To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 08:40:01 -0500

*** Pius' legacy mars papal-Israel visit

JERUSALEM (AP) - Considered a hero by the Roman Catholic church,
excoriated as a villain by many Jews, Pope Pius XII has left a legacy
that is haunting next month's papal pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The
Vatican's top diplomat in the Holy Land says the wartime pontiff kept
silent about the Nazi genocide precisely because he wanted to save
Jewish lives, a defense ridiculed Sunday by Holocaust historians and
used as ammunition by ultra-nationalists in Israel calling for a
boycott of Pope John Paul II's visit. Archbishop Pietro Sambi's
nationally broadcast comments and the bitter reaction they have drawn
could overshadow hopes for reconciliation during the landmark
pilgrimage. Yisrael Gutman, chief historian at Israel's Yad Vashem
Holocaust memorial, said Pius' failure to condemn the Nazis was
reprehensible. "Silence could of course not help," Gutman said. "It
could only be interpreted as a lack of interest or as a lack of will
to interfere in the Nazi policy ... and murder." See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564614446-86f

*** Barak hints at Golan withdrawal

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak suggested Sunday
that he would agree to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights - the
clearest indication yet of his willingness to meet a key Syrian
demand for peace. Barak told his Cabinet that four Israeli prime
ministers effectively agreed to withdraw from the Golan if certain
conditions were fulfilled. The current Israeli government will not
ignore the negotiations that have taken place directly and through
mediators since 1991, Barak told the Cabinet. Israeli officials had
in the past denied such commitments were made, saying previous offers
for a withdrawal were hypothetical. Barak's admission appeared
designed to boost his credibility ahead of concessions to Syria by
assuring Israelis that other leaders had also agreed to return the
Golan. Any withdrawal must be approved by a national referendum, and
polls show Israelis divided over the issue. Former Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir and an aide to former Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu, both from the hawkish Likud party, denied Sunday they had
ever agreed to a full Israeli withdrawal. Netanyahu has refuted
documents published in Israeli newspapers outlining his alleged
commitment, in secret negotiations, to return the entire plateau. The
most recent attempt at Israeli-Syrian peace talks broke off last
month in deadlock over the heights. ###

*** EU debates new defense policy

SINTRA, Portugal (AP) - Eager to put years of "wind-baggery" behind
them, America's European allies are setting out to prove they can act
militarily without first needing a cue from Washington. The European
Union stages its first meeting Monday of defense ministers. Over the
year, they will craft a security policy to allow Western Europe to
defuse crises beyond its borders with America's blessing but not
always its troops. Shaping a credible defense policy means the EU
nations must improve decision-making procedures, boost defense
spending and agree to more co-production of arms, and jointly put
troops in the field. The impetus for a greater security role has been
a decade of foot-dragging in successive Balkan crises when the
Europeans left it to Washington to take the lead in bringing peace
and stability to the region. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564612387-3ed

*** China criticizes U.S. human rights

BEIJING (AP) - China scoffed Sunday at the U.S. human rights record,
saying America is plagued by racism and other problems and should not
pass judgment on other nations. The accusations, contained in a
government report, "U.S. Human Rights Record in 1999," was China's
response to the U.S. State Department's annual human rights report,
which criticized Beijing. "The U.S. does not have a good human rights
record of its own but likes to play the role of the 'world's human
rights judge'," the Information Office of China's State Council said
in its 10,000-word paper. "The American government needs to keep an
eye on its own human rights problems, mind its own business and stop
interfering in the internal affairs of other countries by utilizing
the human rights question," it said. The U.S. State Department
report, issued Friday, said Beijing's rights situation deteriorated
markedly last year. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564612555-bad

*** Israel shows signs of flexibility

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak showed signs of
flexibility Sunday in part of a dispute that has deadlocked
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks and kept a U.S. mediator shuttling
back and forth between the two sides. The Palestinians, however, said
that Israel's offers were still unsatisfactory and that U.S. envoy
Dennis Ross had so far failed to bridge the gaps. Barak dropped his
insistence that an additional West Bank troop pullback be folded into
a final peace treaty, his office said. Barak told his Cabinet Sunday
he was willing to set a date for the pullback before hammering out
the treaty, slated for September. Barak was optimistic, telling
ministers the government needs to ask the Israeli people if they are
willing to make painful territorial concessions "so as not to control
another people and not to be Belfast or Bosnia." He met with Ross
late Sunday night to discuss bridging proposals to end a dispute over
the location of an overdue troop withdrawal from 6.1% of the West
Bank, an Israeli official said. Ross has been going back and forth
between the two sides since arriving last week. He was to meet
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Monday morning to receive answers to
Israeli proposals he had relayed, U.S. embassy spokesman Larry
Schwartz said. ###

