ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003087 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: -------------- Israel Radio quoted a State Department spokesperson as saying on Wednesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will come to Israel and the PA in early November. Major media quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday: "Our concern is growing that without a serious political prospect for the Palestinians that gives to moderate leaders a horizon that they can show to their people that indeed there is a two-state solution that is possible, we will lose the window for a two-state solution." The radio, The Jerusalem Post, and Ha'aretz quoted Secretary Rice as saying that that the U.S. is planning to send senior officials to examine the smuggling of arms, equipment and persons from Egypt into Gaza. (The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Olmert is expected to travel to Egypt next week and focus on the Annapolis meeting.) Rice was quoted as saying that the smuggling activities are a grave concern and reiterated what she told Egyptian FM Ahmed Ali Abu al-Gheit two weeks ago about the need to do more, and "urgently." Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that "knowledgeable American sources" told the newspaper that the main reason for the call to lower expectations is Rice's failure during her visit the region Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert and President Abbas will meet privately on Friday at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. Ha'aretz quoted senior officials in Jerusalem as saying that Olmert and Abbas want to get started and delve deeply into the work of the negotiating teams. Ha'aretz, citing senior Israeli officials, said that US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley will arrive today and that his visit is intended to send a message that President Bush wants to stay informed and involved in preparations for the peace conference. Ha'aretz reported that the Israeli and PA negotiating teams, headed by FM Tzipi Livni and her PA counterpart Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala),met on Wednesday. The newspaper reported that the two sides have not reached an agreement over the continuation of the talks and a joint statement. Most of the disagreement concerns Israel's demand for renewed deliberations on implementing the first stage of the road map. The Palestinians claim that they have already implemented the first stage, which includes fighting terror, and that Israel must now evacuate West Bank outposts and stop construction in the settlements. The Israeli negotiators, for their part, argue that the Palestinians must demonstrate greater efforts to fight Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Based on statements made recently in private talks, Ha'aretz quoted Gen. Keith Dayton, the US security coordinator in the PA, as saying that he does not believe Palestinian security forces in the West Bank are capable of enforcing security needs in cities there. Ha'aretz noted that Dayton's views are seconded by the PA, which recently informed Israel that it lacks the necessary infrastructure to deploy police officers in Nablus. Ha'aretz quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying during talks in Washington last week that Israel is interested in furthering a process to enable Palestinian security forces to deploy in the West Bank. Barak added that Israel lifted 25 roadblocks in the West Bank recently. Ha'aretz quoted FM Tzipi Livni as saying a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel. According to the newspaper, Livni also criticized PM Olmert use of the Iranian issue, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears. Ha'aretz reported that France is leading the push for the EU to step up efforts to pressure Iran through trade restrictions, while Germany is waiting for a UN resolution. Maariv reported that Russia announced on Wednesday that it will respect all its commitments to build the Bushehr nuclear reactor. The announcement was published by the Russian government's news agency Itar-Tass, which noted that it contradicted a statement by PM Olmert that appeared in Ha'aretz that Russia would stop supplying nuclear fuel to Iran. Maariv reported that IDF maneuvers in the Golan are worrying Syria. The newspaper reported that Israel has reassured Syria that it will not attack it. Leading media cited a Washington Post story that the target Israel raided in Syria looks like a nuclear reactor. The Jerusalem Post reported that in an effort to bolster the IAF in the face of Iran's race toward nuclear power, the Pentagon agreed, during meetings with Defense Minister Barak last week, to move up delivery of its newest stealth fighter -- the fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter -- to Israel by two years, to as early as 2012. That delivery was expected to commence in 2014. All media reported on Wednesday's shooting rampage outside Ariel in the West Bank. Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack. Two Israelis were wounded. Ha'aretz reported that two Palestinian youths who were near rocket launchers were killed by IDF missiles in the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Israel Radio reported that this morning IDF forces killed two Islamic Jihad militants in the southern Gaza Strip. Maariv quoted PM Olmert as saying on Wednesday that Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, deserves to die. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, has made the claim that there never was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, and that the Western Wall was really part of a mosque. The Jerusalem Post reported that PA officials in Ramallah expressed concerns on Wednesday over attempts by Hamas and other Palestinian radical groups to create a new PLO at a conference due to take place in Syria and the Gaza Strip early next month. Yediot reported that from 1999 to 2004 oligarch Arkady Gaidamak, who harbors political ambitions in Israel, invested a large sum in a Kazakh company mining and selling uranium Yediot noted that an EU report had criticized him over his access to uranium due to his involvement in arms trading. The Jerusalem Post reported that this week in Jerusalem academics and police brass from the US and Israel attended a symposium on confronting terrorism in civil society. The ongoing dialogue started in November 2005. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The only question is how long [Olmert] can continue to march this way in no-man's-land, until the indifference turns into disappointment." Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "If Abu Mazen wants to succeed at Annapolis conference, then he must first put his own house (Fatah) in order." Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz: "As someone put it, Bush wants to go to Jerusalem by way of Baghdad rather than to Baghdad via Jerusalem. [But] Bush no longer behaves as though he believes what he once did." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Policy in No-Man's-Land" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/25): "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's trip to Europe this week once again illustrated that the 'peace process' is the most convenient diplomatic situation for Israel. Conducting high-level talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority; Israel's willingness to discuss the principles for ending the conflict; and gestures such as the release of prisoners are in themselves sufficient to remove international pressure on Israel to withdraw from the territories and to end the occupation.... To translate the diplomatic language, Olmert is saying the following: I am responding to international expectations and talking to Mahmoud Abbas, although it is clear to me and to him that the situation on the ground will not change as a result of these talks. If I present a 'diplomatic horizon' to the Fatah leaders, they may have a chance of surviving on the West Bank. And even if they fall and Hamas takes control of Ramallah, Nablus, and Hebron, Israel will not be to blame. Meanwhile, we must not rush with negotiations, and implementation must be postponed, so that my coalition will not fall apart and my government will have an agenda.... He is not the first to benefit from the convenience of an ongoing 'peace process' whose end is unknown -- 'There are no sacred dates,' said Yitzhak Rabin.... But Olmert, as opposed to his predecessors, declared from the very beginning that he wanted to leave the territories.... The only question is how long he can continue to march this way in no-man's-land, until the indifference turns into disappointment -- which will increase the danger of a flare-up with the Palestinians, or could once again ignite the internal debate." II. "The Trouble Starts from Fatah" Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/25): "The Fatah leadership, headed by Abu Mazen, is careful ... to condemn terror and call for its cessation. But even while they speak, their soldiers -- the members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- are immersed ... in terror. In the past few days, we have received painful ... reminders from them: the shooting attack in Ariel and plot to assassinate Olmert in Jericho.... It has not been easy to reorganize Fatah in the West Bank after it was crushed in Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.... The Fatah operatives in the West Bank enjoy the best of both worlds: They take advantage of Israel's uncompromising war against Hamas and Islamic Jihad to gain strength, and have become the source of terror in the West Bank.... If Abu Mazen wants to succeed at Annapolis conference, then he must first put his own house (Fatah) in order. Hamas is pressuring its members to carry out a large terror attack in order to obstruct the conference, and as a result even Abu Mazen is fighting against them in the West Bank. Now it has become apparent that our concerns should be aimed in a different direction -- that Abu Mazen's soldiers will be the ones who will succeed in carrying out a large terror attack that will spoil the conference at Annapolis." III. "The Voice of the Old Bush" Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz (10/25): "The great revolution that Bush brought to the Israeli-Arab arena was grounded on a change in thinking: All of his predecessors in the White House from Truman to Clinton viewed the conflict as the fundamental problem of the Middle East. Solve the conflict and the region will be changed entirely: from the particular to the general. Bush was the first to flip the pyramid on its head: Change the region and the conflict will more or less solve itself. As someone put it, Bush wants to go to Jerusalem by way of Baghdad rather than to Baghdad via Jerusalem. [But] Bush no longer behaves as though he believes what he once did. Perhaps he was persuaded by the arguments of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, perhaps he was worn out by heavy international pressure, or maybe he's just pretending..... [The US administration now] views solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as the key to dealing with other regional issues. That's how it is for Bush and his emissaries, but not his successors in the Republican Party." -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Europe cannot have it all ways: complaining about American power while refusing to exercise its own; complaining about an American or Israeli resort to force while gutting all non-military efforts to repel the Iranian challenge." Block Quotes: -------------- "Europe's Awakening?" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/25): "This week in Paris and London, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert heard some quite encouraging words.... This new wind is not just good for Israel, it will increase European influence on events in the Middle East, could help breathe new life into the peace process, and directly advance European interests. It is even good for the Arab world, since Arab countries are also threatened by the advance of Islamofascism and by the severe developmental costs their war against Israel has imposed. The most encouraging aspect of the seeming shift is that it might just be dawning on Europe that the threat of Islamofascism is real, not some American-Israeli plot.... While this apparent growing realization is the good news, the bad news is that it has not spread far enough and is not being acted upon fast enough.... Europe cannot have it all ways: complaining about American power while refusing to exercise its own; complaining about an American or Israeli resort to force while gutting all non-military efforts to repel the Iranian challenge.... The prospect for peace, incidentally, between Arabs and Israelis hangs in the balance. No Western government should be under any illusions: The outcome of the conflict with Iran, not this or that diplomatic effort, will be the primary determinate of whether the Arab world goes the way of beleaguered moderates, or follows the lead of Hamas, Hizbullah, and al-Qaida." JONES