ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that DM Ehud Barak will arrive in
Washington for talk with senior U.S. administration officials in an
ttempt to ease the bilateral tension that has eruped over
Washington's demand that Israel freeze cnstruction in the
settlements. Ha'aretz reporte that Barack Obama's administration
has alreadyrejected Israel's contention that the President's
predecessor, George W. Bush, had agreed to expansin of the
settlement blocs that Israel hopes keepunder any agreement with the
Palestinians. According to Ha'aretz, the administration also told
both Congress and American Jewish organizations not to bother
entertaining hopes that Barak will budge Obama and Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton from their demand for a complete halt to
settlement construction. However, The Jerusalem Post reported that
Israel will not freeze settlement construction for natural growth.
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Netanyahu met with Likud
Knesset members and reassured them that he did not intend to remove
settlements.

Media reported that Barak will also have to deal with American
demands that Israel open its border crossings with Gaza to
facilitate the Strip's reconstruction following Operation Cast Lead
in January. Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that, over the weekend,
the London-based Sunday Times quoted senior administration officials
as saying that Obama "has given himself two years for a diplomatic
breakthrough on a two-state solution for Israel and the
Palestinians," despite PM Benjamin Netanyahu's opposition "to
America's minimum demand for a freeze on all settlement building in
disputed territory." The White House declined to comment on the
report. Yediot quoted a "close Netanyahu associate" as saying the
Obama administration needed to understand that its demands on the
Israeli premier would cause his government to fall. The associate
reportedly wondered: "What does [Obama] want from [Netanyahu], who
"agrees to remove outposts, recognizes the Roadmap, and has
announced he would honor past agreements?"
Ha'aretz reported that Saudi Arabia and other Arab states have also
made it clear to Washington that they view a settlement freeze as a
precondition for any move toward normalization with Israel.

Ha'aretz reported that GOI officials expressed their disappointment
after Tuesday's round of meetings in London with U.S. special envoy
George Mitchell. "We're disappointed," one senior official was
quoted as saying: "All of the understandings reached during the
[George W.] Bush administration are worth nothing." Another
official was quoted as saying that the U.S. administration is
refusing every Israeli attempt to reach new agreements on settlement
construction. "The United States is taking a line of granting
concessions to the Palestinians that is not fair toward Israel," he
said. The Israeli officials attributed the unyielding U.S. stance
to the speech Obama will make in Cairo this Thursday, in which he is
expected to deliver a message of reconciliation to the Arab and
Muslim worlds.

The Jerusalem Post reported that senior Israeli officials were
"dismissive and defiant" on Saturday, following PA President Mahmoud
Abbas's visit to Washington, highlighted by a report in which PA
officials said that their leadership is waiting for U.S. pressure to
bring down the Netanyahu government.

All media reported that on Thursday, after a manhunt that lasted
more than 14 years, IDF troops killed Majid Dudin, a senior Hamas
activist in the southern Hebron hills who was party to planning two
major suicide bombings in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in 1995.


The Jerusalem Post quoted Peace Now as saying yesterday that 44%
(around 1730 acres) of the land on which outposts are built is
private Palestinian land. The newspaper also quoted data released
yesterday by the GOI's Central Bureau of Statistics: work on new
apartment units in the West Bank dropped sharply in the first
quarter of 2009, down 39% compared to the first quarter of 2008.

All media reported that PM Netanyahu announced yesterday that he has
appointed former senior Mossad operative Haggai Hadas to head
negotiations with Hamas over the release of Gilad Shalit. (Hadas
quit Mossad over disagreements with its Director, Meir Dagan.) Over
the weekend the media reported that Intelligence Affairs Minister
Dan Meridor had turned down the position. Shalit's parents
participated in the annual Salute to Israel parade along New York's
Fifth Avenue.

Ha'aretz reported that Egypt has rejected an American proposal for
gradual normalization between the Arab world and Israel that would
have allowed Israeli planes to fly freely through Arab air space.
The idea arose during discussions in Washington last week between
senior Egyptian and U.S. officials. The Jerusalem Post reported
that Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin told the cabinet yesterday that
Egypt is arresting officers who take bribes from arms smuggler, and
that it is rotating its troops in the Sinai so that they do not get
too close to the local population.

The Jerusalem Post reported that while senior IDF officers are
willing to recognize the PA security forces' success following the
anti-Hamas operation in Qalqilya yesterday morning, those officers
expressed concern regarding the possibility that the IDF would be
asked to withdraw its forces from various West Bank cities and
transfer responsibility to the Palestinian forces.

