ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000348

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TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION


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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Prospect for Second Bush Administration


2. Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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All media reported that the diplomatic-security cabinet
decided on Wednesday to give PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
(Abu Mazen) a few days to take action to stop the
firing of Qassam rockets and mortars from the Gaza
Strip. Leading media quoted FM and Deputy PM Silvan
Shalom as saying that the GOI's boycott of Abbas has
been successful. At the same time, the ministers
approved in principle a military operation to take
control of the areas in the northern Strip from which
the firing has been taking place, in the event that the
PA fails to take action and the attacks on Israeli
communities continue. Israel Radio reported that this
morning PM Sharon will update Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer
on the cabinet's decision. Yediot reported that for
the first time since the beginning of the Intifada,
paratroopers will join the IDF fighters in the Gaza
Strip, bolstering the forces there. Yediot highlighted
the cabinet's warning to Syria that Israel would from
now on respond harshly to Hizbullah's attacks.

Leading media reported that Israeli and Palestinian
security officials met Wednesday night at the Erez
Crossing to coordinate security steps aimed at
preventing Qassam rocket fire. Among the participants
in the meeting, which was held at the request of the
Palestinians, were Gaza security chief Musa Arafat and
the IDF's Gaza division commander, Brig. Gen. Aviv
Cochavi. Arafat presented Cochavi with the PA's plan
to deploy its security forces in Gaza Strip areas from
which militants have launched rockets and mortar
shells. According to the Palestinian plan, hundreds of
Palestinian police will take up positions in the areas
from where Qassam rockets and mortar shells are fired.
The plan follows a series of meetings between Abbas and
the heads of the security branches in the Gaza Strip.
Jerusalem Post reported that Abbas has ordered Maj.
Gen. Sa'eb el-Ajez, head of the Palestinian police
force in Gaza, to deploy his 8,000-man force for this
purpose. Maariv reported that Abbas is expected to ask
Israel to release 4,000 prisoners, and to say that this
is the only thing that can save him.

Jerusalem Post cited an interview with President Bush
that CNN broadcast on Tuesday, in which the President,
when asked about Natan Sharansky's latest book, The
Case For Democracy, replied: "He's now an Israeli
official who talks about freedom and what it means and
how freedom can change the globe. And I agree with
him."
Ha'aretz reported that the Sharon government
implemented the Absentee Property Law in East Jerusalem
last July, contrary to Israeli government policy since
Israeli law was extended to East Jerusalem after the
Six Day War. The law means that thousands of
Palestinians who live in the West Bank will lose
ownership of their property in East Jerusalem. The
newspaper notes that GOI officials estimate the assets
total thousands of dunams (one dunam equals 0.22239
acres),while other estimates say they could add up to
half of all East Jerusalem property.

Maariv quoted IDF Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon
Zeevi-Farkash as saying Wednesday that Secretary of
State-designate Condoleezza Rice will not want to see a
large-scale IDF operation in the Strip immediately
after she is confirmed to her post. The newspaper also
cited NSA Rice as saying Wednesday before the Senate's
Foreign Relations Committee: "It's really hard to find
common ground with a government that thinks Israel
should be extinguished." Rice was referring to Iran.
Ha'aretz noted that Democratic Senators John Kerry and
Barbara Boxer voted against Rice's nomination.

Leading media reported that on Wednesday, two
Palestinians affiliated with Fatah were killed when
they tried to infiltrate Kibbutz Nahal Oz, next to the
Gaza Strip. Two IDF soldiers were wounded in the
clash.

Maariv reported that some figures in the religious
Zionist movement have suggested that their public
disengage from the State of Israel, give up Israeli
citizenship and withhold recognition of Israel.

Jerusalem Post reported that academics, educators, and
human rights activist met at Givat Haviva, an
educational dialogue center run by Yahad's kibbutz
movement, to map out a range of new ways in which
Israelis and Palestinians do -- or soon will be able to
-- communicate on-line.

