• Defining moment in primaries in US: Today, results in five states
• Trump needs AIPAC more than it needs him // Chemi Shalev
• Who will be the President of the state of the Jews // Tali Krupkin (Hebrew)
• Lawyer of woman accusing Brig. Gen. Buchris (of rape): They updated us that he was found lying (on polygraph)
• Ahmed Dawabshe, the survivor of the arson in Duma, is trying to return to life
• Putin begins decreasing forces in Syria and leaves behind a row of questions // Amos Harel
• Housing Ministry: We have no idea how 100 million shekels were divided
• Water Authority opposes adding fluoride: Unjustified coersion
• Zero in diplomacy // Haaretz Editorial
• Shakshuka conquers New York
• Without expenses (Being PM pays well, but not after taxes) // Moti Bassok

• Dramatic findings in polygraph: Buchris lied; the woman accuser spoke truth
• Fateful night for Trump

• “Hezbollah and Iran must not be strengthened from the Russian withdrawal” – President Rivlin meets today with President Putin
• Netanyahu wants to lower the tax on his vehicle usage
• “They tried to blackmail Silvan Shalom”Buchris affair: War of versions

Israel Hayom

• Reaching distance (Photo of Donald Trump)
• Chief of Staff: “Israel was surprised by the Russian withdrawal from Syria”
• (Far right-wing NGO) ‘Im Tirtzu’ report: These are the Israelis behind ‘Apartheid Week’
• Lawyer of woman accusing Brig. Gen. Buchris: “He was found speaking lies in the polygraph; the accuser was found speaking truth”; Buchris’ lawyer: “The media publishes parts of information, some of which are distorted and tendentious”

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News Summary:
An attorney for the woman who accused Israeli general Ofek Buchris of raping her said she was told Buchris lied in a polygraph test and Israel was puzzled and surprised by the Russian withdrawal from Syria announcement making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers. Also buried on page six of Yedioth’s Maman economic supplement was a report that one of Israel’s main sources of water has been disabled due to untreated sewage from the Gaza Strip. Also, the latest in diplomacy.
 
Israel was completely caught by surprise by the Russian announcement of a withdrawal of its troops from Syria, IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot told the Knesset Foreign Affaris and Defense Committee and Israeli analysts went into overdrive with possible reasons (See Commentary/Analysis below). Today Israeli President Reuven Rivlin will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and tell him that any Syria solution must not strengthen Iran and Hezbollah. A Russian diplomat has already tried to reassure Israel that its security would not be harmed by the Russian withdrawal. A Lebanese website, Janubiya, reported that hundreds of Hezbollah fighters are also retreating from Syria, Maariv reported.
 
In diplomacy, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told Yedioth that Israel wants to close a military aid deal with the Obama administration. Yaalon is in the US to discuss the matter. Israel has suggested it will wait for the next US President. New Zealand’s Foreign Minister criticized Israel for its perceived obstruction of the peace process in an address to an Australian-Jewish organization. Senior Palestinian Authority officials met with the French Envoy for the Middle East, Pierre Vimont, and expressed Palestinian support for the French-backed international peace conference. And Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah met with Russian Minister of Labor and Social Affairs. And IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot said the secret offer to the Palestinian Authority (PA) was a security measure designed to calm tensions between the sides and reduce the death toll, not a diplomatic one. The offer was to pull IDF troops out of West Bank cities and return control to the Palestinian forces on condition that the PA declaring that Israeli forces can enter when it deems necessary. [That said, some right-wing Israeli politicians have suggested a two state solution that allows Israeli forces to enter the Palestinian state when Israel deemed necessary. Such a declaration now might be used against the Palestinians in the future. – OH] Eisenkot said the "IDF has full operational freedom in Judea and Samaria (West Bank)" and that 65% of Israel's regular forces are deployed there. He also said that over 1 billion shekels ($256 million) was spent in the past decade to counter 'terror tunnels.'(Also Haaretz+)

