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August 1, 2005 - Vol. 7, Issue 1

A Minyan For The Muslim Quarter: The Local Planning and Construction Committee in Jerusalem last week approved plans to build a new Jewish neighborhood inside the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

A Minyan For The Muslim Quarter: The Local Planning and Construction Committee in Jerusalem last week approved plans to build a new Jewish neighborhood inside the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City. The plan also needs approval from the regional committee, but tempers are already running high as a result of the proposal. According to the original plan, which was drafted by the Housing Ministry, 30 housing units are to be built in the Muslim Quarter on a three-dunam plot just inside Herod's Gate. The plan envisions building residential homes up to three stories high and the construction of a synagogue. The goal-as explained in the committee meeting-is to improve the quality of life for Jewish settler families that live in the Muslim Quarter or near it (about 16 families). Uri Shetrit, the Jerusalem municipality engineer, initially opposed the plan because it does not conform to the principles that were established to preserve the Old City. Specifically, the plan does not leave at least ten meters of open space from the wall of the Old City, and the height of the planned buildings is greater than the height of the Old City walls. Shetrit eventually changed his mind and recommended approving the plan, provided that construction is coordinated with the Antiquities Authority and the number of housing units is reduced to 21.

Jerusalem Councilman Peppe Allalo vehemently protested the political motives behind the project, describing it as a "virtual" plan that was merely geared as a provocation. "This plan is liable to cause a third Intifada," he said. "From the Muslims' point of view, it's like ascending the Temple Mount. Also in terms of planning, this is a disaster because the plan undermines all the principles of preserving the Old City and the municipal master plan." Allalo added that the municipality would have to rezone a "green" area to build the apartments. MK Ran Cohen went further in a protest letter to Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog, writing, "The sole purpose of this plan is to insert a political divider in the Old City. The plan is a keg of dynamite [that] is liable to set Jerusalem ablaze, to tear the delicate membrane between Muslims and Jews in the city, and even to become the focus of an international political crisis in the Middle East." Informed sources said the project was pushed forward mostly by people from the Prime Minister's Office and the Jerusalem Mayor's Office. (Ma'ariv, 7/26/05 & AP, 7/28/05)

Show Them The Money: According to a July 18th survey of 503 Israelis over the age of 18 from 57 different settlements, most settlers want the government to compensate residents of West Bank settlements-not just those from Gaza-who move inside the Green Line. The poll was conducted by Market West on behalf of the Israeli Peace Now movement. Among the respondents, 126 described themselves as secular, 207 as religious, 111 as traditional, and 60 as ultra-Orthodox. Fifty-three percent of settlers said the Evacuation-Compensation Law, which determines that settlers evacuated under the disengagement plan will receive compensation payments, should also apply to the West Bank. While a solid majority of religious settlers (83.6%) oppose disengagement, the level of support for the evacuation among secular settlers is not much lower than the level in the overall Israeli population: nearly 47% of secular settlers back the evacuation of Gaza and the northern West Bank, while 58% of the general public supports the plan. In addition, 51.3% of secular settlers say further construction in the West Bank must be prevented, while 42.7% said that there should be more West Bank building. However, 67% of the entire settler population expressed support for new West Bank settlements, including 86.6% of religious settlers, 58.1% of traditional settlers, and 66.7% of ultra-Orthodox settlers. (Ha'aretz, 7/27/05)

No Freeze In The Valley: Sure, the Road Map requires Israel to freeze all settlement activity (including natural growth). But that didn't stop Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Housing Minister Yitzhak Herzog, and Deputy Minister in the Vice Premier's Office Orit Noked from participating in a special meeting of the social-economic cabinet that was held in the Jordan Valley "to stress the great commitment the ministerial committee has to the Rift and its residents." Turns out that they decided to express this commitment by expanding the campaign to attract new settlers to the Jordan Valley with NIS 2.2 million in financial incentives. As part of the new campaign, recently released soldiers who commit to living in the Valley for four years will receive a grant covering college tuition, a subsistence allowance, and free rent throughout the period. The overall value of the incentive package totals at least NIS 150,000. The decision to lure another 50 settler couples to the Jordan Valley follows an earlier recruitment program aimed at attracting 200 couples to the same part of the occupied territories. Incidentally, the average salary of employees living in the West Bank and Gaza is already 23% higher than the average salary in Israeli development towns and 47% higher than in Israeli Arab communities. (Ha'aretz, 7/26/05)

