BPR Mailing List Digest: 05/02/00

Philologos
BPR Mailing List Digest
May 2, 2000

Digest Home | 2000 | May, 2000

To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - AIDS-Prevention Pamphlet Raises Eyebrows
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 08:53:35 -0400

Monday May 1 12:01 PM ET

AIDS-Prevention Pamphlet Raises Eyebrows

TORONTO (Reuters) - A government-funded AIDS-prevention pamphlet by
the Canadian AIDS Society has startled public health officials with wording
that appears to encourage intravenous drug use.

The pamphlet, entitled ``My Choice. AIDS. Not In This Body,'' was produced
by the Canadian AIDS Society as part of a national awareness campaign. It
urges young people to practice safe sex and intravenous drug use.

``Just because we've made the choice that we don't want AIDS doesn't mean
the party's over. We can still fool around with sex and have a great time. Still
shoot up if that's what we're into,'' the pamphlet reads. ``We can reduce the
chance of getting and spreading HIV by sticking to our decisions and always
using condoms and new rigs.''

Rigs is street slang for drug use materials such as needles.

On another page, the pamphlet lists the injection of drugs, using new or
clean needles, as leaving the user at no risk of contracting AIDS, comparing
it to ``crossing a street in a city with no cars.''

Andrew Papadopoulos, executive director of the Association of Local Public
Health Agencies, said that while the pamphlets' intent is obviously good, the
wording was unfortunate.

``I can see where they're coming from (but)...looking at that one paragraph, it
takes you back,'' Papadopoulos said on Friday. ``You say 'should we be
advocating for that kind of thing?' Intravenous drug use should really not be
advocated.

``The message should have been stronger in not doing the activity at all.''

The brochure was jointly funded by the CAS and Health Canada.

Health Canada on Friday defended the pamphlet -- jointly funded by the CAS
and Health Canada -- which is only one component of the Canadian AIDS
Society's HIV/AIDS prevention and education programs aimed at young
people aged 13 to 25.

``If you want to convey important health messages to youth, you've got to
speak to them on their terms, you've got to acknowledge, not necessarily
endorse, but acknowledge their realities,'' said Michael Jacinto of Health
Canada in a telephone interview.

``This particular pamphlet also does go on to talk about some of the real
serious risks that are problems among young Canadians today.''

According to the CAS, Health Canada estimates that half of all new HIV
infections now occur in people who are 24 or under.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000501/od/aids_1.html

Link via:
http://www.newsviewtoday.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The spirit of the the times
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 08:47:46 -0500

The spirit of the the times

http://www.scotsman.com/taf/living.taf?function=detail&Scot
sman_uid1=TS00041 819&desk=Newweekend&cat=living&sec=0

THE news this week that chatqueen Oprah Winfrey is to
include a regular spiritualist column in her newly-launched
glossy magazine may have come as a surprise to those au
fait with New Age principles. Apart from the virtual
absence of spiritualism in either the women's or the men's
magazine markets, making O: The Oprah Magazine something of
a first in this respect, it just doesn't seem to gel with
an enterprise that is, let's face it, out to make money.

The apparent clash of spiritual awareness and worldly
materialism is a concern of the uninitiated only, however.
Walk into any book store and the flourishing "Mind, Body
and Spirit" section will leave you in no doubt as to the
commercial nous of those writing not just about the
intricacies of religious practices but also about personal
growth (Chicken Soup for the Soul), self-help manuals (You
Can Heal Your Life), spells for happiness, spells for love
(Bewitched) and fortune-telling (Titania's Oracle). The
occupation of the mainstream by what was once considered
marginal has had an inevitable dual effect. It has made
some individuals very wealthy indeed (The Little Book of
Calm is a world-wide bestseller, netting millions for its
author, Paul Wilson), but it has also given us a watered-
down version of some long-held principles.

Practising witches contend with Sabrina the Teenage Witch
and fun books like How To Turn Your Ex-Boyfriend into a
Toad (doesn't sound too bad, actually). Professional tarot
readers, advising individuals as well as companies, compete
with amateurs armed with little more than a pack of cards
and some vague ideas. Lyn Guest de Swarte, editor of
Psychic News which has a weekly circulation of around
50,000, and author of The Principles of Spiritualism,
groaned at the news of Oprah's investment .

