To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Tzemach News items (9/11/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 09:02:00 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

GOV'T PLANS TO CUT SETTLEMENT FUNDS: Government plans to
cut the budget of the World Zionist Organization's settlement
department by almost 50 percent will dry up settlements in the Jordan
Valley, the Golan Heights and Judea, Samaria and Gaza, says Avraham
Duvdevani, chair of the department. The government intends to cut the
budget to NIS 100 million ($23.7 million) next year, down from NIS 188
million ($42.7 million) this year. Duvdevani says that the drastic
budget cut will virtually wipe out the settlement section and dry up
the settlements by halting immigration absorption, creating
unemployment, canceling complementary education programs, halting the
development of water sources, and ending funding to establish social
centers for youth and children. The budget cut will most severely
affect the settlements that have been defined by the Israel Defense
Force (IDF) as high-risk settlements following the implementation of
the Wye agreements, such as Homesh, Elon Moreh, Ganim, Kadim,
Migdalim, Telem, Adorah, Dotan, Beit Haggai and Otniel. (HA'ARETZ)

MOSLEMS TAKE AIM AT DISNEY: After a successful campaign to
intimidate Burger King,, Moslems around the world are now taking aim
at Disney. Claiming that it shows Jerusalem as Israel's capital and as
such offends the entire Arab world, several Arab states have
threatened Disney with retaliatory measures if the planned Israeli
exhibit is not canceled or radically modified. Disney has said it will
not be intimidated by threats of any kind. A Disney source denied the
United Arab Emirates' allegations, saying that the Israeli exhibit
does not refer to Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The corporation has
said that the millennium village is designed to allow visitors to
experience "a world without borders", featuring diverse cultures and
traditions. A company spokesperson said that Morocco and Saudi Arabia
will also be exhibiting in the village, due to open 1 October. The
Arab League has announced that it will coordinate efforts with Morocco
and Saudi Arabia to ensure that the millennium village exhibition
recognizes Jerusalem's status as Palestine's capital. Disney has
significant commercial ties in the Arab world, and Saudi tycoon Prince
Al Walid Bin Talal owns 20 percent of Euro-Disney. (HA'ARETZ)

EGYPTIAN PAPER CALLS FOR MURDER OF ALL AMERICAN JEWS:
An Egyptian government newspaper has published an article praising
Buford Furrow, the neo-Nazi who shot up the Jewish Community Center in
Los Angeles last month, wounding five people, four of them children.
The article, in the 13 August 1999 issue of the Egyptian government
newspaper AKBAR AL-YOM [which has a circulation of over 700,000, and
is the weekend edition of the government daily AL AKBAR] stated that
Furrow "has a goal to annihilate the Jewish race in the United States.
I ask god to assist him in his efforts to attain this goal. Let us all
join together saying, 'May it be god's will" (REUTERS, August 20,
1999). The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is urging the Clinton
administration to use the over $2-billion Egypt receives in US
military and financial aid each year as leverage to persuade Egyptian
leader Hosni Mubarak to publicly repudiate the article and fire the
newspaper's editor, who is a government appointee. In a letter to
Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, ZOA President Morton A. Klein points
out that the call for the murder of all American Jews includes
"Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, State Department officials
Martin Indyk and Aaron Miller, National Security Advisor Sandy Berger,
the US Ambassador to Egypt, Daniel Kurtzer, ten US Senators and
numerous members of the US House of Representatives". (ISRAELWIRE,
ISRAEL LINE)

MA'ARAT HAMACHPELA IN JEOPARDY? "A high level Joint Liaison
Committee will convene not later than September 13, 1999 to review the
situation in the Tomb of the Patriarchs" (Section 7c, Sharm el-Sheikh
Memorandum; Annex I, Article VII, Interim Agreement; and as per the
15 January 1998 US Minute of Discussion). Negotiations on the status
of the Tomb of the Patriarchs will begin on Monday, 13 September.
Israel is liable to concede the "Arab side" of the Ma'ara (Ohel
Yitzhak) to Arafat. The Arabs are demanding that Palestinian police
partake in a "joint patrol" and participate in security checks at the
entrance to the building.

