BPR Mailing List Digest: 12/14/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
December 14, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | December, 2000

To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: Re: [bprlist] U.S. Trains China for War ... With U.S.
From: tracy
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 12:16:03 -0500

I read this and it reminds me, in a way, of the computer help we gave to
Iraq before the war with them. The U.S. had "back doors" in to the
computer systems that they were using. So when they were used against
the U.S. we could just shut them off. They lost valuable communications
and radar systems.

If we train China and let them see how we operate gives us an advantage.
They think they know what we are about to do and we know it. This sets
up a diversion. The U.S. army we have a easier time predicting Chinas
move knowing what they know about us. Logic would say that there
options are limited because of this knowledge and the fact that they
used the information that they got from us in there planning to combat
us. Counter measures and attacks will be more successful.

Don't worry. GOD wanted a place of Freedom, and Justice. We are a
little off track but not so far off track that GOD would find any other
country more favorable. We are the place were you reap what you sow.

GOD bless the people of the Earth

Tracy

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======= To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Interface between science and faith
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 13 Dec 00 13:27:47 EST

Interface between science and faith
http://www.worldnews.com/?action=display&article=4816412&template=worldnews/search.txt&index=recent

UPI, Tue 12 Dec 2000

NETTO, UPI religion correspondent NEW YORK, DEC. 12 (UPI) -- Can science
corroborate the Apostle Paul? This might sound a little far-fetched. However,
at the latest encounter between some of the world's most powerful minds of
science and religion, reports of a remarkable discovery seemed to support this
idea. Saint Paul wrote in his Epistle to the Romans, "Ever since the creation
of the world his (Gold's) invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and
deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Romans
1:20). During the second one-week conference on Science and the Spiritual
Quest (SSQ II) that ended Tuesday in New York, Oxford University psychologist
Olivera Petrovich revealed preliminary research data suggesting that the
knowledge of a creator might be intrinsic to human existence. Prof. Petrovich
tested the ability of British and Japanese children to distinguish between
physical and metaphysical explanations for certain images. For example, she
would show the four- to 14-year old children a picture of a book on a table
and ask, "Who put this book there?" The kids replied, "Mom." Then she put a
picture of the sun in front of them and asked, "Who placed the sun in the
sky?" The young Britons answered, "God," and to Petrovich's surprise their
Japanese contemporaries said "Kamisama (God)! He did it!" As Petrovich pointed
out, "Japanese culture discourages speculation into the metaphysical because
that's something we never know. But the Japanese children did speculate, quite
willingly, and in the same way as British children." In an interview with the
journal, Science & Spirit, the British scientist gave another example. The
European and the Asian children were to look at the photograph of a dog and
then asked, "How did the first dog every come into being." Again, both groups
replied, "God did it." "This was probably the most significant finding,"
Petrovich reported. "But where did these Japanese kids get the idea that
creation is in God's hands? This is absolutely extraordinary when you think
that Shintoism (Japan's predominant religion) does not include creation as an
aspect of God's activity at all. "My Japanese research assistants kept telling
me that thinking about God as creator is just not part of Japanese
philosophy." The SSQII series of symposia and workshops organized by the
Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences in Berkeley, CA, will stretch
over four years, with further events scheduled in France, Korea, Pakistan,
Israel, Australia and Japan. Its predecessor, SSQI held 1998in Berkeley,
prompted Newsweek to marvel in a cover story, "Science finds God." As the news
magazine wrote, "The achievements of modern science seem to contradict
religion and undermine faith. But for a growing number of scientists, the same
discoveries offer support for spirituality and hints of the very nature of
God." According to Newsweek, 40 percent of America's scientists believe in a
personal God. During these SSQ workshops biologists, computer scientists,
physicists and other scholars of world renown meet in small groups behind
closed doors to explore, guided by theologians, how their work interfaces with
their faith. Last week in New York, Piet Hut, a professor of astrophysics at
the Institute of Advanced Studies in Princeton, talked about his Buddhist
beliefs and his meditations with the Dalai Lama. William Newsome, an
evangelical Christian who is also one of America's leading neurobiologists,
discussed the consonance and dissonance between what scientists are learning
about the human brain and the traditional Christian views of the human person.
What, if anything, have his discoveries to say about the soul? Carl Feit, a
cancer biologist at New York's Yeshiva University and a Talmudic scholar,
reminded his audience that, according to the Bible, God made man in his image
and that there was therefore no contradiction between body and soul. Feit
powerfully pressed the point that God created man to participate in the
ongoing process of creation. (Contemporary theologians led by Prof. Phil
Hefner of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago even speak of man as the
"created co-creator"). In this vain, Yoshio Oyanagi, professor of information
science of Tokyo University, described the computer as just another tool to
help man to "fill the earth and subdue it" (Genesis 1:28). Oyanagi, a Roman
Catholic, warned religion therefore not to interfere with computer science,
which was inherently neither good nor evil but just another instrument of
human activity. "Instead, theologians should take its existence into account,"
he said. Participants in the New York workshops raised the question if
computers might become so much like humans that they will one day have to be
baptized. In an interview with United Press International, Oyanagi laughed at
this suggestion, "I doubt that computers will ever become self-conscious and
behave like human beings. As I said, they are tools, and they will remain
tools, no matter how sophisticated." --

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======= To: bprlist bprlist <bprlist@egroups.com>
Subject: [bprlist] Santa gives Jesus the sack
From: Shophar_Sho_Good
Date: 13 Dec 00 13:29:42 EST

Santa gives Jesus the sack

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,410051,00.html

Special report: religion in the UK

Alastair Ray
Tuesday December 12, 2000

The story of Jesus appears to have been rejected by kids in favour of Santa,
with only 8% of children now associating Christmas with religion.

The story of the nativity was soundly beaten by the present-bearing charms of
Santa, with 67% of children saying they associated the holiday period with
presents.

A survey by media buying agency MediaCom TMB asked 1,200 eight-to-16-year-olds
to nominate one or more of five options as the thing they most associated with
Christmas. Presents topped the poll, followed by family and school holidays.
Religion only just beat TV, which racked up 7% of the vote.

There was some slightly better news for traditionalists with 40% of children
commenting that Christmas was a time for the family. However the Rev Jonathan
Jennings, a spokesman for the Church of England, said that the picture was
much more positive than the survey suggested. "Our experience through school
curriculum and community groups is that most children are aware of the
nativity story and the importance of that to the Christian faith," he said.

"The fact that a film like The Grinch with its important underlying
counter-commercial message is so successful indicates that children are more
sophisticated than this survey suggests."

MediaCom TMB monitored the attitudes of children to help it plan advertising
campaigns for clients such as Volkswagen and Nokia. Questions were posed via
email to allow it to keep an eye on what's in and what's out in the fickle
world of the playground.

Top present requests, according to MediaCom's Cool Kids panel this Christmas,
were likely to include Discmen, CD recorders and stereos and PlayStation 2 for
boys. Girls were more likely to ask for a new mobile phone, with many wanting
to upgrade to newer models.

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: Gaza deaths, prospect of Bush presidency
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:13:48 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 16:20:23 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: Gaza deaths, prospect of Bush presidency cast pall
over Israeli hopes for final Clinton bid
[IMRA - Barak team ignores war]

Ha'aretz: Gaza deaths, prospect of Bush presidency cast pall over Israeli
hopes for final Clinton bid [IMRA - Barak team ignores war]

By Bradley Burston, Ha'aretz Correspondent Ha'aretz Bulletin 13 December
2000

[IMRA note: While Prime Minister Ehud Barak's spokespeople repeat that the
Barak Administration is adamant that final status will only resume when
violence is significantly reduced, as is clear from the report below, his
administration would welcome talks with open arms despite the increasingly
violent Oslo War now openly mounted by the PA itself. In response to this
obvious collapse of will, Palestinian officials have now raised the stakes,
conditioning talks on Israel agreeing in advance to accept the PLO's
demands, including the right of return of refugees to within the Green Line
(something rejected by even the radical Israeli). It is noteworthy that Ben
Ami, who also serves as Minister of Internal Security, has to date made no
significant or meaningful effort to press for budget increases so that the
police can do their part in meeting security challenges. In fact, the only
news Ben Ami has made as Minister of Internal Security were his reckless
orders to drop all access restrictions to the Temple Mount (that were
overruled by the commander of police) and his insistence that his own man be
put into the position of head of investigations.

Israel Radio correspondent Yoni Ben Menachem reported this evening that
Secretary of State Albright will probably be visiting Israel shortly to see
about a Clinton visit to both spur negotiations and help Barak's election
campaign.]

The deaths of four Palestinian police in the most intense
Israeli-Palestinian gunbattles in weeks - coupled with fears that a George
W. Bush administration would be reluctant to plunge into hands-on
peacemaking - cast a tone of desperation to Israeli hopes Wednesday that
U.S. President Bill Clinton would visit the region in a last-ditch mediation
effort before leaving office on January 20.

Dozens of Palestinians were also wounded in the marathon pre-dawn firefights
near southern Gaza's Khan Yunis refugee camp. As the shooting continued
through the morning, Palestinian gunmen sprayed automatic gunfire at a
school bus carrying children from settlements in the area. There were no
casualties in the bus attack.

Voicing fears that an incoming U.S. administration would avoid a hands-on
approach to Middle East peacemaking in the near future, acting Foreign
Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami said Wednesday that Clinton might try to get the job
done himself before relinquishing the keys to the White House.

"Both the Palestinians and ourselves have very great doubts that the next
president, apparently George Bush, will view the Palestinian subject as the
center of his foreign policy in the Middle East, for various reasons,"
Ben-Ami told Army Radio.

"The Republican (Bush) administration won't want to already enter, in its
first days, into the Palestinian dough which is so complex, so complicated,"
Ben-Ami said. Efforts to forge a peace agreement, which Clinton had hoped
would crown his presidential legacy, have all but died in the wake of nearly
three months of bloodletting in the territories, which has claimed more than
300 lives. Most of the deaths have been Palestinians, many of them teens and
children.

Ben-Ami said Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat had "personally
told Clinton that he had an interest in trying to make the most of the
chance of reaching an agreement between us during the Clinton presidency."

"This U.S. president has an agenda which is greatly linked to the
Palestinian subject," Ben-Ami said.

"If the contacts which have yet to enter precisely into a substantive
process between us and the Palestinians will enable it, will justify it, I
assume it is a possibility which has a great chance," Ben-Ami added.

Palestinian sources said Wednesday that United States Middle East peace
envoy Dennis Ross had failed to achieve any breakthroughs in talks with
Arafat in Morocco over resuscitating the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

The Tuesday night talks, the first American drive to jump-start the peace
process after a prolonged diplomatic dry spell tied to Israeli-Palestinian
violence, were aimed at gauging the extent of the Palestinian leader's
willingness to renew the negotiations with Israel toward a final status
settlement.

But in a sign of possible hope, senior Israeli officials were quoted
Wednesday as saying that Egypt, long Clinton's partner as a prime mediator
between the sides, had mounted a vigorous effort to revive
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, and that Israeli-Egyptian contacts toward
this end are proceeding in various channels, including secret contacts
between Egyptian authorities and Ben-Ami.

Israel's policies in curbing the violence in the territories have soured its
bilateral ties with Cairo. Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel last
month after an Israeli retaliatory assault on Palestinian security targets
across the Gaza Strip.

Turning to the Palestinians, Ben-Ami said Israel had been mistaken in
imposing tough economic restrictions on the Palestinians of the West Bank
and Gaza.

--------------------------------------------
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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Arutz-7 News (12/13/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:13:48 -0500

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2000 / Kislev 16, 5761

TODAY'S HEADLINES:
   1. N'VEI DEKALIM BOMBARDED BY PALESTINIAN SHOOTING
   2. YESHA RESIDENTS BLOCK ARAB TRAFFIC
   3. PROTEST TENTS AT TEMPLE MOUNT GATES - BUT NOT YET AT
BARAK'S HOME
   4. PERES PAYS CONDOLENCE VISIT TO DIDOVSKY FAMILY
   5. REPORTS OF POSSIBLE LEBANESE DEAL INTENSIFY
   6. NETANYAHU AND SHARON
   7. NEW LOOK IN THE ARMY RABBINATE
   8. NEGOTIATONS
   9. COHEN SILENCED

1. N'VEI DEKALIM BOMBARDED BY PALESTINIAN SHOOTING
Gush Katif in Gaza was the scene of intensive gun battles over the night
and today. Houses, a school, and a community center in N'vei Dekalim were
among the targets attacked by Palestinians. The Palestinian shooting
originated in several buildings in Khan Yunis, and the Jews demanded their
immediate razing by the army. The army flattened a big earth hill last
night in Palestinian territory, from behind which the terrorists had
hidden and fired, but the residents say that this was only one of the
terrorist positions. The army ordered the main entrance to the school
closed in response to the firing. PA military officials later warned
Israel that if IDF soldiers enter Palestinian territory, they would not
emerge in one piece.

