HAARETZ 1. SHARON TO SUBMIT MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS FOR APPROVAL EVEN WITHOUT MAJORITY. Knesset check: Only 55 MKs support appointment of the three ministers, 61 MKs oppose. Sharons people: We are not threatening to go to elections but it is an option. Assessment in Likud: If Sharon loses vote, he will submit Olmerts appointment separately. 2. BLOW TO PERETZ: VILNAI QUITS. 3. Organs of Ahmed Al-Khatib, who was killed by IDF fire, transplanted into six people. TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS HAVE BECOME PART OF ME, SAYS PALESTINIAN FATHER. HATZOFEH 1. Today: Vote on approval of new ministers. SHARON HAS NO MAJORITY. Attempt to find compromise formula fails Sharon is 10 MKs short of winning vote most rebels intend to vote against appointments. Document of understandings formulated on relations between Sharon and rebels; Sharon demands that it be applied on Likud ministers support on vote. Peres proposed that Vilnai be Defense minister and latter quit race. 2. ONLY THREE OF 700 BUSINESS OWNERS AMONG EVACUEES HAVE RECEIVED COMPENSATION. 3. IDF: 80% OF KASSAMS FALL IN GAZA STRIP. 4. ORGANS OF PALESTINIAN YOUTH WHO WAS SHOT TRANSPLANTED INTO SIX PEOPLE. 5. 82% OF ISRAELIS SATISFIED WITH LIFE. MAARIV 1. Today: Fateful Knesset vote on appointment of new ministers. ON VERGE OF DEFEAT. PM insists on submitting his proposal to vote even though he lacks majority. PMs Bureau: Today, it will become clear whether Government can continue to function. 2. ON VERGE OF VICTORY. Two days before Labor primaries: Vilnai quits race and receives Peress promise to be Defense Minister in exchange. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Dramatic day in Knesset: PM in show of strength with his Likud rivals. SHARON: I AM NOT AFRAID OF EARLY ELECTIONS. Thus he told his confidants. Rebels insistent: We will vote against appointment of three ministers Olmert, Bar-On and Boim. 2. PERESS FULL-COURT PRESS. Night meeting, marathon phone calls, portfolio and compliments were dangled. Thus Peres persuaded Matan Vilnai to quit race. 3. The good life. WHAT A GREAT COUNTRY. Despite everything: Most Israelis satisfied with life, housing and health. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot ventures that Labor Party stalwarts such as Ehud Barak and Matan Vilnai are rallying around veteran leader Shimon Peres, as opposed to Histadrut Chairman Amir Peretz, ahead of this weeks party primaries, because, Peretz is a new man, whose rise threatens to wipe out a whole generation of self-appointed leaders. The editors believe that, This is the hope that many generations in Labor have rotted under, that Peres is a temporary solution and it will be possible to come back soon and win the prize. The paper suggests that Peretzs Sephardi ethnic is a factor vis-ŕ-vis the reluctance of many in Labor to support him. Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, asserts that statements that Israel will not allow Hamas to run in the upcoming Palestinian elections are only winning it further support among the Palestinians and says that, If Israel wants to wage a political war on Hamas, and it must do so, it must ask itself how it can create hope and link it in the Palestinian consciousness to Abu Mazen and the diplomatic route. Hatzofeh notes that there have been 405 traffic fatalities so far this year. The editors call for greatly stiffened penalties and urge that passengers of drunk drivers be tried along with them for allowing them to drive.
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