Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV5363
2005-09-01 12:04:00
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.

011204Z Sep 05
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005363 

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 005363

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. Syrian-Lebanese Track


3. Iraq


4. U.S.-Israel Relations

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

This morning, Israel Radio reported that FM Silvan
Shalom is holding a meeting in Istanbul with his
Pakistani counterpart Mian Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri.
The station cited Al Jazeera-TV as saying that the
meeting's purpose is the establishment of diplomatic
relations between the two countries.

Leading media reported that Egyptian border guards will
start deploying along the Philadelphi road on Sunday
(banner in Yediot). IDF troops will remain on the
Israeli side of the route until September 15. The
Knesset approved the agreement with Egypt on Wednesday,
53-28. Israel Radio says that senior Israeli and
Egyptian officers will sign the agreement today. The
station notes that there still is no agreement
regarding the border crossings. Ha'aretz reported that
Israel will start building a new border crossing
terminal at Kerem Shalom on the Israel-Egypt-Gaza Strip
border next week, despite opposition from Egypt and the
PA. Israel Radio cited the Palestinian daily Al-Ayyam
as saying an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on border
crossings has been reached through the mediation of
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman: people would
enter and leave the Gaza Strip at Rafah, and goods
would pass through Dahaniyeh or Kerem Shalom. Israel
Radio reported that GOI sources denied that such an
agreement has been achieved.

Maariv cited secret contacts between Israel and Jordan
toward a visit by King Abdullah II to Jerusalem next
week. Israel Radio cited a Jordanian denial of the
report.

All media (banners in Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.) and
Jerusalem Post) reported on the killing of
approximately 1,000 Shi'ites in Wednesday's stampede in
Baghdad. Ha'aretz cites concerns in Iraq that the
Shi'ites might avenge the event, which was sparked by
rumors. An Israel TV commentator said that those

appear to have been intentional.

Leading media reported that Baruch Ben-Menachem (born
Bret Taback),a new immigrant from the U.S., set
himself ablaze on Wednesday in the yard of Ulpan
Etzion, a Hebrew language school for new immigrants in
the Bakaa neighborhood of Jerusalem. He was seriously
wounded. Several media quoted him as saying that he
did it to protest Israel's withdrawal two weeks ago
from the Gaza Strip. The media reported that Yelena
Bosinova, 54, a right-wing activist from the West Bank
settlement of Kedumim, died last Friday from injuries
sustained when she set herself ablaze in the Negev city
of Netivot two weeks earlier.

All media continued to report on the devastation caused
by Hurricane Katrina, and cited measures taken by
President Bush to face it. Jerusalem Post reported
that FM Silvan Shalom sent Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice a letter offering sympathy for the
desolation. The newspaper notes that Shalom's letter
was sent a day after a State Department spokesman said
Rice had not received any calls from her colleagues
abroad. Maariv quoted rabbis in Israel and the U.S. as
saying that the disaster was a punishment inflicted on
the U.S. for its support of disengagement.

Leading media reported that Palestinian TV interviewed
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz on Wednesday. He told the
station that the PA must fulfill its commitment to
Israel to fight terror. The media quoted Mofaz as
saying: "Israel carried out a painful move in the
pullout plan, despite bitter criticism from within.
Now we are calling on the Palestinians to do their
part."

All media reported that Knesset Member Binyamin
Netanyahu toured the E-1 area between Jerusalem and
Ma'aleh Adumim, as part of his campaign for Likud
chairmanship. Ha'aretz quoted Peace Now Secretary-
General Yariv Oppenheimer as saying: "Netanyahu wants
to sabotage the most sensitive spot in Israeli-American
relations. Building in E-1 means a fatal blow to the
idea of two states for two nations and would break the
contiguity between the northern and southern West
Bank." The media also reported that on Wednesday,
Likud rebel Knesset Member Uzi Landau opened his
campaign HQ.

Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. is trying to enlist the
European countries against Syrian President Bashar
Assad. Yediot reported that Syria has allowed a German
prosecutor representing the UN Security Council to
interrogate five senior Syrian officials regarding the
assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafic Hariri.
Leading media cited reports that the Syrian and
Lebanese presidents will not attend the UN General
Assembly meeting because they fear of being harassed by
the U.S.

Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. District Court in Rhode
Island has frozen all assets held by the PA in the
U.S., over the PA's refusal to compensate relatives of
a couple killed in a Hamas terror attack.

Maariv reported that Gideon Kutz, the special
correspondent of Channel 2- TV, has been permitted to
enter Iran and report from there. His report will be
screened this evening on the main newscast and tomorrow
on the Friday news magazine. Kutz has had meetings with
members of the local Jewish community and government
officials. Iran's former foreign minister told him
that Iran is pleased with the disengagement and
evacuation of the settlements in the Gaza Strip and
northern West Bank. Another government representative
said Iran does not rule out the possibility of
restraining the terrorist organizations. In interviews
with Kutz, Iranian officials said Teheran is trying to
solve the international crisis surrounding its nuclear
reactor, and work on the nuclear program continues.
Iran has the right to possess nuclear weapons, they
said, and will defend itself if attacked by the U.S.,
or Israel.

Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron, who will
retire later this month, was quoted as saying in an
interview Ha'aretz conducted with him on Wednesday: "I
am convinced the crisis in U.S.-Israel relations [over
Israeli arms deals with China] was predicated on
mistaken information." Yaron said that the whole
affair is a "misunderstanding" that could have been
ended quickly if the Americans had handled it
differently. In an interview with Yediot, Yaron summed
up the affair by quoting former Secretary of State
James Baker, who allegedly told the late PM Yitzhak
Rabin: "We're right even when we're not right, because
we're America."

Citing The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA),Jerusalem
Post reported that Middle East analyst Kenneth Pollack,
who was a staffer on President Clinton's National
Security Council, is one of two USG officials
referenced in the indictment against two former AIPAC
staffers. JTA quoted Pollack as saying he did not give
the lobbyists any classified information, and that the
information that Steve Rosen, AIPAC's former director
of foreign policy issues, was accused of passing on to
a reporter could not have come from him.

Jerusalem Post reported that Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Kohler,
head of the Defense Cooperation Security Agency in the
Pentagon, will brief Indian officials next months and
will try to convince India to purchase the U.S.-made
Patriot PAC-3 missile system, considered the principal
competitor to the Israeli Arrow system.

The media reported that the annual State Comptroller's
Report publishes findings that the defense budget has
received some four to five billion shekels (around USD
1 billion) each year beyond what the Knesset approved.
The report also criticizes illegal building by the
Civil Administration in the West Bank.

Ha'aretz reported that Bank Hapoalim, Israel's largest
bank, announced on Wednesday it has signed an agreement
to buy the broker-dealer corporation company Investec
(US),which is registered and operates in the U.S.

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

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

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

Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri
wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot:
"International figures, as well as circles in Israel,
are talking about an attempt to return to the road map.
There can be no greater mistake."

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

"No to the Road Map"

Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri
wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot
(September 1): "International figures, as well as
circles in Israel, are talking about an attempt to
return to the road map. There can be no greater
mistake. The road map was never more than a list of
aspirations, and the fact is that everything that took
place on the ground -- an Israeli withdrawal of
historical significance, relative calm on the part of
the Palestinian terror organizations -- did not result
from the road map, but rather from political wishes on
both sides. This is also what will happen in the
future.... What can be done all the same? Only a
number of unilateral steps on both sides. On Israel's
side: to think seriously about the possibility of
disengaging from close to 20 isolated settlements
throughout the West Bank. Such a move ... would give
the Palestinians uninterrupted territorial contiguity.
On the Palestinians' side: to consolidate the control
of the Palestinian Authority over its security services
and the armed militias, including Hamas. Abu Mazen
understands full well that no Israeli government will
negotiate with him if he cannot control his own
house.... Furthermore, to begin an internal Palestinian
process, in which the leadership tells the refugees in
the camps -- contrary to the propaganda with which they
have been fed for the past 50 years -- that they will
not return to Israel.... Anyone who says that this is
difficult for the Palestinians will of course be right:
the evacuation of Gush Katif was also difficult.
Painful decisions are necessary -- but on both sides,
not only on Israel's part. Such moves will reduce
friction, contribute to a reduction of violence and
perhaps prepare the atmosphere for significant
negotiations in the future. Those who would rush into
negotiations now are fated to fail, and such a failure
-- as was demonstrated in Camp David -- is not a return
to the starting point, but rather a deterioration into
the abyss."

