(Israel Government Press Office)

Ma'ariv analyzes Abu Mazen's current situation: "Abu Mazen and Fatah control Judea and Samaria thanks to the Israeli military presence there. He also understands that if general elections are held in the Palestinian Authority, he will fall. On the one hand, he wants the IDF to stay and protect him and his regime; one the other hand, he hopes to gain strength from his diplomatic moves, including the major move of appealing to the UN. In order to maintain the Western world's illusion that he seeks peace, he is likely to fashion a semblance of dialogue with Israel, but as the negotiations approach any positive agreement, he will torpedo them lest there be an agreement under the terms of which we will leave Judea and Samaria, Hamas will take power and he will fall. Abu Mazen is maneuvering fairly well and the Israeli Left is going astray after his false magic."

Yediot Aharonot says that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was compelled to request an additional two weeks in which to form a government partly because the "rookies [Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid] gave him a lesson in politics." The author asserts that in his remarks last night, the Prime Minister "spoke against factionalism after he tried to split two parties; he spoke against boycotts after he tried to push away from the government the party that is closest to him, Bennett's; he spoke about the ultra-orthodox parties agreeing to equality even after it became clear to him that United Torah Judaism is refusing any outline, and Shas is being dragged along after it." The paper says that Netanyahu's dilemma is that "He is dependent on the goodwill of his rivals, and he hates being dependent."

Yisrael Hayom comments on former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trial in the so-called 'Holyland' affair in light of the death of the state's key witness. The author avers: "One thing is clear: The trial must continue unabated," and notes that the deceased was not the only witness.

Haaretz praises Israel’s State Archives for publishing transcripts from cabinet meetings held by Menachem Begin’s government “about the massacres at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon in September 1982, and about the report of the Kahan Commission that investigated the massacre and was published in February 1983.” The editor notes that “The Kahan report led to the removal of Ariel Sharon from his position as defense minister while hurting the careers of other officers in Military Intelligence and the IDF’s ground forces,” and asserts: “If there are some details found during these investigations that are still unpublished − and there is no lack of such examples regarding other public figures − it is the public’s right and obligation to know about them so they can reach their own conclusions about their significance.”

The Jerusalem Post criticizes Seth MacFarlane, this year’s Academy Awards host, for his crude sexist remarks and prejudice expressed against women, Hispanics and Jews, but also objects to remarks made by American-Jewish leaders, who expressed concern that MacFarlane’s remarks might push Moslem fanatics into attacking Jews. The editor asserts that “it is abhorrent to entertain the thought that we in the West will be bullied into imposing restrictions on our freedoms out of fear of violence perpetrated by a reactionary jihadist in the name of Islam,” and suggests that MacFarlane was “offensive, tactless, crude or just plain not funny and, therefore, not someone to be asked to host the Oscars again next year.”

[Nadav Eyal, Nahum Barnea and Dan Margalit wrote today’s articles in Ma'ariv, Yediot Aharonot and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]