Three soldiers believed to have died from friendly fire; target flees
GLOBE & MAIL
Monday, August 28, 2000
By Matthew Kalman
Nablus, West Bank -- A botched raid on an Islamic militant's hideout ended yesterday with three Israeli commandos dead, apparently by friendly fire, and Palestinian officials upset about Israel's handling of threats to peace between the two peoples.
The target of the late-night Saturday raid was Mahmoud Abu Hunud, a fugitive at the top of Israel's most-wanted list, blamed for two 1997 bombings that killed at least 21 Israelis and injured hundreds.
Mr. Abu Hunud, a leader of the militant Hamas group, which is adamantly opposed to any peace deal with Israel, fled the shootout into Nablus, a nearby town under Palestinian control. There, he surrendered to Palestinian security forces for medical treatment and was being kept under heavy guard yesterday in a Nablus hospital.
Despite their failure to capture Mr. Abu Hunud, for whom they had been searching for years, Israeli officials praised Palestinian security forces and said his detention proved the effectiveness of Palestinian-Israeli security co-operation.
"It doesn't matter under whose custody he is," Carmi Gillon, a former head of the Shin Bet security service, told Israel radio. "He's out of commission."
A senior Palestinian security officer said the Palestinian Authority had no intention of handing Mr. Abu Hunud over to the Israelis.
Israel's military chief of staff, Lieutenant-General Shaul Mofaz, set up a special commission of inquiry to find out what went wrong with the ambush and how the three Israelis were killed.
"There is a basis to believe that there was a serious operational error, which led to one of our units mistakenly shooting at their comrades," he said yesterday morning.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak also said it was possible the three Israelis had been killed by friendly fire.
"When three of our best sons are killed, it is hard to talk of success," said Israeli Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh, "but the operation has saved the lives of dozens of Israelis."
The Palestinians did their best to distance themselves from the botched operation.
"What the Israelis have done is a mistake that they committed on their own initiative, and it has nothing to do with the Palestinian Authority," said Colonel Jibril Rajoub, the top Palestinian security official in the West Bank. "They paid the price."
The area of the shootout is jointly controlled by Israel and the Palestinians, with ultimate security control in Israel's hands. Col. Rajoub suggested that it is time for Israeli forces to move out for good.
"It would have been more appropriate to have given the information to the [Palestinian] police to tackle the issue peacefully and without bloodshed," he said.
But Gen. Mofaz said Israel is not about to cede its West Bank operations.
Mr. Abu Hunud, 33, was tracked down late Saturday night by commandos from the crack undercover Duvdevan unit, who surrounded a relative's house in the village of Assireh al Shamalia, north of Nablus. But he apparently saw them and opened fire, launching a fierce gun battle that left him wounded and the three Israelis dead.
Palestinian security officials said he suffered at least three bullet wounds. His mother, Fatmeh, visited him yesterday and said he was in good condition.
Mr. Abu Hunud has been on the run from Israeli and Palestinian security forces since escaping from a Palestinian jail in 1996. He became commander of the Hamas military wing in 1998 after his predecessors were each assassinated by Israeli soldiers. He recruited suicide bombers and planned the attacks in Jerusalem in 1997 that sparked a major crisis in the peace talks.
Since then, he is believed to have been planning major terror attacks on Israeli targets. He managed to evade a nationwide search by never sleeping in the same place twice and rarely returning to his home village to see his parents.
Mr. Abu Hunud's younger brother, Mustapha, who works as a nurse at a hospital in Nablus, said he saw the attack from the start.
"We didn't even know Mahmoud was in the village, and we were very surprised," he said. "We had always thought that he was in Iran or somewhere else abroad. He apparently came to the village [Saturday] night to see my parents. Someone tipped off the Israeli security forces, who arrived immediately."
According to Mustapha, Mr. Abu Hunud was hiding in a house belonging to a relative. The Israeli commandos scaled a house opposite and waited on the roof.
"At around 9:15 p.m. I heard shots," Mustapha said. "When I looked out the window, I saw dozens of Israeli soldiers. Some of them were panicking, crying and shouting. I saw them carrying some of their own soldiers, who were bleeding. I left my house and people told me that Mahmoud had opened fire at the soldiers."
Throughout the West Bank and Gaza, Mr. Abu Hunud's escape from the soldiers was being celebrated by Hamas supporters, who consider him a hero of the Palestinian resistance.
Monday, 28 August 2000
Friday, 11 August 2000
Jewish refugees' seized assets may be used as bargaining chip
Israelis divided on whether their effects should square accounts with Palestinians
GLOBE & MAIL
Friday, August 11, 2000
By Matthew Kalman and Joshua Brown
Jerusalem - When Asher Yissachar left his native Iraq for Israel in 1951, he was allowed to take nothing with him except a few clothes. The watch and the ring he wore to the airport did not make it onto the plane with him.
Now, nearly half a century later, Mr. Yissachar hopes that the assets that he and his family left behind in Iraq will help Israel square its accounts with Palestinian refugees, to whom Israel owes billions of dollars.
Mr. Yissachar, a 66-year-old retired farmer, sees a symmetry between the estimated 600,000 Jews who left or were expelled from Arab countries when the State of Israel was founded in 1948, and the similar number of Palestinian refugees created at the same time.
"If the Palestinians can come and claim that they are refugees, then we are refugees, too," he said. "We are refugees just like they are refugees. They left, and we came."
He said it would have been impossible for Jews to remain citizens in countries such as Iraq after the founding of Israel. He recalled a day in Baghdad, before he moved to Israel, when he watched police stop every car that came their way.
"If it was being driven by a Jew, they just took the keys. In one half-hour I saw them confiscate 125 cars."
In 1951, the Iraqi parliament passed a law allowing its Jewish citizens to forfeit their Iraqi citizenship and move to Israel. More than 130,000 Jews applied. A year later, Iraq passed a law saying that property of those who went to Israel would be confiscated by the government, a move decried by the Israeli government as "legalized robbery."
Mr. Yissachar says that the Iraqi government still owes him money, but he is willing to give up the claim if Israel could use his lost assets as a bargaining chip against the claims of Palestinian refugees, a controversial plan the Israeli government has long supported.
The thousands of Jews from Arab countries who made their way to the new Israeli state were housed first in makeshift camps. Within a short period, they were given permanent housing and became fully absorbed into Israeli society.
Meanwhile, their displaced Palestinian counterparts had to live in refugee camps overseen by the United Nations. Today, Palestinian refugees and their heirs are numbered at about four million, with thousands dispersed in camps across the Mideast.
At last month's peace talks at Camp David, Md., Palestinian officials are reported to have claimed $40-billion (U.S.) in compensation for Palestinian refugees' lost property, now in Israeli hands.
After the summit, U.S. President Bill Clinton said that in addition to the establishment of an international fund to compensate Palestinian refugees, a peace accord might also call for the compensation of Jews from Arab lands.
The idea that Jews should be compensated for the property confiscated by Arab governments is not new. In the past, Israel has made intermittent efforts to register Jewish claims against the relevant governments.
Just how much property the Jews left behind in Arab countries is difficult to gauge. One estimate claims that the assets of the 100,000 Jews who abandoned property in Iraq, the wealthiest of the Jewish-Arab communities, are now worth $100-billion (U.S.). The most conservative figure places a price tag of $8-billion on the confiscated assets in Iraq.
The value of the Jewish property left behind in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, while less than the Iraqi total, is also substantial.
But even if a compensation fund were set up, it is not clear that it would bring any direct benefit to the former owners and their heirs. Israel has long argued that the assets left behind in Arab countries should be used to cancel out some or all of the debt owed by Israel to the Palestinian refugees whose property it expropriated after the 1948 war.
In 1988, several organizations representing Jews from Arab countries, working with the World Jewish Congress, began compiling a registry of all Jewish-owned assets lost in the late 1940s and the 1950s in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.
The registration forms ask respondents to list details of former communal property such as synagogues, schools, ritual baths and hospitals, as well as private assets including homes, bank accounts and jewellery. The questionnaire states: "The data will be used as the basis for a counterclaim to the Arab claims in the future final negotiations between Israel and the Arab states."
For Yehouda Shenhav, one of the founders of an Israeli political advocacy group for Jews from Arab lands, the notion that Israel might use his family's property to pay off its debts to the Palestinians is deeply disturbing.
A sociologist at Tel Aviv University, Professor Shenhav is the son of Iraqi-Jewish immigrants, and is a left-wing political activist. He objects to what he sees as the Israeli government's attempt to use his family's assets to reduce its debt to the Palestinians.
"These are not Palestinians who took their property, these are Arabs," he said. "Why do we include all Arabs in one box? They have nothing to do with each other. These are two different, separate issues. Why do we link them?"
What disturbs him most is that the Israeli government appears to be claiming the abandoned property for itself, without asking its former owners whether they agree to yield their ownership.
"If the government was fair, and [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak would say, 'Listen we want your help. There is no way you are going to get compensation. Are you going to give a hand?' -- that would be different," he said.
Prof. Shenhav is not alone in challenging Israeli attempts to use the abandoned Jewish property as a bargaining chip. These efforts are especially problematic to Jews from Arab lands living in Europe and North America.
Professor Heskel Haddad, an ophthalmologist in New York City, left Iraq with his family in the 1950s, leaving behind a great deal of property. That property, he says, belongs to his family, not Israel.
"It has no legal right to represent Jews from Arab countries living outside Israel, no legal right to link their claims to those of the Palestinians," he recently told the Jerusalem Report.
GLOBE & MAIL
Friday, August 11, 2000
By Matthew Kalman and Joshua Brown
Jerusalem - When Asher Yissachar left his native Iraq for Israel in 1951, he was allowed to take nothing with him except a few clothes. The watch and the ring he wore to the airport did not make it onto the plane with him.
Now, nearly half a century later, Mr. Yissachar hopes that the assets that he and his family left behind in Iraq will help Israel square its accounts with Palestinian refugees, to whom Israel owes billions of dollars.
Mr. Yissachar, a 66-year-old retired farmer, sees a symmetry between the estimated 600,000 Jews who left or were expelled from Arab countries when the State of Israel was founded in 1948, and the similar number of Palestinian refugees created at the same time.
"If the Palestinians can come and claim that they are refugees, then we are refugees, too," he said. "We are refugees just like they are refugees. They left, and we came."
He said it would have been impossible for Jews to remain citizens in countries such as Iraq after the founding of Israel. He recalled a day in Baghdad, before he moved to Israel, when he watched police stop every car that came their way.
"If it was being driven by a Jew, they just took the keys. In one half-hour I saw them confiscate 125 cars."
In 1951, the Iraqi parliament passed a law allowing its Jewish citizens to forfeit their Iraqi citizenship and move to Israel. More than 130,000 Jews applied. A year later, Iraq passed a law saying that property of those who went to Israel would be confiscated by the government, a move decried by the Israeli government as "legalized robbery."
Mr. Yissachar says that the Iraqi government still owes him money, but he is willing to give up the claim if Israel could use his lost assets as a bargaining chip against the claims of Palestinian refugees, a controversial plan the Israeli government has long supported.
The thousands of Jews from Arab countries who made their way to the new Israeli state were housed first in makeshift camps. Within a short period, they were given permanent housing and became fully absorbed into Israeli society.
Meanwhile, their displaced Palestinian counterparts had to live in refugee camps overseen by the United Nations. Today, Palestinian refugees and their heirs are numbered at about four million, with thousands dispersed in camps across the Mideast.
At last month's peace talks at Camp David, Md., Palestinian officials are reported to have claimed $40-billion (U.S.) in compensation for Palestinian refugees' lost property, now in Israeli hands.
After the summit, U.S. President Bill Clinton said that in addition to the establishment of an international fund to compensate Palestinian refugees, a peace accord might also call for the compensation of Jews from Arab lands.
The idea that Jews should be compensated for the property confiscated by Arab governments is not new. In the past, Israel has made intermittent efforts to register Jewish claims against the relevant governments.
Just how much property the Jews left behind in Arab countries is difficult to gauge. One estimate claims that the assets of the 100,000 Jews who abandoned property in Iraq, the wealthiest of the Jewish-Arab communities, are now worth $100-billion (U.S.). The most conservative figure places a price tag of $8-billion on the confiscated assets in Iraq.
The value of the Jewish property left behind in Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen, while less than the Iraqi total, is also substantial.
But even if a compensation fund were set up, it is not clear that it would bring any direct benefit to the former owners and their heirs. Israel has long argued that the assets left behind in Arab countries should be used to cancel out some or all of the debt owed by Israel to the Palestinian refugees whose property it expropriated after the 1948 war.
In 1988, several organizations representing Jews from Arab countries, working with the World Jewish Congress, began compiling a registry of all Jewish-owned assets lost in the late 1940s and the 1950s in Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen.
The registration forms ask respondents to list details of former communal property such as synagogues, schools, ritual baths and hospitals, as well as private assets including homes, bank accounts and jewellery. The questionnaire states: "The data will be used as the basis for a counterclaim to the Arab claims in the future final negotiations between Israel and the Arab states."
For Yehouda Shenhav, one of the founders of an Israeli political advocacy group for Jews from Arab lands, the notion that Israel might use his family's property to pay off its debts to the Palestinians is deeply disturbing.
A sociologist at Tel Aviv University, Professor Shenhav is the son of Iraqi-Jewish immigrants, and is a left-wing political activist. He objects to what he sees as the Israeli government's attempt to use his family's assets to reduce its debt to the Palestinians.
"These are not Palestinians who took their property, these are Arabs," he said. "Why do we include all Arabs in one box? They have nothing to do with each other. These are two different, separate issues. Why do we link them?"
What disturbs him most is that the Israeli government appears to be claiming the abandoned property for itself, without asking its former owners whether they agree to yield their ownership.
"If the government was fair, and [Prime Minister Ehud] Barak would say, 'Listen we want your help. There is no way you are going to get compensation. Are you going to give a hand?' -- that would be different," he said.
Prof. Shenhav is not alone in challenging Israeli attempts to use the abandoned Jewish property as a bargaining chip. These efforts are especially problematic to Jews from Arab lands living in Europe and North America.
Professor Heskel Haddad, an ophthalmologist in New York City, left Iraq with his family in the 1950s, leaving behind a great deal of property. That property, he says, belongs to his family, not Israel.
"It has no legal right to represent Jews from Arab countries living outside Israel, no legal right to link their claims to those of the Palestinians," he recently told the Jerusalem Report.
Thursday, 3 August 2000
Defection not likely to deter Israeli PM
Barak says he expected Foreign Minister's exit
GLOBE & MAIL
Thursday, August 3, 2000
By Matthew Kalman
Jerusalem -- A calmly defiant Prime Minister Ehud Barak vowed yesterday to continue with Mideast peace efforts, despite the resignation of one of his senior ministers and a parliamentary move to call early elections.