The Tale Of Two Rabbis: Chief Military Chaplain Brig. Gen. Yisrael Weiss met with bereaved families in Gaza to discuss moving graves of their loved ones to Israeli territory. But when he got out of his car in the settlement of Neveh Dekalim and began to approach one family's home, he was met with screams and curses. "You call yourself a rabbi? Take off your kippa. That's a disguise, what you're wearing on your head. A Jew doesn't remove Jewish graves," were among some of the calls aired against him. The demonstrators threw black garbage bags at the rabbi and said, "Take these, so you have somewhere to put the bones of the dead." Weiss' patience waned after one of the women demonstrators said to him, "Would you remove your daughter's grave?" The chief military chaplain, who lost his daughter in a traffic accident, turned red in the face with insult and anger, and looked her directly in the eye.

Meanwhile, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar also visited Gaza last week and met with bereaved families to discuss the removal of graves. Before meeting with the families, he visited a settlement synagogue and was received with singing and dancing. Dozens of yeshiva students and rabbis from the Kfar Darom settlement participated in a prayer led by Amar to "cancel the decree" for the pullout. The chief rabbi attempted to avoid coming out emphatically against disengagement, but it was clear from his comments that his hopes lie in that direction. Amar said, "We returned to the Land of Israel after 2,000 years of Diaspora. We were born outside of this land and we saw the Western Wall in old pictures, and we asked, 'Will we ever get to see it?' And here, after the liberation, we are witnessing ourselves going backwards. This is the real test of the faith in God. Not in force and not in forces. We need a strong prayer force in order to remove this decree. Pray from the depth of your heart." (Yedioth Ahronoth & Ynetnews.com, 7/26/05)

Casino Royale: Israeli businessman and former Knesset Member Shmuel Flatto-Sharon said last week that he has been conducting preliminary talks with Palestinian officials to build a casino in a Gaza settlement slated for evacuation, after Israel pulls out of the territory. His plan is to turn the Elei Sinai settlement in northern Gaza into a resort town. Flatto-Sharon said, "The Palestinian Authority will help us obtain permits for a pool and a casino," while several Palestinian officials, including cabinet ministers, had asked him to ask the Israeli government to destroy the settlement's 180 houses in order to save on casino costs. "It works for the Palestinians. Now I need permission from the Israeli government. We want the Israelis to visit the casino as well and that's why I need a license from Israel for security," he remarked. Flatto-Sharon said Las Vegas business tycoon Norbert Aleman plans to invest in the project and that he plans to approach others as well. The settlers' Arutz-7 radio station added that Flatto-Sharon told one its reporters that among his partners are a Saudi billionaire and Cyril Kern, a friend of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who's been involved with some of the prime minister's juicer legal problems.

Flatto-Sharon said, "Personally, I am in favor of the pullout. It's better to work with the Palestinians now about peace instead of wars. It's important to do business with them and organize a life in peace. We must think how we can work together-enough wars." Flatto-Sharon fled to Israel in 1972 after a French court indicted him on embezzlement and fraud charges. He entered the Knesset races in 1977 to avoid being extradited to France. Casinos are banned in Israel, but sanctioned by the Palestinian Authority. A casino in Jericho used to be packed with thousands of Israelis every night before the current Intifada started. Unlike the majority of Gaza settlements, Elei Sinai actually borders Israel. Flatto-Sharon is hoping that the Israeli authorities may not raise security objections if gamblers do not have to go inside any other part of Gaza. Not everyone is looking forward to Vegas on the Mediterranean. Hamas spokesman Mushir al-Masri responded to the proposal, saying, "It will bring more and more corruption for the Palestinian people. We are asking the Palestinian Authority to take a clear position against this project." Hamas supporters burned down Gaza' only cinema four years ago. (Ynetnews.com, 7/25/05; AFP, 7/27/05; & Arutz-7, 7/25/05)

