The Jewish Times

              THE BOSTON
JEWISH
TIMES
Write the vision and make it plain upon tables.
HABAKKUK22
VOL. XXXX, NO. 53
THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 1985
12 ELUL 5745
TWENTY-FIVE CENTS
Land Fraud May Undermine
West Bank Settlements
By Joseph Berkofsky
JERUSALEM - Rabbi Meir
Kahane is being taken seriously.
As he arrived in the U.S. last
week, 12 major Jewish groups
jointly condemned him. The
Knesset has passed one bill and
filed another aimed at curbing
his plans for political success.
The media covers his every
word. What's at issue is nothing
less than the democratic
character of the Jewish state,
which Kahane's opponents say
he threatens.
But three Israelis now sit in
prison in a land fraud case which
could have more far-reaching
effects than any change Kahane
could bring. Police are
investigating possible fraud in
land sales on the West Bank,
after a recent report by the state
comptroller charged that most
land sales there are "rooted in
forgery, deceit, pressures and
threats."
The case could implicate the
entire Jewish settlement of the
West Bank, which in turn could
erode the far-right's argument
for being there. This could ruin
Kahane's hopes for a purely
Jewish Greater Israel, and
perhaps stem his rising political
fortunes.
The case "could turn out
extremely serious, with
implications    beyond   the
criminal aspects," said Tel-Aviv
Judge Binyamin Kohelet.
Deputy-Prime Minister and
Likud Leader Yitzhak Shamir
warned police last week not to
probe too deeply. "Redeeming
land in the land of Israel often
necessitated crafty and tricky
devices," he said. Kohelet and
Tel-Aviv District Court Judge
Uri Strosman last week ordered
an extension of prison terms for
three Israelis held in the case.
Police last month arrested
Michael Oren, Yehoshua
Mizrachi and Avraham Selim on
suspicion of possible fraudulent
land deals with Arabs on the
West Bank.
See Fraud page J
National Jewish Groups
Join In Condemning Kahane
Here are excerpts, from the
statement issued by twelve
national Jewish groups.
NEW YORK - Much of
organized American Jewry
joined recently in denouncing
American-born Israeli politician
Meir Kahane, calling his policies
"racism," "demagoguery," and
"a perversion of Jewish
religious, ethical and traditional
values and practices."
Rabbi Kahane who arrived in
the United States last week for a
month-long visit, heads a small
political party that advocates
ousting all Arabs from Israel and
has used violent tactics to
express its views.
Strongly decrying both the
tactics and the views, today's
condemnation of Rabbi
Kahane, by 12 major national
Jewish organizations, states that
See Kahane page 6
Dinitz, In Boston, Calls Israel Mood Good
By Joseph Berkofsky
Exclusive to the
Boston Jewish Times
Editor's note: Simcha Dinitz,
former Israeli ambassador to the
U.S., was in Boston last week for
an Israel Bonds reception. The
Labor Knesset member and top
advisor to various Israeli
administrations has a reputation
as a distinguished career
diplomat. Dinitz, a sabra, is
widely recognized as an
authority on Israel's domestic
and foreign affairs.
Mr. Dinitz was interviewed in
his Park Plaza suite last week as
he got ready to attend the Israel
Bonds reception and meet with
members of the local Israeli
diplomatic core.  He speaks in
slow measured tones, hallmark
of a diplomat. His style evokes
reason and calm, and even when
angered by a question, he shows
little emotion.
Jewish Times: The mood is
Israel is perceived as being worse
than ever. Inflation, at 27.5
percent in July, the aftermath of
the   Lebanon   War,   austerity
measures, and a new breed of
spontaneous terrorism have
been cited as factors. How
accurate are such reports?
Dinitz: Let's take one trajedy
at a time. The feeling in Israel
about Lebanon is a good feeling.
We are out. That was a mojor
achievement of this government
to   get   us   out   without   a
deterioration of the security
situation, and we hope it will
continue.
