SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001038 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: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION -------------- SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: -------------- Visit of President Bush to Israel, May 14-16, 2008 -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media extensively reported on President Bush's warm welcome to Israel, his meetings with President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, and his warm speech to the President's Conference in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post noted that "President Bush and President Peres share an unflagging optimism about the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians." Peres said last night at the "Facing Tomorrow" presidential conference in Jerusalem: "Without the support of your people and without your support and that of the American presidents before you, attaining [independence] would have been an extremely difficult task. You encouraged us when we were alone to establish a real democracy, to develop a modern economy. We built an army that sought victory and a people that sought peace." Peres was also quoted as saying that history would look kindly upon Bush's policies in the region: "It will be heard when history depicts your courage and decisiveness while addressing challenges that faced the U.S.A. and in fact the entire world" Peres added: "You taught the world that it is possible to be powerful without being power hungry. For us, this is a thanksgiving party to a tremendous nation, for the leadership of President George Walker Bush -- never short of faith, never postponing a choice, always in the service of the great American tradition." This morning, the President and First Lady Laura Bush visited Masada. The media reported that yesterday the First Lady toured Jerusalem, visiting a baby clinic and a mixed Jewish-Arab school, and walking through the Western Wall Tunnels. Ha'aretz reported that speaking alongside President Bush yesterday, President Peres yesterday Peres talked about "very extremist groups" to counter moderate regimes in the Middle East, singling out Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. President Bush vowed continued American support for Israel: "The objective of the United States must be, on the one hand, to support our strongest ally and friend in the Middle East, against the forces of terror you've just described, while at the same time to talk about a hopeful future." Ha'aretz quoted Bush as saying afterward during a closed working meeting between the American and Israeli teams that there is no difference between Hamas, Hizbullah, and Al-Qaida. Ha'aretz quoted Bush as saying at the closed meeting that Bashar Assad will have to decide where he is headed but reported that he expressed doubt that the Syrian president will decide to break with Iran. He warned that progress will be impossible unless the Syrians change tack. The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Olmert is interested in drawing up an agreement with the Palestinians that will include understandings on borders, refugees, and security arrangements, but that will leave Jerusalem for a later date and another framework. The newspaper said that Olmert alluded to this proposed new framework for the first time during a press briefing after meeting President Bush. All media led with a strike on an Ashkelon mall yesterday by a long-range Grad rocket injuring around 90 people, four of them seriously, including a toddler and her mother. Media reported that Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) -- according to Israel Radio, the PFLP-General Command and a PRC faction did so, while Islamic Jihad and Hamas praised the strike -- claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as President Bush was meeting with PM Olmert. Ha'aretz only cited the claim by the PFLP-General Command, saying that it is the first time a Syrian-backed group claims responsibility for such an attack. Olmert told participants at the "Facing Tomorrow" conference yesterday that the attack was "intolerable and unacceptable," and that Israel's government was committed to stopping the rocket attacks from Gaza. Maariv reported that Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are weighing carrying out a large-scale military operation in Gaza. Ha'aretz reported that at this stage, it seems that there will not be a broad response and that the IDF will settle for pinpoint attacks on Gaza. Nevertheless, Ha'aretz quoted a senior defense source as saying yesterday that "Israel is on a collision course with Hamas in Gaza that is reaching its conclusion." Israel Radio quoted Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) as saying in an interview with the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds that, were he prime minister, he would have done away with Hamas. Ha'aretz reported that IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin told the newspaper that even Beersheva may come within range of the Hamas rockets. Major media reported that the contacts over a temporary cease-fire in Gaza are expected to continue. Ha'aretz quoted a senior government official in Jerusalem as saying yesterday that Israel is interested in reaching a situation where once it decides on a broad operation in Gaza, it will receive broad international support. "Any operation in Gaza will lead to the freezing of negotiations, and we want to make sure we will not be viewed as guilty [for the freeze]," the official was quoted as saying. Ha'aretz reported that Olmert updated Bush on the Egyptian talks, and that Barak met yesterday with Secretary Rice, and even invited her to visit Ashkelon and Sderot to view the situation from up close and to see how the people in the area live. Ha'aretz also spoke to Rice about the situation in the West Bank. He said Israel plans to further ease restrictions on the Palestinian population there shortly, particularly in the northern West Bank. The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Israeli official as saying yesterday that a cease-fire that does not include the prevention of the transfer of weapons to Gaza will be a "major strategic victory" for Hamas and that it will only serve to strengthen its rule there at the expense of the Fatah-led government in the West Bank. Israel Radio reported that Hamas officials denied that the group was smuggling weapons and that this was the sole work of "merchants." Major media reported that the Palestinians -- both under the PA and Hamas -- are planning to mark the 60th anniversary of their Nakba ("catastrophe") today by staging a series of marches and strikes throughout the West Bank and Gaza. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel recently rejected a request by the U.S. security coordinator to the region Lt.