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Newsletter : 1fax0131.txt
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>JN Jan. 31, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 17
Iraqi General Ready to Strike Israel If Ordered
By VOA News
An Iraqi general says his country's artillery is ready to strike against Israel whenever it receives the order to so. General Yassin Taha Mohammed, chief of the Iraqi artillery corps, said that upgrades have increased the artillery's range to 24 miles, long enough for it to launch shells deep into Israeli territory if it were moved to a location near the Israeli border.
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein recently threatened to launch a continuous bombardment of Israel if supported by other Arab states. So far, no Arab state has taken him up on his offer.
Arafat-Barak Summit Under Consideration
By VOA News
Efforts at arranging a summit between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat have intensified. Israeli and Palestinian officials both said Tuesday that the two sides are talking about the possible meeting. The summit would be aimed at achieving a last-minute peace breakthrough before Israel elects a new prime minister February 6.
The two men have not held direct talks since deadly violence erupted in the region last September. But Barak said he was seriously contemplating a meeting with Arafat before next week's election. Israeli public opinion surveys show Barak trailing his hardline opponent, Ariel Sharon, in the political race.
Word of the latest diplomatic initiatives come as Arafat's Fatah faction called Tuesday for an escalation of the Palestinian uprising in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Fatah leadership said Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have reached an impasse and it does not matter who Israel elects as prime minister.
On Monday, Arafat told Israeli television that the two sides had made real progress in their marathon peace talks at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba. In another development, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak called on Israeli leaders to stop talking about war and to make peace with the Palestinians and Syria.
In an interview with Israeli television Monday, Mubarak said Israel knows what is necessary for peace - the return of lands captured in the 1967 Middle East war. He also acknowledged the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.
Holocaust Slaves in U.S. to be Compensated
By Barbara Schoetzau (VOA-New York)
A group representing Nazi slave laborers has announced a campaign to locate and compensate survivors living in the United States and Canada.
Officials of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany say tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors in Canada and the United States have already filed applications for compensation under a recently negotiated settlement with the German government and German industry.
The group estimates about 170,000 Jews who were forced into slave labor under the Nazi government may be eligible to share in the $5 billion settlement. More than 50,000 survivors reside in the United States, one-half of them are in the New York metropolitan area.
A spokesman for the group, Gideon Taylor, says it is important to reach survivors who are not aware of the program and process their claims as quickly as possible.
"We know that time is our enemy. The clock is ticking. The survivor population is old, is getting older. Every day people who are eligible for these payments are passing away."
About 10 percent of the survivors of the Nazi Holocaust die ever year. Taylor says the individual amounts of compensation will depend upon the number of people who apply. He estimates that slave laborers those who were forced into labor in concentration camps, ghettos, or other places of confinement -- will receive about $7,000 each. In accordance with German law, those who performed work by force under conditions resembling imprisonment are defined as "forced labor" and will receive up to $5,000 each.
Survivor Roman Kent says the agreement is about morality, not money. "The agreement is not a victory. The slave labor agreement is in a way our last attempt to achieve moral recognition for the tortuous treatment of slave labor while the remnants of the Holocaust survivors are still alive."
The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is limited to Jewish survivors living in Canada and the United States. The claims of non-Jewish survivors living in the United States are being handled by the International Organization of Migration. The claims of survivors living in the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, and other countries with Holocaust survivor populations, will be processed by local foundations.
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