ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 003517

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

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio reported that Israel's National Security
Adviser Giora Eiland has written a confidential letter
to all branches of the government, saying that it is
not certain whether the government is prepared for the
disengagement. Eiland reportedly wrote that the
situation was a "mess." A senior official in the
Construction and Housing Ministry was quoted as saying
in an interview with Jerusalem Post that almost half of
the Jewish families in Gaza are willing to relocate to
the Nitzan and northern Ashkelon area. All media
quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying Monday
that if settlers refuse to hand over their army-issue
weapons to the IDF ahead of the evacuation, there will
be no choice but to take them by force. Leading media
reported that Michael Eitan (Likud),the chairman of
the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee,
announced Monday the opening of a hotline to address
settler complaints about the violation of their human
rights as they protest the evacuation. The media
reported that Yahad Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On told
Eitan he was making political use of his position.

Ha'aretz reported that Israel has offered the PA to lay
a rail line linking the Gaza Strip and West Bank that
would enable passage between the two areas after the
disengagement. According to the proposal, the tracks
would run from the Erez checkpoint in the northern part
of the Gaza Strip to the Tarqumiya crossing near
Hebron.

Israel Radio reported that James Wolfensohn, the
special envoy for the Quartet on the Gaza
disengagement, will arrive today for a 5-day visit, in
which he will discuss coordination of the disengagement
with the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships. The
radio reported on the failure last night of Israeli-
Palestinian talks, quoting Palestinian sources as
saying that Israel refused to hand over to the PA maps
detailing the location of settlements and settlement
infrastructure in Gush Katif.

Maariv bannered a report authored by senior Foreign
Ministry officials, which recommends that Israel should
start negotiations with Syria after the implementation
of the disengagement. The officials reportedly cited
signals from Damascus, according to which Israel could
reach an arrangement with Syria without fully
withdrawing from the Golan. The Foreign Ministry team
also recommended that Israel name an ambassador to the
PA and that a multinational force be stationed in the
areas from which Israel will pull out during the
disengagement. Yediot also mentions the report.

Israel Radio and IDF Radio reported that three or four
Qassam rockets fell on Sderot this morning. Hamas
claimed responsibility for the firing. Leading media
reported that this morning Marouh Kamil, a senior
Islamic Jihad commander in the Jenin area, was killed
and an IDF soldier was lightly wounded during a fire
exchange near Jenin. A second Palestinian was killed
in the shootout. IDF rejected claims made by
Palestinian sources according to which he was an
innocent passer-by.

Citing an appendix to Attorney Talia Sasson's report on
the settler outposts, Ha'aretz reported that the
Construction and Housing Ministry allocated at least 70
million shekels (at current rates, about USD 16
million) to build infrastructure and erect public
structures in 82 illegal outposts in the West Bank
during the prime ministerial terms of Binyamin
Netanyahu (1996-1999) and Ariel Sharon (2001-2004).
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, Interior Minister
Ophir Pines-Paz slammed government policy on illegal
outposts, following the report in Ha'aretz of defense
establishment figures showing that illegal construction
is ongoing.

Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, U.S. Ambassador
to Israel Daniel Kurtzer awarded the Victor J. Goldberg
International Institute of Education Prize for Peace in
the Middle East to professors Dan Bar-On and Sami
Adwan, for their project, "Learning Each Other's
Historical Narrative," which engaged Israeli and
Palestinian teachers and teenagers to study each
other's pasts.

Jerusalem Post reported that Knesset Member Effi Eitam
(National Religious Zionist Renewal Party) arrived in
Israel on Monday with a delegation of some 100 Gush
Katif supporters from the U.S.

Citing news agencies, Yediot reported that the
Venezuelan authorities announced on Monday that they
have seized five Israel-bound missiles. The newspaper
cited Venezuela's state prosecution as saying that the
missiles apparently arrived from Colombia, and quoted
Venezuelan sources as saying that they are intended to
be installed on F-16 and Mirage fighter planes. Yediot
reported that the Foreign Ministry declined to comment
on the affair.

Major media reported that the Foreign Ministry is
organizing an emergency rescue mission for Israelis in
La Paz, Bolivia, which is beset by internal strife.
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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "The disengagement plan is not
perfect.... [But] the entire world awaits it.... Sharon
is the only one who is capable of doing this type of
task."

Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
Maariv: "While one can accept [outgoing IDF chief of
staff Moshe Ya'alon's] opinion that Israel needs to
teach its sons that they were born into an embattled
society and that the establishment of a Palestinian
state must be prevented, other alternatives should also
be examined

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning,
independent Ha'aretz: "The Americans have realized that
in reply to the 'no' to what is outside the line [i.e.
the boundaries of the settlements], there will be those
who will say 'yes' to what is inside the line, and see
in this a historical recognition by the United States
of the entire settlement project."

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "Often, delay is used in Middle East
politics to ensure that something is forgotten."

Ha'aretz editorialized: "The Jerusalem Municipality
plans to demolish approximately 90 Arab homes that were
built without permits in Silwan.... A decision by the
mayor to demolish homes would undoubtedly cause a major
uproar and constitute an obstacle in the face of the
attempts to renew the peace process."

