JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (02/06): NERVOUS ANTICIPATION OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000254 SIPDIS STATE PASS BBG STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC FOR ABRAMS 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 (02/06): NERVOUS ANTICIPATION OF A NETANYAHU GOVERNMENT -------------- Main Stories: -------------- Al Quds and Al Hayat Al Jadida lead with Gaza truce efforts in Cairo. Al Ayyam gives the topic front page treatment. Al Quds s cites news agencies when quoting an official Egyptian source predicting the truce agreement will be signed next week, once Israel conveys its response to issues raised by Palestinian factions in Cairo. Al Ayyam's front page reports that Israeli Defense Ministry envoy Gilad continues meetings in Cairo while Al Hayat Al Jadida quotes Hamas delegation to Cairo spokesman Bardawil revealing that Hamas has prepared draft agreement. Hamas is awaiting Israeli clarification on the kinds of goods that Israel will allow to enter into Gaza, and why Israel is rejecting the deployment of international observers to Gaza crossings. Al Ayyam's front page quotes "well informed sources in Gaza" revealing that Hamas will not give a final response to a truce agreement until after Israeli elections. Al Quds and Al Ayyam's front pages report that Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha was prevented by Egypt from entering Gaza with $12 million on February 5, and that Taha revealed to press that Israel has dropped its demand of linking any truce to the release of captured Israeli soldier Shalit. Al Quds runs a front page report quoting French Foreign Minister Kouchner, after a February 5 meeting with Secretary Clinton, confirming that France has indirect contacts with Hamas to facilitate humanitarian assistance in Gaza and expressing support for Palestinian Authority President Abbas. He revealed in the joint press conference that France and the U.S. have agreed on pressure parties to open the Rafah crossing, and revealed that his talks with Clinton focused mainly on the Middle East. According to reporting, Clinton agreed on the need to provide humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza people and stated that the U.S. will continue coordinating efforts in the Middle East with France as well as on the issue of humanitarian assistance to the Gaza Strip. In an inside report, Al Quds runs a DPA story on discussions focused on the Middle East, between Secretary Clinton and Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair in Washington on February 5. The paper adds that Clinton's meeting is part of a series of meetings that she is holding with world leaders. An inside Al Quds' report quotes President Obama speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 5, stating that, "Instead of driving us apart, our varied beliefs can bring us together to feed the hungry and comfort the afflicted." The paper adds that Obama established a new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The paper runs an AFP photo of the President meeting with Middle East Quartet Envoy Tony Blair at the ceremony. Al Quds' front page cites DPA in reporting that representatives of ten western countries gathered in Denmark on February 5, failed to reach a legal agreement on preventing arms smuggling into Gaza. The report further reports that Hamas has stated that all attempts to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza are doomed to fail. Al Ayyam cites news agencies in its lead story, also appearing on other front pages, about Palestinian Authority President Abbas calling for continuing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and support for a Gaza truce and reconstruction. Abbas made his comments following a meeting with the British Premier Brown in London on February 5 and further called for the formation of a Palestinian national unity government that can respond to Palestinian needs and prepare for new presidential and legislative elections. All papers run front page reports and photos of the "Brotherhood" JERUSALEM 00000254 002 OF 002 Lebanese humanitarian aid ship docked at Ashdod port in Israel after the Israeli navy blocked its entry to Gaza. The papers quote Israeli army sources saying that the boat was not carrying arms, and that Israel will deport its staff on February 6. Al Quds reports that the Palestinian Authority Presidency condemned the Israeli actions of commandeering the vessel and demanded Israel, "stop acting like a state that is above the law." The papers quote a spokesman for the Arab League calling the incident "piracy." Al Quds runs a front page report, with a photo of a Gazan woman near tents and a destroyed house, quoting Palestinian Authority Premier Fayyad announcing the launch next week of an emergency cash assistance program for temporary shelter. Under the program, every family whose house was demolished in the recent conflict with Israel will receive $5,000 or $3,000 for houses that were partially damaged. The three papers front page reports on the killing of a member of the Al Quds Brigades armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, by Israel on February 5. The killing occurred in Qabatyah near Jenin in the West Bank. Al Quds quotes Alaa's father saying that he was woken by an explosion and found Israeli soldiers entering the room that Alaa' shared with his brothers. Al Ayyam runs an inside photo of the blood-stained bed where the member died. Al Quds' front page runs a report of a new Israeli tunnel being dug under the left side of the Ayn Silwan mosque, near the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem. The Israeli tunnel was condemned by the Islamic Waqf as it goes deep under the Al Aqsa mosque, connecting to other Israeli tunnels, according to reporting. -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- 1) Editorialist Yousef Maki writes in Al Quds under the title, "To the American President, Obama"(02/06): "Because our belief in humanity and our religious faith require us to respond to a good wish with yet a better wish, and because you have taken the initiative to call for the use of dialogue instead of force, we [Palestinians], despite all that has happened to us in terms of disappointment and being let down by your predecessors, we, nonetheless heartily wish you success during your term in office, hoping that our issues will receive their share of justice and fairness, especially since our case is humble and will not burden n you. [The case] is simply one of gaining the most basic of rights... the right to a dignified, free life and nothing more." 2) Rajab Abu Sarayah opines in Al Ayyam under the title, "Gaza: Fire in the fireplace!"(02/06): "Not reaching a truce agreement between Israel and Gaza will free Netanyahu [if elected as Israel's Prime Minister] from a commitment that would remind him [of events] that paved the way for the Wye River agreements that drove him from the Prime Minister's office... in light of a possible extremist [Israeli] rightwing government and the absence of a truce agreement that might tie Netanyahu's hands, we may be headed for another bloody chapter with a military offensive [in Gaza] that is no less vicious than the previous one." WALLES