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The Media Line Daily News Focus

1. ISRAEL EXPECTED TO BACK OFF THREAT TO PROHIBIT JERUSALEM BALLOTING IN PALESTINIAN ELECTION… Indications are that Israel will reverse itself on the threat to prohibit Palestinians from voting in east Jerusalem during the upcoming Palestinian legislative elections. Under intense American pressure, the new position of the Sharon government appears to be that it will not allow Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas to use Israel as the excuse to postpone the balloting. Several Palestinian leaders had threatened to delay the election altogether if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon followed through with his threat to ban east Jerusalem voting. In previous elections, Israel allowed Palestinians living in the capital to cast their ballots at post offices.

2. ISRAEL TO ESTABLISH ‘NO-GO’ ZONE IN NORTH GAZA STRIP… In an effort to move Palestinian Qassam rockets out of range of Israeli targets, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has ordered his army to establish a ‘no-go’ zone in the northern Gaza Strip into which Palestinians would not be allowed to enter. Palestinians have moved into positions abandoned by Israel in the course of its unilateral withdrawal from Gaza last fall. From those locations, Qassam rockets have landed on the outskirts of Ashqelon, an Israeli city on the Mediterranean coast. Major infrastructure has also come within the crosshairs. The homemade weapon has a range of only about five miles and lacks accuracy. But the Palestinians were quick to reject Sharon’s edict. A Palestinian spokesman said that the Palestinian Authority “would not yield to Israeli dictates.”

3. QUREI’ RESCINDS RESIGNATION AS P.A. PRIME MINISTER… Ahmad Qurei’ will remain in place as prime minister in the Palestinian Authority. Prohibited by law from holding the post and running for a seat in the Palestinian Legislative Council, Qurei’ had resigned from the prime ministry in order to compete in the upcoming Palestinian legislative election. But when a deal was cut for two Fatah party lists to merge, the conditions agreed to precluded Qurei’ from seeking a seat on the national list. Accordingly, he decided to withdraw his candidacy and return to his position as prime minister.

4. ISRAELI OFFICIAL TO EUROPEAN NEWS AGENCY: P.A. MIGHT COLLAPSE… A senior Israeli official told the French news agency AFP that Israel is prepared for the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. The unnamed official said, “We are prepared for a possible collapse in the Palestinian Authority that could risk seeing Mahmoud ‘Abbas unable to impose law and order on the ground as well as within his own Fatah party.” The report alleges that the Israeli government estimate is that ‘Abbas “is so weak in relation to Hamas that he is unable to implement the smallest decision.”

5. LIBYAN COURT OVERTURNS DEATH SENTENCES IN AIDS-INFLICTING CASE… The death sentences of a Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses convicted of injecting Libyan children with the AIDS virus have been overturned by the Supreme Court. Observers believe that the court action was prompted by dictator Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi’s desire to remove a sore point in his effort to be rehabilitated in the eyes of Western nations. The six will receive new trials because of what the Supreme Court called “irregularities.” The United States and the European Union had condemned the sentences, suggesting that the AIDS infections were the result of poor hygiene in Libyan hospitals. The court action also came only three days after an agreement was reached by the U.S., Europe and Libya to establish a fund for 426 children infected by AIDS in the 1990s.