ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION


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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. Iran


3. PM Olmert's Performance

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Key stories in the media:
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Ha'aretz reported that the US administration has presented Israel
and the PA with benchmarks by which the sides will be required to
abide, in accordance with a calendar set in Washington. Ha'aretz
said that the plan focuses on the equation "freedom of movement in
exchange for security." Israel is supposed to expand the activity
of the crossings with the Gaza Strip and remove roadblocks in the
West Bank. The Palestinians will have to complete the
reorganization of the security forces under Abbas's authority.
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday US Ambassador to Israel Richard
Jones and US security coordinator Gen. Keith Dayton presented the
document to Olmert's bureau. The newspaper wrote that a discussion
will take place in Jerusalem next week to formulate a response to
the document. Ha'aretz wrote that a few days ago the US presented
its proposal to the PA.

Israel Radio and other leading media said that CBS-TV reported on
Thursday that a new intelligence report says Iran has overcome
technical difficulties in enriching uranium and could have enough
bomb-grade material for a single nuclear weapon in less than three
years. However, US intelligence officials reportedly caution that
before Iran could meet or beat that 2010 date, it would have to make
further technical progress in operating a uranium enrichment plant
now under construction. The radio and Yediot cited CBS-TV as saying
that Israel is the country most threatened by Iran's nuclear arming.
Former senior CIA official Bruce Riedel was quoted as saying on
Thursday that the new intelligence increases the chances of an
Israeli attack on Iran.'

Based on a story in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which quoted
Palestinian sources, the Jerusalem Post's web site reported that
Palestinian Authority Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas's
Damascus-based leader Khaled Mashal are scheduled to meet with
Egyptian General Intelligence chief Omar Suleiman in Cairo this
weekend to discuss the issue of captured IDF soldier Cpl. Gilad
Shalit.

The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday the IDF held intensive
training maneuvers in preparation for a feared Syrian attack on the
Golan Heights.

Ahead of the publication of the interim report of the Winograd
Commission on Monday, both Ha'aretz and Maariv cited testimonies by
senior IDF officers that missed intelligence could have foiled the
kidnapping of the two IDF soldiers on July 12 last year. Maariv
reported that former OC Northern Command Maj. Gen. Udi Adam
unsuccessfully warned then IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz
that soldiers may be abducted. Leading media reported that PM Ehud
Olmert's closest aides have drawn up strategies toward the report's
publication. Maariv quoted senior Kadima members as saying that
they do not intend to topple Olmert at this time. Yediot reported
that State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss will ask Attorney General
Menachem Mazuz to hold a criminal investigation of Olmert regarding
suspicions that he had received a bribe in connection with the
acquisition of a home on Cremieux Street in Jerusalem. The
newspaper wrote that the comptroller will not issue a report about
the affair.

Israel Radio quoted European Union envoy Louis Michel as saying on
Thursday that the EU will not provide direct aid to the PA until it
meets the International Quartet's three conditions. He was speaking
to reporters in Tel Aviv. Michel was quoted as saying that Hamas's
military wing, and not the Palestinian government, should be blamed
for rocket launchings at Israel. Michel criticized Israeli policy,
notably the erection of the security fence in the West Bank.

Ha'aretz quoted Olmert aides as saying on Thursday that Olmert will
appoint a finance minister in May, after agreeing on a candidate
with Attorney General Mazuz. This indicates that Olmert intends to
hold the treasury for a few weeks at most. The media reported that
on Thursday Mazuz instructed Olmert to appoint an acting finance
minister as soon as possible. He told Olmert that he could not keep
the finance portfolio himself, in view of the investigation into his
involvement in the sale of Bank Leumi, Israel's second largest bank,
as this would put Olmert directly in charge of the officials being
questioned as part of the investigation. However, Mazuz did not
give Olmert a time limit for appointing an acting finance minister.

