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Newsletter : 1fax0315.txt
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>JN March 15, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 47
Hebrew TV in U.S.
Arutz-7 News
Israelis in America will soon be able to watch Israeli TV. For the first time, Hebrew broadcasts will be screened coast-to-coast, including programming from Israel Television, as well as the Israeli stations Channel Two, Educational Television, and Sports Channel.
Yediot Acharonot reports that the new
America-Israel channel, which will begin broadcasting in June,
hopes to reach the 300,000 Israeli families living in the U.S.
English sub-titles will also be provided on selected programming,
in the hope of reaching other Jews as well.
Palestinians Protest Closures
By Sonja Pace (VOA-Jerusalem)
Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets around Ramallah Wednesday to protest Israel's continued closure of most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Activists declared a "day of rage" and urged people to demonstrate against the continued Israeli closure. Hundreds of Palestinians heeded the call and took the streets around the West Bank city.
In one incident, protestors briefly seized an Israeli checkpoint, but Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets and retook the position.
Israeli troops have sealed off many towns and villages in Palestinian-controlled areas during the past five months and Sunday blocked all access to and from Ramallah. Israel says the action was necessary to prevent terrorist attacks.
But there is disagreement within Israel's broad coalition government over the effectiveness of the closure policy and its potential to backfire, if it ends up heightening resentment among the Palestinian population against Israelis. The United States and the European Union have criticized the closures.
Tuesday, Israel eased its blockade on Ramallah and a few other towns. Palestinian leaders call the easing of the blockade "cosmetic." They said that by keeping most of the West Bank and Gaza closed, Israel is heightening tension and turning Palestinian communities into virtual prisons. They likened the closures to a policy of apartheid.
Palestinian activists are calling for a general strike, Thursday in Jerusalem, to protest Israeli policy and the continued closures.
Survey: Support for Israel and Palestinian State
By Barbara Schoetzau (VOA-New York)
A new opinion poll finds that Americans remain strong supporters of Israel despite five months of violence in the Middle East. The public opinion survey, which was commissioned by major Jewish organizations in the United States, also finds support for a divided Jerusalem and a sovereign Palestinian state.
The new poll indicates that two-thirds of Americans view Israel favorably, while only 18 percent say they have a favorable view of the Palestine Authority. Three out of four of those surveyed blame the Palestinians for causing the current violence in the Middle East.
But, two-thirds of those polled believe the Palestinians should have a sovereign state of their own, alongside Israel. Forty-eight percent of American Jews agreed. A slim majority, 51 percent, of Americans think Israel should divide Jerusalem with the Palestinians, although only 33 percent of Jewish Americans think so.
Two polling firms conducted the survey, interviewing 1,400 people across the United States. One of the pollsters, Zev First, says the survey found no erosion of support for Israel among a cross-section of Americans. "This poll tells me across-the-board among elites, among the American public, among influential Americans -- and in foreign policy - it is the elite community and the influential American community that have a major say - Israel has a bedrock of support," he said. "The Palestinian Authority, notwithstanding five months of horrendous images on television, which none of us are comfortable with, you still have a five-to-one margin among the various communities that agree more with the Israeli position."
Four major American Jewish organizations commissioned the poll to explore U.S. attitudes toward Israel. Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said American Jewish leaders were concerned that the turmoil in the Middle East was undercutting American support for Israel.
Foxman said the results of the survey should have a calming influence on concerned American Jews. But he also said the poll indicates areas of weakness, where Jewish groups have to do a better job educating the public. "I think the most disturbing," he said, "is that here Israel had already given 40 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians, that 90 percent, or 95 or 97 percent of the population, lives under Palestinian authority, and the majority of the American people were not aware that so much territory had been returned and that, in fact, 95 or 97 percent of the Palestinians do not live under occupation."
Three-quarters of those polled say they follow the news from the Middle East closely or somewhat closely and 37 percent call the current situation in the Middle East the most important foreign policy issue facing the new Bush Administration.
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