Naomi Eldar, head of the N'vei Dekalim Community Center, told Arutz-7
today that for the second day in a row, bullets had penetrated the
building. "There is a feeling of war here," she said, "and it causes
great anxiety... We will be having a women's group tonight, with guests
from the outside... The army would like nothing better than to close up
the building altogether, but we object; we expect protection just like
everyone else."

Parents in the Jordan Valley have ended their school strike, and agreed to
send their children today, following the acquisition of a bullet-proof bus
for the purpose. The bus was surrounded by a mob of Arabs from Kafr Ouja,
near Jericho, this morning, who attacked it with rocks and blocks; no one
was hurt.

In addition to the above efforts at "protection," the Jerusalem
municipality and the IDF's Home Front Command are preparing for the
massive Gilo fortification program. Some 1,000 apartments will be fitted
with bullet-proof windows, at a cost of some 44 million shekels (almost
$11 million). Sharon Katz, editor of Gush Etzion's English-language
Voices, protests the very conception: "What about bulletproofing the
caravans on the Dagan [in Efrat]? And bulletproofing every home, school
and car in N'vei Dekalim? ... and bulletproofing the homes on the
perimeter of Pesagot? ... and bulletproofing the homes in Hevron? ...
Wouldn't it be smarter instead of bulletproofing the entire country, to
stop the Arabs who are shooting into every neighborhood? Don't shoot empty
buildings - shoot murderers... Instead of bulletproofing the country and
letting them continue shooting at us, stop the shooting!"

2. YESHA RESIDENTS BLOCK ARAB TRAFFIC
Despite the IDF Chief of Staff's order to prevent men-only Palestinian
cars on Yesha roads, free Arab travel continued in many places this
morning. Jews throughout Judea and Samaria blocked dozens of
intersections to Arab traffic today, including at Ofrah, N'vei Tzuf, Beit
El, Kiryat Arba, Talmon, Ateret, and more. The police and army did not
intervene in the Yesha Council-organized project.

An Israeli school bus from Morag to N'vei Dekalim was shot at this
morning; no one was hurt. Last night, a woman - Rabbanit Rachel Yom-Tov,
a mother of nine - was wounded and is in moderate condition when her car
was shot at near Morag. Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinian
terrorists today who attempted to infiltrate the Kisufim Checkpoint from
Gaza. East of Kalkilye, Palestinians shot at two Israeli cars; no one was
hurt. There was firing onto a Hevron IDF force; no one was hurt. A bus
in the Galilee - near the Arabeh Arab village, west of the Kinneret - was
stoned by Israeli-Arabs; two passengers were lightly wounded.

IDF special forces killed Hamas terrorist leader Abbas al-Awai via
long-distance sniper fire in Hevron today, according to Palestinian
sources. Hamas threatens to avenge his death. The killing is the latest
in a series of several successful similar operations against Tanzim
leaders by Israel.

3. PROTEST TENTS AT TEMPLE MOUNT GATES - BUT NOT YET AT
BARAK'S HOME
In addition to the illegal earth-moving works that the Moslem Waqf has
recently resumed on the Temple Mount, Jewish supporters of the holy site
are enraged by what they call yet another "continuing outrage" there: the
ban on Jewish entry. Grass-roots leader Yehuda Etzion is leading a group
of protestors who established a protest tent today at a Temple Mount gate,
near the Western Wall. Etzion says, "We have two problems: one is that
the Palestinians attack the Jews, and as a result, the Jews are forbidden
to enter their holiest site. Such an outrage is unacceptable! Secondly,
day in and day out, Palestinian trucks are emptying out more and more of
the Temple Mount ruins, carrying away precious vestiges of the historic
Jewish presence there - and all with the approval of Prime Minister
Barak!"

When asked by Arutz-7's Yosef Zalmanson why, then, he is protesting the
prohibition on Jewish entry and not the continuing desecration of the
Temple Mount, Etzion answered, "The ban on Jewish entry is particularly
infuriating - and I can only be in one place at one time." He agreed,
however, that a protest encampment outside Prime Minister Barak's home in
Jerusalem against the Moslem construction works on the Temple Mount
would
be in order, and said that he would be willing to help organize it: "You
can give my cellular phone number: 053-319-845 (outside of Israel:
+972-53-319-845)."

4. PERES PAYS CONDOLENCE VISIT TO DIDOVSKY FAMILY
Government Minister Shimon Peres paid a condolence visit this morning to
Chaim Didovsky, whose wife Rina was murdered by Palestinian terrorists
last Friday. The visit to Beit Haggai, south of Hevron, was carried out
under very heavy security protection, and against the advice of the
General Security Service. Peres, whose wife Sonia is an acquaintance of
Chaim, originally said he would be unable to come, but later changed his
mind; his secretary called Didovsky yesterday to say that Peres would, in
fact, like to visit, and asks only that no reporters be present.

Didovsky said that he did not ask Peres if he feels any responsibility for
the situation, emphasizing instead that Peres has been the only senior
government official to visit him during his week of mourning. Three other
Knesset Members paid a condolence visit, Didovsky noted - Rehavam Ze'evi,
Rabbi Chaim Druckman, and Rabbi Benny Elon - as well as Education
Ministry
Director-General Shlomit Amichai.

Chaim Didovsky, who single-handedly runs the HaKol MeHashetach News
Agency, expressed concern for the welfare of his six orphans, who range in
age from 14 months to 16 years; one of them is to celebrate his Bar
Mitzvah two weeks from now. A fund has been established for the family:
Account #576712 in Bank HaMizrachi branch #401, Ben Yehuda St.,
Jerusalem.
Checks can also be sent directly to the family, addressed to: Didovsky
Children Fund, Beit Haggai, D.N. Har Hevron 90430, Israel.

5. REPORTS OF POSSIBLE LEBANESE DEAL INTENSIFY
A Lebanese newspaper claims today that the three kidnapped Israeli
soldiers are alive, but that their health is deteriorating. The paper,
considered to be close to Lebanese Prime Minister Al-Hariri, says that
Germany is mediating a two-stage deal in which the three, plus a fourth
Israeli captive - businessman Elchanan Tenenbaum - will be freed in
exchange for 19 Lebanese prisoners in Israel. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen.
Sha'ul Mofaz said last night that Lebanese reports on this matter must be
related to "cautiously." Mofaz said that Israel will demand that
navigator Ron Arad, who has been missing since 1986, also be included in
any deal. Hizbullah terrorist leader Hassan Nasrallah will deliver a
speech tonight in Beirut, where he is expected to relate to the question
of the Israeli captives.

6. NETANYAHU AND SHARON
Binyamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon, the two contenders for the Likud's
top spot, addressed the Likud Central Committee last night. Netanyahu
lashed out at the political and security approach of the Barak government,
and promised to take a "different approach" for peace - one that would
demand long-term quiet from the Palestinians before handing them any
territory. Greeted with loud cheers, Netanyahu praised Sharon for the way
he ran the party in the past year and a half, and promised to work
together with him no matter what the final results of the primaries would
be. He attacked Barak: "You resigned as Prime Minister only in order to
run again? The entire public realizes that this is simply a trick to hold
on to power... Your concessions have led to an intifada and lynchings...
I will lead to a cold peace with the Palestinians - because we have to
recognize the reality."

Sharon, in his speech, said that as Prime Minister, he would establish a
national emergency government, with Netanyahu as Deputy Prime Minister
and
Foreign Minister, and Labor leader Ehud Barak as Deputy Prime Minister and
Defense Minister. The party members greeted the proposal with derision.

The Likud voted to allow Netanyahu to run for the leadership of the party
- in elections next Tuesday - even though it is not certain that he will
be allowed to run. He is currently disqualified for running for Prime
Minister because he is not a Knesset Member. The Knesset voted today,
however, to approve the first draft of a bill allowing a non-MK to run -
informally called the "Netanyahu law" - and will probably pass its first
reading this afternoon. Another scenario in which Netanyahu would be able
to run is if the entire Knesset is dissolved, leading to general Knesset
elections. However, this possibility is beginning to appear more and more
unlikely, as Shas and Labor - fearing the results of a general election -
are against such a possibility.

Government Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said that his party agreed to the
Netanyahu law "to show the country that we are not afraid of running
against Bibi [Netanyahu], or anyone else=85" The Labor party is, in fact,
more interested in the Netanyahu law passing than in the Knesset
dissolution: Even if Netanyahu beats Barak for Prime Minister, at least
the left-wing parties will be spared the wrath of the voter in general
elections. Both laws will probably be ready for final legislation next
Monday - but if one passes, then the other one is likely not to. The
question, therefore, is which one will be presented first? This is solely
the prerogative of Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg, who is expected to go
with his party and present the Bibi law first.

Moshe Feiglin, head of the Zo Artzeinu movement who has been waging an
independent run to head the Likud, may not be able to run against
Netanyahu and Sharon for this position. The reason is that Feiglin has
been a member of the party for only six months, while the regulations
require nine months. Feiglin's representative has turned to party head
Sharon, who is authorized to waive the above requirement.

7. NEW LOOK IN THE ARMY RABBINATE
IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss began his term of office two
months ago, but several significant changes have already been noticed.
Arutz-7's Uzi Baruch reports that a 24-hour hotline has been established
(phone number: 03 569 4950), manned by Lt.-Cols., who will answer any
religious-issue questions that soldiers may have. A military "Council of
Sages" will be established, headed by Chief Rabbi Weiss, and it will
consist of six army rabbis who will issue halakhic rulings. Many of the
senior military rabbis have been released, enabling the army's religious
establishment to re-group and dedicate itself to its primary task of
forging strong relations with the soldiers on religious issues.

8. NEGOTIATONS
Yasser Abed Rabbo, PA Information Bureau Chief, told Voice of Palestine
Radio today that there are contacts between the Palestinian Authority and
Israel "on all planes." Previous reports had said that the two sides were
discussing only the reduction of violence. Rabbo said that the contacts
are continuing on all levels in order to reach an agreement with Israel.
On the other hand, Palestinian Legislative Council head Abu Ala says that
he knows of no talks between the sides.

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami met earlier this week in Jerusalem with
Muhammad Dahlan, head of PA Preventive Security in Gaza. They
discussed
the possibility of releasing Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.
Dahlan is responsible for much of the anti-Israel terrorism and violence
of the past ten weeks in Gaza.

It was reported today that U.S. President Clinton may visit the Middle
East before the end of his term in a last-ditch effort to forge an
agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

9. COHEN SILENCED
Labor Minister Ra'anan Cohen was thrown out of the Contractors'
Association meeting today - without even being given a chance to deliver
his speech. The building contractors are furious at the government for
refusing to allow the entry of additional foreign workers into the
country, despite the drop in Palestinian workers from Judea and Samaria.
The contractors held signs reading, "We'll see you in the elections."

Hebrew News Editor: Ariel Kahane
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 5,6,7,8 (12/13/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:13:49 -0500

1. Tanzim leader calls for increased attacks=09
2. IDF commander acknowledges contacts with Hizbullah on captives
3. Shots fired at Ofer base in Ramallah region=09
4. Shots fired east of Qalkilya=09
5. Social workers to strike for one hour in protest on Thursday=09
6. Shots fired at IDF base in Southern Hebron Hills=09
7. Did you know?=09

*************************
13-Dec-00 - 7:16 PM
*************************

1. Tanzim leader calls for increased attacks
(BNI-DEC.13) The PA=92s Tanzim force commander Marwan Barghouti on
Wednesday
issued calls for increased attacks against Israeli targets, singling out
IDF forces and residents of Jewish communities throughout Judea, Samaria &
Gaza.

The Tanzim commander stated as far as the PA was concerned, all =93settlers =94
and IDF troops are fair game and he called upon residents of PA autonomous
areas to increase strikes against them.

Barghouti added that it was obvious outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak was
working feverishly to secure a deal with PA Chairman Yassir Arafat prior
to the elections in Israel and the Tanzim forces would do their utmost to
work towards toppling Barak, including increasing military and terror
strikes against Israeli targets.

++++
2. IDF commander acknowledges contacts with Hizbullah on captives
(BNI-DEC.13) IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday stated
that there was contacts made between Israel and Hizbullah, but shrugged
off reports in the Lebanese press that a deal was near closure that would
involve the release of IDF captives in exchange for terrorists imprisoned
in Israel.

Mofaz stated that although efforts were underway, reports indicating a
German government intermediary was close to securing a deal for the return
of the imprisoned IDF soldiers were not accurate and although Israel
remains optimistic, the information was part of the Hizbullah desire to
increase disinformation surrounding the captives while increasing the
pressure on Jerusalem.

