ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000937

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. US/India Civilian Nuclear Accord

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Key stories in the media:
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All media (banners in Ha'aretz and Maariv) quoted
Acting PM Ehud Olmert as saying Tuesday that Israel
will invest no money in construction in the territories
in the coming years if Kadima wins the upcoming
elections. Ha'aretz quoted Olmert associates as saying
that his spending ban would not include the settlement
blocs that Kadima wants Israel to retain under any
future agreement. The media quoted Olmert as saying
that more resources would be allocated to the Negev,
the Galilee, and Jerusalem.

Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday, Vice President
Richard Cheney made two statements at the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference that "left
little room for speculation, and earned him a long
round of stormy applause": "The US is keeping all
options on the table" and "We will not allow Iran to
have a nuclear weapon." Yediot and The Jerusalem Post
also cited Cheney's remarks on the Iranian issue.
Ha'aretz quoted Vice President Cheney as saying at the
AIPAC Conference: "There is no doubt that America's
commitment to Israel's security is solid, enduring and
unshakeable." Ha'aretz quoted diplomatic sources
surrounding the International Atomic Energy Agency as
saying that over the past day, the US administration
pressured the European countries not to agree to any
compromise with Iran regarding the issue of uranium
enrichment. Yediot quoted State Department Spokesman
Tom Casey as saying that the US would not allow the
Iranian regime to enrich uranium. Yediot reported on a
controversy in the US around remarks made by former
senior Pentagon official Richard Perle in an interview
with the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that the US
is capable of wiping out all of Iran's nuclear
installations in one night.

Ha'aretz reported that the significant development of
the past two days took place on Capitol Hill when a
number of Republican congressmen, headed by Republican
Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Majority Whip
Mitch McConnell, along with Democratic Senator Joseph
Biden, proposed the Senate's version of a bill against
the PA. Ha'aretz quoted the Vice President as saying
Tuesday: "If the leaders of Hamas desire the help of
America and the international community to build an
independent, prosperous Palestinian state, then the way
forward is very clear. The Palestinian government must
recognize Israel's right to exist."

Maariv reported that Israel is involved in confidential
talks with the US so that funds can continue to be
channeled to the Palestinians, by-passing the PA. The
newspaper wrote that for this purpose, Israel wants to
make use of humanitarian organizations, "some of which
are considered anti-Israeli" -- Maariv cited the UN
Relief and Works Agency. Maariv reported that Israel
and the US are drawing up a list of international
organizations through which the money would be
transferred to the Palestinians. Ha'aretz reported
that an official report by USAID and the Palestinian
agricultural development corporation warns of
"financial catastrophe" regarding the Gush Katif
hothouses purchased by the Palestinian Economic
Development (PED) Company. According to Ha'aretz, the
report states that as a result of the closing of the
Karni crossing since February 12, the company has
incurred USD 450,000 in damages a day and the
cumulative damage has reached USD 4.4 million.
Ha'aretz wrote that PED's DG Bassam Jaber told the
newspaper that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice, and the Quartet's Mideast envoy, James
Wolfensohn, promised at the formation of the company
and the acquisition of the Gush Katif hothouses that
the Karni crossing would be open regularly for the
passage of goods, but this promise was not kept.

The Jerusalem Post reported that senior IDF officers,
who acknowledge the IDF's failure to eradicate Qassam
rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, told the newspaper
on Tuesday that Israel would have no choice but to
launch a massive ground operation into the Gaza Strip
in the near future.

Leading media reported that two Qassam rocket landed in
the western Negev on Tuesday and this morning, causing
no casualties. Maariv reported that Hizbullah experts
have arrived in the Gaza Strip to advise Palestinian
terrorist organizations on how to improve the
efficiency of Qassam rockets and how to build more
lethal explosive charges. An IDF soldier and a Defense
Ministry guard were lightly wounded during a
Palestinian protest against the separation fence going
up west of Ramallah. The IDF arrested at least eleven
Palestinians in the West Bank. Leading media reported
that two Qassam rocket landed in the western Negev on
Tuesday and this morning, causing no casualties.

