ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002465 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. Iran -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday in Washington Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Yediot reported that Itzik thanked the Secretary for her efforts to release the abducted IDF soldiers. Itzik asked Rice to continue those efforts. The Jerusalem Post wrote that the two also discussed the US aid package for Israel, the threat of a nuclear Iran, and the peace process with the Palestinians. Leading media quoted Hamas Spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri as saying on Monday that Hamas is willing to hold frank talks with the international community as suggested by Italian PM Romano Prodi. Israel, in turn, expressed concern over Prodi's statements. Media quoted FM Tzipi Livni as saying that dialogue with terrorist organizations will "pull the rug out from under the feet of moderates" and block any chance of reaching a real agreement with the Palestinians. The head of the Italian government pointed out on Sunday that in order to achieve a peaceful solution to the Middle East conflict, dialogue with all parties involved was necessary, including Hamas and Syria. Ha'aretz reported that Israeli intelligence may be able to decipher Syrian President Bashar Assad's intent towards a possible war. A senior defense source told Ha'aretz on Monday that "as far as we can assess, Assad does not really want war with us. He is concerned about a scenario that will drag us and them [Syria] to war, either through mutual escalation on the Golan Heights, or through growing tensions between the United States and Iran." The source was further quoted as saying: "We do not know what will happen in the end, but after the performance of the IDF in the Second Lebanon War, we are obligated to prepare in a much better way." Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi have discussed the issue in a special ministerial committee on the northern front. PM Ehud Olmert has also been kept abreast of developments. Ha'aretz noted that it is presumed Syria will not attack because it is contrary to its interests, but that analysts are unable to discount the possibility that war will break out, despite both sides' reluctance to engage in a conflict, if tension between the two sides continues. Yediot reported that Syrian intelligence chief Assaf Shawkat is behind efforts to drag the IDF into a war with Syria. Leading Israeli electronic media quoted Palestinian sources as saying that a Hamas activist was killed and five to seven others wounded in an IAF missile attack in Gaza. Israel Radio later reported that four Palestinians were killed in the attack. The radio reported that IDF forces, including tanks and the IAF, are operating ion the southern Gaza Strip area of Khan Yunis. Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday IDF sources captured four Palestinians who infiltrated Israel from the Gaza Strip, close to the Kissufim border crossing. Leading media quoted the police as saying on Monday that Israeli security officials have arrested five Arab residents of east Jerusalem in connection with a spring shooting attack on security personnel on the outskirts of the city. Major media reported that in Jerusalem on Monday, in what The Jerusalem Post noted could be the "dawn of a new era of cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians," officials from both sides held a public ceremony to sign what an extension of the mandate for the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH). Major media quoted visiting Japanese FM Taro Aso as saying on Monday during a joint press conference with President Shimon Peres, regarding a Japan-sponsored project in the Jordan Valley: "I hope steps can be implemented one by one and that the project and that the project will bring peace and prosperity to the region. This is a vital issue not just for Israel and the Palestinians, but also for Japan. Peres thanked Aso for Japan's efforts toward peace. Israel Radio reported that the Israeli defense establishment denied reports that Israel has allowed armed Palestinians to operate in the West Bank's Israeli-controlled "Area B." The radio reported that the IDF is allowing Palestinian policemen to intervene in neighbor disputes in "Area B." All media reported that on Sunday, in an announcement to the Palestinian news agency Maan, an unknown Israeli Arab organization calling itself the "Galilee Freedom [or Liberation] Brigades" claimed responsibility for the terrorist attack in Jerusalem's Old City last Friday -- in retribution for the death of an Arab Israeli gunman from the Galilee whom security forces killed three years ago. Ha'aretz quoted knowledgeable sources as sayng that the claim was not credible. The Jerusalem Post reported that the British government has blocked almost one third of British military exports to Israel this year, citing possible threats to regional stability and fears that the equipment might facilitate human rights violations. According to official figures, the value of UK military sales arms to Israel declined by one third last year, and has fallen by 75 percent since ¶2005. Analyzing Interior Ministry figures for 2006, Ha'aretz found that the settler population is growing twice as fast as the rest of the country every year, and the ultra-Orthodox community is responsible for approximately half this growth. During the last year, the settler population has grown by 5.45 percent, from 260,932 to 275,156. Without the ultra-Orthodox community the West Bank settlements' growth is 3.7 percent. The growth rate in the ultra-Orthodox Beitar Ilit and Modi'in Ilit is higher than most places in Israel. Yediot reported that on Monday the Winograd Commission hinted that it will recommend that action be taken against PM Olmert and senior IDF officers over their role in the Second Lebanon War. All media reported on today's Likud primary, in which the party's Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu, far-Right activist Moshe Feiglin, and World Likud Chairman Danny Danon are vying for party leadership. Ha'aretz said that if Feiglin wins 30 percent of the vote, Likud's image would suffer, helping the rival Kadima and Labor parties. Leading media reported that Suha, the widow of the late PA chairman [president] Yasser Arafat, has been stripped of her Tunisian citizenship and asked to leave the country along with her 12-year-old daughter, Zahwa. Media cited Suha Arafat's relationship and possible marriage with Bilhassan Tarabulsi, the brother-in-law of Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, as the probable reason for the move. Leading media reported that the Israeli Arab Ka'adan family has started building a home in Katzir, a communal settlement in northern Israel. The Ka'adans had tried to set up house there since the 1990s and won a landmark 2000 High Court ruling in which they gained approval. All media reported that on Monday right-wing Bar-Ilan University Professor Hillel Weiss apologized for cursing an IDF officer during the eviction of settlers from two properties in Hebron last week, but that he later said that his apology had been coerced. Ha'aretz quoted the GOI's Central Bureau of Statistics as saying this week that Israel's trade deficit soared to USD 4.9 billion in the first seven months of 2007. Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Finance Ministry Accountant General Yaron Zelekha announced an unprecedented, three-month campaign, in which employees of the state and government ministries are being called on to report stolen intellectual property such as patents, copyrights, commercial secrets and investigations. According to the announcement, no legal steps will be taken for the duration of the campaign. Maariv reported that US authorities may ask the Israeli online gambling company 888 to return profits it made in the US. The newspaper reported that the firm harvested over USD 100 million during the years that preceded US legislation against Internet gambling. All media reported that eight workers of the Makhteshim Chemical Works plant in Ramat Hovav near Beersheva were injured on Monday after inhaling insecticide following an explosion at the facility. The media highlighted the possibility that a major environmental disaster might have occurred. Leading media reported on the resignation of Karl Rove, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It is self-evident that [Ehud] Barak knows that the contempt he is showing toward contacts with Abu Mazen does not help strengthen his position." Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "In order for Abu Mazen to keep the upper hand, more than 'building institutions' is needed." Former Ambassador to the US, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "The peace process can take off only after Palestinian terrorism has been decisively defeated." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Is It a Diplomatic Horizon or a Fata Morgana?" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/14): "[Secretary of State Condoleezza] Rice was one of those who convinced President George W. Bush to skip the first stage of the Roadmap, which states that the Palestinian Authority is required to destroy the infrastructures of terror. At present, the upcoming international conference is not connected to security clauses.... In order to ensure that the international conference that bears the name of her boss does not end in failure, Rice is trying very hard to bring both sides to the table with an agreed-upon paper. In her view, Barak's remarks that talk of a final-status agreement is misleading could prove self-fulfilling. The Americans know that when it comes to gaining the support of the Palestinian population, the Israeli defense minister has more of an impact than the prime minister. It is self-evident that Barak knows that the contempt he is showing toward contacts with Abu Mazen does not help strengthen his position." II. "Good Intentions Are Not Enough" Former foreign minister Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (8/14): "Bush's initiative is a last-ditch effort to save the United States' status in the region. The US finds itself on the defensive on all fronts. Ironically, the call for an international conference is also a call for waging war against Hamas, which won democratic elections and to sign a peace treaty with Fatah, which lost those elections. Nonetheless, Bush's initiative is not worthless.... Bush almost reached former President Clinton's peace plan when he declared that the 'borders of the past, the realities of the present, and with agreed changes' will determine the solution. Like Secretary of State Rice, he warned Israel with exceptional bluntness that its future does not depend on the 'continuation of the West Bank's occupation.... [But] the moment the US defined the recognition of Israel as the entrance ticket to the conference, it created an obstacle preventing Saudi Arabia's participation.... Without the Saudis, Bush's summit will be no more than a private party for Israel and the Palestinians.... [The American initiative] quite matches the Israeli perception, but the Palestinian militias have repeatedly shown that they are not prepared to give up the armed struggle before they see the establishment of the Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital. Bush's initiative is a fundamental strategic trap based on driving a wedge between Abu Mazen's 'moderates' and Hamas's 'extremists. Still, in order for Abu Mazen to keep the upper hand, more than 'building institutions' is needed. Only a comprehensive peace treaty, which will answer the core national aspirations of the Palestinians, will give him the legitimacy he needs in order to confront the radicals." III. "Castles in the Air" Former Ambassador to the US, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (8/14): "'Creating' a partner for peace is something unprecedented in the history of international relations, and this Israeli-American venture will surely be studied in the academic world for years to come. But it is hard to believe that anyone really believes that the air so laboriously being pumped into the balloon will not sooner or later escape and leave the balloon flat. This is not the first time that Israeli governments have tried their hand at manipulating internal Arab politics. The record is pretty bleak. It seems to be a self-defeating exercise.... Sooner or later it will become clear to all that there can be no escape from reality. The peace process can take off only after Palestinian terrorism has been decisively defeated." -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "While it is possible that Ahmadinejad's economic mismanagement may at the end of the day capsize his regime by bankrupting the country, there is no reason to believe that this will occur before Iran acquires nuclear weapons." Block Quotes: -------------- "Bankrupting Iran Is Not Enough" Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/14): "Unfortunately, the probability that in the foreseeable future Iran's economic problems will cause the regime to moderate its policies or bring regime opponents to power in Iran's parliament is not high.... While it is possible that Ahmadinejad's economic mismanagement may at the end of the day capsize his regime by bankrupting the country, there is no reason to believe that this will occur before Iran acquires nuclear weapons.... it is clear that while Iran's economic failure is a positive development which should be capitalized and built upon, it alone is no indication that Iran's threat to global security is weakening. To prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and threatening the world in the long run, the promotion of its economic failure must be accompanied by military policies aimed at destroying its nuclear facilities, and political policies aimed at ensuring that Iran's next regime will be better than the current one." JONES