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

2. Syrian-Lebanese Track:
--------------

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

Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "What will Syria do under pressure? It might
go mad or surrender. Attempts to foresee the behavior
of tyrants are often disappointing, but we must prepare
ourselves for the worst possibility."

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

"Recipe For an Outburst"

Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (September 1): "Sunni Muslims represent around
75 percent of [Syria's] population, but power is in the
hands of the Alawites, who constitute no more than 10
percent [of the population]. This is the recipe for a
volcanic eruption, should Bashar Assad's regime
collapse.... Sunni fundamentalists might take over
Syria. In 1982, Hafez Assad massacred tens of
thousands of them in the city of Hama, but they will
undoubtedly raise their heads as soon as the Ba'ath
regime gets unhinged.... Should a clear connection be
found between the presidential palace in Damascus and
Rafic Hariri's assassins, the [UN] Security Council
would most certainly impose sanctions on Syria, but it
should be assumed that even a clumsy person like Assad
Jr. wouldn't leave clear footprints. What will Syria
do under pressure? It might go mad or surrender.
Attempts to foresee the behavior of tyrants are often
disappointing, but we must prepare ourselves for the
worst possibility."

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

3. Iraq:
--------------

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

Foreign News Editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "Quite sincerely, one can understand
the Iraqis who have recently demonstrated in favor of
Saddam Hussein's return.... [Abu Musab al-]Zarqawi has
never been closer to fulfilling his dream -- and our
nightmare."

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

"Longing For Saddam"

Foreign News Editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (September 1): "Wednesday's panic-
stricken flight along the banks of the Tigris River
added a large piece to the Iraqi puzzle, which, if
completed, might turn out to be the nightmarish sight
of civil war, which would cost human lives in all
inhabited regions of the globe.... Quite sincerely, one
can understand the Iraqis who have recently
demonstrated in favor of Saddam Hussein's return. At
least he promised stability to all those whom he didn't
kill in his cellars. The lack of confidence felt by
many Iraqis since the beginning of the war is gaining
speed, and a disaster such as Wednesday's could produce
a lot of added frustration, given the big American
failure, as of now, to fulfill pledges of a new Iraq.
The great current danger is that the members of the
Shi'ite majority in Iraq, a horrendous number of whom
drowned Wednesday in the river, would stop playing the
political game, after the Sunni minority -- the
stronghold of Saddam's regime -- rejected the offer of
an agreed-upon constitution. [Abu Musab al-]Zarqawi
has never been closer to fulfilling his dream -- and
our nightmare."

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

4. U.S.-Israel Relations:
--------------

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

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "Sharon
was already involved in such deals when he served as
defense minister."

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

"The Wrong Person to Resign"

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (September
1): "As director-general of the Defense Ministry, Amos
Yaron could not have advanced the [Harpy drone] deal
with China without the active involvement of the
Defense Minister and the Prime Minister.... Sharon was
already involved in such deals when he served as
defense minister. He took part in the Skyhawk deal
with Argentina via a third country -- Venezuela -- in
order to deceive the Americans. The Americans
presently don't talk about that deal because the most
important thing to them at this time is the expulsion
of Jews from their homes. Since Sharon is doing this
job at a satisfactory pace as far as they are
concerned, they don't mention past sins in the same
spirit as the deal with China."

KURTZER