Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV5319
2005-08-30 10:27:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Tel Aviv
Cable title:  

ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

Tags:  IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005319 

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

--------------------------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005319

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

--------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------


1. Mideast


2. Israel's Leadership

--------------
Key stories in the media:
--------------

All media reported that the Likud has started its
process of toppling PM Sharon. The party's Central
Committee will vote on September 26 on a proposal to
advance the Likud's leadership primaries, which could
take place on November 22, followed by a February 21
general election. In an interview broadcast last night
on Channel 10-TV, Sharon made an unprecedented attack
against Binyamin Netanyahu, who Sharon said "is an
anxious, tense man who deals poorly with pressure,
panics, and loses his head." Sharon added: "A man who
panics and loses control cannot lead a country,
particularly a special country like Israel with more
difficult and complex problems than other countries.
In order to run this country, you have to have good
judgment and nerves of steel, and Netanyahu has
neither." Sharon sharply criticized Netanyahu's
"irresponsibility" regarding the budget and the
disengagement plan. Sharon also said he would
dismantle some settlements in the West Bank. Israel
Radio quoted Netanyahu associates as saying that Sharon
is panicking.

Ha'aretz quoted U.S. and Israeli officials as saying
that Washington has rescinded its demand that Israel
and the U.S. jointly mark the boundaries of settlements
in the West Bank. The newspaper says that neither side
reportedly has an interest in marking the boundaries:
for Israel, it would be an uncomfortable concession;
for the U.S., it would legitimize the existing
settlements. Ha'aretz quoted U.S. officials as saying
they are now making due with warning Israel to refrain
from expanding the West Bank settlements.

Ha'aretz reported that an interministerial committee,
headed by a Defense Ministry official, decided Monday
that the victims of the terrorist attack in Shfaram
will receive a one-time compensation from the state,
but will not be recognized as terror victims.

Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that Adar Primor has

been appointed its new editor. He served as Ha'aretz's
foreign news editor from 1994 until last month.

Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that in Arizona on
Monday, President Bush urged PA Chairman [President]
Mahmoud Abbas to show the courage to crack down on
terrorism. The President praised Sharon's
disengagement decision, saying: "It took political
courage to make that decision. And now it's going to
take political courage by the Palestinians ... and
Abbas to step up, reject violence, reject terrorism,
and build a democracy." Ha'aretz printed a Reuters
dispatch, which cited a statement issued by the
official PA News agency, according to which Abbas
condemned the Beersheva bombing, calling it a
"terrorist attack."

Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian sources as saying that
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who visited
Gaza on Monday, proposed that Israel continue
supervising the entrance of goods and people into Gaza
following the pullout, but only for six months. That
would give Israel time to examine the PA's functioning
in Gaza and also provide additional time for
negotiations over a permanent solution. The newspaper
writes that unofficially, Palestinian officials did not
rule out such a compromise. Jerusalem Post reported
that Suleiman urged Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop
their attacks against Israel.

Israel Radio reported that Israeli and Palestinian
officers met Monday at the Erez Crossing to discuss the
handover of security responsibility over the Gaza
Strip. The station quoted the Palestinians as saying
that they thwarted an anti-tank missile attack against
IDF troops on the Karni-Netzarim road on Monday.
Leading media reported that the IDF uncovered a 20
meter-deep weapons smuggling tunnel in the Philadelphi
Corridor on Monday, the 30th such tunnel found in the
last three months. All media also reported that Monday
at the Hawara checkpoint in the West Bank, IDF soldiers
arrested Hassan Abu Khalifa, a 15-year-old Palestinian
youth from Nablus, who was allegedly carrying pipe
bombs.

The EU's High Representative for Common Foreign and
Security Policy Javier Solana, who is visiting Israel
and the PA, was quoted as saying in an interview with
Ha'aretz on Monday that Israel and the PA must take
advantage of the momentum generated by the
disengagement to move the peace process forward.

Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz has issued an order to evacuate "Rinat
Shalhevet," which has been a controversial Jewish
outpost in the heart of the Old City of Hebron since

1994.

Yediot reported that Tel Aviv University Professor
Yitzhak Ben Israel was appointed chairman of the Israel
Space Agency on Monday, replacing Prof. Yuval Ne'eman.

