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Newsletter : 9fax0524.txt
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>JN May 24, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 97
Shamir Voted with a White Slip for PM
By IsraelWire
Former Likud prime minister Yitzhak Shamir revealed that in the national elections, he placed a blank slip in the envelope for prime minister. Shamir, a staunch rival of outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, accused the prime minister of destroying the Likud Party. Shamir on several occasions made public statements slamming the policies of the prime minister.
Arafat Discusses Election with Mubarak
By Scott Bobb (VOA-Cairo)
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak have held their first meeting since the election last week
of Ehud Barak as prime minister of Israel. The talks focused on
concerns about the new government which the Israeli leader is to
form.
Arafat called his talks with the president constructive, and told
reporters before leaving Cairo they dealt with ways to revive the
Middle East peace process.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the composition of
Barak's government will signal whether he is sincere about reviving
the peace process.
Moussa said after an earlier meeting with Arafat that the
appointment of conservative politician Ariel Sharon as foreign
minister would send a negative signal. Barak is reportedly
interested in including Sharon's Likud party in a government of
national unity, but is he also talking with other political groups.
Netanyahu Plans to Retire from Politics
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is reported on the verge of retiring from politics, following his crushing election loss to Labor party chief Ehud Barak last week.
Netanyahu resigned as Likud leader when he conceded defeat to Barak
last Monday. Aides say he will announce later this week that he
will spurn a seat in parliament and leave politics in the aftermath
of the election, which saw Likud plummet from 32-Knesset seats to
19.
Netanyahu was attacked for hardline policies that froze the peace
process with the Palestinians. But senior adviser David bar-Ilan
says he will be remembered as the leader who prodded Israel's right
wing into accepting the notion of territorial concessions. "It
means that for the first time in its history, the national movement
and in particular the Likud, has accepted the principle of land for
peace."
Barak begins coalition negotiations today, and Likud, with
Netanyahu departing, is considered a potential partner.
Moscow Jewish Theater Site of Attempted Terrorist Attack
By IsraelWire
A mysterious package was discovered in Moscow's Shalom Jewish Theater last week that turned out to be an undetonated explosive device. Russian authorities linked the incident to a string of bombings blamed on the neo-fascist Russian National Unity movement.
An usher found a bag under a seat in the theater hall after the
performance of a play adapted from an Ilya Erenburg novel. The
usher, thinking that the object was a vacuum cleaner attachment
kept it for several days in the theater. When no one claimed the
package, the usher threw it in the backyard near the staff
entrance.
On Wednesday, an actor who was fixing his car behind the theater
noticed the device and unscrewed its new bolts to use on his car.
When he saw the timer inside the device, he realized that it was a
bomb, became very frightened and threw it away from the theater's
back entrance. He then called the police.
The Federal Security Service said the amount of explosive material
in the bomb was so large that had it exploded, it would have not
only destroyed the theater, but the whole nine story building
with more than 100 apartments. The Russian Jewish VAAD, the
umbrella group of Jewish communities and institutions across
Russia, is also a tenant in the building.
Reform Jews Assaulted at Western Wall on Shavuot Holiday
By IsraelWire
Angry that men and women were praying together, ultra-Orthodox Jews pelted Reform Jews with plastic water bottles Friday, on the Shavuot holiday, at the Western Wall.
According to police reports, one woman in the Reform group
sustained very light injuries. A spokeswoman added that four
persons were arrested.
The Reform Jews were holding their services in the plaza behind the
segregated area, 100 yards or more from the Western Wall. The plaza
was crowded Friday because of the celebration of Shavuot, the
festival that commemorates God's giving the law to Moses on Mount
Sinai.
The ultra-Orthodox have assaulted Reform and Conservative Jews at
the Western Wall several times in the past because men and women
were praying together. The more liberal Reform and Conservative
movements have been trying for years to acquire legitimacy in
Israel and break the Orthodox's monopoly over the country's Jewish
establishment.
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