517
Yediot Aharonot proposes: "One state for all its inhabitants. Everyone of eleven and a half million Israelis and Palestinians, from the sea to the river, from the Gaza Strip to the Negev and the West Bank, Deheishe and Kibbutz Revivim and Deir el Balah." The author argues that, "There is no longer a way to divide the land, and there is no other option other than to live together, with total equality, without occupation and without a barrier, without a Green Line, without uprooting one person: Not Palestinians and their olives and not the settlers and their shacks."
Ma’ariv contends that, "The masses supported the release [of Gilad Shalit] ‘at any price’ because no individual had to pay the price personally. That is not true solidarity. What we have before us is the peak of the approach that favors the individual good above the national good."
The Jerusalem Post writes: "Libya carries the legacy of century-old fractures – social, economic, geographic and cultural – unhealed since Italy, in November 1911, first brought together by royal decree the disparate regions of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan under the artificial construction known, since 1934, as Libya. Bridging these fractures presents the biggest challenge to Libya’s future stability; failing to do so could result in years of violence and anarchy. The vigilante execution of Gaddafi is hardly auspicious. Libya must proceed cautiously, putting in place the sorts of institutions that are a prerequisite for even the most rudimentary forms of democracy. But, the first order of business – which could be achieved with the aid of NATO forces – is to disarm the myriad gun-toting militias and restore law and order. Only then will the Libyan people be ready to contemplate transition to some form of democratic rule."
Yisrael Hayom opines that "The killing of Gadhafi and the imminent fall of Assad leave only one power in the Arab world capable of standing up to Iran: Saudi Arabia."
Haaretz comments on the Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly on matters relating to personal status: Some of the secular public "resort to steps circumventing the system, such as common-law marriage and a marriage ceremony in Cyprus. But it turns out that much of the national religious community is fed up too. For lack of any other recourse, they resort to steps such as private wedding ceremonies. Such efforts to bypass the system reflect real distress. From every vantage point – social, civil and economic – it would be better to transfer the rabbinate’s powers to local authorities that would serve the people based on the community’s needs. Also, the Knesset must change the law and provide civil marriage to everyone, in addition to religious marriage. Israeli society has come out, albeit very politely, against religious coercion. The government must decide what is more important to it, its alliance with the ultra-Orthodox parties or the people’s welfare."
[Yigal Sarena, Amos Gilboa, and Eli Avidar wrote today’s articles in Yediot Aharonot, Ma’ariv and Yisrael Hayom, respectively.]