World Briefs

Settler Murder Retaliated

IDF helicopters fired three to four missiles at a Palestinian security post in the West Bank city of Nablus on Wednesday causing no casualties, Palestinian security forces and witnesses said. The strike on the Force 17 post came just hours after Israeli helicopters struck two security posts in Nablus in retaliation for the overnight killing of a Jewish settler, 40-year-old Zohar Shurgi, from Moshav Yafit in the Jordan Valley by Palestinian gunmen. Israeli anti-tank missiles also hit a security target in the West Bank city of Jericho earlier on Wednesday after gunmen fired at motorists.

Israeli Merchant Killed in Jordan

An Israeli diamond merchant in his 50s was shot to death in unclear circumstances in Amman, Jordan. The Jordanian information minister, who identified the victim as Yitzhak Shneir, said the slaying could have been a “settling of scores among business associates.”

But Abu Dhabi television said a group calling itself the Islamic Jordanian Resistance Movement claimed responsibility, citing what it called Israel’s mistreatment of the Palestinians.

Israeli Military: Back Arafat

Israeli defense officials are advising the government to take steps to prevent the collapse of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat’s regime. The Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported Tuesday that the officials are warning that the collapse of the Palestinian Authority could lead to chaos in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Knot Tied in Slovak Town

In the first full-scale religious Jewish wedding in Kosice, Slovakia, in 60 years, Los Angeles-born Shawn Landres married Zuzana Riemer in an open-air ceremony Sunday. Landres, a graduate student at both Oxford University and the University of California at Santa Barbara, met his bride during a sports camp for Slovak Jewish youth in 1998.

Women Join Suicide Teams

Dozens of Palestinian women are responding to a decree issued by Saudi Arabia’s High Islamic Council to become suicide bombers, according to the Sunday Times of London. The report of last week’s decree comes after a 23-year-old mother of two was arrested with explosives at Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station last Friday.

Some Islamic officials reportedly had opposed allowing women to become suicide bombers, but changed their minds after an Israeli attack last week that killed eight Palestinians, including top members of Hamas.

Netanyahu Nephew: No IDF for Me

A nephew of former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Israel’s Supreme Court for conscientious objector status. Yonatan Ben-Artzi, a teenager facing the draft like all Israeli 18-year-olds, said Aug. 1, he is opposed to all armies.

Sanctions Act Becomes Law

President Bush last Friday signed into law a five-year extension of the Iran-Libya Sanctions Act, which punishes foreign companies that invest in the countries’ energy sectors. Bush, who favored a two-year extension of the bill, expressed support for a new provision in the law that requires a report on the impact of the sanctions.

Israel Gets Historic Haggadah

A 15th-century haggadah bought in April for more than $1 million was donated last Friday to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The First Nuremberg Haggadah, written and illustrated in Germany in 1449 by a man known as Joel ben Simeon, was purchased by New York collector Erica Jesselson at a Sotheby’s auction in Tel Aviv. “This haggadah is a patrimonial treasure, like the Mona Lisa,” James Snyder, director of the Israel Museum said.