WJPBR Email News List [EMAIL PROTECTED] Peace at any cost is a prelude to war! Tzemach News Service ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A weekly update of news and events regarding the nation and people of Israel Week Ending: 6 May 2000 / 1 Iyar 5760 "For the day of the L-rd draws near on all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you. Your dealings will return on your own head." (Obadiah 1.15) PLO REJECTS INTERIM PROPOSAL: Israel and the Palestinians (PA/PLO) resumed negotiations Saturday night despite smoldering Palestinian resentment over Israeli proposals for a permanent peace agreement, an American official said Saturday. Israeli officials denied a report by PLO sources which stated that Israel had made a proposal for interim statehood in 66 percent of Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza Strip) in exchange for postponing negotiations over final borders and the Jerusalem issue beyond next September. Officials said that no concrete territorial proposals have yet been forwarded to the Palestinians. According to Israeli sources, Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PA/PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat are expected to meet either Sunday or Monday to try to iron out key differences in the negotiations for the framework for the permanent status agreement. US Special Mideast Envoy Dennis Ross met Friday night with Arafat in Ram'Allah after a Thursday meeting with Barak. A PA/PLO source close to the negotiations said that while talks will resume, the Palestinians will not discuss borders until there is an Israeli commitment to implement UN resolutions 242 and 338. Barak's secret emissary, Yossi Ginosar, briefed Yasser Arafat Sunday morning on the upcoming transfer of Abu Dis, Azariyah, and Swahara to Palestinian control. It was reported last week that the three Arab villages outside Jerusalem would be handed over to the PA/PLO. The Prime Minister is of the opinion that Israeli confidence-building gestures such as this are vital for the negotiating process. Meanwhile, MK Tzvi Hendel (National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu) filed suit with the Supreme Court last against the involvement of Ginosar -- a former GSS Interrogation Department head -- in the diplomatic process, given his "conflict of interest." Ginosar is a part-owner of the Palestinian casino in Jericho, and has other business ties with Arafat's millionaire economic advisor, Muhammad Rashid. PLO CREATES 'JERUSALEM DATABASE': A new PLO database program has been developed to help residents of Arab refugee camps identify their pre-1948 homes within Israel. This should help the public realize the extent of the Palestinian demands, says Israel Resource journalist David Bedein, who broke the news of a new Palestinian "right of return" program. "If this becomes known to the Israeli public, a national crisis of confidence in the peace process would ensue," according to Bedein. The Palestine Liberation Organization released Wednesday a multi-colored 40-page "Palestinian Refugee" brochure, in which is delineated the organization's demands for the "right of return" for Arabs who, before 1948, lived in what is now the State of Israel. Bedein told ARUTZ-7's Ron Meir of his visit this week to the Orient House in Jerusalem: "Their new computers help locate homes owned by Arabs before 1948, and make a connection between those homes and the Arabs in refugee camps ... These neighborhoods, such as Katamon, Baka, and Talbieh, are in Jerusalem-proper -- so proper that many of my friends and colleagues active in the Peace Now movement live there." The entire interview with Bedein can be heard on ARUTZ-7's website at <http://www.a7.org/engclips/040500/bedein-refug.ram>. ISRAEL NOT SPYING ON WHITE HOUSE: Following a dramatic report by the US magazine INSIGHT, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation has denied that it discovered that Israel eavesdropped on the White House and other US government facilities. The FBI said that after a year- long investigation into suspicions of Israeli wiretapping, the US agency had concluded that there were no grounds for the suspicions. Israel was initially suspected of having intercepted the telephone lines of top officials in the White House, the State Department, the Defense Department and the Justice Department by using advanced technology with a remote control system. The Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry also denied the magazine report. The US administration also denied the allegations. Israeli sources said that elements within the US government take routine precautionary steps and that whenever there is any tension with Israel, reports on supposed Israeli espionage against the United States are leaked to the press. They noted that this had happened in the past and was happening again now against the background of US opposition to Israel's deal to sell PHALCON spy planes to China. Meanwhile, Pentagon official Tuesday criticized Israel's plan to sell radar technology to China, saying the US may have to limit military sales to Israel in the future. The official was responding to questions about a plane Israel is building for China and equipping with the US- developed PHALCON airborne early warning radar system at a cost of $250 million. The US has said the plane would upset the military balance in Asia and pose a threat to US-backed Taiwan. Israeli