ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 001017

SIPDIS

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JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL
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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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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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This morning, the electronic media reported that the
IDF Special Forces surrounded the Jericho jail in which
Palestinians responsible for the assassination of
Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi, including PFLP
leader Ahmed Saadat, are being held. The media quoted
Palestinian sources as saying that two Palestinians
were killed in the operation. Maariv reported that in
recent days, US sources have conveyed a message that
the US will not be able to ensure that the Palestinians
will not release the murderers. The newspaper wrote
that the UK would not be able to give Israel assurances
on the matter either. Israel Radio reported that the
GOI took the initiative of blockading the prison after
it learned that the US and UK monitors left it without
informing Israel.

All media (lead story in Ha'aretz) reported that Acting
PM Ehud Olmert is expected to declare Ariel a part of
Israel when he visits the city today, Ha'aretz quoted
official sources as saying that he will bring a
"message of conciliation" to the settlers, and a
commitment to the settlement blocs. The newspaper
reported that Olmert will also call on West Bank
settlers to join his "internal dialogue" on
establishing a permanent border between Israel and the
Palestinians. All media echoed a Channel 2-TV report
broadcast last night that construction work had begun
on the new police HQ in the controversial E1 zone
between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim. PM Sharon
approved building the HQ in E1 last August. Ha'aretz
wrote that the US did not voice an objection to the
construction. Maariv reported that the headquarters'
construction started despite the United States'
opposition.

Major media reported that Shimon Peres, number two in
Kadima, met with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas
in Jordan on Sunday. Olmert and the defense and
foreign ministers were briefed ahead of the meeting,
and Peres also briefed Olmert afterwards. Leading
media reported that Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz
persuaded Olmert to let Peres hold the meeting.
Similar to reports in other media, Ha'aretz reported
that Jerusalem sources played down the importance of
the meeting, saying it lasted only 20 minutes and
focused on "projects." The sources were quoted as
saying that Olmert was not thrilled about the meeting,
but that he had difficulty preventing Peres from
conducting it. Ha'aretz further quoted its sources as
saying: "Peres did not convey any messages. It was
made clear to him that this was not a political talk,
and that this is not a new venue to the Palestinians."
Maariv reported that Peres and Abbas discussed
political issues.

Israel Radio reported that Egyptian intelligence chief
Omar Suleiman will arrive in Israel on Wednesday and
meet with Olmert, FM Tzipi Livni, and Defense Minister
Shaul Mofaz. The radio quoted senior GOI sources as
saying that Egypt is interested in keeping gates to
Hamas. Israel Radio reported that Egypt is also
pressuring the Palestinians.

The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that the
Pentagon has been evaluating the possibility of Israel
launching an independent strike to thwart Iranian
attempts to develop nuclear weapons. The Jerusalem
Post and Israel Radio reported that one of the main
questions raised during discussions at the US Defense
Department was whether Israel would inform the US in
advance of such an attack and how much advance notice
would be given. The Jerusalem Post reported that US
administration sources pointed out that Israel would
obviously have to coordinate with the US, whose forces
would control any attempt to fly over Iraq on the way
to Iran if the IAF chose to attack using the shortest
route. The Jerusalem Post quoted the sources as saying
that former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon's remarks
last week on Israel's striking capability were not the
trigger for the Pentagon consultations. The newspaper
quoted the sources as saying that there was a sense in
the US administration that the Iranian issue was
gaining urgency. The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio
cited The Washington Post as saying Monday that the
Bush administration has made Iran a top priority issue.
Yediot reported that a "well-known Iranian academic"
told a senior Israeli diplomat several days ago that
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a weak
president despised by the most influential members of
the Tehran regime because they view him as incompetent.

Yediot reported that the diplomatic section of the
Likud's platform disappeared from the party's web site.
Yediot found that Likud Knesset Members Michael Eitan
and Uzi Landau have decided to present a more
optimistic version of the party's platform, leaving an
opening for peace with the Palestinians. Maariv
reported that the Likud secretly proposed cooperation
to the Labor Party, which declined. Maariv reported
that Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu declined similar Likud
offers.