The Jerusalem Post cited diplomatic assessments in
Jerusalem that Hamas is feeling increasingly confident
since PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas reconciled
himself to a Hamas government and because of cracks
appearing in the international front that Israel is
attempting to cobble together. The newspaper says that
according to those assessments, Abbas has made it clear
in recent days that he had no intention of standing in
Hamas's way, and that he was even defending Hamas in
the international arena. The Jerusalem Post quoted
Abbas as saying Tuesday that he would be prepared to
free from prison the mastermind of the assassination of
Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi, but that he
would not be responsible for any Israeli actions
against him. Yediot reported that a Hamas web site
encourages the phenomenon of suicide bombing among
children.

Major media (lead story in Yediot) reported that a
State Comptroller report to be released today sharply
criticizes the government's treatment of settlers
evacuated under the disengagement plan. In particular,
the report finds special fault with the Disengagement
Administration. Speaking on Israel Radio this morning,
Disengagement Administration Director Yonatan Bassi
said that the facts presented in the report are totally
disconnected from their context. Bassi also questioned
why the report was made public three weeks before the
elections.

The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, divestment
activists in the UK were handed a defeat after the
Church of England's financial advisors -- the Ethical
Investment Advisory Group -- voted unanimously to
reject the Church's call to divest from the American
company Caterpillar Inc.

Yediot quoted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as
saying recently during a closed discussion that
Israelis should not be afraid of visiting Egypt, and
the Sinai in particular.

Ha'aretz wrote that highly confidential documents from
the Ministry of Justice dating from the early 1990s,
copies of which were sent to the Ministers of Defense,
Justice and Housing as well as the Attorney General,
confirm the existence of a vast network of ties between
Likud and Labor governments, and land dealers and
settlers' associations, for the purpose of acquiring
land in the West Bank.

All media reported that Israeli underworld kingpin Zeev
Rosenstein, who was extradited to the US from Israel,
made his first court appearance in Fort Lauderdale on
Tuesday. The media reported that upon landing in
Florida, Rosenstein made contact with Attorney Roy
Black, one of Miami's top lawyers, who represented
William Kennedy Smith during his trial for rape.

Yediot reported that the US Embassy's web site that
allows Israelis to apply for visas to the US has been
repeatedly crashing.

Maariv cited Israel's concern that the embassies of
Costa Rica and El Salvador, which are the only ones
located in Jerusalem, might move to Tel Aviv, following
Oscar Arias's victory in the Costa Rican presidential
elections.

Yediot reported on an uproar at Columbia University
around an invitation made to Norman Finkelstein, a
Jewish American academic who holds anti-Israeli views,
to speak tonight before student unions, including the
Muslim Students Association. The newspaper wrote that
Finkelstein will present his stance that Jewish
organizations exploit the Holocaust to deflect
criticism of Israel and to extort European banks and
governments for compensation.

Yediot reported that Rania Jubran, an Israeli-Arab
woman who is the daughter of a High Court judge, will
enroll in a prestigious cadet course in the Foreign
Ministry.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "It is not too late to stop
a Middle Eastern 9/11 from taking place, but if Israel
doesn't act soon, and decisively, that is where we may
all end up."

Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the Israeli-Palestinian web
site bitterlemons.org, a former director of the Jaffee
Center for Strategic Studies, who was an advisor to
former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in left-
leaning, independent Ha'aretz: "[Mahmoud] Abbas is not
relevant to the current situation, and for now a peace
process is not possible. Hamas is our 'partner,' for
better or for worse."

Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Israeli] human rights
organizations are the state's pride, not a threat that
must be liquidated or minimized."


Block Quotes:
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I. "A Bitter Plan"

Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (March 8): "[Former Shin Bet Director
and prominent Kadima party member] Avi Dichter sowed
embarrassment this week in Kadima when he declared a
plan for an additional unilateral withdrawal.... It
appears that the confusion created by that declaration
contradicts Sharon's pronouncements following the
disengagement from Gush Katif and the northern West
Bank. Sharon then declared that the disengagement was
a one-time affair and that any additional pullout would
take place in the framework of final-status
negotiations with the Palestinians -- in keeping with
the Roadmap.... A new withdrawal without an agreement
would necessarily be damaging to Israel. It might make
extremist organizations -- including Hamas -- intensify
their war in order to force Israel to satisfy their
demands."

