To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Face Recognition Technology in Israel
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 09:14:40 +0000

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

Tuesday September 21, 3:18 pm Eastern Time

Company Press Release

Visionics' Face Recognition Technology Chosen for Cutting Edge Israeli
Border Crossing Project

JERSEY CITY, NJ--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 21, 1999--The Israeli Ministry
of Defense (MOD) announced that it has awarded EDS and its consortium
partners a contract to develop and install an automatic biometric
border crossing system. The system, which is known as Basel, will use
Visionics' FaceItr face recognition in addition to hand geometry
biometric technology on a smart card platform to automate the border
crossing process for workers that enter the country on a daily basis.

``Basel is a milestone in border crossing systems,'' said Dr. Joseph
J. Atick, president and CEO of Visionics Corporation. ``Through the
innovative use of biometric technology, the system delivers
convenience to the daily workers by eliminating long lines at the
border, while at the same time maintaining the high standard of
security required in that part of the world. We are pleased to see our
technology deployed in the service of peace and stability in the
Middle East.''

The new system will enable the daily workers to enter and exit Israeli
territory automatically through checkpoints where biometric readers
will verify the workers' identity. The verification process requires
that the hand and face images match templates that are stored in a
smart card and a remote database. The entire process is completed
within a few seconds. The Israeli government requested the use of face
recognition technology due to the fact that ``it has proven to be very
reliable, resulting in a much more convenient and user-friendly
process,'' Dr. Atick added. Moreover, the inclusion of the FaceItr
face recognition technology as part of the overall solution in this
critical application is a testament to the product's current level of
speed and accuracy.

The revolutionary system was designed by a consortium that includes
EDS (EDS Israel and EDS Access Control Solutions Division), On Track
Innovations (OTI), Credentia, A DataCard Group Company, Oberthur Smart
Cards USA, Visionics Corporation, Recognition Systems Inc. and Team
Computers.

EDS Israel is acting as the prime contractor and systems integrator,
EDS Access Control Solution Division is providing the Automatic
Control Assemblies with the integrated dual biometric (Hand Geometry
and Facial Recognition technologies), On Track Innovation (OTI) is
providing the contactless smart card technology and dedicated data
security system, Credentia is providing the Enrollment and Issuing
Subsystem, Oberthur Smart Cards USA acting as the smart cards
manufacturer, Visionics Corporation is providing its FaceItr facial
recognition technology, Recognition Systems Inc. is providing the hand
geometry readers and Team Computers is providing the HP desk top and
servers and field support and maintenance.

The consortium members plan to offer border crossing solutions that
use FaceItr and other biometric technologies to interested governments
worldwide.

About Visionics Corporation

Headquartered in Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, Visionics Corporation
is the leading developer of facial recognition technology worldwide.
The company has pioneered the field of facial recognition with its
software engine, FaceItr, which allows computers to rapidly and
accurately recognize faces. The technology enables a large number of
real-world products and applications built by Visionics OEM partners
and software developers, such as the enhancement of CCTV systems,
large-scale identification systems for combating: ID fraud,
mass-market authentication systems for information security and
e-commerce. More information on Visionics can be accessed via the
Company web site at http://www.visionics.com

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990921/nj_visioni_1.html

via: End_Times_News@onelist.com

--- BPR

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Religion Today items (9/24/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 09:38:33 +0000

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

The world's foremost secular humanists are calling for a world
government. The International Academy of Humanism's Humanist
Manifesto 2000, signed by more than 100 academics and
intellectuals, calls for the formation of a World Parliament to
regulate environmental, economic, and population concerns,
Religion News Service said. It is the fifth such declaration
issued by humanists since 1933.
...The World Parliament should have more power than the United
Nations, the group said. National boundaries and cultural and
religious differences should slowly be eliminated, it said. New
agencies are needed to oversee and regulate worldwide
environmental conditions, transnational taxation to distribute
more money to poorer nations, and population control, it said.
...The document criticizes religious beliefs. "Theological moral
doctrines often reflect inherited, prescientific conceptions of
nature and human nature," and are outdated, it said. "We do not
deny that religionists have done much good; what we deny is that
religious piety is the sole guarantee of moral virtue." Document
signers include philosopher Paul Kurtz, entertainer Steve Allen,
anthropologist Paul Leakey, former California Sen. Alan Cranston, and
nine Nobel laureates.

