THE ISRAEL REPORT January/February 2000

THIS EDITION OF THE ISRAEL REPORT WILL BE REGULARLY UPDATED WITH NEW MATERIAL AS IT IS RECEIVED. BE SURE TO CHECK BACK HERE OR THE WHAT'S NEW PAGE SO YOU WON'T MISS ANYTHING!

• A FRIEND IN DEED
  Scheller did not resettle in Israel. But no one person in our time has so monumentally contributed to the essence of Zionism - the ingathering of the Exiles - as this Christian gentleman.
  
  
• Melchior: If pope wants our respect, he must respect us
  Israel should welcome Pope John Paul II's visit here next month despite his recent agreement with the Palestine Liberation Organization, MK Michael Melchior said yesterday. At the same time, Melchior added, it should be made absolutely clear to him that Israel is very unhappy with his denouncement of unilateral decisions on Jerusalem as "morally and legally unacceptable."
  
  
• A Covenant Between the Pope and PLO Leader Yasser Arafat Against the G-d and People of Israel and Jerusalem
  On 15th February, 2000 at the Vatican, the Pope and the leader of the PLO terrorist organisation, Yasser Arafat, signed a covenant against the G-d and people of Israel and Jerusalem. It was a covenant between two enemies of Israel who for a long time would rather have Israel disappear from the Promised Land as soon as possible.
  
  
• Copy Of Letter From MK Uzi Landau To President Clinton Protesting US Activities Inside Israel
  
  
• The Real Threat
  Shulamit Aloni, Meir Shilo, and other distinguished personalities of a particular political camp gave a real boost to Israel's ethical foundations when they called Israel's frenzy over Austrian Joerg Haider's rise to power "hypocritical."
  
  
• Amishav Organization: Lost Tribe Returns to Israel
  37 Descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel Due to Arrive at Ben-Gurion Airport on Friday. After Centuries of Exile, Bnei Menashe Return to Zion.
  
  
• Get Tough in Lebanon
  "I want to see a funeral on Israeli television every day," Hafez Assad reportedly told his staff at the height of the war of attrition in Lebanon. It was not just an order to inflict casualties, but a statement on the war's purpose: to undermine Israel's morale and cripple its resolve.
  
  
• MK Benny Elon: IMMEDIATE DANGER TO JERUSALEM'S RESIDENTS
  I certainly hope that the citizens of Israel and residents of Jerusalem do not buy the message that the Barak Government is trying to sell. I hope that they don't remain apathetic.
  
  
• GUILT BY ASSOCIATION?
  In the army, Ehud Barak's home turf, senior commanders are expected to answer for what takes place under them. In the domestic political sphere, too - the domain which Barak now calls his home - State Comptroller Goldberg rejected Barak's "I was not familiar…" speech last week, noting that such an approach would simply not suffice.
  
  
• Moshe Arens: Turning the U.S. from an Ally into a Judge
  This role change was inevitably accompanied by a movement of the United States from its natural and traditional position at Israel's side, and generally on Israel's side, to a position somewhere in the middle between Israel and the Palestinians and, on occasion, even right into the arms of Yasser Arafat.
  
  
• Interview: Dr. Gabi Barkay On Temple Mount Excavations
  Nobody knows what was destroyed there and that is the tragedy. There was no recording and the dig was done clandestinely at night by heavy machinery and trucks and nobody knows. Only the result is there.
  
  
• Israeli Control of the Golan Remains Strategically Critical
  (Washington, D.C.): Today's Washington Post gives front-page treatment to a study released last month by the Tel Aviv University's Center for Strategic Studies under the headline: "A Fading View of the Golan; Heights No Longer Vital to Israeli Security, Analysts Say." In the old Communist phraseology, the promotion of such a revisionist view at this particular moment in time is "no accident, comrade."
  
  
• Saddam Hussein: A Modern-Day Nebuchadnezzar?
  Is There Prophetic Significance In Today's Middle East Events?
  
  
• TEXT OF GOLAN LEADER'S LETTER TO ASSAD
  "We, the elected representatives of the Golan Heights communities, write to you as the Israeli-Syrian negotiations are resuming. We feel that it is our duty to inform you that the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, is not legally authorized to surrender any part of the Golan Heights."
  
  
• Ze'ev Schiff: The IDF's border on the Golan Heights
  chief of staff Ehud Barak traced in 1994 a line which would enable the IDF to hold on to the cliff on the Golan that overlooks the Hulah Valley...
  
  
• FIRST TEMPLE ANTIQUITIES TOSSED IN THE TRASH
  Remnants from both the First and Second Temple Periods were discovered in piles of garbage dumped by the Moslem Wakf in the Kidron Valley.
  
  
• BACK DOOR TO THE PLO: More Light on Shepherdstown, Pollard, and the US-Israel Special Relationship
  The following article, "BACK DOOR TO THE PLO", is a historical snapshot which sheds even more light on the true nature of the U.S. - Israel "special relationship" and sets the stage for the Pollard affair.
  
  
• WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
  
  
• Jonathan Pollard and the Peace Talks
  The Jonathan Pollard affair can be related to the talks taking place now at Shepherdstown on a number of levels:
  
  
• A Changing Jewish Perspective
  Moshe Halbertal examines how the establishment of a Jewish state has changed, and will continue to change, how Jews perceive themselves and their history.
  
  
• Sneh reveals formula for peace talks with Syria
  Revealing possible flexibility in the defense establishment's position in peace negotiations with Syria, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh has said Israel's topographical red lines could be offset by demilitarization.
  
  
• A 'Fair Deal' That's No Deal
  The root of much of the evil that has haunted Israel for the past three decades lies in the "territory for peace" equation.
  
  
• JMCC: Palestinian Attitudes Towards Palestinian Refugees - December 1999
  
  
• Holy Land's Population Triple of 2,000 Years Ago

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