Fading Fast

"Having reached the age of 67, the age of retirement, I watch with trepidation as the 1967 lines fade away, taking with them the outline of a peace that is within arm's reach, the border of a democratic, Jewish and moral state—a country in which it would be pleasant to live the rest of my life."
--Akiva Eldar dedicates his last column in Haaretz to Israeli activists and groups working towards peace, including Peace Now, Breaking the Silence and B'Tselem.

• Netanyahu's government has quietly doubled funding for settlements, says finance minister - Move was done quietly so that 'elements in Israel and abroad' would not attempt to prevent it, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz tells radio interviewer. (Haaretz+)
  
• Senior Palestinian official discounts Israeli sanctions threat - Mohammad Shtayyeh, a senior member of the Fatah party, said Israel had no interest in bringing about the collapse of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank. (Haaretz+)
  
• Jerusalem plans to evict 120 Bedouin to make room for waste landfill - The municipality says the 500-dunam dump is expected to completely fill the wadi in about 20 years, after which the plan calls for building a public park atop it. (Haaretz+)
  
• MK Kirshenbaum: Arabs are an economic burden on Israel - 'Arabs in Israel want equal rights, but they don't want to contribute to the state,' Knesset member tells German-Israeli sister cities conference in Jerusalem. (Haaretz+)
  
• Group: Israel re-arrests prisoner freed in swap deal -  Muna Qadan, 40, from Jenin was released from Israeli jail as part of the second phase of a prisoner swap last year between Hamas and Israel, having spent three years in prison for being a member of Islamic Jihad. The Ahrar Center condemned her arrest, saying that it violated the terms of the prisoner swap deal. (Maan)

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