ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 002777 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. NPT Review Conference May 2-27 New York -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Most major media led with various aspects of the disengagement plan. Ha'aretz (banner) and other media quoted Justice Minister Tzipi Livni as saying Tuesday after meeting with settler representatives that the scope of the plan to resettle Gush Katif (Katif Bloc) evacuees in the area between Ashdod and Ashkelon will depend on how may settlers sign onto the plan. Maariv says that the government will create a "town" in Nitzanim. All media reported that in a "marathon" hearing Tuesday, the High Court of Justice debated 12 petitions against the disengagement plan. Chief Justice Aharon Barak said that the settlers' pleas before the court "penetrated the heart, but the court will not render a ruling according to the heart only." The media quoted influential Justice Mishael Cheshin as saying: "The people decided to disengage, the people must pay." Cheshin also commented: "The Evacuation- Compensation Law viewed the data in a cold manner and did not relate to the human dignity of the settlers." Jerusalem Post reported that in a "marked reversal", PM Sharon hinted at a meeting with senior ministers Tuesday that he is opposed to the destruction of houses to be left behind in Gaza. Yediot says that Sharon told his ministers that he is still hesitant on the matter. The cabinet will vote on the matter on Sunday. Several media reported that Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is the only minister who has spoken out clearly in favor of a "scorched earth" policy. Labor Knesset Member Haim Ramon told Israel Radio this morning that Netanyahu's comments are meant to thwart disengagement. Yediot quoted James Wolfensohn, special envoy for the Quartet on the Gaza disengagement, as saying Tuesday that starting next week the World Bank will dispatch teams to Israel to assist Israeli-Palestinian coordination of the civilian and economic aspects of disengagement. Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday, the Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee sent an urgent letter to the members of the diplomatic security cabinet, in which it warned against the deployment of Egyptian forces along the Philadelphi route. The subcommittee's members wrote that the Sinai's demilitarization is a basic principle of Israel's security and that Egypt's insistence on positioning 800 troops -- not policemen -- in the area may be aimed at violating the principle of full demilitarization. Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said that the Egyptian positioning of forces in the area could bring about the end of the peace treaty with Egypt. Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom stressed the importance of his visit to Mauritania on Tuesday. (Demonstrations took place in that country during the visit.) He said that he told the Mauritanian leaders that the disengagement will take place in mid-August. Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya told Shalom that all Arab countries want peace. Ha'aretz quoted Taya as saying that additional Arab countries will join the peace process as relations between Israel and the Palestinians improve. Yediot quoted Taya as saying that he is proud of his country's relations with Israel. Leading media reported that the PA has released one to three men (reports varied) from a suspected Hamas squad which it had arrested after a gun battle in the Gaza Strip. Yediot and Jerusalem Post reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas released one of the suspects following pressure from Egypt. Jerusalem Post cited a Shin Bet report published on Tuesday, according to which there was a 54 percent increase in attacks in the territories in April compared to the previous month. Jerusalem Post and other media quoted the Jerusalem police as saying that on Tuesday, they raided the offices of Revava, an ultra-nationalist organization that was working against the planned disengagement of the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, the PA condemned the intention to upgrade the status of the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel (West Bank) to a university and called on the U.S. to block the move. The media reported that heads of leading Israeli universities sharply criticized the move. All media reported that the Labor Party's five leadership candidates kicked off their race on Tuesday with mutual accusations, a police investigation, clashing polling figures, and an attempt by former PM Ehud Barak to prevent Knesset Member Amir Peretz, the Histadrut Labor Federation's Secretary-General, from running. The party's primary will culminate on June 28 at the polls. Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Jewish groups mostly support John Bolton's nomination as U.S. representative to the UN, but they are doing very little in the way of lobbying for the appointment. The newspaper recalls that Bolton was instrumental in getting the "infamous" 1975 UN resolution equating Zionism with racism repealed. All media reported on Holocaust Memorial Day events, which will start tonight and continue through Thursday night. The media reported that Sharon will join the "March of the Living" in Auschwitz-Birkenau on Thursday. Jerusalem Post quoted a senior officer in the IDF's Northern Command as saying Tuesday that contrary to rumors, a serious escalation along Israel's northern border coinciding with the pullout from the Gaza Strip is unlikely. Israel Radio quoted Iranian FM Kamal Kharazi as saying that Israel's weapons arsenal endangers the world. The radio quoted IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon as saying that although Iran does not pose an immediate threat, its nuclear program should worry Israel. Ha'aretz quoted former ambassador to Israel and assistant secretary of state Martin Indyk as saying that the idea that the U.S. is opposed to extremism, not to Islam, is gaining acceptance in the Muslim word. Israel Radio reported that this morning an anarchist group is trying to prevent the felling of an olive grove near the West Bank village of Bil'in. Maariv, Jerusalem Post, and Hatzofe reported that Azzam Azzam, the Israeli Druze who was released from Egyptian jail five months ago, spoke in favor of Jonathan Pollard at a Jerusalem rally Tuesday. Maariv quoted Azzam as saying: "What I suffered is nothing compared to what he must be suffering." Jerusalem Post reported that at the meeting, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger described Pollard as a "strong, proud Jew" who was suffering tremendous hardship at the hands of his incarcerators. