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Newsletter : 1fax0629.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN June 29, 2001, Vol. 9, No 109
Hasmonean Town Discovered
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Remnants of a Jewish town from the Hasmonean period, well over 2,000 years ago, have been discovered at an archaeological dig between Latrun and Modi'in.
The town apparently survived past the rebellion against the Syrian Greeks, but was destroyed by the Romans in the 2nd century CE. Water cisterns, olive oil and agriculture installations, and others findings have been discovered.
Observer Endorsement Is Major Shift for Bush Team
By David Gollust (State Department) & Ross Dunn (Jerusalem)
Secretary of State Colin Powell has endorsed the idea of deploying outside monitors to observe an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and peace efforts. It is a shift in U.S. policy likely to please the Palestinians and other Arab parties but irritate Israel.
Powell's comments marked a significant adjustment if not a turnaround for the Bush administration, which previously resisted the idea in deference to Israel's strong opposition to third-party truce monitors.
Meeting reporters in Ramallah after talks with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Powell was not specific about the kind of monitoring presence he had in mind. But he said there was a need for it to help move the parties from their current, tenuous ceasefire to a process leading to renewed peace talks.
"What the nature of that monitoring or observer regime might look like or who might be members of it, we have not yet come to any conclusion on that," the secretary said. "But I think there is a clear understanding of the need for some kind of monitoring-observer function performed by some group.
"I think that as we get into the confidence-building phase, there will be a need for monitors and observers to see what is happening on the ground to serve interlocutors, and to go to points of friction and make an independent observation of what has happened."
Powell gave no details of how an international monitoring force would work. He said observers should be introduced after violence between the two sides ended and confidence-building measures introduced under a U.S. peace plan.
The measures would include a proposed freeze on building new homes for Jews in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A key for Powell is getting agreement on a timetable that would move the two sides from a ceasefire to the cooling off period and confidence steps.
While both parties seem to agree on a six-week cooling off period, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is insisting that there must first be 10 days of total calm in the region.
That is something the Palestinian leadership, and even top officials of the Bush administration, say will be difficult if not impossible to achieve.
White House Plays Down Powell Mideast Remarks
By Paula Wolfson (VOA-White House)
The White House is playing down comments by Secretary of State Colin Powell on the need for international monitors to observe steps in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Officials say there has been no change in U.S. policy.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said there was nothing new in what Powell had to say. He denied Powell was endorsing the kind of monitoring force envisioned by the Palestinian leader. "He [Arafat] has proposed a very specific international force, but that is not what the secretary said."
Fleischer said the idea of international monitors is mentioned in existing agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. During a session with reporters, the White House spokesman stressed the United States believes observers should only be deployed with the prior consent of all parties involved. "What the Secretary said goes back to the Wye Accords. There has been no change in the United States' position."
Rabbi Ovadia's Dream Creates Messianic Fervor
By Israel Faxx Staff
Sources close to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said a messianic fervor is permeating Israel's ultra-Orthodox community because the rabbi, after Saturday services, told his son that on Friday night he had a dream about the Messiah.
During the wedding of a grandchild Monday, Yosef told guests: "In
a dream on Friday night, I saw the Messiah coming to the Western
Wall. There were many people at the Wall plaza. The [Messiah] told
them: 'I have come because there are a million pupils who study at
secular schools and do not learn Torah. I want all religious
scholars to mobilize...to teach them Torah. There shouldn't be a
single school without Torah.' "I heard this all in a dream, and
then I woke up,"
Yosef said.
Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox sources told Haaretz that this was the first time that the rabbi, who does not usually delve into mystical matters, had spoken about dreams, the Messiah and redemption.
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