*** Albright eyed as Czech president

WASHINGTON (AP) - Madeleine Albright, America's Czech-born secretary
of state, returns next week to her homeland, where there is talk she
might seek the presidency of the East European nation after her tour
in Washington ends. Some Czechs are speaking of her as a possible
successor to President Vaclav Havel, who must retire in 2002. Havel,
a playwright-turned-politician helped lead the "Velvet Revolution"
that in 1989 persuaded communist rulers to resign. He has openly
talked about the possibility of Albright succeeding him. Michael
Zantovsky, former Czech ambassador to Washington, said Sunday in
Prague that he met last week with Havel and discussed, among other
things, the possibility that Albright might run to succeed Havel. "I
never made it a secret that I think that Madeleine Albright could,
one day in the future, play a big role in Czech politics," Zantovsky
said. He stressed the idea is not new and that it would not dominate
Albright's agenda in the Czech Republic next week. In Prague, Havel's
chief policy adviser, Pavel Fischer, said, "It is not impossible that
they will talk about this. In its new issue, Time Magazine quoted
unidentified sources as saying she "has begun to consider the
possibility of running." However, Albright spokesman James P. Rubin
dismissed the notion. Albright's March 5-8 visit coincides with the
commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the birth of national hero
Tomas Masaryk, who served as the first president of the Czechoslovak
Republic after the collapse of Austria-Hungary in 1918. Albright will
receive a gold medal from Masaryk University in Brno and will go to
Masaryk's birthplace at Hodonin. She will lay a wreath at his tomb in
Lany, west of Prague, and go to the capital to unveil a Masaryk
statue. Albright's father was a Czech diplomat who took his family to
London as Germany took over their homeland at the start of World War
II. In an unscientific poll, published by Lidove Noviny, the leading
daily newspaper in Prague, Albright was listed among the greatest
living Czechs. Havel was first. ###

*** Israel to release Eichmann memoirs

JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel announced Sunday it will release the memoirs
of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann and offer them in defense of an
American professor facing a libel suit for accusing a British writer
of denying the Holocaust. Israel will give the public access to the
1,300-page, handwritten papers, penned in an Israeli prison and kept
under wraps for nearly 40 years, the Justice Ministry said. In the
memoirs, the overseer of the Nazi death machine reportedly says the
mass killing of Jews during the Holocaust was the worst crime in
human history. Israel had agreed in August to publish the diary after
one of Eichmann's sons, Dieter, threatened legal action to claim the
book as family property. Only a few scholars have seen it. Israeli
officials had originally planned to compile the papers and let a
German research institution prepare them for scholarly publication.
The publication of the uncensored, untranslated memoirs has been a
key demand of Holocaust historians. According to the decision Sunday
by Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein, the public will be
allowed to obtain typed versions of the memoirs and view the
original, handwritten notes in the state archive, subject to
conditions set by archive officials. The diary was expected to be
released in the coming days. A copy will also be given to American
author Deborah Lipstadt "in her defense of a suit by a Holocaust
denier," read the statement, released after a meeting of top judges,
legal officials and historians at Rubinstein's office. British writer
David Irving is suing Lipstadt for libel in Britain for writing in a
1994 book that he denied the Holocaust and distorted the truth of
what happened in World War II. Irving says he does not deny that Jews
were killed by the Nazis, but challenges the number and manner of
Jewish concentration camp deaths. ###

*** Some concern for Feb. 29 PC trouble

NEW YORK (AP) - Leap year's extra day arrives Tuesday carrying the
possibility of Y2K-like glitches. But given the calm that greeted the
new millennium, few computer consultants are worried this time.
There's no government call to stock up on food or water. Any problems
will likely affect billing and office systems rather than power
supplies or airplanes. Still, Y2K planners will be watching, if for
no other reason than to celebrate. Computers long have had trouble
registering Feb. 29 - treating it as March 1, or March 1 as Feb. 30.
- and there are greater risks of programming errors this year because
2000 is an exception to an exception. An extra day is added every
four years, except for years that end in "00" unless divisible by
400. So 2000 is a leap year, but 1900 is not. The potential for
confusion is not a surprise. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564612439-e79 ***
Also: Singapore to revive Y2K help center, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564611773-1ef ***
Examples of some Y2K glitches, see
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2564612450-e6e

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - UAE court orders woman stoned for adultery
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 09:35:59 -0500

------- Forwarded message follows -------

2/28/2000 06:42:00 ET

UAE court orders woman stoned for adultery

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Indonesian woman convicted of adultery in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been sentenced to death by stoning
under Islamic sharia law.

