HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

2004/03/25
HA’ARETZ
1. WITHDRAWAL THAT WAS PRESENTED TO US: SIX WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS AND ALL OF GAZA.
Designated for evacuation: Ganim, Kadim, Homesh, Sa-Nur, Mevo Dotan and Hermesh.
2. ARRESTED 14-YEAR-OLD SUICIDE TERRORIST: THEY PROMISED ME VIRGINS IN HEAVEN AND NIS 100 FOR MY MOTHER.
3. BOY’S MOTHER: MY SON IS MENTALLY IMPAIRED, THEY EXPLOITED HIM.
4. COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY ON IRAQ: “INTELLIGENCE LAW” NEEDED TO DEFINE RESPONSIBILITIES.
5. Racism:
PUBLIC CAMPAIGN IN MIGDAL AGAINST COMMUNITY’S ARAB FAMILIES.
6. AFTER VALENCIA: CONSIDERING MOVING EUROLEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP AWAY FROM TEL AVIV.
HATZOFEH
1. The same checkpoint near Nablus, one week later: This time it was a 14.5 year-old boy; this time he knew; and all for NIS 100.
CHILD BOMB #2.
Yesterday afternoon, 14.5-year-old Hissam Abd Bilal approached soldiers at checkpoint. They aimed their weapons at him and shouted at him to stop.
Child was frightened and preferred to raise his hands and surrender.
Soldiers asked him to lift his shirt and thereupon discovered that he was wearing an explosive belt. For almost an hour, child used scissors to remove bomb. He told investigators that he had been promised NIS 100 and that he would go to Heaven. IDF believes that child sought to blow himself up near soldiers at checkpoint in another attempt to use child to perpetrate attack.
2. TWO ISRAELI ARABS FROM ISLAMIC MOVEMENT PLANNED TO MURDER SOLDIERS.
They tried to ambush soldiers at hitchhiking stops but failed every time to carry out their plot.
3. SHARON VOTES IN FAVOR OF LAW DESIGNED TO TORPEDO HIS PLAN.
4. TWO TERRORISTS KILLED NEAR MORAG: THEY WERE SUBORDINATE TO ARAFAT.
5. HAMAS – SHARON IS TARGET FOR ELIMINATION.
6. EGYPT BOYCOTTS CEREMONY TO COMMEMORATE PEACE.
7. EUROLEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP IN TEL AVIV – IN DOUBT.
MA’ARIV
1. Interview with 15-year-old terrorist:
“I WANTED TO GO OUT LIKE A MAN.”
Why did you do this?
“Because people don’t love me.”
Did your parents know?
“Absolutely not.”
Weren’t you afraid?
“No, I was carrying battery on my body.”
2. TENDERS FOR CONSTRUCTION INSIDE SETTLEMENTS FROZEN.
3. AFRAID TO COME TO TEL AVIV.
Europe looking for other venue for championship.
4. LIBYA: PREPARED TO COMPENSATE JEWS.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Little martyr: 14-year-old suicide terrorist talks to Yediot Ahronot.
“I WANTED VIRGINS IN HEAVEN.”
“Teacher said what was waiting for us in Heaven and I decided to commit suicide. When they put the explosive belt on me, I was afraid to die. And now I am thinking about my mother. I am afraid that she’ll be mad at me.”
2. “YASSIN EFFECT” ON STOCK EXCHANGE: DECLINES BY ANOTHER 2.5%.
Traders: Sharp decline in revenue.
3. “YASSIN EFFECT” IN SPORTS: TEL AVIV WILL NOT HOST CHAMPIONSHIP.
Thus European basketball teams are demanding.


EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Hatzofeh claims that, “The majority [of Israeli Arabs] mourned – and continue to mourn – the death of Sheikh Yassin, and that they identify with his extremist world view,” which focused on one area alone, “How to bring about the destruction of the State of Israel, and how to murder as many of its Jewish civilians as possible.”
Yediot Ahronot comments on the 25th anniversary of the peace accords with Egypt and asserts that despite the fact that it is a cold peace, “It is still better for us than any war or state of belligerence.”
Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, laments the plight of foreign workers in Israel.
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