========================================= Z . I . N . C . THE ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA'S ISRAEL NEWS CONNECTION ========================================= Tuesday, August 10, 1999 8:00 AM EDT (1200 UTC) Editor: Michael C. Hoffman O&F: 301-681-0858 Email: michaelh@clark.net ========================================= To go direct to ZINC's website, Click here: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/3132 OR use our easy-to-remember but redirected address and Click here: http://over.to/zinc ========================================= TODAY'S NEWS: 1. Barak & Hafez 2. Secret base & PA phones 3. Algerian secrets 4. Indyk's influence 5. IDF Arabic shortage 6. Arab villification 7. Mustafa's return 8. Terror today 9. Temple Mount construction 10. Archaeological damage? 11. Hamas release 12. Hebron history 13. Levy to Jordan 14. Syrian missiles 15. Eclipse! 16. Hamas' jihad 17. PA uncontrol 18. A new jihad take 19. Rothschild's Golan 20. Qatar & Israel 1. Barak & Hafez AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE 8/6/99: "Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak sent a peace message to Syrian President Hafez-al-Assad two years ago when he was still in opposition, his new deputy foreign minister, Nawaf Masalha, said Friday. Masalha said he himself delivered the message to Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara when he visited Damascus as part of a delegation of Israeli Arab MPs. "In this message Mr. Barak assured Syria he would continue on the road to peace begun by Labour Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin" who was assassinated in 1995, Masalha told AFP. "I delivered this message in writing during a one-hour meeting I held with Syrian Foreign Minister Faruq al-Shara in Damascus," he said. "The message was couched in general terms and did not go into the question of exactly what undertakings Mr. Rabin did or did not give," he added..." 2. Secret base & PA phones HATZOFE 8/6/99: "Is the Palestinian Authority [PA] trying to establish facts about a Palestinian telecommunications infrastructure near the military base on the top of Jabal 'Aybal north of Nabulus, one of the most secret bases in Israel? A security officer who visited Jabal 'Aybal last week for his work told our correspondent that he saw a car bearing Israeli license plates and a sticker of Pal-Tel (the new PA cellular phone company) and a few people working on an antenna of the Israeli firm Cellcom, which had been installed a few weeks ago near the base's fence with the defense establishment's approval. When he asked them what they were doing -- he addressed them both in Arabic and Hebrew -- they told him they were connecting the Palestinian infrastructure to the Israeli phone network. Our correspondent points out that the base on Mount 'Aybal is considered one of the IDF's [Israel Defense Forces] most secret, and only people with high security clearance are allowed entry. It is located in one of the most important command points in Judaea and Samaria. In the defense establishment's map of security interests it is classified as a security interest which must remain under Israeli control in all the redeployment phases. Israeli security sources are anxious that the PA telecommunications infrastructure might be followed by a Palestinian presence on the mountain. Replying to a question by Hatzofe, Cellcom spokesperson 'Ofra Preuss denied that the company had allowed Pal-Tel to use its antenna. Sources in the Civil Administration also told our correspondent that the Palestinians were only given permission to install an antenna in the Muskand neighborhood of Nabulus, in Area C territory under Israeli control, and not on the top of Jabal 'Aybal..." 3. Algerian secrets Algiers' EL WATAN 8/8/99: "The meeting between [Algerian President Abdelaziz] Bouteflika and the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Barak, was neither fortuitous nor a matter of chance. It was envisaged. The Moroccan king's funeral - world leaders hold meetings in such circumstances - made the meeting happen earlier than planned. The go-betweens have been very efficient: Things had to be done quickly and well. The media did the rest. One of the objectives of the meeting was to make secret contacts, which have been going on for 10 years already, official and public! When Chadli Bendjedid was president, between 1986 and 1988, a senior Algerian official [responsible for military security who became ambassador and is said to have resumed work for Bouteflika] met the then Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on several occasions in Paris. The Israeli ambassador in Paris, Ovadia Soffer, was the organizer of such meetings. Did the Algerians take the initiative with the green light of the Palestinians or did they want to catch up with the