ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000362

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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PA Elections

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio reported that Hamas has apparently won the
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections,
gaining 70 of the council's 130 seats, and that it is
likely to be able to form a government. The radio
quoted Hamas spokesmen as saying that the organization
won 46 to 48 percent of the votes in the regions, and
over 40 percent in the all-PA ballots. The Israeli
electronic media and major news web sites cited
Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei's office as saying this
morning that Palestinian Cabinet members submitted
their resignations today following Hamas's apparent
victory. Israel Radio quoted Qurei as saying that the
resignation was meant to allow Hamas to assemble the
next Palestinian government. Israel Radio quoted GOI
sources in Jerusalem as saying that Israel will not
hold talks with a Hamas-dominated government, and that
it will not have ties with it. The web sites of
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Acting PM
Ehud Olmert will convene a special meeting with defense
chiefs this evening to discuss Hamas's apparent
victory. The station quoted Vice Premier Shimon Peres
as saying that Hamas will have to deal with the
termination of international aid to the Palestinians.
Leading media reported that Israeli conservatives on
the right are blaming last summer's disengagement for
the Hamas victory and criticized the decision to allow
Hamas to participate in the elections. Ha'aretz's web
site quoted Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz as saying
that his party does not consider the Islamic group to
be a partner for peace negotiations.

All media (banners in all dailies, except Yediot and
Maariv) had reported that Fatah probably won the PLC
elections with a slight edge over Hamas, depending on
the findings of exit polls. The turnout was close to
80 percent. Israel Radio reported that the election
results will be published today. The radio quoted
Olmert as saying on Wednesday during a meeting with
U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) that he will be happy to
meet with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to
discuss the Roadmap and Abbas's commitment to disarm
Palestinian terrorist organizations, principally Hamas.
The station further quoted Olmert as saying that Israel
will not accept a situation in which Hamas, which calls
for Israel's destruction, will be part of the PA and
will not be disarmed. Israel Radio reported that Abbas
called on the international community to assist in the
resumption of talks between Israel and the
Palestinians. The radio quoted Abbas as saying that
this is the beginning of a new era and that the PA
needs the assistance of the world's countries to return
the parties to the negotiating table and reach a peace
agreement. The station quoted President Bush as saying
he would not deal with Hamas unless it renounced
seeking Israel's destruction. Israel Radio quoted
State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as saying:
"It's a great day for the Palestinian people. This is
a historic moment for them.... Turnout has been high.
And this should be a day for celebration for the
Palestinian people. They are able to express their
views and express their will through the ballot box."
The radio noted that McCormack would not comment
further on his statement. Israel Radio also quoted him
as saying: "The Quartet has made it very clear that the
Palestinian cabinet should not include any member who
does not recognize Israel's right to exist or has not
renounced violence."

Yediot reported that newly appointed FM Tzipi Livni
will hold three important diplomatic meetings over the
next several weeks: with Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and with
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The daily wrote that
the Livni-Rice meeting will take place on February 7,
and that the Secretary invited Livni to talk with her
about the ramifications of the Palestinian
parliamentary elections.

Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will soon present for
government approval two changes to the route of the
separation fence: removing the Palestinian village Beit
Iksa, near the western entrance to Jerusalem, from the
"Israeli" side of the fence, and splitting the route in
the area encompassing Ariel.

Yediot reported that the IDF presented Defense Ministry
Shaul Mofaz with a document detailing the uprooting of
780 Palestinian olive trees over a six-month period.
The newspaper wrote that the document indicate that
residents of the Scali Farm were behind the deeds.
Yediot reported that Mofaz subsequently ordered the
evacuation of the settler outpost.

Both Yediot and Maariv led with what they say is the
list of Kadima candidates for the Knesset. Both
newspapers wrote that the first candidates on the list
are (in descending order) Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni,
Meir Sheetrit, and Avi Dichter. While Yediot reported
that the candidates in the sixth to the tenth spot are
Haim Ramon, Shaul Mofaz, Uriel Reichman, Tzachi
Hanegbi, and Marina Solodkin, Maariv said that Marina
Solodkin, Haim Ramon, Shaul Mofaz, Tzachi Hanegbi, and
Abraham Hirchson fill those spots.

Major media reported that PM Sharon could be admitted
to the Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center in
Raanana. Leading media cited a Loewenstein Center
statement on its web site that close to 86 percent of
comatose patients in its neurological intensive care
unit have recovered consciousness -- a figure it
describes as one of the highest in the world.

Based on news agencies, Ha'aretz, Yediot, and The
Jerusalem Post quoted Iran's Defense Minister, Gen.
Mostafa Mohammed Najar, as saying, in a statement read
on Iranian state television on Wednesday, that, were
Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran would
respond so strongly that it would put the Jewish state
into an "eternal coma." Maariv reported that among the
many correspondents who covered the PLC elections was a
representative of the Iranian state channel el-Alam
(the world),which reported by means of satellite to
Tehran.

