Monday, April 19, 2001

* PM, BUSH DISCUSS PEACE PROCESS
* PALESTINIANS CONTINUE SHOOTINGS AND MORTAR ATTACKS
* FAMILY OF U.S. TERROR VICTIM SUES PA AND ARAFAT
* MARCH OF THE LIVING GATHERS TO REMEMBER HOLOCAUST VICTIMS
* ISRAEL TO HELP YUGOSLAVIA LIBERALIZE TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKET
**PM SHARON MEETS DELEGATION FROM CONGRESS APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE

  ECONOMIC BRIEFS

PM, BUSH DISCUSS PEACE PROCESS
  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke with U.S. President George W. Bush on
Wednesday, HA'ARETZ reported. White House spokeswoman Mary Ellen said, "Both
leaders agreed on the need... to avoid further escalation in the area." She
added, "Both leaders agreed that the restoration of calm and stability in
the region is in the interests of both the United States and Israel." Sharon
reiterated to Bush that Israel remains committed to peace and that his top
priority is the security of Israeli citizens. He said that Israel would
resume peace negotiations upon the complete cessation of violence.
  Meanwhile, according to THE JERUSALEM POST, the U.S. State Department said
Palestinian leaders have not taken adequate steps to curb violence against
Israel despite urgent U.S. appeals.
  State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, "We haven't seen on the
Palestinian side the kind of calls for an end to violence to stop the
shootings."
  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon convened a special session of the Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee on Thursday afternoon as a result of the
continued Palestinian mortar shelling of Israeli communities in and around
the Gaza Strip.
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PALESTINIANS CONTINUE SHOOTINGS AND MORTAR ATTACKS
  Eleven shooting incidents took place on Wednesday night in the West Bank,
THE JERUSALEM POST reported. An Israeli Arab sustained minor wounds when
Palestinians fired at his vehicle as he was traveling near the Samaria
community of Peduel. The man drove his car to the entrance of the community
where he received medial assistance.
  In another incident, a Beduin laborer was lightly wounded today when
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip shot into the fields of Kibbutz Nir Oz where
he was working.
  Palestinians fired mortars shells on Wednesday night and throughout the
day at communities in Israel and the Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.
This afternoon, Palestinians also fired at Israel Defense Force soldiers
stationed at the fence east of the Erez checkpoint. There were no injuries
and the soldiers returned fire in the direction of the gunfire. Other
shooting incidents occurred in Jerusalem, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, at the
neighboring village of Talitakumi and at Tel Rumeida.
  Meanwhile, according to HA'ARETZ, the Israeli Security Agency and the IDF
uncovered a Fatah terrorist cell today in the Bethlehem area that was
involved in gunfire attacks and bombings against soldiers and civilians.
Several soldiers were injured in the attacks. The terrorist cell was
initially discovered when IDF troops encountered two of the group's leaders
while they were planting a bomb on the road leading to Har Gilo in December
of last year.
  According to YEDIOT AHARONOT ON-LINE, in an unrelated incident, an
explosion occurred at a Force 17 headquarters in Palestinian
Authority-controlled Ramallah this evening. ISA officials suspect that the
explosion occurred while a bomb that was to be detonated in Israel was being
prepared. The building was damaged and three Palestinians were injured in
the attack.
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FAMILY OF U.S. TERROR VICTIM SUES PA AND ARAFAT
  The family of Ash-Kodesh Gilmore, 25, a U.S. citizen killed on October 30,
2000 by Force 17 gunmen, while guarding the National Insurance Institute
office in eastern Jerusalem is suing the Palestinian Authority, the PLO and
PA Chairman Yasser Arafat for $250 million, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
  Gilmore's widow, one-year old daughter, parents and five younger siblings
filed the suit on Wednesday morning in the U.S. District Court in
Washington, on the basis of the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1991 which allows U.S.
citizens harmed by terrorist attacks overseas to bring suits against the
perpetrators in U.S. federal court.
  The suit states that the PA, the PLO and Arafat funded and controlled the
terrorist acts perpetrated by Force 17, Fatah and the Tanzim at the time of
Gilmore's death.
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MARCH OF THE LIVING GATHERS TO REMEMBER HOLOCAUST VICTIMS
  In memory of the six million Holocaust victims, more than a thousand
teenagers from around the world gathered at the entrance to Auschwitz to
join in a silent march to the gas chamber at Birkenau, THE JERUSALEM POST
reported.
  Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who just
returned from the March of the Living in Poland, a march he called "the most
difficult I ever had," said that during his walk through the death camps his
thoughts were that "we, the grandsons and great-grandsons of people from the
extermination, representatives of the Israel Defense Forces, can say to the
nation, to the people of Israel, to the Jewish nation as a whole, that we
will never go back to the picture of the young Jewish boy raising his hand
in surrender to the Nazis."
  The March of the Living was started in 1988 by the Israeli Ministry of
Education as a biannual event included in the high school syllabus for
Jewish students
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ISRAEL TO HELP YUGOSLAVIA LIBERALIZE TELECOMMUNICATIONS MARKET
  Minister of Communications Reuven Rivlin agreed on Wednesday to share
technology experts and information with Yugoslav Telecommunications Minister
Boris Tadic, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.
  Tadic is drafting a new telecom law which he plans to introduce to the
Yugoslavian Parliament next month, and asked Israel for help in privatizing
the telecommunications market which currently has two mobile operators with
12.1 percent penetration and an Internet sector reaching only 2.2 percent of
the population. "We have a real serious intention to develop our
relationship [with Israel], especially in the telecom field," Tadic said. He
added, "If you have suggestions and can support our mission, we will be
happy."

