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Newsletter : 2fax0124.txt
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>JN Jan. 24, 2002, Vol. 10, No. 16
Bin-Laden's Men Find Refuge In Syria And Lebanon
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Terrorist "refugees" from Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda group are being given shelter in Syria and Syrian-occupied Lebanon.
Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi, head of IDF Intelligence, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee this week. The State Department's latest annual report on terrorism-sponsoring regimes notes that Bin-Laden's al-Qaeda network maintained a presence in Lebanon.
Sharon to be Tried in Brussels?
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Another pre-trial session regarding accusations against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was held in Brussels Wednesday - this time to enable Sharon's attorneys to present their case against holding the trial altogether.
Sharon has been sued under a special Belgian law for his role in the Christians Phalangists' massacre of 900 Arabs in Lebanon's Sabra and Shatila neighborhoods in 1982. Sharon's attorneys attempted to convince the court that it has no authority to try the case.
They also maintained that in any event a sitting foreign leader cannot be tried; the Belgian authorities are responsive to this claim, as they know that otherwise, incumbent officials will hesitate before visiting Belgium. Yet another claim is that the trial represents a blow to Israel's sovereignty, as an official Israeli Commission of Inquiry, the Kahan Commission, already heard testimony and ruled on the matter.
The commission found that Sharon bore only an "indirect responsibility" for the events. The decision on whether or not to hold the trial will be handed down in March.
Hizbullah and Israel Clash
By VOA News
Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon have shelled Israeli forces in a disputed border area, drawing a quick response from Israel. Israeli fighter jets fired missiles and Israeli artillery shelled into Lebanon at the suspected Hizbullah positions in the Kfar Shuba region.
Earlier Wednesday, Hizbullah fired rockets and mortars at Israeli military outposts in the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms at the foot of the Golan Heights. Hizbullah anti-aircraft gunners also fired at an Israeli reconnaissance drone flying over southern Lebanon. It was the first Hizbullah attack in the area since October. No casualties were reported from either side.
Hizbullah officials said the attacks were in retaliation for repeated Israeli violation of Lebanese territory. Israel's Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer described the attacks as very dangerous and charged that Iran and Syria backed the operation.
Israel captured the Shebaa Farms region during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Hizbullah considers the land to be Lebanese territory, a position supported by the governments of Lebanon and Syria.
The United Nations regards the Shebaa Farms as captured Syrian territory and left it outside the line it drew to confirm an Israeli troop withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Israel Knesset Speaker Plans to Address Palestinian Lawmakers
By VOA News
Israel's parliament speaker said he plans to address Palestinian lawmakers despite strong opposition from other Israeli leaders. Speaker Avraham Burg says making that address is an effort to help find peace between the two sides.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon recently forced President Moshe Katsav to turn down a similar invitation to address the Palestinian legislature in Ramallah. Sharon holds the Palestinian Authority and its leader Yasir Arafat responsible for terrorism against Israel. Some right-wing Israeli lawmakers say that if Burg makes his planned address, he should be voted out of office. Ousting him would take a two-thirds majority of Israel's deputies.
Despite Sharon's objections, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who like Burg belongs to the dovish wing of the left-center Labor party, supports the speaker's initiative.
Helping N. American Jews Come Home
By IsraelNationalNews.com
Rabbi Joshua Fass of the Boca Raton Synagogue in Florida has founded and directs a project called Nefesh B'Nefesh, encouraging aliyah (immigration to Israel) from North America.
The project is offering to help potential olim face the bureaucratic, financial and professional obstacles in coming to Israel. The unique aspect of the project is that it offers up to $60,000 to those North American Jews who choose to settle in Israel, with the only condition being that the immigrant remain in the country for three years.
The project, according to Rabbi Stewart Weiss, writing in the Jerusalem Post, is rumored to have already raised as much as $10 million. Fass hopes to bring over his first group of North American immigrants this summer. The potential immigrants, writes Weiss, "will be thoroughly screened, with priority given to those who can ultimately support themselves, who can contribute meaningfully to the State of Israel, and who have legitimate financial concerns impeding their aliyah."
For more information, see www.nefeshbnefesh.com.
