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Newsletter : 8fax0814.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Aug. 14, 1998, Vol. 6, No. 145
An Unfortunate Accident
By IsraelWire
In Kibbutz Kfar Giladi, a 90-year-old resident accidentally caused her twin sister to break her arm. Due to the heat-wave, Banov Astachon decided to give her twin sister a ride on her moped to the dining room. When she was getting off the vehicle, it accidentally jumped forward causing the fracture and minor bruises.
Swiss Agree to Pay Survivors $1.25 Billion
By Barbara Schoetzau (VOA-New York), Mark Lavie (VOA-Jerusalem)
New York City and state canceled plans Thursday to impose sanctions
on the Swiss banks involved in a lawsuit filed by survivors of the
Nazi Holocaust.
The action comes in the wake of an historic settlement reached
Wednesday between the banks and Jewish groups representing
Holocaust survivors. The banks agreed to pay the survivors $1.25
billion in response to a lawsuit claiming the banks blocked the
efforts of Holocaust survivors to trace assets deposited by their
families before and during World War 2.
A number of U.S. cities and states, including New York, threatened
an economic embargo against the banks until a satisfactory
settlement was reached. New York's sanctions were scheduled to
take effect Sept. 1. After the announced settlement, a lawyer for
the plaintiffs said the threat of sanctions was crucial in bringing
about the agreement.
U.S. Sen, Alphonse d'Amato, R-N.Y., played a prominent role in the
controversy. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, d'Amato
held public hearings on the issue. "1.25 billion dollars is a lot
of money but it can never bring total peace. But hopefully it
brings about an opportunity to bring about healing. And it is a
measure of justice."
The first installment of $250 million could be made as soon as
three months from now. The rest of the money will be paid out over
the following three years.
Israelis are expressing satisfaction over an agreement with the
banks in Switzerland but the agreement may not signal the end of
the affair.
It took three years of sometimes angry negotiations to work out the
compensation agreement. The problem emerged because of the
traditional secrecy of Swiss bank accounts. Many Jews got their
money into Swiss accounts -- but were killed in Nazi death camps.
Their relatives could not produce numbers or documentation about
the accounts, and the banks refused to release the money. Now, say
representatives of Jewish organizations, aging survivors and
relatives of victims will finally get some of their money.
Avraham Burg, an Israeli official who headed the Jewish
negotiating team, says this is an important step. "This is actually
a combination of the Jewish struggle and the American justice
system that brought one chapter of the restitution of Jewish
property back to Jewish hands, and I would say that I am happy."
But this is not the end of the story between Switzerland and
the Jewish people. It emerged that Swiss banks are holding large
amounts of gold -- some of it stolen from Jews by the Nazi
government. Burg says that requires a change in a 50-year-old
agreement over dividing up the gold.
"The story of the gold has a lot to do with the Central Bank of
Switzerland, with the governments of the time, and the Washington
Agreement of 1948 how to divide the gold of the Nazi era among the
governments of the time, because it was assumed that most of the
gold was looted from central banks. No one knew at the time that
part of it was looted from Jews."
Negotiations over what to do with the gold began last year in
London. The talks are to continue this November in Washington.
PM's Driver Names Son After PM's Fallen Brother
By IsraelWire
The prime minister and his wife participated in the circumcision
ceremony of Yonatan (Yoni) Azulai, the son of the prime minister's
driver, who chose the name after the prime minister's brother,
Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, who was killed in the July 1976 Israeli
rescue of hostages in Entebbe. Among the guests at the circumcision
was Professor Bentzion Netanyahu, the prime minister's father.
Jerusalem PD Commander Falls into Sewer
By IsraelWire
Jerusalem District Police Commander Yair Yitzchaki and a brigadier
general fell into a sewer hole, while participating in a tour of
the southern area of the capital. The two sustained on light
injuries. (Note: The hole was in preparation for a sewer to be
constructed in the future, and not an active sewer.)
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