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Newsletter : 1fax0711.txt
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>Israel Faxx
>JN July 11, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 116
Sharon: Settle the Golan
By IsraelNationalNews.com
During his visit to the Golan Heights in northern Israel on Tuesday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called for encouraging more citizens to relocate and establish their lives in one of the many Golan communities.
Sharon stressed that only by investing in the area, developing jobs and infrastructure can the Golan grow and attract new families. By bringing enough new residents to the Golan added Sharon, the Israeli presence in the region would be an irreversible reality.
Israel Demolishes Palestinian Homes, Washington Protests
By Art Chimes (VOA-Jerusalem)
For a second straight day Israel has demolished homes in Palestinian areas, despite heavy criticism from the United States. The U.S. said it was deeply troubled by the demolitions in the Gaza Strip and in east Jerusalem.
State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday the practice undermines the peace process and only makes it harder to move forward with an international plan to end months of violence. He added it is absolutely critical that the Palestinian Authority make every effort to bring the violence to a halt.
Early Tuesday, Israeli army bulldozers and armored vehicles destroyed more than 20 Palestinian houses and shops in the Gaza town of Rafah, touching off a gunbattle that wounded at least five Palestinians and three Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian gunmen traded fire with Israeli troops at the Rafah refugee camp near the Egyptian border. The army said it was destroying houses used to stage attacks on Israeli targets. It said the demolitions were necessary to protect the troops. The fighting was some of the heaviest since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire was to have taken effect nearly a month ago.
Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat condemned the demolitions, saying he will seek action at the Arab and international level to stop Israel from destroying any more Palestinian homes.
Monday, Israeli bulldozers demolished 14 houses being built by
Palestinians on the edge of a refugee camp in East Jerusalem.
Israel said the houses lacked the proper permits. Palestinians said
Jerusalem municipal authorities routinely deny them permission to
build homes.
The latest violence came one day after a militant of the Islamic
group Hamas blew himself up in the Gaza Strip. Hamas promised to
send 10 suicide bombers against Israel after Israeli troops killed
an 11-year-old Palestinian boy on Saturday.
Since the outbreak of the intifada, or Palestinian uprising, over nine months ago, more than 600 people have been killed - 75 percent of them Palestinians.
Arafat has reportedly instructed his security forces to step up their activities against terrorists. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres Monday said the Palestinian president has ordered what he called "very serious measures" to restore calm. But Peres said there have been no visible results as yet.
U.S. Supports Israeli Demand for U.N. Video
By VOA News
The United States has backed Israel's demand for the United Nations to release an unedited version of a videotape that may offer information about the kidnapping of three Israeli soldiers.
U.S. officials voiced their support for Israel's position Tuesday during a closed U.N. Security Council meeting in New York. U.S. Deputy Ambassador Cameron Hume told the council the tape should be made public.
U.N. peacekeepers made the videotape in October, one day after the Israeli soldiers were captured by Hizbullah guerrillas in the disputed Shebba Farms region on the Israel-Lebanon-Syrian border. Israel believes the video may reveal the identities of people involved in the abduction.
The United Nations has offered to show Israeli and Lebanese officials an edited version of the video which obscures the faces of all non-U.N. personnel, arguing the international organization must maintain neutrality in the case.
Earlier this week, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned his group would consider U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon spies if the United Nations gave Israel a copy of the videotape.
Nasrallah also said the group would not provide any further details on the condition of the captured soldiers, and a fourth Israeli prisoner, until Israel agrees to free a number of Lebanese and other Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails.
Assad Says U.N. Resolutions are Key to Mideast Peace
By VOA News
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has urged visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad to support an international peace plan aimed at restoring peace in the Middle East.
After meeting with Schroeder Tuesday, Assad said he supports the implementation of past United Nations resolutions to bring peace to the Middle East. Those resolutions include Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights, which it captured in 1967.
Assad arrived in the German capital, Berlin Tuesday where he was received with full military honors. This, as dozens gathered to protest Syria's human right's record and anti-Israeli comments Assad made in May during Pope John Paul II's visit to Syria. The Syrian leader faced similar protests during a visit to Paris last month.
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