HEADLINES FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

HA’ARETZ 1. TODAY AT SHARM: ISRAEL AND PALESTINIANS TO ANNOUNCE END TO VIOLENCE. Timetable: 11:45 – Sharon – Mubarak meeting. 12:15 Sharon – Abu-Mazen meeting. 13:00 – leaders’ statements. 14:00 – lunch. 15:15 – Sharon – Abdullah meeting. 2. EGYPT PROPOSES: ANOTHER 3,000 POLICEMEN ON BORDER WILL PREVENT SMUGGLING. 3. RABBI ELIYASHIV SUPPORTS REFERENDUM – BUT NO MAJORITY IN KNESSET. 4. This time it wasn’t Hezbollah. WHO BOMBED NAHARIYA? SOLTAM COMPANY. 5. SNOW ON MOUNTAINS AND THUNDERSTORMS. Today: Intermittent rain accompanied by thunderstorms. Snow to fall on northern and central hills. Severe frost expected overnight. HATZOFEH 1. Sharon and Abu-Mazen to declare ceasefire at Sharm el-Sheikh summit. SUMMIT OF DECLARATIONS. Thus was agreed at preparatory meeting for summit. Foreign Minister Shalom: “Test is in actions – not ceremonies.” US appoints senior US officer to supervise security coordination. Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to discuss Egyptian anti-Semitism tomorrow. 2. GESTURES AND MORTARS: GUSH KATIF SHELLED HOURS AFTER REOPENING OF KARNI CROSSING. 3. ISRAEL REJECTS PALESTINIAN REQUEST TO RENEW ‘SAFE PASSAGE.’ Jerusalem showing willingness to return VIP cards to senior Palestinian officials as soon as Palestinians request it. 4. RABBI ELIYASHIV’S POLITICAL EXPLOSION: UNITED TORAH JUDAISM TO SUPPORT REFERENDUM. Disengagement opponents: Rabbi Eliyashiv’s ruling will create Knesset majority in favor of referendum. 5. MK RABBI RAVITZ QUITS COALITION – BUT WILL SUPPORT BUDGET. 6. MORTAR ROUNDS AIMED AT SEA – FALL IN NAHARIYA. MA’ARIV 1. Hope in Israel: Peace declarations will lead to actions. SUMMIT OF HOPE. Sharon to declare today: We will cease military against Palestinians. Abu-Mazen will promise: We will cease violence against Israelis everywhere. Sharm summit begins. 2. Screw-up in the north. OUR FORCES FIRE ON NAHARIYA. YEDIOT AHRONOT 1. Sharon: Israel stopping military against Palestinians. Abu-Mazen: We are stopping violence against Israelis everywhere. NEW HOPE. After 1,558 days of intifada, after 1,036 Israeli dead and 3,592 Palestinian dead – they will try to open a new page today at Sharm summit. 2. Yediot Ahronot and Dr Minah Tzemach survey: 60% OF ISRAELIS: BELIEVE ABU-MAZEN. 61% OPTIMISTIC: THERE IS CHANCE FOR SECIRITY CALM. 67% AGREE TO RELEASE OF PRISONERS. ______________________________ SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS Hatzofeh hopes that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will yet be forced to call a referendum on the Disengagement plan. The editors assert that, “As long as Palestinian policy is based on the rule borrowed from Nazism – Judenrein, or ‘Jew-free’ – it is hard to believe that we are close to genuinely peaceful relations with them.” Yediot Ahronot says that, “Ever since the Sharm summit was declared, the leaderships in Jerusalem and Ramallah have taken care to portray it in gray colors,” and suggests that, “The intifada has returned both peoples to a situation of mutual suspicion, rage and lack of trust.” The editors suggest that, “While the majority in Israel still believes that the Arabs want to throw us into the sea, most Palestinians still believe that Israel prefers land over peace. Both sides have continued to think – and this belief has almost become a rule since September 2000 – that the other side understands only force…But right now, when the leaders are meeting, the question is still – is there another way?” BPI-info