Today's Situation

A DEAL AND A FALL, June 27, 2007

All four of Israel's leading daily newspapers report - with varying degrees of detachment - on a plea bargain hammered out between the State Prosecution and former president Moshe Katsav. According to Haaretz, the charges of rape, forcible sexual assault, fraud, breach of trust and bribery are to be dropped from the draft indictment, but Katsav will face charges of sexual harassment, harassing a witness and indecent assault. He will not face jail time of found guilty.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth's lead headline, Katsav will admit to indecent assault, while Maariv splashes a single word - 'Disgrace' - across its front page.

Another story which appears on the front pages of all of Thursday's papers is the mysterious death in London of Dr. Ashraf Marwan, who was named as the top Israeli agent inside the government of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat. Described by The Jerusalem Post as the most important spy ever to work for the Mossad and the man who handed Israel an explicit warning just 14 hours before the outbreak of the Yom Kippur War, Marwan was found dead outside his London apartment block, killed after an apparent fall from his balcony. According to Maariv, London police are investigating possible foul play.

In the territories, meanwhile, Israel Radio reports that five Israeli soldiers were wounded - one of them seriously -in clashes with Palestinian militants early Thursday during an arrest operation in the West Bank city of Nablus. A large number of infantry soldiers entered Nablus' Old City and a local refugee camp a little after midnight, in order to search for wanted militants, weapons and ammunition. An IDF captain was moderately wounded by an explosive device activated by militants in the city.

The incident comes a day after 12 Palestinians were killed in the first IDF operation in the Gaza Strip since Hamas grabbed control there earlier this month - a story which leads The Jerusalem Post but fails to make the front pages of any of the other papers.

Haaretz, meanwhile reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is set to revive his plan to evacuate illegal Jewish outposts in the West Bank, in accordance with a promise made by Ariel Sharon to the U.S.

On the diplomatic front, there is a generally warm welcome for the news that former British leader Tony Blair has been appointed special Middle East envoy for the Quartet. Haaretz dedicates its editorial to the appointment, saying that 'Blair is armed with the leadership experience, international status and the confidence of the Israelis and the Palestinians' needed to help solve the problems of the region, while Maariv's Yael Paz-Melamed describes his as ' the right person for this conflict.' The appointment was greeted with scorn by Hamas, however, according to a report in The Jerusalem Post. 'Blair isn't a welcomed character because he has never been authentic to the Palestinian aspirations to end the occupation and free prisoners from Israeli jails,' Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum was quoted as saying.

Finally, another report in Haaretz claims that the government-appointed panel charged with implementing the partial findings of the Winograd Committee, headed by former IDF chief Amnon Lipkin-Shahak, recommends bolstering the position of the much-abused National Security Council. The task force wants to reorganize the council and place it at the center of the decision-making process in security and state matters.

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