officials have said the plane is defensive in nature. In other news, Israel and the US have scored their first success in demonstrating that a laser system can shoot down incoming enemy rockets. The next stage is for the Tactical High Energy Laser to shoot down an incoming enemy rocket in a test planned for later this month. "It will be the first engagement of the Katyusha rocket by a tactical high energy laser, something that is militarily useful," said Lt. Gen. John Costello, head of the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. "Frankly, we've designed it with the Israelis because of the threat to northern Israel. Costello said the initial range would be more than six kilometers, or four miles. Pentagon officials would not release more details. KIRYAT SHMONA COMES UNDER FIRE: On Thursday Hizb'Allah terrorists fired several volleys of Katyusha rockets into Israel and Israeli outposts in southern Lebanon. An IDF (Israel Defense Force) soldier -- Wt. Officer Shaked Ozeri, of Elyachin (a town just south of Hadera) -- was killed when his jeep was hit directly by a Katyusha. Israel responded with air strikes on Lebanese power stations in Beirut and north of Tripoli, which left large parts of the country without electricity. The main Beirut-Damascus highway was also bombed in one spot, cutting off traffic. IAF planes also struck Hizb'Allah targets, including an ammunition dump in the Bekaa Valley, where Katyusha rockets were said to have been stored. Fighting continued Friday with damage in Kiryat Shmona and other northern Israel areas. Over 25 Israelis were injured in the Katyusha attacks. An Israeli air raid in south Lebanon near Nabatiyeh on Wednesday missed its intended target and wounded twelve civilians. The target was the house of a leader of the pro-Syrian Amal terrorist faction. Instead, the shells landed adjacent to the house, causing civilians to be moderately injured. In other fighting, two civilians were killed. Israel has complained in the past of Hizb'Allah and Amal gunmen using civilian areas to launch attacks on SLA and IDF outposts. [Instead of standing and fighting on their own, the Muslim terrorists hide in the midst of civilians and fight from there. Israel, therefore, must many times fire near civilian areas in order to protect itself. -ed] Even though Israel was retaliating against Hizb'Allah attacks, the Arab world condemned Israel's defensive actions. The official Saudi news agency SPA said the Israeli attacks 'threatened the region's security' and had 'a negative impact on the peace process.' In Syria, which controls much of Lebanon, Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara condemned the Israeli raids in telephone conversations with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US Secetary of State Madeleine Albright. [Do you get the picture of a bully who picks a fight when no one is looking and then gets everyones attention saying it was the other guy who started it? -ed] ISRAEL CLOSER TO FULL UN MEMBERSHIP: The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Council of the European Union, Jamie Gama, informed the press on Wednesday that Israel has, in principle, been accepted into the United Nations Western European and Others regional grouping (WEOG). The pending decision to admit Israel to the body will finally end decades of diplomatic discrimination against the Jewish state, and could eventually allow it to hold a seat on the Security Council. Gama called the admittance of Israel to the WEOG "a very significant step" for the Europeans. He added the details of its membership would be worked out later. Israel has long sought full acceptance into the international body, as it is the only UN member not part of a regional group and is therefore barred from membership in many organizations, including the Security Council. Arab and Muslims states have blocked Israel's membership in its natural Asaian grouping, and Jerusalem has sought temporary admittance to the catch-all WEOG, which several EU states have delayed until now. ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE WORLD TODAY: The number of antisemitic acts worldwide in 1999 was similar to that of 1998, according to an annual survey released Monday. But there was a rise in the degree of brutality in attacks by Right-wing extremists in the US and Russia, as well as an increasing use of the Internet by extremists to goad one another to action. There were 32 major attacks - defined as those involving the use of a weapon or an explosive - compared with 36 in 1998, according to the survey by Tel Aviv University's Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism, in cooperation with the World Jewish Congress and the Anti-Defamation League. "The number of cases is almost the same as last year, but the problem is the severity of the cases - not the numbers, not even the frequency," said researcher Prof. Dina Porat. "The severity of the cases has been on the rise - especially in the United States and Russia." The survey noted a shift in focus from extremist Moslem anti-Jewish terrorism to violence committed "by extreme Right-wingers holding classical antisemitic views. The growing tendency toward ultra Right- wing terrorism was evident especially in the US, where despite a four percent decline in incidents, the summer of 1999 witnessed some of the worst antisemitic attacks ever recorded. Not included in the report, but just as important, is the