ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002643 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. U.S. Foreign Policy -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Leading media reported that settlers are preparing for a heated confrontation with security services over the construction freeze in West Bank settlements. For the first time, settlers are seeking to organize demonstrations and block roads in several Israeli communities within the Green Line. Over the weekend the media quoted settler leaders as saying that they have to come out in force against PM Benjamin NetanyahuQs QWhite Paper,Q comparing his policy with that of the British authorities that limited Jewish building in Mandate-era Palestine. Yesterday morning, the residents of the veteran settlement of Kedumim demonstrated the force being used in the campaign against the freeze. Major media reported that officials from hesder yeshivas (which combine religious studies and military service) have vowed to fight the IDFQs attempt to cut ties with the Har Bracha Yeshiva (near Nablus),whose head, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, has called on soldiers to refuse to act against settlers and settlements. The media reported that Netanyahu is trying to minimize opposition within Likud to the construction freeze. Yesterday Maariv reported that the Israeli defense establishment is considering bolstering the security detail around Netanyahu due to the settlersQ protests. The Jerusalem Post reported that Likud Knesset Member ZeQev Elkin told the newspaper yesterday that the moratorium could cost the state half a billion shekels (around $125 million). The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that Israel is pressing E.U. ministers to reject a Swedish draft text calling for East Jerusalem to become the capital of a future Palestinian state. Leading media quoted Al Jazeera-TV as saying last night that the German mediator in the negotiations for the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit is en-route to Tel Aviv with Hamas' response to the latest Israeli offer. Reports in the Arab press over the last few days indicate that there are still significant differences between the Israeli and Palestinian positions on a possible swap, making it unlikely that Hamas will accept the Israeli offer. According to HaQaretz, the mediator is pressing both sides to reach an agreement quickly. Arab media reports have said Hamas and Israel expect the negotiations to be completed by the end of the month, and the prevailing assessment in Israel is that it will take at least another few weeks to finalize the deal. HaQaretz reported that PM Netanyahu has been consulting with only a few advisers about the deal, making it difficult to get an accurate picture of how it is progressing. Meanwhile, HaQaretz reported that Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar told the newspaper yesterday that reports in the Arab press that four French doctors visited Shalit were inaccurate. (The reports had presented the alleged visit to Shalit by the doctors as a confidence building measure by Hamas.) However, an Egyptian source said yesterday that French doctors had traveled from Egypt to Gaza. The source said they went to Gaza to provide surgical care and would not confirm reports that they saw Shalit. The media reported that on Thursday President Obama again delayed the moving of the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. All media reported that yesterday cabinet ministers unanimously approved the appointment of Attorney Yehuda Weinstein as the countryQs next attorney general. Weinstein will begin preparing for his new role in about two weeks and will formally take over from current Attorney General Menachem Mazuz on February 1. Media reported that Mazuz and State Prosecutor Moshe Lador have begun discussions on whether to indict Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on charges which include accepting bribes and laundering money. Media reported that LiebermanQs indictment is expected before Mazuz leaves office. HaQaretz reported that the State Prosecutor's Office never responded to some 400 High Court petitions filed by Palestinians seeking to save their West Bank homes from demolition orders -- which means the homes cannot be demolished -- according to a report released yesterday by the Regavim advocacy group. The homes were classified by the state as being illegally built. In an unrelated matter, Yediot and other media reported that right-wing activists are suspected of setting fire to a Palestinian house in a village near Nablus. Yesterday IDF Radio reported that Palestinian terrorists in Gaza have begun launching Russian-made S-5K rockets at southern Israel. Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that senior Israeli diplomatic officials cast doubt on an Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper story reporting that Turkey will resume mediating between Israel and Syria in the first half of 2010. HaQaretz (Hebrew Ed.) and Maariv led with the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit. Maariv is one of 56 newspapers from 45 countries that published a global editorial today on the summit. The media emphasized IsraelQs unsatisfactory record on the subject -- in particular its inaction on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. As IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi is embarking on a five-day tour of the Far East, The Jerusalem Post quoted an Israeli military source as saying that Israel is vital in helping New Delhi make a Qvery significant transition to Western technology. Yediot cited the Jewish-American communityQs anger over the White HouseQs inviting only 400 guests to its Hanukkah party, instead of the customary 800. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. QBibi, DonQt Give In The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/6): QThe cabinet resolution to freeze construction in the settlements has in hindsight proved to be a slapdash affair, drafted without a thorough examination of the difficulties involved in its implementation.... This is the time to tell Netanyahu: Bibi, don't give in. The Prime Minister's willingness to take a political risk and go head-to-head with his own supporters to advance Israel's foreign-policy interests was a correct, albeit small and hesitant, step on the road to realizing his vision of Qtwo states for two peoples.Q He must not be deterred by settler protests and pressure from Likud ministers. Further development of the settlements is damaging and unnecessary. Even if Netanyahu is halting it in order to pacify U.S. President Barack Obama, it is important that he stick to his decision and not water it down. Netanyahu is correct in demanding that the settlers limit their protest to legal means and respect the decision of an elected government. He must serve as an example to the settlers and not deviate from his own decision by making sure that any new construction in the settlements is halted. Moreover, he must tirelessly continue his efforts to renew the peace process with the Palestinians. II. QThis Time, the Government Means It Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in HaQaretz (12/7): QQOne thing, at least, is emphatically different this time from all the previous rounds,Q said an Israel Defense Forces officer who has been intimately involved with the situation in the West Bank for over a decade. QThe political echelon has finally stopped winking. This is the first time we're receiving clear, detailed instructions on how to deal with building in the settlements,Q he said. QNo one is trying to cut corners -- instructions were given and we're operating according to them.Q If he is right, the inevitable consequence will be a more heated, potentially violent conflict between security services and settlers.... The past week's events represented some interesting phenomena: 1) The army is taking a tougher tone.... 2) U.S. President Barack Obama has united the settlers.... 3) The past few months, in which the Government delayed responding to pressure from Washington, gave the settlers time to organize. III. QA Step of Sobriety Dov Weisglass, who was former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's top diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/7): QWhat is missing in the decision on the construction freeze? It lacks real ability to affect what is happening. It will not lead to a real stop of construction in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank], except for a brief time span, and will not bring about a change in the diplomatic environment. The Palestinians do not view it as a reason to renew negotiations and the international community, so it would appear, was not overly impressed by the Israeli initiative. The Quartet refused to congratulate it and the U.S. and the other major countries of the world do not intend to declare that in the wake of this initiative the Palestinians are called upon to return to the negotiating table.... In this context, there is great sense in the contention of the settlers that the freeze is unnecessarily oppressive: they are being harmed, but [the freeze] is bringing no benefit.... The continuation of Israeli construction throughout the Judea and Samaria territories erodes IsraelQs main diplomatic asset -- its special relationship with the United States.... What Sharon understood, and Olmert after him, is now becoming apparent to the current government: good or bad, just or unjust, that is the reality. No one in the world agrees to IsraelQs presence in a majority of the Judea and Samaria territories and the continued construction there. Israeli persistence will bring upon its diplomatic isolation and this is something that Israel cannot afford. The freeze plan is an attempt to avoid this. It is not important in and of itself, but as a first sign of a process of understanding and sobriety it is highly meaningful. IV. QEurope Divides Jerusalem Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (12/7): QAfter a long period of frustration, Abu Mazen finally has an international diplomatic achievement: apparently, the Israeli-Palestinian battle over the E.U. Council of Foreign Ministers in Brussels today will end with a clear Palestinian victory. A final draft of the agreement, which reached Jerusalem yesterday, indicates that the Palestinians will receive an unprecedented European statement. Late last night, a draft was passed that will evidently serve as the basis for today's resolution. Barring any last-minute changes, it will include the following principles: Europe calls for the establishment of an independent, democratic, and contiguous Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be the capital