ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002670 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.-Israel Relations ¶3. Afghanistan -------------- Key stories in the media: -------------- Major media reported that the QGolan Heights and Jerusalem Referendum BillQ is expected to return to the Knesset plenum for a key vote, after a late-night decision Tuesday by the Ministerial Committee for Legislation ensured coalition support for the controversial bill. The bill, which would require a majority vote to approve any withdrawal from East Jerusalem or the Golan - areas that are under Israeli sovereignty - passed its first reading during the previous Knesset session and was supposed to be submitted for its second and third readings on the first day of the winter session of the last Knesset, but the elections intervened. When the Knesset reconvened in the spring, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted to revive the bill, but the bill's progress was blocked when Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor appealed the ministerial committee's previous decision to support the legislation. Meridor complained that the law would tie the hands of the government in future peace negotiations, saying in the appeal that the bill would "add a harmful and unnecessary burden to Israel, which will be seen as mounting obstacles against any possible peace agreement." Last night the committee ruled by a vote of 5-2 to reject Meridor's appeal. Leading media reported that yesterday, shortly after European Union ministers announced their support for the division of Jerusalem between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the State Department issued a statement saying that the fate of Jerusalem should only be determined by Israel and the Palestinians in talks. "Our position on Jerusalem is clear. United States policy remains unaffected and unchanged: as has been stated by every previous administration which addressed this issue, the status of Jerusalem and all other permanent status issues must be resolved by the parties through negotiations," the statement read. The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued an official response to the E.U. statement, saying that the "European Union ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a resolution between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinian refusal to return to the negotiating table." "Given the Israeli government's efforts to renew the negotiations, Israel regrets that the E.U. has chosen to adopt a text that, although containing nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations," the statement continued. "In light of the extreme draft originally presented by the Swedish presidency at the start of discussions, Israel does welcome the fact that at the end of the process the voices of the responsible and reasonable E.U. states prevailed, balancing and improving the text. We also welcome the recognition given to the measures and efforts taken by Israel to enable the resumption of negotiations," it went on to say. "We expect the E.U. to act to promote direct negotiations between the parties, while considering Israel's security needs and understanding that Israel's Jewish character must be preserved in any future agreement," concluded the statement. HaQaretz quoted Foreign Ministry officials as saying unofficially that Sweden, which holds the E.U.'s rotating presidency, had failed. "The peace process in the Middle East is not like IKEA furniture," one official was quoted as saying, making a reference to the do-it-yourself Swedish furniture chain. "It takes more than a screw and a hammer, it takes a true understanding of the constraints and sensitivities of both sides, and in that Sweden failed miserably." The Jerusalem Post cited Israeli diplomatic officialsQ feeling of relief following the E.U. statement, although Jerusalem publicly Qtook pains not to claim any type of victory.Q Meanwhile, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also issued a statement, saying that he "completely rejects the decision of the E.U. to support the division of Jerusalem," calling it a real danger for the future of Jerusalem and predicting that such a division would never work. HaQaretz reported that Jordanian FM Nasser Judeh, however, welcomed the E.U. foreign ministers' statement as an "extremely important attitude." . Leading media reported that today a massive right-wing demonstration against settlement freeze -- sponsored by the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories -- is expected to take place outside the PMQs residence in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Peace Now held a rally outside IDF General Staff Headquarters, in support of the settlement freeze. Israel Radio reported that Peace Now presented data produced by the GOIQs Central Bureau of Statistics that show that even during this period, construction in settlements is more massive than within the Green Line. The Jerusalem Post reported that top U.S. officials pressed Saudi FM Saud al-Faisal to support Palestinians in holding peace talks with Israel, during the FMQs visit to the State Department on Monday. The Jerusalem Post quoted hard-line Likud Knesset Member Benny Begin as saying that President ObamaQs stance on settlements is more problematic than that of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. HaQaretz reported that Egypt has begun the construction of a massive iron wall along its border with Gaza in a bid to shut down smuggling tunnels into the