Israel News

As American, Israeli and Palestinian leaders converge in New York for the UN’s opening Millennium summit, there are no signs of an imminent breakthrough to the negotiating impasse over Jerusalem, only hardening Arab positions and gloomy forecasts of failed diplomacy.

An Israeli army officer was killed by a Palestinian gunman today on the “Tunnel Road” at the southern entrance to Jerusalem, jeopardizing a fragile cease-fire that went into effect yesterday afternoon. Security sources believe the officer was deliberately targeted in a Palestinian hit.

Hatred of Israel is an ideal in the Palestinian Authority official press. Following are quotes from an article which appeared in the official Palestinian daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida.

Israeli troops killed two Palestinian terrorists today on the Gaza border as they tried to plant a bomb. The Israeli army said the two men were seen planting a bomb on the edge of Bureij refugee camp, close to the Israeli border, when troops opened fire.

If any of the victims in the recent Palestinian/Israeli fighting deserved especially sympathetic media coverage, surely it would be 10-month-old Shalhevet Pas, shot dead in her baby carriage on March 26 by a Palestinian sniper, while her father, who was wounded in the attack, and her mother, watched in horror.

Five paramilitary Palestinian policemen were killed overnight in an apparent ambush by Israeli troops in the town of Betunia, near Palestinian-ruled Ramallah.

Early Wednesday morning, the badly mutilated bodies of two Israeli teenagers, both 14 and residents of Tekoa, in the Gush Etzion bloc south of Jerusalem, were found in a cave along a dry stream bed near the Judean Desert community.

As part of a renewed campaign to exert international pressure on Hizb’Allah to release information on Israeli MIAs held in Lebanon, family members of the hostages met in New York with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Tuesday.

Despite talk of a pending ceasefire, intense violence continues today in the troubled Promised Land. Another mortar attack took place late this morning in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will soon be heading to Washington to discuss Israel’s response to an Egyptian-Jordanian ceasefire proposal, designed to lead to a resumption of political negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel.

Today, 25th April 2001, at 11AM the sirens sounded throughout Israel and every Israeli stood for 2 minutes of silence remembering all the soldiers who have died in the wars which the Arabs have conducted against Israel.

In the wake of yet another car bomb attack in the Israeli town of Or Yehuda on April 23, senior police officials declared it was nothing short of a miracle that only 8 people were lightly injured. T

On April 6th, a picture of a Palestinian boy was widely circulated by the Palestinian Authority “showing” this boy being taken from a riot scene by Israeli soldiers. It was quite a visual picture that played into the image the Palestinians are trying to create: defenseless Palestinians harassed by hardened Israeli soldiers.

The widely divergent approaches of American and European leaders to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been on display in recent days, with a visiting US Congressman blaming PLO chief Yasser Arafat for on-going violence, while a Belgian diplomat has come down hard on Israel.

Iran is planning to host a two-day international conference this week called to build support for the Palestinian intifada, and PLO chief Yasser Arafat could be the guest of honor.

A roadside bomb exploded this morning on the Trans-Samaria highway close to the Jewish town of Ariel. A reinforced military bus, carrying soldiers to bases in the area, was the apparent target of the attack. No one was injured when the bomb blew up as the bus passed by.

Israeli officials say they are hopeful that mortar attacks upon Israeli civilian centers will subside after Yasser Arafat announced yesterday that Palestinians carrying out such assaults would be punished.

Israelis stood in silence for two minutes this morning as sirens wailed throughout the Jewish State in memory of the five million Jewish adults and one million children slaughtered in the Nazi holocaust of World War Two.

Palestinians fired additional mortar shells this morning at an Israeli civilian settlement and army positions in the Gaza Strip, just hours after Israeli forces began pulling out of a small portion of Palestinian-controlled land in the northeast portion of the strip.

The violent crisis that has rocked the Lord’s land since the Jewish year 5,761 began last September 28 deepened significantly last evening.