To provide greater exposure to primary Israeli news sources and opinions in order to become better informed on the issues, and to gain a better understanding of the wide range of perspectives that exist in Israeli society and politics. Issue 1014 • July 8, 2016 • 2 Tammuz 5776

IN WAKE OF TERROR, ISRAEL OKAYS 800 NEW HOMES IN GREATER Meanwhile, a second investigation launched by the Shin Bet, Israel Police, JERUSALEM (Israel Hayom 7/4/16) and IDF forces also began with a terrorism-financing suspect and ended with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor additional intelligence on Gazan tunnels. Lieberman on Sunday approved the construction of 800 new homes in the Security forces nabbed a Gazan resident at the Erez Crossing in June with greater Jerusalem area. 10,000 euros stuffed in his shoes, intended for Hamas operatives in the West The plan includes the construction of 560 homes in the eastern Jerusalem Bank. When the suspect, identified as Jabaliya resident Itallah Sarahan, 37, suburb of Maaleh Adumim, 140 homes in the northeastern neighborhood of was questioned, security forces learned that he received a permit to enter Ramot, 50 homes in the southeastern neighborhood of Har Homa, and 50 Israel for trade purposes two weeks prior to his arrest. homes in the Pisgat Zeev neighborhood in east Jerusalem. On his first day visiting Israel, a Hamas policeman on the Gazan side of the In addition, the government approved the construction of 600 homes in the crossing asked Sarahan if he would smuggle cash to Hamas in the West Arab neighborhood of Beit Safafa. Bank. Sarahan “expressed his willingness to do so,” the Shin Bet said, Construction in Jewish neighborhoods built in Jerusalem after 1967, such as leading the Hamas police officer to take him to a meeting with the Islamist Ramot, or in areas beyond the Green Line, such as Maaleh Adumim, is regime’s operatives, who paid him for the mission and provided him with considered diplomatically sensitive, and requires government approval. The special shoes in which the money was hidden. international community has repeatedly called on Israel to refrain from He was promised help if he got caught by Israeli authorities. extensive construction beyond the Green Line and in east Jerusalem. Sarahan allegedly smuggled funds on the day before his arrest, as well being The approval comes in the wake of the recent surge in Palestinian terrorist caught with more cash on the day of his arrest. activity and occurs at a delicate time, as a recent Quartet report lambasted The suspect works as a truck driver in Gaza, clearing sand from Hamas and Israeli policies on the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria as Islamic Jihad tunnel digging sites. “Sarahan passed on much information undermining the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. about the tunnels he was exposed to, including which terrorist organization Netanyahu was critical of the report, blasting its comparison of the alleged was responsible for digging which tunnels, their exact locations, and the "Israeli crime" of settlement construction and the Palestinian crimes of status of the digging work,” the Shin Bet said. incitement to violence and terrorism. "Israel rejects any attempt to draw moral equivalence between [Israeli] GERMANY TO PROVIDE ADDITIONAL $600 MILLION FOR HOLOCAUST construction and terrorism. We also reject the juxtaposition of Palestinian SURVIVORS (YNet 7/6/16) terrorism and the violence of fringe elements within Israeli society. The In a substantial gain for Holocaust survivors the world over, the Claims former is lauded by the Palestinian leadership, while the latter is utterly Conference (short for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against denounced by Israelis across the board," a statement by the Prime Minister's Germany) has managed to secure the approval of the German government Office said. Israel Report is a Student Publication of GAZANS SENT TO SMUGGLE HAMAS FUNDS IN THEIR SHOES ENABLE ISRAEL TO LEARN ABOUT NEW TUNNELS (JPost 7/5/16) Daniel Zolty, Editor-in-Chief The arrest of two Gazans with terrorism-financing cash hidden in their shoes Yonatan Kurz, Moshe Davis, Alex Ostrin and Eli Levine, Editors We are proud to be distributed by these institutions, though they do not necessarily support or condone enabled Israel to gain valuable intelligence on the underground network of any of the material published: tunnels Hamas and Islamic Jihad are digging in Gaza. Anshei Chesed Cong., Boynton Beach, FL Hillel at Brandeis University Security forces disclosed on Tuesday that they nabbed two Gazans in June Bergen County High School of Jewish Studies Hillel at California State University - Long Beach Boca Raton Synagogue, FL Hillel at Columbia University trying to smuggle cash from the Strip to Hamas operatives in the West Bank Carmel School, Hong Kong Hillel at Johns Hopkins University to finance terrorism. Chabad of Oak Park, CA Hillel at Yale University Cong. Agudath Achim, Bradley Beach, NJ Hillel High School, Deal NJ A