ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005734 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Several media reported that PM Sharon is returning to Israel today "for the battle over his political future." Yediot and Maariv highlighted polls among Likud Central Committee members, which show that there is a majority in that forum in favor of toppling Sharon at the committee or for moving up the internal elections. However, Yediot found that a majority of committee members prefer Sharon to Binyamin Netanyahu as the party's leading candidate in the next elections (see below). Leading media reported that Sharon told Jewish American leaders in New York that he has lost his majority in the party he founded. On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. administration has reservations about Sharon's announcement that Israel will not cooperate in elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the West Bank if Hamas candidates participate in the ballot. Leading media quoted Sharon as saying yesterday at his meeting with Jewish American leaders that he had asked European leaders and UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan to press for the disarming of Hamas militants and the abolition of their charter, which calls for Israel's destruction. Sharon was quoted as saying that Israel would not cooperate in Palestinian elections scheduled for January unless those two conditions were met. The media note that Israeli assistance is considered vital for smooth elections. The media also reported that on Sunday, thousands of Hamas militants paraded with weapons through the streets of Gaza City in the group's largest show of force in years, defying PA efforts to ban public displays of arms. Leading media reported that outgoing U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer left the country on Sunday, and that incoming Ambassador Richard H. Jones arrived in Israel a few hours later. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted Kurtzer as saying in an interview with the newspaper that there is still room for "diplomatic discussion" on the matter of settlement expansion. Kurtzer was quoted as saying in an interview broadcast on Sunday: "In the context of a final status agreement, the U.S. will support the retention by Israel of areas with a high concentration of Israeli population." Leading media reported that Sharon said at his meeting with Jewish American leaders that Ma'aleh Adumim will be connected to Jerusalem. Maariv quoted him as saying that the U.S. now recognizes the "settlement blocs." Yediot quoted Jones as saying that his great dream is to have peace come during his term. On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that senior officials in the PA and Egypt are discussing the possibility of reopening the Rafah border crossing, which Israel dismantled and closed before withdrawing from the Gaza Strip. Ha'aretz writes that participants in the talks told the newspaper that the crossing would be reopened even without explicit Israeli approval, in light of the difficulties in preventing people from crossing between the Strip and Egypt since the Israeli withdrawal. During the weekend, media such as Hatzofe reported that Egypt and the PA are exploring the possibility of reuniting the Palestinian and Egyptian parts of Rafah. Leading media later cited Egypt's denial of such a move. On Sunday, Yediot bannered news that reached senior Sharon associates, according to which the PA and senior Jordanian officials have held contacts in recent days regarding the return of 100,000 Palestinians who fled the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, all media (banner in Maariv) cited Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN on Saturday, in which he stated his country's intention to develop its nuclear program. On Sunday, Maariv reported that Sharon told South African President Thabo Mbeki on Friday that nuclear weapons in Iran's hands are unacceptable to Israel. Jerusalem Post reported that as the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency convenes in Vienna, American and European delegates are struggling to ensure a majority for referring the issue of the Iranian nuclear project to the UN Security Council. All media (banners in Ha'aretz, Yediot, and Jerusalem Post) highlighted a statement made by the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Unit on Sunday that all investigations into the October 2000 riots that left 13 Arab citizens dead have been closed. The decision contradicts many of the conclusions of the Or Judicial Commission of Inquiry. During the weekend, major media reported that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf urged Israel to show its "courage," and the Jewish community to use its influence, to solve the Palestinian dispute once and for all," which requires Israel to pull out of the West Bank and agree on a solution for Jerusalem that respects the city's "international character." Musharraf was speaking before an audience of Jewish American leaders in New York on Saturday. He was quoted as saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that he has no timetable for ties with Israel. Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's representative to the UN Danny Gillerman as saying that he considered Musharraf's intimation that Israel's presence on land it captured in the 1967 war in the West Bank and Gaza to be the root cause of Islamic terrorism to be very problematic." Gillerman was also quoted as saying that now that direct contacts had been initiated, Israel could and would try to "push [Musharraf] along a little faster." On Sunday, leading media reported that Sharon and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas are expected to meet in Jerusalem on October 2, before the Jewish New Year. On Sunday, Maariv cited a diplomatic initiative to lay a pipeline from Iraq through Jordan to Ashkelon, where tankers bound for Europe would be filled. The newspaper says that King Abdullah II of Jordan is involved in the initiative. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, Vice Premier and Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres received praise from former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Quartet envoy James Wolfensohn. The newspaper reported that, "in what sounded like an endorsement of the Labor Party and Peres," Clinton called on the Jews around the world to get involved in Israel and create a climate in the "body politic" to move the peace process forward. Maariv reported that the Central District Planning and Building Committee has decided to approve the establishment of an industrial park near the border terminal that is currently being built near the Israeli Arab town of Taybeh. The terminal may serve as a future gateway between Israel and the PA. Ha'aretz cited a message sent recently by Bahrain's treasurer, Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, to the U.S. commercial delegation in the kingdom, which said, "Bahrain recognizes the need to withdraw the primary boycott against Israel and is developing the means to achieve this." Ha'aretz reported that the state will allocate USD 1 million to defend senior army officers charged abroad with war crimes, if a bill proposed by Justice Minister Tzipi Livni is passed. The draft law will be submitted for the cabinet's approval at its regular weekly meeting next Sunday. On Sunday, Ha'aretz cited an AP story, which quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev as saying on Friday that British police have canceled an arrest warrant for Gen. (res.) Doron Almog for alleged war crimes, for procedural reasons. However, Regev cautioned that similar warrants could still be issued in the UK against Israeli commanders. Yediot and Maariv also reported on the cancellation of Almog's arrest warrant. