Likud to be in or out of the coalition?

THE JERUSALEM POST 5/24/99: " The Likud has not yet decided whether to join a broad coalition - if asked - or rehabilitate itself in opposition. Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon, who chaired meetings of Likud ministers and new MKs yesterday at the Knesset, now that he is de facto temporary head of the party, said joining the coalition depends on "the possibility that we can follow a direction similar to our own. But under no circumstances should we run after it."

He scolded his party colleagues for rumor-mongering and leaks...The split in the Likud for and against joining the coalition divides roughly over who has a chance of a cabinet seat. Former cabinet secretary and newly elected MK Dan Naveh favors joining the coalition because of the peace process. Describing the Likud as being "at a crossroads," Naveh said, "I'm among those who are convinced that our responsibility lies with making an effort to join the government - if called on - so that together we can handle perhaps the most important negotiations in the history of the country, the negotiations with the Palestinians on the final status arrangements."

MK Yisrael Katz, on the other hand, opposed the idea. "The Likud can't sit between Yossi and Yossi: [Meretz leader] Yossi Sarid and [One Israel MK and Oslo Accords architect] Yossi Beilin. If the Likud tries to do acrobatics and come in like this it is likely to come crashing down."...

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu yesterday confirmed reports he will resign his Knesset seat following his resignation as party leader. He did not attend yesterday's meetings."

Barak making friends or enemies?

HA'ARETZ 5/24/99: "Ehud Barak has not yet taken the oath of office as prime minister, but he is already enjoying the perks of his new standing, most notably the ability to commandeer the nightly news broadcasts on both leading channels, and to use them for a boring speech entirely devoid of any news value. So it went last night with Barak's victory festival at Kibbutz Shefayim.

Barak's embraces with his One Israel colleagues were duly documented, as news crews collected footage for when Barak feuds with his allies. Barak's allies have been hurt to the very depths of their souls by Barak's cutting off contact with them. The lucky ones have been invited to meet with the prime minister-elect today or tomorrow; others will hear his hoarse voice over the telephone.

Until they know, they will keep on calling reporters to find out what's happening. The One Israelites who did not show up on the stage - Shlomo Ben-Ami, Yossi Beilin, Avraham Burg - bombarded the beepers of the political reporters with urgent messages: "We're stuck in a traffic jam! Be there right away!" Haim Ramon, who much to his shock found himself left out of the negotiations team, said he had "a family event" to attend.

The National Tender opened today, a week after the elections, in the Dan Accadia Hotel in Herzliya Pituach. The negotiators appointed by Barak invited all the factions elected to the incoming Knesset for a political screen test. Nearly all of them, except for the extreme right and left, want a piece of the political pie.

The negotiating team, headed by former justice minister David Liba'i, has been given a mandate to listen. The real action is being taken behind the scenes, under deep cover, the way Barak likes. Just the way they do it in the army's elite recon units.

Barak has been holed up in his house for almost a week, talking mainly to himself and his closest confidants, many of them of army vintage. None of the politicians knows what is going on inside Barak's head: Has he crystallized a picture of his preferred coalition, and are the heavily publicized meetings of recent days merely for propriety's sake, or is he truly open to suggestions?

The biggest question - Shas or the Likud - still hangs in the air. Sources around Barak believe that first of all he wants Meretz, Yisrael b'Aliyah, the Center Party, One Nation, the National Religious Party, and United Torah Judaism or Shinui - and also the Likud. If he cannot reach an agreement with the Likud, the speculation goes, then he will go with Shas.

Barak's silence gives rise to further speculation. Beilin and Ben-Ami are fighting the prospect of Ariel Sharon's being reappointed foreign minister, and boosting Shas, which has no ambitions for the Foreign Ministry they covet. The debate in the Labor Party - Shas or no Shas - reminds one of the debates they kept holding over the past three years over the ephemeral possibility of joining a national unity government with Netanyahu."

