Today's Situation

A NEW PRESIDENT AND A NEW PRESIDENTIAL INITIATIVE, July 16, 2007

The lead story in three of Monday's dailies is the inauguration of Shimon Peres as Israel's ninth president. While Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv both focused on Peres' message of unity, the new president himself marked the start of his seven-year tenure with a series of interviews and comments that clearly set the tone for the rest of the presidency.

Never one to shy away from difficult subjects, Peres told the Associated Press that Israel will 'have to get rid of the territories' if it wants peace with its neighbors.

In his Knesset speech, the octogenarian elder statesman of Israeli politics struck a more diplomatic tone, vowing that he would continue to devote himself to unifying the nation. 'From this moment I will be the voice and the address for every citizen of the State of Israel,' he told a plenum packed with dignitaries from home and abroad.

Peres' inauguration was greeted with almost blanket approval and, for once in his life, approbation and adulation were abundant. The only dissenting voices came from Israel's extreme Right and its Arab minority. According to Arutz 7, activists from the far right Jewish Front protested outside the Knesset, carrying signs that read: 'We shall not forget and we shall not forgive,' 'Bring Oslo criminals to justice,' and 'Peres is worse than Katsav.' Meanwhile, four Knesset members from the Arab parties opted to skip the inauguration in favor of a poetry evening starring Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish in Haifa.

For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, yesterday's festivities were merely a pleasant interlude in the day-to-day business of politics. After meeting secretly with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman last week - a meeting that Haaretz's Aluf Benn says was tt the request of the White House, which sensed Jordan's unease at the resurfacing of the idea of Jordanian-Palestinian confederation - the prime minister is set to meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon.

Thanks to the newspapers, we already know what Olmert is going to offer Abbas as part of the promised package of gestures designed to boost his standing and reduce the risk of a Hamas takeover in the West Bank. Olmert will offer the Palestinians the freedom of 250 Fateh prisoners held in Israeli jails, and permission for senior members of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestinian and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian to enter the West Bank. It is widely assumed that the senior figure in question are Farouq Kaddoumi, the PA's 'foreign minister,' and Nayef Hawatmeh, the man Israelis remember best for his role in the 1974 Ma'alot school massacre.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, Olmert will warn Abbas against joining forces with Hamas a second time. If Abbas' Fateh rejoins with Hamas, the paper quotes sources as saying, it would destroy the peace process that Olmert is attempting to start by offering gestures.

In the meantime, Haaretz reports that there are already tangible signs that the IDF is halting its arrest operations against wanted Fateh men in the West Bank. According to the report, there have been no arrest sweeps in the West Bank since late last week, and it links the development with agreements reached between Israel and the PA.

Haaretz leads, however, on an interview with the new-old Palestinian prime minister, Salem Fayyad, who told veteran military correspondent Akiva Eldar that Olmert's gestures are useless if not accompanied by negotiations. Fayyad said that Israel's removal of roadblocks and the transfer of funds won't achieve their goal unless negotiations over a permanent solution to end the occupation are held simultaneously.

 Olmert's aides rejected critics' warnings that the gestures Olmert plans to offer will compromise Israel's security.  'The gestures are a calculated risk and not a dangerous calculation,' one said.

If Peres was the aperitif and Olmert-Abbas were the main course, U.S. President George W. Bush may provide be the dessert.

The American leader is due to give a policy speech on Monday, in which he is likely to express his approval of the formation of a new Palestinian Authority government under Salam Fayyad, as well as the appointment of former British prime minister Tony Blair as the Quartet's coordinator. The speech is also intended to reiterate President Bush's commitment to a two-state solution, and will offer American support to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

In France, meanwhile, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday that he understood from talks with Hizbollah officials attending a meeting on Lebanon a suburb of the capital, that the two IDF reservists kidnapped by Hizbollah last summer are alive, and that negotiations for their release are being conducted.

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