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Newsletter : 0fax0126.txt
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>JN Jan. 26, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 15
"Give Me a Summons and I'll Shoot You in the Head"
By IsraelWire
Last week, policewoman Ilanit Boskila, of Ashkelon, began to give a traffic ticket to Moshe Even-Hamo, 19, for talking on his cellular phone while driving. At first Even-Hamo tried to sweet-talk his way out of the ticket. When that didn't work, he tried threats, telling her that if she gave him a ticket, he would shoot her in the head. Boskila notified her commanding officer of the threat, and Even-Hamo was arrested. The judge took the event seriously and gave Even-Hamo a suspended six-month sentence and a fine of NIS 2,500, with an additional NIS 7,500 if he repeats the crime.
Israeli Experts Never Left for Washington
By IsraelWire
Israel announced late Tuesday that the two-man team scheduled to leave for Washington in the hope of advancing the stalled talks between Israel and Syria will remain in Jerusalem.
Following consultations between Prime Minster Ehud Barak and officials in Washington, it was decided to cancel the initiative following Syria's failure to keep its word and send a two-man team of technical experts to Washington earlier in the week. The Israeli delegation had been scheduled to leave Israel last night.
Life on the Golan
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Kibbutz Afik, Golan Heights)
While the peace negotiations between Israel and Syria appear to be on a diplomatic roller coaster, so are the lives of 17,000 Israelis who live on the Golan Heights. Israel captured the strategic plateau in the 1967 Middle East war and Syria is demanding its return, and the evacuation of all Israelis, as part of a peace agreement between the two countries.
When Dennis Van Meter, 45, starts his tractor every morning to begin work in his field of avocado trees, he has a breathtaking view from his farm on the Golan Heights. His field of 2,000 trees overlooks the Yarmauk River Valley and the towering mountains that form the borders of Syria and Jordan.
Van Meter came to the Golan 17-years ago from California and is passionate about his life here. His son is named Golan, after the Heights, and his daughter is named Kinneret - after the nearby lake - which is also known as the Sea of Galilee.
Like thousands of other Israelis who live on the Golan, Van Meter and his family closely follow the rapidly changing developments in the peace negotiations with Syria. He says the possibility that Israel may return the Golan as part of a peace agreement with Syria has turned his life upside down.
"For the last five or six years, we have been put under the pressure cooker. We do not know what is going to happen from day to day. We do not know who is going to come up with a secret ingredient to push, quote unquote, the peace process forward. All we understand is that our lives are negotiable and very few people want to talk about our lives. So it is stressful, it is hard for the family."
Van Meter lives with his family on Kibbutz Afik, where a variety of crops are grown and dairy cows provide milk. The crops are sold in Israel and throughout Europe and provide an income for the 320-people living on the farm. Currently, there are more than 30 other Jewish communities throughout the Golan Heights. Syria is demanding that all of them be evacuated if there is a peace agreement between the two countries.
Van Meter's wife, Marla, is heavily involved in the campaign to convince Israelis to keep the Golan Heights. She says the plateau provides considerable protection against military invasion. She says returning the Golan would put the border with Syria along the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee - Israeli's major source of drinking water.
"In 1964, when Syria controlled the Golan they attempted to divert the waters away from the Jordan River and, had they been successful, they would have dried out the Sea of Galilee in 10- years. So appreciating the fact that a country has the right to defend and secure itself, by itself, defend its vital resources, and water of course is the source of life. You have to appreciate that losing control of the Golan means losing control of the future water supply for this country."
Mr. Van Meter prunes his avocado trees with a chain saw, he says he feels betrayed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who is expected to agree to return the Golan if a peace deal is reached with Syria. He says this border area where Syria, Jordan, and the Golan meet has been a peaceful place since it was captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
"This land was used by the Syrians for 19-years as an aggressive spot against the people in the valleys below, diverting water, shooting at people, so on and so forth. The message I would get across is that all of this has changed since the Golan has been with Israel and with people like myself living here."
Barak has promised that Israelis would have a chance to vote on any peace agreement with Syria. Even though a peace deal is far from certain, the Golan residents are already gearing up for a campaign they hope will sway Israeli voters.
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