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BICOM Daily Briefing December 29 2003
Last updated: 2003-12-29

The decision by the
In the Israeli press, Haaretz leads with the National Religious Partys decision to support Prime Minister Ariel
PM
Ariel
Ariel
Palestinians apologise for claims of UK support for Arafat
Spokeswoman for Tony Blair (28/12): We are not aware of such a message being sent, so I'm not sure what they're reporting, to be honest. The prime minister doesn't usually send out messages at this time of the year. It is not something that we do. I'm afraid we're not aware of any specific message being sent. (The
WAFA Palestinian News Agency (28/12) Before we say anything, we wish to apologize for making a mistake by reporting that Mr. Blair had sent a cable of greetings to President Arafat in which he expresses his hope that the Palestinian people would realize their hopes of establishing an independent Palestinian state. (BBC Monitoring)
New Bishop of
Right Reverend Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham (29/12): I'm not anti-Israel but when I see what's been done to the Palestinians over the past 50 years, I say, 'Well I'm sorry, but if you put people behind barbed wire, keep them caged, take their land despite international resolutions, and bulldoze their homes, you are asking for trouble'. This is not in any way to excuse or exonerate the horror and enormity of suicide bombing. It is just to say that if you squeeze people that tight sooner or later they'll do drastic things. There must be better ways to achieve peace than the road taken by the government of Ariel
Behind the News:
Government orders dismantling of outpost settlements
Prime Minister Ariel
Over the weekend, Prime Minister
The Central Command has yet to begin its operational preparations for the evacuation, as Mofaz and
UK-Palestinian diplomatic incident over Blairs support for Arafat
The official Palestinian News Agency, WAFA, apologised yesterday for a report it issued saying that
The claim was quickly met with a stringent
Comment and Opinion:
Daily Telegraph (29/12) The one nation that has made extensive use of air marshals since the 1970s is
Yehosua Amishav (Haaretz, 29/12) As attorney Arno Klarsfeld wrote (Jerusalem Post, December 12) - the moment is fast approaching when the Jews will have to leave
That is the essence of the new anti-Semitism. No French scientist has ever been required, even at the height of the Algerian war, to issue a condemnation of his government's policy to be accepted among his colleagues. No
The chair of Amnesty-Israel, Miriam Shlesinger, was expelled from the editorial board of a British linguistics periodical; they wanted to take away the Nobel Peace Prize from Shimon Peres. From here it's a short distance to signaling the Jews: Keep your distance from
These signals come from the heart of the Western European cultural world, from circles that are in no need of any lectures about the Holocaust. These people, the educators of the next generation and the symbols with which the young people identify, are now the greatest threat to the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of Jews in
Headlines:
- Fears mar case for guards in the sky (The Guardian);
- British airlines to get armed sky marshals (The Times);
- Old differences are set aside as America joins aid effort (The Times);
- Gun guards on British flights to US (The Daily Telegraph);
- Thousands of former police and FBI agents hired in US (The Daily Telegraph);
- US relations with Tehran begin to thaw in the aftermath of disaster (The Independent);
- Tom Wright: It's not a question of left and right, says the combative priest who opposes the war in Iraq and gay bishops (The Independent);
- Shooting of Israeli protester sparks furore (The Financial Times);
- EU to present Tehran with tougher policy on weapons (The Financial Times);
- Armed police to patrol British aircraft (The Scotsman);
- Passengers should feel safer with air marshalls (The Scotsman);
- If peace fails Israel will take land, says Sharon (The Scotsman);
- Air police call the shots (The Herald);
- Israel orders outpost evacuation (BBC Online, 28/12);
- Israelis, Palestinians no longer poles apart in joint Antarctic trek (BBC Online, 28/12);
- NRP: We will support removal of four illegal West Bank outposts (Haaretz);
- PM, Mofaz order four outposts dismantled (Haaretz);
- PM: Syria talks must start from scratch (Haaretz);
- Let's assume Assad is serious (Haaretz);
- Sharon criticizes use of live ammo against Israeli protesters (Haaretz);
- Sharon appoints unilateral disengagement plan committee (Jerusalem Post);
- Four outposts to be removed (Jerusalem Post);
- UK to deploy armed sky marshals (Jerusalem Post);
- PA invites Maher to Ramallah (Jerusalem Post);
- Sharon wary of Syrian overtures (Jerusalem Post);
- IDF: Gaddafi's plan to disarm sincere (Jerusalem Post)
Israel Briefing supplied by BICOM