SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Visit of U.S. Special Envoy Sen. George Mitchell to Israel and the
Palestinian Authority

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Key stories in the media:
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All media led with PM Benjamin NetanyahuQs conversation with
President Obama, the visit of U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East
Peace George Mitchell to Israel, or related matters.

Major media described a telephone conversation that took place
yesterday between the President and Netanyahu. Both Yediot and
Maariv reported that Obama told Netanyahu that he is waiting with
great interest for his speech next week. Yediot bannered:
QConciliation Call between Netanyahu and ObamaQ and Maariv: QObama
to Netanyahu: Waiting for [Your] Speech.Q Yediot quoted Israeli
diplomatic sources as saying that through his call, the President
expressed his desire that Netanyahu will deliver a moderate speech.
Akin to other media, HaQaretz quoted sources close to the PM as
saying that Netanyahu will consult all Likud Knesset members ahead
of his speech. Yediot quoted Netanyahu associates as saying that
the Americans understand that they went too far and that in the
final analysis, Netanyahu is the United StatesQ partner. HaQaretz
quoted Netanyahu's confidants as saying that the PM believes that
President Obama wants a confrontation with Israel, based on Obama's
speech in Cairo last week. The Netanyahu associates are further
quoted as saying that, in Netanyahu's opinion, the Americans believe
an open controversy with Israel would serve the Obama
administration's main objective of improving U.S. relations with the
Arab world.

Israel Radio quoted a White House spokesman as saying that the
President stresses his commitment to IsraelQs security.

The Jerusalem Post reported that QMitchellQs first endeavor upon
landing in Israel Monday night was to try and lower the volume in
the U.S. dispute over settlement construction. The Jerusalem Post
and Yediot cited Sen. MitchellQs denial through the U.S. Embassy of
media reports that he had said that Qthe Israelis lied to us all
these years. ItQs over.Q He called the reports Qa total
fabrication.Q The Jerusalem Post wrote that MitchellQs comments
indicate what appears to be a growing sensitivity in the State
Department to what it feels are inaccurate quotes by senior U.S.
officials that are heating up the atmosphere between the U.S. and
Israel over the settlement issue. Maariv quoted Israeli diplomatic
sources as saying yesterday that it appears that Netanyahu will
agree to a formula that will allow natural growth to continue only
in the large blocs of settlements expected to remain under Israeli
sovereignty in a future agreement, but not in isolated settlements.
Maariv quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that this is
apparently NetanyahuQs Qred line.Q HaQaretz wrote that Mitchell
reportedly told former Meretz Party leader Yossi Beilin that he
would like to commence negotiations on the core issues of the
final-status agreement as soon as possible. HaQaretz further
reported: QMitchell is also expected to raise the possibility of
resuming negotiations on the Syrian track. With this in mind, Fred
Hoff, Mitchell's chief of staff and a Syria expert, is expected to
arrive in Israel, too. Another matter expected to top the agenda
during the meetings is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.
Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak will brief Mitchell
about Wednesday's scheduled special cabinet meeting on the subject,
expected to result in a decision to lift restrictions on importing
foodstuffs and other goods into the Strip. The cabinet is also
expected to lift the ban on exports.

HaQaretz reported that yesterday PA President Mahmoud Abbas met with
Yossi Beilin at the Muqata'a government compound in Ramallah, where
the Palestinian leader expressed his satisfaction with the results
of his White House meeting with President Obama two weeks ago.
"Washington has changed its attitude toward the Palestinians
completely," Abbas reportedly told Beilin. During their
conversation, Abbas said the PA intends to meet the U.S. demand to
cease incitement against Israel by official Palestinian organs.
"There are things that we need to correct in our official media and
elsewhere," Abbas was quoted as saying. "I am in favor of dealing
with these issues. But at the same time, Israel needs to address
similar matters, too."

Citing the AP, HaQaretz reported that yesterday the deputy head of
Hamas's political wing, Moussa Abu Marzouk, urged Obama to talk
directly with the militant group, saying that Hamas represents the
Palestinian people and the U.S. President's drive for Mideast peace
will fail without it. Abu Marzouk also said that Hamas would not
renounce violence. The U.S. and its European allies also want Hamas
to recognize Israel, which it also refuses to do. Abu Marzouk was
quoted as saying that the Obama administration should change these
positions, "because they know that without Hamas, their efforts will
not succeed."

Israel Radio quoted Tony Blair, the QuartetQs Middle East envoy, as
saying after a Palestinian donors' conference in Oslo that Obama's
push for a peace deal should be embraced by Arab states.

The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the Foreign Ministry
voiced concern that Hizbullah might try to regain its lost prestige
in the Lebanese elections with an attack along the border with
Israel. The newspaper also quoted an Israeli defense source as
saying yesterday that Hizbullah failed to win the elections largely
because of widespread dissatisfaction among the Lebanese people over
the Second Lebanon War.

Israel Radio reported that Syria has conveyed to Israel through the
U.S. that it is interested in renewing Turkish-mediated
negotiations.

The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Barak and
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe YaQalon will deliver major policy
speeches before Netanyahu.

