ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 001962 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC FOR NEA STAFF JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- Gaza Withdrawal Plan -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Ha'aretz (Aluf Benn) cited a letter of guarantees drafted by the U.S. Administration in exchange for PM Sharon's disengagement plan. The letter reportedly indicates that the U.S. will assure Israel that it will not have to withdraw to the Green Line in a future permanent agreement with the Palestinians. The U.S. draft also reportedly says the Palestinian refugees will be able to return to a future Palestinian state, which will be established in keeping with President Bush's vision. According to Ha'aretz, the wording will partially meet Israel's demand that the U.S. declare its objection to the right of return, which the Palestinians insist on. Leading media quoted Sharon as hinting Wednesday at an annual high-tech event that he is likely to bring his disengagement plan to a vote among the Likud constituency in May or early June. Leading media quoted Sharon as saying that there have been many achievements in the talks with the U.S. about the disengagement plan. Sharon was also quoted as saying that the disengagement will put an end to the Palestinians' "historical pretext" that they cannot fight terrorism. Ha'aretz and other media reported that opponents of Sharon's plan within the Likud have set up campaign headquarters. Maariv reported that Sharon's campaign in the party will revolve around the message: "It's me or Feiglin." (Moshe Feiglin represents the Likud's far Right.) Jerusalem Post quoted Sharon associates as saying Wednesday that Likud ministers who do not accept the decision of the party membership on the plan may lose their jobs. Ha'aretz reported that Peace Now is returning to the streets with a campaign backing unilateral withdrawal. All media (lead stories in Yediot and Jerusalem Post) reported that Wednesday Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) urged Palestinians to put an end to suicide attacks and that he reiterated his commitment to the peace process. This was the first time he has openly called for an end to suicide bombings, explaining that they are causing extensive damage to the Palestinians. Israel Radio and other media reported that Qurei's remarks to the Palestinian Legislative Council resulted from a precondition set by the U.S. for his scheduled meeting with U.S. envoys Stephen Hadley, Elliott Abrams and William Burns today. Israel Radio quoted GOI officials as saying that Qurei's call to coordinate the disengagement plan with the PA is a transparent attempt to obtain U.S. and international support, and benefits for the PA. The radio quoted PA sources as saying that Qurei has given instructions that no attacks be carried out during the U.S. envoys' visit. Hatzofe reported that Qurei told Palestinian reporters that the Israel- U.S. talks on disengagement remind him of the Balfour Declaration, which involved a declaring side that does not own the land and a receiving side that does not own it either. The newspaper also quoted Qurei as saying that the PA will demand compensation from Israel for the settlements it built in the Gaza Strip and the use it made of the land and resources there. Israel Radio reported that the High Court of Justice has canceled various temporary injunctions that had stopped construction on segments of the security fence. Hatzofe reported that the IDF is bracing for further clashes over the dismantling of settler outposts. Israel Radio reported that early this morning at Bethlehem's mental hospital, the security forces arrested 12 "senior wanted" Palestinians, who had allegedly planned many attacks against Israel. Their apprehension was preceded by an exchange of gunfire. The radio quoted Palestinian security sources as saying that eight of the men are activists in the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, one of them being Jamal Hamamreh, the group's commander in the region. Israel Radio also reported that, in a plea bargain, a military court has sentenced Ala el-Khader Koka, an Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant, to 18 years in prison for planning to assassinate Israel's ambassadors in Germany and China, to poison water reservoirs and to blow up a wedding hall in Jerusalem. Leading media reported that two months ago the security forces arrested a Hamas militant from a village near Jenin, who had planned to assassinate Likud Knesset Member and former FM David Levy. Channel 2-TV reported that the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades have rescinded their threat against American interests in the region. Jerusalem Post reported that responding to Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi's statement on Sunday, "God declared war on America, Bush and Sharon," State Department Spokesman Richard called Hamas "a major obstacle to the pursuit of peace." Jerusalem Post quoted FM Silvan Shalom as saying, at a meeting with Dutch FM Bernard Bot in Jerusalem Wednesday, that Israel wants to see the EU place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations and wants to see individual European governments move faster in legislation outlawing Hamas. Referring to the assassination of Sheikh Yassin, Bot was quoted as saying: "We consider targeted killings contrary to international law, and in my view a country like Israel, a true democracy, should not act like this. Ha'aretz notes that the PA never allowed the Islamic groups to enjoy so much media coverage before Sheikh Ahmed Yassin's death. Te newspaper says that the change may be a warning to Israel not to kill PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Maariv quoted a senior legal source as saying