ZINC-9/23/99--Peres interview ========================================= Z . I . N . C . THE ZIONIST ORGANIZATION OF AMERICA'S ISRAEL NEWS CONNECTION ========================================= Thursday, September 23, 1999 5:00 AM EDT (0900 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 ========================================= ZINC today is larger than usual due to a fascinating (and long) interview with Shimon Peres. TODAY'S NEWS: 1. Peres interview 2. Israel's Islamic Movement & Hamas 3. More on recent attempted terror 4. Terror analysis 5. 'Exploiting democracy' 6. Israeli Arab terror cell 7. Barak interview 8. Barak's trip 9. Iranian Jewish rethink 10. Coalition loses 11. Albright & Al-Sharaa 12. Disney boycott 13. Enviro-plastic 1. Peres interview London's AL SHARQ AL AWSAT 9/17/99--Interview with Shimon Peres, Israeli Regional Development Minister, by Nazir Majli: "Shim'on Peres, Regional Development Minister in Ehud Baraq's Israeli Government, is still without a ministry. Though two months and a half have passed since the government was formed, Peres continues to work in his old office in Tel Aviv which the state gave him in his capacity as a former Prime Minister. His ministerial colleagues have settled down well in their offices and are already fighting the Finance Minister to increase their budgets while he is fighting the Prime Minister and his colleagues about his ministry's powers. This is a new ministry set up in Israel and its task is to lay down the infrastructure for economic and cultural cooperation between Israel and the Arab world in the new era of peace. Everyone agrees on the importance of having this ministry but when it gets close to the other ministries' authority and prerogatives, everyone objects. No matter how much he tries to hide this, signs of anger and pain are seen quite clearly on his face. Netanyahu's fall pleased him but he is not happy with Baraq. The new Prime Minister is trying to appear as the "first leader" and the "independent" who does not need the advice of old or experienced leaders and all this is specifically at the expense of Peres. Baraq is indulging Rabbi 'Ovadia Yosef, Leader of Shas, the party of Torah observing Jews, wooing the Likud, appeasing his colleagues from his party, and pampering David Levi. But when it comes to Peres, he marginalizes him at times and humiliates him at others. The "belated ministry" is not the only evidence of this. Baraq has totally excluded him from the management of the peace negotiations or from leading them. Peres feels that Baraq is ungrateful. He was the one who brought him to the world of politics when he took off his military uniform. Rabin proposed him and Peres went to negotiate with him. He gave him the foreign ministry portfolio in his government. Yet Baraq is turning his back on him. But Peres seems to have become used to dealing with ungrateful people. He was the Israeli leader who built the nuclear reactor in Dimona and is at the same time the architect of the peace process. Yet the public treated him unfairly and he has almost become the closest person to whom the proverb "a prophet is not honored in his own country" applies. The day we met was the day when the Israeli army commanders in the West Bank were handing over to their Palestinian counterparts the management of civilian affairs in 7 percent of the land that was transferred from Area C to Area B. On that same day, David Levi and Mahmud 'Abbas opened the final status negotiations. We did not ask him about these developments only but also about his views on the overall developments in the peace process since Baraq's election. His reply was diplomatic but you could still smell his dissatisfaction in it. He said: [Peres] I am satisfied that we have started to implement the Wye Plantation agreement because the time has come to do so. The difference between the previous government and this one is that this one is fulfilling its promises. [Majli] You did not say that you are satisfied with the peace process as a whole. This is just the start of the final status negotiations that must be finalized within five months. [Peres] I am satisfied with the results achieved so far. I believe that there is no room for delaying the negotiations on the final status. But I am not sure that these negotiations will be completed in five months. But never mind, the important thing is that we have started. [Majli] Do you not believe, like us, that the past two months were wasted in futile procrastination? [Peres] It would have been undoubtedly better if we had reached an agreement two months ago as there would have been more enthusiasm and eagerness for the process from both sides. But this did not happen. The important thing is that we have started it... [Majli] Do you believe that the Sharm al-Shaykh agreement signed by 'Arafat and Baraq will be definitely implemented on time and in its entirety? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] Will not Baraq refuse to implement this or that clause on the pretext that the Palestinians are not fulfilling their obligations? [Peres] No. [Majli] Never? [Peres] Look, there is an agreement involving obligations from both sides. Each side has to fulfill its obligations. But I am totally convinced that both sides are eager to implement this agreement. [Majli] Do you really believe that the celebration at the Erez crossing point opens the way for a final resolution of the issue? [Peres] This celebration opens the way for the possibility of reaching a solution. The practical proposals will come later. It is a good start. Let me remind you here that the first start to the final status negotiations was in May 1996. [Majli] Under your government? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] But that was a formal session. It was obvious that the imminent elections would impede the negotiations. [Peres] This is true. But the peace process was not a nominal one. We withdrew from around 400 Palestinian towns in a few weeks and handed them over to the Palestinians. [Majli] Do you have a clear concept of the final resolution of the Palestinian issue? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] Is it a thorough proposal? A peace plan? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] Acceptable to both sides? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] What is it? [Peres] I will not talk about it. Publication kills the plan. [Majli] Is your plan the same as that of (Justice Minister) Yosi Beilin and Micha'el Eytan (a minister in Netanyahu's Government) with some slight changes? [Peres] No, no. It is something else. Do not tire yourself because I will reveal nothing about it. I will publish it when the time comes. [Majli] We can guess. It includes a clause that allows the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Your stand on this issue is known. But will it be a real state? [Peres] It will of course be a real state. [Majli] Independent? [Peres] Yes, 100 percent independent. [Majli] Disarmed? [Peres] Most certainly. [Majli] Let us imagine it: It will be an independent state but when Israel decides to blockade it, for any reason whatsoever, it can do so and therefore it will restrict the Palestinians' freedom. [Peres] No. Israel will not be able to blockade it. It will be an independent state. We will intervene only in the security areas. [Majli] A security strip similar to the one in occupied south Lebanon? [Peres] No. A security strip similar to a truce zone. [Majli] Will this independent Palestinian state be allowed to decide for itself too who can enter and leave it and who are its citizens without Israel's interference as is the case today? [Peres] It will be an independent state that decides everything that concerns its population and other policies. It is not our right to interfere in its affairs. [Majli] An independent state with a capital? [Peres, after a one moment silence] Yes. [Majli] East Jerusalem as its capital? [Peres] There is no need to partition Jerusalem as it is today or make it one city and two capitals. We can enlarge Jerusalem instead of partitioning it, increase its area. [Majli] And part of the enlarged Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine? [Peres] I only gave an example and did not mean to specify the matter. Detailed proposals will be discussed at the proper time and I keep them to myself. [Majli] Yet we want to be assured. What is your position on the Palestinian refugees' issue? You know that it is impossible to talk about a fair and comprehensive peace without their return. [Peres] Regarding the refugees' issue, first a scientific and accurate survey must be undertaken so as to know who are these refugees, their number, who wants to return, and who wants compensation. This is a principal issue. Do you for example guarantee that all the refugees living in Lebanon will return? How many among them have bought houses and land? Therefore I say that we must first know its magnitude in order to take serious action to solve it. We will find the solution in this way. [Majli] What about this report that the Israeli Government has started to open the file of Jews who emigrated to Israel from Arab countries so as to raise it in the negotiations as the problem of "Jewish refugees" (demanding compensation or return)? These files were originally opened when you were the Prime Minister. Is there a serious intention to negotiate it? [Peres] Yes, why not? Negotiations in general are a matter of give and take. All issues will be discussed and each side will try to mobilize all its tools and interpretations. Do not let this surprise you. [Majli] Do you back the notion of settling the Palestinian refugees in the Arab world? Jordan, Lebanon, and probably Egypt? [Peres] Yes, anywhere except Israel and behind the Green Line. [Majli] Not even a limited number? [Peres] Look, the Jewish character is the major issue for Israel that it must protect at any price. Anything that threatens this character will be unacceptable to any Israeli. [Majli] But the peace that you personally want to see achieve and to be a fair one, do you not believe that this fairness will be distorted and incomplete if the refugees' problem is not solved in a radical and convincing way? What do you tell this sector that constitutes around half the Palestinian people? Remain dispersed? [Peres] I understand the refugees' problem. It is primarily a humanitarian issue and not just a political one. We must all take their conditions into account. How will this be done? There is a special committee for the refugees' issue that stemmed from the multilateral negotiation track. Canada chairs it and its task is to find reasonable solutions to their problem. This committee will resume its discussions when the final negotiations really start. [Majli] Is it true that you are totally excluded from the negotiations? [Peres] Let us say that I am not directly involved in them. But I am a member of the mini-cabinet council that follows up the negotiations and I express my views there. [Majli] Is that so? [Peres] I have a specific task in the peace issue, namely to build the infrastructure for peace. This is not an easy task. [Majli] Do you agree with King 'Abdallah that negotiations with Syria will be resumed within one month? [Peres] I agree that this is possible. [Majli] Do you have information indicating this? [Peres] The Syrians want to resume the negotiations from the point they had reached and we agree to this. Discussions revolve around the specific point they had reached. If the Syrians accept the formula that was once proposed by (former US Secretary of State) Henry Kissinger, which he called "constructive fogginess," then the negotiations can be resumed immediately. Al-Asad has to realize that it is unreasonable to act contrary to what you see in a movie. The happy ending comes at the end of the movie and not at its beginning. If you start the film with its final scene, why do you need to watch it? [Majli] Do you have a personal criticism of President Hafiz al-Asad? [Peres] Yes. We could have made peace together. He missed the opportunity. [Majli] This allegation was heard several times but the Syrians denied it categorically. [Peres] Al-Asad and all Syrian officials are telling the world that the late Rabin and I pledged to him to withdraw completely from the Golan. If what they are saying is true, why then did they not agree? They want total withdrawal in return for total peace. If we had pledged this to them, what then prevented them from accepting it? [Majli] Tell us the story of the messages exchanged between you and al-Asad. We want to really understand who was responsible for the lack of progress then? [Peres] He proposed to me through the Americans (after Peres became Prime Minister