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P 230547Z OCT 09
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel
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Key stories in the media:
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HaQaretz reported that yesterday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
reported to President Barack Obama that the U.S. has made little
progress in its efforts to renew stalled peace talks between Israel
and the Palestinians. Clinton met with Obama to submit an interim
report on the status of U.S. peacemaking efforts. U.S. Special Envoy
to Middle East Peace George Mitchell also participated in the
meeting. HaQaretz quoted an administration official as saying that
during the meeting, Clinton advised the President that challenges
remain before the negotiations could resume. The official was
quoted as saying that the Palestinians have strengthened their
security efforts, while the Israelis have expressed a willingness to
curtail settlement activity. But the official said that both sides
need to do more for the process to move forward. Following the
meeting, the White House urged Israel and the Palestinians to do
more to open the way to renewed peace negotiations. HaQaretz
quoted the White House as saying that Mitchell will visit Israel
next week, in his latest attempt to relaunch peace negotiations
between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel Radio quoted Mitchell
as saying yesterday in a lecture he delivered in Maine that it is
too soon to brand his efforts to resume peace talks between Israeli
and Palestinian leaders a failure. The administration's current
efforts in the Mideast are "as difficult and complex as everyone
told me it would be," Mitchell was quoted as saying. "But we are
determined to stay the course ... until the job is done."
Meanwhile, PM Benjamin Netanyahu's representatives at talks in
Washington, Mike Herzog and Yitzhak Molcho, returned to Israel on
Wednesday after more than a week of discussions with Mitchell and
his advisers. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was also in
Washington for talks with American officials. Molcho briefed
Netanyahu and other cabinet members on the discussions held in
Washington. HaQaretz quoted a Jerusalem source as saying that gaps
still exist between the Israeli and Palestinian positions and also
between the American and Palestinian sides that are preventing peace
talks from resuming. The source added that conditions are not ripe
for renewed negotiations at this time. Yediot quoted a White House
source as saying that the resumption of negotiations is not near.
HaQaretz reported that yesterday the White House called on Israel to
take significant steps to freeze settlements -- and on the
Palestinians to take significant steps to cease incitement and stop
terror.
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Jurist Richard Goldstone
challenged the U.S. to justify its claims that the findings in a
U.N. report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes, and possible
crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead were flawed and
biased. The Jerusalem Post also reported that yesterday the
chairman of the International Institute for Criminal Investigation,
William Schabas, warned that PM NetanyahuQs plan to change the laws
of war was unrealistic. He was quoted as saying that the initiative
was Qalmost an admissionQ Israel had violated international law
during Operation Cast Lead.
Major media reported that yesterday DM Ehud Barak broke IsraelQs
official silence on a draft plan to ship one load of Iranian uranium
abroad for enrichment, saying that there was a need to halt all
uranium enrichment on Iranian soil. Barak said that the proposal
will only delay the Iranian nuclear program by a year. HaQaretz
reported that a senior European Union official told Israeli
officials this week that Israel is not privy to the details of the
exchanges between Iran and the Western countries regarding its
nuclear program. "You do not understand the extent to which you are
not in the picture. You do not know how much you do not know and
what is happening in Iran," he was quoted as saying. Accordingly,
HaQaretz reported that a number of senior Israeli officials backed
the European official's statements by saying that the release of the
draft of an agreement with Iran caught Israel by surprise. However,
a senior official in the U.S. administration told HaQaretz yesterday
that from the minute the talks began on a deal over the uranium
enrichment program of Iran, Israel was updated on every detail by
the U.S., and was given detailed reports on the talks with the
Iranians and the ongoing dialogue on a nearly daily basis. The
Prime Minister's Bureau refused to comment. HaQaretz reported that
yesterday Iran denied the newspaperQs report about Israeli-Iranian
nuclear talks.
The Jerusalem Post quoted U.S. and Israeli military officials as
saying during a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday that the
major Juniper Cobra exercise -- which is widely covered by many
media -- bears no relation to current events. Channel 10-TV termed
the exercise very successful.
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Kadima chair and former
FM Tzipi Livni denied warning the Palestinian Authority not to
accept OlmertQs peace offer. Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel
Martin Indyk had suggested this on Monday. Martin Indyk was also
quoted as saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that
Israel-Turkey relations could be headed for a breakup.
The media reported on a possible first government coalition crisis:
DM Barak opposes Justice Minister Yaakov NeQemanQs proposal to split
the attorney generalQs functions into two positions.
Yediot published the results of a Mina/Zemach/Dahaf poll showing
IsraelisQ voting intentions Qwere elections held todayQ (in Knesset
seats): Likud: 33; Kadima: 28; Yisrael Beiteinu: 12; Shas: 11;
Labor: 7; Meretz: 6.
--------------------------------
Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel:
--------------------------------
Block Quotes:
-------------
I. QStand with Us
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (10/23): Q[The] underinformed world is
asking why the Palestinians should have to pay for EuropeQs crimes
by ceding territory to the Jews. However inadvertently, Obama gave
weight to this misrepresentation in his speech to the Muslim world
in Cairo, by linking AmericaQs support with Israel with the
persecution of the Jews in exile down the centuries, culminating in
the Holocaust, and failing to mention our connection to this land.
Now, more than at any time in recent years, Israel looks to what has
starkly become its only mighty ally, and especially to Obama, to
help correct the damage -- to highlight IsraelQs fundamental
legitimacy.
II. QThe Capitulation Agreement
Former Deputy Defense Minister Dr. Ephraim Sneh (who spent most of
his political life in the Labor Party) wrote in the
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/23): QCrippling
sanctions that Secretary of State Clinton talked about cannot be
expected. Iran cheaply acquired the freedom to continue its actions
-- in terror, violence, the oppression of its people, building its
missile capability and its secretive development of nuclear weapons.
We must quickly build the capability needed to thwart the Iranian
nuclear threat when the deception plan is uncovered, sooner or
later.
CUNNINGHAM