Moroccan offensive towards the Jewish state? Israel was interested in continuing and deepening the contacts, while Algeria wanted Israel to recognize the PLO first. After the Madrid conference on the Middle East in 1991, contacts between the two countries resumed, following their interruption in 1988. In 1994, an Israeli delegation visited Algeria in almost total secrecy. The two foreign debt rescheduling carried out in 1993 and 1994 led Algeria to build up important hard currency reserves. For the Algerian authorities, the 1993 Oslo accords could be used as justification to establish commercial relations with the Jewish state. Therefore and according to the correspondent of [the French daily newspaper] `Le Monde' in Jerusalem, George Marion said on 1st and 2nd August that after the meeting with Bouteflika [in Rabat], one of Ehud Barak's aide told him that a commercial agreement was signed and implemented as early as 10th July 1994. The two countries had to use the system of umbrella companies [to keep the agreement secret]. One the companies was owned by Israel and was based in Morocco. It sold Algeria medical equipment [used in pregnancy tests]; the "merchandise" was disguised as a French product sent from Marseilles! The Algerian authorities were very keen on keeping secret this trade which developed in the last five years in the field of health, including field hospitals (for the National People's Army, ANP, within the framework of the fight against terrorism?), services, training, etc..." 4. Indyk's influence VESTI 8/5/99: "One month before the Likud elects its chairman in primaries, Ari'el Sharon called a news conference for Russian-speaking media representatives. "Israel's No. 1 general," as his media advisers refer to him to spite the incumbent prime minister, knows perfectly well that this is almost certainly the last battle of his political career. Sharon says he does not understand why Baraq is constantly implying that the Wye agreements, which were signed by Netanyahu, are problematic. "The Wye agreements are a direct consequence of the accords signed by Yitzhaq Rabin in Oslo," Sharon says. "In my view, the Oslo agreements are the problematic ones for our country, and yet we had to abide by international commitments undertaken by a previous government. Besides, the Wye agreement -- contrary to the Oslo accords -- was the first agreement to specify phased reciprocal concessions. Israel was supposed to implement its share only after the Palestinians implemented theirs and after that implementation was checked by us and found to conform with the signed commitments. "This stipulation prevented a situation where Israel honors its commitments while 'Arafat evades his. Moreover, let me remind you that the Palestinians, and not Israel, were the ones to quit the negotiations. They were persuaded that by pursuing the negotiations, they would be helping Netanyahu's second premiership bid." [Moldavsky] Who advised the Palestinians to quit the negotiations? [Sharon] There were more than enough advisers. First of all, the Israeli leftwingers did their share. Second, Mubarak, as well as France. Another active influence on the Palestinians was Martin Indyk. [Moldavsky] Are you saying that the US State Department actually tried to be instrumental in replacing the Israeli regime? [Sharon] I don't know if Indyk was representing the State Department's stand or acting privately in this matter. The fact is that the Palestinians abandoned the negotiating table partially thanks to Martin Indyk's advice." 5. IDF Arabic shortage MA'ARIV 8/5/99: "A severe shortage of Arabic speakers is threatening the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] Intelligence Branch's [IB] ability to collect data and conduct research. There has been a dearth of Arabic speakers for a number of years. Recently, however, it has assumed proportions that pose a threat to the IB's functioning. A senior IB officer says that the shortage is felt in both the collection and research units, and is expected to worsen in future "unless the appropriate steps are taken." The problem results from the small number of new recruits who speak Arabic at home. In past generations, there were many new immigrants from Arab countries and children born to parents from Arab countries who spoke their native language at home...In an attempt to bridge the gap, the IB is operating a special Arabic studies program. The IB selects high school graduates with particularly high potential and puts them through an eight-month Arabic language course. Those graduating from the course are asked to sign on for a fourth year of military service but afterwards most of them leave the IDF "for the temptations of the civil sector." The senior officer said that this "makes it difficult for the system to accumulate knowledge and experience." He said that "because of the chronic shortage of experienced officers, we are placing lieutenants in positions normally filled by majors." 