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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001125 
 
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.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported on, and Maariv bannered, an 
"inciting gathering" held last night in Jerusalem by 
the "hard-core, extremist opponents to disengagement" 
(according to Ha'aretz, members of the messianic 
faction of the Chabad-Lubavitch group), under the 
slogan: "Arik Sharon, you are bringing a holocaust upon 
us."  A sign read: "Despite attempts to limit the 
quantity of weapons and ammo, each settlement has more 
weapons and ammo than the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto 
insurrection had."  Aryeh Bibi, who led the police in 
the 1982 Yamit pullout, told Jerusalem Post: "The 
security forces need to prepare themselves for all 
worst-case scenarios that might erupt during the 
evacuation.  The police have hard days before them and 
they had better prepare accordingly."  Ha'aretz 
reported that Justice Minister Tzipi Livni will ask the 
cabinet at its weekly meeting on Sunday to establish a 
new unit in her ministry to deal with incitement, 
sedition, and violence related to the disengagement 
plan.  Livni told Ha'aretz: "The threat is not confined 
to implementing the disengagement; the rule of law 
itself is now at stake."  Hatzofe bannered: "Sharon's 
Dictatorship: Thought Police For 'War on Incitement.'" 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli defense sources as saying that 
the Palestinian security services have recently located 
and sealed 12 arms-smuggling tunnels along the 
Philadelphi route, on the Gazan-Egyptian border.  The 
newspaper cites the IDF's satisfaction over the 
Palestinian efforts, which were ordered by PA Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas.  Ha'aretz says that at the same time, 
however, the Palestinian successes have strengthened 
the long-standing opinion in Israel's defense 
establishment that the arms-smuggling tunnels depend on 
the PA's tacit cooperation for their existence.  Israel 
Radio reported that eight Damascus-based leaders of 
Palestinian opposition factions have been invited to 
Cairo in early March.  The radio quoted the head of 
Hamas' Damascus bureau, Musa Abu Marzouk as saying that 
the talks would center on the truce with Israel and on 
reforms in the Palestinian Authority.  The radio quoted 
Hamas leader Hassan Yousef as saying that there would 
be no formal truce unless Israel frees more prisoners 
and pulls back more troops. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning IDF forces 
captured three Palestinian activists who tried to 
infiltrate Israel from the Gaza Strip.  One of them was 
wounded.  The radio also reported that two mortar 
shells were launched at Israeli settlements. 
 
Yediot reported that the IDF will replace reserve 
soldiers on guard duty at settlements with civilian 
guards. 
 
Leading media (banner in Jerusalem Post) reported that 
President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin 
agreed on Thursday in Bratislava that Iran should not 
be permitted to obtain nuclear weapons and pledged to 
combat the proliferation of missile technology. 
However, the media note that the U.S. and Russia remain 
at odds over how to prevent Tehran from achieving 
nuclear weapons capability. 
 
Yediot reported that Tunisian President Zine El Abidine 
Ben Ali has invited Sharon to the World Summit on the 
Information Society, and that Sharon intends to accept 
the invitation.  The newspaper reported that the first 
commercial flight from Israel to the Tunisian resort 
island of Jerba will take place in May. 
 
All media reported that on Thursday, the Palestinian 
Legislative Council approved PM Ahmed Qurei's cabinet 
following a complicated, five-week-long process. 
Seventeen of the government's twenty-four members are 
new.  Ha'aretz reported that FM Silvan Shalom praised 
the appointment of the cabinet as a "positive step," 
but said he would withhold final judgment until the 
Palestinian government's approach to militant groups 
becomes clear.  Maariv reported that Vice Premier 
Shimon Peres congratulated Qurei and PA Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas over the formation of the cabinet. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Arieh Sintronovich, chairman of 
the northern West Bank settlement of Mevo Dotan, as 
saying he is convinced that 90 percent of the residents 
of his community want to be compensated and evacuated 
from the territories.  Mevo Dotan is not one of the 
West Bank settlements to be evacuated under the 
disengagement plan. 
 
Leading media cited an announcement by the Syrian 
government Thursday that Damascus was ready to work 
with the UN to implement Security Council Resolution 
1559 demanding a full withdrawal of its 14,000 troops 
from Lebanon.  No date was given.  Israel Radio cited 
Israel's satisfaction over the announcement, and quoted 
GOI sources as saying that Israel supports the 
implementation of Resolution 1559, including the 
disarming of Hizbullah. 
 
Leading media reported that Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz ordered senior defense officials on Sunday to 
prepare a shortened timetable for implementing the 
disengagement plan, saying, "Eight weeks is too long." 
Yediot revealed that the GOI is planning a building 
boom in the West Bank, including authorizing 120 
illegal outposts that the U.S. demands that Israel 
dismantle.  Ha'aretz reported that the heads of the Nir 
Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba (next to Hebron) told settler 
leaders on Thursday that their yeshiva will soon move 
to Sa-Nur, one of the four northern West Bank 
settlements slated to be evacuated under the 
disengagement plan. 
 
Hatzofe reported that Palestinian incitement has 
decreased in the media, but that it has remained the 
same in the mosques. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that Brian Avery, an 
American activist in the International Solidarity 
Movement (ISM), who was wounded in the face by gunfire 
in Jenin in April 2003, arrived in Israel on Thursday 
to submit a High Court petition demanding that the 
Israeli military authorities investigate the incident. 
 
In an account of her second visit to the Guantanamo Bay 
detention facility in a year and a half, Yediot 
Washington correspondent Orly Azolai presents cases of 
alleged abuse. 
 
