ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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1. Mideast


2. U.S.-Israel Relations

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Key stories in the media:
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The Jerusalem Post reported that both PM Ehud Olmert in Tokyo and FM
Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem voiced skepticism publicly for the first
time on Tuesday about concluding a peace agreement with the PA by
the end of 2008. Olmert said that while Israel desires to reach a
deal and take a giant step forward to finally end the conflict, he
is not sure that they will make it.

Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Omer
Suleiman is scheduled to arrive in Israel next Tuesday for meetings
with PM Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and FM Tzipi Livni
in an effort to reduce tension along the border between Egypt,
Israel, and Gaza. Ha'aretz cited the doubts of Israeli security
officials about the five-party plan -- involving Egypt, Israel, the
Hamas government, the U.S., and the EU -- which calls for a
reopening of the Rafah crossing with American support and
guarantees, and the assistance of European monitors. The IDF and
the Shin Bet are dubious that the monitors can be effective based on
past experience. Israel Radio and other media reported that
Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor told reporters in
Washington that Egypt must stop the smuggling into Gaza, otherwise
Israel would be forced to act. Meridor was also quoted as saying
that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas is ineffective and cannot
act against Hamas.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying on
Tuesday that within two years, a fence will be built along 85 km of
the border with Egypt.

Ha'aretz cited the results of a Dialogue poll showing that 64
percent of Israelis believe that the government must hold direct
talks with the Hamas government in Gaza in order to reach a
cease-fire and the release of Gilad Shalit. Less than one-third (28
percent) still opposes such talks.
Electronic media quoted Palestinian sources as saying that five
activists of Hamas's military and three other Palestinians were
killed this morning when the bus in which they were riding along the
coastal road in the Gaza Strip, west of Khan Yunis, was attacked in
an air raid. Israel Radio reported that IDF Special Forces killed a
Fatah/Tanzim activist in Nablus.

Democratic presidential candidate, Illinois Senator Barack Obama,
was quoted as saying in an interview with Yediot that he is a friend
of Israel, that he will bring to the White House his unshakeable
commitment to Israel's security, that he is not a Muslim, and that
he was sworn in on the Bible.

Leading media quoted IDF Intelligence head Amos Yadlin as saying
before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on
Tuesday that trained terrorists and Al-Qaida operatives had entered
Gaza through the recently breached border with Egypt. Yadlin was
quoted as saying that a nuclear Iran is the "greatest threat to
Israel," and Iran could posses these weapons by 2010. Yadlin also
warned against retaliation by Hizbullah for the assassination of its
top operative Imad Mughniyah, saying that past experience shows that
many retaliatory terrorist attacks often come on the 40th day
following such assassinations.

Israel Radio reported that today PM Olmert met with Japanese Emperor
Akihito and that he will meet with Japan's FM Masahiko Koumura.
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday Japanese PM Yasuo Fukuda,
responding in writing to questions by the newspaper, criticized
Israel for the slow rate of implementation of the Roadmap. Fukuda
said that Iran's nuclear program must be met with a determined
response. Yediot reported that PM Olmert will propose to Fukuda the
creation of a joint working group including Japan, the U.S., and
Israel to monitor North Korea's moves in the Middle East.

Israel Radio reported that UN officials John Holmes and Robert Serry
told the UN Security Council that the situation along the border
with Gaza endangers peace efforts.

Yediot and Israel Radio reported that French lawyers assisting Gilad
Shalit's family are expected to meet with his captors in Gaza next
week.

The Jerusalem Post reported that this week the Foreign Ministry
named seasoned diplomat and spokesman Yigal Palmor as its spokesman,
replacing Are Mekel, who has been promoted to deputy
director-general of the ministry's Culture and Scientific Affairs
division.

The Jerusalem Post quoted Intel as saying on Tuesday that it will
convert a Jerusalem plant previously scheduled to be closed. It
said that it received a tax break from the GOI.

