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. Iraq

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Key stories in the media:
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Major media reported that on Thursday PM Ehud Olmert reiterated that
elements of the Saudi peace initiative were acceptable to Israel.
"I am the one who said the Saudi peace initiative was interesting
and that there are elements that I would be willing to accept and
that it could be a basis for contact between us and moderate Arab
elements," Olmert was quoted as saying. "This government will not
miss out on an opportunity to engage in talks with our enemies,"
Olmert said. "This includes making concessions. We will maneuver
responsibly and with care." Israel was willing to make "sweeping,
painful and tough concessions," he added. The Jerusalem Post quoted
Arab diplomats as saying that the US has quietly joined Israel in
urging Arab leaders to reformulate the plan, even as key Arab
diplomats -- including Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa --
have publicly come out against the idea. The Jerusalem Post quoted
three Arab diplomats in different Arab capitals as saying that
Washington has been pressing for changes to place the offer in line
with the Roadmap. The Jerusalem Post noted that the Roadmap does
not deal much with the refugee issue, beyond calling for an "agreed,
just, fair and realistic solution to the refugee issue." The
Roadmap also does not specify the borders -- as the Arab peace
initiative does -- of a future Palestinian state. The Jerusalem
Post reported that Israel is gearing up for a diplomatic campaign
that will paint the Arab world as the recalcitrant party if it does
not drop the article in the Arab peace initiative that calls for the
"right of return" for Palestinian refugees.

Yosef Kostiner, a Professor of Middle East History at Tel Aviv
University, was quoted as saying in an interview with Maariv that
the Saudi peace initiative is nothing more than a PR exercise
directed at the US. Kostiner was quoted as saying that the
initiative does not constitute a basis for negotiations but that it
is at most an "all or nothing" proposal.

The Jerusalem Post reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud
Abbas's comments Thursday night in an Israel TV interview that the
release of kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit was near were dismissed as
meaningless by senior Israeli officials. Abbas said that a
"framework" was agreed upon with Olmert and the Egyptians, and that
the process was moving along "quickly." Abbas was quoted as saying
this week in an interview with Yediot that Israelis believe in an
"all or nothing" approach. Hatzofe quoted Palestinian sources as
saying that Israel is aware of the whereabouts of Gilad Shalit, who
is held in a booby-trapped building.

Ha'aretz reported that the residents of Hersha, a settlement outpost
in the West Bank, asked the High Court of Justice to order the state
to compensate them if they are evicted from their homes. This is
the first such compensation claim by settlers facing eviction
proceedings. The request was made after Peace Now petitioned the
High Court, asking the outpost be demolished. Construction there has
received state aid for the past 10 years. The settlers presented an
alternative to the demolition: the legalization of the settlement
and the granting of building permits. In their response, the Hersha
residents presented evidence that the state aided their outpost from
1995 until 2004. Leading media reported that right-wing
organizations plan a march this week to the West Bank settlement of
Homesh, which was evacuated during the disengagement in summer 2005.
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post said that the police have sent a
warning letter to the organizers.

Hatzofe reported that Israel is bracing for a "diplomatic offensive
by Quartet representatives."

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli defense establishment
has no leads concerning the whereabouts of missing BBC newsman Alan
Johnston, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip almost two weeks ago.
However, the newspaper quoted senior security sources as saying that
BBC representatives were conducting talks with officials in the PA
police force who might have been involved in Johnston's abduction.

Israel Radio reported that on Saturday the five permanent members of
the UN Security Council and Germany are expected to present the
draft of a resolution to impose new sanctions on Iran. The station
said that those members of the Council rejected South Africa's
demand that the vote be postponed. The Jerusalem Post reported that
several foreign embassies in Tehran are updating their emergency
evacuation plans should a Western or Israeli attack on Iran occur.
According to foreign sources, foreign diplomats believe a possible
attack would take place before the end of 2007. By that time, Iran
might have enough enriched uranium to cause a humanitarian and
environmental catastrophe from radioactive fallout should its
nuclear facilities be damaged or destroyed in an attack.

Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday the Winograd Commission
investigating the Second Lebanon War released the transcripts of
three testimonies heard by the panel. In one of them, a member of
the commission, Maj. Gen. (res.) Menachem Einan, notes that Israel's
policy of restraint along the northern border in the years before
the war contributed to the erosion of Israel's deterrent against
Hizbullah. Leading media quoted Vice PM Shimon Peres as saying in
one of the testimonies that he would not have embarked on the war in
Lebanon last July if he were in charge. Ha'aretz and Israel Radio
said that Peres was quick to contain the impact of the revelations
last night and quoted him as saying that his comments were taken out
of context. The Jerusalem Post reported that, in testimony to the
commission, former IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Malka
blamed the army for persuading Olmert to believe it could achieve
the war aims that the PM subsequently declared. Yediot wrote that,
according to the commission's protocol, the cabinet was kept in the
dark during the entire war. Israel Radio quoted John Bolton, former
US Ambassador to the UN, as saying in an interview with AP, that
Israel's decision to go to war against Lebanon was justified. He
was quoted as saying said that Israel succeeded during the war in
landing a substantial blow against Hizbullah's operational
infrastructure. Bolton was further quoted as saying that the US
administration was not aware of Israel's goals in the war, but that
it respected its legitimate right to defend itself. The Jerusalem
Post also printed the AP wire report. Maariv quoted Bolton as
saying in an interview with the BBC that the US had wanted Israeli
to eliminate Hizbullah.

Globes quoted Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer as saying
during internal discussions at the Bank that the main preoccupation
of Israel's economy concerns developments on the US market and the
fear of an economic slowdown in the US, because one third of Israeli
exports, including a great part of hi-tech exports, goes to the US.
However, Globes cited Fischer's belief that the US is not in the
middle of a recession.

Leading media reported that the police investigation against Finance
Minister Abraham Hirchson has revealed that substantial sums of
money have been deposited to his account and that large sums of cash
have been sent to his Tel Aviv home. The media quoted sources
informed about the ongoing investigation as saying that the police
probe did not cover connections between Hirchson and Olmert. The
sources added that Olmert, who is a longstanding personal friend of
Hirchson, was not under any suspicions regarding the affair.
Maariv quoted Olmert associates as saying that the aim of Hirchson's
interrogation is to topple Olmert. Maariv quoted a senior official
close to Olmert as saying on Thursday that if it turns out that the
request by former minister Haim Ramon to annul the indictment
against him is granted, Olmert will consider appointing him to the
position of finance minister.

Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute
survey: Were Likud, Kadima, and the Labor Party headed, like today,
by Binyamin Netanyahu, Olmert, and Defense Minister Amir Peretz
respectively, Israelis would grant 35 Knesset seats to the Likud, 13
to Kadima, and 13 to Labor. In other configurations, were FM Tzipi
Livni to head Kadima, her party would take a relative majority of
seats -- 25 to 27 -- and the scores of three major parties would be
much closer to one another.








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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Even those who support taking a hard line
with the PA realized that there's no need to expect the US to behave
exactly like Israel.

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The
central obstacle to peace is the Arab refusal to accept Israel's
right to exist. This refusal is embodied in the Palestinian demand
to move to Israel, not just to a Palestinian state. International
diplomacy must focus on admitting, explaining and addressing this
obstacle, so that movement toward peace becomes possible."

Daniel Levy, a former adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister's
Bureau, who is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the
Century Foundation, and directs their respective Middle East and
Peace initiatives, wrote in Ha'aretz: "First Olmert must get over
his obsession with the threat of the Livni-Rice sisterhood, and work
directly with the Secretary of State. Second, Olmert should get on
board with the project of creating a political horizon."

Block Quotes:
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I. "Battles Lost and Won"

Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (3/23): "Even those who support taking a hard
line with the PA realized that there's no need to expect the US to
behave exactly like Israel. On the other hand, those who thought
that the boycott of the Palestinian government would collapse in a
single day were surprised once again. Israeli officials say that
this in itself is a noteworthy achievement. When the boycott began,
some thought the Europeans would be quick to break it, but a year
has passed and the Europeans have so far decided to stick with it.
For now, at least. Rice, it turns out, is accumulating credit in
the bank of international confidence. The Europeans see that she is
putting effort into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, are impressed
that she decided to ignore the Israeli government's idea, and
therefore accept her request that the principles of the Quartet not
be crushed in the meantime.... The more the boycott of Hamas
weakens, if that indeed happens, the more Israel will be confronted
by a two-horned dilemma. It will need to decide whether to join the
overall trend, and accept reality and begin talks with the
Palestinian government; and if, on the other hand, it is left,
almost alone, holding the hard-line position, something the Israeli
government reiterated this week, it will need to decide how to
maneuver."