Yediot reported that the U.S. Embassy to Israel will 
make it easier for Israelis to obtain U.S. visas: 
during the coming two months, applicants will be able 
to come to the Embassy on their own, not only through 
travel agencies.  Maariv cited a press release issued 
by the U.S. Embassy on Thursday: "Beat the peak-season 
rush; apply early for nonimmigrant visas to the U.S." 
 
Yediot reported that for the first time, Jewish and 
Christian groups in ten countries, including the U.S., 
will celebrate an "International Israel Day" on 
Israel's Independence Day [May 12]. 
 
Leading media note that PM Sharon will turn 77 on 
Sunday. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[In Brussels,] 
Bush spoke of the importance of territorial contiguity 
for Palestinians in the West Bank.... Bush's words are 
at odds with Sharon's map of the [West Bank separation] 
fence in Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim." 
Diplomatic correspondent Alexander Maistrovoy wrote in 
popular, pluralist Russian-language Novosty Nedely: 
"Israel will most likely have to accept the peace 
parameters proposed by the U.S., which would 
nonetheless be much more favorable than before, since 
they would include the neutralization of Syria, 
Hizbullah, and Hamas." 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Bush's Contiguity" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (February 25): "[In 
Brussels,] Bush spoke of the importance of territorial 
contiguity for Palestinians in the West Bank.  'A state 
of scattered territories will not work,' he said.  His 
speechwriters sought to correct remarks made by 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the Senate, who 
 
SIPDIS 
spoke of 'Palestinian contiguity,' without offering 
details.  Her statement raised a wave of criticism from 
the American Jewish right: if Palestine is contiguous, 
and the West Bank is linked to Gaza, then Israel will 
be split into parts.  Bush was compelled to explain 
that this was not the intention.  Bush's words are at 
odds with Sharon's map of the [West Bank separation] 
fence in Ariel and Ma'aleh Adumim.  The two largest 
settlements are also 'contiguity breakers' between 
parts of the West Bank, which is why the Americans were 
against having them included within the confines of the 
fence.  Officials in Sharon's office insist that the 
route was presented to the Americans last summer, and 
was accepted without comment.  The Foreign Ministry 
believes that the argument is far from over." 
 
II.  "The White House's 'New Course'" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Alexander Maistrovoy wrote in 
popular, pluralist Russian-language Novosty Nedely 
(February 25): "The President of the U.S. has said that 
achieving peace in [the Middle East] ranks first among 
the United States' priorities worldwide.  This new ... 
course of the White House marks a significant departure 
from George W. Bush's previous term in office.... The 
latest Bush speech, it would seem, marks a turning 
point in U.S. foreign policy.  From now on the Israeli- 
Palestinian conflict takes top priority in the United 
States' strategy, and its resolution is a primary task. 
... Like every president, George Bush is trying to use 
his second term to realize his vision for the balance 
of power in the world.  Creating a new Middle East has 
become Bush's enormous task after 9/11; he will fully 
devote his attention to it during the next four years. 
According to President Bush and his advisors, the 
Middle East has to reinvent itself, from a hotbed for 
despotic regimes, corruption, and Islamic fanaticism, 
into if not an oasis of democracy, at least a stable 
region with predictable ... pro-Western regimes and 
comparatively friendly populations.  The feasibility of 
this task is another question, but it is well known 
that the more difficult a task, the more attractive it 
is.... The White House believes that in the event of 
success with both the Iraqi experiment and the 
Palestinian one, a new dynamic will appear in the 
Middle East and change the face of the region.... 
Clearly, the U.S. will insist on the establishment of a 
sustainable Palestinian state ... and strive for the 
final resolution of the conflict.... Israel will most 
likely have to accept the peace parameters proposed by 
the U.S., which would nonetheless be much more 
favorable than before, since they would include the 
neutralization of Syria, Hizbullah, and Hamas." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Underpinning that 
premature hysteria of 10 days ago [when a mysterious 
detonation occurred near the Bushehr nuclear reactor] 
is the fact that there is only one answer to the 
question of whether Israel is reconciled to a nuclear 
Iran.  And the answer is no." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Iran: The Moment of Truth" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (February 25): "For a few 
frenzied hours on February 16, TV news shows worldwide 
carried hysterical reports of an apparent attack on an 
Iranian nuclear facility, with speculation focusing 
primarily on the U.S. and secondarily on Israel as the 
responsible party.  Only hours earlier, Foreign 
Minister Silvan Shalom had asserted that Tehran would 
have the know-how to build a nuclear bomb within six 
months.  Within a very short time, the reports were 
being corrected.... The panic, plainly, was over. 
Except that the panic isn't over.  It was merely 
premature.  The moment of truth hasn't yet arrived. 
But it's not far off now.... Under the outdated 1960s 
rules on non-proliferation, nations can legitimately 
get exceptionally close to nuclear arms -- three weeks 
to three months from the bomb.  That's where Japan is 
right now.... Iran is the most dangerous beneficiary of 
this untenable state of affairs.... Iran is clearly not 
solely an Israeli problem, and Israel can derive no 
benefit from expropriating it.  The fact is that if 
Iran goes nuclear, the Middle East goes nuclear because 
other countries jump in.  The 1960s nuclear order goes 
down the tubes altogether and the world becomes a 
hugely more dangerous place.... Underpinning that 
premature hysteria of 10 days ago is the fact that 
there is only one answer to the question of whether 
Israel is reconciled to a nuclear Iran.  And the answer 
is no." 
 
KURTZER