HEADLINES FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
HA’ARETZ
1. VIOLENCE RETURNS TO TAHRIR: 11 KILLED IN CLASHES.
(…).
2. JORDANIAN MONARCH TO PAY LIGHTNING VISIT TO RAMALLAH.
3. RIGHT-WING EXTREMISTS NEW PROJECT: MAPPING JERUSALEM SHOPS THAT EMPLOY ARABS.
MA’ARIV
1. ONE WEEK BEFORE EGYPTIAN ELECTIONS: PEOPLE KILLED IN CAIRO RIOTS.
(…).
2. MILITARY PROSECUTOR TO RECOMMEND: NOT TO TRY OPERATION CAST LEAD GIVATI BRIGADE COMMANDER.
Lt.-Col. Ilan Malka investigated following event in which 21 members of one family were killed in blowing up of Gaza house.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Concern in Israel:
ANARCHY IN EGYPT.
(…).
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. (…).
TAHRIR, ROUND 2.
(…).
2. JORDANIAN MONARCH TO ARRIVE IN RAMALLAH ON SURPRISE VISIT.
Will give sharp message to Abu Mazen: Don’t go to unity.
WALLA!
1. EGYPTIANS FOREFULLY PUTTING DOWN DEMONSTRATORS IN CAIRO: 20 KILLED.
2. ABDULLAH ARRIVING FOR VISIT ‘IN ORDER TO EMBRACE THE PA.”
Senior security establishment sources claim that Jordanian monarch is worried over Hamas’ and Egypt’s rise in power, and therefore, he is interested in expressing support for the PA. Being said in Israel for the first time: „We might have to talk with Hamas.”
NANA10
1. FORUM OF EIGHT DECIDES: CONTINUING FREEZE ON PA FUNDS.
After night discussion, senior ministers decide not to transfer tax funds now being held up by Israel for three months. Reasons: Rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas and similar decision by US Congress.
2. CAIRO: THOUSANDS AGAIN CLASH WITH POLICE IN TAHRIR SQUARE.
3. RARE VISIT: JORDAN KING TO ARRIVE IN RAMALLAH TODAY.
Against background of diplomatic stalemate, Jordanian King Abdullah to hold surprise West Bank visit, will meet with Abu Mazen.
[Headlines for Walla! and Nana10 are from their websites as of 11:50.]
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SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE IZRAELI HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot calls on the judicial selection committee to provide the public with more information about potential candidates, and to work with greater transparency, in order to restore public confidence in the judicial selection process.
Ma’ariv believes that, „The version which holds that if we accept all of Abu Mazen’s conditions then peace will break out is naïve and childish.” The author asserts that, „I wonder who to believe – Hamas, when they honestly say ‘You are not wanted here; we will never recognize you’ or Abu Mazen, when he says ‘If you accept our conditions there will be peace.'”
Yisrael Hayom believes that, „The harassment of Israeli Arabs, attacks on freedom of expression and freedom of organization, and attempts to undermine the authority and independence of the Supreme Court, strongly contradict [Menachem] Begin’s liberal-democratic legacy.” The authors add that, „It is important to recognize that Begin, despite his nationalist perspective and his concern for the security of the state, was a liberal and a democrat, who aggressively defended the rule of law and civil rights. It is the liberal stream in the Likud that continues Begin’s path and acts within a tradition of national liberalism. It is Likud MKs who promote anti-liberal legislation that have lost their way. Their version, according to which democracy equals decisions by a majority that brooks no restraint and is entitled to strike at the minority as it pleases, completely contravenes the liberal-democratic worldview.”