As he surveyed the debris of his shattered government coalition yesterday and contemplated his future, the 58-year-old former soldier seemed deaf to the chorus of politicians and experts singing his political requiem.
The resignation of Foreign Minister David Levy -- who quit over what he said were concessions over the fate of Jerusalem made by Mr. Barak in last month's peace talks with the Palestinians -- left the Prime Minister exposed and isolated on the battlefield of Israeli politics, but he looked and sounded far from beaten.
Smiling calmly, Mr. Barak said he expected Mr. Levy's exit (the 10th minister to quit the cabinet in the past year) and regretted it, but "I am committed, first of all, to moving the state of Israel forward and averting the danger of war, strengthening the country through peace agreements."
He also insisted that he had not made concessions at last month's peace talks in Camp David, Md. "Until now we have not made any concessions, we have not agreed to anything, nothing is signed, nothing is on paper."
Yet he is convinced that a historic peace deal with the Palestinians will be concluded before the agreed mid-September deadline, and that the Israeli people will approve it -- and approve of him -- in an election he will call as a referendum on the peace pact.
Despite what appears to be an uphill battle, Mr. Barak has a bit of breathing room. The Knesset adjourned yesterday for a three-month recess after giving approval to first reading of a bill calling for early elections (it must be approved twice more to take effect). This gives Mr. Barak until late October to finish an agreement with the Palestinians.
He can also use the interval to patch together a new coalition and stop the unravelling of his government, which began after most of his coalition partners quit over his decision to go to Camp David.
A former army chief of staff and the most decorated warrior in Israel's history, Mr. Barak's critics accuse him of behaving as if he were still in uniform, making decisions alone and barking orders instead of participating in the collegial give-and-take of cabinet government.
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the man he once commanded in the elite commando unit where they both served, suffered the same sort of criticism, which eventually led to his defeat at the polls to Mr. Barak. Mr. Netanyahu's demise began with the exact same overture -- the resignation of his foreign minister, the same David Levy, and the same vote by the Knesset in favour of early elections, at the same end-of-term session exactly two years ago.
But Mr. Barak insists that the comparison stops there.
"The Netanyahu government had effectively come to the end of its agenda and had lost the support of its most committed supporters on the extreme right," he said after the Knesset vote. "As a result, there was a feeling that it was there just in order to survive and the people decided to bring it down."
In comparison, he said, "This government is setting out on a tremendous push for profound changes, both in our political-security situation and on socio-economic issues."
But at a stormy meeting of his One Israel Party caucus, Mr. Barak was warned by colleagues that unless he can strike a peace accord, he will not be able to count on their support once the Knesset returns.
Leading the dissidents within his own party was Avraham Burg, the popular young Speaker of the Knesset, who refused to rule out a leadership challenge to Mr. Barak before the next election.
"The rosy picture which you are drawing is a black one," Mr. Burg told him. "You lack the qualities of leadership. If you want to pursue the process alone, you will find yourself alone. If you want other people with you, you must share your plans with them."
But Mr. Barak's critics cannot escape the fact that he won the last election, fulfilled his promise to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon after a 22-year occupation, and has come closer than any of his predecessors to a final peace treaty with the Palestinians.
He has vowed that any treaty will include a promise that the Palestinians will have no more demands of Israel -- something Mr. Barak is betting most Israelis will find too tempting to reject.
But Tommy Lapid, a popular MP for the small Shinui Party, warns that Mr. Barak cannot focus on security and military issues alone.
"Mr. Barak must understand that he cannot survive politically only on the basis of negotiations with the Palestinians," said Mr. Lapid. "He must conduct negotiations with the people living in this country."
GLOBE & MAIL
Thursday, August 3, 2000
By Matthew Kalman
Jerusalem -- A calmly defiant Prime Minister Ehud Barak vowed yesterday to continue with Mideast peace efforts, despite the resignation of one of his senior ministers and a parliamentary move to call early elections.
As he surveyed the debris of his shattered government coalition yesterday and contemplated his future, the 58-year-old former soldier seemed deaf to the chorus of politicians and experts singing his political requiem.
The resignation of Foreign Minister David Levy -- who quit over what he said were concessions over the fate of Jerusalem made by Mr. Barak in last month's peace talks with the Palestinians -- left the Prime Minister exposed and isolated on the battlefield of Israeli politics, but he looked and sounded far from beaten.
Smiling calmly, Mr. Barak said he expected Mr. Levy's exit (the 10th minister to quit the cabinet in the past year) and regretted it, but "I am committed, first of all, to moving the state of Israel forward and averting the danger of war, strengthening the country through peace agreements."
He also insisted that he had not made concessions at last month's peace talks in Camp David, Md. "Until now we have not made any concessions, we have not agreed to anything, nothing is signed, nothing is on paper."
Yet he is convinced that a historic peace deal with the Palestinians will be concluded before the agreed mid-September deadline, and that the Israeli people will approve it -- and approve of him -- in an election he will call as a referendum on the peace pact.
Despite what appears to be an uphill battle, Mr. Barak has a bit of breathing room. The Knesset adjourned yesterday for a three-month recess after giving approval to first reading of a bill calling for early elections (it must be approved twice more to take effect). This gives Mr. Barak until late October to finish an agreement with the Palestinians.
He can also use the interval to patch together a new coalition and stop the unravelling of his government, which began after most of his coalition partners quit over his decision to go to Camp David.
A former army chief of staff and the most decorated warrior in Israel's history, Mr. Barak's critics accuse him of behaving as if he were still in uniform, making decisions alone and barking orders instead of participating in the collegial give-and-take of cabinet government.
Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the man he once commanded in the elite commando unit where they both served, suffered the same sort of criticism, which eventually led to his defeat at the polls to Mr. Barak. Mr. Netanyahu's demise began with the exact same overture -- the resignation of his foreign minister, the same David Levy, and the same vote by the Knesset in favour of early elections, at the same end-of-term session exactly two years ago.
But Mr. Barak insists that the comparison stops there.
"The Netanyahu government had effectively come to the end of its agenda and had lost the support of its most committed supporters on the extreme right," he said after the Knesset vote. "As a result, there was a feeling that it was there just in order to survive and the people decided to bring it down."
In comparison, he said, "This government is setting out on a tremendous push for profound changes, both in our political-security situation and on socio-economic issues."
But at a stormy meeting of his One Israel Party caucus, Mr. Barak was warned by colleagues that unless he can strike a peace accord, he will not be able to count on their support once the Knesset returns.
Leading the dissidents within his own party was Avraham Burg, the popular young Speaker of the Knesset, who refused to rule out a leadership challenge to Mr. Barak before the next election.
"The rosy picture which you are drawing is a black one," Mr. Burg told him. "You lack the qualities of leadership. If you want to pursue the process alone, you will find yourself alone. If you want other people with you, you must share your plans with them."
But Mr. Barak's critics cannot escape the fact that he won the last election, fulfilled his promise to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon after a 22-year occupation, and has come closer than any of his predecessors to a final peace treaty with the Palestinians.
He has vowed that any treaty will include a promise that the Palestinians will have no more demands of Israel -- something Mr. Barak is betting most Israelis will find too tempting to reject.
But Tommy Lapid, a popular MP for the small Shinui Party, warns that Mr. Barak cannot focus on security and military issues alone.
"Mr. Barak must understand that he cannot survive politically only on the basis of negotiations with the Palestinians," said Mr. Lapid. "He must conduct negotiations with the people living in this country."
Thursday, 22 June 2000
Villagers stand together against being divided
U.N. border for Golan Heights splits houses
By Matthew Kalman
USA TODAY, June 22, 2000
GHAJAR, Golan Heights -- Mapmakers from the United Nations, backed by the Lebanese government, insist that Mohammed Khatib's kitchen should be in Lebanon, but his living room and half his bedrooms should be across the border in the Golan Heights.
For the past two weeks, since U.N. officials tried to mark the frontier straight through the middle of three houses and up the main street, Ghajar has been on strike. The residents have kept a round-the-clock vigil at the village gate. They're armed with clubs and burning tires, ready to repel the mapmakers with force if necessary.
''We will not allow them to divide our village,'' says Hassan Fatali, 29, an English teacher at the village school. ''We will protect the village with our blood and our bodies. We will not allow them to divide one family into two.''
Residents says the tiny village has been around for more than 400 years, long before the British and French invented a country called Lebanon in 1923 and drew the international border on a map that now divides Ghajar.
If the U.N. prevails, the village school will be under Israeli control, but the clinic will be in Lebanon. Kasser Salman, a 30-year-old town worker, will be on the Israeli side, but his younger sisters, Najd and Majd, and his nieces and nephews, will be in Lebanon.
''We want to stay all united in one village, with one destiny,'' Salman says. ''They want to put two-thirds of the houses in Lebanon and cut them off from their land. What can a farmer do with a house and no land? If they do it, we'll just keep breaking down the fence. It's an impossible situation, and we'll never allow it.''
Ghajar is perched on a rocky promontory that plunges into a ravine where the fresh waters of the El Wizani Spring bubble into the Jordan River to the south. Its 1,700 villagers say the Hazbani River, 50 yards north, is the natural border and also the source of their water.
To add to the confusion, Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since 1967. The residents of Ghajar insist they are proud Syrians. Some of them, such as Amar Khahamouz, even fought for the Syrians and still have army papers issued in nearby Kuneitra. But when Israel seized the area, villagers all took Israeli citizenship and have been living quietly since. They tend their cows and sheep, study in Israeli universities and work in nearby Israeli towns and kibbutzim.
''In 1967, when our people tried to cross the Hazbani River, they were beaten back by the Lebanese army,'' Fatali said. ''Israel thought Ghajar was Lebanese, but Lebanon wouldn't accept us. They said we were Syrians, which we are.''
''We have nothing against our Lebanese brothers, but we are a Syrian village occupied by Israel, and all our property is registered in Syria,'' village council leader Salman Khatib says.
On Wednesday, Khatib presented a protest letter to U.N. Undersecretary-General Kieran Prendergast. Addressed to SecretaryGeneral Kofi Annan, the letter says, ''We are ready to die, sir, and you and the international community will be responsible for that.''
Annan said Wednesday in Jerusalem that his cartographers' ''blue line'' was based on ''historic material, both here in Israel and in Paris and in London,'' but the villagers were unimpressed.
''The United Nations should be uniting people, not dividing them,'' says Adel Shanadi, 42, a Hebrew teacher at the village school. ''In Berlin, they destroyed the wall. Here they want to build one. We have become the victims of the United Nations. As far as we are concerned, they have become the Dividing Nations.''
Lebanese leaders have insisted that Israel withdraw from a number of small Lebanese enclaves still controlled by Israel since its dramatic pullout last month after 22 years of occupation. They have threatened not to deploy any of their troops in the area until the Ghajar dispute has been settled.
The villagers say they don't mind where they end up, as long as they are united, together with their land. Israel is unlikely to cede control of this area to Lebanon.
On Wednesday, birds of prey with golden-tipped wings could be seen through the barbed-wire border fence, circling above the ravine outside the village. The residents of Ghajar, once renowned throughout the Ottoman Empire for their talents as soothsayers, were trying not to see them as an omen of diplomatic bone picking to come.
Tuesday, 30 May 2000
A tale of two mothers
Ultra-Orthodox leaders outraged at ruling that creates Israel's first two-mother family
GLOBE AND MAIL, Tuesday, May 30, 2000
MATTHEW KALMAN
Special to The Globe and Mail
Jerusalem -- In a controversial decision hailed by lesbians and gays and denounced in religious circles, Israel's Supreme Court has recognized the right of a lesbian spouse to be registered as the parent of her partner's biological child.
The court ruled yesterday that two lesbian partners can both be legally registered as the mothers of the same child, creating the country's first two-mother family and drawing outrage from ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders.
One ultra-Orthodox lawmaker accused the judges of imposing the norms of the Biblical city of Sodom.
The court ordered government officials to register Nicole and Ruti Barnea-Kadish, a lesbian couple living in Tel Aviv, as the legal parents of Ruti's four-year-old son, Matan -- which means gift in Hebrew.
"It is no longer possible to say that I am not his mother," a joyful Nicole said after the ruling, adding that there are dozens of lesbian and homosexual couples in Israel in the same situation.
"Matan is the only one with the security of having two parents by law," she said.
Lawyers for the state had argued that a child cannot have two mothers, but the court ruled 2-1 in favour of the couple.
"Biologically it is impossible, but legally there is no obstacle to having two mothers," the couple's lawyer, Hadas Tagari, said.
Religious parliamentarians attacked the ruling and said they would bring in legislation to strengthen traditional family values eroded by the decision.
"The message that arises from the ruling is the destruction of the family," said Rabbi Haim Druckman, a National Religious Party member of the Knesset.
Rabbi Abraham Ravitz, a legislator from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, submitted a motion in parliament, expressing outrage over the court ruling.
"I know of a state which had laws like this," he said. "It was called Sodom. The judges are intelligent but they are cut off from their Jewish roots and from the true feelings of society."
The ruling was the second challenge to the orthodox religious establishment in less than a week. Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Jewish Reform women be allowed to conduct services at the Western Wall in Jerusalem using prayer shawls and reading from a Torah scroll.
The two women were represented by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which successfully argued that Israel had no choice but to recognize the California adoption. The judges ruled that the laws governing adoption in Israel are analogous to those governing marriage.
Under Israeli law, only marriages conducted by a religious authority are considered legal. It is technically impossible for a Jewish Israeli to marry a non-Jew in Israel -- but if the couple is married elsewhere, and forms a union legally recognized by that country, the marriage is recognized in Israel.
Many "mixed" couples get married in nearby Cyprus, or file for long-distance marriages by mail.
Six years ago, the two women celebrated a conservative Jewish religious "marriage" ceremony in California. Eighteen months later, with help from an anonymous sperm donor, Ruti gave birth to Matan. Taking advantage of a California law that allows the partner of a single parent, regardless of sex, to adopt the other partner's children, Nicole became Matan's second mother.
But when the couple, who hold joint American and Israeli citizenship, tried to register their son at the local Israeli consulate they were told that a child could not have two parents of the same sex in Israel. The women returned to Israel three years ago determined to fight the decision.
"He knows that he has two mothers," Nicole said of their son. "He calls us Mommy and Ima. I'm Mommy, because I speak to him in English and Ruti is Ima [Hebrew for mother] because she speaks to him in Hebrew."
Ilan Shainfeld, an Israeli poet and gay activist, hailed the court's decision. "They have moved the lesbian community in Israel one step forward," he said. "It has been this way throughout our entire history. Achievements of individual men and women who create legal precedents that enable us all to live better."