"The wholesale market-Hasbahe will be opened not later than November
1, 1999, in accordance with arrangements which will be agreed upon by
the two Sides" (Section 7b, Sharm el-Sheikh Memorandum). The Arab
vegetable market, located at the entrance to the Avraham Avinu
neighborhood occupies Jewish-owned land. Closed for over five years,
this market is due to be reopened on 1 November. This site,
endangering the Jewish residents living in the Avraham Avinu
neighborhood, will promote ongoing Arab-initiated friction in the
center of Hebron.

The Jewish Community of Hebron is asking to be joined in prayer
Wednesday, 15 September (5 Tishri) and Thursday, 16 September (6
Tishri) regarding this situation, that G-d would intervene and deliver
Hebron to the Jewish people, its' rightful owners. Further information
may be found at the Hebron website located at:
<http://www.hebron.org.il>. (HEBRON PRESS OFFICE)

CRAFTSMEN TERRORIZE THE WORLD POWERS: Zechariah writes
about four craftsmen who will come to terrify the nations who
scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem (Zechariah 1.18-21). The
builders in the settlements may just be the fulfillment of this
prophecy as we see the promises made by the US and the European Union
(EU) to the PA/PLO regarding the settlements. According to a letter to
Arafat, signed by Secretary of State Madleine Albright, the US is
aware of the Palestinians' concern over settlements, and reiterates
that Clinton has called settlement activity "destructive" to the peace
process. In the US letter to the Palestinians, Albright said, "We are
conscious of your concerns about the settlement activity. As President
Clinton has written to you in the past, the United States knows how
destructive settlement activity has been to the pursuit of
Palestinian-Israeli peace". The EU wrote a similar letter which
emphasized Europe's stand denouncing all forms of Israeli settlement
activity. It was signed by the foreign ministers
 of fifteen EU member states and delivered by EU Envoy Miguel
Moratinos. Both letters supported the PA/PLO view of the declaration
of a "Palestinian state" at a later date. (HA'ARETZ, ICEJ, ZINC)

Tzemach News Service
Week Ending: 11 September 1999 / 1 Tishri 5760
fyi@tzemach.org

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pope Praises Mideast Agreement
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 09:12:12 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Pope Praises Mideast Agreement

Copyright 1999 by The Associated Press
Sept 5, 1999

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (AP) -- Pope John Paul II met with Yasser
Arafat on Sunday, calling the accord the Palestinian leader signed
with Israel a ``ray of light'' in a troubled world.

The comment came at a Mass at the pope's summer retreat outside Rome
shortly before the meeting, their eighth.

Speaking to the faithful, John Paul said that the ``panorama before
our eyes at the close of this century has not a few shadows.'' But, he
said, the land-for-security deal, which revives the Middle East peace
process, is a ``comforting ray of light.''

After his meeting with Arafat, the Vatican issued a statement saying
the Palestinian leader had briefed the pontiff on the agreement signed
earlier in the day with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.

The statement also said the Vatican was eager to sign an accord of its
own with Arafat on the activities of the Roman Catholic church in
areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. Several important
sites for Christian pilgrims, including Bethlehem, are under the
authority.

Arafat was also in Rome on Saturday for a round of high-level meetings
with the Italian president and the prime minister, who promised
economic and political support to help assure a stable peace.

After the meetings, Arafat flew to the Egyptian resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh to meet with Barak and sign the accord. He returned to Italy
for his papal audience on Sunday.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Pope to travel to Georgia in November
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 09:15:56 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Pope to travel to Georgia in November: official

Copyright 1999 by Agence France-Presse

TBILISI, Sept 8 (AFP) - Pope John Paul II will travel to the former
Soviet state of Georgia on November 8-9, the first trip ever by a
pontiff to the Caucasus region, the Vatican embassy in Georgia said on
Wednesday.

