2— THE BULLETIN — Thursday, May 7,1992
WORLD
Israelis go to rescue of SYrians
By HUGHORGEL
^•■:,:TEL\'AViy:''^^
Israeli authorities have gone to the reseue of beleaguered Syrians twice in recent
. ■.weieks..-/-V. .
A Syrian freighter was towed to Haifa in distress, where a repair yard patched up its leaky hull.
In another iiieident, Israel got no thanks after allowing Syria to use its airspace on a humahitariari mission.
The 400-toh motor ship Kdyess a.nd its icrew of six sailed with a certificate of seaworthiness from the Haifa Port Authority before the Gal Yam shipyards could obtain a court injunction blocking its departure for non-payment of the repair bill.
Port police had told the ship's captain, Abdul Kadr Matisur, that the ship could leave, as the Israeli transport ministry's Shipping and Port Administration had certified the vessel's fitness. The Israel Defence Force had also given permission.
To thank police officers for their help, the captain had entertained them in his cabin before setting off. But Ilan Nixon, one of the shipyard's Owners, said there had been several hundred thousand dollars worth of repairs to the ship's cracked
hull.
He said talks with the Kayess' owners had been "positive" until now. Biit they could get bogged down in prolonged litigation with creditors in Syria and
P3le$tinlan$ in Territories Increase armaU
JERUSALEM (INB) -There has been a dramatic upsurge in the use of live weapons by Palestinians against Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza in, recent weeks. .
According to new statistics provided by the Israeli army, the number oi grenade attacks by Arabs in the Territories increased from a total of two in January and
signaGmd
Israel Sun
DOV LAUTMAN, chairman of the Coordinating Bureau of Economic Organizations in Israel, signed a memorandum of understanding In Tel Aviv with Zheng Hongye, chairman of the China Council for the Promotion ol International Trade.
February to 13 m March. The use of firebombs also
■ skyrocketed to 116 attacks in March from 61 in Febru-
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There has ' also been a steady increase in the number of shooting incir dents, the latest figures show. There were 13 gun
; attacks in January. 22 in February and 32 in March, The number of murders Of Palestinians by Arab death squads ini the Territories has also risen sharply in recent weeks; There were eight such killings last December and 18 .in January. The death toll climbed• to 26 in
.... February and 27.in March. ■• The total; number of Arabs inurdered by other Arabs during the intifada is now oyer 500;
Jew^hatred heard at soccer games
ROME-r The head of the Union of Italian Jewish.. Comrnunities has urged owners and players of pro soccer teams to end anti-Semitic invective by spectators, which has become a ; regular feature of the sport;
But while Tullia Zevi brought up the issue in let-, ters to the Ita 1 lan Soceer : Federation and the League ol Soccer Professionals, she did not propose any solutions
Lebanon, countries with which Israel is technically at war. ■.■
The only course seemed to be for the navy to intercept the Kayess at sea and detain it pending payment Of bills. But authorities quickly ruled that out becaiise it would create an international incident.
Meanwhile, responding
to a request relayed through a third party, Israeli authorities readily agreed to let a Syrian military helicopter ily over Israeli territory to rescue a group of Syrian soldiers stranded on Mount Hermon, the daily Ma'ariv reported.
The soldiers Were snowed in at a military outpost on the Syrian side of the peak, where severe winter weather blocked all access rOutes. Several died, and the survivors were in poor condition.
Israel suggested the establishment of a "hotline" with Damascus for similar situa- ; tions in the future, but has" gotten.no response, Ma'ariv .said. ■ ■ .
Following the rescue, of the Syrian freighter, meanwhile, the Gal Yam. shipyards thought they, could achieve partial eompensa-tioh by selling the ship's cargo, mainly fresh fruit and vegetables, which the A'^arto left behind. 11 was off- •.. loaded to lighten the vessel so repairs could be made: without putting it into dry dock. ■
But that hope was dashed when agricuIture and heaIth ministry officials barred the vegetables from the Israeli market. They originated in Egypt, where "crops are cbmmorily irrigated with.; untreated sewage a nd could pose a health hazard.
The Kayess, en route from Alexandria to Beirut,, was towed to Haifa by Israeli navy missile boats in a sinking condition after sending out a distress signal. The episode demonstrated that the maritime tradition of saving lives applies even between enemy countries.
ISRAEL
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Israel Sun
ISRAEL'S JUNE 23 parliamentary race got off to an active start (top) when Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, with Foreign Minister David Levy (centre) and Housing and Construction Minister Ariel Sharon, announced Likud's election team. Bottom: Reelected Tsomet leader Rafael Eltan (left) with Plnhas TzIvonI (right), whose bid to challenge him for the number one spot on the party slate was soundly defeated. Knesset inember Yoash Tzidori (centre) was ousted from his number two spot.
