News and Observations from Israel 18.7.96

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News and Observations from Israel

Aaron Lerner 18 July, 1996

*** PA SECRET POLICE SUSPECTED OF KILLING ANOTHER COLLABORATOR
Nasser Al Masalmeh, 25 and his brother-in-law Hamdan Al Masalmeh
were murdered on Tuesday evening in the village of Beit Ava located
West of Hebron. While the Palestinian Police report that the
murder was due to a "family dispute", sources say that the two were
murdered by a hit squad of the Palestinian Authority's (PA) secret
police. Nasser Al Masalmeh had helped the Israeli GSS ("Shabak")
and in return was given an Israeli ID card and moved to the Israeli
city Beer Sheva. He was detained by PA police on his way to
visiting his family in Beit Ava and interrogated, this in violation
of the Oslo and Cairo Agreements which prohibit the detention of
the bearers of Israeli ID's by the PA police. After interrogation,
he was released and proceeded to Beit Ava to visit his family.
Three gunmen came to the home and shot through the window and
killed Nasser and his brother-in-law Hamdan. There have been a
series of such cases recently in which collaborators were detained
and interrogated by the PA police only to be murdered later the
same day by unidentified gunmen.
Yoni Ben Menachem, Israel Radio Reporter
(Israel Radio 18 July, 1996)

*** HIZBULLA VIOLATING GRAPES OF WRATH UNDERSTANDING
"The Hizbulla is violating the understandings which were reached
after the Grapes of Wrath Operation. Members of the organization
have returned to base themselves in the villages and they use them
for safe refuge for their activity, to establish command posts and
store ammunition in the homes....."

"Iran is trying to be seen as a regional power and wants to obtain
nonconventional weapons and ground to ground missiles. The
American embargo is not effective because the European countries
are not cooperating in this matter. Russia and China also support
Iran and help them to develop nonconventional weapons. "
Brig. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, head of military intelligence in
testimony before the Knesset Foreign and Security Affairs
Committee.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** IDF OFFICER COMPLAINS ABOUT LACK OF CONSULTATION
A senior IDF officer complained to "Haaretz" military correspondent
Eitan Rabin that the IDF brass is not participating in policy
discussions held by Prime Minister Netanyahu and is, instead,
called in after the decisions are made. The officer sees this as
part of an effort by Netanyahu to limit leaks.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** DEPUTY MINISTER OF CONSTRUCTION: PLANS FOR ETZION BLOC
According to Deputy Minister of Construction, Meir Porush, "Beitar
and the adjacent Etzion Bloc are one of the areas we are talking
about for expanding construction and settlements, because the need
exists." There are plans to build 42,000 housing units in Western
Jerusalem including Beitar, 30,000 in Beit Shemesh inside the Green
Line (of which 5,000 for Haredis), 2,000 in Tzur Hadassah, and
several thousand in the Etzion Bloc.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** LABOR NOT AGAINST CONSTRUCTION IN ETZION BLOC, JORDAN VALLEY
Former Minister of Construction and Housing, Binyamin Ben Eliezer,
told Israel Radio that the Labor Party does not oppose construction
in the Etzion Bloc, the Jordan Valley and Greater Jerusalem.
("Haaretz" 15 July, 1996)

*** ISRAEL ARRESTS 150 FROM HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD AND NATIONAL FRONT
The IDF and GSS ("Shabak") have arrested over 150 members of Hamas,
Islamic Jihad and National Front members in the West Bank in the
last two weeks. Most of the arrests are as a result of
information which the security establishment learned from the
interrogation of Hamas and Islamic Jihad members now held by
Israel. According to a security source, since Hasan Salame was
arrested a number of weeks ago, over 400 Hamas and Islamic Jihad
members tied to Salame and other activists were arrested.
("Haaretz" 18 July, 1996)

*** FATAH ACTIVISTS WORKING WITH HAMAS AGAINST IDF
According to security sources, in many villages in the West Bank
which are under Israeli security control, there is considerable
activity against the IDF which is carried out cooperatively by
Hamas and junior level Fatah activists. The military claims that
Arafat is not aware of the activity of his own Fatah activists in
the field. Fatah is also working together with Hamas in Hebron to
encourage protests against the IDF.
("Haaretz" 18 July, 1996)

***+ PA STILL HASN'T COME TO GRIPS WITH NEW GOVERNMENT
The security establishment has been following the recent comments
of senior members of the Palestinian Authority (PA) in favor of
confrontation with Israel and a resumption of the intafada. A
senior officer noted that "these sharp comments by senior members
of the PA do not comply with the agreements with Israel. We take
these comments very seriously. The attempt to pressure Israel by
threats may lead to a breakdown in contact between the parties."

Among the inciting remarks are those of Abu Ala, who said in Gaza
that the new government in Israel had caused a crisis in the peace
process, which could bring to a blow up in the territories.
According to Abu Ala, "we are passing through a real and very
serious crisis. There is a peace process but it is frozen. The
Israeli government puts up new goals and no one can anticipate what
the response of the Palestinians will be....Without question, this
will lead to a new explosion."

