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Newsletter : 9fax0112.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Jan. 12, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 7
Commercial Airplanes to Carry Anti-Missile Capabilities
By IsraelWire
Several commercial airlines have approached the European "Airbus" Company, asking it to develop missile detection and neutralization technology that could be deployed on passenger airliners. Although the names of the airlines have not been revealed, engineers at the French Airbus firm have contacted a subsidiary of Lockheed-Martin, the manufacturers of the F-16. It appears that a system based on fighter plane technology will be incorporated into the Airbus design.
Peres Tells Palestinians He Favors a State
By Ilene Prusher (VOA-Ramallah)
Visiting peacemakers from around the world are giving Palestinians
a boost for their goal of establishing a state. But Israeli and
American officials say Palestinians must be more patient before
Israeli elections in the spring. Palestinians want an independent
state and few people around the world -- including many Israelis --
appear to disagree.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres told Palestinian
legislators, meeting in Ramallah, he thinks such a state is also
in Israel's best interest. During an international convention
for the peace center founded in his name, Peres said Monday
such a state could only come out of a proper negotiating process.
"We have to negotiate to reach an agreement, and we are not going
again to return to the ugly business of war and terror."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has ruled out further
implementation of the Wye Accords, accusing the Palestinians of not
living up to their side of the deal. And the peace process is
expected to stay frozen until Israeli elections May 17.
Arafat has been saying for months he will unilaterally declare a
state May 4, when the five-year peacemaking period outlined in the
Oslo Accords is up. But he is coming under mounting foreign and
local pressure to back down from that threat because of fears it
may help re-elect a right-wing government.
But in the first address by an Israeli official to the Palestinian
parliament -- Peres said Israelis would vote for peace in the
coming election. "It is our deep hope not only that the Palestinian
people will gain independence. From the Palestinian point of view,
and from the Israeli point of view, it is our common interest to
see a Palestinian state taking place."
Meanwhile, the Clinton administration says it does not agree with
Netanyahu's decision to stop implementing the Wye Accords.
Middle-East peace envoy Dennis Ross is returning to the region.
American officials say he will try to persuade Arafat not to
press the May 4 declaration date.
Congressman Tom Lantos, a California Democrat participating in
the three-day peace convention, put it in more blunt terms in his
address to Palestinians: "Do not do anything on the fourth of May,
because all hell will break loose and all your advantages and gains
will go down the drain."
Later in the day, Arafat showed flexibility -- saying Palestinians
will consider whether or not declaring a state in May is in their
best interest.
"New Yorker" Reveals Pollard's "Damage"
By Martin Bush (VOA-New York)
The "New Yorker" magazine reports that an American convicted of
spying in the United States for Israel inflicted major damage on US
intelligence systems.
Jonathan Pollard, a onetime Navy intelligence analyst, has been
serving a life sentence since 1986 for passing secrets to the
Israeli government. Author Seymour Hersh in a "New Yorker" article
says -- among other things -- that Pollard gave the Israelis a top
secret surveillance manual, detailing worldwide American
eavesdropping techniques.
Quoting what he calls senior members of the US intelligence
community, Hersh also writes that Pollard disclosed to Israel the
identification of confidential American intelligence sources...
and that much of this information ended up in the Soviet Union.
Speaking on US television, Hersh said that included data about the
location of Soviet submarines.
"There's a daily report the Navy got from the Middle East every
morning telling where the submarines are. The idea is in case of
war, we hit them. We don't want the Russians submarines firing at
our bases in Europe and America. And Pollard simply gave away that
report every day, not just for a day but for a year."
At the request of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu,
President Clinton is now considering clemency for Pollard. Hersh
says US intelligence officials gave him this additional information
because they are trying to pressure the president from pardoning
Pollard.
The World Jewish Congress has asked Clinton to delay his decision
until three prominent American Jews can state the case for Pollard.
They include Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz, who
is a Pollard family advisor. "All we're asking for is for the
president to hear both sides of the issue, not selected leaks from
people who have an incentive to try to overstate the damage."
Dershowitz says the material Pollard passed on to Israel never
reached the Soviet Union.
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