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Air Force has dispatched 10 of its best warplanes to Turkey, where they will dogfight with other nations in the international Anatolian Eagle joint air maneuvers. Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday, the Homeland Security Studies Program of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya and the Maxwell School of Government at Syracuse University signed an agreement for collaboration on the study of counterterrorism and homeland security. Jerusalem Post reported that the "Library of Life in the Desert," pioneering software for storing and analyzing biological information about the Dead Sea and its desert environment, is to be developed jointly by scientists from Israel, Jordan and the U.S. The decision was agreed upon last week in Jordan at a bioinformatics workshop held by the non-profit Bridging the Rift Foundation. This morning, Israel Radio's news bulletins led with North Korea's renouncement of nuclear weapons. A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted on Sunday among members of the Likud's Central Committee: -"Should the Likud primaries be moved up?" Yes: 47 percent; no: 45 percent; 8 percent were undecided. -"Who should lead the Likud in the next elections?" Sharon: 39 percent; Netanyahu: 28 percent; Uzi Landau: 16 percent; 8 percent were undecided. -"Should Uzi Landau retire from the race, whom would you prefer?" Sharon: 43 percent; Netanyahu: 40 percent; 17 percent were undecided. Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey conducted on Sunday among members of the Likud's Central Committee: -"Will you vote for or against the proposal to depose Sharon?" In favor: 47.8 percent; against: 41.6 percent; 10.6 percent were undecided. -"Whom would you prefer to see as head of Likud and its candidate for prime minister?" Sharon: 37.5 percent; Netanyahu: 30.3 percent; Landau: 17.7 percent. -"Whom would you prefer if only Sharon and Netanyahu are candidates?" Netanyahu: 42.9 percent; 39.3 percent: Sharon. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "To expect the prime minister of Israel to declare a willingness to divide Jerusalem and return to the borders of 1967 is unrealistic.... [However], Sharon's speech, following the withdrawal from Gaza, has created a dynamic of reconciliation." Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz: "Egypt will make an effort to protect the border from its side without creating violent friction between its troops and the Palestinians.... There is no reason to feign innocence and claim they [the Egyptians] tricked us." Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Instead of suggesting that Sharon is undermining Palestinian democracy, the U.S. and EU should apply the same yardstick to democracy building among the Palestinians as they do in their efforts to promote freedom in Afghanistan and peace in Ireland. The ticket for participation is abandoning the gun." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "If Peace Be His Mission" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (September 18): "'The most important test' for the Palestinian Authority that Sharon spoke of in his speech [at the UN General Assembly] -- namely, the prevention of acts of terror -- is not separate from Israel's actions. Sharon's declaration that he will continue to build in the settlement blocs until the final stage of the negotiations -- as he said in interviews with the U.S. media in conjunction with his conciliatory address to the UN -- is of no help to the success of the Palestinian 'test'.... [On the other side], the Palestinian leadership did not join in the enthusiasm over Sharon's address to the UN, and its officials, each in his own style, emphasized instead what wasn't said. To expect the prime minister of Israel to declare a willingness to divide Jerusalem and return to the borders of 1967 is unrealistic, and does nothing to better the atmosphere. Sharon's speech, following the withdrawal from Gaza, has created a dynamic of reconciliation that should be grabbed with both hands and utilized to the maximum. The planned meeting between Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas must be a first joint step toward moving the political process forward." II. "Of Course, Egypt Is To Blame" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz (September 18): "'Egypt promised,' 'Egypt made a commitment' or 'I expected more of the Egyptians,' as Ariel Sharon said in New York, are the 'charges' that now comprise the indictment against Cairo. Egypt, it should be remembered, did Israel a great favor: it freed Israel from its presence on the Philadelphi route and thus provided Sharon the possibility of declaring that the Gaza Strip in its entirely had been freed from Israeli occupation.... Egypt will make an effort to protect the border from its side without creating violent friction between its troops and the Palestinians. This is the maximum that could be attained under the conditions that Israel dictated, and there is no reason to feign innocence and claim they tricked us.... Egypt has no less of an interest than Israel in seeing that it does not abut a Palestinian Hamas state. But it seems that as long as some shrieking politicians still regard Egypt as an enemy state, it will continue to also be held responsible in their eyes for poverty in Israel and the results of the matriculation tests." III. "Bullets or Ballots" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (September 19): "We understand -- and share -- the American goal of democratizing the Palestinian Authority. But what incentive does Hamas have to abandon the 'armed struggle' if it can simultaneously pursue the bullet and the ballot? The notion that Hamas in government would set aside its raison d'etre - - expelling the Jews from the Middle East -- and focus on social services, sanitation and public health is naive. So too is the idea that once it tastes power it will share it indefinitely with non-Islamist Palestinians.... Can any true democrat imagine yesterday's elections in Afghanistan -- or in Germany, for that matter -- permitting the participation of armed militias; or an armed IRA competing in Northern Ireland's elections? A genuinely representative system demands more than going through the motions of elections. More important than elections themselves are the conditions under which they are held.... So instead of suggesting that Sharon is undermining Palestinian democracy, the U.S. and EU should apply the same yardstick to democracy building among the Palestinians as they do in their efforts to promote freedom in Afghanistan and peace in Ireland. The ticket for participation is abandoning the gun." JONES