ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001720 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: -------------- All media reported, and most of them bannered, disengagement-related political moves. In yet another apparent defeat for PM Sharon, the Likud faction Monday adopted a compromise that should allow both the 2005 budget and legislation for a referendum on the disengagement to pass their respective Knesset committees this week. Sharon was quoted as saying during the debate: "We [the Likud] are already two factions de facto. In the next elections, we will run with two heads." Israel Radio cited Sharon's satisfaction over the fact that the budget bill will pass at the Knesset's Finance Committee. Yediot forecasts the following results in the key Knesset votes: -A projected majority for the budget bill (Yea vote: 58 -- Likud (less the rebels),Labor Party, United Torah Judaism, MK Nudelman and Yahad); abstention: 6 -- MK Paritzky, MK David Tal, One Nation and United Arab List; nay vote: 56 -- Likud rebels, Shinui, National Union Party, NRP, NRP "mavericks" and the Arab factions. -A projected majority against the referendum bill: Yea vote: 40 -- Likud (26),National Union Party, NRP and Degel Hatorah mavericks; nay vote: 80 -- Likud (14), Labor Party, One Nation, Shinui, Paritzky, Yahad, Arab factions, MK Nudelman and MK Tal. Leading media reported that Israel handed over security responsibility for Tulkarm to the PA last night. It was resolved that the villages in contention would remain under Israeli control and that the issue would be revisited in a month's time. Jerusalem Post quoted security sources as saying that the transfer of Qalqilya, the next city to enjoy similar status, will only be implemented after the situation has been carefully monitored and the PA takes action on the ground to quell terror. Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying that while they assume reports that the plans for the E- 1 corridor linking Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim are moving through the approval process were sure to have caused irritation in Washington, the U.S. administration's response would likely be muted. However, Jerusalem Post says that Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams and David Welch, who will visit Israel and the PA on Wednesday, are expected to raise the issue. Ha'aretz quoted a U.S. official as saying: "We expect Israel to abide by its commitments under the road map." Leading media expect the Arab League summit that opens today in Algiers to once again ratify the Saudi peace initiative of 2002. The media reported that at pre- summit deliberations, a Jordanian proposal that attempted to soften conditions for normalizing relations with Israel was rejected. Leading media cited UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's speech at the UN Monday, in which he called for the adoption of his entire reform package for the international organization. Jerusalem Post highlighted Annan's call for the adoption of a convention by September 2006 with terrorism defined as any act "intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or noncombatants with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a government or an international organization to do or abstain from doing any act." The newspaper noted that Israeli officials welcomed that development, with Roni Leshno Yaar, the Foreign Ministry's deputy D-G for the UN and International Organizations, saying this is the "beginning of a change in the way the international community regards terror." He stressed, however: "We are not there yet. There is still a long way to go." Hatzofe reported that last week senior IDF officials told representatives of northern Negev communities that their area will be closed to civilian traffic after the Passover holiday [in early May] in order to prevent the arrival of disengagement opponents to the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem Post reported that under the investigation by the Interior Ministry regarding the funding of its campaign against the disengagement plan, the Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories has changed its fund-raising tactics. It has begun collecting only non- tax-deductible donations in the U.S. Maariv reported on the move of the U.S. Consulate- General in Jerusalem to its new premises in the Arnona neighborhood in the western part of the city, along the "seam line" with East Jerusalem. The newspaper quoted Consulate-General sources as saying that the move, which will be completed by 2007, is devoid of political significance, and that the chosen site suits the institution's security needs and its desire to gain space. Maariv cited the GOI's satisfaction over the move and its belief that it has political significance. Ha'aretz (Amir Oren) extensively reported on U.S.- Israel military cooperation, as reflected in the joint exercise Juniper Cobra, which began across the country on Sunday and will last for about three weeks. Ha'aretz emphasizes the role of EUCOM in the defense of Israel, should it be in danger. Jerusalem Post reported that the state declared on Monday that it no longer blocked in principle all requests by citizens of Arab countries married to Israelis to receive citizenship or residential status in Israel. The statement, delivered to the High Court of Justice, was in response to a petition filed by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) last October on behalf of a Moroccan citizen. Yediot reported that on Sunday, IDF Radio and Voice of Palestine Radio will simultaneously broadcast a recording of the song "Belibi" (In my heart) performed in Hebrew by Israeli singer David Broza and in Arabic by Palestinian singer Wisam Murad, accompanied by choirs of Israeli and Palestinian children. The song was written by Murad's brother, Said Murad. Ha'aretz reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz convened the heads of some 50 of the leading defense industry firms in the country Monday, warning them about the necessity of getting permission for business negotiations with China, even if they are selling civilian equipment that happens to be manufactured in an Israeli defense plant. The CEOs were told ahead of time that the meeting would be about the crisis in relations with the U.S. in the wake of military sales to China. Leading media reported that on Monday, the cabinet approved (19 in favor, as Labor's Haim Ramon and Matan Vilnai abstained) the nomination of Stanley Fischer as governor of the Bank of Israel. Fischer's five-year term will begin in early May. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The Arab League is ... once again letting slip through its fingers the positive role it could play in creating a new regional atmosphere. It is also contradicting its own statement that the conflict must be resolved through peaceful means." Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in Ha'aretz: "Sharon is bound by his promise to President Bush to adhere to the timetable of a summer withdrawal. Only Bush can release him from this promise, in exchange for Sharon's commitment to make additional progress toward the final-status agreement that Bush wants to achieve within three years." Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If the U.S., Europe and Israel all agree that it is unacceptable to allow terrorist groups to hold any peace process hostage and threaten Israel and the new Palestinian government, that recognition should be reflected in tangible pressure on Abbas to fulfill his commitments now, not after the next [terrorist] attack." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Frightened of Normalization" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 22): "The Arab League summit that convenes today in Algeria will approve a document whose wording was agreed upon in advance. In it, the leaders of the Arab states adopt what is termed the 'Arab Peace Initiative,' more or less as it was presented at the Arab League summit in Beirut in 2002. Based on the draft resolution approved by the Arab foreign ministers two days ago, it seems that Arab leaders preferred not to deal with the changes that have occurred in the region, and especially not with the developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... The possibility that peaceful relations with Israel could actually advance the region's diplomatic moves is still viewed as giving Israel something for nothing.... The Arab League is thus once again letting slip through its fingers the positive role it could play in creating a new regional atmosphere. It is also contradicting its own statement that the conflict must be resolved through peaceful means. The sharp edges of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be blunted if Arab states establish relations with Israel even before it ends. But a decision in principle on such a move could influence Israeli public opinion, and thereby the Israeli government as well.... It must therefore be hoped that additional Arab states and leaders will discern the diplomatic benefits that could flow from establishing relations with Israel, and that these states, along with Jordan and Egypt, will lead the region into a new era." II. "Peace Doesn't Pay" Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in Ha'aretz (March 22): "Sharon (and the legitimacy of the disengagement) requires elections before the withdrawal, not afterward, so that the public can be asked -- and will apparently agree -- to give him credit, rather than to pay a debt. But Sharon is bound by his promise to President Bush to adhere to the timetable of a summer withdrawal. Only Bush can release him from this promise, in exchange for Sharon's commitment to make additional progress toward the final- status agreement that Bush wants to achieve within three years. That could make an interesting topic of conversation for the Bush-Sharon talks in Crawford, Texas -- either before or after they coordinate on the Iranian nuclear issue." III. "Don't Wait For the Next Attack" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (March 22): "Those who believe that Abbas is weak and worthy should be the first to be concerned about the complacency and lower standards that are already setting in. For all the talk of what Abbas hasn't done and must do, what is actually happening tells a different story.... A cease-fire would not be enough because it leaves the terrorists intact and fully armed. A 'calming' is even worse, because it is explicitly no more than a pause to rearm, train and reload -- which, security officials report, is already happening.... If the U.S., Europe and Israel all agree that it is unacceptable to allow terrorist groups to hold any peace process hostage and threaten Israel and the new Palestinian government, that recognition should be reflected in tangible pressure on Abbas to fulfill his commitments now, not after the next attack. If we wait, we are not strengthening Abbas but instead setting him up for failure, with all the preventable losses in Israeli and Palestinian lives that such failure would entail." -------------- ¶2. Democracy in Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "While the intellectual advocates of democracy [in the Arab world] are individual liberals, the fruits [of liberalization] are likely to be reaped by large communal-based parties and Islamist movements, which have a much easier time organizing large groups of people." Block Quotes: -------------- "Democracy With a Communal Face" The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 22): "The people most likely to support democracy in the Arab world are those convinced they would win fair elections. And large groups holding such ideas are most likely to arise among already existing ethnic religious communities rather than out of diverse parties built up gradually from individuals' conversion to a liberal worldview. Lebanon is the only Arab state where such groups have always been legitimate political actors.... But in other Arab states there are three problems Lebanon does not share. First, communal-based parties are arising with no precedent for such a system. Arab nationalist regimes have been ruthlessly centralizing, stamping out expressions of communal interests or differences. Second, they have not yet had their ethnic civil war to teach the futility of such a struggle. Third, unlike Lebanon, where there are too many communities for anyone to win, somebody just might emerge triumphant.... While the intellectual advocates of democracy are individual liberals, the fruits are likely to be reaped by large communal-based parties and Islamist movements, which have a much easier time organizing large groups of people. The outcome will vary according to the specific situation. In some places, like Lebanon and Iraq, the results may be good. In others, the existing regimes will have far more appeal as people fear the potential for civil war or an Islamist takeover." KURTZER