ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 003620 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All papers publicized interviews with outgoing GSS Chief Avi Dichter. The media headlined segments from Dichter's interviews; the main topics are: Dichter backs disengagement and believes it will reduce terror; Dichter supports those who call to destroy settler houses; Yediot headlined that a Jewish terrorist might hurt the Prime Minister and that Arab MKs are not loyal to Israel. Yediot quoted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as saying in a meeting with rabbis that the settler's threat to paralyze the country does not intimidate him and that the disengagement will take place even if all the roads in the country are blocked. All media reported on the responses to the High Court ruling that affirmed the pullout decision. Right-wing MKs slammed the court's decision and settler leaders said that the High Court of Justice is detached from the people. Left-wing MKs, including government officials, were pleased with this outcome. The media noted that on the economic side, the settlers received from the High Court an "open check" by saying that every evacuee can turn to the courts if unhappy about the amount of compensation he is to receive. Jerusalem Post cited P.A. Civil Affairs Minister Muhammed Dahlan as saying that the current Israeli policies and the continuing construction in the territories will lead to a third intifada. Ha'aretz reported that only minor officials from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad were sent to meet P.A. Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Thursday. Abbas called the meeting to discuss the renewed rocket attacks in the past week. The media reported that several mortar shells were fired on Thursday on Netzarim and Gush Katif. No casualties were reported. Ha'aretz published an interview with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in which he says that Hamas must SIPDIS be boycotted until it halts terror but he also told Ha'aretz that if Hamas wins the P.A. parliamentary elections, then all of us will face a dilemma. Yediot reported that a secret document, prepared by senior government officials who deal with the Palestinian issue, was presented to senior ministers in the security cabinet. In this document there is a recommendation calling for the release of Tanzim leader, Marwan Barghouti. All media noted the National Counter-Terrorism Agency's warning to Israeli travelers not to visit Egypt, including the Sinai Desert, over the Shavuot holiday. Yediot reported that during the disengagement, policemen and soldiers will use a U.S. developed tool called "the scream" to disperse demonstrators. This tool sends loud, high frequency signals into the air, forcing people to cover their ears to ease the pain, thus rendering them less able to resist security forces. Maariv reported that Major General (res.) Amos Gilad has left for a secret visit in Jordan. Yediot Aharonot's Mina Tzemach poll found: 53 percent support the disengagement plan; 38 percent are against. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "But the big question is whatever happened to the element of surprise that the Israeli army used to be so famous for?.... Why not wrap it all up overnight, like in Lebanon? Time is not on the side of broad public support for disengagement. It's time to cut - and fast." Senior military analyst Amir Oren wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Here is another reason for the slim chances of Rice's journey to succeed: people who build in wood [the Americans] would never succeed in achieving peace between two people who build villages and settlements with stones." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶1. "Time to Cut" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (June 10): "The psychological warfare and scare tactics [used by the settlers] have produced a drop in public support, from 65 percent to less than 50 percent. The frightening scenarios are frightening people off. The PR vacuum in defense of the pullout and the rift in the Likud have created a situation in which only opponents of the disengagement are setting the tone in the streets. The silent majority just sits there, hesitant and uncertain.... The slide in public backing for the pullout is a consequence of the foot-dragging and waffling of the government on the subject of disengagement.... But the big question is whatever happened to the element of surprise that the Israeli army used to be so famous for? Where does it say that Jews are not permitted to fight in the three weeks leading up to the fast on Tisha B'av? In what holy text does it say that we can't surprise Gush Katif and go in there right after Shavuot, for example? Why not wrap it all up overnight, like in Lebanon? Time is not on the side of broad public support for disengagement. It's time to cut - and fast." ¶2. "Close Supervision" Senior military analyst Amir Oren wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (June 10): "The world's kinder garten teacher, Condoleezza Rice, will arrive in a week to closely watch the two rebellious children, Ariel Sharon and Mahmuod Abbas.... Rice does not fear that Sharon will surprise the government and avoid his commitment to evacuate. Washington has sketched Sharon's trail since 2003 and came to the conclusion that if he didn't use the exit points he had along the way, he does not intend to do so now.... Opposite the Palestinians the U.S.'s situation is more complex.... General Ward's ... efforts to insert changes in Abbas's government systems did not succeed.... Rice will attempt to unfreeze the Israeli-Palestinian understandings that were declared in Sharm el-Sheik; she will try to solve the problem of passenger terminals on the ground and in the air between Gaza and Egypt and Israel; and she will make an effort to achieve an agreement regarding the 'settlements' assets', mostly relating to settler's houses.... If the Americans needed to evacuate the suburbs of Washington and New York, it would have been easier, due to their building methods. Here is another reason that Rice's journey has only a slim chance to succeed: people who build in wood will never succeed in achieving peace between two people who build villages and settlements with stones." KURTZER