ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001023 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: -------------- ¶1. Mideast ¶2. U.S.-Israel Relations -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Quartet Mideast envoy Tony Blair was quoted as saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that PM Benjamin Netanyahu can be a peacemaker. Blair praised Netanyahu for focusing on improving the West BankQs economy. HaQaretz reported that senior officials in Jerusalem expressed concern recently over the sharp decline in the coordination between Israel and the United States on security and state affairs since President Obama entered the White House and especially since the formation of Israel's new government. Senior White House officials told their Israeli counterparts that Obama will demand Netanyahu completely suspend construction in the settlements, the officials were quoted as saying. "Obama's people brief their Israeli counterparts in advance much less about security and Middle East policy activities than the Bush administration used to," the officials said. In addition, when they do brief Israeli officials, they don't consult with them or coordinate their statements in advance. This has caused several coordination "malfunctions" between the two states in the past two months, they said. The last incident was the statement of Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Rose Gottemoeller, calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. HaQaretz reported that American and Israeli officials have told the newspaper that the U.S. has adopted some of former FM Tzipi Livni's recommendations about enlisting the Arab world into the peace process and have incorporated them into its Middle East policy. Livni's recommendations, which she passed on to U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell during his visit to Israel a few days before she left her post, deal with enlisting the Arab world to take part in the peace process and to advance gradual normalization of diplomatic relations with Israel as part of a regional process. The document suggests that Arab leaders, even those who do not have relations with Israel, express public support for the peace process and the negotiations between Israel and the PA, without trying to dictate a hard line to the Palestinians. They should also provide the PA with political support and assistance in isolating Hamas. Finally, they should start establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, such as reopening Israeli commercial or diplomatic missions in Arab states, holding open and covert meetings with Israeli leaders and holding official visits in Israel. Livni told Mitchell that the Palestinians cannot make certain gestures in exchange for Israel's, such as the release of prisoners or handing them security control over West Bank cities. "Arab states could provide such gestures," she was quoted as saying. Livni said that following the Annapolis conference, the Arab world did almost nothing to help the peace process, thus impairing the Israeli public's confidence in it. Livni raised her suggestions at talks over the past year with officials in Arab states, including states that do not have formal relations with Israel. Livni was quoted as saying: Q"The public in the Arab states sees on Aljazeera-TV only Mahmoud Abbas meeting with Israeli leaders, so Abbas is seen as a collaborator. If you too start meeting us in public, the resistance to the peace process with Israel would subside and the radicals in your countries would weaken." HaQaretz reported that Livni's document raised keen interest in the U.S. administration. Senior American officials said the term "gradual normalization" between the Arab states and Israel is being used by senior White House and State Department officials. HaQaretz reported that yesterday the U.S. told Syria that it was committed to seeking a peace deal between the Syrian government and Israel, a main objective for Damascus in its rapprochement with Washington. "We conveyed...President Obama's sincere commitment to pursue Arab-Israeli peace on all tracks, including on the Syrian-Israeli track," senior State Department official Jeffrey Feltman said after meeting Syrian FM Walid Muallem in Syria. The media quoted Muallem as saying yesterday that there was no justification for amending a 2002 Saudi peace offer to Israel after reports earlier in the week that Arab states were revising the initiative. HaQaretz quoted PA President Mahmoud Abbas as saying on Wednesday that he and his Egyptian counterpart planned to present the Obama administration with a complete formula for resolving the Middle East conflict. The Jerusalem Post reported that an American refusal to give Israel access to the internal computer on the Joint Strike Fighter jet is holding up an official Israeli order for the fifth-generation stealth fighter. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted the French weekly Le Nouvel Observateur as saying that Iran has placed submarines and missiles in the Red Sea. Yediot quoted a source close to PM Benjamin Netanyahu who told the newspaper that Netanyahu plans to unfreeze land for construction in the existing settlements for the purpose of natural growth, which could lead to a clash between him and President Obama when they meet in two weeks. The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet will be asked on Sunday to approve the appointment of FM Avigdor Lieberman as the minister responsible for IsraelQs strategic dialogue with the U.S. Maariv reported that Lieberman was mostly snubbed during his tour of European capitals. In an unrelated development, Israeli Ambassador to the UK Ron Prosor told Maariv that an unorganized boycott of Israel in Britain is expanding. Israel Radio reported that U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice condemned HizbullahQs Qunwarranted interferenceQ in Egypt and demanded that the organization be disarmed. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying that senior Egyptian officials have indicated that their relations with NetanyahuQs government are expected to be Qno less goodQ than with the former administration of Ehud Olmert. HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon told UN Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Alain Le Roy that Israel will decide what to do about the village of Ghajar, whose northern part has been occupied by Israel since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, before PM Netanyahu's trip to the U.S. on May 17. Le Roy was in Israel to discuss the situation in Lebanon. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday TogoQs visiting PM Gilbert Fossoun Houngbo told Deputy FM Ayalon that Israel should increase its presence in Africa to combat Iranian influence on the continent. Under the headline: QUzi AradQs Victory over the Americans,Q Yediot reported that next week the Chairman of the Israeli National Security Council will leave for the U.S. to prepare NetanyahuQs visit to Washington. For the first time in two years, the U.S. issued Arad a diplomatic visa. Yediot reported that over the past few weeks U.S. authorities made efforts to solve AradQs visa problem. Yediot reported that the national-religious building company Beemuna (phon.) is about to build a Jewish neighborhood next to the Arab neighborhood of Ajami, in the heart of Jaffa. The newspaper reported that JaffaQs Arab residents intend to Qwage warQ against the project. All media reported that Netanyahu has relented on the issue of budget cuts, some of which he ordered reversed. The media covered the murder of Jewish student Johanna Justin-Jinch at ConnecticutQs Wesleyan University yesterday and wondered whether anti-Semitism was a motive. Famed liberal writer and Yediot columnist Meir Shalev humorously recounts his edgy encounters with U.S. customs officers over many years. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Summary: -------------- Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe question at the center of the trip preparations is what Netanyahu has to tell Obama to persuade the President to give him a chance. Senior columnist Nahum Barnea imagined in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot what Prime Minister Netanyahu will tell President Obama when they meet: QLet us, for a minute, examine the possibility that nothing will come out of the talks [with Iran]. What will America do then? In my opinion, America will have to use force. Correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: QThe link that the U.S. draws between the Iranian issue and the issue of the regional peace agreement is also being made by Israel. But on the American map the road to Tehran starts in Ramallah, and on the Israeli map, the road to Ramallah starts in Tehran. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "In Search of the Magic Formula" Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (5/8): QBarring any surprising change next week, Netanyahu will likely try to take the middle ground. It is unlikely that he will try, as former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir did during his term, to explain to the American president why an independent Palestine is a bad and unnecessary concept. It's more likely that he will intimate to Obama, during their private meeting, that if he gets the time and opportunity, and if there is a Palestinian partner, and so on, he will consider accepting a Palestinian state; however, for the moment, Obama has to try to understand the Prime Minister's political constraints. If Netanyahu succeeds, Obama's opening statement to the media will include a statement along the lines of, QI am very encouraged by what I heard from the prime minister today about his intention to work toward peace.Q The question at the center of the trip preparations is what Netanyahu has to tell Obama to persuade the President to give him a chance. A gesture involving the checkpoints? A quiet freeze on the settlements? Flexibility on the Syrian track? A promise not to mount a surprise attack on Iran? This is the question that will preoccupy the prime minister and his aides for the next 10 days. II. "Thus Will Say Bibi" Senior columnist Nahum Barnea imagined in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot what Prime Minister Netanyahu will tell President Obama when they meet (5/8): QIf America promises to attack Iran, I will promise to remove outposts and to make more far-reaching concessions to the Palestinians, as far as my coalition will permit.... You intend to begin a round of talks with Iran soon. We pray for your success. But let us, for a minute, examine the possibility that nothing will come out of the talks. What will America