ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000211 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- All media reported that the IDF closed down Highway 10 along the Israeli-Egyptian border from Gaza to Eilat on Thursday night amid heightened concern of terrorist infiltration following the Gaza border breach. Defense officials expressed concern that terrorists were among the hundreds of thousands of Gazans to swarm into Egypt over the last 48-hours and would try to launch attacks from Sinai. In addition, the National Security Council's counter-terrorism bureau issued a warning Thursday recommending that Israelis avoid visiting Sinai and that any Israelis currently there "leave forthwith." Israel Radio reported that a parliamentary delegation from the Egyptian opposition, which included one of Saddam Hussein's lawyers, visited Gaza, and paid a condolence visit to senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar, whose son was killed in a recent IDF operation. Maariv and other media reported that Israel is concerned that Gilad Shalit could be smuggled into Sinai. Maariv cited the belief of Palestinian sources that around 150 rockets were smuggled into Gaza over the past couple of days. Israel Radio reported that the Egyptian authorities will close the border with Gaza at 3 p.m. (08:00 EST) today. Leading media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday that Israel could allow Gaza crossings to be opened under PA security control. Israel Radio said that the defense establishment finds the idea objectionable. Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad as saying that Barak's statement was a cause for hope. "We must seriously consider Israel's security concerns. We are committed to non-violence and to solving the conflict by peaceful means," he was quoted as saying. The Jerusalem Post reported that President Shimon Peres told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Davos that Israel will not allow SIPDIS the people of Gaza to starve. Leading media published reports and commentaries ahead of the final Winograd report which will be released on Wednesday. Yediot quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying in Davos that maintaining government stability in Israel is important. Maariv said that he hinted that he would not resign following the publication of the report. Referring to the backing of Olmert by liberal figures, Makor Rishon-Hatzofe bannered: "On the Eve of Winograd, the Left Sides with Olmert." All major media reported on two late-night terrorist attacks that took place minutes apart: A border policeman was killed and his female colleague was wounded by assailants at a checkpoint outside the refugee camp of Shuafat immediately north of Jerusalem. A hitherto unknown branch of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades -- the Return and Struggle Brigades -- claimed responsibility for the attack. Two Palestinians were killed while attempting to carry out an attack at a yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, Gush Etzion. Two Israelis were slightly wounded in the incident. Israel Radio reported that the IAF killed four Palestinians militants in the Gaza Strip. Ha'aretz reported that in Davos FM Tzipi Livni would not commit to completing negotiations with the Palestinians by the end of the year. She said that negotiations are not bound by the current American administration. Livni was quoted as saying that both sides want to solve the conflict and that it takes time to do so properly. "I don't believe it's connected to the present American administration. We're doing it for our own sakes. We want to do it this year. We will have meetings every few days," she was quoted as saying. Livni said that before implementing the agreement certain changes must be made. At this stage it does not appear possible to complete the agreement and throw a key over the fence, hoping someone on the other side catches it. We need an effective government that can rule, a proper administration, something that could change the situation and accept the key not only in the West Bank but in Gaza," she said. Leading media reported that on Thursday a delegation of Kadima Knesset members traveled to Ramallah and met with PA President Mahmoud Abbas and PM Salam Fayyad. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Palestinian leaders told the members of the delegation that all core issues were on the table. The newspaper noted that those comments did not help PM Olmert's chances of surviving the Winograd report. Leading media reported that U.S. objections to a draft UN Security Council presidential statement about the situation in Gaza continued on Thursday, stalling action for the third day in a row. The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel slammed a "farcical" condemnation of Israel by the UN Human Rights Council over its actions in the Gaza Strip. Israel and the U.S. boycotted the proceedings. The Jerusalem Post reported that Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns told reports in Jerusalem on Thursday that a new draft for a third round of UN sanctions could cause Tehran to rethink its pursuit of nuclear power by paving the way for the EU to impose to own much harsher sanctions. The Jerusalem Post reported that the High Court of Justice changed course on Thursday and scheduled a hearing for Sunday regarding the government's decision to reduce fuel and electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip. Ha'aretz reported that Israel has completely frozen all new construction in West Bank settlements, despite recent comments by PM Ehud Olmert that Israel would treat construction in the major settlement blocs differently from building in most settlements. Ha'aretz reported that Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Sallai Meridor has blasted his predecessor Danny Ayalon for an article critical of Sen. Barack Obama that he published in The Jerusalem Post. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) is promoting the diplomatic plan of MK Benny Elon (National Union-National Religious Party) in Congress. The plan calls for applying Israeli sovereignty in the West Ban, granting Jordanian citizenship to West Bank Palestinians, and eliminating refugee camps. Leading media reported that this week Yad Vashem launched an Arabic-language Web site. Ronen Bergman of Yediot wrote a feature about "all the secrets" in Israeli-Moroccan relations, including Israel's part in the assassination of opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka, intelligence that Morocco gave Israel on the eve of the Six-Day War that Arab armies were not prepared for war, and the breakthrough that led to President Anwar Sadat's visit to Jerusalem and the Israel-Egypt peace treaty. Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that U.S. citizens in Israel will be able to vote online for the first time this year, when Democrats Abroad holds its global primary. Yediot cited the results of a poll conducted among high school students, education students, army officers and soldiers: 82% believe that the Holocaust could repeat itself. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "There is little point in [Olmert] extolling the quiet on the northern border when a diplomatic and security crisis for which Israel has no solution is taking place in the South." Liberal columnist Ofer Shelach wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Lebanon was a quagmire; Gaza is a Gordian knot." Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "The collapse of the border at Rafah is one of the good things that has happened in the Gaza Strip following disengagement." Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in Maariv: "After we digest Winograd, there will be room for pushing the next commission of inquiry, which will have to check how Israeli society entered this trap in the South -- from which it is not certain how Israel will escape." Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "The Siege of Gaza Has Failed" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/25): "The border with Egypt was breached in a single moment, with no warning. It is impossible to refrain from asking whether any of our decision makers, or any of those who whisper in their ears, foresaw this scenario and prepared for it.... As hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were streaming into Sinai by car and making a mockery of Israel's policy in Gaza, the Prime Minister gave a speech at the Herzliya Conference that sounded disconnected from reality. There is little point in extolling the quiet on the northern border when a diplomatic and security crisis for which Israel has no solution is taking place in the South.... In his speech, Ehud Olmert declared: 'Mistakes were made; there were failures. But in addition, lessons were learned, mistakes were corrected, modes of behavior were changed, and, above all, the decisions we have made since then have led to greater security, greater calm and greater deterrence than there had been for many years.' Olmert was referring to the Winograd report. But he categorically ignored the fact that what was happening in the South completely contradicts his statements. If that is what learning lessons looks like, if that is what deterrence means, the Olmert government has precious little to boast about." II. "Nauseating Odor" Liberal columnist Ofer Shelach wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/25): "Two-and-a-half years after the disengagement the Gaza Strip is taking on an appearance similar to that of Lebanon in the late 1990s -- exactly the same sorry state of mind as evoked by the 'security zone' ... a nauseating feeling that nothing good will come out of Gaza, and that anything Israel does will create nothing but a fiasco. But it is impossible to disengage from Gaza. We've already left, but Israel cannot disengage from a territory that does not have a sovereign ruler and depends on Israel for its subsistence. Israel does not recognize the regime in Gaza. It cannot change the dependence [problem]. Lebanon was a quagmire; Gaza is a Gordian knot." III. "The Best Thing since the Disengagement" Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (1/25): "The collapse of the border at Rafah is one of the good things that has happened in the Gaza Strip following disengagement. If it later results in an exodus of Gazans to Sinai -- this is even better. If this is the product of Israel's siege, it might turn out to be one of the few achievements of the Olmert government.... The arrangement at the Rafah crossing following [Israel's] pullout continued to link the Gaza Strip to Israel even after the disengagement. That arrangement allowed the entire world to demand that Israel continue to supply water and electricity, medicines and equipment, to the Gaza Strip, and caused Israel to apologize forever and beat its breast every time it did not in fact support its enemies. An opening has now been produced to change the situation. We have disengaged from the Strip, at least until Israel frees it again in a military operation." IV. "The Southern Fiasco" Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in Maariv (1/25): "As regards the situation in southern Israel, a single man, the supreme leader, is lying in stupor, enjoying a halo of sanctity despite everything, while a bunch of his suns [aides] are guiding the country. No one is thinking of calling Winograd to investigate. Neither does anyone demand of the Prime Minister and the architects of the southern fiasco to draw conclusions.... It has turned out to be that the Gazan neighbors are not playing according to Sharon and Olmert's rules of the game. They are not folding down. At the same time the border with Egypt -- the very Philadelphi route against whose abandonment Sharon had warned -- was breached. If a motorway of weapons functioned there until now, an ocean will flow through it from now on.... After we digest Winograd, there will be room for pushing the next commission of inquiry, which will have to check how Israeli society entered this trap in the South -- from which it is not certain how Israel will escape." JONES