Feb. 20 Headlines
Wednesday
HA’ARETZ
1. CONSTRUCTION ON WEST BANK CONTINUING DESPITE OLMERT'S PROMISE.
Mobile home neighborhood being built in Eli in addition to homes in Maskit in the Jordan Valley.
2. AFTER LEADERS' MEETING: CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS ON JERUSALEM.
3. FEAR OF SKIRMISH PREVENTED ARREST.
British police refrained from arresting Maj.-Gen. (ret.) Doron Almog in 2005 due to concern over clash with his guards on plane,
MAKOR RISHON-HATZOFEH
1. HAMAS ASSESSMENT: ISRAELIS BUYING PALESTINIAN REAL ESTATE.
Following cancellation of PA land sale law, investors from around the world have begun buying Palestinian land and terrorist groups believe that foreign investors are buying land for Israelis. Ministers in Fayyad government: This is move to encourage investors; land isn't being sold to Israelis.
2. STATE COMPTROLLER CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT DEALINGS WITH SDEROT.
MA’ARIV
1. New record in battle between President and State Comptroller.
PERES TO COMPTROLLER: YOU WILL NOT ENTER PRESIDENT'S RESIDENCE.
Peres refusing to allow Lindenstrauss and his staff to hold review inside President's Residence, and claims – I am out of bounds. State Comptroller: You are, the Residence is not.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. Concern in Israel: Threat from Gaza increasing.
HAMAS OBJECTIVE: ATTACK UAV.
Security sources estimate: Hamas will try to use know-how from Hezbollah, which has already used UAV's to deliver bombs. Israel outraged: Egypt allowing Iranian experts to infiltrate into Gaza.
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SUMMARY OF EDITORIALS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot notes the silent and, so far, leak-proof negotiations now being held between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The editors maintain that to reap the fruit of a permanent settlement, what is needed is a "Ben-Gurion" leader who has "sufficiently ripened.". The paper contends that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may just be that leader.
Ma'ariv contends that European criticism towards Israel does not derive from anti-Semitism, but rather because, "They simply do not comprehend life under an existential threat."
Haaretz opines that government use of IDF soldiers as human guinea pigs is one of the most neglected human rights issues in Israel. A recent court case has revealed that some 800 soldiers doing their compulsory service were secretly injected with a vaccination against anthrax, a disease that had been defined as one of the great dangers facing Israel's citizens. According to the editor, the vaccinations later caused serious ailments such as pneumonia, breathing problems, digestive tract inflammations, severe coughs, severe migraines, recurrent sores and other problems. Hitherto denied any aid in fighting the ailments, or even access to their army medical records, the case has nonetheless managed to arouse hope that the defense establishment will finally grasp the importance of human rights, and that the suffering caused to the petitioners will serve as a warning to defense and medical personnel.
The Jerusalem Post attacks the government on the grounds that it is not coming close to fulfilling its obligation to protect the citizens of Sderot and the other settlements in the area. The editor states that it is shameful that the government cringes at expanding NIS 350 million on safeguarding citizens who are basically manning Israel's front lines against Hamas' genocidal brutality, but at the same time prepared to spend NIS 250 million on a fancy bridge, which would have cost a small fraction of this had the city not turned to an internationally renowned architect to build a "symbol." And this when the light-rail system the bridge has been built to convey will not be ready for years after the bridge's completion.
Makor Rishon-Hatzofeh accuses Israel's opposition parties and the general public of indifference to the ongoing negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, opining that, "The responsibility for the disastrous results will be laid on those who did it as well as on those who were silent."
[Eitan Haber, and Arik Becher wrote today’s articles in Yediot Ahronotand Ma'ariv, respectively.]
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