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Newsletter : 1fax0111.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Jan. 11, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 4
Palestinian Official Accuses Barak of Being a War Criminal
By VOA News
A top Palestinian official accused Prime Minister Ehud Barak and other Israeli leaders of being war criminals. Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said Wednesday the Israeli military has a policy of deliberately killing Palestinian activists. He said Barak and all members of the Israeli government should be prosecuted and punished under international law.
Palestinian legislator Hanan Ashrawi added that Palestinians are working with human rights groups to collect evidence of alleged war crimes. The Palestinian Authority claims Israel has assassinated at least 20 activists since the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian fighting began in late September.
Last week, Israel's deputy defense minister, Ephraim Sneh, defended the practice, saying Israel is targeting Palestinians who organize terrorist attacks on Israelis.
Israeli Opposition Leader Opens Campaign
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
The leader of Israel's opposition Likud Party, Ariel Sharon, officially opened his campaign for prime minister in the Feb. 6 elections. With the polls predicting an easy victory, his foreign affairs advisor promises major changes in strategy and substance in dealings with the Palestinians.
The former Israeli ambassador to Washington, Zalman Shoval, said Wednesday the Sharon campaign will highlight what he describes as Prime Minister Ehud Barak's inconsistencies toward the peace process and inept negotiating style.
Shoval told a briefing for international reporters that Ariel Sharon's government will work towards long-term interim agreements with some aspects of permanency. He criticized Barak for trying to rush through a final agreement on issues he says need much more time to resolve.
Shoval said Sharon's policy toward peace talks will be clear and
tough, with emphasis on Israel's security as its top priority. "Mr.
Sharon is generally accepted and recognized, even by the left, as
Israel's 'Mr. Security' and that will be a very important factor,"
he said. "People may not believe in ultimate ideal peace with
the Palestinians, maybe not this generation, but it will come. But
they want to have quiet."
Shoval is Sharon's top foreign policy advisor for the election
campaign, and considers the Oslo interim agreement, in his words,
"dead." He lists two lines, which he says a Sharon government
will not cross. Jerusalem, he says, cannot be divided and a mass of
Palestinian refugees cannot be allowed to return to Israel.
The latest surveys predict Sharon would trounce Barak at the ballot box. Barak rejected calls to step aside in favor of Nobel laureate Shimon Peres, even though opinion polls show Peres has a better chance of beating the 72-year-old former general in the election.
Israeli Shas Party Supports Sharon
By VOA News
Israel's politically powerful Shas party has thrown its support behind candidate Ariel Sharon ahead of elections for prime minister set for Feb. 6. The endorsement is another boost for Sharon, who holds a large lead over Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Israeli opinion polls. Sharon is known for advocating a hard-line stance in dealing with the Palestinians.
Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert's Speech at Jerusalem Rally
Israel Faxx Staff Report
"I have never felt deeper excitement than that which I feel now, as I gaze upon you spread out all over the streets of Jerusalem, crowded, enthusiastic, and emotional as you are. I am deeply moved, because this is not a protest, or a political gathering - this is the true manifestation of the connection that the Jewish People feels towards its eternal capital!
"You have come from all over the country tonight to say to the whole world: We are here, we will remain here, because this city is the basis of our existence, the subject of our longings, the unfulfilled dream throughout our history... This city was always the center of our national longings. What held our nation together was the hope to return to it and to stay here forever and ever.
"This gathering is not against anyone, and we have not come to protest against anything. We have come to express in the most clear and straightforward way our deep bonds to this city and what it symbolizes. And standing out from amongst all its neighborhoods is the Temple Mount, the place to which the People of Israel always prayed thrice a day. Turning towards it, longing for it, crying for it, giving their soul for it, the Jews always thought of one place: this mountain, upon and inside which still lay the remnants of our Holy Temples....
"Throughout our history, we have always prayed for and sought peace. There is no people who wants peace more than we do, none have sacrificed for it more than we have. But no nation has ever been asked to sacrifice its most important treasures in order to appease another people! And we too, no matter how dedicated to peace we may be, we will not give up our most precious and important national treasures of Jewish history! For us, there is one and only one city! It will accept and tolerate all its residents, from all nationalities and religions - but it is one city, not divided, not in pieces - just one entire and whole city, the capital of the Jewish People."
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