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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 000839 
 
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 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen) vowed to take action against any future 
Palestinian cease-fire violation after Palestinians 
fired more than 40 shells at the Gush Katif settlements 
in the Gaza Strip Thursday.  The media reported that 
Abbas dismissed dozens of senior security officers in 
the Gaza Strip Thursday.  The radio reported that on 
Thursday, the U.S. announced its support for Abbas's 
efforts to put an end to terror, and that the officers' 
sacking is a sign of Abbas's determination to respect 
his commitments.  Maariv and other media reported that 
recalling the commitments made at the Sharm el-Sheikh 
summit, top Sharon aide Dov Weisglass conveyed messages 
to U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer, Egypt's intelligence 
chief Omar Suleiman, and PA Negotiations Minister Saeb 
Erekat that Israel will not tolerate further shelling 
on Israeli communities.  Yediot cited Shin Bet sources 
as saying that while Israel may take off its hat to 
Abbas, it should not bow its head to him. 
 
All media quoted PM Sharon as saying Thursday in a 
Likud forum: "Whoever supports a national referendum is 
against withdrawal from Gaza; he is against 
disengagement.  I want to tell you there will be no 
referendum."  Sharon cited the diplomatic advantages 
Israel gained from the disengagement plan, and 
criticized attacks on IDF officers and government staff 
by right-wing activists.  All media (banner in Yediot) 
reported that last night a "handful of extremists" who 
do not reside in the community attacked Finance 
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu during a wedding party in 
the Chabad-Lubavitch movement-affiliated village of 
Kfar Chabad (inside the Green Line).  Ha'aretz reported 
that on Thursday, heads of Likud branches in the 
country initiated an ultimatum against party "rebels," 
who they said could bring about the Likud's fall from 
power. 
 
Danny Ayalon, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., and 
Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of America's Union for 
Reform Judaism, were quoted as saying Thursday in 
separate interviews with Jerusalem Post that Israel 
might lose ground in Washington if it carried out a 
disengagement referendum that would delay 
implementation of the plan. 
 
Maariv reported that Abbas demands that Israel release 
1,200 Palestinian prisoners in administrative 
detention, who do not "have blood on their hands."  The 
newspaper also reported that the PA hands out monthly 
payments to Israeli Arabs who were jailed for security 
offenses. 
 
Featuring William E. Ward, the new U.S. security 
coordinator, Ha'aretz says that his mission will be 
similar "in a smaller-scale version" to what he did in 
Serbia.  Yediot Washington correspondent Orly Azolai 
writes that Ward is not only an expert on terror, but 
also on mediation. 
 
Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted Rep. 
Tom Lantos, the senior Democrat on the House 
International Relations Committee, as saying Thursday 
at a hearing on Middle East peace prospects that he 
would condition U.S. aid to the Palestinians on oil- 
rich Arab "deadbeats" making good on their own promised 
contributions.  Former secretary of state Henry 
Kissinger was quoted as saying at the hearing: "I think 
it is reasonable that the surrounding Arab states that 
have resources should at least match U.S. support." 
Kissinger hailed the current opportunity in the Middle 
East, but said that attitudes and propaganda in Arab 
countries in the region pose an obstacle to a 
resolution of the conflict. 
 
Citing AP, Jerusalem Post quoted Syrian FM Farouk Shara 
as saying Thursday that Syria wants to convene a 
meeting of Israel's Arab neighbors for talks on the 
peace process. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Public Committee Against 
Torture in Israel has urged Sharon not to appoint Yuval 
Diskin as head of the Shin Bet, citing the fact that 
Diskin devised the idea of targeted killings. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that in a 
precedent-setting ruling Thursday, the High Court of 
Justice upheld a damages claim against the state from a 
Palestinian man, Azar Dabar, who was wounded in the 
first Intifada. 
 
Iraqi Deputy Interior Minister Adnan Asadi was quoted 
as saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that the 
reason for the killing of the two sons of Iraqi 
politician Mithal al-Alusi on Tuesday may have been al- 
Alusi's visit to Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an innovative new bandage, 
invented by an American-born Israeli combat medic 
adapting an improvised IDF field practice of placing a 
rock on a bandage to keep pressure on a wound, is 
saving the lives of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. 
 
