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Newsletter : 1fax0327.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN March 27, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 55
Water From Israeli Reservoir Floods Gaza Strip
By VOA News
Water from an Israeli reservoir has flooded into the Gaza Strip, drowning livestock and inundating Palestinian crop land. Palestinian officials say a number of farms are destroyed. They estimate the cost of the damage is in the millions of dollars.
The water, more than 3 million cubic meters, came from a burst dam in an irrigation reservoir at an Israeli communal farm just outside Gaza. Six Palestinians were injured trying to avoid the flood waters or attempting to rescue their farm animals. One Palestinian farmer says all of his 10,000 chickens drowned.
Palestinian Snipers Kill Jewish Baby Girl in Hebron
By Gamla, Arutz-7 & VOA News
A Jewish baby girl in the Avraham Avinu quarter of Hebron was shot and killed Monday by Palestinian terrorists firing from the city's Abu Sneineh neighborhood. Her father was shot in the thigh and is said to be in stable condition.
The 10-month-old baby, Shalhevet Techiya Pas, who was being carried by her mother, was shot directly in the head by an Arab sniper. Gamla News Service reported that the snipers use telescopic sites given to them and were trained by the CIA, under the request of former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
Hebron Jewish community spokesman Noam Arnon said, "The army claims to be firing back, but we know the truth: it's not an exchange of fire, but an exchange of noise. The army is shooting at empty areas, instead of destroying the places from where a sniper sees a baby in his telescopic sights and murders her in cold blood. The army could conquer these hills in a half-hour if it wanted to."
Israel has ordered an Arab district in Hebron evacuated. Israel did not say why it ordered the Arab residents to leave, the army saying only that it would enact "security measures." Prime Minister Ariel Sharon blames Palestinian security forces for the shooting.
Meanwhile, the U.N. Security Council is making another attempt to come up with a resolution about Israeli-Palestinian violence before the Arab League summit Tuesday.
The Palestinians want the Security Council to approve the idea of sending U.N. observers to the Palestinian territories, a move rejected by Israel and the United States.
U.N. ambassadors are trying to craft a compromise based on a European draft that talks about a mechanism to protect civilians, but makes no specific mention of an observer force.
Nearly 450 people have been killed in Israeli-Palestinian violence since late September. Most of the victims are Palestinian.
IDF Denies Strange P.A. Claims
By Arutz-7 News
The Palestinian Authority has leveled two strange and serious accusations against Israel regarding alleged use of chemical weapons against Palestinians, both of which the IDF denied.
It began with a claim by the PA Environment Minister that the IDF was using radioactive substances in helicopter attacks. An IDF statement emphasized that the IDF uses no such substances, and that the Palestinian Authority is misleading the public with false statements.
Senior PA medical official Dr. Subhi Shalash then compared Israel to the Nazis and accused Israel of using a gas that renders its victims impotent. Once again, the IDF denied the allegation, saying it was just one more effort in the ongoing campaign to besmirch Israel's image, and that it had no basis in truth.
Saudi Fatwa Bans Pokemon
By VOA News
Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority has banned the globally-popular children's game Pokemon. It has issued a religious edict saying the game and its trading cards are possessing the minds of Saudi children, involve gambling and promote Zionism. The kingdom's higher committee on Islamic law said the game has symbols that include six-pointed-stars like Israel's national emblem, as well as Christian crosses and symbols of Japanese Shintoism.
The Saudi fatwa is the strongest national reaction yet against the Pokemon phenomenon. But the game has also come under attack in several Western countries, including Slovakia, Mexico and the United States. Some U.S. schools have banned the trading cards, saying they distract children from their studies.
The video game was developed in 1996 in Japan by Satoshi Tajiri, who wanted to mix his childhood fondness for gathering insects and watching televised monster movies. Pokemon has more than 100 animated creatures, each with their own personality.
Internet search engines show as many as 1.7 million references to Pokemon, sub-divided into categories for buying and selling trading cards, dolls, comic books, action figurines and videos. The multi-billion dollar industry also has developed an international television series.
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