ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 000839

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

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. Iran: Nuclear Program

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Key stories in the media:
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All media reported that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu
Mazen) vowed to take action against any future
Palestinian cease-fire violation after Palestinians
fired more than 40 shells at the Gush Katif settlements
in the Gaza Strip Thursday. The media reported that
Abbas dismissed dozens of senior security officers in
the Gaza Strip Thursday. The radio reported that on
Thursday, the U.S. announced its support for Abbas's
efforts to put an end to terror, and that the officers'
sacking is a sign of Abbas's determination to respect
his commitments. Maariv and other media reported that
recalling the commitments made at the Sharm el-Sheikh
summit, top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass conveyed messages
to U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, Egypt's intelligence
chief Omar Suleiman, and PA Negotiations Minister Saeb
Erekat that Israel will not tolerate further shelling
on Israeli communities. Yediot cited Shin Bet sources
as saying that while Israel may take off its hat to
Abbas, it should not bow its head to him.

All media quoted PM Sharon as saying Thursday in a
Likud forum: "Whoever supports a national referendum is
against withdrawal from Gaza; he is against
disengagement. I want to tell you there will be no
referendum." Sharon cited the diplomatic advantages
Israel gained from the disengagement plan, and
criticized attacks on IDF officers and government staff
by right-wing activists. All media (banner in Yediot)
reported that last night a "handful of extremists" who
do not reside in the community attacked Finance
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a wedding party in
the Chabad-Lubavitch movement-affiliated village of
Kfar Chabad (inside the Green Line). Ha'aretz reported
that on Thursday, heads of Likud branches in the
country initiated an ultimatum against party "rebels,"
who they said could bring about the Likud's fall from
power.

Danny Ayalon, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., and
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of America's Union for
Reform Judaism, were quoted as saying Thursday in
separate interviews with Jerusalem Post that Israel
might lose ground in Washington if it carried out a
disengagement referendum that would delay
implementation of the plan.

Maariv reported that Abbas demands that Israel release
1,200 Palestinian prisoners in administrative
detention, who do not "have blood on their hands." The
newspaper also reported that the PA hands out monthly
payments to Israeli Arabs who were jailed for security
offenses.

Featuring William E. Ward, the new U.S. security
coordinator, Ha'aretz says that his mission will be
similar "in a smaller-scale version" to what he did in
Serbia. Yediot Washington correspondent Orly Azolai
writes that Ward is not only an expert on terror, but
also on mediation.

Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted Rep.
Tom Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House
International Relations Committee, as saying Thursday
at a hearing on Middle East peace prospects that he
would condition U.S. aid to the Palestinians on oil-
rich Arab "deadbeats" making good on their own promised
contributions. Former secretary of state Henry
Kissinger was quoted as saying at the hearing: "I think
it is reasonable that the surrounding Arab states that
have resources should at least match U.S. support."
Kissinger hailed the current opportunity in the Middle
East, but said that attitudes and propaganda in Arab
countries in the region pose an obstacle to a
resolution of the conflict.

Citing AP, Jerusalem Post quoted Syrian FM Farouk Shara
as saying Thursday that Syria wants to convene a
meeting of Israel's Arab neighbors for talks on the
peace process.

Ha'aretz reported that the Public Committee Against
Torture in Israel has urged Sharon not to appoint Yuval
Diskin as head of the Shin Bet, citing the fact that
Diskin devised the idea of targeted killings.

Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that in a
precedent-setting ruling Thursday, the High Court of
Justice upheld a damages claim against the state from a
Palestinian man, Azar Dabar, who was wounded in the
first Intifada.

Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Asadi was quoted
as saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that the
reason for the killing of the two sons of Iraqi
politician Mithal al-Alusi on Tuesday may have been al-
Alusi's visit to Israel.

Ha'aretz reported that an innovative new bandage,
invented by an American-born Israeli combat medic
adapting an improvised IDF field practice of placing a
rock on a bandage to keep pressure on a wound, is
saving the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq.

A Maariv/Teleseker poll:
-"Do you believe the Palestinian leadership will
respect the commitments it proclaimed at Sharm el-
Sheikh, including a serious struggle against terror?"
Yes: 47 percent; no: 46 percent
-"Will Israel respects the commitments it proclaimed at
the summit, including the cessation of military
activity in the territories?" Yes: 78 percent; no: 17
percent.
-If a suicide bomber succeeds in carrying out an attack
in the coming days, what should Israel do?" It should
not respond, but let the Palestinian leadership
continue its fight against terror: 57 percent; it
should cancel all of the summit's understandings, and
resume full military activity: 34 percent.






