(Government Press Office)
The Jerusalem Post has spotted a trend of radicalization among Arab residents of metropolitan Jerusalem. While they hold blue ID cards similar to those held by all Israeli citizens, and are entitled to many benefits from the Zionist state, they are culturally and politically inseparable from the surrounding Arab milieu, and are exposed to the same radical messages as their compatriots in the West Bank and Gaza. The editor calls on us to acknowledge that the relationship between Jerusalem's Arabs and Jews needs reevaluation.
Ma'ariv reminds us that it will be the Kadima members, through their votes in the party's leadership contest, who will ultimately determine "their party's fate and perhaps that of the country."
Yediot Aharonot asks, "Why does Gaza so need Egypt? Egypt is Hamas' only passage to the world… Egypt is perceived as the Hamas' strategic home front, toward which the organization's hope is that if it controls Gaza, its parent organization, the 'Muslim Brotherhood', will one day control Egypt. Beyond this, Hamas wants legitimacy and Egypt can grant it. If its mutual border is open, it constitutes a declaration of near-statehood." So, the editors conclude, "Sit quietly, Israel, and do not intervene. With a stubborn and correct Israeli policy, we will sit on the sidelines, and we will watch how Palestinians and Egyptians war with each other, and not vice-versa."
Haaretz calls on the heads of Israel's legal system to join forces to prevent judicial delays that are tantamount to a distortion of justice.
[Guy Bechor and Rubik Rosenthal wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot and Ma'ariv, respectively.]