ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 002874 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: -------------- Leading media reported that Israel has informed the PA that it will not release the next tranche of Palestinian prisoners until the PA takes concrete measures against terror organizations. Israel Radio reported that Hamas is threatening to break the cease- fire with Israel if it does not release more prisoners. Ha'aretz quoted senior Hamas officials as saying Sunday that the lull was in danger due to what they said was "Fatah's attempt to wreck the local elections." On Sunday, Maariv quoted PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying that a meeting between him and Sharon is needed to push the peace process forward. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted an IDF officer as saying that the army will consider launching an operation in the Gaza Strip if the security situation continues to deteriorate. Leading media (banner in Ha'aretz) reported that on Sunday, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz signed an administrative detention order against Neria Ofan, a right-wing activist who resides in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. The media say that such orders are expected to be meted out to dozens of other right- wing activists before the disengagement move. On Sunday, leading media (lead story in Ha'aretz) reported that despite the Fatah movement's technical victory in PA local elections held Thursday, Hamas scored unprecedented victories and now controls at least 48 local authorities in the territories. Vice Premier Shimon Peres was quoted as saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that he is still not convinced the disengagement plan will be carried out. Peres said he could envision a "couple of things" blocking the moves, one of them being a decision to destroy the homes in the settlements to be left behind. On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that PM Sharon is inclined not to modify the decision to destroy those houses. On Sunday, Yediot reported on a rift among the leadership of the Katif Bloc (Gush Katif) settlers regarding the proposed relocation to Nitzanim. Leading media reported that the ministerial committee for legislation Sunday approved changes in the Citizenship Law that will allow dozens of mixed Israeli- Palestinian couples to continue or begin family unification procedures to acquire Israeli citizenship for the Palestinian partner. Leading media reported that hundreds of Israeli Muslims intend to visit the Al-Aqsa Mosque today following rumors that activists of the far-right group Revava intend to come to the Temple Mount. Israel Radio reported that around 200 Palestinians clashed with police in East Jerusalem this morning. Ha'aretz reported that the third conference of Palestinians in Europe appealed to the international community on Sunday to recognize the right of return of Palestinian refugees. Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday, the Knesset's Education Committee denounced the cabinet's decision to establish a university in the West Bank settlement of Ariel. Most media reported that in a petition to the High Court of Justice, Jonathan Pollard, who is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, demanded on Sunday that Israel recognize him as a Prisoner of Zion, stating that his U.S. jailers cruelly torture him with sleep deprivation, electric shocks, and blasts of freezing cold water. [NB: The term "Prisoner of Zion" usually refers to someone whom the "Law of Return" entitles to immigrate to Israel and who was imprisoned because of his Zionist activity in a country where such activity is illegal.] All media reported that on Sunday, State Comptroller Eliezer Goldberg submitted his annual report to the Knesset, in which he condemned Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz's appointments of senior Likud Party members to positions at his ministry. The media reported on V-E Day's 60th anniversary celebrations and President Bush's visit to Europe. During the weekend, headlines were dominated by an affair involving the wife, daughter, and son of Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, in connection with the alleged kidnapping and beating of a 17-year-old ultra-Orthodox youth romantically involved with Amar's 18-year-old daughter. While many media are uncertain about whether charges will be pressed against the Rabbi, Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted senior police sources involved in the investigation as saying that they believe they have sufficient evidence to do so. All media (lead stories in Yediot and Maariv) reported on last night's victory of the basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv over Spain's Tau Vitoria, winning the Euroleague's Final Four tournament for the second year in a row. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz: "Barring any change in Palestinian public opinion in the coming weeks, the evacuation of Israel from Gaza will leave control over the Strip in the hands of Hamas." Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz: "If he transfers control to the Palestinians, he would need to explain, especially to the Americans, why he is not continuing to implement his road map commitments." Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The only one who can avert disaster is Abbas, disaster that, it need hardly be said, will doom him too. All he needs to do is what the road map requires him to do." Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: "One must not err when reading [the Ha'aretz publisher's] article as if maintaining the Jewish majority is at all important to him. It isn't even remotely so." Palestinian journalist Daoub Kuttab wrote in Jerusalem Post: "America, please practice what you preach. Show respect to the afflicted, and don't allow your generosity to be abused in such a humiliating way." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Bitter Taste of the Hamas Victory" Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz (May 9): "Following the publication of the results of the second round of Palestinian municipal elections in Gaza, it can be said with certainty that barring any change in Palestinian public opinion in the coming weeks, the evacuation of Israel from Gaza will leave control over the Strip in the hands of Hamas.... Officially, at least, there has been no change in the Hamas position. It does not recognize the State of Israel and supports the continuation of the armed struggle.... It is possible that sometime in the future, Hamas will change these positions. But it is almost certain that the heads of the religious- political movement won't do so without getting something in return -- recognition of their movement and readiness to accept them as negotiating partners. There does not seem to be any chance of that now -- and certainly not soon. Meanwhile, Hamas is marching down a paved path, relatively certain to get the Gaza Strip from Israel as the fruits of victory." II. "The Pretext Behind 'Confiscating Weapons'" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz (May 8): "It is difficult to understand the new excuse Israel is presenting for postponing implementation of the road map. Ostensibly, it is a logical and reasonable issue, which is even contained in the terms of the road map: confiscation of illegal weapons and waging war against 'the infrastructure of terror.' In fact, this is a vague condition that functions well as a barrier that can be easily deployed again and again, in an attempt at blocking any diplomatic progress.... The transfer of control is liable to be interpreted as proof that the Palestinians have indeed fulfilled the conditions stipulated in the road map and that it is now Israel's turn to freeze settlements, help establish a Palestinian state and begin discussing withdrawal from the West Bank. It is this stage that the government -- and the Prime Minister in particular -- fears so much. After all, he is the one who formulated the equation according to which the disengagement from Gaza would enable Israel to hold on to more of the West Bank. If he transfers control to the Palestinians, he would need to explain, especially to the Americans, why he is not continuing to implement his road map commitments. Therefore, it is preferable to wait, delay and block -- even at the expense of a few terror attacks, or perhaps the collapse of the cease-fire or the fall of Abu Mazen -- as long as the road map remains a mute map. The tactic used for this end is to demand the confiscation of weapons. It is interesting that the Americans, who granted broad authority to the Iraqi government without precondition and who took such pride in the formation of an independent government in Afghanistan (which also did not succeed in confiscating weapons) have failed to see through this maneuver." III. "Abbas's Cubes" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (May 8): "This indiscriminate shelling of a peaceable civilian population cannot be tolerated in Sderot -- any more than it would anywhere else in the world. Abbas's truce was supposed to offer at least a respite from over four years of incessant killing and maiming. Many in the international community are convinced that the promised genuine calm now exists. Satisfied with Abbas's 'achievement,' they credit him with having done his bit under his road map obligations, content to ignore that he has said plainly he will not satisfy the road map requirement to dismantle the terror groups.... Even the professed calm is fracturing.... The only one who can avert disaster is Abbas, disaster that, it need hardly be said, will doom him too. All he needs to do is what the road map requires him to do and what he consistently refrains from doing -- combat terrorists. He doesn't need Russian helicopters and armored cars, nor American training and Egyptian advisers. He has repeatedly promised to ensure that only his security forces are armed, and that they carry those weapons to impose his elected authority and implement his pledge to enforce law and order. He has the legitimacy and the wherewithal. What's evidently missing, tragically, is the will." IV. "Deceit" Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv (May 9): "The cat is finally out of the bag. In his [May 6] article, 'Does Israel Want Peace,' Amos Schocken removed himself and Ha'aretz, which he publishes and owns, from the last circle of Jewish consensus.... One must not err when reading his article as if maintaining the Jewish majority is at all important to him. It isn't even remotely so. He proposes as a means of maintaining the Jewish majority that hundreds of thousands of Arabs be given 'resident' status only and not 'citizen' status? That is pure deceit. Their children will be citizens from the moment they are born. A country that is incapable of meeting the demands of the second generation of illegal aliens will be unable to reject the demands for citizenship by the descendants of people who moved to it legally, even if only as 'residents.'" ¶V. "America's Humiliating Gift" Palestinian journalist Daoub Kuttab wrote in Jerusalem Post (May 9): "The demand by the U.S. Congress to divert USD 50 million of President George W. Bush's USD 200-million pledge of aid to the Palestinian Authority for Israeli checkpoints is something like requiring the Vatican to contribute air-conditioners to abortion clinics or divorce lawyers' fees as part of its policy of easing the plight of Catholic women. The new motto of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) is very simple and direct: 'From the American People.' Recent conditions tacked onto a planned U.S. grant from the American people is adding insult to Palestinian injury. Diverting to Israel millions from monies promised to the Palestinian Authority in order to reinforce Israeli checkposts deep inside Palestinian territories is a multiple insult to Palestinians. Not only is it a reduction from the meager (in comparison to the billions given to Israel) grant to Palestinians; but to divert money earmarked for Palestinians to strengthen the Israeli army's occupation is a moral and political scandal.... If these U.S. congressional restrictions are enforced, it will be a terrible blow to the efforts of so many good people in America. If the gift from the American is coated with poison, it will be a terrible mark that will take a long time to heal. America, please practice what you preach. Show respect to the afflicted, and don't allow your generosity to be abused in such a humiliating way." -------------- ¶2. Democracy in Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "With all due respect to Bush, the Arab states need dictatorships, and any other form of government, at the present stage, could actually serve the extremist elements." Block Quotes: -------------- "Bush in Carter's Footsteps" Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (May 9): "U.S. President George Bush called over the weekend, in a speech he gave in Riga, capital of Latvia, for free elections in Lebanon and Egypt.... Democratic elections in Lebanon and Egypt could lead these two countries into chaos. With all due respect to Bush, the Arab states need dictatorships, and any other form of government, at the present stage, could actually serve the extremist elements. It was Jimmy Carter who pressured the Persian Shah to instate a more moderate and democratic way of life in Iran.... Khomeini [eventually] came to power and the clan of ayatollahs is now threatening the Western world with an atom bomb. If the sane world fears the regime in Iran, an accusing finger should only be pointed in Jimmy Carter's direction.... Bush ... is endangering the Middle East, which is sitting on a powder keg in any case. The criteria of Western morals are not applicable in the Islamic countries.... Mubarak is the lesser of the evils, and his son, who is being proposed as his successor, keeps an open line with Washington. The present situation is preferable to real democratic elections that will end in the bullet of a gun or the bomb belt of a suicide bomber. America should already know from Iraq that insanity in the Middle East greatly outweighs the sanity, especially now that Russia seeks to return to the region." KURTZER