An official at the Indonesian embassy told Reuters the embassy would
hire a lawyer to appeal Sunday's sentence by Fujairah Sharia Criminal
Court against Karteen Karikender, 29.

"We are very sad to know that one of our citizens will be stoned for
adultery," the official said.

The embassy was still trying to obtain more information on the case.
It was not immediately clear if the Indonesian woman was married nor
how long she has been in custody.

The Gulf News daily said on Monday that Karikender was found guilty of
having an "adulterous affair" with an Indian man. It said the man, who
fled the country, had been acquitted. It did not say if he was
married.

The Fujairah emirate court had recently sentenced a Cypriot man,
convicted of battering his wife to death with a rock, to four years in
jail and 70 lashes, the newspaper reported.

Executions in the UAE, which applies Islamic sharia law, are usually
carried out by firing squad. The stoning sentence was a rare one in
the Gulf Arab state.

------- End of forwarded message -------

via: hblondel@tampabay.rr.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Abraham's Ur
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:22:00 -0500

In the latest (Jan/Feb 2000) Biblical Archaeology Review magazine there is
an article entitled "Abraham's Ur: Is the Pope Going to the Wrong Place?"
The article describes the pros and cons for identifying the city of Ur either as
the modern designation in southern Iraq on the west bank of the Euphrates
or at one of a few sites in southern Turkey around the city of Haran.

"...before the middle of the 19th century, everyone located Ur in the north,
based on the only evidence then available, the Biblical text." A great cache
of finds in southern Iraq changed the scholars' opinions and they declared
the Iraqi site as Abraham's Ur. This finding is being disputed for the following
reasons:

1. "Haran is where Abram, as he was then called, went with his father,
Terah, after they left Ur (Gen 11:31). There is no dispute regarding the
location of Haran, where Terah died (Gen 11:28-32). The ancient name has
stuck to the site. It is about 10 miles north of the Syrian border in Turkey."
If the Iraqi site is the correct one, then why did Abraham travel 1,000 miles to
the north and then travel south to Canaan instead of heading west at any
point earlier in his travels? Those who like the southern Ur site maintain that
he followed the water instead of crossing the dry desert and they also state
that journeys of that length were not uncommon.

  [Gen 11:31
  And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and
  Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with
  them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they
  came unto Haran, and dwelt there.]

2. "The southern Ur lies on the west bank of the Euphrates. Here's why that
matters: When Abraham was an old man, he sent his servant back to 'the
land of my birth'--Ur--to find a wife for his son Isaac (Gen 24:4). Abraham's
obedient servant went back to the land of Abraham's birth and there found
Rebekah, Laban's sister...A generation later, Isaac's son Jacob went back to
work for Laban, who lived in or near Haran. After working for Laban for 20
years, Jacob fled back to Canaan. To do so, however, he had to cross the
Euphrates (Gen 31:21)." The southern Ur is on the wrong side of the
Euphrates. Many scholars state that the Euphrates is notorious for changing
its course, especially its southern part, so this doesn't prove anything.

3. "Laban lived in Paddan-Aram, in the Haran region (Gen 28:2,5,6,7).
Scholars equate this with Aram-Naharaim, Abraham's ancestral home (Gen
24:10). Both terms refer, although somewhat vaguely, to areas in upper
(northern) Mesopotamia, as indicated in other Biblical references."

As you can see there are reasons for and against each site and I was
wondering what tipped the scales for these scholars; what made them
choose the southern over the northern area? (The general concensus is that
the southern Ur is so well established that it is up to others to put forth a
strong enough case to change everyone's mind.) It seems that these
archeaologists make their determinations based solely on the physical
evidence and I was wondering if maybe they were leaving too much of the
Bible out of this. For example: I've always wondered why the book of
Revelation concentrated on churches in Turkey and now we have the
northern Ur location in the same nation. Mount Ararat where Noah's Ark is
purported to have landed is not too far from here either and some people
place the Garden of Eden somewhere in the same vicinity. There seem to be
a lot of watershed moments in the Bible taking place in the area of Turkey.
Something to think about anyway....

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Military forms elite unit to fight cyberspace attackers
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:27:29 -0500

Monday February 28, 2000

Military forms elite unit to fight cyberspace attackers
Experts plot war on Web hackers
David Pugliese
The Ottawa Citizen

The Department of National Defence has declared war on Internet hackers by
creating a new unit to help hunt down cyberspace intruders.