"By spiritualist, [the columnist] could be a medium or
someone with knowledge of the spirit world," she says. "But
who knows what they mean by it. Spiritualism is a religion,
it doesn't have anything to do with New Age ideas like
crystals. It teaches that life is unconditionally eternal,
contrary to what people have been taught before. It's the
realisation that the essence of a person is going to retain
its individuality and consciousness after death."

-- more --

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Blasphemy move angers conservatives
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 08:54:47 -0500

Blasphemy move angers conservatives

PAKISTAN
by TASGOLA KARLA BRUNER in Islamabad

A plan by Pakistan's military Government to make it harder
to accuse someone of blasphemy is angering Islamic groups.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan says the measure
will only serve to inflame religious conservatives and
perhaps endanger those who try to enforce it.

Nadeem Sarwar, deputy information secretary for Jamaat-i-
Islami, Pakistan's largest conservative Islamic party, said
the move puts military ruler General Pervez Musharraf in a
bad position with religious groups.

"Although the constitution is suspended, we believe that
no one has the right to change it, even if he is Pervez
Musharraf," Mr Sarwar said. He said his group would resist
the change, but would not elaborate how. There is a ban on
public rallies. Other religious leaders have so far
confined themselves to public statements against the
measure.

The heads of several religious groups said in a statement:
"Let the rulers please God and his prophet instead of
pleasing the US and European countries."

Blasphemy includes speaking or writing against the Prophet
Mohammad or Islam. The penalty is death. Representatives of
the Human Rights Commission say no one has been executed
for blasphemy but about 12 people are in jail on the charge
and others are out on bail.

Interior Ministry spokesman Tasneem Noorani said the
measure had been misunderstood. It would not mean a change
in the law but simply a shift in procedure.

He recognised that the Government's recent announcements
could cause friction with religious and tribal leaders.

These announcements include the blasphemy change, a
crackdown on smuggling, a ban on the display of weapons and
new weapon licences, as well as condemnation of honour
killings of women, which occur when a women defies her
family.

"Obviously it's not going to be an easy course, but the
Government is following a strategy that needs to be done,
regardless of popularity," he said.

But Human Rights Commission chairman Afrasiab Khattak
warned: "The [Government] has created a focus for the
religious right to attack."

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - It's the People's Bible, with added love scenes
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 08:57:18 -0500

May 1 2000

It's the People's Bible, with added love scenes

A new version of the Bible is out this week - and the aim of its
translator, Sidney Brichto, is to make it more accessible.
So he invented some extra bits

http://www.the-times.co.uk/ & use index

Auberon Waugh's comment was: "I can think of no more
disastrous an idea" when he expressed how honoured he felt
to accept Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson's invitation to
join the Advisory Board of the People's Bible, which I am
translating from the original Hebrew and Greek. He did add
to his forebodings his "hopes for its success". Success in
Bible translations is relative. William Tyndale, whose
translation preceded the acclaimed King James version, was
strangled and burnt at the stake in 1536.

The chairman of one Bible translation committee took
comfort before publication: "They used to burn the
translators, now they are satisfied with burning the
translations." The first four of the 16-volume edition of
the People's Bible will be published this week. While my
associates are impressed by the enormity of the project -
it will take four to five years -they still question why I
am doing it. "Hasn't it already been done?" people ask. The
simple fact is that the Bible is the least read bestseller
in the world, which I think shameful. Since childhood I
have loved the Bible. Most of its books reveal literary
genius as well as moral and psychological insights into the
human condition. How will this new edition bring readers
back to an appreciation of the Bible? People who do not
read the Bible tell me that they prefer the majestic prose
and cadences of the King James version, which is based on
the quotations they hear most often. Of course, I agree
that the King James translation should not be abandoned. It
is a classic in its own right, but this does not affect the
need for a new approach.

-- more --

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Syria's Power Shift
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Shophar_Sho_Good")
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 12:23:30 -0500

STRATFOR.COM Weekly Global Intelligence Update
2 May 2000

Syria's Power Shift

Summary

Syrian President Hafez Assad, already seriously ill, reportedly
suffered an incapacitating stroke at the beginning of April,
according to London's Sunday Telegraph. A significant, yet largely
unnoticed shift in power appears to have taken place in Damascus.
Bashar, the president's son and heir apparent, is now filling his
father's shoes and no apparent opposition has arisen. But
complicated Syrian politics and Bashar's relative inexperience
suggest important changes in Syria and its relationship to the
region.

