ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002558 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The Jerusalem Post quoted President Shimon Peres as saying on Wednesday that PM Olmert is "holding serious discussions" with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to put together an agreement of principles before a regional meeting to be held in November. Peres' comments came during a meeting with outgoing UN Middle East envoy Michael Williams. Ha'aretz reported that Israel has proposed that safe passage for the Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip be included in an exchange of territory with the Palestinians in the framework of the agreement of principles now being formulated ahead of the upcoming regional meeting. According to Ha'aretz, the Palestinians will receive control of the route, but Israel will maintain sovereignty and it will only begin to operate after the PA, under its present leadership, reasserts control over the Gaza Strip. Ha'aretz cited Jerusalem's belief that the move will help Chairman Abbas and PM Salam Fayyad garner public support in Gaza, which will see the Hamas government as an obstacle to renewing communication with the West Bank. Ha'aretz quoted a senior official involved in talks with the Palestinians as saying that the agreement of principles will not set out the details of the land to be transferred to the Palestinians in exchange for Israel's settlement blocs, but will reflect as wide as possible a consensus on the core issues. The details will be hammered out in negotiations after the summit. It is believed that for the Palestinians, safe passage is worth more than its nominal territory, and therefore this will be a central component in a territorial package. Ha'aretz reported that Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator for the PA, is checking whether Israel is upholding its agreement to stop pursuing Fatah militants in the West Bank. Ha'aretz quoted a senior Western diplomat that officers from Dayton's team have been meeting with Palestinian security officials in several West Bank cities. "This is part of the activity to help the Palestinian security forces institute law and order," the source was quoted as saying. Israel Radio reported that three IDF soldiers were lightly wounded by Palestinian gunfire in a Nablus refugee camp. Ha'aretz and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited an announcement published on Wednesday by Abbas's office that the GOI is responsible for the escalation in the Gaza Strip. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that on Wednesday Palestinians shelled the Sufa Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, which stores goods vital to residents of Gaza. The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades are threatening to launch hundreds of rockets against Israeli targets. Yediot reported that over the coming months Israel will purchase advanced Patriot PAC-3 anti-aircraft missiles, which can provide protection against Syrian missiles. Yediot also reported that on Wednesday Iran announced that it possesses a new operational bomb named "Kassad" (phon.). The Jerusalem Post reported that Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama harshly criticized President Bush for authorizing a USD 20-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia without any proof of genuine cooperation. The two Senators, as well as Republican candidate John McCain, wrote their comments on The Jerusalem Post's blog. McCain urged an increase in civilian assistance while cutting back military aid to Middle East nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Major media reported that, in a precedent-setting ruling, the Hadera Magistrate's Court has ordered an IDF officer and the Defense Ministry to pay 500,000 shekels (around USD 120,000) to a Palestinian family after the officer killed their 16-year-old son. The officer, Captain Tzvi Koretzky, who was convicted of negligent homicide by a military court, shot and killed Mohammed Zayid of the West Bank village of Nazlat Zeid. The Jerusalem Post quoted one of PM Ehud Olmert's allies in Kadima as saying that a group of at least 10 Kadima Knesset members is seriously considering breaking from Kadima before the final Winograd Report comes out, in order to maximize their political futures. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the IDF did not intervene when dozens of left-wing activists and Palestinians burned vineyards during a demonstration in the western Binyamin area of the West Bank, between the settlements of Neria and Nahliel, close to Modi'in. Ha'aretz also reported on the incident. Ha'aretz reported that fire broke out 28 times in 18 months on a small piece of West Bank land owned by a Palestinian family, which accuses residents of the Beitar Illit settlement of harassment. The Jerusalem Post reported that Turkish Ambassador to Israel Namik Tan is set to end his vacation two weeks early to return to Israel and register Turkey's concerns about the Anti-Defamation League's (ADL) statement that Turkish actions toward the Armenians from 1915-1918 were "tantamount to genocide." The Jerusalem Post also reported that the ADL has stopped short of supporting a resolution currently before Congress that calls on the Bush administration to give the "genocide" formal recognition. Yediot reported that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann intends to restrict the number of petitioners to the High Court of Justice. Leading media quoted former High Court judge Dalia Dorner as saying on Wednesday that the government is trying to take over the judicial branch by means of a constitutional coup. Dorner was referring to Friedmann's reforms taken as a whole. The media reported that politicians from across the political spectrum and other former judges also criticized Friedmann's moves. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday dozens of Sudanese refugees, alongside Israeli activists, protested their deportation outside the Prime Minister's Office. Ha'aretz reported that PM Olmert has committed himself to involving women in all diplomatic negotiations that Israel will conduct in the future. Ha'aretz quoted Dr. Joel Mergui, the president of the umbrella organization of the Jewish community in Paris, as saying that his community is threatened by mass emigration to Israel. Maariv reported that Israeli investors and Arab sheikhs, notably from the UAE, are competing for real estate in the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Ha'aretz reported that the late Israeli politician Moshe Sharett, who was PM during the 1950s, revealed in his diaries that in January 1955, then defense minister Pinhas Lavon proposed a "horrific" plan for a military operation in the Gaza Strip and ordered then IDF chief of staff Moshe Dayan to employ "certain means" in the demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria. According to Sharett, Lavon "plotted atrocities that were averted thanks to the outrage of chiefs of staff." All media (banner in Globes) reported that the Israeli economy grew by 6.6 percent in the fist half of 2007 and that unemployment sank to 7.6 percent during that period. The US dollar has declined 4 percent against the shekel in the last three weeks, reaching a rate of 4.17 shekels on Wednesday. Yediot reported that American entertainer Madonna will arrive in Israel for the Jewish New Year with 3,000 students of the Kabbalah Center from all over the world, including Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, fashion guru Donna Karen, and possibly Bruce Willis. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Perhaps it would be best to lay aside the calming-yet-alarming announcements and instead make a more serious effort to talk with Syria." The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "This is a time when UN and European claims to be honest brokers and even friends of Israel will be put to the test. It is not possible to press for peace and to sponsor and participate in the fomenting of hate." Veteran print and electronic journalist Yaakov Ahimeir wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Why give such a huge sum to a state that only represents, in the view of distinguished researchers, a 'strategic burden'?" Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Barak: A Voice From the Past" Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/23): "The Defense Minister, preparing for the next war, is still mouthing the concepts of previous conflicts. He speaks of 'clear and unequivocal victory' and 'deterrence, warning and decisive action.' Barak has not yet grasped why we didn't win 'unequivocally' in the first Lebanon war, before the cutbacks, and if we did, why we fled. And why we didn't win the second Lebanon war despite our decisive military supremacy; and why we didn't win even in Gaza, which is continuing to fire Qassam rockets at us. Or why the Americans are not triumphing in Iraq and Afghanistan, as they didn't triumph in Vietnam and as the Russians failed in Afghanistan and Chechnya. When has any country won a war by clear, decisive action lately, anyway? Are we to be forced to conclude that Barak is a man whose time has passed? I have a suggestion that could reduce the gigantic expenses: Perhaps it would be best to lay aside the calming-yet-alarming announcements and instead make a more serious effort to talk with Syria. Perhaps, after all, it is possible to make peace with it and bring peace upon us and the whole region. That could save us a great deal of money, hundreds of billions, not to mention a lot of blood." II. "Stop Durban II" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/23): "You might ... be surprised were you to discover that ... a conference [to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians] was being sponsored not by a virulently anti-Israel organization, but by such august bodies as the United Nations and the European Parliament. Yet there is no other conclusion that can be drawn simply by glancing at the agenda of the "United Nations International Conference of Civil Society in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace," which is to be held next Thursday at the European Parliament in Brussels.... If anti-Israel groups want to hold a conference completely excluding an Israeli point of view, there is nothing stopping them. But what are the UN Secretary General's office and the European Parliament doing there? How does such a conference 'promote peace'? Actually, there will be Israelis there. As Hillel Neuer of UN Watch puts it: 'The conference will showcase Arab presenters who justify suicide bombings and accuse Israel of being vile, racist and illegitimate, and for balance it will also feature Israeli presenters who justify suicide bombings and accuse Israel of being vile, racist and illegitimate.' We know what this looks like because it has happened before. The infamous 2001 Durban conference 'against racism' restored the 'Zionism is racism' canard a decade after that resolution was repealed by the UN General Assembly, and openly excluded anti-Semitism from the hatreds it was ostensibly meant to combat.... Next week, the UN is holding a planning meeting in Geneva for a 2009 follow-on conference to Durban. Given the groups behind this meeting, we can expect it will be more of the same.... This is a time when UN and European claims to be honest brokers and even friends of Israel will be put to the test. It is not possible to press for peace and to sponsor and participate in the fomenting of hate. It is not enough to retroactively express 'regret' at outcomes that were foregone conclusions. The time to stop Durban II is now. " III. "When Israel Turns Into a Burden" Veteran print and electronic journalist Yaakov Ahimeir wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (8/23): "The presidential candidates, most of whom are green in foreign policy, will have to present their opinions about harsh allegations against the pro-Israeli lobby. Even if they don't publicly express their disapproval, in the middle of a race that is gathering heat and the media-covered political debates are enough to turn the issue of whether Israel is an asset or a burden into a key issue. It would only be normal for some taxpayers to ask themselves whether it is worth it for the US Treasury to approve USD 30 billion in military aid to Israel in the coming decade, in the spirit of the memorandum of understanding that was recently signed in Jerusalem. Why give such a huge sum to a state that only represents, in the view of distinguished researchers, a 'strategic burden'?" JONES