The media reported that Netanyahu influenced the appointment of
Yisrael Beiteinu MK David Rotem and National Union MK Uri Ariel to
the KnessetQs Judges Appointments Committee. The media quoted
left-wing politicians that this is a bad choice that is bound to
influence the composition of the High Court of Justice.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a new video posted on the Internet
featuring inebriated American Jewish youth in a Jerusalem bar
spouting hate-filled sentiments against President Obama has garnered
massive exposure and caused a firestorm in the media and the Jewish
world.

Yediot reported that three Israelis were chosen to participate in a
project initiated by NASA, Google, and MIT, which is meant to
present prospects about the world in 20 yearsQ time.

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U.S. Special Envoy Sen. George Mitchell to Israel, West Bank, June
8-10, 2009:
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Block Quotes:
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I. QMess with Peace at Your Peril

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/9): QAnyone who asks, as
usual, whether the new president is good or bad for the Jews will
hear that there is no change in the general attitude toward Israel,
but rather in the zeal for ending the conflict. Obama's United
States does not want to have to choose between us and the Arabs.
America's friendship for Israel still crosses party borders in
Congress. And a wagging finger is warning the extremists that
anyone who interferes with peace will pay the price. This includes
Israel's extreme right, which continues to cling to the insane idea
that Israel's salvation lies only in holding on to the territories
and outposts. No one will deny, for example, that life will be
better after Hizbullah's defeat in this week's elections. The
change Obama is proposing is not to Israel's detriment; rather, it
seeks a swift agreement between us and the Palestinians. This
approach demands that Hamas recognize Israel and stop terror; it
also demands that we stop building in the territories, take down the
unapproved outposts and prepare for a plan of two states for two
peoples. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has no alternative but
to adapt to the new reality, lest anyone who thwarts Obama's QYes we
canQ be struck by lightning.

II. QYishai Must Be Reined In

HaQaretz editorialized (6/9): QEvery sign suggesting an inkling of
hope about a political solution between Israel and the Palestinians
makes Shas chairman Eli Yishai try to outdo the extreme right wing
for the title champion dissenter. From the Oslo 2 accords in
September 1995 to the Annapolis process under the Olmert government,
Shas has opposed every attempt to reach a compromise. Yishai
prevented Prime Minister Ehud Olmert from raising the issue of
Jerusalem in final-status negotiations, and now he wants to
transform the Interior Ministry under his aegis into a tool for
expanding settlements and overtly challenging U.S. President Barack
Obama. Yishai is undermining his party's image as the protector
of society's weak and downtrodden. He is also trying to compete
with Yisrael Beiteinu's racist campaign against Arab citizens in his
demand that the right to annul Israeli citizenship be returned to
his office -- a right the courts currently hold. Yishai's
statements require the Prime Minister to put the Interior Minister
in his place immediately. Benjamin Netanyahu must make clear that
he opposes Yishai's statements and will allow no one to act
unilaterally to expand the settlements. Israel's interests are not
tools in the hands of politicians acting out of considerations that
have nothing to do with the public's broader good.

III. QAfraid of a Binational State?

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in Ha'aretz (6/9):
QAmerican pressure is penetrating the hearts of mainstream settlers.
People like Uri Elitzur -- who saw from a government office [as
NetanyahuQs bureau chief in the Q90s] what many settlers do not see
from the West Bank -- understand that Barack Obama has changed the
rules of the game between the United States and Israel, and that
despite the right's victory in the elections, the Palestinians are
not planning to go anywhere. What this means is that after 42 years
of occupation, the time has come for the settlers to choose between
Jewish land and a Jewish state.... On Friday, he debated Gadi
Baltiansky, director general of the Geneva Initiative.... Elitzur
rejected Obama's notion of a two-state solution, saying a
Palestinian state in the 1967 borders would be a hotbed of terror.
However, the status quo -- which, he said, means an apartheid state
-- is also unacceptable to him. So what does that leave? A
binational state.

IV. QAt Least an Israeli Initiative

Columnist and former intelligence officer Amos Gilboa wrote in the
popular, pluralist Maariv (6/9): QBefore ObamaQs Cairo speech, it
was reported that he might adopt the QArab Peace InitiativeQ as part
of a regional agreement.... But he didnQt.... The picture now
emerging is the following: The Arab states are not prepared to
change even one word in their initiative nor to make any gestures.
It is not surprising that Obama is rebuking them. However, the Arab
initiative is alive and kicking. What is missing is an Israeli
initiative challenging it.


V. QNo Joy for Lebanon

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/9):
QIt is good that Hizbullah did not achieve a better outcome [in the
Lebanese elections]. Yet Israelis would be deluding themselves if
they viewed the results as a substantive defeat for the Islamists.
The harsh reality, the latest election results notwithstanding, is
that Lebanon's radicalized Shi'ites are growing stronger and will
need to be accommodated by the QvictoriousQ forces of relative
moderation.... It goes without saying that Shi'ite leaders will not
honor their pledge to view the election as a referendum on continued
QresistanceQ against Israel. Can Lebanon's fate yet be salvaged?
Only if the West is prepared to do the heavy lifting required to
block Tehran's drive for regional hegemony, and enforce UN Security
Council resolutions 1559 and 1701 to stem weapons smuggling into
Lebanon.
CUNNINGHAM