ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000061 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: -------------- President Bush Visits the Mideast, Jan. 8-16 -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Major media reported that this morning, ahead of President Bush's visit, the police were placed on a level of alert just beneath that of war. The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. is preparing a plan to station third party troops in the West Bank to secure the area after an Israeli withdrawal and before the PA can take over full security control. The newspaper reported that the issue is likely to be discussed between President Bush and his Israeli and Palestinian hosts. The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Security Gen. James Jones has been assigned the task of preparing a plan on this issue within six months. In a joint interview with The Jerusalem Post and the leading Internet site Ynet, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice delivered a stern warning to Iran ("the single greatest threat to the kind of Middle East we all want to see") and rapped Egypt for not doing enough to stop weapons smuggling over the border into Gaza. Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are scheduled to meet in Jerusalem today to confirm the agreement to create negotiating committees and teams that will tackle the conflict's core issues. According to Ha'aretz, Olmert will also tell Abbas that Israel will not allow back into the country most of the Palestinian militants who took refuge in the Church of the Nativity when it was besieged in April 2002. The Palestinians have requested that Israel allow the transfer of the militants to the West Bank from the Gaza Strip, where they are now. A security source told Ha'aretz on Monday that the matter has been thoroughly evaluated after requests by the Palestinians, and the conclusion is that most of the militants are still involved in terrorism. Leading media reported that on Monday the negotiating teams headed by FM Tzipi Livni and her counterpart in the talks, former Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei, met to finalize the agreements on the framework of the negotiations. Yediot cited some assessments that appear in the 2008 intelligence report that was distributed yesterday by the Foreign Ministry's Center for Political Research to the Israeli political leadership: - The current U.S. Administration is growing weaker and will be unable to advance most of the key issues in its foreign policy, such as curbing the Iranian nuclear program and achieving a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Having said that, the administration's efforts to advance the peace process will not stop and, with that in the background, Israel can expect friction in its relations with Washington, mainly over the settlement and outpost issues. - No real progress in the peace process is expected to be made, but the process is likely to continue since it serves both sidesQ vital interests. - Hamas is expected to continue to govern the Gaza Strip despite the difficulties it faces, and it is expected to continue to build itself up in anticipation of a possible clash with the IDF. - The U.S. administration will not apply any real pressure on Cairo on the issues of arms smuggling and passage of Palestinians through crossings, and will defend it against Congress, which is inclined to adopt IsraelQs position. - Syria is not expected to initiate a military confrontation with Israel, nor is any progress towards a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Israel expected to be made. - No strategic change is expected in Iranian policy regarding its nuclear program, including its uranium enrichment program, particularly in light of the Iranian assessment that the U.S. has abandoned its military option against them. - Hizbullah is not expected to take any proactive military action against Israel in the course of the coming year, but it will continue to upgrade its military capabilities in anticipation of another violent clash in the more distant future. - No normalized relations are expected to develop between Israel and the Arab world, inter alia, because the pragmatic forces are in decline against Iran and its allies. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that PM Olmert has written to Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen, the Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Haifa, saying that an Israeli concession on the Temple Mount is out of the question. Maariv reported that GOI sources in Jerusalem are worried by the apparent relegation by Senator Barack Obama of Senator Hillary Clinton to a less enviable position in the Democratic race for the presidency. Clinton is considered a much better candidate for Israel. All media reported that on Monday the Knesset's House Committee voted to create a state commission of inquiry to be headed by a Supreme Court Justice to investigate the findings of the State Comptroller's Office regarding government aid to Holocaust survivors in Israel. The electronic media reported that two Katyusha rockets were fired early this morning at the town of Shlomi in the western Galilee. No one was injured. Ha'aretz reported that Israel missed a reasonable option for a cease-fire with Hizbullah during the first week of the Second Lebanon War, which could have included transferring kidnapped Israeli reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev to the Lebanese government, according to senior Israeli and UN officials who were involved in the indirect talks. The media reported that three Islamic Jihad militants were killed in clashes with the IDF -- two who shot at IDF troops across the Gaza border and another activist in Jenin. Leading media reported that right-leaning ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai will tell President Bush that they oppose making concessions to Mahmoud Abbas. The Jerusalem Post reported that Yishai will urge Bush to free Jonathan Pollard. Media reported on Monday that Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud Barak told army reservists that "things have changed" since he declared that he would resign when the final Winograd report is published. Yediot and other media reported that Nobel Prizewinner in Economics for 2005 Prof. Israel Aumann is setting up a new right-wing party, "Ahi" (which means "my brother" and is the Hebrew acronym for "Land, Society, Judaism") with National Religious Party legislator Effi Eitam. Aumann cited the lack of leadership on the Right and the loss of direction in national and personal security. Ha'aretz reported that billionaire politician Arkady Gaidamak has instructed his supporters in Sderot to call off a planned protest in