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

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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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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.

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Mideast:
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Summary:
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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:
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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