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44 Pages
Thursday, July 7, 1988     Tamuz 22, 5748
Second Class Mail Registration Number 1683 - Postage Paid at Toronto
Jewish tourists, who usually fill this plaza at the Western Wall, are staying away this year, Israel's 40th anniversary, because of the Palestinian uprising.
Unrest taking its
■■.    ■.By;..,. .;. MOURA WOLPERT
JERUSALEM-
At the Western Wall, a few elderly men are praying. On the women's side, about an equal number sit or stand facing the Wall. Behind them, the vast' plaza is empty.
In the heart of the restored Jewish Quarter, a handful of school children are scariipering home; a bearded old man watches over his small granddaughter; a few people, obviously local, are walk-^ ing purposefully.
Only a coiipie of camera-clicking Chinese girls,
several young Japanese and two or three strolling couples appear to be tourists.
"Look at that — empty!''laments the visitor from Britain as she surveys the small square. "This place should be teeming with Jewish tourists. It breaks your heart."
:V.--- --.By :.■....■^^,.■ DAVID LANDAU
JERUSALEM (JTA) -
Japanese Foreign "Minister Sosuke UnO's 1-day visit to Israel late last month was remarkable in several respects. But one aspect of the historic visit, reported only briefly by the
eace
news mediahere, is worthy of note and comment, for it may well be a harbinger of a new and different phase in the diplomacy surroundiiig the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
At a meeting with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, the Japanese foreign minister discussed the con-
JERUSALEM (JPFS) -The world's largest Star of Diavid, the showpieceof the Jewish Agency's exhibit at the 40th anniversary exhibition in Tel Aviv, will become a per manerit feature in Disneyland.
The $250,000 Magen David, Avhich measures 28 metres along each side, is made up of the flags of all
t Star of David
the countries that have Jewish communities. —-
Designed by Rafi Etgar, the star jwili become the ^ mainfixture of Israel's exhibit in the in'tei-national fair at Disneyland.
Another exhibit to be exported is an animated bust of , Ben-Gurlon, which will become part of London's Salute to Israel, planned for next Winter.
tetits of a document issued just a few days earlier by a rising star in the Palestine Liberation Organization, ■Bassam Abu Sharif (GJN June 30).
Uno's interlocutors told reporters after the meeting that the Japanese minister expressed keen interest in the documerit, which is entitled Prospects for a Palestinian-Israeli Set-; tlement. ,
It calls for direct talks between the government of Israel and the PLO, and envisions a 2-state solution with-strong international guarantees. '
At about the same time it was being aired with the Japanese statesman, PLO chief Yasser Arafat was quoted as saying that inthe wake of the Abu Sharif document, "the United.
The scene is much the same everywhere/In this, Israel's proud 40th an-hiversary year, Jewish tourists are noticeable by their absence. Buses still ply the popular tourist routes, but thiey are filled with non-Jewish Germans, Fiiins, Dutch, Australians — and Isradi Histadrut members on ^ cheap excursions.
At his home in Ein Ker-em, tour guide Walt Zanger, like/most Israelis, is understandably bitter.
"Unfortunately, the first people to cancel are North American Jews.
Yet there is nothing, he points out, "that happens between (Israeli) security forces and the Ai-abs that affects tourists.
Zanger, a former New Yorker and former Reform rabbi who served as a chaplain with the U.S. Air Force, has lived in Israel since 1966 with his : wifei Nina. Their two eldest children have completed their army service, the two younger ones are still in high school. Since 1974 he has been a tour guide and is known to Ndrth Americans from the former weekly TV show, Hello Jerusalem.'
As a tour guide, Zanger : tlnds it ' 'very distressing that the (tourist) industn^ is so fragile that my business depends on a 1 ^-year-old
Weapons top at U.S.-Israel meet
By
WOLF BLITZER
WASHINGTON -
The proliferation of ground-to-ground missiles and chemical weapons in the Middle East clearly overshadowed other subjects, including the Palestinian uprising, during Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin's talks in Washington last week, U.S. and Israeli officials .said.
President Ronald Reagan, with whom Rabin met, expressed his own concern "about ominous new military developments in the region," in particular "the proliferation of the missiles and chemical capabilities," according to a White House statement.
Reagan observeJ^that "such capabilities could change the military situa-tiofi, making any future war far more costly, difficult to control, and dangerous," the statement added.
Both Reagan and Vice-President George Bush, with whomRabin also met. emphasized "the need for international efforts to stop this proliferation," according to the statement. "They also stressed that these trends put a premium both on continuing U.S.-Israeli defence cooperation, and energetically working for peace in the area."
