HA’ARETZ
1. MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM TO BE INSTALLED IN SOUTH FOR FIRST TIME
In crucial test, Iron Dome system succeeds in intercepting barrage of
simulated Kassam and GRAD rockets.
2. FIRE IN THE STRIP: PEOPLE WOUNDED AND ONE EGYPTIAN SOLDIER KILLED IN
GAZA-EGYPT BORDER CLASH
3. MASSIVE BOMB CACHE, PLANTED BY HEZBOLLAH, DISCOVERED NEAR METULA
MA’ARIV
1. IRON DOME HITS TARGET
Defense Ministry: Test ends in success, system for intercepting Kassams and
Katyushas to be operational within two months.
YEDIOT AHRONOT
1. FUNDS FOR SALARIES – NO; FOR POLITICAL JOBS – YES
(…).
2. KASSAM INTERCEPTOR READY TO OPERATE
Iron Dome system succeeds in crucial test, and first batteries to be in place
within months.
YISRAEL HAYOM
1. Iron Dome successfully intercepts barrage of Kassams and Katyushas.
WITHIN TWO MONTHS: PROTECTION FROM ROCKETS
Impressive technological accomplishment for security establishment. System
manufactured by Rafael to be transferred to IDF in coming weeks. Estimate:
Will be operational and in place adjacent to Gaza by summer.
2. BARAK: I'M NOT AFFRID OF ANYONE
He replies to threatening letter.
WALLA!
1. "NEGOTIATIONS COULD BE COMPLETED WITHIN TWO YEARS"
American envoy, who is expected to arrive for an additional round of talks in
the Middle East, optimistic about resumption of negotiations between Israel
and Palestinians. He stated that it is possible to advance on Israel-Syria
channel as well.
2. BARAK, ON THREATS MADE AGAINST HIM: I'M NOT AFRAID OF ANYONE
Defense Minister related for first time to threats on his life, in wake of
settlement construction freeze. On letter released yesterday: "I am sure that
it does not represent general Judea and Samaria population."
NANA10
1. "TALKS WITH SYRIA – PARALLEL TO NEGOTIATIONS WITH PALESTINIANS"
George Mitchell, Obama's special envoy to the Middle East, is likely to return
shortly to our region. In an interview with PBS, the envoy estimated that
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians need no more than two years
to complete, and could even finish earlier, "I personally think that it could
take less."
2. EHUD BARAK ON THREATING LETTER: "I'M NOT AFFAID OF ANYONE"
(…).
___________________________
SUMMARY OF OP-EDS FROM THE HEBREW PRESS
Yediot Ahronot dismisses Education Minister Gideon Saar's
initiative to have primary and middle school teachers devote five minutes at
the start of every school day to improving students spoken Hebrew, and says
that spoken, as opposed to written, Hebrew is, "acquired automatically, not
taught, without effort." The author argues that teachers would do better to
improve students, "self-expression and original thinking abilities," by
teaching them, "how to read a newspaper in a critical fashion and how to
identify clichés and linguistic manipulation by seasoned politicians." The
paper asserts that, "Teachers should teach logic, rhetoric [and] semantics,"
while students, "should improve their analytic thinking, and ability to draw
conclusions and make links between various fields."
Ma'ariv cites Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman's recent remarks
to the
Foreign Ministry Heads of Mission Conference
on, "the need to change disks, to shift from obsequiousness and defense to the
attack," and reminds its readers that, "The Jordanians, those of the September
and peace variety, are demanding ownership of the Dead Sea Scrolls [some of
which recently completed a tour of Canada] because they claim that they were
stolen from occupied territory. Now, any normal person might find it hard to
understand this brazen gall. The Hashemite Kingdom, a Franco-British
invention, initiated by Lawrence of Arabia, in order to provide employment for
a Bedouin family from the Hejaz in the Arabian peninsula, a state that lacks a
real history, and which rests on the spear points of the Israeli army and aid
from an American espionage organization, is demanding ownership over ancient
Hebrew scrolls that prove that confused dealings over colonialism and occupied
territory is simply a question of timing." The author adds that, "It is also
becoming clear that not only is the cartoon kingdom from the east claiming
ownership of the Qumran scrolls, but that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad sent a letter to the Canadian Prime Minister asking for the Canadian
government to intervene on the matter. It seems to me that a Palestinian
cognitive dissonance has been created here. They vociferously claim that
there is no Jewish history here that the Temple never stood on the Temple
Mount, etc., but the scrolls themselves, which – inter alia – deal with the
same imaginary Temple and discuss the purity of its priests, to say nothing of
the view of some researchers that the scrolls themselves are the property of
the Temple and were taken away due to the Roman siege. The Palestinians, an
invented people, a collection of immigrants, the large majority of which
arrived in the 19
th
century as settlers brought by Ibrahim Pasha from Egypt, deal endlessly in the
rewriting of history." The paper declares that, "The time has come for the
Foreign Ministry to listen to the minister appointed over it…Stop the excuses
and the obsequiousness right now. It does not work."
Yisrael Hayom analyzes the recent clash at the Rafiah crossing
between Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and Egyptian security forces against
the background of Cairo's relationship with Hamas. The author says that the
Egyptians are upset – inter alia – that Hamas has been intriguing with
northern Sinai Bedouin in contravention of official policy and avers that,
"Hamas's refusal to reconcile with the PLO has angered Mubarak, who feels that
the bandits from Gaza are lying to his face." The paper notes that Egypt
opposes Hamas's links with Hezbollah, which openly agitates against the
Mubarak government, and Iran, and believes that, "Egypt and Hamas are on a
collision course."
