APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday February 03, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Ultra-Orthodox leadership and the army holding secret negotiations over draft
• Government getting flexible: Offers Turkey 20 million dollars compensation for flotilla casualties
• Exchange of accusations between Kerry and Israel
• (Education Minister) Piron to teachers: IDF is moral, be careful about disputing IDF's legitimacy
• Environmental organizations oppose the planned route of the train to Eilat
• The oldest campfire in the world, found near Rosh Ha'ayin

• A hands length away - In one room: Israeli minister and Iranian minister
• Kerry's word // Nahum Barnea
• Israelis work hardest in world to buy home: 148 salaries. In US: 66 salaries.
• The incarnations of my life: Her father served in the wehrmacht, her mother is a native American, her brother is Palestinian - and Sydney is joining the IDF
• The cliff climbers - Thousands of Israelis are hanging between the heavens and the skies on steep walls. Do you want to?

• Senior officials in the Foreign Ministry: The boycott phenomenon is spreading, but Israel is not preparing (Hebrew)
• Internal dispute over acts of protest against political process threatens to break-up coalition government (Hebrew)
• Teachers of Ethiopian-descent: We are being kept out of the education system
• In Tel-Aviv, average person spends twice as much on food than in Bnei Brak
• Postponement of Dafni Leef's trial, Attorney General and the Police will reexamine all the criminal cases opened against social protest activists in 2012
• This is how the Salafi terror organization "Ansar al-Maqdas," which identifies with Al-Qaeda
• MK to your home - New bill: MKs on maternity leave, sick leave or mourning can vote from their homes using a smart card, fingerprints and a password

• Defense Minister Yaalon: "Even if there is no (peace) agreement - we'll be fine" (Hebrew)
• Kerry storm - Netanyahu: "The attempts to boycott Israel are immoral"; Steinitz: "Kerry's remarks are intolerable"; US: Don't misrepresent his words" (Hebrew)
• We all want to untangle this mess // Dan Margalit
• "Strike the Jews in their pockets"? // Gonen Ginat 
• Suspicion: Nursery school assistant told children to beat 3-year-old
• Shock in the police: Senior official in the traffic department committed suicide
• Swine flu returned: Woman in critical condition
• So how much does it cost to buy an apartment in Israel today? 144 salaries

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Peace Talk Highlights:
The boycott of Israel was today's top story, both in regards to the spat over US Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks and to what Israel is or is not doing about it. The spat did not prevent Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from speaking on the phone about the framework agreement. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met and a Saudi prince said Israel would be a major Mideast player if it did make peace. President Mahmoud Abbas offered more flexibility for a temporary Israeli presence in a future Palestinian state in a NYT interview. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon made headlines not only because he said Israel 'could deal' even if it did not reach a peace agreement, but because he was photographed sitting in the front row at a panel that Iranian Foreign Minister Javar Zarif sat on at the Munich Conference. The settlers are at odds with each other over how to fight Netanyahu's negotiations that would mean their removal, while simultaneously receiving money from his coalition government.
 
The right-wing was enraged with Kerry and the left-wing was enraged with the right-wing after Kerry's comment at the Munich Security Conference that Israel might suffer boycotts and further delegimization if the current peace talks with the Palestinians failed.
The papers reported that Netanyahu rapped Kerry at the Sunday cabinet meeting, as did many right-wing ministers, for supporting a boycott of Israel, to which the US responded clearly: Don't misrepresent Kerry's words. The left-wing politicians called the attacks on Kerry irresponsible. Nevertheless, Kerry and Netanyahu spoke over the phone later Sunday about the framework agreement, Haaretz+ reported.
 
Both Yedioth and Maariv ran large stories about the spreading phenomenon of boycotting Israel. Maariv/NRG Hebrew quoted unnamed Foreign Ministry who said that the Ministry is not doing anything about the boycotts. Officials told Maariv they can't explain why suddenly there are more boycotts now when Israel is negotiating with the Palestinians. One official noted that there are steps that can be taken - mainly recruiting friends of Israel in Europe- but criticized the fact that the Ministry is making no special preparation. Yedioth quoted Foreign Ministry officials who aid that there is no world boycott against Israel, but that according to economists in the Finance Ministry, an expansive boycott could cost Israel $20 billion, dismissal of thousands of workers and harm 30% of the companies in Israel. Foreign Ministry officials told Yedioth that   if Israel expands settlements [as if it isn't doing that? - OH] and the peace negotiations fail. Another 2-page Yedioth article described how the boycott is limited - at this point it is mainly affecting Israel's image, and those paying the price are the products coming from settlements.
The paper gave a rundown of the boycott from different countries:
Germany - Marginal initiatives from radical left-wing
Australia - Public in general does not support it, but pro-Palestinian organizations still succeed in hurting Israel's economy and image.
France - Boycoting Israeli goods is illegal.
Italy - The economic crisis there is not encouraging locals to boycott Israel if they can do business with Israel.
UK - Minimal damage but very loud campaign.
Spain - Busy with its own economic difficulties
Canada - Boycott remains in the academia and the church.
US - Pressure on artists and actors mainly.
 
