Today's Situation

ALL TALK, August 17, 2007

After a week of headlines reflecting the seesaw of tensions between Israel and Syria, the Palestinian track plays a leading role in the weekend editions of the four major dailies.

On the front page of Haaretz, correspondent Barak Ravid claims that the talks between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has hit a rough patch, primarily over the latter's refusal to show any flexibility on the issue of Palestinian refugees' right of return. Israel Radio, meanwhile, reports Friday that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad denied a report in Yedioth Ahronoth the day before, which claimed that the Palestinians and Israel are holding back-channel peace talks. Fayyad told the Foreign Press Association in Ramallah that the two sides have begun discussing what he called "fundamental issues that need to be agreed upon to end the conflict." The Palestinian prime minister also said that his government would not call early elections while Gaza is still under the control of Hamas. When called, he said, elections will be held in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post reports that a top official in Jerusalem says Israel has made it clear to the Palestinians that the condition for any progress in the peace process is that Hamas be kept out of the political arena. The official said Israel will not tolerate a return to a Palestinian unity government between Fateh and Hamas.

The comments came after Abbas reportedly called on Hamas to resume a dialog with Fateh. Abbas made the appeal at a joint press conference with the visiting Japanese foreign minister in Ramallah on Tuesday.

The signing of a new military aid deal between Israel and the United States on Thursday is also covered by all the newspapers, with Haaretz reporting that the U.S. official in Israel for the signing ceremony, Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, said that the $30 billion defense package is not conditioned on diplomatic progress or concessions to the Palestinians.

Burns said the aid to Israel was meant to counter "an axis of cooperation between Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas that is responsible for the violence in the region."

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni welcomed the huge aid package. In a meeting at the foreign ministry, Livni thanked Burns for his contribution to strengthening Israel. They also discussed the need to counter the Iranian nuclear threat. Earlier, at the foreign ministry, Burns and foreign ministry director-general Aharon Abramovitch signed the unprecedented aid package.

Meanwhile, a war of words appears to have broken out between Syria and Saudi Arabia. According to Army Radio, quoting the DPA news agency, the spat is over who has the leading role in the Arab world. A government spokesman in the Saudi capital Riyadh accused Syria in a widely broadcast statement Thursday evening of attempting to destabilize the region and spread chaos. "They believe they can deceive the Arab and Muslim nation, but their actions are proof of their malicious intentions," the statement said.

Finally, Haaretz leads its weekend edition was a report that claims that lack of funding is set delay the operational stage of the Iron Dome missile defense system – completion of which Defense Minister Ehud Barak said last week was a precondition for any Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

According to the report, defense officials have said they are concerned about the absence of a regular government funding plan for Israel's primary missile-interception project. They warned that inadequate and short-sighted budgeting may cause contractors to be unable to meet the government's deadline 20 months from now for deploying anti-ballistic rocket systems near population centers.

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