ISRAELI PRESS REVIEW

Israeli Press Review of 13.05.2013

 

The Israeli Presidential Conference that Stephen Hawking is boycotting in solidarity with the Palestinians has regularly featured prominent Palestinian speakers among its participants, including key members of the Palestinian Authority, the Times of Israel reports

This year’s conference is again set to include at least one prominent member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, and the gathering has been attended in each of its previous four years by leading Palestinian figures including top Palestinian Authority officials, negotiators and academics.

Click here to read the full article in Times of Israel

 

• Report: Al-Dura killing was staged

Preliminary findings of a special committee set up by the Israeli defence establishment have found that 12-year-old Palestinian, Muhammad al-Dura was not killed by IDF fire in 2000 in Gaza, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

Dura was allegedly killed by IDF fire during the second Intifada as he crouched behind his father, Jamal, crying, and has become a potent symbol of the Palestinian struggle.

At first, Israel did not deny that its forces had hit Dura, who had been caught in the crossfire between Palestinian and IDF forces at the Netzarim junction on September 30, 2000. The IDF admitted that it had hit and killed the boy. Following an investigation, however, the official army version changed: the IDF rejected claims that it hit the boy.

A few days ago, MK Nachman Shai met with Ya’alon to give him a copy of his new book, Media War Reaching for Hearts and Minds , which deals with the role of media in cur- rent military conflicts, including the Dura affair. Ya’alon then surprised Shai by saying that an investigation carried out by Israel shows that Dura was never hurt.

Committee head, Yossi Kuperwasser said that the full results of the investigation would be ready in the near future, and that most of the work had already been completed, the paper reported.

The committee was comprised of numerous specialists from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, as well as other academic institutions. It also collected information from physicist Nahum Shahaf, who used angles and rate of fire to prove that the scene had been staged.

Click here to read the full article in Jerusalem Post

 

• Yachimovich meets Abbas

Opposition leader Shelly Yachmovich met in Ramallah with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday, Yediot Aharonot reports. The two discussed the situation in the Middle East and the possibility of progressing beyond the stalemate in the talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

In a statement from her office, Yachimovich said that the Labour Party she leads “is committed to the peace process and the two-state solution.”

Click here to read the full article in Yediot Aharonot

 

Monday, May 13, 2013.