-Caveat Lector- WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! Tzemach News Service <http://www.tzemach.org/fyi> Week Ending: 16 October 1999 / 6 Cheshvan 5760 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Mine eyes are upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with Me; he that walketh in a way of integrity, he shall minister unto Me." (Psalm 101.6) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SETTLEMENT OUTPOSTS TO BE DISMANTLED: Prime Minister Ehud Barak and leaders of the Yesha Council on Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza reached an agreement Wednesday on the evacuation of 12 outposts. Three outposts originally slated for removal will be permitted to remain. One of the 12 is to remain as pasture land and another as a preparatory school through the end of the school year, and their future will then be discussed. In sum, from the neighborhoods that Barak had threatened to uproot, 60 out of 75 families will remain. Barak has changed his mind regarding a review of 16 other outpost neighborhoods. Their development will be frozen for now. The representatives of these locations can be reached by e-mail at . Meanwhile, two of the best known rabbis on the political right, Eliezer Waldman, head of the Nir hesder yeshiva in Kiryat Arba and MK Haim Druckman (National Religious Party), maintain the removal of encampments in the territories violates halacha. Speaking to THE JERUSALEM POST, the two individually said that no part of the Land of Israel may be abandoned. "It is forbidden to abandon any Jewish possession in the Land of Israel," said Waldman. However, the rabbis have stopped short of issuing a specific halachic ruling concerning the dismantling. (ISRAEL LINE) COHEN RETRACTS ANTI-YESHA DECISION: Only two days before a Supreme Court ruling on a petition by seven Judea and Samaria local councils against him, Minister of Industry and Trade Ran Cohen rescinded his plan to freeze government aid to Yesha factories. Cohen retracted his decision after being advised to do so by the State Attorney. Shortly after taking office this past summer, Cohen announced that he would freeze the aid to Yesha factories (TNS, W/E: 17 July 1999/4 Av 5759). Immediately afterwards, legal experts observed that such a decision was not in his purview, but could only be made by the entire government. Cohen told the Court Monday that Yesha factories would receive "the exact same treatment as plants elsewhere in the country." "The issue is not over yet, though," Shomron Regional Council Head Ben-Tzion Lieberman added, as Cohen has been known to work "behind the scenes" to accomplish his goals, and that local council heads must be on the alert to ensure that the factories receive fair treatment by the government. (ARUTZ-7) ISRAEL RELEASES 151 ARAB PRISONERS: Israel released another 151 Arab prisoners on Friday, completing its commitment under the Sharm el Sheikh Memorandum to release 350 security prisoners. Israel has also agreed to release more prisoners at the beginning of December, during the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. None of those released has killed Israelis, but 38 have slain collaborators. One of them was jailed for killing nine Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel. The government also agreed to release 17 of the 35 pre-Oslo PLO prisoners the Palestinian Authority (PA/PLO) had asked for, some of whom have been indirectly involved in attacks against Israelis or have lightly wounded Israelis. Israel also released Palestinians arrested after the signing of the Oslo agreement, as well as 12 Islamic Jihad and Hamas members who were imprisoned for minor offenses. (ARUTZ-7, ISRAEL LINE, JERUSALEM POST) OPENING OF PASSAGE DELAYED: The opening of a safe passage for Palestinians traveling between the Yesha and the Gaza Strip was again delayed on Saturday. Under last month's Israeli-Palestinian Sharm el Sheik peace agreement, the passage was supposed to open on 1 October, but due to unresolved technical problems the opening date has been repeatedly pushed back. The passage is set to run along a 44 kilometer (27 mile) road between Erez in the northern Gaza Strip and the village of Tarqumiyah in southern Yesha. (AFP) LACK OF FUNDING COULD DAMAGE PEACE PROCESS: PM Barak told visiting Jewish leaders Wednesday that unless the US provides the funds pledged at the signing of the Wye River Memorandum a year ago, progress in negotiations would be difficult. As part of the Wye package, President Clinton pledged $1.9 billion to Israel, the PA/PLO and Jordan. But in passing the Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill last week, Congress omitted $1.2 billion in funding for the Middle East agreement. Israel was to get $1.2 billion in military aid over a three-year period, half of it in the first year. The Palestinians were promised $400 million in economic support funds, while $300 was pledged to Jordan for combined military and economic support. The current embargo of Wye funding is considered by many