APN's daily news review from Israel

Tuesday July 08, 2014

Quote of the day:

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Front Page News:

Haaretz

• The possible peace - US President Barack Obama in a special Op-Ed for Haaretz - In this dangerous moment, all sides must protect the innocent and act with restraint and wisdom - not retaliation and revenge
• Today Israel Peace Conference (Watch live)
• The Saudi prince Turki al-Faisal: The Arab Peace Initiative is still on the table, valid more than ever. It's saddening that Israel does not respond to it
• More than 80 rockets shot from Gaza; Cabinet: Escalate the attacks
• Dissolving of Likud-Beiteinu: Lieberman has his it both ways

• On the path to conflict - 100 rockets shot from Gaza, IDF prepares for action against Hamas
• At the request of Hamas // Nahum Barnea
• The restraint is finished // Alex Fishman
• This is how we murdered (Photo of three of the Jewish Israeli suspects) - Caption: Some of the six suspects in the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, 16, re-enacted how they kidnapped, beat and burned him alive...
• Lieberman: The partnership with Likud did not work
• The last nail // Sima Kadmon

• War in the air
• Poll: 47% do not support a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip
• Deteriorating downhill to Gaza // Ben Caspit
• The last opportunity - The israel-Hamas chicken game // Yossi Melman
• Hit Hamas // Eliezar (Cheney) Marom
• Lieberman dismantled Likud-Beiteinu

• Escalation in fire - and in the response - After midnight: 01:30: Operation Tzuk Eitan begins. Air Force attacked targets in Gaza Strip - after Hamas shot more than 80 rockets
• Without entering, in the meantime // Yoav Limor
• Don't 'contain' - attack // Nadav Shragai
• Guide: Home Front Command guidelines to (southern) residents
• Lieberman separates from Likud: "There are principled differences of opinion between us. Anger in Likud: At this time?

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News Summary:
Israel begins a military operation against the Gaza Strip, the Foreign Minister and leader of Yisrael Beiteinu dissolved the joint faction with Likud and three of the six Jewish suspects in the horrific murder of 16-year-old Mohammed Abu Khdeir admitted to their crimes and re-enacted the murder making top stories in today's Hebrew papers. Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official in Gaza tells an Israeli reporter the movement's demands for a ceasefire and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said he spoke with Abu Khdeir's father, but the father said he was unaware of it.
 
GAZA:
Israel began a military operation against Gaza, which it named Operation Protective Edge, after dozens of rockets were fired on Israel following the killing of nine Palestinian militants by Israel overnight Sunday.  The IDF called up 1,500 reservists. Yedioth reported that southern cities are preparing their bomb shelters. Israeli planes have dropped 'warning' leaflets over Gaza, Maan reported. Israel says that six of the Hamas militants killed overnight Sunday died in a 'terror tunnel leading to Israel.' A senior IDF official said the men had come into contact with explosive materials, and hinted that the explosives had been placed there days earlier by the Israeli military. Hamas says they were killed in an air raid on a tunnel. Moreover, Maan reports that a child, two teenage girls and two men were injured by an Israeli airstrike on Beit Hanoun, and a four-year-old boy was injured in an Israeli airstrike in northern Jabaliya. Hamas claimed responsibility for some of the launches, which set off alarms in central Israel and Jerusalem. 

Ynet writes that Israeli security officials have noted a discrepancy between statements by Hamas' political bureau, which keeps signaling that it is not interested in an escalation, and Hamas military wing, which continues to act aggressively against Israel. The Israeli assessment is that the military wing is acting out of anger and intends to take advantage of the outrage following the brutal murder of Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir in East Jerusalem last week, writes Ynet. 
 
However, Israel's Hebrew-language Walla news website reporter Avi Issacharoff interviewed a high-ranking Hamas official, who said that Hamas conditions for a ceasefire were returning to the situation before the kidnappings of the Israeli teens. He said israel must release all the prisoners released in the Shalit deal that it has re-arrested and it must return and stick to the understandings of the Egypt-brokered ceasefire achieved after Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012. Hamas detailed that information in a statement and also urged all resistance factions to join the fight in Gaza. It noted that Israel was detaining prisoners who already have been released, closing the crossings to Gaza and “working hard to take over every piece of land.” 
 
Indeed, Israel has reduced the amount of goods allowed into the Gaza Strip for two days in a row, allowing only 150 truckloads of goods into the Strip per day, down from the usual 350-450. Only a limited quantity of diesel fuel for Gaza's sole power plant has been allowed, and only a small amount of gasoline. 
 
Washington fears an escalation and in a phone call Monday night, US Secretary of State John Kerry asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to show restraint massive Israeli responses from Gaza, in order to avoid an escalation in the West Bank, Maariv reported. Kerry also condemned the Gaza rocket attacks on Israel and a US State Department spokeswoman said the US supports Israel's right to defend itself against rocket attacks.
  
