APN's daily news review from Israel

Sunday June 15, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• Heavy fear for life of three youth kidnapped in West Bank
• Small chance for happy ending // Amos Harel
• Netanyahu and Bennett are responsible // Amir Oren
• (Netanyahu's) Propaganda war endangers security coordination with PA // Barak Ravid
• Hamas is the target (of the Israeli government) // Zvi Bar'el
• Abbas' trap // Jacky Khoury
• The Hebron-Baghdad axis // Chemi Shalev
• Obama announced he would not send forces to Iraq: "We cannot do the work instead of them"
• Escalation in Ukraine: Pro-Russians downed military plane; 49 soldiers killed
• Government plans to open (long-standing) agreement with JNF over lands

• Kidnapped

• "They were kidnapped by a terror organization"

• With concern and prayer - Whole state following with fear after efforts to find three kidnapped
• Clear result of hate propaganda // Nadav Shragai
• May the son return to his mother's arms // Emily Amrousi with the Shaer family
• Failure of the intelligence services // Yoav Limor
• Failure? Police received the information about the kidnapping - but it was held up for hours
• Special issue:
• Beersheva resident testified: "I gave them a ride before they were kidnapped, I warned them"
• Mass prayer rallies near the homes of the kidnapped and at the Wailing Wall
• Celebrations of joy in Judea and Samaria and in Gaza; Unknown organizations took responsiblity

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News Summary:
The Thursday night kidnapping in the West Bank of three Israeli yeshiva students, two aged 16 and one aged 19, all of whom studied in the West Bank, dominated the pages of today's Hebrew papers.
 
RESPONSIBILITY:
In a televised appearance yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority was responsible for their fate and that the kidnapping was the result of the unity government between Fatah and Hamas. The Palestinian Authority reminded him that they were kidnapped from a hitchhiking stop in Area C, under full Israeli military control. An organization that links itself to Al-Qaeda took responsibility, but the validity of that claim is being investigated by Israel.
 
**Some commentators and experts discussed whether it was the mass releases of Palestinian prisoners, most recently in peace talks and in the Gilad Shalit deal, that motivated the kidnapping. Others suggested it was the move to outlaw releasing prisoners. (See Commentary/Analysis below.) Interestingly, Haaretz+'s Barak Ravid noted that ten days ago, Shin Bet chief Tamir Pardo outlined a scenario to government ministers that was spookily similar to the kidnapping of three teens missing in the West Bank, in an attempt, along with other defense establishment officials present, to convince them not to advance a bill to outlaw prisoners releases, because it would limit the government's room for maneuver in future abduction cases, would keep its hands tied, and prevent it from considering other solutions for dealing with a potential crisis.
 
However, they did not consider the fact that some 125 Palestinian prisoners are chained to hospital beds, some on the verge of dying, might have sparked the kidnapping. Today is the 52nd day of their hunger-strike protest. They are using their bodies to protest that they are being detained without charges, some for over 10 years. With the exception of Haaretz, this has barely been covered in the Israeli press. Every day they refuse food is considered critical. 
 
ACTION:
The first 24 hours are key, write the papers, but time is not on the side of the kidnapped teens. Unlike Shalit, who spent five years in captivity in Gaza, "in the West Bank, hostages rarely survive," Haaretz's+ Amos Harel writes. Moreover, it appears the police waited hours before launching a search for the missing teens and informing the IDF and Shin Bet. The Shin Bet said it uncovered 11 cases of security prisoners trying to coordinate abductions since last September. 

On the diplomatic level, Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni contacted US Secretary of State John Kerry asking for US help. Kerry called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and asked him to help. The Canadian government condemned the kidnapping and called for the Palestinian Authority (PA) security forces to help, noting that Canada helped pay to train them.
 
Right now, a large-scale Israeli security operation involving the IDF and the Shin Bet is taking place in the West Bank. It includes the entire Paratroopers brigade, along with several other units, to conduct sweeps and house-to-house searches. Maariv posted a video from the IDF Spokesman's Unit showing how soldiers are conducting searches. Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said the working assumption was that the three are still alive. To prevent the kidnappers from leaving Israeli territory via Jordan, Israel said it will not allow Palestinian residents of Hebron between the ages of 20-50 to enter Jordan through the Allenby Bridge crossing.
 
