Tuesday

HA’ARETZ

1. IAEA: IRANIAN EFFORT TO EXPAND URANIUM ENRICHMENT.

2. TODAY: OLMERT CONVENING SPECIAL DISCUSSION ON ISRAEL-RUSSIA RELATIONS.

3. SHAS FIGHTING LIKUD AND NRP FOR ETHIOPIAN VOTES.

4. EU TO TRANSFER EURO 121 MILLION TO PA.

5. PLOT FOR SHARON NEXT TO HIS WIFE LILI'S GRAVE APPROVED.

Grave plan open to objections for next month.

6. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE: EDUCATION PRIORITY ZONES DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ARABS.

In important step regarding establishment of principle of equality, High Court of Justice cancelled division into education zones.

HATZOFEH

1. 12 people injured, three moderately, in explosion at RAFAEL plant.

SUSPICION: MISHAP IN ENGINE OF CLASSIFIED BOAT.

Yesterday afternoon: Strong explosion shook RAFAEL plant and caused panic in Haifa area.  Preliminary check indicates that explosion occurred following experiment that was carried out in contravention of safety instructions.  RAFAEL Dir.-Gen. orders establishment of committee of inquiry into circumstances of event, police already investigating.

2. NETANYAHU'S GREAT VICTORY.

Yesterday: All senior Likud members backed Netanyahu's proposal to divest Central Committee of power to choose Knesset list.

3. COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY INTO AMONA UPROOTING UNDERWAY.

4. STATE TO COMPENSATE MAN WHO WAS BEATEN IN PROTEST AGAINST DISENGAGEMENT.

5. MAZUZ: I WILL NOT OPEN CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION AGAINST OLMERT IN BETAR JERUSALEM AFFAIR.

6. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE RULING: STATE DISCRIMINATES BETWEEN JEWS AND ARABS.

MA’ARIV

1. EU transferring Euro 120 million to Palestinians.

OLMERT: HAMAS IS NOT EXISTENTIAL THREAT.

Acting PM: I hope that Abu Mazen won't resign.  Shalom joins initiative to weaken Likud Central Committee: "If it's what the Chairman wants."

2. RAFAEL'S SECRET EXPERIMENT BLEW UP.

12 people wounded during check of classified sea warfare equipment.

YEDIOT AHRONOT

1. TIME BOMB.

Explosion during secret RAFAEL experiment yesterday provided worrying reminder: 500,000 people in Haifa Bay are exposed to disaster due to great accumulation of dangerous materials at 15 factories.  Haifa Mayor: Very frightening.

2. MKS WHO DEMONSTRATED AT AMONA TO INVESTIGATE IDF.

Outrage in IDF and Police: Effie Eitam, Aryeh Eldad and Uri Ariel – on committee that will investigate performance during outpost evacuation.

______________________________

SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS

Yediot Ahronot suggests that Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen, "indeed succumbed to the double burden of the chaos in Palestinian society and Israel's unrealistic demands."  The editors question whether Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his government and party have figured out what to do if the PA collapses altogether as a result – in part – of the government's decision to withhold tax revenues due to it.  The paper regrets that just as the public never demanded concise answers from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, it seems not to be demanding them from Acting Prime Minister Olmert and Kadima.

Hatzofeh accuses the government over trying to smooth over a disagreement with the US over funding the Palestinian Authority.

Yediot Ahronot, in its second editorial, notes that Kadima won yesterday's mock election at the Blich High School in Ramat Gan.  The editors cite Jean-Paul Sartre's adage that, "Whoever isn't a Communist in his youth has no heart, and whoever is still a Communist as an adult has no sense," and suggest that, "The Blich youth have, according to this yardstick, the sense of those in their forties – and the old heart of tired Israelis."

[Ofer Shelah wrote today’s editorials in Yediot Ahronot.]