ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000899 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. Iraq -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- 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. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- ¶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." -------------- ¶2. Iraq: -------------- Summary: -------------- 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: -------------- "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