Current News From Israel

SENIOR ISLAMIC JIHAD COMMANDER KILLED IN IDF STRIKE
Israel Air Force Apaches fired two missiles at a car in Gaza City on Saturday night killing Islamic Jihad’s commander in northern Gaza, Mahmoud Juda, and his two brothers Ayman and Amin Dahduh, YEDIOT AHARONOT reported. An official statement issued by the Israel Defense Forces said that these “senior members of Islamic Jihad were responsible for planning a number of terrorist attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets that included the infiltration into the army base at Netzarim on October 24, 2003, in which three soldiers were killed.”

Meanwhile, security forces arrested three Palestinian youths, two as young as 13, who were planning to carry out a suicide attack against Israelis in Afula. Tarek Mahsen,13, Jaffer Hussein, 13, and Ibrahim Suafta, 14, residents of the northern West Bank village of Tubas, were arrested at the Jalameh checkpoint near Nablus while carrying a pipe bomb and makeshift handguns. Mahsen and Hussein claimed to be members of Islamic Jihad, while Suafta said he belonged to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.

Palestinian youths have been sent by terrorist organizations to check out IDF security readiness. On February 12, a ten-year-old boy was shot dead by soldiers in the Rafiah area and another boy was wounded, after they were sent into a closed military zone. Last January, two young Palestinians, aged 13 and 14, infiltrated into Netzarim in the Gaza Strip and tried to stab a local resident. Three 15-year-old Palestinian teenagers were also shot dead by troops when they tried to infiltrate into Alei Sinai in the northern Gaza Strip.

2 YEAR OLD LEFT ORPHANED AFTER PALESTINIAN AMBUSH
Eitan Kokoi 30, and Rima Novikov, 25, victims of a terrorist ambush on their car Friday evening, were buried on Sunday in Beer Sheva, HA’ARETZ reported. The attack occurred shortly before 8 P.M., east of Kibbutz Lahav, which straddles the Green Line and is southeast of Hebron. They were headed to a party in Ashdod; their daughter remained at home in Livna.

Terrorists ambushed their vehicle from the side of the road, and opened fire. Subsequent investigations established that the terrorists approached the vehicle after it stopped, and fired another round of bullets from point-blank range, to ensure their victims were dead.

A resident of nearby Meitar noticed the couple’s car a short time after the incident and called authorities. Bullet casings from Kalashnikov rifles were found on the scene; police believe the assailants used two rifles. Footprints pointed toward the nearby Palestinian village of Ramadin, but the terrorists were apparently picked up by a car in the village, and fled to another locale.

Two organizations, Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command claimed responsibility for the attack.

TANNENBAUM ADMITS TO GOING TO DUBAI FOR A MAJOR DRUG DEAL
The Petah Tikvah Magistrates Court lifted the gag order over the Elhanan Tannenbaum affair allowing the publication of events that led to the Israeli businessman’s capture by the Hizbullah in October 2000, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. According to details of his interrogation, Tannenbaum traveled in pursuit of a drug deal to Dubai via Brussels using a forged passport. Upon his arrival in the Gulf country, he was drugged and kidnapped to Lebanon.

Since Friday, Tannenbaum has dropped his insistence that he traveled to Dubai to get information on missing airman Lt.-Col. Ron Arad, admitting instead that he cut a major drug deal with Kais Obeid, the scion of a wealthy Arab-Israeli clan.

While he budged on the reasons for his trip to Brussels and then Dubai, Tannenbaum has not altered his version of what he told Hizbullah interrogators.

MARCH IS COLORECTAL CANCER AWARENESS MONTH
March has been designated colorectal cancer awareness month in an effort to reduce the death toll of this second most common cancer in Israel, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Last year, 3,200 Israelis were diagnosed with colon or rectal tumors and 1,900 died of it.

The Israel Cancer Association (ICA) notes that the rate of colorectal cancer in Israel is among the highest in the world and similar to that in other industrialized countries. The rate in the Western world is 40 cases per 100,000 residents, compared with only 18 per 100,000 in Eastern Europe and Arab countries.

According to the Israel Cancer Registry, one in 20 Israeli Jewish men and women will at some time contract colon cancer. One in 94 Arab men and one in 55 Arab women will get it.

