ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 001216 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 -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Aftermath of Israeli Elections ¶2. Mideast ¶3. Iraq ¶4. Europe: Anti-Americanism -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Ha'aretz reported that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and Deputy US National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams will arrive in the region on Thursday for talks with Israel and the PA. The newspaper wrote that they will hear from Olmert his plans for the future of the West Bank. Ha'aretz quoted Israeli sources as saying that the two will invite the incoming prime minister to visit Washington once he has completed forming his new government. All media reported on the results of the Knesset elections. Both Yediot and Maariv bannered" "The [Big] Bang." Ha'aretz bannered: "Kadima Leads, Pensioners Shock, Likud Crashes," Hatzofe: "Blow to the Right; Achievement For Pensioners" and The Jerusalem Post: "Exit Polls Show Olmert Can Form 'Pullout' Government." The media speculated on whether parties such as Shas, which says that it does not accept Kadima's "consolidation" (or "convergence") plan, would be able to join the coalition. This morning, as the electronic media and leading news web sites reported that 99.67 percent of the votes have been counted, the following results were tallied (in Knesset seats): Kadima: 28; Labor: 20; Shas: 13; Yisrael Beiteinu: 12; Likud: 11; National Union- National Religious Party 9: Pensioners' Party: 7; United Torah Judaism: 6; Meretz: 4; Arab parties: 10 (Balad -- National Democratic Assembly: 3 ; Hadash: 3; and United Arab List: 4). The turnout was an all-time low for Knesset elections -- 63.2 percent. Leading media reported that early this morning, Acting PM Ehud Olmert appealed to PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to enter into negotiations over the permanent borders of Israel, but added that Israel would act alone if peace efforts remained stalled. Olmert was quoted as saying: "We are ready to compromise, to give up parts of the beloved Land of Israel, and evacuate -- under great pain -- Jews living there, in order to create the conditions that will enable you to fulfill your dream and live alongside us. If the Palestinians are wise enough to act, then in the near future we will sit together at the negotiating table to create a new reality. If they do not, Israel will take its destiny in hand. The time has come to act." Israel Radio quoted Abbas as saying that he is prepared to enter negotiations with Israel under the Roadmap. The radio quoted Palestinian PM-designate Ismail Haniyeh as saying that he is not optimistic given the results of the Israeli elections and Kadima's declared policy. Israel Radio reported that reactions from other Hamas leaders were stronger. The media quoted Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu as saying that he is not resigning the leadership of his party. The media quoted Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman as saying that Yisrael Beiteinu will be the ruling party next time. Nahum Barnea of Yediot noted that Pensioners' Party chairman Rafi Eitan, who was involved in the Pollard affair, could become the "first Israeli cabinet minister wanted by law enforcement authorities in the US." Leading media cited a confirmation by the IDF last night that Palestinians (from Islamic Jihad) have for the first time fired a Katyusha rocket -- a much longer- range projectile than the Qassam -- from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The media reported that four Bedouin shepherds were killed in separate incidents on Tuesday when Qassam rockets and munitions unexpectedly detonated in southern Israel. Israel Radio reported that three Qassam rockets landed in Israel this morning. All media reported that on Tuesday, the Palestinian parliament endorsed the Hamas government, 71-36, with two abstentions. On Tuesday, Dr. Nasser Eddin Sha'er, who is slated to serve as deputy to Haniyeh, was quoted as saying on Monday in an interview with Ha'aretz: "The new [PA] government does not reject coordination to resolve routine problems with anyone, including Israel." Sha'er was also quoted as saying that Hamas is not ready to concede to Israel. Ha'aretz reported that the Foreign Ministry has completed the drafting of a new bill on security- related exports. The new legislation was drafted following the US administration's demand that Israel tighten its supervision over weapons sales. Ha'aretz cited the Foreign Ministry's anger over a bill proposed by the Defense Ministry that gives the Foreign Ministry only a small part in the supervision process. Hatzofe reported that the Jerusalem Committee of the Zionist Council recommends that Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods administer themselves in the form of sub- municipalities, as an interim solution ahead of a final- status agreement for the city. On Sunday, Ha'aretz wrote that three organizations -- the PA, the IDF, and Palestinian local councils -- are busy renovating, upgrading, and improving roads in the West Bank in response to the transportation problems created by IDF barriers and the diversion of Palestinian vehicles to secondary roads. Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz reported that the Arab League, which is convening in Khartoum, reiterated its support of the 2002 Arab peace initiative. Leading media reported that during an interview broadcast Tuesday on PBS-TV, Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed doubts about the Holocaust. Leading media reported that President Bush has appointed White House Budget Director Josh Bolten as his new White House Chief of Staff, replacing Andy Card. Maariv reported that Bolten calls himself a "devoted Jew." Ha'aretz, Maariv, and Hatzofe reported that former US Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger passed away Tuesday at age 88. Ha'aretz cited The New York Sun as saying Tuesday that Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, who recently co-wrote research about the influence of the Jewish lobby in the US, will retire from his administrative position at Harvard in June, but continue to teach there. The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a Gallup poll conducted among Americans on February 6-9 and released on Monday: -"In the Middle East situation, are your sympathies more with the Israelis or more with the Palestinians?" Overall, sympathy with Israel was measured at 59 percent whereas support for the Palestinians was 15 percent. Only 8 percent of Americans surveyed had no opinion, while 13 percent supported neither side, and 5 percent supported both sides equally. -------------- ¶1. Aftermath of Israeli Elections: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The fact that the voter, in his strange way, crushed the right seems to be a message to the Acting Prime Minister: 'Take hold of the torch and keep going.'" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The truly momentous news item last night was neither Kadima nor the Labor Party. It was the implosion of the Likud." Ha'aretz editorialized: "Israel's new government must announce its willingness to talk to any Palestinian element that calls for an agreement based on a two- state solution." Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv: "The public has allocated [Olmert] limited credit. The burden of proof is on him." Editor-in-Chief Gonen Ginat wrote in the editorial of nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "The results of the Knesset elections as they appeared last night in the TV exit poll are a very serious blow to the right wing." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "4.5 on the Richter Scale" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 29): "Instead of a right-wing government headed by Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud rebels, who undermined any attempt to move toward a peace agreement, Israel will be getting a government that will have the means to implement the plan devised by Ehud Olmert when he becomes prime minister... Olmert's convergence plan speaks of evacuating 60,000 settlers from the 'settlement blocs.' Such a move won't pass by without violent opposition, and there is no chance that the United States will foot the 150-billion shekel [around USD 32-billion] bill. Even if Olmert manages to put together a peace government, he is not Sharon. But the fact that the voter, in his strange way, crushed the right seems to be a message to the Acting Prime Minister: 'Take hold of the torch and keep going.'" II. "Sharon's Revenge" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 29): "Every analysis of election results in Israel begins with the majority bloc. On the assumption that the exit polls last night resemble the final results, the center-left bloc has at least 61 seats. The Right is incapable of forming a government. Kadima will form the next government, and Olmert will head it. Nevertheless, there was something hollow to the isolated whoops of joy that were aired last night at Kadima and Labor Party headquarters. Kadima had expected to get far more.... The Labor Party too had expected to get more... But the truly momentous news item last night was neither Kadima nor the Labor Party. It was the implosion of the Likud. This was the greatest revenge of the man 'from Hadassah Ein Kerem' [Ariel Sharon, on his hospital bed]. He, who took the Likud to 38 seats, brought it down to one-third of that, threatened to banish his adversaries Uzi Landau and Yisrael Katz from the Knesset, and dealt Netanyahu a humiliation that no game of chess with his father might ever heal. And he did all that with closed eyes." III. "Kadima with Labor" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 29): "The seats that Olmert won on Tuesday have not turned him into a determined national leader. The public has allocated him limited credit. The burden of proof is on him.... It was Ariel Sharon's last revenge. It was the vengeance of the tractor after its engine had fallen silent. He is lying there between life and death, but the Likud is in a similar situation. The same applies to the settlements in Gush Katif. Now this is Olmert time. It is his turn now. He won on Tuesday, and together with the other winner, Amir Peretz, they are the new leaders of Israel -- Kadima with Labor. [Hebrew play on words also meaning 'Forward to Work']." IV. "Initiatives For New Governments" Ha'aretz editorialized (March 29): "Israel's