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weekly Cabinet meeting |
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| (21/04/2002) |
At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday), 21.4.2002:
1. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon opened the Cabinet meeting by
congratulating all the components of the security establishment - the
IDF, ISA, Israel Police and all who took part in operations in the
framework of Operation Defensive Shield.
Prime Minister Sharon thanked them upon the conclusion of this stage of
the operation stating that Israel achieved great accomplishments in the
framework of Operation Defensive Shield.
2. Prime Minister Sharon clarified that a number of ministers have
approached him on the issue of the appointment of the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch, and asked to appeal the decision of the ministerial committee
on the issue or to hold a discussion on the subject in the Cabinet. The
Prime Minister stated that after considering the matter, which is indeed
multi-faceted, he decided to honor the ministers' request to hold a
discussion on the subject in a wider forum. Therefore, the Cabinet
decided, based on the Prime Minister's comments, to suspend the decision
of the Ministerial Committee on the issue of choosing a Greek Orthodox
Patriarch of 15.4.2002 until the convening of the said discussion. In
accordance with this decision, the "Letter of Recognition" will not be
granted at this time.
3. Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer gave a security briefing during
the course of which he announced the arrest of the Ramallah Tanzim
commander. Furthermore, the Defense Minister reported that three and a
half weeks after the IDF set out on Operation Defensive Shield, it
completed its withdrawal from the cities, and deployment around them,
this morning.
The IDF continues to surround the Mukata in Ramallah, and continues to
remain in Bethlehem.
Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer also stated on an operational
level, the IDF actions achieved important accomplishments in everything
relating to damaging the terror infrastructure. The Defense Minister
related to two big achievements of the past week, the arrest of Tanzim
leader Marwan Barghouti and the arrest of Hussan Badran.
4. Prime Minister Sharon raised the issue of the "fact finding mission"
into the events in the Jenin refugee camp decided upon by the UN
Security Council. The Prime Minister related to the other options
available to Israel, as opposed to this agreement, and noted, that the
decision that was made was the least objectionable.
5. In accordance with the Internal Security Agency Law 2002, the Cabinet
appointed a Ministerial Committee for ISA matters. The committee is
comprised of:
The Prime Minister - Chairman
The Defense Minister
The Justice Minister
The Public Security Minister
Minister Dan Meridor.
The ministerial committee will act on behalf of the government on all
issues required by the Internal Security Agency Law.
The Cabinet decided to apply clause 44 (Secrecy) of Basic Law: The
Government on the deliberations of the committee.
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