that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is expected to rule in the bribery case allegedly involving Sharon in two months. Leading media reported that Wednesday Mazuz blasted State Attorney Edna Arbel for having leaked her intention to submit to him a draft indictment against Sharon. Some media reported that there actually are no ill feelings between Mazuz and Arbel. Ha'aretz cited the admission by a senior IDF officer Wednesday that a slip of the tongue by Sharon six months ago about the possibility that Libya could reach nuclear weapons capabilities before Iran made the U.S. hide its negotiations for Libyan disarmament from Israel. Jerusalem Post reported that a resolution seeking justice for Jews and other minorities who were persecuted, expelled or forced to flee the Arab lands of their birth is being introduced into the U.S. Senate today. Ha'aretz reported that an examination of the payrolls of the PA's National Security Force, considered the largest of the Palestinian security forces, commanded by Gen. Haj Ismail Jabber, has revealed that salaries for 7,000 fictitious troopers -- some USD 2 million -- were being paid into his pocket every month. Later, Israel Radio reported that Qurei has ordered that from now on all salaries will be paid directly to the bank accounts of the members of the PA security forces, a move long required by donating European countries. Yediot reported that, in order to counter forgeries, Israel will soon issue new passports outfitted with electronic chips -- "identical to U.S. passports." Ha'aretz reported that an interministerial committee, headed by Justice Minister Yosef (Tommy) Lapid, examining the implementation of the Or Commission report on the October 2000 riots in the Israeli Arab sector, will recommend that the cabinet approve a new national holiday -- "Tolerance Day" or "Solidarity Day" -- in celebration of the coexistence of Jewish and Arab citizens in the country. Yediot reported that Tuesday night, at New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hostel, over USD 4 million were raised to benefit the Israeli Soldiers Welfare Association -- an all-time record for an Israeli fundraising event. Ha'aretz quoted Abraham Foxman, the national director of the Jewish -American organization Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) as saying that his group will boycott an event hosted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during his upcoming visit to the U.S. Foxman said the move was in protest of Egypt's boycott of the 25th anniversary events of the signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. Leading media reported that Wednesday Egypt's Emergency State Security Court convicted of espionage Walid Ahmed Lofti Hashim, an Egyptian who allegedly faxed military data to the Israeli Embassy. The court sentenced him to 15 years' imprisonment. All media reported that Wednesday the EU released its long-awaited report showing a rise in European anti- Semitism. (A Maariv headline: "Europe is Bad For Jews.") The media reported that while the European Jewish Congress welcomed the recognition that anti- Semitism is growing, it said that the report misrepresented the threat from extremist Muslims. All media reported that four foreign contractors, including at least one American, working for the U.S.- led coalition in Iraq, were killed in Fallujah, where a jubilant crowd dragged their charred bodies and hanged them from a bridge. The media also reported on the deaths of five U.S. servicemen in a roadside bombing nearby. Maariv reported that 70 to 100 leading Israeli companies are selling their products to Iraq for millions of dollars. Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that the Swiss government has announced it will donate USD 1.8 million to help finance a school building for a Jewish-Arab school in Jerusalem -- the Bilingual School -- which is already operating out of some temporary buildings at the Denmark School in the city. -------------- Gaza Withdrawal Plan: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Using [a referendum] in the Likud, on the disengagement issue, could create a precedent that will gravely distort the national decision-making process in both this case and in the future." Block Quotes: -------------- "Distorting the Process" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (April 1): "The Likud convention's decision to give the party rank and file the authority to decide on the fate of the Gaza disengagement plan appears to be supremely democratic. In effect, however, it is leading to an improper process that distorts the conventional tradition of democracy in Israel and creates a problematic precedent for the national decision-making process.... Historic decisions no less weighty than the one to quit Gaza -- including the decisions to go to war, and peace agreements -- were made so far in the conventional manner of voting in the government and Knesset. What's true for a referendum involving all the electorate is especially true when it is being used in the narrow framework of a political party.... Under such circumstances, how will the necessary debate about the plan and its details be conducted? A referendum can be helpful for making decisions, when it is derived from the political climate of the countries where it is conventional. It usually makes up for too much governmental power in the hands of state leaders, and sometimes is an expression of direct community democracy, at the risk of creating a dictatorship of the majority. It is inappropriate for the Israeli system, not at the national level and certainly not at the party level. Using it in the Likud, on the disengagement issue, could create a precedent that will gravely distort the national decision-making process in both this case and in the future." KURTZER