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
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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


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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. NPT Review Conference May 2-27 New York

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Key stories in the media:
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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.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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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:
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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."



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2. NPT Review Conference May 2-27 New York:
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Summary:
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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:
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"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