"Twenty years ago I was angry with them, but today I thank them."--Former prime minister Ehud Olmert on the people behind the Oslo Accords.
- Netanyahu phones PA's Abbas, says he wants to renew peace talks 'soon' - The prime minister called the Palestinian president on the occasion of Ramadan; the conversation was the first between the two leaders since Israel's government was sworn in. (Haaretz+)
- Olmert: State must make its position on peace talks clearer - Former-PM Olmert slams Naftali Bennett for comments on Palestinians, pleads with Netanyahu to clarify position, advises Kerry on peace talks. 'Peace is possible, it is realistic, but you need to want it...I'm not completely pessimistic about reaching an agreement with the Palestinians, but I find it problematic when a government member considers the issue a 'shrapnel in the rear end,'" he said. (Ynet)
- Candidate for Israel's Sephardi chief rabbi denies making anti-Arab remarks - Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu says his comments were taken out of context and subject to editing errors - if he even said them. (Haaretz+)
- Shas leader: Modern Orthodox in Israel is Amalek - enemy of the Jews - Habayit Hayehudi's Naftali Bennett calls on Shas to condemn Rabbi Shalom Cohen for inflammatory comparison. (Haaretz+)
- Handicapped Jews and Arabs came for a fun day at a settlement - 16 youth, three of them Arab, came to the happening held at Rosh Tzurim settlement in Gush Etzion, where 50 youth from the settlement volunteered to help for 24 hours. Mohammed from Jaffa: "I wish I could go back there." (Maariv, p. 13/NRG Hebrew)
- PA economic plan taking shape - Concrete details of scheme to boost stagnant Palestinian economy, drafted by team of international experts, being kept under wraps until peace talks with Israelis resume. (Agencies, Ynet)
- Some 30,000 Bedouin to get garbage collected for first time - With NIS 40 million allocated, Environmental Protection Ministry hopes to end practice of burning of trash, which causes ecological and health problems. (Haaretz+)
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