*Netanyahu plans to propose the imposition of civil service on Arab citizens (Al Ayyam)
*Syria: 45 killed by regime forces in tandem with the arrival of the international monitoring mission head (Al Ayyam)
*Increasing possibility of early parliamentary elections in Israel to be held this August (Al Ayyam)
*The President receives Palestine students in Tunis and briefs Sabasi on developments (Al Ayyam)
*Israel: Egypt has not yet decided on the prisoner swap deal (Al Ayyam)
*Egypt: the army decides to modify Janzouri’s government by including members of the Islamic forces (Al Ayyam)
*Armed men rob money truck from the Jerusalem cigarette company (Al Ayyam)
*Dagan: the ruling system in Israel is more dangerous than the Iranian threat (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*British Co-op broadens its boycott of settlement products (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Contacts to end the crisis between Cairo and Riyad.. Al Arabi considers it a ‘passing cloud’ (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Abul Homous expects delay in salaries this month (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Al Natsheh uncovers 35 corruption files transferred to court (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Settlers level agricultural land in the Nablus countryside (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*The PA welcomes Obama’s resumption of financial aid to the Palestinians (Al Quds)
*Paul Krugman: to criticize Israel’s ‘suicidal’ policy is to put yourself under massive attack (Al Quds)
*Diskin: Netanyahu and Barak drink vodka and smoke cigars during secret talks (Al Quds)
*Former Mossad chief: Israel is at the brink of an abyss and the current ruling system threatens its future (Al Quds)

Al-Quds: Cairo: Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al Arabi receiving Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal
Al-Ayyam: 1) Scene from solidarity march with prisoners in Ramallah; 2) Tunis: President Abbas and his Tunisian counterpart Munsif Marzouqi during a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial site of Hamam Al Shat martyrs
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida:  1) Citizens protest in Ramallah in solidarity with prisoners; 2) The president lays a wreath on the memorial site of Hamam Al Shat martyrs who were killed in an Israeli air raid.

Jerusalem: 12 minor Jerusalemites were arrested during the last two days during raids by Israeli occupation forces in Silwan, occupied East Jerusalem. All of those detainees were harshly beaten by the occupation soldiers and some of them, including resident Ya`qob Sarhan, are suffering from serious injuries.
With respect to solidarity activities with the Palestinian hunger strikers inside the Israeli jails, the Palestinian Prisoner Club will inaugurate today a protest tent at the ICRC headquarter in Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood. Moreover, a mass march will be launched today at noon from A`nata village through Shu`fat camp until the military checkpoint that has been erected at the entrance of Shu`fat village, north of occupied Jerusalem.

The West Bank: Prisoner Taher Halahleh, who has been on hunger strike for 64 days, was evacuated to a hospital following a sudden and severe rise in his body temperature.

**PLO`s Erekat: no date has yet been set for Molcho`s visit in Ramallah**
Saeb Erekat: Member of the PLO Executive Committee.
Q: According to Israeli sources, envoy Yitzhak Molcho is expected to deliver Netanyahu’s response on the president`s letter in two days. Can you confirm this?
No date has yet been set.
Q: What would be the next Palestinian scenario in wake of the persisting Israeli intransigence?
The president will meet with the Israeli prime minister`s envoy as soon as we get notice on the (date) of the response. Afterwards, there is a complete Palestinian strategy according to which we are going to act.
Q: Will this action include resorting to the UN General Assembly by the end of next month in pursuit of a non-state membership?
Our strategy includes the (internal) reconciliation, the building of institutions, the elections for presidency and the PNC, the popular peaceful resistance, defining our ties with Israel, the Palestinian-Arab and the Palestinian-international ties in addition to motions at the UN and its agencies. I do not want to preempt future steps and their specific time as the Palestinian leadership will take the required decisions on this regard.  

