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Newsletter : 9fax0528.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN May 28, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 101
Absorption Minister Welcomes Kosovo Refugees
By IsraelWire
Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein welcomed 100 Kosovo refugees to Israel: "In the Torah, we are commanded, 36 times, to love the stranger and the guest 'because you were strangers in the Land of Egypt.' For thousands of years, the Jewish people have known the price of being strangers and aliens. Today, the State of Israel, founded on Jewish history and tradition, again opens its heart to people who have been forced to temporarily flee their homeland."
Netanyahu will Leave Active Politics -- Maybe
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu -- defeated by Labor
party leader Ehud Barak in last week's election -- says he will
turn down a seat in the next Israeli parliament and leave active
politics -- at least for the time being.
The election defeat did not cool the passion of Netanyahu
supporters, who greeted him with chants of "Israel, Israel" and
"Bibi don't quit" at the Likud party central committee meeting in
Tel Aviv.
Netanyahu, who resigned as party leader when he made his concession
speech last week, confirmed to the central committee that he will
not take seat in the new parliament. However, he appeared to leave
the door open to a return to active political life at a later
date.
Netanyahu said he will quit the Knesset, but in no way will he
resign from the struggle for the future of Israel. And he closed
his speech by saying, "God willing, we will make a comeback."
The central committee confirmed outgoing Foreign Minister Ariel
Sharon as interim leader of the Likud, which has been invited to
join the Barak government as a junior partner.
Barak is trying to build a broad coalition in the Knesset -- which
is more fragmented with small parties than ever before -- in order
to have a mandate to seek peace agreements with the Palestinians
and Syria.
The Labor party leader will have until early July to complete his coalition negotiations, and in the meantime, Netanyahu will stay on as prime minister in a caretaker capacity. Netanyahu has not announced what he intends to do when he leaves office. But aides say he may write a book about his turbulent three-year tenure as prime minister, and could also take to the lucrative lecture circuit in the United States and Europe.
Palestinian Demonstration Stopped by Israeli Police
By David Gollust (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli police used force Thursday to break up a demonstration by
Palestinian leaders at the construction site of a Jewish housing
project in east Jerusalem.
What was to have been a peaceful sit-in protest turned violent when
demonstrators, including two Arab members of Israel's parliament,
tried to push their way past Israeli police at the main gate to the
controversial "Ras al-Amoud" housing project.
The police, including some on horseback, charged the crowd of about
200 protesters and beat several demonstrators and journalists with
nightsticks. Police arrested four people, including two reporters,
who they accused of resisting arrest.
Protest leaders -- among them Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi
-- said they were shocked by the use of force. "It's not only the
confiscation of land and building settlements, but also that they
have no regard for human lives and human rights, and they deal with
absolute violence and brutality on unarmed civilians. This is
unacceptable. This is sheer, pure fascism and unbridled violence.
I don't know where all this hate comes from. It's incredible."
The clash and rhetoric underscored tensions surrounding the Ras
al-Amoud project, a 130-unit housing project for Jews being built by
an American millionaire in an Arab east Jerusalem neighborhood
overlooking the walled Old City.
Construction had been held up by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
for security reasons, but went ahead last week on the eve of the
election in which Netanyahu was defeated by Labor party leader Ehud
Barak.
The senior Palestinian official in Jerusalem, Faisal Husseini,
says the election was a vote against settlement-building. And he
says Barak -- as a first priority after taking office -- should
stop the Ras al-Amoud project and the larger "Har Homa" settlement
in east Jerusalem.
Barak, who may need several weeks to put together a coalition
government, has not taken a position on the two east Jerusalem
projects. But he does rule out compromise over Israeli control
over east Jerusalem, which israel liberated and annexed in 1967,
and which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future
Palestinian state.