New research carried out by the cancer registry has found that eating yellow, green, and red fruits and vegetables significantly reduces the risk among non-smokers of getting colon cancer.

Minister of Finance Benjamin Netanyahu said today at the Knesset’s Finance committee that Israel will build a casino in Eilat MA’ARIV reported. “It is better that people engage in supervised gambling on the beach than in unsupervised gambling at sea,” he noted. Police have recently cracked down on "casino boats" sailing from Eilat to operate outside Israeli waters.

The Knesset’s Education Committee announced today that the prestigious Wolf Prize will be awarded to Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Barenboim’s receiving of the $50,000 prize was contingent upon his apologizing for conducting a selection from a Wagner opera at the 2001 Israel Festival. Barenboim refused to apologize, but said he "regretted" causing anyone personal pain, a remark Livnat accepted as an apology.

Israel’s foreign currency reserves increased by 1 percent, or $239 million, in February 2004, to reach an all-time high of $25.742 billion, GLOBES reported. The Bank of Israel states that the increase in Israel’s foreign currency reserves was mainly due to the arrival of $480 million in US civilian aid, and to Bank of Israel revenue from investments of its reserves. Israel's foreign currency reserves have increased by 12 percent, or $2.68 billion, since February 2003. Israel’s foreign currency reserves are expected to continue to increase through 2006, due to the government’s plans to raise capital overseas, backed by the US loan guarantees.

For the first time ever, supermarket chain Super-Sol plans to open one of its large branches on a Saturday at Lev Hamifratz shopping mall in Haifa, GLOBES reported. Until now, Super-Sol has refrained from operating its business on Saturdays, fearing that the move would hurt the feelings of the religious public. However, in the past couple of years it has become clear that the public’s consumption habits have changed, with more and more families doing their shopping on Saturdays. This has caused the large chains to lose custom. The other large supermarket chains, including its main competitors Co-op and Clubmarket, are now likely to follow Super-Sol’s lead. Super-Sol is controlled by Discount Investment of the IDB group.

[Today's Israel Line was prepared by David Nekrutman at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]

Israeline -- Tuesday, March 2, 2004 --

** ISRAEL ON HIGH TERROR ALERT - 3 SUICIDE ATTACKS FOILED IN 2 WEEKS
** ARAFAT DECISION PROMPTED IDF RAID ON TERROR MONEY
** SHALOM DEFENDS FENCE DURING UK VISIT
** FRANCE OFFERS MASTERPIECES TO ISRAEL
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS

ISRAEL ON HIGH TERROR ALERT - 3 SUICIDE ATTACKS FOILED IN 2 WEEKS
Police went on high alert around the central bus station in south Tel Aviv this afternoon, HA'ARETZ reported. Extra forces were deployed in the area following intelligence information on plans to carry out a terrorist attack in the area. Police have asked Tel Aviv residents to be especially vigilant and look out for suspicious persons or vehicles. Security has also been beefed up in the Sharon region and in Jerusalem, and roadblocks have been placed at the entrances to the capital.

Israeli security forces have thwarted three planned suicide attacks within the Green Line in the last two weeks. The would-be bombers came from the West Bank city of Nablus.

In other security related news, a Palestinian was given 12 life sentences today for driving the bomber who carried out the March 2002 attack on the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem, killing 10 people.

ARAFAT DECISION PROMPTED IDF RAID ON TERROR MONEY
The money earmarked for terrorist operations that was confiscated by the Israel Defense Forces last week in banks in the West Bank, had originally been frozen by former Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas before being unfrozen by Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in November, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Tens of millions of dollars intended to fund Palestinian terror were confiscated last week in an unprecedented Israeli raid on banks in Ramallah and El-Bireh. A senior intelligence officer said that following Arafat's move to unfreeze the money, the IDF had decided to confiscate the funds.

In related events, Arafat finally approved on Tuesday a key reform paving the way for renewed foreign aid to the PA. The reform modifies the method according to which salaries are delivered to security employees. The change is aimed at fighting corruption within the Palestinian security apparatus. Salaries will now directly go to the personal bank accounts of members of the security forces, and not anymore to those of commanders.

