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Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001446

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC FOR NEA STAFF

JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL
PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION


--------------------------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------

1. Mideast

2. Lebanon and Syria

3. Iran: Nuclear Program

-------------------------
Key stories in the media:
-------------------------

Maariv reported that associates of PM Sharon ordered
five different public opinion polls to try to predict
the results of elections held after a possible split in
the Likud: the results of the survey, allegedly
intended to frighten the Likud "rebels" so that they do
not topple the government by voting against the 2005
state budget, show that a Sharon-led party comprised of
disengagement supporters would garner 44 Knesset seats,
and that a Netanyahu-led party including opponents to
the disengagement would receive 21 seats. Jerusalem
Post quoted sources in the "rebels" as saying that
renegade Likud Knesset members have asked MKs who
intend to oppose the budget to tell Sharon that they
will vote in favor, in order to catch Sharon by
surprise and topple his government.

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The media (banner in Ha'aretz) reported that according
to a tentative understanding reached by Defense
Minister Shaul Mofaz and Egyptian President Hosni
Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh Thursday, the IDF is
preparing to evacuate the Philadelphi route, along the
Gazan-Egyptian border, sometime after the disengagement
from Gaza is completed. Leading media quoted Mofaz as
saying that despite Egyptian demands, the IDF would
continue to maintain control of the strategic corridor
until it was certain that the smuggling of weapons into
the Palestinian-controlled areas had ceased. Leading
media reported that the final details of the
arrangement are expected to be worked out at a meeting
between Israeli and Egyptian military officials. The
media quoted Mubarak's spokesman Suleiman Awad as
saying that the newly named Egyptian ambassador is to
arrive in Tel Aviv within a week (on Sunday, according
to some media).

Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan as
saying Thursday that the American view of Hizbullah has
not changed, after New York Times reported a
modification in Washington's policy. Ha'aretz cited a
similar remark by PDAS David Satterfield. All media
reported that in an overwhelming, vote (473 in favor, 8
against, and 33 abstentions), the European Parliament
decided Thursday to call on the European Council to
place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations.
The resolution is not binding on the EU, but the media
say it will influence Hizbullah's recruitment and
funding.

Ha'aretz quoted PDAS Satterfield as saying Thursday
that Israel has yet to live up to its promise to remove
illegal settler outposts. Leading media reported that
at Sunday's cabinet meeting, Sharon will propose that a
ministerial committee headed by Justice Minister Tzipi
Livni be set up to discuss the conclusions of the
Sasson report on illegal settler outposts. Leading
media cited a statement made Thursday by Education
Minister Limor Livnat (Likud) that outposts set up
before 2001 should not be dismantled, and that the
outpost issue should not come up for legislation.
Yediot quoted Labor MK Yuli Tamir as saying that the
committee will serve as an escape hatch for Sharon to
avoid making decisions and to continue funding
outposts.

Ha'aretz (Amos Harel) says that U.S. envoy Lt. Gen.
William Ward will keep a low profile during his mission
in the country, and that the level of protection around
him will be high, in light of the October 2003 attack
against a U.S. convoy in the Gaza Strip. The newspaper
quoted a senior European military officer who served
with Ward in Bosnia as saying that Ward left a marking
impression on him. Ha'aretz also reported that Israeli
and American officers shared a great deal of
information at this week's IDF-organized conference on
Low-Intensity Warfare.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is due to arrive
in the country on Sunday for the inauguration of a new
museum at Yad Vashem, was quoted as saying in an
exclusive interview with Yediot's Shimon Shiffer that
Syria must pull out its troops out from Lebanon, and
that Sharon's disengagement move, which will make
possible the establishment of a Palestinian state, had
constituted a surprise as he acts alone in opposition
to his party. Annan said that he is not ruling out the
possibility that one day Israel will be a member of the
Security Council, and that this depends on the progress
Israel achieves in resolving the conflict with the
Palestinians. The newspaper says that the interview is
an attempt by Annan to conciliate Israel over the
negative attitude it faces at the UN. Jerusalem Post
reported that Louise Arbor, the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, has told Minister-without-Portfolio
Natan Sharansky that she hopes that in the framework of
the new reforms being discussed in the UN, Israel will
receive more balanced treatment inside the world body,
especially in forums that deal with human rights.