joint Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Israel Police Southern District and Cong. Ahavas Achim, Highland Park, NJ Jewish Center of Teaneck, NJ IDF operation resulted in the arrest on June 16 of 65-year-old Faiz Atar from Cong. Ahavath Achim, Fairfield, CT Kehillas Bais Yehudah Tzvi, Cedarhurst, NY Cong. Anshe Shalom, Jamaica Estates, NY Kemp Mill Synagogue, Silver Spring, MD Bet Lahia in Gaza, who had a permit to enter Israel to conduct trade. Cong. Anshe Sholom, New Rochelle, NY Mizrachi Shul, Johannesburg, SA The suspect was taken into custody at the Tarkumia crossing between Israel Cong. Beth Aaron, Teaneck, NJ North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, NY Cong. Beth Shalom, Monroe Twp, NJ Suburban Torah Center, Livingston, NJ and the West Bank. Cong. Bnai Yeshurun, Teaneck, NJ The Learning Shul, Columbia, SC The Shin Bet said the suspect hid cash in his shoes for Hamas, and Cong. Ohr Torah, Edison, NJ Woodsburgh, NY Minyan smuggled tens of thousands of euros to terrorist operatives in the West Bank. Cong. Rinat Yisrael, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel Bet Tefilah of Aberdeen, NJ Cong. Shomrei Torah, Fair Lawn, NJ Young Israel of Brookline, MA As the investigation continued, the domestic intelligence agency gleaned Cong. Sons of Israel, Allentown, PA Young Israel of East Brunswick, NJ valuable information on Atar’s family in Gaza and their activities on behalf of Cong. Zichron Mordechai, Teaneck, NJ Young Israel of Fort Lee, NJ Cong. Zichron R. M. Feinstein, Brooklyn, NY Young Israel of Hancock Park, CA Hamas, including tunnel digging. Delray Orthodox Synagogue, Delray Beach, FL Young Israel of Holliswood, NY “It emerged that his sons made use of his home to meet with Hamas East Denver Orthodox Synagogue, CO Young Israel of Houston, TX Flatbush Park Jewish Center, Mill Basin, NY Young Israel of New Hyde Park, NY operatives. The investigation revealed information on tunnel openings, which Harvard University Library Young Israel of North Woodmere, NY are partly located underneath civilian structures – including innocent civilian Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, NY Young Israel of New Rochelle, NY Hillel at Baruch College Young Israel of Sharon, MA residential buildings and mosques – and rocket launch locations, which are YI Shomrai Emunah, Silver Spring, MD located near civilian structures in a manner that endangers the civilian We encourage our readers to subscribe to our sources on the internet. For more information or to population in the Strip,” the Shin Bet said in a statement. subscribe by e-mail, reach us at [email protected] 2 to allocate $600 million for the home care of Holocaust survivors over the balance between all the involved interests, there should be no prayer at the next three years. Western Wall plaza." The substantial increase in funding was reached during the organization's Despite the ban, the non-Orthodox movements said they intended to yearly negotiations with the German government. The agreement will include convene at the same time and at the same place, but without holding a the allocation of $200 million during the years 2016 – 17, and $400 million conventional prayer service, so as not to be perceived as breaking the law. during 2018, this in addition to the $1 billion that the Claims Conference had “No one can prohibit us from praying in our hearts, speaking words of Torah already secured from the German government in 2013. and reciting poems,” they said in a joint statement issued in response. “We commend the government of Germany for recognizing its continuing They also said that “in the coming days,” they would file a suit in the High obligation to victims of the Holocaust, more than 70 years after liberation,” Court “to put an end once and for all to the bullying manner with which the said former US ambassador to the European Union Stuart Eizenstat, who custodian of the Western Wall has taken control of this site that is holy to the had headed the Claims Conference's negotiations team. “We have worked entire Jewish people.” exhaustively to arrive at this agreement with the German government. In their statement, the Reform and Conservative movement leaders said that Holocaust survivors, now in their final years, should know of our total the attorney general’s decision lacked any judicial basis. They noted that the commitment to trying to ensure they live in dignity, with the help they need.” Jerusalem District Court had ruled more than three years ago that pluralistic The Claims Conference currently provides home care for some 67,000 prayer practices were not a violation of “local custom” at the Western Wall. Holocaust survivors around the world. All in all, 121,000 survivors are listed “From this, it is clear that it is not possible to prohibit mixed prayer services in as receiving care through 240 different organizations in 46 states. The new the upper plaza, since this is not a religious ritual that violates local custom,” agreement will expand the assistance they receive to offer them further they