Block Quotes:
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I. "The Easiest Thing To Do Is To Criticize"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (June 7): "The disengagement plan is
not perfect.... [But] there is no alternative to it.
It has become a fait accompli; the entire world awaits
it.... Sharon is the only one who is capable of doing
this type of task. It is his final historic role to
play. He understands that. All of the others are
going to have to make do with an essay in a book [by
Ha'aretz columnist Ari Shavit] and a headline in the
newspaper. The most infuriating of all is the newest
doomsday prophet, Moshe (Nostradamus) Ya'alon.... Let's
remind everyone what we had here up until a few months
ago. Blood was flowing in the streets. Depression. A
sense of hopelessness. The economy was in deep
recession. The streets were empty. In the meantime
the economy has begun to recover, the malls are full,
the beaches are teeming, the new terminal at Ben-Gurion
Airport is collapsing under the sheer weight of
passengers both arriving and departing. Israel's
international standing is flourishing at unprecedented
levels. Terrorism, even in global figures, has
decreased. All of that, no matter what anyone says,
and with all due respect to Netanyahu and Ya'alon and
even the foreign minister, are the products of
disengagement.... There is the so painful, agonizing
human issue at stake as well. It is not easy to
decide, it is not easy to carry out, it is not entirely
clear what the end result will be. But that is what
the leaders are for: for those kinds of decisions. For
criticism and advice we have all the rest."


II. "Generals Make Mistakes"

Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
Maariv (June 7): "The dire view of the Palestinian
front as it is perceived by Moshe Ya'alon is worth
being examined. What the outgoing chief of staff
explained to Ari Shavit from Ha'aretz is, essentially,
that Israel is going to have to live by its sword for
all of eternity. His opinion is immensely
important.... [But] while one can accept his opinion
that Israel needs to teach its sons that they were born
into an embattled society and that the establishment of
a Palestinian state must be prevented, other
alternatives should also be examined.... A peace-
seeking nation must sit with its sabers ready and use
them while entrenched behind a defensive shield, but it
must also feel willing to discuss every course of
action to reduce the volume of violence, beginning with
a unilateral step that is born of want of any other
choice, via the Oslo accords, Camp David 2000, the
Geneva agreement and the road map. Each one of those
options is preferable to Ya'alon's scenario. But, more
than that: inherent in each of them is the possibility
of fixing Ya'alon's vision, even if at this juncture in
time it is a most reasonable analysis of the current
political reality."

III. "No Oversight in Sight"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning,
independent Ha'aretz (June 7): "American Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, who will be coming to Israel in
a few days' time, will be able to form up-close
impressions of the building momentum in the
settlements. It is not certain she will want to. Rice
was still national security adviser when she agreed
with Weisglass on the dispatch of a team of American
experts to define the boundaries of the settlements....
Two sources who are involved in the issue, among them a
fairly senior minister, propose the following
explanation for the cancellation of the surveyors'
visit: the Americans have realized that in reply to the
'no' to what is outside the line, there will be those
who will say 'yes' to what is inside the line, and see
in this a historical recognition by the United States
of the entire settlement project. The celebrations
surrounding the interpretation of President George W.
Bush's recognition of the concentrations of Jewish
population in the West Bank sufficed for them."

IV. "Delay and Deception"

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (June 7): "Abbas may be making the
mistake of thinking he can use the kind of tricks that
work in dealing with the West: forgetfulness and
deception. Often, delay is used in Middle East
politics to ensure that something is forgotten.... [For
example,] those accused of the attack [on a U.S. convoy
in Gaza in October 2003] were allowed to 'escape' from
a Palestinian jail. No action has apparently been
taken since then by the Palestinian Authority to
apprehend or punish them. Abbas goes to the White
House and gets USD 50 million in direct aid. This is
typical of the whole story of how terrorism goes
unpunished, is forgotten and its lessons are ignored.
Hamas, however, has a longer memory than America and is
not going to let Abbas postpone the Palestinian
elections forever.... Rather than act against
terrorists or challenge the prevailing Palestinian
worldview, Abbas once again wants Israel to solve his
problem by withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. He hopes
this will be perceived by Palestinians as a victory for
his leadership. Hamas, for its part, will seek to
present the withdrawal as a victory for its terrorist
campaign and a reason to support its candidates."


V. "Political Destruction"

Ha'aretz editorialized (June 7): "The Jerusalem
Municipality plans to demolish approximately 90 Arab
homes that were built without permits in Silwan
([Hebrew:] Kfar Hashiloah),south of the Old City's
walls. The homes constitute an entire neighborhood ...
that is home to some 1,000 residents. The story first
broke in Ha'aretz a week ago, and Deputy Interior
Minister Ruhama Avraham said in response that while
razing the homes may indeed lead to unrest in East
Jerusalem, 'The government has no intention of
capitulating to law-breakers'.... For years, settlers
have tried, with great success, to acquire Arab assets
in the area and create a Jewish neighborhood there....
The issue is, first and foremost, a political one. A
decision by the mayor to demolish homes would
undoubtedly cause a major uproar and constitute an
obstacle in the face of the attempts to renew the peace
process. This is the principal consideration that the
mayor must take into account."

KURTZER