Mideast Report

JERUSALEM (JPS) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu narrowly survived three no-confidence motions in the Knesset Monday by a 50-55 vote.

Labor Knesset member Rafi Edri, who presented one of the bids by Labor and the Democratic Arab Party, said he filed the motion "on behalf of the large part of the population which has lost its faith in the prime minister and despairs of a clear diplomatic policy.

"I filed it as an expression of the feeling in the whole world."

But Deputy Defense Minister Silvan Shalom said if new elections were held today, the people would re-elect the Netanyahu-led Likud government.

He also said that filing weekly no-confidence motions cheapens the value of a legitimate parliamentary tool.

Palestinian teenager killed after stabbing Israeli soldier

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- An Israeli soldier Monday shot and killed a Palestinian teenager who stabbed another soldier near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank.

The Palestinian, later identified as Muadi Alawnweh, 18, had blocked an Israeli jeep Tuesday near the settlement of Elon Moreh.

The soldier who was stabbed was not seriously injured.

Bill blocking intifada suits expected to move ahead

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- The Knesset was scheduled this week to hold the first of three votes on a bill that would prevent Palestinians from suing Israel for injuries sustained during the Palestinian uprising.

The bill, initiated by Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi, would classify the 1987 to 1993 uprising, or intifada, as a war, a move that would make Israel not liable for damages.

Palestinians have filed some 4,000 claims for intifada-related damages totaling tens of millions of dollars, according to the Justice Ministry.

The bill, which would be retroactive, was expected to pass its first vote Wednesday.

Human rights groups in Israel have criticized the bill as violating the Basic Laws that serve Israel in lieu of a constitution.

High Court orders the arrest of suspect in murder case

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Israel's High Court of Justice has ordered Justice Minister Tzachi Hanegbi to seek the arrest and transfer of a Palestinian terrorist suspected of murdering an Israeli student within 120 days.

In May 1996, David Boim was killed in an attack near the settlement of Beit El.

His parents filed the petition, stating that the Justice Ministry had not done anything to demand the arrest and hand-over of the Palestinian, Amjad Hanawi, who is believed to be in the Palestinian autonomous areas.

Boim's father, Stanley, said the family acted because the government had not been moving on the matter.

"The murderer should be brought to justice in a court of justice in Israel," he told Israel Radio.

Netanyahu rejects budgets for 1998 as too downbeat

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the Finance Ministry's economic projections for 1998, finding them too negative.

In light of the initial figures, Netanyahu this week put off a scheduled Cabinet discussion of the 1998 budget, rescheduling it for mid-August.

By that time, according to instructions Netanyahu issued this week, the Finance Ministry was to come up with a new forecast that would include concrete proposals for growth in 1998.

The ministry said last week that it expected growth of only 3 to 3.5 percent in 1998, following a rise in gross domestic product of only 2.5 percent in 1997.

For most of the past decade, annual economic growth has hovered around 6 percent. The ministry also forecast that unemployment would reach 7.7 percent this year, and climb 0.2 percent next year.