Sewage from the Gaza Strip has recently disabled the desalination plant in Ashkelon, one of the main sources of water in Israel, Yedioth reported. [It is unclear why this is not on the front page of all the papers. – OH] The reason it was disabled, Yedioth reported, was because Israel won’t supply electricity to the sewage purification plant in Gaza. The Israeli Energy Ministry claimed it only became aware of the issue in recent days, but it turns out that the Israel Electricity Corp transferred the information to the Ministry already in 2013. [Moreover, JPost reported in November that “The 1.8 million Gaza Palestinians have almost completely run out of clean drinking water. There is not enough electricity to run the sewage treatment plant, which means too much water is being pumped from the Gaza aquifer, resulting in seepage from the Mediterranean. Not only does raw sewage pollute Israel’s waters, the lack of drinking water creates a humanitarian time bomb waiting to explode.” ] The modern Gaza purification plant was built by the EU and completed last year but has not begun operating yet because of the lack of electricity. Israel has been ignoring since 2013 the repeated Palestinian requests to the Israeli Electricity Corp to connect the plant to electricity (with a dedicated line) and they also rejected other solutions, Yedioth’s Elior Levy and Amir Ben-David wrote. As a result, tens of thousands of cubic meters of sewage continue to dump daily into the sea, some of which reaches the adjacent beaches of Ashkelon and the area of the Israeli desalination plant. A month ago, the plant had to stop operating twice because of high pollution levels. Fecal coli and other bacteria were found in the water and the plant had to halve the amount of water it supplies to the Israeli water system. Now it has stopped working altogether. The Water Authority said this was a ‘real threat’ to the water supply from the plant because the pollution from Gaza is expected to increase. “It’s a little unnecessary to invest billions in preventing the flow of sewage to Ashkelon and to remain indifferent to the flow of sewage from Gaza,” Israel's Environment Minister Avi Gabai said. “Unlike other issues, the environmental hazards harm both sides and won’t be treated without cooperation,” said Gidon Bromberg, CEO of EcoPeace, an organization working to solve the pollution problem. However, COGAT, the Israeli liaison for Government Activities in the Territories, responded: “Israel is a supplier of electricity to the Strip. The decision over how it is distributed needs to be made by the Palestinians.”

Quick Hits:

• Thousands attend funeral of man fatally shot in Qalandiya raid to extract 2 soldiers - After saying his last goodbyes, the father of Nahid Fawzi Imteir, 24, said he laid his son to rest 22 years after burying his friend and his son's namesake, who was also shot dead by Israeli forces. Imteir was shot and fatally wounded on March 1 when large numbers of Israeli forces stormed the refugee camp near Ramallah in order to extract two soldiers. (Maan) 
• 2 Palestinians killed after shooting attack buried in Hebron - Mourners demanded that the international community respond to ongoing Israeli "violations" against Palestinians. Qasem Farid Jaber, 31, and Ameer Fuad al-Junaidi, 22, were killed Monday after opening fire on an Israeli bus stop located outside of Kiryat Arba settlement. (Maan)
• Israeli forces raid Tulkarem-area university twice in 18 hours - University said Israeli forces raided it on Monday, forcing staff to open the main doors of  engineering department. Israeli forces reportedly ransacked the building and seized posters and brochures from the campus. (Maan) 
• Watchdog: Israeli violations against journalists nearly doubled in February - Israeli violations mostly ranged from preventing journalists from covering events, to physical assaults, some of which were "violent and brutal,” said the report by The Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms. (Maan) 
• 17-year-old Palestinian detained on suspicion of planning attack - The girl from the Jenin area was detained at the checkpoint after the Israeli army received information she had left her home with the intention to carry out an attack. Israeli police said they found a large kitchen knife in her possession. (Maan)
• Hundreds march on bloody West Bank route, demanding more deterrence - Led by settler leaders, protesters march along Route 60 to the Gush Etzion Junction, demanding security forces close roads for Palestinian movement during and after terror attacks. (Ynet and Israel Hayom)
• Israeli soldier mistakes homeless man for terrorist - Tel-Aviv goes on alert - Soldier reported that man pulled knife on him north of Tel-Aviv Tuesday before fleeing; police investigation finds attacker was likely not politically motivated. (Haaretz, Israel Hayom and Maariv) 
• Palestinian PMO: Israel acted 'above the law' in killing of Gazan children - The Palestinian Prime Minister’s office on Tuesday slammed Israel for “acting above the law” and called on the international community to hold Israel accountable for the deaths of two children killed in an airstrike on Gaza last week. (Maan)
• CEO of U.S. Friends of IDF rakes in $2.7m over six years, all from donations - Yitzhak (Jerry) Gershon paid substantially more than heads of other Jewish fund-raising groups in Israel or U.S. (Haaretz+) 
• Israeli Culture Minister, Man Who Insulted Her on Facebook to Drop Dueling Lawsuits - Man to apologize to Miri Regev, who will condemn threats against him, which began after she published his name and address. (Haaretz+) 
• New harassment allegations against Silvan Shalom likely won't lead to indictment, sources say - Associates close to the former interior minister say that the fresh complaint is nothing but an extortion attempt. (Haaretz+) 
• Report: Reform, Conservative Movements Warn Netanyahu Not to Back Out of Western Wall Deal - Leaders reportedly say that if Netanyahu backs down from compromise, he will cause an unprecedented crisis with Diaspora Jewry. (Haaretz)
• Senior Hamas Officials Deny Failure in Talks With Egyptian Intelligence - Hamas seeks easing of blockade on Gaza Strip and opening Rafah border crossing; Meshal: PA-Israel security coordination contravenes Palestinian interests. (Haaretz+) 
• Palestinian prisoners in Gaza provided agricultural training - The Hamas-run interior and agriculture ministries in the Gaza Strip are undertaking an initiative to provide practical training to scores of prisoners in Hamas' custody to help them acquire agricultural skills at plant nurseries and experimental farms. (Maan)
• Asylum seekers ask Supreme Court justices to let them stay in Israel - State now offers them choice of deportation to Rwanda or Uganda, or indefinite imprisonment. (Haaretz+) 
• Israel raising height of Egypt border fence to keep out asylum seekers - The authorities are increasing the height by one meter over dozens of kilometers, making it six meters high. (Haaretz+) 
• Report: Lebanon finds 'Israeli' spying device in border area - Hezbollah's TV channel reports transmission and photographic spy device found near the Blue Line, not far from a Lebanese army post and airstrip in the village of Markaba. (Ynet) 
• Few options for Israel against Iran's ballistic missile program, experts say - Defense News cites host of Israeli defense analysts who say there is nothing in the nuclear deal, or UN decisions, that prohibit Iran from developing ballistic missiles. (Haaretz)
• Arizona Lawmakers Approve Bill Against Boycott of Israel - Legislation would bar state and local governments from engaging in business transactions with companies that boycott Israel and its settlements, must still be signed by governor. (JTA, Haaretz) 
• British minister: BDS itself using apartheid methods - Britain's Secretary of State for Justice Michael Gove and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier express opposition to anti-Semitism at Berlin conference. (Yedioth/Ynet) 
• BDS activists label Israeli products in Canadian stores - Anti-Israel stickers plastered on products 'warning' consumers not to buy them. (JTA, Haaretz) 
• Trump's anti-Muslim alarmism wins over Jewish retirees in Florida - Over coffee and bagels, older, wealthier Floridians debate whether the candidate's comments are truth or racist rhetoric. (Haaretz+) 
• At Least 26 Die as Russian Jets Back Syrian Troops Near Palmyra - The airstrikes on the ISIS-held city occur a day after Russia started a military withdrawal from Syria. (Agencies, Haaretz) 
• Turkey IDs Ankara Attacker as Syria-trained Kurdish Rebel - Turkey's interior ministry says the attacker is a 24-year old woman who trained in Syria; violence erupts in southeastern Turkey as PKK fighters clash with security forces. (Agencies, Haaretz) 

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Features:
How three Israeli Arab kids from village with limited Internet access won tech prizeTamim Zoabi, Masar Zoabi and Rua'a Omari from a poor village in northern Israel win third place at the Young Engineers' Conference for a fire-fighting app. (Ben Sales, Haaretz)
The commander behind the pro-Israel student troops on U.S. college campuses
Roz Rothstein, founder of the influential nonprofit StandWithUs, addresses criticism of the organization's tactics and tells Haaretz, 'We don't take a position… We inform.' (Judy Maltz, Haaretz+)
Letters to the Editor: Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi and Rapist Ex-president (Haaretz)
The campaign to create a refugee 'safe zone' on Syria’s southern border
Israel has almost missed its chance 'to do the right thing,' Israeli-American businessman tells Haaretz, as he tries to rally support for a preemptive humanitarian plan. (Eetta Prince-Gibson, Haaretz+)
 
