Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Obama's decision: Hardline with Iran or conflict with Netanyahu
• Deputy brigade commander acted against guidelines, Denmark demanding clarifications
• Mid-day, Tel-Aviv beach: Dozens watched group sex with young woman
• 600 teachers of civics to Education Ministry: Do not harm the supervisor for civics studies
• After the holiday: Mega (supermarket) raised prices by 34%
• Child murderer in Norway: "I acted in self-defense"

• "I made a mistake, but I was attacked first" - Storm over deputy brigade commander, Lt. Col. Eisner, who hit a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, interrogated by Military Police
• Journey to Valley of Killing - Yedioth correspondent Noah Klieger travels to Poland ahead of March for Life
• "Every time they hung a picture you had to cover the whole house in nylon" - Trial between Sara Netanyahu and former housekeeper enters evidence stage - "I cooked at my home so that Picasso wouldn't smell the frying"

• IDF investigation: Dismiss the deputy brigade commander who hit from his position (Hebrew)
• 4 million have a name - Project to commemorate Holocaust survivors has found 4.1 million names
• IDF at Yad Vashem (photo)
• Holocaust photos revealed for first time - following agreements signed with countries of former Soviet Union
• Salaam Fayyad threatens not to come to meeting with Netanyahu today (Hebrew)
• Jerusalem municipality requests permission to renovate Mughrabi Bridge (Hebrew)
• Lilian Peretz vs. Sara Netanyahu trial opens with housekeeper's testimony: As revenge, I made thick schnitzels (Hebrew)
• (Former Mossad chief Meir) Dagan is worth gold - Will he find gold in Eilat mountains? (Hebrew)

• Made a mistake, and that's a pity - Lt. Col. Eisner interrogated by Military Police
• "12 Iranian missile scientists were present at the launching of the N. Korean missile"
• "Now we have the IDF" - Holocaust survivor
• Talking again and exchanging letters: Netanyahu to meet today with Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad

News Summary:
The video clip of an IDF commander whacking a Danish peace activist continues to be frontpage news in Israel. The papers reported on the investigation, discussed whether he should be dimissed, and showed more photos of him attacking. Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad is meant to meet Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today with a letter in hand just as 1600 Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention in Israel go on a joint hunger strike in honor of Palestinian Prisoners' Day. That combination, Maariv wrote, may be the reason for Fayyad to cancel. Finally, Minister of Intelligence and Energy Dan Meridor made a very interesting acknowledgement on Arab satellite TV.

**The inquiry into the hitting of the Danish activist by the IDF officer is underway. Depending on which paper you read, Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner may or may not be dismissed. Haaretz says that based on precedents he won't be, because very few of the investigations into violence by IDF soldiers results in criminal prosecution or discharge from the army. However, Yedioth and Ynet think otherwise. Yedioth writes that he will not be promoted to deputy commander of Base #1 for officers' training and Ynet writes that military sources he will be dismissed from his position. He will likely stand on criminal trial, but as Ynet writes, the 'video may not be enough to convict the officer.' There have been much more serious incidents in the past that ended with disciplinary action," Attorney Avi Amiram, who serves as a defense attorney with the IDF's JAG, explained. The Palestinian activist who filmed the incident said, "I am willing to submit all of the footage to whoever investigates the incident and reveals the truth." Israel Hayom and Yedioth revealed this was not the first time Eisner "showed his hot temper."  Earlier this year, his jeep was stopped by military police and after arguing with them threatened to "break the face" of one of them. A military police investigation was opened in 2008, after he hit a female foreign demonstrator.  A new photo in Maariv shows him raising his M-16 to whack a Palestinian activist whose back is to him. Meanwhile, soldiers who served with him have written a letter describing him as 'ethical.'
 
Fayyad is meant to meet today with Netanyahu today and present to him a missive with the Palestinian conditions to restart the peace negotiation talks. That letter, at one point, supposedly threatened to dismantle the Palestinian Authority and return control of the occupied Palestinian territories to Israel - something Israel is in dread of. But Abbas told a newspaper that he has no intention of dismantling the PA, even though it has been 'rendered largely powerless by Israel.' Maariv reported that Fayyad threatened last night not to come over a dispute over the Palestinian tax money Israel is supposed to transfer to the Palestinian Authority. But Israeli officials told Maariv they think the real reason he might not show is because Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas 'set him up' by arranging for Fayyad to meet the Israeli premier on Palestinian Prisoner Day, thereby making Fayyad look bad. (In Hebrew)
 
Indeed, today 1600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons have begun an open-ended hunger-strike. Today also marks the day that the Palestinian man who used his starving body to protest against his own administrative detention will be freed. Khader Adnan will return to his village today. Meanwhile, eight other Palestinians have been hunger-striking for an extended period.
 
In opposition to Netanyahu's often-repeated statement, Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor acknowledged that Iran never called to 'wipe Israel off the map.' Meridor admitted in an interview with Al-Jazeera that Ahmadinejad was misquoted.

Poll:
Should Iran's demand not to attack it while negotiations are taking place be accepted?
Yes: 19%
No:   81%
Yedioth SMS and Facebook poll in '24 Hours' supplement.
 

