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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------
1. Tony Blairs' Mission
2. Syria
-------------------------
Key Stories in the Media:
-------------------------
Ha'aretz reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made a new offer
to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: both parties would
negotiate an "agreement of principles" for the establishment of a
Palestinian state on most of the territory of the West Bank and Gaza
(90%). Two other major points of the proposal are an exchange of
territory so that the large settlements blocks stay in Israel and
construction of a tunnel connecting Gaza and the West Bank. The PM
believes there is no point in discussing yet the critical issues of
final borders, Jerusalem, and refugees.
Israel Radio quoted a statement released by the State Department
that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to the region
next week and that she is expected to visit Israel and the PA.
The media reported that PM Olmert met Quartet Special Envoy Tony
Blair on Wednesday. Olmert told Blair that Israel will ease
restrictions in the West Bank in order to allow Palestinians greater
freedom of movement.
Leading media reported that Blair also met with Palestinian figures
on Tuesday. PA President Abbas was reported to have told Blair that
it is time to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and achieve a
two-state solution.
All media noted that Jordanian Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib
and Egyptian Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit arrived in Israel on
Wednesday. Israel Radio reported that in their meeting with
President Shimon Peres the two said that they are reaching out for
peace in the name of all the countries in the region. They were also
reported as saying that they hope Israel will respond positively to
the Arab peace initiative.
Ha'aretz cited IDF intelligence officers as saying to the
Ministerial Forum on the Northern Front that Syria has no intentions
to attack Israel.
Leading media reported that an Israeli attempt to kill a senior
Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza failed on Tuesday.
Ha'aretz reported that right-wing settlers will try to build a new
outpost on the Eitam Hill near Efrat in Gush Etzion. The police and
IDF forces will try to prevent this.
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that dozens of students from a-Najah
University in Nablus were injured yesterday in clashes between Hamas
and Fatah supporters at the university. One sustained critical
injuries.
Leading media reported that the Winograd Committee intends to
examine suspicions raised a few months ago by International Amnesty
that the IDF used cluster bombs during the Second Lebanon War.
All media reported that after the Histadrut labor union and Finance
Ministry representatives failed yesterday to reach a breakthrough in
negotiations, the Histadrut declared a general strike on Wednesday.
The airport is not yet on strike but could shut down on Thursday.
------------------------
1. Tony Blairs' Mission:
------------------------
Summary:
--------
The popular, pluralist Maariv published a letter written by Former
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon to the Quartet special envoy to the
Middle East, Tony Blair: "Your defined task is to deal with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but make no mistake, it is not the
most important conflict at present. The most important conflict is
between Jihadist Islam and the West. Jihadist Islam cannot be
defeated without defeating the regimes and organizations that
support and feed it, and their ideology."
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Israel must
not miss the offered opportunity: the appointment of a friendly
leader who has proven his support for Israel during difficult times,
as the representative of the international community in the
region.... Now is an opportune moment for diplomacy following years
of confrontation and impasse"
Block Quotes:
-------------
I. "A Letter to Tony Blair"
The popular, pluralist Maariv published a letter written by Former
IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon to the Quartet special envoy to the
Middle East, Tony Blair (07/25): "I deeply appreciate your
willingness to enlist to help solve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, which is more than 100 years old.... As someone who read
and listened to the statements you made as the prime minister of
Britain, I am afraid that you too are going to fail unless you are
capable of shedding the accepted but completely irrelevant
perceptions about this conflict. I heard you say on numerous
occasions that the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
was a condition for stabilizing the Middle East.... Many people in
Israel too (including in the political echelon) do not understand
that the governing conflict in the region is not territorial but
ideological in nature, and one does not defeat an ideology by means
of concessions.... What, then, would I suggest be done? I would
suggest forgetting about pressuring Israel, which would look, on the
face of things, to be a short-range achievement, and to try to help
and to persuade the Palestinians to adopt a long-term strategy that
principally involves an educational, political and economic reform
that might facilitate the creation of a civil society that
sanctifies life rather than death, that holds dear human rights and
liberties, that develops a middle class and not a corrupt and
wealthy elite.... Your defined task is to deal with the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but make no mistake, it is not the
most important conflict at present. The most important conflict is
between Jihadist Islam and the West. Jihadist Islam cannot be
defeated without defeating the regimes and organizations that
support and feed it, and their ideology.... With your status, with
your experience and with your liberation from politics and mainly
from political correctness, you can contribute to all that."
II. "Help Blair Help Us"
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (07/25): "Tony
Blair, who began his mission to the area this week, has
international standing and extensive political experience. But he
will also require the goodwill of his Quartet bosses -- U.S.
President George W. Bush first and foremost -- and of the Israeli
government and Palestinian Authority to succeed in his mission to
ready the Palestinians for independent statehood. Israel must not
miss the offered opportunity: the appointment of a friendly leader
who has proven his support for Israel during difficult times, as the
representative of the international community in the region.... Now
is an opportune moment for diplomacy following years of
confrontation and impasse ... President Bush wants to help, and so
do the leaders of Egypt and Jordan; and diplomatic progress will
bolster Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's political position and
stabilize his hold on power. Blair's mission is a reflection of the
international community's interest in solving the conflict. In such
promising circumstances, Israel must take the initiative and stand
at the head of efforts to bolster the Fatah government in the West
Bank and renew negotiations for a final-status agreement.... During
the past year and a half, the international Quartet has stood firm
on Israel's side versus the Hamas government.... Contrary to all
earlier expectations, the international community maintained its
internal unity and did not falter in its stance. Now that the
Abbas-Fayad government has been stabilized in the West Bank, and
Blair's mission has begun, it is Israel's turn to contribute its
part."
---------
2. Syria:
---------
Summary:
--------
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz: "To weaken the front against him, Bush aspires to release
Syrian President Bashar Assad from Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's embrace. A signal from Assad about a less
anti-American policy will find an ear in Washington, in the spirit
of the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report last fall."
Block Quotes:
-------------
"Free Assad"
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning
Ha'aretz (07/25): "To weaken the front against him, Bush aspires to
release Syrian President Bashar Assad from Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's embrace. A signal from Assad about a less
anti-American policy will find an ear in Washington, in the spirit
of the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton report last fall. It
could be that a real renewal of a Jerusalem-Washington-Damascus
dialogue will come only after the stabilization of new
administrations in Israel and America. An especially intriguing
possibility would be a Clinton-Assad-Barak trio, with Hillary
instead of Bill, Bashar instead of Hafez and the new Ehud, an
embodiment of the old Ehud. But even during the period the Bush
administration has left, it is worth relating to the messages being
exchanged in the American-Syrian channel not as expressions of rigid
hostility, but as bargaining positions."
CRETZ