JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (12/17): RUMORS OF A "MILITARY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002252 SIPDIS STATE PASS BBG STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC FOR ABRAMS CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (12/17): RUMORS OF A "MILITARY FAREWELL TO BUSH" IN IRAN -------------- Main Stories: -------------- Al Quds and Al Ayyam lead and all front pages highlight news of the U.N. Security Council's approval on December 16 of a resolution, "encouraging a final-status peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians." The papers quote chief Secretary Rice asserting that the establishment of the state of Palestine is long overdue and the occupation begun in 1967 should end. Chief PLO negotiator Erekat is also quoted stating that resolution 1850 is the first to be adopted by the 15-member council in five years, as well as being the sole resolution specifically addressing the Middle East peace process. All papers note that Israel and the Palestinian Authority welcomed the resolution. Coverage also includes excerpts from the Middle East Quartet statement expressing, "acute concern" over Israeli closures of Gaza crossings and a call for the extension of the Hamas-Israel truce. Al Hayat Al Jadida leads with December 16 statements by Palestinian Authority President Abbas on plans to hold elections in the West Bank and Gaza "very soon." Abbas also called on Egypt and the U.S. to exert efforts to extend the Israel-Hamas truce and blamed Hamas for not having valid reasons to boycott intra-Palestinian talks. President Bush will meet with Palestinian Authority President Abbas at the White House on December 19, according to Al Hayat Al Jadida's and Al Ayyam's front pages. Citing AFP, the papers note that the leaders will discuss joint peace efforts: building viable Palestinian institutions, greater economic development and continued training of Palestinian security forces and their deployment in the West Bank. In president-elect news, Al Quds reports on an inside page that former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon told Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post that president-elect Obama and his Secretary of State nominee Clinton might support a land swap deal between Israel and the Palestinians. In military news, Al Ayyam's front page highlights reports on Israeli air strikes in Gaza on December 16. The paper reports that two Palestinian women and a journalist were injured and adds that Palestinian groups responded by firing projectiles into the Negev and on Sderot city in southern Israel. In the West Bank, Al Ayyam reports on an inside page that Israeli military "stormed" Beit Umar village and Al Fawwar refugee camp near Hebron and arrested 16 Palestinian youths, searched houses, and forced families to wait outside their homes for the duration of the nighttime raid. In settler news, Al Quds' and Al Ayyam's front pages report that Israeli police demolished, for the fourth time, a tent sheltering the Palestinian Al Kurd family who were evicted from their East Jerusalem house in accordance with an Israeli court order last month. Previous coverage has noted that the tent stood just outside the family's former home which has been turned over to "Israeli settlers," and had become a focal point for protests against the eviction. Al Ayyam's and Al Hayat Al Jadida's front pages report on a London conference on investment in the Palestinian Territories held on December 16. The conference yielded a decision to establish a $50 million "bailout fund" for Palestinian companies and a joint forum for UK and Palestinian businessmen. Al Quds' front page and other dailies' inside pages, run the results of a recent poll jointly conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and the Israeli Truman Institute at Hebrew University. The results show that 51% of Israelis and 74% of Palestinians support a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. The poll also reveals that 48% of Palestinians would vote for Palestinian Authority Abbas and 37% of Israelis would vote for Likud party chair JERUSALEM 00002252 002 OF 002 Netanyahu, if respective elections were held today. -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- 1) Al Quds' Khairy Mansur opines in Al Quds under the title, "The last minute war" (12/17): "Many western Middle East experts have pointed to mounting evidence of a "military farewell" for the Bush administration, in the form of a [U.S.] military offensive against Iran..., that would constitute the second war, after Iraq, in which Tel Aviv will have led Washington by the nose, to accordance with its own agenda." 2) Hani Al Hamada Farana writes in Al Ayyam under the title, "International condemnation of Israel" (12/17): "Palestinians need to wage a legal battle based on international norms of legitimacy to force implementation of U.N. resolutions, and support such efforts with a non-violent, peaceful intifada, to win international solidarity to defeat the occupation and settlement expansion." 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