Ha'aretz reported that Israel is preventing some 2,000
Palestinians who have left the Jordan Valley from
returning to the area, in an effort to keep them from
demanding their land back.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a high-ranking Israeli
security official told the newspaper on Monday that
global Jihad terror cells affiliated with Al Qaida,
operating in the Sinai desert and stationed 30 km from
Israel's border, have drawn up plans to abduct IDF
troops, border policemen, and civilians.

Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz quoted Western diplomatic
sources as saying Monday that Washington plans to
curtail contacts with Abbas's Fatah faction and other
parties if they join a Palestinian government led by
Hamas.

Yediot reported that the GOI has conveyed a warning to
the Lebanese government, demanding that it restrain
Hizbullah. Yediot wrote that Israel's message is that
it views Lebanon as responsible for any escalation at
its border with Israel, and that Lebanon should know
that Israel's response will be tough. Maariv reported
that Israel asked UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to
warn the leaders of the Syrian and Lebanese
administrations against escalation in the region.

On Monday and today, major media reported that
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National

SIPDIS
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley are among the witnesses
whom defense lawyers want to subpoena in the case of
Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, two pro-Israel
lobbyists accused of receiving classified information.
The media said that there is no indication whether the
judge in the case has considered the subpoena requests.

Yediot reported that Peter Costello, the Treasurer of
the Commonwealth of Australia, told Bank of Israel
Governor Stanley Fischer and Israel Finance Ministry DG
Yossi Bachar several days ago in Australia that France
will oppose Israel's entrance into the Organization for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Costello
was quoted as saying that Australia will push for
Israel's entry to the OECD. Yediot cited the French
Embassy in Israel as saying that it cannot respond at
this time and that it is unaware of France's opposition
to Israel joining the OECD.

Ha'aretz reported that voting in the Knesset elections
will kick off on Wednesday at midnight, when the
polling station at the Israeli Embassy in Canberra
opens. Over the course of nearly 25 hours, almost
4,000 potential voters at nearly 100 Israeli embassies
and other entities can exercise their democratic
rights. Only official emissaries can vote abroad.

Israel Radio and major news web sites reported that
this morning, the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court sentenced
Likud MK Naomi Blumenthal to eight months in jail, a
month after she was found guilty of bribery and
obstruction of justice. Blumenthal, who is in the 18th
slot on the Likud list of Knesset candidates, was also
given 10 months probation, and fined 70,000 shekels
(around USD 14,800).

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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz: "[Ehud Olmert's] radical unilateral process
will disrupt the American strategy in the area and will
bury U.S. President George W. Bush's dream of stability
and democracy in the Middle East."

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "An opportunity is arising now,
almost of its own accord, to coordinate a two-phase
initiative with the US and Europe, first giving a
chance to the road map, and then a unilateral
convergence into expanded settlement blocs.... Let us
not waste time."

Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime
Minister's Office under former prime minister Yitzhak
Shamir, argued in Maariv: "Olmert doesn't understand
that instead of eroding the motivation of Palestinian
terrorism, he is eroding Israel's independence and
sovereignty."

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "American
aid, if even it were purely humanitarian, might
eventually indirectly assist terrorist bodies."

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "When there's no identification, there's no
emotional anchor to connect to. When there isn't such
an anchor, it's no wonder that everything is floating."






Block Quotes:
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I. "Olmert's Arrogance"

Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz (March 14): "At first glance, Olmert's
[emerging new disengagement] plan appears enchanting --
no fear, no hesitation, and very Israeli. Here, we'll
take our destiny in our own hands. Within three years
we'll evacuate some 80,000 settlers. Within less than
five years, we will undergo a final disengagement from
the Palestinians and converge within the borders of a
flourishing lowlands country.... And so, in one term,
we would isolate ourselves from all the sickness and
terrors of the Middle East. So simple. So clear....
However, on second glance it becomes clear that the
Olmert plan has a small flaw: it has no Palestinians.
This is a plan whose logic is simplistic and
patronizing.... Via the nearly complete withdrawal,
Olmert will promise Hamas almost total control in the
Palestinian state for generations. The Palestine of
Olmert will be hostile, dissatisfied and violent....
But it is not just the stability of Israel that Olmert
is endangering. He is also endangering the regional
stability. A Hamas state will accelerate Jordan's
collapse. There is no chance that the Hashemite rule
will stand up against a Palestinian state on its
doorstep whose religious fervor has just subdued the
Zionists. Egypt will also be threatened.... And Olmert
will be supporting not only anti-Israeli terror, but
also the anti-Western revolutionary movement. His
radical unilateral process will disrupt the American
strategy in the area and will bury U.S. President
George W. Bush's dream of stability and democracy in
the Middle East. The Land of Israel must be divided.
The occupation must end. A two-state solution is
necessary. But the Hamas victory has made a two-state
solution more distant and more complicated."