in the wake of Rabin's assassination) to finalize a peace agreement before the Israeli election (that was in early 1996 and the election was held at the end of that year). I agreed and said that the election would be held in less than a year and therefore we must use the time, do away with the negotiations held by junior employees, and negotiate at the highest levels. He replied that he agreed to meet me but could not set a meeting soon. I answered: Meeting a woman without specifying a date is like specifying a date without a woman. It was not a theoretical matter. [Majli] Was this the reason that made you bring the Israeli election date forward? [Peres] Yes. I was ready to fight the election on the basis of achieving peace with Syria and Lebanon. That was a risk but I was prepared to take it. But things moved in a different direction. [Majli] Was it not possible to find another solution with the Syrians, like for example a US or Arab intervention, to save the situation? [Peres] All these efforts were made with US and Arab intervention. Everyone later said that al-Asad lost and missed an opportunity. This failure to meet was a grave mistake. In Syria, they regard a direct meeting a bickering card. But this is not the case. Al-Sadat, King Husayn, and 'Arafat wisely understood this point. A failure to meet has a deeply negative effect on Israeli public opinion. Our citizens are not convinced of a peace between two countries whose presidents do not meet. [Majli] So, in your view, the ball is now in Syria's court? [Peres] Yes. [Majli] Has Albright failed to make any progress? [Peres] It is not a question of failure or success. As you notice, the negotiations are still suspended. [Majli] Does Prime Minister Ehud Baraq support the stands that your and Rabin conveyed to Syria in 1995 and 1996? [Peres] Yes, I believe so. [Majli] What is the problem then? Do the Syrians know this and ignore it or do they not trust Baraq? [Peres] It is their problem. I do not understand them. The territory they want is in our hands. They will not be risking anything while we will be taking a risk by withdrawing from the territory. What is worrying them? Their support at the time for the operations of Hamas [Islamic Resistance Movement] (inside Israel) and Hizballah (in south Lebanon) made us lose the election. [Majli] Were the Syrians reproached for this matter? [Peres] There was self-appraisal. They believed that there were no differences between Likud and Labor or that Likud was better. [Majli] Do you believe that they realize today that Labor is better? [Peres] Yes. I believe that they realize this now... [Majli] Does Baraq support your new Middle East plan or does he lean more toward the view of Netanyahu who rejected it? [Peres] This is not a personal plan and no individual, no matter who he is, can oppose it. It is a plan that stems from the nature of the stage and the creative vision of the future. There is nothing called "domestic economy" or an "independent national economy" today. It is not a question of a "new Middle East" but of the "Middle East in our new world." What will this region be like? I give you an example. Official US statistics say that the Internet increased production ten times. How can any country live today without the Iinternet? The calculation is this: What do you lose if you do not use the Internet? There are no limits in the economy. Economic control is just an illusion. We want to get rid of poverty. There is poverty in Israel where the per capita income is $17,000 and we must get rid of it. It is the same in the Arab world where per capita is less. For example, it is $1,700 in Palestine. We can buy water from Turkey but the Palestinians cannot. The issue is therefore one of cooperation and cooperation means mutual benefits. Our region has a unique problem. The world is moving forward and the Middle East needs to integrate itself in it. This cannot be done without a partnership between the countries of the region, I mean Israel, the Arab world, Turkey, and other countries. [Majli] What are you proposing to achieve this? [Peres] We have started this in practice at the Israel-Palestine-Jordan level. We will set up joint industrial zones on the borders; Palestinian workers will come to a joint Palestinian-Israeli factory on the borders instead of coming to Israel. It is the same with Jordan. The three sides now have joint projects. There are high tech training and professional courses and joint tourism projects. We are carrying out research on the means for solving common problems in the water, energy, and technology fields. Every one can join in. [Majli] You do not like to talk about the past. But this past is full of negative experiences between Israel and the Arab world. They are an obstacle to many Arabs that prevents them from accepting or trusting your ideas. Do you not think it is appropriate for you to say sorry to these people and apologize for this past to show that there is a radical change in Israeli policy? [Peres] Look, everyone made mistakes. It can be said that everyone must say sorry. But what is the use? The problem is that we and the Palestinians are the products of two tragedies. They [the Palestinians] did not understand in depth the Jews' tragedy under the Nazis. We did not understand in depth the tragedy of the Palestinians' dispersal. Every side can present a long list of the tragedies caused by the other side. I remember now the death of a Jew and his wife in Nahariyya and other incidents. The past cannot be changed. The future is the important thing..." 