Citing the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera, Ha'aretz
reported that the Vatican has admitted that an
inadvertence was the cause of the non-inclusion of
Israel in a list of countries that have been victims of
international terrorism.

Hatzofe bannered the results of a Midgam Institute
survey among registered Likud members, according to
which Sharon would lose against a coalition of right-
wing Likud leaders under Netanyahu, which would garner
59 percent of the vote for party leadership.

All media extensively covered the damage caused by
Hurricane Katrina in several Gulf Coast U.S. states.
Some TV stations held interviews with correspondents of
U.S. TV networks -- live from disaster-struck areas.

--------------

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

Summary:
--------------

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar wrote in independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Bush, with all his friendship
for Sharon, is not offering any free lunches; the price
for recognizing the end of the occupation in Gaza will
be allowing freedom of movement in the West Bank and
free passage between it and Gaza."

Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime
Minister's Office under former PM Yitzhak Shamir,
argued in popular, pluralist Maariv: "Abandoning the
Philadelphi route to the Egyptians and the Palestinians
constitutes dangerous gambling in the best case."

Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe
Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "[Forcing citizens out of
their homes] is certainly a concept foreign to Western
democratic societies and most unlikely to be adopted by
any other democratic government in this day and age."

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The
Secretary of State's signals that the withdrawal from

SIPDIS
Gush Katif 'is only the beginning' tell us that the
major struggle is still ahead of us."

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


I. "No Free Lunches From Bush"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar wrote in independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 30): "More than all the
compliments, it is important for Sharon that the U.S.
administration recognize Israel's departure from the
Gaza Strip as the official end of the occupation in
that area. From there it is just a short way to a UN
declaration that Israel no longer bears responsibility
for what happens in the Gaza Strip. So long as the
international community, led by the U.S., does not
recognize the withdrawal as the end of the occupation,
it means Israel lost the communities there, ceded
military control there and still continues to be seen
as the occupier, with all the legal and political
ramifications of that status. Bush, with all his
friendship for Sharon, is not offering any free
lunches; the price for recognizing the end of the
occupation in Gaza will be allowing freedom of movement
in the West Bank and free passage between it and Gaza."

II. "A Danger at the Gaza Border"

Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime
Minister's Office under former PM Yitzhak Shamir,
argued in popular, pluralist Maariv (August 30):
"Sheikh Dr. Muhammad Tantawi heads Al Azhar University.
He is the supreme religious authority in Egypt -- and
even more than that. He has recently published a fatwa
that states that 'a person who blows himself up should
be considered as having committed suicide, except for
acts of resistance in Palestine, whose executors are
shahids [martyrs].' One can imagine how that fatwa
would influence an Egyptian officer posted along the
Philadelphi route, who would discover a Palestinian
smuggling missiles and explosive belts into Gaza.
Furthermore, that officer and his subordinates are
exposed daily to venomous attacks against Israel in the
Egyptian media, and to reports about increasing
Egyptian activity in the international arena. This
being considered, abandoning the Philadelphi route to
the Egyptians and the Palestinians constitutes
dangerous gambling in the best case."

III. "What Is Sharon Up To?"

Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of
Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe
Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (August 30): "More than anyone
else, [Sharon] is responsible for the map of Israeli
settlements and the absence of significant settlement
blocs in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank].
Settlement blocs were evidently not part of his dream.
Sharon seems to have adopted a conception, which he
shares with many Israelis, that any territory turned
over to Palestinians, whether unilaterally or as part
of an agreement, must first be cleared of any and all
Jews living there.... It is high time that Israelis ask
themselves whether forcibly evicting Jews from their
homes in territories turned over to Palestinian control
accords with the norms of a democratic society, or can
really be viewed as an essential part of peacemaking in
the Middle East. It is certainly a concept foreign to
Western democratic societies and most unlikely to be
adopted by any other democratic government in this day
and age."