All media reported that yesterday the Ministerial Committee on
Legislation rejected a bill that would have conditioned Israeli
citizenship on a declaration of loyalty to Israel as a Jewish state.
The bill would have required applicants for citizenship to pledge
loyalty to Israel as a Jewish, Zionist, and democratic state and to
the state's symbols and values. It would also condition citizenship
on either military service or alternative national service.
However, only Yisrael Beiteinu ministers supported the bill. All
other committee members voted against it. Israel Radio quoted
Jordanian media as saying that Jordan is considering taking steps
against Israel if it does not revoke a bill proposed by Knesset
Member Arieh Eldad (National Union),which calls for "creating two
states on the two banks of the Jordan River, one for the Israelis
and one for the Palestinians."

Leading media reported on the trial underway in Azerbaijan of two
Hizbullah members and four Azeri collaborators accused of plotting
to attack the Israeli Embassy in Baku to avenge the assassination of
top Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah.

Ha'aretz reported that the Foreign Ministry has instructed Israeli
diplomats to organize demonstrations in front of Iranian consulates
worldwide, stage mock stonings and hangings in public, launch a
massive media campaign against Iran, and prepare other activities on
the matter in the coming weeks. The goal, according to a senior
Foreign Ministry official, is "to show the world that Iran is not a
Western democracy" in the run-up to the country's presidential
election on June 12.

Electronic media reported that early this morning rightists blocked
a West Bank road and attacked Palestinians to protest a plan to
evacuate outposts.

Israel Radio reported that FM Avigdor Lieberman is leaving today on
an official trip to Russia and Belarus.

Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz reported that on Friday Ben-Ami Kadish, an
85-year-old U.S. Army civilian employee, was fined $50,000 but
avoided pleading guilty to giving classified documents to Israel in
the 1980s.

All media reported that Ephraim Katzir, Israel's fourth president
(1973-1978),passed away on Saturday at the age of 93.

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1. Mideast:
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Block Quotes:
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I. "How We Beat Obama"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/1): "Let's agree that Obama in his naivete
really has become preoccupied with inconsequential matters, such as
a handful of pathetic outposts. Should Israel risk a crisis with
the most important power in the world because of what it considers
'inconsequential matters'? Does Israel have a greater existential
strategic asset than its relations with the U.S. and its neighbors'
understanding that these intimate relations are unshakable?.... Does
Israel really have an interest in winning the battle over the
settlements? What will happen if we destroy the prestige of the
strongest man in the world and portray him as an empty vessel,
incapable of halting the settlement program of a U.S. protege? Will
an Israeli 'victory' strengthen the status of the U.S. in the
international campaign against Iran?.... Israel itself, the Israel
that does not understand the connection between the settlement of
Yizhar and the reactor in Bushehr, claims that Hamastan is nothing
more than a subsidiary of Iran. Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad will not shed a tear if Israel blows off Obama with his
two-state solution. The sharper the conflict between the Jews and
E
the Americans on 'inconsequential matters,' the greater Iran's
joy."

II. "Putting on the Pressure"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of Ha'aretz
(5/31): "United States President Barack Obama lays out long-term
visionary goals, such as Middle East peace, but he moves with
political pragmatism in advancing them. This is as true of his
domestic and economic objectives as it is of his complex approach to
Israel. His statements are carefully tailored to the measure of
Congress's support for Israel. Congressional representatives are
committed to preserving Israel's security and dealing with Iran, but
do not support strengthening the settlements. So Obama stresses his
support for Israel's security, but is willing to confront Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the settlements.... Netanyahu faces
a difficult dilemma, whose outcome will also affect his coalition's
fate. He does not have too many cards to play with, but realizes he
must give the Americans something. In the coming weeks he will try
to concoct a formula that will keep his coalition and party intact,
and satisfy Obama as well."

