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Stress Management info
News
(mainly from Haaretz, Yedioth, Globes Jerusalem Post, Israel National News)
27-Sep-2006: Cabinet Communique
27-Sep-2006: Israel and Portugal sign double taxation agreement
20-Sep-2006: Statement by the Middle East Quartet
20-Sep-2006: Israel sends disaster aid to Cote d'Ivoire
20-Sep-2006: IDF confiscates money meant for terror, arrests two moneychangers
Israeli government scholarships for foreign students: Academic Year 2007-8
IDF completes transfer of areas in southern Lebanon to UNIFIL 1-Oct-2006
Cabinet Communique 27-Sep-2006
Israel and Portugal sign double taxation agreement 27-Sep-2006
Statement by the Middle East Quartet 20-Sep-2006
Israel sends disaster aid to Cote d'Ivoire 20-Sep-2006
IDF confiscates money meant for terror, arrests two moneychangers 20-Sep-2006
Israeli government scholarships for foreign students: Academic Year 2007-8
Sep 20: FM Livni: "There is a common vision that binds Israelis, moderate Palestinians and the international community together. It serves the goals of both peoples and represents the basis of a genuine and lasting peace. The state of Palestine that emerges next to Israel cannot be a terror state."
Sept 7: At 18:00 Israel will lift the air and sea blockade of Lebanon as international forces take up control positions over Lebanon’s seaports and airports.
Aug 30, 2006 FM Livni and UN Secy-Gen Annan at joint press conference in Jerusalem. (Reuters)
EU statement to the UN Security Council (Aug 24): "The international community will have to play an important role in contributing to the stabilisation of the situation on the ground. We know that we need to move swiftly to deploy the international force in South Lebanon, in order to support the full implementation of resolution 1701."
US Pres Bush (Aug 21): "An international force requires international commitment. The international community must now designate the leadership of this new international force, give it robust rules of engagement, and deploy it as quickly as possible to secure the peace. Deployment of this new international force will also help speed delivery of humanitarian assistance."
FM Livni (Aug 15): "Military operations, regardless of duration, could not have produced outcomes. It was necessary to move on and focus on the political phase, which was in motion from the onset of the conflict."
PM Olmert (Aug 14): "This resolution is a political accomplishment for Israel, however its significance is crucial to all nations of the free world, who struggle against global terror. The entire international community is partner to the perception that the terror state which established itself in Lebanon must be destroyed."
PM Olmert (Aug 13): "UN Security Council resolution 1701 is a good resolution that creates true conditions to implement UNSCR 1559 and prevent a return to the status quo. Hizbullah won't continue to be a state-within-a-state inside Lebanon and the Lebanese government will become the point of contact for the Israeli government."
FM Livni (Aug 13): "The test for the international community will be in the application of Resolution 1701."
Members of the U.N. Security Council vote at the United Nations in New York (August 11, 2006) on a resolution calling for an end to the conflict in Lebanon (Reuters)
Hezbollah's Heartland - Canada National Post, Aug 5, 2006: The surgeon led a group of journalists over what remained [of his hospital in Tyre]: mangled debris, shredded walls and a roof punched through by an Israeli shell. "Look what they did to this place," Dr. Fouad Fatah said, shaking his head. "Why in the world would the Israelis target a hospital?" The probable answer was found a few hours later in a field nearby. Hidden in the tall grass were the burned remnants of a rocket-launcher. Confronted with the evidence, Dr. Fatah admitted his hospital could have been used as a site from which to fire rockets into Israel. "What choice do we have? We need to fight back from somewhere," he said.
Letter from Beirut: The Battle for Lebanon, by Jon Lee Anderson - New Yorker Magazine, Aug 7, 2006: We turned north, to a hospital in Sidon. Near the hospital, a mosque lay in ruins. A man approached and told me that he was a teacher at the Hariri school. I asked him why he thought the Israelis had hit a mosque, and he said, simply, “It was a Hezbollah mosque.” A younger man came up to me and, when we were out of earshot of others, said that Hezbollah had kept bombs in the basement of the mosque, but that two days earlier a truck had taken the cache away. It was common knowledge in Sidon, he said, and everyone was expecting the mosque to be hit. When, the previous evening, displaced people from the south had gathered on the grounds, they had been warned away.
Brig. General Shuki Shihrur, head of IDF Northern Command Operations (Aug 4): "There are more than 14,000 Katyushas in all of Lebanon. Some are hidden in bunkers underground caches and in the homes of hundreds of south Lebanon residents. This is the reason we see dozens of cells that fire rockets quickly and immediately return to their hideouts. Sometimes they fire rockets with the use of a timer.”
