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Newsletter : 9fax0525.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN May 25, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 98
Barak Receives 20,000 E-Mails Calling to Keep Shas Out
By IsraelWire
Israel Radio reports Prime Minister-Elect Ehud Barak has received more than 20,000 electronic messages, calling upon him not to include the ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Shas Party in his coalition. Officials on Barak's staff admit they have received an unspecified number of faxes and e-mails indicating support for the prime minister-elect no matter what decision was made regarding Shas.
Labor Coalition Talks Under Way
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
In Israel, negotiators for Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak Tuesday
are holding a second day of talks with would-be partners in a broad
coalition government -- one that Barak hopes can restart the peace
process with the Palestinians and Syria.
The Barak team met first with factions of the left and center that
would be natural partners with his Labor party. But they will now
sound-out the right-wing Likud party and the ultra Orthodox
religious faction "Shas" -- the participation of at least one
considered essential for the broad coalition Barak hopes to form.
Likud became more acceptable as a partner with the resignation of
outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as party chief. But
its leaders are divided over whether to support Barak or try to
rebuild the party in the opposition.
"Shas" is more flexible than Likud on the peace process. But some
of Barak's allies say they won't be in a government with "Shas"
because its leader, Arieh Deri, has been convicted of corruption.
Barak will have 45 days to form a government after official results
of last week's election are sent to the Knesset late Tuesday.
Generali Gives Yad Vashem a List of Policy-Holders
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
The big Italian insurance company Generali has given Israel a list
of 100,000 unclaimed life insurance policies from World War 2. The
action is a step toward compensating families of Jewish policy-
holders killed in the Nazi Holocaust.
The Italian insurer gave Israel a computer disc containing the names of 100,000 Eastern Europeans who took out life insurance policies in the years before and during World War 2, but never redeemed them.
The computer information has been handed over to Israel's Yad
Vashem Holocaust Memorial, which will cross-reference the
policy-holders with its database of 3 million European Jews who
died in the Holocaust.
Yad Vashem will submit any matching names to the International
Commission on Holocaust-Era Insurance Claims, which will publish
them in an effort to locate living relatives of policy-holders
who would be entitled to benefits.
Israel has been involved in a long dispute with Generali, one of
Europe's oldest and biggest life insurers, about World War 2
claims.
An adviser to the Israeli government on Jewish-Diaspora affairs,
Bobby Brown, says the release of the data and impending
publication of policy-holder names is a major step forward.
"For us, we will get a lot more satisfaction when these names are
on the Internet, when these names are in newspapers, and people can
access them. But this is a tremendous step forward and the world
will know."
Yad Vashem's processing of the policy information is expected to
be completed by the next meeting of the International Commission
in Jerusalem in late June.
Brown says Israel still awaits a list from Generali of its
unclaimed policies from Western Europe, as well as information on
insurance benefits for Jews that may have been diverted to Nazi
authorities.
Generali and other major European insurers in business during the
Nazi era -- which are facing an array of Holocaust-related lawsuits
-- have set up a $90 million humanitarian fund to compensate
claimants.
Court Permits Jews to Pray on Temple Mount
By IsraelWire
According to Jerusalem Magistrate's Court Justice Shimon Feinberg, Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount of Jerusalem's Old City would not constitute a significant danger to the well being of the public.
The court was hearing a case against right-wing activists Mordehai
Karpel and Oded Lipshitz, who were facing charges of disorderly
conduct on the Mount from an incident which took place about four
years ago. The defendants were acquitted of the charges.
The two had arrived at the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site,
requesting to pray. Police informed them that Jews are not
permitted to pray on the site, which was placed in the custody of
the Muslim Wakf. The two stated they just wished to visit and would
not pray. They were permitted entry with a police escort. When in
proximity of the Al Aksa Mosque, they pulled out prayer shawls and
attempted to pray, an act forbidden to Jews. They were placed in
custody and charged with an unruly behavior in a public place and
interfering with police in the performance of their duty.
Feinberg, in his ruling stated that the Mount was empty of Muslim
worshippers at the time of the incident, and there were only a
small number of tourists. "The defendants were attempting to pray
in a secluded area and were not openly visible."
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