6. Arab villification Beirut's AL NAHAR 8/5/99: "The vituperative words that Syrian Defense Minister Gen. Mustafa Talas used (and denied) against President 'Arafat mark a step forward in the hostile language between the Syrian and Palestinian leaders and in the expression of differences among Arabs these days. These words are indeed in keeping with an old Arab tradition of defamation, particularly political one. This attitude demonstrates the same tribal trend that has characterized Arab divisions since the pre-Islamic era. True, the use of vituperations is not new, nor is the casting of suspicion on origins. But the latest vilification of a person on grounds of his origin is no longer familiar in modern Arab times. The Arabs often vilify each other: Who can forget the vituperations between Iraq and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia before and after the invasion of Kuwait? Or between Egypt and Sudan; Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and so on and so forth? However, all these vituperations focused on a stand or a principle. Perhaps the most notorious vilification of the origin of a leader was the one made by Egypt against the late Jordanian monarch during the Jamal 'Abd-al-Nasir era. Some Arabs certainly raced ahead of others in concluding peace with Israel while others held their ground. But since no one had any option other than the framework of the peace process and since this peace is not at all the peace that the Arabs want, the Arabs certainly cannot improve their position and hold good negotiations through vituperations. Neither can they make peace among themselves through vilification as they proceed toward peace with Israel." 7. Mustafa's return IDF RADIO 8/5/99: "Last week Palestinian Authority [PA] Chairman Yasir 'Arafat proposed -- with Israel's approval and knowledge -- to deputy PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine] leader Abu-'Ali Mustafa to return to the territories and pursue the dialogue between the PFLP and the PA. According to a Palestinian source who was present at the meeting between 'Arafat and Mustafa in Cairo earlier this week, Mustafa agreed to return to the territories even if PFLP leader George Habash remains in Damascus. Our correspondent in the territories Tzvi Yehezqeli reports that the PFLP leadership wants to return to the territories and be part of the decisionmaking process." 8. Terror today AP 8/10/99: "A Palestinian on an apparent suicide mission plowed into hitchhiking Israeli soldiers during morning rush hour today, injuring nine before being shot to death by Israeli troops. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the hit-and-run. The Israeli police minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, said he hoped the violence would not affect Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and called on the Palestinian Authority to restrain militants. The attack occurred at Nachson Junction, a major intersection 30 miles west of Jerusalem. Witnesses said a Fiat with yellow Israeli license plates slammed into a group of soldiers at the hitchhiking post and injured two soldiers before speeding away. Then, witnesses said, the car suddenly made a sharp U-turn and drove toward the soldiers a second time. ``I saw the car hit the soldiers again, including some who were already on the ground,'' said Reuven Gvirts, 47, who was riding his bicycle nearby. Gvirtz said the car dragged some of the injured and then crashed into a large flatbed truck. The deputy police commander of the central district, Shimon Sharvit, said police and soldiers opened fire on the Fiat when it approached the second time. Sharvit said the driver was killed before his car hit the truck. Sharvit said the incident was ``apparently a suicide terror attack.'' Police sealed the area and searched the car for explosives, but found none. Ben-Ami said the driver was a resident of the Palestinian town of Bethlehem in the West Bank. All of the injured were soldiers and police, Sharvit said. Paramedics said one soldier suffered serious injuries and the others were lightly hurt..." 9. Temple Mount construction AP 8/9/99: "Israeli police sealed an opening in the outer wall of the Al Aqsa Mosque compound before dawn Tuesday in a showdown with Muslim clerics over control of the site sacred to both Muslims and Jews. Muslim leaders said the wall opening is part of renovations carried out by the Islamic Trust and that Israeli authorities had no right to interfere.

