Next withdrawal from Judea and Samaria

ARUTZ7 11/10/99: "The government approved today the next withdrawal from Judea and Samaria. Only Minister Rabbi Yitzchak Levy (NRP) voted against, while Minister Natan Sharansky abstained.

Israel will withdraw its military control from 2% of Yesha west of Ramallah, and will also withdraw from areas west of Jenin (northern Samaria). In addition, a nature reserve - under Palestinian civilian control with limitations on construction - will be established in parts of the Judean Desert.

Arutz-7 correspondent Haggai Huberman reports that three areas under joint Israeli-Palestinian control will now be fully surrounded by areas under total Palestinian control, thus that they will essentially be totally Palestinian.

Huberman further reports that the Jewish communities of Brachah, Kadim, and Ganim will now lie adjacent to Palestinian Authority territory on several sides, and each will have only one "exit" - Kadim and Ganim towards the Jezre'el Valley in the north, and Brachah towards the south.

"For the first time," he said, "there will be a direct linkage and territorial contiguity between two Palestinian Authority cities - Shechem and Jenin." A large area south of Ariel, "almost reaching the Jewish towns of Ateret and Nachliel," will now be Area A - under full Palestinian control. A large area between Michmash and Ofrah will become Area B, under Palestinian administrative control.

Huberman emphasizes that in many ways, there is no real difference between Area A and Area B, such that "after the next withdrawal, the map will look pretty much the way it will look until the 'final status' is determined."

The next and final withdrawal - unless there is a 'third withdrawal,' which will be insignificant at most, according to current Israeli positions - will involve the removal of Israeli administrative control from 'only' 1% more of Yesha. It is set for January 20, at which time 5.1% of Area B will become Area A. This will bring the total of Palestinian-controlled Yesha to 40% - 18% in A, and 22% in B."

     

Arafat & Marine deaths

NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL 11/15/99 via Murray Kahl: "As Iran's Islamic leader rallied demonstrators last week against reformist rapprochement with the United States, new evidence emerged tying Iranian officials to the truck bomb that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut 16 years ago, as well as to the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia.

NEWSWEEK has learned that a National Security Agency phone tap recorded a Sept. 24, 1983, call from the Iranian ambassador in Syria to his foreign minister, in which the ambassador relayed orders he'd given to Abu Haidar, leader of the Husaini Suicide Forces Movement.

The ambassador told Haidar to get weapons from Yasir Arafat's Fatah group to "undertake an extraordinary operation against the Marines" in Beirut. A CIA source says U.S. military officials had the intercept in hand a month before the bombing, but failed to prevent it.

Meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Martin Indyk told Congress last month that while there is "information about the involvement of some Iranian officials" in the Khobar bombing, none of it would hold up in court. But an official with access to the material says, "We have hard evidence on the Iranian government's role."

CIA sources say terrorists received money and passports from Iran and that Iranian agents were casing American facilities in 1995. Despite the evidence, lawmakers are concerned that Iran will go unpunished. "My big fear is," says Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, "we won't pursue it because of some rapprochement with Iran."

     

Coalition disarray

THE JERUSALEM POST 11/11/99: "The coalition was in total disarray in the Knesset yesterday, with several opposition bills being approved with wide support in preliminary readings.

Shas leader and Labor and Social Affairs Minister Eli Yishai threatened to continue cooperating with the opposition until Finance Minister Avraham Shohat starts putting a greater priority on budgeting for social needs.

Coalition chairman Ophir Pines called on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to make order in his coalition, saying he will not continue to take part in the games being playing by Shas. "Until then, there is no point in having coalition discipline," he said.

The National Religious Party joined Shas in opposing the government. Pines retaliated by giving coalition MKs permission to vote according to conscience.

When the Knesset session opened yesterday, the Shas faction turned out in full force to support a series of populist opposition bills that were approved with wide support in preliminary reading. The party even backed a Shinui bill. Meretz whip Zehava Gal-On said "it is about time that Barak makes order in the coalition."

She said it is incredible that Pines should have to scramble every day to find support for the coalition. Pines's move came after Shas helped foil two government measures yesterday morning in the House and Finance committees in protest against their failure to get funding for the party's Hama'ayan Hahinuch Hatorani school system...

NRP whip Shaul Yahalom yesterday asked Barak for an urgent meeting to discuss the faction's opposition to elements of the bill. Yahalom said the party will not agree to clauses in the bill which "hurt the national-religious public."

He is opposed to the cancellation of paid deputy-mayoral posts in small towns, saying it would hurt his party's status, and is also against a measure to make synagogues and religious institutions pay municipal taxes.

Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg is also opposed to the government's plan to bring the economic arrangements bill to the Finance Committee, and expressed pleasure at the failure. He said the move is an attempt to "bypass the Knesset's legislative process" and threatened not to allow the bill to be put to a vote. However, Shohat said he is sure there will be a state budget by the end of the year, even though it might not be an easy process.