Senior political analysts concurred with the commander=92s assessment,
adding that Israel cannot be certain the soldiers who were wounded when
captured at still alive.

Mofaz also stated the need include IDF POW Ron Arad in any prisoner
exchange deal with Hizbullah. Mofaz added that negotiations with Hizbullah
would be difficult, tense and dragged out.

The military commander made his remarks during a function in southern
Israel.

++++

3. Shots fired at Ofer base in Ramallah region
(BNI-DEC.13) The IDF=92s Ofer base in the Ramallah area came under fire on
Wednesday night. Soldiers returned fire. There were no reported injuries
among Israeli forces. The attack originated in the autonomous area of
Bituniya.

++++
4. Shots fired east of Qalkilya
(BNI-DEC.13) There were no injuries in a shooting attack aimed at two
Israeli civilian vehicles and Israeli security forces in Samaria, east of
the PA autonomous city of Qalkilya. The attack occurred on Wednesday
evening. IDF forces returned fire.

++++
5. Social workers to strike for one hour in protest on Thursday
(BNI-DEC.13) Social workers in Israel will walk off the job for one hour
on Thursday in a show of protest over the increasing number of domestic
violence cases being reported nationwide. The move comes following the
murder of another Israeli woman by her spouse on Wednesday, the second in
as many days.

On Wednesday, a Bnei Brak man killed his wife, the mother of their four
children.

Sixteen women have been killed by their partners in Israel in 2000.

++++
6. Shots fired at IDF base in Southern Hebron Hills
(BNI-DEC.13) Shots were fired into an IDF installation in the Southern
Hebron Hills area, near the Jewish community of Bet Chaggai. There were no
injuries among IDF forces that returned fire.

++++
7. Did you know?
(BNI-DEC.13) The area liberated by IDF forces in the June 1967 Six Day War
is known as Yesha.

The area north of Jerusalem is called Shomron or Samaria in English. South
of Jerusalem is Yehuda or Judea in English and the area in southern Israel
bordering Egypt and Ashkelon is Gaza. Those areas are collectively called
Yesha.

The US and international community refer to Judea and Samaria as the West
Bank, referring to their being on the west bank of the Jordan River.

Yesha has never been annexed by Israel as an integral part of Israel and
has been governed over the past 33 years by a combination of military and
civil law.

The PA is demanding that the approximately 200,000 Jews in Yesha
communities be removed and the entire area become part of a future
Palestinian state.

------------------

1. No injuries in shooting attack near Tourmous Aiya in Gush Shilo
2. Arab MK calls upon Arabs not to serve in IDF=09
3. Barak=92s artificial unemployment statistics=09

************************
13-Dec-00 - 9:08 PM
************************
1. No injuries in shooting attack near Tourmous Aiya in Gush Shilo
(BNI-DEC.13) Shots were fired earlier in the evening at a government jeep
traveling on Route 60 near the Arab village of Tourmous Aiya, in the Gush
Shilo area of Samaria. Bullets hit the vehicle. No injuries.

As a result of the attack, route 60 near Yishuv Shilo was closed for a
limited time.

++++

2. Arab MK calls upon Arabs not to serve in IDF
(BNI-DEC.13) Israeli Member of Knesset Taleb Alsana, a Druze Arab, has
called upon Druze and Bedouins not to service in the Israel Defense Force.

The member of Parliament added that they should no longer serve in the
=93army of occupation,=94 and it would be more fitting for them to serve
against the IDF, not as part of it.

++++

3. Barak=92s artificial unemployment statistics
(BNI-DEC.13) When Prime Minister Ehud Barak assumed office some 18
months
ago, the national unemployment was holding at 8.9 percent. Mr. Barak vowed
to lower that figure and today, less than 60 days before elections for
prime minister, takes credit for having done so.

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics and other official
government offices, unemployment today is holding at 8.9 percent. Not only
is it not lower than 18 months ago, it is actually higher. Officials
explain that although the unemployment is not registered as higher than
when Mr. Barak took office, the reality is there are thousands more
unemployed Israelis but they are not registered with unemployment offices.

One such example is the thousands of persons affiliated with the tourism
industry, which has collapsed as a result of the ongoing Al Aqsa Intifada.
It was learned that several thousand persons, including tour guides and
former hotel employees, are now receiving stipends from the government
while retraining, a move that bypassed the unemployment system and
resulting in an artificially low unemployment figure.

The same holds true for many persons affiliated with the national
construction industry which has also been negatively impacted by the
Intifada.

---------------

1. IDF apprehends terrorist responsible for murders of Didovsky & Ben-Ami=09
2. Minister Peres makes condolence call to Beit Chaggai 3. =9307=94 and =9306=94
area codes to disappear on Sunday (Dec. 17) 4. Israel confirms no
progress in meeting between Ross & Arafat 5. Efforts to arrange meeting
between Netanyahu and Rabbi Yosef 6. PA blames Israeli forces for
assassinating Hamas official 7. Solidarity mission from the USA to Yesha=09

**************************
13-Dec-00 - 10:50 PM
**************************

1. IDF apprehends terrorist responsible for murders of Didovsky & Ben-Ami
(BNI-DEC.13) The Office of the IDF Spokesman has announced on
Wednesday
evening that the Izzadin el-Kassim terrorists responsible for the December
8 terrorist attack near Kiryat Arba were apprehended in the beginning of
the week. The unspecified number of terrorists were apprehended in a joint
effort by the IDF and the General Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet).

In the terror attack, Bet Chaggai resident Rina Didovsky and Otniel
resident Eliyahu Ben-Ami were killed. Alina Edri, a resident of Otniel,
was injured in the attack.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz informed the Rina=92s husband, Chai m
Didovsky, of the news during a condolence visit in the Didovsky family
home on Wednesday evening.

++++

2. Minister Peres makes condolence call to Beit Chaggai
(BNI-DEC.13) Following the BNI story on Tuesday, DEC. 12 that ministers
and other government officials refused to make a condolence visit to the
Southern Hebron Hills home of Chaim Didovsky, it was learned that Minister
Shimon Peres did arrive on Wednesday morning.

Didovsky and his six children are mourning the loss of their wife and
mother, who was killed on Friday in a terror attack.

Peres decided to make the visit, going against the advice of the General
Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet). Mr. Peres arrived in Beit Chaggai under
heavy guard, becoming the only government minister to visit the bereaved
family during the seven-day =91shiva=92 mourning period.

++++

3. =9307=94 and =9306=94 area codes to disappear on Sunday (Dec. 17)
(BNI-DEC.13) On Sunday, the =9307=94 and =9306=94 area codes will become a thing
of the past as the Bezeq telephone company moves forward in efforts to
bring large areas of the country under one dialing code.

The =9306=94 dialing code will become =9304=94 and the =9307=94 will become =9308=94. The
new move will result in one dialing code for the northern area (04) and
one for the southern regions (08).

The move will undoubtedly cause confusion for some time but telephone
company officials explain from the brighter side, a call from anywhere in
the expanded area codes within the same dialing code would be billed as a
local call.

++++
4. Israel confirms no progress in meeting between Ross & Arafat
(BNI-DEC.13) Official Israeli sources have confirmed that there was no
progress reported following a meeting on Tuesday between PA Chairman
Yassir Arafat and US special envoy to the Middle East, Ambassador Dennis
Ross. Senior governments sources stated the information is based on
reports from members of the Clinton administration to Israeli government
officials.

++++

5. Efforts to arrange meeting between Netanyahu and Rabbi Yosef
(BNI-DEC.13) Efforts by aides to former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
are underway to arrange a meeting between Mr. Netanyahu and the spiritual
leader of the Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The support of the
17-mandate strong party is critical in Mr. Netanyahu=92s bid to return to
office.

++++
6. PA blames Israeli forces for assassinating Hamas official
(BNI-DEC.13) Hamas leaders and officials within the PLO Authority on
Wednesday blamed Israeli security forces for the =93assassination=94 of
24-year-old Abbas al-Aweiwi, a prominent official in the Hamas terrorist
organization.

Fliers distributed in PA areas stated that Al-Aweiwi was shot multiple
times in his chest in what PA sources are calling another IDF
assassination. The flier added he was unarmed at the time of his death.

IDF officials stated it appeared the Izzadin el-Kassim terrorist was
killed in an exchange of gunfire with IDF forces and he was indeed armed
at the time of his death.

++++

7. Solidarity mission from the USA to Yesha
(BNI-DEC.13) The deadline for registration for the solidarity mission
headed by Rabbi Avi Weiss has been extended to December 18. Persons
interested in participating may review the itinerary below including
contact information.

Persons interested in joining the group are instructed to call Sandy as
soon as possible at the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale - 718-796-4730.

Registration will close Monday, December 18.
Cost: Includes round trip airfare New York-Tel Aviv. 7 nights bed and
breakfast at the Inbal (formerly Laromme) Hotel in Jerusalem. Lunch every
day except Friday. Friday night dinner, Shabbat lunch. Airport transfers
and all group land transportation.

$1450 per person based on double occupancy. Call for single supplement
details. *****************************************************************
TENTATIVE ITINERARY: ALL TRAVEL IN BULLET-PROOF BUSES. ALL
VISITS
SCHEDULED IN CONSULTATION WITH SECURITY AUTHORITIES.
Itinerary subject to
change depending on the security situation. All meetings are subject to
change.

Depart JFK. Motzei Shabbat December 30. Arrive Tel Aviv, Sunday,
December
31.

Monday, January 1
Depart hotel 9 a.m. for Hebron. Tour Jewish communities and meet
residents of Tel Rumeida, Avraham Avinu, Beit Hadassah neighborhoods.

Visit Cave of the Patriarchs.
Lunch with Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, Rosh Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba.

Visit Efrat. Meet with former HIR members now living in Efrat. Hear from
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.

Meet residents of Tekoa. Briefing with Tekoa resident Bobby Brown, former
diaspora affairs advisor to PM Netanyahu.

Evening at leisure.

TUESDAY: January 2

Depart hotel 9 a.m. for Gush Katif communities. Accompanied by guide.
Visit Kfar Darom. Netzarim. Meet with residents. Condolence visit to
Amitai and Biton families, victims of recent bus attack. Bikur Cholim
with Cohen family whose 3 children were seriously injured in attack.

Lunch: Boxed lunch or at midrasha.

EVENING: Briefing with Natan Sharansky

WEDNESDAY: Depart 9 a.m. for visit to eastern Jerusalem communities.
Gilo--meet with resident=E2=80=99s council reps. Har Homa; Haas Promenade; Mt.
Scopus; Mt. of Olives; Shimon HaTzaddik; briefing on Jerusalem issues at
hesder Yeshiva Beit Orot.

Lunch: Beit Orot.

Afternoon: City of David. Tour site--see latest archaeological
discoveries. Meet with residents.

EVENING: At leisure

THURSDAY: Depart 9 a.m. with guide Era Rappaport for Judean and
Samarian
communities: Beit El; Psagot; Shilo; Eilon Moreh: Ariel

Lunch either at Tel Shilo or College of Ariel.

EVENING: Media panel: Discussion with representatives of Israeli and
foreign press.

FRIDAY: At leisure. Prepare for Shabbat.

Evening: Special Kabbalat Shabbat tefilla with Rabbi Weiss. Friday night
dinner at Inbal hotel with Rabbi Weiss.

SHABBAT: Tefilla at neighborhood synagogues: Yemin Moshe (7 minute
walk
to Ashkenazic or Sephardic synagogues). 5 minute walk to Hovevei; 10
minute walk to Great Synagogue; 15 minute walk to Yakar. 20 minute walk to
Kotel.

Lunch: At hotel with Rabbi Weiss.

DEPART Tel Aviv, SUNDAY JANUARY 7--ARRIVE JFK SUNDAY JANUARY
7, 2001.

--------------

1. Bleak picture of preparedness as Haifa prepares for war=09
2. More shooting attacks in Yesha =96 No injuries=09

**************************
13-Dec-00 - 11:18 PM
***************************

1. Bleak picture of preparedness as Haifa prepares for war
(BNI-DEC.14) With the realization that following Israel=92s withdrawal from
southern Lebanon, northern Israel is in striking range of ballistic
missiles, the IDF=92s Home Front Command has ordered an inspection of Haifa
and Galilee region bomb shelters, Haaretz reported.

The results of inspections and evaluations of bomb shelters over the past
weeks revealed a bleak picture, with Home Front Command experts
estimating
at least NIS 50 million would be required to bring the bomb shelters up to
par.

Military intelligence believes that a Katyusha rocket attack against
northern Israel is a more likely scenario today than it was months ago,
prompting the Home Front Command to increase preparatory activities.

