Mordecai pledges to stay in the race

THE JERUSALEM POST 5/10/99: "Center Party leader Yitzhak Mordechai, surrounded by the party's top 20 candidates and senior regional staff, yesterday pledged he will stay in the race for the premiership. "We are continuing on our path, we will compete for the premiership, and we will work to strengthen the Center," he said after a six-hour meeting in Tel Aviv's Zionist Organization of America House.

Mordechai also lambasted the media for what he said is its negative portrayal of the party and his candidacy for the premiership. He was speaking in response to specific media reports that fellow party founders Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, Dan Meridor, and Roni Milo had urged him to reconsider his candidacy in light of worsening opinion polls. The party denied the reports.

"Even people in the media say it's gone too far," said Mordechai, who added that, within a few weeks, he will make public some of his more serious complaints. Shahak added that, if the party is elected, it will attempt to change the level of decency in the media. Mordechai laid out three major aims for his party: to unseat the present government, to change the political map, and to bring about unity in the people.

Meridor added a further goal: to ensure the success of the party's Knesset list...Party activists are keen for Mordechai to battle for the premiership, because it keeps the momentum alive in their campaigning, he explained. Those ranked five to 15 know the polls are showing the party winning a declining number of Knesset seats, and the final figure is likely to further drop should Mordechai quit the race.

On the other hand, those in the top four could still guarantee themselves ministerial positions should Mordechai withdraw prior to May 17 and announce his support for Barak."

Netanyahu makes deals with religious parties

HA'ARETZ 5/10/99: "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised United Torah Judaism that he will try to pass legislation limiting the jurisdiction of the High Court of Justice, according to sources in the ultra-Orthodox party.

These sources also say that the prime minister has made a commitment to attempt to pass a law that would circumvent the High Court's ruling on the current system of army deferrals for yeshiva students, as well as the Conversion Law that would prevent the registration of Reform and Conservative converts in Israel.

While one party source describes these understandings as election-driven, others say that there is a long-standing agreement with Netanyahu on these issues. For example, the Prime Minister initiated legislation on army deferrals several months ago. He has also begun to prepare for a public campaign to garner support for restricting the High Court. This includes a recent exchange of letters with former Supreme Court Justice Moshe Landau, who has expressed support for limiting the authority of the High Court.

The negotiations between United Torah Judaism and Netanyahu did not include financial matters, since the ultra-Orthodox are satisfied with achievements they have made under the present government.

In effect, Netanyahu promised more then the ultra-Orthodox could use, because the planned building of subsidized rental housing for yeshiva students and young ultra-Orthodox couples was nixed by the High Court as discriminatory. Both Netanyahu and United Torah Judaism have strongly denied any such discussions.

The ultra-Orthodox have also decided to open lines of communication with One Israel leader Ehud Barak. In informal discussions, the Gur Rebbe has indicated that if Barak gives him a commitment to enforce Shabbat laws, continue building subsidized housing for ultra-Orthodox young couples and shelve his bill to change the status quo regarding the drafting of yeshiva students, he will refrain from actively endorsing Netanyahu.

If two important rabbis (the Gur Rebbe and the Belz Rebbe) refrain from endorsing Netanyahu, it could cost the prime minister several thousand votes. A large majority of the ultra-Orthodox will vote for Netanyahu, but the lack of an unequivocal rabbinical endorsement may impact voter turnout."

State after elections? Interview with PA rep to Brussels

Belgium's GROOT BIJGAARDEN DE STANDAARD 5/5/99--Interview with Palestinian Representative to Brussels Shawki Armali, by Nadia Dala, in Brussels:

"If the forthcoming Israeli elections put a Netanyahu-style government in office, then we will proclaim an independent Palestinian state. And this time we mean it." Shawki Armali, the Palestinian Representative in Brussels, swallows with difficulty. Yesterday was a bad day for the Palestinians. The transitional period of the Oslo agreements came to an end on 4 May.

Exactly five years ago, a five-year interim period of Palestinian autonomy was introduced. Therefore today there is a kind of legal vacuum and the Palestinian Authority ceases to exist. Because the agreements which were made have not been fulfilled, Yasir 'Arafat swore that he would proclaim the independence of the Palestinian state on the symbolic date of 4 May. But Western diplomats discouraged him from doing so because Israeli elections are in the offing.

