ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 002921 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 ¶3. President Bush Visits Latvia, Russia, Netherlands, Georgia (May 6-10) -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- In separate interviews broadcast last night on Israel TV, Channel 2-TV, and Channel 10-TV, Sharon said that the evacuation of settlers from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank will begin immediately after the fast of Tish'a B'av, namely August 15-17. An official announcement will be made after Independence Day. Sharon mentioned in all of the interviews that "the dream" of Israeli control over all of the territories could not be realized today because of the circumstances. However, he said that the settlement blocs "will be a part of the State of Israel, territorially connected to Israel, and with a much larger population than there is today." Sharon also said: "When you see road blockages [by anti- disengagement protesters], the atmosphere is that of an eve of civil war." (Maariv bannered Sharon's comment.) Leading media quoted FM Silvan Shalom as saying at a meeting with PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef Monday, after Sharon told Israel TV that the disengagement plan will be implemented regardless of Hamas's showing in the upcoming Palestinian Legislative Council elections: "If Hamas wins the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority, Israel will not be able to carry out disengagement." Israel Radio cited angry responses among the PA and Fatah leaderships. Leading media quoted senior IDF officers as saying Monday that the IDF and settler leaders are working together to formulate basic rules for handling resistance to the evacuation of settlements. Several media quoted a senior IDF officer as saying that under no circumstances will security forces open fire on settlers during the evacuation of Gaza Strip settlements. Jerusalem Post quoted anti-disengagement activists as saying at a rally last night that they plan to "paralyze the country" next week as part of an experiment in advance of the disengagement plan. �0A;Yediot reported that most ministers (all of the Labor Party's eight ministers and four of the 13 Likud ministers) support overturning the cabinet decision of June 2004 stating that Israel will demolish the settlers' homes in the Katif Bloc (Gush Katif) and the northern West Bank. The newspaper cited the Defense Ministry's estimate that the cost of demolishing the settlers' homes in the Katif Bloc will come to 200 million shekels (around USD 46 million),and that the demolition process is liable to take eight to ten months. Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted Chief Justice Aharon Barak as saying Monday that the July 2004 ruling of the International Court of Justice at The Hague (ICJ) also includes many positive aspects for Israel. The newspapers reported that influential Justice Mishael Cheshin blasted the ICJ's non-binding ruling, and questioned its factual basis. Israel Radio quoted a State Department spokesman as saying Monday that Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapons capability, and that if the latter carries through with its threats to resume uranium conversion, testing, or production or any other aspects of its program, that step would be in clear violation of its suspension pledge and its agreement with the EU- 3 (the UK, France and Germany). Yediot reported that the PA has complained to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN's Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in Geneva that Israel makes use of security checkpoints that "undress" Palestinian women. The newspaper cited the Foreign Ministry's concern that the Palestinians will intensively use that claim to attack Israel during the WHO's annual conference that will take place in Geneva next week. Yediot quoted Foreign Ministry sources as saying that the machine installed in Rafah conforms to all international standards. Yediot quoted FM Shalom as saying Monday at a briefing with the EU countries' ambassadors that he and Sharon have decided to make "concrete" steps to have the spy Jonathan Pollard released from prison in the U.S. Jerusalem Post also quoted Shalom as saying that Ambassador Danny Ayalon will visit Pollard next week. All media reported that on Monday, Hollywood billionaire and Israeli expatriate Haim Saban gained control of Bezeq, after the government accepted his Saban-Apax-Arkin consortium's offer of 4.237 billion shekels (around USD 972 million) for the telecommunications company. All media reported on events related to Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel's Wars, which will be commemorated tonight through Wednesday night. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Israel] must shape its policies so that it can truly help those considered to be more moderate -- whether they be from Fatah or Hamas -- to fulfill their commitments to their supporters." Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in Ha'aretz: "Sharon cannot cancel the evacuation, lest he ignite George Bush's rage. But nor can he actually go through with it. That's the perfect situation as far as he is concerned: an eternal limbo, an evacuation that neither lives nor dies." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Hamas, the Partner's Partner" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (May 10): "The results of the municipal elections in the Gaza Strip and West Bank appear to spell fear for supporters of the political process. According to the results, Hamas's political power has increased, Fatah has lost a number of important positions of power, and the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by Fatah, could find itself in a position of weakness when coming to negotiate with Israel. Hamas's achievements in the elections could also serve as an excuse for opponents of the process in Israel.... [But] Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is not a Hamas victory that can stand on its own if Hamas fails to capture a piece of the governmental pie. And this can't happen if the organization is unable to come to terms with the aspirations of the majority of Palestinians and their leadership.... Israel, which continues to divide the Palestinian population and its various leadership into 'supporters of terror' and 'opponents of terror,' is required therefore to adopt finer and more precise distinctions. Primarily, it must shape its policies so that it can truly help those considered to be more moderate -- whether they be from Fatah or Hamas -- to fulfill their commitments to their supporters.... The term 'terror infrastructures' requires a more narrow definition that rests on acknowledging that Hamas's participation in the political process is part and parcel of the complexity of Palestinian politics. This would indeed be a fundamental change in Israel's strategic perception, but there appears to be no escaping it." II. "The Evacuation Is Only on the Horizon" Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in Ha'aretz (May 10): "Behind the sudden wrapping in the tallit [Jewish prayer shawl], like behind the discovery that the demolition of the settlers houses and the evacuation of the rubble would very much extend the evacuation, there lurks a stubborn suspicion that the government of Ariel Sharon, with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz in the role of Dov Weisglass's arm, is maneuvering to turn the evacuation into a horizon -- always there, approached but never quite reached. The longer the execution of the evacuation is delayed, the intensity of the vow in its name will increase. It won't be canceled, just its timing will go through occasional updating, from time to time, as required by developments on the ground, keeping in mind the rulings of the religious teachers of our era.... Sharon cannot cancel the evacuation, lest he ignite George Bush's rage. But nor can he actually go through with it. That's the perfect situation as far as he is concerned: an eternal limbo, an evacuation that neither lives nor dies." -------------- ¶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: "As has so often happened, the prospects for stability in Egypt are good, but the likelihood of real improvement is dim." Block Quotes: -------------- "Change in Egypt?" The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (May 10): "Consider the statements made by some [Egyptian] reform movement leaders. Ayman Nour told a Cairo crowd: 'We can be for democracy and against the United States.' And the vice-chairman of the Enough group is none other than Abdel-Halim Qandil, a critic of the regime but also editor of the sensationalist and radical Arab nationalist newspaper al-Ahali. It is not surprising when he calls for armed Egyptian involvement in attacks on Israel and on American forces in Iraq. In other words, while the opposition includes courageous moderates, it is being seriously infiltrated by radical Islamists and nationalists.... Mubarak will ... continue to be president until he dies and passes on the office to whomever he chooses. This might be, but probably will not be, his son Gamal who, reflecting the ironies of Egyptian politics, has made himself leader of the 'reform' movement within the ruling National Democratic Party. More likely some former general who has held high governmental posts will be selected. As has so often happened, the prospects for stability in Egypt are good, but the likelihood of real improvement is dim. " -------------- -------------- ¶3. President Bush Visits Latvia, Russia, Netherlands, Georgia (May 6-10): -------------- -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The Baltic peoples were eager Nazi collaborators, among the most zealous in exterminating their countries' Jews.... The Jewish voice must not be left out." Block Quotes: -------------- "Selective Memories" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (May 10): "Sixty years after the fact, the end of World War II is unexpectedly again the subject of heated controversy, with the Russians stressing the Third Reich's defeat, while their Baltic neighbors emphasize the Iron Curtain's descent upon them at war's end. U.S. President George W. Bush inserted himself right into the middle of the quarrel when he wrote to Baltic leaders that V-E Day 'also marked the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the imposition of communism.' This provoked an angry response from the Russians, disputing in particular the implied equation of the occupation by Hitler and domination by Stalin. The significant piece of the puzzle that remains glaringly absent from these polemics is the fact that the Baltic peoples were eager Nazi collaborators, among the most zealous in exterminating their countries' Jews.... To keep the record from becoming too distorted and history from being more tendentiously revised than is already the case, the Jewish voice must not be left out. For the sake of posterity, the world must be reminded that Lithuanian and Estonian leaders refused to attend Moscow's 60th anniversary celebrations on the pretext that the Russians had not apologized sufficiently.... Though Jews never massacred hundreds of thousands of Baltic nationals, few in the region today reject the Baltics' fallacious equation and its derivative narrative, which blames Jews for their own bitter fate. As a result, World War II commemorations often have anti-Semitic overtones.... Before the Baltic states can expect any apologies to them, they had better make a much more serious effort to come to terms with their own active participation in the Nazis' Final Solution." KURTZER