Today's Situation

MINI-FLURRY, July 9, 2007

Despite the lack of any real news on the issue, Israel's two best-selling newspapers lead on Monday with more details of the Moshe Katsav case.

Yedioth Ahronoth leads with what it says is the draft indictment against the former Katsav, which contained rape charges that were later dropped as part of a plea bargain reached with the attorney general. Maariv, meanwhile, says a panel of five High Court justices headed by Court President Dorit Beinisch will next week discuss the petitions filed against Katsav's plea bargain.

In a political lead, Haaretz says that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is running out of patience with his defense minister, Labor chairman Ehud Barak. According to sources in the prime minister bureau, Olmert is furious with Barak for voting against the budget cuts at Sunday's cabinet meeting. The sources say that if Barak continues to promote what they termed his own political ambitions, Olmert will have to call him to order.

On the diplomatic front, there is a mini-flurry of activity this week, with visits here by European and Arab leaders. There is widespread coverage of what Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni calls the 'historic' visit of an Arab League mission to Israel on Thursday. According to The Jerusalem Post, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan are expected to lead the delegation, which will discuss the Arab peace initiative adopted in 2002 and readopted at an Arab League summit in Riyadh in March.

The announcement of the visit, made Sunday by the Jordanian ambassador to Israel, came just days after a report that Arab League officials acknowledged that the League's peace plan stood no chance of advancing on the heels of the Gaza takeover by Hamas.

According to Haaretz's Danny Rubinstein, speaking on Monday on Israel Radio, the goal of the talks is to move ahead with the initiative, even if Israel has serious objections to the plan. Rubinstein explained that the talks are considered historic because they are the first open discussions between an authorized Arab League delegation and Israel. The Jordanian and Egyptians were chosen as the representatives of the Arab League because those two countries have full diplomatic relations with Israel.

'On the one hand, the Arab League move to press ahead should not come as a surprise,' he said. 'After all, Israel itself, in addition to the United States and the European Union, has perhaps ironically viewed the West Bank-Gaza, Fateh-Hamas split as an opening to move ahead, by negotiating with Fateh on the West Bank, and isolate Hamas in Gaza-witness the cabinet decision on releasing Fateh prisoners held by Israel. The problem is that the Arab League is unlikely to accept that the West Bank Palestinians can be played off against those in the Gaza Strip, even if they too view the Hamas ideology and takeover of Gaza, as a threat to themselves.'

Livni, meanwhile, called on Sunday for Arab states to normalize their relations with Israel first, and to encourage the Palestinians to negotiate in good faith with Israel.

Livni was speaking at a meeting on Sunday night in Jerusalem with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The meeting was the first between the two since the new   Palestinian Authority emergency government was established, according to Haaretz. The two discussed the situation in the Palestinian Authority and ways to improve the lives of Palestinians while preserving Israel's security interests. They also discussed getting the support of Arab countries for the political processes in the region.

Maariv reports on the arrival here of Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy. Prodi is to hold talks with Olmert and Livni on Monday. He is also scheduled to visit Yad Vashem and travel to Sderot. Sources in the Prime Minister's Office say discussions with the Italian prime minister will focus on the situation in the Palestinian Authority, Lebanon, and the Iranian nuclear issue. Prodi is due to travel to Ramallah on Tuesday for talks with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

There were reports on the Internet sites on Monday that Israel's chief prisoner exchange negotiator, Ofer Dekel, last week gave Egypt a list of Hamas prisoners Israel is prepared to release in a deal for abducted Israel Defense Forces Cpl. Gilad Shalit. Quoting London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, the Israeli media reported than Dekel gave the Egyptian mediators the list during a visit to Cairo aimed at speeding up negotiations for Shalit.

It was reported in the Israel and Palestinian press over the weekend that, on his return from Cairo last week, Dekel went to the Hadarim prison in central Israel, where he met with several leading Hamas members, as well as Fateh chief Marwan Barghouti and jailed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar- spurring speculation that a deal could be near on both Shalit and the two IDF snatched on the northern border a year ago.

Meanwhile, Army Radio reports that Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman told a visiting delegation of Meretz lawmakers that talks with Hamas on securing Shalit's release are still continuing. Suleiman told the delegation, headed by Yossi Beilin, that Egypt has kept in constant contact with Hamas, even after its takeover of the Gaza Strip. He added that Egypt is waiting for Israel's response on a specific issue, but did not elaborate. Suleiman stressed that at this stage, the Egyptian security delegation, which left Gaza after the Hamas takeover, will not return to the strip. Suleiman expressed great interest in bolstering Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, adding that extremist elements must be persuaded to moderate their stances.

Finally, Palestinian sources said Monday that a senior Islamic Jihad member was killed by IDF troops in Kabatiya, south of Jenin. Islamic Jihad named the dead man as Mohammad Nazal, 24. The IDF, which confirmed that troops were operating in the area, said it was checking into the report.

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