-Caveat Lector- TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LAND Israel makes goodwill gestures to Palestinians Conciliatory moves timed to coincide with Islamic holy month Ramadan ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- By Jon E. Dougherty © 2000 WorldNetDaily.com In an effort to break the ongoing cycle of violence in the Middle East, Israel has made a number of conciliatory gestures to the Palestinian Authority designed to demonstrate the Jewish state's goodwill during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Prompted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak yesterday notified United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan by letter that the "confidence-building measures" would be aimed at reducing tensions and fostering new peace talks with the Palestinians. Specifically, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told Annan that the Jewish state would permit a "limited number" of Palestinians into the Temple Mount during Ramadan, and that Israel would eliminate barriers to the transfer of goods from Israel to the Palestinian Authority at the Karni crossing in the Gaza Strip. Also, Ben-Ami told the U.N. general-secretary that Israel was hopeful of renewing talks with Palestinian officials. During Ramadan, which lasts 28 days, observant Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex between sunrise and sunset to spiritually renew themselves. Observance of the month commemorates the time when the Muslim holy book, the Koran, was revealed to the prophet Mohammed about 1,400 years ago. In an effort to implement the new gestures, Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh visited the Karni crossing yesterday to investigate Palestinian complaints that the Jewish state was preventing food and medicine from reaching Palestinian-controlled communities. Fuel deliveries were restored last week, Israeli officials said. The new diplomatic initiative comes amid some of the worst violence between Israeli forces and militant factions of the Palestinian Authority. On Sunday, Israel Defense Force soldiers killed five Palestinian gunmen who the army said had fired on a car near Alfei Menashe. Earlier, Israel Radio said only four had been killed but later updated that figure to five. Reports said IDF soldiers killed the gunmen when they left Palestinian-controlled territory near Qalqilyah. Israeli officials said the Palestinians killed had been involved in shooting attacks against Israeli forces and Jewish citizens "many times" in the past. Also, there are growing signs that other Arab nations are becoming frustrated with Israel and the U.S., which has supported Israel in its opposition to an independent Palestinian state without a negotiated settlement beforehand. In Egypt, for example, Muslim clerics have denounced U.S. and Israeli imports, forbidding followers from buying them because of the ongoing violence and Washington's unwillingness to force Israel to curb retaliatory attacks. Egypt's primary Muslim cleric, Grand Mufti Nasr Farid Wasel, told the Al-Arabi newspaper that importers of Israeli and U.S. products are committing "a great sin" and that "all imported Israeli and U.S. goods are haram," or religiously forbidden. Diplomatic sources on both sides welcome the Israeli initiative, but violence nonetheless continued throughout the day yesterday. Palestinian sources reported, however, that because of talks between senior Israeli and Palestinian commanders, those incidents were reduced significantly. Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Eitan, head of Israeli's Central Military Command, met on Sunday with Haj Ismail, the commander of the Palestinian security forces in the West Bank, to discuss ways to reduce violence and ease the tension between Jews and Palestinians. So far, over 280 people have been killed in the fighting since it began Sept. 28, most of them Palestinian. Palestinian officials said the meeting between Eitan and Ismail was a continuation of talks held on Saturday between Minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. Reports from the region said Ismail told Eitan that Israel was most responsible for ending the violence because the Jewish state had the decisive military advantage. And, sources said, the Palestinian negotiator asked the Israeli commander for three things: to order IDF soldiers not to shoot to kill, to lift all the restrictions imposed on the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and not to respond to isolated Palestinian gunfire with heavy counter-fire. Over the weekend, in response to gunfire, IDF commanders ordered Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers into West Bank and Gaza regions and also to the Lebanese border, where IDF forces came under attack by suspected Hezbollah guerrilla factions operating in southern Lebanon. Israel also sent warplanes into Lebanon on Saturday to strike suspected guerrilla targets. "If the IDF orders its soldiers not to shoot to kill, the tension will subside by itself because each funeral ignites the situation," one Palestinian source quoted Ismail as telling Eitan. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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