Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05TELAVIV582
2005-02-01 10:36:00
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 07 TEL AVIV 000582 

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:
--------------------------------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000582

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. Mideast


2. Iraq

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

Under the banner "The Stick and The Carrot," Maariv led
with a report that the U.S. administration has conveyed
messages to the GOI, according to which a Palestinian
state would be established, and President Bush would do
everything to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear
capability. The newspaper cited the GOI's expression
of concern regarding the United States' determination
vis-a-vis Iran, but its concern about developments as
regards the Palestinians, especially in view of the
high regard in which PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu
Mazen) is held by the U.S. Administration. Jerusalem
Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
is considering reviving the role Anthony Zinni played
in 2001 as a security go-between to prod the PA and
Israel into implementing the Tenet cease-fire plan.
Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying
that Secretary Rice's visit Sunday is an indication
that the "U.S. is back in this in a big way," and that
this will be manifest in a greatly enhanced security
role for the U.S. Israel Radio reported that Monday,
before her meeting with the team of senior Sharon aide
Dov Weisglass, Secretary Rice stressed the importance
of territorial continuity and a viable Palestinian
state for the success of the diplomatic process.

Ha'aretz reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
last night told Palestinian security official Muhammad
Dahlan last night that there would be no transfer of
West Bank cities to the PA without a total cessation of
mortar fire into the settlements of Gush Katif. Israel
Radio says that a new security meeting is slated for
Sunday. The station cited the Palestinian newspaper Al-
Quds as saying that Weisglass will meet with Dahlan and
chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday to
prepare the Sharon-Abbas meeting. Israel Radio quoted
a Palestinian official as saying that Israel has
toughened its position and that it is demanding that
even small groups, such as the PFLP, be disarmed. The
media reported on nine launchings of mortar shells at
Gaza Strip settlements on Monday, and on isolated

bombing incidents in the West Bank. The media also
reported that Hamas blamed the IDF for the death under
still undetermined circumstances of a 10-year-old
Palestinian girl in Rafah, and that the shelling was a
response to that incident.

Leading media reported on, and Yediot led with, a
threat by the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in
the Territories that it would harden its anti-
disengagement moves, including starting a hunger
strike.
Leading media (banner in Ha'aretz) reported that
Attorney General Menachem Mazuz informed the
Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) Monday
that the cabinet's decision to apply the Absentee
Property Law to East Jerusalem was made without Mazuz's
knowledge or consent. Leading media reported that
Mazuz will announce to the government today that he is
acting to have the decision rescinded.

Maariv reported that a senior minister from a
neighboring Arab country has recently approached his
Israel counterpart -- a senior minister -- offering his
country's mediation between Israel and Syria. The
proposal reportedly includes a "road map" comprising
stages and agreement by both sides. Maariv says that
PM Sharon rejects any diplomatic track with Syria.
Yediot reported that during the weekend, three Israeli
WMD control experts secretly met in Cairo with a senior
adviser of President Bashar Assad and two Iranian
academics.

Ha'aretz reported that Vice Premier Shimon Peres is
promoting a proposal to pay a monthly allowance of USD
100 to every Palestinian living below the poverty line.
The newspaper says that the idea came up during
discussions between Peres and A/S William Burns, who
visited Israel last week. The money is slated to come
from the donor countries, which provide aid to the PA.

Ha'aretz quoted Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Dan
Halutz as saying before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee on Monday that the disengagement
plan will cost the IDF 1.9 billion shekels (around USD
433.5 million). The newspaper also reported that the
police have been recruiting hundreds of civilians over
the past month who are slated to help with the evacuees
of the Gush Katif (Katif Bloc) settlements.

Yediot, Maariv and Jerusalem Post reported that Shas
party head, MK Eli Yishai, will visit Egypt next week
and meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar
Suleiman, as well as with other senior Egyptian
officials, who will try to convince him to support the
disengagement plan. Ha'aretz quoted MK Yuval Steinitz,
chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee, as saying on Monday: "Egypt is the only
country in the region that is preparing for the
possibility of a military confrontation with Israel."