They accused the new government of moderate Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak of trying to provoke a confrontation and warned that police action would spark violent Muslim protests. The compound, known to Jews as the Temple Mount, or the site of the Jewish Temple destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., is perhaps the most sensitive spot in the Israeli-Arab conflict...In recent years, the Islamic Trust, or Waqf, has carried out a number of renovations, turning underground vaults into prayer areas. Israel has protested, but has not stopped the work, apparently fearing a repeat of the 1996 riots [which occurred after Israel opened an exit for the Western Wall tunnel archaeological excavation]. During the current renovations, workers enlarged a window on the southern side of the compound's outer wall into a door-sized opening. The opening is near the Western Wall, the last remnant of the Jewish Temple and Judaism's most sacred site. Israel's police minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, said that enlarging the opening was a violation of the unwritten agreement that neither side introduce changes at the holy site...Adnan Husseini, the director of the Islamic Trust, said the Muslims were within their rights in carrying out the renovations and that the work would not stop. "Any interference of the police with this work will lead to violence," Husseini said, speaking before police sealed the opening." 10. Archaeological damage? THE JERUSALEM POST 8/10/99: "The Moslem Wakf has punched out an opening through a gate on the Temple Mount and archeologists are concerned it may have damaged ancient sites. The "double gate" is one of two gates built during Herod's reign, said former Jerusalem District archeologist Dan Bahat. He said the gate is really a tunnel which ran from the wide steps along the southern flank of the Temple Mount. "Inside there were capitals with decorations from the Second Temple; they are actually the most serious remnants inside the holy mount from the Second Temple," Bahat told Israel Radio...According to Bahat, the tunnel had been left alone since the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE and legend has it that Mohammed used the gate as an entrance onto the mount. Bahat said the gate was eventually sealed in the 11th century. He said that the Wakf had knocked out an opening the size of a door from one of the windows overlooking the double gate. He said that no archeologist has been allowed to visit the lower parts of the Aksa Mosque, and expressed concern that damage may be caused by the renovations there..." 11. Hamas release HA'ARETZ 8/10/99: "Ismail Abu Shanab, one of the three Hamas leaders who were arrested by the Palestinian police on Friday, was released on Sunday. Abu Shanab told Ha'aretz that his investigators claimed an interview he had given to the Arabic television station MBC constituted incitement. He said he found this a puzzling explanation for his arrest, however, "since we speak in the same language all the time. Nothing has changed from our point of view. Perhaps the [Palestinian] Authority is under pressure from [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak or someone else." Abu Shanab said he was kept in solitary confinement throughout his two days in jail. An aide to Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said the organization is making efforts to get the other two detainees, Sheikh Ahmed Nimr and Dr. Abd al Aziz al Rantisi, released as well." 12. Hebron History HA'ARETZ 8/10/99--Commentary by Nadav Sharagai: "There is something chilling about the generosity being displayed by the Arabs of Hebron, at a time that marks 70 years since the slaughter of that city's Jews. Now the city fathers are inviting the descendants of those who were slaughtered, "the good Jews," to come back and live as their neighbors, and Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian preventive security forces, is begging them to return to live in their family homes - but only if the "bad Jewish settlers" are expelled from Hebron. Only one question is conspicuous by its absence in this fiasco: Why exactly were those good Jews, and not the settlers of the time, the ones who were slaughtered?. The Arabs of Hebron, apart from a few righteous gentiles who endangered their own lives in order to save Jews, did not protect their neighbors, the Jews of Hebron, who were familiar with the language of the Arabs and their customs and were no different from the Arabs in the way they lived and dressed. The head of the Hebron community, Eliezer Dan Slonim, was tied to many Arabs through commerce and friendship and even served as a member of the Hebron city council. A long-established Jewish community lived in Hebron, made up of members of the "old Yishuv" (pre-Zionist Jewish community) who had lived alongside Arabs for hundreds of years. The Jews of Hebron did not hold occupied territories, stole no one's land and stubbornly refused the Haganah's offer on the eve of the riots to send a