ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000289

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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All media reported (banners in all newspapers, except
Maariv) the suicide bombing that took place near Tel
Aviv's old central bus station on Thursday afternoon.
Around 30 people were wounded -- one is in serious
condition, and five others sustained moderate wounds.
An Islamic Jihad cell in Nablus claimed responsibility
for the attack. The Jerusalem Post reported that a PA
official told the newspaper that Islamic Jihad wants to
embarrass the PA and Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas
ahead of Wednesday's legislative elections. Major
media reported that on Thursday, Defense Minister Shaul
Mofaz accused Iran of funding the bombing and Islamic
Jihad headquarters in Damascus of ordering it. Media
reported that Israel has already given details of the
intelligence behind Mofaz's statements to the U.S., EU,
and Egypt. Leading media reported that PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, calling
it a "despicable act of terror that was carried out
outside the Palestinian consensus." Israel Radio
reported that Egypt and Jordan also condemned the
attack. The station reported that the White House and
State Department condemned the bombing. The radio
reported that White House Press Secretary Scott
McClellan and State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack
called upon the PA to do everything it can to dismantle
the terrorist infrastructure.

Maariv bannered its poll that found that over 50
percent of the Israeli public favor a new unilateral
withdrawal from settlements in the West Bank (see
below).

Kadima Knesset candidate and former Shin Bet head Avi
Dichter was quoted as saying in an interview with The
Jerusalem Post that Kadima will not lead Israel to a
unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and that it is
in no hurry to make territorial concessions to the
Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post quoted a source close
to Olmert as saying that he is set to make a "dramatic
speech" at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday night.
Israel Radio cited the United Arab Emirates newspaper
Al-Bayan as saying that Egyptian FM Ahmed Ali Abu el-
Gheit and Israeli FM Tzipi Livni spoke on the phone on
Thursday. Abu el-Gheit reportedly told Livni that the
degradation of Israeli-Palestinian relations must be
curbed and that confidence must be built between the
parties. Livni reportedly said that she is prepared to
act with Egypt and the Palestinians in order to resume
the diplomatic process in the region.

Ha'aretz reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
decided on Thursday at a meeting with army and police
officials that security forces will tentatively plan to
begin evacuating West Bank settlers from the illegal
Amona outpost and the Palestinian wholesale market in
Hebron between January 29-31. Maariv reported that the
IDF is confiscating weapons in Samaria (northern West
Bank) outposts slated for evacuation.

Maariv (Ben Caspit) reported that Otniel Schneller, a
former head of the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements
in the Territories, who is slated to serve in the
government of Ehud Olmert if the latter is elected
prime minister, presented a political plan to PM Sharon
a few hours before Sharon's stroke, according to which
settlements would be evacuated and Palestinian
territorial contiguity created. Caspit also discloses
that in 2001, one year into the Al-Aqsa Intifada, now
jailed Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, through meetings
with Israeli officials involving his relatives Jihad
Barghouti and Mustafa Barghouti, tried to end Yasser's
Arafat rule and reach an agreement with Israel.

Ha'aretz reported that Nof Zion, a luxury project in
southeast Jerusalem with panoramic views of the Temple
Mount, is being marketed to wealthy American Jews
seeking a second home in Jerusalem. The newspaper
quoted real estate experts as saying that the
developers are intentionally unloading the project on
eager, but ignorant, overseas buyers who might not
understand that it is located in Arab Jerusalem.

Major media reported that Nadim Milham, an Israeli-Arab
resident of the Wadi Ara region (between Hadera and
Afula),was shot on Thursday during a raid on the man's
house. There is a controversy about whether the police
acted in self-defense, or whether Milham was killed in
cold blood. The media reported that police are bracing
for violent clashes during Milham's funeral today.

Leading media reported that Abbas recently told PA
leaders in private meetings that he would resign if
Hamas wins the elections. Hatzofe reported that this
week, anonymous Fatah activists threatened to harm him
if he visits the Gaza Strip.

Yediot cited the belief of PM Sharon's doctors that
following an improvement in Sharon's condition, he is
expected to be taken off the respirator and will be
able to breathe independently.

Yediot reported on a further rapprochement between
Israel and NATO.

Leading media reported that a civilian security company
took over the inspection of the Erez terminal crossing
in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, marking the end
of the IDF presence there in the framework of the Gaza
disengagement.

Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that Urua
[phon.] Hassan Ali, an Israeli Arab who escaped to
Lebanon during a furlough from jail in April 2005, was
detained by Hizbullah, and that he provided the
organization with intelligence about Israel. He was
arrested upon his return to Israel in December 2005.

Leading media quoted former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe
Ya'alon as saying on Thursday that the rule of law was
harmed during the disengagement, which he said also
harmed Israel's deterrence in the face of terrorism.

The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that on
Thursday, the Israeli defense establishment rejected
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's announcement
a day earlier that MIA Ron Arad, who disappeared in
1986, was dead.

All media reported that on Thursday, French President
Jacques Chirac warned that France could respond with
nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a
terrorist attack or used weapons of mass destruction
against his country. All media said that Chirac was
referring to Iran's efforts to reach nuclear
capability.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Holocaust Museum
Watch, a group of American Jewish activists, has
launched a campaign aimed at getting the U.S. Holocaust
Museum to recognize anti-Semitic actions by Arab and
Muslim leaders during World War II and to take a
leading role in fighting anti-Semitism in the Arab
world.

Yediot reported that Turin's police chief has requested
help from the Shin Bet to help secure the 2006 Winter
Olympic Games.