political observers in Washington a minor skirmish in a much larger budgetary battle between the Republican-led US Congress and the Democratic Clinton White House. In addition, signs of a growing Executive- Legislative rift over foreign policy issues were evident in the Senate's crushing rejection this week of the nuclear test ban treaty so coveted by Clinton. Regarding Wye, Republicans are upset at the President's practice of making commitments of foreign aid without their input, and then expecting a congressional rubber stamp. Congress appears bent at present on meeting strict spending limits in this symbolic Year 2000 fiscal budget. (CNS, ICEJ) ASSAD'S HEALTH FAILING? Syrian President Hafez el-Assad is in a rapidly weakening state of health, according to a report delivered to the Israeli cabinet by Major General Amos Malka, chief of Israel Defense Force (IDF) intelligence. Malka did not specify a medical diagnosis of Assad's particular illness, but did verify that the long-entrenched dictator still has effective rule over the country. According to Malka's appraisement, some believe Assad has been reluctant to resume negotiations with Israel because of his deteriorating condition. This line of thinking holds that Assad may fear Syria would find itself at a disadvantage in those talks if a sudden transition of power is needed in Damascus. He thus is insisting on preconditions that are considered "non-starters" even by US officials. The Israeli military intelligence briefing further noted that Syria is willing to pursue peace solely "on its own conditions," which includes four main elements: an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 lines; symmetrical security arrangements along the Golan; Syria stays in Lebanon; and the U.S. antes up a large military/economic aid package for Damascus. Malka evaluated the Syrian regime as stable, adding that Assad's son, Bashar, still has the inside track in the line of succession to his father, "but as is always the case in the Arab world, everything is subject to change." (ICEJ) PA/PLO INCITEMENT CONTINUES: PA/PLO media incitement continues unabated, despite the PA's Wye commitments to the contrary. So says the director of the Palestinian Media Watch, Itamar Marcus, who noted specifically that "the most recent edition of AL- AYAM, a newspaper edited by a former close advisor of Arafat, published the following poem by a 16-year-old girl on its children's page: "Here am I, my tolerance broken and dreams shattered - Here am I, in my hand the knife of revenge. In the past, they killed me daily, stabbing me hundreds of times. Here I stand, my right hand holds the knife, my left hand - a machine gun and a bomb in my brain due to the fear." Marcus noted that the poem's style is typical of other messages in Palestinian school textbooks and on official PA/PLO television. The Palestinian press also appears to encourage a bellicose stance on the part of Palestinian negotiators. The phrase, "There will be no peace unless..." is used repeatedly. This means that the press is far from the position that peace has already been somewhat achieved and that only the details need to be worked out. Instead, the opposite message is clear: "We will resume the war if our demands are not met." Marcus observed that this is the message, too, of Arafat's "moderate" Fatah wing of the PLO: "The Fatah Secretary-General was quoted in the press last week as praising suicide bombers, adding that an ongoing battle must be waged against Israel until the return [of Palestinian Arabs to present-day Israel] is complete." (ARUTZ-7) WAR GAMES IN EGYPT: Egyptian and American military officers opened two weeks of war games on Saturday, bringing more than 50,000 troops together for the largest military operation since the 1991 Persian Gulf War. For a week, the different forces have been familiarizing themselves with each other's equipment and techniques. The games will test their abilities in fighting together under various wartime scenarios, such as during field combat or in amphibious landings. "All of our forces have trained and prepared extensively to ensure the success of this exercise," US Maj. Gen. Michael Gaw told reporters. "This is the largest employment of forces to have ever occurred since the desert war." Bright Star military maneuvers, held every two years, began in 1981 as a US-Egyptian training exercise. This year, Germany, Greece, Jordan and the Netherlands joined for the first time. Others included Britain, France, Italy, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Observers from an additional 33 countries including Australia, China, India, Pakistan, Rwanda and Spain are also attending the war games, which last until 1 November. Bright Star '99 involves 18,000 US soldiers, most of whom were sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy. (AP, AFP) ON THE NORTHERN FRONT: Terrorists launched a series of attacks on IDF and South Lebanon Army (SLA) outposts in southern Lebanon on Saturday, triggering retaliatory shelling by Israeli