To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Beilin-Abbas final-status plan finally revealed
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 08:26:13 -0400

Monday, September 18 2000 15:21 18 Elul 5760

Beilin-Abbas final-status plan finally revealed
By Herb Keinon

JERUSALEM (September 18) - "The government of Israel shall extend its recognition to the independent State of Palestine within agreed and secure borders, with its capital Al-Quds."

So reads the famous Israeli-Palestinian framework plan by Yossi Beilin and Mahmoud Abbas for the conclusion of a final-status agreement between Israel and the PLO. The document, which has been a reference point for negotiators since its completion in October 1995 - and which served as a basis for discussions at Camp David -was posted on Newsweek's Web site yesterday, the first time it has been published in its entirety, although without maps delineating borders.

"Simultaneously," continues the document, "the State of Palestine shall extend its recognition to the State of Israel within agreed and secure borders with its capital Yerushalayim. Both sides continue to look favorably at the possibility of establishing a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation, to be agreed upon by the State of Palestine and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan."

The plan was hammered out by Beilin and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's aide Abbas between 1993 and 1995.

Subsequently, Abbas distanced himself from the document, and neither Israel nor the PA ever adopted it as official policy. Nevertheless, diplomatic sources have indicated in the past that any final-status agreement likely will resemble this plan.

An official in the Prime Minister's Office denied last night that this document was the basis for the talks at the Camp David summit in July. Newsweek reported that US President Bill Clinton considered the draft document a "core idea" at Camp David.

Regarding Jerusalem, the Beilin-Abbas plan envisions an expanded Jerusalem that would include Abu Dis, Eizariya, A-Ram, Azzaim, Ma'aleh Adumim, Givat Ze'ev, Givon, and adjacent areas.

Within the city of Jerusalem, the plan envisions neighborhoods inhabited by Israelis defined as "Israeli boroughs," and neighborhoods inhabited by Palestinians called "Palestinian boroughs."

"The parties agree to maintain one municipality for the city of Jerusalemâ in the form of a Joint Higher Municipal Council, formed by representatives of the boroughs. These representatives will elect the mayor of the city of Jerusalem," the document reads.

"The greater city of Jerusalem will consist of the Joint Higher Municipal Council, two sub-municipalities - an Israel sub-municipality, elected by the inhabitants of the Israeli boroughs, and a Palestinian sub-municipality, elected by the inhabitants of the Palestinian boroughs -as well as a joint parity committee for the Old City area."

All of these ideas, according to diplomatic sources, were discussed at Camp David.

Beilin and Abbas did not go into details regarding the Old City, but wrote that "in recognition of the special status and significance of the Old City area for members of the Christian, Jewish, and Moslem faiths, the parties agree to grant this area a special status."

Under the proposed agreement, "the State of Palestine shall be granted extra-territorial sovereignty over the Haram a-Sharif [Temple Mount] under the administration of Al-Quds Wakf. The present status quo regarding the right of access and prayer for all will be secured."

The plan also envisions that the Church of the Holy Sepulcher "shall be managed by the Palestinian sub-municipality."

Regarding settlements, the plan stipulates that "there will be no exclusive civilian residential areas for Israelis in the State of Palestine. Individual Israelis remaining within the borders of the Palestinian state shall be subject to Palestinian sovereignty and Palestinian rule of law."

On another difficult issue, the Palestinian refugees, the document says that Israel "acknowledges the moral and material suffering caused to the Palestinian people as a result of the war of 1947-1949; it further acknowledges the Palestinian refugees' right of return to the Palestinian state and their right to compensation and rehabilitation for moral and material losses."

At the same time, the document reads that, "Whereas the Palestinian side considers that the right of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes is enshrined in international law and natural justice, it recognizes that the prerequisites of the new era of peace and coexistence, as well as the realities that have been created on the ground since 1948, have rendered the implementation of this right impracticable."