A team of scientists and computer specialists has been formed at Defence
Research Establishment Ottawa to create new protective measures against
hackers. To do the job, they will imitate the cyberspace intruders, creating
new computer viruses to study and then designing defences against them.

At the same time they will be developing new ways to track down hackers,
said Prakash Bhartia, director general of Defence Research Establishment
Ottawa. "We are trying to do more of the forward looking R&D," said Mr.
Bhartia. "This is the type of virus you may meet five years down the road.
This is what the trend is in virus development, intrusion systems, and the
vulnerability of new computers."

Mr. Bhartia said 14 researchers and computer scientists were hired last year
for the new team based at the agency's Carling Avenue site.

By July he hopes to have a 20-member group in place. The researchers have
already simulated in their laboratories a recent hack attack, which disabled
Yahoo.com, eBay and other U.S.-based sites, in order to better understand
how it was created.

Reports link a Canadian who goes by the Internet name "mafiaboy" to the
attacks, and the FBI believes one or more Canadian servers was used to
launch the attack.

Although the Defence Research Establishment computer team's main
function is to protect Canadian Forces information systems, it will also likely
provide the research and development role for a planned national co-
ordination centre to fight off hacker attacks on key Canadian computer
systems. Planning for that centre, which will involve other government
departments, is in initial stages and still several years away from becoming
reality, said John Leggat, the Department of National Defence's chief of
research and development.

"We want to raise awareness from the point of view of understanding these
threats and creating a broader approach in government to dealing with them,"
explained Mr. Leggat.

Mr. Legatt said the centre would deal with other threats to Canada such as
chemical or biological attacks.

He said the main problem with hack attacks is that viruses are fairly simple
to design and can cause a lot of damage to a computer network. Federal
government computers, including those of the RCMP, Industry Canada,
Human Resources and the spy agency, Communications Security
Establishment, have all been attacked.

Recently released statistics for 1999 show the sites of at least nine
federal agencies, as well as several provincial government institutions,
were penetrated and altered by hackers. In all, 44 hack attacks were
documented. Those numbers are believed to be only a small sample of the
actual number of security breaches.

"We are pretty vulnerable," acknowledges Mr. Bhartia. "Luckily these
(attacks) are not too serious, because most of it involved regular
information. But people could conceivably hack into payroll. Or send
themselves out a (government) cheque. Those are the things that really worry
us."

The Defence Department already has a computer response team to deal with
attacks on its systems but it cannot track who launched the attack, said Mr.
Bhartia. The Defence Research Establishment Ottawa unit would be helping
that unit by doing the advanced research.

But Mr. Bhartia said the research establishment's computer specialists have
their work cut out for them. "It's almost impossible to catch hackers if they
do the right thing," he said. "In the end when you have 10,000 computers,
100,000 computers or a million attacked it's very difficult to say where
exactly the final epicentre is."

Mr. Bhartia said as the military becomes more reliant on computers, it has
become keenly aware that attacks could hurt the flow of information to and
from commanders in the field.

Although the new team does research into creating viruses, the Canadian
Forces says it would not use those to cripple the computer networks of other
counties. "We are not authorized to use these in offensive measures," said
Mr. Bhartia.

But he said it is necessary to create the viruses to design defences against
them. "You have to know what the enemy can throw at you to be able to
guard against it," Mr. Bhartia explained.

From The Ottawa Citizen,
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/national/000228/3669041.html

via: cyberwar@onelist.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Islamic teachings to be allowed in German schools
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 12:39:24 -0500

Islamic teachings to be allowed In German schools

Islam is to be offered as an option in religious education in Berlin schools.

February 28, 2000, 03:05 PM

BERLIN (IPS) - This follows a landmark Federal court decision last week that
the Islamic Federation, an umbrella organisation of 25 Turkish Muslim groups
which has links to the fundamentalist Turkish Welfare Party, be allowed to
teach the faith in the state-run sector.

The court decision brings to a close a legal battle that has raged since the
early 1980s to allow Islam to be offered alongside Protestant, Catholic and
'secular' studies.

Over 32,000 or 7,5 percent of Berlin pupils are of Turkish Muslim extraction
and the city is also home to a sizeable Muslim population from the former
Yugoslavia.

This is the first time, in Germany, that an Islamic organisation has been
given equal recognition with the Protestant and Catholic Churches to teach
religion in schools.

In neighbouring Belgium and Austria, Islamic organisations are already
recognised by the state as able to provide religious instruction in schools.