Jerusalem Post quoted Peace Now Spokesman Yariv
Oppenheimer as saying that hoping to show that the
"majority has decided," disengagement supporters are
planning a big rally in Tel Aviv on February 19.
Citing AP, Ha'aretz reported that the EU on Monday
called on Israel and the PA to use a moment of relative
good will to make a major move in the Mideast peace
process by the end of February.

Ha'aretz reported that the police are trying to stop PA
involvement in East Jerusalem's business sector.

Citing AP, Jerusalem Post reported that in Abu Dhabi on
Monday, U/S John Bolton repeated U.S. allegations about
an Iranian weapons program and said Israel might attack
Iran's nuclear sites because it has a history of such
actions. Jerusalem Post reported that Iranian news
agencies and media have recently claimed that the
Holocaust was a Zionist plot.

Ha'aretz reported that reportage in the U.S. media on
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has declined slightly,
and that during 2003 the National Public Radio (NPR)
ombudsman received no fewer than 17,000 complaints
about coverage of the conflict -- in 2004, that number
dropped to a few thousand.

Ha'aretz reported that the German government is holding
up the signing of a contract for the sale of Dingo
armored cars to Israel for fear that the IDF will use
them against the Palestinians.

All media reported that the government decided Monday
that the last 20,000 Falash Mura [Ethiopian Jews who
were converted to Christianity] who are eligible to
immigrate to Israel will be brought here by the end of

2007.

Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, exactly two
years after Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon and his six
American colleagues met their deaths aboard the
Columbia shuttle, Tel Aviv University Professor of
Atmospheric Sciences Colin Price will present the
findings of an Israeli dust experiment that Ramon
conducted on the shuttle.

All media (banner in Globes) cited an announcement by
Eastman Kodak on Monday that it would pay USD 980
million in cash for the Canadian-Israeli digital
printing company Creo.

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

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

Summary:
--------------
Veteran liberal author Yoram Kaniuk wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Since the
crisis in the [2000] Camp David talks, many people
realized that it was impossible to reach a peaceful
solution. This is no longer true."

Yahad party head and Geneva Accord co-initiator Yossi
Beilin wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: "When we are
the sovereign faction, we have no right to discriminate
the minority with tools that we created when we were a
persecuted people."

Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote on page one of
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: " Israel must make it
clear that there is no more 'tolerable' fire. No fire
is tolerable."

Correspondent Yakov Shaus wrote in conservative Russian-
language Vesty: "Sharon should be flexible -- on one
hand he must show his willingness to negotiate with the
Palestinians, and on the other hand he must insist that
the U.S. require the disarming of Hamas and Islamic
Jihad."

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


I. "Sharon and Abu Mazen Are Holding Hands"

Veteran liberal author Yoram Kaniuk wrote in mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (February 1):
"Since the crisis in the [2000] Camp David talks, many
people realized that it was impossible to reach a
peaceful solution. This is no longer true. The
Israeli Right grasped the century-old problem inherent
in the conflict, but not the solutions. The Left
understood the solutions but not the problem. Now,
they are joining as Sharon and Abu Mazen are in
unison.... Both old men have understood that both the
Left and the Right have been wrong and that a new
structure must be built so that our grandchildren can
resolve the old structure's crooked ways.... On the
fringes of the Left and the Right, people are always
100 percent right; therefore, they know no moment of
doubt ... No attempt to see the other side ... or to
think differently. The come with formulas, so they can
dress them up."

II. "A State that is Jewish But Belongs to All Its
Citizens"

Yahad party head and Geneva Accord co-initiator Yossi
Beilin wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv (February 1):
"The decision of Attorney General Meni [Menachem] Mazuz
to prevent discrimination in marketing Jewish National
Fund land has made things easier for many of us, who do
not want to see Zionism linked with such blatant damage
to the equality of frights between Jewish and Arabs
citizens of Israel.... What was just and appropriate
when the Jews were a small minority in the Land of
Israel [historical Palestine] and before the
establishment of the state, is unacceptable after 57
years of independence. When we are the sovereign
faction, we have no right to discriminate the minority
with tools that we created when we were a persecuted
people, with no legal possibility of immigrating to the
Land of Israel and settling here. All we did then was
to make ploys in order to survive."