Gulf State Tees Off Gaza Construction Project: UAE President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has announced an initiative to build a $100 million city in Gaza for Palestinians who have had their houses demolished by Israel. The "Khalif Bin Zayed City" will be built on the debris of Israeli settlements after disengagement is completed. The city is expected to provide housing for 30,000-40,000 Palestinians. Palestinian Authority officials have expressed their gratitude to the UAE for its support. (Emirates News Agency, 7/27/05)

Blue Tidings Of Appreciation: The Majority Headquarters-consisting of the Israeli Peace Now movement, the Labor Party, the Meretz-Yahad party, and the Kibbutz Movement-recently launched a website to collect donations to allow them to distribute care packages to IDF soldiers and police officers taking part in settlement evacuation. Each package will cost about NIS 40, and will include sweets and drinks that the security personnel may need while on duty. In addition, Peace Now will be distributing 10,000 blue bracelets adorned with the phrase, "Yes to the Disengagement." They are also considering handing out blue heart stickers to show their solidarity with settlers during the pullout. According to a Peace Now spokesperson, "There is indecision in the movement over how much to embrace the settlers. In any case, there is a clear distinction between understanding the distress of the evacuees and being disappointed with the way settlement leaders have conducted themselves." (Ha'aretz, 8/1/05)

Wandering Ward: U.S. Security Coordinator in the Middle East, Lt. Gen. William Ward, is to leave his current post after implementation of the disengagement plan. He will be promoted and moved to a different position in the U.S. military. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has recommended promoting Ward to a four-star army general and naming him as deputy commander of U.S. European Command. (Ha'aretz, 7/24/05)

The Wedding Crashers: Last Thursday, Hamas organized a mass wedding for 452 couples in the sports stadium in Nablus. The ceremony is believed to be the biggest mass wedding of Palestinians ever held. In a culture where appearances count, Arab weddings can be horrendously expensive. Over the past decade, many Islamic countries have adopted the practice of collective weddings. As one of the many gifts given during Ramadan, Egypt hosts mass weddings for low-income and physically disabled couples. Other countries where mass weddings have become a norm include Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Pakistan, and Sudan. For many poverty-stricken Palestinian families, the mass weddings mean marriage ceremonies can take place without the crippling expense of a dowry or a private party, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Most of these grooms are sons or relatives of Palestinians killed in the violence over the past four and a half years. Hamas is clearly using the ceremonies to further promote its image as a positive institution in Palestinian society. Palestinians have long maintained that one of the main reasons for the group's soaring popularity, particularly in Gaza, is the fact that the movement continues to provide a vast network of social and economic services to the needy. One groom said, "Hamas is the only group that is helping the young people here. For many of us, they are the future." (Jerusalem Post, 7/29/05)

U.S. Sprouting Interest In Shebaa Farms? In a news analysis of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent visit to Lebanon, Zeina Abu Rizk writes in the Daily Star that one of the most important elements of her trip was the revelation that the U.S. is committed to convincing Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to withdraw Israel from Shebaa Farms. Members of the American delegation traveling with Rice said she raised the issue with Sharon just before going to Beirut. The same sources said that Washington considers an Israeli pullout from Shebaa Farms as an increasingly urgent matter, although the U.S. has not gotten a positive reaction from the Israeli leader to date. Abu Rizk noted, "Washington may believe that an Israeli withdrawal from Shebaa Farms would leave the Lebanese authorities with no excuse to avoid deploying the Lebanese Army at the frontier; eventually, such a step would also reduce the reasons for Hezbollah's existence as an armed faction and would facilitate the integration of the Lebanese resistance into the military."

There is a strong belief within the circles of Beirut MP Saad Hariri that the Americans have actually adopted the French position on the issue, which is, as reportedly put by Hariri himself, "to have the Lebanese solve the Hezbollah question at their own pace," on the basis of a constructive internal dialogue that would avoid clashes among the Lebanese. Among Hariri's associates, a belief prevails that the Americans' unsuccessful experience in Iraq may have convinced the U.S. that a secure and stable Lebanon in which Hezbollah remains armed, yet "inactive"-at least temporarily-is preferable to an unsafe and chaotic Lebanon that could result from the forcible disarming of Hezbollah now. As put by Hariri's visitors, the head of the Future Movement believes there are two main reasons for the growing U.S. interest in Lebanon: first, using Lebanon to pressure Syria; and second, furthering America's agenda of promoting democracy in the Middle East. (Daily Star, 7/27/05)

