Reported from Jerusalem
1. ISRAELI DEFENSE MINISTER TO EASE RESTRICTIONS; INTEL SAYS IT’S A MISTAKE… Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz intends to ease restrictions presently in force in several areas of Palestinian territory. The Shin Bet intelligence service opposes the move. Mofaz is expected to take a middle ground between the military and intelligence recommendations, including allowing several thousand Palestinian workers into Israel, renewing some activities in the industrial areas between Israel and the PA, and allowing a less impeded flow of goods across the Green Line. The Shin Bet continues to warn that terror organizations are regrouping and planning new attacks both inside of Israel and in the post-1967 territories. Security will remain at a high level through tomorrow, when Israelis go to the polls in municipal elections. Last year’s general election was marred by a terror attack on a party office in Beit Shean, south of Tiberias.
2. ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER CHARGES FRANCE AND BELGIUM FUNDING OPPOSITION PEACE PLAN…. Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom told the cabinet on Sunday that the governments of France and Belgium are providing Yossi Beilin with at least $7 million with which to publicize the opposition’s peace plan, known as the Geneva Initiative. A spokesman for the former minister denied the allegation. The plan, which was unveiled two weeks ago, was drafted by Beilin and former Palestinian Authority cabinet minister Yassir ‘Abd Rabboh. It revives the concept of massive concessions that most Israelis believed were no longer on the table, including the division of Jerusalem. Government ministers have angrily denounced the plan for its content and for its supporters pursuing a separate and unauthorized foreign policy behind the backs of the elected government. The Sharon administration has reversed its position and will lodge a formal diplomatic protest with Switzerland for violating diplomatic protocol by funding and sponsoring the effort. Sharon originally felt a formal protest would give the initiative more credibility than it deserves, prompting some to view his change of heart as a sign of the significance of the renegade effort.
3. DEFENSE MINISTRY GRANTS STATUS TO ILLEGAL OUTPOSTS… The Israeli Defense Ministry has inevitably triggered an outpouring of both domestic and international criticism by granting ‘permanent township’ status to a number of illegal outposts. Although the move enables the government to provide the nascent communities with educational and security services, along with infrastructure, without guaranteeing their permanence, opposition to their existence in the international community and among Israel’s political left wing in the domestic sector is fierce. The United States has repeatedly pressured Prime Minister Sharon to remove all such outposts.
4. MASSIVE CAR BOMB EXPLODES IN BAGHDAD… One day after six missiles hit the Baghdad hotel that houses American personnel, a massive car bomb was reported to have exploded near the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. A second blast was reported shortly after the first. On Sunday, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz escaped the attack on the Rashid Hotel in the Iraqi capital in which an American colonel was killed.
5. COALITION PARTY DEMANDS EVACUATION OF ISRAELI COMMUNITY IN GAZA… The second largest party in Ariel Sharon’s coalition is at odds with the prime minister over the future of the Netzarim community, located in the Gaza Strip. Shinui cabinet ministers insist that Netzarim and its sixty families are not worth the massive security provisions required to protect it. Over the weekend, Palestinian gunmen infiltrated the enclave and killed three soldiers as they slept – two of them women. Sharon subscribes to the position that says the Israeli presence in Gaza is a valid security provision and that to evacuate would show weakness, thus stimulating even more violence.
6. PALESTINIANS SLAM SHARON’S JORDAN VALLEY PLAN… The Palestinian Authority is livid at Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s intent to create a buffer zone by extending the route of the controversial security buffer into the Jordan Valley. Sharon said on Friday that plans to do so are being drawn up and will be presented to his cabinet when complete. An adviser to Yassir Arafat called the move “the final blow to the roadmap” and “total war against the Palestinian people.”
7. ISRAELI ATTORNEY GENERAL: OK TO QUESTION SHARON IN TWO SCANDALS… Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will be questioned by police concerning two separate scandals involving himself and his sons. The interrogation was ordered by Attorney General Eliyakim Rubinstein on Sunday and is expected to take place on Wednesday. One scandal involves allegations that a wealthy developer bribed Sharon – who was the foreign minister and a Member of Knesset at the time – and then-Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert for assistance in furthering plans for a Greek resort. The second investigation involves the alleged use of an improper loan to make restitution for illegal campaign contributions.