SHALOM DEFENDS FENCE DURING UK VISIT
Addressing members of the British media in London on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Silvan Shalom launched a full-blown defense of the counter-terrorism fence and the policy of unilateral disengagement, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Shalom was speaking on the second day of a three-day visit to Britain where he was slated to meet with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.

"We know that while the fence is reversible, human life is irreversible," Shalom said, pointing out that Israel is "well experienced in moving fences." He highlighted Israel's territorial flexibility, citing three different times when fences were removed for peace: After peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, and following Israel's withdrawal from the security zone in southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, according to HA'ARETZ, Shalom explained that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would detail his decision on a possible withdrawal from the Gaza Strip when he meets U.S. President George W. Bush in Washington later this month. Shalom told members of the media that a complete withdrawal of soldiers and settlers was one of the options being considered. If the policy wins the support of the United States and the international community, it will then be brought before the cabinet and Knesset, Shalom said.

FRANCE OFFERS MASTERPIECES TO ISRAEL
France intends to offer Israeli museums 14 masterpieces, some or all of which may have been confiscated from Jews by the Nazis, HA'ARETZ reported. However, France demands that Israel first pass a law prohibiting its courts from dealing with ownership suits, if any are filed.

The Foreign Ministry received on Monday from the Israeli Embassy in Paris a list of the masterpieces, which include works by impressionists Monet, Renoir and Sisley. The overall worth of the pieces is estimated at tens of millions of dollars. All the paintings are currently exhibited in the Louvre, the Musee d'Orsay and various smaller museums throughout France.

The French said they were prepared to lend the paintings to Israeli museums for a long period of time for no payment. An Israeli source close to the negotiations said the paintings would be given to Israel for an unlimited period of time.

The paintings are part of a collection of some 2,000 objets d'art that were confiscated by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II.

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF

Palestinian gunmen shot and killed a well-known adviser to Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Gaza early today feeding fears of growing lawlessness and chaos in Palestinian areas, THE JERSUALEM POST reported. The murder of Khalil al-Zaban, 59, who was hit by 12 bullets as he left his Gaza City office, is an apparent sign of the weakening of Arafat's Palestinian Authority, which is accompanied by growing violence and rising poverty.

ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS

Israeli start-up CogniFit has announced a new contract agreement with Young Drivers of Canada, a large Canadian driving school, GLOBES reported. CogniFit will supply driving training software valued at $5.5 million over three years. The school, fully owned by Ford Motor has 38 branches in Canada. CogniFit's software, focuses on 12 cognitive capabilities of the human brain, all of which are essential for safe driving. The software is available in eight languages.

February saw a record increase in tourism to and from Israel via Ben-Gurion Airport - 37.15 percent more than in the same month the previous year, HA'ARETZ reported. The Airports Authority said that 436,000 passengers passed through the international airport in February, compared with 318,000 in February 2003. There was a similar increase in the number of flights last month, with 3,920 planes taking off and landing, compared to 3,358 in the same month a year earlier.

[Today's Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob, Tallie Lieberman, and David Dorfman at the Consulate-General of Israel in New York.]

Israeline -- Wednesday, March 3, 2004 --

** TERRORISTS BEHIND NUMEROUS ATTACKS ON ISRAELIS KILLED IN IAF STRIKE
** WORLD BANK THREATENS TO CUT OFF AID TO PA
** ISRAEL CLOSE TO JOINING EU'S GALILEO PROJECT
** SHARON DENIES CHARGES OF TIES TO TANNENBAUM FAMILY
** OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF
** ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS

TERRORISTS BEHIND NUMEROUS ATTACKS ON ISRAELIS KILLED IN IAF STRIKE
Three Hamas terrorists were killed today in Israel Air Force missile strikes on the car in which they were traveling in the Gaza Strip, near the Jewish town of Netzarim, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. The three men were involved in numerous attacks against Israelis and were in the midst of planning additional ones. The victims were identified as Ammar Hassan, Tarrad Al-Jammali and Ibrahim al-Dairi.

The IAF operation is the second one in a week. On Saturday night, three senior Islamic Jihad members were killed in a similar preemptive strike as they were traveling between the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City and the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

In other security-related news, Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot and killed an armed Palestinian overnight Tuesday during an operation to arrest fugitives in the Tulkarm refugee camp. Next to his body soldiers found a Kalashnikov rifle. Security forces arrested seven fugitives during the raid.

