Today's Situation

ABDUCTIONS AND ANNAPOLIS, October 10, 2007

Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth both lead with the start of an open-ended strike by high school teachers, which will keep 600,000 students away from school in the coming days.

In contrast, Maariv leads with two stories concerning missing Israeli servicemen: Gilad Shalit and Ron Arad.

According to the paper, the head of the Egyptian intelligence services, Omar Suleiman, told a visiting Israeli minister that Shalit, who has been held by Palestinian militants for the past 15 months, is in good condition.

Trade Minister Eli Yishai (Shas), who is in Cairo to sign an economic agreement with his Egyptian counterpart regarding joint Israeli-Egyptian exports to the United States, was told by Suleiman that Shalit 'feels well and has even gained some weight because he does not do any exercise.'

The Egyptians have played a key role in mediation efforts to broker a prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas, which have so far failed to reach any agreement.

Yishai also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who promised him that Shalit would be returned home safely. Mubarak also addressed Israeli fears regarding the porous border between the Egyptian Sinai and the Gaza Strip, over and under which huge quantities of arms have been smuggled to Palestinian terrorists. 'The border is long, and although we are carrying out frequent operations, we simply do not have the manpower; even after the peace agreement was amended, we still only have 750 men stationed along the border.'

The deal that Yishai inked in Cairo authorizes the two governments to requesting that the U.S. designate eight new industrial zones in southern Egypt, areas from which goods produced can enter the United States duty-free, provided they contain Israeli components.

Maariv, quoting Channel 1 from Tuesday evening, also reports that Germany is planning to release from jail an Iranian national who was previously expected to be freed as part of a deal to obtain concrete information on missing Israeli airman, Ron Arad. Kazem Darabi was involved in the 1992 murder of anti-Iran activists in Berlin. His release was initially planned as a stage in a 2004 German-mediated prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hezbollah.

Channel 1 added that members of Arad's family plan to travel to Berlin next week in a bid to prevent Darabi's release.

Meanwhile, all three papers report on the continuing efforts to formulate a joint Israeli-Palestinian statement ahead of the Annapolis summit on November 26. According to Israel Radio, United States envoy David Walsh will arrive in Israel on Wednesday morning, for meetings with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

Walsh's visit is meant to prepare Israeli officials for a planned weekend visit from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to Army Radio. Rice plans to meet with Israeli and Arab officials in her efforts to help formulate a joint document. Olmert has been meeting regularly with Abbas, but a trilateral meeting with Secretary Rice is not scheduled.

In the meantime, the Quartet's Middle East envoy, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, met Tuesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and is to due to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday in Jerusalem.

Elsewhere, controversy over the Winograd Committee's reported plan not to include personal conclusions or recommendations in its final report into the handling of the Second Lebanon War continues to rumble on.

According to Haaretz, army defense attorneys sent a letter Tuesday to the Winograd Committee, demanding that the panel clarify within a week if they intend to issue warning letters to officers who may be criticized in the committee's final report. If the committee reneges on its promise to the High Court of Justice to warn the offices, the defense attorneys will once again petition to courts in an attempt to ensure that they do so.

A military source told Army Radio that even if the final report does not carry personal recommendations, but does issue findings against a particular command branch or wing, the commanding officers should have the opportunity to respond.

On a related matter, MK Ophir Pines Paz (Labor) has called on party leader, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, to keep his promise to dismantle the Olmert government with publication of the Winograd Committee's final report on the Second Lebanon War, even if the panel does not issue personal recommendations regarding Olmert. Paz said the interim report was enough to have brought about Olmert's resignation, but it was decided to wait until release of the final report.

Meanwhile, at a meeting of the Knesset's State Control Committee yesterday, former defense minister Amir Peretz yesterday defended the decision to launch the Second Lebanon War. 'The decision-making process included all the ranks. It's very easy to be smart in retrospect,' Peretz said, slamming 'those military experts who supported the moves during the first two weeks of fighting, and now are criticizing the government and saying that we launched the offensive unprepared.'

The meeting was also attended by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, his deputy Matan Vilnai, Minister Ami Ayalon, IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi and Home Front Command chief, Major-General Yitzhak Gershon.

Finally, Channel 10 news reports that monsoons in India have halted the launch of an IDF surveillance satellite that is supposed to be capable of scanning the planet in any weather. Intelligence officials and agents have been waiting for the launch of the satellite, which is expected to have outstanding surveillance capability.

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