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

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Key stories in the media:
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All media led with the suicide bombing that took place in a
neighborhood bakery in Eilat on Monday morning -- the first such
incident in the city. Media reported that one of the victims,
Yisrael Smolia, was a new immigrant from Peru whose entire family
lives in the US. The authorities are unsure about how the
terrorist, Islamic Jihad operative Muhammad Faisal Saksak, 21, of
Gaza City, made his way to Eilat after probably crossing the border
from Egypt. Leading media found indications that the attack was
meant to restore unity among Palestinians. Media reported that the
White House and the EU condemned the bombing. White House Press
Secretary Tony Snow was quoted as saying in a statement on Monday

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that the Palestinian Authority was responsible for preventing such
attacks. "Failure to act against terror will inevitably affect
relations between that government and the international community
and undermine the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a state
of their own," Snow was quoted as saying. Leading media reported
that Jordan's King Abdullah II also condemned the assault.

The Jerusalem Post wrote that the IDF was ordered on Monday night to
prepare plans to target Palestinian terror organizations and Islamic
Jihad terror chiefs in the Gaza Strip. Yediot reported that on
Monday, during a security meeting, Defense Minister Amir Peretz
rejected those recommendations by the army. Conversely, The
Jerusalem Post reported that Peretz called for an end to Israel's
policy of restraint. Ha'aretz bannered PM Ehud Olmert's reported
intention to maintain the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and not to
respond with a broad military offensive. Leading media wrote that
in addition to the problem of the porous boundary with Egypt,
Israel's intelligence in the Gaza Strip is growing weaker.

Israel Radio reported that last night the IAF struck a tunnel at the
Karni crossing, and quoted a senior GOI source as saying that the
hit is not linked to the Eilat bombing.
The Jerusalem Post cited the State Department as saying this week
that there has been no change of policy on Hamas despite Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice's characterization of the group as a
"resistance movement. The newspaper quoted Rice as saying in
speaking to reporters in Berlin on January 18, discussing the
situation of Palestinians in the year 2000: "You had Hamas, of
course, sitting out as a resistance movement, not at all, by the
way, involved in the politics at all."

Media reported that the cabinet is expected to approve the
appointment of Maj. Gen. (reserves) Gabi Ashkenazi as the next IDF
chief of staff at its next meeting. The committee in charge of
evaluating senior civil service appointments approved Ashkenazi's
appointment on Monday. In addition, three Supreme Court Justices
ruled on Monday that the government is entitled to appoint without
delay a new chief of staff before the Winograd Committee, which is
investigating the second Lebanon war, issues an interim report on
its findings. The court thereby rejected a petition filed by the
Movement for Quality Government and Almagor, a group representing
victims of terror, which had argued that it would be wrong to name a
new chief of staff before the Winograd Committee's interim report is
available. Ashkenazi is expected to take over at the General Staff
in another two weeks.

Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that Vice PM Shimon Peres has
left for an official visit to Qatar. Maariv said that this will be
the first time Peres will appear before Arab students in an Arab
country.

Ha'aretz and Maariv reported that a new ministerial committee
decided on Monday that more police officers will be assigned to
areas of the West Bank with a high incidence of illegal activity by
Jewish settlers, and that the use of restraining orders against
right-wing extremists who are suspected of violence against
Palestinians will be increased.

Leading media reported that fighting between rival Palestinian
factions continued on Monday despite a Saudi offer to host talks
between Hamas and Fatah.

Maariv reported that the US is concerned that Latin American
countries might become a jumping-off point for terrorists intent on
operating in the US. The newspaper cited the fear of US
intelligence that Iran's alliances with Venezuela and Nicaragua
might assist the trend. Maariv reported that over 10,000 Iranians
have visited Yad Vashem's FARSI-language website since it was first
opened last Thursday. Yediot quoted Iranian Ambassador to Iraq
Hassan Kazemi as saying on Monday in an interview with The New York
Times that Iran should replace the US in the reconstruction of
Iraq.

Yediot quoted former FM Shlomo Ben-Ami as saying in an address to
the Spanish Parliament (Cortes) that Israel is a prisoner of the
paranoia of Holocaust remembrance and that it should stop comparing
Saddam Hussein and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler.

Ha'aretz quoted prominent Israeli demographer Sergio Della Pergola,
who was an adviser to Israeli governments and the Jerusalem
Municipality, as writing in a book to be published by the Jerusalem
Institute for Israel Studies that Israel should concede parts of
Jerusalem with a Palestinian majority. Della Pergola was quoted as
saying that by 2020, if the present ratio continues, only 60 percent
of the population of Jerusalem will be Jewish.

Yediot reported that on Monday dozens of senior IDF reserve officers
presented a petition to Olmert demanding that former PM Ehud Barak
be named defense minister. The officers clarified that their move
was not part of the Labor Party primaries.

