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The Media Line Daily News Focus

1. SIX ISRAELI CHILDREN WOUNDED IN MISSILE ATTACK; SIX TERRORISTS KILLED BY ISRAELI FORCES… Six Israeli children between the ages of 7 and 10 were wounded in a missile attack in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. All of the injuries were reported to be light except for one listed as “moderate to serious.” Palestinian terrorists fired an anti-tank missile at a community center in the Israeli Gaza community of Neveh Deqalim at about 7 p.m., while the children were participating in the formation of a human chain in protest of plans to evacuate Jewish residents from Gaza [see next item]. A short time later, Israeli forces ambushed eight members of Arafat’s Al-Aq’sa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza town of Tul Karem. Israeli sources said the band was en route to carrying out a terrorist attack. Six, including two brigade commanders, were killed in the operation. One of those killed was said to maintain contact with the Lebanon-based Hizbullah terrorist organization. Fatah leaders have threatened to retaliate “deep inside of Israeli territory.”

2. SHARON FACES DAY OF PROTEST FROM HIS OWN CONSTITUENTS… Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon suffered two dramatic protests against his policies by his own constituencies on Sunday. For two hours on Sunday afternoon, an estimated 130,000 – 200,000 Israelis joined together to form a human chain spanning 56 miles, from the Gush Katif bloc of communities in the Gaza Strip to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, to protest Sharon’s plan for a unilateral Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Later that evening, two cabinet ministers in Sharon’s government, including his foreign minister, hosted a mass rally of members of the prime minister’s own Likud party who oppose bringing the opposition Labor Party into the coalition government. The event, attended by at least 1,000 party members, was entitled, “No to a secular left government.” If Sharon, who now heads a minority government, is able to bring Labor into his government, it is virtually certain that Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom would be forced to give up his portfolio to Labor head Shimon Peres. In addition, many party members are angered over the possibility that the reworked coalition would be the first Israeli government to exclude participation of any religious party.

3. ISRAELI EVACUEES TO BE OFFERED FOUR COMPENSATION OPTIONS… Israelis who voluntarily evacuate their homes in the Gaza Strip or in four designated communities in Samaria, which is the northern end of the West Bank, will be given four options for compensation, according to a government committee charged with establishing the guidelines. Approximately 1,600 families are affected by the unilateral pullout. The general guidelines will include loss of home, loss of income (for salaried employees) and loss of business. The government is trying to convince entire communities to resettle together in designated areas within the pre-1967 borders.

4. KING OF BAHRAIN, MUBARAK MEET ON IRAQ, PALESTINIAN ISSUES… Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met on Sunday with the King of Bahrain and reviewed his plans for ensuring security in the Gaza Strip after the imminent Israeli pullout with the monarch. Talks between Mubarak and King Hamad were said to also include the situation in Iraq. Mubarak is being looked to by Western nations to keep the lid on a potentially chaotic situation created by the proposed unilateral withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.

5. SHARON LOYALIST CALLS FOR DETENTION OF ANYONE ‘THINKING ABOUT DANGEROUS ACTIVITY’… Israeli Tourism Minister Gidon Ezra, a former chief of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, told Israel Radio that the government should place under administrative detention “anyone thinking about dangerous activity in order to stop Prime Minister Sharon’s Gaza pullout plan.” The report was made available by IMRA news agency. Ezra included members of groups who advocate the right for Jews to pray on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount as those who should be arrested. On Sunday, Israeli Police disputed earlier warnings by Internal Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi that Jewish right-wing extremists plan an anti-Arab terror attack on the Temple Mount. Israel Radio reported that the police have “absolutely no such information.”