territory. The newspaper quoted Egyptian sources as saying that the wall will be nine to ten km. long and will reach twenty to thirty meters into the ground. It will be impossible to cut or melt. The new plan is the latest move by Egypt to step up its counter-smuggling efforts. Although some progress had been made, the smuggling market in Gaza still flourishes. The media quoted Khaled Mashal, the head of HamasQ political bureau, as saying yesterday in Yemen that PM Netanyahu bears responsibility for the fact that the prisoner swap between the sides has not yet been carried out. In a different development, The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF Home Front Command is preparing for the possibility that Hamas will fire missiles up to a range of 80 km. from Gaza in the event of a future conflict with Israel. In an interview with Israel Radio this morning, FM Avigdor Lieberman said that he favors the resumption of negotiations with Syria without preconditions and that his party, Yisrael Beiteinu, will vote for the QJerusalem-Golan ReferendumQ bill. Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Jewish and non-Jewish Qpro-peaceQ groups have established a coalition. Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) is the latest to call for a Justice Department investigation into whether Viva Palestina USA, a pro-Palestinian group, has been raising money on college campuses for Hamas. Channel 10-TV reported last night that Kadima leader Tzipi Livni agreed to cede to the Palestinians some 92.7% of the West Bank during negotiations she held as foreign minister with Palestinian Authority negotiator Ahmed Qurei in 2008. According to a report on the negotiations Livni conducted from the end of 2007 to the end of 2008, Livni would also have given the Palestinians some 3% of land in various parts of Israel as compensation for the 7.3% of the West Bank that Israel would retain. In her plan, the Jordan Valley would be given up, but Ariel would remain part of Israel, connected to the Green Line by a thin corridor. While her offer was more generous than what former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians at Camp David in 2000, it fell short of what then-PM Ehud Olmert offered PA President Mahmoud Abbas in talks he held even as Livni was negotiating with Qurei. Under Olmert's plan, the Palestinians would receive 94.5% of the territory. According to the Channel 10-TV report, the Palestinians put forth a proposal of their own, under which they would receive 98.1% of the territory. HaQaretz and other media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon as saying that Turkish forces have prevented a Hizbullah attack on an undisclosed Israeli target in their country. In a meeting with Turkish journalists, Ayalon thanked Turkey earlier this week for the successful operation and the bilateral cooperation. According to defense sources, the attack was meant to avenge the killing of senior Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah -- who died in a car bombing in Damascus in February 2008. The organization sees Israel as responsible for the assassination. The planned attack in Turkey was exposed over a month ago, with Turkish media publishing a warning issued by the local police's senior command to its officers to take steps to prevent a Hizbullah attack on American and Israeli targets. Turkish reports said Hizbullah had set up a network of Iranian agents posing as tourists in Istanbul, with the cooperation of Iranian security agencies. -------------- ¶1. Mideast: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- ¶I. QOne Chain of Command The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/9): QIt appears Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi lost his patience this week after the incitement by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the head of the Har Bracha hesder yeshiva. Ashkenazi took the uncharacteristic step of recommending to Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the yeshiva be removed from the hesder arrangement, in which religious studies are combined with military service. Ashkenazi is right. Melamed permits himself to excoriate the IDF, both orally and in writing, to dismiss the authority of its commanders and to call on his students to disobey orders. The Defense Minister is loath to take the Chief of Staff's advice.... That is a mistake. The government must not give in to those who do not accept its authority, particularly if certain rabbis threaten that their students will not enlist in the army. The more the state ignores the incitement in the hesder yeshivas, the more it allows it to grow.... About two weeks ago, at the annual memorial for David and Paula Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no place for refusal, there are no ideological factions in the IDF,s and there is a single chain of command. The Chief of Staff's recommendation puts that declaration to the test. II. QA Story Foretold Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/9): QSomeone in Jerusalem or Washington has decided to make the [Jewish] residents of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] crazy, pinch their nerves, and -- perhaps -- break them.... If, in a future agreement with the Palestinians, the sides jointly decide to evacuate settlements in Judea and Samaria, Israel has already proved -- not long ago -- that it can carry out an evacuation in a matter of one to three days. If it is ordained (some will add: God forbid) that one of the settlements should be sacrificed on the