[Dala] 4 May has been and gone and the Palestinians do not have an independent state. What now?

[Armali] We are looking to the results of the Israeli elections and the negotiations with the new government which must follow. We will know at the end of June how matters stand. In Israel the elections take place in two rounds: There is a first round on 17 May and a second on 2 June. If the new Israeli Government is not prepared to come to the negotiating table in the near future then we will declare independence. We will not tolerate any more delay.

[Dala] Can you get the discontented Palestinians in the occupied territory to still accept that?

[Armali] I am afraid that public opinion is now really turning against the peace process and turning toward extremist parties like Hamas. Hamas has not made any promise to reconcile itself to the given situation. It and other parties will probably gain support.

That is what the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants. But if we hear more from the Palestinian extremists, then that will also have consequences in Jordan and other nearby countries. But anyway, for the time being approximately 54 percent of Palestinians support the peace process.

[Dala] If the following Israeli Government gets down to work on the Oslo agreements quickly, then there is a possibility that other promises made in the past will be eaten away at.

[Armali] I know. The land which has been granted to us now is already so fragmented. On the West Bank we have no more than 29 percent of the territory. That must change. The Palestinians want a real state with real borders and a respectable territory.

[Dala] Why did 'Arafat at first shout from the rooftops that he would proclaim his Palestinian state, and then swallow his words?

[Armali] Well, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has done everything to shove back the date of the elections in his country as far as possible. Netanyahu wanted to continue his colonization policy for as long as possible. He also takes pleasure in putting the Palestinian Authority in a difficult position.

If we had not reacted to the date of 4 May then he would have emerged as the winner. 'Arafat was in a difficult position. Israeli colonization and humiliations were simply continuing. 'Arafat then decided to proclaim independence. Because he wanted to counter the maneuvers of the Israelis and to keep the problem in the spotlight of the international media.

He succeeded in that. We have received the guarantee from many countries that the Palestinians have the right to an independent state. That right cannot be subordinated to anything."

No Yasser admitted in Syria

Paris' AL WATAN AL ARABI 5/7/99: "Arab diplomatic sources have revealed that Palestinian President Yasir 'Arafat asked to visit Syria as part of his extensive tour that included visits to several Arab and foreign countries. 'Arafat wanted to hold consultations with the officials of these countries over the declaration of a Palestinian statehood and its timing.

Sources said that 'Arafat sent a verbal message to that effect to Syrian officials through Palestinian and Arab figures closely linked to Damascus. The sources said that the Syrian officials apologized for denying 'Arafat's request and refused to receive him because they have many objections to his political trends.

They also object to the way 'Arafat has dealt with the issue of establishing a Palestinian state and with the Israeli Government, as well as his leniency toward Israel's actions and practices.

The Sources said that Syrian officials believe that 'Arafat wants to visit Damascus to obtain a Syrian political cover for the positions and decisions he will declare and not to change his peaceful approach, which is rejected by the Syrian leadership.

According to these sources, it is clear that Palestinian officials want this issue to be shrouded in secrecy; therefore, when asked why 'Arafat will not visit Damascus, they say: "Direct and indirect contacts between the Palestinian leadership and Syrian officials are continuous and have not ceased."

Succession in Gaza

Gaza's AL HAYAH AL JADIDA 5/7/99: "Legislative Council Speaker Ahmad Quray', also known as Abu-'Ala', has stressed that the reports frequently circulated by Israeli papers and other news media on what they call the succession issue is groundless and do not deserve a response.

The latest of those reports was published on 5 May in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv on both Abu-Mazin [Mahmud 'Abbas] and Abu-'Ala'. Abu-'Ala' added: We emphasize that this claim is as false as other lies and fabrications. At the same time, I can confirm that brother Abu-Mazin was one of the constant defenders of Palestinian rights during all stages of the Palestinian national struggle and also in the negotiations held at Wye.

The prisoners issue was one of his major concerns. Concluding, he said: We stress to those people and to everyone that the Palestinian ranks are closed and cohesive under the leadership of President Yasir 'Arafat. Nobody can divide them or destabilize their unity and solidarity with such lies and fabrications."