British teachers will be praising the benefits of marriage in
their classes. Britain needs to impart "a new sense of moral
purpose for today's young generation," and should start by using
a pro-marriage curriculum by next fall, Prime Minister Tony Blair
said. Schools should not be "value-free zones," and it is "morally
wrong" for the government to be indifferent to the country's growing
problems of family instability and unwed teen-age pregnancy, he said.
...The curriculum will be taught to students as young as 7. Some
teachers are trying to decide how to promote marriage without
stigmatizing the one-third of British children born out of wedlock and
the one-quarter who are growing up in single-parent homes, news
reports said. ...Youth also need practical training on how to make
marriage work, Diane Sollee, director of the Coalition for Marriage,
Family, and Couples Education in Washington, D.C., said. Florida last
year became the first state to require the teaching of marriage skills
in all public and private high schools. Several states are considering
similar legislation.

About 300 demonstrators protested at Princeton University against
professor Peter Singer (see link #1 below), who says he believes
parents should have the right to kill newborn babies who have severe
handicaps. Singer, a philosopher, is the Ira W. DeCamp professor of
bioethics in the school's Center for Human Values. ...Fourteen people
were arrested Sept. 21 when they refused to stop blocking the
entrances to Princeton's administration building, news reports said.
Some of the protesters chained themselves to each other, Steve Sanborn
of the American Life League told Religion Today. Pickets chanted
"Princeton promotes murder of people with disabilities." Speakers at a
three-hour rally across from the administration building included a
disabled person who spoke with the help of a computer. ...The
protesters belonged to Christian and secular groups, including about
60 members of Not Dead Yet, a disability-rights group, many of whom
are in wheelchairs. Other groups included Princeton Students Against
Infanticide, and New Jersey Right to Life. ...Children younger than 1
month old have no human consciousness and do not have the same rights
as others, Singer, 53, wrote in a recent book. "Killing a defective
infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person," he said.
"Sometimes it is not wrong at all." ...Singer's views prey on the
vulnerable, Marie Tasy of the pro-life group Right to Life said. If
his ideas are not challenged, they may be adopted by health insurance
companies, which "are always looking to save dollars," she said.
Singer's philosophies "attack the very nature of personhood and human
life," Judy Brown, president of the American Life League, who
participated in the rally, said. ...Few Princeton students took part
in the demonstration, said Sanborn, who spoke to several young people
"snickering at the whole event." The students didn't know anything
about Singer, which is "probably the case for a lot of students
there," Sanborn said.

The United States should help fund private groups that advocate
abortion alternatives, two congressmen say. Rep. Joseph Pitts
(R-Pa.) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) are introducing
legislation that would give $85 million a year to organizations
such as crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, and adoption
services, the Associated Press said. Grants would not be
available to family planning centers or agencies that perform or
refer women to abortion counselors or providers. "No woman should ever
feel that abortion is her only option," Santorum said Sept. 22.
..."Not everyone who walks into a family planning clinic wants to have
an abortion," he said. The proposed grants would help CPCs and other
private groups continue to provide services including pregnancy
testing, counseling about unexpected pregnancies, prenatal and
postpartum health care, adoption information, abstinence counseling,
and referrals for housing, education, or employment. They would also
help fund distribution of baby food, formula, diapers, and clothing.
...Funds would be allocated to states based on their number of
abortions and out-of-wedlock births, and poorer women would be given
first priority, news reports said. The proposal is modeled after a
program created by former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey, a pro-life
Democrat.

RELATED LINKS:
1:http://www.religiontoday.com/Archive/NewsSummary/view.cgi?file=1999
041 9.brf.html

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Eden was in northern Iran
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 09:38:33 +0000

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

From The Globe and Mail,
http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/Science/19990924/ESEDEN.html
-
Eden was in northern Iran: archeologist

British scholar locates the biblical garden near the site of a modern
industrial nightmare

CHARLES M. SENNOTT
The Boston Globe
Friday, September 24, 1999

Tabriz, Iran -- Did the Garden of Eden really exist?

