ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001362

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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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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All media highlighted Acting PM Ehud Olmert's coalition-
forming efforts and the emerging Kadima-Labor
partnership. Major media reported that Olmert has told
Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz that Yisrael Beiteinu
would be a member of the next government. Leading
media wrote that Olmert made the statement in secret
meetings, during which it was decided that Labor would
join the coalition as the senior partner. The media
quoted sources in Labor and Kadima as saying that
Peretz would be appointed defense minister, and that
Labor would also be given the education portfolio. In
its lead story, Yediot quoted associates of Defense
Minster Shaul Mofaz as saying that handing over the
defense portfolio to Peretz is an irresponsible act, as
the associates believe that Peretz's expected requests
for cuts in the defense budget would be badly informed.
IDF Radio and Israel Radio said that Mofaz told Peretz
that the reports do not reflect his opinion, were made
without his knowledge and noted that he is convinced
that none of his close associates had uttered them.
Major media reported that Tourism Minister Abraham
Hirchson is the most likely candidate for finance
minister, if the post is held by Kadima.

Israel Radio cited Palestinian PM Mahmoud Zahar's
denial of reports that he recognized Israel and its
right to exist. Leading media had reported that Zahar
wrote UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, referring to a
"two-state solution" for the Middle East and to the
Palestinians' hope to "live in peace and security...
side by side with our neighbors in this sacred part of
the world." Ha'aretz reported that Hamas is struggling
to unite its local ranks and its leadership abroad.
Ha'aretz reported that Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak's adviser Osama El Baz told the newspaper that
Egypt is recommending that Hamas and Palestinian PM
Ismail Haniyeh stop the "violence" -- terror against
Israel. Yediot and other media quoted the PA's FM,
Mahmoud Zahar, as saying on Tuesday that the Chinese
government has invited him to visit Beijing in May.
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, Lu Jing,
the spokesman of the Chinese Embassy to Israel, issued
a denial of the report. Yediot quoted PA Interior
Minister Said Siam as saying on Tuesday that he is
responsible for the security forces, not PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas. This morning, Israel Radio
quoted Abbas as saying that the National Security
Service -- the most important force in the PA -- will
remain under his sole control and responsibility.

Ha'aretz quoted senior GOI sources in Jerusalem as
saying on Tuesday that Israel does not intend to resume
the transfer of tax money it levies on the PA's behalf,
and that it is not looking for indirect channels to do
so.

Ha'aretz cited various reports, according to which 10
terror operatives, who the London-based Al-Hayat said
have infiltrated the Gaza Strip, belong to several
factions -- mainly radical Islamic movements in Egypt,
that are affiliated with Al-Qaida. They allegedly
include citizens of Egypt, Sudan, and Yemen. Ha'aretz
wrote that some of the reports could not be fully
verified by Israeli authorities.

Major media reported that on Tuesday, one Palestinian
was killed and eight others were wounded, including a
mother and her 6-month-old baby, in a series of IDF
attacks throughout the Gaza Strip in response to Qassam
rocket fire into Israel. Major media reported that a
Qassam landed close to a chemical tanker in Ashkelon.
Leading media reported that the IDF bombarded the PA's
presidential complex in Gaza. Ha'aretz reported that a
13-year-old Palestinian boy was killed by IDF troops
north of Jerusalem. Israel Radio reported that an IDF
officer was wounded, and that two Palestinian militants
-- one from Islamic Jihad, the other from the PFLP --
were arrested in Nablus.


The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israel Prisons
Service (IPS) confirmed on Tuesday that it was holding
a Saudi Arabian national -- identified as Abdel Rahman
El-Attawi -- who was caught close to a year ago
illegally residing in Israel. The newspaper quoted IPS
officials as saying that El-Attawi was not held on
terror-related charges. The Jerusalem Post quoted
Saudi FM Prince Saud as saying earlier on Tuesday that
his country was in touch with international agencies to
obtain el-Attawi's release.

Yediot reported that after four years of preparations,
two Israelis -- Dudu Yifrah and Micha Yaniv -- and one
Palestinian -- Ali Bushnak -- are leaving within the
next few days to climb Mt. Everest. The newspaper said
that the two promised yesterday that they would do
everything in their power to help each other make
history and place Israeli and Palestinian flags on Mt.
Everest. Yediot wrote that American mountain climber
Lance Trumbull came up with the idea as a way to
demonstrate human cooperation. The expedition will
also include representatives of the Christian, Hindu
and Buddhist faiths.

Maariv reported that 30-year-old Dr. Shany Blum, an
Israeli physician from the Technion, won the American
College of Cardiologists' annual young researcher
award.

