
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 14, 1994                   TAG: 9403140167
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Newsday
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Medium

ISRAEL BANS 2 EXTREMIST GROUPS IT CALLS `TERRORIST'

Israel's Cabinet, hoping to overcome Palestinian security fears and coax the PLO back to the negotiating table, Sunday outlawed two Jewish extremist groups linked to the Hebron mosque murderer Baruch Goldstein.

The unanimous vote branded as terrorist organizations Kach and Kahane Chai, both heirs to the anti-Arab demagoguery of the late New York rabbi Meir Kahane.

If police follow up on the decision with arrests, the leaders, members, representatives and overt sympathizers of the two groups could be charged and jailed for up to 20 years under a 1948 statute aimed at silencing people who incite or support terrorist violence.

Legal commentator Moshe Negbi told Israel Radio that banning the groups is only the first step to an effective crackdown.

"If there will be no determination by the government to enforce the law, the declaration (that these are terrorist groups) will be useless," he said.

"So far, we did not see such determination on the part of law enforcement entities to enforce even the existing criminal law on these groups."

The terrorism law has been used in recent times against Palestinian militants, chiefly the Palestine Liberation Organization that is now engaged in peace talks with Israel. It has been used against Jewish groups only twice.

Herbert Sunshine, a Kach activist in Jerusalem, denounced the move as "the end of democracy" and denied the movement advocated violence.

David Axelrod, spokesman for Kahane Chai, said, "We will continue to act and to express the same ideas. We won't give up."

Palestinian activist Faisel Husseini responded positively to the Cabinet move, but told Israeli television that "the most important thing is implementation of the decision."

Meanwhile, in Hebron, the Associated Press reported that prayer leaders attacked the United Nations in sermons Sunday for not condemning the mosque massacre, while mourners vowed revenge.

Prayer leader Salah Razim, addressing about 800 worshipers in sermons marking the end of Ramadan at a mosque adjacent to the Tomb of the Patriarchs, said it was unbelievable that the U.N. had been unable to issue a condemnation 17 days after the massacre.

In the northern West Bank town of Tulkarem, Palestinians hurled stones at Israeli soldiers who responded with gunfire, Palestinian reports said. Bullets struck Anwar Zaki Farhati, 23, four times, killing him, they said.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin said Israel and the PLO are very close to resuming talks. Israel radio reported a starting date of March 21, but Israeli and Palestinian officials would not confirm it.

Dennis Ross, the U.S. envoy to the talks, will meet today with PLO chairman Yasser Arafat in Tunisia, Beilin said on state television.

by CNB