Whitehouse calling for Summit

HA'ARETZ 4/27/99: "The White House is calling for a three-way summit meeting, including the Israeli and Palestinian leaders, within six months of the elections, and is urging the parties to implement the Wye River Memorandum immediately.

Last night's White House statement amounts to a de facto acknowledgment that May 4, when the interim arrangements laid out by the Oslo accords are due to expire, does not mark the end of the road.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's advisor David Bar-Illan welcomed the statement, saying, "We are very pleased."

In the statement, the White House asserts that "the United States believes that the Oslo process was never intended to be open-ended; accordingly, the United States calls on both parties to engage in accelerated permanent status negotiations and to rededicate themselves to the goal of reaching an agreement within one year.

Toward that end, and in an effort to facilitate that process, the United States is ready to help launch those negotiations after the Israeli elections and once an Israeli government has been formed, and to review and monitor their progress.

"The United States is also prepared, with the consent of the parties, to bring them together within six months to review the status of their efforts and to facilitate reaching an agreement."

The statement also calls on Israel and the Palestinians "to continue to carry out all their interim period responsibilities, including full implementation without any further delay of the Interim Agreement at the Wye River Memorandum."

Bar-Illan said, "We see very positive elements in the White House statement.

First, the year extension of final status talks is described as a goal, and not a deadline.

Second, the statement speaks of how 'critical' it is to fight terrorism.

Third, we also read the White House statement as making clear that there is no legal vacuum after May 4th, and the interim agreement is still in place.

Last, but certainly not least, we are very pleased that the White House makes clear that negotiations are 'the only way to reach an enduring agreement on permanent status issues.' This is something that we have been saying all the time."

The American statement includes a call for both sides to "do their part to create a serious, fair and credible environment for the negotiations. In this regard," the statement continues, "it is critical to the interest both sides share in enhancing the security of their people that the Palestinians continue their efforts to fight terror and that Israelis and Palestinians maintain their security cooperation.

Furthermore, Palestinians and Israelis must avoid unilateral acts and declarations that prejudge or predetermine issues reserved for permanent status negotiations ...

Acting in a spirit of partnership and moving away from a zero-sum mentality, Israelis and Palestinians can work together to achieve a just and lasting peace."...

Extension of State date

HA'ARETZ 4/27/99: "The Palestine Liberation Organization's Central Council, meeting today in Gaza, is expected to extend its discussion of a date for proclaiming Palestinian independence until after the Israeli elections, council chairman Salim a-Za'noun explained yesterday.

Zanoun said yesterday in Gaza that even if the declaration of independence is postponed, the Central Council will form a committee to start drafting a constitution for the future state.

Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin announced yesterday that he will attend the Central Council session with a Hamas delegation, acting as "observers"...

The PLO Central Council, which consists of 120 members appointed from the Palestinian National Council, will be asked to choose one of four options:

to declare and implement statehood on May 4th;

to extend the interim period for a limited period of time, during which final status talks will be conducted;

to postpone a declaration of independence without setting a new date;

or to extend the interim stage for a period to be decided by the Central Council and the PLO's executive committee..."

Hezbollah calls to eliminate Israel

HA'ARETZ 4/27/99: "The Hezbollah yesterday repeated their call to "eliminate the Jewish state" and rejected a conditional offer from Israel to withdraw from south Lebanon. "Israel should not exist ... we only accept from Israel every grain of sand they occupy in the Arab world", Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said.

The Hezbollah leader was addressing a rally of more than 300,000 people commemorating Ashura, which marks the death of seventh century Shiite Moslem leader Imam Hussein and his 71 followers, who were killed by Calif Yazid's army at Karbala, a town in present-day Iraq..."

Pomp for Arens visit to US

HA'ARETZ 4/27/99: "Defense Minister Moshe Arens is slated to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen at the Pentagon this morning, where he will be treated to an official ceremonial reception, with all the attendant pomp and circumstance.

The U.S. had reportedly planned to receive Arens without the customary ceremony, apparently because of the impending Israeli elections, but Arens and Israeli diplomats in Washington objected to the low-profile plans and the Pentagon relented.

Officials at the Defense Ministry said Arens's trip has nothing to do with the elections. The officials said Cohen invited Arens to the U.S."

China and Israel forge ties

REUTERS via HA'ARETZ 4/27/99: "China and Israel have recorded "remarkable achievements" since forging diplomatic ties in 1992 and are on course for continued strong economic links, China's President Jiang Zemin said on Monday. Speaking during a meeting with visiting President Ezer Weizman, Jiang said the two nations boasted complementary economies and a tradition of cooperation.

"The Chinese nation and the Jewish nation enjoy a long history of friendship", the official Xinhua news agency quoted Jiang as telling Weizman. "China is very pleased and satisfied with the remarkable achievements scored" in bilateral economic, technology and agriculture exchanges, he added. Weizman arrived in China on Sunday for a seven-day trip focused on strengthening trade relations between the two countries. His delegation includes 50 businessmen from a range of industries, including telecommunications, agriculture, pharmaceuticals and energy..."

Comptroller report doesn’t look good

THE JERUSALEM POST 4/27/99: "If a society is judged by how it treats its weakest members, Israeli society has a lot to answer for, according to the 49th State Comptroller's Report, which describes mental patients denied proper drugs for lack of funds, young people at risk being poorly served, and the exploitation of foreign workers.

The 700-plus-page report was the first issued by State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg. He revealed yesterday, as he submitted the report to the Knesset, that findings relating to two subjects in the report had been turned over to the attorney-general for a possible criminal investigation.

