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 -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Iran: Nuclear Program -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- 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. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- ¶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." -------------- ¶2. Iran: Nuclear Program: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- "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