The 27.5 index is high but it is
not alarming because it was
predictable. The rate is an
indication of the previous
month, July, when heavy
measures were taken, including
cancellation of all subsidies,
See Dinitz page 6
Evangelicals Use Bible To Track Oil In Israel
By George Getschow
ATLIT, Israel - Moses, says
the Bible, ascended Mount
Nebo, gazed upon the Promised
Land and blessed the 12 sons of
Jacob. The land given to
Zebulum and Issachar would
contain "treasures hid in the
sand." Asher's land would be so
bountiful that he would "dip his
feet in oil."
Today Moses' ancient
prophecies in Deuteronomy 33
have inspired one of the biggest
treasure hunts of all time.
Hundreds of evangelical
Christians from America's Bible
Belt are investing millions of
dollars here in hopes of finding
the world's largest oil deposit.
Instead of seismographic
studies, evangelical oilmen rely
on maps of ancient tribal lands
and on readings of the
Scriptures. When they run into
drilling problems that would
drive most Texas wildcatters to
drink, they turn to prayer. And
to help raise drilling funds, they
generally call on big-name
evangelical ministers rather than
Wall Street brokers to out their
ventures.
Prayers For Project
"I just thank the Lord and
pray for this project because it
could revolutionize the
fulfillment of Bible prophecy,"
Pat Roberts, the host of
Christian Broadcsting Net-
work's "700 Club," told nis
television audience after being
advised by one evangelical
oilman that within days his
drillers would tap into "the
largest oil field ever discovered."
Alas, instead of discovering
oil, the driller got hopelessly
stuck 21,428 feet below the Holy
Land and abandoned their well
two years ago. Today, despite all
the prayers of the investors, the
$13 million Asher-Atlit No. 1
appears to be just another of
many   dry   holes   drilled   by
evangleical oilmen in Israel.
These divinely inspired ventures
are still waiting for a miracle to
happen. And the oilmen and
their backers have no doubt that
it will.
"It will be a Red Sea type
miracle," says Harris "Koop"
Darcy, a Houston geologist who
has invested about $100,000 in
Asher-Atlit 1. "There's so much
junk in the hole that it's probably
physically impossible to save it,
but I believe that God will
miraculously open the well and it
will just start flowing on its own.
It will be done His way and in
His time."
�
Among those who hope Mr.
Darcy is right is the state of
Israel. It offers to put up 44 cents
for eeach $1 invested by the
evangelicals or other outsiders
and sells the drilling licenses
cheaply in return for 12'/$
percent royalties.
Despite the lack of success so
far, "there are still tons of people
who would like to get in," says
Bob Rogers, the manager of an
evangelical radio station in
Kentucky. Mr. Rogers
organized a group of Kentucky
evangelicals who sank several
hundred thousand dollars into
the Asher-Atlit well, which was
drilled at the place where a
Houston wildcatter believes
Asher dipped his foot in oil
�
Just where Asher left his
footprint is something that
evangelical oilmen can't seem to
agree on. The Houston
wildcatter, Andy SoRelle,
known as the Moses of the
Asher-Atlit project, chose a spot
on the Mediterranean coast 12
miles north of the Shinor-
libnath, or "the River of the
Crocodiles." Wesley Hancock of
San Francisco says the correct
spot is clearly about six miles
north of Atlit along the base of
Mount Carmel, in the region
where he drilled two dry holes 25
years ago.
Another View
"Scripturally speaking,
SoRelle and Hancock both
drilled in the wrong places,"says
another evangelical oilman, 73-
year-old Clifford Ford, who is
certain that the oil doesn't lie in
the land of Asher at all but in the
lands of Zebulum and Issachar.
Moses, after all, prophesied that
these sons of Jacob would "suck
of the abundance of the seas,"
Mr. Ford says, "and there's a big
difference between just dipping
your foot in oil and sucking an
abundance of it out of the sea."
Harold "Hayseed" Stephens,
a stocky evangelical preacher
and oilman from Weatherford,
Texas, says the Scriptures
revealed to him that the world's
largest oil deposit isn't in the
tribal lands but in the ancient
valley of Siddim, where,
See Oil page 11