A Maariv poll found that 47% of Israelis do not support a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip, while 38% do. The poll also found that the recent murders hurt Jewish-Arab co-existence: 76% of respondents expressed pessimism about the prospects for a normal life between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
 
ABU KHDEIR KIDNAPPING-MURDER:  
Abu Khdeir's father did receive the left-wing Environment Minister Amir Peretz and Labor MKs Shelly Yachimovich and Miki Rosenthal, who visited the mourning tent in Shuafat, Maariv reported and published a photo of Yachimovich and Rosenthal looking at a phone screen being held by Abu Khdeir's father. Yachimovich told the father she feels shame that such base murderers perpetrated their act in the name of collective revenge (for Jews). According to the paper, Israel is considering giving the Palestinian family the status of a family that is a victim of terror, which would offer them various rights and benefits by law. But according to a lawyer who deals with such issues that will be very difficult. (See Commentary/ Analysis below.)
 
Clashes continued in E. Jerusalem and near Arab towns across Israel in response to Abu Khdeir's murder and dozens have been arrested. Unlike, Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who threatened the rioters, Ministers Yaakov Pery and Tzipi Livni have been meeting with Arab mayors to try to calm the winds. 

Kidnapping/Murder Quick Hits:

Quick Hits:

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Features:

Mourning by day, mayhem by night: Shoafat still seethes
Two Abu Khdeir family teens- the martyred Mohammed and the beaten Tariq- play key roles they never signed up for in the ongoing conflict that could be the start of the Intifada, Part III. (Ilene Prusher, Haaretz+)
There is a chance for co-existence
Not so long ago, commentator Smadar Shir was at a meeting of Jewish and Arab Israelis who are sure that peace begins within us. And then three yeshiva boys were kidnapped, a youth from Shuafat was murdered and the country became filled with anger and calls for revenge. Yesterday, Smadar Shir returned to the women and heard how the desperation is taking over the hope. (Yedioth's '24 Hours' supplement Monday)
Where did Mohammed Abu Khdeir's murderers come from? The lost children of Israel 
Teens in ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and towns are susceptible to canvassing by Kahanist and other racist groups. They're being overlooked. (Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz+)
Bi-national state
The wound from October 2000 (riots where security forces killed 13 Arab-Israelis) did not yet heal and now it has re-opened. The severe riots in the north of the country once again connect the Arabs of Israel to the Palestinian powder keg. What is the direction of the biggest minority in Israel? (Arik Bender, Maariv' magazine supplement Monday)
Sayed Kashua: A 'dancing Arab,' caught between two worlds
After making his mark in Haaretz, three books and a popular TV show, Sayed Kashua will see his work featured on the silver screen. (Haaretz+)

Peace would be possible with the Arab Peace Initiative at its core (Turki Al Faisal, Haaretz) The 2002 initiative still provides a template for a just solution to Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and the Arab world.
Peace is the only path to true security for Israel and the Palestinians (Barack Obama, Haaretz) In an exclusive article for Haaretz's Israel Conference on Peace, Barack Obama says that the only solution is a democratic, Jewish state living side-by-side in peace and security with a viable, independent Palestinian state. 
Palestine's vision of peace is clear (Mahmoud Abbas, Haaretz) We believe that no just and lasting peace can be achieved without respecting the rights of everyone, including both Palestinians and Israelis.
Peace in the Mideast in our own good time (Yossi Sarid, Haaretz) He who pins his hopes on the next war, which will forever be the last war and also the most successful war, until its deceit and lies are found out.
How the Israeli-Palestinian conflict looks from Mars (Margaret Atwood, Haaretz) All the human beings say they want peace in the Middle East, but none know how to achieve it. The Martians don't understand why. 
The undisputed truth about Israeli occupation (Munib al-Masri, Haaretz) All too often the 'honest brokers' mediating negotiations agree with our occupiers that the destructive spread of settlements is not on occupied land.
For Israel’s existence, peace with the Palestinians is the only way (Haaretz Editorial) There is no method for achieving the goals of Zionism than dialogue, agreements and compromise with our neighbors. 
 