The media cited projections by the GOI's Central Bureau
of Statistics (CBS) that in 2025 the Muslim population
of Israel will grow by 80 percent -- from 1.1 million
today to 2 million. The CBS announced Wednesday that
Muslims now represent 16 percent of Israel's
population. Maariv quoted leading Israeli demographer
Sergio Della Pergola as saying before the Knesset's
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Wednesday that
research led by right-wing political consultant Yoram
Ettinger, according to which Arab demography does not
threaten Israel, is contradicted by other findings that
predict a 52-percent Arab majority between the
Mediterranean and the Jordan River in ten years. The
media extensively cited the findings of Ettinger's
team.
Yediot reported that Majid Rauf, a young Iraqi from
Kirkuk, arrived in Israel several days ago to undergo
open-heart surgery at Petah-Tikva's Schneider Hospital.
Rauf thanked Israel for its help. A pro-Israel British-
American Christian group, Shevet Ahim ("brothers
dwelling together"),connected Rauf with the hospital.

Yediot and Ha'aretz's web site quoted UN Secretary-
General Kofi Annan as saying Wednesday at a news
conference: "Every generation must be on its guard, to
make sure that such a thing [the Holocaust] never
happens again. "

Ha'aretz reported that, in its discussion on the
suitability of American economist Stanley Fischer as
the next governor of the Bank of Israel, the Bach
Committee on Senior Civil Service Appointments has
found no conflict of interest in Fischer retaining his
American citizenship.

Jerusalem Post cited the police as saying that four
Americans studying in Jerusalem yeshivas were arrested
Tuesday on suspicion of selling drugs to dozens of
American yeshiva students in the city over the last
several months. Yediot also reports on the case.

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1. Prospect for Second Bush Administration:
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Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized:
"Expectations in the Middle East are for practical
steps that will make tangible that Bush and Rice
understand the severity of the situation and the
urgency of dealing with it."

Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized:
"It is the job of George W. Bush from the inaugural
podium today not only to convince the American people
that accomplishing their mission in Iraq is well worth
the sacrifices being asked of them, but that success in
Iraq alone is not enough to win this war."

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz:
"It may be assumed that the senior echelons of the
State Department, which tried their hand at artificial
respiration of the peace process, will either leave or
form a new line, on the right."
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Religion will
be the main concern of the second Bush
administration.... [The Americans] may have elected a
president in their own image, who will change America's
face in the next four years."



Block Quotes:
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I. "The Middle East Awaits Rice"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(January 20): "The most important appointment in
[Bush's] new team is the promotion of Condoleezza Rice
from national security advisor to secretary of
state.... Rice's testimony to the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee in the hearings this week show that
the Middle East, after September 11, 2001, will
continue to be the focus of American foreign and
defense policy. Seemingly that is good news for those
who believe that active involvement by the
administration is necessary, expressed in energetic
personal involvement by the president and secretary of
state, in an effort to calm the tensions between Israel
and the Arabs in general and the Palestinians in
particular.... The equation Rice waved about in front
of the senators and the rulers and nations of the
region was 'justice, dignity and a viable, independent
and democratic state for the Palestinians; peace and
security for Israel.' As an overall vision that is
reasonable, but the test will be in its fulfillment as
the two states move toward concessions on their mutual
demands regarding territories and borders, enabling
them to establish thriving societies and economies with
a demographic balance. Rice evaded the issue of
appointing a presidential envoy to the region. She is
aware of her responsibility, along with the
president's, to prevent neglect and a deterioration of
the situation. Expectations in the Middle East are for
practical steps that will make tangible that Bush and
Rice understand the severity of the situation and the
urgency of dealing with it."

II. "A Mission to Accomplish"

Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized
(January 20): "The decision to invade Iraq was the most
decisive act of the President's first term; his success
in bringing security and freedom to its people will
begin the deciding verdict of his second term. It is
hard to imagine Iraqi democracy succeeding, however, if
the Iranian mullocracy achieves a nuclear umbrella....
In the post-9/11 world, securing Iraq may be the
linchpin of the administration's efforts to drain the
swamps of despotic regimes in Muslim countries where
radical Islamic fundamentalism has been allowed to
fester, but America does not have the luxury of dealing
with region one country at a time.... It is the job of
George W. Bush from the inaugural podium today not only
to convince the American people that accomplishing
their mission in Iraq is well worth the sacrifices
being asked of them, but that success in Iraq alone is
not enough to win this war. His success in doing so
will be crucial to the future freedom and security of
the United States, and for the fates of free and unfree
people all over the world."

