06/26/00
ny...@interport.net
Monday, June 26, 2000
* PA, ISRAEL NEAR POSSIBLE SUMMIT
* BARAK: ISRAEL OPEN TO NEGOTIATIONS WITH SYRIA
* MOVEMENTS UNITE TO CONDEMN SYNAGOGUE TORCHING
* CONSTITUTION, LAW AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE APPROVES PENALTY FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
* ECONOMIC BRIEFS
PA, ISRAEL NEAR POSSIBLE SUMMIT
Minister for Public Security Shlomo Ben-Ami and Attorney Gilad Sher met
with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat and the heads of the
Palestinian negotiating team on Sunday night, HA'ARETZ reported. The talks
focused on the possibility of a three-way summit between Prime Minister Ehud
Barak, U.S. President Bill Clinton and Arafat. According to IDF RADIO,
Ben-Ami said this morning that chances for the summit were good.
Barak and Minister of Foreign Affairs David Levy said on Sunday that the
Palestinians were creating obstacles to a summit. Barak told his cabinet
ministers that the Palestinians were attempting to "present conditions and
demands before allowing a summit to be held." Levy stated that any
unilateral Palestinian declaration would free Israel from its peace process
commitments. Unilateral declarations "deviate from the peace process and
from the obligations which forbid, on the understanding of all sides,
unilateral steps," Levy said. Levy added that "if one side makes a
unilateral move, Israel will do what it is obligated to do, according to its
own interests."
Barak and Levy were reacting to Arafat's statements at a conference of his
Fatah faction in the West Bank town of Nablus on Sunday where he said that
he would declare a Palestinian state "in a matter of weeks."
U.S. Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process Dennis Ross is slated
to meet with Arafat today in Ramallah to narrow the gaps between the Israeli
and Palestinian negotiating teams. In addition, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright is expected to arrive in the region on Tuesday evening in an effort
to promote a possible three-way summit.
BARAK: ISRAEL OPEN TO NEGOTIATIONS WITH SYRIA
Prime Minister Ehud Barak said on Sunday that in the event that
negotiations with Syria are renewed, there will be no change in Israel's
position regarding maintaining sovereignty over Lake Kinneret (Sea of
Galilee) and a strip of land around it, HA'ARETZ reported.
Barak added that the breadth of the strip around the Kinneret that Israel
will demand will depend largely on the security measures agreed upon with
Syria and the extent of normalization between the two countries.
According to Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, senior officials in Jerusalem
expressed concern over resolutions adopted by the Ba'ath Conference in
Damascus last week calling for a full Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967
line. The resolutions drafted made reference to Israel as having a Zionist
plan to expel Arabs from their land. Senior ministry of foreign affairs
officials noted that the resolutions were not operative but declarative in
nature. They added, however, that the vicious terminology used does not
coincide with the essence of peace, and puts a damper on attempts to pursue
peace.
MOVEMENTS UNITE TO CONDEMN SYNAGOGUE TORCHING
Representatives of the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform movements in
Israel convened on Sunday at the Ya'ar Ramot Conservative Synagogue in
Jerusalem to denounce an arson attempt on the building on Saturday, HA'ARETZ
reported.
The arsonists failed to do any structural damage to the Masorti
(Conservative) synagogue. The ceiling, as well as, furniture, however, will
need to be repaired. Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Sunday called the attack
on the synagogue "a horrible deed, that every Jew should deplore - so much
more when it transpires in Jerusalem." Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Lau was
adamant that "the plague of violence" between movements must end. Rabbi Lau
condemned "any act of violence, whether it is against a man's dignity, his
property, not to mention his life...or a building designated for the prayer
of the members of a movement like this one or any other."
Minister of Social and Diaspora Affairs Rabbi Michael Melchior said,
"there can be no acceptance of persecution of any kind, religious or
otherwise, especially when the arson of a synagogue is involved."
CONSTITUTION, LAW AND JUSTICE COMMITTEE APPROVES PENALTY FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee approved today a
legislative proposal endorsing a four year minimum penalty for anyone
convicted of domestic violence, HA'ARETZ reported. Members of Knesset Yael
Dayan (One Israel), Limor Livnat (Likud) and Zahava Gal-On (Meretz)
initiated the proposal.
The new minimum penalty will apply to anyone who attempts to injure a
family member using a harmful weapon or anyone who causes serious physical
injury to a family member.
The term "family members causing physical harm" in the text of the
proposal is also inclusive of divorcees and intimate friends.
Meanwhile, according to Israel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, the committee also
annulled today the early elections bill passed in a preliminary hearing
three weeks ago. Eight coalition members, including Members of Knesset from
Shas, voted to annul the law, while 6 members of the opposition voted in
favor of the legislation.
ECONOMIC BRIEFS
* Foreign venture capital investment in Israeli technology companies rose 59
percent more in the first quarter of 2000 than in the last quarter of 1999,
HA'ARETZ reported. According to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLp, $617
million was invested in 105 Israeli technology companies in the first
quarter of this year.
* The eighth annual economic conference sponsored by the Israel Institute
for Democracy will take place this week at the Renaissance Hotel in
Nazareth, HA'ARETZ reported. The conference will focus on the government's
fiscal policies, the economy in the Arab sector, the high-tech industry and
traditional industries in Israel. The event, now in its eighth year, is
being attended by top economic officials from the Government, business and
academic arenas.
Today's Israel Line was prepared by Aylon Slater and Jeremy Bob at the
Consulate General of Israel in New York.
Israel Line is a daily summary of major news items taken directly from the
Israeli media.
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