ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000886

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. Iran: Nuclear Program


2. Mideast


3. UAE Role in US Port Management

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Key stories in the media:
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Israel Radio reported that A/S David Welch told members
of Congress in Washington that the US is interested in
isolating Hamas economically and politically in order
to make it very difficult for the government it
establishes in the PA to function. Welch was quoted as
saying that American diplomats are trying to convince
administrations throughout the world not to meet with
Hamas representatives and that the US will report to
the Quartet about such meetings. Ha'aretz and The
Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday, South Africa
invited Hamas leaders for talks. Israel Radio quoted
Khaled Marshal, the head of Hamas's political bureau,
who leads the movement's delegation to talks in Moscow
today, as saying that the Israeli occupation is the
main obstacle to peace, and that Israel rejects the
Roadmap. Israel Radio quoted Russia's special envoy to
the Middle East Alexander Kalugin as saying that the
meeting is not an attempt by Russia to impose
conditions on Hamas, but to convince Hamas to change
its positions.

Israel Radio reported that Fatah's council will meet in
Ramallah on Saturday to decide whether the movement
will join the new Palestinian government. The radio
reported that there is no majority in the council to
adopt the proposal.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a high-ranking IDF
officer told the newspaper on Thursday that Israel's
Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile system is capable of
intercepting and destroying any Iranian missiles, even
were they to carry nuclear warheads.

Leading media quoted Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz
as saying after his meeting with PA Chairman
[President] Mahmoud Abbas at the Allenby Bridge on
Thursday that Abbas is "very relevant." The Jerusalem
Post reported that Abbas and Peretz discussed ways to
eradicate terrorism and form a partnership. Israel
Radio quoted senior Kadima member Shimon Peres as
saying that Israel avoids meeting with enemies, but
that Abbas is not an enemy. The radio quoted
associates of Acting PM Ehud Olmert as saying in
response to Peres's comment that Kadima ministers or
members will not meet with Abbas.

The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday, Abbas
phoned several Iraqi government officials and
representatives of various groups in Baghdad, urging
them to stop the killing of Palestinians in Iraq. The
Jerusalem Post wrote that PA officials in Ramallah told
the newspaper that dozens of Palestinians have been
killed in Iraq over the past few months by Iraqis
belonging to various political and religious factions.

The Jerusalem Post reported that in a letter to Senator
Hillary Clinton (D-NY),Idan Ofer, chairman of the
Israeli shipping giant Zim, expressed support for the
Dubai Ports World company, which has won a contract to
run six US ports.

In its lead story, Ha'aretz cited the outrage of senior
IDF officers over the IDF's decision to prevent one of
their number from traveling to Britain for fear he
might be arrested as a war criminal, charging that
leading Hamas terrorists now enjoy more freedom of
movement than IDF officers. The newspaper reported
that FM Tzipi Livni raised the issue with Foreign
Office Minister Kim Howells during her visit to London
Thursday.

Yediot quoted Israeli defense sources as confirming
Thursday that Hamas has succeeded in infiltrating
terror activists into the Gaza Strip. Hatzofe and
Israel Radio reported that on Thursday, an unknown
organization, the "Army of Jihad and Corruption
Curbing" (approximate translation) conveyed a message
to all foreign representations in the PA, demanding
that they leave the PA within a month.

Major media reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz
decided Thursday that the Karni crossing will remain
closed, after new information on concrete threats by
terror groups to attack it was revealed in a meeting
with the senior security echelon. Israel Radio
reported that several Qassam rockets were fired at
Ashkelon this morning.

Ha'aretz reported that the same Bush administration
review panel that approved a ports deal involving the
United Arab Emirates (UAE) has notified the Israeli
software security company Check Point that it faces a
rare, full-blown investigation over its plans to buy
the U.S. software firm Sourcefire, a smaller rival.
The company was reportedly told that U.S. officials
feared the transaction could endanger some of the USG's
most sensitive computer systems. Ha'aretz wrote that
the objections brought forward by the FBI and the
Pentagon were partly over specialized intrusion
detection software known as "Snort," which guards some
classified US military and intelligence computers.
Snort's author is a senior executive at Sourcefire.

