ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001104 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 CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 JERUSALEM ALSO ICD LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. Visit of US Secretary of Defense in Israel -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. administration will present in the following weeks to the Israelis and the Palestinians a list with benchmarks aimed to progress the obligations of both sides. The Palestinians will be expected to act in the areas of security and terror prevention and Israel will be expected to do its part in keeping the Gaza Strip crossings in operation and easing restrictions on movement in the West Bank. The newspaper added that Secretary of States Condoleezza Rive is expected in the region SIPDIS around mid May for another round of talks with Israelis and Palestinians. Ha'aretz reported that the Dayton Plan devised by Lieutenant General Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region, will not supply weapons to the Palestinian Presidential Guard and will focus on training and coordination of activities of all security forces loyal to the PA chairman. The Jerusalem Post reported that US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is due in Israel on Wednesday. Ha'aretz reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni met the Chinese special envoy to the region, Sun Bigan on Monday. In their meeting Livni presented the "political horizon" that Israel would focus on in talks with Abbas, including security and economic facets of the final status solution. This horizon does not include discussion of the final status agreement, including Jerusalem, the 1967 borders and Palestinian refugees. Channel 2 reported on Monday night that members of the Winograd Committee are considering resigning if the Supreme Court orders to make public the protocols of the discussions before the interim report is due. Maariv reported that members of the committee are considering not preparing the second part of the report, which is to deal directly with the war. All media quoted Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal as warning Israel of a military clash on the Golan Heights unless peace negotiations were begun: "Syria is interested in renewing the peace process and that desire is still valid ... but if the occupying Israeli side does not respond positively to the Arab initiative and to international calls, then resistance will be the way to restore the occupied Syrian Golan." Yediot reported that the kidnappers of Gilad Shalit are in no hurry to close a deal. According to the newspaper Hamas views him as an insurance policy against an Israeli invasion and targeted killings. The paper also quoted a statement issued by the Palestinian organizations in honor of Palestinian Prisoner Day in which they say that: "The method of kidnapping soldiers has proven itself and, as such, we need to continue to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians in order to release Palestinian prisoners." Leading media reported that Palestinian PM Haniyah announced on Monday that Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is on the prisoners list that the Palestinian are demanding in exchange for Gilad Shalit. Israel Radio this morning reported that four Israelis were shot and wounded as they were driving near Naale, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank north of Modi'in. One of the Israelis was seriously injured and three lightly, the radio reported. Israel Radio this morning reported that among the 32 people killed in the Virginia Tech massacre in the US was also an Israeli professor. Ha'aretz reported that the company that facilitated the purchase of the disputed house in Hebron occupied by settlers is currently the subject of a police probe. The Police are investigating whether the company was involved in forgery and fraud in purchases performed before the transaction of the contested house. Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert banned Deputy Defense Minister Efrayim Sneh from participating in a gathering in which Palestinian Finance Minister Salam Fayed is also a participant. Ha'aretz reported that Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Moshe Kaplinsky is planning to leave his job in the summer in favor of a management study program in Harvard. Ha'aretz reported that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah has requested a visa to attend a Palestinian conference in Rotterdam and that the Dutch government refuses to grant him a visa since the EU considers Hamas a terror organization. Maariv reported that a senior leader in the Egyptian Muslim Brother movement has expressed consent to the establishment of a Jewish state next to a Palestinian State as an interim solution to the Israeli-Arab conflict. According to the paper his declaration caused a major storm in Cairo. Ha'aretz cited Belgium's Defense Minister Andre Flahaut as saying that Israel must pay for the removal of cluster bomb fragments that it fired into Lebanon during the Second Lebanon war. Maariv reported that United States Delta Airline will operate a daily flight from Israel to New York. Yediot reported that an Israeli tourist company is arranging tourist trips fro Israelis to North Korea for the first time. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Defense commentator Amos Gilboa wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Out of a 'thousand' questions, I have one important one for the Israeli government: where do you get the tireless urge to cling on Arab initiatives that are bad for Israel? Why doesn't the Israeli government put an Israeli initiative that would serve as its own national-diplomatic compass?" Block Quotes: -------------- "The Missing Initiative" Defense commentator Amos Gilboa wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (4/17): "Newspaper headlines report on first talks between Israel and the Arab League in order to open peace negotiations on the basis of the Arab Initiative from 2002, which was recently reapproved in the Arab summit in Riyadh. Out of a 'thousand' questions, I have one important one for the Israeli government: where do you get the tireless urge to cling on Arab initiatives that are bad for Israel? Why doesn't the Israeli government put an Israeli initiative that would serve as its own national-diplomatic compass?.... Any move that would accept the Arab Initiative as a basis for negotiations, that would hand the Arab League the initiative for international moves meant to progress Arab positions, that would push Israel to a dangerous diplomatic stand point -- will only make real that it is all spin against the threatening wave of the Winograd Committee." -------------- - ¶2. Visit of US Secretary of Defense in Israel: -------------- - Summary: -------------- Defense columnist Amir Oren opined in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "There are no fateful issues that Gates is authorized to conclude with Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ... and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.... So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just the delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries -- an issue wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides." Block Quotes: -------------- "Not a Lot to Discuss" Defense columnist Amir Oren opined in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/17): "[US Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates' visit to Israel reflects a decision not to boycott it: He must not skip Israel on his visit to the region, though he is known to be cooler toward it than his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld. There are no fateful issues that Gates is authorized to conclude with Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (whom he asked to meet, perhaps because of the rumor that she is getting closer to becoming prime minister) and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Dealing with Iran is the president's jurisdiction. In Iraq, the Pentagon has refrained from accepting overt Israeli help. Gaza, which the administration is making efforts to prevent from bursting into flames, belongs to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even in the channel of Security SIPDIS Coordinator Keith Dayton. So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just the delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries -- an issue wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides." JONES