ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001114

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC FOR NEA STAFF

SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA
HQ USAF FOR XOXX
DA WASHDC FOR SASA
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019

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. Iraq

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Key stories in the media:
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Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted President Bush as
saying on Monday: "I see a threat in Iran. The threat
is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our
strong ally Israel. I've made it clear and I'll make
it clear again, that we will use military might to
protect our ally Israel." Israel Radio reported that
on Monday in New York, the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council and Germany were unable to
reach concurrence on the issue of the Iranian nuclear
program. The radio quoted Under Secretary for
Political Affairs Nicholas Burns as saying that some
progress was made at the talks. Israel Radio quoted a
Western diplomat as saying that the meeting was harsh,
mainly because of Russian and Chinese opposition to the
tough stance of the US, the UK, and France vis-a-vis
Tehran. Gary Berntsen, the former CIA operative who
led the search for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan in
late 2001, was quoted as saying in an interview with
The Jerusalem Post that the US has the ability to
destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in two days.

Major media reported that the Karni cargo crossing
between Israel and the Gaza Strip briefly reopened on
Monday, but that it was shut down 30-40 minutes later
due to new warnings of planned attacks on the terminal.
Israel Radio reported that the crossing will reopen
today in a limited fashion. Leading media quoted
Palestinian sources as saying that food in the Gaza
Strip is becoming more scarce.

Maariv reported that the IDF is not allowing PA
ministers-designate to move freely between the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip and to meet one another.

The Jerusalem Post quoted FM and Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni as saying during a meeting with US and Canadian
delegates of a homeland security conference in
Jerusalem that Israel should follow the US model and
widen its definition of homeland security to include
civil emergencies as well as terror attacks.
Ha'aretz and Yediot led with election-related issues.
Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman was quoting
as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz that Acting PM
Ehud Olmert's plan for a further unilateral withdrawal
in the West Bank has already caused Israel damage vis-a-
vis Hamas, the international community, and Israeli
Arab extremists. Lieberman told the newspaper: "The
more Kadima talks, with excessive confidence, about
Olmert's diplomatic program, the less likely it becomes
that we will be in the next government headed by
Olmert." Yediot quoted senior Labor Party members as
saying that Labor will renounce cabinet portfolios in a
coalition with Kadima, but that Labor demands that
social reforms -- a USD-1,000 minimum wage, a
compulsory pension plan, and a raise in allowances for
the elderly -- be included in the new government's
guidelines. Yediot quoted the Labor officials as
saying that their party is not ruling out staying in
the opposition. Leading media reported that Meretz won
in mock elections at Tel Aviv University. The
Jerusalem Post reported on similar results in mock
elections at Queens College, New York. The Jerusalem
Post reported that on March 28, the group Israel Votes
will announce the results of an online "vote" involving
50,000 US college students.

Yediot and other media reported that the interim report
of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the
evacuation of the Amona outpost, which will be made
public today, is expected to express sharp criticism of
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra, principally
over his refusal to let police officers appear before
the commission. Yediot wrote that the commission will
also blame Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, and the police
for its violent behavior. However, the newspaper
reported that the commission will not find fault with
the GOI's decision-makers.

Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported on the Second
World Congress of Imams and Rabbis for Peace, which is
being held in Seville, Spain on March 19-22, and
sponsored by the Paris-based peace foundation Hommes de
Parole.

Major media reported that on Monday, National Jewish
Front leader Baruch Marzel, who is campaigning for the
upcoming elections, called on the IDF to assassinate
Uri Avnery, the far-left leader of the Gush Shalom
movement.

US Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI) was quoted as saying
in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that were he to
become a candidate for the Presidency, one issue would
not stand in his way: his Jewish identity.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Gil Fogiel, a former
IAF pilot is participating in the Breaking the Ice
mission of peace. Ten participants from around the
world have embarked on a journey that has taken them
through Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan,
and Egypt.

Ha'aretz printed a Reuters report that on Monday, the
US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by convicted spy
Jonathan Pollard. The justices declined to review a US
appeals court ruling that federal courts lack
jurisdiction to review claims for access to such
documents for clemency petitions. Major media reported
on the project.

All media highlighted the continuing bird-flu crisis.


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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "[An
agreement on the Karni crossing] could ... serve as a
first model of non-political understanding between
Israel and the Hamas government."

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "The 'humanitarian crisis' has already
occurred; withholding assistance is the key to helping
the Palestinians work their way out of it."

Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote
in Ha'aretz: "Hamas is like a drunk driver ... speeding
along [a] highway in the wrong lane."
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "If the polls are right,
Israel of early 2006 will be different ... with a new,
powerful, and biting [political] Center that will shake
up the entire country and move it forward -- [but] not
sure in which direction."