A British archeologist has published new findings which he says locate
the Biblical site of the garden where Adam and Eve fell from grace in
a mountain valley near this industrial city in northern Iran.

Archeologist David Rohl's scholarly search for the paradise described
in Genesis is considered a laughable enterprise by many conventional
scientific archeologists and, by others, a fascinating endeavour that
merits attention. It directly challenges previous theories that Eden
could be placed a few hundred kilometres south in the waters at the
head of the Persian Gulf.

But Dr. Rohl's work has stirred a cauldron of debate in archeology
about the role that the Bible can play in understanding the origins of
civilization, and the limits of that role.

Whether Dr. Rohl's work is sensationalism or science, his quest for
Eden is an odyssey through Iran's modern environmental nightmares, the
debate over "biblical archeology," and the human fascination with
discovering the origins of man. It raises an age-old question as to
whether the biblical Eden was an actual place on the map or merely an
ancient allegory for innocence lost. But Dr. Rohl's story is also the
story of a character some describe as a pioneering archeologist and
others as the scientific equivalent of a snake-oil salesman.

With his thick beard and weathered fedora, Dr. Rohl's appearance is so
suspiciously close to Hollywood's Indiana Jones that it seems easy to
dismiss him. A research scholar at University College, London, he made
big headlines in the British press earlier this year with his new book
Legend: The Genesis of Civilisation and sparked a cover story in
Israel's respected magazine Jerusalem Report. The BBC and Discovery
Channel are reportedly undertaking documentaries on his exploits. He
has his own Web site, too.

Following his findings leads to an open plain just outside Tabriz.
There is no lush, fertile landscape here. Instead there is a forest of
shiny chrome storage tanks and steel smokestacks forming the central
chemical plant of Iran.

"Today this valley is Paradise Lost," Dr. Rohl said. "This is fitting,
since the story in the Bible is about the descent of man from living
off the land to living in urban settings."

The chemical-processing machinery spews an acrid yellow smoke. A man
picking through the garbage here for discarded tin cans looked up
angrily at a reporter.

"Does this look like paradise?" asked the man, who identified himself
as Hussein, 58. "This is not paradise; it is hell. Go away, before
they arrest me. This is Iran."

Just beyond the chemical factory is a two-acre patch where three
generations of the Ali family were tilling silty gray soil for onions.
Mohammed Ali, 63, used a wooden shovel to unearth a blighted,
blackened onion and held it up for inspection.

"If there was a paradise here, it was long before the chemical plant
and the factories," he said. "It used to be beautiful a long time ago.
But not any more. The crops are all damaged."

Strangely, the small village on the outskirts of the sprawling
chemical plant is called Borge Marouf -- "Famous Garden" in Persian.
It is ringed by brick factories that belch black smoke and brushed by
the yellow fog produced by the chemical plant. Farmers tell how the
wheat fields within miles have black spots and the roots of crops are
blackened and taste sour. More than a dozen children here have been
born with health defects in recent years, they say.

A young couple stood at a bus stop in this barren, surreal landscape.
Sanam and Sattar Eni laughed when asked about the Garden of Eden.

"You mean Adam and Eve were here?" asked Sattar, 25, who with his wife
weaves rugs in their home. "If this was paradise, don't you think
there would be some sign of it left? Adam and Eve had everything for
them and it was beautiful. Here, it is overcrowded and we have nothing
but the pollution. . . . The only harvest we have is the dirt and the
pollution."

Dr. Rohl's research began in the mid-1980s when he pored through
biblical descriptions of Eden and the research of an obscure British
scholar named Reginald Walker. In 1996, he set out to explore a
5,000-year-old route to Eden described in Sumerian cuneiform clay
tablets held by the Museum of the Orient in Istanbul.

Two keys unlocked the secret for Dr. Rohl in a valley outside Tabriz
and just east of Lake Urmia in Iranian Kurdistan.

First, the Bible describes Eden as a "walled garden." And as Dr. Rohl
points out, "the valley is indeed walled in by towering mountain
ranges." There is Mount Sahand, a snow-capped mountain of volcanic
rock, which Dr. Rohl identifies as the Prophet Ezekiel's "Mountain of
God." On the other side is a red-ochre-coloured range that rises above
Lake Urmia.