company of defenders to Hebron, so as not, God forbid, to cause tumult among the Arabs. But despite all this, it was in Hebron, as in Tzfat and old Jerusalem, where Jewish communities of a similar character lived, that the mufti's religious incitement fell on receptive ears. The lame pharmacist Ben Zion Gershon, who had worked in Hebron for 40 years and who had distributed free medicine to the city's Arabs, was killed by the rioters, but not before they cut off his nose and his fingers. The rioters roasted baker Noah Imermann alive over a kerosene burner and Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Orlinsky Hacohen, the rabbi of Zichron Yaakov, was found dead with his brains outside his skull. The slaughter was marked by terrible cruelty. A 2-year-old baby had his head wrenched off. Others were strangled with ropes, and still others had their eyes poked out by the rioters before they were murdered. The shock was enormous. The riots instantly shattered two illusions that were common here at the time. The slaughter did not conform to the pioneering generation's assumption that the realization of Zionism would put an end to anti-Semitism, allowing us to live here like a normal nation, without the threats and hatred that were directed at Jews in the lands of the Diaspora. And in Hebron, there was an end to the idyll of the protected Jews, who had enjoyed security and prosperity. The examination of events that happened 70 years ago is relevant today precisely because in leftist circles, such a glance backward looks like a naive and fanatic persecution complex, but such a denial boomerangs right back at them. It is precisely those circles who have reservations about the "exaggerated" look backward and who are begging us to integrate into the region and look forward to the horizons of the new Middle East who suffer from myopia. The spirit of the 1929 rioters lives and breathes, only a few kilometers away from our homes, in the territories of the Palestinian Authority, in its textbooks, in the summer camps it organizes, in the speeches by its leaders that are full of incitement, hatred and blood libels in the time-honored tradition of anti-Semitism.The Palestinian terminology depicts the entire State of Israel as occupied territory. The PA universities have recently called for "writing the history of Palestine" so as "not to allow the unclean and the enemies to pervert it" and "not to permit the legitimization of the presence of the Jews on this land." The PA press publishes false articles that aim to present the Jews and the Israelis as the embodiment of evil in the world and as elements attempting to hurt Palestinians by disseminating diseases, including cancer, and distributing unsafe medicines and spoiled foodstuffs. "Corruption," writes Al Hayat al Jedida, a publication identified as a PA organ, "is in the nature of the Jews." "Slaughter is the basis of the State of Israel." "The Jews' love for money and accumulating it is well-known." "The Jews release darkness and the hatred of gangs with long beards into the earth." Many of the shapers of public opinion in the PA deny the Holocaust. Here is one example from Al Hayat al Jedida: "The play began and they, the Jews, began to distribute in a threatening way pictures of collective shootings carried out against them and [they proceeded] to invent the shocking story of the gas chambers." Dr. Assam Sabsalem, a lecturer in history at the Islamic University in Gaza, has said on PA television, "The history of the Jews is in the Arabian peninsula - they have torn up our land and sown the cancer that will be expelled one way or another," and the announcer hastened to put a seal on the statement by saying "Inshallah" - God willing.Examples of this sort and many times worse are endless. Not only does the spirit of the 1929 rioters live, but it is also winning legitimization and encouragement from the Palestinian establishment. These evil spirits, just as in 1929, cannot go hand-in-hand with the peace process" 13. Levy to Jordan THE JERUSALEM POST 8/10/99: "Foreign Minister David Levy yesterday called on Syrian President Hafez Assad to engage in direct peace negotiations. At a meeting with visiting US Senator Daniel Inouye, a Democrat from Hawaii, Levy said the signals which Assad has been sending have been positive, but "we expect Syria to understand that peace is achieved by direct dialogue, and that there is no peace by signals, and that peace is not achieved by telepathy." During his planned visit to Amman today Levy intends to brief the Jordanian leadership on recent developments in talks with the Palestinians and hopes to hear from them in turn, some news from the Syrian direction. Jordanian royal court chief Abdul-Karim Kabariti, who last month visited Damascus, will join King Abdullah II - who also visited Syria last