Sunday, 21 May 2000
Investors cash in on Israel's Silicon Wadi
21 May 2000
High-tech start-ups are booming as former army commandos and computer 'geeks' adapt their skills to civilian use. Report by Matthew Kalman.
THEY call it Silicon Wadi.
It is Israel's booming high-technology sector.
For years American investors led the way in providing capital for Israel's burgeoning high-tech venture-capital scene but now British fund managers are getting in on the act.
That much is clear from the fact that Wellcome Trust is among several household names taking part in a $200m ( #135m) seed fund focused on early-stage Israeli internet and communications companies.
Horsley Bridge is the lead investor in Israel Seed IV. Its manager, Israel Seed Partners, says it is the country's largest fund devoted to providing high-tech seed capital.
Half the fund was raised in Britain from investors such as the London offices of Axa, Deutsche Bank and UBS Capital. American investors include IBM, America Online and the founders of Yahoo, eBay and Netscape.
Israel Seed's previous successes include Tradeum, a business-to-business net trading platform recently purchased by VerticalNet for $475m ( #340m).
Tradeum's co-founder is Zvi Schreiber, son of the British furniture millionaire David Schreiber. His brother, Daniel, runs Alchemedia, another Israel Seed company, which has patented a system that prevents the copying of pictures displayed on the web.
Both companies were founded less than two years ago, but once Alchemedia has floated, Zvi and Daniel will probably have amassed the same kind of fortune as their father took a lifetime to acquire.
Several more of Israel Seed's portfolio companies plan to go public in the next 18 months with a hoped-for return to early investors of more than 1,000%. They include DealTime, an online comparison-shopping site that has just begun operations in Britain.
Sandra Robertson, Wellcome's head of private equity, says Israel provides better opportunities for investors than anywhere in Europe. She says: "We find Israel particularly attractive because of the developments that have come out of there.
It really did mirror for us what has happened in Silicon Valley. I believe it's a hothouse of technological development."
Robertson argues that the venture-capital sector is more developed in Israel than in either Britain or continental Europe. "We have not invested very much money in Europe at all until this year in true venture capital," she says.
Graham Clempson, Deutsche Bank's co-head of European investment banking and head of European private equity, says Israel Seed Partners' previous fund is showing returns of more than 400%.
"We have more investments in Israel in the technology funds than we do in any of the European countries. In many respects it has stolen a march in terms of the kind of relationships between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs," says Clempson.
Israel Seed IV represents the latest wave in a rising tide of foreign investment in Israel's high-tech sector triggered by the start of the Israeli Palestinian peace process in 1993. Since then, hundreds of highly trained graduates of the Israeli army have founded dozens of start-ups based on the transformation of military know-how to civilian use. Instead of beating their swords into ploughshares, the young Israeli entrepreneurs have turned them into share options, attracting strong interest from the new net economy and delivering high returns for investors. Many have gone public on Wall Street.
There have been some spectacular deals in recent years. In 1998 America Online paid $287m for Mirabilis, the creator of ICQ software, which enables users to communicate with one another through the net. In 1999, Intel acquired DSP Communications for $1.6billion.
Last year venture-capital funds invested more than $1billion in more than 200 Israeli companies, up from $600m the previous year. In the first quarter of this year alone, more than $590m poured into Israel's venture-capital market.
"The Israeli army produces a rare mix of geeks and commandos," says Neil Cohen of Israel Seed Partners. "The geeks come from the army computer-training programmes and have the technical skill. The commandos go straight from elite units into marketing and management. It's an unbeatable combination."
London-born Cohen says the fund has targeted Britain and Europe to raise money, unlike many other Israeli companies, which usually go to America. One of Israel Seed's first investments was to put $700,000 into FoxCom Wireless, which makes communications hardware for domestic high-speed video and data. The firm, which began with three people in a workshop, is now worth at least $3.5m and may be worth far more when it floats.
Sasha van de Water, managing director of the European Fund of Funds for Axa, says such high-tech successes are very attractive to investors.
"You can say that past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance, but they've done it," says Van de Water. "Those kinds of stories tend to spread like wildfire among the entrepreneurial community."
Van de Water says Axa had invested $25m in three Israeli funds managed by two companies: "We have not committed that much capital to a country-specific venture-capital fund anywhere else in Europe."
Israel Seed Partners' strategy of concentrating on early-stage investment is now being followed by other local venture capitalists. Polaris, a Tel Aviv fund headed by Chemi Peres, son of the former prime minister Shimon Peres, is about to announce the largest-ever Israeli fund of $500m. It says it will also focus on seed capital, providing more funding as businesses grow.
"In the past 18 months most venture-capital funds have realised that to have a good return on investment they have to start early," says Ella Jacoby, high tech analyst for Globes, the Israeli financial daily.
"Israel Seed has a very good name but has yet to prove itself because the seed fund that was established a few years ago hasn't completed any really significant exits yet and that's the way to prove your investments and your reputation."
But such considerations leave Wellcome unruffled. "Venture capital is a long term game," says Robertson. "We don't expect a two-year turnround. What's happening at the moment is unusual. When we go into these funds, we regard it as a five-year investment cycle followed by a five-year harvesting cycle. If it happens sooner, it's great."
Tuesday, 9 May 2000
Camels may hold key to preventing famine caused by drought
Veterinary expert says animal's milk could alleviate hunger in the world's deserts
MATTHEW KALMAN
Special to the Globe and Mail
Tuesday, May 9, 2000
Negev Desert, Israel -- An Israeli veterinary expert is planning a camel farm in a joint venture with Jordan that he believes will prove that the animal can solve hunger problems in areas of the world plagued by drought.
Prof. Reuven Yagil of Ben-Gurion University Medical School in Beersheba has been working with camels for 30 years; travelling to places such as Kazakhstan, Kenya and China to help local farmers increase the milk yield of their camels.
"Camels are considered very primitive, but they thrive in areas where children are dying of hunger," he said. "I wanted to see if the camel could provide anything for humans in these areas."
In a small experimental farm on the border between Jordan and Israel in the Negev desert, Prof. Yagil is breeding a herd of 40 camels for their milk. He has increased their production from the standard one litre to 15 litres a day, and says they could provide even more if he had the staff to milk them more often.
One camel he calls Naim is 14 years old and will give milk until she is 25, much longer than a cow. Her yield has not been reduced by living in a corral instead of grazing across the desert plains.
Her calf suckles to get the milk going, and within 90 seconds Prof. Yagil and his wife have milked just under five litres of fresh milk. Drunk soon afterward, still warm and unpasteurized, it is similar to cow's milk, a little stronger in taste and thinner in texture.
"In these [arid] areas, the cows are not there, they die," said Prof. Yagil, adding that cows also need high-quality feed.
"We're feeding the camels the stuff they throw away from the farms. We feed them salt bushes, cacti leaves or peanut hay, so you cannot compare. Even if the camel is giving only 15 litres, the camel is much more economical."
The milk keeps up to nine days in a refrigerator. Unlike cow's milk, it does not separate when frozen and can keep for up to two years. Camel's milk cannot be made into cheese because it lacks the necessary fats, but it can be used for other purposes.
This summer, the Tel Aviv ice cream festival will feature Prof. Yagil's DromeDairy ice cream in strawberry, cherry and peanut butter flavours.
Camel's milk also has curative properties and is used in Arab society as defence against infection. Many children of wealthy families in the Gulf States are sent to live with Bedouin for a month every year so they can drink camel milk and strengthen their natural immune systems.
Prof. Yagil, a native of South Africa who now lives on a kibbutz in the Negev, is a professor of medicine and a former veterinarian for the Israeli Army Camel Corps. He claims to be the world's top expert on camels; his interest was sparked through a friendship with a Bedouin tribesman.
Discussions are well advanced to set up a joint Israeli-Jordanian camel farm in Moshav Tsofar, an Israeli farm in the Negev desert that has an enclave of land across the border with Jordan.
Prof. Yagil's work has sparked interest as far away as China. Prof. Shin Cui, head of Beijing University's veterinary department and the person responsible for developing the neglected areas of northwest China, visited Prof. Yagil's farm recently to see his methods firsthand.
"Prof. Yagil came to the Gobi Desert where we have hundreds of thousands of camels and spoke to local farmers about his ideas," said Prof. Cui. "We hope to implement some of his methods back in China."
In northern Kenya, where Prof. Yagil has been training camel farmers on the edge of the African desert, they are planning to set up farms that could produce up to a million litres of milk each day.
Monday, 28 February 2000
Israel will hand over Nazi memoirs - War criminal Eichmann's notes at issue
USA TODAY
February 28, 2000
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Israel, acting on a request from lawyers in a British libel case involving claims that the Holocaust never happened, agreed Sunday to hand over contents of unpublished memoirs by convicted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann during his trial in 1962.
Lawyers for Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt, a scholar in modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, sought the journals of thoughts, jottings and philosophical essays.
Right-wing British historian David Irving is suing Lipstadt and Penguin Books. Irving contends that a book by Lipstadt, published in 1995, caused irreparable harm to his reputation by calling him "a dangerous spokesman for Holocaust denial."
The book examines claims that the Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews never took place.
Irving denies that millions of Jews were systematically slain by the Nazis.
He claims that Hitler didn't know about the genocide until the final stages of World War II.
Richard Rampton, defense counsel for Lipstadt, asked Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein last week to send a copy of the notes to London for use in the trial, as proof that the Holocaust did in fact occur.
The journals have been locked away in state archives since Eichmann was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed in Israel in 1962.
Eichmann was snatched by an Israeli spy squad from his hideout in Argentina in 1960.
Scholars who have read the notes say they contain attempts by Eichmann to justify his role in the Nazi extermination policy in which as many as 6 million Jews and 4 million others were murdered, many in designated death camps.
In the notes, Eichmann repeats the blunt admission he made at his trial that the mass murder of Europe's Jews took place under the Nazis. However, he denied playing a major role.
In fact, historians say, Eichmann was the key Nazi official in charge of organizing the forced emigration of Jews from Germany, Austria and the Czech protectorate before the exterminations began.
Eichmann was put in charge of the mass transportation of Jews from western, central and southeastern Europe to the extermination camps after the mass murders began in 1941.
The Israeli authorities have refrained from publishing the notes because of questions about copyright. Eichmann's sons have demanded that the notes be returned to the family.
Yehuda Bauer of the Hebrew University, Israel's leading Holocaust scholar, was one of the experts called in to advise Rubinstein.
"The copyright issue has not yet been settled, but if there is a demand from the court in London, it has to be considered," he said. "Apart from the fact that he fully admits the murder of the Jews in all its details, which might be useful, there's nothing new in it. There is no historical significance to the notes, but they may be of significance in a trial at which somebody tries to show that there was no Holocaust. This is one of the major actors talking quite freely about the destruction of the Jews."
The Israeli Justice Department said Prime Minister Ehud Barak "agrees with the decision, which is in line with his policy of fighting Holocaust denial."
February 28, 2000
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Israel, acting on a request from lawyers in a British libel case involving claims that the Holocaust never happened, agreed Sunday to hand over contents of unpublished memoirs by convicted Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann during his trial in 1962.
Lawyers for Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt, a scholar in modern Jewish and Holocaust Studies at Emory University, sought the journals of thoughts, jottings and philosophical essays.
Right-wing British historian David Irving is suing Lipstadt and Penguin Books. Irving contends that a book by Lipstadt, published in 1995, caused irreparable harm to his reputation by calling him "a dangerous spokesman for Holocaust denial."
The book examines claims that the Nazi campaign to exterminate Jews never took place.
Irving denies that millions of Jews were systematically slain by the Nazis.
He claims that Hitler didn't know about the genocide until the final stages of World War II.
Richard Rampton, defense counsel for Lipstadt, asked Israeli Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein last week to send a copy of the notes to London for use in the trial, as proof that the Holocaust did in fact occur.
The journals have been locked away in state archives since Eichmann was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed in Israel in 1962.
Eichmann was snatched by an Israeli spy squad from his hideout in Argentina in 1960.
Scholars who have read the notes say they contain attempts by Eichmann to justify his role in the Nazi extermination policy in which as many as 6 million Jews and 4 million others were murdered, many in designated death camps.
In the notes, Eichmann repeats the blunt admission he made at his trial that the mass murder of Europe's Jews took place under the Nazis. However, he denied playing a major role.
In fact, historians say, Eichmann was the key Nazi official in charge of organizing the forced emigration of Jews from Germany, Austria and the Czech protectorate before the exterminations began.
Eichmann was put in charge of the mass transportation of Jews from western, central and southeastern Europe to the extermination camps after the mass murders began in 1941.
The Israeli authorities have refrained from publishing the notes because of questions about copyright. Eichmann's sons have demanded that the notes be returned to the family.
Yehuda Bauer of the Hebrew University, Israel's leading Holocaust scholar, was one of the experts called in to advise Rubinstein.
"The copyright issue has not yet been settled, but if there is a demand from the court in London, it has to be considered," he said. "Apart from the fact that he fully admits the murder of the Jews in all its details, which might be useful, there's nothing new in it. There is no historical significance to the notes, but they may be of significance in a trial at which somebody tries to show that there was no Holocaust. This is one of the major actors talking quite freely about the destruction of the Jews."
The Israeli Justice Department said Prime Minister Ehud Barak "agrees with the decision, which is in line with his policy of fighting Holocaust denial."
Wednesday, 9 February 2000
Cheated out of a fortune
The Guardian, Wednesday 9 February 2000
Jörg Haider, the far-right giant of Austrian politics, is the proud owner of a £10m country estate. But a Jewish professor is claiming the land was swindled from his family by the Nazis. Matthew Kalman reports
When Giorgio Roifer first set his eyes on the beautiful forest of Barental near Klagenfurt in the southern Austrian Tyrol, he thought he had found the perfect estate to expand his burgeoning timber business. The Russian-born Jewish entrepreneur, who had become a naturalised Italian, lived with his wife and three children in Pisa. They had servants, horses and two cars. He had timber and sawmill interests all over Italy and southern Austria, and when he acquired the 3,700-acre Barental estate at the age of 37, it seemed the ideal addition to his growing empire.
But his wife and children were destined never to see Barental. Less than a year after Roifer bought the estate in 1937, Hitler became the ruler of Austria under the Anschluss. When Roifer visited Barental in 1938, he found a sign on the door of the Moser Hotel where he used to stay in Klagenfurt. It said: "Dogs and Jews are not welcome."
The Nazis embarked on a ruthless policy of Aryanisation - forcing Jews to sell their property and leave the country. Roifer died that year, and soon after the land was sold to a man called Josef Webhofer, who left it to his son Wilhelm.
