ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001808 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. Iran -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Israel Radio quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic source as saying that Israel might agree to a move led by President Obama in which it would pledge to freeze construction in settlements if it receives in exchange tangible gestures from the Palestinians and the Arab states. HaQaretz reported that the U.S. told Israel last week that Gulf states Oman and Qatar are willing to renew their relations with Israel if it agrees to a moratorium on construction in the West Bank. Some media did not mention the settlement proviso. The leading Internet news service Ynet quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic source as saying in response to the report about the Gulf states that Qat this stage no golden formula has been found and there are no negotiations with the Americans, all the more with the Palestinians. Yediot reported that over the past two weeks senior Netanyahu aides and U.S. officials have held secret talks in order to reach an agreement over a construction freeze in the settlements. The newspaper says that the main argument between the parties is about the duration of the freeze and the conditions in which Israel may resume construction. Yediot reported that the U.S. wants Israel to stop construction for two years. HaQaretz reported that PM Netanyahu recently told his ministers to refrain from making any comment on the status of Gilad Shalit so as not to compromise recent Egyptian-brokered talks on the abducted soldier's release from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. Maariv reported that the Shalit family-run campaign for the release of Gilad Shalit requests that HamasQs demands be brought to the cabinetQs decision. Leading media reported that residents of the Bnei Adam outpost have agreed to voluntarily evacuate three caravans in their West Bank settlement, after being advised to do so by leading rabbis of the national religious movement. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday every member of FatahQs Higher Committee in the Gaza Strip resigned in protest against what one of them described as Qmassive fraudQ in the election for the Fatah Central Committee. PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was quoted as saying yesterday in an interview with HaQaretz that Israel's character is its own business and that it is not up to the Palestinians to define it. He had been asked about PM Benjamin Netanyahu's demand the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Fayyad was also quoted as saying: "Establishing a proper government is a goal in itself, but also a means to end the occupation." Fayyad noted that the Palestinian economy's growth has exceeded all expectations, but expressed regret it has taken Israel so long to remove dozens of roadblocks, which have stymied the PA's economic development for many years. He cannot understand why Israel bothers with petty details such as this roadblock or another, while it has admitted they were not necessary. Fayyad said that Israel must carry out a prisoner exchange to end the Gilad Shalit affair immediately. Israel Radio and Ynet quoted Syrian Ambassador to Turkey Nidal Kablan as saying that his country will not give up Turkish mediation in its negotiations with Israel. Israel Radio cited a Lebanese newspaper as saying that Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen is still under the threat of assassination. The Jerusalem Post reported that The J Street political action committee has received tens of thousands of dollars in donations from dozens of Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as from several individuals connected to organizations doing Palestinian and Iranian issues advocacy, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Additionally, at least two State Department officials connected to Middle East issues have reportedly donated to the PAC, which gives money to candidates for US Congress supported by J Street. The organization describes itself as a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby pushing for more American involvement and diplomacy in resolving the Middle East conflict. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israeli sources confirmed Yemeni media reports that the overwhelming majority of the final remnant of Yemen's ancient Jewish community, numbering some 250 people, are looking to leave the country for the U.S. or Israel, due to persecution and violence. The Jerusalem PostQs Web site and Israel Radio reported that Arab states are lobbying the EU to support their drive to force Israel to open up its secretive nuclear program to international perusal. HaQaretz and other leading media reported that yesterday the Foreign Ministry censured Israel's Consul-General in Boston Nadav Tamir due to a memo he wrote criticizing Israel's policy on the United States. The envoy apologized for the way the incident unfolded. HaQaretz and other media reported that Netanyahu sent an official response to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's request for clemency for Salah Hassan Hamori, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a French citizen convicted of plotting the assassination of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu wrote to Sarkozy that the parole panel rejected Hamori's request in part because he had not expressed regret for his actions and because the attorney general believed his early release constituted a danger to the public. Netanyahu also noted that Hamori is considered a dangerous prisoner even imprisoned, so he does not meet the criteria for parole. The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted the IDF as saying in a statement released yesterday that a Human Rights Watch report that IDF soldiers killed 11 Palestinian civilians holding white flags in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead is Qbased on unreliable witness reports. The Jerusalem Post reported that for participants in a small new volunteer program initiated by the Zionist Freedom Alliance -- a "revolutionary" group that promotes Zionism on U.S. campuses as an indigenous, not biblical or political movement -- connecting with Israel means defying international pressure that all construction east of the Green Line