Block Quotes:
--------------


I. "An Agreement Is Essential"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March
21): "Israel, which is facing elections and has
clarified that it does not intend to assist a Hamas-led
Palestinian Authority financially, is also holding on
to the Karni crossing as a way of proving that the
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has put an end to the
occupation there. On the other hand, we cannot accept
the Palestinian position that even if Palestinian
civilians die of hunger, goods will not be allowed to
pass through the Kerem Shalom crossing. The
Palestinians have no right to expect support for their
inhumane position, which depends on political
suspicions -- even if those suspicions have a basis.
Israel and the Palestinian Authority, even if the PA is
run by Hamas, are therefore obligated to reach an
agreement immediately and an understanding on the issue
of operating the Karni crossing, rather than
transforming it into a political hatchet or battlefield
in which the only casualties are innocent civilians.
An agreement on the Karni crossing that will not damage
the terminal's functioning and will assure the security
of those who pass through it is essential for both
sides. It could also serve as a first model of non-
political understanding between Israel and the Hamas
government."

II. "Helping Palestinians"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (March 21): "Abbas is now claiming that
he will refuse to approve the cabinet if the
international community causes a 'crisis' by cutting
off assistance to the PA. The fact that Fatah refused
to join the cabinet is a clear indication that Abbas
hopes that a Hamas-led government will not be viable.
Abbas's 'threat,' then, should be seen as an invitation
to the international community to continue unwaveringly
in its commitment not to fund a Hamas government that
refuses to meet any of the conditions set by the
Quartet. Hamas is hoping that it can avoid any
compromise while retaining international assistance by
threatening the West with the suffering of the
Palestinian people. James Wolfensohn, though an envoy
for the Quartet, expressed this Palestinian argument
succinctly in testimony Wednesday before Congress, 'I
do not believe you can have a million starving
Palestinians and have peace.'.... As much as the
international community wishes to help the
Palestinians, the aid that was showered upon them over
the last decade not only failed to do so, but nurtured
a completely dysfunctional regime deeply tainted by
terrorism. The only way to change this, it seems, is
to refuse to continue to finance a PA that refuses to
adhere to the Quartet's conditions. The 'humanitarian
crisis' has already occurred; withholding assistance is
the key to helping the Palestinians work their way out
of it."




III. "Hamas's Victory of Deterrence"

Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote
in Ha'aretz (March 21): "The debate now in Israel is
when to confront Hamas: soon, at the cost of a military
campaign, in the hopes of restoring Fatah to power --
but this time, the younger and less corrupt generation;
or in another year or more, after a period of
comparative quiet, but at the cost of a dangerous build-
up in Palestinian strength.... For the next week, until
the elections, Israel and the PA still appear to be
traveling along the same road. That is true, but
misleading, because Hamas is like a drunk driver ...
speeding along [a] highway in the wrong lane: The
journey is guaranteed to end in a fatal crash, unless
Hamas either sobers up, overturns or discovers that it
has run out of gas."

IV. "Countdown"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 21):
"Superficially, these elections are over. The results
are known -- more or less. But under the surface,
things are still stirring. As this campaign has broken
almost all myths, as so many things have turned around,
as no one could have foreseen Kadima's success and
later its achievement without its leader and founding
father ... it is impossible to completely predict today
what will really happen here next Tuesday.... With
this nation, in this crazy reality, everything is still
possible. Still, it would be hard to see a significant
change from what the polls are saying. And if the
polls are right, Israel of early 2006 will be different
-- no longer fifty-fifty Left-Right, with a frustrating
tie and a freeze, but with a new, powerful, and biting
[political] Center that will shake up the entire
country and move it forward -- [but] not sure in which
direction."








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2. Iraq:
--------------

Summary:
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Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of
Political Science and former director-general of the
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "By calling the strife in
Iraq 'sectarian,' observers and policymakers are trying
to minimize the deep chasms that divide Iraqi society."

Block Quotes:
--------------

"Iraq's Only Way Out?"
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of
Political Science and former director-general of the
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (March 21): "There seems to
be no power able to hold Iraq together.... Iraq is
going the way of the former Yugoslavia. When ethnic
and religious groups are unable and unwilling to live
together in a country held together by force and
lacking any democratic traditions, disintegration may
be the only way out. Maybe three states in what used
to be Iraq have a better chance -- as occurred in
Yugoslavia -- of leading to some stabilization and even
democratic development. By calling the strife in Iraq
'sectarian,' observers and policymakers are trying to
minimize the deep chasms that divide Iraqi society --
like calling the bloody wars between Catholics and
Protestants in 17th-century Europe 'sectarian.'"

JONES