month - in the meeting with Levy. The foreign minister, who will be accompanied by his deputy, Nawaf Masalha, is also scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Abdurra'uf Rawabdeh and Foreign Minister Abdullah Khatib. It is unclear if the Jordanians will have any message to pass along from Assad... Meanwhile, there is still no date set for a meeting between Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat - despite the fact that the two-week period in which Arafat was meant to think over Barak's suggestions about the Wye accords ends today. Barak's office yesterday played down the notion that there was a crisis between the sides, saying "there is ongoing contact," both official and non-official, between Israeli and Palestinian envoys. The prime minister, in turn, said that the official peace process negotiating teams would be appointed next week. Both Albright and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have welcomed Arafat's acceptance Sunday of Barak's offer to begin the implementation of Wye in September." 14. Syrian missiles HA'ARETZ 8/10/99: "Syria is developing new surface-to-surface missiles, with a longer range and greater warhead delivery capacity than its current missiles, Israeli sources said yesterday. Damascus has put the new missiles at the top of its national priority list, and is receiving massive developmental aid from Iran, the sources said. The most advanced missile currently in Syria's arsenal is the Scud C, which is manufactured in Syria with the aid of know-how purchased from North Korea. The Scud C has a range of 500 kilometers (300 miles), and is capable of hitting any target in Israel. It can be armed with either conventional or chemical warheads. The new missiles will enable Damascus to strike anywhere in Israel even from deep within Syrian territory. According to both Israeli and American sources, the Syrians are also trying to build underground silos for missile launchers, in order to protect the launchers from attack. By concealing the missiles in bunkers, Syria increases the nation's military strength and its ability to survive a war. Israel's assessment is that Syrian President Hafez Assad wants to achieve "a capability that will deter Israel from any military initiative, including entanglements arising from an escalation in Lebanon." The Israeli sources noted that Syria's ground force is a "serious force," and the only army in the region that teaches its soldiers how to mount a deliberate surprise attack. Syria actually devotes a significant amount of its training program to carrying out such an attack. Israel's intelligence assessment is that Syria has no plans to attack Israel at the moment, but wants to develop a military capability that would be ready for any eventuality. Despite Syria's economic difficulties, it has managed to increase the size of its regular army by three corps and carry out all its planned training exercises, the sources said..." 15. Eclipse! HA'ARETZ 8/10/99: "Tomorrow night's solar eclipse will be visible throughout Israel - but only partially. At its peak, local viewers will see the moon eclipsing 80 percent of the sun, with the eclipse closer to totality the farther north you travel. The best vantage point for Israelis will be from the Hermon. The eclipse will begin at approximately 1 P.M. local time (for viewers in the north, it will start a few minutes later, and in the south, a few minutes earlier). It will reach its peak between 2:40 and 2:43 P.M., and the sun will become fully visible again at 4 P.M...For those who are willing to leave the country to see the full eclipse, astronomers say the best viewing will be in Turkey, Syria, Iran and Iraq. Though the full eclipse will also be visible in Europe, the chances of it being obscured by clouds are much higher..." 16. Hamas' jihad HA'ARETZ 8/10/99: "At a meeting yesterday with Syrian officials, Hamas political bureau chair Khaled Meshal said that Hamas would continue its "jihad, struggle and uprising against the occupation." Meshal spoke at a meeting with Syrian Vice President Abed al Halim and Foreign Minister Farouk a-Shara to discuss developments in the peace process and the positions of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Meshal's predecessor, Moussa Abu Marzouk, was present at the meeting, also attended by nine of the 10 members of the Rejectionist Front. They discussed the meetings held last week in Cairo between PA Chairman Yasser Arafat and senior members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. PFLP leader George Habash's deputy, Abu Ali Mustafa, brought his colleagues up to date concerning his meeting with Arafat. Absent from the meeting was Democratic Front leader Naif Huwatme, who has been banned by the other organizations since he shook hands with President Ezer Weizman at King Hussein's