ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001832 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: -------------- Mideast -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- The leading Internet news service Ynet reported that, Qin a subtle overture to the U.S.,Q PM Benjamin Netanyahu, DM Ehud Barak and Housing Minister Ariel Atias agreed upon a de facto moratorium on new building in the settlements. According to the estimates of officials involved, the freeze will be in effect until the beginning of 2010. The objective is to provide an opportunity for a Mideast peace process to gain momentum in hopes that the new "waiting" tactic will allow international recognition of Israel's sovereignty in Jerusalem and the large settlement blocs. All media reported that yesterday four cabinet ministers pressed PM Benjamin Netanyahu to stand firm against U.S. pressure to freeze settlement activity, and urged him to continue to build in the West Bank. Vice PM Moshe Ya'alon and Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, both from the Likud, even went as far as to advise Netanyahu to ignore Israel's previous commitment to the U.S. to remove 26 unauthorized outposts and said that some of those, as well as many of the other 79 could and should be legalized. Their statements put them at odds with the Prime Minister's Office and the Defense Ministry, which said that when it came to the outposts, the law would be enforced. The other cabinet ministers who toured West bank outposts and the evacuated settlement of Homesh were Interior Minister and Shas Chairman Eli Yishai and Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) party leader Daniel Herschkowitz. The media (lead story in HaQaretz) cited an interview granted by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak over the weekend to PBS. Mubarak was quoted as saying that Egypt, aided by German intelligence, is working hard to secure the release of Gilad Shalit -- whom Mubarak dubbed Qour prisonerQ -- but that Israel has added Qterms and conditionsQ that are impeding progress. The Jerusalem Post reported that, at a meeting with American Jewish leaders in Washington, Mubarak pointed to the issue of the repatriation of Palestinian security prisoners as a key sticking point, as whether they would be E returned to the West Bank, Gaza, or sent abroad has yet to be resolved. HaQaretz quoted participants in that meeting as saying that Mubarak was Qsurprisingly positiveQ about the leadership of Netanyahu, DM Ehud Barak, and President Shimon Peres. Mubarak reportedly said that the current Israeli leadership was committed to moving the peace process forward with the Palestinians. Israel Hayom and other media expect Mubarak to clarify to President Obama that the normalization process between the Arab states will be possible only after the signing of a peace treaty. Israel Radio cited the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi that President Obama and Mubarak will today discuss a new initiative put forward by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Secretary of State James Baker, and former National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft, which reportedly provides for a possible renunciation by Palestinians of the right of return in exchange for full compensation. Israel Radio quoted the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram as saying that Jimmy Carter suggested that President Obama name him mediator between Israel and the Palestinians. The Jerusalem Post reported that Monday, at the weekly PA cabinet meeting, PA President Mahmoud Abbas Qappeared to adopt a softer line than his Fatah factionQ when he said that Qnegotiations were the only way to achieve peace.Q He added: QWe want peace based on international justice and legitimacy through negotiations. The media quoted former Arkansas governor and presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee as saying during a visit to Israel yesterday that the U.S. has taken too harsh a stance against Israel on the issue of settlements, hindering peace negotiations. The media quoted him as saying: QIt concerns me that some in the U.S. tell Israelis they can't live where they want in their own country." The Jerusalem Post reported that Eytan Gilboa, an expert on Israeli-American relations at Bar-Ilan University, told the newspaper yesterday: QHuckabee has the ability to show Obama that he doesnQt have bipartisan support for his policies toward Israel, and that if he wants to depart from tradition, heQs going to be opposed. Maariv cited the Foreign MinistryQs condemnation of a recent visit to Saudi Arabia of a Human Rights Watch (HRW) delegation. Aviv Shiron, the MinistryQs Deputy Director-General, was quoted as saying that HRW is an Qorganization that receives contributions from a country that infringes human rights itselfQ and is hostile to Israel On Sunday Maariv (Ben-Dror Yemini) revealed that John Stork, the author of the HRW report on IDF abuses during Operation Cast Lead, had publicly exported his support for the 1972 massacre of Israeli athletes in Munich and that he had befriended Saddam Hussein. The Jerusalem Post reported that Izhak Melzer, the lawyer of Ouda Suleiman Tarabin, an Israeli Bedouin who has been imprisoned in Egypt nearly a decade in an alleged espionage case that has been shrouded in secrecy, has recently faxed a plea to President Barack Obama, asking him to intervene in the matter ahead of the PresidentQs meeting with President Mubarak. The newspaper reported that Likud Knesset Member Ayoub Kara is also active in the case. Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported on the joint U.S.-Israel-Turkey naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean. The Jerusalem Post reported that the swift delivery by Israel of vital drinking water systems to Taiwan, in the wake of Typhoon Morakot, has drawn praise from Taiwanese and local media. -------------- Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. "While Obama Tarries" The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (8/18): QThe battle with the U.S. administration over continued building in the settlements, and the failure to immediately dismantle illegal outposts, have become the focus of Israeli policy on the peace process. This policy is misleading because it creates the false impression that a compromise on this issue would be enough to forestall further American pressure for progress in the negotiations. This view has succeeded in gaining a foothold in part because the U.S. administration has tarried in drafting its own comprehensive diplomatic initiative, which would make clear to both Israelis and Palestinians where it is headed and how it plans to achieve its goals.... Barack Obama has an opportunity to clarify his intentions in his meeting today with the president of Egypt. Hosni Mubarak, like the Palestinians and leaders of the other Arab states, is expecting to hear from the U.S. President about an action plan to extricate the region from the diplomatic deep freeze that characterized his predecessor's time in office. These are the vital partners without whom the Arab peace initiative -- which Obama sees as a solid basis for advancing the process -- cannot get off the ground. Without an orderly plan, plus American involvement to guarantee its implementation, the Arabs' willingness to harness themselves to the peace process will lapse. And the settlements will continue to expand. II. "Better Not to Help Mubarak" Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (8/18): QFrom the outset there wasn't any real balance between the Americans' demand to stop construction in the settlements and the demand that the Arab states extend a few good-will gestures to Israel on the eve of renewed negotiations with the Palestinians. To have a medical clinic in [the settlement of] Beit El is a need, whereas having a route open to El Al planes over Saudi Arabia is a convenience. But the U.S. is so important a player in the arena that Attorney Yitzhak Molcho is off to Washington once again for talks in an attempt to smooth matters over and to prevent a rift from forming in the relations between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. Obama's assessment was that the Arab gestures were a minor thing. He bowed before the King of Saudi Arabia -- and returned without a gesture; now he is hosting Mubarak. Once again, no gesture. After there is peace, said the Egyptian President, there will be normalization. Where are the gestures in the wake of the Israeli-Egyptian peace from 1979? Nothing. No such gestures were made. Mubarak is dissembling. But worse than that: even if he means what he says, his promises are not going to come true in the foreseeable future. Either because the regime in Egypt (as well as in Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian Authority) will refuse or they will hide behind the hackneyed slogan of 'we can't because the extremists are threatening us.' Mubarak's blunt statement in America might now shake up and motivate Israel's friends in the White House and on Capitol Hill, but almost as a rule, some unexpected incident pushes its way in and blocks the achievement from being made.... [Unfortunately, a statement made yesterday by Vice Prime Minister Moshe YaQalon] balances out the bad impression that Mubarak left on his American hosts. It plays into the hands of the radical Left in Israel. III. "Again ThereQs No Partner" Business correspondent Nehemia Shtrasler wrote in HaQaretz (8/18): QThe Gaza withdrawal was the right decision. It relieved us of a huge burden and could have been a significant step leading to a permanent peace agreement. But the withdrawal was wasted because we carried it out negligently