Commentary/Analysis:
**An Israeli Jew's apology to Palestinians (Bradley Burston, Haaretz+) I want to apologize for the unforgivable, for the unfathomable, and for all those on my side who never will.
Palestinian society is the problem (Likud MK Yariv Levin, Israel Hayom) othing unites Palestinians more than their shared hatred of Jews and their desire to eliminate Israel. 
About those unsubstantiated allegations (Simon Plosker, Times of Israel) Police statements that left all potentialities open morphed into “facts” concerning honor killings and Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s sexuality. So many of us hoped and prayed that Jews had played no part in this so that we would not have to confront the devastating reality that some of our own could have committed this crime. 
A foreign, dangerous flame (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) The individuals who burned Muhammad Abu Khdeir to death are light years away from the morality and the humanity of the parents of the three murdered Israeli teenagers.
Justice first, peace later (Chaim Levinson, Haaretz+) The conference for which we’ve gathered today must focus on human rights and injustice. It must tell the stories of people. Otherwise, it’s pointless. 
It will be difficult to recognize the (Abu Khdeir) family as victims of terror (Adv. Yoav Tzach Wax, Maariv) Unfortunately, the law gives clearer solutions to those who are harmed by actions from Arab terror organizations. According to the existing law, it will be difficult to recognize the Abu Khdeir family as victims of terror because of the difficulty to prove that the attackers were part of a terror organization...
World cares only about Jewish killers (Dror Eydar, Israel Hayom) We don't need a moral stamp of approval from those who are lying in wait, spinning a blood libel. 
Israel must apply rule of law to Jewish revenge vigilantes (Alan M. Dershowitz, Haaretz+) There is no moral equivalent between Israel’s rule of law and Hamas’ rule of terror: Every country has its vigilantes, but where Israel pursues them, Hamas celebrates the killers.
Denouncing Arab youth's murder is not enough (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Rightist politicians rushed to condemn Shuafat murder, but incitement is still considered a legitimate, patriotic act.
No moral symmetry (David M. Weinberg, Israel Hayom) Comparisons that place Israeli and Palestinian societies on the same moral plane are evil and untrue.
New causes for concern at home, in the West Bank, and facing Gaza (Avi Issacharoff, Times of Israel) Domestic Arab protests are intensifying, the West Bank is heating up, and Hamas may be about to escalate its attacks. 
And Netanyahu says he's against incitement (Nehemia Shtrasler, Haaretz+) Throughout his term - and before - the prime minister has never missed an opportunity to speak of Palestinians as monsters, lacking morals and infinitely brutal. 
A sobering moment for complacent Israel (David Horovitz, Times of Israel) If we are to heal this nation, the killing of Muhammed Abu Khdeir must rid us of the illusion that we enjoy a distinctive moral superiority over our neighbors.
When the margins become the center (Dr. Shlomo Yishai, Israel Hayom)  Social media has erased the margins of society, which serve an important function in a healthy society, and given a "long tail" to extremism.
Talk of peace is futile without regime change (Sefi Rachlevsky, Haaretz+) Even closed eyes can see the return of the alliance that led to Rabin’s murder: Netanyahu and the inciting rabbis.
How do we deal with the shame? (Uri Heitner, Israel Hayom) Israel has been far too forgiving of hate crimes and racism, and now we cannot say we heard no evil and saw no evil.
Abbas’ cooperation with Israel sinking him at home (Amira Hass, Haaretz+) Only 10 percent of the Palestinian people support Abbas, a Fatah member who is a resident of a refugee camp and a former prisoner said this week.
Why Mahmoud Abbas 'shut down' (Raviv Drucker, Haaretz+) How America repeated mistakes it made in the past and contributed to the collapse of the recent Israel-Palestinian talks. 
Cease-fire needs 'braking distance' (Yoav Limor, Israel Hayom) Hamas has made it clear that it is not interested in further escalation, but as in previous cases, things may take a while to calm down.
Israel's controlled escalation with Gaza (Ron Ben-Yishai, Ynet) Restraint shown by Israel in face of rocket fire and its speedy response to murder of Arab teen have left it in a comfortable situation to launch major operation in Gaza.
Hamas won’t blink first this time if IDF threatens ground operation (Amos Harel, Haaretz+) Netanyahu seeks a 'controlled escalation' that would not lead to a ground operation. The question is whether this is possible.
Escalation at Hamas' request (Nahum Barnea, Yedioth/Ynet) Out of despair, Islamic organization is doing a lot to draw Israel into Gaza, seeing it as the only choice it has left.
Chicken Game of Israel against Hamas (Yossi Melman, Maariv) Israel estimates that it can prevent a ground invasion, and that even if forces enter Gaza, the operation can be contained. The problem is that if you are planning your exit strategy in advance, more than once things have gotten out of control. 
Our collective responsibility (David Seth-Kirshner, Times of Israel) The murder of Muhammed Abu Khdeir by Jews has brought a deep sense of communal shame.
Israel responded correctly, what of the Arabs? (Dan Margalit, Israel Hayom) The awful killing of a Palestinian teenager does not justify incitement against the state or throwing stones at the police, drivers and innocent citizens.
The Lebanese paradox (Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz+) While groaning under a flood of Syrian refugees, the Lebanese government is incapable of stopping the group responsible for the influx: Hezbollah.

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