Maariv reported that Yehiel Horev, the Defense Ministry's head of
security, will soon retire after 40 years of public service.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Salami Meridor was quoted as saying in
an interview with Maariv that the nuclear threat tops his embassy's
order of priorities. Meridor was quoted as saying that the issue in
every conversation with the US administration, Congress, and all his
US contacts. The Jerusalem Post featured grassroots efforts and a
flurry of bipartisan legislative initiatives in the US currently
trying to squeeze foreign investment in Iran, and with it the
Iranian economy. Right-wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen was
quoted as saying in an interview with Makor Rishon-Hatzofe that, if
elected French president, conservative Nicolas Sarkozy may support
an offensive against Iran. The Jerusalem Post quoted Croatian
President Stipe Mesic as saying that he is resisting what he termed
"heavy pressure" to visit Iran until Tehran stops denying the
Holocaust and calling for Israel's destruction. Mesic made the
comments in talks with Zagreb with visiting VP Shimon Peres.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Khalil Abu Lailah, a senior Hamas official
in the Gaza Strip, as saying on Thursday that Hamas will resume its
efforts to try to kidnap Israel soldiers to trade them for
Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The Jerusalem Post reported that former US Defense Secretary William
Cohen told the newspaper on Thursday that the US would be inclined
to allow the sale of advanced stealth F-22 fighter jets to the IAF
if Israel's security was in jeopardy.

Ha'aretz reported that, speaking before the National Jewish
Democratic Council this week, the Democratic presidential candidates
"promised everything: support for Israel and a dialogue with Iran."

Ha'aretz cited a wire report published by the German news agency DPA
quoting the Egyptian Interior Ministry as saying that on Thursday
Egyptian security forces foiled a Palestinian terrorist attack
against Israeli tourists in the Sinai.

Ha'aretz reported that in the draft of his new book, "A Breakout
Political-Security Grand Strategy for Israel," Prof. Yehezkel Dror,
a member of the Winograd Commission, advocates unconditional talks
with Syria. Dror wrote: "Israel does not always have to follow the
United States' policy line. Sometimes it is preferable to encourage
the US to open talks with a "boycotted" party, when it benefits
Israel and also, according to Israel's best judgment, benefits the
US dialogue with Syria after the war in the North is an example of
this."

Ha'aretz quoted police sources as saying in Thursday that, unless
former MK Azmi Bishara returns to Israel for a police interview
within a reasonable period of time, he may be declared a 'fugitive
from justice."

The Jerusalem Post reported that last summer Boaz Ganor of the
Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and Mitchel Wallerstein, dean of
the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse
University, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense,
established a team to chart new rules of war for insurgencies.

The Jerusalem Post reported that in Jerusalem on Thursday 300
Israeli and 100 Palestinian doctors and other professionals took
place in the First International Congress on Chronic Disorders in
Children.

All media reported that the US dollar dropped to 4.014 shekels on
the Tel Aviv financial market -- a 7-year low. Yediot and Maariv
cited major economic newspapers in the world as saying that Bank of
Israel Governor Stanley Fischer is the leading candidate to replace
Paul Wolfowitz as president of the World Bank.




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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It is far more convenient for Olmert to dump
the Gaza escalation in the lap of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail
Haniyeh than to discuss a cease-fire (tahadiyeh) in the West Bank
with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas."

Oded Eran, Israel's Ambassador to the NATO institutions and the
European Union, wrote in Ha'aretz: "The Assad family has waited
slightly less than 40 years to rule the Golan Heights again; let it
wait another few years until the heart of the conflict is
resolved."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Endgame in Damascus and Gaza"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (4/27): "Olmert expects that just as Israel
disengaged from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank too will disengage
from Gaza. Israel can assassinate nine Palestinians in the West
Bank, few of them Hamas operatives, on Independence Day eve, but
Hamas has to keep from firing on Sderot from Gaza on Independence
Day. It is far more convenient for Olmert to dump the Gaza
escalation in the lap of Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh
than to discuss a cease-fire (tahadiyeh) in the West Bank with
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. In his last meetings
with Olmert, Abbas reiterated his request to expand the cease-fire
to the West Bank. The prime minister was not ready to listen. A
comprehensive cease-fire is the first step in the Arab League's
peace initiative. So what if Olmert welcomed that initiative? What
is the connection?

