Oct. 8, 2000
Jerry
Oct. 8, 2000 - Erev Yom Kippur 5761
TODAY'S HEADLINES:
1.TENSE QUIET THIS MORNING
2.ARAB-THROWN STONE KILLS ISRAELI
CITIZEN
3.THREE SOLDIERS KIDNAPPED
4.TERRORISTS ATTACK ISRAELI BUS
NEAR RAFIAH
5.ARABS BURN JOSEPH'S TOMB
6.YESHA RESIDENT IS MISSING
7.ARABS ATTACK JEWISH HOMES IN
PSAGOT AND HEVRON
8.IN ISRAEL
9.IN BRIEF
1. TENSE QUIET THIS MORNING
A tense quiet reigns throughout most of Israel today, as
the country waits to see whether Prime Minister
Barak's 48-hour warning to Arafat will have an effect.
Barak said last night that it is very likely that Israel no
longer has a peace partner, but he is giving Arafat 48
hours to cease the violence. If it does not stop, Barak
warned, the IDF would respond with all its force.
Palestinian sources have said that they will not give in
to Barak's threats, and that if the diplomatic process
has died, "it was at the hands of Barak." Israel
Television reported last night, in the name of several
"furious" government ministers, that the 48-hour
decision was made by Barak without consulting with
them.
Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a
former senior army commander, says that Israel is in a
situation of war, and that it is clear to him now that the
negotiating process has ended.
The lack of a U.S. veto of the UN resolution against
Israel has embittered many officials in the Israeli
government. Staffers in the Prime Minister's Office say
that Barak feels "betrayed" by Clinton, and that Clinton
has "stabbed him in the back," by not vetoing the UN
resolution condemning Israel for the war that has been
foisted upon it. Political commentators have said for
weeks that much of Clinton's recent political and
diplomatic strategies have been guided by his desire
not to lose Jewish support for either his wife Hilary's
New York Senate race or the Gore-Lieberman
Presidential race; the non-veto is apparently a
departure from this practice, as it is assumed that the
support of pro-Israeli votes in both campaigns will
make their feelings known.
The official U.S. explanation for the non-veto is that it
would have prevented the Americans from acting as a
mediator between Israel and the Arabs. The Americans
are even now attempting to arrange a meeting between
Arafat and Barak for immediately after Yom Kippur.
2. ARAB-THROWN STONE KILLS
ISRAELI CITIZEN
An Israeli citizen was murdered on the Coastal Road
Expressway between Haifa and Tel Aviv when a large
stone block crashed into the car in which he was
travelling. The block hit him in the chest and killed him
as the car passed by the Israeli-Arab village Jisser
Azarka on what is perhaps Israel's most traveled
highway. The victim, 54-year-old Jean Bechor, of
Rishon Letzion, arrived at a Hadera hospital in critical
condition, and efforts to save his life failed. The Arab
attackers have not been apprehended.
Attacks this morning included light-weapons fire near
the Jordan Valley outpost of Shadmah, and shots at an
IDF position near Beit Tsahour between Jerusalem and
Bethlehem. A cease-fire was reportedly reached in
Gaza, after the IDF destroyed several Palestinian
command post buildings at the Netzarim junction.
3. THREE SOLDIERS KIDNAPPED
Prime Minister Barak visited the site today from where
Hizbullah yesterday kidnapped three Israel soldiers on
a routine patrol near Har Dov on the Lebanese-Israeli
border. The terrorists took advantage of the lack of a
border fence in the area. Prime Minister Barak was
reminded by reporters last night that during the Israeli
withdrawal from Lebanon last May, he had promised to
react with a "strong arm" and the bombing of vital
Lebanese infrastructures in the event of
post-withdrawal Lebanese violence against Israel.
When asked if he plans to fulfill this promise, Barak
said that for understandable reasons, he could not go
into details about Israel's retaliatory plans. He
continued today with his policy of silence on the
matter.
Former GSS head Yaakov Peri, who has been entrusted
with the handling of contacts regarding the three
captured soldiers, hinted that Israel would negotiate
when he said that Israel would not enter into any
contacts with Hizbullah unless a sign that the three
were alive and well was received. Negotiations have
reportedly begun with German mediators. Barak said
that he sees Syria as bearing supreme responsibility for
the soldiers' welfare.
4. TERRORISTS ATTACK ISRAELI BUS
NEAR RAFIAH
Palestinian Arab terrorists opened fire on a busload of
Israeli workers returning from their shift at the Rafiah
terminal on the Israeli-Egyptian border shortly before
midnight last night. Five Israelis sustained light
injuries, but another three were severely wounded and
were evacuated by helicopter to Soroka hospital in
Be'er Sheva. The shooting apparently originated from
within the Palestinian airport, and it continued upon
IDF troops who arrived on the scene shortly after the
attack. Exchanges of fire followed. Prime Minister
Barak ordered the Dahaniya airport, which services the
Arabs of Gaza, closed to all air traffic, except for
Arafat's personal plane.
5. ARABS BURN JOSEPH'S TOMB
Early yesterday morning, the government ordered the
army to retreat from Joseph's Tomb in Shechem. An
agreement had been reached with Palestinian Authority
officials there, but the latter proved unable - or
unwilling - to keep their end of the agreement. A mob
of Arabs ransacked the holy site - which served as a
yeshiva for over 20 years until this past week - and
then burnt it down, and even took apart the stone dome
marking the grave of the Biblical Joseph. Even
Oslo-architect Shimon Peres had criticism last night for
Arafat and the behavior of the Palestinians in Shechem.
