Monday,
September 29
Released
Palestinian Prisoner Kills Two Israelis, Including Baby Girl,
on Rosh Hashana
22-year-old
Mahmoud Hamedan from the village of Durrah infiltrated the isolated
West Bank settlement of Negohot Friday night, from the northwest,
through an area not enclosed by a fence. Armed with an M-16
assault rifle, he knocked on the door of one of the homes on
the edge of the settlement. Eyal
Yiberbaum, 27, who was visiting for the Rosh Hashana holiday,
opened the door and was critically wounded when the gunman opened
fire. He died a short time later. The owner of the house and
a soldier opened fire at the gunman, who tried to escape, firing
a number of rounds while running outside. Shots fired at another
home hit and critically wounded a seven-month-old baby girl,
Shaked
Avraham, who also died a short while later. An army reserve
unit that rushed to the scene killed the gunman. The Islamic
Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack, in which two other
Israelis were lightly wounded. Hamedan was released from an
Israeli prison two months ago, after serving a 14-month sentence.
"The Palestinians have started the Jewish New Year with
another bloody terrorist attack," said David Baker, an
official in the Prime Minister's Office. "It's obvious
that they've taken a New Year's resolution to continue with
their trail of terror against Israel. The Palestinian Authority
still refuses to take the necessary steps to rein in the terror
and prevent such attacks from happening." (From Ha'aretz)
more
Ex-PA
Security Chief Dahlan: Armed Struggle was Mistake
On the three-year
anniversary of the intifada, the outgoing Palestinian security
chief said militants made a mistake in using arms against Israel
and failed to understand that the world had changed after September
11. Violence has been "detrimental to our national struggle,"
Mohammed Dahlan said in remarks published Sunday, as thousands
of Palestinians marked the anniversary with marches in the West
Bank. (From Ha'aretz) more
FDA
Approves of Israeli Cancer Detection Technique
Americans suffering from
breast and prostate cancer should soon be benefiting from an
Israeli detection technique that avoids the pain and risk associated
with biopsies, reports the Weizmann Institute of Science, located
in Rechovot. Thanks to the Israeli development, doctors will
be able to distinguish between malignant tumors and benign lumps
by scanning instead of cutting. The diagnostic imaging technique,
called 3TP, has recently been approved for use by the US Food
& Drug Administration and is slated for implementation as
early as next year. (From Arutz Sheva) more
Tennis
/ Double Delight for Ram and Ehrlich
Andy Ram and Yoni Ehrlich
have reestablished themselves as two of the top names in doubles
tennis, after winning the final of the Thailand Open in Bangkok
Sunday. The Israeli duo overcame Andrew Kratzmann of Australia
and Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4),
to pick up prize money of $26,800. The victory also raises them
in ATP world rankings, with Ram climbing to 37th and Ehrlich
to 43rd. (From Ha'aretz) more
Tuesday,
September 30
Comptroller:
Half of Frontline Soldiers Not Properly Protected
The latest State Comptroller's Report, published Tuesday,
uncovers serious problems in the personal safety of Israel Defense
Forces soldiers and Israel Police officers serving in the territories,
as well as the level of protection of vehicles used by the security
forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The report concentrates
primarily on the security services, but also reports on the
Education, Science and Sports Ministry's Cultural Authority
and on various state-owned corporations. According to the State
Comptroller, former Supreme Court justice Eliezer Goldberg,
the IDF had a shortfall of ceramic vests amounting to 50 percent
of the number needed.