II. "Why Syria Must Wait"

Oded Eran, Israel's Ambassador to the NATO institutions and the
European Union, wrote in Ha'aretz (4/27): "The heart of the
Israeli-Arab conflict is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. All the
other components of the former revolve primarily around the question
of borders.... Until the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is resolved,
the Israeli-Arab conflict will continue either to simmer on a low
flame or even to boil over.... Few would dispute the assertion that
the Israeli political bridge is incapable of supporting two peace
processes, a Syrian and a Palestinian one, at the same time.... It
is our duty to resolve, first and foremost, the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and, under the right conditions for negotiations, to
dedicate all our internal political resources to it. The State of
Israel must not give the Palestinians the message that it is now
abandoning the resolution of the conflict with them and that they
should be so kind as to come back when the complex process of peace
with Syria is completed. The Assad family has waited slightly less
than 40 years to rule the Golan Heights again; let it wait another
few years until the heart of the conflict is resolved."

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2. Iran:
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Summary:
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The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The
more pertinent question is how [the US presidential] candidates will
steer the American ship of state through the wider storm -- the
global conflict between Islamo-fascism and the West, between Iran
and the United States."

Block Quotes:
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"Iran and the Democrats"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/27):
"It would be a mistake ... for Israelis -- who will be dramatically
affected by the American foreign policy -- to measure American
candidates solely by their attitudes toward the Arab-Israeli
conflict. All express strong support for Israel, which should be
accepted as sincere and reflective of the great majority of
Americans. The more pertinent question is how these candidates will
steer the American ship of state through the wider storm -- the
global conflict between Islamo-fascism and the West, between Iran
and the United States. As this conflict goes, so go the prospects
for peace in this region and in the world.... It is somewhat absurd
[for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton] to suggest [before a Jewish
forum this week], given years of European-led negotiations and
painstaking UN Security Council deliberations, that the US could be
understood as pursuing force as a first resort. Such statements
make one wonder, for all the talk that Iran must be stopped, whether
the Democrats would confront only terrorist groups, like al-Qaida,
or also the regimes behind them.... So far, the Democratic position
seems to be just two parts engagement, one part hamstringing the
White House, and no parts urging stronger and faster international
action. If the Democrats want anyone -- Americans, Israelis, or
Iranians -- to take their foreign policy stance seriously, the
balance should change."

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3. PM Olmert's Performance:
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Summary:
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Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation,
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "On Monday, the Winograd Commission
[probing the Second Lebanon War] is scheduled to publish its
partial report.... Olmert has a fair chance of surviving the first
wave."

Block Quotes:
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"The Celebration Starts"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation,
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/27): "On Monday, the Winograd
Commission [probing the Second Lebanon War] is scheduled to publish
its partial report.... The attention will be focused on one person:
Ehud Olmert. Those who pressed to form a commission of inquiry,
hoped that it would make it possible to end the debate over the war.
The report will do the opposite: It will start off another round of
debate. Each side will brandish the quotes that suit it. Olmert
presumes that he can look forward to two difficult weeks in the
tribunal of public opinion. Afterwards, he hopes, he will be able
to reinvent himself, to rise the next morning and start anew. In
order to get through the first two weeks safely, Olmert took a
slight turn to the left. His assumption is that diplomatic
moderation is a media relaxant. Give them, those who are known as
'public opinion makers,' a Saudi initiative, and they will calm
down. The headlines will soften up.... Olmert has a fair chance of
surviving the first wave. His aides say that immediately afterwards
he will create the 'second Olmert government.' Many of IsraelQs
leaders lost the publicQs confidence and were then given a second
chance. The list is respectable: Rabin, Sharon, Begin in a certain
sense, Dayan, and recently Netanyahu and Barak. None of them
succeeded in rehabilitating themselves during their terms of office.
They all rebuilt themselves from the outside, from the opposition.
Olmert believes that he will be the first to succeed. Blessed is
the believer."

CRETZ