Yediot (Ronen Bergman) reported that the Mossad missed
an opportunity to kill Osama bin Laden five years ago,
before the 9/11 attacks. The newspaper said that in
the 1990s, the Israeli intelligence agency recruited a
female confidante of bin Laden who was supposed to kill
him. However, the newspaper said that due to a crisis
between Israel and the PA, the intelligence services of
the country in which the assassination was supposed to
take place stopped cooperating with Israel. When the
cooperation resumed, bin Laden had moved to another
country and the operation was aborted.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Harvard Law School Prof. Alan
Dershowitz as saying at a Bar-Ilan University
conference on press freedom that anti-Israel boycotts
encourage terror.

Globes (banner) and Yediot reported that New York State
Governor George Pataki surreptitiously introduced in
his state's budget a clause that would allow New York
State's Division of Housing and Community Renewal to
finance projects at Jerusalem's Hadassah University
Hospital, Ein Karem, through an issuance of bonds. The
newspapers reported that Pataki's initiative sparked
uproar in New York State.

Ha'aretz reported that in a special cabinet meeting to
be held today at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, the
government will approve plans to request responsibility
over the Jewish pavilion at the Auschwitz-Birkenau
Museum in Poland.

Ha'aretz cited the International Fellowship of
Christians and Jews (IFCJ) as saying on Wednesday that
devout Christians have increased their contributions to
Israel and Diaspora Jewry by 30 percent last year,
while contributions of Jews throughout the world
continue to dwindle. The newspaper cited that IFCJ as
saying that Christians contributed 130 million shekels
(around USD 28 million) in 2005.

Ha'aretz reported that the American "investment
boutique" Discipline Partners, which manages a
portfolio worth USD 500 million, wants to interest
Israeli financial agencies in joint ventures.

Maariv reported that the leading Hollywood-based
literary and talent agency CAA has decided to employ
Liron Petrosil, who was the secretary of Danny Ayalon,
Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. The newspaper noted
that Judy Shalom-Nir-Mozes, the wife of former FM
Silvan Shalom, had demanded that he be dismissed over
the fact that he did not arrange a meeting between her
and the American singer Madonna.

A TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey published by
Maariv found that the Left (Labor Party and Meretz) is
gaining three Knesset seats:
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom
would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in
brackets, results of previous poll.)
-Kadima 41 (43); Labor Party 22 (20); Likud 13 (14);
Shas 10 (11); Arab parties 8 (7); Meretz 6 (5);
National Union 6 (6); United Torah Judaism 5 (6);
Yisrael Beiteinu 5 (5); National Religious Party 4 (3).

Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a
survey conducted on Wednesday by Prof. Camille Fuchs of
the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute:
-Kadima would win 44 Knesset seats (41 in a poll taken
one week ago); the Labor Party would garner 21 seats
(up from 19); and Likud gain 14 seats (down from 17).

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PA Elections:
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Summary:
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Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot: "If Hamas is in control, Palestinian
democracy will be cut down in its youth.... There are
no peaceful years ahead of us."

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Even before
polling ended in Wednesday's parliamentary elections,
it was clear that after almost 40 years, Fatah was
nearing the end of its monopoly in running the affairs
of the Palestinian Authority."

Block Quotes:
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I. "The Palestinians Vote"

Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot
Aharonot (January 26): "As I write these lines, our
Palestinian neighbors are electing the representatives
for their legislature.... There have never been freer
elections than these in the entire Arab world, except
for Lebanon. This fact underscores the rebuttal to the
theory that free elections in Arab societies lacking a
democratic tradition strengthen those organizations
that advocate an Islamic theocracy. If Hamas is in
control, Palestinian democracy will be cut down in its
youth.... Only a few believe that Mahmoud Abbas will
manage to keep his promise to disarm the rival
organization, and so we will face a powerless
Palestinian government, where half of the members are
agents of an armed fanatic militia. If that happens,
the chances of making progress on the road map will
fade, and very soon Israel will be forced to recognize
the fact that there is no hope for a peace agreement
any time soon and for dividing the land through
consent. Because the demographic clock is working
against the Jews, and because the occupation erodes our
resilience, the government of Israel, whatever its
composition, may have to stabilize a temporary border
whose route is already agreed on by a majority of the
public. In the past we evaded making decisions on the
pretext that there was nobody to talk to and now we've
decided to decide, whether there is somebody to talk to
or not. This leads to the conclusion that topping the
public agenda in the coming years will still be the
issues that have been tormenting us for a long time:
shaping the country's borders, an act that entails
forcibly uprooting tens of thousands of Jews living in
the occupied territories. There are no peaceful years
ahead of us."


II. "A Milestone For Palestinian Politics"

Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 26):
"Even before polling ended in Wednesday's parliamentary
elections, it was clear that after almost 40 years,
Fatah was nearing the end of its monopoly in running
the affairs of the Palestinian Authority.... Is a
partnership between the Fatah and Hamas possible?
Judging by Palestinian leaders from all factions,
neither has much choice. The alternative is chaos and
civil war.... Hamas spokesmen made efforts Wednesday to
blur their positions when asked about the various
possibilities [of election results]. Some said they
would be ready to negotiate with Israel; others
dismissed it. They were evasive and spoke of assuming
roles in the new Palestinian government that would not
require contact with Israel. They gave contradictory
replies about taking part in a national unity
government. Either way, there is no doubt that
yesterday's elections constitute an extremely important
milestone in the Palestinians' political life."

JONES