News Nosh 01.31.14

APN's daily news review from Israel
Friday January 31, 2014

Word of the day:
"Inconvenience."
--The Israel Defense Forces describes the effect of conducting military exercises inside Palestinian villages - and sometimes in their homes without their knowledge - and decides to continue, although it is also illegal according to international law.**


Front Page News:
Haaretz
Yedioth Ahronoth
Maariv
Israel Hayom
  • Great embarrassment in Habayit Hayehudi party - Bennett almost brought about coalition crisis. Turns out, only a month ago party MK Ayelet Shaked said same thing (as Netanyahu): "I don't see reason why settlers can't stay"
  • Teacher who criticized IDF will not be fired
  • Freedom of speech, consciousness - and be careful // Haim Shine
  • Because of Ariel Zilber: (Singer) Ahinoam Nini boycotting the ACUM awards
  • From the US - to Nafha jail - Israeli criminal Yitzhak Abergil landed in Israel yesterday

Peace Talk Highlights:
The top story in today's Hebrew papers was the decision not to dismiss the civics teacher who said the IDF was an immoral army. Peace talk details were also high in the news. Maariv writes that US Secretary of State John Kerry discussed leaving settlers under Palestinian sovereignty, but Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said there was no intention of leaving any Israelis under Palestinian sovereignty. Yedioth reported that US envoy Martin Indyk said a framework deal would leave roughly 75% of the settlers in their homes under Israeli sovereignty and include Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. And a senior Palestinian official said that there would be no deal if the reports were true. Meanwhile, Israeli President Shimon Peres said it was time to make historic decisions, not political ones.
 
Maariv/NRG Hebrew's Eli Bardenstein writes that Kerry is in favor of leaving settlers - including those in Hebron - under Palestinian sovereignty. He writes that he has learned "that the talks held at Camp David II in 2000 with the participation of Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat - the Palestinians agreed to continue the presence of a Jewish minority in a Palestinian state area. Kerry and his people have internalized the message that both Prime Minister Netanyahu and chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni gave him, according to which Israel cannot evacuate all 120,000 Israelis living outside the settlement blocs. Netanyahu stressed that it was not only him, but every Israeli prime minister (who thought like him)."
However, Lieberman said there was no such intention to leave Israelis under Palestinian sovereignty.
 
US peace mediator Martin Indyk "spilled the beans" on a US-led framework agreement, according to Yedioth, which reported that the deal will include 'mutual recognition' [euphemism for Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state - OH], security arrangements and Israeli sovereignty for roughly 75% of settlers as well as compensation for both Jews and Arab refuges from 1948. But senior Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub said that if reports about the contents of Kerry's framework deal was true, there would be no deal. Rajoub referred to the details written in Thomas Friedman's column in the NY Times. Interestingly, Friedman said in a talk yesterday that his details actually came from a report he read in Haaretz.
  
Peres met on Thursday with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is visiting Israel. In a joint statement, Peres addressed the peace talks, saying: "This is the time to make historical decisions and not political ones" and stressed that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "has very serious intentions" in contradiction to what Israeli minister Yuval Steinitz said yesterday, calling Abbas the "most anti-Semitic leader" in the world.

Quick Hits:
  • Army report: More West Bank settlers in senior IDF positions - Sixteen percent of those who attended a recent commanders' training course were West Bank residents - four times the proportion of settlers in Israeli population. (Haaretz)
  • **Israeli army to stop training in Palestinian cemeteries - Despite 'inconvenience to local population,' IDF will keep holding exercises inside West Bank villages, but will avoid religiously sensitive spots. (Haaretz+)
  • Tensions in the West Bank are rising, together with IDF, settler violence - 2013 sees escalation in IDF activity against Palestinians, and Palestinian popular resistance to arrests is on the rise, UN report says. (Haaretz+)
  • Israeli forces issue demolition orders in Hebron village - Israeli forces issued demolition orders to two Palestinian families where 13 people live in a southern West Bank village of Idhna on Thursday. (Maan)
  • Rightist minister's rally draws thousands praying for end to 'Kerry's edicts' - Mass rally called at Western Wall dubbed 'prayer for salvation of Israel and its legacy.' (Haaretz)
  • Israeli soldiers shoot man attempting to infiltrate Iron Dome battery - IDF soldiers in Eilat say they shot in the air after the man ignored their orders; motive of injured man remains unknown. (Haaretz+)
  • Some 700 Syrians treated in Israeli hospitals since early 2013 - As process of caring for civilian casualties of the war in Syria becomes more routine, human rights activists call for Israel to take in refugees. (Haaretz+)
  • This is how the country will bring Jews of France to Israel - Operation "French First": In order to increase the volume of immigration advocacy efforts will be expanded and will be significantly supplemented with an envoys to France. At the same time, Israel will run a system that will shorten the bureaucratic process and facilitate the absorption. (Maariv, p.1/NRG Hebrew)
  • N.Y. Senate passes bill penalizing schools for boycotting Israel - Bill doesn't mention Israel specifically, but its sponsor, Senator Jeffrey Klein, made clear that academic boycotts of Israel were what led him to introduce the legislation. (JTA, Haaretz)
  • Norway fund blacklists Israeli firms with settlement ties - Country's wealth fund blacklists two Israeli companies involved in settlement construction in East Jerusalem. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Scarlett Johansson quits as Oxfam ambassador after row over SodaStream job - Statement from actress says 'She and Oxfam have a fundamental difference of opinion in regards to the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.' (Agencies, Ynet)
  • Israeli forces prevent Palestinian (rights) activist from entering Jordan - Ratib al-Jbour told Ma'an: "I was heading to Jordan, and then to France to participate in solidarity campaigns with our people and show the true image of how we suffer as a result of the occupation and settlers." (Maan)
  • Tunisian minister resigns over Israel visit - New tourism minister hounded for going to Israel in 2006, though she denies entering, saying she was held at the border. (Haaretz)
  • South African government woos voters living in Israel - Campaign comes amid South African support of anti-Israel boycott and Netanyahu's failure to attend Nelson Mandela's memorial service. (Haaretz)
  • Ministers split on strategic plan over how to counter boycott threats - Yuval Steinitz advocates PR counteroffensive, but Foreign Ministry says this would play into activists' hands. (Haaretz+)
  • Israeli minister: Abbas 'most anti-Semitic leader' in world - Strategic Affairs and Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz says that under Palestinian president, 'level of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement in the PA has reached new heights.' (Haaretz)

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