However, concern has been expressed over the decision to allow the
Federation, to draw up the Islamic curriculum and provide the teachers.

But the Federal court also ruled that the fact that the Federation is under
investigation by the German internal secret service, the Office for the
Protection of the Constitution (OPC) and suspected of being involved in
extremist activities, did not play a role in the decision.

Recent reports by the OPC note that not all the Federation members
consciously follow extremist Islamic goals. The OPC recently began
surveillance of the group again after an interval of several years.

However while welcoming the decision to put Islam on par with Christian
religion in schools, many Turks are unhappy.

Turkish newspapers published in Germany have led a campaign, since the
ruling was announced on Feb 24, to keep Turkish muslims "away from the
Federation's clutches".

Most active among them is the conservative Turkish newspaper Hurriyet
which has a large circulation in Germany and which prints its European
edition out of Berlin.

"The court has decided, but the confrontation has become worse," the
European Edition of Hurriyet said in an editorial. It published the news of the
decision under the headline "Judgement Shock".

Letters to various Turkish newspapers here range from anger to total
incomprehension at the German decision.

"I really can't understand the Germans," ran a letter published in Hurriyet this
weekend. "Everything that thinking Turks say is misunderstood. If we soon
see an invasion of black veils, German- Turkish children brought up as
militants under the guise of religious teaching, and modern women harrassed
on (German) streets then you (Germany) is to blame, and not us (Turks)."

The Berlin state education authority had hitherto fought against the
Federation being allowed to teach in schools, maintaining that it was a
political rather than a religious body.

Some German politicians believe that offering Islam in schools will help
integrate Berlin's over 26,000 Turkish children. They note that as long as
schools are not seen to be sympathetic to Turkish cultural needs, the
Mosque-based organisations will be the only refuge for Turkish children.

The Mosque-based groups have been particularly militant in pushing for
special dispensations for Muslim children in state schools including the
exemption of girls from sex education, swimming and sports.

The Turkish consulate in Berlin provides religious instruction to upto 1,500
children. According to the Berlin authorities. Some five per cent of Turkish
children go to Quranic schools, usually after School.

Paradoxically the Churches have supported the introduction of Islamic
teaching. "Islamic religious education should not be relegated to the back
streets," noted Reinhard Stawinski, spokesperson for the Protestant church.

The move by the court could now pave the way for compulsory religious
instruction in Berlin schools, where the state would have a say in the
religious curriculum.

Compulsory religious instruction had been rejected in Berlin in part because
it would have meant providing an alternative to the large Turkish minority that
would be acceptable to them.

Allowing the teaching of Islam without compulsory religious instruction would
allow the state to properly vet what is being taught.

Religious instruction is compulsory in German Schools except in the states
of Berlin, Brandenburg and Bremen, where the Churches provide their own
teachers and dictate the content of the voluntary religious lessons without
interference from the state.

In these states Turkish children either take the secular option known as
'ethics' if it is offered or sit in the Protestant and Catholic classes without
actually taking part.

The Berlin state education authority provides subsidies of around 50 million
US Dollars a year to the churches and the Humanist Association which
teaches secular studies.

The Islamic Federation will now qualify for similar subsidies and says it has
upto 40 teachers of Islam. A number of schools in the Berlin district of
Kreuzberg where Turks are a majority have been identified for a pilot project
although no date has been fixed for teaching to begin.

The Islamic Federation believes it will have to set up a special training centre
for religious schools and admits it may only be able to provide instruction in
a few Berlin schools because of a lack of German-speaking religious
teachers.

In devoutly Catholic Bavaria the Turkish government is responsible for the
content of Islamic teaching and provides religious teachers, although most
Turks opt for 'ethics' rather than religion. Elsewhere in Germany, Islam has
only been offered as part of the Turkish Studies curriculum taught by non-
religious teachers.

The Turkish Parents Union said they could not accept the lessons provided
by the Federation because it was a politically motivated group.

According to the Union only some 20 per cent of Turkish children would be
interested in the lessons. The Federation for its part says its religious
instruction will be open to all.

http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,ArabiaLife-14447,00.html

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 News items (2/28/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 13:15:28 -0500

BARAK POSTURES FOR GOLAN WITHDRAWAL

Prime Minister Ehud Barak has begun providing "background" on his
willingness to cede the entire Golan Heights to the Syrians. At a nearly
eight-hour-long Cabinet meeting yesterday, Barak said that four of his
predecessors had agreed to forfeit all of the Golan: "Both the U.S. and Syria
understand that this is our position, and I'm not planning to erase the past."

