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Eye on Israel

April 29, 2001

Israel Bombs Syrian Positions in Lebanon
Israeli planes bombed a Syrian radar station in Lebanon on April 15 as a warning against further Hezbollah guerrilla attacks against Israeli forces in the Lebanon border area. Israeli warplanes struck deeply into Lebanon, bombarding Syrian targets in a mountainous region. The attacks on Syrian radar installations occurred near the main highway between Damascus and Beirut. Israel took the action, its first attack on a Syrian position in Lebanon since 1996, in retaliation for an Hezbollah attack on the Lebanese-Israeli border that killed an Israeli soldier on April 14. Syria has at least 30,000 troops in Lebanon and is considered the main power broker in the country.

IDF Enters and Exits Gaza
The Israeli Defense Forces briefly occupied Palestinian positions in the Gaza strip on April 16 but pulled out a day later with an official in the Prime Minister's Office saying that "the mission was completed." The withdrawal came within hours of a statement issued by US Secretary of State Colin Powell calling on Israel to pull back its troops. Powell issued a statement criticizing Israel's actions in Gaza Monday night as "excessive and disproportionate," but said that they were "precipitated by the provocative Palestinian mortar attacks." He called on "both sides to respect the agreements they've signed." For the Palestinians, he said, "this includes implementing their commitment to renounce terrorism and violence, to exercise control over all elements of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority, and to discipline violators." For the Israelis,"this includes respecting their commitment to withdraw from Gaza according to terms of the agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinians. There can be no military solution to this conflict."

Israeli Doctor Killed in Bus Stop Bombing
A suicide bomber blew up a powerful explosive device he was carrying in Kfar Sava, killing himself and another man. Dr. Mario Goldin was killed along with the terrorist, and 50 people wounded in the April 22 suicide bombing at a bus stop. One of the wounded, a 14-year-old boy, was in critical condition in the city's Meir Hospital last night. Two others were moderately hurt and the rest were suffering from shock and minor injuries. Kfar Saba, a suburb of Tel Aviv, is located on the “green line” which marks the pre-1967 border of Israel and Jordan.

Police Enter Temple Mount to Quell Riot
Some 100 Israeli policemen entered the Temple Mount on April 20, after Palestinian youths pelted them with rocks for the fourth week in a row. As in previous weeks, the violence began as Palestinians filed out of the Temple mount after Friday prayers. While most of the crowd left peacefully, scores of masked youths hurled rocks and other objects at police standing outside the Temple Mount near the Mugrabi Gate.

Belgian Foreign Minister Cancels Temple Mount Visit
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel backed out of touring the Old City of Jerusalem's holy sites on April 23 after the police and the Islamic Wakf could not reach agreement on who would provide security for Michel's visit to the Temple Mount. A Belgian Consulate official said the Wakf would not allow Israeli security men on the mount, and as a result Michel canceled his visit. Israeli diplomatic officials said that Michel showed his "sensitivity" to Israeli concerns by canceling the visit when it became apparent that Israeli security personnel were not to be allowed entrance to the site. Michel, who was in the region for a week on a study tour in advance of Belgium's taking over the EU rotating presidency on July 1, is scheduled to leave Israel today.

Israel Delays UN Temple Mount Inspection
A planned visit by a special envoy of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to investigate reports of Islamic Wakf construction work on the Temple Mount has been indefinitely postponed just three weeks before it was to start, the Foreign Ministry and UNESCO officials said on April 19. UNESCO officials in Paris received a letter from Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Arye Gabai informing the UN body that, "due to the prevailing situation in the region, the mission would be postponed," Mounir Bouchenaki, the assistant director-general for culture at UNESCO headquarters in Paris, said yesterday. Gabai's letter came just three weeks after an earlier letter he had sent, informing UNESCO of Israel's readiness to host such a mission.

Sharon Holds Talks on Readmitting Tourists to Temple Mount
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met on April 18th with senior security officials to discuss the possibility of readmitting tourists and Israeli visitors to the Temple Mount. No decision was reached at the meeting, which was also attended by Internal Security Minister Uzi Landau and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert, though another meeting in a smaller forum is expected to take up the issue shortly.

Ayatollah Claims That 'Zionists Had Close Relations With Nazis'
Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a pro-intifada conference in Teheran on April 24 that Zionists exaggerated the Holocaust to justify crimes against Palestinians. "There is evidence which shows that Zionists had close relations with German Nazis and exaggerated statistics on Jewish killings," Khamenei said in a speech opening a conference to support the seven-month-old intifada. "There is even evidence on hand that a large number of non-Jewish hooligans and thugs of eastern Europe were forced to migrate to Palestine as Jews," Khamenei said. "The purpose was to install in the heart of the Islamic world an anti-Islamic state under the guise of supporting the victims of racism and to create a rift between the East and the West of the Islamic world." The State Department condemned the comments as "outrageous and deplorable." State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said, "The outrageous and deplorable statements such as those ... do nothing to allay our concerns about Iran and its support for terrorism and opposition to Middle East peace."

Gusinsky Takes Refuge In Israel
Russian media magnate Vladimir Gusinsky says his fight with the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin is "unfortunately not finished." He made the remark in Gibraltar on April 24 before leaving in a private jet for Israel. Gusinsky has dual citizenship in Russia and Israel. Gusinsky's Spanish defense lawyer Domingo Plazas said yesterday it would be "extremely difficult" for Gusinsky to be extradited from Israel to Russia. Plazas said Last week, Spain's supreme court turned down an extradition request from Moscow for him to face fraud charges. Gusinsky says the Russian charges are politically motivated. He has linked them to criticism of the Kremlin by his Media-MOST group. While he has been fighting extradition in Spain, Media-MOST has been largely dismantled, with Russia's state-controlled Gazprom seizing control of the NTV television station.

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The Stones Cry Out
by Randall Price
This survey of archaeological discoveries in Bible lands includes testimonies and interviews from leading archaeologists and exciting pictures featuring the latest finds made in the lands of the Bible.