ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005275

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC FOR NEA STAFF

SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA
HQ USAF FOR XOXX
DA WASHDC FOR SASA
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019

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. Iraq

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio reported that the U.S. is urging Israel
and the PA to exercise restraint and not to miss the
historic opportunity for peace in the region. Visiting
U.S. House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MI) was quoted as
saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that an
Israeli-free Gaza is now the laboratory where the
Palestinians will need to prove that they can govern.
Ha'aretz reported that Rev. Jesse Jackson telephoned
Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Danny Ayalon, to
convey his congratulations to Sharon on the
implementation of the disengagement plan. The
newspaper reported that, "in a surprising move,"
Jackson said that now that the disengagement has been
carried out, the burden of proof is on the
Palestinians.

Jerusalem Post reported that a senior Israeli official
praised the "most positive EU statement in years." The
statement issued by Britain, which currently holds the
rotating EU presidency, read that the EU welcomed the
"historic progress made on Israel's withdrawal from
Gaza and parts of the West Bank," and salutes the
courage of Sharon and his government.

Ha'aretz cited the IDF's fears that violence might
escalate in the coming weeks following the army's
killing of five Palestinians in Tulkarm Wednesday. On
Thursday, rockets were fired at Sderot. Ha'aretz cited
the IDF's belief that the firing of a rocket across the
Lebanese border on Thursday was unintentional. The
media reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud
Abbas slammed the killings and accused Israel of
causing a deliberate provocation in order to undermine
his efforts to maintain calm. Israel Radio reported
that a Palestinian stabbed and slightly wounded a
border policeman in Hebron this morning. The attacker
was arrested.

Israel Radio reported that, following a debate PM
Sharon held with senior defense officials last night,
Israel will soon ask Egypt to deploy forces along the
Philadelphi route. Ha'aretz and the radio reported
that Israel insists on the Palestinians crossing from
Egypt through a point other than Rafah. Ha'aretz says
that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz made that proposal.
Israel Radio says that, should the Palestinians insists
on the Rafah crossing point, Israel would undo its
customs agreement with the PA, which would cost the
latter hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The
station and other media reported that the cabinet will
vote on the agreement with Egypt on Sunday, and the
Knesset on Wednesday.

Maariv cited Interior Ministry statistics, according to
which the number of Israelis living in the West Bank
has increased by close to 13,000 over the past year --
exceeding that of the settlers evacuated during the
disengagement. Over 250,000 Israelis now reside beyond
the Green Line. Jerusalem Post reported that the vast
majority of the Gaza Strip's Jewish residents have
elected to end their settlement enterprise in the lands
Israel won in 1967, despite the initial push of the
settlement movement to absorb them into West Bank
communities. Still, the newspaper reported that
private American investors have pledged USD 5 million
to build 60 housing units in four West Bank settlements
for Gaza evacuees.

Israel Radio reported on the meeting Justice Minister
Tzipi Livni held with Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice on Thursday. Livni told the radio that, as a
terror organization, Hamas could not take part in the
Palestinian Legislative Council elections. Israel
Radio quoted Abbas as saying that there is no reason
why Hamas could not enter his government if it achieves
good results in the elections.

Jerusalem Post quoted a source close to Sharon as
saying that, facing a potential attempt by members of
his Likud party to oust him as leader, Sharon would
consider asking President Moshe Katsav to disperse the
Knesset and initiate early elections. Israel Radio
says that the buzz in Israeli politics is of elections
late in 2005 or early in 2006. Leading media expect
Binyamin Netanyahu to formally announce next week his
candidacy for Likud chairmanship. Yediot reported that
Sharon severely attacked him on Thursday. Speaking on
Israel Radio this morning, Labor Party Secretary-
General, Knesset Member Eitan Cabel expressed his
belief that Labor will quit the government in November.
Leading media reported that Meretz-Yahad party leader
Yossi Beilin will support the move led by the right-
wing factions to topple Sharon's government. However,
Ha'aretz notes that other senior Meretz-Yahad members
do not agree with him.

Israel Radio reported that the police have arrested a
man and a woman who admitted to hurling a pig's head
into the courtyard of a Jaffa mosque a few days ago.
They reportedly acknowledged that they wanted to
provoke the Israeli Arab public in the context of the
disengagement. The radio reported that the police are
preparing for possible confrontations at the site this
afternoon.