Jerusalem against President Bush during his upcoming visit to Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported that ten Sderot families are suing the Egyptian government for NIS 260 million (about $68 million) in damages for family members who were killed or seriously wounded by Qassam rockets fired at the town from the Gaza Strip. Citing AP, The Jerusalem Post quoted Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) as saying on Monday that Egypt has agreed to spend $23 million in U.S. military aid on technological equipment to detect tunnels used for smuggling weapons across its border with Gaza. Maariv cited the concern of the defense establishment that the U.S. will sign a $30-billion arms sales agreement with Saudi Arabia during President Bush's Middle East tour. The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday Dutch diplomat Robert Serry formally took up his post as the new UN Mideast envoy. Israel Radio reported that Moshe Levy, who served as IDF chief-of-staff from 1983 to 1987, passed away this morning. Maariv cited the belief of senior sources in the Israeli defense establishment that Eli Zeira, a former head of IDF Intelligence who resigned after the Yom Kippur War, should be questioned for revealing the name of Egyptian Mossad agent Ashram Marwan, who warned Israel about the start of the Yom Kippur War. Marwan died mysteriously in London in June 2007. The Jerusalem Post quoted the Manufacturers Association of Israel as saying on Monday that the expected slowdown in the U.S. economy will not lead to a slowdown in the number of Israeli companies bought by foreigners. -------------- President Bush Visits the Mideast, Jan. 8-16: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Bush is not coming to save Olmert but to do his little bit to grease the [peace] process .... It seems fair to say that no great miracle will happen here." The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "If the Arab leadership does not embark on a ... project [to end incitement], we are at best spinning our wheels, and the most Bush can hope to achieve is a pause before the next war." The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "Terror must be stopped regardless of any settlement activity." Intelligence affairs correspondent Gad Shimron wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Chavez lost. Bush won. So maybe he deserves some credit?" Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "No Great Miracle Will Happen Here" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/8): "One way or another, imposing a settlement on Israel has not been on Bush's agenda throughout most of this presidency.... [But] such a [Middle Eastern] itinerary could not leave out a visit to Israel, in order to deal with the hot spot of Islamic fundamentalism that is sprouting in Gaza. The current focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is Condoleeza Rice's baby. She is the one who initiated the Annapolis summit and is seeking an active role in our neck of the woods.... When Bush arrives on Wednesday, one of the obvious topics will be the relentless shelling of communities in southern Israel and the need to put a stop to it. Dismantling outposts and the status of Jerusalem will also be on the agenda. Everybody will say what the have to say, and Bush will continue to instruct Rice to do what needs to be done. But let's not get our expectations too high. We are talking about weak leaders on both sides, leaders who can barely stand on their own feet. Bush is not coming to save Olmert but to do his little bit to grease the process. In the spirit of the festival of Hanukkah, now behind us, it seems fair to say that no great miracle will happen here." II. "Spinning Our Wheels" The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/8): "Declaring [as Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said on Sunday] that Bush is responsible for moving the process forward is a declaration that Arab states are not. In the Arab leadership's unfortunately abiding conception of peacemaking, it is someone else's responsibility, and failure is always someone else's fault.... To make peace, both sides in a conflict must understand that they are recognizing that some justice lies on the other side. As the Israeli people has spent the 1990s coming to terms with the justice of Palestinian self-determination, so must the Arabs and the Palestinian undertake the same cultural and intellectual challenge.... It is not George Bush who is responsible for making peace between Jews and Arabs. It is the Jews and the Arabs, including Amr Moussa and all other Arab leaders and the peoples they lead.... The world must demand an end to Arab incitement against the Jewish national project -- the prerequisite to any true and lasting recognition of Israel's legitimacy and existence. If the Arab leadership does not embark on such a cultural project, we are at best spinning our wheels, and the most Bush can hope to achieve is a pause before the next war." III. "The Original Sin" The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (1/8): "The question about the reasons around which a discussion revolves often is no less important than inquiring about its consequences. The endless squabbling of Israeli governments and the Americans regarding the outposts is an excellent example of this: The equation between Palestinian terror and the outposts is twisted and grants victory to Israel's enemies in advance.... This therefore is the original sin: Israel's agreement to the creation of this warped balance. Terror must be stopped regardless of any settlement activity. If one is interested in stopping the race of placing facts on the ground, they must be based on simple and direct reciprocity: Israel will not build -- neither will the Palestinians. If this sounds strange, it is an indication that something very deep has gone wrong in Israel's national thinking over the past decades." IV. "The Cowboy Actually Won" Intelligence affairs correspondent Gad Shimron wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/8): "Bush's critics emphasize that the U.S. invaded Iraq based on mistaken, if not deceptive, information that Saddam was developing weapons of mass destruction. But on this issue the deceased leader can only blame himself since he had behaved as if he had such weapons and did everything in order for the world to believe him.... [When the Americans took Baghdad,] the Iranians groaned, 'This cowboy is crazy.Q If one believes [NIE author Thomas] Fingar, they stopped their military plan before Bush started taking care of Tehran. If this is not an achievement, what is? ... [Also], the Venezuelan people voted 'No' [to Hugo Chavez's referendum]. Chavez lost. Bush won. So maybe he deserves some credit?" MORENO