Editoriais de segunda, 8 de maio *

Haaretz comments: "The Jewish community of Hebron, in the city itself and the surrounding countryside, once again provided the headlines over the weekend. The group of thugs who decided to mark for themselves the borders of disagreement did not like the deal on the evacuation, which was reached between the Israel Defense Forces and the families who have infiltrated the al-Nazar house in the center of Hebron. These thugs used eggs, paint, stones and blows to clash with the army, which was operating on the authority of a High Court of Justice directive... The violent thuggery of some Hebron residents and some residents of Maon and its environs has become routine. It is so taken for granted that a legal evacuation will encounter violence, it is so clear that Arab children will not be able to reach their schools in peace if they pass through an area under settler control, that these incidents no longer generate surprise, much less protest. The handful of Jews who volunteer to protect Palestinian rights are considered weird, the army is seen as incapable and it is as though the police left the law behind in the State of Israel and did not take it beyond the Green Line."

The Jerusalem Post writes: "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly predicted in his Saturday night conversation with Eitan Wertheimer, chairman of the board of Iscar - the metal-cutting tools firm in which American investor Warren Buffett acquired an 80% stake over the weekend - that this deal "will be spoken of in the same light as the Balfour Declaration." Even if Olmert laid it on a bit thick, his general sentiment isn't misplaced. The fact that the world's second-richest man (after Bill Gates) has chosen Israel for his Berkshire-Hathaway investment firm's third largest acquisition ever cannot be judged as anything but a monumental vote of confidence in Israel's economy."

Yediot Aharonot wishes the new government well, even as the editors urge it to get to work.

Yediot Aharonot, in its second editorial, criticizes as undemocratic the punishment meted out to the soldier who refused to shake IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz's hand at the Independence Day award ceremony for outstanding soldiers.

Yediot Aharonot, in its third editorial, eulogizes former Mossad agent and Nazi-hunter Moshe Tavor, who recently died.

Hatzofeh refers to yesterday's evacuation of Beit Shapira in Hebron and urges Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria and their supporters to thoroughly reconsider their future strategy.

Yediot Aharonot, in its fourth editorial, criticizes the Knesset conduct of rookie Labor MK and former journalist Shelly Yachimovich.