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Newsletter : 1fax0705.txt
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>JN July 5, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 112
Hizbullah in Lebanon Warns Government Not to Destroy Drug Crops
By VOA News
Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon have warned the government against using force to carry out a plan to eradicate drug crops.
Hizbullah officials suggested the government purchase the crops it wants to eliminate rather than send in tanks. The rebels said the farmers would otherwise live in poverty if they did not grow drug crops such as cannabis and opium poppies.
Israel Endorses Targeted Response to Palestinian Attacks
By VOA News
Israel's security cabinet has endorsed the controversial policy of targeting Palestinian activists suspected of planning attacks against Israelis.
At a Wednesday meeting, the 13-minister group endorsed a decision by senior ministers to continue targeting militants who threaten Israeli lives while maintaining an overall policy of what Israel calls "relative restraint" toward Palestinians.
Ministers who took part in the meeting told Israel Radio the response against suspected terrorists and their handlers will be more severe than before.
Palestinians have denounced the Israeli strategy as an assassination campaign. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat said it violated the ceasefire agreed to last month, however Israel referred to its policy as "active self-defense."
Ha'aretz reported that Israeli security and intelligence organizations have a list of 30 Palestinians targeted for assassination. That list includes activists from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front.
Meanwhile, an Israeli civilian was shot dead just inside Israel near the West Bank border, north of Tulkarm. Israeli police initially suspected Palestinian militants, but later said the shooting appeared to be crime-related and not political in nature.
Elsewhere, gunfire wounded an activist of the Palestinians' Fatah movement in the West Bank town of Hebron. Palestinians blamed Israeli forces. Israeli military officials said they had no knowledge of the attack.
Indyk: PA Violence Was Always a Means to an End
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk has been quoted in a Jerusalem Post interview as stating he does not believe the Palestinian Authority ever abandoned violence as a means to achieve its goals.
The ambassador is completing his second tour in Israel, preparing
to leave next week. Indyk added that any unilateral withdrawal from
West Bank and Gaza areas would be interpreted by terrorists as a
sign of weakness, sending a clear signal to Hizbullah that the
attacks pay off.
Indyk is supportive of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who he labeled a pragmatist, explaining that Sharon has the experience and the tools to bring Israel to a peace agreement.
Peres Pushes Arafat's Position
By IsraelNationalNews.com
"Whose foreign minister is he?" is the question being asked by some members of the coalition. The tensions inside the government continue to grow as Foreign Minister Shimon Peres pushes his agenda calling for the eradication of Yesha (West Bank and Gaza) communities, referring to them as stumbling blocks to peace.
Peres on Tuesday stated that there would be no real chance to achieve a comprehensive peace with the PA as long as Israel promoted Yesha communities and permitted the over 200,000 residents to continue to call those areas home.
Peres used the opinion of the international community as a yardstick for his position, insisting there is no one in favor of the Yesha communities, thereby justifying calls for their removal.
Peres flexed his diplomatic muscle, threatening to resign from the coalition if not permitted to continue promoting his left-wing agenda, realizing his presence in the coalition remains critical for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to maintain the needed majority.
Peres demanded he be permitted to continue holding meetings with PA leader Yasir Arafat, adding that if he is not given the ability to follow his conscience, he would have no alternative but to step down from office.
Zhirinovsky Admits his Father was Jewish
By Yair Sheleg (Courtesy of Ha'aretz)
Russian ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky this week finally admitted something he has denied for years: that his family on his father's side was Jewish.
In an interview with Israel Radio's Russian-language station, Reka, Zhirinovsky said his father's family were Polish Jews. But all of them died during the Holocaust, he said, and today has no connection with the Jewish side of the family.
The admission follows hard on the heels of a letter Zhirinovsky sent to the chief rabbi of Russia last week, in which he wrote that he "identifies with the victims of the Holocaust" and "repudiates all those expressions that were misunderstood" - referring to statements that have earned him a reputation as one of Russia's most anti-Semitic politicians.
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