wrote. support. Out of the sum total to be marked for improving the well-being of The Reform and Conservative movements have grown increasingly Holocaust survivors, $450 million will be transferred to Israel, which is due to frustrated in recent months by the government’s resistance to move ahead affect the lives of the 30,000 survivors living in Israel today. with plans to build a special prayer space for them in the southern expanse of the Western Wall, as approved in January. ISRAELI ATTORNEY GENERAL INTENDS TO BAN WESTERN WALL Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under mounting pressure from EGALITARIAN PRAYER PLANNED FOR THURSDAY (Ha’aretz 7/6/16) his ultra-Orthodox coalition partners to pull out of the agreement. In a reversal of policy, Attorney General Avichai Mendelblit announced The attorney general’s decision to ban the Reform and Conservative Wednesday that he intends to ban the joint male-female prayer service at movements from holding a prayer service in the upper plaza appears to have Jerusalem's Western Wall scheduled for Thursday by the Reform and brought the issue to a head, since until now, the movement leaders have Conservative Judaism movements . threatened to take their case to the High Court, but had not provided a The non-Orthodox movements have held two such prayer sessions over the precise timeframe. last month, with Mendelblit's approval. The purpose of the services, held in The movements intend to demand from the court that the existing gender- the Western Wall plaza adjacent to the separate prayer areas for men and segregated prayer spaces at the Western Wall be re-divided into three women, is to protest the stalled discussions over the creation of an sections: one for men, one for women, and one for mixed-prayer services. egalitarian prayer section at the Wall. The "special egalitarian prayer" service was planned for Thursday at 8:30 'NETANYAHU WAS USED TO SMUGGLE AUSCHWITZ BLUEPRINTS A.M. The normal prayer session of the Women of the Wall group at 7 A.M. is OUT OF GERMANY' (JPost 7/6/16) not expected to be affected by Mendelblit's announcement. The original Auschwitz architectural plans were smuggled out of Germany by Ahead of Thursday's scheduled prayer service, the Religious Services Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2009 against the wishes of the Ministry's Legal Adviser, Israel Pat, wrote a letter to the heads of the Reform German Interior Ministry, former Bild editor-in-chief Kai Diekmann said. and Conservative movements informing them that he did not intend to allow The original construction plans used for a major expansion of the Nazi death any more prayer sessions. Pat invited them to respond to the letter in a camp at Auschwitz in 1941 were found in 2008 in a Berlin flat, Germany's meeting Wednesday evening. Bild newspaper reported. According to Pat, who acts in coordination with Mendelblit, he had been The plans were subsequently acquired by Bild and made available to the informed of a protocol banning prayer in the plaze since the last time he had public. allowed a joint prayer session. The protocol, which the Western Wall rabbi The daily printed three architect's drawings on yellowing paper from the batch brought to Pat's attention, bans prayer in the public zone of the plaza, where of 28 pages of blueprints it obtained. One has an 11.66 meter by 11.20 meter military and other non-religious ceremonies are held. It was pubished three room marked "Gaskammer" (gas chamber) that was part of a "delousing years ago facility." "The plaza in general is not meant for prayer and religious ceremonies, but "We had to decide what to do with the drawings. I was convinced that they for regular visits, regardless of the nature of prayer or religious ceremony," need to get to Yad Vashem," Diekmann told the Berlin-based Hebrew- wrote Pat. language magazine Spitz. As an alternative, he suggested that the movements hold their prayer The National Archives of Germany disagreed and Diekmann was warned by meeting at the southern portion of the wall under Robinson's Arch, an area the German Interior Ministry that should he attempt to take the documents that was originally earmarked for the non-Orthodox movements. outside of Germany, he would be arrested. That government decision was frozen due to opposition from the ultra- "They and the German Interior Ministry told us that these documents belong Orthodox parties. to the government of Germany, because the German government is the legal Pat wrote that "work is expected to begin in the coming days on the southern successor of the Third Reich," Diekmann said. Western Wall," a statement that echoed the state response to a High Court "Then I had an idea: to find someone who can take them past the border, session on the issue with week. someone who would not be arrested." "Even today," Pat wrote, "there is an alternative that allows basic conditions Diekmann then invited Netanyahu to Berlin to attend a ceremony and handed for prayer," within the space designated for egalitarian prayer. "In light of all the