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Newsletter : 1fax0123.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Jan. 23, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 11
Mideast Talks 'Substantive'
By Scott Bobb (VOA-Taba, Egypt)
Palestinian and Israeli negotiators completed a second day of peace talks in Egypt Monday evening. They said their meetings were very substantive, but indicated there has not been progress toward resolving the major differences.
After meeting in Taba, an Egyptian resort, the delegates crossed into Israel for what they called a working dinner in Eilat, just across the border. Before breaking for dinner, delegates held two sessions lasting eight hours. The mood here continues to be pessimistic, but relations between the two sides appear cordial. By Monday afternoon, most delegates had doffed their coats and ties for more casual clothes.
Palestinian Parliament Speaker Ahmed Quray indicated, however, that an agreement is still not assured. "All issues which represent the keys of the agreement are in discussion. There are still gaps, but we are working very seriously, trying to see whether it's possible." Quray said the topics under discussion include the issues of territory, Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees.
Palestinians Allowed Back Into Israel
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
As Israeli and Palestinian negotiators hold marathon talks in the Egyptian resort of Taba, 16,000 Palestinian workers have been allowed to return to their jobs inside Israel. Meanwhile, a radical Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in Gaza.
The radical Palestinian group Hamas has issued a statement claiming responsibility for a roadside bomb attack near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli soldier was seriously wounded in the bombing. Israel's military responded by closing down Gaza's main north-south road, effectively cutting the area in two.
At the same time, Israel says it is allowing 16,000 Palestinians with valid work permits to reach their jobs inside Israel. But the easing of restrictions applies only to married men over age 35.
More than 100,000 Palestinians usually work inside Israel. Most have been cut off from their jobs since violence erupted last September and Israel closed down access from the West Bank and Gaza.
Syria Gears for Feared IDF Attack
Israel Faxx Staff Report
In anticipation of an Israeli attack against Syria in the weeks before the Feb. 6 election, Syria's forces have been put on a high state of alert. Defensive redeployments have been ordered by Syrian President Bashar Assad, with the backing of senior members of the Syrian military and intelligence. News reports say the Syrians have shifted air defense systems, including surface-to-air missiles, and are reinforcing critical positions.
Some Israelis, including intelligence and political circles, see Syrian actions as part of Damascus' concerns that the IDF will launch a large-scale strike against Syrian positions, both in Lebanon and inside Syria.
Ha'aretz reported the Syrians worry that Israel will use an attack by Hizbullah, against Israel's border with Lebanon, as an excuse to launch a retaliatory attack against Syria. The "excuse" could be cross-border raid, rockets shot across the border at northern Israeli towns, bombing IDF vehicles or kidnapping Israeli Defense Forces' soldiers.
Nazi Collaborator Papon May be Released
By Lisa Bryant (VOA-Paris)
A French Nazi collaborator may be released on grounds that keeping a person of his age in prison violates the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights is to consider an appeal from Maurice Papon on Tuesday in Strasbourg.
A little more than a year after his imprisonment for crimes against humanity, Papon is again in the spotlight with a new plea for his release. After twice failing to win a medical pardon for the 90-year-old inmate from President Jacques Chirac, Papon's lawyers are taking their case to the European human-rights court, in the French city of Strasbourg.
Their argument, says Papon lawyer Jean-Marc Varaut, is that a 10-year-jail sentence for the aging man violates the European human-rights convention, concerning inhumane and degrading treatment. Varaut says that given Papon's old age, his 10-year jail term may translate into a life sentence, since his client may likely die in prison.
Papon, who served as a mid-level bureaucrat in France's pro-Nazi Vichy regime of World War II, was responsible for drawing up lists of French and foreign Jews, who were rounded up for deportation to concentration camps. Despite his Vichy experience, Papon rose swiftly in France's post-war government, attaining the post of budget minister during the presidency of Valery Giscard D'Estaing.
But many of those whose relatives died at the hands of the Nazis, along with Jewish leaders in France, are against Papon's release. Emmanuel Weintraub, the vice-president of France's umbrella group of Jewish organizations, says Papon's age is not a good reason to free him. "We can not see why Mr. Papon should be released. The fact that he is a very old man - he was a very old man a year ago. Still, he went to jail." But Weintraub suggested that the Jewish group would not object if Chirac eventually pardoned Papon.
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