ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001103

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

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TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION


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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Ha'aretz and Yediot led with the security forces'
preparedness ahead of the evacuation of settlements.
While Ha'aretz focuses on the IDF, which the newspaper
says is beginning to "mentally prepare" soldiers for
the pullout, Yediot details possible scenarios raised
by the police. Maariv reported that the IDF has
started practicing for the demolition of settlers'
houses. Israel Radio listed 10 Knesset members from
"almost all parties," who have received threats on
their lives, and reported that some of them have been
granted protection.

Jerusalem Post's lead story: Under increasing local and
foreign pressure, the pro-Syrian Lebanese government
signaled Wednesday it may quit, while a group of Syrian
intellectuals protested in downtown Damascus.

Israel Radio highlighted President Bush's meeting with
Russian President Vladimir Putin, which is scheduled to
take place today in Bratislava and focus on the
prevention of nuclear terrorism.

Vice Premier Shimon Peres told Israel Radio this
morning that PM Sharon provided him with "weighty
arguments" why he should not be sent to the upcoming
London summit on the bolstering of the PA. All media
had reported that the two men disagreed on the matter.
Peres said that the U.S. may have been among the
international elements that recommended that Israel
attend the meeting. Ha'aretz cited a version according
to which Sharon told Peres that the U.S. administration
believes that Israel does not have to take part in the
summit. The media say that Sharon has strongly
objected to Israel's presence at the summit for fear it
would be transformed into an international peace
conference that would try to coerce Israel into
positions it does not accept.

Ha'aretz and other media reported that talks between
Israel and the PA on the handing over of security
responsibility for the West Bank cities to the PA have
run aground, but that the territories remain quiet
nevertheless. Israel Radio quoted FM Silvan Shalom as
saying in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR)
that on Monday security forces thwarted a terrorist
attack and captured both would-be perpetrators.
Jerusalem Post reported that Sayyed Rasas, of the
Maghazi refugee camp, who was accused of
"collaboration" with Israel, was sentenced to life
imprisonment with hard labor by a PA court in the Gaza
Strip on Wednesday.
Israel Radio quoted Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu el-Gheit as
saying Wednesday that Egypt is prepared to position 750
troops along the Philadelphi route to prevents arms
smuggling, but not before the IDF leaves the area.

Ha'aretz cited official estimates according to which
some 300 of the 1,700 families living in the Katif Bloc
and northern West Bank have been in touch with the
Disengagement Administration or attorneys in order to
examine the option of leaving their respective
settlements voluntarily.

Jerusalem Post reported that the Council of Rabbis of
Jewish Settlements in the Territories is distributing a
religious opinion according to which the disengagement
move entails 14 "biblical sins." The opinion was
authored by Rabbi Shaul Bar-Illan, head of the Kfar
Darom kollel (yeshiva for married men) in the Gaza
Strip. Leading media reported that Rabbi Shlomo
Aviner, who heads the nationalist Ateret Cohanim
yeshiva, sparked a disagreement in the pro-settler
movement when he told leading Internet site Ynet: "On
evacuation day, people should get up and leave their
homes without using force." All media reported that on
Wednesday, Knesset members Effi Eitam and Rabbi Yitzhak
Levy announced they were leaving the National Religious
Party (NRP) and forming a new faction, "Religious
Zionism," that would work in tandem with National
Union. The NRP now includes only four MKs.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was quoted
as saying in an interview conducted with Ha'aretz on
Wednesday that NATO would consider stationing
peacekeeping troops here to facilitate the peace treaty
only if an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty were
signed, both sides requested a NATO presence, and the
UN Security Council endorsed the request.

Leading media cited the State Prosecution as saying
Wednesday that the ruling last year by the
International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the separation
fence between Israel and the Palestinians was based on
erroneous and outdated information. The prosecution
said that the court almost totally ignored the terror
attacks that made it imperative to set up the fence,
the considerations that led to planning its route, and
the state's duty to protect its citizens.

Several media reported that on Wednesday, Fatah
approved the composition of Ahmed Qurei's new
government, and that the Palestinian Legislative
Council (PLC) will vote on the matter today.

All media reported that MK Michael Eitan (Likud),the
Chairman of the Knesset's Constitution, Justice and Law
Committee, rejected a unanimous ruling reached
Wednesday by the High Court of Justice, according to
which the decision by the Knesset's House Committee not
to lift the immunity of Likud MK Michael Gorlovsky is
invalid because it is illegal. Gorlovsky has admitted
to voting twice in the plenum on the economic emergency
plan in May 2003. The media say that Sharon's son MK
Omri Sharon could face a similar situation. Leading
commentators also foresee a constitutional crisis.

Maariv reported that Jordan's King Abdullah II has
invited the Israeli-Arab Knesset members for a get-to-
know-you visit on Sunday.

Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported on the
positive welcome Deputy Education Minister Rabbi
Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad) is receiving in Doha,
Qatar. Melchior is in Qatar to tour educational
institutions and participate in a public debate on the
future of Middle East peace. He was invited to the
emirate by Qatari Foundation head Sheikha Moza Bint
Nasser Al-Misnad, who is the wife of the Emir of Qatar,
Sheikh Hamas Bin Khalifa al-Thani. Melchior's visit
was organized by Tim Sebastian, the veteran host of the
BBC-TV show Hard Talk.