II. "A Direction for Diplomacy"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (3/23):
"The international diplomatic boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian
unity government is leaking, but at its most official level, the
Quartet, it is holding.... This result may be considered a victory
for American and Israeli diplomacy, since it means that Western
assistance will not go directly to Hamas. But Western aid continues
to flow to the Palestinians at a tremendous rate.... Neither
engaging nor boycotting the Palestinians will alone pull them out of
their radicalization and disarray. What is needed is for the Arab
states to lead the way, and these states will not lead so long as
Western countries do not more clearly point the way.... The
Palestinians are too weak and divided to move in this direction on
their own. But why should the Arab states start bringing the
Palestinians down from their 'right of return' tree if even the US
does not treat this as critical to advancing a two-state solution?
And why should the US place the necessary stress on abandoning that
untenable demand if even Israel does not center its diplomacy on
exposing the direct contradiction between a Palestinian 'right of
return' and Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state? The central
obstacle to peace is the Arab refusal to accept Israel's right to
exist. This refusal is embodied in the Palestinian demand to move
to Israel, not just to a Palestinian state. International diplomacy
must focus on admitting, explaining and addressing this obstacle, so
that movement toward peace becomes possible."

III. "Time to Change the Tune"

Daniel Levy, a former adviser in the Israeli Prime Minister's
Bureau, who is a senior fellow at the New America Foundation and the
Century Foundation, and directs their respective Middle East and
Peace initiatives, wrote in Ha'aretz (3/23): "Olmert's apparent lack
of interest in Rice's shuttle diplomacy not only risks misreading
the new American reality, but it may also waste a precious
opportunity to secure Israel's future. A determined Olmert will
likely be successful in deflecting Rice's peace offensive.
Successful and wrong. A re-think is needed. First Olmert must get
over his obsession with the threat of the Livni-Rice sisterhood, and
work directly with the Secretary of State. Second, Olmert should
get on board with the project of creating a political horizon that
reaches agreements on the detailed parameters for resolving the
conflict. This could re-launch the supposed Kadima platform of
territorial compromise, the two-state solution, and secure borders
for Israel. It is also the best way to give meaning to the mantra
of strengthening Abu Mazen [Abbas], while at the same time exploring
whether Hamas, in government, can acquiesce to the realization of a
viable two-state solution. Third, Olmert needs to find a way to say
the magic words: the 1967 lines. Until Israel declares the
pre-Six-Day War boundaries to be the basis for future permanent
borders (including the option of equal land swaps),the Israeli
demand for Arab and Palestinian clarifications on the refugee issue
rings hypocritically hollow and disingenuous."

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2. Iraq:
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Summary:
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Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "What impelled [Olmert] last
week to support Bush and the continuation of his war?"

Block Quotes:
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"Israel, Victim of the Iraqi Adventure"

Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (3/23): "The birth of the Iraq
war was in the sin of deception and the sin of arrogance. This was
a breech birth, in which the head emerges last; at the White House
it has not emerged to this day; nor has it here, at the Prime
Minister's Bureau.... The war that was intended to deter the baddies
has only strengthened them.... In the meantime a new, alternative
family of evil has been coming together, in which Israel stars and
is taking pride of place. A survey conducted this month in 27
countries by the BBC has found that Israel is currently the most
rejected country in the world, number 1 on the list of the countries
that endanger world peace, no longer a small, threatened country but
rather a bullying and threatening country -- this is how the world
sees us. In Germany there is a high-level symposium going on about
Israel's right to exist -- who would have believed it? President
George W. Bush's United States appears as number 2 on the list and
this pair, Israel and its friend, are ahead of Iraq and North Korea.
The news of this distressing survey has not won attention here,
even though it should be appearing as a front-page headline in huge
letters, as an alarm: After all, our Israel is in real existential
danger, with the world relating to it like a leper state, although
'our situation has never been better,' needless to say, but Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert is saying it anyway. And as though the 40-year
occupation and the theft of the lands of Palestine were not enough
as a flourishing root of hatred for Israel, and as though the attack
on Lebanon in the summer did not suffice, Olmert is now adding twigs
to the fire of hostility. What impelled him last week to support
Bush and the continuation of his war?"

JONES