Ha'aretz quoted Israeli officials as saying that
institutional investors in New York are showing
tremendous interest in the privatization of Oil
Refineries, 74 percent of which is owned by the state
and 26 percent by the Ofer Brothers' The Israel
Corporation.

Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling
Institute survey conducted on Thursday:
-"This week, a new initiative including the possibility
of a further unilateral disengagement from land in
Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] was published.
The initiative includes the evacuation of settlements
if a peace treaty with the Palestinians is not reached
within a fixed time. Do you support or are you opposed
to a further disengagement in Judea and Samaria?"
Support: 51 percent; opposed: 49 percent.
-"If diplomatic efforts fail, should Israel act
militarily against Iran in an attempt to thwart its
nuclear program, even at the cost of an Iranian attack
on Israel?" Israel should act: 49 percent; Israel
shouldn't act: 40 percent.

Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a
survey conducted Wednesday night by Prof. Camille Fuchs
of the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute, which show a
rise of the Labor Party to 19 Knesset seats (compared
to 16 on January 11) and of Likud to 17 (from 13).
Kadima loses three points (from 44 to 41).

The Jerusalem Post cited a study conducted by
Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki for the U.S.
Institute of Peace, which analyzes trends in
Palestinian public opinion and finds it "is not an
impediment to progress in the peace process." The
study was published in Washington on Thursday.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "Olmert was right this week when he
expressed ... his readiness to strive for a permanent-
status agreement with the Palestinians. But it looks
as though there is no one to talk to in Ramallah."

Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The U.S.
will have to decide if it still sees any chance to move
forward with Abbas or whether it is time to write off
the PA."





Block Quotes:
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I. "No One To Talk To"

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (January 20): " Abu Mazen is caught in
a continued crisis of depression and anxiety (he
opposed peace at Camp David); Hamas doesn't intend to
reach peace but a hudna [truce] but does intend to
continue terrorism; the mix of terror and anxiety
within the Palestinian leadership won't instill in it a
spirit of conciliation at the negotiating table.
Because of the above I believe that Olmert was right
this week when he expressed ... his readiness to strive
for a permanent-status agreement with the Palestinians.
But it looks as though there is no one to talks to in
Ramallah."

II. "Approaching Zero Tolerance"

Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (January 20):
"The question now facing the [U.S.] administration is
what to do the day after the Palestinian elections. It
is a given fact that Hamas will end up in an
influential position in the new Palestinian cabinet.
American law prohibits any contact of American
officials with organizations on the State Department's
terror list -- which Hamas has been on for years.
American diplomats will probably resort to the
'Hizbullah formula'.... U.S. officials ... will
continue dealing with the PA without talking directly
to Hamas representatives. But this only relates to
technicalities. On the broader issue, the U.S. will
have to decide if it still sees any chance to move
forward with Abbas or whether it is time to write off
the PA, reduce involvement to the necessary minimum,
and wait for better days. This decision will have to
be postponed for a few months. It will depend on the
level of violence after the elections, on the results
of the elections in Israel, and on Abbas's ability to
regain the credit he lost."




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2. Iran: Nuclear Program:
--------------

Summary:
--------------

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The issue is not
Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world.... Our
leaders, with their threats and warnings and pompous
self-importance, would be advised to hold their
horses."

Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The ultimate
solution to the Iran problem is an old-fashioned one:
revolution."

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz: "It is not enough to ask if
extremist Shi'ite Iran will go nuclear but whether the
Middle East will be transformed in its wake into a
region with a number of nuclear countries."

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


I. "Hold Your Horses"

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 20): "If
the world were indifferent to Iranian threats to
destroy Israel, we would have something to worry about.
But this is not the case. Iran today is a command
center for global terror, and the danger of it becoming
a nuclear power also jeopardizes the Gulf States, which
have more important interests than firing nuclear
missiles at Israel. When sources of oil are
threatened, the whole world is at risk.... The issue is
not Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world.
To stop Iran, let alone attack it, is out of our range.
We like to talk big, but in this terrifying match, we
should be sitting in the bleachers not playing on the
field. As part of the sane world, it is definitely in
our interest to cooperate in the global effort to put
the brakes on Iran, through transmitting data or
participating in international brainstorming. But it
is important that while contributing to the global
collective and its defense, we preserve a sense of
modesty and lay low. Our leaders, with their threats
and warnings and pompous self-importance, would be
advised to hold their horses."

II. "An Old-Fashioned Solution"

Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer wrote in the
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (January 20):
"Make no mistake, if the mullahs fell, it would be a
major, perhaps mortal blow to al-Qaida and to militant
Islam worldwide. This is so because terrorists depend
not on military power, which they lack, but on a sense
of inevitability and despair, which they hope to
create. They are either the wave of the future, or
they are nothing.... The most significant impact of
economic, or even military, sanctions, may not be their
direct effects but their contribution to a
comprehensive denial of legitimacy. Though the mullahs
seem to revel in flouting the international community,
it is such isolation and rejection -- and their own
people -- that they fear most. The ultimate solution
to the Iran problem is an old-fashioned one:
revolution."

III. "From Iran, a Nuclearized Mideast?"

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz (January 20): "The nuclear
crisis is focused on Iran. But the truth is that it is
not how the conflict should necessarily be seen.
Strategically, the crisis should be regarded from a
regional perspective. It is not enough to ask if
extremist Shi'ite Iran will go nuclear but whether the
Middle East will be transformed in its wake into a
region with a number of nuclear countries. Not a
bipolar nuclear region, but multi-polar, including
perhaps terror groups, which raises doubts whether it
would be possible to prevent the use of nuclear weapons
in the region."

JONES