BPR Mailing List Digest: 02/23/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
February 23, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | February, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Palestinians, EU argue on Jerusalem
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 08:38:40 -0500

08:25 AM ET 02/22/00

Palestinians, EU Argue on Jerusalem

By DINA KRAFT
Associated Press Writer

           JERUSALEM (AP) _ In a diplomatic row over the status of
Jerusalem, the city's top Palestinian official said today he
canceled a meeting with the president of the European Union
Parliament after she refused to hold the session in the eastern
sector.
           The Palestinian official, Faisal Husseini, said he was concerned
the decision by the parliament president, Nicole Fontaine, signaled
a shift in EU policy.
           Fontaine was not immediately available for comment, but was
expected to meet with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat today in the
West Bank town of Ramallah.
           The Palestinians hope to establish a future capital in east
Jerusalem, while Israel says it will never relinquish control over
all of the city.
           European leaders visiting Israel usually pay a courtesy call to
Palestinian officials in east Jerusalem, though not necessarily at
the Orient House, the PLO headquarters in the city.
           Husseini said Fontaine had agreed to meet him at the French
Consulate in east Jerusalem today, but then reneged, suggesting
instead they meet at the city's other French Consulate. ``This
morning, she called and said, `Either you come to my hotel or the
French Consulate in west Jerusalem,''' Husseini said.
           He said Fontaine told him she would not meet with Palestinian
officials in east Jerusalem. ``It seems from her position that she
has adopted the Israeli position which is a blow to the European
role'' in the regions, Husseini said.
           However, efforts were under way to settle the dispute and
arrange a meeting between the two.
           The EU, like most of the international community, has never
recognized Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem following its
capture of the sector in the 1967 Mideast war.
           The status of Jerusalem is one of the most complex and
emotionally charged in Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty talks. The
negotiations are currently at an impasse over Israel's refusal to
budge on the terms of an overdue troop withdrawal from the West
Bank and commit to an additional partial troop pullback.
           Israel's Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami spoke of a
``crisis of confidence'' between the sides.
           ``It is because we are approaching the hour of decision,''
Ben-Ami told Israel radio. ``We both need to deal with the
situation in a speedy manner.''
           A final peace treaty is due Sept. 13.
           Meanwhile, opposition legislator Yehoshua Matza prepared a bill
that would prevent any territorial compromise over Jerusalem or the
areas surrounding the contested city.
           The proposed legislation would make it difficult for Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak to be flexible in negotiations over
Jerusalem. The bill has already won the backing of four parties in
Barak's ruling coalition, Israel radio said.
           In Jordan on Monday, King Abdullah warned that time was working
against the peace talks. Speaking to the Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish Organizations in Amman, he said delays in
the peace timetable give the impression that Israel is trying to
avoid implementing agreements.
           Israel and the Palestinians missed a Feb. 13 target date for
agreeing on a framework for a peace treaty.

http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564498708-a9c

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Gov't will ask Muslims to evacuate Nazareth site
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 08:45:35 -0500

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

Gov't will ask Muslims to evacuate Nazareth site

By Joseph Algazy Ha'aretz Correspondent

Israeli authorities are expected to make a request in the next few days that
Islamic Movement activists occupying an area near the burial site of Shihab
al-Din evacuate the site.

The area, part of which is expected to serve for the future construction of a
mosque, borders on Casa Nova Street, on which Pope John Paul II's
procession will pass on its way to the main entrance of the Basilica of the
Annunciation during the pontiff's March visit.

Last October, a special ministerial committee decided to allow the
construction of a mosque on part of the disputed site, but also demanded the
removal of the protest tent that Islamic movement activists had pitched at the
site for two years.

Since November, when the mosque's cornerstone was laid, the Islamic
activists have embarked on a series of changes to the area in an effort to
emphasize their hold on the site. In addition to replacing their protest tent
with one that opens and closes mechanically, they paved the area and laid
out prayer carpets where mass Friday prayers are held. The activists have
also decorated the area with Islamic Movement flags, posters and banners
and have installed powerful loudspeakers.

In December, Public Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami demanded that the
Islamic Movement live up to its obligations and take down the tent. Ben-Ami
warned that if the tent was not removed, the committee might cancel its
decision allowing the construction of a mosque on the site.