Yediot reported that the American company Transaction
Systems (NASDAQ:TSAI) has started negotiations to
purchase the Israeli company Fundtech for USD 200-220
million.





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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized:
"Assistance to the Hamas-controlled PA -- certainly
not; however neither should we stand idly by in the
face of the humanitarian disaster that has fallen on an
uninvolved and innocent population."

Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left
Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in Ha'aretz:
"The supporters of convergence and its architects are
deceiving themselves by thinking that [Palestinian]
rage won't burst out."
Conservative columnist and former Director General of
the Israel Broadcasting Authority Uri Porat
sarcastically wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist
Yediot Aharonot: "After it was definitely proved that
the mighty Israel Defense Forces isn't worth anything
against some insignificant Qassam rocket launchers,
there's no doubt that only someone like [Amir] Peretz
is suitable to put an end to the disgrace."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Do Not Stand Idly By"

Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (April
5): "The Hamas victory in the Palestinian Legislative
Council changed not only the diplomatic map of Israeli-
Palestinian relations; it also threatens the
Palestinian population, young and old, with a severe
humanitarian crisis.... Israel's policy in principle
prohibits any contact with the Hamas-led Palestinian
government. This attitude leaves some room for
maneuvering with regard to maintaining links with
Abbas, and with officials in the cabinet ministries
(although following Hamas's decision not to establish a
national unity government, all the ministers are Hamas
people),and with local officials like district
governors and mayors. Even the Israel Defense Forces,
sovereign in the territories according to international
law, interprets the diplomatic directive in such a way
that 'no' also can mean 'yes.' For example, the
complete severing of ties with local officials might
disrupt attempts to extricate Israelis caught in the
territories. Danger to human life therefore trumps
blacklisting, a rule that should also be brought to
bear with regard to innocent Palestinians. Assistance
to the Hamas-controlled PA -- certainly not; however
neither should we stand idly by in the face of the
humanitarian disaster that has fallen on an uninvolved
and innocent population. There is also diplomatic
wisdom in this. Israel does not want international
involvement at a time of crisis, United Nations
resolutions or a forced injection of aid through UN and
nongovernmental organizations. It would be better for
Israel that the war with Hamas not hurt the Palestinian
people. The battle is against an organization and a
government, not against a people or individuals."

II. "Convergence to a Border of Convenience"

Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left
Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in Ha'aretz
(April 5): "What drew the Jewish Israelis [to the
settlements] -- and turned nearly half a million of
them into outlaws under international law -- were not
the clods of holy land but comfortable lives promised
to them by Israeli military supremacy, the spacious
inexpensive housing and the improved infrastructure....
The convergence, therefore, is the borders drawn by the
average Israeli Jew's aspirations for comfort and
convenience. These would be natural ambitions if they
did not come at the expense of the Palestinians as
individuals and as a people.... The convergence plan,
which coagulates the violence of occupation in densely
populated Palestinian areas, will bring forth and
intensify three types of Palestinian rage: national
rage due to the sabotage of the Palestinian project for
a state, development and independence; economic rage of
the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who lost
their land, property and livelihood to the Jews who
prosper on the other side of the barbed wire; and
religious rage, of those who turn for solace to the
Koran and Allah, where they can find explanations
stating that's the way Jews are. The supporters of
convergence and its architects are deceiving themselves
by thinking that all these forms of rage won't burst
out, or that it will always be possible to suppress
them. Indeed, it is difficult to predict when and how
the rage will erupt, but sooner or later, they will be
back disrupting the dreams of comfort and convenience
at the expense of another nation."

III. "The Defense Portfolio -- to Keep in Power"

Conservative columnist and former Director General of
the Israel Broadcasting Authority Uri Porat
sarcastically wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist
Yediot Aharonot (April 5): "The Kadima sages are
telling the Labor Party sages, 'The finance portfolio
is ours, take the defense portfolio.' Thus, the
[Kadima] people believe that they will stay in
power.... What can one say? This is a brilliant move -
- the right man at the right place at the right time.
At last we'll be able to sleep quietly. If this is
what the last elections brought forth, it was
worthwhile. After it was definitely proved that the
mighty Israel Defense Forces isn't worth anything
against some insignificant Qassam rocket launchers,
there's no doubt that only someone like [Amir] Peretz
is suitable to put an end to the disgrace. For
instance, he'll be able to sell the air force to the
Electric Corporation's trade union and use the money to
raise the port workers' minimum wage.... In fact, it
will also be possible to do away with the ground
forces, because not all soldiers will be needed after
the implementation of Kadima's convergence plan."

JONES