"The Vatican embassy in Georgia confirms that Pope John Paul II will
depart for Georgia on November 8-9, returning directly to the Vatican
afterwards," said an embassy spokesman, adding that no schedule of
events had been planned yet.

The pontiff was invited by the Georgian government. The majority of
Georgians belong to the Georgian Orthodox Church, though a small
number are Roman Catholics.

The pope was expected to make his first visit to the Caucasus in July
this year by traveling to Armenia, but he was forced to postpone after
Catholicos Karekin I, head of the Armenian Church, died after a losing
a battle against throat cancer.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Barak Hints at Provisional Palestinian State
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:03:34 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

                 Barak Hints at Provisional Palestinian
                 State

                 OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Ehud
                 Barak indicated on Sunday that Israel could offer the
                 Palestinians a provisional state next February if it
                 became clear that they could not reach a final peace
                 settlement within a year.

                 In a radio interview broadcast on the eve of a
                 ceremony to launch 12 months of "final status"
                 negotiations with the Palestine Liberation
                 Organisation (PLO), Barak said long-term "interim
                 arrangements" were better than no deal at all.

                 The parties have agreed to conclude a framework
                 agreement on the issues related to a final settlement
                 by mid-February.

                 Those issues include such intractable questions as
                 the status of Jerusalem, borders, the future of
                 Jewish settlements on occupied land in the West Bank
                 and Gaza Strip and the fate of some 3.6 million
                 Palestinian refugees.

                 "If we get a framework deal on the final status
                 agreement that includes the answers to the
                 fundamental problems, we will have taken a huge step
                 forward," Barak told Israel Radio.

                 "If we don't achieve this, but together with the
                 Palestinians we reach a conclusion that the solution
                 is a set of long-term interim agreements on most of
                 the issues, this would be an important achievement,"
                 Barak said.

                 He did not refer openly to statehood, but he has said
                 in the past that a Palestinian state in some form is
                 all but a reality.

http://www.arabia.com/content/news/9_99/barak12.shtml

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians Name Talks Team with Israel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:06:15 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

                 Palestinians Name Talks Team With
                 Israel

                 GAZA CITY (AFP) -- The Palestinians have named a
                 high-ranking team of 10 to negotiate with Israel on
                 the final status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in
                 talks scheduled to start Monday, officials here said
                 Saturday.

                 The team includes Faisal Husseini, the Palestinian
                 official who holds the Jerusalem file, and four
                 ministers of the Palestinian Authority. The complete
                 list is as follows:

                 Mahmud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen, the second in
                 command of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, who
                 heads the delegation.

                 Faisal Husseini, member of the PLO executive
                 committee, holder of the Jerusalem file.

                 Nabil Shaath, minister of international cooperation.

                 Saeb Erakat, minister of local administration, who
                 has led recent negotiations with Israel over the
                 implementation of the Wye river agreement.

                 Yasser Abed Rabbo, minister of information and
                 culture.

                 Jamil Tarifi, minister of civil affairs.

                 General Abdel Razek Al-Yehya, representative of the
                 Palestinian Authority in the joint military
                 commissions with Israel.

                 Colonel Mahammad Dahlan, head of the preventative
                 security service in the Gaza Strip.

                 Akram Haniyeh, journalist, adviser to Palestinian
                 leader Yasser Arafat.

                 Mahammad Rashid, economist, adviser to Arafat.

                 The Israelis have informed the Palestinians of the
                 membership of their 10-person delegation, which
                 contains only one minister, Foreign Minister David
                 Levy, its leader.

                 Other members include Danny Yatom, security adviser
                 to Prime Minister Ehud Barak; Eytan Bentzur, director
                 general of the foreign ministry; and General Yaakov
                 Orr, head of the military administration

http://www.arabia.com/content/news/9_99/plo12.shtml

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Is 'big brother' hiding under car hoods?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:11:52 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Is 'big brother' hiding under car
hoods?