As the pope's visit draws closer, the government is becoming determined to
remove all signs of a Muslim takeover at the contested site. It is expected
that the Islamic Movement will be asked to withdraw on its own accord or be
forced out.

According to attorney Aziz Shehada, a representative of the United Faction,
a group of local Muslim councils that includes the Islamic Movement, there
"are no plans to change the current situation. The people who customarily
come to pray at the site will join the masses cheering the pope when he
arrives in the city. The papal visit to Nazareth is a holiday for all residents,
Muslims and Christians. We should not forget that the United Faction is a
full partner of the municipal authorities that will host the pope. Until a
mosque is built, we shall continue praying at the site," Shahade said.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=02/23/00&
id=70160

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - US says PA not to blame for stalled peace
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 08:48:25 -0500

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

U.S. says PA not to blame for stalled peace

By Aluf Benn
Ha'aretz Diplomatic Correspondent

The United States does not accept the Israeli position that puts
responsibility for the stalemate in the peace process on the Palestinians. As
the Americans see it, Israel must show the Palestinians that it is ready to be
flexible and make compromises.

U.S. peace envoy Dennis Ross yesterday continued his current round of
talks in an effort to renew the negotiations on a framework agreement for the
permanent settlement.

In a meeting yesterday with Foreign Minister David Levy, Ross said that the
Palestinians think that Israel is not actually ready for a compromise.

He said the Palestinians perceive themselves as the weak side, with fewer
cards to play, and that they are convinced that Israel is now interested in
pushing ahead on the Syrian track.

Negotiations cannot be held in a "crisis atmosphere," Ross said.

Levy replied that the Palestinians "do not have the readiness, the ability or
the courage to make decisions that signify a compromise. They have not
internalized the necessity of compromising."

According to Levy, the Palestinians deliberately fomented a crisis in the
talks, using the pretext of refusing to accept the Israeli map of the next IDF
withdrawal in the West Bank.

"The problem is not one of packing and not one of pulling back. It goes far
deeper," Levy said. The Palestinians, he said, "have a habit, which has by
now become a tradition, of generating a crisis whenever they have to make a
decision - because if everything seems to go well, they will lose their identity
as weak and wretched."

Despite this, Levy said, the atmosphere between the sides was good. "The
last meeting with Yasser Arafat at the Erez checkpoint went well," he said.
"He exchanged gifts with the prime minister. But as soon as the Palestinians
came, they created a crisis."

Ross met last night with Arafat and is scheduled to meet today with
President Ezer Weizman.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=02/23/00&
id=70161

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - EU compels top official to meet Husseini in East J'lem
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 08:51:43 -0500

Wednesday, February 23, 2000

EU compels top official to meet Husseini in East J'lem

By Amira Hass and Aluf Benn

Massive pressure from senior political levels in Europe was required
yesterday to bring about a meeting between European Parliament President
Nicole Fontaine, Palestinian Authority Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Faisal
Husseini, and Hanan Ashrawi, a leading spokeswoman for the Palestinians.

The meeting was originally set for 10 A.M. at the French consulate in East
Jerusalem. Husseini waited a full hour for Fontaine, but she did not appear
and no one from the European Union contacted him to explain the reason.

The Palestinians protested to the EU's representation in the city. Fontaine
subsequently received an explicit order to meet with the Palestinian
representatives.

The meeting was finally held in a frosty atmosphere at the Church of St.
Anne in the Old City.

Fontaine refused to speak to reporters after the meeting, which was also
attended by the EU's special representative in the Middle East, Miguel
Moratinos.

Sources in Jerusalem, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Ha'aretz
that Foreign Minister David Levy exerted heavy pressure on Fontaine - he
"terrorized her," the sources said - to make her drop the idea of holding an
official meeting with PA officials in Jerusalem, which is not part of the PA's
territory.

Israeli officials in Jerusalem reacted angrily to the meeting with Husseini,
particularly after Fontaine consulted with Levy and was informed of the Israeli
position. Israeli officials said the venue was chosen by Moratinos, who also
pushed for the meeting to be held.

Sources at Orient House in East Jerusalem, where Husseini has his office,
said they were appalled by Fontaine's behavior and by the approach
demonstrated by the Foreign Ministry. Their impression was that Fontaine
had come to the region unprepared.

