Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- The Foreign Ministry workers' union is set to meet with senior ministry staff to coordinate a response to Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' appointment of Industry and Trade Minister Dalia Itzik as ambassador to the United Kingdom.

The union plans to discuss measures to fight political appointments in general and Itzik's in particular, including striking, not cooperating with political appointees and asking Civil Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander to rule her appointment illegal.

According to Civil Service Commission regulations, "It is forbidden for appointees to have a personal or political link to a minister in the government unless they have special skills appropriate for the job."

"I expect Hollander to check whether she has special skills in the English language, for example, that make her more suitable," a top Foreign Ministry official said, scoffing at her lack of proficiency in the language. "But language is not the whole story, language is just a tool," the official said. "...Israel's public relations problems tend to be at their worst in the places where political appointees are serving."

IDF soldiers held in ammo smuggling

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- The IDF said Tuesday it had detained a number of soldiers suspected of selling ammunition to Arabs and other civilians.

According to military sources, four servicemen were involved, and the incident is being investigated jointly by military police and local authorities. The IDF spokesman refused to reveal further details, but Israel Radio identified the four as two pairs of brothers from the settlements of Telem and Adora in the Judean Hills west of Hebron.

Arafat aide starts new secular party

RAMALLAH (JPS) -- Bassam Abu Sharif, an aide to Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, announced Monday he is forming a new secular political party, which will call for rejection of the Islamic movement's role in Palestinian society.

Abu Sharif said the party, which will be created soon, will be called the Palestinian Democratic Party, and that it will take part in Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for January. He said the party is needed to fill the political vacuum in the Palestinian Authority caused by the weakness of other Palestinian movements.