WORLD BANK THREATENS TO CUT OFF AID TO PA
The World Bank has given Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat an ultimatum to end financial mismanagement or risk losing foreign aid, MA'ARIV reported. In an interview with The Scotsman, the bank's top Middle East official, Nigel Roberts, said that if Arafat did not stop corrupt financial practices - including giving large cash payments to his security commanders in order to keep them loyal to him personally - the PA would risk losing the support of the international community.

With suspicions of corruption running high, continued financial support "will require a very forceful program of continued commitment to reform by the PA and by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance," Roberts said. "Without evident commitment and progress towards tightening these systems and improving accountability, the PA will not get the money it needs."

At a conference of foreign donors in Rome last year, the PA asked for $1.2 billion to alleviate its current financial crisis. The Palestinians are receiving the largest amount of money per capita in the history of foreign aid - over $300 per capita - yet it is still not enough to balance the budget. Roberts said that while there had been a reduction in aid, this was mainly the result of a cut from Arab League States.

ISRAEL CLOSE TO JOINING EU'S GALILEO PROJECT
Israel is close to joining the European Union's multi-billion-dollar Galileo navigation satellite project, European Union ambassador Oded Eran said on Tuesday, HA'ARETZ reported. "We hope to sign within the next few weeks to take part in Galileo," Eran said. "Once again, Israel is part of the small club of non-members joining the EU in an important scientific project." The planned system of 27 satellites could potentially be used for purposes such as guiding cars and ships, assisting in the landing of military aircraft, or precision positioning in engineering projects.

How much Israel will pay toward the project is still under negotiation. Sources suggested it would be tens of millions of euros.

Eran explained that once an agreement for Israel to be part of Galileo was found, Israel's connection to the EU would be the closest possible short of the actual EU membership.

China, which signed up last year to join Galileo, is so far the only non-EU member to participate in the project which is due to operate in 2008 as an alternative to the American Global Positioning System (GPS).

SHARON DENIES CHARGES OF TIES TO TANNENBAUM FAMILY
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denied today allegations that he had business ties with Elhanan Tannenbaum's family, qualifying them as "a wild attack, the likes of which I have never seen before," THE JERUSALEM POST reported. According to a MA'ARIV report, Sharon established business ties with Shimon Cohen, Tannenbaum's father-in-law, in the 1970's to help manage his Negev ranch. Sources close to the prime minister and Cohen himself discounted the account, saying that the relationship lasted no longer than a month. "I made my decision (to go ahead with the prisoner swap deal) based on pertinent considerations. Full stop!" Sharon said. "I did not know about Tannenbaum's family relations with Mr. Shimon Cohen, whom I haven't seen or talked to in decades."

"For about 30 years, since 1975, I have neither seen him nor spoken to him," Cohen told Israel Radio.

Sharon said that the first time he heard of the connection between Tannenbaum and the ex-business associate was midnight Tuesday.

OTHER NEWS IN BRIEF

Minister of Defense Shaul Mofaz put an executive order against unauthorized outposts to the test Tuesday, telling the High Court of Justice that unless settlers left six outposts by Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces would evacuate them, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. Mofaz's move follows a three-month legal battle in which the settlement movement petitioned the court to dismiss a government order giving settlers 10 days to leave outposts. Slated for evacuation are Hazon David, Tal Binyamin, Bat Ayin West, Ginot Arye, Havat Shaked, and Havat Maon. In all, the Defense Ministry has designated 28 outposts as being unauthorized.

ECONOMIC & HI-TECH BRIEFS

Israeli med-tech startup Tactile Technologies, which developed a system to apply dental implants using a miniature robot, has raised $4 million from Gerald Niznick, founder of Paragon Dental Implant company, THEMARKER.COM reported. Tactile's technology enables precise implantation of dental devices in the mouth. The proper location of dental implants is a highly complex process involving high planning costs. The company's Implant Location System, or ILS, maps the jaw bones and allows for remote guidance of the tiny robot, which temporarily attaches to the jaw at the implantation site. The robot's sensors transmit information about the anatomy of the implantation site to a small computer in the dentist's office.

