JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (12/04): Will the EU Break Under

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002180 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 (12/04): Will the EU Break Under Pressure from the U.S. and Israel? -------------- Main Stories: -------------- A confidential EU report condemning Israeli policies that sever East Jerusalem from the West Bank, continues to receive front page coverage in the dailies. Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam both quote Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's encouragement of EU countries to proceed with efforts to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian State. Al-Ayyam also reports on Israel's continued criticisms of the EU's statements. Reports in the Palestinian dailies continue to focus on the rejection of the settlement moratorium by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Lead photos in the independent daily Al-Quds, and the independent daily Al-Ayyam, depict a settler as he watches the construction of a new synagogue in the northern West Bank settlement of Kidumim. According to reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is urging settlers to be patient - that settlementconstruction may be pursued at the end of the ten-month moratorium. Citing reports in the Hebrew daily Maariv, Independent News outlet Ma'an reports that Knesset members from Israel's Likud and Kadima parties will be drafting a resolution to exclude large settlement blocs from Netanyahu's partial settlement freeze. Reports that Israeli prisoner Gilad Shalit was transferred to Cairo with Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar was denied by Abu Mujahid, Popular Resistance Committees spokesman. According to Ma'an news and the dailies, Mujahid issued a statement saying that Israel is "propagating" false information about Shalit, in order to force the hand of Palestinian negotiators. Abu Mujahid also added that the ball is in Israel's court and noted that "a deal is not done yet." -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- 1) Al-Quds, "There Has To Be International Support to the European Move" (12/04): "The EU proposal for recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state is a historical step from the EU that needs to be supported by the international community in order to succeed... The international community shouldn't let the opportunity go." 2) Samih Shbib, Al-Ayyam, "The European Position!" (12/04), comments on the fears that Israel, with support from the U.S., will exert pressure on some European countries not to vote for the EU's decision to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. -------------- Palestinian Cyberspace: -------------- Netanyahu's settlement moratorium speech has been the subject of postings by many Palestinian bloggers. Loai Madoun, a member of the Fida party, poses a rhetorical question and then responds to it, in an article entitled, "What Peace is Netanyahu Pursuing?" Madoun asks, "(w)hat peace is Netanyahu seeking with his last speech... undermining the International community and the American Administration." Rajeh Khoury, in his article, "Netanyahu Fighting Obama Inside the Congress Castle," asks: "Is this a fight between two men, President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu? Or is it a JERUSALEM 00002180 002 OF 002 crisis between two states: Israel and America?" The Israeli-Hamas prisoner swap-deal is also under scrutiny. David Kuttab, in "Under "The Prisoners' Case: A Reflection on the Conflict," writes: "If you ever want to have a single case that can illustrate all the sources of disagreement in the Middle East all you need to do is look at the Shalit prisoner-exchange deal." In his article, "Why Does America Hate Us?" Haidar Eid writes: "The Palestinians have realized, thanks to Hillary Clinton, that the US is biased toward Israel." The following videos are also circulating on Palestinian social media sites, depicting Israeli soldiers' and settlers' practices against Palestinians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl_vIZg1zwI http://bit.ly/7iMni1 http://bit.ly/607QNk -------------- Cartoons of the Week: -------------- This illustration appeared in Al-Quds on December 3. The cartoon portrays the difficulty faced by Palestinians in establishing the Palestinian state: a Palestinian man attempts to push a huge rock in the shape of the world, up a steep slope, as in the Greek myth of Sisyphus, in the direction of the arrow reading "The Palestinian State." The following cartoon appeared in Al-Ayyam on December 3, the day after Palestinian and Pan Arab outlets ran a video of an Israeli settler repeatedly running-over a wounded Palestinian with his car. In this cartoon, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is depicted at the wheel of a Mercedes, running over the peace pigeon in much the same way. The caption reads, "an intentional accident." MARCHESE