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Newsletter : 9fax0820.txt
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>PD
>Israel Faxx
>JN Aug. 20, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 154
Talks Stand Still Over Prisoners
By Ilene Prusher (VOA-Jerusalem)
Middle East peace talks are at another standstill -- this time,
over which Palestinians and how many will be let out of Israeli
jails. Talks between Israel and the Palestinians were stuck at a
dead end, Thursday, after breaking down the night before in
disagreement over the release of Palestinian prisoners.
Earlier, an Israeli security committee met to review the current
criteria for releasing Palestinian prisoners. It decided the
guidelines set by the previous government would stay in place: No
Palestinians with, quote, "blood on their hands" would be set free
for the time being.
In talks over renewing implementation of the Wye River Accords, the
two sides were to discuss the release of 750 Palestinian prisoners
held in Israeli jails. After agreeing to the deal October, former
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu released 250 Palestinians.
However, 150 of them were common criminals. That angered
Palestinian officials, who say they agreed on the release of
security prisoners -- in other words, Palestinians who committed
their crimes with nationalist motives in mind.
Now, Palestinians says Israel must release another 650 such
prisoners. But the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak says
Israel does not have that many prisoners who fit the requirements
-- saying that it, too, would not release Palestinians who are
suspected of having murdered or caused serious injury. Instead,
of the next 500 prisoners Israel would release by the end of
implementation the Wye deal, about half would again be common
offenders -- responsible for ordinary crimes like car theft.
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat rejects that proposal and
declared the talks a waste of time. The prisoner issue is a
sensitive one for both sides. Palestinians think anything done in
the name of their national cause -- particularly before the peace
deal was signed in 1993 -- should be pardoned. But many Israelis
who have lost loved ones to terror attacks over the years feel,
with equal conviction, the perpetrators should stay in jail.
Israel Sends Field Hospital to Turkey
By IsraelWire
Over 150 soldiers are part of a second rescue team and field hospital sent to Turkey to assist in disaster recovery efforts in what is being called by many as the worst natural disaster of the 20th century. Colonel Hezi Levy, the deputy chief of the IDF Medical Corps is heading the delegation.
There are still about one dozen Israelis believed trapped in the
rubble. Israeli rescuers have found Iris Franko who was trapped
under the earthquake rubble since Tuesday earthquake. Members of
her family are still missing and are among the over 12 missing
Israelis. Franko was found in Cinarcik, southwest of Istanbul.
Two Soldiers Sustain Irreparable Eye Damage From Eclipse
By IsraelWire
Two soldiers serving in the Golani Infantry Brigade sustained
permanent eye damage last week as a result of looking directly into
the solar eclipse despite repeated health warnings of the dangers
in doing so.
The two arrived in Rambam Hospital in Haifa last Thursday, one day
following the eclipse, complaining of severe eye and head pain.
They told physicians how they looked directly at the sun without
using any protection for their eyes.
Tests on the two revealed their optical nerves and eye sustained
significant burns and as a result, significantly impaired their
vision to a point they now can only focus on objects within close
proximity.
Dr. Binyamin Miller, who heads the hospital's department of
ophthalmology said it was still too early to make a definitive
diagnosis as to their long-term prognosis but stated it does appear
their vision as it was before the eclipse will likely never return.
Simon Wiesenthal Center: More Eichmann Documents
By IsraelWire
Dr Efraim Zorof, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel,
has told State Attorney Elyakim Rubinstein that when the Eichmann
papers are published, they should be published with additional
documents. Lawyer Amos Hausner, son of Gideon Hausner, who was the
prosecutor in the Eichmann trial, echoed a similar view last week.
In Zorof's opinion, the interview that Eichmann gave to a pro-Nazi
Argentinean reporter before being captured should be added to the
Eichmann documents. Zorof pointed out that the additional documents
would add to knowledge of the Holocaust and would show the personal
responsibility of Eichmann and others in the plans for the "Final
Solution."
"Eichmann's Memoirs," which a leading German newspaper began
publishing last week, were presented at the trial by the
prosecution. The memoirs are handwritten on 127 pages, and were
written by Eichmann in June 1960 in jail in Israel.
The memoirs are separate from Eichmann's writings penned between
his trial and the appeal, and which have never been published.
Eichmann's son, Dieter Eichmann, has asked to receive the
documents, as his father's legal heir.
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