Yediot reported that on Wednesday, for the first time,
the Chinese Foreign Ministry officially responded to
the U.S.-Israeli memorandum of understanding regarding
the ban on sales of sensitive military equipment to
China. According to Yediot, the ministry wrote in a
release "China and Israel are sovereign countries and
they ought to conduct an independent policy as part of
the development of relations between the countries,"
and that "the U.S. has no right to intervene in normal
exchanges and cooperation between the sides."

Maariv and other media reported that Abbas and other
Palestinian officials have recently expressed their
support for the relocation of Palestinian refugees from
Lebanon to Gaza.

Yediot and Maariv reported that, for the first time
since the establishment of diplomatic relations between
Israel and Egypt, the pro-government Egyptian daily Al-
Ahram printed an article by an Israeli diplomat --
Ambassador Shalom Cohen, who explained the peace
opportunity created by the disengagement. The
newspapers note that Al-Ahram attached an editorial
comment of its own to Cohen's article, saying that the
withdrawal from Gaza is only the first stage in a
comprehensive pullout, that Israel must meet its
commitments under the road map, and that Cohen ignored
38 years of Israeli occupation in Gaza.

Maariv cited a denial by Cindy Sheehan, who lost her
son in the Iraq War and is picketing President Bush's
ranch in Crawford, Tex., that she made any anti-Israel
or anti-Semitic comments.

Under the headline, "Saying Good-Bye," Jerusalem Post
pictures FM Silvan Shalom presenting U.S. Ambassador to
Israel Dan Kurtzer with a Jewish National Fund
certificate recording the planting of trees in his
name.

Ha'aretz features efforts by U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman
Schultz (D-FL) to turn January into an official Jewish
history month.

Yediot bannered the results of a Mina Zemach (Dahaf
Institute) poll conducted on Wednesday:
-54 percent of Israelis favor the evacuation of West
Bank settlements; 42 percent are opposed.
-68 percent of Israelis support the evacuation of
unauthorized settler outposts.
-49 percent would like Sharon to continue his political
life; 47 percent believe that he has concluded his
historical role and that he should retire.

According to a Ha'aretz/ Dialogue Institute poll
conducted over the past two days, some 61 percent of
Israelis believe that "Israel has been hurt and pained
by the disengagement"; only 23.5 percent describe post-
evacuation Israel as "a normal, civilized state."

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1. Mideast:
--------------

Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized:
"Israel's top priority right now should be resuming a
dialogue with the PA, not provocative construction
ventures."

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The Egyptian
Border Guard Force, which will deploy on Philadelphi
Road, is not a force that will threaten Israel's
security."

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in Yediot Aharonot:
"The U.S. administration will prefer to embrace Sharon
rather than to pressure him."

Former editor-in-chief Moshe Ishon wrote in
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "[President Bush] hasn't
actually set a date [for Israel's withdrawal from the
West Bank], but British Prime Minister hastened to
state that pertinent talks would start as early as this
year."

Block Quotes:
--------------


I. "A Poorly Timed Provocation"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(August 26): "Under American pressure, Sharon froze a
plan to build 3,500 housing units in [the] E-1
[corridor]. But Washington does not buy his
explanation that it is possible to create
'transportation contiguity' for the Palestinians via
overpasses and tunnels that would connect the northern
and southern West Bank. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice is more attentive to the Palestinians' fear that
Israel seeks to divide the West Bank into isolated
cantons. It is hard not to view the decisions about
the fence and the new construction near Ma'aleh Adumim
as a poorly timed provocation. They damage the efforts
to rebuild trust with the Palestinian Authority and to
strengthen its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, as a partner for
future negotiations.... They erode the contribution
that the successful disengagement made to reviving the
diplomatic process and show that Sharon has returned to
his evil ways in the settlements. There is widespread
agreement within Israel about keeping the settlement
blocs, including Ma'aleh Adumim, under any final-status
arrangement. But this must be done through an
agreement with the Palestinians that takes their needs
into account as well, not by creating facts on the
ground unilaterally, which will only make the tangle
created by the spread of settlements in the West Bank
even more complicated. Israel's top priority right now
should be resuming a dialogue with the PA, not
provocative construction ventures."