II. "Beware: Al Qaida Is Targeting Israel"

Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (March 8): "The writing is
on the wall: Al Qaida is gearing up to attack the
Jewish state. Yet no one seems to be paying very much
attention. Like a shark honing in on its prey, Osama
bin Laden's henchmen are progressively encircling the
Jewish state, creating bases of operation in areas
bordering Israel.... This fits in precisely with what
we know to be the group's ultimate objective: to wage
war against the Jewish state.... We need to start
making it abundantly clear to friends and allies in the
West that they cannot expect Israel to carry out
further retreats when the threat posed by Islamist
fundamentalism is already within striking distance of
our major towns and cities. Most importantly, though,
Israel must start taking the danger of a possible Al-
Qaida attack much more seriously and adopt an
aggressive, preemptive posture to eliminate the
organization's infrastructure in places such as Gaza.
It is not too late to stop a Middle Eastern 9/11 from
taking place, but if Israel doesn't act soon, and
decisively, that is where we may all end up."

III. "Yes, He's Not Relevant"

Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the Israeli-Palestinian web
site bitterlemons.org, a former director of the Jaffee
Center for Strategic Studies, who was an advisor to
former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in left-
leaning, independent Ha'aretz (March 8): "[Mahmoud]
Abbas is not relevant to the current situation, and for
now a peace process is not possible. Hamas is our
'partner,' for better or for worse. Abbas is a good
person with noble sentiments. He opposes violence and
appears genuinely to want a two-state solution. He
remains chairman of the PA and head of the PLO. So
far, so good. But he is incapable of acting
decisively, and unable to deliver on his commitments.
He promised to disarm the militias -- those of Hamas,
Fatah and Islamic Jihad -- and could not. He wanted to
clean out the ranks of Fatah and the PLO from the old
guard of corrupt politicos, and failed. Nor are his
own ideological commitments necessarily congenial to a
successful peace process with Israel. He agreed with
Hamas in March 2005 in Cairo that the right of return
would be exercised for all refugees to their former
lands -- a sure formula for the elimination of
Israel.... Even if he had a mandate to negotiate and
the capacity to do so, peace talks with him would
likely fail. In the unlikely event that they
succeeded, Abbas would not be able to deliver, because
he does not have a mandate. Hamas does.... Palestinian
moderates like [Saeb] Erekat are either in denial or
genuinely don't understand that they have been replaced
by the Muslim Brotherhood, with all that entails for
the future of Palestinian society and Israeli-
Palestinian relations. Israel undoubtedly shares the
blame for Abbas' failure and Hamas' election
triumph.... But to blame mainly us for Hamas's victory,
as many Palestinians do, is simply another form of
Palestinian denial. Nor does it alter the outcome we
must now deal with."

IV. "Who Is For the State, and Who Is Against?"

Ha'aretz editorialized (March 8): "Israeli human rights
organizations that try to help Palestinians have never
enjoyed widespread public support.... [Even so],
Machsom Watch is a unique women's human rights
organization comprised of hundreds of women.... The
assumption is that the presence of these mature women,
some of whom are the mothers or grandmothers of
soldiers, [at IDF checkpoints] prevents excessive abuse
and slightly eases the suffering and humiliation that
is the lot of thousands. This organization -- like
other human rights organizations, each of which focuses
on a different consequence of the occupation -- is the
least that Israeli citizens can do to try to prevent
injustices stemming from the occupation. Life under
the anomaly of an occupation regime produces strange
solutions, such as the presence of women alongside
soldiers in an effort to ensure a more humane routine.
The human rights organizations are the state's pride,
not a threat that must be liquidated or minimized."

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2. US/India Civilian Nuclear Accord:
--------------

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

Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Whatever Bush's
motivations for signing the nuclear agreement with
India, the President of the US has in any case set back
the nuclear non-proliferation efforts by 30 years."

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

"A New Nuclear Age"

Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 8): "There
could not have been a worse timing for the signing of
the nuclear pact between the US and India last week.
While President Bush is leading the international
campaign against the nuclear programs of North Korea
and Iran, it legitimized India's nuclear program, and
thus granted India the status of a legitimate nuclear
power in every respect. This happened two years after
he announced with great resolve that new nuclear powers
should not be added to the list of the five nuclear
powers, and eight years after the US administration
imposed sanctions on India after it conducted a series
of nuclear tests.... Whatever Bush's motivations for
signing the nuclear agreement with India, the President
of the US has in any case set back the nuclear non-
proliferation efforts by 30 years. He blatantly
violated the rule that was set more than 30 years ago
according to which nuclear technology is not provided
to countries that have not signed the NPT. Thus, the
American president has greatly harmed the chances of
denying nuclear weapons to Iran."

JONES