and poorly. But maybe all this was planned in advance, because when al-Qaida people from Pakistan and Afghanistan take over Gaza, we will be able to say with full confidence that there is no one to talk to. Then we can live by the sword until the end of days, because, in the words attributed to early Zionist leader Yosef Trumpeldor, Qit's good to die for our country. IV. "Demilitarization Is Not Feasible" Gabriel Siboni, Director of the IDF Force Structure program at the Institute for National Security Studies, wrote in HaQaretz (8/18): QSpeaking at the conclusion of a course for senior officers at the National Defense College last month, the Prime Minister spoke of the importance of demilitarizing a future Palestinian state and stated that no one was interested in having a repeat there of what happened in Gaza and southern Lebanon. He also stressed the need for international recognition of demilitarization.... But the threat against Israel has changed and what is required now is the crystallization of an up-to-date strategic concept according to which Israel can fix its future security mechanisms.... The coming months will be a test period for the Israeli government. The attempt to base an arrangement with the Palestinians on an archaic security discourse will merely intensify the danger rather than lessen it.... Israel is facing international pressure to reach an agreement quickly for the establishment of a Palestinian state. The conditions the prime minister has posed for its establishment cannot prevent Iran and Hamas from trying to turn the QdemilitarizedQ West Bank into a missile base. American defense will also turn out to be pointless, and past experience in Gaza and Lebanon has proven this. The desire to alleviate international pressure in the short run could cost us dearly. It is difficult to see how it would be possible to achieve a sustainable agreement so long as Iran and Hamas are busy undermining it. ¶V. QDrawing Borders Is the First Step Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (www.ipcri.org),wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/18): QThe rumors floating around suggest that Obama's plan will aim to focus first on setting borders between the State of Israel and the future State of Palestine, now that Netanyahu has accepted the two-state solution. Focusing on borders makes good sense, because once borders are agreed upon, Israel can continue its settlement activities in those areas that will be annexed to Israel and begin to construct new housing for the settlers that will have to leave their homes in areas that will become part of the State of Palestine.... Palestinians will never accept the possibility that Israel will control their external borders. Every offer made the Palestinians so far, including the latest Olmert Qtake-it-or-leave-itQ offer to Mahmoud Abbas fell on the Israeli demand to control access of Palestinians to the outside world. No Palestinian leader will ever accept a Palestinian state which is a sovereign cage. This too should be easy for Israel to understand because Israel would never accept having its outside borders controlled by someone else. In fact, there is perhaps no better definition of sovereignty than this. VI. QNo Second Thoughts Jonathan S. Tobin, executive director of Commentary magazine, wrote in The Jerusalem Post (8/18): QFriends of Israel, especially those Jewish Democrats who have been doing their best to ignore the White House's increasingly belligerent tone toward the Jewish state, would do well to note what happened with [Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient and former President of Ireland Mary] Robinson. Obama honored a virulent enemy of Israel, someone who bore a great deal of responsibility for Durban, one of the most disgraceful episodes in the history of an institution -- the U.N. -- that is no stranger to disgrace. And he has gotten away with it with hardly a scratch on his reputation.... What Obama and his advisers may take away from this incident is how easily they were able to dismiss a nearly universal Jewish dismay.... As Robert Malley, the former Clinton administration staffer who is a prominent critic of Israel, wrote in The New York Times last week, for either [Fatah of Hamas] Qto accept Israel as a Jewish state would legitimize the Zionist enterprise that brought about their tragedy. It would render the Palestinian national struggle at best meaningless, at worst criminal.Q Thus, the only possible purpose of the Obama initiative will be to attempt again to bludgeon Israel into making concessions to Palestinians that are uninterested in peace.... Far from serving as a warning to the White House to tread carefully in the future when it comes to Israel or the Jews, Mary Robinson's medal may turn out instead to be a trial run for far worse outrages yet to come from this president. MORENO