HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS HAARETZ 1. 1.5 MILLION ISRAELIS UNDER POVERTY LINE; RISE IN NUMBER OF WORKING POOR. 2. RAFAEL EITAN, FORMER CHIEF-OF-STAFF AND MINISTER, DIED WHEN SWEPT AWAY BY SEA AT ASHDOD PORT. 3. TIRED OF MORTAR FIRE, GAZA SETTLERS UNSURE: SHOULD BATTLE BE HEATED UP? 4. ABU MAZEN STICKING WITH ARAFATS PRINCIPLES: WE WILL NOT REMAIN SILENT UNTIL RIGHT OF RETURN IS IMPLEMENTED. At gathering of Palestinian leadership Abu Mazen said that he would work to realize Arafats dream of an independent state with Jerusalem as its capital. HATZOFEH 1. National Insurance Institute Director-General: Israel is becoming poorer. OPPOSITION: CRUEL ECONOMY; TREASURY: OUR WAY IS CORRECT. MKs: Increase in poverty – due to economic policy. Finance Ministry: Getting out of poverty – only through work. Knesset Finance Committee to discuss budget law even before it id approved by plenum. Peres: On economic matters we will be fighting opposition. 2. Rafael Eitan to be laid to rest today at Tel-Adashim in military ceremony. DIES IN A STORM. (
). 3. ABU MAZEN – OFFICIAL FATAH CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENCY. 4. UN CONDEMNS ANTI-SEMITISM. MAARIV 1. Chief-of-Staff Rafael Eitan drowned in Ashdod port at age of 75. LEFT IN A STORM. (
). 2. SHARON TO PERES: CANT BRING YOU IN. 3. POVERTY REPORT: WILL BE WORSE NEXT YEAR. – assessment by National Insurance Institute. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Rafael Eitan (Raful), 1929-2004 DIED IN A STORM. (
). 2. 40% of those who are poor – people who work. STARVATION SALARIES.
(
). ______________________________ Yediot Ahronot eulogizes former minister, MK and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Rafael Eitan who was killed in a tragic accident yesterday at Ashdod port. The editors commend him as, a farmer, dedicated to settling the land, well-rooted, devoted to the Land of Israel but – first and foremost – a fighter. Hatzofeh believes that the post-Arafat Palestinian Authority leadership is, more sophisticated, but not more moderate. The editors fear the US will pressure the Government into undertaking, confidence-building measures, i.e. make concessions, in order to bolster the new PA leaders in exchange for securing European cooperation in Iraq and vis-?-vis forcing Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. The paper accuses Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of endangering the existence of the state in order to secure a Nobel Peace Prize for himself. Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, suggests that yesterdays meeting between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Labor Party Chairman MK Shimon Peres was unnecessary because both men know that, Either a national unity government is established with the participation of the Labor Party or by mid-2005 we will have to paint the ballot-boxes prior to using them again. The editors assert that, Sharon has almost no other political options other than unity or elections. Yediot Ahronot, in its third editorial, comments on Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahus economic policies and says that, Beyond the MIT diagrams and the terminologies from Harvard, there are also pensioners from Russia, single-parent mothers and the unemployed, and they cannot be seen from the hills of Boston and the classrooms in California. Therefore, the poor are increasing and so are economic plans that are gathering dust. bpi-INFO
