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Newsletter : 9fax1217.txt
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>JN Dec. 17, 1999, Vol. 7, No. 230
Dissection of Frogs Must Stop
By IsraelWire
Minister of Education Yossi Sarid says he did not believe the need for high school students to dissect frogs was crucial to their education, and was therefore ordering an end to the practice. The minister suggested that biology teachers use computer software to compensate, adding that with the technology available today, one need not kill frogs to learn of their anatomy. Sarid added that by stopping the long accepted practice of dissecting frogs, students would learn more respect for animal and humans alike, an important lesson in of itself.
Syrian-Israeli Talks will Resume in January
By David Gollust (VOA-White House)
Two-days of U.S.-mediated talks between Israel and Syria have ended in Washington with an agreement by the parties to continue their drive for a final peace accord with negotiations to resume at a site near Washington Jan. 3.
President Clinton calls the agreement by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara a "critical step" toward a comprehensive Middle East Peace. The talks at the Blair House guest residence began with chilly atmospherics and even at a final press appearance with Clinton, there was no public handshake between Barak and Al-Shara.
But officials insisted the closed-door discussions -- mediated by Secretary of State Madaleine Albright -- were constructive and friendly, and that the two had left Washington determined to finish the work of making peace.
At the brief closing event, Clinton said he expected Israeli-Lebanese negotiations to also start soon, and that a "new beginning" in efforts to achieve a comprehensive regional peace is at hand.
He said Barak and Al-Shara had agreed on steps to ensure that the follow-on negotiations will be conducted in a productive and positive atmosphere, but was none-the-less cautious about the task ahead. "As I emphasized from the outset, the journey will be tough. Nothing the past 48 hours should lead us to believe otherwise. But the parties are embarked on this path. They have agreed there should be no looking back, for the sake of our generations and generations yet to come."
Clinton did not say what specific confidence-building steps the parties might have agreed to. Israeli sources, however, said Barak had asked Syria to reign in Hizbullah guerrillas who have been fighting Israeli troops and their militia allies in Southern Lebanon.
Albright said she expected Barak and Al-Shara to again head the delegations at the next round of talks, though she said Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad would personally take part at some point later on.
Israeli officials have said they may need in excess of $10 billion in outside aid to help underwrite a withdrawal from the Golan Heights - which Syria wants returned as a basic condition for peace.
Albright said the Administration is looking for a venue for next month's talks that will be near Washington, yet isolated enough to permit serious talks outside the gaze of the news media.
Clinton Praises Slave Labor Agreement
By Deborah Tate (VOA-White House)
President Clinton has welcomed an agreement announced in Germany to compensate Nazi-era slave laborers. In a brief appearance before reporters, Clinton praised the German government's decision to join German industry in setting up a $5.2 billion fund to compensate survivors who were forced to work for the Nazis and German companies during World War 2.
"We believe this satisfies the claims of those representing the victims. We close the 20th century with an extraordinary achievement that will bring an added measure of material and moral justice to the victims of this century's most terrible crime."
Under the plan, German companies would pay about half the restitution, with the German government paying the rest. U.S. firms that had German subsidiaries during World War 2 are expected to contribute.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat told reporters more than 1 million people - mostly non-Jews living in Central and Eastern Europe - would be eligible for compensation. He says the deal sends an important message.
"The message that is being sent is that countries can live up to their moral obligations. Even though Germany has paid $60 billion to Holocaust survivors, there was still a desire by German industry and the German government to pay compensation to those who had not been fully compensated, namely forced and slave laborers and those whose insurance policies and property were confiscated. So I think it is an important moral statement of accountability, and that it should be a very important lesson for other countries and other groups to live up to their responsibilities as well." There are a number of issues still to be resolved - including how to pay lawyers who were involved in reaching the deal. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he is confident the compensation deal would be formally approved by survivors' groups at a meeting in Berlin today.
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