III. "Paradigm Shift"

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/1):
"U.S. policymakers have always opposed Israel's presence beyond the
Green Line. Condoleezza Rice was here only last June complaining
about settlements. Still, there's no denying the disturbing change
in tone emanating from Washington, which is elevating the
settlements issue to an importance which is disproportionate. It's
being accompanied by a paradigm shift: pressing Israel while
coddling the Palestinians. This approach is destined to leave both
Israelis and Palestinians embittered and no closer to resolving the
conflict. Final borders need to be negotiated. And when they are,
all settlements on the 'wrong' side of the line will be dismantled
-- just as they were when Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. It
would therefore be reasonable, in the interim, for Washington not to
make an issue of modest levels of natural growth in these
communities. At the same time, a freeze within the strategic
settlement blocs, including Jerusalem, which Israel intends to
retain in any agreement, is simply not on the agenda. That said,
the Israeli government needs to better articulate the fact that no
new settlements are being authorized beyond the security barrier.
And it needs to move with all deliberate speed to dismantle illegal
outposts permanently. When American dcision-makers denigrate
painful Israeli sacrifices -- including disengagement; when they
disregard the commitments of their predecessors, they are not
fostering peace. Rather, they're giving mainstream Israelis cause
to fear making further sacrifices."

IV. "It's Not the Settlements, Stupid"

Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation,
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/1): "President Obama has made it clear
from the first week of his term that he is determined to turn over a
new leaf with the Muslim and Arab world. Incidentally, his
declarations also reflected a natural desire to do the opposite of
his pQecessor. Bush behaved the same way with regard to Clinton's
foreign policy, as did other presidents. In substantive terms, the
appeal to the Arab world is intended to help the administration cope
with the difficult legacy left behind by the previous
administration. The assumption is that the support of Arab and
Islamic states for the U.S. will help it extricate itself from Iraq
and successfully deal with its enemies in Afghanistan and Pakistan
and with the Iranian nuclear program. Obama is not adopting this
initiative to serve Israeli interests, but it can be of substantial
benefit to Israel, mainly on the Iranian issue. The speech that
President Obama is scheduled to give in Cairo on Thursday is
supposed to clear the atmosphere and renew the confidence of the
Arab street in the U.S. Such a speech cannot skip over the
Palestinian issue. The administration expected, in the most
legitimate manner, to receive something from Netanyahu that it could
take hold of. Not giving up territory. Not giving up rights. A
foreign policy plan. A vision. Netanyahu came empty-handed and
created a vacuum that was filled, with full force, by the issue of
settlements."


V. "The Price of Netanyahu's Smugness"

Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist
Maariv (5/31): "The closer President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo
draws, the higher the panic level rises in the prime minister's
inner circle. 'What do they want from me?' Netanyahu asks. 'Do
they want the government to fall?" Well, they don't care if the
government does fall. Netanyahu has only himself to blame: the
amateurism and smugness that he used in his dealings with the new
American administration, and the dismissive gesture with which he
disregarded the winds that were blowing from Washington. All of
that has now exploded in his face.... Netanyahu, who could have
given Obama Israeli encouragement and become his partner, tried
instead to create an alternative, and now he finds himself like a
millstone around the neck of the new American policy and a
completely different American administration that is eager to go to
battle, which doesn't care what AIPAC thinks, and enjoys a rare
freedom of action and broad public support. People warned him, told
him, that was what was going to happen, but he knew better. And now
he doesn't know what to do."


VI. "An Ill Wind from the White House"

Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the
independent Israel Hayom (31/5): "The leaders of the Jewish
organizations did not need the meeting between Barack Obama and Abu
Mazen to sense the ill wind blowing from the White House in the
direction of Jerusalem.... The focus on the settlements makes things
easier for Obama and for Abu Mazen, since in this matter they have
many partners among supporters of Israel. 'Even Congress is not
what it was,' explained one major Jewish activist. There is also
disappointment in Hillary Clinton. The Jews had hoped that she
would be the one to stop the United States' flood of Israel, but as
of now their hopes have proven false. It is likely that the
'Archimedes Point' for changing Obama's position in favor of Israel
may be found in international developments that are far from the
Middle East."

VII. "They Will Give Iran, They Will Get a Freeze"

Correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv
(6/1): "The most interesting question regarding the Obama
administration is whether it has already decided that it should work
with a different Israeli government. Some of Obama's advisers (Rahm
Emanuel is rumored to be one of them) apparently espouse such a
view. Defense Minister Ehud Barak's visit to Washington will
indicate to Israel whether the position of those advisers was
adopted. If so, Netanyahu faces harsh months of crisis until he can
prove that his government is stable, or until he falls. If this is
not the case, it means he has trump cards. When Netanyahu hints
that there will be no [settlement] 'freeze' without 'something in
exchange,' he does not mean that he will get something from the
Palestinians.... What are the Americans promising to do on the
Iranian issue?"

CUNNINGHAM