2. Israel's Islamic Movement & Hamas YEDIOT AHARONOT 9/17/99: "Tonight, after the Friday evening prayer, some 50,000 Muslims will gather in the large soccer stadium of Umm-al-Fahm for a rally of sympathy with Jerusalem, held under the slogan "The Al-Aqsa Mosque Is In Danger." Shaykh Ra'id Salah, Umm-al-Fahm mayor and head of the Israeli Arab's Islamic Movement, will be the main speaker. Representatives of the Islamic Movements of South Africa, Britain, and Italy will speak about the Jews' intentions to demolish the mosques and call on the masses to bolster their faith in order to protect the holy Muslim sites. "Islam Is The Solution" reads the giant banner hung at the stadium next to a huge model of the Dome of the Rock, placed in the center of the court. If you did not know better, you could not have guessed that this is an Umm-al-Fahm rally, and not one staged in Hebron or Gaza. Shaykh Salah does not miss an opportunity to address rallies and conventions. Last year, for example, he addressed a Ramadan rally in the community center of the village of Dabburiya. He felt it is important to appear there because his movement has but a few strongholds in Dabburiya -- only one of four mosques and one kindergarten, and the movement is not represented on the local council. A year after that rally, three terrorist members of the Islamic Movement came out of Dabburiya to get killed in explosions in Tiberias and Haifa. Today's Umm-al-Fahm rally, just like the one held in Dabburiya, is one of the means of the "da'wa" -- preaching and awakening the Israeli Arabs to coming back to the roots of Islam. The call to adopt the religion of Muhammad and its rites as a way of life is accompanied by incitement against the state of the Jews, Zionism, the peace agreements 'Arafat signed, the United States, and Western culture in general. The Islamic Movement's illegal TV station, operating out of Umm-al-Fahm, is dripping the poisonous messages. The same happens during the movement's special programs broadcast on six other illegal TV stations operating in the Arab sector. The movement's official organ, Sawt Al-Haqq Wa al-Huriyyah (The Voice of Justice and Liberty) and its weekly Al-Mithaq (The Covenant) take part in the incitement, using expressions such as "the cancer of Zionism" and "the venom of the racist snake." Such expressions are quite frequent there, as they are in books and tapes disseminated by the movement in rallies, conventions, and mainly in sermons in the mosques. Defense establishment sources say that this incitement has taken hatred for Israel to its extreme forms. This is the soil from which the terrorists of the Dabburiya cell and the Mashhad killer grew from. In the Islamic Movement, they call such acts Jihad -- a holy war. The bodies dealing with Israeli Arabs -- the Shin Bet, the Israel Police, and the prime minister's adviser on Arab affairs -- have drawers full of plans for curbing the Islamic Movement's incitement: closing the movement's organs; closing the illegal TV station; banning the movement leaders from traveling abroad; restricting their trips to the West Bank; banning Hamas [Islamic Resistance Movement] preachers from speaking at Israeli mosques; banning rallies and conferences; supervising money transfers; setting up a police station in Umm-al-Fahm, the only Israeli city without a police station because the mayor does not want an Israeli flag hoisted in his town. "The politicians are hiding their heads in the sand. They are aware of the problem, but would not address it. They are familiar with the recommendations," defense establishment sources said last week in reaction to Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-'Ami's request to be presented with operative suggestions of handling the Islamic Movement's incitement. "The recommendations have been made, they just have to be implemented. We need a clear and public political instruction, not one that is given in secret." The Islamic Movement of the Green Line Arabs is a unique version of the international Muslim Brotherhood Movement, whose vision is a return to the roots of Islam, applying the Muslim law to the lives of individuals and the society in general, and establishing an Islamic state throughout the Middle East. The means to this end, as determined by the movement's founder Hasan al-Banna in 1928, are reaching out to the peoples' hearts through education and dissemination of religion, and through Jihad and the use of violence. Being a part of the international movement, the Israeli movement is subject to the regional Muslim Brotherhood leadership, whose base is in Jordan. Instructions and orders are received from there and the local, international, and inter-Arab activities of the Israeli movement are coordinated there together with the "general guide" - the Muslim Brotherhood leader. Hamas is also subject to the Muslim Brotherhood leadership in Jordan. Ideologically, it is similar to the Israeli Islamic Movement but, unlike Hamas that declared upon its formation in1987 that jihad is a means in the struggle against Israel, the Israeli movement is still at the da'wa stage. Its activities aim at expanding its influence, and forming a Muslim religious and cultural society within the Green Line boundaries, while working as a minority under a heathen regime, and struggling against secularism and modernization in the Arab society. Jihad is part of the Islamic Movement's teachings in Israel, but the movement leaders urge their followers to be patient. The time of jihad has not come yet, they say. The Islamic Movement in Israel has extensive contacts with Hamas. The ties are expressed through ideological identification, and extending moral, political, and material assistance from the Israeli movement members to their brethren in the West Bank and Gaza. For example, Sawt Al-Haqq Wa Al-Huriyyah serves as a Hamas mouthpiece; money collected in Israel by "assistance committees" are given to Hamas members in Gaza and Hebron, and include help given to the families of suicide terrorists. The Islamic Movement in Israel was founded in 1983 by a group headed by Shaykh 'Abdallah Nimr Darwish of Kafr Qasim following the failure of the Usrat al-Jihad Movement (the Jihad Family), a terror group that operated in the Triangle in the late 1970's and early 1980's. Farid Abu-Mokh of Baq'a al-Gharbiyyah, the group's founder, believed that the stage of da'wa can be skipped over and that the movement can go directly for jihad without preparing the peoples' hearts. Some 80 members of the group's terror cells were detained by the Shin Bet, tried, and sent to prison. Abu-Mokh was sentenced to 15 years in prison and, like the others, was released in the Jibril deal of May 1985. While in prison, the group members realized that they have to start over, this time through da'wa. The establishment of the Islamic Movement in Israel was the answer.Like other Islamic movements of the Muslim Brotherhood in the world -- operating in the Russian republics, Bosnia, Jordan, Egypt, and Algeria -- the Israeli movement formed two organizational systems: one secret, following the classic model of the Muslim Brotherhood, with branches and cells, that works for the distribution