Major media reported that on Thursday, the Moody's
credit rating agency published its annual analysis of
Israel, in which it confirmed Israel's credit rating of
A2, with a "stable" outlook.

Maariv reported that Silvan Shalom, the number two on
the Likud list, has devised a plan for a rotation
between Binyamin Netanyahu and Amir Peretz as prime
ministers in a possible Likud-Labor government. Peretz
told Israel Radio this morning that he rejects such an
arrangement. Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that the
Shas party has launched a campaign for English-speakers
for the first time in its 22-year history in an attempt
to capture the "small but crucial Anglo-Sephardi vote."

In an article written for Maariv, an unnamed academic
Iraqi woman described her daily experiences in anarchic
and corruption-ridden Baghdad.

All media reported that a nuclear deal was reached
between the US and India during President Bush's visit
to New Delhi Thursday.

Leading media reported that the Federal Reserve has
issued a new 10-dollar bill with color markings that
will make counterfeiting more difficult.

Maariv reported that oligarch Boris Berezovsky is
expected to request that his Israeli citizenship, which
he had forsaken, be returned to him so that he can
escape prosecution by the Russian authorities. Britain
is considering extraditing him to Russia over his
recent statement that he wants to topple the Russian
regime.

The Jerusalem Post reported that pastors John Hagee and
Jerry Falwell have both denied a report in The
Jerusalem Post earlier this week that they embrace the
"dual covenant" theology, which holds that Jews are
saved through a special relationship with God and
therefore need not be Christians to enter heaven.

Yediot reported that the American singer Madonna is
interested in purchasing a house in the picturesque
northern Galilee city of Rosh Pina and turning it into
a Kabbala center.

Reviewing the polls conducted for the newspaper by Mina
Zemach (Dahaf Institute) from February 10 through March
3, Yediot found that Kadima lost five Knesset mandates
(from 43 to 38) during that period.

Maariv reported that Kadima enjoys a small lead over
the Labor and Likud parties in the newspaper's public
opinion poll in the development towns (new immigrant
towns established in the 1950s especially in the border
areas, rural regions and periphery of Israel) that have
so far been Likud strongholds. Maariv printed the
results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey
conducted on Wednesday in nine development towns.
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom
would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats; in
brackets: actual 1993 election figures in those towns):
-Kadima 29; Labor Party 25 (5); Likud 24 (45); Shas 19
(16) (40 in 1999); National Union-National Religious
Party (NRP) 11 (in 1993, National Union-Yisrael
Beiteinu obtained the equivalent of 10 Knesset seats,
and the NRP 5); United Torah Judaism 5 (4); Yisrael
Beiteinu 7.

Ha'aretz (English Ed.) and other media cited a poll
conducted by Hanoch Smith, which indicates that about
60 percent of the Jewish Israeli public (according to
Hatzofe: 40 percent) supports encouraging Arabs to
emigrate to Arab states. The poll was presented by
former MK Michael Kleiner, head of the right-wing Herut
list that runs for the Knesset.

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1. Iran: Nuclear Program:
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Summary:
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Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "The age of words has ended; the West
must start the countdown to action."

Block Quotes:
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"The Age of Words Has Ended"

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (March 3): "Not only has the chairman
[sic] of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the
Egyptian Mohammed ElBaradei, dared to talk a few days
ago about a possibility that the world could put up
with Iran enriching a small quantity of uranium, but
nobody among the Western politicians said anything ...
or raised an uproar. This is a precedent that will be
remembered as a watershed, after a disaster takes -- or
alternatively following the outbreak of a preemptive
strike.... Israelis who recently visited Washington
[also] found slight hints of softening.... In a New
York Times article, Professor Barry Posen wrote: 'We
can live with a nuclear Iran'.... [Posen wrote]:
'Iranian nuclear weapons could be put to three
dangerous purposes: Iran could give them to terrorists;
it could use them to blackmail other states; or it
could engage in other kinds of aggressive behavior on
the assumption that no one, not even the United States,
would accept the risk of trying to invade a nuclear
state or destroy it from the air.' Posen wrote that
the first two threats are improbable and that the third
is manageable. How? Through a preemptive action by
countries such as the US. Israel is mentioned, too.
[Posen's] explanations are futile. Let there be a
preventive strike at once. At this time America isn't
open to such a possibility -- only to a theoretical
debate. The red light is already switched on. All
bells must be rung. The age of words has ended; the
West must start the countdown to action."