-Gen. Keith Dayton to allow Palestinian security forces to receive personal armor kits, night-vision goggles, and electronic communication systems that the PA planned to use to set up a military communications network. The newspaper quoted senior defense officials as saying yesterday that Dayton made the request on behalf of the PA several weeks ago and that it was immediately rejected, since some of the items had the potential to "break the balance" between the IDF and the PA security forces. The Post also reported that Israel is considering transferring security control over Tulkarm, Qalqilya, and Hebron to the PA if a program being tested in Jenin is successful. Quartet envoy Tony Blair revealed the Jenin test project during a press conference in Jerusalem on Tuesday. Leading media reported that Olmert's former attorney and associate Uri Messer, who is alleged to have informed on the PM's dealings in an alleged bribery case, might become either state witness or a witness for the prosecution against Olmert. Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that right-wing groups have announced they would build a new neighborhood at the location of the Shdema army base south of Har Homa in East Jerusalem. The groups were quoted as saying that have learned that the Defense Ministry was poised to accede to Palestinian requests to build a children's hospital there. -------------- Visit of President Bush to Israel, May 14-16, 2008: -------------- Summary: -------------- Columnist Calev Ben-David wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Simply talking about serious subjects doesn't necessarily qualify as substance; if it did, all of Israel's problems, and many of those of the rest of the world as well, would have been solved at the 'Facing Tomorrow' event." The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "When he landed yesterday on Israeli soil, Bush declared that the 'Israelis are our close friends.' A close friend of the Israelis is not permitted to stand on the sidelines while their government is playing with matches next to a barrel of explosives." Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "In the Second Lebanon War the Israeli government forgot to declare war. In the current war of attrition with Gaza, it has already forgotten what it means to fight.." Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "'Tomorrow' is the great, real love of Shimon Peres.... [But] the make-believe games are over. Sometime, someone will have to do the job [of invading Gaza.]." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Bush, PM Defy Reality to Put Best Face on Tomorrow" Columnist Calev Ben-David wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (5/15): "The real policy of the day was supposedly being elsewhere [than at the President's Conference], in the private meetings between Bush and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. But whether those policy discussions actually had more substance than the high-level musings as the 'Facing Tomorrow' event -- or more accurately perhaps, relevance to actual developments now unfolding on the ground -- is questionable.... Simply talking about serious subjects doesn't necessarily qualify as substance; if it did, all of Israel's problems, and many of those of the rest of the world as well, would have been solved at the 'Facing Tomorrow' event." II. "Jerusalem Is Waiting for Bush" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (5/15): "As a gesture to Israel on the 60th anniversary of the state, U.S. President George W. Bush is visiting Jerusalem, Israel's capital, for the second time in four months. The welcome prepared for him by Hamas -- a major attack on a mall in Ashkelon -- illustrates perhaps better than anything else the urgency of reaching an agreement that will check the extremist forces in the region. Therefore it is essential to prevent any attempt to create areas of friction that hinder the diplomatic process. One of those areas is East Jerusalem, and primarily the Old City and its environs.... However, initiatives by nationalist Jewish groups to take control of lands and assets in the Old City and the neighborhoods of the 'holy basin' are continually being exposed.... The creeping annexation of parts of the Arab neighborhoods will turn a political conflict into a religious struggle, which will prevent any diplomatic solution. It will also arouse the entire Arab and Muslim world against Israel. The United States, Israel's greatest friend and the broker of the two-state vision, will not emerge clean either. When he landed yesterday on Israeli soil, Bush declared that the 'Israelis are our close friends.' A close friend of the Israelis is not permitted to stand on the sidelines while their government is playing with matches next to a barrel of explosives." III. "They Have Forgotten What it is to Fight" Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/15): "In the Second Lebanon War the Israeli government forgot to declare war. In the current war of attrition with Gaza, it has already forgotten what it means to fight. It has forgotten that it has a central, overriding purpose -- to protect the security of the residents of the state, not to try to conciliate the Americans, the Egyptians, and the Europeans.... The Palestinians are really out of order. They do not understand that Israel's policy of appeasement was born in the framework of a brain-storming session, in the framework of a brilliant political exercise which was to have led the Middle East to a better future. They see the appeasement as weakness, and they are behaving accordingly.... The political leadership of Hamas, unlike the military leadership, reads the mood of the population in the Gaza Strip. They themselves know that continuation of the siege and the military pressures will turn the Palestinian public against them and they will have to find other solutions in order to survive. They are firing rockets at us today so that we will agree to a tahdiya [truce] on their terms. They will not be able to cope with prolonged military pressure. In such a situation they will request a tahdiya on conditions favorable to Israel, including Gilad Shalit's release. The Egyptians too will understand in the long run that such a consistent policy will bring a cease-fire closer." IV. "'Tomorrow' and Today" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (5/15): "Millions of light years separated yesterday between the 'Facing Tomorrow' conference in Jerusalem and the events of 'today' in Ashkelon. Israel is a crazy place. By any standard. But the gap that was created yesterday between the two extremes of the manic-depressive Israeli reality was monstrous even in our terms. The luxurious International Convention Center in Jerusalem, versus the bombed mall building in Ashkelon.... 'Tomorrow' is the great, real love of Shimon Peres. He is already there. The tragedy is that we are still stuck here, in today, which for Peres, is actually yesterday. Religious fanaticism, terror overcoming the fences, demonstrations that were held yesterday throughout the territories to mark the Nakba, Lebanon is falling, Iran is galloping towards nuclear capability, but Peres sticks to his guns.... Until now, [IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi] Ashkenazi spoke out in every discussion, clearly and firmly, against an operation in Gaza. Recently, he has stopped doing so. This did not prevent the IDF Spokesperson's Office from denying the report, in one-on-one talks with reporters. It wanted to deny it publicly, but the Grad rocket on Ashkelon spoiled its plans. Ashkenazi will soon understand, as will his spokesman, that one cannot have the Gazan cake and eat it too. The make-believe games are over. Sometime, someone will have to do the job." JONES