ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004472 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: -------------- ¶1. Gaza Disengagement ¶2. Global War on Terrorism -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The major media reported that the police last night allowed tens of thousands of anti-pullout demonstrators to sleep at Kfar Maimon, five km west of Netivot, where the march toward Gush Katif started. Settler leaders promised earlier in the day that there would be no "infiltration" of activists into the Gaza Strip during the night. Ha'aretz reported that the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories vowed to continue the march today, but Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra told Israel Radio this morning that the police will not let them do so. The media cited the right wing's anger at police restrictions against the marchers, which it views as civil rights violations. Israel Radio reported that a foreign worker was slightly wounded this morning in a mortar attack on a Gush Katif settlement. Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF is investigating Palestinian allegations that a 14-year-old boy was killed by IDF gunfire near the Gush Katif junction on Monday afternoon. Ha'aretz (Akiva Eldar) reported that, following an inquiry by the newspaper, FM Silvan Shalom announced Monday that he would demand that the PA disqualify the Hamas list in the PA's legislative elections. Ha'aretz found that Hamas's candidacy contravenes the terms of the second Oslo agreement. "The nomination of any candidates, parties or coalitions shall be refused, and such nomination or registration once made will be canceled," states Article II of Annex II, if they 1. "commit or advocate racism" or 2. "pursue the implementation of their aims by unlawful or non- democratic means." Maariv reported that PM Sharon has invited world leaders -- including President Bush, former U.S. president Bill Clinton, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan, and King Mohamed VI of Morocco -- to the 10th anniversary commemoration of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in November. The newspaper cited the Rabin Center for Israel Studies' hope that the leaders' visits will help restore optimism to the region. -------------- ¶1. Gaza Disengagement: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "In this country, most people support the pullout.... The actions of the Palestinians, with their bombings and their mortar shells, only strengthen the fanatics in Israel." Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "Israel's original position, that dismantling the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure precede any steps toward an accommodation with the Palestinians, was logical, and it enjoyed the support of Washington.... We [now] seem to be moving in the wrong direction." Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv: "It will take a great deal of responsibility, lots of experience and no small measure of wisdom to prevent the clash that is expected over the coming days from being one that will expose us all to harsh sights." Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Influential rabbis] are to blame for the ... tragic enfeeblement of the foundations on which the national home stands." Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Even the language that the settler leaders use is repulsive.... [But] the police decision to stop the organized bussing of right wing demonstrators at their points of departure was an undemocratic act and a bad public mistake." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Get Down From the Rooftops" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 19): "At this stage of the game, both parties must subdue the extremist and rejectionist forces in their camps. But there is no symmetry between the home conflicts of the two peoples. In this country, most people support the pullout, and in a solid democracy like Israel, the will of the majority counts, no matter how much the extremists demonstrate and threaten civil war. The army will carry out its mission even if the craziest of the crazies try to drag the country into a bloody standoff.... The difference between the Palestinians and us is that every time their organizations get into an argument, they shoot at the Jews.... The actions of the Palestinians, with their bombings and their mortar shells, only strengthen the fanatics in Israel. Sharon's standing in his party could suffer, leading to his ouster and the onset of Intifada III. Is that what the Palestinians want? How many more times do these poor people intend to screw themselves?" II. "Terrorism Can Wait" Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (July 19): "Israel's original position, that dismantling the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure precede any steps toward an accommodation with the Palestinians, was logical, and it enjoyed the support of Washington. The government made a mistake when it abandoned that position and let up on Israel's war on Palestinian terror just when we were close to inflicting on them a decisive defeat. The recent relaxation of the IDF's control in Palestinian cities in Samaria [the northern West Bank] may have been responsible for the latest suicide bombing in Netanya. After finally taking the offensive in the war against Palestinian terrorism, we seem to be moving in the wrong direction." III. "Burst of Energy" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv (July 19): "On Monday evening there were four, perhaps five kilometers that separated Ariel Sharon, ensconced in the Sycamore Farm, from his thousands of denouncers, who gathered in [the town of] Netivot.... In reality, these adversaries are separated by millions of light years, oceans of bad blood, abysses of alienation and vast differences in worldview. The loyalists of the land versus the head of state. The Land of Israel versus the State of Israel. Sovereignty versus messianism. Knesset and cabinet resolutions versus Torah and rabbinical commandments. Israel has lived under the shadow of this problematic equation since its inception. Now it is coming to the fore.... [The demonstrators'] energy has now been gathered, the passion, the fire in the eyes, from all corners of the country and assembled in the Negev, at the gates of Gush Katif, praying for Sharon's failure, wishing for his end.... It will take a great deal of responsibility, lots of experience and no small measure of wisdom to prevent the clash that is expected over the coming days from being one that will expose us all to harsh sights." IV. "Toward the Edge of the Abyss" Ha'aretz editorialized (July 19): "The call by two former chief rabbis, Mordechai Eliyahu and Avraham Shapira, for soldiers to refuse obeying the military order to prevent pullout opponents from entering the Gaza Strip is not a halakhic [rabbinical] ruling. It is a blatant act of incitement and political sedition that is prompting many soldiers to violate the state's laws.... The Chief Rabbinate was established as an arm of the state. It was defined as an entity that is supposed to function subject to the democratic structure adopted by the country, to represent and serve all of Israel's Jewish citizens. Within this framework, the rabbis were supposed to tone down the inherent conflict between religion and state and, in contrast, to express a consistent desire for the synthesis between statehood and tradition.... They [and other influential rabbis] are to blame for the even more tragic enfeeblement of the foundations on which the national home stands." ¶V. "Anti-Democratic, Not Smart" Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (July 19): "A relatively small number of demonstrators required a concerted effort of hundreds of IDF, police and Border Police forces two days ago to stop their advance toward the fence separating Israel from the Gaza Strip.... Even the language that the settler leaders use is repulsive. Those who are shocked when they are linked to those who have chosen unlawful means, are quick to say, on the other hand, 'stopping the protest will lead to violence'.... And even so, the police decision to stop the organized bussing of right wing demonstrators at their points of departure was an undemocratic act and a bad public mistake.... The pictures of detained buses only sharpened the message of the protestors." -------------- ¶2. Global War on Terrorism: -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Only when Muslims themselves, as a polity, come to understand that the toxicity of suicide bombing is having a blowback effect on their own world will this evil instrument of war become as antiquated as poison gas." Block Quotes: -------------- "Today's Poison Gas" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (July 19): "In 1925, six years after World War I ended, the civilized world outlawed the use of poison gas.... Anti-civilian warfare waged by Islamists will not turn the tide of war any more than poison gas turned the tide of World War I.... Targeting civilians inevitably backfires.... The international community is moving, albeit glacially, toward banning terrorism.... Yet international organizations and sovereign states can do only so much. In the final analysis, it is up to Muslim leaders worldwide to denounce the Islamists -- unconditionally. They must excommunicate the fanatics, or stand by as Islam becomes synonymous with the stench of scorched flesh and acrid explosives. Only when Muslims themselves, as a polity, come to understand that the toxicity of suicide bombing is having a blowback effect on their own world will this evil instrument of war become as antiquated as poison gas." CRETZ