Newsweek did not publish the maps that accompanied the paper, but according to details of the maps that have leaked out over the years, some 94 percent of the West Bank - including the Jordan Valley - as well as all of the Gaza Strip would be ceded to the Palestinians. The new state would be demilitarized, and Abbas agreed to the Israeli demand that Israel maintain three reinforced battalions and three early warning stations and air defense units there until it reaches peace agreements and bilateral security arrangements with its neighbors.

http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2000/09/18/News/News.12424.html

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Infobeat News items (9/18/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 08:37:08 -0400

*** UN said to pledge Mideast troops

JERUSALEM (AP) - The United Nations is prepared to send peacekeeping
troops along a future Israeli-Palestinian border should a peace
accord be signed, a top Palestinian official said Saturday. The issue
of final borders between Israel and a future Palestinian entity is
one of the main subjects to be resolved in negotiations for a peace
deal, which have been deadlocked over the future of Jerusalem.
Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath, in Washington for consultations
on the floundering peace process, said U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan made the assurance during a meeting between the two at the
United Nations earlier this week. The U.N. spokesman's office had no
immediate comment on the secretary-general's reported assurance to
Shaath. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569818022-7e6

*** Palestinians: No deal on settlements

JERUSALEM (AP) - A senior Palestinian negotiator has backtracked on a
major concession made during the U.S.-brokered Camp David talks, and
says his side is no longer willing to discuss ceding some West Bank
territory to Israel. Ahmed Qureia, speaker of the Palestinian
Legislative Council, rejected Israel's demand that most Jewish
settlers be allowed to remain in the West Bank, under Israeli
sovereignty, concentrated in large blocs of settlement. Qureia also
rejected Israel's insistence on retaining a strip of land in the
Jordan Valley for up to 20 years, for reasons of security.
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat insisted Sunday that Israel must
transfer control of all land it captured in 1967 - including the West
Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - to the Palestinians. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569852374-1a9

*** Russians not paying for electricity

MOSCOW (AP) - As the electricity monopoly in the world's largest
country, Russia's Unified Energy Systems has plenty of prodigious
statistics - including what could be the world's longest list of
deadbeat customers. Not only do they owe the partly state-owned UES
an estimated $5 billion, but they include some of the country's most
secret sites, including nuclear missile bases and the Plesetsk space
launch facility. The utility's attempts to collect its bills grabbed
national attention last week when one of its local branches cut off
power to a missile base that owed $683,000. The base retaliated by
sending soldiers to a switching station to turn the lights back on.
See http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569835419-96b

*** Russian oil experts in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Russian oil experts landed Sunday in Baghdad
aboard a flight apparently meant to test a U.N. Security Council that
is divided on just what sorts of flights into Iraq are acceptable
under sanctions imposed on Iraq since its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Eleven oil experts, seven crew members and some medicines were aboard
the YAK-42 that arrived at Saddam International Airport directly from
Moscow, according to Iraqi and Russian media reports. U.N. approval
can be secured for humanitarian flights into Iraq, but the U.N.
sanctions committee maintains flights of commercial benefit to Iraq
violate a U.N. trade embargo. Neither the Iraqis nor the Russians
said whether Sunday's flight had U.N. approval. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569846187-796

*** Barak proposes religious reforms

JERUSALEM (AP) - His peace plans stalled and his political future in
doubt, Prime Minister Ehud Barak has proposed far-reaching reforms
that challenge the pre-eminence of Jewish religious law in areas of
daily life. He says Sabbath travel is on the way, and the Cabinet has
taken the first steps to removing citizens' religion from identity
cards. The proposals have been dismissed by some as a political
expediency; still, they have taken opponents and proponents by
surprise and have launched a searing debate about the nation's
character. The process has already begun. His Cabinet has ordered the
dismantling of the Religions Ministry and has launched the legal
process that would remove religion from people's identity cards. See
http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi?id=2569842561-25b

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Unholy wars of words about holy places
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 08:46:49 -0400

 Monday, September 18, 2000

Unholy wars of words about holy places

                  By Danny Rubinstein

Exactly when and why did the Temple Mount, Haram al-Sharif, emerge as
one of the most difficult problems between Israelis and
Palestinians?.Members of the Palestinian delegation to the Camp David
summit say the issue of the Temple Mount came up for discussion only in
the last two days of the talks. The Palestinians say they were quite
astonished to hear the Israeli representatives suddenly talk of wanting a
Jewish religious presence (a synagogue) near the mosques, in addition to
demands for sovereignty. And what will be left for us, they asked.

