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Newsletter : 1fax0202.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN Feb. 2, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 19
Iraq Threatens Neighbors with Weapons of Mass Destruction.
By Nick Simeone (VOA-State Dept.)
In his first meeting with reporters as secretary of state, Colin Powell outlined a number of issues around the world that have been occupying his time, including Iraq. He says Iraq's arsenal of chemical and biological weapons still poses a threat to the region.
Sharon Leads Barak
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
An Israeli government report has cleared Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon of responsibility for setting off more than four months of Israeli-Palestinian clashes. Palestinians had insisted his controversial visit to a holy site in East Jerusalem sparked the violence.
Israel's report acknowledges Sharon's visit to the disputed holy site in East Jerusalem last September was sensitive but says the visit did not provoke the bloodshed.
The hilltop area is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. It is the site of ancient Jewish Temples and also the third holiest shrine in Islam. Both Israel and the Palestinians want sovereignty over the area.
Barak Still Hopes to Meet with Arafat
By Laurie Kassman (VOA-Jerusalem)
An Israeli man was shot and killed in the West Bank town of Jenin Thursday, but efforts are still underway to try to organize a meeting between Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak ahead of next Tuesday's election. Opinion polls still show hard-line opposition leader Ariel Sharon at least 20 percentage points ahead of Barak.
The latest opinion surveys Ariel Sharon will trounce Barak on election day. The surveys give Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres a better chance against Sharon. But Barak still insists publicly he will not step aside and let Peres battle Sharon at the ballot box. The deadline for changing candidates runs out early Friday morning.
Barak had hoped a peace deal could clinch him victory, but a deal has eluded him. A week of marathon talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators did not produce the needed breakthrough.
Barak still has not ruled out a meeting with Arafat. The expected summit was put in doubt after Arafat lashed out at Israel in a speech to an international economic forum in Switzerland last weekend. The Palestinian leader later made some conciliatory remarks in an interview with Israeli TV.
Palestinian officials have confirmed Arafat met Wednesday night with a top Israeli official and close adviser to Barak. International efforts are aimed at organizing a Barak-Arafat meeting this weekend either in Egypt or Sweden, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Will Israeli Arabs go to the Polls?
By Ross Dunn (VOA-Nazareth)
The more than 554,000 Israeli Arabs who are eligible to vote make up over 12 percent of the electorate. However, many of them are disillusioned by recent developments, and they are threatening to boycott the election.
Observers say this could ensure the victory of Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon over incumbent Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Residents of the Israeli Arab village of Nazareth are trying to decide if they should vote.
In this town of Christian and Muslim Arabs, the residents are constantly reminded of their faith in God. But unfortunately for Barak, many of the residents have no faith in him. He desperately needs the support of Israel's Arab community if he is to have any hope of winning next week's special election for prime minister.
In October, Israeli police turned their guns on rioting Arabs in Nazareth, killing 13. It is generally believed here that the police would not have opened fire if the citizens had been Jewish. Nazarenes say the shooting, in addition to killing 13 people, destroyed whatever trust they had in Barak as a peacemaker.
The riots followed the start of the Palestinian uprising against Israel in late September. Israeli Arabs such as Nazareth resident Rad Abu Hassan felt the security forces treated them no differently than they would Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He says Israeli forces took over the town. "We lived in terror and with machine guns with men on the roof shooting people. [You wondered whether this is] Beirut or is this Nazareth?"
Those events convinced Abu Hassan, who works in a photo-processing shop in Nazareth, to boycott the election. He says it makes little difference to him whether Barak or Sharon, wins. "I am not going to vote in this election, absolutely not. We are not going to vote for Barak, not in his dreams. We don't find Barak or Sharon a solution for our problems, not for the Middle East, not for the peace process. They believe too much in force, and that is not for us."
Many observers believe that a poor turnout of Arab voters on February sixth will help ensure a victory for the hard-line Sharon. But Abu-Hassan says it is outrageous to place the responsibility for the outcome of the election on the Arab community of Israel. "Why is it always that the Arab people have to determine the future of the Jewish state? We are out of the picture, always have been. And why now they want us to determine their future? It is not fair."
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