Modal fDimds party
JERUSALEM — Israeli finance minister Yitzhak Moda'i has founded his New Liberal Party at the Tel Aviv Fair Grounds, saying that he khd fellow Knesset members Pessah Grupper and Pinhas Goldstein would never return to Likud. Moda'i then announced that the second person on his list of Knesset candidates would be "a isurprise figure."
Deficit takes jump
JERUSALEM — Israel's budget deficit for March totalled $460 million, bringing the deficit for the first quarter of 1992 to $570 million, the Israeli finance ministry reported. This year's budgiet reserve has already been completely used up.
P.IVi;s Visit delayed
JERLfSALEM .— Greek prime minister Konstanti-nos Mitsotakis has postponed his planned visit here. The trip, which would have been the first by a Greek premier, will probably take place in the middle of the month.
PARIS (JTA)
At-
tempts to vindicate Nazi collaborators were denounced by a French cabinet minister last week;'.at a eeremony in memory of a French couple . murdered by them. ,
; Louis M.eXendeau, who heads the veterans' affairs ministry, spoke at a memorial in Lyon for Victor Basch a nd his wife, kil led in 1944 by the "pro-Nazi Vichy militia. ' ^ ■■''[
Basch, who was Jewish, was president of the League, pi Human Rights. He and his wife Were both 80 when they were slain.
Mexendeau lashed out at the Paris Court of Appeals for recently disrnissing all charges against Nazi collaborator Paul Touvier, former head of the Vichy mil-it ia in Lyon, wh o Was; accused of crimes against humanity. The court "was supposed, to render justice
and hot rewrite, history by whitewashing the Vichy regime of its anti-Semitism and of its repression of d eJnocracy an d h uman rights," Mexendeau said..
V The court's .decision, announced on April 13, touched off mass prOtests in Paris, Lyon and other French cities.. It is being appealed before the Supreme Court of Appeals. V:
.-: Touvier, 77, '/was twice, sentenced in absentia to death after the .Second World War. A clOse associate of the late Klaus Barbie, who was Gestapo chief in Lyon, Touvier was particularly brutal toward Jews and Resistance fighters.
He personally handed over seven Jews frOm Rillieux-le-Pape. near Lyon, who were shot in reprisal for the assassination of a Vichy minister by the Resistance.
E,C. urges delay on trade accord
GENEVA
The Euro-
pean Community, is reported iy pressuring an association of snijaller European nations to delay signing a trade agreement with Israel lest it strengthen Prime Min-ister Yitzhak Shamir's government before the Israeli parliamentary elections June 23. "
"Such an agreement with Israel will increase the strength tof Likud, which would see it as European baekingfor their policy," the Swiss daily Le Journal, de Geneve said.
ShabbatM^ issue
TEL AVIV (JTA)
Shabbat-obseryers who consulted with a rabbi before summoning thCrfire brigade to their burning Bnei Brak apartment may have trouble collecting insurance.
When the fire broke out on a recent Saturday in the strictly Orthodox township near Tel Aviv, the residents walked to the home of their
rabbi to get his consent to sound the alarm.
By the time firefighters arrived, the blaze had spread to two other apartments. All three were gutted, but no one was hurt.
Legal experts said the insurance company could refuse payment or reduce it on grounds of negligence.
A funny thing happened ...
"Are, there any golf courses in Israel?" asked a tourist of his guide.
"Think about it," his guide replied. "In a country as tiny as' ours, a good drive could become an international incident!"
ties with Israel
lJNlt.ED.'';N:ATI()KS The Peopie\s ■ Rcpuhhc of An go la h as j oi n e d. the growing list of cou-ntnes to ha\c 1 uU . diplomatic\'. ties with Israel. .' • : The.rnove was'announced by the two countries' United. Nations aiTibassadors during aceremony-at the Angolan niission to the U .N. The step was agreed upon in January.
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AN ETHIOPIAN CHILD and his Israeli friend join a friendship march of new Immigrants and the families who "adopted" them. More than 10,000 people, accompanied by bands, participated in the event in Benyamina.
blamed for
BUENOS AIRES ~ The
Argentine judge investigating a shooting outside a sur-burban Jewish. ce metery here says "Nazi sympathizer groups"were responsible.
But Judge Orfeo Maggio did not identify the groups, nor has any claimed credit for the attack, in which no one was hurt. No arrests have been made.
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