Maariv reported that Tanzim activist Jihad Jaara, who
was expelled to Ireland during Operation Defensive
Shield, continued to direct terrorist operations from
that country, through a Hizbullah agent, former Israeli
Arab Kais Obeid. Maariv quoted Mohammed Bakri, the
director of the controversial documentary "Jenin,
Jenin," which describes the IDF's Operation Defensive
Shield in the West Bank city, as saying Wednesday that
the editing of certain scenes in his film was flawed.

In an interview with talk-show and comedian Eli Yatzpan
broadcast last night on cable TV's Channel 3, PM Sharon
said that France favored the Arab states, and
criticized its refusal to condemn Hizbullah as a
terrorist organization.

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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left-
leaning Ha'aretz: "The question Sharon must ask himself
is whether the time has not arrived to disengage from
the 'rebels.' After U.S. President George W. Bush's
speech in Brussels ... we can forget about interim
arrangements."

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "We must not make light of what the religious
Zionist movement is now undergoing.... [Furthermore,]
if disengagement is carried out, the question of
[Israel's] identity and agenda will also be placed on
the table of all the other sectors of society."

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot
Aharonot: "The law preventing Palestinians from
becoming Israeli citizens should be viewed as the
framework for mutual bilateral agreements that are yet
to be concluded. This would be the practical
interpretation of Bush's 'two-state' vision."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Disengage From the 'Rebels'"

Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left-
leaning Ha'aretz (February 24): "The question Sharon
must ask himself is whether the time has not arrived to
disengage from the 'rebels.' After U.S. President
George W. Bush's speech in Brussels, the formaldehyde
has evaporated, the 'cantons plan' has become obsolete,
and we can forget about interim arrangements. After
the disengagement, the road map will be put on the
negotiation table along with the continuation of the
evacuation of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank],
negotiations that Sharon cannot successfully conduct
with the millstone of the Likud Central Committee and
the 'rebels' around his neck. Would it not be better
to spring forward with the unavoidable surgery in the
Likud, and seriously consider the Shinui offer to set
up a rescue government -- Likud (with its right wing in
the opposition),Labor and Shinui, while ignoring the
paralyzing center? The support of Yahad would
facilitate the implementation of the government's tasks
in the diplomatic arena and the functioning of the
government until the end of its term in November 2006.
Disengage from them now, Sharon."

II. "Towards the Crisis"

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (February 24): "We must not make light of what
the religious Zionist movement is now undergoing. As
the days pass, the mechanisms take their course, and
the day of the implementation of the disengagement plan
approaches -- and fewer and fewer people remain in this
camp who believe that a miracle will indeed happen to
them, and the plan will not be carried out.... Now this
camp is facing with full force the recognition that it
is a minority and can no longer dictate the agenda.
This is a great crisis, which brings many important
figures within it to speak of the danger of conceptual
disengagement from the State of Israel, to say that
those who are no longer considered an elite will have
difficulty continuing to serve. These statements are
an expression of pain and harsh disillusionment, which
must not be treated callously. But the discussion,
ultimately, will not remain within the religious
Zionist movement alone. If disengagement is carried
out, the question of the identity and agenda will also
be placed on the table of all the other sectors of
society. After the big bang of the withdrawal and
uprooting thousands from their homes -- without a
signed agreement, without the 'end of the conflict'
even on paper -- we will all have to give ourselves an
answer to the question of what we are doing here. The
answer will have to be a better one than 'fighting the
Arabs and hoping that tomorrow peace will come.'"

III. "Two Citizenships for Two Nations"

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot
Aharonot (February 24): "Both Israel's High Court of
Justice and its new Interior Minister Ophir Pines feel
embarrassed and powerless when dealing with the July
2003 amendment to the Citizenship Law stipulating that
Palestinians cannot become Israeli citizens, thus
curbing a painful demographic flood caused by the
marriage of Palestinians to Israeli citizens.... This
is no longer true.... It would be logical for [the
future Palestinian] state to aspire not to have Jewish
citizens; then again, religious or ultra-Orthodox Jews
would prefer to stay near the tombs of the patriarchs,
to receive Palestinian citizenship, and create some
sort of threat on the Palestinian state by their very
reproduction. Should this happen, the Palestinian
state would be interested in foiling this phenomenon.
Therefore, there would be a point to signing a
legislation deal with that state -- through two
parallel laws on both sides -- that would prevent the
citizens of one single country from becoming citizens
of the neighboring state. In other words, the law
preventing Palestinians from becoming Israeli citizens
should be viewed as the framework for mutual bilateral
agreements that are yet to be concluded. This would be
the practical interpretation of Bush's 'two-state'
vision. Any contrary solution could give birth in the
future to a new, evidently unwelcome, demographic and
security explosion.... Those would be mirror laws
meeting the interests of both sides -- they would
therefore also be welcomed by the world."

KURTZER