BNI has also learned that the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa has also been
instructed to increase its level of preparedness and ability to deal with
a mass casualty incident, particularly the victims of a bombing attack.

The IDF is circulating orders to the heads of local and regional
municipalities, instructing governing agencies to educate local residents
to the need to maintain bomb shelters and ensure they are clear for
emergency use should such a situation arise. Many residents around Israel
have adapted the practice of using shelters as storage facilities.

++++
2. More shooting attacks in Yesha =96 No injuries
(BNI-DEC.13) Shots were fired at an IDF patrol on Wednesday night from an
Arab village near the community of Neve Tzuf, in the Benjamin Regional
Council jurisdiction of Samaria. No injuries. Soldiers returned fire.

Shots were also fired from the Tul Qarem region District Coordinating
Office in Samaria. No injuries.

Shots were fired from the Bir Zeit Bridge, in the Benjamin Regional
Council area of Samaria. No injuries.

In an unrelated matter, it has been learned that the joint IDF and General
Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet) effort earlier in the week has resulted in
the apprehension in 5 to 10 Izzadin el-Kassim terrorists in the Hebron
area, in an area =93B=94, under Israeli security control.

The terrorists are suspected of involvement in the December 8, 2000 attack
in which Rina Didovsky and Eliyahu Ben-Ami were killed near Kiryat Arba.

++++

News items published by BNI (BreakingNews-Israel) may be distributed,
copied, posted providing the websites and other forums carrying the
stories display the footer below in plain view on the same page with the
news.

++++

To subscribe to the BreakingNews-Israel list, send a blank email message
to 44828-subscribe@listbot.com

To contact the list owner, send an email to BNI1@netvision.net.il

++++

If you feature BreakingNews-Israel reports in your newsletter or on your
website, please let us know so we may add your name to the list below.

++++

BNI reports are now featured by:
1. The USA Jewish website - http://www.usajewish.com/
2. Israel News - http://www.morashanetwork.com/
3. United Jerusalem.com http://www.unitedjerusalem.com/
4. Efrat - http://www.efrat.org/
5. Shosh's Gleanings Daily - Suwomyn26@aol.com
6. Breaking News - http://www.folksites.com/waisobiken/
7. Dateline Israel - http://www.datelineisrael.com/

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Research Reveals Virus DNA Packaging Motor
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:13:49 -0500

Research Reveals Virus DNA Packaging Motor

A group of researchers have figured out one of nature's smallest
motors, a molecular mechanism that stuffs DNA into a viral envelope like a
lethal kielbasa.

Located on the business end of a virus called as Bacteriophage phi29,
which infects bacteria, the motor consists of a cylindrical protein that
rapidly ratchets around the double helix of DNA and packs the genetic
material into the empty protein viral envelope.

"This is the first motor known to translocate genetic material," says
biological scientist Michael Rossman of Purdue University. "Nobody has
ever been able to observe such a [biological] motor in atomic detail as we
have done. This is the beginning of something new."

The research conducted by Rossman and colleagues at Purdue, along with
Dwight Anderson and others at University of Minnesota, was reported in the
December 7 issue of Nature.

The tiny motor plays a key role in viral replication. Viruses are
parasites that are unable to replicate on their own. They multiply by
infecting cells and inserting their genes into the host's genetic
machinery, turning them into factories to produce more viruses.

Millionths of a millimeter in size, the DNA packaging motor is
surprisingly speedy. The motor packs a strand of DNA about 5,000 base
pairs long, or about 130 times longer than the viral shell, in just three
minutes.

Using micro-imaging techniques including X-ray crystallography and
cryo-electron microscopy, researchers determined the structure of the
phi29 DNA packaging motor to a resolution of 3.2 angstroms, or 3.2
hundred-millionths of a centimeter.

Researchers found that the DNA packaging motor is comprised of three
main parts: an elongated viral shell "prohead," a doughnut-shaped
connector that feeds DNA into the shell, and a novel RNA-enzyme complex
that converts chemical energy into mechanical energy needed for packaging.

Chemical reactions produced by ATP cause the connector to oscillate and
rotate, pulling DNA into the viral shell two base pairs at a time. Rossman
describes the system is a rotary motor, with the prohead and ATPase
connector acting as a stator and the DNA serving as a spindle.

Although other types of biological motors have been identified, this is
the first known to move genes. Rotary molecular motors are found in two
other biological systems, in the ATPase complex and to produce the
rotation of flagella of E. coli.

Understanding the DNA-packing motor may explain how DNA is packed into
similar viruses, including the herpes virus. "All viruses have to package
their genome into the capsule," says Rossman.

"There's good evidence they all have similar mechanisms, although the
details would be different," he says. "Nature is very conservative,
tending to use and re-use things that work."

Aside from revealing how a DNA motor works, the research may lead to new
approaches for antiviral therapy.

Graphics:

Morphology of Bacteriophage phi29
(http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/images/rossmann.dnamotor.jpeg)

DNA Packaging Motor
(http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/images/rossmann.dnamotor2.jpeg)

Quicktime Movie showing DNA motor at work. Very cool! Quicktime 3 or
higher needed.
(Http://news.uns.purdue.edu/UNS/mov/rossmann.motormovie.mov)

via: isml@egroups.com

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] More asteroids caught in Trojan force traps
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 2000 18:19:23 -0500

Tuesday 12 December 2000

space : More asteroids caught in Trojan force
traps

PHILIP BALL

The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter may not be alone in harbouring
debris left over from the formation of the planets. New calculations hint there
could be similar asteroid hoards associated with planets nearer the Sun.
This lends added urgency to scientists' eager scrutiny of the belt once
regarded as the trash heap of the solar system, now deemed a potential
source of rare minerals or of bodies on a collision course with Earth.

Wyn Evans and Serge Tabachnik of the University of Oxford, UK, have
worked out that there are probably other asteroid pockets in the inner Solar
System, which are being shepherded by Mars, Earth, Venus and Mercury.
And the duo suggests where, when and how astrophysicists should look for
them.

The asteroids associated with the giant planet Jupiter are known as 'the
Trojans'. They owe their existence to a peculiarity of gravitational
interactions. Isaac Newton showed in the seventeenth century how gravity
holds a planet in orbit around the Sun. But the equations to describe the
motion of three mutually gravitating bodies, rather than just two, are
fiendishly difficult to solve.

In the eighteenth century, the French mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange
simplified things. He showed that if one of the bodies orbits around another,
like a planet around the Sun, a third small body can get trapped at any of five
specific points -- Lagrange points -- relative to the orbiting planet.

In 1906, astrophysicists detected the first of Jupiter's Trojan asteroids at one
of its Lagrange points. Now, 470 Trojans are known and there may be as
many as 2,500, some with diameters that could exceed 15 kilometres.

Saturn too has some small moons captured at its Lagrange points. And in
1990, a Trojan-like asteroid called '5261 Eureka' was discovered on Mars'
orbit, showing that you don't have to be a giant planet to secure your own
asteroids.

But in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society1,2, Evans and
Tabachnik ask: how many asteroids are associated with the inner planets,
and how easy would it be to spot them, given that they'd be proportionately
smaller than those of Jupiter?

These questions can only be answered through computer simulations of the
planetary motions. This involves scattering 'candidate Trojans' around the
orbits of the inner planets and then seeing whether the simulations trap them
at Lagrange points or send them hurtling off elsewhere.

The confidence in the results depends on sampling enough possibilities and
on running the simulations for long enough compared with the age of the
Solar System. Evans and Tabachnik ran their simulations to cover up to 100
million years -- ten times longer than most previous studies, but still quite
short relative to the Solar System's 4.6 billion-year age.

The simulations reveal that, like Mars, Venus and Earth can shepherd
Trojans at their Lagrange points. For Mercury, very few candidate Trojans
survive in the traps because the planet is small and has a rather unusual
orbit.

Astrophysicists have already scanned the Lagrange points of Mars and Earth
and found nothing, aside from Eureka and one other martian Trojan. But
Evans and Tabachnik have used their results to propose optimal search
strategies that could be conducted with existing telescopes and might prove
more fruitful.

http://helix.nature.com/nsu/001214/001214-6.html

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======= to: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Egyptian censors slay David and Goliath tale
From: wordfig
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 07:38:11 -0500 (EST)

Egyptian censors slay David and Goliath tale

a classic case of trying to censor God's word...
b
http://torontostar.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=976595492185&call_page=TS_World&call_pageid=968332188854&call_pagepath=News/World

Thu Dec 14 07:38:11 2000

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Santa Claus a drunk perv?
From: wordfig
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 07:48:21 -0500 (EST)

Santa Claus a drunk perv?

beneath the laughs here are some frightening truths...
b
http://torontostar.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=976681885859&call_page=TS_Entertainment,Life&call_pageid=968867495754&call_pagepath=Entertainment,Life/News

Thu Dec 14 07:48:21 2000

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 1,2,3 (12/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:09 -0500

No injuries in shooting attack near Dugit=09

*************************
14-Dec-00 - 12:02 AM
**************************

1. No injuries in shooting attack near Dugit
(BNI-DEC.14) IDF forces stationed near the community of Dugit, in northern
Gaza, were fired upon at about 11:00pm Wednesday night. No injuries.
Soldiers returned fire.

----------------

1. Shooting attack south of Hebron =96 one injured=09

************************
14-Dec-00 - 8:00 AM
************************

1. Shooting attack south of Hebron =96 one injured
(BNI-DEC.14) One person sustained light injuries from terrorist gunfire
south of Hebron on Thursday morning, shortly after 7:00am.

The man who was fired upon and injured returned fire at the attackers in a
passing car as they fled the scene. It is unknown if the attackers were
hit by the Israelis gunfire. No additional information is available at
this time.

BNI will provide additional details as they are made available.

-----------------

1. Lebanese paper: Israel tried to assassinate Khaled Meshal in Qatar 2.
IDF force hits Gush Katif terror cell 3. Terror attack victim being
transported to hospital=09

**************************
14-DEC-00 =96 9:00am
**************************

1. Lebanese paper: Israel tried to assassinate Khaled Meshal in Qatar
(BNI-DEC.14) Israel Radio on Thursday morning quoted a Lebanese
newspaper
report which stated Israeli agents last month tried to assassinate senior
Hamas leader Khaled Meshal while he was attending a conference in Qatar.

The al-Mustakbal stated three agents were sent to accomplish the task,
using Canadian and Norwegian passports. It explained that the failed
second assassination attempt led to Qatar cutting diplomatic ties with
Israel.

During the administration of former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
Mossad agents were arrested in Jordan following the first assassination
attempt. Israel was forced to furnish Jordanian physicians with the
antidote for the chemical agent injected into Meshal, thereby saving his
life. The efforts to obtain the release of the captured Mossad agent led
to Israel=92s agreeing to release Hamas founder and leader Sheik Ahmed
Yassin, who resides in the PA autonomous area of Gaza.

++++
2. IDF force hits Gush Katif terror cell
(BNI-DEC.14) An IDF force operating in Gaza on Thursday morning hit an
Islamic terror cell in the Gush Katif area.

Preliminary reports indicate at least several terrorists have been injured
by Israeli fire. No injuries to IDF troops. BNI will provide additional
details as they are made available.

++++

3. Terror attack victim being transported to hospital
(BNI-DEC.14) The Israeli man lightly injured in an early morning shooting
attack south of Hebron is being transported to Barzilai Hospital in
Ashkelon.

As reported earlier, the man managed to fire his weapon at the fleeing
terrorists and he did strike the getaway car. It remains unknown at this
time if any of the occupants of the car were injured. The terrorists fled
to the nearby Arab village which is under the control of the PA.