Fires and heat in Israel

THE JERUSALEM POST 5/24/99: "Firefighters, assisted by helicopters and small planes, yesterday battled dozens of blazes across the country, sparked by a soaring heat wave after a dry winter season. Itzhaki Mundi, a spokesman for the firefighters, said about 25-30 fires were raging by mid-afternoon.

He said one firefighter had been lightly hurt putting out a fire. Israel Radio reported that inhabitants from Kfar Hanagid, near Yavne, were being evacuated because of a fire in their area. Mundi blamed the extreme heat for the spree of fires...

Also yesterday, water to farmers was cut by 40 percent. "It's because of the ongoing drought," said Water Commissioner Meir Ben-Meir. "I do regret it, but I don't have any other choice," he said."

School violence and Israel's ranking

HA'ARETZ 5/23/99: "An international survey of youth violence in schools rates Israel as the 8th most violent country in terms of victims of bullying incidents, finding that 25 percent of boys and 6 percent of girls in Israel carry a weapon such as a knife, club or gun to school to protect themselves.

An international World Health Organization (WHO) survey of 28 countries also ranked Israel 11th in terms of the proportion of students who said they had taken part in bullying other students. Austria, Denmark and Greenland topped the list of countries with the most violence in schools. In Israel, the most common weapon used by students in school is a knife, followed by sticks, clubs, brass knuckles and tear gas.

Some 1.5 percent of boys in Jewish schools and 3.7 percent of boys in the Arab sector carried guns or other firearms in school. The findings were based on a new study, with a sample population of 8,394 students in 6th to 10th grade in both the Jewish and Arab sector, undertaken by Dr. Yossi Harel of Bar-Ilan's University's sociology department..."

Officers' opinions (or not)

THE JERUSALEM POST 5/24/99: "Senior field commanders in Lebanon should have no role in influencing opinions regarding the IDF's presence in the security zone in forums outside the IDF, said a member of the IDF General Staff yesterday. Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz, assistant to the deputy chief of General Staff, told military reporters the army has a policy of allowing officers to speak their minds, but that policy decisions are made by the IDF brass in Tel Aviv.

These decisions are presented solely by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen Shaul Mofaz, he said. "The fact that there are IDF officers who have other opinions doesn't mean you have to make them the spokesmen of the army," Halutz said. The issue came up after Tourism Minister Moshe Katsav said last week that ministers were prevented from hearing dissenting opinions on Lebanon from senior field officers.

The IDF rejected the charges, saying it had never prevented anyone summoned to speak before the ministers from doing so. Halutz also said that the widely reported comments by certain brigade commanders - who said the IDF would do a better job if they were out of the security zone - "are not purely military."

Halutz, who is also the deputy head of operations, said the IDF is holding its own in Lebanon. He said Hizbullah had doubled the number of attacks in 1998 compared to the previous year and that 1999 is shaping up to be as active as last year. "But the effectiveness of their attacks has not increased," Halutz said, adding that the IDF had been much more successful in detecting and preventing roadside bombs, the No. 1 killer in the security zone.

The IDF does not always publicize its successes, preferring the confusion it instills in Hizbullah ranks over a propaganda victory. He did reveal that there were a number of clashes in the past two weeks where IDF forces prevented Hizbullah from laying bombs. According to Halutz, all elite IDF units are seeing action in Lebanon and the activity is daily..."

PA Hamas arrest of bomb making assistant

THE JERUSALEM POST 5/24/99: "Palestinian police yesterday arrested Saed Arabied, a leading Islamic militant wanted by Israel for seven years, a security official said. Arabied, a member of Izzadin Kassam, the armed wing of Hamas, was arrested at dawn at his Gaza hideout, a senior Palestinian Police official said.

He is alleged to have assisted Hamas bomb makers Imad Akel and Yihye Ayyash and has been on Israel's most wanted list since 1992. His assistant, Khalil Sakani, was also arrested in the raid. Both men were on a list of wanted men the PA had received from Israel in 1994.

Arabied is also accused of killing Palestinians who cooperated with Israel and shooting at IDF troops, the police official said. He said the arrests "were in keeping with the Palestinians' security duties outlined in the agreements with Israel."...

PA Journalist arrest