Thursday

HA’ARETZ

1. Tzahi Hanegbi leaves Likud and joins Kadima; police send evidence against him to State Prosecutor's Office.

HANEGBI: "LIKYD WILL DISAPPEAR IF IT CARRIES ON THIS WAY."

Kadima – PM's confidants: "We have dismantled Likud.  Hanegbi was heart of party."  Mofaz – "Likud is in difficult crisis; liable to become Feiglin branch."  Netanyahu – On Hanegbi's quitting: "Can't judge someone in severe personal difficulty."  State Prosecutor Eran Shendar orders – "Deal with Hanegbi file ASAP."

2. ISRAEL WILL NOT ALLOW CONVOYS FROM GAZA TO WEST BANK UNTIL PA ACTS AGAINST TERRORISM.

3. US TRYING TO TORPEDO MAJOR ARMS DEAL BETWEEN ISRAEL AND SOUTH KOREA.

4. ELIMINATION IN GAZA STRIP.

Dead man was Kassam cell activist.

HATZOFEH

1. RESUMPTION OF ELIMINATIONS.

Senior "Popular Committees" terrorist eliminated in Rafiah helicopter strike.  Eliminated terrorist – Muhammad Arkan: Palestinian maritime policeman who was active in attacks against Israel.  Israel sent PA information on his activities but PA took no action.

2. HANEGBI: WITH SHARON – AND INDICTMENT.

Minister Hanegbi announced that he's joining Sharon – on day that police issued recommendation that he be tried.  Agreement between right and left in political establishment: Criminal indictment – entry ticket to Kadima.  Police Commissioner Karadi: Decision regarding Hanegbi was leaked to media against our wishes.  Peretz rejects proposal to set up minority government for one year. 

3. PALESTINIANS DEMANDING "SECURE PASSAGE" FROM GAZA STRIP THROUGH ISRAEL – TO RAMALLAH AND JENIN AREAS AS WELL.

4. ASSESSMENT: FENCE WILL BE COMPLETED ONLY AT END OF 2006.

MA’ARIV

1. Tzahi Hanegbi in special Ma'ariv interview:

"I AM CLOSER TO RAMON THAN TO UZI LANDAU."

Senior Likud officials trade accusations at emergency meeting following Hanegbi's quitting.  And in Labor: Initiative to cancel primaries.

2. CLAIM: A-DURA BOY ALIVE.

Giora Eiland: Reasonable possibility.

3. FIRST: DRUZE SOLDIER IN SHELDAG RECONAISSANCE UNIT.

He made history when he became first non-Jewish soldier accepted into elite reconnaissance unit. 

4. SOON: TRUMP HOTELS IN NETANYA.

American billionaire to build 2,500 hotel rooms in terrorism-plagued city.

YEDIOT AHRONOT

1. Concern in Likud: Party crumbling.

"SHIP IS SINKING AND EVERYONE IS JUMPING OFF."

Following Hanegbi's joining Sharon yesterday, everyone in Likud is asking: Who's next?  As of this morning: Campaign to bring back voters.  Senior Kadima officials: Hanegbi's joining didn't win us any honor.

2. IDF "UPGRADES" HIZBULLAH.

In official document distributed around the world, organization is defined as "guerrilla fighters."

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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

Yediot Ahronot suggests that Tzahi Hanegbi's decision to bolt the Likud, "indeed attests to how great the crisis is in the Likud," and believes that, "This is a sharp ideological crisis that signifies giving up an 80-year-old dream, conceding on national ideas that generations were brought up on and for which people paid with their lives." 

Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, warns against relying too much on political opinion polls ahead of the elections.

Hatzofeh calls for stiffened penalties for unscrupulous businessmen who forge kashrut certificates on food products.

Haaretz comments: "The prime minister is expected today to issue, with the consent of the state president, an order for the disbandment of the Knesset. Once the order has been published, the government is deemed a "transitional" one. The purpose of such a government is to "maintain" the state during the transition period until the establishment after the elections of a government that enjoys the confidence of the Knesset. A transitional government's powers to manage the affairs of the country are designed to ensure administrative continuity through the many months of the "twilight period," which in Britain, for example, lasts just three weeks. The current political reality, in which the prime minister has formed a new party, and the defense and finance ministers are members of a rival one, could severely hamper the functioning of the government, the members of which are collectively responsible for leading the country... The unprecedented political-constitutional situation that has come about calls for - and from Sharon first and foremost - extra vigilance insofar as the state's best interests are concerned. Sharon must not exploit his special powers during this brief period to serve his election campaign."

The Jerusalem Post writes: "As Talia Sasson, author of an official report on the legal morass that allowed the creation of dozens of illegal outposts, told this newspaper in an interview which appeared on Wednesday, the only obstacle to the promised removal of these outposts is a lack of political will. Why would she say that? Because, since the attorney delivered her report, which was commissioned by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the government has not removed a single illegal outpost... The government's sloth when it comes to the illegal outposts may be easy to overlook when we still face too many more immediate dangers. But then how does one explain another unfulfilled pledge that is literally threatening our lives? More than four years after the government decided to build the security fence, and more than two years after it vowed to finish the project by the end of this month, only some 40 percent of the life-saving structure is in place... The fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as an inconvenient time for the government to keep its word and to strengthen the rule of law. Indeed, any delay only undermines the government's ability to function and maintain the order that preserves any society. No extraordinary measures are required, either."

[Eitan Haber wrote today’s editorials in Yediot Ahronot.]