Goldberg's report also discusses the security fence. Senior
security officials are united in the opinion that the fence
is capable of foiling terror attacks, the report says, but the
government is stalling on its construction. In May 2003, the
deputy IDF chief of staff and the Jerusalem District police
commander told the State Comptroller's Office that, "most
of the terrorists cross the seam line in areas where there is
no barrier." (From Ha'aretz) more
Fatah
Leaders in Uproar Over Pro-Dahlan Demonstrations in Gaza
Upon learning that former security minister
Muhammad Dahlan had been excluded from the new cabinet of Prime
Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), thousands of demonstrators marched
in the city of Khan Yunis and other places in the southern Gaza
Strip over the past three days in support of Dahlan. The protesters,
many of them members of the Preventive Security Service and
Fatah's armed wing, Aksa Martyrs Brigades, chanted slogans condemning
Qurei's cabinet and three veteran Fatah leaders known as opponents
of Dahlan Abbas Zaki, Hani al-Hassan, and Sakher Habash. In
an unprecedented move, the demonstrators also set fire to effigies
representing the three and called for punishing them for being
"opportunists" and "collaborators." The
pro-Dahlan rallies have enraged many of Fatah's top leaders
and activists, who have accused the ousted security minister
of trying to stage a coup d' tat. (From Jerusalem Post) more
Commentary:
Where is UNICEF?
On Friday night,
two Palestinians, aged 15 and 16, were caught by the IDF at
the fence around the Gaza Strip. The two, it turns out, were
paid NIS 100 each to risk their lives retrieving bags of weapons
that were left at the fence by terrorists the previous night
in a botched infiltration attempt. These reports received scant
attention in Israel, where it is well known that no age is too
tender to begin indoctrination toward hatred of Israel. We have
seen babies in strollers with slogans of hatred wrapped around
their foreheads, summer camps named after suicide bombers, and
music videos that proclaim the wonders of "martyrdom"
and murder. How many times have we heard the parents of suicide
bombers declaring their pride that their child had committed
mass murder in an Israeli bus or a crowded cafe?
Where is the world when it comes to the wholesale enlistment
of Palestinian children in the cause of terrorism? The Web site
of UNICEF, the UN agency devoted to the rights and lives of
children, decries the fact that "millions of children are
exploited, millions are abused, millions are victims of violence.
Every day, they are bought and sold, imported and exported like
consumable things." UNICEF is right. The exploitation of
children is an issue of epidemic proportions, and one that,
elsewhere in the world, the agency does good work in combating.
Yet in its description of the plight of Palestinian children,
not a single word is devoted by UNICEF to their systematic exploitation
by both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. UNICEF has 7,000
employees all over the world and is backed by over 100 member
nations. Do they all believe that it is acceptable to prepare
children to blow themselves up, pay them to run guns, or to
throw stones at soldiers at the risk of their lives? Or, to
put it more charitably, do they really believe this is an issue
they can reasonably ignore? (From Jerusalem Post) more
Israeli
Agricultural Technology Keeps the Cows Cool and the Crops Watered
Beyond the familiar cliché
of making the desert bloom, Israeli agricultural know-how has
earned it an indisputable place at the forefront of the agriculture
industry. Israel is a recognized leader in the fields of water
irrigation and control, developing new seeds and plants, dairy
and poultry production. Over 6500 visitors from abroad including
30 ministers of agriculture from around world recently came
to view the latest in Israeli agricultural technology at the
showcase Agritech 2003. "Israeli agriculture is innovative,
with a lot of foresight into the future of agriculture,"
said Terry Peach, Secretary of Agriculture for the state of
Oklahoma. "I was particularly impressed with the systems
for efficient use of water, and was interested in the organic
and bio farming. We also visited four different companies that
make net greenhouses." (From Israel 21c) more
Wednesday,
October 1
Cabinet
Approves Next Phase of West Bank Security Fence with 'Ariel
Gap'
The cabinet on Wednesday
approved the route of the central section of the separation
fence between Israel and the West Bank, which includes the controversial
Ariel salient. In the plan put before the cabinet, construction
of the main sector of the fence will begin deep in the West
Bank, east of the Ariel and Kedumim settlements. However, this
section of the fence will not yet be connected to the main fence,
which runs near the Green Line. Minister Natan Sharansky blasted
the idea that Ariel, which with its 18,000 residents is the
second largest settlement in the West Bank, will not be connected
for now to the main section of the fence. (From Ha'aretz) more
Commentary:
The Arafat Barrier
By William Safire
By unleashing and sustaining suicide bombers against Israeli
civilians, Yasir Arafat outfoxed himself: the Palestinian boss
has given substance to the Israeli dream and U.N. promise of
"defensible borders." Two-fifths of the barrier against
terrorist infiltration is already built. Its purpose is to remove
the extremist Palestinians' threat of suicide attacks from what
was once called the peace process. All along, Sharon will insist
that the fence is a security device, not a political border.