Commentary/Analysis:
The Nerve! Rewarding a Palestinian Teacher Who Incites to Nonviolence! (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) How dare they give the Global Teacher Prize to a Palestinian who’s showing her students how to endure Israel's occupation in peace? To so blatantly and crudely destroy our strategy of alleging Palestinian incitement against Israel? 
A strategic decision: the wave of terrorism is supported by the Palestinian Authority and backed by Iran and Hamas (Amos Gilboa, Maariv) With the support of the PA and the backing of Hamas and Iran, young Palestinians are fulfilling their "policy of peaceful popular resistance", which includes attacks with cold weapons (knives).
Five Decades of Occupation Have Created a Sort of Israeli-Palestinian Identity (Avi Shilon, Haaretz+) The forced integration has produced a joint identity, which has yet to receive an explicit name - but actually outside of Israel the conflict is noticeable in how alike we are. 
How the IDF helps Hamas (Alex Fishman, Yedioth/Ynet) Israel's predictable model of retaliatory air strikes hours after a rocket attack actually helps the Gaza rulers preserve their image of a militant organization at the forefront of the fight against Israel – even if it wasn’t behind the rockets.
Barring the Indonesian Foreign Minister? This Is Israeli Diplomacy? (Haaretz Editorial) The Palestinians now have a new consulate and a pledge for cooperation from Indonesia, while Israel is left with the hollow sound of it patting itself on the shoulder.
We will destroy the old world: for most of the nation, the "lefties" are guilty (Yitzhak Ben-Ner, Maariv) Most people do not give a damn about the threats to democracy, to order, to freedom and to our getting closer to a Jewish Caliph state. From their point of view, there is only one guilty party to the situation: The left-wing. Most of the nation connects emotionally with the mad vision of Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Erdogan and Benjamin Netanyahu: believing that we need a strong man will destroy all order, freedom, legality, equality and liberal-democratic behavior in order to build a new world, in their opinion. Most of the nation is proud of its Prime Minister, who insulted and acted arrogantly toward the Black President Hussein Obama (as Obama said in an interview). Most of the nation is sure that the country is still ruled and always has been by the dark Mapai party and the treacherous left-wing - and that they are to blame for all the bad that happens to us. Most of the country couldn’t give a f*#k that Mapai and the left-wing established this country in before most people here were even born or weren’t part of it yet. It has been years that Mapai and the Left are a tiny persecuted minority, a bank of targets and a collapsing hut in the Bibi jungle. Most of the nation is sure that Israeli Arabs are a fifth column to Daesh (ISIS), and that all Palestinians are stabbers; that the Prime Minister rightly incites against Arabs in Israel, Abbas and the Palestinians - and that their incitement against us is false; that Avigdor Lieberman is a certified security-minded politician; that Naftali Bennett is great Jewish education minister, that cursing attorney Yoram Sheftel is fit to be Chief Justice of the High Court and that Erel Segal is a daring fighter against the fading left-wing…Most of the nation does not give a damn about the continuing harm to democracy and the rapid approaching to a one-state situation, a kind of Jewish Caliphate… Maybe that’s a good thing, because then most of the nation will becomes yeshiva students and the minority will be sent to protect the Land of the Torah and will be killed. Unless the rest of us sane people, the rational and those with discretion who were left, will say to our state, which is turning over upon itself, the words of the polite policeman, who trying unsuccessfully to calm a shrieking lady, who was cursing and threatening in the town square, finally said to her politely: "You know what, Mrs.? You stay here - and I'll go to hell!" 
The Real Traitors in Israel Are Not the Arabs (David Sarna Galdi, Haaretz+) Before burning all Israeli Arabs at the stake because of the rantings of a few of their leaders, consider the disgraceful belief held by almost half of Israeli Jews. 