Husseini told Fontaine that the Palestinians had not encountered an attitude
by any European official like that of Fontaine since 1967. The Palestinians,
he said, do not accept the Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem.

As for Orient House, he told Fontaine that it belonged to his family and
symbolized a Palestinian presence of at least 800 years in the city.

Ashrawi was less polite than Husseini and told Fontaine that she was an
unwanted guest, but that the Palestinians had decided to hold the meeting
because of their traditionally good relations with Europe.

Earlier in the day, Fontaine met in Ramallah with PA Chairman Yasser
Arafat.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=14&datee=02/23/00&
id=70134

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - NewsScan items (2/23/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 13:12:16 -0500

SHANGHAI POST OFFICE DOES E-MAIL VIA SNAIL-MAIL The Internet is
beginning to make inroads in China, but it's still slow-going -- fewer than 10
million people (less than 1% of the population) are currently online. For those
who want to send e-mail but aren't yet online, the post office in Shanghai will
deliver. Customers can take a written message to the post office, which will
scan it and e-mail it anywhere in the world. Wired customers who want to
send e-mail to their nonwired friends and family can send the message to the
post office, which will print it out, put it in an envelope and deliver it via
regular express mail. The post office charges $2 a message, and reports that
business is slow -- about 15 customers a day. "This is a breakthrough for us,
a way to change our conservative mentality," says postal worker Hu Xiaojing.
(Wall Street Journal 23 Feb 2000)
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB95127533187569057.htm

WHERE ARE YOU WHEN YOU'RE ON THE NET? In a New York trial that's
testing whether this country's. criminal laws apply to Web sites beyond U.S.
borders, 21 defendants are charged with using the Internet to violate a law
that provides for sentences of up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines
for placing or taking bets over phone lines. The gambling site (based in
Antigua, where Internet gambling is legal) accepted bets placed through the
Web by U.S. citizens. One of the defendants insists: "As far as we're
concerned, all bets are placed here on our server here in Antigua, which is a
sovereign state and we're fully licensed"; however, Washington lawyer Jim
Halpert comments: "It may not make a difference whether the server was
located in Antigua, because the federal anti-gambling law in question applies
broadly. Typically, the fact that a site is doing business with consumers in a
jurisdiction is sufficient to establish jurisdiction in the state where the
consumer is located." (USA Today 22 Feb 2000)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/cth421.htm

TOWN IN MICHIGAN VOTES AGAINST INTERNET FILTERS The city of
Holland, a conservative 30,000-population town in the western part of
Michigan, has defeated (with about a 55% margin) a proposal that would
require the local public library to install filtering software on library computers
so that children would be unable to access pornographic, violent, and hate
sites on the Web. Apparently Holland is the first city to put this issue on the
ballot, though it's been debated in many other places. One supporter of the
defeated proposal said: "I just think that children really don't know what's for
their own good. It may not be a really big problem at the library right now or
in the future, but why take a chance?" An opponent of software filtering
explained its defeat by saying: "I think free speech brought out a number of
voters." (AP/San Jose Mercury News 23 Feb 2000)
http://www.sjmercury.com/svtech/news/breaking/ap/docs/239868l.htm

via: "NewsScan" <newsscan@newsscan.com>

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (2/23/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 13:12:16 -0500

ARAFAT AND PALESTINIAN "DISCONTENT"

"Ehud Barak has disappointed me, even though he was elected to the
position of Prime Minister because of me." So said Yasser Arafat in an
interview with an Italian newspaper earlier this week. Arafat added that, in
his opinion, Barak is "even worse than Netanyahu." The publication of
Arafat's comments comes against the backdrop of failed attempts by U.S.
envoy Dennis Ross, who is presently visiting Israel, to re-start the Israel-PLO
talks.

Speaking with Arutz-7 today, Yediot Acharonot journalist Roni Shaked
stated that the government possesses the following intelligence information
regarding Arafat's negotiating strategy: "Arafat knows that if he tries to
pressure Israel to make further concessions by encouraging bus bombings
and the like, this would work against him: Israeli public opinion would push to
have Israel-PA talks brought to a halt," said Shaked. "In his interview with the
Italian newspaper, Arafat gave expression to reported frustrations on the
Palestinian street, a sense that nothing has really changed since Barak took
power. He's even being called 'Barakiyahu' - to suggest his policies are
identical with those of Netanyahu." Shaked said that Israeli security sources
have learned that Arafat is planning - after the Pope's March visit - to "heat
up" the Palestinian street. His goal will be to create the impression that a
popular uprising is on the verge of erupting should Israel not capitulate to
Palestinian territorial demands. Shaked said sources are expecting rioting in
Hevron, the Yosh junction outside of Ramallah and Beit El, Joseph's Tomb in
Shechem, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem - "and other sensitive areas."

