ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TEL AVIV 002017 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. Mideast ¶2. Iran ¶3. Former Republic of Yugoslavia -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media highlighted comments made by President Bush at his joint White House press conference with PM Ehud Olmert on Tuesday: "Today, Prime Minister Olmert shared with me some of his ideas. I would call them bold ideas. These ideas could lead to a two-state solution if a pathway to progress on the road map is not opened in the period ahead." President Bush was also quoted as saying: "The Prime Minister and I shared our concerns about the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons ambitions.... Israel is a close friend and ally of the United States. And in the event of any attack on Israel, the United States will come to Israel's aid. Israel Radio reported that Olmert's associates were extremely satisfied with President Bush's remarks. The media quoted Olmert as saying at the news conference: "I intend to exhaust every possibility to promote peace with the Palestinians according to the road map, and I extend my hand in peace to Mahmoud Abbas, the elected President of the Palestinian Authority.... Despite our sincere desire for negotiations, we cannot wait indefinitely for the Palestinians to change. We cannot be held hostage by a terrorist entity which refuses to change or to promote dialogue." The Jerusalem Post's website quoted Olmert as saying after his meeting with President Bush that he was "very satisfied" with the understanding he reached concerning his plan for possible unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank. In a briefing with Israeli reporters after the meeting, Olmert stressed that Bush's remarks about his plan, calling Olmert's ideas "bold" and "important steps towards peace," were made in a "very clear and remarkable way". Israel Radio quoted officials at Abbas's bureau as saying that Olmert's remarks were not encouraging. Israel Radio noted that unlike his predecessor Ariel Sharon, Olmert called Abbas the "President of the PA." The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic sources in Washington as saying that the US will seek international support before endorsing PM Olmert's plan for unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank. The sources were quoted as saying that President Bush was not yet ready to back the unilateral Israeli move, though he does not oppose it. Media reported that at the press conference, Olmert called his plan a "process of realignment." Ha'aretz reported that author and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel helped write the speech that PM Olmert will give before a joint session of Congress today. The media reported that on Monday, Olmert met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National SIPDIS Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and on Tuesday with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom, according to Ha'aretz, he told that it was time to put the deals with China in the past. Yediot and other media quoted Secretary Rice as saying in an interview with Al SIPDIS Arabiya-TV that Olmert does not have a plan yet and that he only wants to share some of his ideas with the President. Retiring Deputy Chief Justice Mishael Cheshin was quoted as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz: "[Chief] Justice Aharon Barak is ready for 30, 50 people to be blown up, but we will have human rights. I am not ready for that. He thinks that; I think differently. To my great happiness, I am in the majority.... I am not ready to take a risk. Not at [Netanya's] Park Hotel and not in Haifa and not in buses that blow up in Tel Aviv. Why should I take a risk? However you look at it, we are dealing with an enemy state." Justice Cheshin was referring to the ruling two weeks ago by the High Court of Justice on family reunification. This morning, IDF Radio said that Cheshin apologized for his comments about Barak, saying they were made in the heat of the moment. Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Hatzofe reported that on Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved, 361- 37, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act [also known as H.R. 4681]. The Jerusalem Post reported that a European diplomatic official told the newspaper Tuesday that Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh's comment in his interview with Ha'aretz this week that peace was possible if Israel withdrew to the 1967 lines was a step toward recognizing Israel's right to exist, and was likely timed to coincide with a meeting of EU officials in Brussels. Leading media quoted Defense Minister Amir Peretz as saying Tuesday that he intends to begin evacuating illegal settler outposts in the near future. Ha'aretz, Yediot, and The Jerusalem Post quoted Peretz as saying: "Illegal settlers don't bring honor, or support the Israeli population in the territories." Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday, Jews occupied two apartments in the Matityahu East neighborhood in Modi'in Illit in contravention of a ruling by the High Court of Justice. Maariv reported that the Kadima leadership intends to transfer the budget of the World Zionist Organization's settlement department to fund the convergence plan and develop the Negev and Galilee. The organization, which was controlled by the Right and which is most likely to pass into the hands of Kadima, used to channel 100 million shekels (around USD 22 million) annually into construction in the territories. Leading media quoted IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as saying Tuesday before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that he would not recommend occupying the Gaza Strip in response to Qassam rocket attacks on Israeli communities, and that the defense establishment is making a great effort to find technological solutions to better contend with the Qassam rockets from the Gaza Strip, of which 72 percent land within Israel. The Jerusalem Post quoted Halutz as saying that terrorists are smuggling tons of TNT into Israel from Sinai. Ha'aretz, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post cited the Egyptian Interior Ministry as saying Tuesday that Yousri Mohareb, a man named by the Egyptian authorities as a member of a group behind bomb attacks in Sinai, received weapons and bomb-making training in the Palestinian territories. Leading media reported that on Tuesday, the High Court of Justice approved the route of the separation fence between Ma'aleh Adumim and the Palestinian village of Azariyeh and along the roads leading to the