ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001352

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


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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. Democracy in Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio and other media reported that PA Chairman
Mahmoud Abbas and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz are
supposed to sign an agreement tonight regarding the
transfer of security responsibility to the Palestinians
in Tulkarm. Various media say that Mofaz will press
Abbas for a bigger crackdown on terrorist groups.

Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's National Security
Adviser Giora Eiland as saying that the IDF is likely
to reoccupy large swaths of Palestinian cities prior to
evacuating the settlements to prevent a withdrawal
under fire.

Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.) led with Monday's move of Syrian
troops to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and with White House
Press Secretary Scott McClellan's statement Monday
demanding an immediate and full withdrawal of Syrian
forces from Lebanon. Israel Radio quoted IDF Chief of
Staff Moshe Ya'alon as saying that Syria could try to
prove that terror attacks are on the increase while it
pulls out.

The lead story in Ha'aretz (English Ed.) is based on
remarks Shinui Knesset Member Avraham Poraz made to
Ha'aretz Monday: he said his faction would be willing
to return to the government even if United Torah
Judaism (UTJ) remains a part of it, to help PM Sharon
implement the disengagement plan, which Shinui strongly
supports. Yediot says that Finance Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu is prepared to pay hundreds of millions of
shekels to Shas, in order for that party to abstain
during the Knesset's vote on the annual budget. Yediot
cited the concern of Shas officials that Netanyahu is
using Shas in order to obtain Shinui's support.
Speaking on Israel Radio, Netanyahu denied the report.
Shas chairman MK Eli Yishai told Israel Radio that his
party cannot be bought. Yediot quoted Sharon
associates as saying: "As far as we are concerned, let
Hamas vote in favor of the budget. After all, one
moment after the budget is passed, the government will
continue to function and disengagement will be carried
out." Ha'aretz quoted PM Sharon as saying before the
Likud's Knesset faction Monday that he could postpone
the Knesset's vote on the budget, scheduled for March
17, because of a lack of majority at the Knesset's
Finance Committee and plenum. Maariv reported that
Netanyahu intends to replace the Likud MKs sitting in
the Finance Committee. Israel Radio reported that at a
ministerial meeting to be convened by Sharon today, the
defense establishment will present details about the
disengagement plan, including the plan's stages and the
military aspects of each of them. Vice Premier Shimon
Peres will present the civilian and economic aspects of
the plan and report on efforts to assist the
Palestinian economy.
Yediot writes that today's debate at the Knesset's
Constitution, Justice and Law Committee on the option
of a national referendum on disengagement will mark the
start of the last possible move on the matter.

Leading media reported that today Sharon will receive
the report on illegal setter outposts prepared by
Attorney Talia Sasson. Maariv's Ben Caspit says that
the report indicates that construction at the outposts
is continuing, in contravention of government
decisions, and that the Construction and Housing
Ministry has allotted dozens of millions of shekels to
illegal construction. One supposed conclusion of the
document is that the activity of the Jewish Agency's
settlement department should be stopped.

Israel Radio quoted Boaz Raday, Minister for Economic
Affairs at Israel's Embassy in Washington, as saying
that the U.S. will participate in the funding of the
military aspects of the disengagement move if Israel
presents such a request.

All media reported on an investigation whose details
were revealed on Monday, according to which a 20-year-
old Israeli Arab from a village in the Western Galilee
has been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack at
the Knesset building. Israel Radio reported that six
wanted Islamic Jihad activists have been arrested south
of Jenin.

Yediot and Israel Radio cited the U.S. weekly Defense
News as saying that the IAF and the Israel Navy
successfully test-fired Israel's Long Range Artillery
(LORA) missile March 3, after the presence of U.S. spy
planes in the so-called safety zone above the
Mediterranean Sea prompted officials to delay the test.
A sea-based target 200 km from the launch site on
Israel's coast was hit. Defense News unsuccessfully
asked the U.S. Embassy for clarifications.