funeral. Also discussed at the meeting was a telephone conversation between Haled al Fahoum, chair of the Palestinian National Salvation Front - the umbrella organization uniting all the rejectionist organizations - and Arafat. The rejectionist leaders who oppose the Oslo agreements want to remove Fahoum from his position because of his recent conversation with Arafat. The Hamas leadership and representatives of the PFLP met Saturday to discuss relations with the PA. Dr. Basher Assad, son of the Syrian President Hafez Assad and in charge of coordinating Syria's activities in Lebanon, visited Beirut on Sunday to meet with Lebanese President Emil Lahoud. Basher was accompanied by Syrian intelligence chief Razi Kena'en. Basher and Lahoud discussed the peace process and agreed on "continued cooperation and coordination between Syria and Lebanon in all areas." According to one source, Basher discussed restraining and even halting the activities of Hezbollah. Basher is expected to make his first official visit to Tehran soon." 17. PA uncontrol ISRAEL RESOURCE NEWS AGENCY 8/5/99: "On August 5th, 1999, the IDF dispatched a senior official to provide an off-the-record briefing for the foreign media. The subject: official Palestinian National Authority infringements of the letter and law of the accords signed with Israel. The official accused the Palestinian Authority of transforming the areas under its control into safe sanctuaries for killers, while doing little or nothing to ward off terror attacks or confiscate illegal weapons. The official went on the say that while the PA officials were condemning terror attacks in their communications with the foreign media, they were praising those same attacks in the official Palestinian Authority radio, TV and newspapers. This off-the-record IDF briefing occurred one day after Yassir Arafat celebrated his birthday with a speech in which he called for "jihad"(holy war) against the state and people of Israel, while praising the "children of the stones" who fought the Israeli army. The senior offical questioned whether Arafat's tone and policy was one of peace. Barak, elected by the peace camp in Israel, seems to be tough as nails when it comes to matters of security." 18. A new jihad take ICEJ NEWS SERVICE FROM JERUSALEM 8/6/99: "The Israeli government has slammed Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat for calling for continuing jihad (Islamic holy war) for Jerusalem, in remarks one Israeli specialist said Thursday were more symbolic than generally understood, and did not bode well for peace. Marking his 70th birthday in Ram'Allah Wednesday, Arafat told well-wishers that "some day soon, our children will be able to fly the Palestinian flag from the mosques and churches of Jerusalem. "Allah willing, we will continue with our struggle, our jihad ... and once again enter the city of Jerusalem as the Muslims did for the first time." Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy reacted strongly, telling Israel Television that what he called threats would "undoubtedly raise within every Israeli question marks about the future. This is not peace." While Levy and others focused on the use of the provocative word jihad, Rafael Israeli, professor of Middle Eastern studies at Jerusalem's Hebrew University, said that Arafat's comments, taken in their entirety, were carefully chosen and highly symbolic. In particular, Israeli noted the reference to "mosques and churches," and to the Palestinians entering Jerusalem "as the Muslims did for the first time." Arafat was, he said, making a play for Christian support for his claim to Jerusalem. When the invading Muslim Arabs in the 7th century reached Jerusalem, the city's Byzantine Christian ruler, Patriarch Sophronius, surrendered without a struggle to the Muslim Calif Omar al-Khattab. According to Arab sources, the treaty between Sophronius and Omar contained the condition that Jews not be allowed to settle in the city. In recent years, Arafat has on several occasions referred to himself as Omar's spiritual heir, Israeli said. At Christmas 1995, when the PA gained control over Bethlehem under the Oslo Accords, Arafat arranged an event in which the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Deodoris declared himself heir to Sophronius, and welcomed Arafat as Omar's heir. So important was it to Arafat that Palestinians understood the importance of this occasion, he insisted that all Palestinian newspapers carry the story and picture on their front pages. One hapless AL QUDS night editor declined, and was jailed in Jericho for a week. Israeli said Arafat had made the symbolic parallel once again in Bethlehem last December, during President Clinton's visit to the PA areas. Standing alongside Clinton, Arafat spoke of his duty as Palestinian leader to oversee Christian and Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem, while making no mention of synagogues. "This was very symbolic: Clinton is the Christian president of the most important country on earth, and Clinton played the game along with him." Israeli noted that, when the PA chairman makes remarks such as those of yesterday, the response from Palestinians is usually "delirious" because, he said, "they understand exactly the symbol" Arafat is invoking. Israeli concluded that Arafat's statement was "not encouraging for hopes for accelerating the peace process. "He says [the negotiating process] doesn't matter. He will get it [Jerusalem] by hook or by crook, and I guess he means by crook if necessary." Responding to the row over Arafat's remark, one Palestinian lawmaker, Salah Tamari, commented that "if [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak and every other Israeli leader has the right to say Jerusalem is the capital of Israel forever, while they know that it is an issue in the final-status talks, then Arafat has the right to say that Jerusalem - which is our capital - is our capital." 19. Rothschild's Golan >From a ZINC Subscriber [thanks!]--HMAVERIK@aol.com Fri, 6 Aug 1999 [ZINC is not sure of the name &/or publication of the author]: THE GOLAN BELONGS TO ISRAEL! In 1892, Baron Edmond de Rothschild - also known as the "Famous Benefactor" bought 80,000 dunams of the Golan Heights from Arabs for the purpose of settling them with Jews. Here are the facts: The Golan Heights, called "Bashan" in the Bible, was awarded by Moses to the tribe of Menasheh (Deuteronomy 3:13) as part of biblical Eretz Israel. During the last century it was a totally barren area, populated only by small pockets of Arab tribes who moved in and out from various countries. In 1892, Baron Edmond de Rothschild bought the area between Damascus, Mt. Hermon and the Golan Heights, with the central town being Daraah. The Arab seller was Ahmed Shasha Pasha. This purchase was confirmed many, times, including by the Turkish authorities that controlled the country in 1892, It was also confirmed by the French High Commissioner under whose sovereignty, the land fell after World War 1. [Editor: The Golan Heights were in the original Mandate for Palestine, which was drafted in 1920 and confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations in July. 1922. In 1923, Britain ceded the Golan to the French Mandate of Syria-Lebanon.] In 1929, the Rothschild family registered the land in the name of their private business company PICA. In 1942, some faint attempts by Arabs to claim the land failed totally,. In 1957, Baron James de Rothschild transferred the deeds to the land to the Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet) and from there to the Land Office of Israel and to the Government of Israel. All deeds and other documents were transferred to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs through an irrevocable power of attorney The Rothschilds made the transfer to the State of Israel with the explicit proviso that the land should be used for Jewish settlers. Baron de Rothschild, in his lifetime, tried to encourage colonization of the Golan Heights by Jews but failed at that time. When negotiations with Syria commenced some years ago, members of the Labor Party approached the late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin with the demand that the recognition of the Golan Heights as Jewish territory should be raised with the Syrians. However, Rabin shrank from pressing the claim. He missed an outstanding opportunity, to press this claim on perfectly legal, contractual grounds. That was a terrible mistake, because by reminding the world that the Golan Heights have been Jewish land for over 100 years, there would be no point in negotiating "the return" of the Golan to Syria, since it is not Syrian anyway. This discovery would place the status of the Golan Heights in an entirely new light. The staunchly nationalistic Netanyahu government should not have shrunk from asserting Jewish fights over the land, based on perfectly legal, internationally reorganized contracts and documents. For the land was acquired by Jewish money for the benefit of the Jewish people in addition to the fact that it was part and parcel of the Mandate for Palestine." 20. Qatar & Israel ISRAEL LINE 8/9/99: "Qatar welcomes the Israeli handball team to the World Youth Handball Competition slated for the end of August, Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. In spite of diplomatic pressure from Saudia Arabia and Bahrain who boycotted the games, one member of the Royal family said, "The Israeli team is no different than any other team. Sports and politics should be differentiated." Several editorials were published in Qataran newspapers during the past two months criticizing Israel's participation."