city. Last night, Channel 10-TV reported that on Tuesday, Iran again test-launched a Shihab-3 missile with a 1,300-km range. Maariv said this was a signal to the US -- and Yediot to Israel as well. Yediot and Maariv reported that Israel is developing Tomahawk -like cruise missiles. Hatzofe quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah as saying Tuesday that his organization has thousands of rockets that can strike any military or civilian target in northern Israel. Ha'aretz reported that tomorrow, in Ramallah and the Gaza Strip, Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian factions are due to open a national dialogue on the future of the PA. Italian FM Massimo D'Alema was quoted as saying Tuesday in an interview with Maariv that Israeli concerns about him are not justified and that he is committed to Israel's security. Major media reported that according to the annual Amnesty International report, released Tuesday, there was a marked drop in violence between Israelis and Palestinians in 2005, although there was a continuation of attacks by both sides. According to the report, some 190 Palestinians, including around 50 children, were killed by the IDF, and 50 Israelis, including six children, were killed by Palestinian armed groups. The report states that many of the Palestinian casualties "were killed unlawfully, in deliberate and reckless shootings, shelling and air strikes in densely populated residential areas, or as a result of excessive use of force." The report also cites IDF blockades and attacks of Palestinians by the IDF and settlers. Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and other media cited statistics released Tuesday by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, according to which some 59 percent of Jerusalem residents, 413,000 Jews and Arabs, live in areas of the city that came under Israeli rule after the Six-Day War. Forty-four percent of those 413,000 residents -- 182,000 people -- are Jews, and 56 percent are Arab. The Arabs living in the post-1967 areas constitute 98 percent of the city's Arab population, while Jews living in those sections constitute 39 percent of the Jewish population. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, in an effort to broaden Israel's overseas support, the Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus launched in international women's council that will work to bring female Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel together. Ha'aretz reported that in recent years, Jewish donors have established Israel studies centers in the US, and to a lesser extent in Europe. At least 12 such centers and institutes -- nine in the US and one each in Canada, Germany, and Russia -- exist. The newspaper quoted academics in the US, Europe, and Israel as saying that the reason is political -- following the hesitation to link with Israeli institutions of higher education due to calls for an academic boycott, opposition to the occupation, the discrimination of Palestinian citizens of Israel, and other motives. Yediot reported that preparations are intensifying for moving former PM Ariel Sharon next week to the rehabilitation hospital at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, in the Tel Aviv area. All media (banner in Yediot) extensively reported that on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi and 12 other senior law officials received warning letters from the Zeiler Committee, which was appointed to review the bungling of a murder case involving the Parinyan crime family. Letters of warning are usually issued when there is a significant chance that an indictment will follow. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist Nahum Barnea, at this time a research fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, wrote from Washington in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The [US] administration is adopting Olmert's plan [conditionally].... This is a very far-reaching gesture ... towards Israel's prime minister." Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the Internet edition of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, there were many good reasons to be satisfied with his first meeting with US President George W. Bush." Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz: "[Israelis] who are not asking for any favors from the Palestinians ... should adopt a positive attitude toward Haniyeh and his stance." Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: "In light of the great opposition, inwardly and outwardly, and the deep cracks that have been revealed in the [convergence] plan, Israel should seek an arrangement that is based on a reciprocal agreement." Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "Arab [peace] initiatives must be blocked before they gather momentum." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "His Great Day" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea, at this time a research fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, wrote from Washington in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/24): "Ehud Olmert has good reason to feel good this morning. He is leaving Washington with a good part of his expectations fulfilled.... In fact, the administration is adopting Olmert's plan on the condition that it is raised only after a clear and convincing step is taken of examining the possibility of negotiations with Abu Mazen. This is a very far-reaching gesture by the Bush administration towards Israel's prime minister. It is not every day that the President of the US stands alongside an Israeli prime minister who announces that Israel is determined to reorganize the settlements into settlement blocs within the West Bank territories. If on the topic of convergence the Americans listened to Olmert a great deal, on the Iranian issue they expected him to listen to them. The message they conveyed was simple: at this stage, it would be best for Israel to keep a low profile concerning Iran Israel must not act alone." II. "George Bush Wants the Convergence Plan Too" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the Internet edition of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (5/24): "For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, there were many good reasons to be satisfied with his first meeting with US President George W. Bush. In the press conference that followed their first round of talks, Bush warmly adopted Olmert's initiatives for an extensive withdrawal in the West Bank, terming them 'bold ideas' that 'could be an important step' to peace. The president also pledged that the United States would hasten to Israel's defense in the