A round-up of the Hebrew newspapers in Israel ; covering the major events happening in Israel and the Middle East . Haaretz-Maariv-Yedioth Ahronoth-Israel Hayom-The Jerusalem Post-Ynet-Arutz 7 News-Army Radio-Israel Radio-and Makor Rishon
The front pages of the Israeli newspapers of last weekend was an unusual mix.
The lead story in Yedioth
Ahronoth was a follow-up to the arrest of the mayor of Kiryat
Malakhi on rape charges, and reports are that he is also been suspected of sexually
abusing more women.
Haaretz leads with the reaction in Israel to United States President Barack Obama’s
support of same-sex marriages, quoting local politicians saying that it will
take a long time before gay men and women are allowed to marry in Israel . And of the other
newspapers lead with the week’s big story – Kadima joining
the Netanyahu-led coalition.
The lead headline in Maariv – which
was first reported on Channel 10 on Thursday night – reports that
Washington is concerned about the ramifications of Mofaz’s entry into the
coalition and that the White House has asked Jerusalem for clarifications –
especially regarding the impact of the deal on Israel’s handling of the Iranian
threat. According to the report, the United States is worried that Mofaz and
his Kadima party’s joining the unity government could result in an attack on
Iran's nuclear facilities at any moment.
Haaretz
also focuses on Washington ’s
response to the coalition deal. According to Barak Ravid ,
U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton called Netanyahu on Thursday and told him that Washington hopes the new, expanded coalition will enable Israel to take
steps to advance peace talks with the Palestinians. The Prime Minister's Office
published a laconic press statement about the conversation, which said merely
that Clinton
had congratulated Netanyahu on setting up the unity government. But sources in
the U.S. State Department said the conversation went beyond polite
congratulations.
According to a senior
State Department official, Clinton
told Netanyahu that she had been briefed on the main points of his coalition
agreement with Mofaz, and she welcomed the clause in which they pledged that
the government would ‘advance a responsible peace process.’ She said the United States
is ready to support both sides in an effort to achieve a two-state solution.
The report goes on to
say that Netanyahu and his advisors finished drafting his letter to Palestinian
President Mahmoud 'Abbas this week. The process was delayed somewhat by the
prime minister's father's death last week and the subsequent seven-day mourning
period, as well as by the fact that the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat,
was recently hospitalized following a heart attack. An Israeli source said that
Netanyahu's envoy, attorney Isaac Molcho, would meet with Abbas in Ramallah
next week to deliver the letter. But the document contains no ground-breaking
new Israeli proposals: It merely repeats Netanyahu's standard mantra that Israel is
interested in resuming negotiations with the Palestinians without
preconditions.
Israel Hayom
runs a two-pronged headline, relating to two of the issues that have been
singled out as the new coalition’s greatest challenges: a universal draft law
and the evacuation of illegal outposts. The paper says that the draft law will
be at the center of coalition discussions next week, but points out that the
prime minister has decided not to wait until then to start discussing the
outposts.
The prime minister has convened a
special deliberation with ministers at his Jerusalem bureau on Friday morning, to
discuss the High Court ruling ordering the demolition of homes in the Ulpana
neighborhood in Beit El. Among the ministers attending are two who have been at
loggerheads over the settlement issue, Ehud Barak and Moshe Ya'alon, in
addition to Benny Begin, who was given responsibility together with Barak to
reach solutions to such issues, and the newest cabinet minister, Shaul Mofaz.
Also at the meeting was Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein.
Finally, Channel
10 reported Thursday night that the strained relations between Turkey and Israel may soon be improving.
According to the report, behind-the-scenes efforts are coordinated by U.S. officials,
who are trying to arrange a meeting between Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his
Turkish counterpart. One reason for these attempts is the warming relations
between Obama and Erdogan. Another reason is
that Barak, as well as Mofaz, strongly support normalization of the relations
with Turkey .
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