HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

HA’ARETZ 1. SHARON: THERE WILL BE NO REFERENDUM; THREATS MADE AGAINST LIKUD MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES. Sharon’s comments: “continuous threats from ministers’ bureaus against MKs and their families.” Threats – “serious danger to democracy,” we must not give into them. Referendum will postpone disengagement by one year – “unacceptable waste.” Number of prisoners “with blood on their hands” to be released will increase, if withdrawal goes through peacefully. 2. New director: YUVAL DISKIN TO BE APPOINTED NEW ISA DIRECTOR. 3. IDF FREEZES DIGGING OF CHANNEL AND HOME DEMOLITIONS ALONG PHILADELPHIA CORRIDOR. 4. FINANCE MINISTRY TRYING TO TORPEDO RETURN OF HOLOCAUST VICTIMS’ FUNDS. HATZOFEH 1. Labor ministers: Shalom interested in thwarting disengagement. SHARON: THERE WILL BE NO REFERENDUM. Prime Minister responds to calls for referendum: “Pressure to hold one based on threats of civil war. Does anyone think that if there is a majority of 65% supporting and 35% opposing, that the Yesha council will call for disengagement?” One day after Foreign Minister’s announcement, Knesset Speaker announced his support for referendum. Labor threatening: “We will quit if there is a referendum.” 2. RECORD BROKEN: 64 ATTACK WARNINGS. Despite Sharm el-Sheikh summit, terrorist organizations continue to plan attacks. Terrorist attempted to infiltrate Tel Katifa settlement, but managed to escape. 3. ISRAEL NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM TIES CROATIA 3-3 IN JERUSALEM FRIENDLY. MA’ARIV 1. ISA DIRECTOR: YUVAL DISKIN. Sharon announced to former deputy ISA last night – you will replace Avi Dichter. Diskin, Sharon area resident, 46, considered as consensus in ISA. 2. SHARON: THEY WILL NOT MOVE ME. Prime Minister determined to submit Disengagement Plan to Cabinet vote in 10 days. “There will not be a referendum.” 3. SOLDIERS WATCHED FILM ON LAPTOP DURING AMBUSH. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Sharon decides: Yuval Diskin replacing Avi Dichter. NEW ISA DIRECTOR. Last night at 23:25, Sharon called candidates, Yuval Diskin and X, and announced his decision. Diskin, 49, former ISA deputy director, responsible for eliminations during intifada. 2. SHARON: NO REFERENDUM, PERIOD. Rabbi Ovadia recruited to support Sharon: “Why a referendum? What does the nation understand in security? That’s why we have an army.” 3. STUDENT SET OF FIREWORKS IN KNESSET. Succeeded in sneaking in firework despite heavy security. 4. ISRAELI BUSINESSMAN KIDNAPPED IN RUSSIA. Kidnappers demand $2 million for Boris Suris from Petah Tikva. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot recalls that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon launched his Disengagement Plan at a time when the late Yasser Arafat was the Palestinians’ leader and when relations with Egypt and Jordan were strained. Now that conditions have radically changed, the editors call on the Prime Minister to pause and see if he and Abu Mazen can make the plan truly bilateral, “in order to go to the public with a better plan.” Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, criticizes Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin’s decision to join those who are calling for a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan and asserts that, ‘A referendum means robbing the Knesset of its ability to choose and decide; it takes sovereignty away from the body which received the voters’ mandate to be sovereign. Reuven Rivlin, in the willfulness of his heart, has – with his own hands – supplied the axe to those who are sitting on the branch in order to cut down the tree of democracy.” Hatzofeh commends Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom’s decision to join those in the Likud who are calling for a national referendum on Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan. The editors call on the ultra-orthodox parties to support the idea and believe that, “All public opinion surveys show that the majority of the public supports a referendum.” Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, says that, “In recent years there has been an upheaval in the personal aspect of Israeli leaders’ actions. The country is only second on the list of things to be taken into consideration. The tone, the voice and the act have become personal. L’ etat c’est moi – and as far as I’m concerned, you can all go to hell.” BPI-info