ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 001910 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All major media lead with referendum bill Knesset failure and the subsequent termination of the political struggle against the disengagement plan. All mass circulation dailies report that yesterday the Knesset voted down the National Referendum Bill by an overwhelming majority of 72 to 39, as 3 MK's abstained and 6 stayed out. Ha'aretz and other dailies report that 27 Likud MK's voted against Prime Minister Sharon and for the referendum, and that two Shinui MK's defied the party decision and stayed out, along with all Shas MK's. A Yediot Ahronot headline sums up the vote saying: "The bottom line: there are presently no more parliamentary obstacles that could prevent the execution of the disengagement plan." The media further tied yesterday's vote with the Yesha Council demonstration outside the Knesset. Ha'aretz reported that yesterday, just a few thousand protesters attended the rally. The organizers announced that the initially planned 36-hour demonstration will last just one day and that "the struggle is now moving to the streets and the Katif Bloc." The same report adds that Yesha leaders said 100,000 will nonviolently prevent the disengagement, break the law and are willing to go to jail. According to Yediot Aharonot, yesterday's vote makes the budget vote simpler and the Knesset may pass the second and third hearings "as soon as tonight." Yediot reports that "Sharon has a solid majority of 66-67 MK's supporting the state budget." Ha'aretz reported on the ongoing struggle between Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ari'el Sharon over Likud leadership. After Sharon indirectly accused Netanyahu of damaging the Government to promote his affairs, and after the PM associates warned Netanyahu "to watch his back," Ha'aretz cited Netanyahu associates as saying that this is "an unprecedented stage in the prime minister's peoples' threats. which tramples over every democratic norm and introduces mafia-like threats." Israel Radio at 07:00 AM reported that work will begin tomorrow on a new, 43-kilometer section of the separation fence in the south, between Shomriya and Metzudot Yehuda. Security officials said that so far sections had been built along 215 kilometers of the 764 kilometers planned. The Jerusalem Magistrates Court yesterday lifted a gag order, Ha'aretz says, reporting that the Jerusalem District Police on Sunday arrested three right-wing extremists from Lod who are suspected of trying to sell weapons to the Settlers Council for use against soldiers and police taking part in the disengagement process. Council members filed a complaint with the police when approached by the three and, speaking in court, the police rejected the claim that one of the arrested men is a provocateur working for the GSS. Ha'aretz US correspondent elaborates on AIPAC struggle to maintain its power in Washington in the wake of the Franklin affair, while attempting to avoid an indictment. Washington political sources are cited as saying that AIPAC's current problem is the shift in Israel's stands, which places the Jewish lobby "right of the GOI." According to the report, Israeli representatives in Washington and AIPAC members exercise caution in view of the Franklin investigation. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: While "in Texas, Sharon will celebrate the victory of the bulldozer. At the heart of his conversation with the president will be strengthening the understandings regarding Israel preserving for itself the settlement blocs in the West Bank." Chief economic editor Sever Plotzker opined in the lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The withdrawal from Gaza must not turn into a cover for all contemptible political acts, for every offense against integrity, for any malfunction in governmental doings and for the over-concentration of power in the hands of a few at the top." Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Approval of the construction plans could cloud the atmosphere between Israel and the PA, and even spark a renewal of violence." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Bulldozer Won" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 29): "On April 11, Ariel Sharon will go to a victory party at U.S. President George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.... But more than anything in Texas, Sharon will celebrate the victory of the bulldozer. At the heart of his conversation with the president will be strengthening the understandings regarding Israel preserving for itself the settlement blocs in the West Bank. Bush already accepted the principle last year. Now Sharon wants to make sure the American promise for an annexation of the blocs in the future is turned into permission to build, in exchange for the evacuation of settlers from Gaza and northern Samaria.... Bush's letter from April 2004, which the administration reaffirmed over the weekend, shows that America is not interested in the abstract justice of the International Court in The Hague or the cries of the occupied Palestinians. Recognition of the 'new realities on the ground' is the great victory of force, proof that Jewish settlement does set the border.... Those who thought Sharon had turned into a leftist and began worrying about "the rights of the Palestinians" were very wrong. Sharon still believes the bulldozer and the housing units will set the border, with America's support and backing. The upcoming meeting in Crawford is meant to grant him further strength. II. "Not Everything is Kosher" Chief economic editor Sever Plotzker opined in the lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 29): "The vote against a referendum constitutes another important achievement for Prime Minister Sharon, who is succeeding in leading the cabinet and the Knesset to the gates of disengagement with determination and momentum.... Nonetheless, we cannot ignore the troubling and even dangerous aspects of the prime minister's conduct on the path to achieving his goals. Sharon is striving to get disengagement implemented at almost any cost, and the cost is not negligible.... The goal of disengagement from Gaza is very important for the future of the State of Israel, but not important enough to give a Kashrut certificate from the outset to any means to achieve it. The withdrawal from Gaza must not turn into a cover for all contemptible political acts, for every offense against integrity, for any malfunction in governmental doings and for the over-concentration of power in the hands of a few at the top. We must not devote ourselves to disengagement as if it were the vision of the end of days or an intoxicating drug. The annals of the State of Israel are not numbered until after disengagement; Israel will have to live with its problems even after the last of the soldiers and the last of the settlers leave Gaza." III. "Provocation in Ma'aleh Adumim" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 29): "The desire to avoid doing anything that might sabotage the prime minister's political efforts to achieve a majority for the disengagement plan has postponed the public debate about the final border with the Palestinians. But no matter how strong the desire to support Ariel Sharon at this stage and to postpone debate over the future of the settlements to a later stage, it is difficult to accept the revelation that the government plans to build another 3,500 housing units ... between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, and thus obstruct the territorial contiguity needed for a Palestinian state, something Sharon has already agreed on. The construction plan for Ma'aleh Adumim is the basis for a new dispute between Israel and the U.S. and between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Approval of the construction plans could cloud the atmosphere between Israel and the PA, and even spark a renewal of violence. It is impossible to continue demanding of the Palestinians that they prevent terror when Israel is not keeping its commitments to suspend all settlement activity." KURTZER