Settlers to move West Bank outpost
The Yesha settler council decided Aug. 11 to move Migron, the biggest outpost erected in the West Bank, without Israeli government approval.
The settlers will move to an undetermined location.
The move follows months of wrangling between Yesha and Israel’s Defense Ministry and High Court of Justice over the fate of Migron as well as other outposts.
Under the U.S.-sponsored peace plan with the Palestinians, Israel is obligated to remove all West Bank settler outposts.
Peace Now decried the Yesha decision as a “time-buying” ruse, as it could take many months to find a new location for Migron’s 45 families. — jta
Palestinians might push for one nation
Ahmed Qureia, a top negotiator for the Palestinians, said in a statement published by the Palestinian Press Agency that the Palestinians might push for a binational state if Israel continues to reject demands to accede more land to them.
The former Palestinian Authority prime minister told members of the Fatah Party in a meeting Aug. 10 in Ramallah that negotiations for a two-state solution could only advance if Israel reverted to its 1967 borders.
Qureia reportedly told Fatah members that he felt the negotiations had reached a deadlock. — jta
Cabinet minister’s kin mauled by elephant
The granddaughter of an Israeli Cabinet minister was trampled by an elephant during a zoo break-in.
National Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer revealed last week that his 17-year-old granddaughter was among three youths suspected of sneaking into the Ramat Gan Safari Park as a prank.
“They say the elephant’s name is Sweetie,” the portly Ben-Eliezer told Israel’s Army Radio. “He really is a sweetie for leaving her alive.” — jta
Israir to get rid of New York route
Israir announced last week that it will cancel its Tel Aviv–New York route, effective Sept. 13.
The company reported that it would arrange alternative flights for customers who have already purchased plane tickets to New York after that date.
According to the company’s statement, flying to New York became unprofitable for Israir following the frequent increase in jet-fuel prices and the low rate of the American dollar. The company said it would consider renewing its flights to New York again in summer 2009. — jpost.com
Report: Shin Bet pressures patients
Israel’s security service pressures Palestinians seeking medical care outside the Gaza Strip to work as spies, according to a new report from Physicians for Human Rights-Israel.
The report, released last week, alleges that as part of its decision-making process in granting exit permits the Shin Bet interrogates Palestinian patients with referrals for medical treatment outside of Gaza.
According to the report, the security authorities attempt to convince the patients to inform Israel about Hamas activities in return for the exit permit, a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the United Nations Convention Against Torture. — jta
Israeli-Palestinian station off the air
A West Bank radio station that sought to bring Israelis and Palestinians together to the tune of pop music went off the air last week because of a funding shortage.
RAM-FM had been broadcasting English-language talk shows and artists such as Michael Bolton and Air Supply from a studio in Ramallah since last year.
Owned by South African Jewish businessman Issy Kirsh, RAM-FM was modeled after a South African station that provided a venue for reconciliation after apartheid. It attracted fans in both Israel and the Palestinian territories. — ap
Palestinians wage facial-hair war
Hamas has resumed its policy of shaving off the mustaches of political opponents in order to humiliate them, Fatah officials said.
Hamas, for its part, accused the Palestinian Authority security forces of shaving off the beards of detained Hamas officials in the West Bank.
The latest victim of the mustache-shaving policy is Nafez al Namnam, a top Fatah operative in the Gaza Strip who wore an unusually large mustache for more than 30 years. He and his son Rami were arrested by Hamas police shortly after the explosion that killed five Hamas men on a beach in Gaza City last month. — jpost.com
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California