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Newsletter : 1fax0626.txt
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>JN June 26, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 106
Nazi-Destroyed Synagogue Commemorated in Leipzig
By IsraelNationalNews.com
A unique monument has been established on the site of a Leipzig synagogue destroyed by the Nazis. At the dedication ceremony, 140 empty bronze chairs were placed in a structure atop the ruins of the synagogue.
Leipzig's mayor expressed his hope that the site would become a "thorn in the flesh of the city, a place for thought, study, discussion."
The Jewish community in Leipzig was the 6th-largest in Germany in the early 1930s, numbering 135,000. Only 24 Jews remained there by the end of World War II; today, 600 Jews live there.
Israel Declares Curfew in Hebron
By VOA News
Israel has imposed a curfew in the city of Hebron following a wave of violence in the West Bank. Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer ordered the curfew after five Israelis and one Palestinian boy were wounded in a gunbattle between armed Palestinians and Israeli troops in Hebron. The curfew covers the Israeli-controlled part of Hebron.
Ben-Eliezer also ordered the army to seal off the city, which will prevent the city's 120,000 Palestinians from traveling. About 500 Jewish settlers live in small enclaves in Hebron.
This latest development comes as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon prepared to meet with President Bush Tuesday in Washington to strengthen the fragile truce between Israel and the Palestinians.
Earlier Monday, two Israeli settlers were wounded in an attack on a bus in the West Bank. Israeli military officials say the two received minor injuries from shrapnel when Palestinian gunmen fired on the bus traveling from Jewish settlements between Bethlehem and Hebron. An Israeli army spokesman also says troops returned fire after Palestinians launched two mortars at the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli forces in the West Bank town of Ramallah Monday arrested two more Palestinians in connection with the killing of two reservists there last October. A Sharon spokesman said one of the suspects confessed to choking one of the Israeli soldiers.
Seven young Palestinians were arrested in east Jerusalem overnight on charges of hurling rocks and fire bombs at vehicles traveling between Jerusalem and the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim.
Pope Visits Babi Yar
By Larry James (VOA-Kiev)
Pope John Paul II, on the third day of his visit to Ukraine, Monday paid tribute to victims of the Nazis after first celebrating a mass outside the Ukrainian capital.
The pope prayed at the site of the killings - a ravine called Babi Yar on the edge of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev. In 1941 the Nazis gunned down and buried in mass graves at Babi Yar more than 100,000 people, mostly Jews. Nazis used the site to execute Jews, Soviet prisoners of war and Roma, or Gypsies, throughout the Second World War.
For the Jewish people, what happened at Babi Yar 60 years ago was just a precursor of what was to come. It was there the Nazis began their systematic attempt to eradicate the Jews. And it was there Pope John Paul II offered a prayer in memory of the Jews who died at Babi Yar after Nazi forces began herding people out of Kiev to the wooded ravine where they were shot and their bodies dumped in mass graves.
Syrian President Visits Paris
By Lisa Bryant (VOA-Paris)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Paris Monday, paying his first visit to France as head of state. Assad's discussions with French leaders are expected to focus on increasing European involvement in the Middle East peace process and on economic reforms in Syria. The visit has already stirred controversy.
French leaders will give Syria's 35 year-old president and his new wife the red-carpet treatment during their three day visit to Paris. French President Jacques Chirac held a banquet in Assad's honor Monday night, following afternoon discussions with the Syrian leader.
During his visit here, Assad is expected to call for greater European involvement in the Middle East as a way to counterbalance the U.S. diplomatic presence in the region. In a recent interview with France's Le Figaro newspaper, Assad cast doubt on the long-term viability of a recent American-brokered ceasefire between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Syrian leader stirred controversy in France with his remarks, during a visit to Syria by Pope John Paul II, that Jews betrayed Jesus, and tried to kill the Muslim prophet Mohammed. In recent interviews with French reporters, Assad said the remarks were not intended to be anti-Semitic. But French Jewish groups plan a demonstration against his visit nonetheless.
Talks Underway Toward ultra-Orthodox TV channel
Israel Faxx Staff
Army Radio has reported that Shas Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Likud Communications Minister Reuven Rivlin are discussing a plan to establish a pioneer Haredi television channel.
Because of long-standing Haredi prohibitions on TV viewing, subscribers who ordered the satellite service would be offered the option of having all other channels blocked to their sets. The satellite channel would offer religious sermons and lessons in sacred texts, as well as Haredi music.
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