Jerusalem Venture Partners participated this week in an $18 million financing round by U.S. start -up Quarry Technologies, GLOBES reported. Westbury Partners also participated in the round alongside existing Quarry Technologies investors 31 Group, ARCH Venture Partners, JVP, Sofinnova Ventures, and Walden International Investment Group.

[Today's Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob and Arielle Bernstein at the Consulate-General of Israel in New York.]

ISRAEL SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH TURKEY TO IMPORT WATER
An agreement in principle to import water from Turkey was signed today at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, HA’ARETZ reported. According to the agreement, signed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director Yoav Biran and his Turkish counterpart Or Laziel, Israel will import 50 million cubic meters of water per year for a period of 20 years, for a total of one billion cubic meters. The water will be brought to Israel from a water export facility built by the Turks on the Manbaget river in the south of the country. The price of the water and method of transportation will be decided in negotiations between the sides.

The amount of water Israel would import from Turkey will constitute 3 percent of the country's drinking water consumption.

U.S. SAYS SHARON’S PLAN COULD BE HISTORIC
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan for unilateral separation from the Palestinians has the "potential to be historic," the White House said Wednesday, THE JERUSALEM POST reported.

Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, the National Security Council's senior adviser on Middle East affairs Elliott Abrams, and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns will visit Israel next week to continue discussions on the plan, which includes a withdrawal of settlers from the Gaza Strip by the end of the year.

National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said Wednesday that talks Monday between senior US officials, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of State Colin Powell, and a team led by Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass "were very helpful."

"And we will continue them in the coming weeks. The prime minister's ideas are promising and the discussions are very useful to examine the details and the many ramifications," McCormack said. "The prime minister's proposals have the potential to be historic."

ISRAELI ARAB BROTHERS RECRUITED BY HEZBOLLAH ARRESTED
Two Israeli Arab brothers from the Galilee were arrested this morning on suspicion of relaying information and weapons to Palestinian terrorist cells in Jenin on behalf of Hezbollah, THE JERUSALEM POST reported. A Fatah base in Jordan reportedly recruited the brothers to work for a Hezbollah operative living in Jordan. Mohammed Kanana, 39, and Majid Hussam Kanana, 33, are senior members of the Sons of the Village Movement, a radical secular movement on the fringe of the Israeli Arab sector, established in the 1970’s. Majid admitted that he transferred electric goods from Jordan to Hezbollah operative Ibrahim Ajwa Ajwa in Jenin. Majid was able to send the goods via Lans al-Aziz, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; Al-Aziz has since been arrested by security forces and is incarcerated in Israel.

A SD computer memory card containing Hezbollah’s instructions on the preparation of weapons, explosives and rockets was hidden within the electric products that Majid was unable to smuggle to terrorist cells in Jenin. Majid and Mohammed received between $10,000 and $12,000 dollars for their service to Hezbollah. The Kanana brothers will be indicted at the Haifa Magistrates court.

POLICE COMMISSIONER TELLS KNESSET ‘MORE TIME IS NEEDED’ IN TANNENBAUM CASE
Following two days of poly-graph tests, Police Commissioner Shlomo Aharonishky told Knesset Subcommittee on the Secret Services today that Elhanan Tannenbaum’s interrogation would continue next week at the offices of the police's unit for international crime, MA’ARIV reported. Investigators concluded that Tannenbaum answered truthfully to the majority of questions he was asked. However, they are not ruling out the possibility that he is among the 10 percent of those who are able to mislead the machine. If Tannenbaum's version of having traveled to Dubai to score a major drug deal is the truth, he will be released based on a plea agreement signed on Sunday with the State. But if his version of the events turns out to be fabricated, and the possibility exists that he revealed military secrets to his captors, the agreement will be canceled and Tannenbaum will be tried.

An Israeli citizen was lightly injured today when a Kassam rocket hit a Jewish town in the northern Gaza Strip, MA’ARIV reported. One of the houses in the community was damaged. Earlier, Palestinians opened fire at an Israel Defense Forces outpost near Neve-Dekalim.

Meanwhile, IDF forces were operating in Rafah today in the southern part of the Gaza Strip in order to uncover tunnels used to smuggle weapons across the border with Egypt. Palestinians threw grenades and shot at the soldiers and set up explosives. A Palestinian boy was shot and killed by IDF troops during the operation.

