HA’ARETZ:1. GRAD EXPLODES IN GADERA AREA; HAMAS ARMING ITSELF WITH WEAPONS FROM LIBYA Missile lands in open area; no casualties. Advanced anti-aircraft missiles smuggled into Gaza.
MA’ARIV
1. GRAD ROCKET FIRED TOWARDS ASHDOD
Two months of quiet ends. Sirens sounded last night in Ashdod, Rishon Lezion, Rehovot, Yavneh and Nes Ziona. No casualties; no damage.
2. DISKIN: SHALIT DEAL SAVED HAMAS
Former ISA Director: „Perhaps this was good for the public – but it is not good for the country.”
3. „NETANYAHU IS NOT INTERESTED IN A TWO-STATE SOLUTION”
Jordanian King Abdallah attacks PM in Washington Post interview.
4. TODAY: ILAN GRAPEL EXPECTED TO RETURN TO ISRAEL FROM EGYPT
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. After months of quiet: GRAD landed near Kiryat Malachi last night.
FIRST TIME: SIRENS IN RISHON LETZION TOO.
Week after Shalit deal: GRAD launched from Gaza Strip. Rocket landed in Be’er Tuvia Regional Council area but activated sirens throughout coastal plain cities. (…).
2. POLLARD: GILAD’S RELREASE GIVES ME HOPE
Tells his wife: „I prayed for Gilad every day. I hope that I’ll get out of here alive too.” Previous ISA Director, Yuval Diskin: „Captives deals bad for Israel.”
3. Egyptian exodus.
RETURNING HOME
Four months after he was arrested: Ilan Grapel to be freed today from Egyptian prison. Will land at BGI this afternoon and will go to Jerusalem to meet PM. In framework of deal, Israel to release 25 Egyptian prisoners.
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. After Shalit and Grapel deals – contacts to release Pollard.
RETURNING HOME
After over four months in detention in Egypt: Ilan Grapel, Israeli-American citizen accused of espionage, is being released. Will take off from Cairo this afternoon, accompanied by his mother, special envoy Yitzhak Molcho and MK Yisrael Chason. High Court of Justice rejects motions against deal, in the framework of which, 25 prisoners will be released. Former ISA Director Yuval Diskin breaks silence: „State of Israel would do well to stop captives exchange deals.”
2. SIRENS FROM THE SOUTH UP TO NES ZIONA
Firing from Gaza Strip resumes. Last night, close to midnight: GRAD rocket fired at Ashdod, explodes in area of nearby regional councils. No casualties except for two people in shock. Attempted terrorist attack in Judea and Samaria too: Bomb explodes near IDF force in Etzion Bloc, no casualties.
WALLA!
1. GRAD EXPLODES NEAR ASHDOD, IDF ATTACKS THREE TARGETS IN GAZA
In response to GRAD rocket fire at Israel last night, IDF planes bombed in Gaza Strip; Palestinians yet to report casualties or significant damage. Assessment: Independent cell fired at Israel.
2. „US TO PROVIDE EGYPT WITH F-16’S IN GRAPEL DEAL”
Palestinian news agency reports that US will transfer several F-16’s to Egypt in exchange for Israeli-American citizen Grapel. Also reported that agreement has several secret clauses.
NANA10
1. REPORT: EGYPT TO RECEIVE F-16’S FROM US IN GRAPEL DEAL
2. IDF ATTACKS IN GAZA STRIP IN RESPONSE TO FIRING OF GRAD AT THE SOUTH
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 11:15.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot contends that, „Just as the Government relied upon our intelligence and operational capacity in order to weigh the calculated risk regarding the Shalit deal, so too may it be depended on it in order to weigh the calculated risks involved en route to a [peace] agreement.”
Ma’ariv maintains that, „The initiative to award the Israel Prize to Uri Avneri is the equivalent to the warped logic according to which Israeli lecturers call for an academic boycott on the country.”
Yisrael Hayom discusses human nature and the world economic crisis. The author notes that: „Before Wall Street it was deluded mortgage applicants who took the money without knowing how they would return it. And what about Europe? Indeed, in Europe there was no ‘piggish capitalism’, there was ‘piggish socialism’. Who was it that lived off the state with a 13th salary if not Greek civil-servants?” The author concludes that, „The European and the American leaders wouldn’t dare lash out at their own publics. Politicians cannot come out publically against the same public which elects it. They will blame the rich, or the devil knows what. No one has the guts to confess his own guilt.”
BreuerPress-info