blueprints over to him. the above, we intend to make a decision that at this time, after reaching a "We asked him if he would come to Berlin and attend a ceremony during 3 which we will give him the documents - and that's what happened," covered the most in books, articles and movies. Diekmann explained. The special thing about "Operation Yonatan in the First Person," excerpts of He added that it was not apparent whether Netanyahu was aware of which are published for the first time in this special project, is that for the first Germany's opposition to the plans being taken out of the country. time, commandos from Sayeret Matkal have each written their own version of “Auschwitz, like nothing else, stands for the guilt and the blindness of an events, as they would do in an official investigation, without any external entire nation. Something so huge, it can hardly be grasped by new influences or censorship. generations. That is why it is of the utmost importance to continue to be The book helps solve the big mystery surrounding the operation: How did it reminded of it. Because only those that know the past can act responsibly in succeed? How did it come to be that something that looked "strange and the future.” completely unlikely" or a "Hollywood fantasy" (according to Sayeret Matkal "These documents reveal that everyone who had even anything remotely to commandos) several days before, turned into such an awe-inspiring do with the planning and construction of the concentration camp must have success? How did an operation in such a far-away and hostile place, which know that people were to be gassed to death in assembly-line fashion," Bild would normally require months and at times years to plan, take shape in only wrote. 48 hours? "The documents refute once and for all claims by those who deny the The answers to these questions, as the testimonies in the book indicate, are Holocaust even took place," it added. a combination of several factors and reasons. The blueprints are currently located in the Yad Vashem archives and can be First: the human factor. There is no doubt that many things could have gone viewed in their online exhibit. wrong, leading the operation to end in disaster. On the other hand, the fact that Sayeret Matkal that was tasked with this complicated challenge— CYPRUS BLOCKS ISRAEL-TURKEY GAS PIPELINE UNTILL ANKARA bringing its experience, the tools at its disposal, and its excellent personnel— MENDS TIES (Ha’aretz 7/6/16) reduced the margin of error to a minimum. Turkey needs to mend relations with Cyprus before the Cypriot government In one of our conversations, Yiftach Reicher-Atir—at the time the unit's will allow a Turkish-Israel gas pipeline to cross its territory, a government deputy commander, who headed the force that stormed the first floor of the spokesman said on Tuesday. terminal where the Ugandan soldiers were (and also the editor of the book)— The remarks came a week after Israel and Turkey reached a rapprochement, compared Sayeret Matkal to an upside-down pyramid. It is an elite unit with ending a six-year diplomatic rupture and raising hopes that Israel can reach quality personnel at its disposal, and "when all of the state's resources are an agreement to export natural gas from its offshore Mediterranean fields to focused on a specific day, hour, minute... the pyramid's top is pointing to the Turkey. But to reach Turkey a pipeline would have to traverse the territorial target, and everything else is pushing from above. In the end, the pyramid's waters of Cyprus, which was split into ethnic Greek and Turkish enclaves by top will pierce the target, no question about it." Reicher-Atir was talking about a Turkish invasion in 1974. the assassination of Abu Jihad (Khalil al-Wazir, the co-founder of Fatah who "Everyone understands that it's not possible for a state under occupation to was killed by the unit in Tunis in 1988), but his words apply to the Entebbe approve a pipeline going to the occupying power," said Nicos Operation as well. Christodoulides, the Cypriot government spokesman. Second: the element of surprise. Israel was surprised by Wadie Haddad's No overtures have been made concerning such a pipeline. "There must be a ability to hijack a plane and fly it somewhere as far as Uganda. But surprise solution to the Cyprus problem before that scenario is examined," also worked in the opposite direction. Because of the great distance from Christodoulides said in Nicosia. Israel, it appeared that the hijackers and Ugandan soldiers didn't imagine Cyprus and Turkey do not have diplomatic relations. But Greek Cypriots, who Israel would even consider a rescue operation. In other operations, inside run the island's internationally recognized government, are engaged in Israel, when the Sayeret was operating under much more favorable reunification talks with the Turkish enclave in northern Cyprus. conditions, it sometimes failed. The October 1994 raid on the house where IDF soldier Nachshon Wachsman was kept ended completely different, even IN THE FACE OF ALL THE RISKS (Ronen