ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 001237

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:
--------------


1. Lebanese-Syrian Track


2. Mideast

--------------
Key stories in the media:
--------------

Leading media cited, and Ha'aretz bannered, Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice's comment to ABC News in
London Tuesday: "There is evidence that Islamic Jihad,
headquartered in Syria, was in fact involved with the
planning of those attacks in Tel Aviv. And so the
Syrians have a lot to answer for." Citing AP, Ha'aretz
reported that in Budapest on Tuesday, FM Silvan Shalom
ruled out the possibility of an Israeli military strike
against Syria in the aftermath of Friday's bombing.
Leading media cited remarks made by Syrian President
Bashar Assad to Time Magazine, that the Syrian troops
will leave Lebanon in a few months.

Ha'aretz says that Secretary Rice was "evasive" at the
London Meeting on Supporting the Palestinian Authority,
when asked about whether the Israelis and Palestinians
are already involved in the road map's first phase.
She was quoted as saying: "We are trying to lay a
foundation for a successful movement through the road
map to a two-state solution." Israel Radio reported
that at the conference, the donor countries promised to
give the Palestinians USD 1.25 billion, and quoted
Secretary Rice as saying last night that Washington

SIPDIS
will do everything possible to bring peace to the
Middle East and that it is willing to send a mission to
supervise the reforms in the PA. Ha'aretz quoted senior
British sources as saying Tuesday they do not accept PM
Sharon's position that the Palestinians must fulfill a
series of obligations before implementation of the road
map can begin. Leading media say that the GOI
reiterates that there will be no progress in the
diplomatic process as long as the PA does not act
against terror and dismantle the terrorist
infrastructure. Israel Radio quoted Vice PM Ehud
Olmert as saying that the London conference was a
"missed effort" because it supported the Palestinians
without their having to cope with terror. However, the
station cited Sharon's bureau as saying that Israel
welcomes any international effort that would help the
Palestinians build institutions that will allow orderly
government.

Leading media reported that on Tuesday, Sharon informed
the chairman of the Likud Central Committee, Tzachi
Hanegbi, that he accepts the compromise that Hanegbi
proposed on the matter of a national referendum on the
disengagement plan, which the committee will vote on
tomorrow in Tel Aviv. According to the compromise, the
committee will call on members of the Likud faction in
the Knesset to take steps for the immediate
promulgation of a referendum law, something Sharon
objects to vigorously. Ha'aretz quoted Sharon
associates as saying Tuesday that Sharon's willingness
to compromise is based on the facts that the proposal
does not have a majority in the Knesset, and that he
sees no point to any unnecessary conflict. However,
Yediot quoted Sharon aides as saying last night that
the PM had not changed his mind.

Maariv led with the meeting that was held Tuesday
between officials from the Council of Jewish
Settlements in the Territories and Internal Security
Minister Gideon Ezra. The settler leadership said no
violence would be used against the police and IDF
troops who were sent to evacuate the settlers in the
Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, but insisted on
their right to resist and to demonstrate. Yediot led
with the contention of police station commanders that
they will "collapse" during the disengagement move -- a
claim denied by Minister Gideon Ezra on Israel Radio
this morning. Yediot and Jerusalem Post quoted Shin
Bet officials as saying Tuesday that the security
service has undercover agents in the far Right.

Leading media quoted Disengagement Administration head
Yonatan Bassi as saying before the Knesset's Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that some 800 of
1,700 families living in the Katif Bloc and northern
West Bank have already expressed willingness in
principle to leave their homes under the disengagement
plan and negotiate financial compensation. Bassi said
that he believed that 600 of the remaining 900 families
would begin negotiating in the months before the
disengagement is set to begin. The media quoted right-
wing Knesset members as saying that Bassi is distorting
facts, lying, and conducting psychological warfare.

All media reported that Islamic Jihad terrorists in
Jenin planned a series of attacks on Israeli targets,
including the firing of rockets at the city of Afula
and a shooting attack inside a Jerusalem school. The
attacks were foiled by Israeli security forces before
they could advance beyond the planning stage. The
details of the planned attacks came to light during the
interrogation of Jibril Zubeidi, an Islamic Jihad
operative in Jenin and the brother of the Al Aqsa
Martyrs Brigades commander in Jenin, Zacharia Zubeidi.
Jibril Zubeidi was arrested on December 30. Ha'aretz
quoted central activists from Islamic Jihad in the
territories as saying that the group is beset by
internal strife, as even key leaders of Islamic Jihad
only knew about the Tel Aviv attack after the fact.

Israel Radio reported that last night, security forces
uncovered a Hamas weapons factory in Jenin that
manufactured Qassam rockets. The station reported on
an increased state of alert in Jerusalem this
afternoon, following information about a would-be
suicide bomber.

Jerusalem Post quoted Vice Premier Shimon Peres as
saying that Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza
Strip is boosting investment and tourism, and that it
may push 2005 economic growth in Israel as high as 6
percent two years after the country emerged from
recession.

Maariv banners the government's negotiations with the
Shas party, 29 days before the deadline for the final
Knesset vote on the 2005 state budget.





--------------

1. Lebanese-Syrian Track:
--------------

Summary:
--------------

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The
Golan Heights remain a 'deposit' for a future peace
agreement, in which the final border between Israel and
Syria will be determined and the two states will have
normal relations. That would be Israel's contribution
to the new order in the north."

Block Quotes:
--------------

"Refreshing Scenes in Beirut"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March
2): "The fall of the Lebanese government in the wake of
mass protest demonstrations against the ongoing Syrian
occupation was a refreshing surprise. Israel cannot be
indifferent to the developments in the region, which
could have an enormous influence on its national
security. The developments over the northern border
oblige Jerusalem to reconsider its policy of many years
that silently agrees to Syrian control of Lebanon....
Bashar Assad's regime suffers from internal weakness
and external isolation in terms of both the U.S. and
Europe. Israel need not rescue it in its difficult
hour. But Israel must make clear that its refusal to
speak with an isolated, collapsing government that has
allied itself with the elements most hostile to Israel
-- Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian rejectionist
front -- is not just an excuse to freeze the peace
process and annex territories. The Golan Heights
remain a 'deposit' for a future peace agreement, in
which the final border between Israel and Syria will be
determined and the two states will have normal
relations. That would be Israel's contribution to the
new order in the north."




--------------

2. Mideast:
--------------

Summary:
--------------

Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "If Sharon wishes for political life in a new
term, he and all his supporters should seek other
political options. There are very few grains left in
the Likud's hourglass."

Block Quotes:
--------------

"Control by the Likud Central Committee"

Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (March 2): "This week, the Likud Central
Committee will convene. A large majority, with or
without [a] compromise, will likely support the notion
of a referendum before the evacuation of settlements.
When Sharon receives the results of their vote, he will
send away the messenger, as if he were a bothering
fly.... If Sharon wishes for political life in a new
term, he and all his supporters should seek other
political options. There are very few grains left in
the Likud's hourglass.... The end of Sharon's political
life in the Likud apparently is only a matter of time.
It is not politics, and certainly not the dream of
Greater Israel, that are being debated. It is the
disrespect and the intolerable humiliation. The
[Likud] Central Committee members won't forgive him."

KURTZER