ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001513 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. Lebanon and Syria -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Ha'aretz reported that PM Sharon told visiting UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Sunday that there would SIPDIS be no progress on the road map until the Palestinian armed factions are completely disarmed, rejected PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's proposal that a cease-fire would be enough to allow the start of final-status agreement negotiations. Ha'aretz says that Sharon's remarks were prompted by comments made by Abbas on an interview broadcast on Israel TV last night, in which he said he would be ready for full diplomatic talks following the anticipated announcement this week of a formal cease-fire by all the Palestinian factions. Maariv led with the expected announcement by the factions. On Sunday, the media reported, and Ha'aretz bannered that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz instructed the IDF on Friday to begin preparations for carrying out the disengagement plan in a three- to four-week period. Yediot and Ha'aretz reported, and Yediot bannered, that hundreds of settlers have registered a change of address to Katif Bloc settlements in the Gaza Strip, which are slated for evacuation. This would allow them to go through IDF roadblocks and disturb the evacuation of settlers. Leading media reported that on Sunday, the cabinet voted 18-1 to approve the recommendations of Attorney Talia Sasson's report on the illegal outposts and set up a ministerial committee to deliver a detailed proposal for action within 90 days. Yediot notes that the committee will not have any authority. Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet decided to remove the 24 unauthorized outposts established since Sharon came to power in March 2001, while the fate of 81 other outposts established before that date will be determined by a special committee. For its part, Maariv reported that Sharon told Annan that Israel will evacuate 24 outposts, but only after the implementation of the disengagement plan. On Sunday, Yediot emphasized a recommendation by Mofaz that the evacuation of outposts be delayed, while Maariv reported that the Labor Party demands their immediate evacuation. Israel Radio cited statistics compiled by the GOI's Civil Administration in the West Bank, according to which 65 files on illegal construction around settlements have been opened in the past two months. Israel Radio reported that Mofaz will meet with PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef today in order to finalize the handover of security responsibility of West Bank cities to the PA. Ha'aretz reported that the first meeting of the joint Israeli-Palestinian committee discussing the release of prisoners will be held this evening in Jerusalem. Maariv reported that Deputy Internal Security Minister Jacob Edery (Likud) is demanding the delay of the second phase of the security prisoners' release because of the PA's decision to execute 15 residents of the territories who are suspected of collaboration with Israel. Yediot reported that 250 high-school students have sent Sharon a letter, stating that they refuse to serve in the "occupation army." Jerusalem Post web site reported that a coalition composed by the Young Guards of Likud, Labor, Shinui and the National Religious Party, has presented President Katsav with "Youth Against Refusal," a proclamation aimed at establishing a united front against soldiers who refuse to obey orders. On Sunday, all media reported that Hamas will take part in the PA's legislative elections. The media reported on clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters at Hebron University on Sunday. On Sunday, all media quoted the UN's Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen as saying on Saturday that Syria has provided a calendar of the pullout of its troops from Lebanon. Interviewed on Israel Radio this morning, Vice Premier Shimon Peres (Labor) and Vice PM Ehud Olmert (Likud) expressed opposite views regarding the future status of the town of Ma'aleh Adumim: while Peres said the status of the town was open for negotiations, Olmert stated that the route of the security fence would include Ma'aleh Adumim, which is an indivisible part of Israel, and that Israel has not informed of its intentions regarding the city. However, Olmert was confident that the U.S. would understand Israel's move. Ha'aretz reported that the head of the Disengagement Administration, Yonatan Bassi, is expected to promise U.S. rabbis and Orthodox community leaders on Wednesday that the evacuation of the Katif Bloc will be accomplished while taking special care to preserve the dignity of the settlers and respect their feelings. Jerusalem Post reported that 40 Jews from the New York area, led by Democratic Assemblyman Dov Hikind from New York's 48th district will come to Israel on Monday for a three-day tour of the Gaza Strip's Katif Bloc. Leading media reported that the Erez Junction border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip was reopened Sunday for a limited amount of Palestinian traffic into Israel. Leading media cited London's Sunday Times as saying Sunday that Israel has drawn up plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iranian nuclear installations if diplomacy fails to halt Tehran's nuclear program. Some media cited a denial by Sharon's bureau. All media reported that on Saturday, Iran rejected U.S. overtures concerning its nuclear program. On Sunday, Maariv reported that last week Peres met with Afghani President Hamid Karzai during Madrid's international conference on terrorism. Jerusalem Post cited an announcement by Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest bank, on Sunday, that it has decided to sell its remaining 59 percent stake in its New York private banking subsidiary, Signature Bank, for an estimated USD 490 million. During the weekend, leading media reported that the USG reached a USD 25.5 settlement on Friday with the families of Hungarian Holocaust victims and will acknowledge the U.S. Army's role in commandeering a trainload of the families' treasures during World War II. During the weekend, leading media cited a Bar Ilan University poll commissioned by associates of Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, that a Sharon-led coalition would garner 41 Knesset seats, while a Netanyahu-led party would get 29 Knesset seats. The poll contradicts with a large-scale poll commissioned by Sharon associates, the results of which were cited in Friday's morning media review. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "If Sharon and Mofaz are sincere in their intentions to evacuate the outposts and in their acceptance of Bush's visions, they must order the army and police already to begin planning for the evacuation of the outposts immediately after that of the settlements of Gaza and the northern West Bank is finished." Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The question whether the Sasson recommendations [regarding the evacuation of settler outposts] will be carried out depends only on the pressure that the U.S. administration applies on Sharon." Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz: "[The] American recognition of the 'new realities on the ground' was accompanied by the important words that 'any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed upon changes that reflect these realities.'" Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Little Evacuation, Big Evacuation" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 14): "According to the IDF's plan, most of the standing army will be busy evacuating Gaza and the northern West Bank [this summer]. That is why Mofaz is so reticent about an immediate evacuation of the outposts in the West Bank: the little evacuation would set in motion the movement to foil the bigger evacuation. The settlers are correct in regarding the evacuation of the outposts, like the evacuation of Gaza and northern West Bank area, as a significant, irreversible step toward fulfillment of the two-state solution to which President Bush has committed. But if Sharon and Mofaz are sincere in their intentions to evacuate the outposts and in their acceptance of Bush's visions, they must order the army and police already to begin planning for the evacuation of the outposts immediately after that of the settlements of Gaza and the northern West Bank is finished." II. "Narrow Perspective, Broad Perspective" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 14): "The State Comptroller's first report [on illegal settler outposts] was published in September 2003. He focuses on the actions of the defense minister's assistant for settlement affairs. The second report was published in May 2004. It focuses on the actions of the Housing and Construction Ministry. The state comptroller's two reports tell the same story as that of Talia Sasson: illegal actions that cost tens and hundreds of millions of shekels, carried out by government ministries, regional councils and the World Zionist Organization's Settlement Division. However, [State Comptroller Eliezer] Goldberg's reports came and went like water under the bridge, while the Sasson report gave rise to a ministerial committee, and will probably bring about legislative changes. Why did Goldberg meet with a bitter fate, and Sasson with a relatively favorable one?.... First of all, [owing to] Condoleezza Rice. Due to the pressure that she and her colleagues in the U.S. administration applied, Sharon was forced to launch an investigation into the settlement outpost affair. Due to the same pressure he hurried to adopt the conclusions. Behind Justice Goldberg stood only the law and the authority of the state comptroller. That is not much compared to Condoleezza.... The question whether the Sasson recommendations will be carried out depends only on the pressure that the U.S. administration applies on Sharon. The conclusion is sad. Israel has a state comptroller, but the name of the comptroller is not Eliezer Goldberg. Her name is Condoleezza Rice and her address is the State Department, Foggy Bottom, Washington DC." III. "Time For Annexation" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz (March 14): "Ever since Sharon returned from the White House last April with a letter full of promises from President George W. Bush, the prevailing view has been that the problem of the settlements has finally reached its resolution. The U.S. will allow the 'settlement blocs' to remain. However, that American recognition of the 'new realities on the ground' was accompanied by the important words that 'any final status agreement will only be achieved on the basis of mutually agreed upon changes that reflect these realities.' When Israel asks the Palestinians to agree to those changes, they will be presenting it with a clear choice: immediate annexation of the settlement blocs with all the settlers, in exchange for suitable compensation, meaning a 1:1 territorial change, or annexation in the not-so-distant future of all the territories, with all 'the Arabs of Judea and Samaria' [i.e. the Palestinians in the territories] included. Experts on the right argue that the demographic problem is overblown. Okay, then let them annex it all." -------------- ¶2. Lebanon and Syria: -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "[Hizbullah] is by nature inimical to democracy and an antithesis to what the U.S. claims to advocate.... The rehabilitation of Nasrallah would be a signal victory for the global forces of terror." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Pullout and Its Significance" Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (March 14): "The heaviest pressure that was applied on Assad came from the European states, which are not that moved by the presence of the Syria army in Lebanon and the fact that the Lebanese government is Assad's puppet cabinet. Europe is interesting in making use of the withdrawal of the Syrian forces in order to set up as broad a front as possible, so that Israel's withdrawal from the territories is accelerated, and the establishment of a Palestinian state made possible. European leaders still have to express that context, but it will be clearly and loudly enunciated when Assad starts pulling out his troops from Lebanon in significant numbers. Israel will be presented in the Middle East and the world as a country that hanging on to its conquests. Thus, a cycle of threats of sanctions and more would begin." II. "Don't Sanitize Nasrallah" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (March 13): "From Europe come wan, belated, non-binding references to the terrorist nature of Hizbullah. Simultaneously, worrying reports from across the ocean point to a possible regression in American policy toward Hizbullah and to its quasi-legitimization as a political component in the Lebanese equation.... Hizbullah may indeed be a powerful player on the Lebanese arena, but it is not the type of player who should be tolerated, primarily because it will wreck the democratic process, not promote it. Hizbullah is not a political party, it is a ruthless and heavily armed militia with political ambitions. It is by nature inimical to democracy and an antithesis to what the U.S. claims to advocate.... The rehabilitation of Nasrallah would be a signal victory for the global forces of terror. As tempting as it might be to view his transformation into a peaceful politician as a victory for the West, there is a simple test for who is fooling whom: does Hizbullah disarm or not? So long as Hizbullah remains armed to the teeth, it will threaten the nascent Lebanese democratic movement, Israel and the prospects for further democratization in the region. Just as the U.S. couldn't accept an Afghan democracy with al-Qaida as a major political participant therein, or an Iraqi democracy in which Saddam's Ba'ath is regarded as a normative party, so it is unthinkable that it consent to Hizbullah as a feature of the Lebanese body politic." KURTZER