Ha'aretz reported that Barak told the Cabinet that Shamir, who began the
talks with the Syrians at the Madrid Conference in 1991, accepted UN
Resolution 242 calling for an Israeli withdrawal "from territories," which
the Syrians understood to mean an Israeli withdrawal from the entire Golan.

After Shamir, Rabin gave the Americans a commitment, which they in turn
passed on to the Syrians, that Israel would be ready to return the entire
Golan if certain demands are met. Next was Peres, who confirmed Rabin's
commitment, and then Netanyahu, who, according to Barak, conducted
negotiations based on the June 4th lines, "seeking control two miles east of
the line at one point along the border, and along the rest of the line at a
significantly lesser distance eastward."

"Clinton's political clock is ticking," Barak said yesterday, "and he needs an
agreement by May. We have to conclude an agreement with Syria by then
so that a wave of Islamic extremism does not take over the region." Ministers
Peres and Ramon said they doubted that it would be possible to reach an
agreement with Syria within the current timetable. They and Minister Ben-
Ami said that progress on the Palestinian track should take precedence over
the talks with the Syrians. The Cabinet discussion will continue next
Sunday.

Meanwhile, on the Palestinian track, Dennis Ross is on his way back to the
U.S. today - empty-handed. Following a meeting with Arafat in Gaza this
morning, Ross announced that he is flying back to Washington for
consultations with U.S. President Clinton. In response to the Palestinians'
refusal to accept the upcoming withdrawal from 6.1% of Yesha as set forth
by Israel, the government announced yesterday that it would be willing to
offer the Palestinian Authority alternative territories near Hevron and
Ramallah. Israeli sources said, however, that the Palestinians had recently
hardened their positions.

NETANYAHU, SHAMIR, AND PERES RESPOND

In a surprising move, Shimon Peres registered his protest of Barak's Golan
position by saying that the Syrians must not be allowed to share the
Kinneret with Israel. Peres said that in any event the Israeli public would not
approve such a deal in a referendum. Shamir issued a strong denial today
that he had ever implied that he would agree to withdraw from the Golan.
Netanyahu, too, denied Barak's claims in an interview with Arutz-7 today.
"There was no agreement between Assad and myself on any border, and this
is why the negotiations were halted," he said. "Assad demanded a
withdrawal to the June, 1967 border - he didn't get it." The former Prime
Minister, visiting in Los Angeles today, said that he was prepared to accept
a border east of the Kinneret - "but only on top of the Golan Heights, and not
below them." Netanyahu said that if Barak wishes to give in to the Syrian
demands, "it is his right to do so - but he doesn't have to offer misinformation
about previous leaders' actions. Let him just say it straight - that he has
agreed to Assad's demands."

Netanyahu rebuffed Barak's statements regarding former Prime Minister
Shamir, as well. "As someone who was intimately involved in the 1991
Madrid peace conference [Netanyahu gained world-fame there as Israel's
spokesman], I know that Mr. Shamir was not prepared to withdraw from the
Golan," he said. The former Director-General of Prime Minister Shamir's
office, Yossi Ben-Aharon, agrees. Speaking with Arutz-7's Ron Meir last
night, Ben-Aharon said that the Israeli negotiating team, which he headed,
"didn't even mention the word 'withdrawal' in the six months of intensive
negotiations with the Syrians... I refused [to do so] because I said that we
first have to get the Syrians to accept Israel's existence... This went on and
on for months." When asked if he was suggesting that territorial
compromise would have been considered if Syria had recognized Israel, Ben-
Aharon responded: "Oh no, we had a number of pre-negotiating demands...
they were holding hostage the remnants of the Jewish community. [We
insisted] that every Jew who wants to leave Syria must be given the right to
do so; we also demanded that any agreement with the Syrians include a
removal of their army from Lebanon, and we rejected UN Resolution 242
regarding the Golan."

GOLAN CAMPAIGN STARTING UP AGAIN

The Golan Residents Committee and the Yesha Council are planning to
renew the public campaign against a withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
Hundreds of protest vigils will be held at various intersections throughout the
country. The Golan forces are attempting to enlist the support of hareidi
rabbis in their efforts.

The VAT Organization (Victims of Arab Terror) has launched a nationwide
campaign to demand that the Barak government follow through on Foreign
Minister David Levy's pledge to retaliate against Hizbullah "measure for
measure." Stickers calling on the Prime Minister to "Untie [the soldiers']
Hands to Defend our Land" will be distributed at various locations in
Jerusalem, and petitions are being prepared.

