ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000960 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: Nuclear Program ¶3. Sudan: Darfur -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Acting PM Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying Wednesday in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that Israel's permanent borders will be set within the next four years, during which time construction will also begin in the controversial E1 section between Ma'aleh Adumim and Jerusalem. Olmert was also quoted as saying that he had no intention of meeting PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas after the elections. Maariv quoted Olmert as saying Wednesday at an election rally that Kadima has already won the elections. Olmert emphasized that his party must garner as many Knesset seats as possible. Yediot bannered a statement made Wednesday by Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu that PM Sharon and his son Omri raised the level of corruption in Israel to a hitherto unknown level. The Jerusalem Post reported that FM Tzipi Livni welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) decision Wednesday to finally send the Iranian nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, but said that this was just the first step in a long journey to use diplomatic pressure to stop Iran's march toward nuclear weapons. Ha'aretz reported that intelligence services in the West are convinced that Iran is using covert means to develop nuclear weapons, in addition to the nuclear program under the partial supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The newspaper wrote that Russian intelligence apparently agrees with this assessment. Maariv quoted Iran's Representative to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltanieh as saying on Wednesday that the US is not immune from pain and damage. Yediot reported that Yitzhak Ben-Gad, Israel's Consul- General in Miami, called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the "new Haman" in a speech he delivered before a world conference of rabbis that took place in Miami. Haman, who is mentioned in the Book of Esther, is the archetype of those would eliminate all the Jews. Yediot reported that The Washington Post dubbed Israel's Representative to the UN Danny Gillerman the "undiplomatic diplomat" for "shouting a barnyard obscenity involving a bull" during the AIPAC Conference when he dismissed the theory that Iran and Hamas might soften their anti-Israel views. Globes reported that Industry, Trade, and Employment DG Raanan Dinur announced on Tuesday that Under Secretary of Commerce for Industry and Security David McCormick, who is currently visiting Israel, will hold talks with Israeli officials regarding the supervision of exports of weapons and security products from Israel. Globes reported that last year, trade between Israel and the US amounted to USD 18 billion. Israeli exports to the US grew by 4.65 percent and amounted to USD 12 billion. US exports to Israel amounted to USD 6 billion. Israel Radio and the major news web sites (including Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post) reported that the State Department's 2006 Human Rights Report voices criticism of human rights conditions in Israel, the occupied territories, and the PA. The media said that in Israel, the GOI in general respects the human rights of the citizens, but in some areas there is still discrimination, violence and government corruption. The report found that the GOI also discriminates against non-Orthodox Israeli Jews. The report allegedly noted that conditions in Israeli security prisons are bad and a small number of the prison guards pursue a policy of harassment against the Palestinian inmates. With regard to the human rights situation in the PA territories, the report says the PA did not supervise its security forces in an appropriate manner, and permitted their personnel to use unacceptable violence including torture. The Palestinian legal system is inefficient and short of resources and personnel, and people do not receive a fair trial. The report says there has been an improvement in the conditions under which journalists work in the territories, especially after Abbas's democratic election. The report says that the PA is also tainted with governmental corruption. The six countries which head the list of states which violate human rights are Myanmar (Burma),North Korea, Iran, Cuba, China and Zimbabwe. The report also criticizes countries which are friendly to the US, among them Saudi Arabia, where there are arbitrary arrests and a lack of freedom of conscience." Israel Radio reported that despite warnings of terrorist attacks, Israel will reopen the Karni crossing this morning after it reviewed the security and humanitarian aspects of the move. Ha'aretz and the radio reported on a shortage of basic goods in the Gaza Strip. Maariv reported that the US Embassy in Israel and the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem warned AmCits in the country to prepare for a natural disaster in the region. The newspaper reported that the Embassy and Consulate asked AmCits to register in order to facilitate communications in the event of a disaster. All media (lead story in Hatzofe) quoted Abbas as saying in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that he does not want to interfere in the Israeli elections, but that he hopes that Olmert will win. The media cited Netanyahu's response that the Palestinians support Olmert because he does not demand that the Palestinians fight terrorism. Leading media cited Abbas's claim that he was misquoted. Israel Radio reported that an unidentified Hamas source told the station on Wednesday that Hamas will retain control of the Interior Ministry in the new Palestinian government, putting thousands of security officers under its control. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday, Peace Now held a demonstration in front of the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of the release of Talia Sasson's report calling for the removal of illegal settler outposts in the West Bank. Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Jerusalem's Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, where PM Sharon is hospitalized, said in an interview with Channel 2-TV Wednesday that had he been anyone else, Sharon would have been moved to Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center in Raanana. Ha'aretz translated a Reuters story on a harsh face-off between senior Republican Senators and President Bush on the matter of Dubai Ports World's management of six US seaports. Ha'aretz reported that FM Tzipi Livni decided Wednesday that Israel's Ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon, is to be reprimanded subject to a hearing by the deputy state prosecutor. Ha'aretz wrote that Livni's decision comes on the backdrop of a recommendation by State Prosecutor Eran Shendar. Other media cited minor disciplinary measures to be taken against Ayalon. Ha'aretz reviewed a new book by American-born journalist and researcher Gershom Gorenberg, "The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977." Referring to the budding settlement movement, Gorenberg told the newspaper: "It is completely obvious that the Israelis deceived the Americans. But it is equally clear that it was very convenient for the Americans to be deceived. They were preoccupied with the Vietnam War, and viewed the whole world only though the prism of the Cold War." The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that, in honor of International Women's Day, some 20 Israeli and Palestinian women gathered in Jerusalem's American Center for a videoconference between Jerusalem and Washington, with the participation of members of the PEACE X PEACE organization, which empowers women as the most effective means to enrich lives locally and promote peace globally. All media reported that on Wednesday, American actress Sharon Stone attended an event in Jaffa with Israeli and Palestinian children organized by the Peres Center for Peace. Major media reported that American tycoon Donald Trump is involved in luxury real-estate projects in Israel. Yediot reported that Trump will invest in the construction of the tallest building in Israel -- in Ramat Gan. Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a survey conducted this week by Prof. Camil Fuchs of the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute: -"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in brackets, results of poll conducted on March 2.) -Kadima 37 (37); Labor Party 19 (19); Likud 17 (15); Shas 10 (10); National Union-National Religious Party 10 (11); Yisrael Beiteinu 8 (7); Arab parties 8 (9); United Torah Judaism 5 (6); Meretz 4 (6); Green Leaf (a party advocating the decriminalization of soft drugs): 2 (0). -The poll found that the ratio of undecided voters ("floating votes") corresponds to 24 Knesset seats. -"Do you support or are you opposed to Kadima's plan to evacuate settlements unilaterally, as Avi Dichter proposed this week?" Opposed: 49 percent; support: 37 percent; undecided: 14 percent. A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll held on Wednesday shows the Likud as weakening and the Labor Party as stagnating: -"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in brackets, results of last week's poll.) -Kadima 37 (38); Labor Party 20 (20); Likud 14 (15); Shas 11 (10); Yisrael Beiteinu 10 (9); Arab parties 8 (8); National Union-National Religious Party 8 (7); United Torah Judaism 6 (6); Meretz 6 (5). Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey conducted on Wednesday, which shows a slight decline in support for Kadima and the Labor Party: -"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom would you vote?" (Results in Knesset seats -- in brackets, results of last week's poll.) -Kadima 38 (39); Labor Party 19 (21); Likud 17 (18); Shas 9 (9); National Union-National Religious Party 9 (9); Yisrael Beiteinu 9 (7); United Torah Judaism 5 (5); Arab parties 8 (8); Meretz 5 (5). -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz: "We must carry out a broad unilateral pullout in the West Bank already now." Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's right to meet with Abu Mazen, but at least let him not presume to claim that he is fighting terror." Yoav Frummer wrote from New York in popular, pluralist Maariv: "A short, painful look around us proves that we may have hastened to rejoice." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Putting Things on Ice" Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- leaning Ha'aretz (March 9): "How can we make sure that when the [final-status] agreement is finally reached, the reality on the ground will not prevent implementing the vision of two separate states, while ensuring the Jewish majority in the Jewish state? To this end, we must carry out a broad unilateral pullout in the West Bank already now.... How can we ensure, in any case, that the developing Jewish settlements in the West Bank do not prevent, in the future, a separation from the Palestinians? The answer is 'putting things on ice' -- a term that has lost its impact from overuse in the past, but still carries weight.... A real freeze requires resolve and consistency. But it is possible to accomplish. And as preparation for the future negotiations over a peace agreement, it is preferable to the attempt to evacuate dozens of settlements and tens of thousands of settlers in return for nothing." II. "Fighting Terror?" Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 9): "When [Labor Party Chairman Amir] Peretz recently met with the PA President, not only did he fail to raise the demand to halt the Fatah terror, he also continued the pretense that Hamas is the active party in terror. What is worse is that Amir Peretz reached an agreement with Abu Mazen that if the Labor Party should form the next government, they will 'immediately' return to the negotiating table. This will cause us to regress by ten years, to the situation where Arafat sat at the negotiating table while continuing to encourage the terror of all the [Palestinian] factions, knowing that terror was helping him and encouraging Israel to accelerate the negotiations. This odd situation has two possible and troubling causes: either the Labor Party representatives do not properly understand the situation on the ground, particularly in light of the change that has taken place following the Palestinian elections, or else they are choosing to ignore this change. It is Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's right to meet with Abu Mazen, but at least let him not presume to claim that he is fighting terror." III. "Retreating Democracy" Yoav Frummer wrote from New York in popular, pluralist Maariv (March 9): "[Over a year ago], leading Neoconservative Bill Kristol declared in an interview with Maariv that 'Bush was right -- democracy is winning.' A short, painful look around us proves that we may have hastened to rejoice.... As Richard Perle, one of the original hawks, heavy-heartedly admitted to me this week that the situation in the Middle East was 'deteriorating'.... Fourteen years ago, Francis Fukuyama announced that the 'end of history' had arrived.... It was only a matter of time until this becomes universally applied. Using Churchillian logic, the current conditions prove that we haven't reached the end of history -- not even the beginning of its end. In the best case, we have reached the end of its beginning." -------------- ¶2. Iran: Nuclear Program: -------------- Summary: -------------- Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The real question will be whether Dick Cheney's commitment to AIPAC can stand -- that the Americans will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Diplomatic Effort Against Iran" Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote on page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 9): "On Tuesday, a State Department official told Ha'aretz that 'the Russians don't want the issue [of Iran's nuclear program] to go to the Security Council.' Congressional and administration officials therefore concede that the diplomatic confrontation with Iran will end in disappointment. Then the real question will be whether Dick Cheney's commitment to AIPAC can stand -- that the Americans will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. All the options are on the table, Cheney said. But which one will the US choose? And at what price? And when?" -------------- ¶3. Sudan: Darfur: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The century-long Arab war against the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel is made of the same bloody intolerance the world has seen against the Blacks in Sudan." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Darfur Genocide Continues" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (March 9): "On Tuesday, a US Congressional delegation that had visited Sudan told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 'The issue of Darfur SIPDIS challenges the conscience of our country.' So what is being done about it?.... Genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism -- all such characterizations surely apply. But surely the Jewish people should need no further explanations; our flashes of recognition are immediate. Nor have the atrocities ended, nor will they end if action is not taken..... Israel, too, should not be silent. It should not matter that both the perpetrators and the victims are predominately Muslim.... The century-long Arab war against the Jewish presence in the Land of Israel is made of the same bloody intolerance the world has seen against the Blacks in Sudan. As a Jewish and democratic state, Israel must speak out when thousands of people are being slaughtered, starved and displaced." JONES