Yediot cited Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's belief that Israel's
President Moshe Katsav should leave his official residence ahead of
his hearing.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Ben-Gurion University Prof. Dan. G.
Blumberg as saying that geomorphologists from his university have
been collaborating with NASA scientists in using the Negev and other
deserts as analogs to understand windblown formations and how they
affect the landscape. The experiments are meant to simulate
atmospheric conditions on Mars. Leading media reported that NASA
sent two astronauts and one of its chief science officers to Israel
this week to take part in a series of consultations and lectures.
The NASA delegation will also take part in the second annual Ilan
Ramon International Space Conference at the Israel Air Force
Center's Fisher Brothers Institute in Herzliya on Wednesday.

The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that on Monday morning
Israel was the world's first country to see the long-awaited edition
of Microsoft's Vista operating system, even before Bill Gates and
company were due to launch it in New York. Israel Radio reported
that Google has opened its first R&D center in Haifa with 10
employees. The radio said that Google will open another one in Tel
Aviv.

Erratum: In Monday's Israel Media Reaction we omitted the name -- Ir
Amim -- of the non-profit organization that recently reported that
Israel has neglected Arab neighborhoods that are within Jerusalem's
municipal boundaries but outside the West Bank separation fence.
The item appeared in Ha'aretz.

Yediot cited the results of a poll conducted among high school
students hailing from the Commonwealth of Independent States and
commissioned by the Gertner Institute:
-39 percent of junior high school students and 30 percent of high
school students would prefer not to enlist in the IDF.
-33 percent of junior high school students and 44 percent of high
school students would like to live elsewhere, mainly in the US or
Europe.

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Mideast:
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Summary:
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The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The
Arab states say they want peace. They say, privately, that they are
very concerned about Iran. Now is the time to take real action on
both fronts, by working directly to defuse the Iranian campaign to
ignite the entire region."

Journalist and far-Left peace activist Uri Avnery wrote in NRG, the
Internet site of the popular, pluralist Maariv: "If Arafat were
alive we would have a clear address for engaging in negotiations
with the Palestinian people."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Defuse the Conflict"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/30):
"In the context of the Eilat attack and the growing
intra-Palestinian violence, the policy of Israel and other countries
of providing funds and even weapons to Abbas in the hopes of
encouraging 'moderation' needs to be reexamined. There are better
ways to promote real, not just relative, moderation among
Palestinians. We note that Saudi Arabia, for the first time, has
invited all Palestinian factions to join in talks to end the
fighting between them. This squares with the claims of a confluence
of interests between Arab states, Israel and the US, all of whom are
concerned with the Iranian threat.... That the Saudis and other Arab
states are concerned about Iran is not theory, but fact.... The Arab
states say they want peace. They say, privately, that they are very
concerned about Iran. Now is the time to take real action on both
fronts, by working directly to defuse the Iranian campaign to ignite
the entire region."

II. "My Longings For Arafat"

Journalist and far-Left peace activist Uri Avnery wrote in NRG, the
Internet site of the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/30: "'If only
Arafat were alive.' One hears that sentence more and more, and not
only in conversations with Palestinians but also with Israelis and
foreigners.... If Arafat were alive we would have a clear address
for engaging in negotiations with the Palestinian people. The
absence of such an address is currently the Israeli government's
formal excuse for its unwillingness to begin peace negotiations.
Every time either Condoleezza Rice or some other parrot of President
Bush talks about the need to 'renew the dialogue' (but does not
mention 'negotiations') about the 'final status' or the 'permanent
arrangement' (but does not mention 'peace'),that is the answer that
is furnished by Tzipi Livni, Ehud Olmert and company.... At the
conference of billionaires in Davos, Tzipi Livni, Condi's new friend
... publicly warned Abu Mazen not to make 'compromises with
terrorists.' That was a timely warning. In a desperate attempt to
create a credible Palestinian address Abu Mazen flew to Damascus to
meet with Khaled Mashal. By so doing, he admitted publicly that
nothing could be done without the Hamas leader, who has become the
supreme president of the Palestinian people. Livni quickly
identified the danger and swiftly torpedoed the process. There
isn't going to be any dialogue with a Palestinian unity government,
just like there isn't going to be any dialogue with either Abu Mazen
or Hamas. Do you understand that, Condi dearest?"

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2. Iran:
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Summary:
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Columnist Yonatan Rosenblum wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv:
"If Bush does not act against the Iranian nuclear infrastructure
before he completes his term, it would be almost impossible to
imagine any heir -- be he a Democrat or a Republican -- who would do
so."

Block Quotes:
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"Steadfast In His Determination"

Columnist Yonatan Rosenblum wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv
(1/30): "From Israel's point of view, the most important part of
President Bush's speech earlier this month, in which he outlined a
new American move in Iraq, is the statement: 'We will interrupt the
flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and
destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our
enemies in Iraq.' The New York Sum believes that this pronouncement
is akin to a virtual declaration of war an Iran and Syria.... If
Bush does not act, Israel will have no choice but to try to co it
itself.... [But] the most important is that the US has a military
capability that goes far beyond Israel's.... If Bush does not act
against the Iranian nuclear infrastructure before he completes his
term, it would be almost impossible to imagine any heir -- be he a
Democrat or a Republican -- who would do so."

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