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Israel Report To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues, and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics. Issue 1001 • April 8, 2016 • 29 Adar II 5776 ISRAEL SUSPENDS CEMENT DELIVERIES TO GAZA’S PRIVATE CABINET DISCUSSES UNILATERAL WITHDRAWALS (Arutz-7 INN.com SECTOR (JPost 4/4/16) 4/6/16) Israel this week temporarily suspended the delivery of cement to Gaza’s Security Cabinet to receive report on formerly secret talks with PA to pull IDF private sector after it discovered that Hamas was siphoning the material, from Ramallah and Jericho; 'this is a prize to terror.' which is intended to rebuild destroyed houses. Security Cabinet ministers are to receive an update on Wednesday on the The Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories formerly secret talks between Israeli representatives and the Palestinian (COGAT) monitors the flow of cement into Gaza to ensure that Hamas has Authority (PA), regarding the PA demand to remove IDF forces from not used it to construct tunnels to attack Israel. On Friday COGAT posted on Ramallah and Jericho. its Arabic Facebook page that it suspended the transfer of cement to Gaza The Cabinet discussion comes around three weeks after Haaretz revealed because some deliveries had been diverted by Imad Elbaz, the deputy that secret contacts were being held between top IDF brass and senior PA director-general for Hamas’s economics office. “This is a blatant violation of sources, without government ministers or the Cabinet being informed. agreements for rehabilitation,” COGAT said in its Facebook post. Those secret talks revolved around removing the IDF presence from COGAT head Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai temporarily halted the shipments Ramallah and Jericho, two cities in Area A of Judea and Samaria designated until the matter is fully investigated, COGAT said. adding that it regretted that as being under the PA's administrative and security control according to the Hamas continues to pursue its own personal agenda at the expense of 1994 Oslo Accords. However, the IDF was forced to reenter and take back Gaza’s residents. control during 2002 Operation Defensive Shield amid the Second Intifada The UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay terror war. Mladenov, issued an unusually sharp response on Monday, accusing Hamas Minister of Immigrant Absorption and Jerusalem Affairs Ze'ev Elkin (Likud), a of theft. “Those who seek to gain through the deviation of materials are member of the Security Cabinet, responded to the report with outrage, and in stealing from their own people and adding to the suffering of Palestinians in response Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told Elkin that the contacts did Gaza,” Mladenov said. not bear fruit and therefore ministers were not informed. “The reconstruction of Gaza remains critical to ensuring its stability and I urge Haaretz reports on Wednesday morning that for the first time since the initial a rapid resolution of this matter,” he added, stating that Israel alleged that “a report on contacts, the Cabinet ministers are to receive a detailed report substantial amount [of cement bound for the private sector] had been regarding the still ongoing contacts and give their opinions regarding them. diverted from its intended legitimate beneficiaries. A source involved in the affairs of the Cabinet ministers said that the The UN is working with the Palestinians and the Israelis to resolve the ministers have been given two options. situation, he said. “The people of Gaza depend on the entry of construction One option is for them to reject the IDF withdrawal plan completely and material to repair and reconstruct their damaged and destroyed houses declare that the negotiations deviated from the current government's red following the 2014 conflict and to enable much needed infrastructure and lines, while the other is to discuss all details of the plan and the responses development projects,” Mladenov said. Israel Report is a Student Publication of RIGHT-WING ISRAELIS CAUGHT TRYING TO ENTER AL-AQSA DISGUISED AS MUSLIMS (IMRA 4/5/16) Daniel Zolty, Editor-in-Chief Yonatan Kurz, Moshe Davis, Yosef Segal and Eli Levine, Editors Israeli police arrested two right-wing Jewish Israelis on Tuesday after they We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone attempted to sneak into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound disguised as any of the material published: Muslims, locals and Israeli police said. Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL Hillel at California State University - Long Beach Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies Hillel at Columbia University Israeli police spokeswoman Luba al-Samri said in a statement that midday Boca Raton Synagogue, FL Hillel at Johns Hopkins University Tuesday Israeli police officers suspected two young men approaching the Carmel School, Hong Kong Hillel at Yale University Chabad of Oak Park, CA Hillel High School, Deal NJ King Faisal gate of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ The officers approached the two for inspection, who said they were Muslims Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD heading to the Al-Aqsa mosque. The officers checked their identification Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA documents to reveal that they were 21-year-old Jewish Israelis. Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ They were arrested and taken to al-Qishla police station in occupied East Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC Jerusalem’s Old City for questioning, al-Samri added. Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ Woodsburgh, NY Minyan The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, which sits just above the Western Wall Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ Young Israel of Brookline, MA plaza, houses both the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa mosque. Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ The third holiest site in Islam, it is also venerated as Judaism's most holy Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA place, as it sits where Jews believe the First and Second Temples once Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL Young Israel of Holliswood, NY stood. The Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO Young Israel of Houston, TX Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY Following Israeli annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israel has maintained Harvard University Library Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY a compromise with the Islamic trust that controls the Al-Aqsa Mosque Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY Hillel at Baruch College Young Israel of Sharon, MA compound to not allow non-Muslim prayers in the area. Hillel at Brandeis University YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD Israeli forces regularly escort Jewish visitors to the site, however, leading to We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to tension with Palestinian worshipers. subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected] 2 raised on both sides during the talks. ETHIOPIAN BRIGADE COMMANDER MAKES IDF HISTORY (Israel Hayom The second option would in essence grant legitimacy to the contacts with the 4/3/16) PA sources, and the PA's demand for withdrawals. Lt. Col. Avi Yitzhak has become the first Ethiopian Israeli to graduate the A political source said, "in my estimation holding these contacts in the current Israel Defense Forces' prestigious course for brigade commanders, which period is a prize to terror," noting on the current wave of Arab terror that has ended last week. Yitzhak is a doctor who heads the Combat Medical Branch claimed the lives of 34 victims since last September. in the Medical Corps. "After all any proposed idea of withdrawal comes due to the wave of terror we Yitzhak will soon vie for a promotion to full colonel, making him the first are in the midst of, and if we agree to a withdrawal like this, doing so will give Ethiopian in IDF history to earn such a rank. more than just a signal to the attackers and potential attackers that terror After immigrating to Israel in 1991 at the age of 19 and studying Hebrew for a pays, and with additional terrorist pressure we will withdraw from more and year at an absorption center, Yitzhak began his path in the IDF in the Medical more territory." Corps. He became the first Ethiopian Israeli to serve as a combat doctor, with In its demands the PA is asking that in the first stage of withdrawals the IDF both the Paratrooper Brigade and the elite Maglan unit. He later gained would remove its forces from Ramallah and Jericho, and in response it will expertise as a surgeon. Yitzhak was also chief medical officer for the Gaza not discontinue the security cooperation of its PA Security Forces with the Division during Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, during which he saved IDF as it has frequently threatened to do. the life of a lieutenant colonel in the reserves who had been hit in the chest by shrapnel from a mortar round. ISRAEL'S WEAPONS SALES TO EUROPE MORE THAN DOUBLE AMID "I always felt the responsibility of representing the Ethiopian community," REFUGEE CRISIS (Ha’aretz 4/6/16) Yitzhak told Israel Hayom.
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