Feb. 18 Headlines
Monday
HA’ARETZ
1. DECADE AFTER WAR: KOSOVO INDEPENDENT.
2. ISRAEL TO OPEN CROSSING TO GAZA STRIP IN ORDER TO ADVANCE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT.
Olmert: I agreed with Abbas that discussion of Jerusalem would be postponed until end of negotiations.
3. DUE TO BUDGETARY SHORTFALL, ONLY 3,600 HOMES IN THE SOUTH TO BE REINFORCED.
4. OLMERT UPDATED WINOGRAD DURING DAYS OF TENSION WITH SYRIA.
In 2007, PM sought to update Winograd Committee on improvement in political leadership's decision-making.
5. SOLUTION FOR INFILTRATORS: "ABSORPTION BASKET" AND WORK ON THE PERIPHERY.
6. TONIGHT – COLD WAVE; SNOW ALSO EXPECTED IN MOUNTAINS.
MAKOR RISHON-HATZOFEH
1. Senior Serbian official to Israel: You don't need a third Muslim country in Europe.
NEW NATION BORN IN EUROPE: KOSOVO.
2. FRENCH VISIT.
Foreign Minister arrives to donate check towards advancing peace.
3. RED IN JERUSALEM.
Sderot residents demonstrate: Government to reinforce one-third of homes in Kassam range.
4. PLANNING FOR THE STORM.
Forecast: Snow in center of country as well as in Jerusalem.
MA’ARIV
1. MAP OF BENEFITS FOR CONFRONTATION LINE COMMUNITIES.
2. NATION IS BORN.
History in Europe: Kosovo declares independence.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. General Staff Reconnaissance Unit and navy commandos operating deep inside Gaza.
COMMANDOS IN GAZA.
Special forces assisting in aggressive effort. Olmert: I do not share optimism regarding Shalit deal. Hints at elimination of Mughniyeh: We do things, not without success.
2. WAITING FOR THE STORM.
Will begin this evening: Rainstorms, wind, cold and snow.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot regrets the funds that will be spent on celebrating Israel's 60th Independence Day later this year and urges that the funds be spent on the national library and the state archives. The editors write: "Acquiring pages that were torn from the Aleppo Codex or returning Yehuda Amichai's archives from Harvard to Jerusalem will make happier than 100 stages of entertainment. Channeling the budget to such items is an appropriate way to assist in preserving the common memory, the loss of which will detrimentally affect independence and perhaps even jeopardize it."
The Jerusalem Post reflects on a recent op-ed article by former US Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, and states that Albright's musings on the Israeli Arab conflict feed Arab, Iranian attempts to level the playing field. "Evenhandedness" has been disastrous for the cause of peace, because it has allowed the Arab world to obscure the fundamental obstacle to peace: its own refusal to accept a Jewish state. The fact that this mistake is old and bipartisan does not make it less of a failed policy. The next US president should do better.
Haaretz suggests the government should recognize the newly declared state of Kosovo, as has the US government. "Israel has a unique opportunity to stretch out a hand to the new state, and to prove that the Jewish state is not an enemy of the Muslims".
Ma'ariv discusses Kosovo's declaration of independence and suggests that, "Israeli support for a unilateral declaration of independence is liable to weaken Israel's position against a similar declaration by the Palestinians." The editors suggest that Israel will, in the end, recognize Kosovo's independence but only after many other countries, especially the US, have done so.
Makor Rishon-Hatzofeh calls for closely monitoring the Government's talks with the Palestinians, especially in regard to concessions over Jerusalem.
[Yaron London, and Uri Yablonka and Arik Benado, wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively.]
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