Bergman, YNet 6/27/16) though it was conducted by the same unit, under the same prime minister. To this day, there hasn't been an official investigation of Sayeret Matkal's This was, among other things, because the kidnappers were far more operation in Entebbe. The commandos, intelligence officers, and the vigilant. operations and logistics personnel have never been asked to tell their own Third: the intelligence. The unit's intelligence officer, Avi Weiss (Livneh), version of events or to officially provide one for the record. After Yoni provides the readers with a highly professional recounting of how intel for Netanyahu was killed, it was important to his replacement, Amiram Levin, to operations should be collected in general and how it was collected in light of show that it was still business as usual for the Special Forces unit. And with the tremendous difficulties in this instance. In fact, the commandos left Israel the commander's funeral and the next important operation planned for a few for the operation with two- or three-day-old information and had no way of months afterwards, there was no time to conduct a proper in-depth knowing if anything had changed in the interim (for example, if the investigation of the operation that has turned into the elite unit's trademark. kidnappers had moved the hostages to another building). On the other hand, The IDF General Staff's History Department did issue a document in the gathering of information ahead of the Entebbe Operation required November 1977 based on a partial investigation of the operation, but it is ingenuity and resourcefulness, from collection of maps and data from Israelis plagued with errors and lacks important information. who worked in Uganda in previous years, to sending David, a Mossad That no official investigation has ever been conducted is particularly strange undercover operative and a pilot, to take photographs of the terminal from the in light of the fact that Operation Thunderbolt—the code name given to the air. rescue mission—is certainly not an operation the IDF should feel ashamed Fourth: the military's high command and the political leadership. They were of. This is one of the most important commando operations in history. the ones who bore the responsibility, each in his own field, and they're the Several other operations were inspired by it—some successful (GSG-9 ones who would’ve carried the burden of failure on their shoulders had the operation to rescue the Lufthansa Flight 181 hostages in Mogadishu), and operation not gone according to plan. After the Hercules planes took off for some less so (the American attempt to rescue the US embassy hostages in Entebbe, Rabin asked his chief of staff, Amos Eran, to draw up a letter of Iran in 1980)—but there hasn't been an operation quite like Entebbe. resignation for him—in case the operation failed. "What do you consider "Thunderbolt" is also probably the commando operation that has been failure?" Eran asked. "Over 25 dead," Rabin responded. 4 At first, Rabin was convinced that the operation would be impossible to pull international peace initiative -- an idea that runs contrary to the principle of off. He changed his mind because of a few reasons, including pressure from direct negotiations -- also comes under fire in the report, at least in a veiled his defense minister, Shimon Peres, and the fragments of intelligence that manner, and the report's authors leave no room for doubt regarding their came in. But above all, it was the commanders' confidence in their ability to view of the French bid to assume leadership of the international discourse on deliver. The most important among them was probably Sayeret Matkal's the Israeli-Palestinian question. We can see that part of the report as commander, Lt. Col. Yonatan Netanyahu, to whom the book is dedicated. positive, or at least as the lesser evil, but it would be a mistake dismiss its Netanyahu's memory has suffered several blows since the operation negative aspects or the troubling questions it raises. because of ego and politics. That was the case when the most In typical Quartet fashion, the report concludes that Israeli construction in the comprehensive and thorough investigation of the operation, written by his "West Bank settlements and east Jerusalem is steadily eroding the viability of brother Iddo, was unjustifiably presented as a biased version of events. That the two-state solution." The report similarly criticizes "the denial of Palestinian was also the case when some tried to minimize Netanyahu's part in the development" in Area C. It does not mention that under both the Oslo planning of the operation and in leading it. One know-it-all commentator who Accords and the Wye River Memorandum the very definition of Area C of the loathes the prime minister, Netanyahu's brother, surpassed himself when he "West Bank" as a separate territory is due to the fact that it includes wrote over and over again that Yoni was on the verge of being relieved of his settlement blocs, access roads that lead to them, east Jerusalem, and command