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Newsletter : 9fax0630.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN June 30, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 118
Revised Palestinian Geography
By Arutz-7 News Service
The official Palestinian Authority newspaper considers Kiryat Shemonah a "settlement." One headline read, "Kiryat Shemonah settlers protest against small reparations." Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman reports that the article itself said that "the residents of the settlements in northern Palestine declared a strike."
Aravah Bus Driver Blinded by Oncoming Traffic
By IsraelWire
Gila Ezra, the driver of the bus involved in a fatal accident on the Aravah Road Saturday night while returning from Eilat, told police officials she was blinded by headlights of oncoming traffic and that she veered onto the right shoulder of the road in an attempt to get out of the line of the headlights, which were impairing her visibility.
The accident claimed the lives of Rom, 3-1/2, and Eli Duani, 11,
and injured more than 50 people.
Police indicated that even if this were the case, Ezra was driving
at 54 mph, faster than permissible and she was on the shoulder.
Police point out that these two elements were responsible for the
fatal accident. They also documented that Ezra was not speaking on
a cellular telephone as alleged by some of passengers. A check of
phone records substantiated the driver's insistence that she was
not using a cell phone.
23 persons remain hospitalized in Soroka and Hadassah Hospitals.
Yosef Duani, the father of the dead boys, is fighting for his life
in the intensive care unit of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. His
daughter, Oshrit, remains in moderate condition and is no longer on
a respirator.
Soldier Was Subject of Discrimination
By IsraelWire
IDF soldier Leonid Roznikovitch, whose partially decomposed body
was found Monday night near S'de Boker, was not adjusting well to
his new life following five months of military service.
According to his parents, their son would frequently complain of the treatment he was subjected to in the military, often the target of degrading remarks and graffiti on the bathroom walls of his armored brigade unit.
According to Haaretz, the army listed Roznikovitch as a deserter
after he was missing for three weeks. Military police came to the
family's Jerusalem home to search for the man despite an insistence
that the search should be concentrated on the areas in southern
Israel, where his lifeless body was eventually found.
The parents insisted they repeatedly requested that police conduct
their search in the south, but they did not even post pictures of
the missing soldier. Mr. Roznikovitch traveled to Eilat himself to
post pictures of his missing son. Preliminary findings, although
not conclusive, indicate Roznikovitch took his own life.
Coptic Christians Await the Millennium
By Lisa Bryant (VOA-Cairo)
The Egyptian government plans a millennium celebration next year to celebrate the flight of Mary, Joseph and the infant Jesus from Israel to Egypt about 2,000 years ago. At some holy family sites, Egypt's Coptic Christians have waited for years for permission to refurbish their churches and monasteries.
The state's apparent footdragging comes as the Egyptian government
is drafting plans for a lavish millennium celebration, complete
with special religious tourism packages and a $9.5 million concert
at the foot of the pyramids.
But much of the official budget seems to be earmarked for secular
causes. It is Egypt's business community that will pay for much
of the restoration of old Christian sites.
Where the holy family went in Egypt remains a matter of scholarly
dispute. But the Ministry of Tourism has worked with Egypt's
Pope Shenouda to draft a map of the family's possible itinerary,
from the deserted Sinai peninsula to the lush Nile valley in
southern Egypt.
The government hopes to attract millennium tourism here, and the
stakes are high. Egypt is still scrambling to replenish tourism
revenues that nose-dived after Islamic terrorists killed 58
foreign tourists in 1997.
Tourism Minister Beltagui says the government wants to sell a gentler image of Egypt. "That effectively, Egypt is a land of refuge. Egypt is a multiracial, multicultural, multiconfessional nation."
So far, Egyptian authorities are pouring $30 million into restoring
the 4th century Hanging Church, in downtown Cairo. But the church
is not considered part of the holy family's itinerary.
Instead, much of the restoration financing will be raised by a
group of Coptic and Muslim businessmen. But so far, the group
has collected only a tiny fraction of the estimated $30-$70 million
that is needed.
For the moment, the businessmen are concentrating only on seven
sites in northern Egypt. That leaves many sites like El Muharraq
Monastery, and a tiny cave church in nearby Kosseir, out of the
picture.
According to local lore, the Virgin Mary appeared near the Kosseir
cave. The shepherd who claimed to have sighted her more than a
century ago, found a tiny church inside, complete with an altar and
religious books.
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