forces, security officials said. The attacks, which began at dawn Saturday, were claimed by the Iranian-backed Hizb'Allah organization, the pro-Syrian Shi'ite Muslim Amal movement and the Lebanese Resistance Brigades, a terrorist faction supported by Hizb'Allah. The terrorist attacks came several hours after Israeli warplanes fired missiles at suspected terrorist hideouts in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Commander of the SLA, General Antoine Lahad, reacted strongly Tuesday to leaks out of the Prime Minister's Office that Barak is considering a unilateral withdrawal from the Security Zone as early as this winter. Lahad told YEDIOT AHARONOT, "Some of my soldiers may start working for the Hizb'Allah because of all the uncertainty. They realize that no one is going to care about them." Lahad dismissed as contradictory recent efforts by Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh to ease his concerns by qualifying any such withdrawals as only partial. Lahad is insisting on an urgent meeting with Barak to clarify the Israeli leader's intentions. Another senior Israeli source voiced fears a crisis could happen if the SLA felt Israel might abandon them. Barak publicly has vowed of late to fulfill his campaign promises to be out of Lebanon by next summer. He has already instructed the IDF to draw up plans for a unilateral withdrawal to meet this deadline. In a contrasting development, however, the latest issue of THE JERUSALEM REPORT maintains that Barak has no plans for a unilateral pullback from Lebanon if peace talks with Syria fail to move forward. The REPORT cites three reasons why Barak has reservations over a unilateral withdraw from Lebanon: * It would weaken Israel's deterrent posture. * It would make it harder to ensure a safe future for Israel's South Lebanese allies, and * It would decrease the possibility of securing an international force to serve as a buffer between Lebanese and Israeli forces. (JERUSALEM POST, ICEJ) UN EVICTS REFUGEES: Palestinians who were evicted from their illegally built homes last month protested by occupying United Nations offices in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp near Sidon on Tuesday. After torching blankets, the 30 demonstrators, mostly women and children, entered the offices of the UN Relief and Works Agency, where they threatened to burn the UNRWA flag if they were not granted compensation and new housing. Their homes were razed to make way for a highway last month. The refugees, who were demonstrating for a second day, said they would continue to hold protests until the agency gives them alternative homes. (DAILY STAR) US HIGH COMMAND ROBBED JEWISH TREASURE: A recent news report shows that US forces stole gold that belonged to Hungarian Jews. Appropriation of Nazi loot by US forces took place "at the highest levels," says a presidential commission report released Thursday, listing five US generals who "took valuables ... to furnish their residences and offices." Some valuable items, seized from a Hungarian gold train nine days after the Nazis surrendered, were put up for auction in New York. Less valuable goods were sold in the US Army Exchange, according to the US Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets. The wedding bands alone filled crate after crate. This is so reminiscent (on a smaller scale) of Israeli humorist Ephraim Kishon's tale of his encounter with the Russian soldier who liberated him. The starved Jewish prisoner ran up to this brave man to shake his hand in gratitude, and the soldier smiled and took away his watch. (AP, NEW YORK TIMES) REQUEST TO INVESTIGATE ILLEGAL BROADCASTING PRACTICES: Former MK Tzvi Hendel has asked Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein to investigate whether VOICE OF ISRAEL radio broadcasts from Ram'Allah were aired without a license for many years. The request comes in light of testimony by Civil Administration Communications Head David Cohen during the Arutz-7 trial. Hendel, speaking with ARUTZ-7, confirmed Cohen's testimony that VOICE OF ISRAEL transmitted without a license, and added, "This could possibly be overlooked, but they went even further and transferred the transmitters to the Palestinian Authority without the proper permits well before the signing of the Oslo agreement. This must be investigated." Meanwhile, during Thursday's court proceedings, prosecution representatives confirmed that an investigation of senior members of the Communications Ministry -- who were slated to testify Thursday -- is now underway. "Given this development, the judge consented to our request not to permit these officials to testify until police investigations have been completed," ARUTZ-7 station Operating Manager Yoel Tzur said. "Supervisors and other ministry officials apparently maintained connections with operators of certain pirate radio stations, who provided the ministry with contrived evidence that ARUTZ-7 had been broadcasting from various locations throughout the country," Tzur said. The case is scheduled