**Fatah`s al-Ahmad in Cairo on May 2 to meet with Egyptian officials and Hamas leaders on the reconciliation**
A`zzam al-Ahmad: Member of Fatah Central Committee.
Q: Will Fatah leaders visit Cairo soon in wake of visits by Hamas leaders there?
According to accurate information I received, the goal of the visit by Hamas leaders to Cairo is to hold a meeting for their politburo. I will personally head to Cairo on May 2nd upon a request from Egyptian officials who are in charge of following up the issue of reconciliation. Still, I think that this issue will continue to be frozen as long as Hamas is preoccupied in arranging its internal affairs.
I recently heard a statement by Mr. Meshaal in which he calls on immediate formation of a national unity government in accordance with Cairo agreement. Knowing that Mr. Meshaal is aware of the details of the agreement and the party that should be blamed for obstructing the implementation, I would like to respond to him by saying that president Abu Mazen is ready to pursue consultations related to the formation of a national unity government immediately after the Election Commission will be given permission to work in the Gaza strip. I appeal to Mr. Meshaal to adhere to the agreement he reached with president Abbas whereby the formation of the next government can be pursued one day after Election Commission is allowed to work in the Gaza strip.  
Q: Will your next visit in Cairo be restricted to meeting with Egyptian officials not with Hamas leaders?
I am going to meet with Egyptian officials but I will contact Hamas leaders and meet with those who will     be present there. In other words, holding meetings with Hamas officials in Cairo is not part of the official schedule so far but I usually meet with them during my stay in Cairo.
Q: Can you confirm press reports about president Abbas`s intention to conduct reshuffles to Fayyad-led government upon his return from Tunisia?
He is going to form the government regardless of the number of ministers who will be replaced because the current government from a legal perspective resigned but the Palestinian Center Council requested the PA chairman to delay the formation of a new government in order to farther facilitate the national reconciliation.   The president has actually pursued consultations on the formation of the government that will happen immediately after his return from his recent visit (in Tunisia)

**  The Higher Commission to Follow Up the Prisoners` Affairs: 3,500 prisoners from all factions and at the entire Israeli jails are expected to be on open-ended hunger strike on May 1st if the prison service would not meet their demands**
Amin Shumal: The Higher Commission to Follow Up the Prisoners` Affairs.
Q: Have all prisoners truly decided to join the open-ended hunger strike by the end of this week?
The number of prisoners who are joining the hunger strike constantly increase at all jails and from the various factions. By May 1st, a high number of prisoners that could reach 3,500 from all jails will be on open-ended hunger strike. This is the information we received from them. They said that this will happen if the prison service would not fulfill their just demands before May 1st.
Q: Was this decision taken by prisoners from all factions and at the entire Israeli jails?
Yes, it was taken by the leadership of the prisoners` movement that represents all factions. They agreed earlier on giving an ultimatum of ten days to the prison service to meet their demands.
The hunger strikers’ medical condition is in constant deterioration. Two of them have been evacuated to the medical centre of Ramleh prison in addition to secretary general of the PFLP Ahmad Saad who has been hospitalized there since last Thursday.    

**The PFLP holds the Israeli occupation full responsibility for the hunger strikers` life**
Abdel Rahim Mallouh: Deputy Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Q: Do you have information about Saadat`s medical condition?
The health condition of the PFLP`s secretary general and the entire hunger strikers inside the occupation jails, mainly those who first started the strike including Halahleh and Diab, is too grave. We hold the occupation full responsibility for their life. Although those strugglers were engaged in a legitimate fight against the occupation and for the sake of freedom, their current demands are not aimed at ending the occupation. Their demands are just and guaranteed by all internal conventions.  
Q: Has the Palestinian leadership been in contact with Arab and international parties on the prisoners` affair?
Yes, the Palestinian leadership has conducted several contacts on the international level to pressurize Israel. Nevertheless, Israel is persistent to turn its back to all appeals. It gives repetitive promises without meeting any. We will wait until next Wednesday, which was chosen by the Israeli prison service as a deadline to give its responses on the prisoners` demands.

**Minister of labor denies reports about delay of payment of public servants` salaries**  
Ahmad Majdalani: Minister of Labor.
Q: Would you confirm reports about an expected delay of payment of April salaries?
The Palestinian society, particularly the public servants, usually suffers from rumors that are aimed at creating confusion and disorder.
The financial crisis which the PA has been enduring is not new matter and yet the cabinet exerts the utmost efforts to at least ensure the monthly payment of salaries. This month in particular, the efforts of were pursued even earlier than usual by the cabinet.  
Q: Are you trying to say that the salaries will be disbursed on due date?
Yes, I can confirm that the government is exerting the utmost efforts to disburse the salaries on due date, during the first week of next month.  

