Back in the Gaza Strip

Catching up after a break in the news cycle for the Sukkot festival, each of Friday’s Hebrew dailies chooses something different to focus on: Haaretz leads with the Palestinian unity government meeting in the Gaza Strip; Israel Hayom emphasizes the Islamic State gains near Turkey, and plans for a new international airport in the north; and Yedioth Ahronoth spotlights the missing Israeli rafters in Peru, a rape in Rehovot, and stormy weather nationwide.

Haaretz reports that in addition to the general unity government meeting in the Gaza Strip, which largely focused on the reconstruction of the coastal enclave, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah and Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh met privately in the latter’s home.

The paper reports that, despite Israel’s objections to the body — since the unity government has been tasked with reconstruction by international forces — it allowed entry to the Palestinian ministers who are located in the West Bank.

Weighing in on the significance of the summit, the paper’s Jack Khoury says the meeting was more of a PR blitz than “an expression of willingness to study the area and bring immediate solutions for the residents of the Strip, who dream of the day when the destruction will disappear and the reconstruction will begin.”

The unity government held its first meeting in PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s Gaza City residence, left deserted since 2007, “as a symbolic act to show that the PA has returned to Gaza,” writes Khoury.

“Both sides now face the toughest test since 2007. The question is whether they will be able to overcome the disagreements and the desire for control, and work together,” Khoury continues.

But as Khoury downplays the event, the paper’s diplomatic correspondent, Barak Ravid, says the return of the Fatah officials to Gaza “through the front door” is “nothing short of historic.” Ravid also highlights the disparity between Israel’s open disdain for the Palestinian unity government and its implicit recognition of — and cooperation with — it.

“The Israeli government is living a contradiction. In public, when it faces public opinion and rightist voters, it curses the Palestinian reconciliation government. But under the counter, quietly, it cooperates with it… Actually, Israel has no choice. The international community recognizes the Palestinian reconciliation government and wants it to succeed. Even if Israel wanted to, it cannot really boycott this government or stop it from functioning,” he writes.

Khoury adds that for all of Israel’s public efforts to discredit the unity government and bar the payment of Hamas employee salaries, next week the unity government is set to pay those wages.

“This raises gloomy thoughts about the war in Gaza, which cost the lives of 72 Israelis and some 2,200 Palestinians. Perhaps with a clear policy, more flexibility and diplomatic creativity, and fewer internal political considerations, things would have looked different.”

Meanwhile, Yedioth Ahronoth leads with the two missing Israeli rafters in Peru, as the body of one of the tourists is found.

“The parents of the two missing Israelis in the rafting accident in Peru — a young woman from Ramat Hasharon and a young man from Tel Aviv — waited for a miracle until the very last moment. But last night, the hopes were dashed for at least one family: The Foreign Ministry announced that its rescue team, on behalf of the Harel company, rented a helicopter that identified a body on the riverside, which is likely that of the missing woman,” it reports.

The paper cites local reports quoting Peruvian police, who claim that the raft held too many people, and who blamed the rafting company for the accident.

In a shocking depiction of the rape of a 15-year-old in Rehovot, the paper implies the teenager, who had gone out on her bike at dawn, was at fault for failing to cry for help.

“If she would only have screamed, fought back, or tried to run away, it could have ended entirely differently — but the teenager who was raped yesterday morning in Rehovot froze in fear and was silent,” it reports.

Yedioth also reports on the unexpected rainfall and strong winds on Wednesday evening, which toppled many of the man-made festival booths throughout the country. “Overall, a small amount of rain fell, mere millimeters, but there were winds, thunder, and lightning. The result: an abundance of ‘flying’ sukkot,” it writes, featuring a photo of one demolished sukkah.

Israel Hayom — which also features brief reports on the Gaza gathering and the stormy weather — leads with Islamic State gains in Kobani, Syria.

“If the Kurdish forces don’t manage to fight back, these past days will be remembered as the days Kobani fell to the Islamic State. Although the global coalition is concentrating its airstrikes there, even the Pentagon admits that the efforts will not prevent the city’s capture, near the border with Turkey, by the cruel jihadists,” it reports.

In a column for the paper, Boaz Bismuth writes: “Obama is now aware (maybe) of two important facts: a) airstrikes alone will not be enough to defeat IS; b) Turkey cannot be relied upon in the campaign, even though Obama so loved the idea that Erdogan was dependable… The city of Kobani is about to fall into the hands of the Islamic State. Go tell its residents, who are justifiably rattled, that a coalition of 50 states cannot stop an organization of thousands of terrorists. Kobani has suddenly become a symbol, a symbol of the limits of Obama’s global coalition.”

The paper also features the Knesset approval of the construction of Israel’s second international airport in Ramat David, located in the north, which currently operates as an Israeli Air Force base. The airport construction costs were included in the recently approved 2015 budget, and the airport will be operational in 2019, it reports.

“Welcome to ‘Galilee International Airport’,” the paper writes.

“After 15 years of searching for a suitable place for an international airport to complement Ben Gurion Airport, the government decided definitively, as part of the budget, to build the airport in Ramat David.”