Reported from Jerusalem
1. AL-AQ’SA ATTACK AT EREZ CROSSING KILLS ISRAELI… The main crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip was again the scene of a terrorist attack when two gunmen opened fire Thursday morning, killing one Israeli. In January, a female suicide bomber feigned illness and exploded her charge in the terminal, killing three soldiers and a security guard. The gunmen in this morning’s attack were killed by Israeli soldiers in an exchange of fire. The Erez crossing point was then closed, thus preventing thousands of Palestinians from crossing into Israel to earn their livelihoods.
2. U.S. CRITICAL OF ISRAEL’S RAMALLAH BANK RAID… The United States is concerned that Israel’s seizure of $8.28 million in cash from four banks in Ramallah yesterday could “risk destabilizing the Palestinian banking system.” State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher said that the American administration would “prefer to see Israeli coordination with the Palestinian financial authorities in order to stem the flow of funds to terrorist groups.” Israeli sources claimed that the money was sent by Iran, Syria and the Hizbullah terrorist organization to fund Palestinian terrorists. Yassir Arafat threatened retaliation for the raid. Israeli forces were confronted by crowds throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, but Israeli security officials denied Palestinian charges that the army responded with live ammunition. The Israelis reportedly captured computer experts who work at the banks and used them to locate specific accounts. The cash taken from the vaults corresponded to the amounts listed in the targeted accounts.
3. PREPARATIONS FOR SHARON/QUREI’ SUMMIT BACK ON TRACK… Although Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon cut off preparations for a meeting between himself and Ahmad Qurei’ with a flourish of harsh criticism following Sunday’s bus bombing in Jerusalem that killed eight and injured 60, both men’s offices have resumed talks aimed at working out details of the proposed summit. Still not able to agree on either an agenda or a date, the leaders’ seconds will meet again in two weeks. The goal is for Sharon and Qurei’ to have met by the time Sharon leaves for Washington, presumably by the end of March.
4. ISRAEL RECEIVES CAUTIOUS GREEN LIGHTS FROM U.S., EGYPT… Israel has received two cautious green lights from two important nations to two aspects of its withdrawal plan. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell gave his approval for Ariel Sharon’s decision to dismantle an 8-kilometer (5-mile) section of the controversial security fence. The SecState told the new U.S.-funded Arabic Al-Hurra TV that, “perhaps that will help the situation a little.” Although seen as a concession to world pressure, the Sharon Administration’s official position is that the fence was erected to offset a specific security concern that no longer exists. Meanwhile in Cairo, Egyptian officials told the visiting head of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Shin Bet, that it does not object to its proposed unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as long as it is coordinated with Egypt and the Palestinians.
5. ISRAELIS OUTRAGED OVER PLAN TO GIVE IMMUNITY TO POSSIBLE TRAITOR… The shock over the revelation that the man for whom Ariel Sharon gave away the farm in order to bring home from captivity might have fabricated his own “abduction” while cooperating with the Hizbullah terrorist organization is giving way to the even more startling revelation that the government is willing to give the uncooperative and unrepentant Elhanan Tennenbaum immunity from prosecution if he talks. One on-line newspaper poll shows 95% of its readership opposing the deal. According to terms of the arrangement that Tennenbaum’s attorneys have been negotiating with government prosecutors, he will appear in court on Thursday and explain why and how he went to Lebanon, and what information he revealed to the Hizbullah terrorists while there. He will also admit to entering an enemy nation and to using a forged passport. In return for all of this information that he has until now refused to divulge, Tennenbaum will be sentenced to the time he served “in captivity” even though it is believed that the ‘captivity’ might have been faked. Members of the nation’s three largest political parties have condemned the deal and some politicians threaten to ask the High Court of Justice to stop it.
6. HEAD OF ISRAELI RELIGIOUS PARTY WANTS “PASSION” BANNED… The head of Israel’s Shas party – an ultra-religious group led by the religious dictates of Rabbi Ovadya Yosef – has called for a ban on the Mel Gibson film, “The Passion of the Christ,” which opened around the world yesterday. Eli Yishai earned the ridicule of many when he also suggested that American Jewish leaders should boycott all of Gibson’s movies and that the film’s makers should be put on trial. Yishai did not say what the charges should be. Although he had not actually seen the film, the head of the American-based Anti-Defamation League launched a furious campaign against the movie a number of months ago, in which he aroused fears by predicting an increase of anti-Semitism because of “The Passion.” Since its worldwide release, there appears to be little support for those predictions. An ABCNEWS Primetime poll indicated that while six in ten Americans take the accounts of Biblical stories literally, “fewer than one in ten Americans say all Jews today are responsible for the death of Jesus.”