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Friday December 21, 2007

Shorts: World

Olmert’s caveat on donations

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cautiously supported the international effort to bolster the Palestinian economy.

“We’ll do everything to help the development and strengthening of the Palestinian Authority infrastructure, but not at the price of giving up any vital security interests,” Olmert said.

The Palestinian Authority raised $7.4 billion this week at a Paris fundraiser. The money is earmarked for Mahmoud Abbas’ administration in the West Bank. — ap/jta

Evacuated Gazans still unsettled

A study commissioned by the Israeli government in the summer of 2005 found that 85 percent of the Gaza refugees have yet to be relocated to permanent housing.

The study, which was leaked this week to Israel Radio, also said that approximately one-third of the employable ex-Gazans are out of work and about one-quarter rely on state welfare.

The issue is especially sensitive for the administration of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, given its pledge to withdraw thousands of West Bank residents as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians. — jta

Hamas to Iran: More attacks?

Hamas has asked Iran to allow the organization to escalate its altercations with Israel, carry out more suicide attacks and — if need be — threaten kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit with execution, Kuwait’s al Jarida newspaper reported last week.

Al Jarida said Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal told the Iranians that Hamas wants to kidnap more Israeli soldiers in order to “stir Israeli public opinion, pressure Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and hinder the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.” — ynetnews.com

American donor to build town

Bob Stark, a Cleveland real estate mogul, wants to build a university town near Safed, including a medical school.

He’s heading an investor group that plans to invest $3 billion to $4 billion in the new town, according to Ha’aretz.

A donation of $500 million by Stark, chief executive officer of Stark Enterprises, and other benefactors he recruited will fund a new medical school that likely will be affiliated with Bar-Ilan University. — jta

Sderot mayor not quitting

Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal withdrew his resignation one day after he announced during a live radio interview that he was quitting in protest of the government’s failure to stop rocket attacks.

The decision was prompted by a special meeting between Moyal and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv.

“At a time like this, responsibility and commitment to Sderot’s residents take precedence over any other consideration,” Barak’s office quoted him telling Moyal. — jta

Woman strips at Western Wall

A woman was arrested after stripping off her clothes at the Western Wall.

Police said a woman in her 20s entered the men’s section of the Western Wall during evening and Chanukah prayers last week, took off her clothes and lay on the floor.

Worshipers could only look on since they were in the middle of the Shemoneh Esrei prayer, which is said standing still and cannot be interrupted. — jta

Israeli banks face terror charges

Two of Israel’s major banks are facing charges in federal court that they provided money to Hamas.

Bank Hapoalim and Israel Discount Bank are accused of violating American anti-terrorism finance laws by conducting transactions that benefited the terrorist organization, the Forward reported.

The Arab Bank of Jordan filed the charges in U.S. District Court in New York against the two Israeli banks, apparently because it was accused of similar charges dating back to 2004. — jta

Report: soldiers avoiding indictments

In the past seven years, the Israeli military has indicted just 10 percent of soldiers suspected of criminal offenses against Palestinians, an Israeli human rights group reported this week.

The Yesh Din group said just 9 percent of investigations led to convictions.

“The low number of investigations opened and the minute number of indictments served reveal the (military’s) de facto derogation of its duty to protect the civilian Palestinian population against offenses committed by its soldiers,” said Michael Sfard, Yesh Din’s legal counsel. — ap

Trial begins for Le Pen

France’s far-right leader went on trial last week for calling the Nazi occupation of his country “not especially inhumane.”

Jean-Marie Le Pen, 79, made the remarks in an interview with the far-right magazine Rivarol in 2005. The prosecutor is calling for Le Pen, the head of the National Front party, to pay a $14,500 fine and to receive a five-month suspended sentence.

Le Pen was convicted of racism and anti-Semitism in the past. In 1987 he reportedly described the Nazi gas chambers as a “detail of history.” — jta

Reform movement buys building

Moscow’s Reform community has purchased a building for the movement after more than a decade of searching. The building, which is still under construction, will house a synagogue as well as a religious school and youth center.

“Not only will this be the first time that we have a place in the heart of Russia that we can call home, but it will also be the first time we have adequate facilities to accommodate our programs, to extend the walls of our hall of prayer and to establish a functional and inviting administrative center,” said Rabbi Uri Regev, head of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. — jta

Rhetoric spurs Ukraine vandalism

A public menorah and a “Happy Chanukah” banner were vandalized in a Ukrainian city after politicians complained about the menorah.

The vandalism took place Dec. 8, three days after several local politicians in Cherkassy complained in a local newspaper about the placement of the menorah near a monument to a Ukrainian national hero.

Aleksandr Tuz, a member of President Victor Yuschenko’s Our Ukraine party, was quoted in the article as saying, “Jews are uninvited guests both in our city and in Ukraine, and ought to act in a way so that they are not seen or heard.” — jta

German Jews being lured?

Israel denied reports that it is secretly urging Jews from Germany make aliyah.

Yoram Ben-Zeev, Israel’s new ambassador to Berlin, at a news conference last week addressed German media reports that Nativ, an Israeli government agency, has been quietly encouraging Jews who came to Germany from the former Soviet Union to move to Israel.

“The main purpose of Nativ is to bring to those communities a sense of the Jewish culture, the Israeli culture and to help with education,” Ben-Zeev said. “The agenda is not to become movers of the communities to Israel.” — jta

Publisher gets jail for hate speech

A Moscow city court upheld a hate speech conviction against the editor of an anti-Semitic newspaper.

Alexander Aratov, editor-in-chief of the radically right-wing Russkaya Pravda, was sentenced to three years in prison for violating Russia’s anti-hate speech laws, the Interfax news agency reported.

Experts at the trial said articles written by Aratov “incited racially and religiously motivated hatred of Judaism and Christianity.” — jta

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