come to a halt, and heading deep into the West Bank to show solidarity with the Jewish communities there. Yediot reported that Israel has arrested Osama Mansour, one of PA President Mahmoud AbbasQs senior advisers on suspicion of involvement in a Palestinian plot to take over land in Jerusalem, kidnap a man who sells land to Jews, and carry out extortion. A Jewish middleman and two Israeli Arabs are suspecting of aiding Mansour in the attempted abduction. Yediot reported that President Shimon Peres is scheduled to make a working visit to Russia next week and that Russian PM Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Israel in October. The media reported that IsraelQs Central region was brought to a standstill all afternoon and evening as police set up roadblocks on all the main roads around Ben-Gurion Airport and leading into the West Bank, following an eyewitness account that a soldier had been kidnapped in the area. The report turned out to be wrong. The Palestinian MaQan news agency reported that a group calling itself the Al-Quds Army had claimed responsibility for the reported capture. Yediot reported that the U.S. dollarQs rate on the Tel Aviv money market has plunged since Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer stopped regulating it. HaQaretz ran a feature about White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "Not Obama, but Abbas" Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/14): QAn Obama visit [to Israel] would be encouraging, welcome, and almost certainly constructive. Israel would certainly be pleased to hear directly from the President. But the voice we need to hear is that of Abbas -- -- an Abbas speaking to his people and to ours in terms he did not employ at FatahQs Bethlehem gathering. An Abbas countering the duplicitous ArafatQs assertion to the Palestinian public that the Jews have no rights and no legitimacy here. An Abbas explaining to his people and to ours that we are fated to live together and that he will meet us on the road to a better future.. It gets ever harder [to believe that Abbas is indeed a Palestinian devoted to compromise when he] presides over the relegitimization of the murderous Aqsa Martyrs Brigades at a Fatah conference that did anything but advance prospect for reconciliation. II. "Hope Stuck in the Mud" Far left columnist Gideon Levy wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/14): QBarack Obama's America is not delivering the goods.... He came into office amid much hoopla. The Cairo speech ignited half the globe. Making settlements the top priority gave rise to the hope that, finally, a statesman is sitting in the White House who understands that the root of all evil is the occupation, and that the root of the occupation's evil is the settlements. From Cairo, it seemed possible to take off. The sky was the limit. Then the administration fell into the trap set by Israel and is showing no signs of recovery... Perhaps they will reach a compromise and agree on nine months [of construction freeze in the settlements], not including natural growth though allowing completion of apartments already under construction -- a grand accomplishment. Jerusalem has imposed its will on Washington. Once again we are at the starting point -- dealing with trifles from which it is impossible to make the big leap over the great divide.... An America that will not pressure Israel is an America that will not bring peace. III. "A Black Stain of Collaboration" The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (8/14): QAfter the terrorist rocket-launching became intolerable and the [human rights] organizations did not do or say anything, the IDF embarked on a large offensive against HamasQs stronghold in Gaza. A few months after the operation, the human rights groups have turned the operation into a goldmine by promoting Qhuman rights;Q they are extracting testimonies of actions and violations that no one can verify -- there isnQt even a need for this. The Foreign Ministry has embarked on an appropriate action to stop European funding of the group QBreaking the Silence.Q But this is not enough. The IDF should not be entrusted with the human rights groupsQ propaganda; the entire government must grant full backing to the IDF. The motives of the human rights groups, especially since the 2001 Durban Conference are explicit: a political struggle that makes a cynical use of Qhuman rightsQ concepts. Those organizations must be told: You have destroyed the true human rights values by turning them into weapons against democracy and Israel. IV. "Showdown in Bethlehem" Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in The Jerusalem Post (8/14): QDuring the Fatah congress in Bethlehem, officials like [Muhammad] Dahlan, [Jibril] Rajoub, and [Tawfik] Tirawi came under sharp criticism from many of their colleagues who accused them of being part of the corrupt regimes of Yasser ARAFAT and his successor, Abbas. Some delegates even went as far as to demand that the trio be put on trial for their QcrimesQ against the Palestinians when they were in office. All three were responsible for the establishment of security forces that imposed a reign of terror and intimidation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the signing of the Oslo Accords 16 years ago. To describe the three men as QreformistsQ is like praising the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as feminists, liberals, and champions of gays and lesbians, these critics claimQ.... While Abbas and his camp may have tightened their grip on Fatah, itQs premature to talk about a new era of stability and unity in the ruling faction. -------------- ¶2. Iran: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- "The Day of the Bomb" Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (8/14): QRight now, the Americans have reservations [about attacking IranQs nuclear facilities]. There is an internal argument in Israel, but as of now some believe that an attack is a possible and necessary move. Some Israelis say that the Iranian people are not in the situation of 1980, when Saddam Hussein invaded and all Iranians united around Khomeini. Besides, it is reasonable to believe that reasonable attack, with reasonable means, could be effective. How effective? Israelis say it would delay [IranQs] nuclear plans for a few years and preventQaccelerationQ -- for a long time. It should be enough. MORENO