ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000751 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. Upcoming Baghdad Conference -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Israel Radio reported that PM Ehud Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni agreed before Livni's departure for Canada and the US on Saturday that Israel will not renounce the principles set by the Quartet that Israel's position is valid regarding any Palestinian government. Neither will Israel sit with Hamas representatives, even if they are part of a Palestinian national unity government. Israel Radio reported that Olmert and Livni agreed that, following the discovery that money released by Israel did not reach its intended destinations, the Palestinians will not at this time receive tax monies owed by Israel. The radio reported that, during her trip, Livni will meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and address AIPAC. SIPDIS Defense Minister Amir Peretz was quoted as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz, ahead of his first trip to the US, that this is the critical year to stop Iran with diplomacy, and that the US can play a key role in escalating financial pressure. Peretz will leave for New York on Saturday night and meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He will than head to Washington for a function with Congress and a meeting with Defense Secretary Robert Gates. Peretz will also address the AIPAC Policy Conference. Ha'aretz reported that Hamas and Fatah both support PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas's bid to extend the cease-fire with Israel from Gaza to the West Bank, but that Islamic Jihad does not. Ha'aretz said that Abbas nevertheless plans to propose an expanded cease-fire to Olmert at their meeting on Sunday, in exchange for Israeli noninterference with the Palestinian unity government that is due to be formed next week -- including not urging Western countries to boycott it. Ha'aretz reported that Abbas and Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh met on Tuesday with representatives of various Palestinian factions and presented the idea to them, and on Wednesday, Abbas's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, met with representatives of the five largest factions in Gaza. But while Hamas and Fatah both accepted the idea, Islamic Jihad rejected it. Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Islamic Jihad did not completely rule out the idea, but a Jihad representative told Reuters that the organization cannot consider it while "Zionist aggression" against the Palestinians, and particularly Jihad operatives, continues in the West Bank. Yediot quoted Abbas's bureau as saying that the Palestinians will meet with Olmert only to satisfy the Americans. Last night Channel 2-TV said that the Winograd Committee's interim report on last summer's war in Lebanon will be published on March 27, but will not be accompanied by any warning letters and will not include any findings related to specific individuals. Leading media reported that the committee has decided not to send letters warning specific individuals that they might be harmed by its findings. However, Channel 2-TV said that the final report, slated for release in late July, will include harsh findings against Olmert, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, former IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz and former OC Northern Command Udi Adam. Ha'aretz led with criticism voiced on Thursday by senior officers in the IDF's General Staff about Olmert's claims before the Winograd Committee regarding his plans for last year's war in Lebanon. The daily quoted the officers as asking: "If war was planned, why was the IDF left unprepared?" Ha'aretz also reported that Labor Party ministers lashed out at Olmert's testimony before the committee, as reported in Ha'aretz on Thursday. Labor's criticism reportedly revolves around the appointment process of Peretz and other ministers. Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky admitted in an interview with Maariv: "We made mistakes." Hatzofe quoted IDF OC Southern Command Yoav Gallant as saying during a meeting with foreign correspondents that the IDF is bracing for a military operation in the Gaza Strip. The Jerusalem Post reported that UNIFIL would like a more aggressive mandate for its forces to engage Hizbullah on their own. Yediot bannered a remark allegedly made by a senior US administration official that the Mossad had arranged the defection of Iranian general Ali Reza Askari (phon.). Yediot said that the operation was an intelligence coup for Israel and the US. Ha'aretz, Yediot, and The Jerusalem Post reported that Dr. Ibrahim Suleiman, the man who represented Syria during the secret, unofficial discussions held under the auspices of the Swiss government, has agreed to appear before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. Suleiman, an American of Syrian descent, informed his Israeli counterpart in the talks in Switzerland, Dr. Alon Liel, of his decision to appear before to the Knesset committee. Liel, in turn, informed the Meretz faction chairperson, MK Zahava Gal-On, who had initiated the invitation. Both the committee's Chairman, MK Tzachi Hanegbi, and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik agreed to the unusual decision of officially inviting a foreign national who has represented the positions of an Arab country that is still in a state of war with Israel. In a telephone conversation with Ha'aretz from his home near Washington DC, Suleiman said he will use his visit to Israel to hold a dialogue with the public to clarify that Syria is committed to peace, which it considers to be the key to regional stability, security, and prosperity. He added that he is "completely convinced that President Bashar Assad means every word when he calls on Olmert to begin peace talks without preconditions." Suleiman was quoted as saying that it is possible that before his arrival in Israel he will carry out a short visit to Damascus to meet with the leadership there. The Jerusalem Post reported that a UNESCO team will present its report on the Old City dig in the next few days. Arabic-language Kull Al-Arab reported that during a recent visit of Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, to Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa promised Salah to bring up the issue of stopping the (Israeli) "attacks" against the Al-Aqsa Mosque at the upcoming meeting of Arab FMs in Saudi Arabia. Opposition leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz: "I see a unique opportunity to advance the peace process with moderate Arab partners, for a simple reason: There is an identification of a common threat." Yediot reported that Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani told Netanyahu during a meeting in the US that the US must determine for a fact that in no way will Iran acquire nuclear weapons. The Jerusalem Post reported that Ran Edelist, the director of the documentary film about the Shaked Reconnaissance Unit that has provoked a diplomatic uproar between Israel and Egypt, admitted to the newspaper on Thursday that he had erroneously described 250 Palestinian fedayeen killed by the unit at the end of the Six-Day War as Egyptians. That error, it appears, is at the root of a wave of Egyptian allegations that Israelis killed Egyptian POWs in this and other wars. Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday the IAEA decided to cut in half its technological assistance to Iran, after the latter refused to cease uranium enrichment. Yediot wrote that on Saturday Iranian, Syrian, and US representatives will meet at the opening of the Baghdad Conference. Yediot reported that IAF commander Eliezer Shkedy, who investigated an Apache helicopter accident during the second Lebanon War, found that the Boeing Co. was at fault. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "After the Winograd report is released, it is doubtful Olmert will be able to continue being Prime Minister." The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "It is very disturbing that our government is reportedly poised to capitulate to blackmail from the terrorist regime that is most directly attacking us, that led by Hamas." Former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "There is a choice for the US administration, even in the final two years of George W. Bush's presidency." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Cry, the Beleaguered Country" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (3/9): "Emotionally, [Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert and [Defense Minister Amir] Peretz are both strained to their limits. Their political future hangs by a thread. Even worse, they are sitting on the razor's edge, to use the title of a novel by Somerset Maugham.... In practice, they are both waiting, not very happily, for the Winograd report [probing the latest Lebanon war]. The fact that Peretz was only defense minister for nine months before the war broke out will not necessarily save him from ministerial responsibility. As Prime Minister, Olmert is in a worse position. First, because he made Peretz defense minister instead of finance minister; and second, because he approved a war that violated the two ironclad principles championed by David Ben-Gurion that have been the guiding light for the Israel Defense Forces all these years: 1) Wars should be fought on enemy territory; and 2) Wars should be ended as quickly as possible. What happened, with regard to both these rules, was just the opposite: Hizbullah moved the war to our territory by firing hundreds of rockets at civilian centers in Israel for 33 straight days. And instead of limiting itself to a forceful but compact reprisal operation, the IDF prolonged the fighting. Not to mention the embarrassing fact that our kidnapped soldiers have yet to be returned home. After the Winograd report is released, it is doubtful Olmert will be able to continue being Prime Minister; especially if the State Comptroller adds to the picture all the assorted suspicions against the Prime Minister in a variety of scandals. Both Olmert and Peretz are sweeping the floor with their poll rankings; and that's before the investigating committee and comptroller have finished their work. The Winograd Committee could trigger the sort of upheaval in which anything is possible. Kadima could fizzle out, sending Labor Party members back to Labor and Likudniks back to Likud, and that could end up bringing Benjamin Netanyahu back to power." II. "A Bad Bargain" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (3/9): "The job of the West, more than five years after 9/11, is to work steadily toward a world in which there are no regimes that openly or covertly support terrorism. In this context, it is very disturbing that our government is reportedly poised to capitulate to blackmail from the terrorist regime that is most directly attacking us, that led by Hamas.... In the coming days, Israel ... will ... release hundreds of prisoners to both Abbas and Hamas, who presumably are to be joined in a unity government -- in exchange for our soldier, whom we and the international community had demanded should be unconditionally released.... It seems that every time our government releases hundreds of prisoners for one or two of our own, the decision enjoys immediate sympathy. But in retrospect the same decision is regarded with deep regret and a consensus that it should never be repeated. This would seem to be even more the case when the prisoner release will be entirely credited to Hamas, whose leader, Mashal, just said in Teheran that Palestinians should start preparing for Israel to 'disappear' from the world, and which our security establishment says is busy preparing to fight the next war." III. "Roll Up Your Sleeves, Mr. President" Former US Ambassador to Israel Daniel C. Kurtzer wrote in The Jerusalem Post (3/9): "I fear the United States has lost its will and determination to engage in the nitty-gritty work of brokering Middle East peace..... There is a choice for the US administration, even in the final two years of George W. Bush's presidency. Bush can continue his hands-off approach to Arab-Israeli issues and confine himself to lofty policy statements about the desirability of a two-state solution. Or, he can invest presidential determination and time to jump-start negotiations; lay out US thinking on final status issues in a manner designed to provide the parties with an agenda for negotiations; keep the parties focused on negotiating in good faith and implementing what they have agreed." -------------- ¶2. Upcoming Baghdad Conference: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Baghdad conference is liable to offer the real prize to Iran: legitimate admission into the political space of Iraq." Block Quotes: -------------- "Will They Shake Hands?" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (3/9): "James Baker and Lee Hamilton can finally permit themselves to enjoy a small smile of satisfaction. Three months after President George W. Bush sourly praised the report they wrote, but rejected their recommendation to have Iran and Syria participate in the diplomatic process in Iraq, he has been forced to swallow some of this bitter medicine. This is also a big day for Colin Powell, Bush's former Secretary of State, who pushed for a direct dialogue with Iran, but was rejected by the White House conservatives. Today, when all the rivals meet in Baghdad, the cameras will probably not focus on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, but on US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister. Although the purpose of this conference is to deal with Iraq, the interesting and perhaps more important part will concern the relations between Iran and the United States.... Even when it comes to Iranian involvement in Iraq, the US is dancing a cautious minuet. On the one hand it is accusing Iran of involvement in terror in Iraq; on the other hand American spokespersons, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, are defining as 'vague' or 'doubtful' the information regarding sophisticated Iranian weapons that are serving the terrorists in Iraq. Under ordinary circumstances, these American nuances would be insufficient, particularly when at the same time the administration continues, meanwhile without success, to push for a second resolution regarding sanctions against Iran. But the Baghdad conference is liable to offer the real prize to Iran: legitimate admission into the political space of Iraq." JONES