III. "Israel Being Dragged Into Hizbullah-Style
Fighting in Gaza Strip"

Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote on page one of
nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (February 1): "The Hamas
organization sent a clear message in all directions on
Monday, mainly to Sharon and to Abu Mazen: we are
adopting Hizbullah's style of action in the last years
of the IDF in Lebanon.... It decided that the ten year-
old girl in Rafah was killed by IDF fire, and it
decided on the pattern of response -- about ten mortar
shells at Gush Katif.... Israeli restraint plays
straight into the hands of Hamas policy. An Israeli
response follows the game rules that Hamas planned: a
response for the attack on a Palestinian civilian while
maintaining a level of fire that is 'tolerable' and
Israeli restraint. Israel must not be dragged into
this cyclic pattern of action. Israel must make it
clear that there is no more 'tolerable' fire. No fire
is tolerable. The IDF's response does not have to be
in the same place and in the same time. Freezing
gestures for a long time, for example, or completely
stopping any transfer of security responsibility over
the Judea and Samaria [West Bank] cities (unlike the
civilian responsibility that will remain in Palestinian
hands) could also be a very fitting response."

IV. "Looking Forward to American Visitors"

Correspondent Yakov Shaus wrote in conservative Russian-
language Vesty (January 31): "The Israeli leaders
forgave Arafat too much.... A new attempt to reach a
compromise with the Palestinians must be accompanied by
extremely tough demands of the PA. Prime Minister
Sharon has said that Israel insists not only on a
complete of eradication of terror, but also on ...
putting an end to the anti-Israeli propaganda....
Incoming U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will
visit Israel before the Sharon-Abu Mazen meeting She
is known to be much more intolerant towards terror than
was her predecessor Colin Powell.... However,
Washington is very interested in moving the peace
process out of a deadlock. Sharon should be flexible -
- on one hand he must show his willingness to negotiate
with the Palestinians, and on the other hand he must
insist that the U.S. require the disarming of Hamas and
Islamic Jihad, which the U.S. has already included in
its list of ... terrorist organizations".

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

2. Iraq:
--------------

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

Foreign News Editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "What we saw on Monday in Iraq was
the power of democracy. We saw people smiling broadly
on the way to the ballot boxes."

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "Most Iraqis will ultimately be better
off than they were under Saddam.... At the same time,
the Bush administration will fall far short of its
goals and the dream of a truly democratic Iraq. Like
most events in the Middle East, the outcome will not be
so clear-cut."

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


I. "Smiling On the Way to the Ballot Box"

Foreign News Editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (February 1): "What we saw on Monday
in Iraq was the power of democracy. We saw people
smiling broadly on the way to the ballot boxes --
something that is reminiscent of the smile of a child
whose parents allow him to cross a road for the first
time without being escorted by an adult. The smile of
a person who suddenly feels the joy and the distress of
responsibility. I saw it a decade ago in South Africa,
when the Blacks were allowed to vote for the first time
in their lives.... The show of freedom, and the
yearning to influence, which we saw this week in Iraq,
must instill a bit of modesty into those who claim that
there are human societies in the world for which
freedom and democracy are less important than to us."

II. "Free For All, For Now"

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (February 1): "Iraq's election is one of
the most important events in modern Middle East history
and, as always happens with important events in the
region, too much energy is being expended on partisan
debates -- is U.S. policy succeeding or not? -- and too
little on what is actually happening.... The result
will most likely be a Shi'ite-dominated regime which
will make a deal with the Kurds against the Sunnis.
The rulers will have a vested interest in getting along
with the U.S. (even while increasingly criticizing it);
create a system more Islamic than that in Egypt or
Jordan though far less so than Iran's; view both Iran
and Syria as hostile, and be somewhat more democratic
than Egypt and Jordan while far less so than the U.S.
would hope.... Nevertheless, the more Iraq actually
does gain self-government the less will a U.S. presence
be able to cope with its issues.... Most Iraqis will
ultimately be better off than they were under Saddam,
while the insurgents are most certainly not going to
win, and neither will the Iranians. At the same time,
the Bush administration will fall far short of its
goals and the dream of a truly democratic Iraq. Like
most events in the Middle East, the outcome will not be
so clear-cut. Problems do not yield way to clear
solutions."

KURTZER