of Islam and its values. The other is a network of dozens of legitimate associations that serve as the foundation of the movements social infrastructure: kindergartens, clinics, sports clubs, a religious college, and even a TV station. The activities of the legitimate and autonomous network is meant to organize every aspect of the Muslim individual's life while creating an alternative to the governmental systems. Among other things, the success of the Islamic Movement feeds on its ability to answer the bitterness, frustration and discrimination that the Israeli Arabs feel. The Islamic Movement decided that the Israeli Arabs must promote their own affairs themselves. In this spirit, volunteer work camps are held in Umm-al-Fahm and other Arab villages and towns. The participants work for the public welfare, building roads, sidewalks, sheds in bus stations, renovating schools, cleaning cemeteries, and building classrooms. The movement built kindergartens and day-care centers, established social welfare services for the elderly, and opened public libraries of religious books. The mosques have virtually turned into community centers that include gyms, libraries, reading rooms, and prayer halls. The movement even set up a rehabilitation center for drug addicts. The construction drive did not skip over mosques: since 1988, some 220 new mosques were built in Israel, mostly by the Islamic Movement that controls them. In 1988, there were only 80 mosques in Israel. The construction drive nearly quadrupled the number of mosques in Israel. In 1996, the Islamic Movement split. 'Abdallah Nimr Darwish established the southern, moderate branch of the movement, which recognized the State of Israel, renounced terrorism, and was in favor of joining Israeli politics, at least on the declarative level. Since then, however, the ruling splinter has been the one headed by Shaykh Ra'id Salih and Shaykh Kamal Khatib from Kafr Kana. This is the more extreme branch to which the Dabburiya squad belonged. The Islamic Movement was never officially registered as an organization, movement, or party. Its activists are not members of any formal framework. This deliberately unclear situation was meant to provide it with immunity in the face of the authorities. This is why Shaykh Ra'id could appear in a press conference and declare that the Haifa and Tiberias terrorists perpetrated their acts on their own accord and that the Islamic Movement had nothing to do with them. Shaykh 'Abd-al-Rahman of Umm-al-Fahm, who is seen as the official movement spokesman told me: "We carry no cards, nor do we run lists of members. Anyone who prays and accepts the rules of Islam may say he is a member of the Islamic Movement." The Islamic Movement activities run very close to the fine line between legal and illegal actions, careful not to cross it. Still, some movement members choose to perpetrate Hamas-like terrorism, or even cooperate with Hamas. The "pitchfork night" of 13 February 1992, an attack during which three Nahal Brigade soldiers were killed near Kibbutz Gil'ad, the attack on Egged bus No. 945 near Ra'anana, and the double murder in Meggido were perpetrated by Islamic Movement members. No proof has so far been found connecting these acts with the movement's encouragement. The Shin Bet's work is not easy. The intelligence obtained about the movement and its leaders will only become practical if the political and judicial echelons find the legal tools for this struggle. "You cannot fight the Islamic Movement with conventional tools," defense establishment sources said last week. "We must wage a comprehensive campaign over a long period of time. The movement members use the rules of democracy to struggle and survive. We must rally all the legal powers we have to allow us to protect our society and democracy."The defense establishment sources stressed that in addition to making intelligent, preemptive, and deterrent moves, there is a need for a comprehensive policy regarding the Arab sector in Israel which would erode the Islamic Movement's power. If this is not done, the sources warned, the movement will become a serious threat to security in the State of Israel." 3. More on recent attempted terror ARUTZ7 9/22/99: "The news blackout on the recent attempted terrorist attacks by Israeli-Arabs in Haifa and Tiberias has been lifted, and details learned from the interrogation of one of the terrorists indicate as follows: One terrorist in each of the two cities planned to board an Egged bus headed for Jerusalem, deposit a bomb in a handbag under one of the seats, and then disembark and be picked up by an accomplice at a pre-arranged spot. Both terrorists were killed when the bombs went off prematurely. Seven Israeli-Arabs involved in the attacks remain in custody. The Egged Bus Company says that it does not plan to increase security measures on its buses, citing a lack of funds. A spokesman said that the bus drivers are aware of the dangers, and will exercise extra caution in the weeks and months ahead. 4. Terror analysis ARUTZ7 9/22/99: "General Security Services head Ami Ayalon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that there were twenty terrorist attempts against Israelis over the past month. This represents an increase of 250% over the months before. Ayalon said that Hamas' ability to carry out large attacks is growing. Other points made by Ayalon: Hamas abroad controls the military arm of Hamas in Judea and Samaria, and its leaders feel that the attacks must continue... The terrorists in Judea and Samaria receive orders - including orders to kidnap Israeli soldiers - from their leaders still imprisoned in Israeli prisons... Members of the Islamic Movement in Israel do not recognize the existence of Israel." 5. 