++++

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] New Scientist items
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:09 -0500

BLOOD, BLOOD, BLOOD...
In 1667, a young Oxford doctor, Richard Lower, attempted to "cool" the
troubled temperament of a 22-year-old curate by replacing half a pint of
the man's blood with the same quantity taken from a "calm and docile
sheep". In a similar experiment in France Jean-Baptiste Denis
endeavoured to curb the sexual appetites of a rumbustious manservant
with the blood of a notably "demure" calf. Stephanie Pain gives a lively
account of the history of blood transfusions which could seriously raise
the "BP" of today's doctors.
http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opinion.jsp?id=ns226949

AND MORE BLOOD
Of course, haematology has advanced since Lower's experiments with
curates and sheep. Today, more than 40 million units of blood are used
each year to treat patients around the world. Thanks to regular
screening, in developed countries at least, the blood supply is
extremely safe, but public health experts always worry about emerging
viruses, for which there are no tests, and bacterial contamination of
samples is a growing problem. Now, with the help of a "neutron bomb"
strategy, chemists in Massachusetts may have developed a vital weapon
which could protect the world's blood supplies by killing viruses and
bacteria while leaving red blood cells intact.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226919

FOR ALL TO SEE
It's a spray which renders sealed envelopes transparent, making the
letters inside as easy to read as postcards. "It leaves an odour for 10
to 15 minutes," says the spray's inventor, but, apart from that, "no
evidence at all" that it's been used. While the manufacturer describes
"See-Through" as a "non-conductive, non-toxic, environmentally safe
liquid", human rights activists believe "it's an ethically questionable
product" which could tempt security forces to bend laws.
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226930

VIRTUALLY YOURS
By 2003, surgeons and designers could be manipulating 3D moving pictures
that float in mid-air instead of on computer screens. This is
"replacement reality" and according to Chris Slinger, the head of
holography at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency in Malvern,
Worcestershire, "it is like nothing else we have seen before"...
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226914

GREEN GIANT
It may be a little weed but it's just made a big name for itself. This
week Arabidopsis thaliana became the first plant to have its genome
fully sequenced. And so far, Arabidopsis, otherwise known as thale
cress, is looking remarkably human. Not only does the plant, like
ourselves, have genes for repairing DNA and others linked to ageing, but
it also seems to have a counterpart of "Separation anxiety", the gene
linked with behavioural disorders in people. As Jeff Dangle at the
University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill says, "It's a launch pad for
understanding all plant biology, and we hope in the next 10 years or so
to work out what every plant gene does."
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226920

AND FINALLY...
Volcanoes, earthquakes, tornadoes and tsunamis are always a cause for
concern. But now find out how a display model of a garden whirlpool spa
in a home improvement store can be yet one more thing to worry about...
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns226942

NEW SCIENTIST WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
No 64, 16 December 2000

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Israel Update #07
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:10 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: Israel Update <Israel-Update@aish.com>
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 13:50:36 +0200
Subject: Israel Update #07
Send reply to: Israel-Update@aish.com

To subscribe to this weekly newsletter, send a blank message to:
join-israel-update@ls.aish.net

"ISRAEL UPDATE"
Issue #07 - 14 DEC. 2000
http://aish.com/israel

In this email:

NEWS YOU WON'T HEAR ON CNN
1) CNN Starts Paying Attention
2) American Universities Oppose Study In Israel
3) Burger Wars
4) Fixing the Mezuzah

C.O.M. - CENTER FOR OBJECTIVITY IN THE MEDIA
5) Time's Fields of Fire
6) Barely a Mention of Palestinian Attacks
7) Zero Mention of Palestinian Attacks

======================================

NEWS YOU WON'T HEAR ON CNN
Archives of "News You Won't Hear On CNN" is at http://aish.com/a/r/10.asp

========

1) CNN STARTS PAYING ATTENTION

The Jerusalem Post (13 December 2000) reports that Prime Minister Ehud Barak has met
with representatives of CNN in an effort to clarify claims of slanted and one-sided
reportage of the Mideast crisis. CNN was apparently concerned about reports that
American Jews were selling off stock in the parent company, Time-Warner, in protest
over the network's coverage of the current crisis.

The efforts of media watch groups are apparently having some effect. To mollify
critics, CNN recently stopped airing reports from correspondent Rula Amin in Gaza, and
has stopped referring to the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo as a "settlement."

===============

2) AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES OPPOSE STUDY IN ISRAEL

George Washington University in Washington, DC, had informed students planning to
attend Hebrew University on Mount Scopus that they would not receive credit for their
studies there. The decision was based on a State Department warning to avoid travel to
the West Bank and Gaza Strip -- including east Jerusalem.

The university later reversed its ruling, however, after discovering that Hebrew
University, though located in the eastern part of Jerusalem, has been under continuous
Israeli rule even prior to the 1948 War of Independence.

Other universities across the U.S., including University of Pennsylvania, California
State University, and the University of Florida have cancelled overseas programs in
Israel next semester.

===============

3) BURGER WARS

The UK Jewish Chronicle (08 December 2000) reports that Jewish organizations have
launched an email protest campaign against the hamburger giant McDonalds since Israel
does not appear among the international locations listed on the McDonalds website. The
site does name 120 countries in which the chain operates, including Bahrain and Saudi
Arabia.

This follows the recent publicity that McDonalds Saudi Arabian franchise is donating
30 cents from each sale toward Palestinians injured in clashes with Israel.

Meanwhile, another player in the hamburger wars, Burger King, has been under
tremendous pressure from Arab groups angry over the presence of a Burger King
franchise in Ma'aleh Adumim, the Jerusalem suburb located across the Green Line.

In a related item, it was reported that Wal-Mart and other store are selling "World
Atlas" globes which have "Palestine" printed in place of Israel.

================

4) FIXING THE MEZUZAH

The London Jewish Chronicle (08 December 2000) reports that a prominent Israeli
kabbalist, Rabbi Benayahu Shmueli, told cabinet secretary Yitzhak Herzog that there
may be something wrong with the mezuzah on the front door of the Prime Minister's
office in Jerusalem.

The suspected mezuzah was examined, and the word ha'aretz ("the land") was found to be
flawed in the way it was written on the mezuzah parchment.

Reports say that Prime Minister Barak donned a black kipah, and a new mezuzah was
affixed, while the appropriate blessings were recited.

(Online at http://www.jchron.co.uk)

================================= ==================================

C.O.M. - CENTER for OBJECTIVITY in the MEDIA

Submit your own findings to: media@aish.com
Read the "7 Rules of Media Objectivity" -- http://aish.com/a/r/5.asp
Archives of media objectivity is at http://aish.com/a/r/9.asp

========

5) TIME'S FIELDS OF FIRE

Time magazine (10 December 2000) features a grossly biased article implicating Israel
in the deaths of Palestinian children. Time reports: "In many cases, Israeli attacks
can be indiscriminate, such as machine-gun fire into crowded neghborhoods."

By contrast, when Time mentions Palestinian gunfire directed at Israeli civilians, it
is in the most benign terms: "The bullets whizzed harmlessly through the night... and
fired by inexpert marksmen, they were no great threat."

In response to this article, Harry J. Reidler of River Edge, New Jersey wrote to Time
magazine:

You note that there have been over 3,100 live fire incidents in the last 11 weeks. 270
deaths is quite restrained when compared to that horrifying statistic. Yet if the
standard you instead apply -- comparative deaths --is truly proof of "excessive
force," then what adjective would you apply to the United States and its Arab and NATO
allies, who, in Operation Desert Storm, killed 100,000 Iraqi men, women and, yes,
children -- while losing only 100 soldiers in return?

The fact is that no nation, at any time in history, has ever satisfied the standards
you would now impose on Israel. And you completely ignore the fact that Israel offered
the Palestinians a state, including Gaza, 90-95 percent of the West Bank, and sharing
of the Temple Mount. The Palestinians won't take "yes" for an answer. They have
instead chosen to go to war, and to sacrifice their children, over that last 5
percent.

One cannot imagine the sense of abandonment that Israelis feel. All these years they
were urged to take "risks for peace"; they were assured of support if the Palestinians
returned to violence. Instead of condemning the initiators of the violence, all you do
is criticize those who are trying to defend themselves under the most difficult
circumstances.

See the full Time article at:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,91386,00.html

Complain to:
letters@time.com

===================

6) BARELY A MENTION OF PALESTINIAN ATTACKS

The Associated Press report (13 December 2000) carries the headline: "Four Palestinian
Policemen Killed." Only in paragraph #5 does the article finally mention the fact that
Palestinians began by shooting at Israeli soldiers, who then returned fire.

It is not until paragraph #11 that the Associated Press bothers to mention how,
earlier in the day, Palestinian gunmen raked an Israeli school bus with automatic
gunfire.

See the article at:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001213/ts/israel_palestinians.html

Complain to: feedback@ap.org

(submitted by Elad Alon)

=====================

7) ZERO MENTION OF PALESTINIAN ATTACKS

The Times of London reports (13 December 2000):

Four Palestinian policemen were shot dead and more than 40 people wounded in bloody
confrontations with the Israeli army in the southern Gaza Strip, which Palestinians
branded a "massacre."

Today's fighting erupted before dawn when two Palestinian policemen were killed by
Israeli artillery fire and tanks, which forced their way into the Palestinian-
controlled Khan Yunis refugee camp outside the Gush Katif settlement bloc. (end of
excerpt)

The Times of London forgot to mention one key fact: That the Israeli entry into Khan
Yunis was in direct response to a series of Palestinian shooting attacks against
Jewish civilians in the Gaza Strip.

See it online at:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,50747,00.html

Complain to:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/section/0,,79,00.html

(submitted by Yisrael Medad)

======================================

If you find this email helpful, please pass it along to a friend. This way we are
partners in making a difference in the fight for truth.

Comments for "Israel Update" can be submitted at: israel-update@aish.com

Submit your own findings on Media Objectivity to: media@aish.com

For reprints and redistribution, please give proper attribution:
Article from Israel Update -- http://aish.com/israel

======================================

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] BreakingNews-Israel 4,5,6 (12/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:10 -0500

1. IDF patrol attacked with explosive device in Gaza=09
2. More on Gaza terror cell=09
3. Didovsky Fund=09

***************************
14-DEC-00 =96 10:27am
***************************

1. IDF patrol attacked with explosive device in Gaza
(BNI-DEC.14) An explosive device was detonated against an IDF patrol in
southern Gaza on Thursday morning, near the community of Morag. At the
same time as the explosion, automatic gunfire was directed at the
soldiers. No injuries to IDF forces that returned fire.

++++
2. More on Gaza terror cell
(BNI-DEC.14) The terrorists that were injured by IDF forces in Gaza on
Thursday morning were passing an IDF checkpoint near Gush Katif in a taxi.

One of the soldiers on duty saw an occupant of the cab pulling a gun,
prompting him to immediately open fire. One terrorist was killed and two
wounded seriously. IDF forces apprehended them.

IDF officials report the occupants of the taxi were on their way to
perpetrate a terror attack. There were no injuries to IDF forces as
reported earlier.

++++

3. Jerusalem police commander evaluating prayer services
(BNI-DEC.14) According to Jerusalem District Police Commander Mickey
Levy,
as many as hundreds of thousands of Moslem worshipers are expected to
make
their way to Jerusalem=92s Temple Mount for Friday Ramadan prayer services.

Levy stated the security situation is being evaluated and he will make the
appropriate recommendations to the political echelon, Israel Radio
reported.

Last Friday, over 100,000 Islamic worshipers attended services in the Al
Aqsa Mosque and violence and clashes erupted following the prayers. One
rioter was killed by police in the Via Dolorosa area and worshipers
attacked a police command post causing serious damage, as well as
attacking Israel security forces stationed in and around the Old City
area. Over two-dozen Israel security troops were injured in the Islamic
violence.

++++
4. Didovsky Fund
(BNI-DEC.14) Many readers have requested information regarding sending
monies to the Didovsky Fund from abroad by check in place of a bank
transfer.

One may do so by sending a check payable to
The Didovsky Children Fund,
Beit Haggai,
D.N. Har Hevron
90430, Israel.

Persons wishing to make a bank transfer may forward donations to
Bank Mizrachi
Ben Yehuda Branch - Jerusalem (Number 401)
NIS Account Number 576712

The fund has been established to assist Chaim Didovsky and his children,
ages 14 months to 18-years, whose wife and mother Rina was killed in a
terrorist attack near Kiryat Arba on December 8.

----------------

1. Domestic violence =96 a major concern in Israel=09
2. IDF intelligence officer in Washington receives increased protection=09
3. Gilo shooting victim to be discharged from Hadassah Hospital 4.
Knesset Committee: Western Wall classified as =93synagogue=94 5. Not
breaking
news but=85. A dental record perhaps=09

**************************
14-DEC-00 =96 11:52am
**************************

1. Domestic violence =96 a major concern in Israel
(BNI-DEC.14) Following the Wednesday murder of Tzahala Gelfand, 37, of
Bnei Brak, by her husband, police and organizations dealing with the
problems and needs of battered women are calling for stronger and more
effective legislation to protect women from their husbands and lovers.

Tzahala became the 16th victim of domestic violence in Israel in 2000, the
third in the past week. Experts explain the system does not work and they
desperately need NIS 50 million for increased battered women=92s=92 shelter s
around the country to offer women in danger a safe haven. There are also
many calls for amending laws to better protect women in danger from family
members.

On Thursday, 11,000 social workers around Israel will strike for one hour
in protest of the alarming situation.