Sources in the security establishment said that "these extremist
comments have a large influence on the Palestinian public, which
embraces them. This is translated in the field in violent
demonstrations and the throwing of molotov cocktails in Hebron and
other places. In demonstrations with the involvement of both Hamas
and junior Fatah activists. There is already popular action
against IDF forces in the field. It isn't yet an intafada, but the
area is jumping."
("Haaretz" 16 July, 1996)

*** UNRWA: 700,789 REFUGEES IN GAZA, 524,207 IN WEST BANK
According to UNRWA, there are 700,789 refugees in the Gaza Strip
out of a total population of 900,000. According to their data,
there are 524,207 refugees in the West Bank out of a total Arab
population of 1.4 million.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** NETANYAHU PLANS TO DISCUSS ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS
According to security sources, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
plans to discuss the many administrative orders against Right wing
activists. They believe that some of the orders will not be
renewed.

Minister of Tourism, Moshe Katzav, criticized the administrative
orders and maintained that "those with charges against them should
be tried and administrative orders should not be used against those
who do not represent a threat to the security of the state."
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** LABOR MINISTER: SEND 100,000 FOREIGNERS HOME IF END CLOSURE
According to Minister of Labor Eli Yishai, if the closure ends so
that the Palestinians return to their Israeli jobs, 100,000 illegal
foreign workers must be sent home immediately. He estimated that
between NIS 3 - 4 billion is spent annually today on foreign
workers.
("Haaretz" 16 & 17 July, 1996)

*** AS MANY AS 600,000 ILLEGAL WORKERS IN ISRAEL
Batya Carmon, who is responsible for permits for foreigners in the
Ministry of the Interior says that an examination of border
statistics indicates that there are considerably more than 100,000
illegal foreign workers in Israel today. The figure could be as
high as 600,000.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** INTERIOR COMMITTEE CALLS FOR CONTINUATION OF GAS MASK PROGRAM
The Knesset Interior Committee called on the Prime Minister,
Minister of Defense and Finance Minister to reconsider their
decision to cease the distribution of gas masks to the public.
According to the commander of the home front, Brig. Gen. Shmuel
Arad, NIS 954 million worth of masks are held by the Israeli
public. They represent the principle protection for the public in
the case of an attack of unconventional weapons.

Since the plan to drop the program was announced there has been a
50-60% increase in the number of citizens going to distribution
centers to exchange their old masks for new masks. A senior source
in the Home Front Command warned that if the program to replace old
masks is dropped that the public will have ineffective masks.
("Haaretz" 14 & 17 July, 1996)

*** EGYPT: ECONOMICS NOT POLITICS BEHIND DELAY IN GAS DEAL
The Egyptian Minister of Petroleum explained that the impasse over
Egyptians plans to export natural gas to Israel stems from a lack
of agreement over pricing and not the tension between Israel and
the Arab states. "Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel, which was
signed with the party of the current Prime Minister, so from our
standpoint it really doesn't matter which party rules Israel."
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1997)

*** RAFAEL EITAN PROPOSES MEASURES TO HELP THE PALESTINIANS
Minister of Agriculture, Rafael Eitan, proposed to Hamis Tamus, the
representative of the Palestinian Autonomy at the Karni Crossing in
Gaza, that Israeli experts inspect agricultural produce in the
field in Gaza so that it can be harvested and shipped out without
requiring an agricultural inspection at the Karni Crossing. Eitan
also proposed that convoys of trucks from Judea and Samaria be
permitted to load produce at the Karni Crossing. Tamus said that
he was "favorably surprised by the words of the Minister of
Agriculture and believes that it will be possible to implement his
ideas."

Regarding water, Eitan proposed setting up desalination plants in
Gaza and the Beit Shean area. In the meantime, "there isn't water,
so there isn't water, we have no other sources." Regarding the
idea of establishing a separation line on the Green Line, Eitan
said that "we need to reach coexistence and not separation."
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** ISRAEL ALLOWS PA TO IMPORT 15,000 LIVE SHEEP AND 650 CALVES
The Israeli Ministry of Agriculture has decided to permit the
importation of 15,000 live sheep from Australia and 650 calves from
Europe to the autonomy.
("Haaretz" 15 July, 1996)

*** PA WANT IRAQI PETROLEUM
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is trying to make arrangements to
import $50 million worth of petroleum from Iraq. In 1990. Iraq
promised to contribute the petroleum to the Palestinians.
("Haaretz" 14 July, 1996)

*** TOURISM PLAN FOR WEST BANK TO BE STUDIED
Minister of Tourism Moshe Katzav announced the formation of a
professional team within the Ministry of Tourism to study a tourism
plan prepared by settlement leaders. Plans include the
establishment of a hotel and museum In Kiryat Arba. Katzav said
that the team would present its recommendations by September and
that he planned to invest in the development of tourism
infrastructure so that there will be more ready access for tourists
to holy places.
("Haaretz" 17 July, 1996)

*** BNEI AKIVA TOP YOUTH MOVEMENT
A new survey of Israeli youth group membership finds that 28.15% of
all youth movement members belong to Bnei Akiva, the religious
Zionist youth movement. In 1963 only 7% of youth movement members
belonged to Bnei Akiva. "Noar Haoved Vehalomed" of the Labor
Histadrut, dropped from 32% in '63 to 22.8% today and the scouts
from 30% to 16.6%. The haredi Agudat Yisrael Girls is today 8.1%,
while the Left wing Hashomer Hatzair is 6.5%.
("Haaretz" 15 July, 1996)

Dr. Aaron Lerner, Associate
IMRA (Independent Media Review & Analysis)
(mail POB 982 Kfar Sava)
Tel 972-9-904719/Fax 972-9-911645
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