Israel Radio reported that the police declared a high
state of alert this morning in Jerusalem following
warnings about a possible terror attack. The level of
alert has since decreased.
Yediot and Hatzofe reported on a warm encounter between
Vice Premier Shimon Peres and Algerian President
Abdelaziz Bouteflika at Madrid's international
conference on terrorism. Yediot reported that Peres
also met with Sudanese, Mauritanian, and Moroccan
leaders.

Lebanese-American Ziyad Abdelnour was quoted as saying
in an interview with Maariv that President Bush told
him that the U.S. would eventually crack the Syrian
"nut."

Israel Radio quoted Washington sources as saying that
the U.S. is prepared to change its policy vis-a-vis
Iran, by raising its international status and having
European countries agree to bring the nuclear issue to
the UN Security Council.

Asked by Jerusalem Post why the U.S. has decided to
send New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to next
week's dedication of Yad Vashem's new museum, the
spokesman of the U.S. Embassy to Israel warmly cited
New Yorkers' and Mayor Bloomberg's strong ties with
Israel. Ha'aretz also mentioned President Bush's
decision on the matter.

Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday, the U.S. House of
Representatives' International Relations Committee
authorized the transfer of USD 200 million in
assistance to the PA.

Ha'aretz reported that an explanatory kit on the
disengagement plan prepared by the IDF's Education
Corps points out that all settlements in the
territories are part of the historic continuum in the
Land of Israel (i.e. Israel, including the
territories). The kit makes no mention of the public
debate in Israel over the settlements and omits anti-
settlement groups such as Peace Now.

Yediot reported that a Baghdad Times correspondent will
arrive in Israel today for a 10-day stay, on which he
will report in his newspaper.

Yediot confirms the appointment of veteran journalist
Rafi Ginat as editor-in-chief of the newspaper. He
will enter his position at the end of April. The
newspaper says that Yoel Esteron, former deputy editor-
in-chief of Ha'aretz, was appointed deputy editor-in-
chief of Yediot in early January.

------------
1. Mideast:
------------

Summary:
--------
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning,
independent Ha'aretz: "Abu Mazen has already informed
the Americans that he is not the slightest bit
interested in any entity that mentions an interim
solution even by the merest implication."
Editor-in-Chief Lutfi Mashour wrote in weekly Arabic-
language Assennara: "The disengagement --withdrawal --
from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank is the
beginning of many other disengagements inside of
Israel."

Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "[President
Bush's resolve] will mean little if, when tested on the
frontlines of the battle between the forces of terror
and the forces of democracy in the PA and Lebanon, the
Bush administration allows the European obstructionists
and their terror allies to take the lead."

Block Quotes:
-------------

I. "They Don't Want Provisional"

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning,
independent Ha'aretz (March 10): "The main subject in
preliminary talks with American officials prior to Abu
Mazen's visit to the U.S., expected to occur within the
next two or three weeks, is President George W. Bush's
'vision'.... Abu Mazen has already informed the
Americans that he is not the slightest bit interested
in any entity that mentions an interim solution even by
the merest implication.... The provisional state suit
was tailored at the time to the measurements of Abu
Mazen and his ilk in order to bypass the Israeli
argument/excuse that as long as Yasser Arafat is alive
and kicking, there is no Palestinian partner for a
permanent status solution.... For Bush to manage to
realize his vision before he becomes a lame duck in his
last year at the White House, he has to change not only
the timetable of the road map but also Sharon's basic
perception that nothing is urgent and that negotiations
on a final status agreement can wait for generations to
come.... No one is more aware of the timetable than
[Bush] is and no on understands better than he that a
new president coming into the White House will start
everything all over again from square one.... According
to [a senior Israeli official], Secretary of State Rice
is not at all the same as national security advisor
Rice. Her milieu is now the Arab and European foreign
ministers, the UN and other international
organizations. As far as they are concerned, the
disengagement is nothing but a marginal introduction to
the elimination of an exhausting conflict."
II. "The Disengagement"
Editor-in-Chief Lutfi Mashour wrote in weekly Arabic-
language Assennara (February 18): "The disengagement --
withdrawal -- from the Gaza Strip and the northern West
Bank is the beginning of many other disengagements
inside of Israel -- 'disengagements' from 'many
occupations' that have neither limit nor retention.
The disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
won't be the toughest disengagement that Israel will
have to face in the future. Yes, building Israel
begins now. The government's policy regarding
'occupations' and 'settlements' is much more dangerous
to its entity than what the occupation and
disengagement we are facing now might do. The only
tests Israel will have to face are the coming internal
'disengagements,' of course, after the external
disengagements are completed."