Today, it belongs to Jörg Haider, leader of the far-right Austrian Freedom party, who received it as a gift in 1986 from Webhofer, his great-uncle. Worth about £10m, the hunting, fishing, shooting and wood-logging estate is the basis of the vast fortune that has made Haider one of the wealthiest men in Austria. The original sale was, however, illegal. If Haider's family had not deceived Roifer's widow years after the war, the estate would still belong to her family.
Roifer's son, Alexander, who many believe is the rightful heir to Barental, lives today in a modest apartment in a middle-class Jerusalem suburb called French Hill, far removed from the grandeur of Pisa or the beauty of Barental. White-haired, bespectacled, a professor of Bible studies at the nearby Hebrew university, he seems bemused by the sudden interest in his family history and is reluctant to talk about Haider.
He tells the story of the estate in measured tones, despite the disturbing memories it stirs. Roifer says his mother, who died in 1995, was forced to sell the estate for a fraction of its real value, and never discovered that she had been tricked into giving it up until it was too late. "I am certainly not happy about what happened, but I do not wake up every morning angry about it," he says. "A man builds his life and fortunately I have found other things to keep me busy and interested. Of course I am sorry that the Roifer forest is now the Haider forest.
"The property was sold in October 1940 under duress. In the course of the sale an illegal act was committed, but the authorities in Karenten induced the sale in order to Aryanise the land. If you ask me, do we have a legal claim, the answer is no. If you ask if I think what has happened was morally right, I think it stinks.
"The acquisition was made in several stages and was completed in 1937. On August 26 1938 my father died of cancer."
Roifer was 38. His young widow, Matilde, and children Noemi, 10, Josef, 8 and Alexander, 6, fled to Palestine to escape the Nazis.
"In October 1939, we left Italy for Israel. My father, who was a Zionist, told my mother on his deathbed to take the family to Israel. It was almost impossible to get visas, but my mother wrote a letter which eventually got to [Israeli statesman] David Ben-Gurion, who made sure we got a visa.
"My uncle in Italy decided to sell the forest. There was all sorts of virulent anti-semitic propaganda in the press. He was under a great deal of psychological and physical duress. If we had been Austrian citizens and therefore citizens of the expanded German Reich, it would have been very simple. They would have said, 'Here are 10 Reichmarks, the forest is now ours.' But we were Italians and the Italian government would not allow that to happen."
Instead of the estate being confiscated, the family were able to sell it, but the price of 300,000 Reichsmarks - about £750,000 at today's prices - was only about one-tenth of the actual value of the property.
"The buyer was Josef Webhofer from Brunich in Southern Tyrol," says Roifer. "Hitler and Mussolini had signed an agreement about the region where he lived, a German-speaking area of Italy. The Germans living in Tyrol could either stay in Italy and become Italians, changing their names and losing the autonomy they enjoyed, or they could emigrate to the Third Reich. Josef Webhofer bought this land in order to have some stake inside the Third Reich and move there."
Matilde had not wanted to sell the estate and didn't even know of the sale until her brother-in-law wrote to her at the end of the war. Worse was to come. When the money finally reached Italy, it was frozen until after the war, by which time inflation had reduced its value to almost nothing.
In 1953, Roifer's mother went back to Austria to try to get a fairer sum from Webhofer. To their surprise, he agreed to pay another $100,000. "When she received that money, my mother signed a paper foregoing all future claims," says Roifer. "The indemnity was given under restrictive conditions. We were not permitted access to the documentation in the land registry office in Klagenfurt."
It was only years later that the family discovered why Webhofer had insisted on that condition and why he had been so willing to pay the extra cash. In 1989 papers were discovered at the land registry office in Klagenfurt which amazed the Roifers.
"The document said that the power of attorney granted by my mother, Matilde Roifer Galichi, to her brother-in-law, Dr Naphtoli Emdin, was not valid. But because it was desirable to Aryanise the land, the local officials decided to approve the sale anyway. In other words, there was no sale. Until 1953 the forest was legally ours. That is why Webhofer agreed to pay, because he knew that if this became known, the deal would be void."
Jörg Haider, the far-right giant of Austrian politics, is the proud owner of a £10m country estate. But a Jewish professor is claiming the land was swindled from his family by the Nazis. Matthew Kalman reports
When Giorgio Roifer first set his eyes on the beautiful forest of Barental near Klagenfurt in the southern Austrian Tyrol, he thought he had found the perfect estate to expand his burgeoning timber business. The Russian-born Jewish entrepreneur, who had become a naturalised Italian, lived with his wife and three children in Pisa. They had servants, horses and two cars. He had timber and sawmill interests all over Italy and southern Austria, and when he acquired the 3,700-acre Barental estate at the age of 37, it seemed the ideal addition to his growing empire.
But his wife and children were destined never to see Barental. Less than a year after Roifer bought the estate in 1937, Hitler became the ruler of Austria under the Anschluss. When Roifer visited Barental in 1938, he found a sign on the door of the Moser Hotel where he used to stay in Klagenfurt. It said: "Dogs and Jews are not welcome."
The Nazis embarked on a ruthless policy of Aryanisation - forcing Jews to sell their property and leave the country. Roifer died that year, and soon after the land was sold to a man called Josef Webhofer, who left it to his son Wilhelm.
Today, it belongs to Jörg Haider, leader of the far-right Austrian Freedom party, who received it as a gift in 1986 from Webhofer, his great-uncle. Worth about £10m, the hunting, fishing, shooting and wood-logging estate is the basis of the vast fortune that has made Haider one of the wealthiest men in Austria. The original sale was, however, illegal. If Haider's family had not deceived Roifer's widow years after the war, the estate would still belong to her family.
Roifer's son, Alexander, who many believe is the rightful heir to Barental, lives today in a modest apartment in a middle-class Jerusalem suburb called French Hill, far removed from the grandeur of Pisa or the beauty of Barental. White-haired, bespectacled, a professor of Bible studies at the nearby Hebrew university, he seems bemused by the sudden interest in his family history and is reluctant to talk about Haider.
He tells the story of the estate in measured tones, despite the disturbing memories it stirs. Roifer says his mother, who died in 1995, was forced to sell the estate for a fraction of its real value, and never discovered that she had been tricked into giving it up until it was too late. "I am certainly not happy about what happened, but I do not wake up every morning angry about it," he says. "A man builds his life and fortunately I have found other things to keep me busy and interested. Of course I am sorry that the Roifer forest is now the Haider forest.
"The property was sold in October 1940 under duress. In the course of the sale an illegal act was committed, but the authorities in Karenten induced the sale in order to Aryanise the land. If you ask me, do we have a legal claim, the answer is no. If you ask if I think what has happened was morally right, I think it stinks.
"The acquisition was made in several stages and was completed in 1937. On August 26 1938 my father died of cancer."
Roifer was 38. His young widow, Matilde, and children Noemi, 10, Josef, 8 and Alexander, 6, fled to Palestine to escape the Nazis.
"In October 1939, we left Italy for Israel. My father, who was a Zionist, told my mother on his deathbed to take the family to Israel. It was almost impossible to get visas, but my mother wrote a letter which eventually got to [Israeli statesman] David Ben-Gurion, who made sure we got a visa.
"My uncle in Italy decided to sell the forest. There was all sorts of virulent anti-semitic propaganda in the press. He was under a great deal of psychological and physical duress. If we had been Austrian citizens and therefore citizens of the expanded German Reich, it would have been very simple. They would have said, 'Here are 10 Reichmarks, the forest is now ours.' But we were Italians and the Italian government would not allow that to happen."
Instead of the estate being confiscated, the family were able to sell it, but the price of 300,000 Reichsmarks - about £750,000 at today's prices - was only about one-tenth of the actual value of the property.
"The buyer was Josef Webhofer from Brunich in Southern Tyrol," says Roifer. "Hitler and Mussolini had signed an agreement about the region where he lived, a German-speaking area of Italy. The Germans living in Tyrol could either stay in Italy and become Italians, changing their names and losing the autonomy they enjoyed, or they could emigrate to the Third Reich. Josef Webhofer bought this land in order to have some stake inside the Third Reich and move there."
Matilde had not wanted to sell the estate and didn't even know of the sale until her brother-in-law wrote to her at the end of the war. Worse was to come. When the money finally reached Italy, it was frozen until after the war, by which time inflation had reduced its value to almost nothing.
In 1953, Roifer's mother went back to Austria to try to get a fairer sum from Webhofer. To their surprise, he agreed to pay another $100,000. "When she received that money, my mother signed a paper foregoing all future claims," says Roifer. "The indemnity was given under restrictive conditions. We were not permitted access to the documentation in the land registry office in Klagenfurt."
It was only years later that the family discovered why Webhofer had insisted on that condition and why he had been so willing to pay the extra cash. In 1989 papers were discovered at the land registry office in Klagenfurt which amazed the Roifers.
"The document said that the power of attorney granted by my mother, Matilde Roifer Galichi, to her brother-in-law, Dr Naphtoli Emdin, was not valid. But because it was desirable to Aryanise the land, the local officials decided to approve the sale anyway. In other words, there was no sale. Until 1953 the forest was legally ours. That is why Webhofer agreed to pay, because he knew that if this became known, the deal would be void."
Monday, 7 February 2000
Monday, 3 January 2000
Israel, Syria aim for peace
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
January 3, 2000
MATTHEW KALMAN
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, leaving for today's opening of talks with Syria in West Virginia, said Sunday that he is prepared to pay "a heavy price" for peace with Syria but warned that he wouldn't pay "any price."
The talks between Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al- Sharaa will be held in Shepherdstown, W.Va. President Clinton will open the talks in the state's oldest town, about 75 miles from Washington.
Barak said the talks would be difficult and complex but that he was determined to reach an agreement that would strengthen Israel.
He said Sunday that he felt the "burden of responsibility" to achieve an agreement within the year. "We don't …
January 3, 2000
MATTHEW KALMAN
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, leaving for today's opening of talks with Syria in West Virginia, said Sunday that he is prepared to pay "a heavy price" for peace with Syria but warned that he wouldn't pay "any price."
The talks between Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al- Sharaa will be held in Shepherdstown, W.Va. President Clinton will open the talks in the state's oldest town, about 75 miles from Washington.
Barak said the talks would be difficult and complex but that he was determined to reach an agreement that would strengthen Israel.
He said Sunday that he felt the "burden of responsibility" to achieve an agreement within the year. "We don't …
Saturday, 6 November 1999
Archaeologist Draws Fire for Doubting Biblical Accounts
Salt Lake City Tribune,
6 Nov 1999
By Matthew Kalman
USA Today
JERUSALEM -- An Israeli archaeologist is drawing fire for claiming that the biblical history of the Jewish people is probably fiction.
In an article last week in Ha'aretz newspaper, Ze'ev Herzog, a professor at Tel Aviv University argued that the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt probably never happened, the Ten Commandments were not given on Mount Sinai, and Joshua never conquered the land of Israel. Herzog said that if there was a King David, he probably was no more than a tribal chieftain. The same holds for King Solomon, Herzog said.
"The many Egyptian documents known to us do not make any reference to the sojourn of the Children of Israel in Egypt or the events of the Exodus," Herzog said. "Generations of scholars tried to locate Mount Sinai and the stations of the tribes of Israel in the desert. Despite all this diligent research, not one site was identified that could correspond to the biblical picture."
Herzog said there is no evidence that Joshua led the children of Israel into the Holy Land or brought down the walls of Jericho.
"Repeated excavations by various expeditions... have only yielded disappointments," he said. "During the period when the conquest would have taken place, there were no cities there, and of course no walls to bring down."
To many people in Israel, such claims smack of blasphemy, even though many scientists agree with Herzog.
"What did they expect to find? The bones from Pharaoh's dreams?" scoffs Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, head of Maale Adumim Yeshiva and a former principal of Jews' College in London. "The fact of the matter is that details are very scant in the text. Frequently, we don't even really understand what it says. To say that archaeology can prove or disprove anything is ridiculous."
Not just religious leaders are angered. Many secular Israelis see the modern Jewish state as a revival of the biblical Hebrew kingdoms. To them, challenging the Bible means challenging the legitimacy of the modern Jewish claim to the land of Israel.
"I adhere to the view that the Bible is our basic starting point," said Tommy Lapid, leader of the avowedly secularist Shinui Party. "No other people in the world has a book like the Hebrew Bible, so why is Professor Herzog feeding us this nonsense?"
Herzog also has drawn fire from scholars. Adam Zertal, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, has dedicated his life to mapping the biblical episodes in Samaria, including the entry of Joshua into the Holy Land.
"We found almost certain proof that the story of the entry into Israel is very believable," said Zertal, who has spent eight years excavating a site on Mount Ebol, where the Bible states Joshua set up his first altar to God. "The relevant materials are in the field. We only have to find them."
"Archaeology does not have the power to disprove the written record," said Avraham Malamat, a Jewish history expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "If you ask a good archaeologist, he will say that he cannot find out the entire truth."
Herzog is surprised at the criticism. "I don't think it is right to guess at motives, based on the results of scientific inquiry," he said.
"Archaeology has always been used in this society and used to point in one direction," he said. "Now I'm suggesting that perhaps it should be used to point in another direction."
Palestinian and European archaeologists accuse their Israeli colleagues of politicizing archaeology to bolster Jewish claims.
Palestinian archaeologist Hamdan Taha has been excavating Tel Es-Sultan, the ancient site of Jericho. "There is no proof of any wall from the assumed time of Joshua's invasion," Taha said. "Nothing has been uncovered here in the last 100 years of excavation. ... Archaeology must be viewed as a scientific enterprise and no more as an ideological means to prove or disprove modern political claims."
Many contemporary biblical archaeologists support most of Herzog's views.
It is a different story, however, for the Israeli public, which idolizes biblical heroes such as King David.
While conceding that the Bible probably glorified David and Solomon, Avraham Biran, head of archaeology at Jerusalem's Hebrew Union College, said an inscription he discovered at Tel Dan in northern Israel proves their prominence at the time. The Aramaic inscription, attributed to a king of Damascus, refers to a "House of David" and is believed to date from the ninth century B.C. -- 100 years after David.
"If an Aramaean king from the middle of the 9th century knew about the existence of David, why should an archaeologist say that he doesn't?"
6 Nov 1999
By Matthew Kalman
USA Today
JERUSALEM -- An Israeli archaeologist is drawing fire for claiming that the biblical history of the Jewish people is probably fiction.
In an article last week in Ha'aretz newspaper, Ze'ev Herzog, a professor at Tel Aviv University argued that the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt probably never happened, the Ten Commandments were not given on Mount Sinai, and Joshua never conquered the land of Israel. Herzog said that if there was a King David, he probably was no more than a tribal chieftain. The same holds for King Solomon, Herzog said.