'Exploiting democracy' HA'ARETZ 9/23/99: "A top police chief said yesterday that he is "worried and frustrated" about current powers available to combat incitement by the Islamic Movement in Israel. The chief of the Northern District, Maj. Gen. Alik Ron, told Ha'aretz that various elements are exploiting Israeli democracy in order to injure the state. Ron was particularly concerned by the results of the investigation into the two abortive terrorist attacks in Tiberias and Haifa three weeks ago, which involved Israeli Arabs from the Islamic Movement. Recommendations that the Shin Bet internal security service and the police are expected to present to the government regarding means of dealing with the Islamic Movement do not, however, include the outlawing of the organization. "We have not learned anything and we have not internalized anything about incitement since the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin," Ron said. "Democracy must have methods to defend itself, constraints that protect it. Otherwise, it will suffer heavily." Nevertheless, he said, Israel "has not yet found better or more correct means to deal with this incitement." Ron said he had watched a video of a mass rally held in Umm al Fahm last Friday by the Islamic Movement under the title "Al Aqsa in Danger" - referring to the mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. "When I hear Sheikh Raad Salah [a leader of the Islamic Movement and the mayor of Umm al Fahm], it is perfectly clear to me who is inciting, who is instigating," Ron said. "When he says, 'With blood and fire we will redeem Al Aqsa,' whose blood is he talking about? This is an open threat. Some of those who hear him return home in a trance, they toss and turn in their sleep and they start cooking up something terrible in their minds." As for the failed terrorist attacks, Ron said that for him "it's as though dozens of people were killed in the attacks; after all, that was the intention."... 6. Israel Arab terror cell HA'ARETZ 9/22/99: "Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon yesterday told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that a cell of Israeli Arab Islamic Movement terrorists has been uncovered. The cell was found as part of an investigation into the two abortive terrorist bombings which took place in Haifa and Tiberias two weeks ago. The cell included the activists who had carried out the bombings and had planned to perpetrate several more attacks, in cooperation with Iz a Din al Kassam, Hamas's military wing. The most important revelation was the disclosure that the security services had apprehended Ibrahim Al Magid Salah, a 20-year-old resident of the Galilee village of Mashed. Salah was the so-called "missing body." A Shin Bet update in the wake of Ayalon's report revealed that while in Tiberias two dead terrorists were found at the scene of the explosion, in Haifa only one dead terrorist was found. The assumption was that the second terrorist in Haifa had luckily escaped the bomb and was still at large. An intensive investigation led to Salah, who was arrested a few days after the abortive attacks and confessed to being "the fourth man" Yesterday he reconstructed the bombings before investigators at the scene of the crime... Salah told investigators that the cell was organized and commanded by Amir Masalha, a 25-year-old resident of the Arab village of Daburriya, who was killed in the Tiberias explosion. The two men had met as a result of their activities in the Islamic Movement. Salah has also told investigators of the links between movement activists and the Hamas. He said that Masalha had come into contact with Hamas activists while studying at an Islamic institute in Ramallah. He also told investigators that the Hamas activists they had been in contact with were from Samaria. During his report, Ayalon told the committee that the security services had previously recommended taking steps to curtail the activities of what he described as "the hard-core activists of the movement." He said, however, that the government had not taken any steps in this regard. He said that this is not the first time Islamic Movement activists had been implicated in terrorist activities..."HA'ARETZ 9/23/99: "Three senior members of the militant Hamas organization were arrested yesterday when they landed in Jordan, and one of the three was deported to Tehran via Dubai shortly afterward. They arrived in Amman on a flight from Tehran in defiance of arrest orders which had been issued against them by the Jordanian authorities. The three are Khaled Meshal, the head of Hamas's political bureau; the organization's representative in Jordan, Ibrahim Ghosheh; and member of the political leadership Moussa Abu Marzouk. Marzouk, who, unlike the other two, is not a Jordanian national and holds Yemeni citizenship, was expelled. Meshal, who was the target of a botched assassination attempt by the Mossad in 1997, and Ghosheh are expected to be tried in a Jordanian military court. Since the Jordanian authorities launched a series of raids and arrests against Hamas activists at the end of August, several meetings have been held between Jordanian leaders and the heads of the Muslim Brotherhood, which has ties with Hamas. King Abdullah sent his top officials to these meetings, including Prime Minister Abd a-Raouf Rawabdeh; the chief of the Royal Bureau, Abd al Karim Kabariti; and the head of the General Intelligence Service, Samih al Batihi. During the meetings the king's emissaries made it plain that Jordan had no intention of reconsidering its measures against the Hamas leadership. On Tuesday, following another fruitless meeting, the Hamas leadership in Damascus authorized the return of the wanted officials to Amman. Four of their aides were arrested with them. Prime Minister Ehud Barak, speaking in English, told reporters covering his visit to Berlin that the "attitude of King Abdullah to Hamas is an example of security awareness, an anti-terror approach, and of a courageous stand that puts a limit on the operational latitude of an extremely dangerous organization." Barak added that it was essential for Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan and Egypt to cooperate against "extremist terror in our region," adding: "We look forward to establishing this kind of cooperation." Leaders of the Hamas movement in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip deplored the Jordanian action and asked King Abdullah to reconsider. In the absence of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, who is abroad, there was no official PA reaction..." 