<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=windows-1255"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2600.0" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>Tel-Aviv, 15/12/2001 (Saturday night, close to twelve) "We  shoot them in the head and no questions asked" (Some tidbits from a depressing weekend.) - How did six Palestinian policemen die, yesterday in Salfeet on the northern part of the West Bank? The IDF spokesman claims they were killed in battle with Israeli troops. Palestinian sources say they were killed AFTER being surprised and disarmed. The truth will probably never come out.  - Less doubt about the four Palestinians killed today at Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip. It seems that three of them were boys, resisting with nothing but stones the massive Israeli forces which invaded their town, infantry and tanks and armored personnel carriers.   - Yesterday, on prime time First Channel Israeli TV, an interview with a reserve soldier fresh from a tour of duty in the Territories. A likeable- seeming fellow, slightly balding, with a baby on his knees. Opposite him in the simply-furnished living room, his wife with an older child.  Wife:"Whenever you go there, I am very worried. I know how many difficulties and worries you have, whether or not to shoot." Soldier: "Actually, nowadays there is much less of a dilemma. We more or less got a clearance from both the military and the political echelons. Nowadays, we shoot them in the head and no questions asked" (smiling while caressing baby's head). Wife: "You want to be a big hero, but the end will be I will have to bring up alone these kids". [As of this minute, there came no denial from either the military or the political echelon that such a "clearance" was given to soldiers. Actually, the interview failed to cause any big furore - which is a significant datum in itself.] - A curious interview with Foreign Minister Peres in yesterday's Yediot Aharonot. "Some of Sharon's military operations make me horrified... I hope that the policy of liquidations is not extended to include the Palestinian political echelons. If it is, we are going quite soon to be declared war criminals by the international community." Having said that, does he intend to resign? "Not at all. I still hope to be able to work fruitfully together with Mr. Sharon". - This evening, at the Peace Now vigil outside the Prime Minister's residence in Jerusalem, many voices chanting in unison "Sharon, Sharon, the Hague is waiting" - punctuated by beating on a large drum brought along by one of the participants. The chanting was highly audible inside the building and along the neighboring streets, and the vigil figured prominently on the TV news,  somewhat denting Sharon's claim to have the backing of "a united nation". Some participants called out :"Peres, Peres, don't despair - for you there is place  too in the Hague!" - A minor news story dug up by Nahum Barnea of Yediot Aharonot: a person or persons unknown has been recently spray-painting the words "WAR CRIMINAL" on cars bearing military license plates in the Tel-Aviv area, including the car of  a senior Air Force commander. The army dismissed the affair as "The act of a deranged person"; nevertheless, the plan was announced to phase out within half a year the distinctive black license plates which decorated IDF vehicles since the State of Israel and its armed forces were created; instead, military cars would be equipped  with yellow plated indistinguishable from those of civilian vehicles. - So much for deranged persons, and now the planned activity of those who are considered sane around here:   Tomorrow (Sunday, 16/12), at 12.30 PM, West Bank settlers intend to hold the inauguration ceremony of a new settlement, with a procession, under close military guard, from the existing settlement of Enav (southeast of Tul Karm on the West Bank) to a hill to the north, where the new settlement will be erected. - Three hours later, at 3.30 PM, settlers at another settlement, Sa Nur, intend to ceremoniously transform a mosque into a synagogue. The mosque was erected on the site by soldiers of the Jordanian Army which prior to 1967 had a camp nearby, and was afterwards used occasionally by local villagers. When an Israeli settlement named Sa Nur was established on the spot, the mosque was enclosed within its fortified perimeter and further access denied to Muslim worshippers. Now, the Sa Nur settlers, members of the ultra-orthodox Chabad movement,  intend to transform it into a synagogue and place a Torah scroll in the niche which the original builders installed according to the Islamic tradition - in the direction of Mecca. Adam Keller & Beate Zilversmidt </DIV></BODY></HTML>