Rabin was clearly ■ pleased by the outcome of • hisdiscussions with the administration and Congressional leadership.
The defence mini.ster .said that the administra-
tion has agreed to maintain the $1.8 billion in U.S. military assistance for Israel in the 1990 fiscal year budget. Of that amount, he said, $400 million will be available to be spent inside Israel.
In addition, he said, U.S. defence contractors selling weaponry to Israel will be required to spend another S1(X) million in Israel as part of what are called direct "off-set" deals.
Rabin said that the long-awaited U.S.-Israeli Memorandum of Agreement implementing the codevelopmentofthe new Arrow anti-tactical, ballistic missile (ATBM) system would be signed this week. The development of the new    technology —
[Cont'd, on page 14]
won't give in
to
WASHINGTON (JTA)-
Israel Defence; Minister Yitzhak Rabin stressed last week that the Palestine problem can only be solved through negotiations, not by war. terrorism or the current uprising on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
"Even though 1 accept the principle of territories for peace — not all the territories..,, 1 will not en: courage any giving in'tO violence in whatever form, civilian violence, terror, or threats of war, or wars," Rabin said in a luncheon address to the National Press Ciub.       ■• ■
Noting that as defence minister he is responsible for the Israel army action in quelling the Palestinian violence, he said that all Is- ' raelis find it unpleasant to have its army face a confrontation with civilians.
"1 wish we could convince the Palestinians not to. u.se violence by sitting around the table and sipping coffee, or by distributing flowers to demonstrators," Rabin
said. "It doesn't work."
He said that Israel has quelled the uprising on the basis of its own and international lavf and if it did not do so the result would be an increase in the threat of war and undermining of the peace process.
Rabin, who spoke to the press club after two days; of meetings with top officials of the Reagan administration, said after, his 15-minute meeting with Reagan that he had explained Israel 's policies.to the President.
He added that while* he would not say he convinced the administration, Israel would act as it sees fit when its security was threatened.
Reagan, in a statement issued by the White House after the Rabin visit, appeared to .show understanding for the defence minister's position while urging both Israel and the Palestinians not to allow the current situation in the territories to stop the peace process.
"While Israel should not be expected to make concessions under the threat of violence, the preservation of order in the territories mu.st neither provide a justifi-^ cation for civilian lawlessness nor act as an excuse for avoiding political discourse with the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza," the White House statement said. ''Neither should violence nor controls on violence become ends in themselves, making a political solution more difficult."
Rabin told the press club audience that he met with Palestinian leaders recently and told them that since they were now leading the Palestinian struggle for the first time since 1948', they should work for a solution with Israel. "Unfortunately, the answer was and is ■you knowwhoever tries to emerge as at leader will be assassinated by the PLO.'" he said.
[Cont'd, on page 14]
most po
in
TEL AVIV (JTA) -
Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin is the most^ popular politician in Israel, according to a nationwide-poll conducted at the beginning of June.
Housing Minister D.avid Levy seems to be the rising star of Likud, the poll by the PGRI organization indicated.
The results..published in Haafetz, showed 55 % of the 1,2()0 persons in the national sample are .satisfied
with Rabin, a Laborite, up ■ from 54.3% in May.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, chairman of the Labor Party, was the choice of, 36.8%, com-pared to 36.2% in May.. -On the Likud .side, Finance. Minister Mosh? Nissim's popularity
plunged to 45.2%. from y54:2%;ih May. ■ ^ .
Levy won the approval of 35.69fc of the respondents, compared to 32.9% for Premier Yitzhak Shamir and 29.8% for Commerce and Industry Minister Ariel Sharoui
CZJP C0S on alkj^ to replace burned trees
[Cont'd, on page 14]       [Cont'd, on page 14]
Yitzhak Rabin
MONTREAL -
The Canadian Zionist Federation is calling upon every member of the Jewish community to plant trees in Israel to replace those that were burned by arsonists as part of the Palestinian uprising. -
CZF .president David Azrieli said every Jew in Canada should "immediately take personal responsibility to assist the Jewish National Fund in its efforts to plant trees in Israel to replace those burned by terrorists at-
tempting to destroy the very .symbol" of the state ■ reborn.
The statement is in accordance with a resolution passed by the Zionist General Council in Jerusalem. In Israel, a campaign has been launched to plant 10 saplings for every burned tree.
"Those individuals who have the.capability should consider it a personal honor to make a special donation of 10 trees to the JNF," Azrieli said.