Today's Situation

LISTENING MODE, July 23, 2007

Even before he lands in the region for his first visit as Quarter envoy, Tony Blair is making headlines in the Israeli press.

Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post lead their Monday editions with reports on the imminent arrival of the former British prime minister. Both papers say that Jerusalem is concerned that Blair will seek to widen the mandate he received from the four members of the international Quartet - the U.S., the United Nations, Russia and the European Union. According to Haaretz, Blair has been mandated to deal with 'technical' matters, such as building institutions and mobilizing the support of donor countries, but that he is unlikely to limit himself to such mundane matters. Instead, sources in Jerusalem told both papers, the former British leader will likely seek advance the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority - something that 'Israel is less than enthusiastic about,' according to Haaretz.

Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin, told The Jerusalem Post that Blair's mandate was a 'very positive' idea that 'could have a real contribution toward moving forward bilateral negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.'

Asked how Israel would respond if Blair said he needed to talk to Hamas to do his job, Eisin said, 'We would state very clearly that there can be no compromise with Hamas.'

Israel Radio, meanwhile, quotes an unnamed senior Western diplomat as saying that Blair's 'relatively limited mandate ... may be expanded later into a more direct peacemaking role between the parties.' The radio also reports that a spokesman for the former British leader said this week that Blair 'is coming very much in a listening mode.'

Ynet reports, meanwhile, that Hamas appears to have changed its mind with regard to Blair. Having originally expressed outrage at his appointment, Hamas now says that it would be willing to meet the special envoy.

A spokesman for the Islamic movement told London's The Times that ‘we will not say no to anybody, including Tony Blair. We are willing to have contact with whoever, as long as it's not the occupier,' said Sami Abu Zuhri.

In other news, all the dailies cover the row surrounding a decision by Education Minister Yuli Tamir to include an Arab perspective on the establishment of the State of Israel - including use of the term Nakba, or disaster.

Politicians from the Right were quick to call on Tamir to reverse her decision, or failing that, for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire her. Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu said Tamir's decision was unacceptable and damages Zionist values instead of strengthening Jewish heritage. 'I can't remember a greater absurdity than this in a decision made by an education minister in the State of Israel,' said Netanyahu.

Yedioth Ahronoth leads with the victory of the ruling AKP party, which it describes 'as a moderate, conservative party with Islamic roots, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.' Despite the description, and the claim that 'for now, the results don't seem too troubling for Israel, which has fostered good relations with Erdogan's government over the past four years,' the lead headline of the paper is 'Islamic has conquered Turkey.'

Finally, Maariv leads with the threat of a nationwide public strike starting on Wednesday, should talks between the treasury and the Histadrut labor federation fail to yield a mutually acceptable pay deal.

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