do then? In my opinion, America will have to use force.... And a word about nuclear weapons: following the practice that began with the meeting between president Nixon and Golda Meir, I suggest that we agree to maintain ambiguity as to Israel's nuclear weapons. I find it hard to believe that your administration views us as the same as Iran on this matter, as if the goal were to get both Israel and Iran to relinquish their nuclear weapons. You know very well that the people in Israel, not to mention my coalition, will not let me give up nuclear weapons under any circumstances or in any form. That is the foundation of our power of deterrence. You expect progress on the Palestinian issue. I agree with you: I also do.... You will no doubt agree with me that the Palestinian state that is established will not be a state like other states. We will insist that it be demilitarized, without an army, that it will not be able to forge military alliances with countries hostile to Israel and not control its air space. Why agree first to a state and then take powers away from it? Obviously the goal is two political entities for two peoples, but why say a state when it is not really a state? III. "And What Are We, Sheep?" Correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (5/8): QAmong Netanyahu's associates there are those who believe that if Obama's aides constantly explain the extent to which the administration intends to be "tougher" on Israel than his predecessor, then we should make it clear, from the outset, that Israel too, albeit small, albeit dependent, albeit vulnerable, can also be tough. Given all this, the difference between Obama and Netanyahu is over the clock: what is urgent and what is simply important, what is urgent and what is cooling off, what comes before what, and in what order. The link that the U.S. draws between the Iranian issue and the issue of the regional peace agreement is also being made by Israel. But on the American map the road to Tehran starts in Ramallah, and on the Israeli map, the road to Ramallah starts in Tehran. -------------- ¶2. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Summary: -------------- Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QEven if everyone ... around Obama is nice, we should remember that even a blizzard begins with tiny snowflakes. Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: QIt will be difficult not to draw comparisons between [NetanyahuQs] visit and the first visit to the U.S. in March 2001 of then newly-elected prime minister Ariel Sharon. Former Consul-General in New York Alon Pinkas wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: QIsraelQs maneuvering limits are inscribed within the circle of the United StatesQ interests. Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Even a Blizzard Begins with Tiny Snowflakes" Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (5/8): QBarack Obama is operating quickly and straight to the point on many issues. Apparently he will not pressure Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but he cannot be expected to be a Likud member. Netanyahu will be asked to promise to stop the construction in the settlements and remove illegal outposts to create conditions for negotiations based on the principle of two states for two peoples. I hope the reports to the effect that Netanyahu will offer the Palestinians self-rule are a joke. After all, the idea of autonomy died even before the death of its inventor, Menachem Begin. There is empathy for Israel in the Obama administration, but it is not blind. The period when we were able to stretch things as far as possible and play for time has ended. And even if everyone there around Obama is nice, we should remember that even a blizzard begins with tiny snowflakes. II. "ItQs the Trust that Counts" Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (5/8): QWhen Netanyahu travels to Washington next Saturday night, it will be difficult not to draw comparisons between this visit and the first visit to the U.S. in March 2001 of then newly-elected prime minister Ariel Sharon.... And then, as now, there was overwrought speculation of an imminent clash between Sharon and Bush.... But Sharon went to Washington, and despite the perceived differences, laid the foundations for a solid working relationship with the Bush administration.... This dynamic has not been lost on NetanyahuQs team in its preparation for NetanyahuQs first meeting with Obama. III. "Scenes from a Marriage" Former Consul-General in New York Alon Pinkas wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (5/8): QIsraelQs maneuvering limits are inscribed within the circle of the United StatesQ interests -Q that is to say: a crisis is produced when Israeli policy abuts or even creates friction with that circle.... The stronger the friction, the more powerful the crisis. The moment one understands this basic principle of U.S.-Israel relations, this creates the fact that we never had symmetrical or equal relations, the strategic alliance and the Qpartnership of interests between two democracies carrying a moral weight and an identical set of values. A relationship that started on the wrong foot continued with hesitancies, turned into boss-client relations, and eventually became a close, stable relationship of dependency between the superpower and the small Mideast state. CUNNINGHAM