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Newsletter : 1fax0305.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN March 5, 2001, No. 9, Vol. 39
Israel Offers Olive Branch to Arabs
By VOA News
A European envoy has delivered a "message of goodwill" from Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon to Syria. After a meeting with Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa in Damascus, European Union diplomat Miguel Moratinos said Sharon had asked him to transmit a general message of a willingness for peace between Israelis and Arabs.
Four Dead as Bomb Explodes in Metanya
By Jenny Badner (VOA-Jerusalem) & Arutz-7 News
A bomb has exploded in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya, killing at least four-people and injuring at least 74, 40 of whom remain hospitalized. The bomb exploded in the open-air market in Netanya, a city on Israel's Mediterranean coast, north of Tel Aviv. The device exploded during rush hour on the city's main street, near the central bus station.
The explosion took place on a pedestrian crossing opposite the central bus station in the center of Netanya. The terrorist apparently attempted to board a bus there, but the suspicious driver did not let him on. The suicide bomber looked around, saw policemen checking out a suspicious object nearby, and decided to detonate the bomb right there.
Israel's police commissioner says the device was detonated by a suicide bomber, who was one of the dead. Following the bomb blast, Israelis critically wounded a Palestinian man in what appeared to be a revenge attack.
Dozens of local residents demonstrated at the site of the attack against the deterioration in the security situation. They held signs reading, "Kahane Was Right" and "Revenge."
This is the second explosion since the first of January in Netanya. Security forces have been on high alert following a string of terrorist attacks inside Israel. No group has claimed responsibility for this latest blast. But on Saturday, the Palestinian militant group Hamas released a statement vowing to launch suicide attacks once Ariel Sharon takes office.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Sharon said the violence demonstrates
the importance of forming a national unity government. Sharon, who
was elected in a landslide last month, has been scrambling to
assemble a coalition before the late-March deadline for him to take
office.
In his campaign, Sharon promised he would be able to restore peace
and security following five-months of Israeli-Palestinian clashes.
But the violence has flared in recent days, taking both Israeli and
Palestinian lives. More than 400 people, most of them Palestinian,
have been killed during five months of violence.
Threat of War
By Arutz-7 News
Military historian Aryeh Yitzchaki was asked Sunday how he reads the reported Egyptian decision to call up its reserves for "exercises."
"All the classic warning signs are there, and it is clear that we are poised for war, possibly within two months. I don't want to scare anyone, but as opposed to IDF Military Intelligence, my opinion for the last two years has been that war will erupt in the spring of 2001, and it will involve not only the Palestinian Authority and Hizbullah, but also Egypt, Syria, and Iraq.
"The Egyptian Army does not need reserves - it's an army built on its standing force, and therefore Israel's denials of the Egyptian call-up are not relevant. The Egyptian Army is poised for war; it has created new regiments, has been training intensively, and has acquired the most up-to-date American equipment."
Yitzchaki said that despite reports that Iraq and Iran will have nuclear weapons only three and five years from now, respectively, "I have reliable information that Iraq already has one nuclear bomb - and this explains his recent 'chutzpah' vis-a-vis the Americans - and that Iran will have one ready by the end of this year."
Mideast Israel's Shas Party to Join New Government
By VOA News
Efforts by Israeli Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon to form a government received a boost Sunday when the ultra-Orthodox Shas party agreed to join a unity government.
Shas, with 17 seats, is the third largest party in the Israeli parliament and it has played a pivotal role in successive governing coalitions. Israel Public Radio said the Shas Party decision will give Sharon a 64-seat majority in Parliament.
Sharon, who won a landslide victory in an election one month ago, has been trying since then to put together a broad-based coalition government strong enough to deal with the deadly Israeli-Palestinian problem.
Israel Public Radio said the deal was sealed after the Shas party
agreed to postpone several issues still in dispute with Sharon
until after formation of a government.
The French News Agency said Shas is to receive five ministerial
posts - Interior, Labor and Social Planning, Health and Religious
Affairs and a post in the Prime Minister's office responsible for
Jerusalem affairs.
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