Netanyahu: Jerusalem is under siege
Knesset member Benjamin Netanyahu continued his bid for the chairmanship of the Likud party and the Prime Minister’s office, by castigating PM Ariel Sharon for halting construction in Jerusalem’s E1 zone, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The E1 zone lies between Jerusalem and Ma’aleh Adumim. Standing on a barren desert hilltop north of Jerusalem, Netanyahu told reporters that if he is elected prime minister, he will build 15,000 housing units in the area, in an effort to connect Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim and prevent illegal Palestinian construction from cutting off Ma'aleh Adumim from the capital. "We have to break the siege on Jerusalem," Netanyahu said. "There is a battle for Jerusalem."
Netanyahu made this declaration during a visit to the E1 zone and brought an entourage of political supporters who echoed his condemnation of Sharon and American influence. Sharon’s spokesman responded to the charges by dismissing the event as showmanship and partisan politics.
Mofaz: 'No threat to Israel'
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Knesset today that the IDF has no reasonable need to maintain a presence on the Philadelphi Route, YNET reported. The Knesset is set to vote on whether to amend the 1978 Israeli-Egypt peace treaty, which provides for an Israeli military patrol along the Route, which divides Gaza and northern Egypt. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told the Knesset the IDF is ready to sign the necessary adjustments to the peace treaty with the Egyptian army. "Egypt will deploy 750 border police soldiers to replace the Egyptian police currently stationed on the border," he said. "This force is intended to prevent weapons smuggling, terrorist infiltrations and other criminal activity from Egypt. The Egyptian deployment does not represent any threat to Israel at all," he add.
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz raised objections to the short period allotted for Knesset debate on the amendments, and he warned that careless withdrawal from Philadelphi could have grave consequences. Shteinitz said he could not understand why the cabinet held long meetings on the fate of synagogues in Gaza settlements, but barely found time to discuss changes to the peace treaty with Egypt (which allowed the troop deployment).
Pullout objector sets himself on fire
An immigrant from the United States who came to Israel a year ago set himself ablaze today in the yard of Ulpan Etzion, a Hebrew language school for olim in Jerusalem, HA’ARETZ reported. Baruch Ben Menachem, 32, said he did it to protest Israel's withdrawal two weeks ago from the Gaza strip. Ben Menachem, who came to the ulpan's entrance carrying a prayer book and wearing tefilin on his forehead and arm, doused himself in a flammable liquid and set himself aflame. The guard on duty at the time put out the flames and called an ambulance. Ben Menachem was rushed to Hadassah University Hospital, in serious condition. This is the second incident in which disengagement-foes have set themselves on fire in protest against the Gaza pullout.
Yelena Bosinova, 54, a right-wing activists from the West Bank settlement of Kedumim, died last Friday from injuries sustained when she set herself ablaze in the Negev city of Netivot two weeks earlier.
Economic & High-Tech Briefs
* Bank Hapoalim announced that it has signed an agreement to buy U.S. broker Investec (US) Inc., GLOBES reported. Bank Hapoalim will pay close to $40 milion for the firm. Investec operates under U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) regulations, as well as those of other stock exchanges in which it is active. Investec (US) provides securities trading services, and research services . It specializes in U.S. securities, including stocks, options, bonds. It also handles shares of dual-listed Israeli companies traded on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and Nasdaq.
* Foreign financial investment in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) securities, especially stocks, rose substantially in January-July 2005, GLOBES reported. This investment totaled $2.5 billion, five times the total investment in 2004 noted the Bank of Israel foreign exchange. This inflow greatly helped the TASE reach new records both before and during implementation of the disengagement plan.
The Bank of Israel said that in addition to foreign financial investment in the TASE in January-July, foreign direct investment in Israeli companies totaled $3.3 billion, compared with total investment of $1.7 billion in 2004. The Bank of Israel predicts an additional $1.2 billion in foreign direct investment this year, thanks to the privatization of government companies.
[Today's Israel Line was prepared by Tim Mosso at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]