He would not elaborate. Many observers, including political figures, deemed the report "mild" compared to the ones prepared by his predecessor, Miriam Ben-Porat.

But the report revealed some serious deficiencies. The authorities are cavalier about residents' health and well-being, the comptroller said.

Hospitals are not doing enough to prevent patient infection and dispose of their hazardous waste; the country's rescue services are unprepared to deal with an major accident involving toxic materials; and poisonous substances continue to flow into the country's rivers and streams.

If you get sick and die, however, your local authority may be hard-pressed to bury you, as cemetery space, particularly in the large cities, is running out. Goldberg did not hold a press conference to discuss the report, because of the close proximity of its release to the upcoming elections.

"I'm not giving out grades," he said. "What I had to say I wrote in the report."

But this report reflects an innovation by Goldberg: It is the first to come out under his plan to publish these reports twice a year, to allow his office - and the public - to digest the material more easily.

For this reason, yesterday's report did not deal with such areas as the defense establishment and the Internal Security Ministry; these and other issues will be addressed in a report to be published in October.

This report did deal extensively with financial issues, including an extensive overview of the state's current account for 1997. Favoritism, deception, and failure to publish objective criteria for allocating money for last year's jubilee festivities probably cost the public millions of shekels, Goldberg found.

The Jubilee Association overpaid the producer of the Jubilee Bells event by nearly NIS 5 million. Foot-dragging on pension reform and on demanding restructuring and efficiency programs from the Histadrut pension funds could, in the future, cost us billions.

Haredi-run ministries tended to favor the haredi community in the allocation of funds. The Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, for example, poured funds into yeshiva boarding schools that were either unfit to live in or did not actually operate boarding facilities.

And nearly all the neighborhoods added to the Project Renewal program by the Housing Ministry were haredi ones, even though it was not demonstrated that secular neighborhoods were less deserving.

Despite repeated calls in past reports to root out the practice of improper appointments, the report was rife with them. Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi, for instance, ignored explicit instructions from the Civil Service Commission to cease employing two aides - his bureau chief in Tel Aviv, and an adviser in Jerusalem - as independent contractors. Not only were they not fired, but both their contracts were renewed.

The Postal Authority gave jobs at fat salaries to at least six Likud members who did not have the proper qualifications. Serious irregularities were found in the appointment of Morris Nissan, a Likud activist, as the director of Amidar, the government housing company. But the comptroller himself, in his introduction to the report, stressed the treatment of the disadvantaged..."

Har-Shefi appeal against Raviv in PM Rabin assasination

ARUTZ7 4/25/99: "The Tel Aviv District Court rejected today the appeal of Margalit Har-Shefi, only hours after the long-promised indictment against Avishai Raviv was submitted in a Jerusalem court. The juxtaposition of the two upset some sources involved in the two cases.

Two out of three justices ruled today to uphold Har-Shefi's conviction several months ago of not preventing the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. Justice Devorah Berliner, however - the head of the forum - issued a lengthy minority opinion in favor of Har-Shefi's appeal. The three justices agreed, because of the complexity of the legal issues involved and the scarcity of precedents, to delay the implementation of the nine-month prison sentence until after the Supreme Court appeal...

In the Jerusalem Magistrates Court this morning, the State Prosecution submitted an indictment against GSS agent-provocateur Avishai Raviv, including similar charges to those on which Har-Shefi was convicted. Raviv is charged with not preventing the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin, and with incitement to violence in the framework of his organization Eyal."

Why is Arafat pleased with Orient House closing?

ARUTZ7 4/25/99: "Yasser Arafat is pleased with the Netanyahu government's decision to close the Orient House in eastern Jerusalem, reports Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman.

"Arafat is furious that Feisal Husseini has dragged him into a dispute that he [Arafat] doesn't want at this time," Huberman explained. "Arafat believes that flaunting Palestinian activity in the capital prior to the elections will only play into Netanyahu's hands.

There haven't been any [Palestinian] riots in response to the decision to close the Orient House, and for good reason:

Arafat is not prepared to harm his friendly relations with the Clinton administration over this issue. And anyone searching for strong words in the official Palestinian Authority newspaper, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, over the decision won't find them.

Friday's front page contained only a tiny article which reported 'opposition throughout the world to the closing of the Orient House.'" Huberman added that the conflict between Arafat and Husseini should be viewed against the backdrop of the long-standing dispute between the two as to which of their respective families is the true leader of Jerusalem Arabs.

"Arafat has so far been unsuccessful in getting Husseini - who has a stronger hold of the Palestinian turf in Jerusalem - to stop his activities at the Orient House," Huberman said.

"There have been leaks recently from the PA to the effect that 'Husseini does not hold the Jerusalem portfolio in the PA.' This is technically correct; Husseini is responsible for Jerusalem on behalf of the PLO, while Ziyad Abu-Ziyad is his counterpart in the Palestinian Authority...

Arafat is also reportedly cutting back funds to the Orient House as a way of pressuring Husseini [to stop his activities.]"

Japan/Israel treaty flies

Tokyo's KYODO NEWS SERVICE 4/23/99: "Japanese foreign minister Masahiko Komura and Israeli ambassador to Japan Moshe Ben-Yaacov signed Friday a treaty allowing for the operation of regular flights between the two countries, the Foreign Ministry said. "We expect the aviation treaty to help promote economic and people-to-people exchanges between the two nations," the statement said.