ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001802 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. Iran ¶2. Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The media reported that Israeli and Hamas spokespeople have presented conflicting reports on progress in the talks about the possible release of Gilad Shalit. YediotQs Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry quoted a senior Egyptian source as saying that the U.S. is involved Qbehind the scenesQ in the negotiations, mainly on the Syrian track. (One of the Hamas sources who talked to Israel Radio said that an (unspecified) Qthird partyQ is involved in the parley.) According to Yediot, should Bashar Assad show Qpositive involvementQ he would get a Qbonus in the form of a new American ambassador to Syria,Q the first after 2004. Yediot said that the American premise is that a prisoner exchange deal will remove a political obstacle and will facilitate the introduction of President Obama's plan for implementing the Arab peace initiative. All media reported that a special prayer gathering was held last night at the Western Wall to celebrate Gilad ShalitQs 23th birthday -- his fourth one in captivity. Leading media reported that two Israelis were lightly wounded yesterday evening when Palestinians opened fire on their car north of Ramallah. Israel Radio reported that an organization called the QAl-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades-the Imad Mughniyah GroupsQ claimed responsibility for the attack. The radio reported that settlers blamed the lifting of roadblocks in the area for the incident. The Jerusalem Post reported that Bill Van Esveld, the Jerusalem-based researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW),told the newspaper that there is evidence to indicate that war crimes were committed by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip who allegedly used civilians as "human shields" during Operation Cast Lead. The Post says that this is the first time an international human rights organization has publicly made such a statement. However, the newspaper cited HRW as saying that the PalestiniansQ action does not justify the armyQs response. The newspaper reported that HRW is due to hold a press conference to present its new report on Cast Lead and specifically the alleged killing by IDF soldiers of 11 Palestinians who were holding white flags. Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Sunday U.S. Republicans, headed by former Arkansas Governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, a candidate in the 2008 presidential elections, will attend a festive dinner at the controversial Shepherd Hotel in East Jerusalem to signal President Obama that construction in East Jerusalem will continue. Cabinet members and Knesset members will be among the 100 attendees. HaQaretz reported that Israel has recently been putting up more obstacles for foreign nationals who enter the country if they have family, work, business, or academic ties in the West Bank. It now restricts their movements to "the Palestinian Authority only." The people concerned are citizens of countries that have diplomatic ties with Israel, mainly Western countries. HaQaretz noted that, in imposing such restrictions, Israel is in breach of the Oslo Accords. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday senior Fatah leaders in Gaza demanded an investigation into alleged fraud in this weekQs election for the factionQs Central Committee. The Jerusalem Post and Maariv reported that yesterday the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) condemned the World Archeological Congress for holding an international conference in Ramallah dedicated to Qovercoming structural violenceQ and the negative impact of politics on archeology. The IAA also complained about Israel being excluded from the conference. Maariv and other media reported that DM Ehud Barak has boosted the number of IDF Civil Administration inspectors from 40 to 60, in order to tighten supervision of construction in the unauthorized settler outposts. The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that the IDFQs Civil Administration has issued stop-work orders on 12 modular homes that it claims have been illegally placed at the edge of a street on a hilltop within the Kochav YaQakov. (Yesterday, Israel Radio had cited Peace NowQs criticism about construction there.) The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday MaQaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel protested a sudden governmental freeze on a planned 19-dunam (4.7-acre) industrial project in his settlement city. The newspaper quoted Kashriel as saying that Netanyahu Qis playing into the hands of the Americans. He is doing above and beyond what they want. Leading media quoted Deputy FM Danny Ayalon as saying yesterday that Syria should deal directly with Israel and not insist on indirect negotiations through Turkey as if Israel had a plague or was a pariah. Maariv reported that the Iranian government has requested that the U.N.Qs International Atomic Energy Agency pass a resolution next month forbidding an attack on nuclear installations. Yediot (Shimon Shiffer) quoted a senior Israeli defense source as saying that Hizbullah has established an advanced base in Venezuela, from which it is gathering intelligence in South America -- especially in Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. The source was quoted as saying that the group is planning a terrorist attack in retaliation for the February 2008 assassination of its top operative Imad Mughniyah. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the largest rabbinic organization of Reform Judaism, has urged Israelis to reject Qproposed laws that would limit the citizenship rightsQ of Israeli Arabs and has called on the Israeli government to increase funding for Israeli Arab infrastructure and education. The Jerusalem Post reported that American, German, and Israeli students are working together in an archeological project at Ramat Rachel, south of Jerusalem (inside the Green Line). The daily says that the 21 American students come from Moravian College and the associated Moravian Theological Seminary in eastern Pennsylvania. HaQaretz reported that the swine flu is rapidly spreading in Israel: The Health Ministry said yesterday that the number of people who have caught the disease rose 3.6% in the past two weeks. Half of the cases are patients under 30. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the results of a Rasmussen Reports survey: - 70% of Americans view Israel as an ally. - 80% of Americans say that the Palestinian leaders should recognize IsraelQs right to exist. The Jerusalem Post cited the results of an international survey conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross about the 60th anniversary of the ratification of the Geneva Conventions. The Israeli poll, carried out by the local polling firm Geocartography, shows the vast majority of Israelis have heard of the treaties but that 46% don't think they have contributed anything to preventing wars from escalating. -------------- ¶1. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "The Secret Sextet" Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/13): QAs everyone knows, Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet is a mess. Big, bloated and mediocre, it is stressed out and flip-flopping, running scared and fundamentally flawed. However, this wretched cabinet contains one apparatus worthy of special mention -- the sextet. This is the supreme strategic team consisting of Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Avigdor Lieberman, Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Meridor, and Benny Begin. The most disturbing information on the sextet's agenda regards Iran. National Security Adviser Uzi Arad was right -- the earth is scorched The sextet will have to make fatal decisions in the near future. The world is talking about plan A (dialogue) and preparing for plan B (sanctions). But the dialogue is a joke and the sanctions could be too little, too late. If the United States doesn't come to its senses the dilemma will be in plan C (to bomb or not to bomb). This dilemma does not bode well. So the sextet faces a double challenge -- it must think of an alternative creative idea on the one hand, and get America to sober up on the other. The democratic rebellion against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has created a golden opportunity. Begin, Meridor, Ya'alon, Lieberman, Barak, Netanyahu, and Obama must use it swiftly and resolutely. -------------- ¶2. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Regards from Bethlehem" Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (8/13): QThe new Fatah leadership, which is much younger and dynamic, and which is comprised mainly of residents of the territories, is the most important achievement that was made by the Fatah Central Conference in Bethlehem.... But victory at the conference is still not victory on the Palestinian street. In order to win back the public's faith, to restore Fatah's lost glory as a national liberation movement, the new leadership is going to have to prove first and foremost the absence of malfeasance. The challenges facing this new leadership are on the verge of the impossible.... Let no one harbor any illusions. One certainly must take into account the possibility that the new leadership of Fatah will be more militant and extreme in its demands. Netanyahu must understand that improving the economy and introducing relief measures that ease daily life will not serve as a substitute for progress in the negotiations and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. Ghnaim, Dahlan, Rajoub, Tirawi, and Barghouti (irrespective of whether he is released from prison) are likely to overcome the enmity among them and to rally around them the Palestinians, who currently don't have the energy for another Intifada, to join in another round of violence, in the event that they should be convinced that they will not be able to get Israel to budge by any other means. Business can be done with the new Fatah leadership. The ball is in our court (as well). II. "Outflanking Olmert from the Left" Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in the independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (8/13): QAccording to the hints that [Gilad ShalitQs] captors have been leaking by way of the Arab media, the Likud government (Likud, of all parties) is planning to pay -- with a few cosmetic changes here and there designed to paper over the shame -- the price that Ehud Olmert refused to pay.... Putting an end to the Shalit stand-off, some say, would allow Israel to focus on the really important issue -- Iran. Yet capitulating to Hamas would harm Israel's primary peacetime weapon -- deterrence. Deterrence is now Israel's main weapon against Iran, against a terrorist escalation by Hamas or Hizbullah, and against the Qbelligerent optionsQ entertained by the leaders of Fatah, both Qold guardQ and Qyoung guard,Q at their convention. Surrendering to Hamas would deal a grievous blow to this deterrence. It would also harm the government's image in the eyes of the region's other pot-stirrers, including the United States, Russia and the European Union.... Gilad has to be brought home -- it is our duty. And he will be brought home. But under no circumstances through capitulation. III. "The Palestinians ArenQt Suckers, Either" Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/13): Q[Netanyahu] just can't expect Abbas, as president of the Palestinian Authority, to cooperate.... Why should he want to negotiate a new deal when he's being told it won't be anywhere near as fair as the one he turned down last year, or even the one his predecessor turned down nine years ago? Yes, Palestinian leaders are an obstinate breed. While I don't blame Abbas or ARAFAT for rejecting Israel's offers -- we're pretty exacting when it comes to land disputes, too -- I blame them for refusing ever to acknowledge publicly that Israel was sincerely trying to reach an agreement. Such an acknowledgment could have improved the climate for peacemaking tremendously. However, while Abbas, like Yasser ARAFAT before him, has been obstinate, he has never done what Netanyahu is doing now -- wiped the slate clean and presented a new offer that marks a wholesale retreat from what his side was offering before.... The sad thing is that Netanyahu and most Israelis think we're being reasonable and Abbas is being radical, or rejectionist, or maximalist or something. I wish Abbas would take my advice and negotiate with us in kind, treating Israel as Qdisputed territoryQ just as Netanyahu treats the West Bank. It might be a learning experience for us. It might teach us a little humility, show us that we're not the only people who can claim rights to land around here. It's not going to happen, of course. We are at a stalemate in the peace process. I just hope that in trying to break this stalemate, the Obama administration doesn't flinch from the truth that today, the main obstacle to peace is not in Ramallah, it's in Jerusalem. MORENO