ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004304

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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1. Mideast


2. London Bombings

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio reported that on Monday, the delegation of
senior Israeli officials to Washington officially
presented Israel's disengagement-related aid request to
the U.S. administration. The radio cited a White House
announcement, which said that President Bush admires PM
Sharon's courageous leadership and that the
disengagement decision opens new opportunities.

Maariv and Jerusalem Post cited the news agency AP as
saying that it had misquoted British Tony Blair's
comment in an interview with BBC Radio 4, in which he
allegedly linked the July 7 London bombings with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yediot, Maariv, and
Hatzofe cited the German weekly Bild Am Sonntag, which
quoted Mossad sources in Tel Aviv as saying that the
Mossad suspects a link between the London bombings and
the 2003 bombing of the Mike's Place pub next to the
U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv. According to the sources,
the same type of explosives was used in both cases.

Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that the diplomatic-
security cabinet will today discuss the establishment
of a new border crossing between Israel, Egypt, and the
Gaza Strip. According to Ha'aretz, the new
installation would be the first step of Israel's
decision to withdraw from the Philadelphi route.
Israel Radio reported that the chairman of the
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval
Steinitz (Likud),and Knesset Member Dani Yatom (Labor)
will this morning submit a petition to the High Court
of Justice against the government and the attorney
general on the issue of the stationing of Egyptian
forces on the Philadelphi Road. Citing the opinions of
senior jurists, they will ask the court to order the
government to submit the changes in the peace treaty
with Egypt to the Knesset.

Ha'aretz cited news agency reports, according to which
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana criticized Israel
on Monday for the fence it is building around
Jerusalem, and Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei said it made
a farce of efforts to restart the peace process.
Leading media quoted Minister Haim Ramon (Labor) as
saying on Monday that the Jerusalem fence is meant to
ensure a Jewish majority in the capital, as well as to
keep out terrorists, contradicting government
statements that it is only a temporary measure.
Leading media (banners in Yediot and Maariv) reported
that Jerusalem's Central Bus Station was completely
evacuated last night after suspected disengagement
opponents placed a fake explosive charge in the
building. Hatzofe quoted right-wing sources as saying
that agent provocateurs had placed the bomb. Ha'aretz
reported that one of the recommendations of an IDF
document, which can be described as the army's "code of
ethics" for the disengagement, is that security forces
be allowed to open fire on evacuation opponents who
endanger the lives of the soldiers and police only when
"all else has failed."

Ha'aretz quoted FM Silvan Shalom as saying before the
Tel Aviv Commercial Industrial Club on Friday that the
Foreign Ministry will strengthen its efforts aimed at
normalizing relations with Arab and Muslim countries
following disengagement. The newspaper says that the
Gulf states, Pakistan, and Indonesia are among the
countries the Foreign Ministry hopes will show
increased openness toward Israel following the pullout
from Gaza and northern West Bank. Yediot reported that
Foreign Ministry Director-General Ron Prosor and Yaki
Dayan, the head of the ministry's political desk, made
a confidential visit to Morocco last week to discuss
the resumption of bilateral diplomatic relations and a
possible visit by FM Shalom to Morocco.

Leading media reported that on Monday, the Knesset
passed a law, according to which assassinated tourism
minister Rehavam Zeevi, who headed the far Right
Moledet party, is to have his legacy memorialized
through the work of a public institution. The law was
approved in a 43-15 vote initiated by Moledet Knesset
Member Aryeh Eldad and co-signed by more than 40
Knesset members. The legislation sparked a furor in
the Knesset over the idea that the state would finance
a center to spread Zeevi's idea of transferring Arabs
out of the Land of Israel (i.e. Israel, including the
territories).

Leading media cited a report submitted on Monday by the
Jewish People Policy Planning Institute to the
Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee,
according to which, in 2006, for the first time since
the state's establishment, the number of Jews living in
Israel will exceed the number of Jews in the U.S.

Israel Radio quoted Javier Solana as denying, in an
interview with the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, that the EU
is conducting talks with Hamas.

Israel Radio reported that two soldiers were lightly
wounded today in the Gaza Strip when a bomb exploded at
the settlement of Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif.
Yediot reported that Israel has started developing a
missile to be used against long-range rockets in
possession of Hizbullah.
Ha'aretz reported that over 400 immigrants will leave
North America tonight for Israel on two specially
chartered El Al flights. These are the first of eight
flights of immigrants due to leave North America before
the end of this year.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "When Tony Blair
cites the conflict in the Middle East ('the Israeli
occupation,' of course) as one of the three reasons for
Islamic terror, he is no different from your common
anti-Semite."

Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz: "It is time for
a second Balfour-type declaration -- a declaration that
will recognize both the rights of the Palestinians in
this land and the right to existence of Israel as the
national home of the Jewish people. Tony Blair is the
only statesman who can make this new declaration."

Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv: "When [the Palestinians]
change their minds, and conduct flexible negotiations,
the fence, and not only the Green Line, will be the
foundation ... for a permanent frontier, because the
fence is much more than just a fence."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Mistaken Culprits"

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 12): "When
Tony Blair cites the conflict in the Middle East ('the
Israeli occupation,' of course) as one of the three
reasons for Islamic terror, he is no different from
your common anti-Semite. The vast majority of Arab
affairs scholars and experts define global terror as a
clash of civilizations. Religion versus progress, the
forces of darkness against the forces of light, poverty
versus affluence -- that sort of thing. Even after
attacks more horrific than those in London -- New York
and Madrid come to mind -- no one dragged the Jews into
it. Oh, and Mr. Blair: with millions of Muslims in
Europe, and England in particular, constituting a
hothouse for mega-terror, how come you haven't taken
minimal steps to guarantee the safety of your people?
After screwing up like that, isn't it customary in your
country to step down?"

II. "Blair's Third Way"
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz (July 12):
"Between the unacceptable route of the status quo [in
Israeli-Palestinian relations] and the current
treacherous route of the final-status agreement,
[British Prime Minister Tony] Blair must carve out a
third way.... It was the Balfour Declaration that gave
shape to this land in the 20th century. Although many
Arabs and not a few British citizens had reservations
about it, it had a deep moral basis. And now it is
time for a second Balfour-type declaration -- a
declaration that will recognize both the rights of the
Palestinians in this land and the right to existence of
Israel as the national home of the Jewish people. Tony
Blair is the only statesman who can make this new
declaration. If he phrases it well and if he proceeds
cautiously along the drawn-out process of realizing it,
the imprint he will make in this land will be deep -- a
true British seal of realistic morality."

III. "Separation and Fence Refuseniks"

Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv (July 12): "No Israeli Arab
... would prefer to be a member of the opposition to
Yasser Arafat or Abu Mazen in Ramallah instead of a
Knesset member in Jerusalem opposing Ehud Barak and
Ariel Sharon. Everybody knows that. Now it emerges
that many Palestinians feel just like the Israeli
Arabs. About 55,000 of them were given a golden
opportunity to free themselves from the crushing,
oppressive occupation and to link up with their
brothers in the West Bank.... True, it is not
enough.... But lo and behold, with the help of the
separation fence, we are beginning to dismantle the
occupation, not only in Gush Katif, but also in the
capital.... The [Jerusalem Envelope] fence, which [Vice
Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert submitted to the government
[on Monday] is the fruit of integrated, balanced
thought, which effectively protects Israeli lives
against Palestinian terrorism, while giving a more
durable status to a judicious, unilateral political
aim, which will exist so long as the Palestinians do
not seriously mean what they say. In the future, when
they change their minds, and conduct flexible
negotiations, the fence, and not only the Green Line,
will be the foundation ... for a permanent frontier,
because the fence is much more than just a fence."


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2. London Bombings:
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Summary:
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Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in nationalist, Orthodox
Hatzofe: "The West fears that extremist terror groups
might lay their hands on a 'nuclear suitcase' --
commonly dubbed 'dirty bombs' -- but it turns out that
the West has very good reasons to worry even before
those weapons are being used."

Block Quotes:
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"Wretchedness of the West"

Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in nationalist, Orthodox
Hatzofe (July 12): "Britain's conduct in the wake of
the London bombings is plainly shameful. A power that
is a G-8 member, with intelligence services that are
considered excellent, sophisticated weapons, and so on,
is unable to rescue victims from the underground in a
reasonable amount of time. But it should be obvious to
all that when Al-Qaida or one of its branches decided
to hit Britain, it would go straight for its soft
underbelly.... What is most worrisome in this whole
affair is that there was no prior warning of the
possibility of an attack. This means that all the
intelligence forces of the West working jointly in the
fight against terror haven't yet succeeded in
penetrating the centers of radical Islam in order to
obtain information about the movement of people and the
possible movement of terrorists.... The West fears that
extremist terror groups might lay their hands on a
'nuclear suitcase' -- commonly dubbed 'dirty bombs' --
but it turns out that the West has very good reasons to
worry even before those weapons are being used."

KURTZER