APN's daily news review from Israel

Monday September 05, 2016 
 

Quote of the day:

"[Prime Minister Binyamin] Netanyahu sees the approaching disaster, but doesn’t have the courage to do anything. Lacking leadership, it is our right and duty as citizens to determine our fate. Only a decision as part of a referendum will give a true expression to the desire of the majority and will enable the continued building of the Zionist enterprise without violence between us.” 
--Former Shin Bet chief and minister, Ami Ayalon ahead of the launching today of a left-wing initiative for a national referendum on the future of the occupied territories.**

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Breaking News:
Palestinian Killed in East Jerusalem Refugee Camp After Suspected Attempt to Run Over Police
A passenger was wounded. Police said the men drove quickly toward the officers, refused to stop and were shot. There were no police injuries. The incident took place at night inside the refugee camp. Maan photos show the incident took place in a commercial area at night and while it's possible that the Palestinians did not see the police, all the Israeli media with the exception of Haaretz assumed the two young men intended to kill the police. (Haaretz, Ynet, Israel Hayom, Maan)

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Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

Israel Hayom

News Summary:
The Shabbat train work crisis continues to fill the front pages, with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu apparently withdrawing from his intention to fire Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (although criticizing him) and polls showing that Israelis blamed Netanyahu for the crisis, not the Transportation Minister. Haaretz reported that work on the railway on Shabbat has been routine for years and Yedioth reported that Netanyahu himself approved it in November.
 
**Meanwhile, a group of prominent left-wing leaders and movements, including Peace Now and Blue White Future, announce today an initiative to bring the issue of the future of the occupied Palestinian Territories to a national referendum, Maariv and Haaretz+ reported. The initiative comes marking 50 years of the occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and is signed by former Shin Bet chief and minister Ami Ayalon, former Labor chairman Amram Mitzna, and former ministers Yuli Tamir, Uzi Baram, Ophir Pines-Paz and Michael Melchior, former MKs Daniel Ben Simon and Tzali Reshef, retired police commander Alik Ron, Brig. Gen. Giora Inbar, among others. In a letter sent to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the heads of the initiative wrote: “A decision by referendum on the most critical issue for Israel’s future will be a declaration of Israel’s intentions to the world, and will constitute a guideline for Israel’s elected governments to work toward realizing the decision, and until then to take diplomatic steps in all realms, including determining the border and settlement areas, in accordance with the decision made.” Maariv’s Ben Caspit, wrote about the new organization, called “Deciding at 50,” and its initiative last month. (Translated to English by Al-Monitor) 
 
Also, Yedioth’s Ronen Bergman reported that over the last year, Israel, Iran and Hezbollah have been cooperating to solve the mystery of where Ron Arad, IDF navigator, disappeared to after falling captive in Lebanon some 30 years ago. Hezbollah performed digs in various locations in Lebanon and transferred bones to Israel. Hezbollah specifically said it did not know if the bones belonged to Arad, but it was transferring them to be examined. But the DNA did not match. The contacts between Israel and Hezbollah were through a middleman from a Western country. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were also involved because, according to sources, they held Arad from 1988 until he died and because the Iranian government wants to solve the mystery of the four Iranian diplomats who went missing in Lebanon in 1982. Iran accused Israel of kidnapping them. A ‘Tweet’ by Europe-based Iranian journalist Amir Taheri was a sign of Iran’s strong desire to solve the diplomats’ issue. Taheri wrote on June 10th that Iran’s Speaker of Parliament suggested a deal with Israel: Ron Arad in exchange for the four diplomats. Shortly thereafter he wrote that Iran and Israel held a meeting in May in Cyprus and that Hashemi Rafsanjani was present alongside senior Israeli officials. Due to the new information received a year ago, Hezbollah expressed optimism in talks with the Western source that it would find Arad’s bones. But after it failed it told the source that “the ground in the area where Arad was buried had moved and changed since it happened. They continue to try and are sure that in the end they will find the grave,” said the source. Israel’s intelligence services declared the mystery of Ron Arad as solved in 2005, saying that the captive navigator had died, apparently from an illness, in Lebanon between 1995-1997 and that his place of burial was unknown.
 
Separately, Yedioth reported that Israel’s High Court ruled that Israel does not need to return to Lebanese citizen Mustafa Dirani the $21,000 IDF soldiers confiscated from his home when they took him captive in 1994 as a negotiating card to get Ron Arad returned nor does it need to pay him compensation for the torture he suffered in Israeli hands. The court said that the money was booty that belongs to Israel and that it does not need to deal with a legal suit that was filed by someone who had joined a terror organization (Hezbollah). 
 

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:
Why I'm Not Proud of My Country, Israel (Rogel Alpher, Haaretz+) Face facts: there won’t be a Palestinian state, and Israel will no longer be the state of the Jews.
The Iran deal, one year later (Sever Plocker, Yedioth/Ynet) Many of the assumptions—good and bad—made by pundits and politicians after the Iran deal was signed in 2015 have proven false so far. What may be next for the Shi'ite state? 
Invest in East Jerusalem, Then Think About Annexing Parts of the West Bank (Moshe Arens, Haaretz+) Such a venture would bring services in Arab East Jerusalem to Israeli levels. These efforts could be a model for the whole land.
Religious coercion is anti-Zionist (Ze’ev Jabotinsky, Israel Hayom) By manipulating the railway construction controversy, anti-Zionist ultra-Orthodox parties are creating a deterrent for the prime minister and pushing the country further toward becoming a religious state.
Let's Tell the Truth About Fuad: He Was the Essence of Everything Bad in Israeli Politics (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) Benjamin Ben-Eliezer was a model for everything that the public gripes over: No ideology, just the desire for authority and political power.

 

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