Following is a list of women killed by spouses in Israel in 2000:
1. February 8, 2000 =96 A woman was stabbed to death by her spouse. The
husband also wounded the couple=92s two children. (Details banned from
publication). 2. February 10, 2000- Amani Shahin, 17, a resident of the
Bet Hannina section of Jerusalem was killed. 3. February 13, 2000 =96 Sagit
Ozeri, 24, a resident of Rishon L=92Tzion. 4. February 28, 2000 =96 Shirin
Ismael, 28, a resident of Kfar Reina. 5. March 20, 2000 =96 Julia Gur, 57,
of Herzliya. 6. June 4, 2000 - Nadia Chajazi, 40, a resident of Jaffa.
7. June 13, 2000 - IDF soldier Suzie Ohana was shot and killed in her
Ashdod apartment. 8. June 16, 2000 - Niafa Abu Ganis, 30, of Ramle.
9. June 21, 2000 =96 Aviva (Rozi) Sheinfeld, 40, from Haifa. 10. July 20,
2000 =96 Amir Mahjina, 33, from Jaffe. 11. August 1, 2000 =96 Sharon Peleg,
30, from Pereg. 12. October 12, 2000 =96 Miri Menachem, 23, from
Jerusalem.
13. October 19, 2000 - Sofia Fouchanko, 30, from Nahariya. 14. December
6, 2000 =96 Shoshana Hota, 23, of Maalot was stabbed and bludgeoned to
death
by her husband. The couple=92s two toddlers witnessed the murder of their
mother in her eight month of pregnancy. 15. December 11, 2000 =96 Natalie
Pasimnic, 40, of Carmiel, was stabbed to death by her husband. The
couple=92s 12-year-old son was injured by his father during the attack.
16. December 13, 2000 =96 Tzahala Gelfand, 37, of Bnei Brak, was murdered
by
her husband during an argument. He admitted to police that he suffocated
her to death.

++++

2. IDF intelligence officer in Washington receives increased protection
(BNI-DEC.14) Colonel Shlomo Mofaz, an IDF intelligence officer stationed
in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, has been assigned increased
protection after it was learned that he is the target of a PA
assassination conspiracy.

This week, IDF intelligence learned of a plot being orchestrated by PLO
Authority intelligence officers, to kill Mofaz, the brother of IDF Chief
of Staff Lt.-Gen. Shaul Mofaz.

Officials are not taking the information lightly, especially in light of
the fact that a order to kill Mofaz was publicized by the PA=92s Tanzim
Force commanders following the IDF=92s recent assassination of a leading
Tanzim commander in the Bethlehem area.

++++

3. Gilo shooting victim to be discharged from Hadassah Hospital
(BNI-DEC.14) Galit Takutiel, 24, of Gilo, who was shot in the neck and
chest on 11 December by a ricocheting bullet in her southern Jerusalem
home, is scheduled to be discharged from Hadassah Hospital on Thursday.
She was hit by gunfire directed at Jerusalem from the nearby PA autonomous
area of Beit Jala.

Takutuel=92s family was horrified to learn that their windows would not be
included in the 1,000 selected for replacement with bulletproof glass by
the IDF Home Front Command since they do not directly face Beit Jala and
=93out of the line of fire.=94

++++
4. Knesset Committee: Western Wall classified as =93synagogue=94
(BNI-DEC.14) The Knesset Interior Committee has declared the Kotel
(Western Wall) and adjoining plaza a =93synagogue,=94 thereby enforcing the
laws governing the houses of worship on the Wall and plaza. The move was
done to prevent women and men from praying next to one another as is being
requested by the Women of the Wall organization.

The bill put forwarded by United Torah Judaism MK Yaakov Litzman and Shas
MK David Azulai passed its first reading in the committee in a 5-4 vote.

The law would require women to approach the newly defined area with a head
covering, and modest attire and prevent prayer services including men and
women in the same section.

Following the vote, Shinui MK Yossef Paritzky called for a re-vote which
will most likely take place on Monday.

++++
5. Not breaking news but=85. A dental record perhaps
(BNI-DEC.14) It is a known fact that many Israelis are afraid to go to the
dentist. 35-year-old Irit Butnaru of Kiryat Chaim may have set a new
dental record. She too was afraid to see her dentist and waited until the
pain was too much, opting to be placed under general anesthesia to permit
the necessary care.

Doctors over a 4.5-hour period performed nine root canals, three
extractions, inserted 15 fillings, performed two surgical procedures and
fitted ten crowns.

The surgeon who headed the team admitted that it would have taken over a
year to treat her as a regular out patient, adding that the patient
obviously had a serious phobia of the dentist=92s office.

--------------------

1. No injuries in Minharot shooting attack=09
2. Chief Rabbi Doron says concessions possible for peace =96 even in
Jerusalem=09
3. Did you Know? =96 The Golan Heights=09
4. Solidarity missions=09

**************************
14-DEC-00 =96 12:30pm
**************************

1. No injuries in Minharot shooting attack
(BNI-DEC.14) There were no injuries in a shooting attack on the Minharot
road connecting southern Jerusalem to Gush Etzion. The IDF immediately
closed down the road and public bus service to Gush communities has come
to a halt. Private motorists may use alternate routes.

++++
2. Chief Rabbi Doron says concessions possible for peace =96 even in
Jerusalem
(BNI-DEC.14) Israel=92s Chief Sephardic Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron stated
during a visit with Singapore Jewish community leaders that he favored
making concessions to bring peace to the Middle East, even in Jerusalem,
but not involving sites holy to the Jewish people such as the Temple
Mount.

=93The Temple Mount is the heart of the Jewish people and we may not make
concessions,=94 stated the Chief Rabbi. He called for renewed efforts
towards peace between Jewish and Islamic leaders in order to not play into
the hands of the =93extremist elements.=94

++++

3. Did you Know? =96 The Golan Heights
(BNI-DEC.14) Prior to the June 1967 Six Day War, the Golan Heights in
northern Israel was occupied by the Syrian government. Since its
liberation in the war, the area has been annexed into =93Israel proper=94 a nd
today is an integral portion of the State of Israel.

For the 19 years that Syria ruled the Golan, the area was used as a
military platform for continuous attacks against the settlements in the
Hula, Galilee and Jordan Valley.

The establishment of 33 communities, a developed economy, and prosperous
tourism are only examples of what has been achieved. Famous tourism sites
that attract over 2 million visitors a years, are spread all across the
Golan from the ski resort on the Hermon Mountain in the north to the hot
water springs in Chamat Gader in the South. The Golan is home to 18,000
residents.

Some figures:
a) Area of the Golan Heights: 250,000 acres
b) Cultivated agricultural land- Field crops - 5,000 acres
c) Orchards - 4,000 acres
d) Flower production - 35,000 tons
e) Natural pasture - 100,000 acres
f) Cattle and sheep - 20,000 head
g) Dairy cattle - 5000 head Yield - 60,000,000 liters of milk per annum
h) Industrial enterprises - about 30

In between, canyons with white water springs, the seashores of the Eastern
Kinneret, and impressive historical remains like Gamla, Area of the Golan
Heights: 250,000 acres Cultivated agricultural land- Field crops - 5,000
acres Orchards - 4,000 acres Flower production - 35,000 tons Natural
pasture - 100,000 acres Cattle and sheep - 20,000 head Dairy cattle - 5000
head Yield - 60,000,000 liters of milk per annum Industrial enterprises -
about 30

For additional information, one may visit http://english.golan.org.il/

++++
4. Solidarity missions
(BNI-DEC.14) Publication of details of a solidarity mission to Israel has
resulted in many requests to publicize other solidarity missions to Israel
in the coming weeks. Although they are all important, there area too many
to list in this forum.

++++

To subscribe to the BreakingNews-Israel list, send a blank email message
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++++

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++++

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: IDF issues first indictment related to Ramalla
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:10 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 02:55:15 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: IDF issues first indictment related to Ramallah lynching

Ha'aretz: IDF issues first indictment related to Ramallah lynching

By Amos Harel Ha'aretz Military Correspondent Ha'aretz 14 December 2000

The IDF has started to issue indictments against the Palestinians involved
in the lynching of two Israeli reserve soldiers in Ramallah on October 12.

The first indictment was issued last week, and additional indictments are
expected soon, including those against the main perpetrators of the crime.
Several suspects in the murders are being held by Israel.

The first defendant to be tried in the case, Muhammad Daoud Hamdan, 23,
lives in the village of Arora north of Ramallah, under complete Palestinian
control. The IDF and the Shin Bet arrested Hamdan on October 25 when he
entered an area under Israeli security control. He was indicted in the
military court in Beit El.

According to the indictment, Hamdan entered the Ramallah police station,
where the two Israeli reservists - Vadim Norzhich, 33, of Or Akiva and Yosef
Avrahami, 38, of Petah Tikva - were being held. "The defendant, together
with the rest of the mob, entered the room where one of the IDF soldiers was
laying on the floor," wrote the military prosecutor, Lieutenant Assaf
Ezrati. "The defendant kicked the soldier on the floor... The soldiers,
Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami, were killed as a result of the blows and
stab wounds delivered by the Palestinian mob and Palestinian policemen."

The indictment details how the two soldiers lost their way and arrived in
Ramallah, how they were led by Palestinian police officers to the police
station and beaten and stabbed all over their bodies by the Palestinian mob
and police.

The indictment includes the crime of "undermining security in the area," but
does not contain the crime of "causing death" (the counterpart of murder in
a court martial). Legal sources told Ha'aretz that this omission was because
in his interrogation, Hamdan confessed that he had seen the "body of the
soldier and kicked it." Lacking evidential basis to prove that the soldier
was alive when Hamdan participated in the abuse, the prosecution cannot
prove that he caused the soldier's death. The indictment against Hamdan also
includes five other counts, most relatively light, including throwing stones
at soldiers and the use and possession of marijuana.

Immediately after the murder, Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced that
Israel would track the perpetrators down and bring them to justice. In the
weeks after the murder, the IDF and the Shin Bet conducted widespread
arrests in the Ramallah area, bringing in a number of suspects. Some of
these suspects will be indicted.

--------------------------------------------
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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: PM to decide soon on int'l war crimes conventi
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:10 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 02:59:10 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: PM to decide soon on int'l war crimes convention
that would allow for prosecution of settlement activities as war crimes

Ha'aretz: PM to decide soon on int'l war crimes convention that would allow
for prosecution of settlement activities as war crimes

By Aluf Benn Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent Ha'aretz 14 December 2000

Prime Minister Ehud Barak will decide soon on whether Israel should sign a
convention for the establishment of an international court for war crimes.

Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami has asked for Barak's permission to sign the
convention, but the prime minister said he would first like to hear the
opinion of the security establishment, which objects to signing. Israel has
until the end of the month to sign.

Signing, however, has only declarative value. If Israel actually wants to
join the court, it will then have to ratify the convention, a complex step
involving changes in Israeli law. At present, Israel has the option of
signing the convention but putting off ratification until a later date.

Ben-Ami met yesterday with Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, who also strongly
supports signing the convention. Both ministers say that Israel must be part
of the family of nations that support the punishment of war criminals, and
must not distance itself from the court. The two decided to draft a cabinet
decision to sign the convention, so that it will be ready on time if their
position is accepted.

Israelis and Jews have been involved in the initiative to form an
international court since the 1950s. But when the convention to establish
the court was approved at a conference in Rome two years ago, Israel's
settlements were included in the list of war crimes. This is why Israel has
so far refrained from supporting and signing the convention.

Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, who participated in the discussion
yesterday, opposes signing the convention, arguing that Israel cannot sign a
document that turns its settlement activity into a war crime. The IDF
objects to signing for similar reasons, and has expressed the fear that
because of the recent fighting in the territories, Arabs may attempt to have
IDF officers and other Israelis charged with war crimes.

The United States, like Israel, has so far refrained from signing the
convention, fearing that it may be used against Americans involved in
military actions worldwide. The convention was recently the subject of
debate in Washington. Former defense secretary Robert MacNamara recently
published an article in The New York Times in which he called on President
Bill Clinton to sign the convention this month and to leave the matter of
ratification to his successors. State Department professionals support
signing the convention.

The Foreign Ministry's legal advisor, Alan Baker, returned this week from
New York after attending talks on the international court.

--------------------------------------------
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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) Ha'aretz: Israel's water crisis expected to reach home f
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:39:10 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 03:09:46 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: Ha'aretz: Israel's water crisis expected to reach home front in

2001;
Industry experts call for revolutionary new inspection patrols in urban
areas
Sender: owner-imra@imra.org.il
Precedence: bulk

Ha'aretz: Israel's water crisis expected to reach home front in 2001;
Industry experts call for revolutionary new inspection patrols in urban
areas

By Amiram Cohen Ha'aretz 14 December 2000

Last week, the manager of the Mekorot Water Company's supply division, Sara
Haklai, walked into a board meeting of the national water company and set
off a bomb: "Next year there won't be enough drinking water for the
population." Company chairman Uri Sagi recently told the board that "the
public is completely unaware of the size of the catastrophe.".Water
Commission officials say that the fact that water is still coming out of the
faucets must not be allowed to deceive us, and we are past the stage of "boy
who cried wolf" warnings, "because the wolf is already at the door."

