APN's daily news review from Israel

Friday November 22, 2013

Quote of the day:

Mohammed and Michal to be wed at the Shahid wedding hall in Ramallah.
--Radical right-wing activities reach new level in Jerusalem as they try to discourage romantic relations between Jews and Arabs.**

Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Freeze in talks: Iran demand rights to enrich
• Shelly (Yachimovich) or Buji (Herzog)? Only 53% of Labor party members voted for party chairperson
• 560 government jobs to be cut in the name of (paying for) stopping migration from Africa
• Conspiracy theories and attempts to make children religious in schools
• The isolated terrorists behind the isolated terror incidents - One was persecuted because of his sexual orientation, another suffered from depression. IDF ponders how to identify the independent attacker
• Following your heart and going with it - Israelis whose lives were saved by an artificial heart pump
• The first president of the second US - 50 years after the murder of John F. Kennedy: The historic ritual and the Jewish angle

Yedioth Ahronoth

• The Golan storm - Confrontation in the interrogation: Police put Eyal Golan before his father and heard their versions about the sex parties; 70%: Don't believe that Eyal Golan did not know they were minors
• Iran: There is no deadlock
• Shelly or Buji? (for Labor party chief): Updates on Ynet

Maariv

• Iranian chess in Geneva - Despite the French ultimatum - the reactor in Arak will continue to be built. Despite the US commitment - it will be possible to extend the intermediary agreement beyond six months. A Persian bazaar is being held in Switzerland, but according to all signs, the powers will blink first (Hebrew)
• Elections for leadership of Labor party: Dozens of private investigators, no disturbances and a dramatic drop in percentage of voters (NRG Hebrew)
• Solution to battle over leader of Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee: Rotation between Yesh Atid and Likud
• Palestinians put caravans for Bedouins (in E1) between Jerusalem and Maaleh Adumim (Hebrew)
• The 'Social Games' scandal: Soccer players and other singers likely to be called to testify by police

Israel Hayom

• Iran pushing the powers into the corner; At last minute, new Iranian demands
• Negligent negotiations // Dan Margalit
• Eyal Golan: If my father committed a crime - he should go to jail
• Shelly or Buji? Voting on leadership of Labor party
• Quiet, they're dancing: Ministry of Environment opposes nightclub noise
• The potential buyer of Office Depot: 65% of employees will remain
• 50 years of digging: Return to Masada

Peace Talk Update:
Palestinian peace talks negotiator Mohammed Shtayyeh will not be returning to the negotiating table with Israel. He resigned last week following the Israeli announcement for more settlement housing tenders. PLO official Hanan Ashrawi told British diplomats that Israel is using peace negotiations as a "cover" to continue building illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, Maan reported.
 
Iran-related News:
Talks between Iran and the powers ended yesterday on a cold note, wrote the Israeli papers, as the Iranians demanded the right to enrich uranium. But Yedioth writes that Jerusalem is convinced that the Iranians are just trying to get the maximum out of a deal and that it will be signed next week. Haaretz writes that the disagreement between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Barack Obama is virtually unbridgeable, and that "a political figure recently asked Netanyahu to moderate his harsh rhetoric against the US administration." Netanyahu, writes Haaretz's Barak Ravid, fears the temporary agreement with Iran will become a permanent one. Israeli officials told Ynet's Atilla Somfalvi that US Secretary of State John Kerry is to blame for losing the fight for this round of talks because he is unfamiliar with the substance of the talks. Nevertheless, an Israeli analyst said Israeli pressure will influence the final agreement. Maariv and Israel Hayom noted France's about-face: after the French President promised to demand that construction at the Arak nuclear site be stopped, Paris is nowing paving the way for a deal. Moreover, an interim agreement will not be limited by six months. Maariv writes that now everyone is waiting for the Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's decision. (NRG Hebrew) Meanwhile, a CNN poll found that a majority of Americans support an interim deal with Iran and oppose a military attack.

