ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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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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Israel's Jericho Operation

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Key stories in the media:
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All media reported that a tense 10-hour siege of the PA
prison in Jericho ended Tuesday night when Ahmed
Saadat, the mastermind behind the 2001 assassination of
tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, and four other
Palestinians involved in Zeevi's assassination, walked
out and surrendered to troops who were poised to burst
in and seize them. Fuad Shubaki, the paymaster of the
Karine A weapons ship, also gave himself up. The media
said that the six men will be tried in Israel. "We Got
Them" and "Swift and Elegant," read just two of the
front-page headlines in Maariv, while Yediot opted for
"The Score Is Settled" and a "Lesson For Hamas." The
Jerusalem Post cited Acting PM Ehud Olmert's denial
that political considerations were involved in his
decision-making. The media noted that Israel's major
political parties expressed support for the IDF
operation, but that some politicians, especially in the
Likud, were quoted as saying that Olmert was fishing
for floating votes. Major media reported that during
the siege of the prison, Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yossi
Beilin tried to broker a deal with PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas. Leading media reported that
Hamas did not respond to the operation.

The media reported that the US and Britain declared
that they decided to withdraw their personnel because
Abbas refused repeated demands for full compliance with
the terms of the deal brokered by the US in May 2002,
according to which US and British agents would monitor
the Jericho jail to ensure the PA does not release the
six men. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel
briefed the US on its plan a short time before IDF
forces reached the Jericho prison and that it kept the
Americans updated on the progress of the raid. The
Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic sources as saying
Tuesday that the briefings were done both through the
US Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Israeli Embassy in
Washington. The Jerusalem Post printed a March 8,
2006 letter to Abbas signed by Jerusalem-based
diplomats US Consul General Jake Walles and UK CG John
Jenkins, in which they wrote: "The Palestinian
Authority has never fully complied with basic
provisions of the agreement that established the US and
UK Jericho Monitoring Mission." The Consuls General
wrote that their countries would have to terminate
their involvement with the Jericho monitoring
arrangement and withdraw their monitors with immediate
effect if the PA did not "come into full compliance"
with the arrangements. Major media reported that the
US and UK denied any involvement in the IDF operation
Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday, Deputy State
Department Spokesman J. Adam Ereli placed the
responsibility for the departure of the monitors on the
PA and refrained from criticizing the IDF over the
Jericho operation. Ereli was quoted as saying: "We
think it's important that all sides exercise restraint
and calm." Yediot and The Jerusalem Post also cited
Ereli's briefing.

Israel Radio reported that the UN Security Council will
today consider a new proposal submitted by Qatar to
condemn Israel for the Jericho operation. The text was
drawn up by Qatar's UN ambassador Abdel Aziz el-Nasser,
after the failure of an attempt last night by Qatar to
obtain a presidential declaration condemning Israel.
In the new text, which has been submitted to members of
the counsel for their perusal, the UN calls on Israel
to return the prisoners to the territory of the
Palestinian Authority and to withdraw its forces from
Jericho. The radio quoted UN diplomats as predicting
that Qatar's new text of will also be rejected because
the US will veto it. Israel Radio reported that US
Representative to the UN Ambassador John Bolton last
night walked out of the council meeting and it was
clear that no presidential declaration would be issued,
because such a declaration has to be adopted
unanimously.

The media reported that a wave of attacks on foreigners
in the territories took place as a result of the
Israeli raid, with armed PFLP gunmen kidnapping at
least 10 journalists and aid workers and vandalizing
offices linked to the US and UK. Most of the abducted
foreigners have been released. The media reported that
the reactions in Western capitals and media to the IDF
operation in Jericho were fairly positive.

Yediot quoted Serge Brammertz, the Belgian prosecutor
leading the UN investigation into the assassination of
former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri, as saying in a report
to the Security Council that he was moving closer to a
"unifying theory" of the blast that killed Hariri.
Yediot reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad and
his Deputy Farouk Shara, Syria's former FM, will be
questioned by a UN inquiry team within a month.
Yediot reported that the EU paid 15 million Euros that
the PA owed the Israeli fuel company Dor Alon.

Ha'aretz reported that US medical instruments and
supplies giant Stryker is on the verge of signing a
deal to acquire Israeli company Sightline Technologies
for USD 150 million.

The Jerusalem Post printed a paid ad issued by AmConGen
Frankfurt -- a pre-solicitation notice for the issuance
of a request for proposal for the construction of a new
annex building at AmConGen Jerusalem.

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Israel's Jericho Operation:
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Summary:
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Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Abu Mazen is
gradually losing the vestiges of support he had in the
West."

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "One side was as determined to bring the
murderers to justice as the other was to set them
free."

Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote on page one
of Yediot Aharonot: "Tuesday's operation in Jericho was
a message that was being delivered to a specific
address. The message was: Don't break agreements
because you'll pay dearly for it. The address was the
Hamas extremists."

Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The [Israeli]
public likes leaders who show diplomatic moderation and
military toughness, who return land and kill Arabs."
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "The swift and quiet
operation in Jericho would not have been ordered were
it not for the elections. Not our elections -- theirs
[the Palestinians']."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Jericho First"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass-
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 15):
"Tuesday's operation was a second test of Ehud Olmert's
performance as acting prime minister. The first, the
evacuation of Amona, left a few question marks in its
wake. Tuesday's events unfolded without a hitch.... The
results are good for Kadima. The voters like
operations of this kind, in which the enemy is
humiliated and our troops return safely to their bases.
But the impact could very well either die out in a day
or, even worse, could fly back in Kadima's face like a
boomerang if a new wave of lethal terrorism begins.
The impression is that the impact of Tuesday's events
was felt in a far more palpable manner on Abu Mazen's
regime.... Abu Mazen is gradually losing the vestiges
of support he had in the West. The inclination in the
European Union is to terminate all projects in the
Palestinian Authority. His request, to be given a six-
month extension to get rid of Hamas, has not been met
with great support. His coffers are empty. On
Tuesday, when the clashes were underway in Jericho, he
was off in Europe. That happens to him quite often.
He is a tragic figure. Regretfully, the tragedy is not
only his; it is ours as well."

II. "Justice in Jericho"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (March 15): "The PA requirement to
extradite terrorist suspects to Israel under the Oslo
Accords was never implemented, so Israel never had an
opportunity to try [Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam]
Zeevi's killers.... For Israelis, the idea of the
Palestinian assassins on the loose was unacceptable.
For the Palestinians, particularly the incoming Hamas
government, the prospect of the killers, who for many
of them are heroes, remaining behind bars was
unthinkable. One side was as determined to bring the
murderers to justice as the other was to set them
free.... The cult of terror has not lost its grip on
Palestinian society, and the rise of Hamas portends, if
anything, its comeback. But all this is not just
Israel's problem, as the reaction to the IDF operation
indicates. Even before the standoff ended, citizens
from the US, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea and
other countries were kidnapped in Gaza, and the EU and
British Council headquarters were torched. So we
return to the new Islamist formula: if you protest,
ridicule or fight back against our violence, we will
become more violent and accuse you of aggression. Not
only does the cult of suicide bombings continue, but
added to it is the use of rampant violence to
intimidate the West."

III. "Don't Mess With Us"

Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote on page one
of Yediot Aharonot (March 15): "Tuesday's operation in
Jericho was a message that was being delivered to a
specific address. The message was: Don't break
agreements because you'll pay dearly for it. The
address was the Hamas extremists.... This aggressive
message will trickle down deeply. It already has. The
Hamas leadership is comprised of people who know how to
interpret Israeli actions -- to interpret and to
fear.... The operation in the Jericho jail will
strengthen the moderates in Hamas and the Palestinian
Authority and will weaken the extremists. As such, it
will also strengthen Abu Mazen." Because what will Abu
Mazen say to Hamas?.... You achieved the humiliation of
the Palestinian security forces and a military and
public relations victory for Israel."

IV. "'Give Back Territory and Kill Arabs'"

Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 15): "'To
return territory and kill Arabs' is a favorite
expression of the 'ranch forum' of Ariel Sharon's
advisers.... The [Israeli] public likes leaders who
show diplomatic moderation and military toughness, who
return land and kill Arabs. Sharon followed the rule
during his five-year reign, and his heir-apparent,
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, will do the
same..... Kadima's strategists could not have wished
for a more successful operation only a day before the
pollsters began their work for the weekend papers.
This week's polls are critical: if Kadima's slide can
be halted at 37 or 38 Knesset seats less than two weeks
before the election, then there will be a general sense
that the battle has been won. If it was only up to the
advisers, they would have given the green light for the
Jericho operation next week.... Sharon promised, Olmert
kept the promise. If that's not passing on the baton,
then what is? Now we must wait and see whether Kadima
restrains itself, or whether it uses images from the
Jericho operation in its election broadcasts."


V. "Rehavam Zeevi's Legacy"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 15): "There isn't a
single government in Israel, perhaps with the exception
of one formed by Yossi Beilin, that would not have done
what the Olmert government did on Tuesday. That is
something that both Binyamin Netanyahu and Amir Peretz
would have to admit. The swift and quiet operation in
Jericho would not have been ordered were it not for the
elections. Not our elections -- theirs [the
Palestinians']. The rise of Hamas to power turned the
tables, reshuffled the deck and broke all the rules....
This veer by Olmert to the Right did not begin on
Tuesday -- the interviews he gave over the weekend, his
revised plans for the future with the Palestinians, the
need for national reconciliation, for engaging in
internal dialogue, for bolstering the settlement blocs,
the visit to Ariel.... Still, a warning needs to be
aired: In our region, in our condition, euphoria often
ends in catastrophe. Hizbullah is still planning to
set the north ablaze, the intelligence warnings keep on
piling up, and the potential for explosive
complications still exist. The most formidable enemy
facing Ehud Olmert was and remains time."

JONES