ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002500 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: -------------- Israel Hayom reported that FM and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni told Quartet representatives in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday that the clauses of an Israeli-Palestinian accord have been drafted and that the maps are being worked on. Leading media quoted Livni as saying that Israel has achieved what it wanted. HaQaretz quoted Livni as saying that she is convinced that she has not repeated the mistakes of Camp David in 2000. The Jerusalem Post reported that, calling the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian negotiations Qirreversible,Q the Quartet said that it would allow the bilateral talks to continue without international intervention. HaQaretz reported that central figures on the Israeli left, including former Labor party ministers, writers, spiritual leaders and academics are expected in the coming days to announce their support of Meretz in February's national elections. Some of them will even join the party and contend in the upcoming primary. Meretz Chairman Haim Oron has held meetings in recent weeks with dozens of prominent figures to strengthen the party, which took 12 Knesset seats in the 1992 election but was reduced to five by the 2006 vote. Among those who met with Oron and are expected to back Meretz are former Labor Party ministers Shlomo Ben-Ami and Uzi Baram, and former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg. All three have left political life in favor of writing or private business. Novelists Amos Oz and David Grossman are also expected to support the party, as well as attorney Tzali Reshef, a Peace Now founder who served briefly as former PM Ehud Barak's chief of staff and ran for a Knesset seat with Labor. Gilad Sher, who headed Barak's team in negotiations with the PA between 1999 and 2001, is also likely to join the party ranks. Maariv reported that Vice PM Haim Ramon, Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann, and popular anchor/author Yair Lapid had considered forming a new party. The Jerusalem Post quoted a U.S. official as saying that senior U.S. and European officials met in Sharm el-Sheikh yesterday with several Arab leaders who are worried about the international community negotiating an agreement with Iran that would give the Islamic Republic more power in the Middle East. The U.S. official took part in the talks. The Jerusalem Post quoted a spokesman for FM Tzipi Livni as saying that Israel was involved in the meeting, but not directly. The Israeli spokesman was quoted as saying that there is concern in the international community about what will happen with Iran under the new U.S. administration and that diplomats were worried that the U.S. might establish an interests section in Tehran. HaQaretz reported that political activists in Gaza were surprised to hear Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh make a statement hinting that Hamas agrees to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Yesterday Israel Hayom quoted HamasQs Khaled Mashal and Zahar as saying over the weekend that they hope that ObamaQs election will turn over a new leaf between the organization and the new administration in the U.S. However, they said, they do not expect the boycott to be lifted anytime soon because of IsraelQs influence over the U.S. But one of ObamaQs advisers commented, saying, QObama will talk with Hamas only on condition that it recognize IsraelQs right to exist and respect the existence of previous agreements. Leading media reported that the closing of GazaQs crossing by Israel may have caused a blackout in the Strip. Maariv quoted DM Ehud Barak as saying yesterday at the cabinet meeting that Israel should prepare for the cessation of the lull. The Jerusalem Post reported that Barak called on the government to examine ways of approving IDF action against residential areas in Gaza from which rockets are being fired at Israel. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted senior Hamas official Mahmoud Zahar as saying that the truce with Israel will not last for long. The media reported that 13 Qassam rockets were fired at the Negev over the weekend. The Jerusalem Post reported that a QdramaticQ Muslim representation is expected at Monday's "Special Event Promoting Tolerance Throughout the European Continent" at the European Parliament in Brussels. Representatives of Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, Turkey and Malaysia, among others, are to attend an event publicized as part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht (Crystal Night, the Reich-wide series of anti-Jewish pogroms). The event is organized jointly by the European Jewish Congress and the presidency of the European Parliament. It is the first event of this scope in Europe to include such significant Muslim participation. The Jerusalem Post quoted World Jewish Congress Vice President Maram Stern as saying that the Muslim world representatives almost certainly had "clearance from home, so this is a great success." Major media reported on a scuffle between Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergy in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher yesterday. Major media reported that yesterday, in a speech before the Syrian Parliament and Arab notables, Syrian President Bashar Assad expressed his doubts about IsraelQs desire for peace. All media reported that, a decade after he left Likud to found the short-lived Center Party with the goal of ousting Likud chair Benjamin Netanyahu from power, Dan Meridor announced yesterday that he was rejoining his former party and rival. Yediot reported that Netanyahu banned former National Religious Party leader Effie Eitam from running in the general elections as part of Likud. The Jerusalem Post quoted the spokesman for Jerusalem mayoral candidate Arkady Gaidamak asQaying that he would stop all illegal demolitions of illegal Arab homes in East as mayor. The Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli official involved in handling the issue of the Gaza siege-breaking boats as saying that Israel will not give the boats extra public relations. Leading media reported that a border policeman was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday for accidentally shooting and killing a Palestinian in Jaffa in 2006. HaQaretz reported that India is negotiating a $1.5 billion deal to buy four intelligence and early warning planes from Israel. Leading media reported that Holocaust survivor Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, currently Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and formerly Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Israel, has been appointed Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe problem is not [ObamaQs] lack of ability, but the quality of his partners. HaQaretz editorialized: QIsrael must ... turn an attentive ear to the statements coming out of Gaza, and reexamine its policy. Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz: QObama ... has no domestic political reason to run from the Israeli-Arab conflict. The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: Q[Mr. President-elect,] right now you don't understand why Bill Clinton and George Bush couldn't solve a little thing like the Arab-Israeli conflict, defuse the massive hatred of America in the Middle East, end terrorism or turn radical Islamism into an ideology of peace. Don't worry. You will. Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon's top diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIt is worth remembering and recalling the good that President Bush spilled on Israel. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Obama WonQt Fix It" Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/9): QThere has never been a U.S. president whose first days in office have not given rise to immediate, incontrovertible confidence in his ability to end the Arab-Israeli conflict. There has never been a U.S. president who has not come to realize, shortly after taking office, that the problem is not his lack of ability, but the quality of his partners.... Obama is charming, but he's not a magician. He needs, first of all, a wise and determined Israeli government so he can offer it America's talents and capabilities. He -- that is, we -- need this kind of leadership, the kind that doesn't read the American pressure gauge each morning but puts forth a plan of action. In Washington the president will change, but the mirror on the wall is in the same place, and it is turned toward Jerusalem. II. "Listen to Hamas" HaQaretz editorialized (11/10): Q[In an interview with HaQaretz,] Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the ousted prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, described the Qterritories of 1967Q as the territory of the Palestinian state Qat this timeQ..... Haniyeh's comments are imbued with special significance against the backdrop of recent events in the Gaza Strip and the exchanges of fire that put the current lull at risk, along with the presidential election results in the United States and Khaled Mashal's statements that Hamas is willing to negotiate with the new American government.... Israeli recognition of any Palestinian government that is established is liable to lay a practical and stable foundation for cooperation, and perhaps even for deeper confidence that will advance the political process. Israel must therefore turn an attentive ear to the statements coming out of Gaza, and reexamine its policy. III. "DonQt Be Afraid of the Jews" Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (11/10): QObama has nothing to fear from the right-wing Jewish lobby (not to mention the Christian right).... Obama therefore has no domestic political reason to run from the Israeli-Arab conflict or to erase the declaration he made during his visit to Amman in July. The man who galloped to the White House on the horse of QchangeQ pledged a change in the administration's involvement in the peace process. He said that Qmy goal is to make sure that we work, starting from the minute I'm sworn into office, to try to find some breakthroughs. The meaning of Qbreakthrough,Q according to his statements at the beginning of his campaign in the lion's den of AIPAC's Chicago chapter, is a real and continuous effort, no longer countless trips for photo-ops. This chip will be cashed in. IV. "A Letter to the President-Elect" The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/10): QGood luck. We hope you succeed. But please bear in mind some important points. In the Middle East, it is not so useful to think yourself popular and show yourself to be friendly. You have to inspire fear in your enemies and confidence in your friends. And if you don't inspire fear in your enemies -- if you're too nice to them - - then you will indeed foment fear among your friends. Not everyone thinks the same way. When you talk of Qempathy,Q America's enemies hear the word Qfear.Q When you speak of change, they, too, want change. Unfortunately the change they want means wiping other states off the map, creating radical Islamist dictatorships and kicking the United States out of the region. This is no misunderstanding: it's a conflict.... Westerners are eager to resolve conflicts; revolutionaries want to use conflicts. You think grievances can be resolved; their grievances are insatiable. Make a concession, they ignore it and demand another. Withdraw from a territory, they occupy it and turn it into a base for the next advance. Explain that you feel their pain, and they add to your pain. This is what it is like to deal with extremists and ideologues. Right now you don't understand why Bill Clinton and George Bush couldn't solve a little thing like the Arab-Israeli conflict, defuse the massive hatred of America in the Middle East, end terrorism or turn radical Islamism into an ideology of peace. Don't worry. You will. ¶V. QRemember BushQs Good Deeds Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon's top diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/10): QAmong other things, Barak ObamaQs victory was achieved because of the disappointment and anger that many Americans felt towards the Bush administration. The joy of triumph swept the American street. All this is the AmericansQ business. A totally different issue is the Israeli QsharingQ of that glee. It is worth remembering and recalling the good that President Bush spilled on Israel. Bush has an aversion to any form of terror. He rejected any attempt to QexplainQ it. This is the origin of his unreserved support for IsraelQs fight against Palestinian terrorism, which many states viewed as an Qinbuilt responseQ to the Israeli occupation. Without BushQs loving support, Israel would have found it extremely difficult to implement its tough military policy Q which looked bad but was actually vital to the war on terror.... Israelis who believe in a forced agreement have good resaon to see him go -Q they, those with a short memory, and those who lack gratitude. CUNNINGHAM