event of an attack by Iran, and, no less important to Olmert, stressed the personal relationship between them.... In anticipation of the visit, Olmert, his cabinet and the White House had all lowered their respective expectations -- effectively convincing the media that Bush's support for the convergence plan would be lukewarm, and that Iran would be the central topic of the meeting. These lowered expectations served as an agreeable backdrop for Bush's supportive statements, fortified by Olmert's allusion to the fact that Bush had been the first world leader to support former prime minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan." III. "The Two Sides of Haniyeh" Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz (5/24): "[Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh] allows his ministers to meet with Israeli officials on such matters so as to improve the quality of life in the West Bank and Gaza. However, Haniyeh has shown no sign of compromise on the fundamental issues. He does not officially recognize Israel or the legitimacy of the Jewish state, nor does he allow political negotiations with what he considers to be the occupying power.... How should Israelis react to Haniyeh's position? Those who think Haniyeh wants to maintain contact with Israel on day-to-day issues in order to become stronger and ultimately destroy the Jewish state when he believes he is capable of doing so should completely reject what he has to offer. And those who are not asking for any favors from the Palestinians -- who don't care if they recognize Israel and will be satisfied if the Palestinians get used to coexistence without violence -- should adopt a positive attitude toward Haniyeh and his stance." IV. "An Agreement All the Same" Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv (5/24): "The charm [of Olmert's convergence plan] is now being eroded, and not only because of the negative position of the international community. The daily Qassam rocket fire at the Negev communities from the territories evacuated in Gush Katif, is a cause of great concern. This week, it was reported widely that Al Qaida has penetrated the Gaza Strip, and that Iran plans to supply the terrorists with weaponry. This reality increases the fear that a similar future can be expected for the territories that stand to be evacuated in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], and that the withdrawal will create a new terrorist state on our eastern border. The concept of 'permanent borders,' which can supposedly be attained unilaterally, also lies under a great question mark. The plan gives the Palestinians most of the territories of Judea and Samaria -- after they have already received the Gaza Strip -- without an agreement that will lead to an end of the conflict. In time, if the Palestinians agree to make peace, they will probably not settle for the territories that have been evacuated, and Israel will face heavy pressure to carry out further withdrawals. In light of the great opposition, inwardly and outwardly, and the deep cracks that have been revealed in the plan, Israel should seek an arrangement that is based on a reciprocal agreement." ¶V. "Same Old Story" Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, wrote in Yediot Aharonot (5/24): "An important element in the Arab-Palestinian strategy is resurrecting the peace initiative of Abdullah, the former Saudi heir apparent who is now the king. 'If we can succeed in causing Hamas to adopt this initiative, all the reservations that Israel and the world have against it should disappear,' said the Arab speakers [at a policy discussion I recently attended at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington], reminding the US that it also supported the initiative in the past. Apparently, the hints that the Hamas leadership could support the position paper prepared in prison by [Fatah leader] Marwan Barghouti are also part of this move. The aforesaid Arab initiative does speak about the possibility of normalizing relations between Israel and the Arab world, but it makes this contingent upon preconditions that place Israel's very existence in question. For example, consent to UN Resolution 194 on the Palestinian refugees, which is no more than the 'right of return' in another guise, and [consent] to a complete withdrawal from all territories seized by Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem and the new neighborhoods around Jerusalem, and of course all the settlements in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. These Arab initiatives must be blocked before they gather momentum." -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Arnon Yafe wrote in ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman: "Iran will develop an atom bomb within ten years. How does [the CIA] get along without agents in Iran?" Block Quotes: -------------- "The CIA Kills Snakes Instead of Drying Up the Ponds of Terror." Columnist Arnon Yafe wrote in ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman (5/24): "The CIA, which employs thousands of agents, no longer fulfills its duty. Its staff can no longer present the President of the US with information and analysis that would allow him to know how and where to deploy diplomatic and military personnel. Iran will develop an atom bomb within ten years. How does [the CIA] get along without agents in Iran?... Spying missions are slowly shifting to the Pentagon.... Deep strategic analysis is lacking -- this is a life-and- death question, because wars are also a result of intelligence failure, as was the case during the Yom Kippur War." -------------- ¶3. Former Republic of Yugoslavia: -------------- Summary: -------------- Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Serbia needs reassurance and a time to rebuild its society.... This can be done only if Kosovo becomes independent." Block Quotes: -------------- "Next -- Independence For Kosovo" Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (5/24): "On Sunday, a majority of the voters in Montenegro opted for independence and for severing the remaining tenuous links that bound them to Serbia.... Serbia needs reassurance and a time to rebuild its society. A generous European policy, paving the way for a relatively quick entry into the EU, could be a way to assuage Serbian sensibilities, help underpin its transition to democracy and wean it from its hegemonic memories. But all this can be done only if Kosovo becomes independent. Serbian rule over Kosovo Albanians was the last colonial rule in Europe; NATO put an end to it. Now the outcome -- independence -- has to be granted international legitimacy. There is no other way." CRETZ