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 -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Democracy in Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- 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. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- ¶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." -------------- ¶2. Democracy in Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- ¶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