Manufacturing process management solutions company Tecnomatix Technologies and HP have announced a six-year, multi-million dollar agreement whereby HP will manage and support most of Tecnomatix's worldwide internal information technologies operations, GLOBES reported. In addition, the companies will jointly promote Tecnomatix's products. "This agreement is in line with our strategy to partner with world-leading IT service providers in order to scale our operations, expand our market coverage and accelerate our growth," said Tecnomatix president and CEO Jaron Lotan.

[Today's Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob, David Nekrutman and Tallie Lieberman at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]

BILLION DOLLAR MILITARY EXPORT DEAL SIGNED WITH INDIA
Israel Aircraft Industries is to provide the Indian Air Force with three advanced Phalcon early-warning planes, for a total purchase price of $1.1 billion - the largest ever for Israel’s thriving security export industry, HA'ARETZ reported. The Phalcon combines avionics from state-owned IAI with Russian Ilyushin airliners, and is considered a competitor to the U.S. Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft.

The director general of the Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, said today that the signing of the Phalcon deal represented a significant breakthrough for the defense industry. “The Phalcon deal will contribute to the Israeli economy,” he said, “and improve the reputation of the Israeli defense industry in the global market.”

Under stiff U.S. pressure, Israel canceled a similar sale to China in 2000. At the time, the United States argued that such aircraft would increase the threat to Taiwan and endanger U.S. pilots in case of war with China. The Times of India reported in January that the White House had made clear to Indian officials that it supported the sale by Israel to India of the Phalcon and Arrow anti-missile systems.

HIGH TERROR ALERT DECLARED IN CENTRAL ISRAEL
A high level of alert was declared this morning in central Israel following specific intelligence of a possible infiltration by a Palestinian suicide bomber, MA’ARIV reported. Large Police and Israel Defense Forces contingents were deployed in and around the Green Line and the Sharon region, setting up roadblocks. Highway 5 was shut down in both directions.
On Thursday, the IDF decided to impose a complete closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip to ensure safety during the Purim holiday, which begins on Saturday night and lasts through Monday. The closure will remain effective until Tuesday morning. While the rest of the country celebrates Purim on Sunday, Jerusalemites will celebrate the holiday on Monday.

In other news, a terrorist planning to carry out a suicide bombing in Israeli territory was injured in a village near Nablus when the bomb he had been preparing went off prematurely. The Red Crescent evacuated him to the town of Salfit.

HEALTH MINISTRY APPROVES CLONING HUMAN EMBRYOS
The Health Ministry has decided in principle to approve cloning human embryos for scientific research and producing embryonic stem cells, HA’ARETZ reported. Professor Yosef Itzkovitz, director of the women's ward in Rambam Hospital, advocated for the ministry to make such a decision. Itzkovitz wants to research embryos and derive stem cells from them in an effort to discover how to get these cells to be used in therapies. For example, the cells producing insulin could be used to treat diabetes, or neurons could replace those damaged in the brains of Parkinson's disease patients.

About seven years ago Itzkovitz took fertilized eggs donated by women who had in vitro fertilization to Wisconsin University producing the first human embryonic stem cells.

The Ombudsman for Future Generations in the Knesset, Judge (ret.) Shlomo Shoham, criticized the ministry’s decision saying the latter "failed to inform the public or to act with transparency."

An Ashdod resident was arrested for his alleged involvement in planting bombs in Haifa against Arab targets, Isarel Radio, KOL YISRAEL, reported. Twenty-two-year old Yevgeny Grossman is suspected of having knowledge of at least some of the bombs planted in Haifa by Eliran Golan. Golan, 22, a resident of Haifa's Neve Shaanan neighborhood is suspected of planting bombs in an attempt to target a number of Haifa's Arab residents over the past three years.

The British weekly, The Economist, is keeping its original growth forecast for 2004 for Israel, GLOBES reported. In contrast to the Ministry of Finance, which revised its growth forecast from 2.5 percent to 2.8 percent, The Economist believes that it is premature to change its growth forecast for 2004, despite expectations of rising domestic consumption, exports, tourism, and foreign investment. The magazine stated, "if there is place to revise the GDP growth rates upwards, it's for 2005."

[Today's Israel Line was prepared by Victor Chemtob and Ehud Tal at the Consulate General of Israel in New York.]