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Newsletter : 2fax0121.txt
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>JN Jan. 21, 2002, Vol. 10, No. 13
Free Press Group Condemns Bombing of Palestinian Radio
By VOA News
A free press group has condemned Israel's destruction of the Palestinian broadcasting studios as a reprehensible attack.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Israel was depriving the Palestinian public of news and information. It also said attacks on the media put journalists at risk by potentially undermining their civilian status and turning them into military targets.
Palestinians March in Support of Arafat
By Victor Beattie & Ross Dunn (VOA-Jerusalem)
Thousands of Palestinians have marched in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Ramallah in a show of support for Yasir Arafat who has been confined in Ramallah for weeks by Israeli tanks.
At least eight Palestinians and one Israeli soldier were wounded in a gunbattle Sunday in Ramallah, where members of Arafat's Fatah faction marched on to the Palestinian broadcasting facilities that Israeli troops demolished Saturday.
Palestinians said the radio station attack was aimed at silencing Palestinian views. Israel said the Palestinians used the facility to incite violence. Voice of Palestine has remained on the air using private FM stations.
Israel said the attack was part of its continued retaliation for Thursday's attack on a bat mitzvah celebration in the northern Israeli town of Hadera that left six Israelis and a Palestinian attacker dead. Israel said Arafat has not done enough to control such suicide attacks.
Palestinian Cabinet Minister Ziyad Abu Ziyad, said Israel will never be able to silence the Palestinian people through military action. "Israel will not be able to stop the Palestinian voice and to break the Palestinian will, We will continue our struggle until we achieve our national rights."
Israeli Government spokesman Arieh Mekel says the action was
justified because of Thursday's massacre of six Jews by a
Palestinian gunman, who opened fire at a teenage girl's
coming-of-age ceremony. "It was one of the most shocking terrorist
attacks on Israeli citizens in a long time," declared Mekel. "This
Palestinian television and radio station has long been a center of
incitement against the state of Israel and against the Jewish
people."
Arafat has again insisted he is doing everything possible to stop
terrorism. In an interview with Newsweek Magazine, the Palestinian
leader said more than 250 people have been arrested so far. He
accused Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of exploiting terrorist attacks
to destroy the peace process.
Egypt Hosts Holy Land Clerics of Three Faiths
By VOA News
Jewish, Muslim and Christian clerics from the Holy Land are in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria for a three-day conference aimed at boosting prospects for Arab-Israeli peace.
The unusual conference that opened Sunday was organized by the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey -- who joined the Egyptian Grand Imam, Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, in presiding over the meeting.
In Jerusalem, a Foreign Ministry statement said the conference has the blessing of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Because of the volatile atmosphere surrounding Israeli-Palestinian issues, there has been no mention of the conference in the Egyptian news media. In 1997, Sheik Tantawi was roundly criticized in Egypt and other Arab countries for meeting with Israel's chief rabbi.
An aide to Tantawi said the conferees hope to reach agreement on a declaration that could be a positive contribution to peace negotiations. He said the fact that representatives of the three religions can sit down together is a step in the right direction.
60th Anniversary Of Nazis' Final Solution Meeting
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Sunday marked the 60th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, at which top officials of the German Reich, including Adolph Eichmann, the Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Justice, and others discussed the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question."
It was decided there that, "Under proper guidance, in the course of the final solution the Jews are to be allocated for appropriate labor in the East.
"Able-bodied Jews, separated according to sex, will be taken in large work columns to these areas for work on roads, in the course of which action doubtless a large portion will be eliminated by natural causes. The possible final remnant will, since it will undoubtedly consist of the most resistant portion, have to be treated accordingly, because it is the product of natural selection and would, if released, act as the seed of a new Jewish revival (see the experience of history). In the course of the practical execution of the final solution, Europe will be combed through from west to east."
The Wannsee discussion also dealt with the "Treatment of Persons of Mixed Blood" and noted, for instance, that, "Persons of mixed blood of the first degree who are exempted from evacuation will be sterilized in order to prevent any offspring and to eliminate the problem of persons of mixed blood once and for all."