The Dating Game: The Palestinian Authority (PA) set new dates for completing the local authority elections that partially began a few months ago and in which Hamas scored impressive results. According to official PA sources, the elections committee has scheduled elections for 132 local authorities in the West Bank and Gaza on September 29th. Most of the locales in this third round are small villages and towns. In addition, December 8th has been designated as the date for the fourth and most crucial voting, encompassing major cities where elections have yet to be held, like Nablus, Hebron, Khan Yunis, and Gaza City. Palestinian parliamentary elections will be rescheduled for around January 20, 2006, according to Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Sha'ath. (Ha'aretz, 7/26/05 & AP, 7/31/05)

Fantasy Political Baseball: In Friday's Ma'ariv survey of Israeli public opinion, respondents were asked for which party they would vote if Knesset elections were held today and the Likud were to split into two parties, one led by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and the other led by Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Of the 120 seats in the Knesset up for grabs, under this scenario, Sharon's Likud would win 30 seats, Netanyahu's Likud 21, Labor/One Nation 18, Shinui 9, Shas 10, National Union 7, Meretz 6, National Religious Party (NRP) 4, United Torah Judaism 5, and the Arab parties 10. Commenting on these results, Uri Rosen wrote, "The Big Bang. These two words continue to drive the political establishment crazy, giving rise to endless speculations and scenarios. After the earlier polls showed us how the Big Bang party receives fewer seats than its components (Labor, Shinui, and the Likud group led by Sharon), this time we decided to examine the idea known as the "Little Bang:" an explosion of the Likud into Likud A, led by Sharon, and Likud B, led by Netanyahu, without Sharon's joining with Peres and Lapid.

"In such a case, the poll shows several interesting findings: first of all, the split is good for the Likud. Sharon and Netanyahu together receive no fewer than 51 seats (even if it is hard to believe that there will be a political situation that will unite those two after they dismantle the ruling party). The second conclusion is that Sharon defeats Netanyahu both in the number of seats (30 as opposed to 21) and in the possibility of establishing a coalition. Sharon can join with Labor and Shinui and thus reach 57 seats, and then choose an additional partner from among the NRP, Meretz, Shas, United Torah Judaism, or the restored Yisrael Beiteinu led by Avigdor Lieberman. Netanyahu, on the other hand, can bring him only the right-wing and religious parties, reaching only 47 seats. Even if he succeeds in convincing Shinui to join him, Bibi will not be able to establish a coalition without Sharon. And as we have already said, to make this scenario come true will take nothing less than a miracle." (Ma'ariv, 7/29/05)

Fuel For Thought: Iran confirmed for the first time last Wednesday that it has fully developed solid fuel technology in producing missiles, a major breakthrough that increases the accuracy of missiles hitting targets. The technology provides Iran with the ability to fire solid fuel engine ballistic missiles like the Shahab-3, which has a range of over 1,200 miles and can carry a nuclear warhead. (AP, 7/27/05)

Notes From The Underground: According to a posting on dc.indymedia.org, Matt Finberg has apparently resigned as the "international chair" of the Jewish Defense League in order to dedicate himself to fighting Israel's settlement evacuation initiative. To that end, Finberg has set up a new group called Ascendant Redemption, which claims to be fully recognized by the IRS as a tax deductible 501(c) (3) charitable organization. All the money he raises will be sent to Arieh Eldad, an Israeli Knesset Member from the Moledet party, which is considered a successor of the outlawed Kach party. Ascendant Redemption is cited as the charity to which donations can be sent from Finberg's new website, www.stopthedeportation.org. This move may be an effort to distance Finberg from earlier efforts to raise money for organizations and individuals placed on the U.S. terrorism watch list, such as the Jewish Legion and other Kahanist groups. The pitch in Finberg's fundraising appeal is to help build two clinics, one in Gaza and one in the West Bank, where settlement evacuation will occur. Each clinic would cost $25,000, and will be staffed by "physicians and nurses from the U.S." (dc.indymedia.org newswire, 7/20/05)