Abu Mazen said last week that under current Israeli proposals, supported by
the Americans, responsibility for the mosques will indeed remain in the
hands of the Waqf (Muslim religious trust), but the Palestinian state will have
no sovereignty over the Mount, but rather only over a small compound. This
will be, in his words, like an embassy in a foreign country.

The head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Yasser Abd-Rabo, said over
the weekend that he found it very strange that the same Israeli government
presuming to implement a secular reform was now making demands
regarding the "nation's holy sites" on the Temple Mount. In other words, only
when secular Israelis talk to Palestinians are they suddenly reminded of
things held holy by their religion.

Other senior Palestinian officials note that the very fact that the negotiations
are now entirely focused on the holy places is dangerous, because such
talks naturally lead to the rise of religious zeal and to arguments touting fiery
slogans of holy wars. Who needs all this?

Whether or not Prime Minister Ehud Barak was the one who diverted the
negotiations toward the question of the Temple Mount - it is clear that
Yasser Arafat happily embraced the challenge. The al-Aqsa mosque is the
most convenient battlefield for Arafat. Fighting for Jerusalem's holy mosques
attracts the world's attention to the Palestinian leader and makes him a hero
to millions of Muslims and Arabs. There is no better issue for him. Were he
to focus the struggle now on the neighborhood of Shuafat, the Jewish
settlement construction in Har Homa, or turning Abu Dis into Area A (area
under sole Palestinian rule) - who in the world would care? Who has even
heard of these places?

The same goes for any other issue: The borders, water, security, even the
refugees - not one of these can bring Arafat as much support and
understanding as al-Aqsa. He has been preparing for this for a long time. The
Egyptian artisans building the ornate preacher's podium of walnut wood,
copying the model of the podium burned in the fire at Al Aqsa in 1969, have
already completed their work. But the original podium was brought into al-
Aqsa by Saladin, the liberator of Jerusalem, 850 years ago, and Yasser
Arafat is now holding up the delivery of the new podium because he wants to
bring it in person. Like the admired hero, who expelled the crusaders from
the city, he will now return al-Aqsa to Muslim rule. On this backdrop,
Muhammed Dahlan (who took part in the current talks in New York) said two
days ago that anyone expecting a softening of the Palestinian position on al-
Aqsa is a lunatic living in a fantasy world.

But among the senior Palestinian officials there are also those who see the
grave danger in the current focus on Jerusalem's holy sites. When the
dispute over the Temple Mount is finally resolved, it will suddenly become
clear that the problems in other fields are no easier to solve. Arafat might
indeed clinch some impressive achievements in Haram al-Sharif and maybe
even in other places in the Old City. But then he will be forced to make
concessions on other issues.

After all, one cannot win all the time, on all fronts. You got al-Aqsa, then give
up on the settlements, he will be told. Or on any other issue. And so, the
Palestinians will pay a heavy price for the achievement of al-Aqsa.

http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/article.asp?mador=4&datee=09/18/00&i
d=93271

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - World Affairs Report items (9/17/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 09:13:02 -0400

MOSCOW'S NEW EAST-WEST LINK

With the enthusiastic support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia,
India and Iran have undertaken the construction of an "international transit
corridor" (ITC) linking East Asia with Europe. Other participants, including
the largest of the states of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, may soon join the 3
original signatories, according to official Russian sources. The construction
of the ITC is intended to eventually link the farthest reaches of Asia with the
heart of Europe. The Russian government considers the project "strategically
important," and regards it as one of Russia's "top priorities." Moscow hopes
to use the project to substantially increase its share of the transportation
revenues involved in the estimated $250bn worth of trade between Asia and
Europe.

