Mideast Report

Friday, July 12, 2002 | by

JERUSALEM (JTA)—An Israeli ministerial committee on Monday decided to privatize El Al Israel Airlines. As a result of the committee's decision, shares in the national airline will be sold off gradually. Government officials have yet to decide whether or not the privatized airline will be allowed to fly on Shabbat.

Also on Monday, an Israeli legislator said he is considering filing a no-confidence motion in the government after El Al flight 106 from Los Angeles was permitted to land in Israel on the Sabbath. Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh gave the plane clearance to land in Tel Aviv on Saturday, saying Israelis who witnessed the July 4 shooting attack at the airline's check-in counter at Los Angeles International Airport should be able to reunite with their families without delay.

Legislator Moshe Gafni, of the United Torah Judaism bloc, told Army Radio there was no reason to allow the plane to land on the Sabbath because the situation did not involve life or death.

Wakf to investigate Western Wall leak

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Officials from the Islamic Wakf will investigate a week-old water leak at the Western Wall today, the director of the Islamic Trust said.

The leak, first noticed nine days ago by worshipers, has dampened a 10-by-40 centimeter section of the wall.

The drip, coming from the middle of a stone, is thought to be coming from a leaking water pipe underneath the Temple Mount just above the Wall.

"We do want to safeguard the wall, and we will be examining the area," Wakf director Adnan Husseini said.

Although Husseini denied that Wakf officials have been officially contacted about the problem—which he termed "not serious" and "inflated" by the media in Jerusalem—the Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch said the Islamic Trust, which has been left in charge of maintenance on the Temple Mount, was informed of the problem last Tuesday.

Rabinovitch said that the Wakf officials were again asked to carry out "thorough and comprehensive checks" to find the source of the leak.

Israeli diplomatic postings approved

JERUSALEM (JTA)—Israel's Cabinet has approved the country's new ambassadors to the United States, United Nations and France.

As a result of the Cabinet vote Sunday, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's foreign policy adviser, Danny Ayalon, will head to Washington, succeeding David Ivry, who left earlier this year. The head of Israel's Chambers of Commerce, Danny Gillerman, will replace Yehuda Lancry at the United Nations in September. And a former Labor Party secretary-general, Nissim Zvilli, will become Israel's ambassador to France.