MED: Vol 1/234 3.15.97: SEVEN FUNERALS TAKE PLACE

[MED News Desk]

THE MID-EAST DISPATCH

DAILY NEWS FROM ISRAEL - ISSUE 234 - 15th March 1997

HEADLINES:

** 1 Seven Funerals Take Place
** 2 President Injured While Visiting Families
** 3 IDF Say Jordanians Were 'Destroying Evidence'
** 4 King May Pay Respects to Girls' Families in Israel
** 5 Netanyahu to Arafat: Leaders Must Not Fan Flames
** 6 Arafat: Gaza Conference 'Helped Protect Peace'
** 7 Special Assembly at School in Beit Shemesh
** 8 Hanegbi to Request Transfer of Suspects on Sunday
** 9 Stabbed Soldier Stabilizes
** 10 Cabinet Reaffirms Har Homa Project

** 1. SEVEN FUNERALS TAKE PLACE

The seven 8th-grade girls who were murdered by a Jordanian soldier
Thursday were buried that same night. Ye'ela Meiri was laid to rest in
Har-Tuv, Shiri Badayev was buried in Har Hamenuchot in Jerusalem, and
the funeral of Sivan Patihi was held in Kfar Uriyah. Natali Alkalai,
Keren Cohen, Adi Malka, and Nirit Cohen were buried in a joint funeral
in the Beit Shemesh cemetery.

Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu spoke at the joint funeral.
The condition of the two seriously wounded victims has stabilized.
Teacher Yaffa Shukrun is in serious but stable condition, and 13-year
old Maya Shmuel underwent a 7-hour operation, and her condition was
announced as very serious but stable. (ARUTZ 7 3/15)

** 2. PRESIDENT INJURED WHILE VISITING FAMILIES

President of Israel Ezer Weizman was injured today. In the course of a
sick call to the four lightly-injured girls from yesterday's murderous
attack, President Weizman took a fall from the steps of his helicopter
and broke his hip and wrist. (GALEI TZAHAL 3/15)

** 3. IDF SAY JORDANIANS WERE 'DESTROYING EVIDENCE'

Senior IDF figures said that the Jordanian Legion spent yesterday
destroying evidence at the site of the slaughter. During the first
forty minutes after the killings, the Jordanians collected bullet
casings, cleaned blood stains, and spirited the murderer away from the
scene.

It appears that they wished to thus prevent the IDF from investigating
the murders; this is a direct violation of the peace agreement between
the two countries. Despite this, an IDF investigation will begin work
today. Its findings will be compared to those of a parallel Jordanian
committee, and changes in the procedures in Naharayim may be implemented
as a result. In the meanwhile, Israel has closed off the area to
tourists. (ARUTZ 7 3/15)

** 4. KING MAY PAY RESPECTS TO GIRLS FAMILIES IN ISRAEL

The Prime Minister revealed King Hussein's wish to visit the parents in
Beit Shemesh mourning the murder of their seven daughters. Arrangements
are being made to coordinate the visit. (KOL ISRAEL 3/15)

** 5. NETANYAHU TO ARAFAT: LEADERS MUST NOT FAN FLAMES

Yasser Arafat phoned Prime Minister Netanyahu last night to express his
condolences over the killings. Mr. Netanyahu told Arafat that he
appreciated the call, and said that the leaders in the region have a
responsibility not to fan the flames of violence. Despite Arafat's
refusal to talk with Netanyahu this week, he told Labor MK Uzi Baram,
who met with him last night, that he does not rule out a meeting with
the Prime Minister.

King Hussein last night expressed strong sorrow over the killings, and
said that he would like to visit the families of the slain children.
Prime Minister Netanyahu turned down a request by the King to
participate in the funerals. (ARUTZ 7 3/15)

** 6. ARAFAT: GAZA CONFERENCE 'HELPED PROTECT PEACE'

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said today a meeting of Middle East
peace sponsors had helped protect regional peacemaking threatened by
Israeli settlement plans for Jerusalem.

But the PLO chairman gave few details of how the three-hour-long
conference, which Israel dismissed as a stunt to grab world attention,
had achieved this.

Arafat summoned diplomats from the United States, the European Union,
Russia, Japan and Arab countries after Israel forged ahead with plans to
begin building a settlement between Arab East Jerusalem and Bethlehem
next week.

Asked how Palestinians would react when Israel sent in the bulldozers
Arafat said: "I don't know. Ask the Palestinian masses."

Israeli Internal Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani said Israel was
ready for any possible explosion. "The battle for Jerusalem is not just
any battle," Kahalani told Army radio. "If they (Palestinians) try to
escalate the situation, the State of Israel has the tools to respond."

Western officials have been working to prevent the political crisis
spilling onto the streets in a repetition of last September's protests
when sixty-one Palestinians and 15 Israeli soldiers were killed in gun
battles.