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The government decision to turn the college in [the settlement town of] Ariel into a university is one of those decisions meant to demonstrate the kind of political determination that eventually turns out to be a stupid provocation and ends up being costly and damaging for future generations." Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "Abu Mazen is a big trickster who very shrewdly deceives Israel and the Western states, and does nothing of what he promised in order to eliminate terrorism." Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "As [Natan] Sharansky is rightly saying, in order to give peace a chance, the cause of freedom next door mustn't become a vacuous mantra but, rather, should be placed high on our national agenda and pursued in earnest." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Stuck in the Throat" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (May 4): "The government decision to turn the college in [the settlement town of] Ariel into a university is one of those decisions meant to demonstrate the kind of political determination that eventually turns out to be a stupid provocation and ends up being costly and damaging for future generations. That distinction is also true regarding the establishment of Ariel itself and its neighboring settlements. The government intended to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state next to Israel. Now, after even the political right has recognized the need to divide the country between the two nations, the government is trying to use subterfuge to make the illogical situation that has been created in the territories permanent, acting against the interests of both the State of Israel and its own policies.... Any further development of Ariel by exploiting the fact that the world is expecting the Gaza disengagement, and therefore, is being careful about applying any further pressure on the government, is a sign of continued blindness when it comes to the settlements. Any solution involving the annexation of settlement blocs to Israel is not an opening to unrestrained actualization of the term 'bloc.'" II. "Again -- Rockets at Sderot" Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (May 4): "On Monday afternoon, terrorists launched Qassam rockets in the direction of the city of Sderot.... Residents of Sderot and the adjacent areas are made to pay the price of a peace that will not exist. They are the victims of the fact that Abu Mazen is a big trickster who very shrewdly deceives Israel and the Western states, and does nothing of what he promised in order to eliminate terrorism.... Only through divine providence have disasters recently been prevented when terrorists were caught on their way to carrying out suicide bombings; it is not clear why [Israel's] government and defense establishment don't treat this as if those acts had in fact been committed. Are Sharon and his defense minister waiting to act until Jewish blood is spilled?" III. "Sharansky's Message" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (May 4): "What [Natan] Sharansky had to say in his resignation letter cuts across the usual stale debate and goes to the heart of our unending struggle for security and peace. Sharansky's basic argument is that disengagement ought to be linked to democratization among the Palestinians and that failure to hinge it on fundamental reforms in fact undermines the likelihood of change and underpins terror. While we do not endorse the absolute conditioning of Israeli policies and actions on Palestinian change, that's no reason to ignore Sharansky's fundamental orientation -- the same thinking that he personally outlined to Bush six months ago, to great presidential interest and sympathy. Israel ought to be no less interested than the American president.... There is every reason to assert that Israel, the U.S. and other democracies still can pressure the Palestinians to clean up their act. So far we've had a surfeit of lip service but inordinate readiness to fall for what palpably are PA ploys and a facade of freedom.... Democracy must be inculcated as a sociocultural mind-set, accompanied by a genuinely free press, independent judiciary, incitement-free education and a free market. Above all, there must be freedom from fear.... Crucially for Israel's interests, only a truly free society can make a truly lasting peace. And so, as Sharansky is rightly saying, in order to give peace a chance, the cause of freedom next door mustn't become a vacuous mantra but, rather, should be placed high on our national agenda and pursued in earnest. We owe it to someone of Sharansky's international stature to pay attention to his message. We also owe it to ourselves." -------------- ¶2. NPT Review Conference May 2-27 New York: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "By focusing on Israel, the Egyptians are ignoring flagrant violations by others." Block Quotes: -------------- "Low Profile Vs. Activist Approach" Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (May 4): "Israel may not be at the center of the debate of the conference, which is to examine the validity of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).... However, the Egyptians are making an effort to put Israel at the center of the discussions on the grounds that it is the only Middle Eastern country that is not a signatory to the NPT, and that a committee should be formed to apply constant pressure on it. By focusing on Israel, the Egyptians are ignoring flagrant violations by others: The argument with the Iranians over their nuclear activity continues, after having misled the IAEA over the last 18 years. Egypt also has forgotten Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, 'the father of the Pakistani bomb,' who sold his country's nuclear secrets. In any case, the current assessment is that if Egypt tries to push its anti-Israeli proposals, the United States and other countries friendly to Israel will prevent passage of decisions that include sanctions." OLSEN