Tuesday, April 10, 2001

*PALESTINIANS FIRE 30 MORTARS IN 3 DAYS
*ISRAELI-ARAB JOURNALIST HELD BY PA
*ISRAELI DIES IN BOLIVIA
*MAN CHANGES LAST NAME TO ".COM"
*ECONOMIC BRIEFS

PALESTINIANS FIRE 30 MORTARS IN 3 DAYS
  Palestinians fired 30 mortars at Israeli targets inside Israel and the
Gaza Strip over the past three days, HA'ARETZ ON-LINE reported. After
repeated mortar attacks over the weekend, Palestinians fired three mortars
at Kibbutz Nahal Oz, inside Israel, on Sunday night. Several other mortars
were fired at the Jewish communities of Atzmona and Eli-Sinai in the Gaza
Strip. No one was injured. On Monday, one mortar landed several feet away
from a school, which was empty due to Passover vacation. Mortars were also
launched today at the Jewish communities of Nisanit and Katif in the Gaza
Strip. Israel Defense Forces responded by targeting Palestinian
installations in the Gaza Strip today and throughout the weekend.
  Meanwhile, according to YEDIOT AHARONOT, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke
with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Sunday and told him that the
"current situation is unbearable." Sharon added that "officials in the
Palestinian Authority are behind the mortar attacks, in clear contrast to
the Oslo accords."
  Palestinian gunmen continued to fire at Israelis in the West Bank over the
weekend, shooting at a schoolbus near Jericho, lightly wounding a resident
of the Shavei Shomron community and firing at Israeli vehicles en route to
Jerusalem.
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ISRAELI-ARAB JOURNALIST HELD BY PA
  Yussef Samir, a prominent Israeli-Arab journalist, was arrested by the
Palestinian Authority and has been held in Bethlehem for the past five days,
THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
  According to police sources, Samir entered Bethlehem last Wednesday to go
shopping with his wife. He was stopped by Palestinian policemen who told him
that being an Israeli citizen, he was not welcome in PA territory. Samir and
the policemen got into an argument, and Samir said, "who are you to expel
me?  I have done more than you for this country." Samir then went home to
bring some books he had written about Palestinian issues to show the
policemen. When he returned to Bethlehem, however, Samir was ordered to
report to Palestinian police headquarters.
  Once there, Samir's wife was told to go home, and he was held at the
police station.
Later in the day, his wife received a call from her husband who told her to
bring over the medication he was taking for his heart condition. He also
instructed her, apparently under coercion, to bring the licensed gun that he
kept at home.
  The next day, when he still did not return home, his wife returned to
Bethlehem, but was told by the Palestinian police to leave the area because
her husband "had already been released." His car, which was parked near the
PA government building in Bethlehem, had vanished. Samir has not been heard
from since.
  An Israeli police spokesman said on Monday that the matter is under
investigation. "Unfortunately," he said, "there has been no progress
whatsoever from the Palestinian side." Anton Ayoub, head of the Israel
Police liaison unit with the Palestinians, met with his PA counterparts on
Monday to discuss the matter. "As far as we are concerned, Samir is still
being held in Bethlehem," he said.
  Samir, 63, was originally an Egyptian citizen. He moved to Israel in 1968
after being persecuted by the Egyptian authorities for writing a series of
articles about then-President Gamal Abdul Nasser considered "unflattering."
Samir was a political refugee at first, but was later naturalized. He worked
as an editor and anchor at Israel Radio's Arabic Service, and lived in the
Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. His daughter, Haya, is a well-known Israeli
singer. "This is a person who has done only good things for the Palestinian
people," his ex-wife Lili said today, "a person who identified with them,
and who only wanted quiet."
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ISRAELI DIES IN BOLIVIA
  Mor Shoham, 22, died on Sunday in Bolivia when her bicycle skidded over a
cliff on a mountain road which travelers call the "death route," HA'ARETZ
reported. Eight Israelis died on this road in December 1999 when the jeep
they were traveling in tumbled into a deep ravine.
  Shoham, from Kibbutz Neve Eitan, was riding with a group of four other
Israelis. Her body is being kept in a synagogue in the capital, La Paz.
Fellow Israeli travelers are taking turns watching over it until it is flown
to Israel for burial.
  Israeli ambassador to Bolivia Yitzhak Bachman said on Monday that 12
Israeli backpackers have died in Bolivia over the past three years. He added
that he warned Israeli travelers gathered at a Passover Seder on Saturday
night to avoid unnecessary risks during their stays in Bolivia. For example,
the precarious "death route" can be avoided by traveling over the area by
air, he said.
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MAN CHANGES LAST NAME TO ".COM"
  Tomer Karissi, 25, a computer programmer, changed his name to Tomer.Com,
MA'ARIV reported. The name change was made possible only after he wrote
several letters to Ministry of Interior officials explaining his unique
request.
  "Last names are so archaic," he said. "By changing my last name to .Com,
everyone will know that I'm a technological person." He also holds the
domain name Tomer.Com, which he sees as a "total linkage between my name and
my website. My website becomes my identity."
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