JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (10/30): Secretary Clinton in the

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001961 SIPDIS STATE PASS BBG STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (10/30): Secretary Clinton in the region to advance the peace process -------------- Main Stories: -------------- The three dailies lead with stories on Secretary Hillary Clinton and Special Envoy George Mitchell's meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Al-Quds quotes Palestinian Liberation Organization Chief Negotiator Saeb Erekat saying that cessation of settlement activities, particularly in Jerusalem, will be the main topic for discussion. Al-Quds runs separate front page coverage of NEA Assistant Secretary Jeff Feltman's statement earlier this week to the House Foreign Affairs sub-committee on Middle East and South Asia. The story notes that Feltman's statement demonstrated Washington's eagerness to push Israeli-Palestinian negotiations forward, but that the US is retreating from their original demand that Israel must freeze all settlement activities as a condition to resume negotiations. News on Israeli soldiers and settlers confiscating several dunums of farmland belonging to Palestinian families near the Kiryat Arba settlement in Hebron yesterday receives prominent coverage in the local press. According to the coverage, Israeli soldiers brought bulldozers to level the land and destroy the irrigation systems. Photos show a Palestinian woman on the ground after being beaten by Israeli soldiers. Six individuals were injured, including one photographer for the European News Agency. The local press report on the UN General Assembly spokesperson's announcement that the UNGA will convene on Wednesday, November 4 to discuss the Goldstone report. Hamas newspaper Al-Resalah runs a report accusing the PA of not allowing any demonstrations in West Bank cities to condemn recent Israeli attacks against Al-Aqsa mosque. The report accuses the PA of becoming an arm to the Israeli security forces to oppress Palestinian resistance to the occupation. -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- Al-Quds independent daily runs an editorial under the title "The Israeli Hard Line Will Make the Whole Region Explode" (10/30): "The election of Benjamin Netanyahu as the Israeli Prime Minister reflects the power of the right wing in Israeli society at this time. The right wing doesn't believe in peace and exerts every effort possible to ensure that peace is never achieved. These extremist approaches will definitely make the whole region explode. The question remains, who benefits from ruining every chance for peace in the region and keeping the region in continuous tension?" -------------- Cartoons of the week: -------------- This cartoon appeared in Al-Quds independent daily on October 24, one day after President Abbas issued a presidential decree to hold the presidential and legislative elections in January 2010. The cartoon shows a Palestinian woman holding an election box. On the JERUSALEM 00001961 002 OF 002 side, a ghost in black that represents the "state of division" watches the woman and ironically whispers "not during my era!" This cartoon appeared in Al-Quds on October 30. It shows a tuna box with a few houses and a Palestinian flag to represent the kind of Palestinian state the Israelis want: limited and controlled. RUBINSTEIN