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Hoping the New Year will be more bearable: Michal, a Syrian brown bear living in the Ramat Gan safari, licks honey from pomegranates and apples. (AP)
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| By Associated Press October 3, 2005 |
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A lull in five years of violence with the Palestinians and the pullout from the Gaza Strip has more Israelis feeling upbeat on the eve of the Jewish New Year, which begins at nightfall Monday.
A new poll published on Monday showed more than half of Israelis expecting better times in the coming year.
"After the disengagement we're hoping for good things," said Roni Yaas, a merchant in the Mahane Yehuda open-air market in Jerusalem, referring to the disengagement from Gaza, completed last month. "The last year was quiet here, as far as terror attacks are concerned. We hope it will stay that way."
Yaas offered hearty new years greetings to flocks of patrons at his seeds and nuts stand. The bustling market has been a frequent target of suicide bombers in the past, but has not been struck in more than a year. On Monday it was packed with Israelis shopping for fish, fruits and vegetables for the two-day holiday marking the beginning of the new year, 5766 to the Jewish counting.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke hopefully of movement on the long-stalled, internationally backed "road map" peace plan, which envisions an independent Palestinian state existing peacefully alongside Israel.
"I hope that in the coming year there will be great progress in the diplomatic process and we will implement the course that was laid out in the 'road map,"' Sharon told the Yediot Ahronot newspaper in an interview published Monday.
Unlike past new years, in which political violence defined major news events, this year was capped by the Gaza pullout, which a majority of Israelis supported. Israelis said the pullback, the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the significant drop in suicide bombings have left them feeling more optimistic about the coming year.
According to a poll published on Monday in the mass-circulation daily Maariv, 54 percent of Israelis said they believed their personal situation would improve in the coming year, as opposed to 47 percent in last year's poll. Thirty-seven percent predicted the state of the country would improve, compared to 32 percent last year. The CA Research Institute, which conducted the poll, gave no margin of error or other details.
"I think the Jewish people today are going today to celebrate this New Year with slightly fewer fears and a bit more hope, with slightly fewer pains and a few more prospects," Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Israel Radio.
Still, the continuing tense security situation and the threat of more militant attacks keeps many Israelis from resting easily just yet.
On Saturday, the government's anti-terror unit urged the tens of thousands of Israelis who had planned to spend the holidays in Egypt's Sinai peninsula to cancel their plans, saying it had information that militants were planning to kidnap Israeli tourists there. Only dozens crossed the border into Egypt on Monday, and only around 1,000 Israelis were estimated to still be vacationing in Sinai, border authorities reported.
During the holiday season last year, 34 people were killed in bombings in the Sinai resort of Taba, just over the Israeli border, and in a nearby beach camp. At least 64 people were killed in July 23 terrorist attacks in Sinai's main resort, Sharm el-Sheik.
The threat of more violence loomed large in the mind of Yigal Kirshensaft, who was evicted from the largest Gaza settlement, Neve Dekalim, this summer. He noted that just two weeks after the withdrawal, Hamas militants bombarded southern Israel with rockets.
"It's not true that the situation is better," Kirshensaft said. "Forty missiles fell on Sderot last week and I think now only the terror will increase."
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