of both states. All settlement activity must be stopped, including in East Jerusalem and natural growth. The European Union will recognize no changes in the 1967 borders unless both sides agree to them. Regarding the decision for a temporary construction freeze, the European statement will include a sentence along these lines: The council views the decision for a temporary and partial construction freeze positively, as a first step. Jerusalem officials expressed disappointment over the fact that the United States did not involve itself with the Europeans in any real sense and that the frantic telephone campaign that the Prime Minister himself conducted over the past several days was fruitless. Diplomatic officials in Jerusalem are angry mainly with Sweden, calling it Qthe most sanctimonious and hypocritical capital in Europe.Q As far as the Israeli Foreign Ministry is concerned, Great Britain's conduct was also disappointing. QLondon's positions are disappointing,Q a high-ranking diplomatic official said. QIt is cooperating with Israel on the Iranian subject, but when it comes to the Palestinians, it takes a hostile line. ¶V. QBack to a Confederation -- There Is No Other Choice Settler leader Emuna Elon wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/6): QJust as there is no one who is indifferent to Gilad [ShalitQs] fate, there is no one, not even on the most extreme fringes of the right wing, who wants a binational state. That said, one doesn't necessarily have to establish a Palestinian state that is led by Hamas in the center of the Land of Israel, and one doesn't necessarily have to commit suicide. Contrary to the incessant brainwashing campaign of fear, it could very well be that strengthening Jewish settlement in the entire area between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea could be just what is needed to make it clear to our enemies that we have returned to our land with the goal of staying in it -- and by so doing also to provide a countering force against terrorism and to tempt the Palestinians, sooner or later, to examine new solutions. The Land of Israel is probably bi-national by nature and partitioning it by means of any fence is not going to change that. Arabs will always be here, but by annexing the Arabs of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] into a Jordan-Palestinian confederation and rehabilitating the residents of the refugee camps, Israel can still maintain its Jewish majority. Instead of establishing a Palestinian state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, we can establish for ourselves a safer future. VI. QThe Silence of the Left Left-wing contributor Niva Lanir wrote in HaQaretz (12/7): QThe Left has not survived the Qwar of attritionQ it has waged since 1968. Its claim that its positions won the day does not hold water. It doesn't matter who is more left-wing, be it [KadimaQs] Ehud Olmert or [MeretzQs] Haim Oron or [the Labor PartQs] Yuli Tamir. What matters is whether there is a decision. And it has yet to be made. Until there is an agreement stipulating two states for two peoples, there are no winners. Not the Left, not Israel, and not the Palestinians. In the meantime, what we have is something that may yet endure. Maybe it is an examination. Perhaps the removal of outposts. Maybe a settlement freeze. Perhaps a jumpstart of settlement construction. Maybe a process. All of these represent a huge question mark -- which way will Netanyahu and Barak turn at the crossroads? Toward two states or toward a bi-national state? In the fourth quarter of the game, the left is floundering on the sidelines. What a pity that it is not summoning what is left of its strength in order to call on the Israeli Government and the Palestinians (yes, also the Palestinians) to return to negotiations. These are our lives and theirs as well. Does anyone else have a better option? -------------- ¶2. U.S. Foreign Policy: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- QObamaQs March of Folly Avraham Ben-Zvi, visiting Professor of Political Science at Haifa University and an expert in U.S.-Israel relations, wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/6): QJanuary 20 will mark the anniversary of ObamaQs swearing-in. As far as the [American] foreign affairs and defense policy are concerned, a gloomy and worrisome picture is emerging. Like the modus operandi of a previous Democratic president, Lyndon Johnson, one gets the impression that Barack Obama also feels at ease with an exclusive arena -- the domestic one.... For instance, we are witnessing the complete, painful collapse of the strategy of soft, appeasing talk against the Iranian threat.... Regarding the war in Afghanistan, it appears that ObamaQs America has not learned all the lessons of its involvement in the Vietnamese quagmire or the Iraqi valley of tears.... A scent of amateurism and lack of sufficient awareness of the social, political, ideological, tribal, regional, and national contexts arises from the way Obama handles Afghanistan and other crisis zones. When this amateurism goes hand in hand with a narrow technocratic approach that believes in engineered and short-lived solutions to problems absolutely, in total opposition to the world of American values -- chances are great that the current march of folly will lead ObamaQs America straight into the heart of a new darkness. CUNNINGHAM