Volume 3 * Issue 108 June 4, 2004

The Week’s News in Review

May 28: Police uncovered overnight Thursday two more fake ambulances used as a cover to smuggle Palestinian Authority officers disguised as patients into Israel. June 1: Two kassam missiles were fired at Sderot in the western Negev. As Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reiterated on Monday his support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom announced he would be traveling to Cairo next week to discuss the convening of a bilateral committee aimed at improving relations between Israel and Egypt. Minister of Justice Yosef Lapid and Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu were to hold a meeting today to discuss a compromise proposal under which Netanyahu would support the Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's revised disengagement plan June 2: Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to get Israeli Cabinet approval for his Gaza withdrawal plan. Israeli forces killed two Hamas gunmen on Israel's boundary with the Gaza Strip. Israel's military border policemen are undergoing sensitivity training after 12 members were arrested for abusing Palestinians. Saudi Arabia is consolidating its international charities into a government-supervised commission to cut links to terrorism. A trial resumed Wednesday in Mombasa of four Kenyans accused of the November 2002 terrorist attacks on Israeli targets.

The "Sharon Plan" for Peace

After years of stalemate and bloodshed, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed a bold plan to insure greater peace and security for Israel, to improve the lives of Palestinians, and to make possible the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. As President Bush said on April 14, 2004, the plan is "historic and courageous." Sharon has called for a withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlements from the Gaza Strip and the eventual dismantlement of virtually all settlements in Judea and Samaria. According to the plan, Israel will complete its security fence along a route that closely approximates the "Green Line," and minimizes any disruption to the Palestinians, and then withdraw its forces behind the barrier and dismantle most of the settlements on the other side. It is hoped that after Israel’s disengagement, the Palestinians will realize that terrorism has failed and enter negotiations over where the final borders of Israel and a Palestinian state will be. Even if their leaders fail to react positively, the Palestinian people will still see a great improvement in their lives as the military redeploys and most Jews move inside the borders of the State of Israel. For Israel, the plan involves grave risks. By withdrawing without an agreement, it is possible that Palestinian extremists will claim that terrorism has achieved its goal of driving out the Jews. Hamas already is making such declarations. Palestinians may be led to believe that continued violence will lead to further withdrawals and that will provoke greater terror. By withdrawing its forces, Israel is sacrificing some of its capability to deter terror, but it would be a mistake for Palestinians to believe that terror has achieved its goals. Israel is actually withdrawing from a point of strength — it controls the territories and is not being forced out — and establishing clear lines from which it will not be pushed. Moreover, as President Bush also acknowledged, Israel will retain its right to self-defense should Yasser Arafat continue to wage war. Sharon chose to act decisively after it became clear that Palestinian leaders were unable and unwilling to negotiate a peace agreement that recognized the right of Israel to exist even beside a Palestinian state. Source: Myths & Facts Online -- A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, http://www.JewishVirtualLibrary.org. 

Advocacy for Israel Committee Information

The Advocacy for Israel Committee was formed in September of 2001 to organize pro-Israeli activities and to rally support in the form of Hasbara. The next A Team meeting is Sunday June 20th in the CBI Library at 9:45. Make a difference for Israel! Questions? Ideas? Contact A Team Chairmen Jay Epstein (jhe@tampabay.rr.com) or Sheldon Scheinert (Sheldo123@aol.com). Get involved!

Speaking out for Israel so that "Never Again" shall Jewish silence lead to an indifferent world