HAARETZ 1. SHARON REJECTS NETANYAHU PROPOSAL: REFERENDUM NOT ON THE AGENDA. 2. PM TO HAARETZ: I INITIATED DISENGAGEMENT PLAN AFTER I REJECTED AMERICAN PROPOSAL FOR NEGOTIATIONS WITH SYRIA. 3. PLAN: COMPENSATION FOR WHOEVER LEAVES HOME IN OLD CITY [OF JERUSALEM]. 4. IDF ELIMINATES DEPUTY OF ZBEIDA, HEAD OF JENIN TANZIM. Two additional militants killed when rockets were fired at car in which three were traveling. HATZOFEH 1. NRP Central Committee meeting ends in severe defeat for NRP Chairman Effie Eitam. NRP: REMAINING IN COALITION. More than 65% of Central Committee members voted in favor of Orlevs proposal. Eitam: Central Committee voted against Gush Katif, decision gives green light to accelerate disengagement. Orlev: Victory is partys, Chairman must also accept decision. Eitam caused Central Committee members to be outraged when he claimed that party would not have crossed electoral threshold without him. Rabbi Zephaniah Drori called on rabbis to leave decision in hands of politicians.
2. NETANYAHU JOINS REFERENDUM SUPPORTERS. Finance Minister is fifth minister – after ministers Landau, Naveh, Orlev and Sharansky – to support plan. Netanyahu emphasizes: Not stratagem but democratic process that will continue for 1.5 months at most. Sharons Bureau: Trick by Netanyahu to delay implementation of disengagement. 3. IDF ELIMINATES THREE TERRORISTS, INCLUDING ZAKARIA ZBEIDAS DEPUTY. 4. TERRORIST CELL RESPONSIBLE FOR MURDERS OF 17 ISRAELIS UNCOVERED. 5. POLICE DEPLOY REINFORCEMENTS AHEAD OF ROSH HASHANAH. 6. MACCABI TEL AVIV SUPPORTERS VOTING WITH THEIR FEET – NOT BUYING TICKETS FOR GAME WITH BAYERN MUNICH. MAARIV 1. PM, in special holiday interview with Maariv. SHARON: REFERENDUM – NOT ON THE AGENDA. On Netanyahus proposal: To my regret, there are those who are trying to torpedo the plan for ulterior motives. On extreme right: Some of them are fueled by Likud elements. 2. 6.8 MILLION ISRAELIS. 5.2 million Jews among them. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. PM Ariel Sharon in holiday interview with Yediot Ahronot: SHARON DETERMINES: THERE WILL BE NO REFERENDUM. Attacks Netanyahus proposal: His true goal is to postpone disengagement. Ministers must do their utmost to make sure that there is no explosion. Arafat will be expelled, we will treat him like Yassin. 2. NRP DECIDES: STAYING IN GOVERNMENT. Defeat for Effie Eitam: Orlevs proposal – to quit when evacuation law passes Knesset – accepted. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Yediot Ahronot says that the disengagement plan, affects all of us, not just the residents of Gush Katif and northern Samaria, and suggests that, It is possible that the coming year, the coming weeks, will be critical in the short history of the State of Israel, and that the new year will be a turning point, a milestone, for good or for ill. Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, finds it ironical that Ariel Sharon, who loudly declared that we need to – nay, must! – build communities on every hill and hilltop in order to prevent the partition of the Land of Israel and eliminate every possibility for negotiation and compromise, now stands almost alone against the results of his actions in previous years, and is now charged with finding a solution to the complicated situation that he and his colleagues created over the years. Hatzofeh criticizes Prime Minister Ariel Sharons recent call on the Jewish residents of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, to stop the incitement against IDF soldiers, and asserts that, It is highly doubtful if Mr. Sharons tricks attest to an over-embrace of fundamental democratic principles. In such circumstances, it is difficult to accept the Prime Ministers words of reproof towards Yesha residents, as if their conduct constituted a danger to democracy. Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, wishes its readers a blessed new year.BPI-info
