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Newsletter : 0fax0425.txt
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>JN April 25, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 74
Israel Sends Relief Planes to Ethiopia
By IsraelWire
Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Israel cannot remain complacent in light of the suffering in Ethiopia. A relief effort of Hercules transport planes carrying food, medicines and humanitarian aid left last night for the east African nation. In addition to the supplies, a medical team to assist the famine-stricken population accompanied the flight.
Palestinian-Israeli Negotiations Scheduled for Sunday
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israel and the Palestinians have presented new ideas to President Bill Clinton about how to move the Middle East peace process forward. The proposals are expected to be considered Sunday when the two sides are scheduled to begin two weeks of intensive negotiations.
Israel's chief negotiator, Oded Eran, says that Clinton has received fresh ideas about how to end the stalemate in the Middle East peace process. Eran says that proposals were presented to Clinton earlier this month when the president held separate meetings with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat.
Eran declined to give details but says he expects progress when the two sides resume talks Sunday with the participation of Special Envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross who will be acting as an observer.
Palestinian political analyst Ghassan Khatib said the presence of Ross at the negotiating table is welcome, but success will only be achieved if the parties themselves are willing to make critical compromises.
The two sides have set target dates of May for a framework agreement and September for a full peace treaty, but the Israelis have already indicated the May deadline may not be met.
Israeli negotiator Eran says progress is possible in the next few months but suggests that settlement of some of the most difficult issues, such as the future of Jerusalem, may have to be delayed for several years.
The Palestine Liberation Organization is demanding that east Jerusalem, captured by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 war, become the capital of a future independent Palestinian state. But Israel says it will never give up sovereignty over any part of the city, which is sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians.
Bin Laden Continues His Quest for Nuclear Bombs
By ICEJ News Service
The US Government fears that wanted terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is trying to develop an "Islamic bomb" following the seizure of nuclear material being smuggled to Pakistan from the former Soviet Union, according to the Daily Telegraph of London.
Customs officers from Uzbekistan, last month discovered 10 lead-lined containers at a remote border crossing with Kazakhstan. These were filled with enough radioactive material to make dozens of crude weapons, each capable of contaminating a large area for many years.
Military analysts have described such "radiation bombs" as "poor man's nuclear weapons," in which conventional explosives are used to spread radioactive material. The seizure has raised fears that the extensive terrorist network run and financed by bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi exile and hero of Muslim extremists, could be developing the capability to unleash them on the West and Israel.
The consignment was addressed to a company located at the main Pakistani border crossing into southern Afghanistan, a six-hour drive from Kandahar, where the Taliban regime has given refuge to the international fugitive bin Laden. Uzbek border guards were alerted to the lorry shipment when their radiation sensors "went off wildly." Two years ago, Washington issued such portable radiation detectors to customs agents from several countries in the former Soviet bloc in an attempt to stem the flow of nuclear materials on the black market.
Military experts consider the confiscated material "an ideal terror weapon." Large numbers of Islamic terrorists from bin Laden's camps and Pakistan have been fighting in Chechnya, whose rebels once deployed a radiation device. In addition, a radiation bomb was found buried last year in Moscow, after Muslim terrorists warned they were about to detonate an explosion in the area.
Last year, an intelligence source in Congress published a lengthy book on bin Laden and revealed he had acquired dozens of nuclear "suitcase bombs," most probably through Pakistan. Recent intelligence reports have confirmed that bin Laden also has been trying to acquire chemical weapons.
Dahaf's Poll of Passover Practices
By IsraelWire
Dahaf surveyed 500 adult Israeli Jews April 9-10. Sampling error is
+/- 4.2 percentage points:
Why do we eat matza on Passover? 49%, In memory of the matza our
forefather ate who had to leave Egypt before the dough leavened
(correct answer); 23%, In memory of the matza; 14%, Tradition of
the past; 14%, Do not know.
How much of the Haggadah do you read? Entire Haggadah, 58%; Part before meal, 16%; Part (not specific), 23%; Not at all, 3%.
How do you pay off the child who steals the Afikoman? Gift, 54%; Money, 26%; Do not know/undecided, 20%.
What do you eat on Passover? Only matza, 76%; Also bread and pita, 23%; No reply, 1%
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