Leading media reported that FM Silvan Shalom told UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York on Monday that

SIPDIS
Syria is beefing up its intelligence forces in Lebanon.
The media reported that Shalom also requested that
Annan promote the candidacy of Israel's representative
to the UN as deputy president of the next General
Assembly, which is due to convene in September 2005.
King Abdullah II of Jordan was quoted as saying in an
interview with Ehud Yaari of Channel 2-TV that Jordan
is working behind the scenes with other Arab countries
on an initiative, based on the 2002 Arab Peace
Initiative, in which all the Arab countries would make
peace with Israel in exchange for Israel promising a
viable Palestinian state.
Leading media reported on Interior Minister Ophir Pines-
Paz's meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Nasser
Yousef in Jerusalem on Monday. The ministers discussed
security issues, and Yousef raised the issue of family
reunification for Palestinians who could not join
spouses living over the Green Line or in Jordan.
Jerusalem Post reported that he did not get any answer
from Pines.

Ha'aretz reported that Israel is considering increasing
the quantity of desalinated water it will send to the
PA in the Gaza Strip from 5 to 20 million cubic meters
per year.

Maariv reported that the Israeli military armor factory
Plasan Sasa recently won a huge project to armor about
2,000 army trucks and other American vehicles in Iraq.
The deal is worth about USD 200 million.

Ha'aretz notes that U/S John Bolton, the next U.S.
representative to the UN, is a hardliner in the U.S.
administration.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone was quoted as saying in an
interview with Jerusalem Post that Israel's policy
helps Al Qaida recruit terrorists.

Yediot, Maariv and Jerusalem Post cited an announcement
by the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv
that Israelis will be able to obtain visitor visas to
the U.S. within 48 hours. This offer will be available
until the end of April.

Ha'aretz published the results of Tel Aviv University's
monthly Peace Index poll, conducted February 28-March
1:
- 50 percent of the Jewish public favor a severe
reaction to the Tel Aviv suicide bombing and 42 percent
saying Israel should act with restraint.
-45 percent of the Jewish public believe Abbas is
making sincere efforts to eradicate terror on the
Palestinian side, while 42 percent believe he is not
making sincere efforts.
-62 percent of the Jewish public support the
disengagement plan; 30 percent are opposed; 8 percent
are undecided.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Sharon had
to have smiled widely when he heard U.S. President
George W. Bush's weekly radio address Saturday."

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If he pulls it
off, Netanyahu may find his way back into the prime
minister's seat, but with an agenda inherited from
Sharon: withdrawal from Gaza and the establishment of a
Palestinian state. Let's see him deal with Bush's
ultimatum."

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in
Ha'aretz: "A Palestinian reading and hearing this flood
of reports does not need any incitement against Israel.
Even if the stories do not touch on them personally,
the readers understand what the Israeli authorities are
doing to their people."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Sharon Gets Key Bush Backing"

Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 8):
"Sharon had to have smiled widely when he heard U.S.
President George W. Bush's weekly radio address
Saturday. In that message, Bush explained to the
American people that at the London meeting the
international community 'expressed their support for
the Palestinians' efforts to reform their political
institutions, their economy, and their security
services.' And then, in a line that must have been
music to Sharon's ears, he said, 'And the first reform
must be the dismantling of terrorist organizations.
Only by ending terrorism can we achieve our common goal
of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living
side-by-side in peace and freedom.' Dismantling the
terrorist organizations, not co-opting them into the
political process; ending terrorism, not reaching a
temporary cease-fire with its practitioners. Bush's
comments also went a long way toward putting Jerusalem
at ease that the President's recent trip to Europe --
and Washington's desire to bridge the transatlantic gap
-- may have brought him closer to the European position
on the road map, and the European eagerness to begin
quickly moving through its phases."