Finance Committee chairman Elie Goldschmidt (One Israel) said "there is no coalition in the Knesset," and that unless Barak settles matters with coalition partners there won't be a budget or economic arrangements bill by the end of the year. In his committee, Shas caused the coalition to lose a vote to approve budgets for the offices of ministers Michael Melchior, Haim Ramon, and Shimon Peres.

Among the opposition bills passed yesterday was one sponsored by MK Shmuel Halpert (United Torah Judaism) that would give sweeping discounts to large families. It passed in preliminary reading by a vote of 51 to 12...

Shas also supported a bill proposed by Benny Elon (National Union) to cancel the television and radio fee. The bill passed in preliminary reading by a vote of 31 to 15. Deputy Finance Minister Nissim Dahan said that in principle the government was against canceling the fee, but "the way things are going today, do what you want."

A bill sponsored by Shinui MK Eliezer Zandberg, according to which two working parents would be able to deduct childcare costs from their income taxes, was also passed with Shas support."

     

Beilin's appointment

ARUTZ7 11/8/99: "Justice Minister Yossi Beilin's decision to replace the Director-General of the Ministry, Nili Arad, has drawn much opposition.

Senior employees in the Prosecution and the Ministry wrote a letter to Beilin protesting the decision; Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has asked Beilin to retract the firing. Beilin, backed by Civil Commissioner Shmuel Hollander, said that it his right to choose a Director-General after his own heart. He is expected to appoint his close aid Shlomo Gur to the post."

     

IDF drug smuggling

HA'ARETZ 11/9/99: "Dozens of IDF soldiers and a few officers stationed in southern Lebanon are smuggling drugs into Israel, according to intelligence information obtained from a high-ranking police superintendent.

Chief Superintendent Kobi Bachar, head of the police's drug force in the northern district until a month ago, told Ha'aretz yesterday that the information had been given to highly placed officers in the army, but that they had decided not to act on it for various reasons.

According to the intelligence, most of the soldiers involved are trackers serving in Lebanon, and the soldiers and officers mainly act as couriers, carrying drugs from dealers in Lebanon to dealers in Israel.

Police estimate that between one and three tons of heroin is smuggled into Israel each year over the Lebanon border. The drug activity has increased significantly in recent months and according to Bachar, "The phenomenon is spreading.

This is widespread, and it is not unheard of in the army. It's not only trackers who are involved. The circles are widening." Bachar stressed that it is command post personnel, rather than combat soldiers on the front lines, who are involved in the trafficking. According to Bachar, at least one senior officer, a unit commander at the rank of major, is involved in the drug-running.

His predecessor in the position was also apparently involved in drug trade. "I have spoken personally with brigade commanders. I gave them the information, but they said they do not have the tools to deal with the problem," says Bachar...

Bachar says that in recent months there has been an increase in the attempts to smuggle drugs across the Jordanian border. "The dealers know hard times are ahead when Israel withdraws from Lebanon. This is already evident from the decreased amounts being smuggled."

The IDF spokesman responded by saying, "The Investigative Military Police (Metsah) deal with all intelligence information or complaints. When such information or evidence accumulates, an investigation is launched. At the moment, no such investigation is ongoing."

     

PA prisoner release

HA'ARETZ 11/9/99: "The Palestinian Authority on Monday released 11 members of its security forces who were among 27 suspected arms dealers rounded up two months ago in a crackdown on the illegal weapons trade.

Police let the 11 men go because they did not have evidence to link them to arms deals, said Taysir Nasralla, a municipal official in the West Bank town of Nablus.

Of the 16 who remain in prison, four are members of the security forces who are being held on suspicion that they opened fire in the Nablus market because of a personal feud. The other 12 have no ties to the Palestinian Authority but are members of Fatah, which is also closely linked to the PA.

The September crackdown occurred after residents of Nablus and the nearby refugee camp of Balata had complained that members of the security forces were not only selling illegal arms, but were also using them to settle personal scores.

The Balata refugee camp is one of the busiest black markets for illegal arms in the West Bank. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had promised to confiscate illegal weapons as part of the September interim peace agreement with Israel. The crackdown in the Nablus area was seen as a test of Arafat's intentions."

     

Barak to UJC's GA & NY

ISRAEL LINE 11/10/99: "Prime Minister Ehud Barak will visit the United States next week to attend the United Jewish Communities' General Assembly (GA) in Atlanta and will then travel to New York, where he will lecture on the Israeli economy to business leaders, YEDIOT AHARONOT reported.

Barak will also have the honor of opening the daily trading session on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, November 22. In a related matter, next week's GA will facilitate the final resolution of the issue of funding for the Birthright Israel program.

It was agreed that the Government of Israel, the Jewish Agency and a group of private philanthropists who contributed to the program would each pay a third of the cost."

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