A Maariv/Teleseker poll: 
-"Do you believe the Palestinian leadership will 
respect the commitments it proclaimed at Sharm el- 
Sheikh, including a serious struggle against terror?" 
Yes: 47 percent; no: 46 percent 
-"Will Israel respects the commitments it proclaimed at 
the summit, including the cessation of military 
activity in the territories?"  Yes: 78 percent; no: 17 
percent. 
-If a suicide bomber succeeds in carrying out an attack 
in the coming days, what should Israel do?"  It should 
not respond, but let the Palestinian leadership 
continue its fight against terror: 57 percent; it 
should cancel all of the summit's understandings, and 
resume full military activity: 34 percent. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "If 
Abbas remains armed only with flowery documents -- only 
with ink on his hands -- neither he nor his government 
will have a future." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz: "In the overall accounting, 
Israel can see the end of the present round of warfare 
as a victory, but it must remember that it did not 
defeat the Palestinian side." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The bombs 
are falling.... This has so far been the net 
achievement of the Sharm summit." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Ink on His Hands" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(February 11): "The goal of Abbas's policy is to entice 
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and their comrades in the 
rejectionist front to restrain themselves -- without 
confronting them, without arresting their members 
(other than temporarily detaining operatives and then 
releasing them) and without depriving them of their 
arms caches.  Abbas's idea is to present this restraint 
to the world, if it is achieved, as fulfillment of the 
Palestinian obligation to dismantle the terrorist 
infrastructure, which is dictated by the first stage of 
the road map.  American acceptance of this claim would 
shift the burden of road map implementation onto 
Israel.  The Americans did not make do with this. 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the 
 
SIPDIS 
appointment of an American 'security coordinator,' 
Lieutenant General William Ward.... Words are not 
enough. Abbas -- unlike his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, 
who sabotaged peace -- has thus far kept his hands 
clean of Israeli blood.  That is a necessary condition, 
but it is not sufficient.  If Abbas remains armed only 
with flowery documents -- only with ink on his hands -- 
neither he nor his government will have a future." 
 
II.  "A Victory Without Winners" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz (February 11): "The IDF is 
convinced that only military pressure and the 
achievements in preventing suicide terrorism caused the 
Palestinians to end the Intifada.  In the overall 
accounting, Israel can see the end of the present round 
of warfare as a victory, but it must remember that it 
did not defeat the Palestinian side.... The two nations 
have paid a high price in blood in the latest round of 
violence.  The chance for a total end to the conflict 
is not great, but there is a chance for a prolonged 
cease-fire.  Israel must carry out a comprehensive 
study of the mistakes made after the Oslo Accords, 
including a reexamination of criteria that were 
considered sacred.  In any case of violation of 
agreements, Israel must make sure that the blame does 
not fall on it.  The Palestinian public will also 
undergo a shake-up.  Among other things, there will 
definitely be more Hamas supporters becoming part of 
local government by means of the elections. Israel will 
find that confrontation between the extremist elements 
and the pragmatic elements among the Palestinians also 
depends on what Israel itself does." 
 
III.  "Bombs and Qassam Rockets on the Katif Bloc" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (February 
11): "It has suddenly started to turn out that the 2005 
summit could join the list of bygone summits in past 
years on which no superfluous hopes could be pinned. 
The shooting on the day following the meeting, as the 
members of the Israeli delegation were coming back 
home, does not presage anything good.... The Sharm el- 
Sheikh summit made no strides toward peace.... The 
shooting continues.  The bombs are falling.... This has 
so far been the net achievement of the Sharm summit." 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "If it works 
out that, as with North Korea, the U.S. has no plan to 
take effective action to stop Iran's nuclear program -- 
then Israel's policy imperatives will be radically 
altered.  Israel will have to act independently." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Iranian Intrigue" 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (February 11): 
"It is not easy to conflate the declared American 
policy of pursuing a diplomatic track that has no 
chance of succeeding with isolated indications that a 
completely opposite plan may be in the works.  If the 
Bush administration wishes to build an international 
coalition that would back a combined military and 
revolutionary offensive targeting the Iranian regime 
and its nuclear installations, it is hard to understand 
how Washington's current declared policy will effect 
such a result.  On the other hand, perhaps it doesn't 
matter.  If a U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran's 
installations came immediately before the instigation 
of a popular overthrow of the regime, who would be able 
to condemn the action?.... [Whatever the case may be], 
Israel's default position should be to use diplomacy to 
shame Europe into backing military action, Israel 
should fervently, loudly and publicly protest the 
appeasement policy adopted by Germany, France and 
Britain in the face of Iran's stated intention to 
annihilate the Jewish state with nuclear weapons.  But 
if it works out that, as with North Korea, the U.S. has 
no plan to take effective action to stop Iran's nuclear 
program -- then Israel's policy imperatives will be 
radically altered.  Israel will have to act 
independently.  For as is clear to every Israeli, 
Israel cannot abide a nuclear-armed Iran." 
 
KURTZER