ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 001819

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. Iran: Nuclear Program

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Key stories in the media:
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Yediot quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying Tuesday, at an
international convention of mayors taking place in
Jerusalem, that Israel will wait for six months to see
whether there is a partner on the Palestinian side, and
if there is none, it will carry out unilateral actions.
Olmert warned that Israel would not negotiate with the
PA if it did not accept the three conditions set by the
international community -- as the newspaper said he
defined them: recognition of Israel, abandonment of
violence, and acceptance of previous agreements signed
between the Palestinians and Israel. Yediot quoted
sources in Olmert's office as saying that Israel does
not expect President Bush to make a decision regarding
the convergence plan at his upcoming meeting with
Olmert. The newspaper quoted the sources as saying
that one should not forget that before the Americans
supported former PM Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan,
at least 20 meetings took place between American and
Israeli officials.

In its lead story, Ha'aretz reported that members of
the Quartet, which is meeting in New York, reached a
"silent agreement" Tuesday to establish a trust fund
that it claimed will pay the salaries of Palestinian
civil servants through the office of PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas. Ha'aretz's web site quoted
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying at a news

SIPDIS
conference with other Quartet members: "The thrust of
the statement is that the international community is
still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian
people." Ha'aretz and Yediot quoted Secretary Rice as
saying: "It is to provide assistance to the Palestinian
people so they do not suffer deprivation." Yediot
quoted Secretary Rice as saying that the international
community will not talk with the Hamas government,
which encourages terrorism. Israel Radio quoted Rice
as saying that the EU had initiated the move. Ha'aretz
quoted sources close to Quartet representatives as
saying that the initiative for the trust fund came from
France. Israel Radio claimed that the US had given in
to pressure by its Quartet partners. Ha'aretz quoted
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying that the
international mechanism to be used, which has not yet
been fully decided on, should begin as soon as possible
and be reviewed after three months. Ha'aretz reported
that senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat told Reuters the
Quartet's plan did not go far enough. Ha'aretz said
that in parallel, the Quartet members reiterated the
three demands posed to the Hamas government if any
cooperation between the international community and the
Palestinian government is to be resumed -- recognition
of Israel, abandonment of terrorism, and acceptance of
previous agreements signed between the Palestinians and
Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the US administration
views new legislation regarding Hamas as "unnecessary"
and that it is calling on Congress to make revisions
that would moderate the limitations the bill imposes on
providing assistance to the Palestinians.

Yediot reported that Palestinian FM Mahmoud Zahar's
claim that he met with a European minister turned out
to be no more than a chance encounter with Portuguese
FM Diogo Freitas Do Amaral in an Abu Dhabi hotel.

Ha'aretz reported that in an assessment of the
situation at the Karni crossing over the weekend,
Defense Minister Amir Peretz adopted the line of his
predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, saying he would reopen Karni
according to the security situation. The newspaper
reported that the Peres Center for Peace disseminated a
report to relevant GOI ministers, saying that the
closure of the Karni crossing causes an economic and
humanitarian collapse in the Gaza Strip. Yediot and
The Jerusalem Post cited the NGO Physicians for Human
Rights-Israel as saying in a report published Tuesday
that the Palestinian health system has collapsed as a
result of the cessation of transfers of tax money by
Israel and the termination of international assistance.
Ha'aretz reported that four Palestinian kidney patients
died in Gaza because of the economic crisis in the PA.
Citing AP, The Jerusalem Post quoted US officials as
saying that the US plans to spend USD 10 million of the
money it took back from the PA on a new medical program
rather than let it get into the hands of Hamas.

Leading media reported that 15 Palestinians, five of
them youths, were wounded Tuesday in the Gaza Strip in
a series of clashes between Hamas supporters, on one
hand, and activists of Fatah and the Palestinian
Preventive Security forces. Today, Israel Radio
reported that the Hamas-led government and Fatah issued
a joint announcement forbidding Palestinians from
carrying weapons.

Yediot and Israel Radio reported that MKs Avshalom
Vilan (Meretz) and Colette Avital (Labor Party) will
today present a bill according to which residents of
settlements will be able to leave their homes in
exchange for compensation starting today.