The following figures illustrate the depth of the crisis in the country's
water supplies:

In the year 2000, domestic water consumption reached 720 million cubic
meters. Industry used a further 100 million cubic meters, and agriculture
accounted for some 800 million cu.m. (following a 40 percent cut in water
allocation to farmers). Thirty million cu.m. went to settlements beyond the
1967 Green Line, and another 55 million to Jordan, adding up to a total
water consumption of 1,170 million cubic meters in 2000.

According to Mekorot's data, the effort to provide these amounts of water in
2000 and similar amounts in previous years led to over-pumping 350 million
cubic meters from the coastal aquifer, to a drop in the water level of Lake
Kinneret to -213.8 meters (80 cm below the "red line") and to a drop in the
mountain aquifer to a degree that raises the possibility of brackish water
penetrating into its northern parts.

Haklai says that if the policy of over-pumping and dipping into the
country's water reserves does not stop, it will cause irreversible damage to
Israel's main water reservoirs. She wants a return to the policy of pumping
out from the aquifer only those amounts that are replenished by rains and by
underground and aboveground water flow.

Ending the over-pumping, however, would cause a shortage of 90 million cu.m.
of water that cannot be overcome. Here are the figures:

On the supply side: Assuming normal rainfall this year, the available water
from the three components of the national water system (Lake Kinneret, the
coastal aquifer and the mountain aquifer) in 2001 will add up to 1,035
million cubic meters.

On the demand side: The pumping of 420 million cu.m. of water available to
private interests, as well as agricultural uses (even after a 50 percent
cut) will leave the national water system with only 615 cubic meters.

This time, Haklai's warnings did not fall on deaf ears. The government
decided, albeit quite late, to take a series of measures to cope with the
crisis. Finance Minister Avraham Shochat even announced Tuesday that the
government would allocate NIS 3 billion over the next three years to new
projects to increase the amount of fresh water available for home use and
wastewater for agricultural use.

As part of these measures, the cabinet approved the establishment of a
desalination facility to treat 50 million cubic meters of seawater (with an
option to double that amount). The Water Commission has devised a plan to
purify 180 million cubic meters of brackish water and to recycle some 70
million cubic meters of wastewater for agricultural use. The Jewish National
Fund has undertaken to create 100 reservoirs to hold runoff, and here and
there small reserves of underground water that can still be coaxed out of
the ground have been found. Despite great skepticism, the idea of importing
water from Turkey is still on the agenda. However, even if all of these
plans are implemented their effects will be felt only in 2005-05, or 2003 at
the earliest.

Where will the rest of the water come from until these projects come online?
The answer was provided by the finance minister in statements he made
Tuesday at a conference held by the desalination association: "It is
unavoidable that we will be forced to make cuts to urban water consumption
as well."

Until now, no one has dared to touch the urban sector, perhaps because the
water prices paid by consumers to the local authorities are an enormous
source of income for the authorities, a veritable cash cow. Still, now even
Shochat has recognized that there is no alternative.

The Water Commissioner, Shimon Tal, announced earlier this week that he is
creating a package of water-saving measures for the urban sector to be
submitted for approval by Shochat, who is also the minister of national
infrastructure, by the end of December. One of the measures being considered
by the commission is setting water quotas for the local authorities.

The spokeswoman for the Water Commission on Tuesday told Ha'aretz: "There is
no doubt that this year the urban sector will be forced to join in the
effort. We believe we can save 50 to 60 million cubic meters in this sector.
The commission is currently drawing up regulations prohibiting the watering
of lawns and gardens which will be imposed first in the public sector."

The chairman of Israel's Association of Water Engineers, Shaul Arlosoroff,
says that with little effort, 100 million cubic meters of water could be
saved in the urban and public sector. In his opinion, it is undesirable,
inefficient and unjust from a social point of view to demand that only
farmers are required to cut their water consumption while "the city," in his
words, "continues to run riot."

The classic model for saving water was carried out in California, which has
a similar climate to Israel. There, too, large areas of the state suffer
from cyclical rainfall that includes dry years.

"A state of emergency was declared there," Arlosoroff said. "Regulations
were adopted and inspectors were recruited to enforce the regulations. The
regulations required residents and public institutions to install flow
regulators that reduced the flow of water in the faucets by 50 percent, and
still left enough water for household use. Installation was subsidized by
the state and local authorities.

"Another successful means [to reduce water consumption] was reducing the
volume of water in toilet tanks. These tanks are responsible for 40 percent
of domestic water use. Municipal employees went from door to door, placing
bricks in the toilet tanks to reduce their volume. There's no reason why we
can't do the same thing, since we are talking about a state of emergency."

Arlosoroff does not rule out handling the crisis by means of the price: "In
a state of emergency, water prices are doubled or tripled for a year or two.
Increasing water prices as an emergency measure will keep the press busy,
people will chew it over, and in this way we have already taken a
psychological step to reduce demand."

Arlosoroff is hesitant to recommend a more extreme step - turning off the
faucet to any local authority that exceeds its water quota: "After we
prevent the watering of gardens and lawns and put bricks into toilet tanks -
after all that, this is the last step."

Arlosoroff agrees that the first condition for saving water in the urban
sector is supervision. The experience of California and other states around
the world shows that it is possible: "The first step in saving water is
stopping the watering of gardens. One helicopter flight above Tel Aviv will
show exactly whose grass isn't yellow. There will also be those who will
take the bricks out of the toilet tanks. In such an event a law will be
passed making it a criminal offense. No brick - you pay a fine."

Still, Arlosoroff is not trusting the situation to enforcement only. He
believes that awareness of the emergency will create understanding and
willingness among inhabitants: "Experience teaches that there is a high
degree of cooperation on the part of the public.

--------------------------------------------
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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Russian SS-18 Satan Missile to Orbit U.S. Satellites
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:49:45 -0500

Russian SS-18 Satan Missile to Orbit U.S. Satellites

MOSCOW, Dec 13, 2000 -- (Military News Agency) The Russian RS-20 (SS-
18 Satan according to NATO classification) intercontinental ballistic missile
will be used for commercial launches of several western satellites, a source
in the Kosmotras international space company told the Military News
Agency.

The conversion model of the missile is used for creation of the new missile
and space system to be named Dnepr after tests and certification. The
Dnepr will also include a launching system of a silo type. A contract on
launching a series of small satellites in November-December 2001 has
already been signed, the source said. Currently few more contracts are being
prepared, he added.

The U.S. satellite to be orbited by the Dnepr next November weighs 60
kilograms.

During the start a technology of the so-called cluster launch of several
satellites will be tested. This is when small satellites are installed on the
main satellite platform. This technology is a know-how.

http://www.russiatoday.com/news.php3?id=229687

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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] (Fwd) PM BARAK CONGRATULATES US PRESIDENT-ELECT BUSH
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:51:16 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 09:38:28 -0500
From: imra@netvision.net.il
To: imra@imra.org.il
Subject: PM BARAK CONGRATULATES US PRESIDENT-ELECT BUSH

PM BARAK CONGRATULATES US PRESIDENT-ELECT BUSH

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
Jerusalem December 14, 2000

Prime Minister Ehud Barak today (Thursday), 14.12.2000, congratulated US
President-elect George W. Bush and wished him success.

Prime Minister Barak expressed his confidence that the courageous
friendship and special relations between the US and Israel would
continue and added that he is convinced that the new administration will
continues in its predecessors' path of assisting the peoples of the
Middle East in their quest for peace.

"Israeli-US relations have been characterized by similar values and
common interests for many years and I have no doubt that President-elect
Bush - whom I know and highly regard - will continue with us in further
building up and developing this relationship," Prime Minister Barak
said.

Prime Minister Barak also thanked Vice-President Al Gore for his years
of friendship and courageous support and wished him success in the
future.

--------------------------------------------
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======= To: bprlist@egroups.com
Subject: [bprlist] Daily World Affairs Report items (12/14/00)
From: "research-bpr" <research-bpr@philologos.org>
Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 10:02:59 -0500

HOLY BIOGRAPHY! ITALIAN COMIC CHRONICLES LIFE &
TIMES OF POPE

SHA-ZAM! ... or A-MEN!? Pope John Paul II has joined Captain Marvel
and Spider-Man in the legion of comic-book heroes. Hitting newsstands in
Italy this month, the new Vatican-approved serial depicts the real life and
true adventures of "Karol Wojtyla: Pope of the Third Millennium." "He
really wasn't a geek!" the series' narrator, Grandpa, assures children at t he
outset. The Little Paper, an illustrated magazine for Italian young people by
the publisher of the Roman Catholic Church periodical Famiglia Christiana,
tells the story in 4 parts =96 opening with the pontiff's 1978 election, sh owing
a massive, smiling John Paul looming over St. Peter's Square with white
smoke rising behind him.

"Our commitment is rather grandiose, dear children: telling the life of no one
less than the pope," The Little Paper tells its readers in an introduction for
the first installment. "It is an adventurous life, full of change, of inter est, of
tragedy, of missions, of travel," the foreword promises. The plot device is
Superman simple: Grandpa has a long, flashback-filled talk with his
grandchildren when they ask why he isn't pope himself =96 since he's gettin g
along in years. The serial's overseers describe sales in the first days as
strong and say that versions of the series may be published in languages
other than Italian. (The Dallas Morning News)

GERMANS IN MOVE TO BLOCK HOSTILE COMPANY
TAKEOVERS

German Euro-MPs are seeking to wreck the EU's proposed law on
company take-overs today in an effort to shield German companies from
Anglo-Saxon "predators". The vote in the European Parliament is seen as a
test case of the willingness of Germany and France to move beyond lip-
service on free market reform and take the tough decisions needed to break
down barriers and restore economic dynamism.

Frits Bolkestein, the EU's single market commissioner, called on Euro-MPs
to vote against a series of damaging amendments. He said they would have
a crippling effect on investment and cause Europe to fall even further
behind the United States in new technologies. "The European economy
would have to pay the cost of not being able to restructure. We would have
to throw away more than 10 years' work and start again."

German MEPs are under intense pressure from business groups to erect
barriers against Anglo-Saxon "predators" after Vodafone's acrimonious
take-over of the Dusseldorf industrial giant, Mannesman. They have
amended the take-over directive to allow company management to block
hostile take-over bids without having to consult shareholders.The changes
give employees an effective veto over takeovers. Mr Bolkestein, a Dutch
"Thatcherite" who has helped turn the European Commission into the
engine of free market reform, said the amendments "could render hostile
bids impossible".

Even without the latest changes, the take-over directive poses a major
threat to the City of London and the British economy. The original plan a
decade ago was to draft an EU-wide system based on the City's non-
statutory takeover code, but over the years it has turned into something
radically different. Unlike the British code, the EU code can be brought
before the courts - meaning that companies can sabotage hostile bids
through legal delaying tactics. The Association of British Insurers said th e
directive would undermine Europe's efforts to "raise its level of
competitiveness in global markets". (The London Telegraph)

LAWS ON INCITEMENT OF RACIAL HATRED ALSO APPLY TO
INTERNET

In a decision with potentially far-reaching legal and political consequence s,
the Federal Court of Justice ruled on Tuesday that German laws against
neo-Nazi propaganda can be applied abroad even when such material is
placed on the Internet by a non-German. It ruled that German laws against
denying the Holocaust and spreading right-wing extremist propaganda were
legally valid even when the material was put on to the Internet in another
country, and that German courts could file charges for incitement to racist
violence against Holocaust deniers who use the Internet even when it is not
certain that Internet users in Germany had accessed their Web sites.

The court thereby rejected an appeal by Frederick Toben, 56, an Australian
of German descent, who had used his computer in Australia to make his
own =93revisionist=94 articles available to Internet users. The texts descr ibed
the mass murder of 6mn Jews by Nazi Germany as an invention of =93Jewish
circles.=94 The articles were accessible to anyone in the world who visited
the Internet address of an institute run by the defendant.

Mr. Toben was convicted last year by a German court for denying the
killing of Jews by the Nazis both on the Internet and in pamphlets
distributed in Germany, and a district court in Mannheim sentenced him to
10 months in prison without probation. But he was acquitted of the more
serious charge of incitement to racial hatred on the Internet because, the
judges ruled, he had written and published the Internet articles in Austral ia,
thus making him exempt from German law.

The Mannheim judges said German law only applied to acts carried out in
Germany -- with the exception of certain crimes which did not include
incitement. The defendant had not committed the offences in Germany, nor
was there any evidence that anyone in Germany except the police had paid
any attention to his Internet publications. The mere fact that people in
Germany could have accessed the articles was not sufficient grounds for
the application of German law, the judges said.

