Today's Situation

OLMERT'S HEALTH, October 29, 2007

All of Israel's Hebrew-language media focused on domestic issues on Monday morning: Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv lead their editions with the shocking rape of a 12-year-old girl by two boys, both aged 13, while Haaretz's lead story is the threat of general strike in support of the three-week teachers strike that seems no closer to a solution.

These stories were quickly overshadowed on Monday morning, however, by the announcement by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that his physicians have located traces of prostate cancer. Olmert stressed that the traces were microscopic and could be removed with a short surgical procedure.

He said that he would continue serve as prime minister, and that his doctors assured him there would be no interruption to his ability to serve as prime minister.

After the prime minister delivered his statement, his physicians answered reporters' questions. In response to one question, his surgeon said that the operation would be carried out without a general anesthetic, and that there would be no need to transfer Olmert's powers to one of his deputies for the duration.

Elsewhere, there is front page coverage in both Haaretz and Yedioth Ahronoth of the security cabinet approval to a decision to start cutting electricity to the Gaza Strip in response to continued Qassam fire on the western Negev. There appears to be almost blanked condemnation for the policy - drawn up by Defense Minister Ehud Barak - with commentators describing it as 'stupid' and many saying that it will not achieve its stated goal.

Quoting European Union and Palestinian sources, Israel Radio reported that Israel on Monday cut fuel supplies to the Gaza Strip by about a third. Israeli officials describe the move as a first step aimed at forcing the Hamas government to act to stop the rocket attacks. Palestinians condemned the move as a form of 'collective punishment'.

According to Haaretz, Israel has already decided not to halt the flow of currency into Gaza, in order to allow the Palestinian Authority to continue to pay salaries and to ensure that Israel maintained control of the money flowing into Gaza.

President Shimon Peres, meanwhile, discusses the situation in Gaza with European Union Commissioner for International Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner on Monday. After the meeting, Peres warned that 'Israel will not restrain its responses to mortar and rocket attacks on the children of Sderot,' according to Army Radio.

Ferrero-Waldner expressed her understanding of the issue, but added nonetheless that 'collective punishment is never a solution.' Peres responded that 'Europe must understand that sanctions imposed on Gaza are a direct result of the murder and terrorism perpetrated by Hamas.'

Army Radio also reports that Israeli aircraft were attacking terrorist positions in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday afternoon.

All of the papers report on comments by Olmert at yesterday's cabinet meeting, at which he told ministers that he had apologized to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for a possible Israeli violation of Turkish airspace during an operation to attack a suspected nuclear facility in north-east Syria. 'If indeed Israeli aircraft penetrated Turkish air space, this was not intentional, and there was certainly no intention to harm or undermine in any way Turkey's sovereignty, which we respect,' Olmert reportedly told Erdogan.

Meanwhile, Haaretz reports that Minister for Strategic Affairs, Avigdor Lieberman, has established 12 working teams in his ministry to deal with different aspects of the crisis over Iran's nuclear program. Their conclusions and recommendations are expected to be included in a document Lieberman will present to the cabinet later this year.

On Monday, meanwhile, Ynet reports on a briefing by Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, who told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that terror organizations are attempting to kidnap Israelis from the Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip. Diskin added that, since the disengagement plan was implemented, 112 tons of explosives have been smuggled into the Strip.

Finally, all of the papers give on cursory coverage to the birth yesterday of a son to the wife of Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir. Amir has already been denied permission to attend his son's circumcision.

Today's Situation || Yesterday's Situation