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Newsletter : 9fax0615.txt
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>JN June 15, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 107
Arafat Compares "Israel Occupation" to Kosovo
By IsraelWire
PLO Authority Chief Yasir Arafat has stated the continued "Israel occupation" of areas throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza may be compared to the current situation in Kosovo. According to a WAFA News Agency report, the PA leader made the statements in an address to the PA cabinet in Ramallah Friday.
Arafat called upon the international community to take action as it
did to end the persecution of the Albanians and to continue to take
action until Israel is forced to bring an end to its occupation.
Senior PA negotiator Saeb Erekat stated that Arafat did not mean to
compare the situation between Israel and the PA to Kosovo, but
added that the situation regarding the Albanians has caused US
envoys to focus their attention elsewhere, at the expense of the
Oslo process.
Erekat issued a call to the White House for the immediate
resumption of the Oslo process. He also called upon Prime
Minister-elect Ehud Barak to immediately implement the Wye
memorandum and rejected calls by Barak to move directly to the
final status talks.
Abu Daoud Case Arouses Abu Abbas Case
By Arutz-7 News Service
In light of the decision to bar the entry of PLO terrorist leader Abu Daoud to Israel, the Supreme Court has been asked to rule on a similar issue regarding another PLO terrorist - Muhammad Abu Abbas.
Abu Abbas masterminded the infamous PLO attack on the Italian
cruise liner Achille Lauro, in which an elderly and crippled
American Jew, Leon Klinghoffer, was brutally killed. When Abu Abbas
surfaced last year in Gaza, Atty. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner
petitioned against the Attorney-General, demanding that Abu Abbas
be tried for his role in the murderous attack.
"Abu Abbas is even more dangerous and extreme than Abu Daoud," she
said, "as he still commands a large terrorist faction which has
never accepted Oslo or renounced violence against Israel... The
High Court is obligated to adjudicate every matter that is brought
before it, regardless of its effect on Israel's foreign relations."
Meeting Plans Evacuation of Remaining Ethiopian Jews
By Arutz-7 News Service
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called a meeting of senior
ministers Monday to discuss the plight of more than 3,000 Ethiopian
Jews whose situation has been described as increasingly precarious.
The Jews in question were left behind in Qwara, in a remote region
of northern Ethiopia, when 14,000 others were airlifted to Israel
during the dramatic, two-day "Operation Solomon" airlift in 1991.
The Jewish Agency and Israel's Ambassador to Ethiopia, Ariel Kerem,
say about 2,500 of them have left Qwara and are gathered in a
transit camp in Gundar, where they are awaiting the opportunity to
fly to Israel and be reunited with family members already in
Israel.
Conditions at the camp in Gundar are said to be deteriorating, with
malnutrition on the rise and more infants dying. War in the region
adds to the dangers.
The Interior Ministry, which is controlled by the ultra-Orthodox
Shas Party, has been accused of delaying approving the arrival of
more of the Ethiopians, whose Jewishness is questioned by some
rabbinical authorities.
But the ministry rejects the allegation, saying the real reason for
the hold-up is the fact ministry representatives have been unable
to visit Gundar for three months because of ongoing conflict in the
region. Interior Minister Eli Suissa said last week Israel must
rescue the Ethiopians from the "present danger and deliver them to
safety."
Ethiopia and neighboring Eritrea have been engaged in a bloody
border war since May 1998, and fighting has stepped up in recent
months. Just in the past week, Eritrea has claimed to have killed
more than 4,000 Ethiopian soldiers.
However, Kerem has warned against any high-profile airlift, which
he said would result in a diplomatic row with Addis Ababa. He said
a discreet operation may be wiser, and suggested that the number of
flights to Israel be increased to enable around 500 immigrants to
make the journey each week. The entire Qwara community could thus
emigrate within several months.
At Monday's meeting, Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon was instructed to coordinate the effort to bring the Jews to Israel, while Immigration Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein was appointed to head a team to oversee their absorption into Israeli society. The government also decided to send food and medical assistance to the Qwara Jews.
Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993, but bilateral
relations soured over disputed land along the badly-demarcated,
1,000-km border between them. All-out war erupted a year ago.
The worsening conflict is threatening to draw in Kenya, Somalia,
and perhaps even Libya, which is already reportedly supporting
Eritrea quietly.
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