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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "If
Abbas remains armed only with flowery documents -- only
with ink on his hands -- neither he nor his government
will have a future."

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz: "In the overall accounting,
Israel can see the end of the present round of warfare
as a victory, but it must remember that it did not
defeat the Palestinian side."

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The bombs
are falling.... This has so far been the net
achievement of the Sharm summit."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Ink on His Hands"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized
(February 11): "The goal of Abbas's policy is to entice
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and their comrades in the
rejectionist front to restrain themselves -- without
confronting them, without arresting their members
(other than temporarily detaining operatives and then
releasing them) and without depriving them of their
arms caches. Abbas's idea is to present this restraint
to the world, if it is achieved, as fulfillment of the
Palestinian obligation to dismantle the terrorist
infrastructure, which is dictated by the first stage of
the road map. American acceptance of this claim would
shift the burden of road map implementation onto
Israel. The Americans did not make do with this.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the

SIPDIS
appointment of an American 'security coordinator,'
Lieutenant General William Ward.... Words are not
enough. Abbas -- unlike his predecessor, Yasser Arafat,
who sabotaged peace -- has thus far kept his hands
clean of Israeli blood. That is a necessary condition,
but it is not sufficient. If Abbas remains armed only
with flowery documents -- only with ink on his hands --
neither he nor his government will have a future."

II. "A Victory Without Winners"

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz (February 11): "The IDF is
convinced that only military pressure and the
achievements in preventing suicide terrorism caused the
Palestinians to end the Intifada. In the overall
accounting, Israel can see the end of the present round
of warfare as a victory, but it must remember that it
did not defeat the Palestinian side.... The two nations
have paid a high price in blood in the latest round of
violence. The chance for a total end to the conflict
is not great, but there is a chance for a prolonged
cease-fire. Israel must carry out a comprehensive
study of the mistakes made after the Oslo Accords,
including a reexamination of criteria that were
considered sacred. In any case of violation of
agreements, Israel must make sure that the blame does
not fall on it. The Palestinian public will also
undergo a shake-up. Among other things, there will
definitely be more Hamas supporters becoming part of
local government by means of the elections. Israel will
find that confrontation between the extremist elements
and the pragmatic elements among the Palestinians also
depends on what Israel itself does."

III. "Bombs and Qassam Rockets on the Katif Bloc"

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (February
11): "It has suddenly started to turn out that the 2005
summit could join the list of bygone summits in past
years on which no superfluous hopes could be pinned.
The shooting on the day following the meeting, as the
members of the Israeli delegation were coming back
home, does not presage anything good.... The Sharm el-
Sheikh summit made no strides toward peace.... The
shooting continues. The bombs are falling.... This has
so far been the net achievement of the Sharm summit."



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2. Iran: Nuclear Program:
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Summary:
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Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "If it works
out that, as with North Korea, the U.S. has no plan to
take effective action to stop Iran's nuclear program --
then Israel's policy imperatives will be radically
altered. Israel will have to act independently."

Block Quotes:
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"Iranian Intrigue"

Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (February 11):
"It is not easy to conflate the declared American
policy of pursuing a diplomatic track that has no
chance of succeeding with isolated indications that a
completely opposite plan may be in the works. If the
Bush administration wishes to build an international
coalition that would back a combined military and
revolutionary offensive targeting the Iranian regime
and its nuclear installations, it is hard to understand
how Washington's current declared policy will effect
such a result. On the other hand, perhaps it doesn't
matter. If a U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran's
installations came immediately before the instigation
of a popular overthrow of the regime, who would be able
to condemn the action?.... [Whatever the case may be],
Israel's default position should be to use diplomacy to
shame Europe into backing military action, Israel
should fervently, loudly and publicly protest the
appeasement policy adopted by Germany, France and
Britain in the face of Iran's stated intention to
annihilate the Jewish state with nuclear weapons. But
if it works out that, as with North Korea, the U.S. has
no plan to take effective action to stop Iran's nuclear
program -- then Israel's policy imperatives will be
radically altered. Israel will have to act
independently. For as is clear to every Israeli,
Israel cannot abide a nuclear-armed Iran."

KURTZER