Analysis

Syria's ruler for the last 30 years, Hafez Assad, reportedly
suffered a stroke in early April according to a report by London's
Sunday Telegraph, citing Western diplomats in Damascus.
Importantly, Assad failed to make his customary address to the
nation on April 7 - the anniversary of the founding of his ruling
Baath party - and missed Independence Day celebrations 10 days
later, according to the report.

While Assad has been known to be ill for some months, the future
leadership of his country has been less clear. However, most signs
point to the ascendancy of his son Bashar. There have been no
reports of serious unrest directed at him in the last month,
suggesting that he has been successful in securing power from the
only serious rival, the president's brother, Rifaat. In contrast,
when Assad suffered a serious heart attack in 1983, Rifaat
attempted a military takeover of the government. Last fall,
however, his power base was seriously undercut when Republican
Guard troops attacked Rifaat's Latakia port and residence and
killed hundreds of Rifaat's loyalists.

The president took great pains to pave the path to power for his
son. His potential opponents appear to have been purged and the
cabinet was reshuffled last month. In the past two years, the
intelligence chief, the chief of staff of the armed forces, the
director of military intelligence and the prime minister have all
been removed and replaced with Bashar loyalists. Additionally, the
Jerusalem Post reported that the powerful Foreign Minister Farouk
Sharaa acknowledged on April 3 - right around the time of the
reported stroke - that Bashar was in line for succession.

Indeed, throughout the last month, Bashar has taken an
unprecedented and more prominent role in the country's affairs. On
April 27, he met an Israeli parliament member to discuss the peace
process - something he had never done before. He also warned Israel
on April 28 that a unilateral pullout from south Lebanon, without
prior agreement with Syria, could trigger instability. Bashar also
used his authority as the president's son to lobby for economic
reforms. From April 20 through April 27, Syria liberalized its
rules against holding foreign currency and narrowed the power of
economic security courts.

But at age 35, Bashar is nowhere near as experienced or savvy as
his father. Syrian politics is a delicate game of balancing various
internal factions off one another to maintain a firm grip on power
- occasionally involving the death of opponents to the regime.
Bashar undoubtedly lacks skill at this - or at least experience -
due to his late grooming for power following years spent outside of
Syria. Only six years ago, he was completing an ophthalmology
residency in Great Britain when his older brother was killed in a
car accident. Since his return home, he has moved through posts in
the military, become a colonel last year and recently commanded a
brigade of the elite Republican Guard division.

His inexperience will likely color his leadership. Bashar, for
example, has a reform agenda aimed at attracting foreign investment
to Syria's isolated economy. Damascus may begin to lean toward the
West as a result. Specifically, Syria is likely to shift its
alignment away from internationally isolated countries like Iraq,
even though the two have recently expanded ties. A recent decision
by Iraq indicates that this shift may already be under way.
According to a May 1 Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) report,
Iraq now prefers to repair an oil terminal in the Persian Gulf
rather than reopen a pipeline through Syria.

Also, Syria after Hafez Assad is likely to be more intransigent
toward peace negotiations with Israel. Bashar does not bear any
additional malice. He simply is not yet secure enough in his
position to make the necessary and costly concessions to Syria's
historic enemy without earning the enmity of hard-line factions in
Damascus.

Bashar will tread a careful, moderate path in all his actions - not
a Western interpretation of moderate but moderate in that he can
implement change more incrementally than boldly.

___________________________________________________

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========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - The Holocaust - Where was God?
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 02 May 2000 12:30:49 -0500

*** BOOK RECOMMENDATION ***

The Holocaust - Where was God?
by Arthur Katz
http://www.benisrael.org/HolCover.htm

This booklet is free (free postage included) from Chapel
Library at http://www.mountzion.org.

Send email to chapel@mountzion.org.

We've been looking at the Holocaust through secular eyes
and this little booklet refocuses our attention. The
updated version can be read/acquired at
http://www.benisrael.org/HolCover.htm which is the author's
own website. My copy is an older edition (40 pages).

