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Newsletter : 8fax0904.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Sept. 4, 1998, Vol. 6, No. 159
Israel Releases 80-Year-Old Soviet Spy From Prison
Israel Faxx Staff Report
A Beersheva court released to house arrest Marcus Klingberg, an
80-year-old Israeli scientist Thursday, jailed for nearly 16 years
for spying for the former Soviet Union. The district court said the
ailing Klingberg, former deputy head of the Nes Ziona Biological
Institute near Tel Aviv, would serve the remainder of his 20-year
sentence at home. Foreign reports have called the institute
Israel's biological warfare center. Klingberg, an epidemiologist,
worked there from 1957 until his arrest.
Ross Will Return to Middle East
By David Gollust (VOA-Armagh, Northern Ireland)
President Clinton is sending special envoy Dennis Ross back to the Middle East next week for another try at breaking the deadlock in the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. A Clinton spokesman said Ross will travel to the region early next week for a few days of discussions with Israeli and Palestinian leaders aimed at narrowing differences that have stalled peace talks for more than a year.
The president made the decision after having separate phone
conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat from Moscow Wednesday night after
completing his summit with Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The dispatch of Ross signals a return to an active role in the
bargaining by the Clinton administration, after expressing
frustration over the pace of talks earlier this year and taking a
stand-off approach.
The stumbling block continues to be the terms of the next phase
of Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank. It has prevented
the parties from moving on to the so-called final status issues
including the future of Jerusalem and the question of a Palestinian
state. Under the Oslo Accords, the entire process is to be
completed by May of next year.
Israel Shuts Down as Nation Strikes
By Mark Lavie (VOA-Tel Aviv)
Israel was hit by a general strike in the public sector Thursday,
as workers walked off their jobs in a pay dispute with the
government. The public sector workers join Israel's teachers who
are in the third day of their strike.
For the second time this week, marathon all-night negotiations
failed to avert a strike in Israel. This time 300,000 public
sector workers walked out, paralyzing services including government
offices, medical clinics, and garbage collection. Israel's
teachers refused to start the school year Tuesday, striking after
talks with the government broke down.
In both cases, the issue is the most basic one -- money. The
public sector workers and the teachers want more money than the
Israeli government is willing to give them. Union leaders point
out that the wages of some civil servants here are so low that
they also qualify for welfare payments.
But the government does not want to endanger its only economic
achievement -- cutting inflation to 5 percent a year. This was
achieved by slashing government spending and maintaining high
interest rates, as Israel's economy went into a tailspin. The
results -- a recession and high unemployment.
This week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Israel's
economy an "island of stability" in a world faced with economic
turmoil. Critics responded that the only element of stability here
is the inflation rate.
Israel's Finance Minister Ya'acov Ne'eman insists that he will not
approve wage increases that exceed the limits of his budget. Union
leaders declare that their strikes will continue until they get
what they want.
This is a traditional Israeli form of collective bargaining --
brinkmanship, noisy threats, bombastic statements -- until a
compromise is finally hammered out. It always leaves many here
wondering why the agreements could not have been negotiated before
the strikes.
Yeltsin Participates in Dedication of Holocaust Synagogue
By IsraelWire
Russian President Boris Yeltsin was among the dignitaries who took part in Wednesday's dedication of the new Moscow synagogue, dedicated as a perpetual memorial to the Holocaust.
The $12 million structure becomes the first synagogue built in
Moscow since the Communist Revolution. The synagogue was
constructed as a memorial for the Russian victims of the Nazi
atrocities. Most of the funding for the synagogue came from the
Russian Jewish Congress.
Over 200 guests attended, including Israeli Minister of Industry
and Trade and former Prisoner of Zion, Natan Sharansky, opposition
leader Ehud Barak and Edgar Bronfman of the World Jewish Congress.
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