Quick Hits:

• Israel Border Police beat, detain 9-year-old Jewish boy in Hebron (Haaretz)
• Israeli settlers, IDF trade blame over who wounded Hebron boy - Boy's parents file complaint. (Haaretz)

• Bethlehem governor outlaws contact with Israeli liaison office (Maan)

• Ashrawi slams Israel crackdown on Welcome to Palestine (Maan)

• Foreign activist draws swastika on BG Airport wall - Prior to deportation, pro-Palestinian activist leaves anti-Semitic drawing on holding facility wall. (Ynet)
• The perk was cancelled: Former president Moshe Katsav will have to wear prisoner's uniform (Israel Hayom, p. 17)
• Jerusalem municipality requests permission to make (controversial) renovations on Mughrabi Bridge - Five months after Netanyahu stopped the plan, the tension is likely to rise again at the Temple Mount. (Maariv and NRG Hebrew)
• IRS says rabbi owes NIS 10M (Ynet)
• IAF chief gets US Air Force decoration for assisting terror war in Afghanistan, Iraq (Israel Hayom)
• Islamic Movement leader returns to Israel after 10 months in UK - Raed Salah returns a free man following triumphant legal battle against British authorities. Hundreds greet him at airport with chants of 'Allahu Akbar.' (Ynet)
• Green groups: 'New fence planned for Egyptian border will mar landscape' (Haaretz)
• Gantz: Israel can handle all enemies - Ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, IDF chief says Israel needs to fulfill its destiny as 'a safe harbor for all Jews wherever they may be.' (Ynet)
• Soccer / Premier League / Fans protest IFA U-turn in Maccabi Petah Tikva violence case (Haaretz)
• Top PA official: Targeting IDF soldiers legitimate - At Bar-Ilan University conference, former Palestinian Minister Ashraf al-Ajarmi says, 'If Israelis want to live in peace, two-state solution must be reached.' (Ynet)
• Hamas delivered thousands of dollars to prisoners released in Shalit swap, Israel police charges (Haaretz)
• Report: former Hamas leader kidnapped in Damascus (Israel Hayom)

• New Hamas politburo 'remains confidential' (Maan)

• After the storm: Gunter Grass hospitalized for heart problems (Yedioth, p. 27)
• Syria: 55 killed since truce went into force (Ynet)
• The Russian comparison: Between Assad's crimes and Israel's actions in Gaza - Russian diplomats spoke at congressional briefing on Syrian issue. (Maariv, p. 4)
• Report: Iranians attended N. Korea missile launch (Agencies, Ynet)

Features:

Sights that the 'flytilla' activists weren't allowed to see To distance certain sights from the eyes of the world, the Israeli government has turned its international airport into a military outpost. (Haaretz)

Doesn't hate Israel anymore Nicky Larkin, an Irish director and photographer, supported the struggle against Israel. He sided with the flotillas and held views similar to those who confronted Lt. Col. Shalom Eisner. But a documentary film he prepared about the conflict caused him to think again. Now, after he published an article in support of Israel that caused a storm in Ireland, he is forced to deal with his friends who think he has gone crazy. (Yedioth, 24 Hour supplement)

Commentary/Analysis:

Israel's leaders incite the public against peace activists (Haaretz Editorial) Use of violence against peace activists is not an image problem that can be swept aside with a suspension and denunciation.
 
Before we lose the protective shell (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz) It behooves our leaders to show prudence and forge an agreement with the Palestinians soon, before the world's guilt vanishes.

The [PR] Art of War (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) In the PR battlefield, Israel is at a distinct disadvantage. The Palestinians know there is no interest in photos of a Molotov cocktail hurled at an IDF jeep, but an Israeli officer beating someone is a hot commodity.
 
Help! The left is returning (Avirama Golan, Haaretz) The echoes of the Indignatos' protests can be heard all over Europe.
 
Inaction over Syria reveals anti-Arab racism in the West (Salman Masalha, Haaretz) Rather than the fly-in serving as a 'Welcome to Palestine,' as the organizers called the protest campaign, it was aimed at expressing solidarity with Israel and stressing the extent to which Israel belongs to the activists' cultural family.
 
Fight or Flight-illa (Likud MK Danny Danon, Israel Hayom) The Jewish people don't need to justify themselves to anyone – certainly not to anarchist "peace activists."
 
Palestinians are not wanted in Jordan (Moshe Arens, Haaretz) Jordanian spokesmen insist over and over again that Jordan is not a Palestinian state, and the assertion heard now and then that Jordan is Palestine is considered subversive propaganda in Amman.
 
Values, flowers and videotapes (Yaakov Ahimeir, Israel Hayom) In this era of technology, the transfer of information requires but one person with an amateur video camera; but our democratic values allow him the freedom to express any opinion.

Obama-Netanyahu mistrust is the ticking time bomb of Iran nuclear talks (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) The U.S. election campaign is a major cause of mutual suspicions between the two leaders.

 

Prepared for APN by Orly Halpern, independent freelance journalist based in Jerusalem.