7. Barak interview THE JERUSALEM POST 9/23/99: "Israel should seek to strike peace deals with the old guard in the Middle East - Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and Syrian President Hafez Assad. It should not wait for a generational change in the Arab world since old leaders have a unique authority in their societies to "take big decisions today," while it will take younger leaders time to consolidate their power, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said in an wide-ranging interview with The Jerusalem Post this week. Barak declared that "the leaders who were there when their states were being established are the ones who can take the big decisions today. Assad is the symbol of the revolution there; he molded the state. And Arafat also in a way is the one who molded his people. Therefore these leaders hold the sort of authority and perspective that allow them to make the hard decisions. A new leader has to take a few years to gather strength and consolidate power." Some other highlights of the interview [to be published in Friday's JERUSALEM POST] were: * Barak believes Arafat realizes that he will not gain the entire West Bank in final-status negotiations. When pointedly asked if he thinks Arafat realizes this, the premier replied, "I am sure he does. Of course, he won't say that. If you interview him, there is no doubt that he will say he wants everything, but I am convinced that he understands." At the same time, Barak said that is possible that Arafat will not choose a final-status deal. * He said that if a final-status framework deal does not succeed, a long-term interim set of understandings might be reached. "Even if we manage partially - that is, to identify those parts on which we can, in principle, reach agreement, and those parts that will require long interim agreements, or those for which we can see the permanent status but which will require a long time to arrive at - we will have done the right thing." * Barak called for the immediate construction of a bridge linking the West Bank and Gaza, which he hopes will be completed within four years. "There needs to be some connection. I am for beginning to build the bridge right now, finding some big international contributors who want to participate and getting help from governments to do it. Build it within four years." * On the ruling of the High Court of Justice halting physical pressure against Palestinian suspects, Barak expressed his belief that the court would permit continued use of pressure in extraordinary circumstances. He made no reference to legislation. "[When there is] a ticking bomb, exceptions need to be made," he said. "You can have in hand someone who might know where that bomb is located, and tick, tick, tick, it is going to blow up, so that sitting him down for a cup of coffee and asking him nicely about it is implausible. You don't know who you may be burying the next day." Speaking in general terms, he added, "it is clear that in Israel there is a need to allow force, under certain circumstances, with thought and under the correct supervision. We are not a barbaric country, but it cannot end with coffee and a pat on the back. We need to find a way to do it and we will do so." * Barak said serious Hizbullah attacks emanating from southern Lebanon could lead to a freeze in talks with Syria, marking the first known time that he has made a linkage between the two issues. "Terror from Lebanon could put a halt to the process with Syria, and therefore, Assad and I, so I think, have a common interest in stopping Hizbullah terror." * He voiced hoped that once peace is reached with Israel's immediate neighbors, this would diminish the threat emanating from Iran and potentially Iraq. " I don't see how Iran and Iraq will be able to to keep up that belligerency if we manage to reach peace deals with the Syrians, the Lebanese, and Palestinians." 8. Barak's trip ARUTZ7 9/22/99: "Prime Minister Ehud Barak participated today in a memorial ceremony for Jews murdered by the Nazis in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, together with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The two then toured the camp together. Barak later flew to France, where he is scheduled to meet with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris. Foreign Minister David Levy will depart tonight for New York, to take part in and speak at the annual session of the United Nations. He will meet with dozens of Foreign Ministers, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan. 9. Iranian Jewish rethink HA'ARETZ 9/23/99: "Prime Minister Ehud Barak is planning a major rethink on government policy toward the 13 Iranian Jews accused of spying for Israel. Barak is asking whether Israel should adopt a "high profile" and emphasize its concern for the fate of the Iranian Jews. After taking office, Barak adopted his predecessor's policy of refraining from public statements on the Jews' arrest and attempting to enlist international opinion for their release. The prime minister calculated that Israel's open involvement would only complicate matters for the detainees, and opted instead to work quietly through diplomatic channels. Barak and Foreign Minister David Levy have repeatedly raised the issue with foreign leaders and requested them to pressure Iran. In recent days, however, it has become clear that Israel's silence has not helped the arrestees. The Iranian authorities have become more vehement in their statements regarding the prisoners and even claim that some of those arrested have confessed. In the face of Tehran's extreme stance, Barak said yesterday at a memorial ceremony at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp that "we shall defend ourselves and all Jews." Even so, Barak is insistent that Israel does not need to take a confrontational stance with Iran, as that will only exacerbate the existing tensions between the two countries." 10. Coalition loses HA'ARETZ 9/23/99: "The ruling coalition suffered a major blow yesterday when Shas MKs scuttled key government proposals for the budget. Three Shas MKs voted with the opposition in protest at the unresolved financial crisis in their party's education system. The MKs brought the coalition down on six votes in the Knesset finance committee concerning budget transfers requested by Finance Minister Avraham Shochat. Committee Chairman Eli Goldshmidt (One Israel) yesterday threatened not to convene the committee for the opening of the Knesset's winter session in 10 days time, if the coalition doesn't get a majority by then. "Under these conditions the Finance Committee cannot continue to function. We're on the verge of complete paralysis in regard to the committee's work. I have no intention of holding committee sessions when it's clear that the government proposals will fall in committee one after another." He added that he had submitted the government proposals knowing that they would fail, "in order to bring the situation to the edge of a crisis." Goldshmidt called on Prime Minister Ehud Barak to bring the coalition to order in the Finance Committee..." 