Yediot Aharonot discusses Israeli-Turkish relations in light of the fact that Turkey is due to hold general elections in 2011. The author believes that Israel’s supporters in the US must lobby the incoming Congress against weapons sales to Turkey and to question the viability of Turkey’s continued membership in NATO. The paper reminds its readers that "Erdogan rose to power because Turkey’s great secular majority was fed up with the corruption of the secular parties, not because it suddenly changed its views, and now, it is important to make it clear to this secular majority that the Islamist regime is hurting it." To this end, the author says that "Turkey must be reminded that it is its secularism and closeness to the West that distinguish it from Iran and that an Islamist. Erdogan-led Turkey will push Turkey further away from the EU, to the detriment of the Turkish economy. The paper asserts that Turkish voters must be made aware of "the prices they will pay for their Government’s adventures."
Ma’ariv refers to the uproar over Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman recent remarks and says that "He is the only one who speaks the truth: Turkey is denigrating Israel and the Palestinians want everything, but peace."
Yisrael Hayom looks ahead to 2011. The author believes that "2011 will be critical regarding [Israel’s] relations with the Palestinians," and adds that "It could be that it will become clear if it is possible to hold serious negotiations with them, which will require painful concessions from both sides, of if we will all – once again – shuffle our feet, with the goal being to prove that the other side is to blame for the failure." The paper cites Saeb Erekat, who recently said that the Palestinians will not accept any agreement that does not include a right of return of all Palestinian refugees and cautions that "If this is any indicator for the Palestinians, there will be no agreement." The author also notes that 2011 will see elections in Egypt and predicts that "Hezbollah will continue to arm itself with missiles from Syria and Iran, Syria will continue to build up its own forces and Hamas will not slacken in its efforts." While the paper believes that "nobody has an interest in starting a war with Israel," it nevertheless declares that Israel must not stop its intelligence efforts or its development and deployment of defensive measures against missiles." The author warns that hovering over the entire Middle East is the Iranian nuclear issue and the question of whether or not Iran’s nuclear facilities should be attacked before Tehran develops a bomb, given the failure of sanctions as a deterrent.
The Jerusalem Post refers to rebel Shas MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem, who it terms "a breath of fresh air in a world of haredi politics characterized by monolithic opinion and blind subservience." Amsalem has been ousted from Shas mainly due to his approval of the IDF conversion bill, which is aimed at protecting the Jewishness of thousands of IDF soldiers who underwent conversions during their mandatory IDF service, and hopes that soon "we will be seeing more haredi politicians like Amsalem, leading a more open-minded haredi constituency."
Haaretz discusses the fire that broke out in a train two days ago, and believes that the details that have been published regarding the outbreak "arouse a fear of negligence in what safety precautions were taken." The editor points out that "The Israeli character, which tends to make light of rules and regulations and to depend on improvisation; which prefers solving problems to preventing them from occurring, was once again revealed in the train accident, less than a month after the major forest fire on the Carmel," and calls on Israel Railways CEO Yitzhak Harel to "act to impose stricter safety standards and to prevent accidents in the system for which he is responsible."
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