Hamas divisions

London's AL WASAT 5/3/99: "The disagreements and divergence of views between the Hamas leaderships have never before surfaced as they did after Shaykh Ahmad Yasin, the movement's spiritual leader, attended the Palestine Central Council meetings in Gaza last Tuesday [27 April] which were chaired by Yasir 'Arafat. Hamas official spokesman Engineer Ibrahim Ghawshah was quick to state from Amman that Shaykh Yasin's decision was a local rather than a central decision.

This prompted Engineer Isma'il Abu-Shanab, one of the movement's leaders in the Gaza Strip, to respond to Ghawshah the following day by saying that the decision was a "central" decision.

Shaykh Yasin says that his participation at the Council meetings is "a message to the world that despite the disagreements between us, and despite the difficulties that we face, our people can unite to confront the occupation and the crises."

In a telephone conversation with Al-Wasat, Yasin said that he had asked to get rid of the Oslo agreements and their annexes, and that in this he had the support of several participants at the meeting. He denied that he had been pressured by the Palestinian Authority into attending the meeting.

He said that he had refused to attend in a personal capacity and, instead, insisted on attending on behalf of Hamas, but as an observer "so that we are not held responsible for the decisions that are made."

Shaykh Yasin responded to the statement by Engineer Ghawshah to the effect that his [Yasin's] participation had not been based on a central decision by saying that "an examination of the address I gave shows that the Hamas movement adopted a united position on Oslo, and that the disagreement is about the fact that there was no coordination between us.

The movement's members abroad are entitled to play a part in examining the issue before a decision is made. However, the inability to establish contact prevented this from happening." Yasin admitted that there are different views within the movement and added that "this is the case with many international political movements."

He said that the future of the relations between the PA and Hamas "will be decided by the PA's positions on the important issues. The movement is not in an anti-PA camp, but the Oslo agreement has proved that it does not serve our people's interests, and therefore abandoning the agreement would be a step in the right direction."

According to independent Islamic circles in the Gaza Strip, what is clear is that it is President 'Arafat who has gained from Shaykh Yasin's participation at the Palestine Central Council meetings, to prove to those at home and abroad that the issue of the postponement of the state declaration is a decision that can only be made after a Palestinian debate at this level.

Hamas's only gain however is that it tried to reaffirm that it is keen on constructive opposition, even though the occasion revealed the extent of the divergence of views between Hamas members at home and abroad and the difference in their ways of dealing with the PA."

Pro-Jewish Moscow mayor target of anti-Semitic leaflets around city

MOSCOW, May 9, By Lev Krichevsky (JTA) -- Anti-Semitic leaflets aimed against the mayor of Moscow are being distributed in two Russian cities.

The leaflets reproduce a photo of Yuri Luzhkov wearing a yarmulka at a Jewish event last year. The text that goes along with the picture falsely claims that Luzhkov is Jewish. Luzhkov is widely seen as a frontrunner in Russia's presidential elections, which are slated for June 2000.

The leaflets have been distributed in at least two locations, according to media reports. Earlier this year, some Moscow residents found them stuffed in their mailboxes. This month, residents of Kirov, located 500 miles east of Moscow, found similar leaflets in their mail.

The leaflets use a photo of Luzhkov and Russian Jewish Congress President Vladimir Goussinsky -- both sporting skullcaps -- taken last September at the opening of the Holocaust Memorial Synagogue inside Moscow's World War II memorial park. The picture taken at the ceremony, also attended by Russian President Boris Yeltsin, was originally published in a Moscow daily.

Luzhkov, who is known to be a close friend of Goussinsky, has won a reputation among Russian Jews for his support of the Jewish community. The leaflets cite several quotes from Luzhkov speaking favorably about Jews.

The leaflets also assert that Moscow mayor's ``original" last name is Katz, adding in large print, ``And this man wants to become president of Russia!" Over the past decade, various anti-Semitic and anti-Communist groups have tried to ascribe Jewish roots to several post-Soviet leaders and even to such Soviet figures as Leonid Brezhnev. The leaflet generated front-page reports in the Moscow press.

Izvestia, a leading daily, described the use of ethnicity as an ``alarming feature of the national election campaign."

There are no Jews among likely contenders for the Kremlin seat.

``In the absence of real Jews in the race, you can fight against fake Jewish candidates," says Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt.

``The trend has become obvious in the [Russian] political landscape.''

In a separate development, dozens of anti-Semitic stickers were posted last week in several Moscow subway stations. The stickers show the blue Star of David crossed out with red.