ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003520 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: -------------- Maariv reported that President Bush is expected to accept an invitation by Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik to visit Israel during the state's 60th anniversary celebrations. The newspaper reported that the Prime Minister's Office confirmed the visit, but added that it does not yet have an official response. Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that on Sunday the cabinet is expected -- at Defense Minister Ehud Barak's request -- to maintain the "state of emergency" status of Sderot and communities bordering the Gaza Strip until the end of March because of continued Qassam rocket fire. Under the order, the IDF is involved in managing the communities targeted by Qassam rockets. Meanwhile, Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal rescinded his resignation at Barak's request. Maariv reported that as opposed to PM Ehud Olmert, Barak is in favor of protecting Sderot's houses. Israel Radio reported that since Israel's disengagement from Gaza, the Palestinians have launched over 3,500 rockets and shells at Israel -- half of then since Hamas's takeover of Gaza. Maariv reported that contradicting professional advice in the Defense Ministry, Barak has ordered his ministry to consider again two interception systems -- one of which is being built by the Rafael company. Barak's announcement comes after Israel Aerospace Industries' decision to build its own system. The Jerusalem Post quoted FM Tzipi Livni as saying during a meeting with EU ambassadors in Tel Aviv on Thursday that the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations that began on Wednesday with mutual distrust need to be divorced from "current events." Maariv reported that Livni told the diplomats that Syria is exacerbating the security situation along the border with Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that on the eve of the donors conference in Paris, which is expected to discuss ways of strengthening the Palestinian Authority, PA officials admitted on Thursday that they still have a long way to go in reforming their security forces -- a key condition set by the international community for funding the government of Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. The Jerusalem Post also reported that PA Civil Police commander Gen. Kamal al-Sheikh revealed that 612 Fatah-affiliated policemen -- out of 13,000 policemen in the Gaza Strip -- helped Hamas take control of the Gaza Strip last June. Ha'aretz reported that Israeli and American officials involved in the intelligence analysis of Iran's nuclear efforts will meet soon to discuss their differing assessments. Ha'aretz said that Israel, which was surprised by the National Intelligence Assessment, asked for the meeting. Ha'aretz quoted defense establishment sources as saying this week that Israel accepted 90 to 95 percent of the intelligence material on which the American assessment was based, including the assertion that Iran stopped the development of nuclear weapons in 2003 but was continuing uranium enrichment and the development of long-range weapons. Among the Israeli participants in the talks will be experts at the level of department heads in IDF Intelligence, the Mossad, the IAF, and the Atomic Energy Commission. The U.S. intelligence community will be represented by representatives from the CIA, Pentagon intelligence agencies, the Department of Energy, and the National Intelligence Council operating alongside the Director of National Intelligence. Makor Rishon reported that Dr. Thomas Fingar, Chairman of the U.S. National Intelligence Council, the author of the recent NIE report, had written a report with opposite conclusions this summer. The Jerusalem Post reported that speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Thursday, European diplomats promised "robust" action from the EU on Iran and said the EU will introduce their own sanctions if the UN Security Council approves a weak third resolution, despite the NIE report. Leading media reported that on Thursday Russia and Iran agreed on a time line to complete the construction of the nuclear reactor in Bushehr. Israel Radio quoted Nabil Fahmy, the Egyptian Ambassador to the U.S., as saying that the U.S. administration has only a few months left to advance Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Ha'aretz obtained a copy of the speech PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas is expected to deliver at the donors conference in Paris on Monday. Ha'aretz said that he will demand a complete halt of Israeli construction in the territories. Major media reported that on Thursday Quartet envoy to the Middle East Tony Blair, Defense Minister Barak, and Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad, met to discuss possible economic cooperation ahead of next week's conference. Maariv quoted the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying that the authority of Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah has been transferred to this Deputy, Naim Qassem. The Jerusalem Post cited a Congressional report that North Korea might have helped train and equip Hizbullah, improving its capabilities ahead of the war. Maariv reported that grave warnings by the Jordanian authorities about possible assassinations of Israeli diplomats in Jordan have almost completely crippled the activity of the Israeli Embassy in Amman. The newspaper reported that the Israeli Foreign Ministry would not comment. Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz quoted the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as saying on Thursday that Israeli restrictions have caused a humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank that is growing worse, leaving hospitals unable to treat the sick and keeping farmers off their land. The ICRC called on Israel to "lift the retaliatory measures which are paralyzing life in Gaza" and urged Palestinian factions to stop targeting civilian areas and putting lives at risk. Ha'aretz reported that jailed Fatah/Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti told the editor of Al Jazeera-TV's web site that Israel is not serious in the negotiations. Barghouti cited construction in the settlements and killing and arrests of Palestinians. Ha'aretz and Makor Rishon quoted Barghouti as saying that Palestinian suffering has worsened since Mahmoud Abbas came to power. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Palestinian Shipping Council plans to file a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against "those responsible" for causing the severe monetary damage that has resulted from the loss of business brought on by the now half-year-long closure of the Gaza Strip crossings. Ha'aretz reported on British PM Gordon Brown's ambition to play an active role in the Middle East. The newspaper reported that he dispatched his close adviser, Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander, to the region with a 243-million pound ($500 million) contribution destined for the Palestinians over three years, in accordance with progress in the peace process. Leading media reported that police have twice interrogated MK Said Naffaa (National Democratic Assembly) over an unauthorized trip to Syria. Maariv reported that officers in the professional army are increasingly leaving the IDF for reasons such as last year's Lebanon War and civilian "temptations." Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that on Thursday Israel's Consulate General in New York opened a page on the leading online social network Facebook. Ha'aretz quoted David Saranga, the Consul for Media and Public Affairs at the Consulate General, who initiated the project, as saying: "It is meant to reach the younger population, which according to our studies tends to view Israel as less relevant to their lives." Saranga was quoted as saying that the Consulate's page was the first any country in the world has launched on Facebook. Maariv reported that on Wednesday, ending a lengthy legal dispute, Israel agreed to return "Sergey's Courtyard" (in West Jerusalem's Russian Compound) to Russia. The newspaper reported that the Duke of Edinburgh, a member of the Russian imperial family, might claim ownership to the building. Ha'aretz reported that a record 17,000 participants in the Taglit-birthright israel program will land in Israel this winter in the latest chance for Jews 18 to 26 years old to visit Israel on a heavily subsidized educational trip. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Liberal columnist Doron Rosenblum wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "When it appears that Barak's policies ... are improvised ... and when his party's electoral strength continues to plummet in surveys, along with fragments of the party itself, the result is the feeling of a vacuum." Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "[Palestinian pollster Khalil] Shikaki has indicated that as of today Hamas would lose elections by a large margin.... Israeli security sources are starting to see this." Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The main problem that [Mahmoud] Abbas and his lieutenants continue to face is not whether the bulldozers are continuing to work in Har Homa, but the fact that many Palestinians still don't see them as a better alternative to Hamas." Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in Maariv: "Why for God's sake must youngsters with skullcaps realize Hamas's dream?" Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Our Mona Lisa" Liberal columnist Doron Rosenblum wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/14): "If ... many Israelis sleep soundly with [Ehud] Barak at the wheel, it is due more to the things that they do not know he is doing than the things that they know he is doing. Their hope is that, in the dark of night, he is conducting the country's defense matters wisely, responsibly and intelligently -- which is almost the opposite of the clumsy, crafty, bumbling manner in which he conducts himself before the television cameras, in his party and in Israeli politics in general.... When it appears that Barak's policies (on the Supreme Court's status, Annapolis, the settlers) are improvised, in accordance with the newspaper articles he read that morning, and when his party's electoral strength continues to plummet in surveys, along with fragments of the party itself, the result is the feeling of a vacuum. Israel needs a leadership that is more than the sum total of the 'eccentricities of genius' (to quote Mr. Pickwick in Charles Dickens' 'The Pickwick Papers,' when he hears that someone who devoured oysters then threw the shells at one of his friends)." II. "Barak's Nightmare" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (12/14): "The Annapolis process, of which the Palestinian street is skeptical, is the key [to the fate of Palestinian politics]. Should it fail, the Palestinian public would in large numbers run to Hamas. Within a year, a galactic explosion can be expected -- to the extent of Fatah disappearing, radical movements taking over Palestinian society, and secularism and pragmatism being obliterated. [Palestinian pollster Khalil] Shikaki has indicated that as of today Hamas would lose elections by a large margin. Currently, only 30% of Palestinians support suicide bombings, as opposed to 70-80% in the past.... Israeli security sources are starting to identify this. The pressure of sanctions on Gaza, severe international isolation, and IDF activity.... The cabinet was presented ... with data showing the weakening of Hamas. In the present state of affairs, the IDF and Ehud Barak believe that some patience is needed.... The time is not yet ripe." III. "Under Pressure" Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/14): "The main problem that [Mahmoud] Abbas and his lieutenants continue to face is not whether the bulldozers are continuing to work in Har Homa, but the fact that many Palestinians still don't see them as a better alternative to Hamas... In fact, the Palestinians look at the Mukata 'presidential' compound in Ramallah and continue to see the same old faces of those who failed their people time and again over the past 15 years. The negotiators who came to Jerusalem on Wednesday are the same figures that negotiated on behalf of the Palestinians at Madrid, Oslo, Paris, Cairo, Wye River, Camp David, and, finally, Annapolis. As far as many Palestinians are concerned, these officials belong to an era of financial corruption, embezzlement, and anarchy which they wish to forget. Perhaps that's the reason why most Palestinians have no confidence in the peace talks that were launched this week." IV. "In the Service of Hamas" Op-Ed Page Editor Ben-Dror Yemini wrote in Maariv (12/14): "The project to destroy the Jewish states won yet another achievement this week -- a Chanukah miracle for Hamas.... True, these [new] outposts are for show. But experience teaches us that outposts win in this battle. Some will stay.... In fact, it is not the settlers or the outposts that win. The victory is Hamas's. In stages ... 60 years after the UN resolution on the establishment of a Jewish state, the operation to annihilate it is gathering speed. The Jewish and Zionist camp in Israel is astounded by this idiocy. Why for God's sake must youngsters with skullcaps realize Hamas's dream? Don't say that you are following in the footsteps of the fouders from the 1930s. You are taking the Jewish state from us. There is no need to take away history, too." -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Summary: -------------- Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Can Iran yet be stopped, military or by any other route? The thinking in Israel is still that, yes, it can, but that the NIE's intervention means military action, if it proves necessary, will only be possible further down what is a fairly short road." Block Quotes: -------------- "The Year of Engagement" Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/14): "[According to Brig. Gen. (res.) Shlomo Brom, the former head of strategic planning in the IDF,] if the U.S. intelligence assessment is accurate, then a military strike on Iran would actually be more feasible than previously thought from a purely military perspective, because the NIE minimizes the likelihood of current covert facilities.... But equally, of course, the sanguine NIE has rendered the likelihood of military action thoroughly unfeasible from a political perspective -- and not just for the U.S., but for Israel, too.... Can Iran yet be stopped, military or by any other route? The thinking in Israel is still that, yes, it can, but that the NIE's intervention means military action, if it proves necessary, will only be possible further down what is a fairly short road.... By [2009], according to [IDF Chief of Staff] Gabi Ashkenazi, Israel's ability to act 'against various threats' will be upgraded greatly -- with a strong emphasis,' as he so resonantly put it this week, 'on long-range capability.'" JONES