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Newsletter : 0fax0510.txt
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>JN May 10, 2000, Vol. 8, No. 85
Infant Born with First Tooth
By IsraelWire
An infant was born in Assaf HaRofeh Hospital last week with his first tooth already in place. The couple who have three older children were amused to see their youngest child has come into the world with his first tooth. Medical experts recommended the tooth be removed under local anesthesia to prevent the baby from choking and in most cases, another tooth will grow in its place.
Memorial Day Leads to Independence Day
By Jenny Badner (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has marked the country's Memorial Day by calling for peace and an end to war in the Middle East. Israelis attended solemn ceremonies yesterday to honor those who have died in war, but many Palestinians living and working in Israel had mixed emotions about the day.
The trumpet sounded during the official ceremony in Israel's national military cemetery, soldiers took position, and the honor guard fired its guns in salute. This year's Memorial Day honored the more than 19,000 Israelis who died in combat, but there also was talk of a more peaceful future.
Israel is scheduled to withdraw its forces from south Lebanon in just two-months. And Barak wrote to bereaved families that his government is "committed to making every effort to find a way to end the blood-and-hate conflict, to bring our boys home from Lebanon, and to promise them and the next generations peace and security."
Air raid sirens wailed for two-minutes to allow the nation to stop and honor the dead in silence. For Israeli Jews, it is powerful moment. Nearly everyone in Israel knows someone who was killed or wounded in war.
One Israeli, Gila Kobi, joined the memorial ceremony at a school where she teaches Hebrew to both Jewish immigrants and Palestinians living in Jerusalem. "For me it is a very, very sad day. I feel very bad. I am sitting at home and feeling and thinking I have a cousin who died in the war and I think about my friends that I know who are not with us today, and I feel very sad."
Most of Kobi's Palestinian students did not come to class apparently because they do not feel comfortable joining a ceremony honoring Israeli soldiers. Kobi says she understands their dilemma and tries to ease the awkwardness by emphasizing the common desires among Israelis and Palestinians. "I emphasize the peace and how important it is. I do not want to hurt them and to speak about things that are not nice for them."
But, some of the Palestinian students did choose to attend the ceremony. One of the Palestinians, Jaser Abdullah, says this is the first year he has participated because this is the first time he has had close contact with Jews. "It is good. Why, because this is peace and I am learning with the Jewish people. I feel good."
But for most Palestinians, the day is associated with heightened security and restrictions. The Israeli army denied Palestinians entry to Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip to try to prevent possible terrorist attacks.
Palestinian Iaimad Attalah, who studies Hebrew at the same school, says he was stopped by police five times to show his identifying documents. Attalah and several of his Palestinian friends sat outside in the sun during the ceremony. He says because he is an Arab he cannot join the memorial. "I am here, I am learning Hebrew, it is very good, we want peace, but it is not very easy."
Israel's Memorial Day ended at sundown followed by a day-long celebration for Israel's 52nd Independence Day. Until the end of Independence Day, the border from the West Bank and Gaza Strip will remain closed for Palestinians.
Immigrants Fear Tax Reforms
By IsraelWire
Minister of the Interior Natan Sharansky expressed his concerns over portions of the proposed tax reforms. He explained that some decisions may discourage immigration to Israel, adding that a government may not change agreements made with immigrants in the past.
Sharansky explained that the government has the right to tax new income of immigrants, but cannot now pass a law which would tax retirement and other pension from North Americans who came with the understanding that their U.S. pensions were not taxable in Israel.
The minister explained that a retired person who came from the United States, and earns $60,000 annually from a pension fund, they would pay about $7,000 annually in the U.S. in taxes. Under the new reform he explained, the couple would have to pay additional Israeli taxes to the tune of about $8,000 annually.
Sharansky stated such a move would significantly disturb the lives of many former immigrants as well as discourage aliyah from North America.
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