PALESTINIANS RETURN 18 HIVES, STEAL 30

The theft of beehives by Arabs living under Palestinian jurisdiction is finally
being dealt with by the Palestinian Authority - in a manner of speaking.
Following a determined battle by Israeli honey producers, the PA para-
military police invited representatives of the Honey Council and the Bee-
Raisers Association to a ceremony this morning in PA-controlled Tulkarm.
The PA officials returned 18 stolen beehives - not 30, as originally reported -
that the PA discovered and confiscated in the last several weeks. The
beehives were found in PA areas near Beit Haggai. Coincidentally or not, 30
beehives were reported stolen this morning from Kfar HaNagid, near Yavneh.
Since the start of the current year, Palestinian Arabs have stolen some
1,000 hives from Israel, while 3,000 were stolen in the course of 1999.

Bee-Raisers Association activist Roni Feldman told Arutz-7's Kobi Sela that
he and his organization view the PA gesture as insufficient. "What are 18
beehives? [All] the beehives must be returned, or else the beekeepers must
be compensated by the PA - a body to which the State of Israel transfers
millions of shekels a year!... We refuse to allow the Palestinians to build up
a thriving honey industry at the expense of ours!" Feldman said that they
also demand greater cooperation "from our own police, something we do not
have at the moment... We, the bee-raisers, are not interested in politics; we
want to preserve the State of Israel and our personal property - and this is
the responsibility of the Israel police."

KIEV GREAT SYNAGOGUE TO OFFICIALLY RE-OPEN

On March 14, the Jewish community of Kiev in the Ukraine will celebrate
what is being billed as the official "joyous, history-making reopening" of the
Kiev Great Synagogue. The synagogue was built in 1898 by Lazar Brodsky,
a Jewish sugar refinery owner, but was confiscated by the Soviets in 1926 as
part of the brutal suppression of all religious life. The synagogue was used
as a stable under the Nazi occupation, and was later turned into a puppet
theatre. Upon the declaration of the Ukraine's independence in August 1991,
the new government passed a law calling for the return of religious
institutions to their original congregations.

In addition to thrice-daily services, the synagogue runs a series of programs
for the needy, as well as Jewish educational programs such as a Sunday
school, summer camps, and a youth club. Hot meals are provided in the
synagogue for 200 people every day. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma,
and the Mayor of Kiev, Alexander Omelchenko, are expected to participate in
the March 14 re-dedication festivities. The United Jewish Community of
Ukraine can be e-mailed at <red@iptelecom.net.ua>.

ONE TEMPLE, ONE ORGANIZATION

An umbrella organization has been formed to unify the efforts of various
organizations working on behalf of increasing Holy Temple awareness among
Jews in Israel and worldwide. The following groups are represented in the
new group: The Temple Institute, The Movement for Establishing the
Temple, Chai Vekayam, El Har HaMor, Zo Artzeinu, and Women for the Holy
Temple. The new organization, headed by Prof. Hillel Weiss, is predicated on
the importance of Jewish unity; the movement stated that such unity "is the
secret both of the destruction and the rebuilding of the Holy Temple." For
more information, send e-mail to <temple@temple.org.il>.

POLITICAL BRIEFS

Likud MK Silvan Shalom will submit a bill this Wednesday calling for a
special majority in a referendum on the Golan. The bill stipulates that in
order for a withdrawal from the Golan to be approved, over 50% of the
electorate would have to vote for it, which in practical terms is equal to about
60% of those voting. "My bill has definitely put Barak under heavy pressure,"
Shalom said today. "Witness his comments yesterday about the four Prime
Ministers... We have the support of 56 MKs, and probably the 5 MKs of
United Torah Judaism, plus others who have not finalized with us." Shalom
said that he would not submit the bill if a majority for its passage was not
guaranteed...

The Knesset Absorption Committee held a session today on Interior Minister
Sharansky's decision to allow consular marriages. Arutz-7 correspondent
Haggai Seri explained that Sharansky's intention is to avoid public pressure
for the legalization of civil marriages, by allowing those who are unable to
marry to do so in foreign countries' Israeli consulates. MK Moshe Gafni of
United Torah Judaism, however, claims that this decision itself is a form of
legalization of civil marriages, and that such a decision must be legislated by
the Knesset - "and we know that they will not succeed in doing so..."

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <www.ArutzSheva.org>
Monday, February 28, 2000 / Adar Aleph 22, 5760

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Examining the Menorah Closely
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2000 17:30:48 -0500

The Rabbis teach that the Menorah is a symbol of the Torah--the Tree of Life.
This symbolism is shown in the following method: If we count the number of
Hebrew words in the first verse of the 5 books of Moses (the "Torah"), we
discover that they seem to all relate to some aspect of the Menorah.