II. "Convergence -- The Proper Plan"

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (March 14): "Ehud Olmert's convergence
plan is the right move, in the face of a bloodthirsty
and Intifada-seeking Palestinian regime. Yasser Arafat
was opposed to peace, Abu Mazen is unable, and Khaled
Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh are terrible in their own
right. In the foreseeable future, there is no one to
talk to in Ramallah.... An opportunity is arising now,
almost of its own accord, to coordinate a two-phase
initiative with the US and Europe, first giving a
chance to the road map, and then a unilateral
convergence into expanded settlement blocs. A window
of opportunity has opened, and it could close. Let us
not waste time. It seems to me that Olmert's
convergence is the most effective integrative plan for
the foreseeable future, and he did well not to behave
as his predecessor Ariel Sharon and deceive the
electorate, but rather to present his opinion with
maximum transparency. The power of this opinion is
demonstrated by the two types of responses that it
received. One belongs to the confused camp of the
Labor Party, in its former and current makeup. Shimon
Peres is already in Kadima, but has not yet accepted
the construction of the separation fence, which is
increasingly proving to be a unique strategic asset.
Everyone already gets it, just not him. Therefore, he
cannot bring himself to support the plan, although he
is the candidate immediately after Olmert. Similar to
him is Amir Peretz, who says 'no, but yes' and 'yes,
but no'.... The other response came from Binyamin
Netanyahu. The Likud is proposing the alternative of
focusing on the battle against Hamas. Not to talk
about concessions or contingency plans, but to fight
against Hamas and nothing else. This is a misguided
approach -- important but narrow."

III. "Convergence Means Capitulation"

Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime
Minister's Office under former prime minister Yitzhak
Shamir, argued in Maariv (March 14): "It is ... amazing
that none of [the Israeli leaders] who led [peace]
initiatives have learned anything from their
predecessors' initiatives.... Instead of investing
efforts to 'erode the motivation' of the Palestinians
and to strengthen the security of Israel's citizens,
Olmert and [his top aide Dov] Weisglass rush to
Washington to get its blessing for the implementation
of a further withdrawal that would benefit Palestinian
terror.... Olmert doesn't understand that instead of
eroding the motivation of Palestinian terrorism, he is
eroding Israel's independence and sovereignty."

IV. "US Will Indirectly Assist Hamas"

Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (March 14):
"It is difficult to explain the sudden change in the
United States' Mideast policy. It is doubtful whether
it will lead to the advancement of peace in the region.
American aid, if even it were purely humanitarian,
might eventually indirectly assist terrorist bodies
yearning to introduce a Khomeinist regime ... in the
region. They don't even deny it."


V. "Everything Is Floating"

Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in the
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (March 14): "At this time, the polls define
around twenty percent of the public as floating
votes.... What is orchestrating these elections, the
very reason for holding them in the first place --
Ariel Sharon's huge popularity, which crossed borders
and parties -- has disappeared from the scene....
[Olmert] said in an interview that during his term,
Israel would be a country whose residents are pleased
to live in. His campaign and that of his competitors
haven't outlined such a country. [Those campaigns]
haven't produced new hopes, proposed changes in our
lives, or explained why it would be better to live
here. They didn't create identifications with figures,
parties, plans, or platforms. People like Ben-Gurion,
Begin, Rabin, or Sharon, who can be relied upon,
haven't come into view. Neither have inspirational
ideas. When there's no identification, there's no
emotional anchor to connect to. When there isn't such
an anchor, it's no wonder that everything is floating."

JONES