"What we are facing today from settlements in holy Jerusalem and in the
rest of the Palestinian territories is a plan to destroy the peace
process," Arafat said in Arabic.

Arafat said the conference had "helped to protect the peace process" but
he did not elaborate. Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy blasted the
conference as an attempt to avoid direct talks.

"I hope that this attempt to flee from negotiations and to drag in
international actors in place of the good process we started will stop,"
Levy told Israel Channel One television.

US Consul General Edward Abington said he would relay Arafat's concerns
to Washington but stressed that the Gaza forum was not a substitute for
direct Israeli-PLO talks.

"The United States considers the primary vehicle for solving problems in
the Middle East to be direct negotiations. We do not see this as a new
mechanism," Abington told reporters.

He said he had suggested that Israel and the PLO press ahead with talks
to implement their Oslo self-rule deal within the framework of a
US-brokered accord on Hebron in January.

US representation at the meeting over Israeli objections reflected
Washington's disapproval of the settlement plan. "I call upon the
Israeli government to retract its settlement decisions and give the
peace process the opportunity it deserves," Arafat said.

But Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh reaffirmed Israel's determination to
break ground on the pine-covered hill.

"The prime minister made clear that work on Har Homa will begin next
week," Naveh told Israel television. "If we bow to threats we will be
unable to build in our capital in Jerusalem." (REUTERS 3/15)

** 7. SPECIAL ASSEMBLY AT SCHOOL IN BEIT SHEMESH

Classes in Fuerst-Amit Public-Religious Jr. High School in Beit Shemesh
resumed this morning, beginning with a special prayer service.
Afterwards the students met with their teachers and psychologists. The
municipality of Beit Shemesh has established a hotline for residents who
are experiencing psychological or other hardships as a result of the
killings. (ARUTZ 7 3/15)

** 8. HANEGBI TO REQUEST TRANSFER OF SUSPECTS ON SUNDAY

Justice Minister Tzahi Hanegbi will meet at the Erez Checkpoint on
Sunday, 16.3.97, at 11:00, with attorney Freh Abu Medein, the
Palestinian Authority official in charge of legal affairs, and with the
joint Israel-Palestinian legal committee.

Mr. Hanegbi will hand Mr. Abu Medein 33 requests for the transfer of
suspects from the PA to stand trial in Israel. These include 13 new
requests (among them a request to transfer the three suspects in the
murder of Eta and Ephraim Tzur), and 20 requests that were made to the
Palestinians by the previous government.

Following are the new requests:

MURDER IN BEIT EL, 11.12.96

Ibrahim Mas'ud Hani.
Ibrahim Salah Atsafa Alqam.
Abd Al-Nasser Ismail Hasin al-Qasi.
Auto theft, stripping and selling of stolen parts
Hassan Ahmad al-Rashida.
Khaled Amru Muhammad.

ATTEMPTED MURDER OF ZVI FICKSLER OF MOSHAV GAN-OR

Bassam Aram.
Yasser Aram.

MURDER OF NAFTALI SAHAR OF REHOVOT

Abdallah Samiri.

INVOLVEMENT IN SUICIDE ATTACKS JERUSALEM, TEL AVIV AND ASHKELON

Bassam Subahi Isa.
Hashem Ashur Salam Dib.
Nafaz Mahmud Sabih.
Amad Mahmud Isa Abbas: murder of Moshe Bino and AmikamSalzman (at Karni
packing plant).
Atef Hamadan (attempted murder of IDF soldier Karavani).

(IMRA 3/15)

** 9. STABBED SOLDIER STABILIZES

The condition of Moshe Konstantini, the Israeli soldier who was stabbed
by two Palestinian terrorists three days ago, is stable and no longer
critical. A hospital spokesperson told Arutz-7 that he is suffering
somewhat from the trauma of the attack, although he managed to shoot one
of his attackers, rebuff them with karate, and call for help by radio -
all within the few seconds that he was being stabbed 20 times by the two
terrorists.(ARUTZ 7 3/15)

** 10. CABINET REAFFIRMS HAR HOMA PROJECT

Cabinet ministers reaffirmed their support yesterday for the Har Homa
project. A government source says work will begin this week. The cabinet
meeting lasted nearly 6 hours which began with a minute of silence in
memory of the 7 schoolgirls slaughtered at the "Island of Peace" in
Jordan on Thursday.

The source said a significant part of Friday's long meeting dealt with
the Har Homa issue. Yossi Sarid (Meretz) called on the Prime Minister
not to begin work on Monday, instead, to push it off until after the
weekly no-confidence vote which has been postponed until next Monday due
to the mourning period following the Naharayim massacre. (KOL ISRAEL
3/15)

****
Copyright (c) The MidEast Dispatch, 1997. The MidEast Dispatch is an
independent news service, and is not affiliated with any political party
or government agency.

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