That gives future Israeli governments opportunity to improve
territorial defenses if a Palestinian partner does not soon
emerge. When that peacemaker does emerge, he or she will find
the defensible-border issue already settled — thanks to
Yasir Arafat. (From NY Times) more
UN
Elects Israeli to Senior Legal Panel
Tal Becker, who serves
as legal advisor to Israel's UN mission, was elected by consensus
to serve as one of three vice chairmen on the UN General Assembly's
Sixth Committee, which deals with legal affairs. Among other
issues, the committee is to discuss international terrorism,
jurisdictional immunity and human cloning. "I think that
this is another step towards Israel's acceptance in the United
Nations as a full and equal member," Becker said. "It
shows that Israel is committed to improving the work of the
United Nations and playing a positive role. The United Nations
is not just about the Arab-Israeli conflict." Before 2003,
Israel's last posting to a General Assembly committee was in
1961, when international legal affairs expert Shabtai Rosenne
sat on the Sixth Committee. (From Jerusalem Post) more
Israel's
Population - 6.716m
Israel's
population at New Year's 5764 is 6.716 million. 5.143 million
are Jews. A fifth of Israel's population - 1.291 million - are
Arabs. Israel's population grew by 124,100 in 5763 (September
2002-September 2003). Population growth was 1.8%, compared with
2.1% in 5762. (From Globes) more
Thursday,
October 2
Postal
Workers Deliver God's Mail to Western Wall
Around the time of the
holidays each year, Israeli postal workers note an increase
of mail addressed to God that invariably ends up at the Postal
Authority's center for undeliverable mail in an industrial zone
in Jerusalem. The letters are collected, read, and periodically
delivered to the Western Wall, where Jews from around the world
traditionally stuff tiny slips of paper marked with personal
prayers into the cracks between the ancient stones. "We
have hundreds and thousands of letters sent to either God or
Jesus Christ," said a postal spokesman. Bezeq, the Israeli
communications company, has a "hot line to God" fax
service, promising to deliver the messages to the Wall as a
"goodwill gesture to mankind." Over the years, tens
of thousands of messages have been received, in a variety of
languages from Arabic to Swahili. (From Israel Insider) more
Friday,
October 3
No
Breakthrough in Netanyahu, Peretz Talks to End Strike
The first high-level discussions
since civil servants launched strike action earlier this week
between Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Transportation
Minister Avigdor Lieberman and the chairman of the Histadrut
labor federation, MK Amir Peretz, ended Friday afternoon with
no results. The Histadrut claims that the treasury has failed
to honor an agreement signed earlier this year that there would
be no more public sector lay-offs at least until the end of
2004. The Manufacturers' Association estimated Thursday that
the damage caused to the private sector by the current strikes
and labor sanctions has reached some NIS 650 million. According
to the association, waiting at the country's sea and airports
are goods for export and import with a total value of some NIS
2.5 billion. (From Ha'aretz) more
Body
Found Near Meron Identified as Remains of U.S. Student
The body found near Meron
on Thursday has been identified Friday as the remains of American
yeshiva student Eliezer Zussia Klughoft, 19, who went missing
August 3. Zussia Klughoft disappeared during a visit to the
tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai at Mount Meron in the north.
Police said Zussia Klughoft probably lost his way and died of
dehydration. (From Ha'aretz) more
