1. MOMENTOUS SUNDAY: KNESSET APPROVAL OF PULLOUT PLAN; EVACUATION ORDERS TO BE SIGNED; NEW FENCE ROUTE TO BE OKAYED… If all goes as planned, Sunday will stand as one of modern Israel’s most momentous days. Seventeen of twenty-two cabinet ministers are expected to vote in favor of the unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and from four communities in Samaria. Following the vote, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will sign the evacuation orders requiring that the communities affected be abandoned in five months’ time. The cabinet is also expected to approve the latest revisions to the route of the security fence. The revised course will hug the Green Line – the border between pre- and post-1967 land, with the exception of the group of communities south of Jerusalem known as the Etzion bloc. There, some 10,000 Palestinians will find themselves on the Israeli side of the boundary. The evacuation itself will commence on July 20 and take six weeks to complete. The last Israeli presence in Gaza, however, might remain until the end of the year. Although Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu supported the pullout in four previous votes in which every vote counted, he has reportedly opted to make a token display of dissent in Sunday’s lopsided vote.
2. ISRAELI, PALESTINIAN SECURITY TALKS, MEASURES CONTINUE ON SUNDAY… Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz will meet on Sunday with Palestinian security chief Muhammad Dahlan to continue discussions surrounding the transfer of security control of Palestinian towns to the Palestinian Authority. Israel wanted to turn over Jericho first, but a number of disagreements have stalled that track. Dahlan will propose making Tul Karem the first town to revert to P.A. control. Israel will also release another five hundred Palestinian prisoners from its jails on Sunday. On Friday, Dahlan issued what amounts to a threat of violence if Israel retains control of the Philadelphi Route in the Gaza Strip. He told Israel Radio that unless Israel withdraws from the area, noted for the presence of tunnels through which arms and terrorists have been smuggled from Egypt to the Palestinian Authority, it will become another “Shib’a farms.” The reference is to the border area between Israel and Lebanon which is the focus of attacks by the Hizbullah terrorist organization. Vice Premier Shimon Peres said on Friday that his government has agreed in principle to evacuate the Philadelphi Route, but did not commit to a timetable. Also on Sunday, the primary negotiation teams for Israel and the P.A. will meet.
3. ISRAEL BOWS TO RUSSIA: WILL SUSPEND ARMS DELIVERIES TO GEORGIA… Israeli arms manufacturers are calling the government’s capitulation to Russian pressure to halt arms shipments to Georgia “shameful.” The Israelis are livid that their government is accepting Russia’s argument that arms sold to Georgia could end up in the hands of Chechan terrorists when Russia rejected the exact same reasoning when Israel asked that Russia not sell ground-to-air missiles to Syria. Israel has earned tens of millions of dollars selling arms to Georgia and upgrading its fleet of fighter jets over the past two years alone.
4. ISRAEL LOOKING AT ARAB BUY-OUT OF EVACUATED GAZA HOMES… What will become of homes evacuated by Israeli families in the course of the pullout from the Gaza Strip has long been a topic of concern to Israelis. Last June, the Sharon government announced that the houses would be destroyed and only communal infrastructure would remain. But Vice Premier Shimon Peres said after meeting with a real estate mogul from the United Arab Emirates that, “Israel wants to preserve in their entirety the (settlement) infrastructure and is looking for a solution for (individual) houses.” One solution being discussed is a mass purchase of abandoned homes by UAE billionaire Muhammad Al-‘Abar, who in addition to his private business concerns heads the Dubai government’s Department of Economic Development. A spokesman for Prime Minister Sharon’s office denied there has been any change from the June announcement.
5. JORDAN RETURNS AMBASSADOR TO ISRAEL… Ma’rouf Al-Bakhit will become the first Jordanian ambassador to serve in Israel since the outbreak of Palestinian violence four years ago when he arrives to assume his duties on Sunday. Jordan’s Foreign Minister said that his nation hopes that the return of an ambassador will “improve ties as well as advance the peace process.” Egypt has also announced that it will return its ambassador to Israel.
6. ISRAEL WILL NOT DESTROY TERRORISTS’ HOMES… Israel will no longer destroy the homes of terrorists. Israeli officials said the revision in the long-standing policy was a decision of Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and army chief-of-staff Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya’alon. It came in part as an incentive for the Palestinian Authority to assume control of security issues and in part as the result of an army study which concluded that the policy has not been effective in deterring suicide bombings.
7. ISRAEL WILL TELL NEW ZEALAND IT’S SORRY… Israel’s diplomatic tiff with New Zealand will come to an end when Israel finally apologizes for a spy-scandal in which two Israeli agents of the Mossad spy agency tried to illegally obtain a New Zealand passport under the name of a man ill with cerebral palsy. The two agents were jailed for three months and then expelled from New Zealand. During that time, Israel President Moshe Katsav sought to visit, but was told to stay home. Only two weeks ago New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark had reiterated that Katsav is still unwelcome. Her government has apparently received a proposed draft of an apology since that time.
8. ISRAEL’S BOBSLED TEAM BOMBS IN CANADA… If Jamaica can do it, why not Israel? Three American Jews who hold Israeli citizenship have launched a bobsled team for international competition. Midpoint in the 2005 Bobsled World Championships at Calgary, Canada, “Israel One” — as the team is known — held 35th place out of 39 teams.