Quick Hits:

• Israeli Arab undergoes 'humiliating' security check at airport - East Jerusalem businessman Hani Almi's trip to Paris this month turns to theater of humiliations as security personnel force him to board without 'suspicious' shoes, wallet, attaching agent to him in terminal halls. (Ynet)
• Israeli court once again puts off ruling on discriminatory airport security checks - Petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, first filed in 2007, maintains that current checks are discriminatory and humiliate Arab citizens. (Haaretz)
• Funded by the Palestinian Authority: Palestinian outpost in E1 area - While Netanyahu ordered a construction freeze between Maaleh Adumim and Jerusalem, the Palestinian Authority is funding construction of caravillas place and is taking over the area. (Maariv, p. 1/NRG Hebrew)
• Israeli settlers erect tent outside of Palestinian village - Dozens of settlers from the settlement of Teqoa, while under the guard of Israeli soldiers, set up a tent near the western entrance of Tuqu village, claiming to be protesting against Palestinians throwing rocks at their vehicles. (MaanPHOTO)
• E. Jerusalem: Protest of the Shahid (martyr) - Recently posters reading "The Fatah organization of Shuafat refugee camp mourns the death of the martyr Rami Bajes al-Zalbani" were hung around E. Jerusalem. [Al-Zalbani died this month of injuries he sustained in clashes at Al-Aqsa/Temple Mount compound four years ago. - OH] (Yedioth Jerusalem, p. 42)
• Court asks state: Why King's Torah authors not indicted? Case against authors of allegedly racist book was closed in May 2012. (Haaretz)
• Israeli guards raid Ashkelon jail, assault detainees - Israeli prison guards raided Ashkelon jail on Thursday causing damage to prisoners' rooms and belongings. On Tuesday, nine Palestinian prisoners were injured during another raid in the jail. (Maan)
• Border Police destroyed your car? You pay - Suheir Hasima, whose car was damaged by the Border Police, was shocked to discover that when she went to the police to make a complaint for the purpose of receiving compensation, the case was closed due to lack of public interest.  (Yedioth Jerusalem supplement, p. 54)
• Gaza food industry struggles from lack of electricity, fuel - The food industry is struggling in Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli economic blockade and intermittent access to electricity. (Maan)
• UNRWA staff protests against low salaries, funding - The workers' union at the UN agency for Palestinian refugees in Gaza continued protests Thursday calling for salary increases hoping to improve the livelihoods of UNRWA workers. (Maan)
• Ban Ki-moon appoints new UNRWA chief - Pierre Krähenbühl of Switzerland is the new commissioner-general of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. (Maan)
• PCBS: Over 100,000 Palestinians work in Israel - Over 100,000 Palestinians work in Israel with around 20,000 working exclusively in Israeli settlements. Of this number, 51,100 had an Israeli-issued permit, 34,600 worked without a permit, and 17,600 had an Israeli identity card or foreign passport. (Maan)
• Unemployment spikes in West Bank and Gaza - A growing number of Palestinians are working in Israel, many of them without permits. (Haaretz)
• UN warns of deteriorating Gaza humanitarian situation - Robert Turner, Palestinian refugees agency head, says since demolition of smuggling tunnels with Egypt after Morsi's ouster, private sector constructions have nearly collapsed. (Agencies, Ynet)
• Students from Arab countries registered for the course at the Technion - Hundreds of students from Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia registered for an online course in nano-technology given in Arabic by Prof. Hossam Haick begins in March in Israel. "It will help bring us closer," say Technion people involved in creating the course. (NRG Hebrew)
• U.S., Israeli defense chiefs to attend Halifax security forum - In its fifth year, the forum attracts defense and security officials from Western democracies. (Agencies, Haaretz)
• Man threatens to set self on fire in front of Economy minister's residence - Herzliya resident calls office of Economy Minister Bennet, says will set himself on fire outside Bennet's house due to heavy fines he was forced to pay. Suspect turns self in to police, citing misunderstanding; 'did not intend to threaten anyone', lawyer says. (Ynet)
• Did Hollywood bigwigs help Israel buy arms in the 1970s and '80s? Longtime Hollywood film producer Arnon Milchan says they did, in an interview set to air Monday on the Israeli investigative journalism program 'Uvda.' (Haaretz)
• U.S. officials condemn Khamenei's 'abhorrent' remarks on Israel - U.S. Secretary of State Kerry blasts Iranian supreme leader for calling Israel 'names' while nuclear negotiations are in progress. (Haaretz)
• **Fictitious marriage radical right-wing style - In an attempt to increase awareness to break up romances between Jewish girls and Arab guys, the radical right-wing distributed a flyer announcing the fictitious marriage between 'Mohammed and Michal to be wed at the Shahid wedding hall in Ramallah' and under the names of the parents it was written 'we hope this is not you. They also published a photo of an Arab laborer who spoke with a girl studying in an ultra-Orthodox school, claiming they caught him with a kippah in his pocket and that he was trying to court Jewish girls. Recently they also began targeting business owners who hire Arab employees distributing flyers calling them derogatory names. Radical right-wing activities in Jerusalem have reached a new level. (Moshe Heller writes in Yedioth's Jerusalem supplement)

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