its human losses and casualties in South Lebanon in light of mounting attacks and resistance activities by Hizbullah fighters. The Israeli chief of staff Lt. General Shaul Mofaz confirmed that the possibility of evacuating bases in south Lebanon was being investigated in the army. Mofaz told a number of Israeli military correspondents that some time ago a decision was taken to reduce the scope of forces in southern Lebanon. "We reached then the conclusion that it would be right to reduce the number of soldiers on the bases, in order to mitigate the threat posed to our forces," Mofaz admitted. The dead soldier was a member of the minesweeping unit and was defusing the charge when he was killed. Israeli military officers said they were examining how Hizbullah fighters managed to get that close to the highly-guarded Beaufort Castle and plant their mine without being disturbed, detected or arrested by the Israeli Army. Military sources in Israel admitted that Hizbullah fighters have been using different methods and techniques every time they act in south Lebanon and that those tactics are not so easy for the Israeli army to detect or to abort in advance. More than a month ago, a similar bomb claimed the lives of four Israelis, including one senior officer. In response, Israel announced that it would not tolerate similar attacks in the future and a Cabinet special session designed a set of Lebanese targets that were to be attacked once Hizbullah carries out a similar bombing. On Monday night, shortly after the mine blast in the Beaufort, Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for a meeting that went through most of the night. No details came out of the cabinet session on Tuesday morning, but it is believed that the ministers had gone through a list of potential Lebanese targets that Israel's air force might attack in retaliation for the soldier's death. Besides, the Cabinet is believed to have discussed the idea presented by the defense minister to minimize the troops in south Lebanon. Additional threats were also aired on Tuesday when military and political sources alike were quoted as saying that Israel "will deliver a painful blow" to Hizbullah in response to the attack. The sources said that Israel "would prove to Hizbullah that its intention to change the rules of the game is very serious." The sources said the Israeli Army would not conduct what they called an adventurist land operation deep into Lebanon but would depend mainly on the Israeli air force and artillery to pinpoint Hizbullah and other targets beyond Israel's self-proclaimed security zone. Army officers said that one dimension of the Israeli retaliation involves the village of Arnoun, which Israel claims to be the base from which Hizbullah fighters had set out recently for attacks on Israeli soldiers in South Lebanon. A few months ago, the Israeli army tried to confront the problem of mines by reerecting a fence between the occupied South Lebanon and the rest of the country northward but that fence had been ripped down by Lebanese who opposed the move. Copyright © 1998 Arabic News .com . All Rights Reserved. Send comments & suggestions to the webmaster. ArabicNews.com is a trade mark of ArabicNews.com >From Ha'aretz Wednesday, April 14, 1999 U.S. satellite photos show new settlements in West Bank Building down 20% inside Green Line, up 105% in settlements By Ze'ev Schiff, Ha'aretz Defense Editor American satellites have recently revealed that since the Wye accords Israel has established 12 caravan encampments on West Bank hilltops and paved new access roads. For all practical purposes, these can be considered new settlements, even though most are located not far from existing settlements. Analysis of the satellite photos actually shows 18 new encampments, but on closer examination, it was learned that six of them were established just before the Wye conference, held in October 1998. At the time, the U.S. complained to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the six settlements, and the Americans said that they understood this to be a one-time episode. But the Americans became angrier when it became clear that the land-grabbing has continued unabated and has even increased since the Wye accords. Israel says this is not in violation of any accord since there is no reference to establishing settlements in any agreement. But the U.S. says that Israel is establishing facts on the ground on an issue that it had agreed - all the way back in the Oslo accords - would be discussed as part of the final status negotiations. The settlements are one of the six topics that the parties decided to leave to the final status negotiations. The Americans also say that by taking such a wide-ranging measure, Israel is poisoning the atmosphere and pushing the Palestinians into a dangerous corner. The takeover of hilltops is aimed to quickly expanding the amount of West Bank land under Jewish control before the sides begin final status talks and before any modifications are made to the boundaries of the various regions (A, B and C) slated to be handed over to the Palestinians. A system of ostensibly widening existing settlements was chosen in order to avoid the appearance of creating new settlements. Hills are taken over that are within several kilometers of an existing settlement. Sometimes the army opposes this activity during the first stage, but the activity of the settlers continues. A number of caravans are brought to the spot and later everyday activities are initiated. The second stage is marked by the staking out of land for paving an access road. When families begin living in the caravans, the army comes to guard the settlers. (Most are reserve soldiers, including residents of other West Bank settlements.) The army protection is provided despite the fact that the IDF earlier tried to prevent them from settling the spot. U.S. Secretary of State Madeline Albright strongly condemned this settlement activity when she recently met with Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon in Washington. She said that these were unilateral actions that violate an explicit Israeli promise made to the U.S. that it would not create new settlements or expand existing ones. State Department spokesman James Rubin later stated that Washington is concerned about the accelerated pace of settlement activity. Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk repeated this criticism when he met with Netanyahu this week, noting that most of the Israeli settlement activity is concentrated in the central part of the West Bank. It is clear that the Americans have detailed information on this activity. They previously heard many complaints from the Palestinians, but the satellite photographs and information from other sources have confirmed this picture. Nadav Shragai adds: Building starts in West Bank settlements rose by 105 percent in 1998, according to figures released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Construction of 3,900 housing units was initiated in 1998, up from 1,900 in 1997 and 1,680 in 1996. Peace Now noted yesterday that the increase stands in stark contrast with the 20 percent decrease in new building starts within the Green Line: 39,020 in 1998, versus 49,030 in 1997 and 54,260 in 1996. According to Peace Now, some 9 percent of all new housing in 1998 was built in the settlements, compared to 4 percent in 1997 and 3 percent in 1996. The 9 percent figure in 1998 represents three times the relative proportion of Israelis living in settlements. The Peace Now statement also said that there were 5,370 housing units under construction in the settlements at the end of 1998 (up from 3,140 a year earlier). In addition, 45 percent of all building starts in the settlements in 1998 were public housing projects (1,740 out of 3,900), representing a percent rise in public housing construction in 1998 versus 1997, when construction began on 1,000 units. © copyright 1999 Ha'aretz. 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