to continue next week. (ARUTZ-7) LABOR PARTY TO BE FINED 7.3 MILLION SHEKELS: The Labor party will have to pay the government 7.3 million shekels ($1.7 million) for irregularities in its accounts, failure to report publicity expenses, and the receipt of donations from unclear sources. Such is the finding of State Controller Eliezer Goldberg in his annual report on the financial statements of the various political parties for 1998. Labor will have to return six million shekels ($1.4 million) in unused funds, and was fined 1.3 million shekels ($306,200) for the irregularities. No other party was fined nearly as much, and several other parties were fined much smaller amounts. David Levy's Gesher party, for instance, was fined 100,000 shekels ($23,500) for spending 1.6 million shekels ($377,000) more than the limit. THE FIRST 100 DAYS: As Prime Minister Ehud Barak approaches his first 100 days in power, the initial euphoria that greeted his ambitious pledges of an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict has given way to more guarded optimism. "I think he gets good PR [public relations] for all his bold promises," said Efraim Inbar, director of the BESA Centre for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University. "But I doubt very much Barak will be able to achieve peace. I don't think (Syrian President Hafez) Assad is really ready and with (Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat the gulf between their positions is simply too great to be bridged." Since taking office on July 6, Barak has set himself tough deadlines -- a withdrawal from the battlefields of Lebanon in July 2000, a final peace settlement with the Palestinians in September 2000 and an arrangement with Syria by the end of next year. But Palestinians and peace activists complain that, for all his talk of peace, the former army chief of staff who models himself on slain general-turned-peacemaker Yitzhak Rabin often acts more like his right-wing predecessor Bemjamin Netanyahu. And after working meticulously for six post-election weeks to forge a coalition from an array of religious and left-wing movements, Barak has been jolted by the departure of one small ultra-Orthodox party and moves by the powerful Shas movement to form a political alliance with the opposition Likud bloc. (AFP) HAMAS GIVES CONFLICTING SIGNALS: Hamas, gave mixed signals to Israelis Tuesday, as its armed branch promised a conditional end to attacks on civilians, while its political leader warned that the group could carry out an operation at any time. The apparently conflicting statements came as Israeli army chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, warned he had information about planned actions by groups opposed to peace. The armed branch of Hamas, Izzadin al-Kassim, said Tuesday it was ready to stop attacking Israeli civilians. Earlier the organisation's political leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, stoked Israeli fears of a new wave of terror by threats by that a massive anti-Israeli attack could take place "at any time". "A mass attack on a bus could take place as soon as tomorrow morning. There is no ceasefire between us at the moment. Therefore there could be an attack at any time," the wheelchair-bound Yassin said in an interview published in MA'ARIV on Tuesday. Yassin, who spent eight years in Israeli jails, said his organisation intends to carry out attacks in the near future. (AFP) THIS WEEK IN JEWISH HISTORY: 11 October 1973: During the Yom Kippur War, after pushing Syrian troops from the Golan, Israeli troops under General Raful Eitan counterattacked into Syrian territory. During the battle for the Golan, the Syrian army lost approximately 1,100 tanks. Some 3,500 Syrians were killed, and 370 prisoners taken. 15 October 586 BCE (5 Cheshvan 3338): King Zedekiah was blinded and taken into captivity. He was the last king of Judea. Egypt under Hopra was no match for Nebuchadrezzar who pushed out the Egyptians and laid siege to Jerusalem. Zedekiah tried to flee from Jerusalem but was captured along with his sons in Jericho. He ended his life in a Babylonian prison. 15 October 1973: During the Yom Kippur War, General Ariel Sharon led an attack on the Egyptian side of the Suez Canal. Joined by Generals Adan and Magen, within a week they cut off the main road from Cairo to Suez within a week and surrounded Egypt's 3rd Army. The hold on Judea and Samaria greatly improved Israel's negotiating position with the Egyptians and the morale of the country. 16 October 1946: Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the S.S. leader of the RSHA, was hanged after a trial at Nuremberg. Kaltenbrunner, a friend of Eichmann, was a key figure in the implementation of the "Final Solution". (WZO) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tzemach News Service "For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest" Isaiah 62:1 Lee Underwood **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. 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