   Detroit is putting black boxes in cars to enhance
safety. Critics worry about privacy.

Eric C. Evarts (evarts@csmonitor)
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

In addition to antilock brakes and a kickin' stereo, today's new
cars might come equipped with a dramatic feature the owner
isn't even aware of - a data recorder.

The only question is: Is that good or bad?

Capable of tracking everything from vehicle speed to whether
the driver has buckled up, the recorders are the automotive
equivalent of the airlines' little black box. Carmakers tout them as a
valuable tool that will help create safer vehicles.

But privacy advocates say the recorders raise the specter of Big
Brother under the hood. "The long-term effects of this
technology are ... ominous," says Barry Steinhardt of the
American Civil Liberties Union in Washington.

                So far, all new cars have relatively
                rudimentary verisions of the recorders:
                They're tied to airbags and monitor how the
                safety devices work and other basic
                information.

                But General Motors Corp. is taking the
                lead in putting more-sophisticated
                recorders in many 1999 models that will
                track everything from speed to a driver's
                braking patterns.

Eventually, experts predict that virtually all cars will carry
advanced recorders.

"We're excited about the opportunity" to understand accidents
better, says Don Griffin, associate director of the National
Association of Independent Insurers. The industry expects to be
able to use the information to settle claims faster, with fewer
lawyers, and thus perhaps give consumers better rates.

Automakers, too, are keen to collect the data. They will soon
face regulations requiring "smart airbags" on cars. Thus they
need to know when and how strongly the devices should inflate.

At present, for instance, engineers are uncertain when to trip an
airbag if a small adult is in the passenger seat. Better data on
real-world accidents would help clarify this.

The smarter airbags get, "the more important it will be to record more
[accident] data," says Phil Haseltine, president of the American
Coalition for Traffic Safety in Arlington, Va.

Crashing cars into barriers with dummies on board (the current
state of data collection) doesn't capture all the variables
involved in real-world crashes. "There's so much more variation
in the real world than you can duplicate in the lab," says Mr.
Haseltine.

So far, car companies are keeping the data they collect to
themselves. But the big question is: Who should have access to
it?

"Our position is that the person who bought the car owns the
data," says Terry Rhadigan, a spokesman for GM. He adds that
GM always asks owners before retrieving black boxes from
their cars.

But who owns the data can be far more complicated than this. If
the car was financed, the bank owns it, in the eyes of the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

If an insurance company has totaled the car, the insurance
company may own the data. Even if the data remains in the
hands of the driver, it could be subpoenaed in a lawsuit.

That's what concerns privacy advocates. They worry that the
information could become standard evidence used against
drivers in suits and in insurance claims.

Their most immediate concern, though, is more basic: that car
buyers have neither consented to having their data recorded,
nor even been told that their vehicles are equipped with the
devices.

Further out, critics see the possibility of other problems. As the
black boxes become more sophisticated, for instance, police may be
able to pick up signals transmitted from the devices that tell them
when a driver is speeding. "It's easy to see how we could get there
technologically," says Haseltine.

While virtually all of today's new cars contain recording devices,
only General Motors recorders now track 5 seconds worth of data before
a crash - including vehicle speed, engine power, brake application,
and seat-belt use. Others have only enough memory to record a split
second of accident information.

Gm's advanced boxes are in all 1999 Cadillacs, Buicks, Pontiac
Firebirds, Chevrolet Camaros, and some Corvettes -roughly 2
million to 6 million cars. Haseltine says all 2000 GMs will have
them. And while GM isn't sharing the data, "clearly the
information will get out of the hands of the auto owner," says
another official at the ACLU who declined to be named.

"A lot of these plans start out with the best intentions, but when the
government is involved, it always wants back-door access."

http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/09/13/fp2s1-csm.shtml