ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003582 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: -------------- PLEASE NOTE: Block Quotes only, Thursday, December 20, 2007. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is no coincidence that Israel chose to intensify the targeted killings on the eve of the Eid al-Adha. It rubs more salt into the wounds. The despair and the feeling of being strangled is only growing deeper among the Gaza Strip's inhabitants." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "A Leader in Distress" Senior military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/20): "The calm that prevailed in the Gaza Strip over the past two days is not coincidental. Hamas operatives are making a concerted effort to try to convince all the militant groups in Islamic Jihad and in the Popular Resistance Committees to lower their profiles and wait with 'the great vengeance.' At the same time, Ismail Haniya is issuing a public call that Israel sees as authentic, for a cease-fire. For its part, Israel is not taking up the gauntlet. Are we missing another historic opportunity? The answer: regrettably, no. This is not an opportunity; it is, once more, a tactic.... Haniya's call is more the call of a political leader in distress. Unlike Hamas's generals, this is a political leader who is reading the political-regional picture and the mood of the public that elected him.... It is no coincidence that Israel chose to intensify the targeted killings on the eve of the Eid al-Adha. It rubs more salt into the wounds. The despair and the feeling of being strangled is only growing deeper among the Gaza Strip's inhabitants. Haniya wants to stop that deterioration, at least temporarily. So he suggests stopping, taking a breath, giving hope, organizing some more. But Israel does not intend to throw Haniya a life preserver." II. "Hamas's 'Offer'" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/20): "The IDF's successful operations against Islamic Jihad's top terrorists in Gaza have sparked calls from Hamas for negotiations and speculation over whether a massive ground operation against Hamas can be avoided after all. We've been through this movie.... It would be foolish for Israel to let up the military pressure against the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza now. Despite the talk in Hamas and Islamic Jihad of 'revenge,' increased Israeli military pressure on the killers and their dispatchers will not lead to more terrorism, but less.... If the IDF's military successes continue, it is possible that a lasting cease-fire could ensue, even without a massive ground operation in Gaza. III. "Building a Dispute in Jerusalem" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/20): "The construction of a neighborhood of this size [the plan to build a new neighborhood in the Atarot area IN Jerusalem] has clear political ramifications. It will make it very difficult to implement any arrangement to divide Jerusalem between Israel and the future Palestinian state.... The question of Jerusalem is an essential one for the future of any arrangement with the Palestinians. Without an acceptable arrangement in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Abbas cannot sign an agreement even if he wants to. The Arab and the Muslim world will not let him. The feeling is that officials on the Israeli side who understand this sensitivity see in it the potential to undermine any arrangement with the Palestinians by creating a new controversy in Jerusalem. The assumption of these officials seems to be that most Israelis view construction in Jerusalem as a natural thing, while for Palestinians it could be a reason to break off the negotiations. Even if additional housing is needed, solutions should be found by building more densely and higher, as accepted in cities elsewhere in the world." JONES