Eighty Palestinians were arrested overnight, among them senior Hamas activist Hassan Yousef and a Hamas MP from Nablus. Two were freed prisoners. Hebron has been surrounded by forces. Maan listed the names of 69 Palestinian individuals detained in overnight raids and where they live. "The majority of the detained individuals were affiliated with Hamas and Islamic in some capacity, although their relationship to the case of the youth is unclear," writes Maan. However, a Palestinian official told Ynet that most of those arrested are known to be involved in buying and selling stolen cars.

Israel has also taken punitive actions against Palestinians in the Gaza strip: closing the Kerem Shalom crossing, the only connection for fuel to enter the besieged coastal enclave. By Saturday, 80% of Gaza gas stations were empty of fuel and all were expected to close down by Saturday afternoon, Maan reported. 
 
Palestinians reported that the IDF confiscated video tapes from Palestinian residents and shopkeepers with security video cameras [ironically, many of those cameras were installed to protect the Palestinians from settler price-tag attacks - OH] and set up roadblocks across the Hebron area. Conversely, writes Israel Hayom, Hamas called on Palestinians with security cameras to erase all their footage in order to obfuscate the terrorists' escape and make gathering evidence more difficult.
 
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' office ordered the Palestinian security forces to relay all information that could be useful in finding the kidnapped teens to the IDF. PA security cooperation has angered Hamas.

REACTIONS:
Hamas is supportive of such kidnappings aiming to win concessions from the Israeli government. More than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners were freed in 2011 in return for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Ynet reported that a Hamas video calling to fight against Israeli forces in West Bank is being posted on social networks. The video has captions in Hebrew and says settlements are the focal point of the conflict. And, hours after the kidnapping went public Friday, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza called for intifada against Israel and called on Palestinians around Hebron to impede IDF soldiers' movements.

Indeed, Maariv's Rafi Jerby writes that there were dozens of clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces across the West Bank and that some Palestinians tried to thwart the searches for the three abductees.
 
While it is cooperating on a security level, Abbas' office in Ramallah has remained quiet over the kidnapping and has yet to release an official statement, wrote Israel Hayom. One senior official in Abbas' office said that the Abbas spoke with Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders and told them to tone down their responses to the kidnapping and lashed out at some of the senior members of those groups for praising the kidnapping.
 
Settlers hurled rocks at Palestinians and their homes after they entered the village of Susiya, south of Hebron.
 
Many Palestinians in the West Bank feel fearful of what the IDF's actions could do to them during these tense days, nonetheless, some Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank celebrated the kidnappings, seeing it as "the only way to free our sons from occupation's prisons." Led by families of Palestinian security prisoners, candies were handed out in a protest tent set up in Gaza by families to express solidarity with prisoners serving time for security related offenses in Israel and with those hunger-striking over not being charged. "We have always called for the kidnapping of soldiers. We view this as the only just solution for freeing our sons from the occupation's prisons," said a spokesperson for the families of Palestinian security prisoners.

The US has said it is "very concerned" for the welfare of the teens.

Haaretz has a live blog on the developments, that is not behind a paywall.

Quick Hits:

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Commentary/Analysis:

Netanyahu and Bennett bear responsibility for teens' fate (Amir Oren, Haaretz+) Passing the bill to thwart prisoner releases has made it clear that Israel will skip all negotiating – a phase which could have allowed for gathering intelligence and planning a rescue operation. 
The search for the kidnapped youth: A game of cat and mouse (Ran Adelist, Maariv) A huge manhunt is being conducted by the "iron comb" method of mass arrests and searches from home-to-home. This is a sure sign that the Shin Bet has no real information. When the smoke clears, in most cases it turns out that the story is simple: an observation point, planning an escape route and maybe hiding places and a smoke screen to hide the abductees. 
The real reason Netanyahu is blaming Abbas (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) As Israel searches for the three teens suspected kidnapped in the West Bank, the Palestinian president is Israel's only strategic asset. 
Changing direction (Shimon Shiffer, Yedioth) Netanyahu pointed an accusing finger at the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority Abu Mazen and expressed disappointment with the weak weak response of the international community over the kidnapping of the three youth. But also in these hours, it is permissible for us -even obligatory - to demand from the prime minister to take full responsibility for his part in the collapse of the security concept, which he has led over recent years. Mass release of prisoners and indirect negotiations with Hamas, while weakening the Palestinian Authority, are direct outcomes of his policy.
Has ISIS infiltrated the West Bank? (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) The pamphlet claiming responsibility for the kidnappings doesn't seem to have come from the Salafi group now terrorizing Iraq and Syria. But maybe a local cell decided to claim affiliation with ISIS to inspire fear.
Israel must act to separate from Palestinians (Gilead Sher, Yedioth/Ynet) We should not depend on Palestinian unity government, but rather create the reality of two states for two people ourselves.
It was a matter of time: They want to kidnap - because we pay (Ben Caspit, Maariv) The fact that since Gilad Shalit Israel did not face a kidnapping attempt - is likened to a miracle. Netanyahu gave in to terror and released dozens of heavyweight killers and the Palestinians fantasize about the big prize. The solution? New legislation against negotiations vis-a-vis terrorism.
Enough releasing terrorists (Former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, Yedioth) In recent days, various experts called to use force against (Palestinian President) Abu Mazen specifically and against Palestinians in general and in that way, the problems will be solved. I do not accept those calls. There is not point in more calls for "more force," as if we are not using enough force regularly. Anyone who was there so many years as I was can testify to that. It's preferable that we think about stopping releasing prisoners in exchange for kidnapped soldiers, or stop releasing prisoners instead of freezing settlement construction during (peace) talks with the Palestinians. Those releases are the main motive for additional kidnapping attacks.
Amid kidnapping, Abbas must take steps to prevent his political downfall (Jack Khoury, Haaretz+) Abbas must decide between the support of the international community and the support of the Palestinian public. 
Between Yitzhar and Itamar (Chana Rosenfelder, Israel Hayom) The true meaning of the Jewish nation is the moral code revealed at Mount Gerizim. 
Netanyahu’s test (Haaretz Editorial+)  The prime minister needs to show restraint and manage the ongoing kidnapping case wisely. Otherwise, he may create a further escalation. 
The annexation at the end of the tunnel (Hagai Segal, Yedioth/Ynet) Number of Israelis who believe in annexing settlement blocs is gradually surpassing number of Israelis who believe in peace with Abbas.
America’s Iraqi nightmare overshadows reaction to West Bank kidnappings (Chemi Shalev, Haaretz+) If the U.S. attacks jihadist forces marching on Baghdad, it will share a common interest with Iran and likely urge Israel to blunt its offensive against the unity government in Ramallah.
Separation should not be an option (Yoram Ettinger, Israel Hayom) Israeli policy-makers must not allow perceived demographic threats to minimize the Zionist vision. 
Israelis can try, but they can't ignore the occupation (Gideon Levy, Haaretz+) The only way still open for the Palestinians to remind the Israelis of their existence and plight is the way of violent struggle.
Between Mosul and Jerusalem (Guy Bechor, Yedioth/Ynet) Same hallucinating Americans who built failed Iraqi army drafted a security plan for Judea and Samaria as well. 
Israel shouldn't ask the Palestinians to validate it as a Jewish state (Allan Gerson, Haaretz+) Why risk demeaning the Jewish people by making them look to the Palestinians, rather than themselves, to guarantee Israel’s continuation as a Jewish state?
Vagueness has become the new politics (Yoaz Hendel, Yedioth/Ynet) Compared to a person who knows how to simplify ideas, Yair Lapid's statements on Israeli-Palestinian issue are quite awkward.
A year after his election, Rohani is changing Iran without shaking it up (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) It’s not just the interim nuclear deal with the powers. The new president is getting tough with the Revolutionary Guard and promoting civil rights.
The death of Plan B? (Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom)
The joint peace prayer at the Vatican marked the end of the Peres and Oslo Accords era. While various peace initiative go back and forth, Israel knows the next crisis is already looming and will likely take place in the U.N. in September.
Israel must act with its head, not heart, in dealing with teens' abduction (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) With solid intelligence-gathering and by following clear-cut guidelines, Israel could perhaps avoid a tragic outcome and minimize the threat of further kidnappings.
The banality of injustice (Carolina Landsmann, Haaretz+) Anyone who aspires to a society based on justice, and not merely on laws, must look at this truth squarely. We must extract the roots of evil in our land, roots that can not but yield wild and bitter fruits in our vineyards.
Teens' disappearance could be outcome of Palestinian unity (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Terrorist groups have high motivation for carrying out kidnappings; reconciliation feeds terrorism, which threatens unity.
Education minister has a lot to learn (Haaretz Editorial) Shay Piron's statements show what stuff a party that takes part in a radical rightist government, which acts regularly to sabotage a peace agreement, is made of.

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