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Mideast Briefs

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By JTA News Service

JTA Mideast Briefs from our October 3, 2007 Digital Edition

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Israel lifts veil on Syria sortie

Israel officially acknowledged for the first time it struck targets in Syria a month ago. Military censors on Tuesday partially lifted a gag order on reporting about the alleged Syria air strike, and permitted Israeli media to report that the air force struck a Syrian target on Sept. 6, though further details on the operation remain barred from publication. The decision to ease Jerusalem’s official silence over the mysterious sortie followed the expiration, on Monday, of a blanket censorship order issued to all reporters in Israel. Such a curb on reporting in Israel is considered unprecedented by many veteran military journalists.

Fans fighting for Tel Aviv diamond

Baseball supporters launched a campaign to stop the city of Tel Aviv from destroying its lone baseball field. The baseball field at Sportek in Hayarkon Park was renovated this year with funds donated by North American Jews for use by the new Israel Baseball League. Now that the inaugural season is over, the municipality wants to take down the outfield fence and allow the grounds to become uneven again, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post. Local baseball fans and the nonprofit Israel Association for Baseball have been using the field for years and also have asked the city to reconsider. The league had many disputes with the city during the baseball season, which as a result opened late in Tel Aviv. It will not be using the field next season.

Christians march for Jerusalem

Christian supporters of Israel marched in Jerusalem to celebrate 40 years since the city’s unification. An estimated 6,000 to 7,000 Christians from more than 90 countries staged the annual Feast of the Tabernacles parade in the Israeli capital Tuesday. They were joined by thousands of Israelis who flocked to Jerusalem as part of additional celebrations of the Old City’s liberation in the1967 Middle East war. The annual Tabernacles gathering sponsored by the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem is among Israel’s biggest tourist events, bringing as much as $18 million to the local economy. Israeli politicians further note its importance in fostering goodwill among the country’s non-Jewish backers abroad.

Abbas to Hamas: Never again

Mahmoud Abbas said he would not reunite in a government with Hamas under any circumstances. The terrorist group ousted forces loyal to the Palestinian Authority president from the Gaza Strip in internecine fighting this summer, and Abbas re-established the P.A. government in the West Bank. The fighting ended a tentative national unity government between Hamas and Abbas’ Fatah, but also opened up the Palestinian Authority to assistance from Israel and the West, where Hamas is banned because of its terrorism. In an interview published Sunday in The Washington Post and Newsweek, Abbas said he has no plans to govern with Hamas. "I don’t want to return to the national unity government because it was a very bad experience, and they destroyed it," he said. Abbas added that he would not work with Hamas "under any circumstances." He also said he backed the U.S.-led isolation of Hamas. "In the beginning, I believed that they were mistaken, but now we are in the same position," Abbas said. "I am against Hamas." Abbas said he and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should have worked out the framework of a final-status agreement in time for the Palestinian-Israeli peace meeting to be convened in November under U.S. auspices. Abbas also faulted the 1947 Palestinian leadership for not accepting the U.N. partition plan and launching a war against Israel. He noted that the Israeli leadership of the time was happy with the partition plan, although it was much less than Israel would win in its 1948 War of Independence. "We rejected this, so we lost," he said.

7 Israelis on Forbes’ rich list

Seven Israelis appear on the Forbes magazine list of the richest Middle East billionaires. A Saudia Arabian investor, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, tops the list of the richest in the region. Business tycoon Stef Wertheimer is ranked 10th. Shari Arison, owner of Bank Hapoalim, is No. 11 and the only woman. She is followed by diamond mogul Lev Leviev at 12, real estate king Yitzhak Tshuva at 13 and Yuli Sami Ofer at 14. Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan completes the list at No. 20.


Posted by JTA News Service on 10/03 at 03:53 PM • Hits: 112



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