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Newsletter : 9fax0805.txt
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>JN Aug. 5, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 143
A Look Back in Time
By IsraelWire
Aug. 4, 1944 - Nazi police raided the secret annex of a building in Amsterdam and arrested eight people including 15-year-old Anne Frank, whose diary became a famous account of the Holocaust. She died at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
Hebron Is Sealed Off After Jews Are Attacked
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli soldiers have sealed off the West Bank town of Hebron after
unidentified gunmen wounded two Jewish settlers. Both Israelis and
Palestinians are condemning the attack.
Israeli soldiers have imposed a curfew and have set up roadblocks
in Hebron after unidentified gunmen slightly injured two Israeli
settlers during an attack late Tuesday. The gunmen opened fire at
the settlers as they drove through the center of Hebron.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is condemning what he calls a
very serious attack. He says in a statement, "The struggle against
terrorism takes top priority and we demand the Palestinian
Authority act with the greatest determination to capture and
prosecute those responsible."
The Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs, Jamil Tarifi, says the
Palestinian Authority strongly condemns the shooting in Hebron. He
says the Palestinian Authority condemns all violent acts regardless
of their source.
This is the first attack of this kind since Barak became Israel's
prime minister last month. Barak says acts of terrorism are likely
to harm efforts to revive the Middle-East peace process.
Israeli government spokesman Moshe Fogel says it is in the best
interests of both Israel and the Palestinians to catch people
involved in terrorist acts.
"Clearly everyone involved in this peace process has an interest in
preventing terrorist attacks, because no country, certainly not
Israel, whose citizens are targeted in terrorist attacks can
go ahead with a very difficult peace process which requires
concessions on all sides. I think that it is clear that we have to
find these terrorists, put them out of action and make sure we will
not be subject to violent attacks in the future."
The attack came at a time of tension and disagreement between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority over implementation of the Wye
River peace accord. The two sides are discussing the issue but have
not been able to decide how or when to implement the agreement
which calls for the partial hand-over of land to the Palestinians
and a redeployment of Israeli soldiers in the administered
territories.
Meanwhile, in Hebron, shops are closed in the center of the city
and Israeli soldiers are searching homes and questioning people.
Palestinians are barred from entering or leaving the city. Hebron
is a flash-point in the territories where hundreds of armed Jewish
settlers are surrounded by thousands of Palestinians.
The latest attack occurred near the Tomb of the Patriarchs, a holy
site for Jews and Muslims, where an extremist Israeli settler
gunned down 29 Palestinian worshipers in 1994.
Political Pitfalls Await Pope's Mideast Pilgrimage
By Patrick Goodenough, ICEJ News Service
Pope John Paul continues to plan for a series of millennium
pilgrimages which, despite his wishes to the contrary, will be seen
as politically significant by millions in the Middle East, who will
try to exploit the visit for their own ends.
Conceding that people would attempt to make political mileage out
of the papal visits, a Vatican representative in Jerusalem said
this week the pope was not unprepared for the risks.
"He is aware, everyone is aware of the very delicate situation that
prevails here," said Monsignor Eugene Nugent. "But that shouldn't
prevent him from coming. He will come as a pilgrim and a man of
peace. People are free to draw their own conclusions, but we should
be fair. This is a spiritual journey."
The pope hopes to visit a number of locations central to the
biblical account - from Ur in ancient Mesopotamia, birthplace of
the patriarch Abraham, to Athens, Greece where the apostle Paul
preached the gospel.
Between those two points near the beginning and end of the Bible,
a series of other places are on the proposed papal agenda - Mount
Sinai (where Moses received the Ten Commandments); Mount Nebo
(where Moses died); Bethlehem and Nazareth (birthplace and hometown
respectively of Jesus); Jerusalem (King David's capital and
location of Jesus' death and resurrection); and Damascus (where
Paul was baptized).
Many Catholics see the biblical trips as the most important ever
for the 79-year-old pope. Said Nugent: "Some observers are seeing
it as the final great pilgrimage he will make."
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