ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002822 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 Radio reported that ISRAEL welcomed the UN Security CouncilQs resolution passed yesterday, which endorsed the Quartet strategy on the Annapolis Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The media had earlier cited IsraelQs reservations about the Annapolis process. HaQaretz reported that PA President Mahmoud Abbas told Israeli reporters in Ramallah yesterday that the PA will work with any government elected in Israel, but that it must stick with the Annapolis process and the Roadmap. Leading media reported that Abbas pledged to thwart Hamas terror attacks in the West Bank after the end of the truce. Israel Radio reported that rockets continue to land in Israel. HaQaretz reported that Ahaz Benari, the defense establishment's legal adviser, recently told DM Ehud Barak that ISRAEL should not use artillery fire to target rocket-launching militants in Gaza if the fire is aimed at populated areas. HaQaretz reported that over recent days Hamas arrested members of smaller factions who launched rockets at Israel. All media reported that Kadima is holding its first-ever primary today. Media expect low turnout. Leading media quoted Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying that there will be no peace without the Sea of GalileeQs northeast corner. HaQaretz reported that an Israeli diplomat told HaQaretz this week that ISRAEL and Syria have both told Turkey that they are not currently interested in conducting another round of indirect talks. The diplomat was quoted as saying that Damascus and Jerusalem explained that they are suspending the Turkish mediated negotiations due to the political uncertainty in Israel. Turkish officials were quoted as saying that they believed talks would be resumed after ISRAEL gets its new leader. The decision to shelve the process did not invoke much protest from the Foreign Ministry, where top diplomats have said they are unhappy with the way peace talks have allowed Syria to break out of its isolation, despite its classification as a state sponsor of terror. The Jerusalem Post reported that a top-level German Foreign Ministry delegation arrived Tuesday for a day of discussions that included a new proposal from Berlin to step up sanctions against Tehran. Media reported that journalist/satirist Ori Orbach is holding contacts with the right-wing Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party. Media said that he has chances of being placed on the partyQs fourth or fifth slot. Citing the AP, HaQaretz quoted Dutch FM Maxime Verhagen as saying on Dutch Radio that he will boycott the QDurban IIQ UN racism conference if anti-Israel statements are not scrapped from draft texts being drawn up for the meeting. The Jerusalem Post and other media cited the results of a poll conducted between November 26 and December 7 by both the Palestinian Center for Policy Research in Ramallah and the Harry S. Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at Hebrew University of Jerusalem according to which 66% of Palestinians support the Arab peace imitative that calls for a full withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, while only 36% of Israelis support the plan. When it came to peace with Syria in exchange for the Golan, 63% of Israelis opposed evacuating the area. All media led with the accident of a tour bus carrying Russian travel agents near Eilat. In the worst traffic accident in Israeli history, 24 were killed and 31 wounded. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIf Obama decides to Qbreak the routine,Q ISRAEL will have to brace for Qcomplex and thornyQ days in relations with the U.S. The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QWhile within the Green Line, the government is cutting welfare services, education, health and public housing, and shirking its responsibility to its citizens, in [Qsettler realmQ] Judea a glorious welfare state is flourishing. Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent Israel Hayom: QThe world is waiting for Obama, America is waiting for Obama, there is a sense that the troubles can be tolerated in the meantime -- because soon someone will come along who will know what to do. Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QThe feeling in Jerusalem is that neither [Brent Scowcroft nor Zbigniew Brzezinski] will have any formal position, but will rather be in the capacity of Qwise elder statesmenQ whose advice would be sought after on an ad hoc basis. Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote in The Jerusalem Post: QInstead of targeting Iran's illicit nuclear program, or Syria's nefarious regime, the outgoing U.S. President has inexplicably chosen to detonate a diplomatic device over the heads of all Israelis. Liberal columnist Alexander Yakobson wrote in Ha'aretz: QIf Benjamin Netanyahu forms the next government, the chance he'll be able to deal with the challenge presented by the [Saudi] peace initiative in a positive and creative way is just about zero. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "What Will Obama Do?" Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/17): QIf Obama decides to continue the path of his predecessors, a sigh of relief will be heard in the Oval Office.... But if Obama decides to Qbreak the routine,Q ISRAEL will have to brace for Qcomplex and thornyQ days in relations with the U.S., with the latter holding a whip and the ability to do with Israel (almost) everything it fancies. Now a tense ISRAEL can only wait. II. "His Mission Impossible -- The World Awaits Obama" Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/17): QWill [Obama] appoint a Middle East envoy? Will it be Dan Kurtzer? Dennis Ross? Richard Holbrooke? Colin Powell, or even Bill Clinton? Will four-five envoys be appointed, with a super-envoy over them? Will the dialogue with Iran be held before the elections there, or only afterwards? Will it indeed be Syria first or will he want to quickly reach an Israeli-Palestinian agreement? The former staff of the Clinton administration are busy preparing foreign policy papers for the incoming president and secretary of state, even if they admit that Obama's main preoccupation will be the economic realm. They believe in his ability to delegate authority to others and guide them in following a plan in which he believes. Only Obama knows. The world is waiting for Obama, America is waiting for Obama, there is a sense that the troubles can be tolerated in the meantime -- because soon someone will come along who will know what to do. Conversely, it is clear to everyone that there are no magic solutions to the deteriorating economy in the U.S, and around the world, to the Iranian nuclear program or to the leaders in conflict regions who do not believe in peace and will always find proper excuses to reject it.... The United States prays that this indicates the ability to perform an impossible mission, and the world prays along with it. III. "Israel Watching ObamaQs Appointments to Find Out About the Course of His Mideast Policy" Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/17): QJerusalem is carefully watching the posturing in Washington over top Middle East positions in the new administration. Hoping this will provide clues into President-elect Barack ObamaQs priorities.... QPeople like [Dennis] Ross are seen as tougher on Iran, [a Jerusalem] source said. QPeople like [Daniel] Kurtzer are seen as feeling that if you deal with the Israeli-Palestinian situation. You could jump-start a dynamic that could change the Middle East and also have a trickle-down effect on IranQ.... The feeling in Jerusalem is that neither [Brent Scowcroft nor Zbigniew Brzezinski] will have any formal position, but will rather be in the capacity of Qwise elder statesmenQ whose advice would be sought after on an ad hoc basis. [A U.S. official] said it was likely that Clinton would take what U.S. Condoleezza Rice had achieved in the Annapolis process and Qmake it her own. IV. "BushQs December Surprise" Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (12/17): QWith just a month left to go before he leaves office, George W. Bush has decided to pull the trigger and drop a bomb on the Middle East. Only instead of targeting Iran's illicit nuclear program, or Syria's nefarious regime, the outgoing U.S. President has inexplicably chosen to detonate a diplomatic device over the heads of all Israelis. In a move that was said to have been Qpersonally ledQ by Bush, diplomats from the 15 member nations of the UN Security Council convened for an emergency session on Saturday to discuss the text of a proposed resolution aimed at tying the hands of Israel's next government. The draft resolution, which was slated to be passed Tuesday, calls on ISRAEL and the Palestinians to continue to negotiate Qcore issuesQ such as dividing Jerusalem, even after the present Israeli and Palestinian governments leave office in 2009. Knowing full well that a new Israeli government, most likely headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, will take power in February, Bush prefers not to let the people of ISRAEL decide their own fate. Instead, he is attempting to impose a diplomatic straitjacket on Israel's democracy by trying to compel the next government to continue with the largely futile process of negotiating with the Palestinian leadership. This is Bush's December surprise, a last ditch and pitifully transparent effort on the president's part to salvage what little remains of his once grandiose plans to establish a Palestinian state. ¶V. QThe Flourishing State of Judea The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/17): QEven if the Ariel University Center is interested in inflating the story of the demographic and financial-social success of the settlements, one would have to be blind not to see how the State of Judea has been established alongside the State of ISRAEL -- a golem that has turned on its maker. And while within the Green Line, the government is cutting welfare services, education, health and public housing, and shirking its responsibility to its citizens, in Judea a glorious welfare state is flourishing. That's because it is on the pockets of the collapsing middle class that are providing the settlers with wonderful infrastructure, a long school day, secure transportation to school and extracurricular activities, state and military security, extra social services personnel and other benefits. Most settlers work for state institutions and enjoy tax breaks. The declared standard of living makes no mention of the danger level in the face of terror attacks. No wonder most of them are so content. VI. QWhereQs the Israeli Initiative? Liberal columnist Alexander Yakobson wrote in Ha'aretz (12/17): QPresident Shimon Peres tried recently in his contacts with Arab leaders to formulate a positive and flexible position toward the Saudi peace initiative. He praised the document, emphasized its positive foundations and called for negotiations based on it, without accepting all its sections in advance, including the problematic part on refugees. This is exactly the position the Israeli government should have adopted, but such a clear position was never presented by the Kadima government. If Benjamin Netanyahu forms the next government, the chance he'll be able to deal with the challenge presented by the peace initiative in a positive and creative way is just about zero. That's another reason to worry about the political importance of the return of Netanyahu to power.... The lack of an Israeli peace initiative will turn the Saudi initiative in its present form into the Qonly game in town. Every hint of moderation and pragmatism in the Arab world must be answered in a positive way, without ruling out any proposals just because they contain problematic components, but also without a sweeping adoption of those principles and an attempt to deny their existence. CUNNINGHAM