ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 006103 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 Please note: no Tel Aviv Media Reaction report Tuesday, October 18, 2005, due to Sukkoth holiday. -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Syria Governance ¶3. Iraq -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- In their lead stories, all media reported that nearly simultaneous drive-by shootings, one at the Gush Etzion Junction and the other at the settlement of Eli in the northern West Bank, left three Israelis dead and eight wounded Sunday and prompted the Defense Ministry to clamp down on the Palestinians -- notably by forbidding travel in the West Bank by Palestinians in private vehicles and encircling Palestinian cities -- and cut contacts with the PA. Leading media quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying: "We want the dialogue with the Palestinians to continue but we can't if the PA doesn't start taking significant and active steps against the terrorist organizations." Leading media reported that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the Gush Etzion attack, but Israel Radio said this morning that the organization's leadership refuted that assertion. On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that the PA has asked Israel not to meddle in the elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council, and not to attempt to prevent the participation of Hamas, lest this serve only to strengthen the organization. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted PA security officials as saying on Saturday that Russian military experts have arrived in the Gaza Strip to help the Palestinian security forces enforce law and order. Ha'aretz reported that at a meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials Sunday, the Palestinians agreed to Israel's demand that a third party -- probably European -- supervise the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, and that this supervisory role include defined enforcement powers that will be exercised should the Palestinians fail to fulfill their part of the border agreement. Jerusalem Post reported that the PA "capped a largely disastrous first month of rule in the Gaza Strip" with an announcement late Saturday night that it prevented 17 terrorist attacks and confiscated a significant number of weapons. On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that on a number of recent occasions, the U.S. has asked Israel to keep out of efforts to bring pressure to bear on Syria, and to leave things to Washington's devices. The newspaper quoted GOI sources as saying on Saturday that they had no knowledge of a so-called "Qadhafi Package" that the U.S. had offered Syria to bring it in from the international cold, as reported in the British newspaper The Times. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic official as saying that while Israel has complained bitterly for months that Syria is actively aiding and abetting terrorism both from Lebanon and inside Israel, it is not interested in seeing President Bashar Assad's regime fall. IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi was quoted as saying in an interview with Maariv that 10 Al-Qaida activists have infiltrated the Gaza Strip. Jerusalem Post reported that in the wake of a purported, unauthenticated Al-Qaida letter threatening to "clash with Israel," the Foreign Ministry has expressed increased concerns of Al-Qaida crossing Israel's border. Ha'aretz, Yediot, and Jerusalem Post quoted Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman Karim Rahimi as saying Sunday that Karzai would recognize Israel's government if an independent Palestinian state was first established. Ha'aretz quoted Israeli political sources as saying that they viewed earlier reports in the Afghan media as "another step on the road to recognition of Israel by the Muslim world." (On Sunday, Yediot bannered remarks by Afghan diplomats that their country would recognize Israel.) During the weekend, the media reported that Pakistan has acceded to Israel's offer to send humanitarian assistance in the wake of the earthquake on the Indian subcontinent. The media reported that Pakistan has condition its acceptance of Israeli aid upon it being forwarded via a third party, such as the U.S. or the UN. On Sunday, major media (banner in Maariv) reported that on Saturday, the Shin Bet found an unexploded Palestinian Qassam rocket on PM Sharon's ranch in the Negev, near the grave of his deceased wife Lily. The rocket was probably launched several weeks ago. On Sunday, Yediot reported that U.S. intelligence elements have discovered that Iran is developing nuclear warheads. On Sunday, Jerusalem Post cited a report by the Jordanian news agency Petra as saying that a huge fire destroyed a clothing factory Saturday in one of seven joint Jordanian-Israeli manufacturing zones in Jordan, causing several million dollars worth of damage. Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Jerusalem Post reported that Elizabeth Nicole Jacobson, believed to be the first female U.S. pilot killed in the line of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, had a Jewish father, David Jacobson. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that David Jacobson told the Florida Jewish News, "Elizabeth knew that by fighting in Iraq, she was in effect protecting Israel. She was very proud of that." -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If the PA does not rethink its approach to terror, it is doubtful that the PA's parliamentary elections will be able to take place." Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It has already happened that Israel failed to understand -- or understood too late -- processes that were taking place on the Palestinian side." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Palestinian Population Will Pay the Price" Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (October 17): "Even if Israel refrains from harsh reprisals for Sunday's lethal terror attack, there is no getting around the fact that the Palestinian population will suffer from the steps the IDF will take to prevent other such attacks, such as the erection of additional checkpoints. The IDF will also continue its large-scale arrest operations, which, to date, have nabbed some 700 terror suspects in the West Bank. Sunday's attack in Gush Etzion was the most serious attack in the West Bank since the disengagement, and it should be viewed as proof that some of the terror organizations want to reignite the fighting in the West Bank. There is still no confirmation of the claim of responsibility issued by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, but if this Fatah-affiliated organization was responsible, it makes the incident even more serious from the standpoint of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is now on a diplomatic tour overseas. In any event, if the PA does not rethink its approach to terror, it is doubtful that the PA's parliamentary elections will be able to take place." II. "End of the Concessions Season" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (October 17): "The Palestinians very badly wanted to receive control over the city of Bethlehem in advance of Christmas. After Sunday's shooting attacks, they can forget about it.... The army and the Shin Bet are constantly measuring the temperature on the ground, in an attempt to understand and detect the telltale signs that indicate the outbreak of the third Intifada, the outburst of a wave of terror attacks in the West Bank, which everyone foresaw would come after the pullout from Gaza. On Sunday too, the question was asked: Are these the two terror attacks the first rain that marks the arrival of the deluge? Or is this, still, a statistical success, meaning that after dozens of terror attacks that were prevented, two succeeded.... But perhaps the thermometer is mistaken? It has already happened that Israel failed to understand -- or understood too late -- processes that were taking place on the Palestinian side. It is very possible that Sunday's two terror attacks mark the turnabout. In any case, the 'tahdiya' [calm] is scheduled to expire at the end of 2005. So it is possible that someone decided that breaking the rules of the game can be moved up by a month or two." -------------- ¶2. Syria Governance: -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If Syria is forced into a Libya-style deal with the U.S., that will be a victory for the West, including Israel. But if Syria refuses, as could well happen, it should be obvious that Israel should encourage, not stand in the way of, increasing international pressure on Damascus as much as possible. If that regime falls, it will once again prove that Arab radicalism does not pay." Block Quotes: -------------- "Coercing Syria" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (October 17): "This war [on global terror] should be measured in the number of terror-supporting regimes that are either replaced or are forced out of the terror (and nuclear weapons) business. By this metric, the outcome of America's ultimatum to Syria will tell us much about where the West stands in beating back the wider jihad against it. At this moment, only Iran represents a greater challenge than Syria within the Muslim world. In this context, the Israeli reaction to the Syrian regime's predicament is strange, to say the least. Certainly, Israel's main interest is that Syria stops supporting terrorism. But is there any understanding in Jerusalem that the regional democratic transformation that the U.S. is seeking is also in Israel's interest?.... If Syria is forced into a Libya- style deal with the U.S., that will be a victory for the West, including Israel. But if Syria refuses, as could well happen, it should be obvious that Israel should encourage, not stand in the way of, increasing international pressure on Damascus as much as possible. If that regime falls, it will once again prove that Arab radicalism does not pay." -------------- ¶3. Iraq: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Americans ... can consider it an achievement that the referendum even took place." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Vote Itself Is an Achievement" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (October 16): "The Americans, who invested tremendous effort in recent weeks to obtain a consensus of sorts on the wording of the constitution, can consider it an achievement that the referendum even took place, considering it was jeopardized by both the Kurds and Sunnis. However, because of the various sectarian threats, it was decided that even if the constitution is approved, it will be temporary and open to amendment even after parliamentary elections -- in keeping with a new referendum. Hence, Iraq may face a complex political process of elections and negotiations between the factions in the coming months -- while bombs continue exploding on the streets." JONES