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Newsletter : 8fax1112.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Nov. 12, 1998, Vol. 6, No. 204
Israeli Gas Mask Centers Open
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Israel will open its gas mask distribution centers Thursday in
response to the latest U.S.-Iraqi standoff. Defense officials said
distribution centers would enable Israelis to replace old masks
with new ones. Iraq fired dozens of Scud missiles at Israel in the
1991 Gulf War, causing extensive damage but only one death. Itim
news agency quoted an Israeli general as saying 75% of the public
had functioning gas masks but there was still a shortage of
equipment for children.
U.S. Urges Americans to Abandon Israel
By Al Pessin (VOA-Jerusalem)
The State Department is urging US citizens to consider leaving
Israel and Kuwait because of tensions with Iraq, and has authorized
non-essential US diplomats and diplomatic families in those
countries to leave at government expense, if they want to.
It is the second time this year that the State Department has
authorized what it calls a "voluntary departure" of diplomats and
their families from Israel and Kuwait because of tensions with
Iraq. The spokesman for the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Larry Schwartz
said,
"The State Department has deemed it prudent to allow US government
dependents and non-emergency personnel who wish to do so to leave
post temporary in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Kuwait until the
situation becomes less confrontational between the international
community and Iraq."
The US government is not making any special arrangements for the
departure of private US citizens. A similar increase in tensions
with Iraq resulted in a similar State Department announcement in
February. At that time, Israel was gripped with a fair amount of
panic, as citizens rushed to get gas masks and to try to seal their
homes against the possibility of chemical or biological attack by
Iraq.
No missiles were fired at Israel at that time. In 1991, Iraq hit
Israel with 39 Scud missiles, all of them carrying conventional
explosive war heads.
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday Israel is
prepared to defend itself against any attack. His government said
gas mask distribution centers throughout the country will re-open
Thursday, after being closed for months.
In its new announcement, the State Department calls the chances of
a chemical or biological attack on Israel "Remote," but says the
possibility "can not be excluded."
Netanyahu's Cabinet Approves Wye Accord
By Al Pessin (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israel's Cabinet has approved the Wye River accord between Israel
and the Palestinians by a narrow margin, after placing several
conditions on Israel's implementation of the agreement.
After more than two days of debate, Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu announced his Cabinet approved the accord by a vote of
eight in favor to four opposed, with five ministers abstaining.
The Cabinet put several conditions on Israel's implementation. It said Israel will only implement the accord fully if the Palestine National Council -- including hundreds of members from abroad -- is convened to formally endorse changes it made two years ago to the anti-Israel Palestinian Charter. The Wye agreement calls for further action on the Charter, but not necessarily the formal vote Israel is now demanding.
Netanyahu says his government will vote again on each stage of the
planned 12-week timetable of the agreement. He says Israel's West
Bank troop withdrawals will only be approved if the Palestinian
Authority fulfills its obligations. From Israel's point of view,
the most important is a crackdown on violent militant groups.
The Cabinet also said formally it will annex parts of the West Bank
if the Palestinian Authority declares statehood unilaterally next
May, at the end of the interim period defined in the original peace
accords. A final peace treaty is due to be ready by then, but
negotiations are years behind schedule.
In addition, the Israeli government declared that any further
withdrawal from the West Bank, called for in existing agreements,
will not amount to more than one percent of the territory -- a
position the Palestinians find totally unacceptable.
At the same time, Netanyahu indicated Israel will soon take two
steps required by the Wye agreement that the Palestinians want
badly -- allowing the opening of the Gaza airport and releasing the
first of three groups of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.
The first Israeli troop withdrawal is due Monday, but officials
say it will be at least several days late. The full Israeli
parliament is to take up the agreement Monday, but probably will
not vote until late Tuesday. Approval there will be easy because of
support from the opposition. Once the Israeli ratification process
is complete, several steps which have been delayed could be done
almost immediately, including the start of several sets of
negotiations -- among them the long-delayed talks on the final
peace treaty.
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