ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002002 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Leading media quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying yesterday in an interview with France 3-TV that indirect negotiations with Israel have brought the "possibility of peace," although the two countries still have quite a way to go toward that goal. Assad was also quoted as saying that he believed that Israel "could try to launch different attacks, maybe against Iran, and maybe also against Lebanon, and of course it could launch an attack on Syria." He warned that such attacks would have "catastrophic results." Israel Radio reported that indirect talks with Syria will be possible when Yoram Turbowicz returns to conduct them even after his resignation from the post of PM Ehud Olmert's chief of staff. The radio later quoted the London-based Al-Hayat as saying that the talks will resume on Sunday. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that a story reporting that Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal has left Damascus at Syria's request was simply "not true." The Jerusalem Post reported that Olmert met yesterday with FM Tzipi Livni and DM Ehud Barak to discuss the negotiations with the PA, but that diplomatic officials downplayed the significance, saying that such meetings are routine and do not presage any breakthrough. Ha'aretz reported that Egypt opposes an Israeli-Palestinian partial agreement because Cairo doesn't think such a deal would end the conflict in the region, and Jordan fears that such an agreement would force it to take in hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees. The Egyptian and Jordanian position is encouraging to the PA, which also opposes an "agreement in principle." Ha'aretz quoted former Lebanese PM Omar Karameh and a Hizbullah-associated daily as saying yesterday that for the first time Egypt has invited Hizbullah leaders for talks. Israel Radio quoted the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Qabas as saying that Egypt has decided to open the Rafah crossing more often. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that no decisions have been made regarding withdrawal from the northern side of the village of Ghajar, despite unconfirmed media reports indicating that Israel has expressed willingness to do so. Ha'aretz and other media quoted DM Barak as saying yesterday that there have been quite a few alerts about Hizbullah attacks abroad in the last few weeks, and that there were "several very important deflections of planned attacks." Leading media cited a Reuters story as saying that the Nation's Army, an extremist Palestinian group affiliated with Al-Qaida, is training in Gaza with the aim of fighting against Israel. The report said that Hamas is allowing the group to train in Gaza provided it does not interfere with Palestinian politics and it does not impose its ideology on the Palestinians. The media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice issued a temporary injunction against plans to demolish parts of the home of Palestinian terrorist Ala Abu Dhaim, who killed eight people at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem last March. The Jerusalem Post quoted freed Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar as saying yesterday that PA President Mahmoud Abbas had asked for the recent meeting between the two that has angered Israel. Ha'aretz and Maariv reported that yesterday two border policemen were convicted of manslaughter for their part in the 2002 kidnapping and wrongful death of a Hebron teen. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel is still likely to boycott the so-called "Durban II" conference set for 2009 in spite of a plea made by the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, that it reconsider. Maariv reported that a UNESCO resolution granting the title of "capital of Arab culture" to Jerusalem for 2009 might turn into an anti-Israel campaign in the eastern part of the city. Yediot reported that on Sunday Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann will propose a bill that will define when the High Court of Justice is entitled to overturn laws and how the Knesset can circumvent the Court. The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz as saying yesterday that the Justice Ministry's party registrar will compile a list of people who are members of both Likud and Kadima after the two parties asked for their lists to be examined. Major media reported that former Shas leader Aryeh Deri is considering running for mayor of Jerusalem. Ha'aretz reported that Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has promised to support his ex-protege. (Israel Radio quoted Deri as saying that he and the Rabbi have not spoken about the issue.) Deri was convicted in the past of accepting bribes, fraud, and breach of trust, offenses for which he spent two years in prison. His criminal record may make him ineligible to run in the elections, since his offenses were deemed as having involved moral turpitude, and by law that bars him from running for public office for a defined period of time. The Jerusalem Post reported that President Shimon Peres and DM Barak broke Israel's boycott of Aljazeera-TV when they each granted interviews to the network. However, Foreign Ministry officials were quoted as saying that no agreement has been reached in negotiations taking place between the ministry and the network. Ha'aretz and other media reported that the supply of natural gas from Egypt to Israel was halted on Friday and has yet to be resumed. Concern is mounting in Jerusalem, where sources believe that Egypt is struggling to supply all its clients and has chosen to cut back supplies to its neighbors, including Israel, some of which pay especially low prices for the fuel. Israel receives Egyptian gas through the Egyptian-Israeli consortium EMG. Yediot reported that yesterday Israel's Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. signed a one-billion shekel (around $275 million) deal with the Indian Defense Ministry. The newspaper says that this may reduce expenses for two missile defense systems -- the Iron Dome and the missile protection from Hizbullah missiles. The Jerusalem Post reported that, implementing the lessons of the Second Lebanon War, Israeli Military Industries has designed a mortar shell that uses a satellite guidance system to accurately hit its target. Ha'aretz reported that thousands of African refugees in Israel are not vaccinated against tuberculosis, although regulations obligate them to undergo testing after their release from detention centers. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Conservative Jewish affairs correspondent Nadav Shragai wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[Prime Minister Olmert's] willingness to bring the members of the Quartet into the negotiations over Jerusalem (even as 'advisors') opens the door to internationalizing the conflict over the city, and that is tantamount to public suicide." The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "The public, media-oriented, and fashionable campaign to release Gilad Shalit does not bring his freedom closer but rather removes it further." Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Just as the Palestinians will have to acknowledge the Jewishness of Israel, Israel will have to acknowledge its part in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem." Liberal columnist Avirama Golan wrote in Ha'aretz: "Livni has a chance to be elected as the head of a 'faux centrist' right-wing party. And when this happens, and Labor is finally swallowed up into Kadima, it will finally make room for a real leftist movement." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "False Oaths of Allegiance" Conservative Jewish affairs correspondent Nadav Shragai wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/3): "Ehud Olmert lacks any legitimacy to negotiate over Jerusalem, not only because of the heavy cloud of criminal suspicions that hangs over him and because his days in office are numbered, but mainly because no one ever authorized him to hand over the treasure of the Jewish people and smash one of the foundation stones of the Zionist movement. [The key Israeli cabinet ministers] understand that Mahmoud Abbas is not the sole custodian of Jerusalem on the Arab side, and that Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and perhaps Saudi Arabia also need to be brought into the picture. However, they do not understand that it is not the sole custodian of Jerusalem for the Jewish people. This group is 'democratic' when it comes to Arab countries, but would never dream of bringing representatives of the Jewish people and the Jewish religion into the talks, not to mention taking the most elementary step -- a referendum that would make clear the significance of dividing the city. The implications of such a move are completely lacking from the discourse over the historic snatch Olmert is now trying to bring about. His willingness to bring the members of the Quartet into the negotiations over Jerusalem (even as 'advisors') opens the door to internationalizing the conflict over the city, and that is tantamount to public suicide.... [Incidentally], Dore Gold, Israel's former ambassador to the UN, recently noted that the more Israel concedes in Jerusalem, the more the American position regarding our status in the city erodes. He still remembers how the U.S. used its veto power in the Security Council to reject Palestinian initiatives to condemn Israeli construction in neighborhoods like Har Homa. Today, not only is it difficult to conceive of such a veto, but the Americans are those who initiate complaints over Israeli construction in Jerusalem." II. "A Campaign against Shalit's Interests" The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (9/3): "The public, media-oriented, and fashionable campaign to release Gilad Shalit does not bring his freedom closer but rather removes it further; it doesn't serve Shalit's interests, but Hamas's.... Hamas's regime in Gaza pretends that it can afford to drag its feet forever, but this is not true. It is not only in Israel that time is vanishing.... A cruel war of nerves is raging between the sides, as both are pressed and eager to reach an achievement, and each of them knows that it can't show its impatience or its keenness. This war of nerves, the civilian pressure on the Israeli government to hasten and surrender, encourages a stiffening of Hamas's positions, increases its demands, and brings us further from an agreement." III. "Peace: From Concepts to Realities" Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (9/3): "To reach a package agreement, both sides will have to make substantive concessions. Just as the Palestinians will have to acknowledge the Jewishness of Israel, Israel will have to acknowledge its part in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem. Israel does not bear full responsibility for that issue, but it certainly does have partial and even significant responsibility. Acknowledging Israel's partial responsibility is necessary for the Palestinians to accept the principle that the 'right of return' will be implemented primarily to the state of Palestine and not to Israel. Acknowledgement by both sides of these fundamentals is what is required to reach an agreement that could enable real and lasting reconciliation. Both sides will also have to recognize that Jerusalem will be the capital of both states with the requisite division of sovereignty, including the division of control or sovereignty over the holy places. Both sides could also implement substantive steps immediately that would provide a stronger foundation for the statements of acknowledgement listed above.... There is no reason to wait for a final agreement and its ratification by the people to begin to implement steps that will build peace on the ground while implementing specific clauses that will become central themes of the peace treaty. Peace is not built solely by reaching agreements on paper -- this is necessary, but not enough. Peace must be built on the ground -- from the bottom up. We must begin to transform words and concepts into new realities." IV. "Neither Left nor Right" Liberal columnist Avirama Golan wrote in Ha'aretz (9/3): "If Livni is elected, forms the next government, and manages to rule wisely -- a task she appears capable of -- it will mark the final victory of the new politics, the apolitical politics. Like Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, who attracted many voters from the left, Livni has a chance to be elected as the head of a 'faux centrist' right-wing party. And when this happens, and Labor is finally swallowed up into Kadima, it will finally make room for a real leftist movement, a social democratic party whose economic, social and cultural views would naturally compliment a dovish diplomatic stance. One may hope that Labor, whose fingerprints are historically on the settlement enterprise, and Meretz, which has turned into a sectarian mini-faction, will exit the stage. The forces that seek to shackle Livni from the right (economically and diplomatically) will be balanced by a new political force that is genuinely left-wing." CUNNINGHAM