Ofer Shelah
By Ofer Shelah
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News Sharon, Netanyahu Maneuver As Election Battle Looms
TEL AVIV — Although Israel’s disengagement from Gaza wasn’t scheduled to begin for another week and a half, the political circus known as the Day After Disengagement had its informal kickoff this week with the submission of the government’s 2006 budget proposal. It was a budget notably short on the draconian cuts for which Finance…
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News Sharon’s Future Seen in Doubt As Son Faces Criminal Charges
TEL AVIV — Just two weeks before the commencement of what could be the decisive political step in his career — pulling Israeli troops and settlers out of Gaza — Ariel Sharon suffered one of his career’s most serious political and personal blows: the indictment of his son, Omri, on campaign finance violations. The indictment,…
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News Religious Troops Torn Between Faith, Duty
TEL AVIV — There was a time when Captain Asaf Yemini, a religious officer in Israel’s elite Golani brigade, would have been a hero in the Gaza settlement of Gedid, where he grew up. But last Tuesday, friends and neighbors were calling him a traitor, as he stood with his unit, blocking anti-disengagement protesters from…
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News As Pullout Approaches, Sharon Orders Closure in Gaza
TEL AVIV — With barely a month left before the official beginning of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza — the August 15 date isn’t likely to change, despite last-ditch efforts by right-wingers inside and outside Ariel Sharon’s government — the fate of the disengagement plan is now more in the hands of the people in the…
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News Settlers Overplay Hand With Violence, Protests
TEL AVIV — Ariel Sharon was in a confident, almost cheerful mood when he appeared this week before a joint meeting of two important Knesset committees. In a rare step, the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee was holding a public session, together with the Law and Constitution Committee, to discuss the state of preparations for…
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News As Withdrawal Nears, Violence Spikes
TEL AVIV — As preparations for the August withdrawal from Gaza accelerated over the past week, Israel got a series of grim reminders that any hope of disengagement resulting in a reduction in terrorism might be just wishful thinking. Palestinian attacks, which declined drastically following a cease-fire agreement in February, began rising perceptibly in May…
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Culture In Airwaves War, Israeli Army Takes Its Case to Arab Media
JERUSALEM — Eitan Arusy, the Israeli military’s point man in dealing with the Arab media, earned his paycheck May 19. That day, millions of Arab viewers watching the evening news on Al Jazeera were treated to footage from an Israeli army drone. The 10-second clip depicted a missile strike on a group of Hamas members…
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News Labor Party Contest Becomes Bitter Fight
TEL AVIV — Three weeks before the primary elections for the leadership of the Labor Party, the sleepy dowager of Israeli politics suddenly seems abuzz with activity. Five men are battling desperately to lead Israel’s second-largest political party and occupy the seat once held by the likes of David Ben-Gurion and Yitzhak Rabin. It is…
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