III. "The White House Won't Be Changing Its Colors"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz
(January 20): "Insiders at the Foreign Ministry in
Jerusalem also assess that the rose-by-any-other-name
evolution of the national security adviser to secretary
of state will not generate any change in Ms. Rice's
views and in what are termed as the three main elements
of foreign policy in the Middle East: democracy,
democracy, and democracy. It may be assumed that the
senior echelons of the State Department, which tried
their hand at artificial respiration of the peace
process, will either leave or form a new line, on the
right. Departing Secretary of State Colin Powell once
admitted to his colleague Silvan Shalom that basically,
he didn't really intend to push the President into our
swamp. Powell said he was fed up with receiving a
phone call every morning from yet another European
foreign minister offering solutions to the Israeli-
Palestinian crisis. Formation of the quartet and the
road map, he said, were inventions that were intended
to silence the Europeans."

IV. "The Most Important Thing Bush Will Do"

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 20):
"Religion will be the main concern of the second Bush
administration. The result of the elections will
justify that: after all, almost one quarter of the
Americans said that they voted for [Bush] because of
'moral issues' ... and not because of the war in Iraq
or the success of his economic policy.... Religion will
be behind the most important step in the next four
years, in the view of many Americans -- neither Middle
East peace, nor preventing the dissemination of nuclear
weapons, but the nomination of up to four new Supreme
Court Justices.... This will sadden those who, justly
or unjustly, look up to America as a beacon of human
freedom: some people -- whether Americans or others --
find this freedom hard to bear. Even in a situation
when the Constitution and many other institutions
guarantee freedom, they may choose religion as an
answer to their fears. They may have elected a
president in their own image, who will change America's
face in the next four years."

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2. Mideast:
--------------

Summary:
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Former editor-in-chief Moshe Ishon asserted in
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "Not only is [Abbas's
policy] not leading to progress toward peace, but it is
going in the other direction -- the continuation of
terrorist activity."

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Arafat is
dead, but he managed to leave behind him tens of
thousands of successors who sanctify the slogan that he
first aired four decades ago: 'the armed struggle.'"

Block Quotes:
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I. "Abu Mazen Is Looking For a 'Hudna'"

Former editor-in-chief Moshe Ishon asserted in
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (January 20): "The policy
been conducted by Abu Mazen, which is based on
'dialogue' with the terrorist organizations, has been
flawed from the very beginning. Not only is it not
leading to progress toward peace, but it is going in
the other direction -- the continuation of terrorist
activity. One should assume that Abu Mazen is aware of
that. He is not a 'new face' on the Palestinian
political scene. Not long ago, he was Yasser Arafat's
prime minister. Thus, there is no justification for
claims that he should be granted at least 'one month of
mercy' as he starts his term, so that he can learn the
issues challenging him.... Should his soft policy vis-a-
vis the terror organizations continue, Abu Mazen will
find out he is a president by name only, while facing a
Palestinian parliament dominated by Palestinian terror
organizations. The question is how the Israeli
government relates to Abu Mazen's moves."

II. "Teach Us, Students of Gaza"

Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 20): "A
new generation has come of age in the last decade in
the territories, the fruits of the defiance and hatred
that Arafat brought here with him in the framework of
the Oslo accords, and this generation now is the
generation of fighters: it is young, impudent, violent
and uncompromising, since it grew up and was raised on
absolute truths of demands for justice. This
generation is disdainful of the ageing Palestinian
politicians, of the idea of diplomacy, negotiations and
compromise; it was nurtured on either Palestinian
nationalism or political Islam, two worldviews that do
not accept the concept of compromise. Arafat is dead,
but he managed to leave behind him tens of thousands of
successors who sanctify the slogan that he first aired
four decades ago: 'the armed struggle.' Like then,
anti-Israel violence today is a platform for a
Palestinian changing of the generational guard.
Perhaps, here and there, we will find someone who is
prepared to agree to a hudna [truce] arrangement, for
tactical purposes, but those tools are regarded as
things of the past."

KURTZER