- A United Nations report published Tuesday says that only
11 percent of the planned 687-kilometer fence Israel is building to separate
itself from the West Bank will actually follow the 1967 Green Line border.
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- The barrier will ultimately disrupt the lives of 680,000
Palestinians and carve off 14.5 percent of the West Bank, the report said.
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- Israel says the barrier is necessary to keep out the
suicide bombers who have claimed the lives of hundreds of Israelis over
the past three years, while the Palestinians call it an attempt to pre-determine
the border ahead of any final peace agreement.
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- Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told Army Radio on Tuesday
that the issue of the fence, whose route has been a source of contention
between Jerusalem and Washington, was not raised in his talks with U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon on Monday.
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- Mofaz described the meeting as "very good,"
saying that the talks dealt with strategic matters, including cooperation
between Israel and U.S.
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- Speaking from Washington, where he is due to meet with
Secretary of State Colin Powell and National Security Advisor Condoleezza
Rice in the coming days, Mofaz told the radio that the issues he discussed
with his American counterpart would contribute to the security of the State
of Israel, but declined to elaborate.
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- The defense minister denied that a debate on the removal
of illegal settlement outposts held in the run-up to his U.S. trip was
designed to smooth the way for his visit.
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- Israel is "not playing to an American gallery,"
Mofaz said, adding that military policy on the "unauthorized"
outposts remains unchanged.
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- On Monday, Israel Radio quoted the defense minister as
telling Rumsfeld that Israel would strike Syrian soil again if Damascus
continued to provide a haven for terror.
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- Last month, Israel Air Force warplanes struck a militant
training camp in Syria, in the wake of the terror attack at a Haifa restaurant
that killed 21 people.
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- In a briefing following the two-hour meeting Monday,
Rumsfeld declined to condemn the air strike, the radio said.
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- Mofaz also raised the issue of Iran, saying that the
combination of non-conventional weapons, an extremist regime and a nation
that supports terror posed a threat to Israel and the entire world, the
radio said.
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