For example: Genesis 1:1 has seven words [the "complete number," or
"perfection"]--the Menorah likewise has seven branches. Exodus 1:1 has
eleven words in Hebrew. Likewise, the Menorah has eleven knobs--7 (one on
each branch, below the oil lamps), 3 (one where each of two branches
attaches to the center trunk), and 1 (midway down the trunk, below the
branches). Leviticus 1:1 has nine words in Hebrew--these remind us of the
nine flowers of the Menorah. Numbers 1:1 has eighteen words in Hebrew.
These resonate with the fact that the Menorah was to be eighteen
handbreadths in height (this dimension is found in the Talmud). Finally,
Deuteronomy 1:1 has twenty-two words. Even so, the Menorah has twenty-
two cups (3 on each branch, totaling 21, plus one on the middle trunk, below
the branches, brings us to 22).

Do these numbers have any special significance? Everything in God's Word
is significant! There is therefore hidden meanings in these numbers and parts
of the menorah.

Notice! Seven lamps--seven is the "perfect number." It demonstrates
completion, perfection--as the seven days in the week.

Eleven knobs--eleven is 10 + 1. Ten is the number of ordinal (numerical)
perfection. It is the foundation of the decimal system. "1" is the number of
God, who is "One." "The Lord our God is One" (Deut 6:4). Ordinal perfection
plus 1 = God's ordinal perfection. Since 11 is 1 more than 10, the perfect
(complete) ordinal number, therefore it also represents a "new beginning"--
starting all over again, afresh! This concept ties in with "new heavens and a
new earth"--the New Creation, or the world to come, following this present
(evil) world--the coming world of God's Perfection (see 2 Peter 3:10-13; Rev
21:1-3; Isa 65:17-19).

Nine flowers--the number "nine" is 3 x 3, or 3 squared. "3" is the number of
decision, finality, and "God's signature." Paul besought Christ three times to
remove the thorn in his flesh; Peter denied Christ three times, before the
cock crowed (actually, 6 times before the rooster crowed twice!). There are
three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; there are three divisions in
Israel-High Priest, Levites, and the people. Therefore, "9"--or 3 x 3--denotes
finality squared, or absolute finality, decision, or judgment.

Eighteen handbreadths height (three short cubits)--the number "18" is 6 x 3.
Six is the number of "man," showing the Menorah is linked to mankind. "3"
is the number of judgment, finality, decision--the hand or signature of God.
The number "18" therefore shows God's involvement with man--the link
between God and man. "Three cubits" again symbolizes decision or
judgment.

The number "22"--the 22 cups. The cups are holders of the divine oil, which
transfer the "oil" of God's Spirit upon mankind. Three (3) of these are on each
of the seven lamp branches--showing the total, three-fold, passing of God's
Spirit to each of the seven branches of God's Church. Each Church receives
God's Spirit without any limitation. It is up to each one of us as to how
brightly we burn!

The 22nd cup is located down on the main stem or trunk, below the
branches--together with the 11th knob, and the final flower. Again, "22" is
"21" plus "1." The number "21" is 7 x 3, which is the number of perfection,
completion (7) times the number of finality, judgment (3). Thus this number is
very significant. It represents total, final spiritual perfection--complete
perfection. Therefore, an additional number ("1"), represents agin--a new
spiritual beginning. This cup is located with the 11th knob, which represents
a "new ordinal beginning." It is also located with the final flower--the ninth
flower (3 x 3), indicative of final complete judgment.

Interestingly, 22 also denotes the total letters of the Hebrew alphabet--this
represents the totality of the building blocks of "letters," or the vehicles of
communication--those elements which form the basis of "words," or "the
Word."

...

Interestingly, also, is the fact that there are "5" knobs on the center shaft of
the Menorah. The number "5" denotes the number of God's grace. "5" is
literally "4" plus "1," and four denotes the works of God, the earth, the four
compass directions (North, East, South, West), whereas "1" denotes God
Himself. God, plus His works, denotes "grace"--that is, the graciousness,
goodness, kindness, and mercy of God, which is evident in all His works,
and manifest in all His actions. The number "5" also denotes the final "final-
form" letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This then encompasses the finality--the
final form and fullness of God's grace.

The symbolism of the Menorah is amazing--incredible--indeed!

The Mystery of the Menorah
William F. Dankenbring
Prophecy Flash!
Vol. 13, No. 7 Jan-Feb. 2000

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