It was near here that Dr. Rohl stumbled across the village of
Kandovan, a fascinating and remote community where hundreds of people
live in homes carved into honeycomb-like structures of volcanic rock.
A visit here in the spring thaw yielded a peaceful and beautiful view
of the surrounding snow-peaked mountains. It seemed far from the
chemical plants of the lower-lying, barren plains. And it offered what
Dr. Rohl says is a glimpse of the kind of beauty and serenity of the
place where he believes the biblical figures Adam and Eve lived in
what became known as the Garden of Eden.

Dr. Rohl believes that Adam, whose name is based on the same root word
as the Hebrew words for "red," "earth" and "man," received his name
not because he was fashioned out of clay but because he was chieftain
of the prehistoric tribe of farmers from these rust-coloured mountains
near Lake Urmia.

Eve, he believes, was his wife from another founding dynasty of
civilization that descended from the patriarchs of Genesis such as
Cain, Enoch, and Methuselah. In this sense, Dr. Rohl embraces earlier
theories that the Genesis story of the Garden of Eden is an historical
allegory for man shifting from nomadic hunter-gatherers wandering lush
plains to settled, self-reliant farmers eating "by the sweat of their
brow," as the Bible says.

Second, the Bible places Eden at the headwaters of four rivers. They
are referred to as the Tigris, the Euphrates, the Gihon, and the
Pishon. The Tigris and Euphrates intersect with Dr. Rohl's Eden. The
Gihon and Pishon rivers are not in any atlas, and herein lies the
mystery of trying to locate Eden. Dr. Rohl says they are the Araxes,
which flows from north of Lake Urmia to the Caspian Sea, and the
Uizhun, rising near Mt. Sahand and also feeding the Caspian.

"We have identified the four rivers, and the topography, as described
in the Bible, matches perfectly to Eden," he said. "I'm convinced that
we have accurately placed the Garden of Eden."

Not everyone agrees. Juris Zarins, an archeology professor at
Southwest Missouri State University, places the Garden of Eden
hundreds of kilometres to the south in a prehistoric plain that now
sits under water at the head of the Persian Gulf. Prof. Zarins is the
most respected of the so-called "Edenists," or those archeologists who
argue that the Genesis story took place in a real geographical
setting.

In an article published in the Smithsonian magazine in 1987, Prof.
Zarins argued that the puzzling Gihon and Pishon rivers are in fact
the Karun, which flows from Iran south to the Gulf. He argues that
Eden was a lush oasis that was dramatically submerged around 4000 BC
during a sudden global rise in sea level. The story of creation in
Genesis, biblical historians believe, dates back to somewhere between
7000 and 9000 BC.

"I don't discount what [Prof. Rohl] is saying totally. There are
interesting elements to his theory. But he's in the wrong place,"
Prof. Zarins said. "He's at the wrong end of the Euphrates. And that's
why he's been ignored by the established archeological journals."

Indeed, there is a good deal of skepticism about Prof. Rohl's findings
in the mainstream archeological press.

Biblical Archeology Review's managing editor Steven Feldman said that
Dr. Rohl is not new to his magazine. He said that they published an
article on Dr. Rohl's last big splash in 1996, when he challenged the
accepted chronology of time in ancient Egypt and argued that because
of vagaries in the Egyptian calendar it was 300 years shorter and that
Egyptian history and Biblical narratives, including the Exodus,
actually coincided.

"The gist of our research back then was that he was wrong," said Mr.
Feldman, "so we have been reluctant to pay great attention to him
now."

David Ilan, a research archeologist at Israel's Hebrew Union College,
held an "Eden in Jerusalem" conference this summer to assess Dr.
Rohl's work and explore the wider issue of biblical archeology.

"There are elements of his thesis that are interesting, I don't think
you can deny that," Prof. Ilan said. "His work forces us to define how
you interpret the Bible. Is it a history book, or an amalgam of myth
and fact?"

Avraham Biran, the 89-year-old Israeli grey eminence of biblical
archeology, has been tough on Dr. Rohl's findings because he believes
they are not backed by scientific data.