The Jerusalem Post reported that hoping to unify
religious Zionist ranks in advance of their anticipated
fight against further territorial withdrawal, settler
leaders are seeking spiritual advice from former
Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and 10 other
prominent rabbis.

Major media reported that the Israel Navy foiled an
attempt to smuggle a massive quantity of explosives
into Gaza last week. The news was released for
publication only Tuesday, after navy divers finished
retrieving some 550 kilograms of TNT from the sea.

Leading media quoted IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen.
Amos Yadlin as saying Tuesday before the Knesset's
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that provided
there are no interruptions to the Iranian nuclear
program, Iran will have a nuclear weapon by 2010. The
Jerusalem Post and other media quoted Brig. Gen. Yosef
Kuperwasser, the head of Military Intelligence's
Research Division, as saying Tuesday: "Iran is
interested not only in turning into a superpower, but
also in changing the world order." Leading media
reported hat IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and
the Defense Ministry's diplomatic adviser Amos Gilad
protested Tuesday against Vice Premier Shimon Peres's
warning that Iran could also be wiped off the map.
Yediot reported that members of the UN Security Council
have decided to offer Iran a choice -- either
incentives or sanctions -- to drop its nuclear
ambitions. Yediot quoted sources in New York as saying
that the US agreed to this compromise
"unenthusiastically" as it believes that this is a
"return to a point where we have already been." Yediot
reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told
reporters that the US demands that the Security
Council's draft resolution be mandatory under Chapter
VII of the UN Charter.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Dr. Jurgen Ruttgers, Minister-
President of North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest German
federal state, as saying Monday that Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be a welcome guest for
June's World Cup soccer tournament.

Visiting Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was quoted as
saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that he
was impressed with Israel's use of technology to fight
terrorism and provide security for its citizens.

Hatzofe reported that on Monday, British PM Tony Blair
told a delegation of European rabbis that the war in
Iraq helps Israel. Ha'aretz quoted British Ambassador
to Israel Simon McDonald as saying Tuesday that his
government did not believe that academic boycotts were
productive and preferred academic cooperation. He was
responding to a report in Tuesday's Ha'aretz that
academics in the UK were planning to back a far-
reaching boycott of Israeli academics and academic
institutions that do not dissociate themselves from GOI
policy in the territories.

Maariv reported that former PM Ariel Sharon will be
moved next week to the rehabilitation hospital at Sheba
Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, in the Tel Aviv area.

Ha'aretz cited an Amnesty International report that
will be published today that states that Israeli arms
vendors are feeding wars in the developing world.

All media (banner in Maariv) reported that the subject
of the "questionable appointment" to which State
Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss referred on the eve of
Tuesday's publication of his annual report is Civil
Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander's veteran
assistant, Edna Alfasi, who was named deputy director.
The appointment allegedly was made without a public
tender, notwithstanding the candidate's lack of the
necessary qualifications for the position. In his
report, Lindenstrauss also reported that Olmert, who
chaired the Israel Land Council as minister of
industry, trade and labor, exceeded his authority and
became overly involved in a 2004 sale by the Israel
Lands Administration of commercial properties at Jaffa
Port to the Tel Aviv Municipality.

Yediot ran a lengthy feature ("The Pink House") of Vice
President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary.

Major media reported that on Monday in Van Nuys,
California Superior Court Judge Martin Herscovitz
sentenced Benjamin Frandsen, who murdered the Israelis
Ben Wertzberger and Arad Ne'eman in December 2002, to
life imprisonment without parole.

Channel 10-TV, Yediot, and Maariv reported that Dorit
Moussaiof (phon.),the Israeli-born wife of Icelandic
President Olafur Grimsson, was detained at Ben Gurion
Airport Monday for one-and-a-half hours because she did
not present an Israeli passport as required by law.
The media quoted Moussaiof as saying: "Because of this,
everybody hates the Jews."

Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a
poll taken among Israelis by the Israel Democracy
Institute, according to which some 62 percent of
Israelis believe that the government should encourage
the country's Arab citizens to emigrate.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former
senior IDF official in the West Bank and former head of
Israel-PA coordination, wrote in independent, left-
leaning Ha'aretz: "Revolution will come indeed. Yes,
it might not be a revolution but a coup.... Perhaps
this is the only way Palestinian society can be
redeemed from its harsh situation."

