HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

12 Jan 2004 HA’ARETZ 1. Right wing constrains Sharon. 120,000 RIGHT WING DEMONSTRATORS CALL ON SHARON “NOT TO CAPITULATE.” Ministers, MKs and rabbis attend largest ever right wing demonstration against Sharon. 2. INCREMENT OF TENS OF SHEKELS TO LOW WAGE EARNERS. Tax burden on labor to be reduced by end of 2004 by approximately NIS 6 billion per annum.

3. OMRI SHARON: I WILL NOT INSIST ON MY IMMUNITY. PM’s son supports disengagement plan but doesn’t understand usefulness of security fence. 4. JORDAN PREVENTING ISRAELI PARTICIPATION IN WORLD FENCING CUP. HATZOFEH 1. “Israel does not want to capitulate,” say signs in Rabin Square. 150,000 DEMONSTRATORS CALL ON SHARON: “DON’T UPROOT COMMUNITIES.” Minister Eitam: “Sharon, we are hearing voices of weakness from you.” Minister Landau: “If it is possible to move Jewish communities in order to solve a difficult problem, it is also possible to move Arab communities.” Sharon responds to demonstration: “Only government determines policy, not demonstrators.” TA Police Commander Yossi Sedbon: “More than double what I expected.” MA’ARIV 1. Sharon reveals: Syria sent message via Turks. “ASSAD PROPOSES: WE WILL CONCEDE KINNERET SHORELINE.” Israel rejects relatively moderate opening conditions for negotiations. “We don’t need to rush into Syrian embrace. This is a country in which people who tortured our POWs received medals,” PM tells ministers. 2. “GADHAFI APPROVES VISIT BY GROUP OF ISRAELIS.” Benghazi school, in which Jews also studied, encouraging reunion. Rafael Lozon, one of the organizers: Despite outrage over exposure of contacts with Israel – we have received green light. 3. SHOUT OF THE RIGHT. More than 110,000 demonstrators filled Rabin Square yesterday in Tel Aviv to protest PM Sharon’s “disengagement plan.” Likud MKs and ministers also attended. Giant video screens showed remarks Sharon made in condemnation of concessions. “Arik, disengagement is running away,” said NRP leader Minister Eitam. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. 120,000 ATTEND DEMONSTRATION: RIGHT WING SAYS, “NO,” TO SHARON. 2. POOR TO RECEIVE NIS 55; RICH TO RECEIVE NIS 1,000. (…). 3. SHARON: WE WON’T FORGET HOW SYRIANS TORTURED OUR SOLDIERS. PM, in discussion on resumption of negotiations: Syrian soldiers received medals for torture, we don’t need to rush into their embrace now. 4. AND WHO WAS SECURITY GUARD AT TA CLUB? PALESTINIAN FROM JENIN. For seven months, Palestinian was security guard at “TLV.” ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot comments on last night’s right wing demonstration in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv and notes that, “The fact that the rally was held in that specific place, with its laden history, is a kind of declaration by those who oppose withdrawal that they will not allow anyone to connect them to the murder and the murderer.” The editors believe that by so doing, the right wing is attempting to demonstrate that it has a clear red line, and that it will not resort to violence in order to protest any evacuation. The paper declares that all forms of peaceful protest are legitimate and necessary in a democracy and urges right wing leaders to ensure that these lines are not crossed especially in light of the fact that, “No one really knows what Sharon is planning to do.” Hatzofeh supports the US in its distrust of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s moves towards peace with Israel and asserts that it is likely that Syria holds weapons of mass destruction. The editors believe that, “Eliminating Syria as a dictatorship will bring about a meaningful change in the Middle East, even greater than occupying Iraq.”
BPI.