-- Moza (moza@butterfly.mv.com)

------

From the author's website:

"In a daring hypothesis - turning to ancient Hebrew
scriptures as a key of interpretation to the most modern of
all events, the Holocaust, - the author brings a challenge
both to the agnostic secularist as to the religiously-
minded that compels a searching reappraisal of one's
deepest convictions.

"In this examination of that ultimate tradgedy, the issue
of God as God is brought courageously to the forefront of
our modern consideration as few books have attempted to do.

"'We must either forsake entirely our inadequate faith and
be abandoned to a worldly cynicism, or be brought into new
and unplumbed depths that radically affect - and change -
everything.'"

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

Excerpt: "I had the privilege once to meet Elie Wiesel, a
Romanian Jew and winner of a Nobel prize for peace. He
himself is a survivor of the Holocaust and is probably one
of the greatest authorities on the subject of the
Holocaust. He is the most beautifully eloquent man and if
there was no God, then he is a picture of Jewish nobility
and ethical and moral sensitivity that would be the
admiration of anyone. If there is a God, however, that very
thing that we would otherwise be impressed by becomes
questionable in the light of God's indictment on the
condition of mankind.

"I asked him privately: 'Mr. Wiesel, to what degree would
you be willing to acknowledge that the sufferings that we
have experienced as Jews, in all of the calamities of our
history and including the Holocaust, are the fulfillment of
God's judgments forewarned prophetically in the concluding
chapters of the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy?' He
looked at me for a moment in that kind of stunned silence
and then answered: 'I refuse to consider that.'" End of
excerpt.

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - (Fwd) Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, May 2, 2000
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 17:36:49 -0400

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Tue, 02 May 2000 18:54:55 +0300
To: arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From: Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject: Arutz-7 News: Tuesday, May 2, 2000
Send reply to: netnews@a7.org

Arutz Sheva News Service
<http://www.ArutzSheva.org>
Tuesday, May 2, 2000 / Nissan 27, 5760 - 12th day of the Omer
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TODAY'S HEADLINES:
  1. MARCH OF THE LIVING - AND THEN?
  2. REMNANT SARID SPEAKS AT AUSCHWITZ
  3. THE ABU DIS DEBATE
  4. POLITICAL AND SECURITY OBJECTIONS TO GIVING AWAY ABU DIS
  5. JEWISH LAND IN ABU DIS
  6. TOWER AIR GOES BANKRUPT
  7. ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
  8. EILAT TALKS RECESS TODAY
  9. "CONFESSION" IN IRAN BODES ILL
  10. YEHOSHUA BIN-NUN

1. MARCH OF THE LIVING - AND THEN?
Jews around the world are commemorating today the Nazis' slaughter of
the six million in the Holocaust. At 10 AM, the entire country stood
silently at the sounding of a two-minute siren to remember the victims.
The March of the Living was held in Poland this afternoon; thousands of
Jewish youth, together with President Weizman, Education Minister Sarid,
and Knesset Members marched from Auschwitz to Birkenau. Thousands of
Jews perished in three "Death Marches" along that route during the
Holocaust years. At the Knesset, dignitaries participated in the Every
Person Has A Name ceremony, in which the names of Holocaust victims were
read aloud. Air Force, Navy, and Infantry cadets, led by Gen. Moshe
Sukenik, also took part. The Betar youth movement held a memorial
ceremony outside the German Embassy in Tel Aviv this morning.

Arutz-7 spoke today with Jean Charles Zarbiv, leader of the
French-Jewish delegation in Poland, which numbers some 300 youth this
year. "I have done this every year since the first March of the Living
program," Zarbiv said, "and I think that this is an educational project
of primary importance, and as such it involves many stages. First is
preparation; it is very important to come with an understanding, for
instance, of the difference between concentration camps and death camps.
Then comes the route itself, where the students see the exact places
they learned about and truly experience what they learned. From there,
many of them go to Israel, to enact the theme of 'From Holocaust to
Revival.' When they leave from the 'cold' of Poland straight to the
Western Wall, this does something very important for them."

This does not mean that Zionism is the automatic Holocaust response
learned by the students, Zarbiv said: "The world is not black and
white. We don't determine strict lines for them. We simply show them
the reality, with Haider in Austria, etc., and we ask them, what would
the Jewish world be like if the State of Israel and the Jewish Agency,
etc., did not exist?"