"The many Egyptian documents known to us do not make any reference to the sojourn of the Children of Israel in Egypt or the events of the Exodus," Herzog said. "Generations of scholars tried to locate Mount Sinai and the stations of the tribes of Israel in the desert. Despite all this diligent research, not one site was identified that could correspond to the biblical picture."
Herzog said there is no evidence that Joshua led the children of Israel into the Holy Land or brought down the walls of Jericho.
"Repeated excavations by various expeditions... have only yielded disappointments," he said. "During the period when the conquest would have taken place, there were no cities there, and of course no walls to bring down."
To many people in Israel, such claims smack of blasphemy, even though many scientists agree with Herzog.
"What did they expect to find? The bones from Pharaoh's dreams?" scoffs Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch, head of Maale Adumim Yeshiva and a former principal of Jews' College in London. "The fact of the matter is that details are very scant in the text. Frequently, we don't even really understand what it says. To say that archaeology can prove or disprove anything is ridiculous."
Not just religious leaders are angered. Many secular Israelis see the modern Jewish state as a revival of the biblical Hebrew kingdoms. To them, challenging the Bible means challenging the legitimacy of the modern Jewish claim to the land of Israel.
"I adhere to the view that the Bible is our basic starting point," said Tommy Lapid, leader of the avowedly secularist Shinui Party. "No other people in the world has a book like the Hebrew Bible, so why is Professor Herzog feeding us this nonsense?"
Herzog also has drawn fire from scholars. Adam Zertal, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa, has dedicated his life to mapping the biblical episodes in Samaria, including the entry of Joshua into the Holy Land.
"We found almost certain proof that the story of the entry into Israel is very believable," said Zertal, who has spent eight years excavating a site on Mount Ebol, where the Bible states Joshua set up his first altar to God. "The relevant materials are in the field. We only have to find them."
"Archaeology does not have the power to disprove the written record," said Avraham Malamat, a Jewish history expert at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "If you ask a good archaeologist, he will say that he cannot find out the entire truth."
Herzog is surprised at the criticism. "I don't think it is right to guess at motives, based on the results of scientific inquiry," he said.
"Archaeology has always been used in this society and used to point in one direction," he said. "Now I'm suggesting that perhaps it should be used to point in another direction."
Palestinian and European archaeologists accuse their Israeli colleagues of politicizing archaeology to bolster Jewish claims.
Palestinian archaeologist Hamdan Taha has been excavating Tel Es-Sultan, the ancient site of Jericho. "There is no proof of any wall from the assumed time of Joshua's invasion," Taha said. "Nothing has been uncovered here in the last 100 years of excavation. ... Archaeology must be viewed as a scientific enterprise and no more as an ideological means to prove or disprove modern political claims."
Many contemporary biblical archaeologists support most of Herzog's views.
It is a different story, however, for the Israeli public, which idolizes biblical heroes such as King David.
While conceding that the Bible probably glorified David and Solomon, Avraham Biran, head of archaeology at Jerusalem's Hebrew Union College, said an inscription he discovered at Tel Dan in northern Israel proves their prominence at the time. The Aramaic inscription, attributed to a king of Damascus, refers to a "House of David" and is believed to date from the ninth century B.C. -- 100 years after David.
"If an Aramaean king from the middle of the 9th century knew about the existence of David, why should an archaeologist say that he doesn't?"
Sunday, 4 July 1999
Israeli dig finds traces of lost city of Abraham
Matthew Kalman,
The Sunday Times
July 4, 1999
The Sunday Times
July 4, 1999
ARCHEOLOGISTS believe they have found the heart of the ancient city of Hebron, where Abraham, the Hebrew patriarch, lived 3,700 years ago.
On the site of an Israeli settlement, in territory claimed by both Arabs and Jews, excavations have uncovered a 9ft-thick city wall and fortified tower that have been dated to the middle bronze period, circa 1700BC.
Scholars say this is about the time when, according to the biblical story, Abraham - who was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac as a test of faith - came to the city.
Between the tower and the city wall, researchers have unearthed two stone-walled rooms that they believe also date back to the period of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, whose 12 sons became the founders of the 12 tribes of ancient Israel. Artefacts found in the rooms include silver jewellery, bronze axeheads, two scarabs and the handle of a dagger.
"You usually find such things in tombs because people were buried with their belongings, but to find them here on the floor gives us a more precise date," said Emanuel Eisenberg, in charge of the work. Royal seals from the period of the kings of Israel several hundred years later were found in another layer, clearly identifying the location as biblical Hebron. "This is the ancient city of Hebron - no doubt about it," said Eisenberg.
The archeological site is on the edge of Tel Rumeida, a mound across which scholars believe the city once stretched eight acres. By digging down through the tel, archeologists have been able to sift nearly 4,000 years of history.
Modern Hebron, however, has an uncertain future. Seven Israeli families have lived in temporary housing on Tel Rumeida since 1984. The enclave is one of three islands of Israeli settlement left in Hebron after Israel handed over control of most of the city, with its population of 120,000, to the Palestinians in 1996.
The archeological work was licensed two weeks before the Israeli general election in May as a "rescue excavation" to research the site before permanent homes are built there for the settlers. The Palestinians want all of Hebron to be handed over. They believe the city's 550 Israelis should leave.
Dr Hamdan Taha, director-general of the Palestinian ministry for archeology, said the excavation had been politically motivated. "We think the site should be protected as an archeological site without any ideological attempt to threaten and endanger a cultural heritage that represents the ancient history of Hebron," he said.
Officials at the Israeli antiquities authority privately agree. "If such a significant site were inside Israel proper, the law would prohibit anything being built on it," a senior Israeli archeologist said.
Persuading the settlers to go, however, will be difficult. David Wilder, spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron, said the excavation proved their right to live there.
"We always knew this was the site of the ancient city; now these excavations have found positive proof of Jewish presence from the time of the patriarchs," said Wilder. "In terms of Jewish roots and heritage, what more do you need?"
Monday, 24 May 1999
Arafat, Barak in accord on Jerusalem - Pact relies on concessions
By Matthew Kalman, USA TODAY
MAY 23, 1999
JERUSALEM - Israeli prime minister-elect Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have reached an outline of an historic agreement on the future of Jerusalem, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials told USA TODAY Sunday.
If a final text can be adopted by legislatures on both sides, it would remove one of the thorniest impediments to a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Arafat has declared his intention to establish a state with Jerusalem as its capital. Barak has vowed never to re-divide the city. The compromise means that each side could claim it has achieved its aim.
Under terms of the agreement, Arafat is prepared to give up his claim to large parts of Arab East Jerusalem in exchange for control of the 150,000 Palestinians living in the city, as well as several religious sites, the officials said.
Israel's new Labor government also would not oppose Arafat's intention to declare a Palestinian state by the end of this year with its capital in Abu Dis, a village two miles east of the Old City, the officials said. The area was handed over to the Palestinians in 1996.
Abu Dis lies just outside the municipal boundary of Jerusalem as defined by Israel since it captured the eastern half of the city from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
But the Palestinians can also claim that Abu Dis is within the city of Jerusalem because it falls within administrative boundaries recognized by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1917. Israel would agree not to challenge that interpretation.
But the deal is far from done. Barak still needs to form a coalition government that would present the plan to a new Israeli parliament, or Knesset. Only then, will the Knesset begin debating the plan.
Talks will begin Monday on forming a form a coalition from among the record 15 political parties who won seats in the Knesset.
The question of Jerusalem, with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, has always been the most problematic issue in any potential peace agreement. Both the Palestinians and Israelis have vowed to have Jerusalem as their capital.
Senior Palestinian officials said the outline of the agreement means that they are closer than ever to fulfilling Arafat's goal to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
The new Palestinian parliament building under construction now in Abu Dis includes an office for Arafat with a view to the Old City and the al Aqsa mosque.
Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed that the two sides had agreed in principle that no land in East Jerusalem would be handed over to the Palestinians.
"Jerusalem shall remain the eternal and undivided capital of Israel," Barak said. "On this question there is no room for doubt, nor any political haggling. Jerusalem was, is, and will remain the united capital of our nation."
The White House Sunday refused comment on the report.
Under the plan, Israeli and Palestinian officials said that the Palestinian flag will be allowed to fly over several of Jerusalem's holy sites, which will effectively have the same legal status as foreign embassies.
It would also establish a safe passage corridor from Abu Dis through East Jerusalem so that Palestinians from the West Bank of the Jordan River can travel to the Old City of Jerusalem without having to pass through Israeli security checkpoints.
Palestinian and Labor party leaders worked out the agreement in secret meetings held in European capitals.
MAY 23, 1999
JERUSALEM - Israeli prime minister-elect Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat have reached an outline of an historic agreement on the future of Jerusalem, senior Israeli and Palestinian officials told USA TODAY Sunday.
If a final text can be adopted by legislatures on both sides, it would remove one of the thorniest impediments to a final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
Arafat has declared his intention to establish a state with Jerusalem as its capital. Barak has vowed never to re-divide the city. The compromise means that each side could claim it has achieved its aim.
Under terms of the agreement, Arafat is prepared to give up his claim to large parts of Arab East Jerusalem in exchange for control of the 150,000 Palestinians living in the city, as well as several religious sites, the officials said.
Israel's new Labor government also would not oppose Arafat's intention to declare a Palestinian state by the end of this year with its capital in Abu Dis, a village two miles east of the Old City, the officials said. The area was handed over to the Palestinians in 1996.
Abu Dis lies just outside the municipal boundary of Jerusalem as defined by Israel since it captured the eastern half of the city from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War.
But the Palestinians can also claim that Abu Dis is within the city of Jerusalem because it falls within administrative boundaries recognized by the Ottoman Empire from 1516 to 1917. Israel would agree not to challenge that interpretation.
But the deal is far from done. Barak still needs to form a coalition government that would present the plan to a new Israeli parliament, or Knesset. Only then, will the Knesset begin debating the plan.
Talks will begin Monday on forming a form a coalition from among the record 15 political parties who won seats in the Knesset.
The question of Jerusalem, with its holy sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, has always been the most problematic issue in any potential peace agreement. Both the Palestinians and Israelis have vowed to have Jerusalem as their capital.
Senior Palestinian officials said the outline of the agreement means that they are closer than ever to fulfilling Arafat's goal to pray at the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.
The new Palestinian parliament building under construction now in Abu Dis includes an office for Arafat with a view to the Old City and the al Aqsa mosque.
Senior Israeli and Palestinian officials confirmed that the two sides had agreed in principle that no land in East Jerusalem would be handed over to the Palestinians.
"Jerusalem shall remain the eternal and undivided capital of Israel," Barak said. "On this question there is no room for doubt, nor any political haggling. Jerusalem was, is, and will remain the united capital of our nation."
The White House Sunday refused comment on the report.
Under the plan, Israeli and Palestinian officials said that the Palestinian flag will be allowed to fly over several of Jerusalem's holy sites, which will effectively have the same legal status as foreign embassies.
It would also establish a safe passage corridor from Abu Dis through East Jerusalem so that Palestinians from the West Bank of the Jordan River can travel to the Old City of Jerusalem without having to pass through Israeli security checkpoints.
Palestinian and Labor party leaders worked out the agreement in secret meetings held in European capitals.
Monday, 17 May 1999
In marked shift, Hamas leader talks of a cease-fire
USA TODAY
May 17, 1999
By Matthew Kalman
(ABSTRACT)
In an interview, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the terrorist Islamic resistance movement Hamas, called last week for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the first time suggested he might recognize Israel's right to exist. But he threatened to continue terrorist activity if there's no movement.
In a major departure from all previous statements of Hamas policy, Yassin said Thursday that the conflict could be ended if Israel withdrew from Gaza and the West Bank of the Jordan River. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Six-Day War. Yassin offered an immediate end to Hamas attacks on Israeli targets following such a withdrawal and said relations with Israel should be left to future generations to decide.
"We have to be realistic," he said. "We are talking about a homeland that was stolen a long time ago in 1948 and again in 1967.
"My generation today is telling the Israelis let´s solve this problem now on the basis of the 1967 borders. Let's end this conflict by declaring a temporary cease-fire. Let's leave the bigger issue for future generations to decide."
Until now, Yassin has vowed to continue the armed struggle until a Palestinian state was established in all of Palestine, effectively wiping the Jewish state off the map. Only last week, he told the Al-Ahram weekly in Cairo, Egypt, that the notion of Israel living in peace next to an independent Palestine was "a false idea."
May 17, 1999
By Matthew Kalman
(ABSTRACT)
In an interview, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual leader of the terrorist Islamic resistance movement Hamas, called last week for an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the first time suggested he might recognize Israel's right to exist. But he threatened to continue terrorist activity if there's no movement.
In a major departure from all previous statements of Hamas policy, Yassin said Thursday that the conflict could be ended if Israel withdrew from Gaza and the West Bank of the Jordan River. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Six-Day War. Yassin offered an immediate end to Hamas attacks on Israeli targets following such a withdrawal and said relations with Israel should be left to future generations to decide.
"We have to be realistic," he said. "We are talking about a homeland that was stolen a long time ago in 1948 and again in 1967.
"My generation today is telling the Israelis let´s solve this problem now on the basis of the 1967 borders. Let's end this conflict by declaring a temporary cease-fire. Let's leave the bigger issue for future generations to decide."
Until now, Yassin has vowed to continue the armed struggle until a Palestinian state was established in all of Palestine, effectively wiping the Jewish state off the map. Only last week, he told the Al-Ahram weekly in Cairo, Egypt, that the notion of Israel living in peace next to an independent Palestine was "a false idea."
Deadly Arab enemy offers hope of peace
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
May 17, 1999
Matthew Kalman
AS Israelis prepare to vote today in an election that may decide the fate of the Middle East peace process, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state has made an overture toward peace.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the terrorist Islamic resistance movement Hamas, has called for an end to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and for the first time suggested he might recognise Israel's right to exist. But he threatened to continue terrorist activity if there is no movement.
In a radical departure from all previous statements of Hamas policy, Yassin said the conflict could end if Israel withdrew from the West Bank and Gaza. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Six- Day War. In …
May 17, 1999
Matthew Kalman
AS Israelis prepare to vote today in an election that may decide the fate of the Middle East peace process, a sworn enemy of the Jewish state has made an overture toward peace.
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, spiritual leader of the terrorist Islamic resistance movement Hamas, has called for an end to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and for the first time suggested he might recognise Israel's right to exist. But he threatened to continue terrorist activity if there is no movement.
