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Newsletter : 0fax0201.txt
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>JN Feb. 1, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 19
45 Percent of Population Overweight
By IsraelWire
According to the National Nutrition Survey, close to 45 percent of the population is overweight. More females are overweight than men. The results of the survey commissioned by the Ministry of Health will be released at the Israel/PLO Authority (PA) conference on Nutrition at the Notre Dame Hotel in Jerusalem. Information available to date indicates that approximately 17 percent of the women are classified as obese compared to 11 percent among males. Obesity is determined by a body mass index exceeding 30.
Syrian Peace Talks Blocked by Hizbullah Attack
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
Hizbullah terrorists have killed three Israeli soldiers and wounded at least four others in an attack in southern Lebanon and Israeli warplanes retaliated by launching raids.
The Israeli soldiers were attacked near Beaufort Castle, a Crusader-era mountaintop outpost in Israel's self-styled security zone in southern Lebanon. Hizbullah ambushed the soldiers with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. A spokesman for the Israeli army confirmed heavy fighting in the area, but had no immediate comment on casualties.
The attack occurred one day after Iranian-backed Hizbullah terrorists killed a senior commander of the South Lebanon Army -- a militia trained and armed by Israel. Colonel Akl Hashem was killed by a bomb placed outside his house in the Israeli-occupied zone in southern Lebanon.
Hashem, who had survived several previous assassination attempts, was Deputy Commander of the SLA militia. SLA fighters patrol the security zone, which Israel says is necessary to protect its northern border from guerrilla attacks.
Israeli warplanes and helicopter gunships are pounding terrorist targets in retaliation for the latest attacks. Hizbullah has been fighting a war of attrition against Israel and the SLA. The group emerged in the mid-1980s after Israel invaded Lebanon.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has promised to withdraw all Israeli soldiers from southern Lebanon by July. Israel's minister for public security, Shlomo Ben-Ami, says he hopes tensions will not escalate.
"As a whole I am not sure that escalation is in the best interests of any of the parties in this conflict. My first reaction would be that we should try to minimize the potential for escalation."
Communications Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer says Israel must respond with force to the Hizbullah attacks. "I think they are putting us in a corner and we do not have any other choice other than to hit back."
Israeli officials have said rising hostilities in Lebanon may undermine chances for peace with Syria, the main power broker in Lebanon. Peace talks between Israel and Syria are currently suspended. During a briefing for reporters in Jerusalem, a senior U.S. diplomat who asked not to be identified, expressed concern about the renewed fighting in southern Lebanon. The diplomat said the hostilities could damage the peace process.
Following the attack, Barak sent a message to the White House calling upon President Clinton to send a clear message to President Hafez al-Assad. "Israel's position is clear. If Syria does not pull in the reins on Hizbullah, the talks will not continue."
As has been done on many occasions in the past, Hizbullah provided video footage of the attack. The video illustrates how the guerrillas followed the progress of the convoy until the targets were in sight, then firing what is being reported to be anti-tank missiles. The attack took place shortly after the troops arrived at a fortified outpost in the eastern sector of the security zone.
Since Jan. 25, Hizbullah attacks claimed the lives of four IDF soldiers including an officer, the deputy commander of the Israel-allied SLA forces, an officer of the rank of colonel, and the injuring of four soldiers moderately and seriously.
Pope's Visit is a Security Nightmare
By IsraelWire
According to the Italian newspaper La Republica, the impending visit to Israel by Pope John Paul II is "a nightmare for the General Security Service (GSS/Shin Bet) and health services."
The report quoting unnamed senior reliable sources in Israel, stating, security agencies are most concerned the visit will prompt extremist elements to attempt a terrorist attack and in addition, the pontiff's advanced age and underlying medical ailments may require his hospitalization while in Israel, or even worse, he might die in Israel during the visit.
The source said, "A healthy man of his years would have difficulty maintaining such a pace yet alone the pope and his medical condition."
La Republica reported that intensive care physicians, who speak Polish, will accompany the pope everywhere he visits during his tour of the area. The biggest fear is the head of the Catholic Church will go to his eternal rest while in Israel, perhaps in Nazareth, the birthplace of Christianity, which according to event organizers would be "the end of the world."