Unintentionally: Prime Minister's conflict management will bring about that we will be a minority in our country (Uri Savir, Maariv) The opportunity to resolve the conflict through negotiations still exists, but Netanyahu is not interested in two states, and therefore insists on conditions that the other party will not accept… The government of Israel convinced itself, and to a large extent convinced also the opposition, that there is no partner on the Palestinian side. The opposite is the truth. Israel is not a partner to the two-state solution. Mahmoud Abbas is a partner for a two-state solution, according to Palestinian positions, not Israeli ones. Israel can negotiate to find a compromise with the Palestinian president in between his positions and our basic positions. There never was and there never will be, it appears, a moderate leader like Mahmoud Abbas. Most of the security establishment assessments are in line with this opinion. But Netanyahu does not want a two state solution. He is not a partner. The Prime Minister says so directly, when he conditions negotiations one 1.) the continuation of full IDF control of the West Bank and 2.) Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. He knows there is no chance that Abbas can accept these terms, so he puts them in. Abbas is willing to recognize Israel through any way in which Israel defines itself in the UN; And he is prepared for security arrangements, but not to continue the occupation. 
Herzog’s best bet to stop his political freefall is ex-Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) The chairman of Zionist Union does not deserve this humiliation. But an entire camp wants a candidate who will challenge Benjamin Netanyahu, not a good boy who does his best.
Why BDS cannot lose: A moral threshold to combat racism in Israel (Ramzy Baroud, Maan) A foray of condemnations of the boycott of Israel seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Calls from Western governments, originating from the UK, the US, Canada and others, to criminalize the boycott of Israel have hardly slowed down the momentum of the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). On the contrary, it has accelerated.
Israeli Left Must Internalize That ultra-Orthodox Parties Are Not Partners (Shahar Ilan, Haaretz+) Anyone who thinks that left-centrist parties can form a government together with the religious parties is deluding himself. 
Trudeau's Timeout on Uncritical Canadian Support for Israel (Mira Sucharov, Haaretz+) The recently-elected Canadian PM seeks to return his country’s policy on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to a position of 'fair-mindedness.' So why is his foreign minister conflating BDS and anti-Semitism?
Scaling back in Syria (Smadar Perry, Yedioth/Ynet) While Russia is significantly reducing its presence in Syria, Putin has no intention of backing out completely: Moscow will retain control of its strategic assets in the divided country, and a good deal of its influence as well.
Putin's Syria Move: A Riddle Wrapped in an Enigma (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Few reasons are being given as to why Moscow is withdrawing its troops. Perhaps the government recognizes the limits of military force it is willing to use in the conflict.
Moving to the diplomatic field: The Russian withdrawal was intended to promote the Syria peace talks (Lt. Col. (res.) Moshe Marzouk, Maariv) Putin realized that a military achievement is not enough and that it should be backed by a diplomatic agreement. He also wanted to prove his mission was to do the job and get out and that he was willing to fight Daesh. 
The Putin Doctrine Keeps Vassal States Like Syria in Line (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+) If Moscow can’t control a neighbor or vassal state through a trusted leader, it creates or perpetuates a crisis that ensures Russia’s role and limits the West’s influence.
A wise and prudent move: Putin has placed Russia as a superpower, equal to the US (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Russian involvement in Syria has changed the regional balance of power and international law, and created a possibility of continuing to maintain the fragile ceasefire.
 
US ELECTIONS and ISRAEL Commentary and Analysis:
Trump in Florida, and the German Jews Who Voted for Hitler (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) This is what I've come to know: Any Jew who votes for Donald Trump is voting for an anti-Semite. The next time he asks you to raise your right hand, America, just say Never Again.
Trump/AIPAC Conference Could Embroil Israel and Inflame American Jews (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz) Speech by controversial GOP candidate could give him legitimacy he lacks, which is precisely what enrages his opponents.
Why America has a Trump and Israel doesn’t (David Rosenberg, Haaretz) The Donald appeals to the American underclass that’s been ignored. In Israel, those with grievances are the middle class and they prefer more respectable protest candidates. 
Republican candidates love Israel. Too bad they don't make sense (Asher Schechter, Haaretz) They’re going to support Israel. They’re going to stand by Israel. How would they do that? We don't know, but they support Israel!
 

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