II. "Murder in Their Eyes"
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 8): "Israeli
politics is no stranger to inner squabbles.... We've
even seen political assassination. But this time, a
prime minister is being threatened in the political
home he built himself.... [At the Likud Central
Committee meeting on March 3] Sharon had many
attackers, but not a single defender. There were some
who played innocent and said all they wanted was a
referendum. There were others who openly denounced the
disengagement plan. But the worst of the speakers --
critics and cowards alike -- were the hypocrites. And
the man who heads that camp is Benjamin Netanyahu....
If he pulls it off, Netanyahu may find his way back
into the prime minister's seat, but with an agenda
inherited from Sharon: withdrawal from Gaza and the
establishment of a Palestinian state. Let's see him
deal with Bush's ultimatum."

III. "With Such News, Who Needs Incitement?"

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in
Ha'aretz (March 7): "The Israeli demand that the
Palestinian Authority halt the incitement against
Israel in the Palestinian media and school system is
well known. It is a justified demand.... [However,]
the pounding rhetoric of the past is gone. But what
can be found in the Palestinian press -- and in large
quantities -- are the news items about what is
happening on the ground: detailed, daily reports with
dramatic headlines accompanied by lots of photographs
about what the IDF and the settlers are doing in the
West Bank and Gaza.... This kind of information has
become routine. It is delivered in a dry, understated
tone as it describes theft, humiliation and abuse of
helpless women, children and ailing prisoners who are
in isolation or undergoing repeated, lengthy terms of
administrative detention without trial. A Palestinian
reading and hearing this flood of reports does not need
any incitement against Israel. Even if the stories do
not touch on them personally, the readers understand
what the Israeli authorities are doing to their
people."


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2. Democracy in Mideast:
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Summary:
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Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv: "On the strategic level,
every American initiative that weakens the
dictatorships in the Middle East will also be of
benefit to Israel ... even if Bush proves himself to be
demanding of Israel as well."

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "Are liberal Arabs now an important
factor in the region's politics for the first time
ever? Absolutely."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Democratization is Good for Jews and Arabs"

Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 8): "Even if Bush
ultimately fails, he has set off a tsunami in the quiet
waters of the Middle Eastern dictatorships.... There
are similarities between the dilemmas facing the U.S.
and those faced by Israel. The Americans are
jeopardizing, in their determined effort to
democratize, those regimes that cooperate with it. So
too is Israel.... Democracies are better and more
reliable partners in dialogue.... On the strategic
level, every American initiative that weakens the
dictatorships in the Middle East will also be of
benefit to Israel, even if in the foreseeable future
the clashes along the northern border escalate, and
even if Bush proves himself to be demanding of Israel
as well. The weakness of the regime in Damascus does
not bode well for Israel in the immediate future. Nor
does a second round of civil war in Lebanon, where at
least some will try to channel the rage southward
towards their neighbors in the Upper Galilee. But on a
substantive level, the pressure on Assad is good for
Israel. Mainly for those Israelis who would prefer,
when the time is ripe, to make a peace that involves a
compromise on the Golan Heights."

II. "A New Dawn?"

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (March 8): "What the heck is going on in
the Middle East? Is it the dawn of a liberal
democratic era? Maybe. Does it make the much-reviled
U.S. policy look good? Definitely. Are liberal Arabs
now an important factor in the region's politics for
the first time ever? Absolutely.... The popular
upheaval in Lebanon against Syrian domination is
glorious, especially important as the first real
example of mass political participation in a moderate
cause in the modern Middle East.... This is good, but
it is more of a nationalist rather than liberal or
democratic movement.... Unfortunately, the remaining
cases -- the Palestinians, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia --
provide less change than it seems.... Of course, by
allowing even minimal change dictators may be making
fatal miscalculations, lifting the lid enough to let
out a liberal genie who will sweep them away. Each
step builds a momentum encouraging the masses to
perceive the dictators more in terms of clay feet than
iron fists."

KURTZER