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Newsletter : 9fax1122.txt
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>JN Nov. 22, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 217
Israel Rejects EgyptAir Accusations
By IsraelWire
The Israeli Foreign Ministry has expressed disgust that the Egyptian media is blaming Israeli sources for the crash of EgyptAir flight 990. "The charges are mendacious and baseless. The tragedy of the EgyptAir crash shocked the Israeli government and people, which join in the grief of the victims' families. The Government of Israel sent a message of condolences to the government of Egypt.
Palestinians Demand Jerusalem
By Susan Sappir (VOA-Jerusalem)
The Palestinians demand Jerusalem as the capital of their future state - ahead of a new round of peace talks with Israel. This Palestinian demand may be one of the toughest issues of all to resolve.
The question of Jerusalem has long been regarded among the toughest in the Israeli-Arab conflict. Israel has its government in the west side of the city which it considers the Jewish state's eternal capital. The Palestinians want to establish the capital of their future state in the east side of the city. The Palestinian cabinet reiterated that position in a statement ahead of yesterday's new round of talks with Israel.
The statement said: "There will not be an agreement if Jerusalem is not accepted as the capital of an independent state." It went on to say east Jerusalem land, occupied by Israel in 1967 along with the West Bank, should be returned according to United Nations resolutions.
Israel says it will not give up control over any part of Jerusalem. Palestinian and Israeli representatives have discussed a proposal to establish a Palestinian capital on the edge of one of the city's eastern suburbs. But neither side has officially endorsed the idea.
The groundbreaking 1993 Oslo accords, which are the framework of today's negotiations, recognized the Jerusalem question as one of the most intractable. The accords allowed the parties to settle some of the smaller problems first, leaving the bigger disputes for a later phase of peace making. In that phase, which is under way now, the parties are trying to resolve disputes over borders, Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and Jerusalem.
On Thursday Palestinian negotiators brought a new demand to the negotiating table: they say Israel should compensate them for some 30 years of occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Negotiator Nabil Shaath said the compensation should be for material losses as well as the loss of Palestinian lives during the occupation.
"For Jews, It's Time to Come Home"
By IsraelWire
A new Israeli organization, Operation Homeward, is calling on Jews around the world to make haste and "come home to the Land of Israel before it is too late." Homeward claims that Jews in the Diaspora might soon find themselves in grave physical danger.
Their 48-page magazine, which is being widely distributed to both Jews and Gentiles, contains a number of warnings from biblical and talmudic sources together with contemporary news items that seem to corroborate their predictions. Homeward says the Jewish People ultimately find refuge and salvation and gain Divine protection by making aliyah.
"We are not proclaiming the end of the world, nor are we predicting the arrival of the Messiah," said Operation Homeward's 42-year-old director, Avraham Sheinman. "What we are saying is that classic Jewish sources indicate that during the Jewish Year of 5760 (which began Rosh Hashanah - Sept. 11, 1999), natural disasters, man-made catastrophes and international conflicts could occur throughout the world in an unprecedented manner. If the stability of society is undermined, the innate hostility that many Gentiles hold towards the Jews will burst forth, and the Jew, in his non-Jewish Diaspora homeland will become an endangered species."
Sheinman was born and raised in Philadelphia and became an Israeli citizen in 1983. He lives with his wife and children in the Samarian community of Har-Bracha, located atop the biblical Mount Geriziem next to the city of Nablus. Like himself, he expects, and demands, that every Jew make aliyah to Israel.
According to Sheinman, "the decision to live in Israel, or remain in the Diaspora is a fundamental obligation binding upon every Jew, and the 'Final Redemption' of all mankind is dependent upon the Jewish People living in Israel while observing the laws of the Torah. He is concerned that, "the 50-year grace period which Diaspora Jews had since the establishment of the Jewish State in 1948, may soon be coming to an end."
Although many rabbis and Torah scholars in Israel's National
Religious community welcome Operation Homeward's call for aliyah to
Israel, not all Jews are pleased with this message. Most leaders of
the established Jewish organizations and federations in the
Diaspora, are appalled by the Homeward doctrine. Some segments of
the Orthodox Jewish community reject Homeward's position, by
claiming that there is no obligation to move to Israel until the
Messiah arrives, or at least not until those rabbis, whom they
follow, instruct them to leave.
For more information, contact Operation Homeward at
homeward@netvision.net.il, or access www.op-homeward.org.
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