altar of peace, we should treat this as a temporary grief ... that should not wrack the settlersQ nerves. Looking at the wasted energies on both sides is ridiculous -- one more trailer, one more wall, one more porch. Enough! IsnQt there anything else to do? III. QTalk WonQt Help Liberal columnist Gideon Samet, who was Consul-General in Philadelphia, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (12/9): QYesterday the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union was about to call for the recognition of Palestine in the Q67 borders and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the new entity The United States will not be able to prevent the transformation [of the European initiative] into an international fact, even it vetoes such a resolution proposal at the Security Council. Washington lost much of its leadership ability following shuttle diplomacy that ended in a whimper Q a temporary settlement freeze. The new reality is not a recent phenomenon. It results from a flawed or intentionally obstructive management of the negotiating instruments by Israelis and Palestinians for too long -- and also by the Americans, despite routine calls to Qgo back on track. IV. QThe Swedish Initiative as Metaphor Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the bitterlemons family of Internet publications and former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/9): QWhat does Netanyahu expect? Basically, the [Swedish] proposal [on Jerusalem] reiterated known European and international positions. And Israel's recent behavior in Jerusalem -- the disastrous house expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah, excavations at Silwan/City of David and expansion into disputed territory at Gilo -- essentially invites a reprimand. Still, there is little likelihood of real European pressure on Israel. The E.U. has limited clout as a diplomatic player in the Arab-Israel conflict. Conceivably, that situation may soon change, with the advent of an E.U. president and foreign minister. But for the moment, we simply don't know to what extent this new system will enable the union of 27 European states to better formulate and implement a foreign policy. Meanwhile, we recall that last July, outgoing E.U. foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana proposed that the U.N. plan unilaterally to create and recognize a Palestinian state -- seemingly a much more far-reaching initiative -- without generating more than an international yawn. ¶V. QSuspend Your Zionism Settler leader Yisrael Medad wrote in The Jerusalem Post (12/9): QWhile I can comprehend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's concern for what he considers more primary national interests than keeping his electoral platform promises to those who voted for him regarding the continuation of the Jewish return to the national homeland, his recent decisions are quite incomprehensible. To think that even the opposition leader, Kadima chairwoman Knesset Member Tzipi Livni, can justifiably criticize him from a right-wing perspective says much about Netanyahu's policies.... In essence, Netanyahu's government is inadequately dealing with the internal-social front, the economic front, and the diplomatic-security front. Our Prime Minister is asking us to suspend our Zionism, suspend our natural logic, and suspend our economic personal freedoms for quirky political behavior that will last 10 months -- after which all will revert to normal: normal growth, normal development, normal security. This is truly a matter of suspended belief. -------------- ¶2. U.S.-Israel Relations: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- QBirds of a Feather Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, left-leaning HaQaretz (12/9): QWhen the two leaders met in Jerusalem during Obama's presidential campaign, he told Netanyahu that people saw them as strongly ideological, but they were in fact both pragmatists. He was right. Despite all the disagreement and public tension between then, Netanyahu and Obama are alike in terms of their leadership styles.... But the big question remains: what will Netanyahu do when push comes to shove on going to war against Iran? Will he avoid taking action and explain that the Qnational interest requires him to sit tight, or will he lead like Obama -- who captivated with his statements about the QgoodQ war in Afghanistan -- and embark on a military adventure to make good on his promise Qto prevent a second Holocaust?Q The like-minded leader in the Oval Office can be an example in both directions. -------------- ¶3. Afghanistan: -------------- Block Quotes: -------------- QChinese (Indian, and Russian) Wisdom Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/9): QOne cannot ignore ChinaQs interest in the stability of its neighbors. Afghanistan is part of western ChinaQs vital security.... ChinaQs diplomatic recipe is the golden path -- the United States had better focus on it. Resolving the Kashmir conflict is the key to stability in Afghanistan, which will cease being the playground of India and Pakistan. Instead of insisting on useless war games, the Americans should lever their influence in India and Pakistan in order to return them to peace negotiations. Beyond increasing the number of troops, President Obama should strive for a comprehensive agreement in Afghanistan. This would mean enlisting the neighboring countries to promote a national reconciliation agreement that would include all parties: the government, the Taliban, and the war barons. CUNNINGHAM