II. "No Cause For Concern"

Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 26):
"The Egyptian Border Guard Force, which will deploy on
Philadelphi Road, is not a force that will threaten
Israel's security.... The main question is whether the
Egyptians will indeed succeed, with the aid of this
force, in blocking the wave of smuggling into the Gaza
Strip. They are committed to do so in the agreement,
but Israel has no ability -- apart from international
pressure -- to supervise the quality of the Egyptians'
activity and motivation.... The hope is that the
Palestinian interest to keep the crossings open and the
Egyptian interest to keep the calm will cause them to
monitor the borders effectively. Beyond this, Israel
has no real influence. The Egyptians currently face a
problem of internal terrorism. In cooperation with
other countries, they are trying to battle terrorists
and the smuggling.... Perhaps they will succeed in
doing something [along the Philadelphi Road]. There is
another great and important advantage to the deployment
of the Egyptian force on Philadelphi Road: the presence
of this force enables Israel to withdraw its soldiers
from the road in a dignified manner. That too is worth
something in these troubled times. The only problem
with this force lies in the fact that it creates a
precedent. Stationing such a force does not conform to
the spirit of the military appendices attached to the
peace accords between Israel and Egypt. It should be
ensured that this precedent does not lead to a flood of
breaches in the accords."

III. "Returning Home"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in Yediot Aharonot
(August 26): "Sharon believes that the world will give
him a long break in the peace process. The
Palestinians will do their best to restrain terror.
This time they are motivated not only by external
pressure, but also by internal Palestinian public
opinion. They too have elections. The U.S.
administration will prefer to embrace Sharon rather
than to pressure him. They will neither remind him of
the settlement outposts that have not yet been
evacuated, nor of the requirements of the road map.
Bush, in the very warm statements he made about Sharon
this week, hinted that in effect he accepts Sharon's
view, which holds that we are currently in the 'pre-
road map' stage. [But] the voters are cruel. They are
usually not grateful for what is not present -- not for
the mortar shells that will no longer be fired at
Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip, nor for the
economy that will improve as a result of the
evacuation's success, nor for the quarrels that do not
exist between Israel and Western Europe and the
moderate states of the Arab world. The evacuation is
over. Israel is apparently moving into a year of very
intensive internal politics."

IV. "While the World Is Happy, Israelis Are Crying"

Former editor-in-chief Moshe Ishon wrote in
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (August 26): "Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice said last week ... that the
withdrawal from Gush Katif doesn't constitute a
conclusion. When one of the journalists told her that
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said that this pullout was
final, Rice answered: so, this is what he said.
President Bush has expressed his hope that the 'road
map' process would begin after the uprooting of Gush
Katif. He hasn't actually set a date, but British
Prime Minister hastened to state that pertinent talks
would start as early as this year. It should be
assumed that he coordinates his remarks with the
'Quartet.' The U.S. Secretary of State is also aware
of those developments. It is no secret that President
Bush has already said upon previous occasions that
Israel must withdraw from Judea and Samaria [i.e. the
West Bank]. We should expect a transition period until
the elections in the Palestinian Authority, which are
supposed to be held during the second half of January

2006. Until then, Israel won't in fact be required to
withdraw from Judea and Samaria. If Hamas wins a
majority in those elections, Israel would have a good
reason to oppose the pullout. On the other hand, if
Fatah wins, Abu Mazen will be able to more vehemently
demand an Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria.
He also hopes to win the support of the United States."

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2. Iraq:
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Summary:
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Deputy Managing Editor and extreme right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "There has been no indication
whatsoever that Washington cares about fostering
peaceful relations between Israel and post-Saddam Iraq
and as a result, it is simply irresponsible for Israeli
leaders to consider withdrawing from our eastern border
on the Jordan River."

Block Quotes:
--------------

"The End of Mythology"

Deputy Managing Editor and extreme right-wing columnist
Caroline B. Glick wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (August 26): "Since it toppled Saddam's
regime, the U.S. has done nothing to discourage
continued Iraqi rejection of Israel's right to exist
and bellicose statements in favor of Israel's
destruction which have been heard from all quarters.
The best-case scenario for Israel from a post-U.S.
withdrawal from Iraq is that Iraq will act in a manner
similar to Saudi Arabia in its dealings with the Jewish
state.... In any case, there has been no indication
whatsoever that Washington cares about fostering
peaceful relations between Israel and post-Saddam Iraq
and as a result, it is simply irresponsible for Israeli
leaders to consider withdrawing from our eastern border
on the Jordan River."

KURTZER