HAARETZ 1. WEST BANK HAMAS WORKING TO RESUME TERRORIST ATTACKS. Issued tape in which kidnapped Sasson Nuriel is seen short time before his murder; Hamas: Only the beginning. 2. Netanyahu nosedives after Likud Central Committee loss. TURNAROUND IN LIKUD: SHARON DEFEATS NETANYAHU 47% VS. 34%. 3. PM PREPARING FOR PRIMARIES; INSTRUCTS HIS CONFIDANTS NOT TO ABANDON FIELD TO NETANYAHU. 4. RECOMMENDATION: COMPULSORY DRAFT TO POLICE FOR CURRENT CIVILIAN MISSIONS. HATZOFEH 1. Mofaz warns: Hamas leaders Haniya and A-Zahar will go way of Yassin and Rantisi. HAMAS: MURDER OF NURIEL SASSON IS ONLY FIRST ACT. We want to show prisoners that we are determined to release them; this operation is only the beginning Hamas statement taking responsibility for murder of Nuriel Sasson. Head of Hamas in Judea arrested transferred money from Saudi Arabia to terrorist organization. 2. GAZA POSTER: CONTINUED FIRING OF KASSAMS WILL BRING BACK ISRAELI OCCUPATION. 3. INCLINATION AMONG GAZA STRIP EXPELLEES: NEW BLOC OF COMMUNITIES WEST OF HEBRON HILLS. New Nahal Brigade encampment to be established after holidays on Green Line and will be given civilian status for those uprooted from Gaza Strip. 4. IDF GUNNERS FIRE FOUR SHELLS AT CENTER FOR FIRING KASSAMS AT SDEROT. 5. AFTER LIKUD VICTORY: SHARON ASPIRES TO APPOINT BAR-ON AND BOIM AS MINISTERS. Sharon met with ministers who supported him for political consultations. Right: Likud has become left-wing party. 6. NEW VISITORS CENTER TO BE DEDICATED NEAR WESTERN WALL. MAARIV 1. GOAL: PARALYZE HAMAS. IDF and ISA continue arrests of hundreds of senior Hamas members. Security sources: Cannot let them participate in elections. Islamic Jihad: We will halt Kassam fire. 2. Maariv poll. SHARON: 50% NETANYAHU: 36%. Maariv-TNS/Teleseker poll last night: Large majority for PM among Likud members. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Terrorist organizations announce last night: We will halt actions against Israel. GAZA SHELLED. For first time since Six Day War, IDF shelled Gaza yesterday following firing of two Kassam rockets at Sderot. Mofaz threatens to eliminate Hamas leaders like we did to Sheikh Yassin. 2. HAMAS: WE WILL KIDNAP MORE ISRAELI CITIZENS. Moment before he was executed, kidnappers filmed bound, wounded and humiliated Sasson Nuriel. (
). ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot comments on the recent Likud Central Committee vote. The editors believe that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his supporters, cannot rest on their laurels, and remarks that, In Israeli politics, todays king can very quickly become tomorrows villain Ehud Barak, for example. The paper avers that, At the moment, with the emphasis being on at the moment, the assumption is that the Likud cannot contest the coming elections while it is being pulled in two separate directions one, towards the center, concessions, compromise and plans like the Disengagement Plan and the Roadmap and the other towards the traditional ideology of the Jabotinsky movement. The editors dismiss any attempts at reconciliation as ill-disguised lip-service and predict that, Even though the heroes are tired, the coming months in the Likud will be stormy
It will be a hot winter. Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, agrees with Prime Minister Sharon that MK Benjamin Netanyahu is, susceptible to pressure, and suggests that his defeat this week has greatly blunted his momentum ahead of the April Likud primaries. Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, suggests that, The current Israeli political situation only shows what a miserable situation the Labor Party is in: While 40% of the nations citizens report that their economic situation has worsened, and the ruling party is shattered and adrift, the Labor Party has nothing to offer no path and no leader (other than Shimon Peres, of course). How has this happened? Hatzofeh says that, the ayatollahs in Tehran, are hardly worried by the recent International Atomic Energy Association decision to refer the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council. The editors dismiss the possibility that the latter body will take any significant and assert that, The solution is solely in Israels hands, and the sooner the better. BPI-info