Earlier this year, Moscow advocated the establishment of a "single transit
network" linking Asia and Europe, as well as a railway from the Chinese
coast to Germany. At the time, Moscow estimated that goods traveling over
the suggested land route would arrive at their destinations twice as fast as
cargo using sea-lanes. Russian experts believe that it is not possible to
substantially increase the efficiency of ocean shipping. According to
Moscow, the possibilities of ocean shipping between Asia and Europe "have
actually been exhausted."

East Asia stands as a priority for Moscow. Putin, prior to his July summit
with Chinese leaders in Beijing, stated that Russia "assigns a priority to its
relationship with Asia" and that Russia "would look East and West"
regarding its foreign policy. Moscow's interests in Asia, however, extend
beyond commercial matters to military concerns. At the beginning of this
year, Russia's National Commission on Defense Technology approved a plan
"which puts India and China in the center of Russian defense cooperation
plans."

Though the 2 Asian giants -- China and India -- have a long history of
receiving military hardware from Russia, the scale of military assistance,
particularly to China, has increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. In
December 1995, China became Russia's "major partner in the fields of
military and technical cooperation." In April 1997, Russia and China signed
an accord declaring the nations' intent to establish a "New World Order," and
a "multi-polar world." Since that time, Moscow has transferred both technical
information and highly sophisticated weaponry to mainland Beijing.

India also remains an important partner for Moscow. In March 1999, Russia
and India signed a $10bn military and technical aid agreement extending to
the year 2010. Moscow is also firm in its support of Iran. Russia has sought
to frustrate U.S. efforts to isolate Iran and has assisted that nation's nuclear
power industry. Earlier this month, the Stalinist nation of Belarus, Russia's
partner in the newly established Union State of Russia and Belarus, issued
an official statement declaring that Iran was a "major and reliable partner."

Moscow, which sits astride a potentially highly lucrative transportation link
between Europe and Asia, is also in the process of expanding its sales of
natural gas and electricity to Europe, as well as developing similar
capabilities to deliver energy supplies to both China and Japan.
(WorldNetDaily)

GERMANS MOURN WAR DEAD AT LAST

Germany has embarked on its most ambitious and controversial act of
national remembrance. The country is burying its wartime dead - digging up
the remains of chilblained soldiers from distant battlefields and laying them
to rest in modern cemeteries scattered across the plains of eastern Europe.
If anyone doubts that the Germans are recovering their sense of identity then
it should be sufficient to visit these extraordinary graveyards, surrounded by
German-landscaped chrysanthemum beds and approached by smart new
German-built roads sturdy enough to bear the air-conditioned tourist buses
that are already heading east.

Freshly painted crosses and stones etched with enough names to fill a
telephone directory show that another taboo has been shattered: Germans,
55 years on, feel free to mourn openly their war dead and feel that they too
were victims of war. The latest and largest German war cemetery was
opened last weekend at Sologubovka, an hour's drive south of St Petersburg.
It is bigger than any similar graveyard, even in Germany: 22,000 Germans
are buried there and another 60,000 bodies are on the way.

Between Berlin, the capital of the Third Reich, and Moscow, the city that
never fell, more than 3mn German soldiers died. Almost 250,000 have been
exhumed from unmarked graves. They have been identified with the help of
the German Red Cross and the People's Union for the Care of War Graves, a
German organisation that is quietly influential in the efforts to restore national
pride. This huge undertaking has been under way since the fall of
communism and now includes war graves in northern Poland, Slovakia, the
Czech Republic, the Baltic states and Hungary. Almost 300 cemeteries have
been renovated and rebuilt, 160 of them in Russia, Belarus and other former
Soviet states.

For Britain and other victors of WW2, the question of war graves is not in the
least controversial. But burying the German dead prompts debate about their
identity and crimes they may have committed. In Prague more than 2,000
German bodies are being kept in a mortuary awaiting reburial. Thousands
more, exhumed from unmarked graves throughout the Czech Republic, are
expected by Christmas.