A special prayer for the safety and well being of missing Israeli soldiers
was conducted by Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel,
at the Titus Gate in Rome as part of the European Religious and Congregation
Leaders seminar, HATZOFEH reported. Sixty Rabbis from 23 countries
participated in the event as well as the Italian Justice Minister, Mayor of
Rome and Israeli Ambassador to Italy.
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PM SHARON MEETS DELEGATION FROM CONGRESS APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE
  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met this evening in his Bureau with
Jim Kolbe, Chairman of the Subcommittee for Foreign Activities of
the U.S. Congress' Appropriations Committee.

During the meeting, which was held following the Committee
members' visit to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, the
Prime Minister stressed Israel's commitment to peace and
stability in the Middle East. The Prime Minister explained the
efforts and the activities taken by the Government in order to
bring about a cessation in the violence and terror from the
Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Sharon stated that the
easing of restrictions on Palestinian residents who are not
involved in terror, will be carried out without regard to
violence or terror.

The Prime Minister reiterated that Israel will conduct diplomatic
negotiations with the Palestinian Authority only after the
violence and terror have ceased, as well as the firing of mortars
initiated and planned by the organizations and security forces
under the full control of the Chairman of the Palestinian
Authority Arafat.

"The solution to this problem is not declarations, but the giving
of an order by the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority to his
forces, and by the practical steps he must take to stop the
violence, terror and incitement", said the Prime Minister, who
told the Committee members that he raised these issues in his
conversation last night with President Bush.

The Prime Minister thanked Chairman Kolbe and the Committee
members for their support of Israel and emphasized his commitment
for working towards promoting relations and cooperation with the
Congress. In addition the Prime Minister emphasized that the
Government of Israel will work in complete coordination with the
United States, while taking into account its interests, and
clarified that we are ready to consider compromises and gestures.
Nevertheless, there is one issue we cannot compromise on:
security and peace for the citizens of Israel.

At the conclusion of the meeting the Prime Minister requested the
assistance of the Chairman of the Committee and members of
Congress regarding the fate of the missing and kidnapped soldiers
in Lebanon, in coordination with the Coordinator for POW and
missing soldiers' affairs in the Prime Minister's office, Maj.
Gen. (res.) Ilan Biran, who attended the meeting.
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