In a radical departure from all previous statements of Hamas policy, Yassin said the conflict could end if Israel withdrew from the West Bank and Gaza. Israel captured both areas in the 1967 Six- Day War. In …
Monday, 10 May 1999
CONTROVERSY OVER SIGNING
Najwan won't make a stand
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
May 10, 1999
NAJWAN GRAYEB, Tottenham's £1million new signing, has been the subject of considerable controversy in Israel, Matthew Kalman reports from Jerusalem.
A Muslim arab from Nazareth, Grayeb, who joined Tottenham from Hapoel Haifa last week, is one of the few non-Jews to have represented Israel.
And if that was not enough to make him controversial, defender Grayeb admitted last month to a reporter that he did not know the words to the Israeli national anthem, that Israeli Independence Day was just for Jews and that he did not stand and observe the two minutes' silence on Israel's Memorial Day (on which the nation commemorates its fallen soldiers) unless he was in …
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
May 10, 1999
NAJWAN GRAYEB, Tottenham's £1million new signing, has been the subject of considerable controversy in Israel, Matthew Kalman reports from Jerusalem.
A Muslim arab from Nazareth, Grayeb, who joined Tottenham from Hapoel Haifa last week, is one of the few non-Jews to have represented Israel.
And if that was not enough to make him controversial, defender Grayeb admitted last month to a reporter that he did not know the words to the Israeli national anthem, that Israeli Independence Day was just for Jews and that he did not stand and observe the two minutes' silence on Israel's Memorial Day (on which the nation commemorates its fallen soldiers) unless he was in …
Monday, 15 March 1999
Jordan rejects Israeli plan for less water, cites '94 peace treaty
USA TODAY, Mar 15, 1999
Matthew Kalman
AMMAN -- Jordanian-Israeli relations were in crisis Sunday night after Israel said it would have to cut the amount of water supplied to Jordan this year because of a severe drought in the region.
Ben Meir says the Yarmouk, which flows into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main reservoir, was at its lowest level since 1908. Water supplies for agricultural use inside Israel already have been cut by 25%, and further reductions will be announced in the coming days.
But Jordanian officials who met Ben Meir in Jerusalem Sunday rejected the proposal. Increased water supplies are one of the few concrete benefits Jordan has seen from its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
AMMAN -- Jordanian-Israeli relations were in crisis Sunday night after Israel said it would have to cut the amount of water supplied to Jordan this year because of a severe drought in the region.
Ben Meir says the Yarmouk, which flows into the Sea of Galilee, Israel's main reservoir, was at its lowest level since 1908. Water supplies for agricultural use inside Israel already have been cut by 25%, and further reductions will be announced in the coming days.
But Jordanian officials who met Ben Meir in Jerusalem Sunday rejected the proposal. Increased water supplies are one of the few concrete benefits Jordan has seen from its 1994 peace treaty with Israel.
(...)
Arab pop star: Foes barking up wrong tree
USA TODAY, Mar 15, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- A Lebanese pop star is struggling to save her life and career after Muslim fundamentalists decreed she should be put to death for reportedly naming her pet dog after the prophet Mohammed (Jamal).
Najwa Karam, 32, a Christian from the town of Zahlée in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, is one of the most popular singers in the Arab world. Her CDs, tapes and videos sell by the million and Arabic satellite TV has made hers a household name.
In Jordan, a leader of the country's Islamic Party called for the singer to be killed. Sheikh Abdel Munem Abu Zanet, a former member of the Jordanian parliament and a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, says she has defamed Islam and, if the story is true, she should be put to death.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- A Lebanese pop star is struggling to save her life and career after Muslim fundamentalists decreed she should be put to death for reportedly naming her pet dog after the prophet Mohammed (Jamal).
Najwa Karam, 32, a Christian from the town of Zahlée in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon, is one of the most popular singers in the Arab world. Her CDs, tapes and videos sell by the million and Arabic satellite TV has made hers a household name.
In Jordan, a leader of the country's Islamic Party called for the singer to be killed. Sheikh Abdel Munem Abu Zanet, a former member of the Jordanian parliament and a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, says she has defamed Islam and, if the story is true, she should be put to death.
(...)
Friday, 12 March 1999
Pope is expected to visit the Holy Land next spring
Pope is expected to visit the Holy Land next spring
USA TODAY, Mar 12, 1999
Matthew Kalman
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Excitement is building among Israeli and Palestinian leaders that Pope John Paul II will visit the Holy Land next year.
The Vatican has not issued a formal announcement, but both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have issued invitations to the pope to visit Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Officials said his visit would be seen as the highlight of the millennium celebrations.
"The pope is very eager to come; it is his dream," Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said. "The Vatican is studying the ways and means (of) how to make this visit possible. The Holy See himself is very, very interested in coming."
(...)
USA TODAY, Mar 12, 1999
Matthew Kalman
BETHLEHEM, West Bank -- Excitement is building among Israeli and Palestinian leaders that Pope John Paul II will visit the Holy Land next year.
The Vatican has not issued a formal announcement, but both Israel and the Palestinian Authority have issued invitations to the pope to visit Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Officials said his visit would be seen as the highlight of the millennium celebrations.
"The pope is very eager to come; it is his dream," Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser said. "The Vatican is studying the ways and means (of) how to make this visit possible. The Holy See himself is very, very interested in coming."
(...)
Wednesday, 10 March 1999
Arab beauty is crowned Miss Israel
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
March 10, 1999
Matthew Kalman
A 21-YEAR-OLD legal secretary from Haifa was crowned last night as Miss Israel - the first Arab to hold the title.
Rana Raslan said she was "extremely proud" to take over the title from Linor Abergil, who went on to become Miss World …
March 10, 1999
Matthew Kalman
A 21-YEAR-OLD legal secretary from Haifa was crowned last night as Miss Israel - the first Arab to hold the title.
Rana Raslan said she was "extremely proud" to take over the title from Linor Abergil, who went on to become Miss World …
Tuesday, 9 March 1999
Britain 'ignoring Bethlehem appeal'
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
March 9, 1999
Matthew Kalman
BRITAIN stands accused today of ignoring a massive international fundraising drive to renovate Bethlehem in time for the millennium.
Christian countries have contributed millions towards making the town fit to receive an expected four million visitors and pilgrims, plus heads of state, for the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's birth.
But Britain, despite promises, is said to have given only moral support. The Mayor of Bethlehem spoke today of his sadness and frustration at Britain's failure to contribute a penny to the celebrations. Mayor Hanna Nasser said he was doubly baffled by British tardiness, because Tony Blair has accepted an invitation to join the international …
March 9, 1999
Matthew Kalman
BRITAIN stands accused today of ignoring a massive international fundraising drive to renovate Bethlehem in time for the millennium.
Christian countries have contributed millions towards making the town fit to receive an expected four million visitors and pilgrims, plus heads of state, for the 2,000th anniversary of Christ's birth.
But Britain, despite promises, is said to have given only moral support. The Mayor of Bethlehem spoke today of his sadness and frustration at Britain's failure to contribute a penny to the celebrations. Mayor Hanna Nasser said he was doubly baffled by British tardiness, because Tony Blair has accepted an invitation to join the international …
Tuesday, 2 March 1999
Israeli court urged to rethink ruling on teen
USA TODAY, Mar 2, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Ministry of Justice has asked the Israeli Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to extradite an American Jewish teen-ager accused of a grisly murder in Maryland in 1997.
In a 3-2 decision last week, a panel of judges ruled that Samuel Sheinbein, 18, could not be extradited to stand trial in the United States because he is an Israeli citizen.
Irit Kohn, director of the international department of the Israeli Ministry of Justice, said that Sheinbein would be held without bail for 10 days while the Supreme Court considered the request for a new hearing.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The Israeli Ministry of Justice has asked the Israeli Supreme Court to reconsider its decision not to extradite an American Jewish teen-ager accused of a grisly murder in Maryland in 1997.
In a 3-2 decision last week, a panel of judges ruled that Samuel Sheinbein, 18, could not be extradited to stand trial in the United States because he is an Israeli citizen.
Irit Kohn, director of the international department of the Israeli Ministry of Justice, said that Sheinbein would be held without bail for 10 days while the Supreme Court considered the request for a new hearing.
(...)
Monday, 1 March 1999
Israel strikes after general slain
USA TODAY, Mar 1, 1999
Matthew Kalman
Israel launched fierce air, land and sea attacks on suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Lebanon late Sunday hours after two bombs in the region killed an Israeli brigadier general and three others.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the retaliatory raids against Hezbollah after the Muslim militia group claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the most serious against Israelis in southern Lebanon in years.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
Israel launched fierce air, land and sea attacks on suspected guerrilla hideouts in southern Lebanon late Sunday hours after two bombs in the region killed an Israeli brigadier general and three others.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the retaliatory raids against Hezbollah after the Muslim militia group claimed responsibility for the attack, one of the most serious against Israelis in southern Lebanon in years.
(...)
Israelis take to bomb shelters ahead of Lebanon attacks
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
March 1, 1999
Matthew Kalman
ISRAEL is in a deepening crisis after a day of bombings and air attacks on Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops are moving across the border into southern Lebanon as the Israeli cabinet convened this morning to discuss plans for a major military operation against Hezbollah guerrilla positions.
Israeli residents in the north spent the night in bomb shelters and were instructed to remain there during the day. Schools and businesses stayed closed and police vehicles patrolled the streets of Kiryat Shemona near the border with Lebanon, reminding residents through loud-hailers to stay in their shelters. The commander of Israel's forces in southern …
March 1, 1999
Matthew Kalman
ISRAEL is in a deepening crisis after a day of bombings and air attacks on Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon.
Israeli troops are moving across the border into southern Lebanon as the Israeli cabinet convened this morning to discuss plans for a major military operation against Hezbollah guerrilla positions.
Israeli residents in the north spent the night in bomb shelters and were instructed to remain there during the day. Schools and businesses stayed closed and police vehicles patrolled the streets of Kiryat Shemona near the border with Lebanon, reminding residents through loud-hailers to stay in their shelters. The commander of Israel's forces in southern …
Wednesday, 24 February 1999
Israeli commander, 2 lieutenants killed in south Lebanon
USA TODAY, Feb 24, 1999
Matthew Kalman
The commander of Israel's elite paratroop unit and two of his lieutenants were killed and five soldiers were wounded Tuesday in an ambush by Islamic guerrillas in south Lebanon.
Maj. Eitan Balahsan, 30, commander of the Sayeret Salhanim paratroopers, was one of the most senior Israeli officers killed in the 8-mile-wide buffer zone that Israel has occupied in south Lebanon since 1985.
The ambush occurred near the village of Birkit Jabbur in a no-man's-land separating the eastern sector of Israel's self-declared "security zone" from the southern Bekaa plain, which is a Hezbollah stronghold under Syrian control.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
The commander of Israel's elite paratroop unit and two of his lieutenants were killed and five soldiers were wounded Tuesday in an ambush by Islamic guerrillas in south Lebanon.
Maj. Eitan Balahsan, 30, commander of the Sayeret Salhanim paratroopers, was one of the most senior Israeli officers killed in the 8-mile-wide buffer zone that Israel has occupied in south Lebanon since 1985.
The ambush occurred near the village of Birkit Jabbur in a no-man's-land separating the eastern sector of Israel's self-declared "security zone" from the southern Bekaa plain, which is a Hezbollah stronghold under Syrian control.
(...)
Monday, 22 February 1999
Depressed? Blame your parents for divorcing
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
February 22, 1999
Matthew Kalman
CHILDREN of divorced parents are up to seven times more likely to suffer depression in adult life than people whose parents did not separate, a new study has found.
The loss of a parent through divorce is more likely to cause depression than loss through death, and separation from a mother or both parents is more likely to cause depression than separation only from a father, says a report to be published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Children who were under nine when their parents divorced were found to be seven times …
February 22, 1999
Matthew Kalman
CHILDREN of divorced parents are up to seven times more likely to suffer depression in adult life than people whose parents did not separate, a new study has found.
The loss of a parent through divorce is more likely to cause depression than loss through death, and separation from a mother or both parents is more likely to cause depression than separation only from a father, says a report to be published in Molecular Psychiatry.
Children who were under nine when their parents divorced were found to be seven times …
Wednesday, 17 February 1999
Children of divorce inclined to depression
USA TODAY, Feb 17, 1999
Matthew Kalman
Children of divorced parents are seven times more likely to suffer from depression in adult life than people of similar age and background whose parents have not divorced, says a psychiatric study on factors leading to depression.
The Israeli study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Molecular Psychiatry, indicates that the loss of a parent through divorce is more likely to cause depression than loss through death. And separation from a mother or from both parents, whether through divorce or desertion, was more likely to cause depression than separation only from a father.
Researchers Bernard Lerer and Ofer Agid of the Biological Psychiatric Unit at Hadassah Hospital focused on children whose parents divorced before the child was 9.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
Children of divorced parents are seven times more likely to suffer from depression in adult life than people of similar age and background whose parents have not divorced, says a psychiatric study on factors leading to depression.
The Israeli study, to be published in a forthcoming issue of Molecular Psychiatry, indicates that the loss of a parent through divorce is more likely to cause depression than loss through death. And separation from a mother or from both parents, whether through divorce or desertion, was more likely to cause depression than separation only from a father.
Researchers Bernard Lerer and Ofer Agid of the Biological Psychiatric Unit at Hadassah Hospital focused on children whose parents divorced before the child was 9.
(...)
Monday, 15 February 1999
Court ruling divides Israelis
Ultra-Orthodox, secular Jews demonstrate in power struggle
USA TODAY, Feb 15, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- More than a quarter million Israelis paralyzed the major arteries of Jerusalem Sunday in two massive demonstrations over the political power of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the country.
The largest gathering was of more than 200,000 Orthodox Jews, who came to the main entrance of the city to recite Psalms and prayers led by the country's senior Orthodox rabbis. Dressed mainly in black, with men and women separated, the demonstrators spilled over a large area, blocking off the highway into the city.
They were protesting recent decisions of the Supreme Court on matters affecting the role of religion in Israel that allowed a greater role for non-Orthodox Jews on religious councils and in matters of conversion.
(...)
USA TODAY, Feb 15, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- More than a quarter million Israelis paralyzed the major arteries of Jerusalem Sunday in two massive demonstrations over the political power of ultra-Orthodox Jews in the country.
The largest gathering was of more than 200,000 Orthodox Jews, who came to the main entrance of the city to recite Psalms and prayers led by the country's senior Orthodox rabbis. Dressed mainly in black, with men and women separated, the demonstrators spilled over a large area, blocking off the highway into the city.
They were protesting recent decisions of the Supreme Court on matters affecting the role of religion in Israel that allowed a greater role for non-Orthodox Jews on religious councils and in matters of conversion.