A Boring Issue Called Palestinian Reconciliation
“Al-Quds Al-Arabi” Editorial (http://www.alquds.co.uk/scripts/print.asp?fname=data\2012\04\04-29\29qpt999.htm)

Mr. Khaled Meshaal, politburo chief of “Hamas” movement, is currently in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian officials on means to revive the reconciliation pacts that he signed with the PA and “Fatah” movement.
Meshaal`s meeting with the Egyptian foreign minister Kamel A`mr was noticeable as it marked the first meeting between him and this high ranking Egyptian official considering that his previous meetings were restricted to former Egyptian intelligence chief major general Omar Suleiman and other security officials.
This transformation came as a result of the Egyptian revolution and the collapse of the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who insisted on limiting the issue of the Palestinian resistance to Egyptian security affairs.
We cannot tell if Meshaal`s presence in Cairo at the same time other Palestinian leaders, like secretary general of the Islamic Jihad Ramadan Shallah, is part of  a new Egyptian move to bridge the gaps first between these Palestinian factions an afterwards between them and “Fatah” movement, or is it aimed to reinforcing bilateral ties with these factions.
All reconciliation pacts that have been reached between “Fatah” and its rival “Hamas” following extensive Egyptian efforts have collapsed and any attempt to revive them requires going back to square one.
“Hamas” movement has been living a multifold crisis, partially due to internal disputes between its leaders that came to the surface after Meshaal signed Doha agreement, which mandated the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas to head a national unity government that would replace Salam Fayyad-led government. Other reasons are associated with the issue of the siege that has been imposed on the Gaza strip and the exacerbating electricity and fuel crisis.
As for “Fatah” movement, the crisis it has been enduring is not less complicated than that of “Hamas”. Disputes between the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and his premier Salam Fayyad have reached an unprecedented dangerous degree when the latter refused to chair a trilateral Palestinian delegation that was commissioned to deliver the PA`s letter to the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, and in wake of the partially of Mr. Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the PLO Executive Committee and a close ally to Abbas, towards Fayyad by withdrawing the delegation as well.
The Palestinian national reconciliation has become more complicated than in any time before. An internal reconciliation inside “Hamas” movement and another one inside the PA are now requisite before moving to the more crucial reconciliation.
The key dilemma lies in that the Palestinian people is no longer aware of the disputed issues that require reconciliation, and on what foundations would this reconciliation be based in case of achieving it. Will these foundations be related to negotiations or to resistance? If the answer is negotiations, where can we find them? And if the platform of reconciliation will be rather resistance, where can we find this resistance?
These are legitimate questions that are currently being voiced loudly in the popular Palestinian circles, and it is too painful that the two most essential poles of the Palestinian political equation do not want to hear the people`s voices and questions and here lies the biggest tragedy.
What is most important is that while the sweeping majority of the Palestinian people has lost interest in reconciliation and stopped following it up, the Arab public opinion has completely abandoned the Palestinian cause and the same applies to the international public opinion, with few limited exceptions.
The Palestinian political crisis is suffering from a state of flaring ailment which is a very worrying matter in light of escalating Arab revolutions that call on change while the people of one of the most important Arab revolutions are dead to the world.  

Can critique of Iran strike by security figures change Israeli public opinion?
By: Dahila Scheindlin (http://972mag.com/author/dahlias/)

Will Diskin crack Netanyahu’s “good for security” armor?
A review of public surveys on the Iran issue shows that even prior to the damning critique on Friday by Yuval Diskin, former head of the Internal Security Agency, the public already diverged sharply from the leadership’s policy: Survey after survey, as I wrote in March, showed that only a minority – somewhere between 19 percent and 31 percent – favors a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran. The majority – at least half (here’s a similar survey in Hebrew), and up to nearly two-thirds (Hebrew) – is against a unilateral attack.
There are a few reasons why Diskin’s words could open a crack in the myth among the public that Netanyahu is good for security: First, Diskin voices the public’s basic divergence with government policy, as stated above. Second, Diskin joins a growing list of senior security figures who have expressed reservations about an attack, and that’s hard for the public to ignore. Third, commentary and speculation from some of the most influential (and most importantly, non-left wing) opinion-forming columnists in the Hebrew press have largely defended Diskin’s integrity.
At the very least, Diskin’s words and their reverberations could raise reasonable doubt in the public mind about Netanyahu’s competence on security. If so, citizens may then re-visit their own positions, instead of placing unqualified trust in the government. And if the public looks at itself, here’s what it will see (this revisits the polls I wrote about in March):

