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Newsletter : 1fax0621.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN June 21, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 103
Bin Laden's Terrorists to Participate in Intifada
Israel Faxx Staff Report
Israel's Channel Two Television News has broadcast a video in which Osama bin Laden, the Saudi Arabian terrorist is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan, says his soldiers plan to assist Palestinians in attacks against Israel.
The video showed Muslim militants undergoing training in the Afghan desert, blowing up targets in the sand, handling explosives and shooting at a target containing pictures of former President Clinton and the late King Hussein of Jordan.
Bin Laden, at the tape's end, calls for "blood, blood and destruction, destruction. We give you the good news that the forces of Islam are coming and the forces of Yemen will continue in the name of God." He urged his supporters to travel to Israel where, "your Palestinian brothers are waiting for you with open arms."
Bin Laden is wanted for the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, in Yemen, in which 17 American sailors were killed and for the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
Fragile Israeli-Palestinian Ceasefire Continues
By Meredith Buel (VOA-Jerusalem)
Israel said it would continue to take steps to implement a fragile cease-fire with the Palestinians. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his top security officials said in a statement issued after a meeting to assess the ceasefire that Israel will continue efforts to implement a U.S. brokered truce with the Palestinians.
However, Israel said it would not pull back soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza until there is an end to terrorist attacks. The ceasefire agreement requires Israel to redeploy its troops to positions held before the Palestinian uprising began nearly nine months ago.
The statement said Israel retains the right of self-defense and the right to foil attacks directed at its citizens and soldiers. It accuses the Palestinian Authority of not fulfilling its obligations under the ceasefire.
Sharon warned that Israel would reconsider its commitment to the truce, after Palestinian gunmen killed two Jewish settlers this week in the West Bank. On Wednesday, a bomb exploded in the Israeli town of Hadera, but there were no injuries.
A spokesman for the prime minister said future decisions on easing the closure on the Palestinian territories will depend on how well the ceasefire holds.
"I would say we have to take each step at a time rather than speak about an overarching principle of Israeli policy at the present. The situation is very fluid. The ceasefire, which barely exists, is fragile. The priority of the government will be to protect the security of the citizens of Israel."
Palestinian chief Yasir Arafat denounced as a "lie" Israel's declaration that it remains committed to the ceasefire. Arafat told reporters the move "is an attempt to deceive international public opinion."
West Bank Radio Silenced
By VOA News
Palestinian police have shut down a pirate radio station transmitter in the West Bank after Israel complained the station's broadcasts were interfering with air traffic control transmissions at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport.
Israel's Communications Ministry says a transmitter near the city of Tulkarm was believed to be responsible for the interference. The station was reported to be broadcasting on the same frequencies used by the control tower at the airport.
Israel Radio reported air traffic controllers were having difficulty maintaining radio contact with aircraft during takeoffs and landings because of the interference.
Israel's Communication Ministry officials informed their Palestinian counterparts who then seized the radio station's transmitters earlier this week. Reuters news agency quoted an Israeli official as saying it was unlikely the interference was deliberate.
Solzhenitsyn Expects Controversy Over Book on Russian Jews
By VOA News
Russia's Nobel Prize-winning author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, says he expects his latest book about Russia and its Jewish population to spark controversy.
In an interview published by the weekly "Moskovskiye Novosti," Solzhenitsyn said he tried to be objective in the new book entitled "Two Hundred Years Together."
The French news agency reports the 500-page book begins with the division of Poland, which saw a great number of Polish Jews becoming Russian citizens.
Solzhenitsyn says he has been accused of expressing anti-Semitism in such novels as "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich," and "Cancer Ward," but he says he has been "greatly wounded" by those suggestions.
Russia has a long history of anti-Semitism. For centuries, most Jews were prohibited from living in cities such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg and were restricted to certain regions. Violent pogroms against Jews in the late 19th and 20th centuries sent waves of Jews fleeing to the New World.
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