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Newsletter : 9fax0928.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Sept. 28, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 179
PA Seeks Control of ALL of Jerusalem
Arutz-7 News Service
In an interview with the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, Faisal Husseini who holds the Jerusalem portfolio in the PLO Authority stated that western Jerusalem issues would also need to be worked out in the final status talks, explaining that most of the city was owned by Arabs. The government has already in the past received lists of land claims from Arab residents who explain their grandparents and parents owned properties in areas such as Dir Yassin and are once again trying to be recognized as the legal proprietors of the lands in order to be declared the owners once again.
Jordan Cracks Down on Hamas
By Dale Gavlak (VOA-Amman)
The Islamic militant group, Hamas, has called on Jordan to ease its tough crackdown on the organization. Last week, Jordan arrested two key Hamas leaders in what analysts say is a bid to shut down Hamas operations in the country.
The Hamas spiritual leader, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, is urging authorities in Amman to resolve the crisis between the two sides. And the group's defense lawyer, Salah Armouti, denies charges that Hamas has been involved in any illegal activities in Jordan.
The lawyer said, "We are not an illegal organization that has anything to do with military action or taking military action within Palestine, but we are just a political and media office."
Armouti blamed U-S and Israeli pressure on Jordan for closing down Hamas offices, arresting 15 of it activists, and issuing arrest warrants last month against top leaders who were out of the country at the time.
Since its creation 10 years ago, Hamas has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks on Israel. It has also vowed to thwart the U-S-sponsored Middle East peace process.
Jordan had previously tolerated the group because Hamas has many sympathizers among the country's predominantly Palestinian population. The late King Hussein also helped secure Sheikh Yassin's release from an Israeli prison and save Mashaal in a botched Israeli assassination attempt on his life.
But political analysts, like Abdullah Hassanat, sense Jordan's new King Abdullah wants a total disengagement from the Palestinian cause in the belief that the Palestinians should solve their own problems.
"It's not in Jordan's interest to continue to muddle in Palestinian affairs, nor is it in Jordan's interest to look as if it is supporting an organization that is bent on sabotaging the peace process."
Others believe King Abdullah is concerned about Hamas' influence on Jordan's domestic politics as he takes steps towards democratic reforms.
Jordan's powerful but more moderate Muslim Brotherhood movement has maintained strong ideological links with Hamas. Western diplomats in Amman say, however, that it may now be distancing itself from the radical group. Recently, the Brotherhood agreed to government demands to stop calling Jews infidels or demanding their elimination.
Arab-Israeli Militants Under Surveillance
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli officials have put the country's Islamic Movement under close surveillance after it was linked to Palestinian groups plotting terrorist attacks against Israel. The move angered Arab citizens of Israel, who say they should not be persecuted because of the actions of a few dissidents.
Israel has decided to take a series of new measures against the Islamic Movement in a bid to discourage militant elements in the organization from planning terrorist strikes.
The group, made up of Arab citizens of Israel, has for the most part pursued its goals through political means instead of violence. But earlier this month, several members detonated car bombs in two northern cities of Israel.
During interrogation, members of the group were said to have confessed that they had been acting on behalf of the militant Palestinian group, Hamas, which operates largely out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
As a result, Israel's Public Security Minister, Shlomo Ben-Ami, announced that the Islamic Movement would come under tighter state supervision. This includes secret monitoring of sermons by spiritual leaders in the movement's mosques and closer scrutiny of the group's publications.
Leaders of the Islamic Movement strongly criticized the decision, saying it is not fair to make Israeli Arabs the target of such police operations. But the government also was criticized by Israel's intelligence agencies, which said the measures do not go far enough and should have included shutting down the movement's newspaper and sealing off the homes of those caught taking part in violent acts.
Ben-Ami says the recommendations by security forces for much stronger action had been rejected because Israel does not want to "start a war" with its Arab citizens.
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