A new start?

Tuesday’s papers are a hodgepodge of stories, with only the front pages of Israel Hayom and Maariv agreeing on what deserves top billing: the possible reboot of the peace process.

Maariv’s front page reports on possible moves by Netanyahu to restart peace talks with the Palestinians, including freeing Palestinian prisoners in time for Ramadan and a possible building freeze. The deal would be in exchange for Abbas giving up on insisting on 1967 borders as a basis for talks and comes at the behest of US Secretary of State John Kerry, who hopes the concession will give both parties — Netanyahu and Abbas — public achievements that won’t cause them to lose face.

Israel Hayom also focuses on the possible restart of the peace process but in a slightly different tone. “Suspicion: ‘Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] will return to negotiations and then blow them up,’” reads the front page headline, which doesn’t attribute the headline quote to anyone. Inside the paper quotes a source close to Abbas telling the paper that Obama will publicly blame the Palestinians for a failure to restart the peace talks.

Haaretz focuses its front page not on possible peace talks but on the “stormy debate” regarding Tuesday’s passage of the Prawer Plan in the Knesset. The bill, which proposes to relocate thousands of Bedouin citizens to new cities, barely passed in its first reading 43-40. During the debate, Balad party leader Jamal Zahalka was escorted from the Knesset after he poured water on the bill and tore it up. Hadash MK Mohammed Barakeh urged lawmakers to vote no, saying, “This bill is an obscenity and belongs in the garbage can.”

Yedioth Ahronoth’s front page has nothing to do with the Knesset debates or the peace process, but rather gives its real estate to a page 11 story about upcoming elections within the Likud. The piece, entitled “The Likud against Netanyahu,” reports that Danny Danon is expected to win internal elections for the leader of the Likud Central Committee next week. If Danon wins, it will be seen as a swipe at Netanyahu and one Likud source told the paper, “Netanyahu is the prime minister without a party.”

Soldering on, confidently

Despite its gloomy front page about Netanyahu’s political troubles, Yedioth’s page 2 is a soft piece about how Israelis enjoy their reserve duty. The article shows a rise in the satisfaction level of soldiers with their units (75% up from last year’s 67%), 80% trust their commanders (up from 74%), and 77% are satisfied with their fitness level. The commanders are less happy overall, with only 74% happy with the level of unit cohesion (down from 83%) and 90% happy with their soldiers’ fitness level (down from last year’s 95% satisfaction).

Haaretz reports that soldiers in the armored corps will have something to be happy about: new tank transporters. The paper reports that the IDF is planning to upgrade its tank transporters in the aftermath of Operation Defensive Shield where the logistics corps realized the current trucks weren’t up to the task. Also coming out of Operation Defense Shield was the directive that if another conflict breaks out with Gaza, soldiers on training maneuvers in the Negev should be moved away from the front to prevent injury.

Maariv connects Monday’s rocket fire from Gaza to the Syrian civil war. The paper reports that Hamas is now paying for abandoning the Syrian dictator, with Iran not showing the organization any love. The paper refers to statements made by the deputy foreign minister of the Hamas administration, Ghazi Hamad, who recently admitted that the cash is not flowing from Tehran to Gaza as it did in the past. Hamas is now in the position where it has to clamp down on other jihadist groups in order to stay in power.

Maariv also includes a short article on former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman’s statements on Monday after rockets were fired into the south from the Gaza Strip. Liberman said in a radio interview, “We need to conquer the Gaza Strip.” He went on to say that another conflict between Israel and Hamas was just a matter of time. The paper includes a response from Meretz MK Zahava Gal-On who called Liberman “a warmonger.”

Game of guilt

Writing in Israel Hayom, Dan Margalit doubts that peace talks would  yield any progress. “Only Israel fears that ‘game of guilt’ which will give the Palestinians the upper hand because they enjoy broader support in advance and in parts of the world media and in the academic establishment in the West,” Margalit writes. He concludes his piece with a quote from a senior (unnamed) Israeli diplomat who summed up the situation as “everything is on the stove, but nothing is cooked.”

Haaretz’s editors weigh in on the appointment of Jacob Frenkel as the new Bank of Israel governor. The paper compares Frenkel to Fischer but highlight the benefit of Frenkel’s international stature, as Israel’s economy is hugely influenced by the global economy. Yet the paper faults Fischer for not criticizing Netanyahu in real time for his government’s spending in 2011-12. The piece concludes with the hope that Frenkel “won’t hesitate to criticize Netanyahu and Finance Minister Yair Lapid in real time when necessary.”