"What Rohl is doing is not biblical archeology," he said. "You have to
have concrete archeological evidence that dates the period. You can't
just walk around in the mountains and theorize based on the Bible and
other texts."

But Dr. Rohl, who describes himself as a "non-practising Catholic,"
defends his work. He says that the Bible is as valid a historical
document as "the writings of Herodotus or a text of Rameses II."

"It is absurd to cast the Bible aside, as many archeologists are quick
to do these days, just because it's a religious text," he said.

In the end, Prof. Ilan said Dr. Rohl's work should be taken seriously
largely because it is trying to push the parameters of accepted
notions, and that perhaps scientific archeological findings may back
it up later on. But, he adds, the work should be approached
cautiously.

"In an era of so much uncertainty, of technology and confusion, people
want to know where they come from. That's why this kind of science
dazzles us," he said. "But everyone should be wary of easy answers."

via: isml@onelist.com

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News (9/24/99)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 09:45:24 +0000

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

Arutz Sheva News Service
     <http://www.a7.org>
Friday, Sep. 24, 1999 / Tishrei 14, 5760
------------------------------------------------
Delivered Daily via Email, Sunday thru Friday
--- See below for subscription instructions ---

*******************************************************
Today's news is sponsored by TEFILLIN BEIT-EL
#1 Life-Time Investment (40 Levels of Hiddurim)
<http://www.tfilin.co.il/english/index.htm>
*******************************************************

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. PALESTINIAN SENIOR THREATENS VIOLENCE
  2. ARAB FARMS IN GUSH ETZION
  3. TEMPLE MOUNT ACTIVITY
  4. CRITICALLY-HURT BOY IN L.A. ATTACK RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
  5. LIEBERMAN: CONFIDENT IN THE OPPOSITION
  6. SUKKAH PRECAUTIONS

1. PALESTINIAN SENIOR THREATENS VIOLENCE
Palestinian Parliament Chairman Abu Ala threatens the renewal of
warfare against Israel. Abu Ala, visiting in China, said today that
if an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state with its
capital in Jerusalem is not reached, "the Palestinians will return to
armed struggle against Israel, in all its forms." He also said that
the Palestinians will insist on the implementation of the right of
return from all Arabs who left Israel during the War of Independence.

2. ARAB FARMS IN GUSH ETZION
The residents of Gush Etzion will launch a public campaign against the
new Palestinian Authority farms in the region. Thus was decided at an
emergency meeting held last night by local leaders. It was learned
yesterday that the Civil Administration had granted permission to the
PA several weeks ago to construct two farms on land next to N'vei
Daniel and Efrat - area that is under total Israeli control. The
arrangement was kept secret from the Gush Etzion Regional Council.

One of the farms, which are being funded by Germany, is almost
completed. A Civil Administration spokesman said that the farms are on
private Arab land, but Haggai Huberman reports that a portion of the
lands was in the process of becoming state property.

Gush Etzion Regional Head Sha'ul Goldstein told an Arutz-7
correspondent today that this is just one example of the Barak
government's decrees on the settlement enterprise in Judea and
Samaria, and on Gush Etzion in particular. He noted that previous
decrees included the cancellation of plans for paving by-pass roads,
drastic budget cuts in the Settlement Wing of the Jewish Agency, and
the significant reduction of police activity in the area.

Further north, too, the Palestinian Authority is being granted
footholds in Yesha. Preparations for its new industrial center east
of the Tapuach Junction, some 15 kilometers east of Ariel, are being
completed, with the help of a ten-million dollar loan from the World
Bank. Israel has already approved the paving of a route that will
connect the area with the Trans-Samaria highway.

3. TEMPLE MOUNT ACTIVITY
Attorney-General Elyakim Rubenstein has requested that the Supreme
Court reject the petition brought by the Temple Mount Faithful against
the Moslem Waqf's construction works on the Temple Mount. The
petitioners demand that the government act to put a halt to the Arabs'
extensive works under the Al-Aksa mosque in preparations for another
mosque there. Rubenstein claims that the extreme sensitivity of the
site must be taken into account, as well as the fact that the works
are almost completed.