The Israeli and Palestinian negotiation teams met with Kerry in Munich on Sunday also to discuss the emerging framework proposal as well as the possibility of extending the negotiating window until the end of 2014. Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon told the conference that settlements are not an obstacle to peace and that Israel would 'manage' even without a peace agreement. And surprised the papers when he did not leave the plenum hall when Iran's top diplomat addressed the conference - and spoke out against the Holocaust. Interestingly, a Saudi prince said that if a peace deal with the Palestinians were reached, Israel would have significant role in Middle East.
 
Meanwhile, Abbas proposed putting a NATO mission in a future Palestinian state and that both an Israeli military and civilian withdrawal could take place over five years, but that recognizing Israel as a Jewish State 'is out of the question.'

The Yesha settlers are fighting between themselves over how to fight the peace process and could threaten the coalition government, reports Maariv/NRG Hebrew. One of the main sources of friction in recent weeks is related to strategic moves and campaigns against the peace process on behalf of some settlers. Now there is a satiric anti-Netanyahu video being circulated that is raising tensions even more. Those who support the Yesha council side say that the independent campaigns - particularly those led by the Samaria Resident's Committee, which is budgeted by the Samaria Regional Council [which is budgeted by the government - OH], are not strategically helpful and only create fear among the settlers. They note how problematic it is that one hand supports Netanyahu, invites ministers for visits to the settler council and enjoys the budget allotments, but the other hand has institutions working under its auspices which receive great amounts of money from it and then go and humiliate the prime minister. One source close to the Yesha Council said, "This (anti-peace agreement) campaign will cost us all dearly." 

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:

Why we must raise the alarm about settler violence (Emily L. Hauser, Haaretz+) It may be depressing to read yet more reports of price tag attacks, but the costs of ignorance - and of abandoning the Palestinians under attack - are far worse. 
Carrot and stick: The real threat to Israel (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth/Ynet) If peace talks fail, EU is threatening to impose sanctions on Israel similar to those used against South Africa during apartheid regime. 
A shared desire to untangle this mess (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) If Israel wants to bolt from the peace talks, it should go right ahead and do so; otherwise it should remain silent lest it inflicts more damage on itself.
What’s wrong with BDS, after all? (Avraham Burg, Haaretz+) Israel will be helpless when the discourse moves from who’s stronger/tougher/more resilient to a discourse on rights and values. 
Talking with the enemy (Smadar Perry, Yedioth) Perry criticizes a plan by Education Minister Shai Piron to cut back on the study of Arabic in middle and high schools. "There are two reasons to study the language of the other: Either you do so because 20% of the country's residents are neighbors beyond your door and you dream of one day having normal relations with them, or because you adopt the idea of 'Know your enemy', his religion and customs, culture and rich language." Perry writes that whatever one's motive, further reducing the study of Arabic will lead to a situation in which, "we learn about what is happening around us from what the local media sees fit to present."
Kerry: Not an equal opportunity threatener (David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has never once publicly warned Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that this process is the last Palestinian chance to gain recognized statehood.
Don’t attack Netanyahu (Uzi Baram, Haaretz+) A broad public campaign should be launched to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s proposals. 
Terrorism is a bigger threat than economic boycott (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) The Kerry framework endangers Israel. It is worth saying out loud that continuing to manage the conflict would be better. 
Anti-Semitism in Europe? Not a problem (Eldad Beck, Yedioth/Ynet) EU has found an efficient way of fighting anti-Semitism – completely ignoring its existence. 
Demographic symmetry and asymmetry (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) The very suggestion that there should be symmetry - a Palestinian minority in the Jewish State and a Jewish minority in the Palestinian state - almost brought down the present Israeli coalition. 
Mutual justice (Shalom Yerushalmi, Maariv/NRG Hebrew) "Close to one million Jews left their homes in Arab countries...They left behind property and memories that were not particularly pleasant." Yerushalmi, whose family was from Damascus, notes, "The State of Israel, after it arose, had many opportunities to demand the property of these Jewish refugees," but adds, "The state was silent even after the Palestinian refugees began to demand to return to their homes in Israel...With a genuine and sincere public diplomacy effort, it would be possible to cancel the Palestinian demand for a right of return and take it off the agenda," and regrets that the issue of the Jewish refugees from Islamic countries has garnered headlines only recently. "The possibility that the issue of compensation for Jews from Arab countries will be part of the peace accords with the Palestinians."
In Syria zero-sum game, neither side can win (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The week-long peace conference in Geneva last week achieved next to nothing. Meanwhile, thousands of Syrians continue to die.
Munich conference: All talk, no action (Ronen Bergman, Yedioth/Ynet) Half empty auditorium at annual security conference indicates Syria crisis is not about to be solved soon, as no one really has the energy to deal with it anymore. 
Striking Jews in their pockets -- a failed idea (Gonen Ginat, Israel Hayom) Maybe Kerry just wanted to "commentate." But he is Obama's secretary of state and his words carry extra meaning. 
The sip heard around the world: Scarlett Johansson, Super Bowl and SodaStream (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz+) Overnight, the actress has become the Marie Antoinette of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, smiling regally and offering: 'Let them sip soda.'

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