Leading media reported that the Knesset is likely to pass a law
today to censor the Internet. Sites with sexual or gambling content
would be banned. Headlining "Good Morning, Pakistan," Maariv
reported that Shas, Kadima, the Labor Party, and right-wing Knesset
members will support the legislation.

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1. Mideast:
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Summary:
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Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote on his Internet site Gplanet: "The
wise Palestinian population knows full well that the leaders it has
chosen for itself are working against its true interests."

Former foreign minister Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Israel must ... change
its strategic goal in Gaza from toppling Hamas to saving the
Annapolis process."



Block Quotes:
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I. "Secrets of Success"

Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a lecturer at the
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote on his Internet site Gplanet (2/29):
"The event of the 'largest human chain in the world' was attended
only by a few thousand people, there was no real human chain, and
those who did arrive did so in an organized manner, in buses.
Hamas's expectation of tens of thousands and perhaps more, was
disappointed. The Palestinians proved for the first time that they
were not a human mass that docilely obeys any figure of power. We
in Israel complain of a problem of leadership? Among the
Palestinians, such leadership never existed, except for such
abstract causes as the 'Palestinian problem,' whose meaning is
something that no one quite understands to this day.... In all three
cases [Gaza under Hamas, the West Bank under Abbas, and the Israeli
Arabs], the wise Palestinian population knows full well that the
leaders it has chosen for itself are working against its true
interests. One generation after another, thousands of fatalities
and hundreds of thousands of casualties have been sacrificed by this
unfortunate population on behalf of its false leaders, but it
continues to stand at attention every time it receives orders."

II. "Saving Annapolis"

Former foreign minister Prof. Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/27): "The
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which were inaugurated by
impressive speeches and good intentions three months ago at
Annapolis, do not suffer from lack of ideas.... The problem is
somewhere else. It stems from the dearth of leadership and the
crumbling of the political system on the Palestinian side..... It
would be a fantasy and self-delusion to assume that the Palestinian
architects of the peace industry who were partners in the
disappointing Oslo process ... could have gained necessary
legitimacy to move the peace process forward.... Israel must ...
change its strategic goal in Gaza from toppling Hamas to saving the
Annapolis process. This requires not only a cease-fire with Hamas,
but also a return to a Palestinian unity government that may grant
the peace process the legitimacy it is lacking today. Without the
revival of the Mecca Agreement, Hamas won't be able to ensure its
rule in Gaza, and the PLO won't t be able to put the peace process
into practice."

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2. U.S.-Israel Relations:
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Summary:
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Columnist Calev Ben-David wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: "The news ... is not so much what Obama said, but
the fact he said it, finally starting his own 'straight talk'
dialogue with American Jewry."

Block Quotes:
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"Obama's New 'Straight Talk' on Israel"

Columnist Calev Ben-David wrote in the conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (2/27): "Support for Israel is much more comfortably
measured by those who care most about it by a record of consistency
built over decades, rather than in a scant few years. It is this
circumstance that has created uncertainty among some sectors of
American Jewry (and in official Israeli circles as well) regarding
Obama -- not an imaginary past that supposedly had him trained in an
Indonesian madras to be an Islamic Manchurian candidate, but the
lack of a real past when it comes to Middle East affairs, at least
in comparison to the likes of Hillary Clinton and John McCain. ..
But there is little in Obama's comments that counts as either
surprising or any real deviation from his previous stands. What's
more, he took pains to distance himself from views on Israel
expressed by some of his associates deemed less acceptable to the
Jewish community, including his occasional foreign policy adviser
Zbigniew Brzezinski, and his Chicago pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
The news here is not so much what Obama said, but the fact he said
it, finally starting his own 'straight talk' dialogue with American
Jewry. Perhaps this can be taken as another sign that he is now
looking beyond the primaries to a campaign against McCain, where
U.S. policy on Israel will surely be more of a factor than it has
been in his battle against Clinton."

JONES