The Temple Institute has completed the construction of a Menorah,
similar to the one used in the Holy Temple. Institute Head Rabbi
Yisrael Ariel told Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson today that the Menorah
was constructed not for profane or for personal use, but rather "for
the sake of the commandment." On the other hand, the Menorah was not
officially consecrated for Temple use, so as to avoid the Halakhic
(Jewish-legal) prohibition of deriving benefit from Temple property.
"It, or other Menorahs, will be consecrated when the Temple is
rebuilt," Rabbi Ariel said. The Menorah is two meters high, and is
made of 42 kilograms of pure gold.

4. CRITICALLY-HURT BOY IN L.A. ATTACK RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL
A 5-year-old boy, the most seriously injured victim in a recent
anti-Semitic shooting rampage at a Jewish center in California, was
released from the hospital yesterday, and will receive follow-up care
at home. The boy, Benjamin Kadish, was originally listed in critical
condition, and emergency medical workers did not hold out much hope
for his survival. He was one of five Jews shot at by self-acclaimed
anti-Semite Buford Furrow Jr. in mid-August. Furrow, who shot over 70
rounds inside a Jewish community center, is being charged with five
counts of attempted murder.

5. LIEBERMAN: CONFIDENT IN THE OPPOSITION
Yisrael Beiteinu party leader MK Avigdor Lieberman continues his
efforts to unify the opposition. He met last month with political
competitor Minister Natan Sharansky, leader of the Yisrael B'Aliyah
party, to discuss cooperation between the two immigrant parties, and
yesterday Lieberman met with Likud leader Ariel Sharon at Likud
headquarters in Metzudat Ze'ev. Speaking later with Arutz-7, Lieberman
said that the discussions centered around the struggle over the Golan
Heights and the Barak's government's attempt to 'dry up' settlement
activity in the Golan and Jordan Valley. "We decided to coordinate our
parties' parliamentary efforts, with the goal of eventual mobilizing
the entire opposition," Lieberman explained. Sharon, for his part, is
also interested in canvassing the support of certain "wavering"
coalition MKs on issues such as the Golan.

He also voiced some confidence that the present government's term
would end early. "United Torah Judaism has already left, and yesterday
we saw three government ministers join celebrations in the Golan
Heights - this, at a time when the Prime Minister was hoping to hear
from President Chirac that Assad is prepared to strike a deal on the
Golan. There are cracks in the coalition that could soon widen. It's
not clear how long the National Religious Party can stay in a
coalition that is both drying up the settlement enterprise and
discourage industrial investment in Yesha. The whole coalition is
really an unnatural mix, a type of political Shatnez (mixed breeds)."

6. SUKKAH PRECAUTIONS
Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has ruled that candles
lit in the Sukkah tonight must be placed such that there will be no
danger of fire being spread - and that if this cannot be done, the
candles should be lit inside the house. Last year, two children in
the Negev were killed when their Sukkah caught fire from festival
candles.

Internet information on the Sukkot holiday, which begins tonight and
last for seven days (eight, outside of Israel), can be found at the
following websites:
 Project Genesis - <http://www.torah.org/learning/yomtov/sukkos/> The
 OU - <http://www.ou.org/chagim/sukkot/default.htm> 613.ORG: -
 <http://www.613.org/roshyomkippursuccot.html#s> Ohr Somayach -
 <http://www.ohr.org.il/special/sukkos/index.htm> Aish HaTorah -
 <http://www.aish.edu/calendar/sukkot/main.htm> Virtual Jerusalem -
 <http://www.vjholidays.com/sukkot/> Chabad - <http://www.chabad.org/>

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Bridges for Peace items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Fri, 24 Sep 1999 09:49:24 +0000

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

NEW YORK ARCHBISHOP APOLOGIZES TO JEWS IN "TIMES" AD

The archbishop of New York expressed his "abject sorrow" for
harm committed by the Catholic Church against the Jews, in a
letter reprinted as a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times.

"I ask this Yom Kippur that you understand my own abject sorrow
for any member of the Catholic Church, high or low, who many
have harmed you or your forebears in any way," John Cardinal
O'Connor wrote in the letter, which was dated September 8.

The letter does not mention the Holocaust or anti-Semitism.
However, O'Connor's spokesman, Joseph Swilling, said the letter
referred to Nazi atrocities and other anti-Semitic acts of the
last 2,000 years, according to news accounts.