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2. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Israel's war against terror
will continue with countless minor operations ...
rather than with ostentatious displays."

Columnist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "Ironically, Hamas wants
Abbas to remain in power so that the international
community could continue channeling funds through him
to the Palestinians. Hamas knows that the money would
eventually go to the ... institutions under its
control."

Block Quotes:
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I. "A New Wave of Terrorism?"

Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 3): "For reasons not yet
fully clear, terrorism seems to be reviving in the West
Bank.... Does this add up to a random set of incidents
or a new wave of terrorism? However, all these
incidents do not come close to the damage that one
suicide bomber could cause. Since the beginning of the
year the Shin Bet and IDF have assassinated several
Jihad leaders and arrested others. Still, it appears
the network has maintained its capability of launching
suicide bombers. This is a result of Israel's
relatively restrained policy in the pre-pullout
days.... Hamas, in contrast, is not part of this game.
Its people have received clear orders not to take part
in the attacks. Israel's ongoing failure to stop the
fund flow for terror from Damascus and Beirut has
enabled Jihad and Hizbullah people there to send rogue
Tanzim units to carry out attacks in the West Bank.
Some of them were involved in the recent attacks. On
Thursday, Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert threatened
to deal with the situation with an 'iron fist' and said
he instructed the defense establishment to operate
'special measures not yet used' against terrorism.
Taken literally, one could assume Israel would
retaliate with deliberate attacks on Palestinian
civilians. Not to worry, no such orders have been
issued. Olmert's declaration sounds more like the
bravado of a politician whose popularity is waning in
the polls. Israel's war against terror will continue
with countless minor operations ... rather than with
ostentatious displays."

II. "Friends or Foes?"

Columnist Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (March 3): "[Top Palestinian
officials] said that [Mahmoud] Abbas went to Yemen
[this week] to seek its help in persuading Damascus and
Tehran not to provide Hamas with financial aid for fear
that such a move would prompt the US and the Europeans
to stop supporting the Palestinian Authority.... In any
case, what is evident is that the Palestinians will
soon find themselves under the control of two
authorities -- one led by Hamas and the second by
Fatah. Although Hamas won the election, all the
indications are that Fatah has no intention of
relinquishing control over the PA's finances and
security forces.... Ironically, Hamas wants Abbas to
remain in power so that the international community
could continue channeling funds through him to the
Palestinians. Hamas knows that the money would
eventually go to the Palestinian budget and from there
to ministries and other institutions under its
control."

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3. UAE Role in US Port Management:
--------------

Summary:
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The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized: "The Dubai deal may or may not violate
US anti-boycott laws, but treating a government that
boycotts Israel as if nothing is wrong is pre-9/11
thinking."
Block Quotes:
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"Dubai's Boycott"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
editorialized (March 3): "The Dubai deal may or may not
violate US anti-boycott laws, but treating a government
that boycotts Israel as if nothing is wrong is pre-9/11
thinking.... Some claim that the boycott has become a
dead letter, or 'all bark and no bite,' as an Israeli
who combats the boycott put it. Israeli goods,
stripped of their labels, now make their way into Arab
states, and the secondary boycott of companies that
trade with Israel has collapsed. But the Arab boycott
and, more generally, the refusal of nations that do not
even share a border with Israel to normalize relations
cannot be viewed as protesting a particular Israeli
policy. Israel not only favors a Palestinian state,
but is arguably more eager to create one than the
Palestinian leadership, be it Fatah or Hamas. In this
context, the boycott can only be seen as a refusal to
accept Israel's existence. Such radical rejectionism
by any state of another should not be tolerated, much
less ignored."

JONES