Do these corpses include SS troopers and Gestapo officers? Do they include
ethnic Germans killed by angry Czechs after the war ended? Pavel
Machacek of the Association of Expelled Czechs says that ordinary German
soldiers should be given a decent burial in line with international agreements.
"But these agreements are intended solely for soldiers and not for the SS
and Gestapo who were war criminals. If the cemetery in Prague cannot give
assurances that war criminals are not being buried there, then it should not
be used at all."

Naturally no such guarantee can be given, and in any case the German
argument is that German dead, irrespective of what they may have done,
should be honourably buried and mourned.The man who lobbies hardest for
this settling of history is Fritz Kirchmeier, of the war graves union, which was
set up after WW1 and co-opted by the Nazis in 1933. Under the Nazis,
National Remembrance Day became Fallen Heroes' Day. Herr Kirchmeier
does not say that all the Germans being exhumed are heroes but he believes
that it is their Germanness that counts, not their war records. The same
principle applies to war cemeteries on German soil: at Arnsburg, in Hesse,
for example where the graves of SS troopers lie alongside the prisoners and
slave labourers they murdered. The danger of these exhumations is that the
act of burying the dead becomes a bid to bury the past. (The London Times)

The Daily
WORLD AFFAIRS REPORT
ISSUE #306
via: origin@egroups.com

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - God-free gathering challenges religion
From: bpr-list@philologos.org
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 13:15:13 -0500

God-free gathering challenges religion
Atheist convention addresses spiritual norms, discrimination

RICHARD CHIN
STAFF WRITER

In God they don't trust.

At least that's the case at the Freedom From Religion Foundation
convention held this weekend in downtown St. Paul.

About 250 members of the FFRF -- or ``effers'' as some refer to
themselves -- showed up at the Radisson Inn to attend hear speeches
about sexual abuse by clergy members, denounce the rise of irrational
thought, bemoan the decline of skepticism, and call for the
separation of church and state.

They exchanged jocular greetings like ``You're all going to hell'' or
``Well, hello, you godless sons of b------.''

They browsed book titles like ``The Born Again Skeptic's Guide to the
Bible'' and ``The World Famous Atheist Cookbook.''

Naturally, there were bumper stickers and T-shirts with mottoes:
``Friendly Neighborhood Atheist,'' ``Happy Heathen,'' ``Born OK the
First Time,'' ``Don't Pray In My School and I Won't Think in Your
Church,'' and ``No Gods, No Master.'' They gave out awards to atheist
activists and other ``freethinkers,'' including one to a Minneapolis
atheist with the ironic name of Gabriel Carlson. Carlson, a recent
University of Minnesota graduate in religious studies, philosophy and
rhetoric, was honored for starting a national organization called the
Secular Student Alliance.

-- more --

http://www.pioneerplanet.com/news/mtc_docs/037273.htm

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To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Arutz-7 New items (9/18/00)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org("Moza")
Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 15:06:07 -0400

TALKS ARE STALLED

Prime Minister Ehud Barak told his Cabinet today that Israel opposes not
only the transfer of Temple Mount sovereignty to the Palestinians, but
completely rules out the possibility of transferring such control to any Islamic
body whatsoever. Regarding the current state of the negotiations, Prime
Minister Barak said that despite the ongoing contacts, there is no
development "worthy of mention," nor has there been any change in the
Palestinian position.

Palestinian spokesmen said again today that they reject any plan to offer
sovereignty over the Mount to the United Nations, and that they insist on
total Palestinian control over the site. Another sign of the stalled talks was
today's report that the Palestinians have reneged on previous pledges, such
as their consent to Israel's retention of settlement blocs in Judea and
Samaria.

In light of the apparent stalemate, U.S. President Clinton announced that he
would analyze the situation and decide how to proceed. It is likely that he
will dispatch a "senior official" to the region.

Arutz-7's Kobi Sela reports that in tandem with the lack of movement in the
talks, the PA is "heating up the territory." Almost every one of the hourly
convoys to Netzarim in Gush Katif was stoned this morning by Arab rock-
throwers. The army has partially closed the Erez Checkpoint in Gaza in
response, although the Karni Checkpoint further south is open.