III. "Don't Wobble, Mr. President"

Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 10):
"This week saw Pakistan admit that the father of its
nuclear program, A.Q. Khan, sold nuclear centrifuges to
Iran. It saw thousands of Pakistani women
demonstrating against tribal rapes. It saw thousands
of Kuwaiti women demonstrating for the right to vote.
And it saw Bush nominate John Bolton, one of the
strongest voices for moral clarity and firm action
against terrorists and their state sponsors in the
world, as U.S. ambassador to the UN. All of these
events are indicators of the power of presidential
resolve to change the world for the better while
successfully routing terrorists and the regimes that
sponsor them. Yet all of this will mean little if,
when tested on the frontlines of the battle between the
forces of terror and the forces of democracy in the PA
and Lebanon, the Bush administration allows the
European obstructionists and their terror allies to
take the lead."

----------------------
2. Lebanon and Syria:
----------------------

Summary:
--------

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "Tuesday's rally was a
blatant exhibition not of Assad's primacy but of
Nasrallah's. Hizbullah's strength, and the despicable
charisma of its leader, far from constituting Assad's
salvation, more likely signal his eclipse."
Block Quotes:
-------------

"The Eclipse of Assad"

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (March 10): "If Assad senior
was always said to have kept Hizbullah on a tight rein,
allowing it freedom of action only when he deemed the
moment right, what we have now is an unmistakable
instance of the tail wagging the dog. Indeed, at what
has been widely but inaccurately depicted as a
demonstration against pressure for Syria's military
departure from Lebanon, Nasrallah made no call for the
Syrians to stay and actually endorsed the 1989 Taif
accord -- which provides for the Syrian troops'
withdrawal. Watching from Jerusalem, it was
discomfiting, to put it mildly, to see the ease with
which Nasrallah whipped up his multitudes into a chorus
of anti-Israeli hatred. Plainly, Hizbullah's
determination, and capacity, to play a central role in
the struggle for power in Lebanon constitute a major
headache for Israel. Watching from Damascus, though,
should not have been a much happier experience -- if,
that is, Assad has the nous to recognize what is
transpiring. For Tuesday's rally was a blatant
exhibition not of Assad's primacy but of Nasrallah's.
Hizbullah's strength, and the despicable charisma of
its leader, far from constituting Assad's salvation,
more likely signal his eclipse."

--------------------------
3. Iran: Nuclear Program:
--------------------------

Summary:
--------

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz:
"From Israel's point of view, the political solution to
the Iranian nuclear problem is preferable. But Israel
must prepare the military option for itself, as well."

Block Quotes:
-------------

"How To Deter Iran"

Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz
(March 10): "Israel's deterrence must include several
layers of protection. It must try not to stand alone
against Iran, but to be part of a large organization.
In light of the nuclear developments in Iran, Israel
must give top priority to achieving a defense alliance
with the U. S.... From Israel's point of view, the
political solution to the Iranian nuclear problem is
preferable. But Israel must prepare the military
option for itself, as well. Such an option should be
developed quietly, and not with belligerent statements
and a show of strength, as is customary here from time
to time. In the military option, we have to build the
appropriate force, prepare the plans, and examine
methods of clandestine activity inside Iran, as well.
At the same time, we must not evade questions such as:
What can Israel gain from employing a military option,
and what will the Iranian response be."

KURTZER

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