FRENCH PM: JERUSALEM IS NOT ISRAEL'S CAPITAL

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and his entourage arrived for an official
visit to Israel today. In the documents relating to his visit, Jerusalem is
referred to as the "capital of the Palestinian Authority," whereas Tel Aviv is
referred to as the capital of Israel. A French announcement that Jospin
would begin his visit in Tel Aviv earned the consternation of the Israeli Foreign
Ministry, which quickly dispatched a letter expressing its dismay to the
French government.

SYRIA LAUDS GARAUDY

Syria's government-sponsored Tishrin newspaper continued its campaign of
Holocaust-denial today: The paper approvingly records the words of French
writer and Holocaust-denier Roger Garaudy during his recent lecture at the
Cairo Book Fair. "As it is his habit, world Moslem thinker Roger Garaudy did
not ...disappoint his readers," writes the paper. "Garaudy spoke about the
most current political issues...In response to a question about the Zionist
propaganda relating to the Nazi 'holocaust,' Garaudy said mockingly: 'The
Jews claim that Hitler burned six million Jews during the Second World War,
but all statistics and historical references show that the Jews in all of Europe
were no more than three million."

Garaudy was also hailed as a hero by the United Arab Emirates' Al-Khaleej
newspaper in Jan. 1998 in the midst of his Paris trial for Holocaust denial. At
the time, a "Roger Garaudy Support Committee" was set up in Qatar to
collect donations to pay his legal costs. Garaudy enjoyed solid support in
Palestinian Authority circles, too. PA Communications Minister Imad al-
Falouji and PA General-Secretary Ahmed Abdel-Rahman led a public rally in
his support in Gaza on January 19, 1998. At the time, Falouji said: "We
condemn the trial of the Muslim writer Roger Garaudy, and we ask all
believers in human rights and freedom of expression to back him." Abdel-
Rahman said that films and books about the Holocaust "have told what
happened to the Jews in an unbelievable and exaggerated manner, so why
not give Garaudy the right to state his point over the issue?"

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Wednesday, February 23, 2000 / Adar Aleph 17, 5760

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Extremist Jews threaten 'evil' pope's Mideast tour
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2000 13:25:18 -0500

Extremist Jews threaten 'evil' pope's Mideast tour

Extremist Jews in Israel have threatened to disrupt the historic visit to the
Holy Land by Pope John Paul II.

February 23, 2000, 03:39 PM

JERUSALEM (AFP) - Extremist Jews in Israel have threatened to disrupt
next month`s historic visit to the Holy Land by Pope John Paul II, whom they
vilify as "the evil one."

Banned racist group Kach said Wednesday it has distributed thousands of
posters in religious areas in Jerusalem and other parts of the country and is
planning to stage demonstrations during the papal tour.

"We will not allow the visit of the evil one to pass quietly," it warns on the
large red-and-white posters.

The extremist movement, founded in 1973, calls for the expulsion of
Palestinians from all of the biblical land they regard as Eretz Israel and was
banned in 1994 after one of its members massacred 29 Palestinian
worshippers in the West Bank town of Hebron.

"We will never forget that in the name of Christ and the pope, Jews were
massacred during the Holocaust and the Inquisition," a Kach leader Noam
Federman told AFP.

During his trip to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories from March 20
to 26, the pope will visit some of Christianity's holiest shrines, as well as the
Western Wall in Jerusalem, the most sacred site in Judaism, and the al-
Aqsa mosque, which is revered by Muslims.

Relations between the Vatican and Israel were only established in 1994 after
centuries of enmity and suspicion.

But the visit has been marred by Israeli anger over a deal signed last week
between the Palestinians and the Vatican that questions Israel's claim that
all of Jerusalem is its capital.

http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,ArabiaLife-14028,00.html

See http://philologos.org/bpr for additional info.

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