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Newsletter : 9fax0908.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Sept. 8, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 166
Pork and Non-Kosher Meat Sales Increase by 30 Percent
By IsraelWire
According to Kibbutz Mizra, known for its nationwide outlet stores selling pork products and other non-kosher meats, a 30 percent increase in sales is expected this week, due to Russian immigrants who favor pork products as well as other expensive non-kosher cuts of meats not available elsewhere.
Palestinian Prisoners Prepare for Release
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Ramallah, West Bank)
Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says Israel will free 200
Palestinian prisoners Thursday or Friday in the first release
required by the revised Wye River peace accords. During a news
conference in Ramallah, Erekat said he hopes all Palestinian
prisoners will be freed in the coming months.
Erekat says there are nearly 2,000 Palestinians being held in
Israeli jails. The dispute over how many prisoners would be
released held up the revised Wye River agreement for several days
and was resolved through intervention of Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright.
Palestinian Chairman Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak signed the new pact Sunday in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
The issue of prisoners is an emotional one for both sides.
Palestinians say the prisoners are freedom fighters who are jailed
for political reasons. In Israel there is strong opposition to
releasing any Palestinians who were involved in terrorist
attacks.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the only Palestinians
eligible for release are those who committed crimes before the
landmark Oslo peace accords were signed in 1993.
Israeli officials say they do not include members of the militant
Islamic movements Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Those groups oppose
peacemaking efforts between Israel and the Palestinians and
have carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Israelis.
PLO Authority Takes Over Much of Eastern Jerusalem
By IsraelWire
A security report given recently to Prime Minister Ehud Barak,
Minister of Internal Security Shlomo Ben-Ami, and Minister of
Jerusalem Affairs Haim Ramon, warns of a lessening of Israeli
control in eastern Jerusalem.
The report says the PLO Authority has increased its activities
in eastern Jerusalem, filling every vacuum left by the Israel
establishment. The PA has managed to take over control of most
areas of daily life of the Arab population, including education,
health, transportation, security, and the sites holy to Muslims and
Christians.
Since the election of the new government, a feeling has pervaded in
eastern Jerusalem that Barak would turn civil authority control
over to the PA.
The PA has spread rumors recently about an Israeli agreement to
giving various Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem to the PA, including
such peripheral neighborhoods as Kfar Akev, Samiramis, Dhiyat
al-Brid, Bet Haninah, and even parts of Shuafat. These
neighborhoods border areas under PA control, and the Israeli
presence in them is weak. Most of these areas have not received
basic municipal services for a long while.
Also, the area of illegal construction is worse than ever. The
Arabs closely follow the statements of government ministers
concerning the destruction of illegal construction. Among those
opposed to tearing down illegally built buildings are Ministers
Ramon and Ben-Ami.
Ramon and Ben-Ami's statements have been taken as a carte blanche
for unlicensed construction. Recent weeks have seen unprecedented
amounts of illegal construction in the Old City and Arab
neighborhoods. The illegal building is so widespread and so out of
line that the municipality has received letters from Arabs
complaining about the construction undertaken by neighbors. The
mayor's advisor for eastern Jerusalem, Shalom Goldstein, warned
that the illegal construction constitutes a danger for the Arab
citizens themselves.
A second area of chaos is in public transportation. The Ministry of
Transportation does not supervise the transportation in eastern
Jerusalem. The area is full of pirate, unlicensed taxis, which
block the main streets and prevent licensed buses from passing and
picking up passengers.
Also, since the beginning of the Intifada, municipal parking
inspectors have not entered eastern Jerusalem to oversee illegal
parking. Similarly, building inspectors rarely enter eastern
Jerusalem to inspect construction.
The PA is also developing its political power in eastern Jerusalem.
It recently held a meeting of its council for a tourist industry.
Senior PA officials are involved in phases of development of many
aspects of political development. This activity began when Barak
became prime minister.
Health has remained a hard nut to crack for the PA, because they
have found it difficult to establish alternative medical
institutions that can compete with the Israeli health funds and
hospitals.
PA representatives state that the parting with eastern Jerusalem
has begun. They say that the Israeli establishment has proven since
June 1967 that they are not interested in eastern Jerusalem.
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