11. Albright & Al-Sharaa HA'ARETZ 9/23/99: "U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met yesterday with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Shara for another round of inconclusive talks that yielded no breakthrough in the attempt to renew the Israeli-Syrian peace talks. Al-Shara said after the meeting that the current American strategy was to try and reach an understanding first on "side issues" so that these would not sidetrack negotiators from the main points of the peace agreement when talks are actually renewed. Syria holds a different position, waiting for an Israeli commitment for a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights before negotiations are renewed. Al-Shara specifically noted Syria's demand for the five-kilometer strip east of the Kinneret lake, referring to the al-Hama area. "No progress has been made yet," al-Shara summed up after the meeting in Albright's hotel suite in New York. Al-Shara reiterated the Syrian claim that late Prime Minister Yithzak Rabin had agreed to a full withdrawal and that Shimon Peres concurred. "The moment" Israel acknowledges that, al-Shara said, Syria is ready to negotiate peace and security terms. He added that the United States was aware of the Israeli commitment to withdraw to the June 4, 1967 lines and can "try to bridge the gap between the sides." But sources in Prime Minister Ehud Barak's entourage on his European tour said yesterday that Rabin never commited to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights and that "we and the Americans know that that claim is not true." The sources admitted that there was still a significant gap between the two nations' positions..." 12. Disney boycott AP 9/21/99: "A coalition of Arab-American groups on Tuesday asked ``all peoples of conscience'' to boycott the Walt Disney Co. because of its plans to host an Israel exhibit at its Epcot theme park. The boycott includes TV programs on Disney-owned ABC, Disney merchandise and Disney films, said Khalid Turaani, executive director of Washington-based American Muslims for Jerusalem. The Arab groups said at a Washington news conference that they object to the exhibit because it depicts east Jerusalem as part of Israel, designates Jerusalem as the nation's capital and marginalizes the roles of Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem... Disney spokesman Bill Warren has said the exhibit will not designate Jerusalem as the capital. And on Tuesday, Warren said Disney planned to go ahead with the exhibit. ``We place high value on all our guests, and we have never intended to offend anyone,'' Warren said. ``This kind of action is certainly disappointing to our company.'' Arab-American officials said Disney's statement was not enough because the exhibit will imply that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. ``We don't expect a cultural icon like Disney to embroil itself in Israeli propaganda by propagating the Israeli myth that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,'' Turaani said. The boycott, planned to last the 15 months the exhibit is scheduled to be at Epcot, could be avoided if Disney makes changes to the exhibit, the Arab-American officials said. The other groups leading the boycott are two Washington-based advocacy groups, the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the American Muslim Foundation. Other Arab-American groups, however, said they were not ready to participate and believed there was room for negotiation. ``At this point, we don't feel we have reached a dead end,'' said Dr. Hala Maksoud, president of the Washington-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The exhibit, scheduled to open Oct. 1 in Orlando, is part of the theme park's millennium celebration featuring exhibits from more than 35 nations, the United Nations and the World Bank. Two Arab countries are to be represented - Morocco and Saudi Arabia. Arab foreign ministers also will meet this week in New York to discuss the possibility of boycotting Disney. Linda Bannister, a Disney analyst for the Edward Jones brokerage firm in St. Louis, said boycotts of Disney traditionally have had little impact on the enormous company. The 2-year-old boycott of Disney by Southern Baptists over the company's gay-friendly policies, for instance, has fallen flat, she said." 13. Enviro-plastic THE JERUSALEM POST 9/22/99: "A new-immigrant enterprise affiliated with the Technion has developed a cheap way to provide commercial packaging which disintegrates instead of polluting the environment, it was announced yesterday. The new material is as strong and water-resistant as plastic but completely biodegradable in the ground or at a garbage site. The Haifa-based mini-startup company, called Rademate Ltd, produced the rapid biodegradable hydrophobic material (RBHM), which can be recycled and serve as an alternative to plastic trash. RBHM can be used to coat cellulose-based products, such as paper and cardboard, making them strong and water-resistant like plastic. Dr. Michael Ioelovich, the company's entrepreneur and scientist who recently immigrated from Russia, says his material is based on pulp and combined with polymer compounds, making the cellulose base behave like a biological material and decompose due to enzymatic activity in the ground. RBHM is patented in Israel and the US, and Rademate is negotiating with several international companies interested in its product, several of which intend to become strategic partners. The company says the marketing potential of RBHM is immense, as the US paper packaging and cartons market alone is expected to reach $43 billion next year and environmental-protection laws around the world are pushing industry to work with environmentally friendly materials. Unlike plastic, which lasts almost forever, the new material can be recycled, and whatever is left decomposes in two or three months at a garbage dump. It is also much cheaper than other biodegradable materials developed by polymer manufacturers in the US and Europe..."