Peres said, "The Palestinians made a terrible mistake
in Joseph's Tomb. They pulled the rug out from under
their feet regarding their demand for control of the holy
places, by showing that they don't know how to
preserve and respect them."
During the Israeli retreat from the holy spot that PLO
gunners had targeted for the past week - and where an
Israeli soldier died of his wounds several days ago -
one Border Guard policeman was shot in the face, and
was wounded moderately. The retreating soldiers
removed all holy items, including Torah scrolls, prayer
books, and Jewish texts, before surrendering the site to
the PLO. It marked the first time that Israel had
evacuated its forces from Yesha in the face of
Palestinian violence. Barak and other top officials
implied that the evacuation was only "temporary." It
was later reported that Arafat had given an order to
restore the holy site to some semblance of normalcy,
although the extent of his authority in Shechem is not
absolute.
6. YESHA RESIDENT IS MISSING
The whereabouts of Hillel Lieberman, 36, from Elon
Moreh near Shechem, continue to be a mystery. He
arrived at Sabbath prayer services in his hometown at
8 AM yesterday morning, and upon hearing of the
burning down of Joseph's Tomb, he turned around and
left the synagogue. Lieberman is one of the founders
and administrators of the Yeshiva at the site, and in the
words of a fellow townsman, "he has a very deep
personal connection to the holy site." When he did not
return within a few hours, search parties from the town
were dispatched. An IDF helicopter participated in the
search, but residents say that the search has not been
carried out in full-force. After morning Shabbat
services, a large group of Elon Moreh residents
walked towards Shechem and conducted a quiet protest
prayer vigil for the destroyed holy site. Friends of
Lieberman, a United States citizen and a father of five,
say that they last saw him walking in the direction of
the town's exit. His mother has asked that prayers be
said for his safe return: Hillel Eliyahu ben Bracha.
7. ARABS ATTACK JEWISH HOMES IN
PSAGOT AND HEVRON
Israeli civilians in the Yesha town of Psagot - 15
kilometers north of Jerusalem - have been confined to
their homes since the shooting began on Rosh
HaShanah. Heavy fire has been rained on the town, and
the IDF reacted with fire of its own. Last night, the
Arabs escalated their assaults from sub-machine-gun to
machine-gun fire, and the IDF upgraded its reaction by
bringing tanks towards Psagot. Lt.-Col. Gal Hirsch,
IDF commander of the Binyamin area, warned all
Palestinian residents in the area "who are not involved
in the hostilities against innocent families in Psagot" to
evacuate the area, and said that that the army will
respond with full force. Hirsch told reporters last night,
"In the last 24 hours, the Palestinians have escalated
the level of their attacks on Psagot and on IDF
installations in the Ramallah area. These developments
can no longer be tolerated, and we are planning with
determination, precision, and the appropriate level of
aggression to retaliate against every source of gunfire...
We have no desire to harm innocent civilians, and we
plan to retaliate with a severe and sharp response to all
fire against us."
Later in the evening, the call to evacuate homes
included Arabs living just north of Ramallah near the
Ayosh junction. Some Palestinians were seen leaving
their homes, and quiet has reigned in the area since
shortly after the warning was issued.
Tanks were also positioned in the Gilo neighborhood
of Jerusalem and at the Ayosh junction, north of
Ramallah.
In Hevron, where heavy fire was directed on Beit
Hadassah and other Jewish homes, ten Hamas gunmen
were detected by IDF troops approaching a Jewish
neighborhood. The army opened fire, and hit two of the
terrorists; the others, some of whom were wounded,
fled. Battle helicopters overflew terrorist positions at
the Abu Sneinah hills overlooking the Jewish
neighborhood, and their fire silenced the attacks against
the Jewish homes.
8. IN ISRAEL
Fights between Arab and Israeli citizens broke out last
night in several locations throughout Israel, including
Hadera, Tiberias, Jerusalem, Caesarea, and Or Akiva.
Several people were injured in Or Akiva and
Caesarea. Near-violent demonstrations were held by
thousands of Jews in Tiberias and Bnei Brak, outside
the homes of the soldiers who were captured by
Hizbullah, as well as several other locations.
Protestors held signs saying, "We Don't Buy this
Imaginary Peace," and "Death to Arafat."
Worshippers to the Western Wall tonight and tomorrow
- for the holiday of Yom Kippur - have been ordered
by the Israeli defense forces to arrive only via Jaffa
Gate or Dung Gate, which are protected by soldiers
and police, and not to walk through any other of the
narrow streets of the Old City. Kotel Rabbi Shmuel
Rabinovitch again called on the public to visit the Wall
during these troubled times.
Jewish residents of Yesha closed off several roads to
Arab traffic last night, claiming that they would not
tolerate the closing of roads only to Jewish cars.
9. IN BRIEF
A PA newspaper calls upon Arabs to close the bypass
roads to and from the townships of Judea and Samaria
to Jewish traffic... Palestinian sources claim that an
Arab was killed by a Jewish settler yesterday. The IDF
could not confirm this report... The Yesha Council,
after an emergency meeting last night, called on the
government to ensure regular Jewish traffic on all
Yesha roads, to return to Joseph's Tomb, and to fire
Minister Yossi Beilin, whom the Council sees as
bearing the chief responsibility for the Oslo accords...
Roberta Hatch
> Sunday's Report
> Oct. 8, 2000 - Erev Yom Kippur 5761
Hey fuckwad, what makes you think this is on-topic for:
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Pull your head out of your ass, take a look around and grab a
clue, spam-boy.
Bobbi
---
Roberta Hatch '65 Panhead
Dykes on Bikes, San Francisco, CA (This space for rent)