Reported from Jerusalem
1. GAZA FIREFIGHT ERUPTS AFTER MORTARS MISS WEDDING PARTY… Palestinian terrorists fired mortars at a wedding celebration taking place in the Gaza Strip Israeli community of Netzarim on Sunday. The rounds missed and there were no injuries. After Israeli troops opened fire at the source of the barrage, Palestinian sources said that there were three bodies in the area of the fighting, which the Israeli army located during a search of the area on Monday morning.
2. ISRAELI ARMY EASES RESTRICTIONS ON PALESTINIANS… The Israeli army announced a new series of what it called “easements of the humanitarian situation for the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip” on Sunday. The measures include allowing unlimited entry into Israel of workers who are older than 35 and who have families; entry for 4,000 merchants older than 28 who have families; and allowing trucks carrying 400 tons of wheat to transfer to the Gaza Strip wheat mill. The army did, however, caution that it will “continue its pinpoint fight against the Palestinian terror and its infrastructures.”
3. SHARON VS. POLITICAL RIGHT HEATS UP; DISMANTLING OF OUTPOSTS TO BEGIN… Responding to intense international pressure, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz moved the issue of dismantling illegal outposts in post-1967 territory to the “political track,” circumventing time-consuming legal appeals presently available to the residents of the communities. Recourse to the High Court of Justice remains an option for those affected by the dismantlement. Four outposts are slated for immediate demolition. The council representing residents of the area has urged its members to form a human wall to prevent the orders from being carried out. The first actual evacuation could take place this week.
4. INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE INTO SHOOTING OF DEMONSTRATORS… Investigations are continuing into Friday’s shooting of demonstrators protesting the construction of a controversial security buffer separating Israel from Palestinian areas. The Israeli police are conducting one investigation, the army two others. All want to know why soldiers used live ammunition to repel the crowd that was trying to bring down the fence. Two protesters were injured, one seriously. The officer in charge at the scene has said he believed that the demonstrators were a throng of Palestinians either trying to tear down the fence in order to enter Israel or creating a diversion for entry by others at another point. The army is under orders to shoot at potential infiltrators. Spokeswoman Gen. Ruth Yaron said that the army is also looking into why troops were not provided with riot gear, including rubber bullets and equipment to disperse crowds.
5. SHARON TELLS CABINET SYRIA TALKS WOULD START FROM SCRATCH… Shortly after the Prime Minister’s Office softened its typical rejection of overtures by Syria to resume talks, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told his cabinet that any talks with Bashar Al-Asad would “start from scratch.” The Syrian president has repeatedly said that his interest in resuming contact with Israel is predicated upon concessions previously on the table being the starting point. It is believed that before talks broke off in September 2000, former Prime Minister Ehud Barak had offered broad concessions to Al-Asad. In recent months, Sharon had dismissed out-of-hand several approaches by Al-Asad that were transmitted through third-party diplomats, claiming they were insincere or intended for ulterior motives. This time, Sharon toned down his rejection, his office saying that it is “engaged in a careful, serious review” of the remarks by Al-Asad and the messages he has sent through foreign intermediaries.
6. ISRAEL APPOINTS MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE TO RECOVER HOLOCAUST PROPERTY… Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Natan Sharansky has been appointed to head a ministerial committee to oversee the restoration of the rights and property of Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The cabinet expressed its concern that too many independent organizations have been involved until now and that it was the Israeli government that must rightfully take the lead in coordinating restoration efforts. The cabinet will also appoint a separate committee to coordinate efforts to restore property to Jews who fled from Arab countries.