ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002096 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 PM Ehud Olmert as saying yesterday that he would resign immediately after a new Kadima leader is elected and recommend that the president ask the new leader to form a government. Ha'aretz reported that Olmert is expected to resign next Thursday, the day after Kadima's September 17 primary, if the result is settled in the first round. Olmert was also quoted as saying that he had not promised Syria anything, but that each side knows what the other one wants. In an interview with Ha'aretz, PA President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his doubts that any peace agreement can be reached by the end of 2008, as not one of the six key issues in a final-status arrangement has yet been resolved. Abbas was also quoted as saying that the Palestinians will demand that in any agreement, part of the refugees be returned to Israel. Israel Radio reported that the State Department issued a statement refuting a report published yesterday by the Palestinian paper Al-Ayyam, which quoted an American official as saying that Israel and the Palestinians are negotiating over the future of Jerusalem and the Dead Sea area. Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported on the dissatisfaction and anger of GOI officials over the remarks. The politicians were quoted as sayng that the Americans had broken a clear commitment not to publicly discuss details of the negotiations. The Israeli officials also claimed that the Jerusalem issue is not being negotiated. Yediot reported that Israel asked the U.S. to refute the remarks. The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Ehud Olmert told a Kadima Party meeting in Ramat Gan that his government was sticking by its position that Jerusalem should be left until the end of the talks. The media modestly marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Agreement at the White House. 
 Leading media reported that President Shimon Peres will represent Israel at the UN General Assembly. Ha'aretz quoted Noam Shalit as saying yesterday that he has yet to receive confirmation that his son, Gilad, received the letter Noam sent him via French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Ha'aretz quoted former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit as saying at the counterterrorism conference in Herzliya that if there is no Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of the year, Hamas or Hizbullah will be tempted to provoke Israel into an armed conflict. Major media reported that in two separate incidents on Wednesday, settlers unleashed a dog against a soldier and injured an officer at an unauthorized outpost. Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that settlers also attacked an IDF outpost. Ha'aretz reported that Austria's justice ministry, security services, and Jewish community are furious over a Vienna court decision to unfreeze a banned account of the Palestinian group, Abu Nidal. Ha'aretz reported that Aryeh Deri is not likely to ask President Peres for a pardon so that he can run for the elections from mayor of Jerusalem and that he may turn to the Jerusalem District Court. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited a complaint by a right-wing legal group that Deri and Peres may have colluded: the two met before the presidential elections, thus there is a suspicion that the Shas Party supported Peres' election in exchange for abridging the period of Deri's moral turpitude. The Jerusalem Post reported that this week Pakistani television journalist Khalid Ansari visited Israel to prepare a major documentary on the Jewish people to be screened later this year on his country's widely watched GEO TV network. Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange followed global markets downward, descending to March 2007 levels. All media highlighted the discovery of the body of 4-year-old Rose Pizem, who went missing four months ago, in a suitcase in Tel Aviv's Hayarkon River. Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll among Kadima voters: Were the primaries to take place today, which of the candidates would you elect as head of the party? (In brackets: People who are sure they will vote): Tzipi Livni: 46.4% (47.2%); Shaul Mofaz: 27.6% (31.6%); Avi Dichter: 7.5% (5.1%); Meir Sheetrit: 4.5% (5.4%); 14% are undecided. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: " Every time an election looms, be it for the Knesset, local government, or a party primary, the 'who will divide Jerusalem' issue miraculously returns to raise the emotional temperature.... Jerusalem will in the end be the capital of two states, and the refugees will be compensated for their abandoned properties. Even if years go by before a final accord is signed, it will look no different." Block Quotes: -------------- "Everyone Will Divide Jerusalem" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/12): "Every time an election looms, be it for the Knesset, local government, or a party primary, the 'who will divide Jerusalem' issue miraculously returns to raise the emotional temperature.... Anyone who engages in real peace negotiations with the Palestinians will have to accept a division of Jerusalem; anyone who preaches its integrity and unity is simply deceiving the public..... Some want to divide the city to preserve a Jewish majority in the capital, others so that it would be a better place to live. Some believe that without this partition, the conflict will never end.... Kadima contains a spectrum of opinions. But what everyone must understand is that core issues like the right of return and Jerusalem are inseparable elements of the negotiations, and no matter who is prime minister, Israel has already committed to discussing them. Jerusalem will in the end be the capital of two states, and the refugees will be compensated for their abandoned properties. Even if years go by before a final accord is signed, it will look no different." CUNNINGHAM