(...)
Wednesday, 10 February 1999
Syrian leader tries to build up Jordan ties
USA TODAY, Feb 10, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Syrian President Hafez Assad's unexpected arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah and President Clinton have thrust him once more to the forefront of Arab diplomacy.
Assad's uncharacteristic decision to travel to King Hussein's funeral has prompted speculation that he hopes to divert the foreign policy of the newly named king away from peace with Israel.
Tuesday, Syria's government-controlled Tishrin newspaper hinted at such pressure, denouncing "Israel's repeated bids to fish in troubled waters in order to destroy Arab ties on the basis of divide and rule . . . nothing threatens Jordan but Israel and its greedy expansionism."
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Syrian President Hafez Assad's unexpected arrival in Amman for talks with King Abdullah and President Clinton have thrust him once more to the forefront of Arab diplomacy.
Assad's uncharacteristic decision to travel to King Hussein's funeral has prompted speculation that he hopes to divert the foreign policy of the newly named king away from peace with Israel.
Tuesday, Syria's government-controlled Tishrin newspaper hinted at such pressure, denouncing "Israel's repeated bids to fish in troubled waters in order to destroy Arab ties on the basis of divide and rule . . . nothing threatens Jordan but Israel and its greedy expansionism."
(...)
Monday, 8 February 1999
HUSSEIN IS LAID TO REST AS THE WORLD MOURNS
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
February 8, 1999
Matthew Kalman
KING HUSSEIN of Jordan was buried today alongside his father and grandfather at the Hashemite burial ground in Amman after a 10-mile procession through the streets of the Jordanian capital.
Heads of state from all over the world flew in to Amman to pay their respects to the king who ruled Jordan for nearly half a century, transforming the desert kingdom of Bedouin tribes and uprooted Palestinians into a unified, stabilising force in the Middle East.
Tony Blair and Prince Charles led the British delegation, while President Clinton was accompanied by three former presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Boris Yeltsin, who is being treated in a Moscow sanatorium for …
February 8, 1999
Matthew Kalman
KING HUSSEIN of Jordan was buried today alongside his father and grandfather at the Hashemite burial ground in Amman after a 10-mile procession through the streets of the Jordanian capital.
Heads of state from all over the world flew in to Amman to pay their respects to the king who ruled Jordan for nearly half a century, transforming the desert kingdom of Bedouin tribes and uprooted Palestinians into a unified, stabilising force in the Middle East.
Tony Blair and Prince Charles led the British delegation, while President Clinton was accompanied by three former presidents George Bush, Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford. Boris Yeltsin, who is being treated in a Moscow sanatorium for …
Monday, 25 January 1999
Sacked minister: I'll oust Netanyahu
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 25, 1999
Matthew Kalman
ISRAELI defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai, dismissed from the cabinet at the weekend by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emerged as the new leader of a fledgling centre party.
Mr Mordechai pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in his determination to remove Mr Netanyahu from power. He will join former military chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former finance minister Dan Meridor and former Interior Minister Roni Milo at a Press conference today to formally announce the founding of the party, which does not yet have a name. Israelis …
January 25, 1999
Matthew Kalman
ISRAELI defence minister Yitzhak Mordechai, dismissed from the cabinet at the weekend by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has emerged as the new leader of a fledgling centre party.
Mr Mordechai pledged to "leave no stone unturned" in his determination to remove Mr Netanyahu from power. He will join former military chief of staff Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, former finance minister Dan Meridor and former Interior Minister Roni Milo at a Press conference today to formally announce the founding of the party, which does not yet have a name. Israelis …
Monday, 18 January 1999
Midnight at the Oasis
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 18, 1999
MATTHEW KALMAN samples the Holy Land's most incongruous new attraction: the Oasis casino, Jericho's answer to Sun City
GAMBLING is not an activity traditionally associated with a trip to the Holy Land. The pursuit is illegal in Israel and throughout much of the Muslim Middle East.
Not so in Jericho, now governed by the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Thousands of years after the biblical prostitute Rahab helped Joshua tear down the walls of the most ancient city on earth, the streets of Jeri-cho are ringing with the cries of religious leaders warning against lewd behaviour and whoring.
The object of their concern is the Oasis, a $50 million complex which opened …
January 18, 1999
MATTHEW KALMAN samples the Holy Land's most incongruous new attraction: the Oasis casino, Jericho's answer to Sun City
GAMBLING is not an activity traditionally associated with a trip to the Holy Land. The pursuit is illegal in Israel and throughout much of the Muslim Middle East.
Not so in Jericho, now governed by the Palestinian Authority under Yasser Arafat. Thousands of years after the biblical prostitute Rahab helped Joshua tear down the walls of the most ancient city on earth, the streets of Jeri-cho are ringing with the cries of religious leaders warning against lewd behaviour and whoring.
The object of their concern is the Oasis, a $50 million complex which opened …
Thursday, 14 January 1999
Man charged over Miss World 'rape, torture and murder bid'
LONDON EVENING STANDARD
January 14, 1999
Matthew Kalman; Theodore Levite
A MAN has been arrested and charged with the rape and attempted murder of Miss World, Linor Abergil.
The alleged attack took place in Italy before Miss Abergil, 19, was crowned and while she was on a modelling assignment in Milan.
Shaul Nur, a Jewish convert from Islam who has joint Egyptian- Israeli citizenship and lives in Israel, was arrested on Sunday as he flew into Tel Aviv to visit his family. Nur, 43, claims to be a former agent for the Shin Bet Israeli secret service. He now runs a travel business in Milan. A reporting ban on the case was lifted today at Miss Abergil's request by judge Uri Goren, president of the Tel Aviv District Court, allowing the details to be …
January 14, 1999
Matthew Kalman; Theodore Levite
A MAN has been arrested and charged with the rape and attempted murder of Miss World, Linor Abergil.
The alleged attack took place in Italy before Miss Abergil, 19, was crowned and while she was on a modelling assignment in Milan.
Shaul Nur, a Jewish convert from Islam who has joint Egyptian- Israeli citizenship and lives in Israel, was arrested on Sunday as he flew into Tel Aviv to visit his family. Nur, 43, claims to be a former agent for the Shin Bet Israeli secret service. He now runs a travel business in Milan. A reporting ban on the case was lifted today at Miss Abergil's request by judge Uri Goren, president of the Tel Aviv District Court, allowing the details to be …
Tuesday, 12 January 1999
Mideast 'Wonder Boy' has leaders' ears
USA TODAY, Jan 12, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- On the final day of the Middle East peace talks in October outside Washington, a teen-ager from Jericho received an urgent call on his mobile phone.
"He was calling to tell me my prophecy had come true. The Israelis and Americans were at loggerheads, and Netanyahu was threatening to walk out." Prophecy? Meet Moussa el-Moghrabi, fortuneteller, faith healer and unofficial spiritual adviser to Palestinian leaders.
"Moussa is a phenomenon. I don't hesitate to consult him whenever I can," the minister says. He consulted with Moussa regularly before the peace talks in Washington, and the faith healer gave him a good-luck charm.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- On the final day of the Middle East peace talks in October outside Washington, a teen-ager from Jericho received an urgent call on his mobile phone.
"He was calling to tell me my prophecy had come true. The Israelis and Americans were at loggerheads, and Netanyahu was threatening to walk out." Prophecy? Meet Moussa el-Moghrabi, fortuneteller, faith healer and unofficial spiritual adviser to Palestinian leaders.
"Moussa is a phenomenon. I don't hesitate to consult him whenever I can," the minister says. He consulted with Moussa regularly before the peace talks in Washington, and the faith healer gave him a good-luck charm.
(...)
Friday, 8 January 1999
Novices enticed to seek office in Israeli election
USA TODAY, Jan 8, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Widespread voter disenchantment with the main parties on the left and right is drawing novice politicians into the electoral arena and driving many veterans toward the center before the May 17 Israeli election.
This was underscored this week when Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a popular general with no political experience and no party organization, announced he will run for prime minister
At the same time, Dan Meridor, widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Israel's first right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, announced last month he was quitting Likud, the governing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new centrist party and run for the top job.
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Widespread voter disenchantment with the main parties on the left and right is drawing novice politicians into the electoral arena and driving many veterans toward the center before the May 17 Israeli election.
This was underscored this week when Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, a popular general with no political experience and no party organization, announced he will run for prime minister
At the same time, Dan Meridor, widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Israel's first right-wing prime minister, Menachem Begin, announced last month he was quitting Likud, the governing party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to form a new centrist party and run for the top job.
(...)
Tuesday, 5 January 1999
Israeli task force tries to avert millennial madness
USA TODAY, Jan 5, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The month-long surveillance and arrest of members of a Denver-based Christian cult was the first public operation of an Israeli task force set up to deal with the expected influx of extreme Christian groups for the turn of the millennium.
Israeli officials fear that extreme Christian groups, like the Concerned Christians who were arrested Sunday, will perform acts that they believe will hasten the second coming of Jesus as the year 2000 approaches.
"Better late than never, the security and intelligence authorities have woken up and dealt with this group," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and an expert on Jewish-Christian relations. "Had there been good intelligence, they would never have got into the country in the first place."
(...)
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- The month-long surveillance and arrest of members of a Denver-based Christian cult was the first public operation of an Israeli task force set up to deal with the expected influx of extreme Christian groups for the turn of the millennium.
Israeli officials fear that extreme Christian groups, like the Concerned Christians who were arrested Sunday, will perform acts that they believe will hasten the second coming of Jesus as the year 2000 approaches.
"Better late than never, the security and intelligence authorities have woken up and dealt with this group," said Rabbi David Rosen, director of the Jerusalem office of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and an expert on Jewish-Christian relations. "Had there been good intelligence, they would never have got into the country in the first place."
(...)
Israel deports 11 cults members
USA TODAY, Jan 5, 1999
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Eleven suspected cult members who call themselves the Concerned Christians were ordered to leave Israel Monday.
Matthew Kalman
JERUSALEM -- Eleven suspected cult members who call themselves the Concerned Christians were ordered to leave Israel Monday.
A statement by the Israeli Interior Ministry released Monday said the cult members believe their deaths will hasten the second coming of Christ.
The ministry said cult members arrived in separate groups in September 1998. They lived in two houses in Mevasseret Zion and Motza, two affluent suburbs on the western approach to Jerusalem.
(...)
Sunday, 29 November 1998
Corruption in the Palestinian Authority
British aid used to house Arafat elite
Aid scandal: the misuse of housing cash will embarrass Tony Blair and Yasser Arafat
Aid scandal: the misuse of housing cash will embarrass Tony Blair and Yasser Arafat
The Sunday Times, London
November 29 1998
by Stephen Grey
November 29 1998
by Stephen Grey
Additional reporting: Chris White and Matthew Kalman
BRITISH aid earmarked for poor Palestinians has been used by the
European Union to finance luxury flats - with Italian granite-fitted
designer kitchens - for rich supporters of Yasser Arafat.
The scandal has benefited a general, a police chief and other acolytes
of the Palestinian leader. The millions of pounds involved have been
written off by Brussels.
"In effect, $20m [12m pounds] has been spent without any economic
controls and is not recoverable," admit the EU's own auditors. At least
2m pounds of this sum was contributed by Britain.
The money had been targeted for cheap housing in the desperately poor
and overcrowded Gaza Strip and the West Bank areas controlled by the
Palestinians. Instead, according to a secret EU internal financial
control report, it was used for flats designed with "elegance and
luxury".
Ten of the apartment blocks were built opposite a refugee camp at
Nussairat, eight miles south of Gaza city. Each apartment is more than
100 square metres in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with
polished wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom
complete with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink
or blue ceramic tiles. Satellite television dishes sprout from the
walls. The car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and
expensive civilian cars bearing red number plates, which are issued only
to officials.
Palestinian sources said 90% of the EU flats had been given to
"returnees" - loyalists who had been in exile with Arafat and now served
in his administration. Three have been taken over by a Palestinian
brigadier-general, Mazan Iss Did. Another was taken by a police chief,
Tala Abo Zaidi. The Palestinian ministry of industry also controls two
flats.
The housing project was part of a 60m pound aid package for the
Palestinians announced after the Oslo peace accords with Israel. It has
been administered by the Palestinian housing authority, which has
refused to meet the EU auditors, according to their secret report.
The original plan was for a self-sustaining building programme: cheap
housing association mortgages would be available for Palestinians on
modest incomes, whose payments would then finance further construction.
Instead, building costs rose to 33,000 pounds for each apartment, 80%
more than planned, due to split-level construction, entry phone systems
and expensive lifts. This made them "inaccessible to the layer of
population for which they were planned and has instead allowed
well-to-do people, who were not targeted, to benefit from EU aid", said
the auditors.
Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries made low
down payments - as little as 1,000 pounds, instead of the 20% required -
and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments. "The degree of
repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the Gaza Strip is
zero," said the auditors.
The aid programme is under the control of Manuel Marin, the Spanish
commissioner for EU relations with the Middle East, who is already
facing widespread criticism over his handling of fraud allegations in
the EU's humanitarian aid budget when he was aid commissioner.
The scandal has emerged as Britain prepares to announce in Washington
tomorrow a doubling of aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Derek
Fatchett, the Foreign Office minister, will announce that more than 105m
pounds will be spent over the next three years, half through EU
programmes. More than 1.2 billion pounds has been given by all
international donors to the Palestinians in the past five years.
Fatchett said Britain had already voiced concerns to Arafat about
corruption involving aid and planned to use tomorrow's announcement to
demand much greater accountability and openness from the Palestinians.
"Anyone going to Gaza is struck by its poverty and disadvantage. It is
very important to ensure that the aid reaches those in the greatest
need," he said.
The Palestinian Authority's own auditors have already embarrassed Arafat
with an inquiry which showed that nearly 40% of his administration's
budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." The EU auditors warn
the same corruption could apply to money in its projects and demanded
"extreme vigilance".
They are also critical of EU funding for a new hospital in Gaza, which
was "not conceived correctly or run according to the principles of
efficiency". More than 14m pounds was handed over to build a "luxurious"
clinic which was far too lavish for local needs. "The cost of
maintaining and using this hospital will be well over the financial
means of this country," said the report.
BRITISH aid earmarked for poor Palestinians has been used by the
European Union to finance luxury flats - with Italian granite-fitted
designer kitchens - for rich supporters of Yasser Arafat.
The scandal has benefited a general, a police chief and other acolytes
of the Palestinian leader. The millions of pounds involved have been
written off by Brussels.
"In effect, $20m [12m pounds] has been spent without any economic
controls and is not recoverable," admit the EU's own auditors. At least
2m pounds of this sum was contributed by Britain.
