ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 000820 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Israel Radio reported that over 30 mortars, including Qassam rockets, have been fired at the Gaza Strip's Katif Bloc since last night. The radio's anchor said: "This is how a cease-fire in the Middle East looks." Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that earlier a Hamas militant was shot to death. The army denied having killed any Palestinians overnight, saying the man might have been killed during a "work accident" while preparing explosives. IDF soldiers fired at four Palestinians approaching the southern Katif Bloc settlement of Atzmona. The station reported that Israel held contacts with the U.S. and Egypt, and warned the Palestinians about the mortar shelling. Israel Radio reported that Hamas militants raided a Gaza jail, and freed Hamas prisoners whom the PA had arrested. Several Palestinians may have been killed during the forced entry. Similar to other media, Jerusalem Post quoted senior Israeli and Palestinian officials as saying that PM Sharon and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) would likely meet within a week to follow up on the summit. Leading media reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is likely to visit Sharon's Sycamore Farm, and that Sharon would visit Egypt. Reiterating previous statements he made Wednesday, PM Sharon told Ha'aretz last night that a referendum on the disengagement plan is meant to prevent the pullout from taking place. He said he will put an end to threats against Likud Knesset members who support disengagement. Ha'aretz reported that talking to reporters Wednesday, Sharon praised Israeli Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh for having supported the evacuation-compensation bill at the Knesset's Finance Committee, "because the Likud Knesset members did not vote with the government." All media reported that Wednesday Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) expressed his support for a referendum. Israel Radio reported that left-wing politicians demanded he resign. Maariv assesses that there currently is no Knesset majority for the state's 2005 budget, which could put the disengagement plan at risk. All media (lead stories in Maariv and Yediot) reported that Sharon decided Wednesday to name Yuval Diskin director of the Shin Bet. He will assume this position in May. Diskin, who was deputy director of the service until the summer of 2003, built secret links with the Palestinians, and had been responsible for developing the thwarting of terror bombings and "ticking bombs." Jerusalem Post reported that many young Palestinian men in Jordan are applying to serve as soldiers of the "symbolic" Badr Brigade -- the Jordanian branch of the Palestinian Liberation Army, composed of either Palestinian refugees or their descendants -- which might be deployed in the PA areas as a security force. Israel Radio reported that 2,000 Palestinian workers and traders will be allowed to enter Israel today. Ha'aretz reported that progress in talks between Israel and the Palestinians and relative calm in the territories has led the security service this month to freeze plans for a water channel along the Philadelphi route at Rafah between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The channel was to have helped prevent the digging of weapons-smuggling tunnels and to protect IDF troops. All media reported that on Wednesday, Abbas dispatched several senior Palestinian officials to Damascus and Beirut in an attempt to prevent Hamas from violating the cease-fire. Yediot and Jerusalem Post reported that Syrian FM Farouk Shara, in a telephone conversation with Italian FM Gianfranco Fini on Friday on Wednesday, told him that Syria will apply its influence on the extremist organizations, including Hizbullah, so that they respect the cease-fire achieved in Sharm el-Sheikh. Yediot quoted Israeli defense sources as saying that Hamas is bracing for a new confrontation. Leading media reported that on Wednesday, Jordanian FM Hani Fawzi al-Mulki asked FM Silvan Shalom to approve the nomination of Marouf al-Bakhit, Jordan's current envoy to Turkey, as ambassador to Israel. Maariv reported that the IDF is considering holding off on its plan to dismantle its "hesder" units (in which yeshiva students combine military service with religious studies) until after the completion of the disengagement process. Yediot reported that 15 heads of state will arrive in Israel on March 15 to attend the inauguration of Yad Vashem's new historical museum. Maariv reported that the U.S. Consulate-General in Israel (sic) is trying to help local business people obtain E-1 treaty trader visas. Yediot reported that foreign diplomats serving in Israel, including U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer and the U.S. Consul-General in Israel (sic),have protested to the Foreign Ministry over a new Interior Ministry directive restricting the stay in Israel of hundreds of foreign workers employed as servants at the diplomats' residences. The diplomats claim that the directive contravenes the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Maariv reported that an IAF base Wednesday hosted a team from Alhurra-TV. The newspaper says that this was another demonstration of IDF openness following the Arab networks' lifting of their boycott of the IDF. Jerusalem Post reported that an oil slick from two tankers that collided off the coast of Egypt Friday night reached the southern part of the Katif Bloc and Rafah on Wednesday. Maariv reported that the U.S. will soon deport an Israeli woman who is detained in a Florida jail, despite the fact that her husband and five-month-old son are American citizens. She was arrested about one year ago as a suspect in a fraud case involving an Israeli-owned moving company. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The Sharon government deserves the confidence of the Knesset members so the disengagement plan does not end up shelved with the entire region sent back into a reality of bloodshed and hopelessness." Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "How can [Foreign Minister Silvan] Shalom lead a campaign against the prime minister he serves and seem to undermine the policy he must defend?" Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The claim that a referendum would delay the disengagement plan and its calendar is unfounded." Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: "As far as Hizbullah and Iran are concerned, the course [Abu Mazen] is steering is the start of an existential threat -- serenity and calm would pave the way for an American campaign against Tehran." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Budget Means Disengagement" Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (February 10): "The success of the disengagement plan now depends on just one thing: Sharon's ability to enlist a Knesset majority for the state's 2005 budget. If the budget does not pass in a vote before the end of March, the government will fall, and with it, the disengagement. Even those who do not agree with the economic policy embodied in the budget must regard the vote on the budget first of all as a vote of confidence in the disengagement. The background noise being generated by disengagement opponents creates the mistaken impression that Sharon has no legitimacy for his policies. But the polls show that two-thirds of the public support the disengagement.... The Sharon government deserves the confidence of the Knesset members so the disengagement plan does not end up shelved with the entire region sent back into a reality of bloodshed and hopelessness." II. "Take Responsibility" Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (February 10): "Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who announced that he will lead a campaign for a referendum on the government's disengagement plan, says his position is a 'matter of principle'.... The entire debate on this issue, however, tends to blithely skip over a principle that should come first: parliamentary responsibility.... We understand that some advocate a referendum to compensate for the feelings of disenfranchisement among disengagement opponents who believe that their representatives have abandoned them in order to hang on to their seats for dear life. But how can Shalom or Netanyahu claim to be in such a position, when, should they so desire, they themselves have the ability -- not through a referendum but through their votes -- to actualize their opposition to disengagement and quite possibly halt it?.... The impossibility of Shalom's position is magnified by his post as foreign minister. He is right to be miffed that he was not invited to the Sharm e-Sheikh summit, a snub that clearly undermines him and seems petty and inappropriate on Sharon's part. At the same time, Shalom's behavior seems to have proven Sharon right; how can Shalom lead a campaign against the prime minister he serves and seem to undermine the policy he must defend? If this government does not have majority support, let those who oppose it bring it down. If, on the other hand, more Likud leaders have joined Sharon's camp, let's hear that, too. What we don't need are supposed leaders who continue to straddle the fence on the critical issue of our day, and who thereby increase the very sense of disenfranchisement they claim to want to remedy." III. "The People Wants a Referendum" Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (February 10): "Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's linking up with the group of senior Likud ministers who demand that a referendum on the disengagement [plan] be held, is breathing life into activists of the Likud and other parties, who had become hesitant about the chances of that initiative.... The claim that a referendum would delay the disengagement plan and its calendar is unfounded.... All public opinion polls indicate that a majority among the public supports [the idea of] a referendum.... Among those who back it are people who support the disengagement plan; however, they understand it is unjust and illogical to uproot people from their homes when all the actions related to the disengagement were taken fraudulently, on the sly, and without respecting commitments. Should a referendum be held, and the disengagement plan fail, the Prime Minister could start permanent-status negotiations with the Palestinians. Until the [permanent-status phase] comes, [Sharon] could find out whether Abu Mazen has the strength to put an end to terrorism, to pull up its infrastructure, and to fight the representatives of Iran and Hizbullah." IV. "Nasrallah's Distress" Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv (February 10): "Should it arise, a new Middle East would badly harm Tehran. Twenty-six years after the Islamic revolution, the establishment of a theocratic state in Iran has become a heavy liability for its subjects. Thus, how can that revolution be exported, if not through the Israeli- Palestinian conflict? Hizbullah, too, suffers from export hang-ups.... The budding peace is pulling the rug from under Hizbullah's feet, and sending it to the mire of Lebanese politics.... Since Yasser Arafat's death, Hizbullah has been watching the erosion of the rules of the game; it is afraid that its regional assets could dwindle.... Now Abu Mazen, a leader who was elected in free elections of a kind unknown in the Arab world, is acting as a soldier of peace. As far as Hizbullah and Iran are concerned, the course he is steering is the start of an existential threat -- serenity and calm would pave the way for an American campaign against Tehran." KURTZER