new government must announce its willingness to talk to any Palestinian element that calls for an agreement based on a two-state solution.... The parties that come out on top in Israel's elections must make a serious effort toward a comprehensive diplomatic move that will lead to a peace agreement and the end of the conflict.... [The Israeli government's] unilateralism comes to spur on diplomatic efforts, certainly not to make them redundant from the outset. It is to be hoped that the Palestinians will openly accept the agreed-upon rules of the game. Abbas, in an interview in Ha'aretz last Friday, expressed his desire to renew negotiations without preconditions. If Hamas is willing to go the same route, it must clear the fog away from its positions and renounce the armed struggle." ¶V. "Facing a Difficult Period" Editor-in-Chief Gonen Ginat wrote in the editorial of nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (March 29): "The results of the Knesset elections as they appeared last night in the TV exit poll are a very serious blow to the right wing. The sane camp that warned against the crazy policy stayed home. Apathy, despair, disappointment with democracy, all led to the big mass of right wing voters, Likud members, who stayed away from the polling stations. The right wing, without its main backbone, the Likud, is weaker -- much weaker. The battles that it will face will be impossible. Because Olmert has already promised additional withdrawals.... Let there not be a shadow of a doubt: We are facing a difficult period." -------------- ¶2. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The US is to be commended for ... refusing to accept Hamas's bid for talks with the Quartet before Hamas has accepted the Quartet's conditions." Block Quotes: -------------- "Hamas's 'Moderation'" The Jerusalem Post editorialized (March 29): "For all Hamas's previous bravado about not caring about Western financial assistance and its claims that the PA will do without or find support elsewhere, Haniyeh would very much like to avoid becoming an international pariah. Haniyeh's slight rhetorical shift, then, can be seen as an effort to induce someone -- Israel, the US, or the EU -- to break Hamas's isolation and agree to talk. The US is to be commended for seeing through this and refusing to accept Hamas's bid for talks with the Quartet before Hamas has accepted the Quartet's conditions.... [Besides], convincing Palestinians to abandon the dream of destroying Israel, either through terrorism or by flooding Israel with 'refugees exercising their right of return' ... may be daunting. But with sufficient patience and determination it may be accomplished." -------------- ¶3. Iraq: -------------- Summary: -------------- Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "In addition to the risk posed to the US, and commitments to Europe and Israel, Bush's commitment to the new Iraq provides him with another excuse. If the Iranians fail to comprehend that, they will repeat Saddam's mistake." Block Quotes: -------------- "Of Iraq, Pokemon, and Israel" Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 29): "The new Iraqi military, which America is constructing, will stand on its own feet in time, and will allow America to gradually withdraw. With or without war in Iraq, Iran's determination to achieve nuclear capability leads to a US calamity. Saddam, had he not been toppled, would have considered it an existential reason to renew his efforts to arm Iraq with nuclear weapons. Now, in addition to the risk posed to the US, and commitments to Europe and Israel, Bush's commitment to the new Iraq provides him with another excuse. If the Iranians fail to comprehend that, they will repeat Saddam's mistake." -------------- ¶4. Europe: Anti-Americanism: -------------- Summary: -------------- Eve Bonnivard, a French journalist, and Barbara Lefebvre, a French history teacher, the authors of a book denouncing anti-American excesses in French textbooks, wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Current French education might produce an anti- American generation apt to accept terrorism as one way among others of expressing opposition to American imperialism." Block Quotes: -------------- "Anti-Americanism in French Textbooks" Eve Bonnivard, a French journalist, and Barbara Lefebvre, a French history teacher, the authors of a book denouncing anti-American excesses in French textbooks, wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 29): "If there is one subject that should be discussed because its treatment in French school textbooks is faulty, it is that of contemporary terrorism and the vision of American policy.... Current French education might produce an anti-American generation apt to accept terrorism as one way among others of expressing opposition to American imperialism.... Reflecting France, or rather its elites, some of those textbooks describe the actual world not as it exists but as they fantasize it: a world in which the United States is a superpower and imposes its point of view on everyone. A world where France bravely stands up to 'Uncle Sam' as a 'Mother Courage' speaking in the name of the silent majority. A world where terrorism is not a killer of democracy, but the proud reaction of 'humiliated' Muslims." JONES