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10 New Years to Remember
By Alexander Zvielli
ROSH HASHANA 1995:
The last days before Rosh Hashana were marked by the September 28 Oslo Accords White House ceremony attended by Israel’s prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, American president Bill Clinton, Egyptian prime minister Hosni Mubarak, Jordan’s King Hussein, and many other important personalities.
The Oslo document was 400 pages long and promised that the IDF redeployment would be completed by the end of December 1995.
Final status negotiations were deferred and were expected to be concluded no later than May 1999.
The new Treasury pension regulations assured the regular payment of workers’ annuities following retirement, death or disability.
"We are going to win!" exclaimed Efraim Zinger, the all-powerful director-general of the Israel Olympic Committee, while preparing his forces to meet the challenge of Atlanta.
ROSH HASHANA 1996:
The assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 5, 1995, still cast a heavy shadow over Israel. In his Rosh Hashana message, president Ezer Weizman said: "At this time of soul-searching and repentance, we have to learn the lessons of this painful experience and what was unearthed in its wake — so that it should not, heaven forbid, be repeated."
The country’s trade deficit reached $1.05 billion — $2.34b. in imports against $1.29b in exports.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was optimistic about reaching an accord with Syria.
ROSH HASHANA 1997:
On the eve of the new year, the Israeli press noted the failure of the prolonged and fruitless negotiations for Palestinian autonomy. The Palestinians demanded a halt in settlement construction in the administered territories and Netanyahu objected.
There were reports of the threat that Soviet technology would enable Iran to produce medium-range missiles, which would put Israel within its striking range.
King Hussein was highly upset by an Israeli attempt to murder Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal in Jordan. Canada protested to Israel over the unlawful use of Canadian passports by Israeli secret services.
ROSH HASHANA 1998:
US peace envoy Dennis Ross’s 11-day mission to Israel ended inconclusively. Netanyahu told US secretary of state Madeleine Albright that there was progress in Ross’s talks, since Israel had agreed that at least 3 percent of the West Bank would be designated as a nature reserve.
Israeli soldiers suffered further casualties in Lebanon while LIBI, a voluntary organization for soldiers’ wellbeing, sought contributions for the strengthening of Israeli defense.
The UN General Assembly urged action on the Asian financial crisis and terror. US president Bill Clinton faced impeachment concerning the Monica Lewinsky affair.
ROSH HASHANA 1999:
The Jerusalem Post reported at length on the High Court’s decision to ban the use of physical force in the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), and how this ended the 10-year-long battle against brutality.
ROSH HASHANA 2000:
The visit by Likud leader Ariel Sharon to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem was used by the Palestinians as the trigger for the second intifada. Sharon pledged that he would use every democratic means to resist the division of Jerusalem.
The Israeli population grew by 2.5 percent and reached 6.3 million. Jews constituted 78.57% of the total population.
ROSH HASHANA 2001:
Israel expressed its solidarity with the US, following the previous week’s terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center and other American targets and the ensuing 5,500 casualties.
The Israeli police questioned Islamic Movement leaders and detained the muftis of Jerusalem and Ramallah for questioning, charging that they made inflammatory statements against Israel and the US, and had praised the terrorist attacks in New York.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, visiting the US, told the American Jewish leadership that "terror is terror and murder is murder." He was upset by an attempt to draw a distinction between terror in Israel and terror in the rest of the world.
ROSH HASHANA 2002:
Israel reinforced its presence in the Gaza Strip following the death of Lt. Malik Grifat and Sgt. Aviad Dotan and the wounding of four other soldiers there. On the same day, two border policemen and four Border Police volunteers thwarted a mega terror attack when they intercepted two vehicles between Wadi Ara and Givat Ada, one of them packed with 600 kilograms of explosives. Three other Palestinian would-be suicide bombers were captured in the West Bank.
ROSH HASHANA 2003:
A seven-month-old baby, Shaked Avraham, and a yeshiva graduate from Otniel, 26-year-old Eyal Yerberbaum, were murdered in the West Bank settlement of Negohot, when terrorists opened fire on a house filled with people eating a Rosh Hashana meal. Shaked was shot dead in her rocker. Palestinians were reported to have been particularly fond of staging infiltrations on Shabbat and Jewish holidays.
Discussions were held on the proposed controversial idea of building a security fence to protect Israel from such attacks.
ROSH HASHANA 2004:
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom worked hard to foil Palestinian attempts to get the UN to impose sanctions on Israel over the security fence issue. The US sought to limit UN resolutions biased against Israel.
Eleven Palestinian terrorists were killed in Jenin and Nablus, nine of them armed fugitives. Two Arab female university students who planned to launch a double suicide bombing surrendered to troops.
Pop icon Madonna was the center of attention when the Kabbala enthusiast made a private trip to Israel and addressed the crowd at a Spirituality for Kids dinner in Tel Aviv, calling for world peace and noting: "I realize now it’s no more dangerous to be here than in New York."
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