As if to illustrate the importance of the educational experience in
Poland, Zarbiv recounted, "We were in the Maidanek death camp with a
survivor named Sha'ul, when suddenly a boy came up and asked, 'How can
you still believe in G-d after what happened to you here?' and then many
other children joined in, and an emotional theological discussion ensued
in the middle of Maidanek!"

Chava Pinchas-Cohen, an Israeli poet and songwriter feels differently.
"The March of the Living is a strong emotional experience, but is also a
form of escape from the real issue," she wrote in Ma'ariv today. The
question, she feels, is in which direction is this experience directed?
"The youth confront issues of death in Europe," she told Arutz-7's
Haggai Segal today, "and come out with conclusions such as, 'We will not
allow ourselves to be massacred.' But this is very vague. Does this
mean that we will continue only to survive? To survive as individuals,
or as Jews? And what price are we willing to pay for our national
survival? If, for instance, the [Israeli] students would return to
Israel and take a trip, say, tracing the path of our Forefathers in the
Land of Israel, or tracing the water sources, or from Massada -
something that requires them to walk, not as tourists, but as people who
are coming to deal with the questions, then OK. But no - the experience
remains out of context, on the level of 'let's sense it but not talk
about it' - because there is a reluctance to talk about difficult
questions..."

Ms. Cohen later elaborated on this point with Arutz-7's Ron Meir:
"True, they are feeling their commitment for the moment, that Auschwitz
will never happen again. But what does this mean? Does this mean that
in the event of war, that they'll run away so that they and their family
will survive - or that they will fight back? What does it mean?...
Israelis, for instance, can either stay here and fight back, or go to a
different country and survive somewhere else. There is no scale of
values that tells them which is better."

Meir asked if it is not sufficient that the teachers who accompany the
students try to "steer the [students'] thought in a certain direction."
Ms. Cohen: "No. There is no teacher who will take upon himself a
commitment to say what's right and what's wrong. He will identify with
the children, and cry with them, and tell his own story, but I don't see
anybody who will take the responsibility to say something more... This
is a result of changing values, a process of post-modernism that has
entered our culture and changed our values and our attitude to values."

"Perhaps this connects with something you mentioned in your article
today," Meir said, "where you wrote that many Israelis have lost a sense
of the righteousness of their cause, and that this is evident in the
controversy surrounding the transfer of Abu Dis to the Palestinians."
Ms. Cohen said, "Twenty years ago... we used to take a bus to Abu Dis,
and walk by foot to the Dead Sea. We felt very safe, we felt very
right, we felt that we are walking in our country. Today, I would not
allow my daughter to do this...
It is not just a matter of safety, but rather of values... There was a
change in our national psyche and attitudes, which then became manifest
in the political realities..." The full interview can be heard on our
website at <http://www.a7.org/engclips/020500/pinchas-holoc.ram>.

The number of survivors living in Israel today is 230,000, or 20,000
less than two years ago. Of these, 90,000 survived after having been in
work or death camps, while the others lived in forests or found other
places of refuge.

2. REMNANT SARID SPEAKS AT AUSCHWITZ
Education Minister Yossi Sarid addressed the students at
Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland this afternoon. Excerpts from
his emotionally-charged speech:
"How awful is this ground we walk on, the most defiled place in the
history of mankind, and the holiest place in the history of mankind...
We stand above the largest factory in the world - the largest death
factory in the history of mankind. Auschwitz-Birkenau is the largest
death camp of all - 22,000 Jews were massacred, cremated, choked and
poisoned here in one day. The death factory of Auschwitz-Birkenau began
operating on June 5, 1940, and continued working until January 1945...
until the Red Army arrived and saved the survivors. One and half
million people, the vast majority of them Jews, were murdered at this
place... I walk in Auschwitz, in the tracks of the abandoned shoes, of
the extracted teeth, of the cut off hair, of the misplaced baggage - in
order to find the last moments of my family - the Schneider family - of
which only a SARID - remnant - was left. From within this great wail
that we hear today, I try to sort through the cries and hear the screams
of uncles and aunts, of my cousins, little boys and girls, my
grandmother and grandfather. They call out my name, and I hear them
now... Some three weeks ago, in London, David Irving was called a
Holocaust denier by the court. This vile person, like his other
associates, have told the world in recent years that the trains never
reached this place from across Europe - from Poland, Czechoslovakia,
Holland, Greece, France, Germany, Belgium, Yugoslavia and other
countries... From this place we will voice our contempt for Holocaust
deniers, and those who have forgotten it... The robe [kutonet] in our
hands is one we have identified, this is the robe of our father, this is
the robe of our sons, this is the robe of Joseph - who was murdered.
This is his hair! These are his teeth! These are his eyeglasses! These
are his shoes! - and this was his final journey from the ramp, the
"rampa", to the gas chamber, and this was the last station in his life,
and the ashes of his body are scattered here, around us... There shall
be no hope for the deniers!..."

