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Newsletter : 1fax0925.txt
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>JN Sept. 25, 2001, Vol. 9, No. 156
Israel to Provide El Al with War & Terrorism Insurance
By IsraelNationalNews.com
The Israeli government has approved a special multi million dollar guarantee for El Al flights to the U.S.
The international insurance industry had announced it was canceling all policies dealing with war and terrorism coverage. As a result, El Al would have found itself uninsured.
Without Monday night's emergency state approval, El Al flights would have been turned away from U.S. airports because of a lack of insurance.
Mofaz: Israel Ready in the Event of an Iraqi Attack
By IsraelNationalNews.com
IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz announced, after a Monday meeting with the Knesset Defense Committee that the military is ready for any eventuality, including an attack from Iraq.
Mofaz said that the IDF is prepared for several possible scenarios, explaining the U.S. is not announcing its intentions ahead of time. He declined to respond when asked if the U.S. has already promised Israel advance notice of an impending strike that might result in a missile attack against Israel from Iraq.
Mofaz warned against fomenting panic among the public by making declarations about the need to obtain gas masks. "The public can remain calm; all steps to prepare for any developments have been taken."
Israel Sets West Bank Buffer Zone
By VOA News
The Israeli army has declared a closed military zone in part of the West Bank bordering Israel, making it off-limits to Palestinians except those with special permits.
The army said the aim of the zone was to prevent terror attacks in Israel and stop Palestinians from slipping into the country illegally to work without permission.
The zone stretches at least 18 miles between the Palestinian towns of Tulkarm and Jenin and is up to 1.25 miles deep in some places. The Israel army said only Palestinians who live in the zone are allowed to be there and anyone else would be detained.
Palestinian Authority officials have denounced the zone, calling it a racist separation plan. They accuse Israel of planning to annex the land in the closed zone.
The Israeli step, planned for several weeks, came as long-awaited truce talks were put on hold again after an Israeli woman was shot and killed in a West Bank ambush. Gunmen fired on the woman's car as she drove to a Jewish settlement in the Jordan River valley. Islamic Jihad said it was responsible for the attack.
Ongoing violence has scuttled several attempts to bring Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat together for truce talks.
Sharon: Israel Will Create a Palestinian State
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, addressing the Teacher's Union meeting Monday night, said the Jewish State is willing to grant the Palestinians that which no other ruler ever offered them: an independent state.
"Neither the Turks nor the British nor the Jordanians nor the Egyptians" offered to create a Palestinian State, Sharon said. "Israel is willing to do so if they can enforce peace in Judea, Samaria and Gaza."
The Judea, Samaria and Gaza Council reacted to the prime minister's comments by saying that only a blind and callous leader would offer the Palestinians an independent state, as the territory already in their control has become a hotbed of terrorism and a base for suicide bombers.
Jews in Afghanistan Under the Taliban
By IsraelNationalNews.com
As the world prepares for a military onslaught on Afghanistan, and as the last of the Western journalists leave the country, Arutz-7 spoke Sunday with Naftali Cohen, who immigrated to Israel from Afghanistan 25 years ago.
Cohen described his recollections of the land of his birth and his thoughts about the warfare it is soon to face. He immigrated with the last wave of Afghani Jews, from 1975 to 1982, at the age of 17.
"I have mixed emotions about the apparently upcoming attack. On the one hand, like many Afghani expatriates, I have sympathy for those Afghani Muslims with whom I was friendly."
Known for their fundamentalist brand of Islam, the Afghanis are divided into two groups, Sunnis and Shi'ites. Naftali said he encountered anti-Semitism primarily from the Shi'ite sector of the populace, who "hate the Jews more than the Sunnis do."
One thing he is sure about, however, is that the invasion of Afghanistan by U.S. ground troops will not be easy. "Look at the Soviets," he said, who were essentially defeated by the Afghanis. Air strikes, on the other hand, will cause great suffering to the Afghani populace, while the Islamic terrorists have many inaccessible hiding places.
Media reports indicate that there remain only two Jews in Afghanistan, Yitzchak Levy and Zevulun Siman-Tov, both of whom live in Kabul. Naftali Cohen told Arutz-7 that he spoke with Siman-Tov recently, who is a businessman with freedom of movement into and out of Afghanistan. Both Siman-Tov and Levy have family in Israel.
