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Newsletter : 9fax0521.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN May 21, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 96
The Shavuot Holiday
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Fifty days after Passover, on the 6th of Sivan, is the festival of Shavuot, or Pentecost. This year, Shavuot began Thursday night. Shavuot is compared to a wedding, for it was on Shavuot that the covenant between God and the Jewish People was sealed at Mount Sinai. The exchange of love between God and the Jewish people is symbolized by the dual nature of the holiday: Shavuot is both an agricultural festival, commemorating the offering of the people's first fruits in the Temple, and a spiritual climax, commemorating God's giving of the Torah to the Jewish nation.
Golan Heights: Going, Going...
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak says he will hold the
defense portfolio himself for at least the first two years of his
new government. Barak is said to be preparing an overture to renew
peace talks with Syria.
Barak says he will double as defense chief to better coordinate
political and security aspects of peace-making, which Israeli
newspapers say could begin with the Syria-Lebanon track of the
peace process.
Yediot Aharonot reports Barak is preparing a five-point plan for
those negotiations, in which Syria is certain to renew demands for
a return of the Golan Heights.
Israeli author and Syria expert Moshe Ma'oz says this week's
elections indicate most Israelis are resigned to the idea of a
Golan handover in return for peace. "The Golan party has vanished.
And the majority of Golan settlers also voted for Barak. So in the
public, I think, there is this inclination or realization or
acknowledgement that the Golan must go."
Syria contends that Israel's previous Labor government had
privately agreed to return the entire Golan Heights -- captured in
the 1967 Middle East war -- before the dialogue ended with the
election of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Yediot Aharonot says
the Israeli declaration would be generally worded, but imply
acceptance of the Syrian position.
An Israeli pullback from the Golan would involve the uprooting of most or all of the 17,000 Jewish settlers on the strategic plateau. The government of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin encountered violent resistance when it removed settlers from Yamit in the Sinai to make peace with Egypt.
Despite the gains of "Shas," the big winners in the Knesset
elections were centrist and leftist parties while Likud was humbled
-- dropping from 32 seats to just 19. Final official results issued
early Thursday meant an additional Knesset seat for the left wing
"Meretz" party, which will go to party activist Husseina Jabarra --
who will be the first Arab woman in the Israeli parliament.
In all there will be 13 Arab or Druze members in the 120-seat
Knesset, among them Ahmed Tibi -- a former top adviser of
Palestinian Authority chief Yasir Arafat.
Palestinians Will Call For Nov. 15 Declaration
By Arutz 7 News Service
November 15 is Yasir Arafat's new target date for the declaration
of a Palestinian state. The Algerian News Agency quotes a "senior
Palestinian figure" as saying this is the date that the Palestinian
National Council, sitting in "exile" in Algeria, declared a state
in 1988. He emphasized that this declaration was based on UN
resolution 181 of 1947, known as the Partition Plan.
The official PA newspaper, Al Hayat al-Jadida, claims that "Ehud
Barak is a settler." Its feature article on Barak states the prime
minister-elect lives in the "settlement" Kochav Ya'ir on the Green
Line border in "northern West Bank." Barak said he lives "50 meters
from Judea and Samaria."
Couple May Divorce Over Elections
By IsraelWire
Political differences threaten to break up a family - a Haifa couple married over 50 years have moved into separate rooms after disagreeing on who to vote for in the election for prime minister.
Shamai and Esther Yaron began arguing two months ago about who was
the best candidate for prime minister. He decided to support
Binyamin Netanyahu, while she preferred Ehud Barak. After bitter
arguments, Esther moved out of the bedroom she shared with Shamai
for over 50 years into a spare room. The couple is considering
divorce.
According to Shamai, his wife has changed her political opinions
back and forth through the years, and this time he could not stand
it. He's willing to leave her the apartment, he just wants her to
leave him alone. Esther celebrated Barak's victory and has refused
to forgive her husband. She said that he is too stubborn, and that
now he is angry over the outcome of the election.
The couple's daughter has turned to a marriage counselor for
suggestions for conciliation between her parents, but the couple
are not leaving much room for hope.
15-Year-Old Faces Charges for Chocolate Theft
By IsraelWire
A 15-year-old resident of Afula will be charged with theft in a local court for stealing a chocolate bar valued at NIS 5.20 (about $1.30). Afula District police report the teenager was brought in after being apprehended, was questioned, and police intend to file criminal charges.
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