IV. "Only the 'First Step'"

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (August
30): "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has
repeatedly declared that the Israeli withdrawal from
Gush Katif was only the 'first step' of Israel's
pullout. Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen
subsequently proclaimed that Israel would later
withdraw from Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank],
and Jerusalem.... According to some reports, the calm
is not being preserved along the new line, despite
promises and pledges by the PA. [Israeli] defense
sources believe that no quiet can be expected along the
new border in the South -- or in Judea and Samaria.
Everything indicates that tension will continue. The
Secretary of State's signals that the withdrawal from

SIPDIS
Gush Katif 'is only the beginning' tell us that the
major struggle is still ahead of us."

--------------

2. Israel's Leadership:
--------------

Summary:
--------------

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Netanyahu is
counting on the fears of the public; the dim hope
Sharon offers is simply a different package for the
product called 'vote for me.'"

Political parties correspondent Sima Kadmon wrote in
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Contrary
to expectations, Sharon did not veer to the Right."

Political parties correspondent Nadav Eyal wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv: "If [Sharon] fails, his
political future will be dealt a mortal blow. Not
surprisingly, so will the political future of the
Likud."

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


I. "Who Benefits From the Fear?"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 30): "Like
insurance, Israeli politics also sells fear. Benjamin
Netanyahu is building his campaign to return to the
Prime Minister's Office on the public's fear of
Palestinian terror. He warns against a terrorist state
arising in Gaza, al-Qaida bases and Qassam rockets
landing in Ashkelon. Experience has taught him that
this works: in 1996, Netanyahu won the elections after
a wave of terror, backed by a warning that 'Peres will
divide Jerusalem'.... Palestinian terror is not a
scarecrow. It is alive and active ... and it is slowly
and painfully folding Israel back to the Green Line....
Therefore, political declarations must be taken in
proportion. It is all a matter of marketing.
Netanyahu is counting on the fears of the public; the
dim hope Sharon offers is simply a different package
for the product called 'vote for me.'"

II. "Disengaging"

Political parties correspondent Sima Kadmon wrote in
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August
30): "If there was any lingering doubt about the Prime
Minister's situation in his own party, the ruling
handed down by the Likud court removed it: in its
ruling Monday, the court authorized the party to begin
the process of removing the Prime Minister from
office.... And as if that weren't enough, the Prime
Minister was given a second resounding slap in the face
on Monday: a leak emerged from a private meeting that
the Defense Minister held on Monday that Mofaz intends
to remain in the Likud and, if Sharon were not going to
run he, Mofaz, would seek the Likud leadership. The
Defense Minister, who executed the disengagement plan
and who backed up the Prime Minister the entire way,
the man who was supposed to be Sharon's chief partner
in the splinter party-now has made everyone doubt
Sharon's intentions or abilities.... Sharon said on
Monday that he was staying in the Likud, but appealed
to another camp, a large camp in the Center and the
Left that supports him and expects him to continue with
the process that he began. His statements about the
evacuation of additional settlements in Judea and
Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] were not aired for the
benefit of the Likud Central Committee members and,
contrary to expectations, Sharon did not veer to the
Right. There's no urgency: he still has four weeks
left to play on every court."

III. "Turn and Turnabout"

Political parties correspondent Nadav Eyal wrote in
popular, pluralist Maariv (August 30): "We can imagine
the picture. Ariel Sharon stands, silent, facing the
turbulent, shouting Central Committee of the Likud....
They will dismiss him, and he will be a regal,
restrained, balanced prime minister -- a stable captain
opposite the extreme Right. Sharon's advisers say that
this is a dream for the campaign of a Sharon party: the
Likud's Central Committee, perhaps one of the most
hated groups in Israel, dismisses one of the most
popular prime ministers because he took Israel out of
Gaza. There will be no better way for Sharon to prove
that the Likud has ceased to be a ruling party. There
will be no better way to announce the establishment of
a new ruling party.... Nevertheless, and with all due
respect to public support, Sharon's political future is
in grave danger. Right now he is losing the battle
over the Likud, the only ruling party, his assets and
power are slipping through his fingers, his rivals are
attaining objectives while he has no choice but to
retreat.... Anyone who wants to win in the party does
not insult its members. Sharon has completed the
process of his emotional disengagement from the Likud
even though he still hopes to turn things around and
manage to survive. If he fails, his political future
will be dealt a mortal blow. Not surprisingly, so will
the political future of the Likud."

KURTZER