shocking rise in vitriolic antisemitism across the Arab world. This extraordinary paradox of Israeli and Arab political leaders attempting to build peace while official Arab media, schools, religious leaders and intellectuals actively demonize the Jewish people is startling. ASSAD'S SON MOVES TOWARDS SUCCESSION: Reports from Syria say the ruling Ba'ath party is to have its first national congress in fifteen years next month. Sources within the party told a BBC correspondent in Damascus that the meeting would see major changes within the leadership of the organisation. They said President Hafez al-Assad's son, Bashar, would be invited to join the party's top hierarchy. There's has been widespread speculations in Syria that the ailing president, who's been in power since 1971, has long been preparing his son to succeed him. Meanwhile, citing Western diplomats in Damascus, the London SUNDAY TELEGRAPH reported last week that Assad suffered a stroke that has "paralyzed his regime." The paper noted that Assad failed to deliver his traditional address to the nation on 7th April, the anniversary of the founding of his ruling Ba'ath party, and that he missed Independence Day celebrations 10 days later. "Although Mr. Assad has been written off before," writes the TELEGRAPH's Philip Sherwell, "American intelligence experts now believe that he has only months to live." The paper predicts a vicious power struggle "and probable bloodbath" between Assad's younger brother, Rifa'at and his son and heir-apparent, Bashar. Syria's press, for its part, is attempting to portray a "business-as-usual" attitude. VISITORS ATTACKED IN HEBRON: A group of about 40 visitors, including Russian new immigrants and Kiryat Arba residents were brutally attacked by a mob of Arabs Friday morning. The group, touring ancient sites in Hebron, arrived at Plot 52, behind the Tel Rumeida neighborhood. The Arabs began hurling huge cement blocks at them and beating them with wooden poles. Several people were lightly injured and were treated. A short time later police and other security forces arrived at the scene. Eventually, police entered a nearby house and arrested three men. The attack was clearly planned ahead of time and can be described as nothing less that an ambush. The group visiting in the area was brutally attacked with cement blocks and wooden poles, prepared in advance. Arab photographers were at the scene immediately, having been previously notified of the upcoming attack. PROTESTS TO CONTINUE: Hours after security forces evicted some 50 settlers from a hilltop near Elon Moreh, settler leaders vowed to step up actions against any further withdrawal in Judea and Samaria and to continue to assert their presence on hills adjoining settlements. Meanwhile, Elyakim Haetzni generated harsh criticism from both left and right when, on ISRAEL RADIO, he said that "every soldier or policeman who carries out such an act is obeying an illegal order ... while resistance should not surpass the norms of reasonable violence, if it is used against them in that kind of framework, then violence is allowed." MK Rabbi Chaim Druckman (NRP) said that violence must not be usedunder any circumstances. He emphasized, however, that the Rabbinic ruling issued several years ago calling on soldiers to refuse to carry out orders to evacuate Jews from their homes is still in effect. THIS WEEK IN JEWISH HISTORY: 30 April 1492: On this day Spain passed the "Edict of Expulsion". Since professing that Jews were not under the jurisdiction of the Inquisition, the Church leveled a ritual murder accusation against them in Granada. Over fifteen thousand Jews had to flee. 1925 Paris: The Revisionist party was founded by Zev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky. Jabotinsky adhered to in the Herzlian concept that Zionism is basically an ideological movement. The revisionists believed that the highest priority of the Zionist movement should be in bringing the greatest number of Jews to Eretz Israel in the shortest possible time. 1 May 1946: English-American Commission on the Jewish Refugee Problem in Europe advised to allow the immediate entry of 100,000 Jews into Eretz Israel. 2 May 1160: Bishop William of Beziers, France, who was appalled by the custom of beating of Jews during Palm Sunday, issues an order excommunicating priests who do so. 1921: Arabs rioted in Yaffo (of pre-state Israel), killing forty Jews and wounding two hundred others. The riots soon spread to Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Kfar Saba, Hadera and Rehovot. The British decided to appease the Arabs and "redefine" the borders of the Balfour Declaration. This material has been adapted from "Beyond Time and History" by Eli Birnbaum (Sources: AP, JERUSALEM POST, REUTERS, ARUTZ-7, HA'ARETZ, WORLD TRIBUNE, ICEJ, WASHINGTON POST) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 Tzemach News Service is a ministry of Tzemach Institute for Biblical Studies <http://www.tzemach.org> 'TNS.' may be reproduced & distributed in any form. Please give proper credit. Lee Underwoo **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for nonprofit research and educational purposes only.[Ref. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml ] Want to be on our lists? Write at [EMAIL PROTECTED] for a menu of our lists! <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html <A HREF="http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