The money had been targeted for cheap housing in the desperately poor
and overcrowded Gaza Strip and the West Bank areas controlled by the
Palestinians. Instead, according to a secret EU internal financial
control report, it was used for flats designed with "elegance and
luxury".
Ten of the apartment blocks were built opposite a refugee camp at
Nussairat, eight miles south of Gaza city. Each apartment is more than
100 square metres in size, with three bedrooms, a kitchen fitted with
polished wooden cupboards and granite work-surfaces, and a bathroom
complete with a large bath and shower area, decorated with either pink
or blue ceramic tiles. Satellite television dishes sprout from the
walls. The car parks are tightly packed with military vehicles and
expensive civilian cars bearing red number plates, which are issued only
to officials.
Palestinian sources said 90% of the EU flats had been given to
"returnees" - loyalists who had been in exile with Arafat and now served
in his administration. Three have been taken over by a Palestinian
brigadier-general, Mazan Iss Did. Another was taken by a police chief,
Tala Abo Zaidi. The Palestinian ministry of industry also controls two
flats.
The housing project was part of a 60m pound aid package for the
Palestinians announced after the Oslo peace accords with Israel. It has
been administered by the Palestinian housing authority, which has
refused to meet the EU auditors, according to their secret report.
The original plan was for a self-sustaining building programme: cheap
housing association mortgages would be available for Palestinians on
modest incomes, whose payments would then finance further construction.
Instead, building costs rose to 33,000 pounds for each apartment, 80%
more than planned, due to split-level construction, entry phone systems
and expensive lifts. This made them "inaccessible to the layer of
population for which they were planned and has instead allowed
well-to-do people, who were not targeted, to benefit from EU aid", said
the auditors.
Compounding the scandal, some of these affluent beneficiaries made low
down payments - as little as 1,000 pounds, instead of the 20% required -
and many are not keeping up their mortgage payments. "The degree of
repayment of the loans on the part of the buyers in the Gaza Strip is
zero," said the auditors.
The aid programme is under the control of Manuel Marin, the Spanish
commissioner for EU relations with the Middle East, who is already
facing widespread criticism over his handling of fraud allegations in
the EU's humanitarian aid budget when he was aid commissioner.
The scandal has emerged as Britain prepares to announce in Washington
tomorrow a doubling of aid to the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Derek
Fatchett, the Foreign Office minister, will announce that more than 105m
pounds will be spent over the next three years, half through EU
programmes. More than 1.2 billion pounds has been given by all
international donors to the Palestinians in the past five years.
Fatchett said Britain had already voiced concerns to Arafat about
corruption involving aid and planned to use tomorrow's announcement to
demand much greater accountability and openness from the Palestinians.
"Anyone going to Gaza is struck by its poverty and disadvantage. It is
very important to ensure that the aid reaches those in the greatest
need," he said.
The Palestinian Authority's own auditors have already embarrassed Arafat
with an inquiry which showed that nearly 40% of his administration's
budget was misused or stolen through "kickbacks." The EU auditors warn
the same corruption could apply to money in its projects and demanded
"extreme vigilance".
They are also critical of EU funding for a new hospital in Gaza, which
was "not conceived correctly or run according to the principles of
efficiency". More than 14m pounds was handed over to build a "luxurious"
clinic which was far too lavish for local needs. "The cost of
maintaining and using this hospital will be well over the financial
means of this country," said the report.
Thursday, 5 November 1998
British support for Palestine
Foulkes finds room at Gaza inn
GLASGOW HERALD November 5th, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
GEORGE Foulkes gave a significant boost to the growing momentum for a Palestinian state last night when he became the first British Government Minister to stay overnight in the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Foulkes, MP for Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon, was on a three-day visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in his capacity as Under- Secretary in the Department for International Development.
Speaking during a whirlwind tour of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Mr Foulkes announced £9m in grants for projects designed to help the Palestinian Authority and ease the lives of under-privileged Palestinians.
GLASGOW HERALD November 5th, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
GEORGE Foulkes gave a significant boost to the growing momentum for a Palestinian state last night when he became the first British Government Minister to stay overnight in the Palestinian Authority.
Mr Foulkes, MP for Carrick, Cumnock, and Doon, was on a three-day visit to the West Bank and Gaza Strip in his capacity as Under- Secretary in the Department for International Development.
Speaking during a whirlwind tour of the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War, Mr Foulkes announced £9m in grants for projects designed to help the Palestinian Authority and ease the lives of under-privileged Palestinians.
Read full story HERE
Friday, 31 July 1998
Millennium kosher blues
A party is just not kosher
By Matthew Kalman
In Jerusalem Israeli officials and frustrated hoteliers are struggling with a cruel twist of calendrical fate: New Year's Eve 1999 falls on Friday evening, the Jewish Sabbath, when no music or entertainment is allowed. As the rest of the world, including mainly Muslim and Christian East Jerusalem, marks the countdown to the millennium in what promises to be the greatest party on earth, the Israeli rabbinate have decreed that predominantly Jewish West Jerusalem will be an island of tranquillity in the mad sea of celebration.
"They are talking about the possibility of millions of tourists coming here for the year 2000 but, because they will not be able to celebrate the most exciting holiday of the millennium in a public hall or a hotel in Jerusalem, where will they go to celebrate?" asks Mr Dvir. ''Bethlehem? Amman?"
Only in Jerusalem do the orthodox rabbinical authorities exercise such an iron grip on the observance of the Sabbath. Outside the Holy City, the rabbinate are content to monitor the kosher food served in hotels and restaurants while turning a blind eye to desecrations of the Sabbath such as discotheques. Elsewhere in Israel, Jews and non- Jews alike are expected to join the millennium madness. But in Jerusalem, any eaterie or public venue wishing to retain its kosher licence must adhere to strict Sabbath observance and agree not to mark any non-Jewish holidays, including New Year's Eve. The coincidence of December 31, 1999, with Friday night has left kosher hoteliers with little choice.
Full story HERE
Friday, 1 May 1998
ISRAEL AT 50
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalism.
A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the founding fathers envisaged a centralized economy based on agriculture and inspired by socialist Zionism. Today, however, many trademarks of the early economy have been swept away. Israel's high-tech sector is now driving economic growth, while privatization and reforms are transforming Israel into a free market economy. "We will continue to break down monopolies and deregulate," says Finance Minister Yaakov Neeman. "This will encourage growth, attract foreign investment, and benefit the Israeli public."
In the early 1990s, Israel enjoyed rapid growth, fueled by a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union and by the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993. GDP climbed by an average of 6 percent between 1990 and 1995. The rate slowed to 4.5 percent analysts expect sluggish growth in 1996, 1.9 percent last year, and analysts expect sluggish growth in 1998.
Even though the peace process has been stalled for more than a year, foreign investment increased from $2.8 billion in 1996 to $3.7 billion in 1997. Recent terrorist attacks, however, have severely damaged Israel's tourism industry, which accounts for 3 percent of GDP, and sonic analysts warn that if diplomacy collapses, investors may disappear. Still, Israel's government remains upbeat. "Foreign investment will continue to flow," Neeman declares.
Foreign interest has focused on the financial services and technology sectors. According to the Bank of Israel, of total direct foreign investment of more than 100,000, some 46 percent was invested in financial services and another 36 percent in technology.
Investors did not seem deterred by last year's slowdown. The government blames the by downturn on the high budget deficit left its predecessors, which compelled it to rein in spending and the Batik of Israel to …
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalism.
A NEW ERA OF OPENNESS
When the State of Israel was established in 1948, the founding fathers envisaged a centralized economy based on agriculture and inspired by socialist Zionism. Today, however, many trademarks of the early economy have been swept away. Israel's high-tech sector is now driving economic growth, while privatization and reforms are transforming Israel into a free market economy. "We will continue to break down monopolies and deregulate," says Finance Minister Yaakov Neeman. "This will encourage growth, attract foreign investment, and benefit the Israeli public."
In the early 1990s, Israel enjoyed rapid growth, fueled by a wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union and by the Oslo peace process, which began in 1993. GDP climbed by an average of 6 percent between 1990 and 1995. The rate slowed to 4.5 percent analysts expect sluggish growth in 1996, 1.9 percent last year, and analysts expect sluggish growth in 1998.
Even though the peace process has been stalled for more than a year, foreign investment increased from $2.8 billion in 1996 to $3.7 billion in 1997. Recent terrorist attacks, however, have severely damaged Israel's tourism industry, which accounts for 3 percent of GDP, and sonic analysts warn that if diplomacy collapses, investors may disappear. Still, Israel's government remains upbeat. "Foreign investment will continue to flow," Neeman declares.
Foreign interest has focused on the financial services and technology sectors. According to the Bank of Israel, of total direct foreign investment of more than 100,000, some 46 percent was invested in financial services and another 36 percent in technology.
Investors did not seem deterred by last year's slowdown. The government blames the by downturn on the high budget deficit left its predecessors, which compelled it to rein in spending and the Batik of Israel to …
BANK HAPOALIM
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalim.
ISRAEL'S LEADING PROVIDER OF FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR Investors
Bank Hapoalim -- Israel's largest banking group, with 10 commercial banks, 364 branches and offices worldwide, and more than 50 subsidiaries active in all aspects of financial services -- is the country's leading supplier of services to foreign and domestic institutional investors, financial intermediaries, private investors, and issuers. In 1997 the Bank reported the largest …
May 1, 1998
This sponsored section was prepared by the Special Projects Department at Institutional Investor and written independently by Avi Machlis and Matthew Kalman, journalists based in Jerusalem. Cover artwork courtesy of Bank Hapoalim.
ISRAEL'S LEADING PROVIDER OF FINANCIAL SERVICES FOR Investors
Bank Hapoalim -- Israel's largest banking group, with 10 commercial banks, 364 branches and offices worldwide, and more than 50 subsidiaries active in all aspects of financial services -- is the country's leading supplier of services to foreign and domestic institutional investors, financial intermediaries, private investors, and issuers. In 1997 the Bank reported the largest …
Sunday, 15 March 1998
Blonde ready for fun in Knesset
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
THE face of Israeli politics may never look the same again. After 50 years of leadership by battle-scarred generals and stony-faced ex- underground fighters, the latest person to declare the formation of a new political party is Pnina Rosenblum, a platinum blonde ex- model, who will probably have to be taken a lot more seriously than her credentials suggest.
She was Israel's most famous fashion model, painted by Salvador Dali and popularly known as the "breasts of the nation". Despite a miserable birthright she is one of the most determined and successful women the country has ever seen. Now 43, with two children, Rosenblum is proprietor and chief executive of a huge …
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
THE face of Israeli politics may never look the same again. After 50 years of leadership by battle-scarred generals and stony-faced ex- underground fighters, the latest person to declare the formation of a new political party is Pnina Rosenblum, a platinum blonde ex- model, who will probably have to be taken a lot more seriously than her credentials suggest.
She was Israel's most famous fashion model, painted by Salvador Dali and popularly known as the "breasts of the nation". Despite a miserable birthright she is one of the most determined and successful women the country has ever seen. Now 43, with two children, Rosenblum is proprietor and chief executive of a huge …
Peace, love and knitwear
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER nuns kissing, horses copulating and Aids victims dying, you might think there was no subject under the sun left to faze the average Benetton shopper. Well then, think again. Oliviero Toscani, the image-making mastermind behind the Italian clothing giant, has turned his attention to one of the most intractable problems of the 20th century: the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In Israel - a country well used to passionate debate and violent confrontation - Toscani revealed his latest work to an enthusiastic audience last week, and casually compared himself to Picasso and the Renaissance painters. But Picasso never had Toscani's gift for publicity. Within a week, his new oeuvre will be …
March 15, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER nuns kissing, horses copulating and Aids victims dying, you might think there was no subject under the sun left to faze the average Benetton shopper. Well then, think again. Oliviero Toscani, the image-making mastermind behind the Italian clothing giant, has turned his attention to one of the most intractable problems of the 20th century: the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In Israel - a country well used to passionate debate and violent confrontation - Toscani revealed his latest work to an enthusiastic audience last week, and casually compared himself to Picasso and the Renaissance painters. But Picasso never had Toscani's gift for publicity. Within a week, his new oeuvre will be …
Monday, 9 March 1998
Bennetton pays lip service to conflict
THE INDEPENDENT
March 9, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER snogging nuns, copulating horses and dying Aids victims, the latest Benetton catalogue is expected to arouse its usual level of controversy.
Titled "Enemies", its cover features 24-year-old Israeli student Enyar Lazarus passionately kissing her Bedouin boyfriend, Musa Mazareb, 22. Inside are pictures of Arabs and Jews playing, loving and working together. It will be distributed by Newsweek and a network of publications around the globe in six million copies and 14 different languages.
"If journalists would be artists, and if politicians would be artists, probably the world would be different," said Benetton creative director Olivero Toscani, launching the catalogue …
March 9, 1998
Matthew Kalman
AFTER snogging nuns, copulating horses and dying Aids victims, the latest Benetton catalogue is expected to arouse its usual level of controversy.
Titled "Enemies", its cover features 24-year-old Israeli student Enyar Lazarus passionately kissing her Bedouin boyfriend, Musa Mazareb, 22. Inside are pictures of Arabs and Jews playing, loving and working together. It will be distributed by Newsweek and a network of publications around the globe in six million copies and 14 different languages.
"If journalists would be artists, and if politicians would be artists, probably the world would be different," said Benetton creative director Olivero Toscani, launching the catalogue …
Sunday, 1 March 1998
Israeli outsider in the hunt for top job
SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
March 1, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
SHAUL Amor, a 57-year-old former social worker, will make history in Israel on Wednesday when he becomes the first person to challenge a serving president seeking a second term. The presidency, bestowed by a secret ballot of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset, is largely a ceremonial position, but there is considerable excitement because the outcome is too close to call.
Amor has a good chance of beating the unpredictable, somewhat eccentric and massively popular president Ezer Weizman to become the first Israeli leader drawn from what he calls "the second Israel", of oriental Jews from North Africa and the Arab countries.
Two months ago, Weizman expected automatic …
March 1, 1998
By Matthew Kalman
SHAUL Amor, a 57-year-old former social worker, will make history in Israel on Wednesday when he becomes the first person to challenge a serving president seeking a second term. The presidency, bestowed by a secret ballot of the 120 members of the Israeli Knesset, is largely a ceremonial position, but there is considerable excitement because the outcome is too close to call.
Amor has a good chance of beating the unpredictable, somewhat eccentric and massively popular president Ezer Weizman to become the first Israeli leader drawn from what he calls "the second Israel", of oriental Jews from North Africa and the Arab countries.
Two months ago, Weizman expected automatic …
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