Noting the beginning of the Jewish New Year, O'Connor wrote,
"During the year 5760 [Hebrew calendar], we Christians will
start a new era of the year 2000, the turn of another millennium
in our history." Pope John Paul II has called for the millennium
to be entered "in the spirit of Jubilee," which includes a call
for "teshuva, or repentance," he wrote.

Ash Wednesday, which falls on March 8 next year, "has been
specifically set aside as a day for Catholics to reflect upon
the pain inflicted on the Jewish people by many of our members
over the last millennium," O'Connor's letter said. "We most
sincerely want to start a new era."

O'Connor's letter comes amid an uproar over the Vatican's
actions during World War II. A new book, "Hitler's Pope" by John
Cornwell, discusses the complicity with the Nazis of Pope Pius
XII, who is a candidate for sainthood.

O'Connor, 79, has been the head of the 2.2 million-member Roman
Catholic dioceses of New York since 1984.

The letter, which was addressed to "my dearest friends," was
sent only days after O'Connor had surgery to remove a brain
tumor. It closed by saying: "Be assured of my prayers and
friendship. L'shanah tovah tikotevu!" (To a good year. May your
name be inscribed [in the book of life]). The ad in the Times,
which cost $99,000, was sponsored by Burberry Chairman, Victor
Barnett, Nobel Peace Prizewinner Elie Wiesel and World Bank
President, James Wolfensohn. (Jerusalem Post, September 21, 1999)

PLANS UNDER WAY TO IMPORT TURKISH WATER

Israel is seriously weighing importing large quantities of
water from Turkey that would be bought at reduced prices and
brought into the country in large sea tankers.

A delegation of diplomats and water experts from Israel
recently returned from a visit to Turkey where they discussed
options for importing the water. Turkey has already constructed
a water-treatment and loading center for the enterprise, a
government official said. Feasibility examinations are now being
conducted to determine if and how the water is to be unloaded
and dispensed.

Turkey has repeatedly offered to sell Israel water, with the
latest offer coming from President Suleyman Demirel, who was
here in July. The recent delegation to Turkey, led by Foreign
Ministry Deputy Director-General Yoav Biran, was a result of
that offer, officials said.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of
anonymity, refused to divulge the price of the water, but
stressed that there is no link between Turkey's eagerness to
sell water and its efforts to raise money to alleviate the
financial crisis caused by last month's earthquake. (by Arieh
O'Sullivan, Jerusalem Post, September 16, 1999)

A MORE REALISTIC VIEW OF ISRAEL-ARAB RELATIONS

1. The PA has failed to destroy (or even attempt to destroy)
the infrastructure of the terrorist organizations. There has
been some minor security cooperation but Arafat has been careful
to preserve Hamas and Islamic Jihad for future terrorist
pressure on Israel.

2. The PA has not ended incitement and anti-Semitic attacks on
Jews and Israel's.

3. The educational system run by the PA/PLO teaches hatred of
Jews and Israelis and distorts history.

4. All maps, stationery letterheads, posters portraying
"Palestine" show it including all the area of Israel as a part
of 'Palestine'. There are more than 50 maps in the Palestinian
schools, but Israel is not in any of them.

5. The PA has built dozens of tunnels from Sinai into Gaza to
smuggle in heavy weapons and rockets forbidden by Oslo. It has
also built a 50,000-man army not a police force.

6. The Palestinian media and Moslem clerics agree on one thing:
Oslo is temporary and their ultimate aim is the destruction of
Israel. PA leaders in Arabic express the same sentiment.
(Arafat's staged plan of 1974 is working according to schedule,
with Oslo a stage toward complete liberation of "Palestine.")

7. All benefits of the "peace" process advance the process of
creating a Palestinian state at the expense of Israel. Other
than useless words from notable prevaricators there has been NO
benefit to Israel.

8. The continued Arab boycott of Israel proves that there has
been no genuine reconciliation.

9. The PA is already damaging Israel's water supply. Losing the
Golan would be the final blow for Israeli agriculture. Other
than loss of water, the PA is deliberately polluting Israel's
central mountain aquifer. (BERNARD J. SHAPIRO/Middle East
Update, TNS, September 19, 1999)

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