US Secy Rice (Aug 4): "Since the last ceasefire in this area, Hezbollah has improved its capabilities greatly. This is largely because of its relationship with Iran that has been able to finance it and give it more sophisticated technologies. They have gained a rather sophisticated command and control network in southern Lebanon. And of course, they do this mingled in with civilian populations. So it’s very difficult to deal with.
There are certain circumstances that are going to have to obtain in order not to have a return to the status quo ante. The work that we are doing with the French and with the parties will make this the basis for an enduring ceasefire, but more importantly an enduring peace."
PM Olmert (Aug 2): "If indeed, as we hope, the international force will be an effective force made of combat units, then we will be able to stop fire when the international force will be on the ground in the south part of Lebanon."
US Pres Bush (July 31): "To achieve the peace that we want we must achieve certain clear objectives: Lebanon's democratic government must be empowered to exercise sole authority over its territory. A multinational force must be dispatched to Lebanon quickly so we can help speed the delivery of humanitarian aid to the Lebanese people. Iran must end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hezbollah. Syria must end its support for terror and respect the sovereignty of Lebanon."
Italian PM Prodi at Rome summit (July 26): "We must condemn clearly and unequivocally terrorism, the people who practice it, those who finance it and those who foster it. We are here today to work together in order to give back peace and stability to Lebanon in a framework providing security for Israel."
PM Olmert (July 25): "We will not hesitate to take severe measures against those who are aiming thousands of missiles against innocent civilians. We are aware of the state of humanitarian affairs of the Lebanese population as a result of Hizbullah brutality. Lebanon and Israel are both victims of this murderous organization."
US Pres Bush (July 25): "We understand the anguish of leaders in the region who see innocent people losing their life. We want a sustainable cease-fire. We don't want something that's short-term in duration. We want to address the root causes of the violence in the area."
FM Livni to Newsweek: "Ceasefire right now without full implementation of Resolution 1559 would be a victory for Hizbullah. It would take us back to square one. Hizbullah is a well-organized army. Some of its missiles were in private houses. I think that someone who sleeps with a missile can expect an attack."
Ministry of Tourism:
Information hotline opened for tourists:
Tel: 03 520 7600 (+972 3 520 7600 from abroad). Inquiries may also be faxed (+972 3 5207612/5) or e-mailed to feliw@tourism.gov.il
Ministry of Transport:
The Ports of Ashdod and Eilat are continuing cargo operations as usual. Due to the current situation, Haifa Port has ceased loading/ discharging until further notice.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Government Press office have opened a Communication Center in Haifa for the foreign media.
Nof Hotel, 101 Hanasi Blvd. Tel: 04-8100697, 04-8100725, 04-8100657, 04-8100630. Fax: 04-8100752
"The [U.S.] House of Representatives condemns Hamas and Hezbollah for engaging in unprovoked and reprehensible armed attacks against Israel on undisputed Israeli territory, for taking hostages, for killing Israeli soldiers, and for continuing to indiscriminately target Israeli civilian populations with their rockets and missiles." (July 20)
PM Olmert (July 18): "Nobody in the international community is asking us to halt the operation before the implementation of the G-8 decision and in order to do so it is possible that we will have to hold diplomatic negotiations, not with Hizbullah. In any case the start of negotiations will not halt the action, only the return of the abducted soldiers."
Hizbullah post in southern Lebanon destroyed by IDF (IDF Spokesman)
FM Livni (July 18): "The diplomatic objectives are long range. Until now the diplomatic activity focused - successfully - on achieving international support for the IDF operation; now we are moving in parallel to the next stage. There is comprehensive agreement that a cease-fire alone is not enough."
US President Bush (July 18): We were able to reach a very strong consensus that the world must confront the root causes of the current instability. And the root cause of that current instability is terrorism and terrorist attacks on a democratic country. Part of those terrorist attacks are inspired by nation states, like Syria and Iran. In order to be able to deal with this crisis, the world must deal with Hizbullah, with Syria and to continue to work to isolate Iran."
PM Olmert (July 17): "On the Palestinian front, we will conduct a tireless battle until terror ceases, Gilad Shalit is returned home safely and the shooting of Qassam missiles stops. And in Lebanon, we will insist on compliance with the terms stipulated by the international community."
European Union (July 17): "The EU condemns the attacks by Hezbollah on Israel and the abduction of two Israeli soldiers. It calls for their immediate and unconditional release and for the cessation of all attacks on Israeli towns and cities. The EU recalls the need for the Lebanese state to restore its sovereignty over the whole of its national territory and to do its utmost to prevent such attacks."
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (July 13): A difference should be drawn between legitimate resistance and rash adventures carried out by elements inside Lebanon and those behind them without consultation with the legitimate authority in their state or coordination with Arab countries, thus creating a gravely dangerous situation exposing all Arab countries to destruction. The Kingdom views that it is time that these elements alone bear the full responsibility of these irresponsible acts and shoulder the burden of ending the crisis they have created.
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