Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated the decision of ministerial commission on providing parents of non-Jews - military men with the status legitimating their presence in Israel will come into effect right after its adoption. As a matter of fact, it goes about the intermediate decision averting the deportation of parents of sole-soldiers after their demobilization.

210 Israeli teens (aged 15-19) refused to be called to service for a fixed period into Israeli army. They called it the "occupational" one. They formulated their refusal in letters sent to Minister of Defense, Headquarters' Chief and Minister of Education. There is no information about the organizer of the action.

A state ceremony of commemorating the dead during the Judgement Day war took place in the Jerusalem military cemetery on Gertsl Mount.

The Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon stated at the ceremony that if the political leadership of the country had soberly assessed the situation and hadn't trusted completely the signed peace agreements with Arab states, probably, the war of Judgement Day would have been averted.

New head of external intelligence service of Israel ("Mossad") Meir Dagan began his activity in a new office with the proposal on stirring up an operational riot team under the code name "Keysariya", "The Sunday Times" newspaper writes September 17. The tasks of this team are mainly to track the activity and liquidate fight divisions' commanders, experts and financiers of Palestinian terrorist groupings acting from abroad.

Israel's Defense Army will terminate allotment family accommodations abroad for officers of distinguished regiments and battalions. From this moment on officers will have a rest at the army expense only in Israel. This event is explained as a struggle against the Ministry of Finance for the budget on state security over the year of 2003. There is a fear of public criticism in the army regarding this matter and of Ministry of Finance's comments that permits abroad excellently prove the fact that "the army sheep should be cut more and more".

The "Khadashot Israel" company obtained the permission to create a new cable and satellite TV news channel. The channel, planned as "Israeli CNN", is due to show up on March 1, 2003. "Seventh Channel" will be operating 24 hours a day, and will be financed by means of advertisements. Its budget for the first year is to be 110 million shekels.