3. THE ABU DIS DEBATE
Opposition is spreading within government ranks to Prime Minister Ehud
Barak's planned "advance payment" of Abu Dis to the Palestinians. Both
Foreign Minister David Levy and Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shachak
said yesterday that there is no reason to give away Abu Dis before the
implementation of a final-status arrangement.

It now appears that Yisrael B'Aliyah leader and Interior Minister Natan
Sharansky may follow in the path of the National Religious Party, which
yesterday decided to leave the government if it decides to give away Abu
Dis. Sharansky: "If Abu Dis is the 'advance' payment, then it is clear
what the final payment will be - Jerusalem itself. That's why it's so
dangerous to even discuss this possibility at this time, and I very much
hope that the government will not deal with this proposal, and if it
does, we will do everything to ensure that it does not pass." Shas,
however, is leaning towards either supporting or abstaining in a
government vote on the transfer of Abu Dis. Shas leader Minister Eli
Yeshai yesterday hinted at his party's lack of opposition to the move
when he declared that Abu Dis is "not part of Jerusalem."

In anticipation of the Shas Torah Sages Council session on the issue
this week, former Chief Rabbis Shapira and Eliyahu publicized a call to
the "Rabbis of Israel" to stand firmly against any attempt to strike a
blow at the integrity of Jerusalem. Leading Kabbalist Rabbi Yitzchak
Kaduri released a strong statement today against the transfer of Abu
Dis, located at the foot of the Mt. of Olives, to the Palestinian
Authority.

4. POLITICAL AND SECURITY OBJECTIONS TO GIVING AWAY ABU DIS
MK Mordechai Zandberg - of the anti-religious but somewhat right-wing
Shinui party - was asked by Arutz-7 today about Abu Dis. "In my
opinion," Zandberg said, "if Barak gives away Abu Dis or one of the
other villages around Jerusalem to the Palestinians at this stage, he is
making a terrible error. Abu Dis is a negotiating card, even for those
of us who don't see it under Israeli control in the final-status
arrangement. If we give it away now, without receiving anything in
exchange, this is simply a net loss for Israel, in that we will not be
able to play this card later. The Palestinians will continue to demand
still more concessions, and we will have lost this card."

"This is all part of the tragically-flawed Oslo process of staged
withdrawals," Zandberg continued. "In each of these withdrawals, we
gave away territory without receiving anything in exchange. I can
understand why we made the original agreement, including giving away
parts of the Land of Israel and why we agreed to have them conduct
internal elections - these were concessions that showed our serious
intentions. But to keep on giving away land in the phased withdrawals,
without getting anything at all in return, and the serious problems
remain unsolved - I can't understand how Barak and all his advisors
don't understand how this weakens Israel's negotiating position and
leads to the division of Jerusalem."

Israel Resource News Agency announces a briefing on "What threat would a
Palestinian Liberation Army pose from Abu Dis?" by MK Dr. Yuval
Shteinitz (Likud) tomorrow afternoon at Beit Agron. Shteinitz argued,
in a December 1999 article
<www.commentarymagazine.com/9912/steinitz.html> in Commentary, that the
Palestinian Authority's para-military police force is sufficiently
militarized and well-equipped to present a dangerous military threat to
Israel. He is expected to show tomorrow how the PA would be able to
actualize its military capabilities in an attack on Jerusalem from Abu
Dis, which is only hundreds of meters away from the Temple Mount.

Another press conference will be held earlier in the afternoon at the
same location, by representatives of the M'kimi Center for the
Advancement of Jewish Policy, together with Lebanese Christian Front
leader Abu Arz. They will discuss what they see as "Israel's planned
abandonment of its allies in southern Lebanon to certain death."

