Mideast rReport

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Three Israeli soldiers abducted to Lebanon a year ago are dead, the army's chief rabbi officially announced last Friday.

The army declared earlier last week that the soldiers probably are dead, but according to Israel Defense Force procedure the final decision is left to the IDF's chief rabbi.

The families have demanded concrete evidence that their sons are dead, and say the government has not done enough to rescue them. Hezbollah guerrillas abducted the three soldiers -- Omar Souad, Binyamin Avraham and Adi Avitan on Oct. 7, 2000.

Gaza security head 'quits'; boss says 'no'

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Yasser Arafat refused to accept the resignation of his Palestinian security chief in Gaza.

Palestinian sources said Mohammed Dahlan resigned to express dissatisfaction with Arafat's handling of the political situation with Israel and the recent arrest of some Arab militants. Dahlan does not want the Palestinian Authority to arrest any militants, despite repeated Israeli demands.

Dahlan likely will remain in his position despite the resignation, which Palestinian analysts described as a symbolic act of protest.

Boeing-El Al venture to make skies safer?

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Boeing and El Al Israel Airlines may create a joint airline-security business. The two companies recently signed a memorandum of understanding to study the feasibility of creating a joint venture to establish a security and safety business for airlines, airports and governments worldwide.

State-controlled El Al is well known for its security expertise, and many passengers consider it safer than other airlines.

Both companies plan to take 60 days to examine how a joint venture would be established. If formed, the venture could include developing technology, manufacturing products, designing systems and procedures, and training personnel, according to the Jerusalem Post.

Rejected land slated for new Negev town

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel authorized the creation of a community in an area of the Negev it once offered to the Palestinian Authority. The planned community of Be'er Milka is in an area known as the Halutza sand dunes.

At the Camp David summit last year, then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak reportedly offered the Palestinians a portion of the sand dunes in exchange for Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank. In his election campaign, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon vowed to create communities at Halutza to block future plans for the area to be included in a land swap with the Palestinian Authority.

Ex-USSR emigres, the IDF wants you!

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Some 165 Jews arrived in Israel from the former Soviet Union to serve on non-combative Israel Defense Force bases.

Some 900 people have come to Israel on the Jewish Agency for Israel program this year, an increase from previous years. Most of the participants in the project are parents whose children are serving in the army or who came to Israel on a Jewish Agency educational program.

Report: Yemenite kids were never abducted

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- There were no state-sponsored abductions of Yemenite children during the 1950s, according to a newly released report. Echoing the findings of earlier sate-sponsored commissions, a panel headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Yehuda Cohen found that the children died of various illnesses.

Some members of the Yemenite community have long alleged that hundreds of their children who arrived in the immigration waves of the early 1950s were kidnapped and sold to Ashkenazi families. The Jewish Agency for Israel is criticized in the latest report, which said no central listing was kept to track infant deaths and provide burial information to parents.