•Just one-fifth of all Israelis (22 percent) – and only 19 percent of Jews – believe that a strike would delay the nuclear program by five years or more. All the rest believe it would delay it only by one to five years (31 percent). Some think it would actually accelerate the program (11 percent) and one-fifth (19 percent) say it would have no effect at all. (Telhami)
•Three-quarters of Israelis believe that if Israel strikes, a major war would erupt in the Middle East. (Truman)
•Half the population believes that the ensuing conflict would last months or years; nearly half believes it could strengthen the Iranian government; and almost 70 percent (actually, a full three-quarters among Jewish respondents) believe that Hezbollah would join a retaliatory effort by Iran. (Telhami)
One newer survey showed quite different results – and it’s one of the more biased reports I’ve seen, by the usually-respectable Camil Fuchs (who polls for Haaretz). The survey was conducted on behalf of the right-wing Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an outfit which helped found NGO Monitor, is headed by Dore Gold and has Gerald Steinberg (the head of NGO Monitor) on its list of fellows. The respondents are Jews only; remarkably, the sample contains a disproportionate number of ultra-Orthodox (see the survey information notes, below). The survey stated hawkish positions and asked people to agree or disagree, rather than presenting two opposing views and asking them to state a preference. According to the data:
•When told that “The only way to stop Iran from becoming nuclear is through a military strike,” 60 percent agreed (37 percent disagreed).
•When told that “Israel will pay a higher price for living under the shadow of an Iranian bomb than it will for attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities,” 65 percent agreed (the question did not clarify whether the attack would be unilateral or in concert with any other actor).
•But when asked to compare American versus Israeli military capacity to substantially harm Iran’s nuclear program, the gap becomes apparent even here: 87 percent agreed that America has this capacity, compared to 66 percent who agreed with relation to Israel.
Close monitoring is needed, but the public has spoken clearly against an Israeli unilateral strike and knows categorically that it will cause a major, protracted war. Personally I’d be happier if the numbers showed more doubts about a military strike in general.
But when surveys prior to Diskin’s critique repeatedly show Netanyahu and Likud running high, affirmed again by a survey published today in the pro-Netanyahu daily paper Israel Hayom (a classic case of shoddy poll reporting, free of sample size, description and dates), and the New York Times called Netanyahu’s popularity “all but impenetrable,” it’s clear that the venting of economic frustrations last summer never touched the current government. A crack in the armor of Netanyahu/Barak’s security defense (of themselves, that is) is probably the only thing that stands to chip away at their support.
Survey Information:
•Telhami: Survey authored by Professor Shibley Telhami at University of Maryland. Dates: February 22-26, 2012. Sample: 500 adult Israelis, national representation (Jews and Arabs); error: +/- 4.5%
•Truman: Survey authored by Professor Yaacov Shamir as part of the Israel-Palestine poll project at the Truman Institute at Hebrew University. Dates: March 11-15, 2012. Sample: 600 adult Israelis, national representation (Jews and Arabs), interviewed in Hebrew, Arabic, Russian; error: +/- 4.5%
•Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs: Authored by Camil Fuchs, March 2011 (no precise dates given). Sample: 505 Jews, no margin of error given. Sample critique: the demographics show that 15% of the sample self-defined as Haredi (ultra-orthodox), the most right-leaning group in Israel – and the group with the highest support for an attack. I have never seen statistics from the Central Bureau of Statistics or in any survey I’ve conducted that shows their number higher than nine percent. The report says the numbers in the analysis are weighted according to CBS data; but since Haredim invariably under-respond to surveys, the sample is quite hard to explain.
Correction appended: Nearly half the Israeli public believes a strike on Iran would strengthen the Iranian government, not the Israeli government as originally written