The Federal Court of Justice, however, went a step further, saying German
laws against Nazi incitement also apply to material that foreigners =93put on a
foreign server that is accessible to Internet users in Germany.=94 The
presiding judge in the court's first criminal division said that, in his ju dgment,
the Internet articles had been intended =93to cause a breach of the peace i n
Germany.=94 He went on to say that it was irrelevant whether these articles
had really poisoned the social climate in Germany. Given Germany's history,
the legislators had rightly aimed at preventing the very possibility of suc h
incitement, he said. (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

The Federal Court of Justice wants to see foreign right-wing extremists
who propagate the =93Auschwitz Lie=94 on the Internet prosecuted for
incitement of racial hatred. In this way, the judges hope to close an
=93intolerable gap in sanctions for crime.=94 This gap exists because anyon e
can spread any message to computer users worldwide through the Internet.
The technology allows demagogic texts to be read on computer monitors in
Germany, even though the dissemination of such material is illegal in this
country. With German legislators intent on cracking down on such
practices, the court felt duty-bound in this matter -- not least because th e
Internet is also used to deliberately circumvent German law.

However, the question is whether the court's ruling may overstretch
enforceability. National criminal law will hardly be able to fill the gap
criticized by the judges. Germany is also not the only country that places
limits on freedom of speech. Other states, often undemocratically
constituted, have their own sanctions against free expression which often
fly in the face of human rights. What would happen, for instance, if China
or Iran were to follow Germany's example? (Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung - Opinion)

WHAT HAPPENED IN NICE? THE SUMMIT AFTERMATH

Even staff close to the heads of state and government in Nice were unable
to explain on Tuesday exactly what had been agreed at the longest
European Union summit ever. This would hardly be surprising, nor would it
really matter, if the legal details of the new agreement were all that was at
stake. After the 1997 conference in Amsterdam, 2 months passed before
the final wording of the agreement was available and the treaty signed. But
after Nice -- which, like Amsterdam, will lead to a new EU treaty -- centra l
issues such as the future threshold for decisions taken by a qualified
majority in the Council of Ministers and, say, the number of votes for
Romania remain unclear.

Will Bucharest really have a right to 15 votes instead of the 13 originally
planned in Monday's compromise draft? Or was the number of votes only
increased by one in the final phase, as reported by some participants? =93W e
just don't know,=94 said a close adviser to a northern European prime
minister. Unsettling words indeed, as they came from a member of the
small, select circle of top officials who had access to all the conference
documents and were also allowed to enter the conference room to advise
their ministers and provide them with new documents.

On Wednesday, however, European officials are to take an initial stab at
bringing order into the post-summit chaos, and the French EU presidency
has promised that a first draft of the new treaty will be available by the time
this meeting begins. This also means that a few more surprises are probably
in store for all. According to the Council of Ministers' secretariat in
Brussels, verbal agreements and handwritten amendments were made in
the early hours of Monday morning the significance of which nobody can
really grasp at present.

One high-ranking official said that the French EU presidency, which ends
on Jan. 1, will go down as =93the worst presidency in the history of the
European Union.=94 Actually, he added, a new Intergovernmental
Conference would be needed to clarify those issues that remained
unresolvedin Nice. The last such conference began in February, took up
more than 300 hours of talks, and ended with the Nice summit. =93We do not
even know the exact percentage of votes required for a qualified majority
once the treaty comes into force,=94 the adviser said.

The only information available was the statement that the threshold would
initially be lower than the current 71.3% and would rise to 73.4% after
enlargement, he said. It was unclear whether this would take place
gradually or in one step as soon as the first new members joined the Union.
Even if the difference between the 2 figures seems small, it is not merely
an academic issue. The 2% determine which constellation of member
states will have what influence over majority decisions taken by the EU
governments.

At least it is certain that the weighting of votes will remain unchanged un til
2005, but what will happen if the first new members join before then? After
all, EU leaders said citizens of the first new member states should
participate in the elections to the European Parliament in June 2004. Yet
the summit meeting did not even address this issue. As a result, the curren t
system will simply be extrapolated -- as was the case in the past, when new
members joined. The exact result would then have to be discussed in
negotiations for the individual accession treaties and the subsequent
amendments to the EU treaty. So stay tuned, for the Nice summit could be
continued sooner than anyone can say =93Intergovernmental Conference=94 in
27 languages.(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung)

EUROPE'S PRESS BLAMES "FIASCO" ON CHIRAC

Even before Europe=92s leaders had agreed a new treaty, newspapers across
the Continent were criticising the compromise they had reached and the
badly managed process leading up to it. There was little doubt as to who
was to blame for the fiasco: France, holder of the EU=92s rotating 6-month
presidency, and above all, President Chirac. Already struggling to save his
reputation at home, he was singled out as an example of France=92s
arrogance and bullying.

German newspapers made it painfully obvious yesterday that the traditional
alliance between Paris and Berlin, long seen as the driving force behind th e
EU, had been stretched to the limit. According to Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung, =93Nice could go down in EU history books as an example for bad
governing. Never before was a summit prepared so miserably, seldom
could the European spirit be felt so little . . . Chirac played more the Fr ench
than the European card.=94 Die Welt suggested the difficulty of the
negotiations at Nice showed that national interests had triumphed over the
broader principle of expanding the EU to include new countries.

In Paris there was also disappointment, although the blame was apportioned
more widely. =93After 4 days of the longest summit in the history of Europe an
construction, the result is mediocre,=94 lamented Le Monde under the
headline =93A Little Summit=94. =93The Union is progessing on integrationis t
dossiers such as the single currency, defence and commercial law without
giving itself the means to manage these moves. It is a contradition that
results from the different conceptions of Europe that its members have
today: a simple extended marketplace for some (Britain, Sweden but also a
number of candidates from eastern Europe), a potential power for the
others.=94

In Italy, the mood was especially bleak. La Repubblica suggested that the
summit had been hijacked by what amounted to a German plot to reassert
its dominance in Europe. =93One official said that (the reformed European
Parliament) would be just like the Bundestag.=94 M Chirac, the paper said,
had =93irritated everyone and . . . wasted time=94. (The London Times)

EUROPEAN PRESS REVIEW ON NICE

Germany's Frankfurter Rundschau does not mince its words over what it
considers to be the failure of the EU summit in Nice. "The European Union
has failed to undertake the structural reforms needed to make itself capabl e
of functioning after the eastward expansion." It says there was no
agreement on the issue of majority voting nor on a reform of the
commission. The paper says all this could have been overlooked if Nice had
been anything other than a crucial summit. But, it says, "at stake is a cho ice
between success and disaster for the historically, politically and
economically unprecedented undertaking of unifying the European
continent".

Berlin's Die Tageszeitung says that the Nice summit has achieved nothing
other than what it calls "cosmetic compromises" on all the disputed issues.
"The European heads of state placed the overall European project behind
their particular national interests." It says that if the current 15 EU
members took 4 days and a night to reach any kind of an agreement, who
knows how long a future union of 27 members will take. The paper
remembers what Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson said about the
Nice summit: "We shall say that the summit was a success, because we
always do that." After those words, says the paper, all those attending
might as well have just packed up and gone home.

Vienna's Der Standard is determined to look at the bright side of Nice: "Th e
fact that even a minimal compromise was achieved, is a success." While
the paper does admit that far too much remains unresolved, it lists what it
considers the 4 main achievements of Nice: Firstly, it says, an institution al
basis has been created for admitting those states which only 10 years ago
were satellites of the Soviet Union. Secondly, it will anchor states such a s
Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia in the western system
of democracy. Thirdly, it continues, the summit has bolstered the euro and,
finally, it has established procedures for dealing with violations of Europ ean
values.

Liberation in Paris runs the banner headline "The European inn" above a
picture of President Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin welcoming
delegates to the start of the summit last week. "After 4 days and a few
laborious nights in Nice, the 15, presided over by France, reached a
compromise enabling the enlargement of the Union," it says.

"The reduced ambitions of Europe" is how Le Figaro in Paris sees the result
of the summit. "The mammoth bargaining exercise ended up around the
smallest common denominator," adding "many observers saw only a 2nd-
rate agreement which was seized at the last minute. Nevertheless, a
solution has been found, even if it is minimalist, to the institutional
headaches" of the weighting of votes, the number of commissioners and
qualified-majority voting. On paper the new advances may look impressive,
but certain areas that were dealt with have no real importance and virtuall y
nobody gave up what was dearest to them".

Madrid's El Pais writes that the EU member states' fixation on arithmetic
took precedence over their "European ambition" at the Nice summit, with
Germany coming top of the class. "The winner has been Germany, which
could reactivate a new and difficult debate in France and in other countrie s
about the power of Berlin in this new European Union." The paper laments
that there was no significant progress in terms of integration. The paper
says that the EU which has come out of the Nice summit is one in which
"Germany, France, the UK and, at most, Italy, are firmly in command".

Staying in Madrid, El Mundo is optimistic about Spain's position in the EU
following the Nice summit. It leads with the headline: "Spain, the country
which out of the 15 gains the most weight in the new Europe led by
Germany". The paper writes that, ahead of the summit, the Spanish
government considered the country to "the biggest of the small players", bu t
now believes Spain to be the "smallest of the biggest". It says that the
distribution of power agreed at the summit leaves Spain slightly better off
than when it arrived in the French Riviera. But it also notes that Germany is
the biggest victor of the summit, describing it as the "new giant of the Ol d
Continent".

Commenting on what it calls the "murderous negotiations" and "the drama
of the finish" at the Nice EU summit, Warsaw's Gazeta Wyborcza says that
"Nice opens the European Union". Citing past and present leading
politicians, the paper rounds up Polish satisfaction with the results of th e
summit. Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek said that the Nice summit
"ended exceptionally successfully for Poland and it has opened up our road
to fast membership of the EU". The paper says Prime Minister Buzek
hailed the specification of the date 2004 as the very latest on which Polan d
will find itself inside the EU as "a great success of Polish policy and of the
Polish government". The paper also quotes former Prime Minister Jan
Krzysztof Bielecki as saying that "the important thing is that Nice should
arouse enthusiasm in Poland and the desire to enter the Union in the first
wave".

Hungary's Nepszabadsag writes that the EU in Nice has now entered a
new era by changing power relations within the West and recognizing the
need to integrate the East. According to the paper, it is a "great
achievement" that the balance of power will change only to a manageable
extent and in a firm collective security framework. The paper also
welcomes the EU's readiness to accept new members from 2003. "Further
reform debates will not delay and hinder the acceptance of other countries.
This is the most important thing." It adds that is now a realistic possibil ity
that Hungary will become an EU member between 2003 and 2005.
"Although only in pencil, Hungary is already on the member states' map," it
says. The paper concludes that it has also become clear that "there will be
no European superstate, not even a political confederation." (BBC)

* European commentators veered on Tuesday between strong words of
approval and equally strong skepticism towards the European summit in
Nice. The Independent described Nice as a chaotic compromise.
"Whatever the failings of the French EU presidency in general and of
President Jacques Chirac in particular, the result would have been much the
same whichever EU state had been handling proceedings." The pro-Blair
Guardian was positive, calling the summit "A good week's work," while the
conservative Times was skeptical: "This protracted yet hasty summit has
built up stores of trouble to come."

Commentators in Hungary, a frontrunner of EU accession, all welcomed
the fact that the EU confirmed its intention to expand towards the east.
"The expression of the intention is more than what we could have expect,"
said the independent Nepszava daily newspaper. But analysts also warned
that Nice was not clearly positive from the point of view of the EU itself.

The press in Poland, another membership frontrunner, hailed the results
euphorically. The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza quoted former prime
minister Jan Krzysztof Bielecki as calling it a historic summit "with the
greatest institutional changes since the 1957 Treaty of Rome (creating the
then European Economic Community.)."

These plaudits contrasted dramatically with the skepticism in some smaller
EU member-states. The Belgian economic daily L'Echo spoke of near-
fiasco, calling Nice "one of the most insignificant treaties the EU has eve r
concluded." The Greek pro-government To Vima newspaper commented:
"It is very doubtful whether the European peoples understand the decision-
taking mechanisms foreseen for enlargement." The right-wing Eleftheros
Typos spoke scathingly of an EU "directory" of big member-states.

A journalists' strike prevented most newspapers appearing in Italy, but the
left wing Il Manifesto said Europe had "taken a step backwards." The daily
Il Giornale commented: "The new Europe is waking up more German."It
said Nice had offered "more power to the big ones in exchange for a few
votes for the little ones." Spanish newspapers were agreed Germany had
emerged the winner in Nice, which had acknowledged its strength in terms
of population and economic power. (Agence France-Presse)

MICHAEL TURNER=0F
(mykelturner@airmail.net)

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