Today's Situation

WARS - PAST AND FUTURE, July 2, 2007

The plea bargain offered to Moshe Katsav, which would see the disgraced former president plead guilty to lesser charges of sexual harassment in exchange for the dropping of two rape charges, continues to stir up massive public protest in Israel - and the media coverage reflects this.

Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv continue to dedicate their opinion pages solely to the issue, while both papers give extensive coverage to the developments in their news pages.

In an unexpected twist to the story, the Supreme Court on Sunday gave the state prosecution until Monday to defend the widely criticized deal, which also guaranteed that Katsav, who submitted his resignation on Friday, would not serve jail time.

As Israel marks the first anniversary of the Hebrew date of the start of the Second Lebanon War, Maariv leads on Monday with a report that the IDF will soon begin an extensive series of training exercises on the Golan Heights. The paper reports that Jerusalem has sent a message to Damascus, clarifying that Israel has no intention of attacking Syria and that the exercises are purely defensive.

According to the paper's military correspondent, Amir Rapaport, the planned activity on the Golan is part of a series or training exercises that were decided on as part of the lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War.

The paper adds that the Syrian army has also increased its deployment in preparation for possible conflict, including training and infrastructure work on the Syrian section of the Golan. 'Syria has also sped up the purchase of sophisticated weaponry from Russia,' the report adds, 'in part thanks to the increased aid it is receiving from its primary ally, Iran.'

All the papers report that the cabinet, at its weekly meeting in Jerusalem, approved two measures aimed at improving Israel's ties with anyone in the Arab world that it not Hamas. Firstly, minister's approved Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's promise to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to unfreeze Palestinian tax money being held by Israel. The first sum to be transferred is $119 million - enabling the Palestinian Authority to pay long-outstanding civil service salaries. The second move was the approval of the repatriation of four Jordanian citizens being held in Israeli jails for terror-related crimes.

Haaretz, meanwhile, reports on a change of tactic for Hamas in the Gaza Strip, with the group's armed wing has renewed Qassam attacks against Israel - in defiance of the group's political leadership.

Also in Haaretz, Hamas officials confirmed a report in the paper's Sunday edition, which claimed that several Hamas leaders imprisoned in Israel met with the prime minister's coordinators for prisoners and MIAs, Ofer Dekel. According to the paper, the meetings took place over the weekend at the Hadarim Prison. Among the prisoners are members of the senior Hamas leadership whose release Hamas is demanding in exchange for freeing Gilad Shalit.

In the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, Israel Radio reports that IDF troops killed Mohammed Abu al-Heija, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the Jenin refugee camp, and the deputy of Zakariya Zubeidi, one of the top commanders of the Fateh-linked armed group. Military sources say troops opened fire when they were shot at as they entered the camp at around 2 A.M. IDF soldiers also arrested six wanted men from Hamas, Fateh and Islamic Jihad in the West Bank over Sunday night.

In Jerusalem, meanwhile, the Shin Bet revealed Monday that it has arrested 11 Hamas officials who led an effort to take over the Temple Mount from the Jordanian Wakf. According to Arutz 7, 10 of those arrested possess Israeli identity cards. Army Radio quoted a senior security official as saying that, 'Their goal is to gain full control over the Temple Mount.'

Finally, there were breaking reports on the wire services that Hamas arrested the spokesman of the group holding BBC reporter Alan Johnston. There was speculation that the spokesman could be used as a bargaining chip to secure the reporter's release.

Today's Situation || Yesterday's Situation