PA TERRORIST PRISONERS GO ON VACATION

Dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been released over the
past few days from Palestinian Authority prisons for "extended vacations."
Among the terrorists benefiting from the PA largesse are those who were
involved in major attacks against Israelis, such as the bus bombings of early
1996. Israeli security sources said that the revolving-door policy has "come
to life."

In a related development, a senior IDF officer says that there has been a
sharp increase over the past month in the number of Arabs arrested by the
PA for collaborating with Israel. Among them are almost 30 Israeli-Arabs,
some of whom have been harshly tortured to reveal information on their
contacts with the Israeli GSS.

MELCHIOR IN FAVOR OF JEWISH IMMIGRATION

Diaspora Affairs Minister Rabbi Michael Melchior continues to decry the
growing rate of non-Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union. He told
reporters yesterday that almost two-thirds of those who have arrived in Israel
this year are not Jewish. He said that the "grandchild clause" in the Law of
Return - according to which non-Jewish grandchildren of a Jew are
entitled to Israeli citizenship if he immigrates - should be nullified.

CNN ON JERUSALEM

Following CNN's website coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations can
be a learning experience. Yesterday's report, datelined "CNN-Reuters,"
stated, "Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in 1967, annexing it and
declaring the entire city its 'indivisible capital.'" The report neglected to
mention that a) Israel captured it in a defensive war, b) from Jordan - whose
annexation of the city in 1948 was recognized by only two countries in the
world - and c) that the "declaration" of the city as Israel's "indivisible capital"
was merely a renewal of a situation that had been in effect until 1,900 years
ago - and that no other nation ever claimed the city as its capital in the
meantime.

A CNN report on Friday, Sept. 15, quoted a Palestinian official referring to
the Temple Mount as "al-Haram al-Sharif," and then explained, "Al-Haram al-
Sharif, the Holy Sanctuary, is the Moslem term for what the Jews call the
Temple Mount, the western wall of which is Judaism's most sacred site." In
fact, of course, the Temple Mount itself is Judaism's most sacred site, while
the Western Wall is merely an interim substitute for the Jewish nation which
is prevented both politically and Halakhically from totally actualizing its
sovereignty on the Mount.

In at least two articles last week, CNN neglected to mention the Christian
and Jewish name "Temple Mount" at all, while referring only to "Al-Haram Al-
Sharif" and calling it in one case "a sensitive mosque compound in
Jerusalem's walled Old City."

Some of CNN's website articles on the Israeli-Palestinian talks are from
Reuters, while others are CNN-originals. Reuters refers to the PA Chairman
as "President Yasser Arafat," although CNN reports generally call him
"Palestinian leader." This past Friday's CNN report was an exception, and
also gave Arafat the title "President."

PRICELESS DAMAGE

Is there no way to stop the damage to archaeological sites in Jerusalem?
Suleiman Abasi, an Arab resident of eastern Jerusalem, will be charged by
the police with causing such damage after he carried out earth-moving works
at an ancient City of David site not far from the Temple Mount. The police
had repeatedly warned him not to do so without permission from the
Antiques Authority. In addition, charges have been filed against contractor
Aharon Cohen, who destroyed a burial cave from the Second Temple period
in Ben-Hinom Valley, immediately south of the Old City, several days ago.

FROM JERUSALEM WILL GO FORTH TORAH

Some 15,000 public high school students from all around the country are
making night-visits to Jerusalem during this Jewish month of Elul, the
traditional month of Penitence. The students, accompanied by guides from
the Gesher Association - which "aims to promote mutual understanding
between religious and secular Jews in Israel" - will tour the Western Wall
Tunnels, as well as synagogues in Meah She'arim, Nachlaot, and the
Bucharim quarter. They will also conduct discussions on "personal
accounting," "forgiveness," and similar topics.

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <www.IsraelNationalNews.com>
Monday, Sept. 18, 2000 / Elul 18, 5760

From: moza@butterfly.mv.com

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