Friday, April 20, 2001

* SHARON TO U.S. CONGRESS: ARAFAT MUST TAKE PRACTICAL STEPS TO END VIOLENCE
* IDF OPENS GAZA ROADS
* ISRAEL, EU INCREASE TRADE
* ISRAELI SOFTWARE TOPS DOWNLOADS CHART
ECONOMIC BRIEFS

SHARON TO U.S. CONGRESS: ARAFAT MUST TAKE PRACTICAL STEPS TO END VIOLENCE
  Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat on Thursday to do more to end the violence in the region, THE
JERUSALEM POST reported. Sharon said in response to a proposal by Arafat
that both leaders deliver public statements calling for a halt to the
violence and a renewal of the negotiations, that "The solution to the
situation between Israel and the PA can not be found in making declarations.
I do not need declarations from Arafat.... The chairman must order his
forces and take practical steps to halt the violence, terror and
incitement," Sharon told visiting members of the United States Congress that
Israel would conduct negotiations with the PA only after a halt to the
violence and terror and shooting of mortar shells, "which is initiated and
directed by the organizations and security forces completely under Arafat's
control."
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IDF OPENS GAZA ROADS
  Minister of Defense Benjamin Ben-Eliezer ordered on Thursday the Israel
Defense Forces to open the main roads in Palestinian areas in the Gaza after
they were closed off on Monday due to Palestinian mortar attacks on the town
of Sderot, HA'ARETZ, reported. The IDF lifted roadblocks at Netzarim and on
the Gush Katif-Kisufim road.
  Meanwhile, the Security Cabinet approved a proposal by Ben-Eliezer on
Thursday regarding IDF strategies for combating Palestinian terrorism.
Ben-Eliezer said that "Israel has not given up its policy of no longer
regarding the Area A delineations as a barrier to IDF actions against mortar
attacks. But future IDF actions will carry a small signature, and will not
include large-scale troop movements." Senior military officials said the IDF
is "not going to put up with mortar attacks," whether inside or outside of
the Green Line. In addition, they said the IDF faces a serious problem with
intensifying Palestinian attacks on IDF patrols along the Israeli-Egyptian
border, opposite Rafiah.
  In a separate incident, according to HATZOFEH, On Thursday the IDF
discovered that the Palestinians are using 60 millimeter U.S. made mortar
shells after examining shells that were fired at Gush Katif  that failed to
explode.  A senior IDF official said that these particular mortar shells
could have only been supplied by the Palestinian Authority and used in past
instances.
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ISRAEL, EU INCREASE TRADE
  Trade between Israel and the European Union grew significantly in the past
three months, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of
Statistics on Thursday, THE JERUSALEM POST, reported. In the first quarter,
exports to the EU surged six percent in annual terms after decreasing five
percent in the latter half of last year. Excluding diamonds, exports to the
EU totaled $1.83 billion. Last year Israel exported some $6.9 billion to
Europe while importing $11.8 billion. Currently, the EU is Israel's largest
trading partner accounting for 32 percent of exports and 41 percent of
imports.
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ISRAELI SOFTWARE TOPS DOWNLOADS CHART
  Computer software developed in Israel now accounts for more than half of
the most popular personal computer downloads in the world, as ranked by the
well-known C-Net Web site, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The C-Net chart
ranks the top 50 downloads for personal computers, revising the list every
week. Programs such as Incredimail, an e-mail service provider with
futuristic 3D effects, and the ICQ instant messenger service which receives
more than 500,000 downloads per week, has taken Israeli software to the top.

  ICQ, developed by Mirabilis, remains Number 1, where it has been listed
for many months. Number eight on the current list is Lingocom's LingoWare,
which translates ICQ's graphic user interface from English into a
multiplicity of languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese.
Lingocom has attracted 5,000,000 users in its 25 weeks on the list. Both
iMesh Number 4, and Download Accelerator, Number 6, are growing at a pace of
some quarter-of-a-million downloads per week. According to C-Net, the
download program to watch is ICQ Plus, ranked at number 30 but moving up
fast. This "editor's pick" program, which allows users to customize ICQ, has
only been on the top 50 list for three weeks, but it has already been
downloaded more than 3,000,000 times.

Maccabi Tel Aviv advanced to European Basketball's Final Four for the second
year in a row on Thursday night after defeating Scavolini Pesaro of Italy,
84-77, in game 2 of their best-of-three SuproLeague quarterfinal series,
HA'ARETZ reported. Maccabi now meets CSKA Moscow of Russia in its semifinal
game in the Final Four in Paris on May 11. The final will be played two days
later.
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