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Newsletter : 0fax0403.txt
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>JN April 3, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 61
Lebanon Says Syrians Can Rocket Tel Aviv
By Susan Sappir (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israel rejected a Lebanese threat to deploy Syrian troops on its southern border in the event of a unilateral Israel withdrawal.
The government said it would not permit the stationing of Syrian troops on its border with Lebanon, that would Tel Aviv within Syrian rocket range. The statement by Israeli military sources came in response to comments by Lebanon's defense minister who warned Syria could move into the border area if Israel withdrew.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has vowed to end Israel's 22-year occupation of south Lebanon by July. Israel had hoped its move would be part of a larger peace deal with Syria, so that Syrian forces would assume the responsibility for reining in Lebanese terrorists. But following the deadlock in Israeli-Syrian negotiations, Israel has promised to pursue its policy of withdrawing from Lebanon even if it has to do so unilaterally.
Lebanese Defense Minister Ghazi Zueiter stated on Saturday that Syrian troops, which have been stationed in Lebanon even longer than the Israelis, could move in to the border area. He went further and said explicitly that this would "bring Tel Aviv within the range of Syrian missiles."
Israeli Trade Minister Ran Cohen said the Lebanese, together with the Syrians, were attempting to keep the border tense while avoiding peace talks, and called this an evasion of responsibility.
Israeli Tourism Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a former army chief, said Syria appeared to be avoiding a direct confrontation with Israel now. However, he said, if its forces were deployed on the Lebanese border, this would create "a whole new situation." Israeli military sources said such a movement would cross a "red line" and Israel would not permit it.
In an Israel Radio interview Sunday morning, Minister of Communications Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reaffirmed the government's commitment to actualize an IDF troop withdrawal by July 7. There are continuing reports that in light of the breakdown in talks between Jerusalem and Damascus, the prime minister will order the withdrawal in April or May, a move that will be accomplished in a number of days.
Hope for a renewal of talks between Syria and Israel are all but gone with the failure to yield any progress in the recent Geneva summit between President Bill Clinton and President Hafez al-Assad.
Fire Hits Belzer Matzoh Factory in Brooklyn
By Emergency Net News
New York City firefighters battled a three-alarm blaze in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn last week. Five firefighters suffered minor injuries.
The fire broke out in the two-story, brick, 75x100 Belzer Matzoh Bakery on Utrecht Avenue and 43rd Street. All fire companies were pulled out of the heavily involved fire building and had to conduct an exterior attack with three tower-ladders, two Stang guns and six handlines.
Gush Shalom Calls for Boycott of Golan Apples
By IsraelWire
Activists affiliated with the left-wing Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc) on Sunday morning were deployed outside supermarkets and fruit stores, calling upon consumers not to purchase any apples with the familiar "Golan apples" sticker on them.
"Buying apples buys war" and "These apples are direct from the Golan settlement," were some of the slogans accompanying the boycott campaign.
Activists told consumers by purchasing the apples; they "contribute to an extremist political entity that is responsible for pushing the State of Israel to the brink of war and losing an opportunity for peace that will not return for many years."
The Gush Shalom public relations material continues, "Perhaps in two months from now, a war will break out.They may look nicer than the West Bank settlers but they too are trying to create facts on the ground to settle in areas where hundreds of thousands of persons have been thrown out and displaced, to block the path to peace. Do not support them. Do not assist them to throw us into another war and more bloodshed. Do not purchase Golan apples."
The Gush Shalom activists explained they are adding this boycott to their ongoing boycott of all goods manufactured by Israelis throughout Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
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