5. JEWISH LAND IN ABU DIS
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert has commissioned architect Sa'adia Mendel to
prepare a blueprint for a new Jewish neighborhood in Abu Dis. Some 800
dunams (200 acres) of Abu Dis land is owned by Jews; most of these were
purchased in the 1930's by residents of Meah Shearim, and some were
subsequently sold to the Ateret Cohanim Association and U.S. businessman
Dr. Irving Moskowitz. Some 70 of the 800 dunams in question are
situated within Jerusalem's municipal borders.

6. TOWER AIR GOES BANKRUPT
Over 5,000 Tower Air passengers to Israel found themselves stranded when
the company's flights to Israel were suddenly cancelled. Tower had
declared bankruptcy two months ago, and today closed its Tel Aviv office
and fired its 145 employees. The Israeli Consulate in New York has been
instrumental in helping to make alternative arrangements for
ticket-holders.

7. ANTI-SEMITISM REPORT
Dr. Esther Webman, a scholar in the Institute for Anti-Semitism
Research, told Arutz-7 today that although anti-Semitism has decreased
somewhat throughout the world, the Arab world still shows many signs of
anti-Semitism, which is, paradoxically, getting even stronger as the
peace process advances. When asked if she was referring to hatred for
the State of Israel or for the Jews, she replied, "First of all, we must
remember that anti-Semitism lies at the root of the Israeli-Arab
conflict. It begins with hatred for the State of Israel, hatred of
Zionism, and then it branches out into extreme rhetoric against Judaism
altogether." Fellow researcher Dr. Avi Becker told Itim News Agency
that the increasing anti-Semitism in Arab countries should be made into
an issue in the peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority and
other Arab nations, and that Israel and its media tend to ignore this
"ugly phenomenon."

8. EILAT TALKS RECESS TODAY
The Eilat talks with the Palestinians on the next withdrawal and the
final-status framework agreement will resume tonight, after Prime
Minister Barak decided that Holocaust Remembrance Day was not an
appropriate time to conduct negotiations. American mediator Dennis Ross
will join tonight's session. The Yesha Council has erected a protest
tent outside the Queen of Sheba Hotel, the site of the talks.

9. "CONFESSION" IN IRAN BODES ILL
Dani Tefilin's statement that he spied for Israel is liable to lead to
severe sentences for the other 12 Jewish defendants being tried in Iran.
Israeli spokesmen stated that the attempt to present the Jewish
detainees in Iran as spies is outrageous and cruel, and that the
"confession" was extracted by torture or other pressure. Tefilin's
behind-closed-doors statement, in which he expressed regret and said
that he now realizes that Iran is his true homeland, was broadcast on
Iranian television last night. Isma'il Nasri, the defendants' lawyer,
said that the admission undercuts the entire defense strategy.

10. YEHOSHUA BIN-NUN
Some 5000 people - a record number - ascended to Tamnat Cheres in the
Shomron yesterday, to the traditional gravesite of Yehoshua Bin-Nun.
Yesterday was the traditional anniversary of Yehoshua's death.

Hebrew News Editor: Haggai Segal
English News Editor: Hillel Fendel

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<http://www.ArutzSheva.org/English/newspaper/arabpress/arab.htm>
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<http://www.torah.org/sefira.html>

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

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - 5/5/2000: The Meteor Shower
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Tue, 2 May 2000 17:49:07 -0400

5/5/2000: The Meteor Shower

The eta Aquarid meteor shower, caused by bits of debris from Halley's
Comet, will peak on May 5-6, 2000.

May 2, 2000 -- May 5, 2000 is a red-letter day for many astronomy
enthusiasts thanks to the upcoming alignment of five planets with the Sun
and the Moon. Unfortunately, the alignment won't produce much of a sky
show. The Sun will be right in the middle of the cluster -- blinding sunlight will
make it nearly impossible to see the other members of the planetary get-
together.

If that sounds like discouraging news and you're thinking it might not be
worth star gazing this Friday evening, wait! There could be a sky show on
May 5 after all -- the annual eta Aquarid meteor shower.

Full Story:
http://www.spacescience.com/headlines/y2000/ast02may_1.htm

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

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