and that the Entebbe Operation and his subsequent death were strategic settlements around Jerusalem, and that it was clear from the start what spared him that fate. Except this was simply not true. The head of that no peace deal would include them as part of any future Palestinian state. AMAN (IDF Military Intelligence) at the time, Maj. Gen. (ret.) Shlomo Gazit, Hand in hand with the condemnation of Palestinian terrorism, it's hard not to one of the best and most honest among the heads of the Israeli intelligence be morally and pragmatically outraged at the report appearing to give community, testified to that end earlier this month. "There were terrorism and murder equal weight to the construction of homes in Judea and disagreements within the unit. I called Yoni in for a meeting, but there was no Samaria. It would be interesting to see what would happen if Israel, just to talk about relieving anyone of their command," he said. test the Palestinians and possibly the authors of the report, were to freeze The book deals with Netanyahu's role and his vital contribution to the construction outside the settlement areas and Jerusalem. Keep in mind that success of the operation, among other things. "Yoni walked on the exposed the last time Israel froze settlement expansion, the Palestinians responded runaway, commanding the troops, with his head held high," writes Omer Bar- with increased "resistance." Lev. "It was the right place for the commander of the raid to be. Had he The other thread in the report establishes the goal of two separate states as moved close to the building, his line of sight would have been limited, as the only solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the authors go out of would his ability to command the forces. These are the seconds that, at their way to demonstrate the danger of "one state for two peoples" and to times, make the difference between success and failure. Yoni's quick charge raise questions about "Israel's long-term intentions." But the long-term is what motivated the commandos." The different testimonies also show that intentions of the clear majority of the Israeli public, as well as the current almost all of the commandos thought Netanyahu's decision to risk losing the leader of the government, are no secret. The one-state solution is element of surprise by shooting the Ugandan guards was the right call—and unacceptable to most Israelis, other than the extreme Right -- which sees it not just in hindsight. as the fulfillment of the Zionist idea -- and the extreme Left -- which hopes Forty years later, the testimonies of the soldiers who fought in Entebbe that it would signal the end of the Zionist idea. This isn't to say that Jews who demonstrate, more than anything else, the difference between a commando wanted to couldn't live as individuals or as organized communities in territory operation that turns into a fiasco and one remembered as legendary. outside the borders of Israel, unless the Quartet backs mutual transfer for Jews and CONDEMNATION, COMPARISON, AND A SOLUTION (Zalman Shoval, Arabs. Israel Hayom 7/5/16) Reports come The Quartet report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict isn't as bad as it could and go, but the have been, in part thanks to Israeli diplomacy efforts. One glaring flaw in the more relevant, report is that it doesn't delve into the root of the conflict -- the refusal of pressing Palestinian entities, including the Palestinian Authority, to end it by question at the recognizing the Jewish people's right to a state in some part of the Land of moment is to Israel. what degree The main positive aspect of the report is its unequivocal condemnation of the the Quartet Palestinian Authority and its leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, for their report indicates, clear-cut responsibility for anti-Israel incitement, violence, and terrorism. To good or bad, emphasize how serious a part the Palestinian leadership plays in these the position its matters, the report placed the PA's role in torpedoing chances for peace at signatories, the top of its list of contributing factors. particularly the The timing of the report's publication may have been a coincidence, but we U.S., will take in should hope that the symbolism of the sharp criticism toward the Palestinian the U.N. leadership, which came just as the latest victims of the most recent Security Palestinian killing sprees were being laid to rest, is seen and noted by the Council in the report's authors and the entire enlightened world. next few While the PA's harsh response to the report stems mainly from the fact that months, and an official international body has exposed their true nature, it is also a whether the reaction to the report's assertion that a peace deal can only be reached Israeli- through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians -- an Palestinian argument that pulls the rug right out from under the Palestinian strategy of issue will be avoiding direct talks and seeking a U.N.-imposed "solution." France's raised there.