Ha'aretz Newspaper, English edition 

 Senior sources at the Finance Ministry said  there would be a need to begin a series of  discussions to prepare for the new economic situation. The sources added that the security  crisis, the fall in tax collection, and the effort to  meet the deficit target, would force the Finance Ministry to formulate a comprehensive plan for  making cuts in the 2002 budget to the tune of at  least NIS 7 billion.

Treasury sources say the government will have to  take tough steps against private-member  legislation, cancel tax exemptions, and implement  additional drastic measures. Along with the cuts,  there will be a need to increase the defense  budget by at least NIS 1 billion.  Senior treasury officials oppose new taxes to  cover the heavy expenses of the state arising from IDF operations in the territories. At the  same time, the treasury is expecting a marked  drop in tax collecting in coming months due to the  slowdown in the economy.

Officials noted a significant fall-off in tax collection last month too. Senior treasury officials are conducting urgent consultations by telephone among themselves,  focusing on the economic effect the IDF operations in the territories will have, as well as  ways in which to finance the new and unexpected expenses.

The director-general of the Prime Minister's Office, Avigdor Yitzhaki, is also involved in the discussions, with the treasury's efforts being coordinated by Finance Minister Silvan Shalom and the ministry's director-general, Ohad Marani.

The two Finance Ministry chiefs believe there is a need to wait a few days, perhaps longer, to see how the situation develops. A relatively brief military operation that leads to a political process would have totally different economic impact than an operation that continues for an extended period.

Nevertheless, an unequivocal position has come out of the talks that have been held till now. Every effort must be made not to impose new taxes on the public, given the slowdown in the economy and the already-heavy tax burden in Israel. Increasing the tax burden would only reduce the economy's chances of climbing out of its current slump.

Official have seen a continuation of the trend of the previous months - a very significant falling off of more than 10 percent in real terms in tax collection.

The large drop is increasing the expected deficit in the 2002 state budget with treasury officials reckoning that the military operations and the drastic drop in economic activity that has come in the wake of the current wave of terror attacks will cause a further fall in tax collection over coming months.

One senior treasury official also said yesterday the serious security situation would leave the government with no choice but to further reduce National Insurance payments in 2002.

Instantaneous Killings of "Collaborators"! Reprinted from “Women in Green.” Ruth and Nadia Matar. It never ceases to amaze how the so-called "human rights" organizations are absolutely silent when it comes to the daily bloody executions carried out by Arabs, without trial, of those suspected of cooperating with Israel. Instead, concentration is had by the world media on grotesque and obvious lies told to them by the Arabs, which they never seriously question. Arab fantasies conjure up false massacres of Arabs in Jenin, knowing in advance that the media will repeat and spread such lies. The Arabs, of course, want to blacken the name of the humane Israeli Army, and they find a receptive audience in the world media. In an atmosphere of the renewal of world anti-Semitism, particularly in Europe, the Israel Defense Forces are being falsely pictured as barbaric, when they take the necessary measures to destroy the infrastructure of terrorist organizations. Arafat continuously refused the prolonged and futile exhortations of him by the United States and Europe to take the necessary measures to destroy such terrorism. In the end, Sharon was finally forced to act to stop the carnage of Jewish civilians, which was occurring on almost a daily basis. He went into the heartland of terrorism and destroyed the armed resistance of terrorists located there. This was done at the cost of the lives of Jewish soldiers killed by using 10-year-old suicide bombers and booby-trapping other Israel personnel who sought to reduce Arab civilian casualties. The Arabs abnormally and deliberately festered these hotbeds of hatred and hostility against Israel by maintaining such camps over the years. It was absolutely necessary to root out these evil sources emanating from these camps. These deliberate impoverished encampments bred despair and were a constant basis for violence, and were the main source of providing "suicide bombers." The Arab propensity to lie and deceive was never seriously questioned by the press, radio or television. Instead most of the world media, and particularly CNN, BBC and SKY NEWS freely gave to the Arabs as much airtime and press space, as they wanted. This world media freely aired the obvious distortions and perversions of the true facts. They pictured the victim as the aggressor. "Evil" became "Good". Jews, who normally should be subjects in need of sympathy and understanding, were rather pictured as ruthless invaders. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell previously had legitimized all such sordid actions of barbaric Arafat, and restored his prestige by meeting with him twice in Ramallah. Powell thereby showed the confusion that the U.S.'s double standard engendered.  It was truly a botched up job, unworthy of the moral leadership that the United States needs to provide to the world during these times.