Conservative columnist Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of
the Begin-Sadat Strategic Center at Bar-Ilan
University, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "The future of Olmert's [convergence]
program will probably be determined by domestic
factors, rather than by whatever international support
he may gather."

Block Quotes:
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I. "A Crossroads in Palestine"

Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former
senior IDF official in the West Bank and former head of
Israel-PA coordination, wrote in independent, left-
leaning Ha'aretz (5/10): "'Al-Thawra Hatta Al-Nasr!'
('Revolution Until Victory') was and remains the Fatah
organization's famous battle cry.... The Palestinians
are now at an unfamiliar crossroads from which there
are three ways out: The first one, in absence of a
central administration, regime chaos may lead to a
lawless situation.... The second one, a cantonization
of diadochs -- the creation of autonomous cantons ruled
by diadochs (kinds of regional rulers combining
authority over clans and the means of maintaining armed
militias straddling parties and organizations). For
instance, Jibril Rajoub would rule in Hebron, and
Muhammad Dahlan and his men would rule in Gaza. The
third one, which is increasingly plausible, would be a
military and civilian coup initiated by the heads of
Fatah with the support of the [PA] security branches
and quiet assent by Israel for retaking power. The
West, Israel, and the Palestinians themselves,
understand that it's easier to make the PLO improve its
moral behavior than to make Hamas cancel its Charter
and recognize Israel. Revolution will come indeed.
Yes, it might not be a revolution but a coup; it
apparently won't be directed at the Zionist entity, as
an entire generation of Palestinians had dreamt, but
against Hamas's grunting. Perhaps this is the only way
Palestinian society can be redeemed from its harsh
situation."

II. "What Motivates Unilateralism?"

Conservative columnist Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of
the Begin-Sadat Strategic Center at Bar-Ilan
University, wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (5/10): "The appeal of unilateral steps,
including the completion of the separation fence, is
probably also an expression of the naive aspiration for
a simple solution. The Peace Now slogan was given a
try. Now it is the turn of 'us on one side, them on
the other.' And the idea is convincing and attractive,
even though Palestinian terrorism does not really allow
Israel to disengage from the territories.... In fact,
the Israeli leadership understands that pure
unilateralism, appealing as it may be to the people, is
not a true policy option. The withdrawal from Gaza was
not entirely unilateral as it was approved first in
Washington and only afterwards by the Israeli cabinet.
Leaving the Palestinians to their own devices may well
be what they deserve, but even Israeli unilateralists
view international involvement positively in order to
prevent a large-scale humanitarian disaster in the
Palestinian territories. Moreover, the Olmert
government intends to secure international support --
or at least some level of understanding for its
unilateral program. Nevertheless, the future of
Olmert's program will probably be determined by
domestic factors, rather than by whatever international
support he may gather."



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2. Iran: Nuclear Program:
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Summary:
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The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "The choice before Russia and China is
unmistakable: Will they join the world in an attempt to
peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,
or will the US and Europe be forced to move ahead
without them?"

Block Quotes:
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"The Choice For Russia and China"
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (5/10): "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
letter [to President Bush], far from diverting the UN
from its path toward imposing sanctions on Iran, should
reinforce Western determination to confront this
delusional regime. Through it make little sense when
seen through the West's prism of nations acting in
their rational self-interest, it has become abundantly
clear that the mullahs are, ironically, on a crusade to
confront the entire West and everything it stands for.
Rather than seeking to avoid a 'clash of
civilizations,' the mullahs seem to be relishing this
prospect, and view every escalation in their own
belligerence as helping to protect, rather than
endanger, their regime.... It should be obvious at this
point that even draconian sanctions may not be
sufficient to turn Iran away from its present course;
it is all the more clear that non-binding resolutions
are at best a waste of time. The choice before Russia
and China is unmistakable: Will they join the world in
an attempt to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining
nuclear weapons, or will the US and Europe be forced to
move ahead without them?.... As US Senator John McCain
puts it, 'There's only one thing worse than the United
States exercising the military option, that is a
nuclear-armed Iran.'"

JONES