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Newsletter : 1fax0201.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Feb. 1, 2001. Vol. 9, No. 18
Israeli Reservists Get Fake Call-up Orders
By VOA News
Thousands of Israeli army reservists got a shock this week when they received what looked like emergency call-up orders, and got a second shock when they realized the letter was just a campaign promotion on behalf of Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Barak's campaign staff has denied any connection with the mailing. The fake call-up orders, mailed in army-brown envelopes, were sent by reservists opposed to Ariel Sharon, Barak's hardline challenger in Israel's February 6 election for prime minister.
The letter orders reservists to report for duty February 7. Further down, it explained that the notice was not official. It nonetheless warned reservists they could be called up soon if Sharon is elected prime minister.
Sharon, who has a large lead over Barak in opinion polls, is known for his hardline views when it comes to Israeli dealings with the Palestinians.
Violence Surges Ahead of Israel Vote
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israeli-Palestinian clashes have subsided in the past several weeks, but now shootings and bomb attacks appear to be on the increase just ahead of Israel's February 6 election for a new prime minister.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak told a campaign rally Tuesday night if he is re-elected, he will pull Israeli soldiers out of the West Bank. He also talks of unilateral separation if a peace deal is not reached soon.
Barak is trailing in the opinion polls behind his hard-line opponent Ariel Sharon. Sharon has promised a tougher stand in any future peace talks.
Palestinians are voicing concern over a probable Sharon victory, warning the peace process will suffer and the violence will intensify.
Street clashes between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians have subsided in the past several weeks. But drive-by shootings and roadside bombings appear to be on the increase.
The head of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat's Fatah faction in the West Bank told VOA the uprising will continue no matter who gets elected. Marwan Barghouti warns the uprising will ease up or intensify as needed in response to Israeli actions. "Our strategy is to continue the Intifada, no matter who is prime minister in Israel, Barak or Sharon. And the goal of the Intifada is to achieve Palestinian independence and end Israel's occupation, whoever will be Israel's Prime Minister."
Israel's military reports the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in Gaza was hit by a mortar shell. Earlier on Tuesday soldiers blew up a Palestinian's donkey-cart, which they say was filled with explosives.
Palestinian media also report a number of injuries in confrontations at Israeli checkpoints in the West Bank and Gaza.
Israel's military says it suspects rocket-propelled grenade launchers and other weapons are being smuggled into Palestinian-controlled areas. Barghouti denies he is receiving any military help from outside.
Italian Supreme Court: Dolberg Sisters to Stay in Italy
By Arutz-7 News
The Dolberg sisters, who were forcibly removed from their mother in Israel, will remain in Italy in the custody of their father - a convert to Christianity. So decided the Italian Supreme Court.
The Yated Ne'eman newspaper reports that the court granted the father the prerogative to decide when their mother - who became religious after her divorce from their father and married a rabbi - can see her daughters.
The girls, 12 and 10, were born in Venice to the Israeli couple, Moshe and Tali Dolberg, who divorced nine years ago. When Moshe, who remained in Italy and converted to Christianity, realized his daughters were receiving a Jewish religious upbringing from Tali in Israel, he demanded their custody, claiming that her new religious lifestyle rendered her unfit to raise the children.
The Israeli Supreme Court ordered the girls returned to Italian courts for a custody decision, expressing its "confidence" that the latter would consider the welfare of the girls. The reality, however, was quite different, and custody was granted to the father; the court stated, "It is true that the girls expressed their wish to return to Israel with the mother. This allegedly free wish is nothing but a personal wish which is relinquished and no longer exists."
Several appeals followed, and this month's final decision in favor of the father was greeted with shock in Israel and the U.S. The father plans to raise them as Christians - despite their previous wishes to return to Israel, their mother, and their Jewishness. The newspaper reports that American Jewish activists are planning to have the U.N. submit a petition against the Supreme Court in Rome demanding that the Jewish girls be allowed to retain their Judaism.
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