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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 001237 
 
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.  Lebanese-Syrian Track 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media cited, and Ha'aretz bannered, Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice's comment to ABC News in 
London Tuesday: "There is evidence that Islamic Jihad, 
headquartered in Syria, was in fact involved with the 
planning of those attacks in Tel Aviv.  And so the 
Syrians have a lot to answer for."  Citing AP, Ha'aretz 
reported that in Budapest on Tuesday, FM Silvan Shalom 
ruled out the possibility of an Israeli military strike 
against Syria in the aftermath of Friday's bombing. 
Leading media cited remarks made by Syrian President 
Bashar Assad to Time Magazine, that the Syrian troops 
will leave Lebanon in a few months. 
 
Ha'aretz says that Secretary Rice was "evasive" at the 
London Meeting on Supporting the Palestinian Authority, 
when asked about whether the Israelis and Palestinians 
are already involved in the road map's first phase. 
She was quoted as saying: "We are trying to lay a 
foundation for a successful movement through the road 
map to a two-state solution."  Israel Radio reported 
that at the conference, the donor countries promised to 
give the Palestinians USD 1.25 billion, and quoted 
Secretary Rice as saying last night that Washington 
 
SIPDIS 
will do everything possible to bring peace to the 
Middle East and that it is willing to send a mission to 
supervise the reforms in the PA. Ha'aretz quoted senior 
British sources as saying Tuesday they do not accept PM 
Sharon's position that the Palestinians must fulfill a 
series of obligations before implementation of the road 
map can begin.  Leading media say that the GOI 
reiterates that there will be no progress in the 
diplomatic process as long as the PA does not act 
against terror and dismantle the terrorist 
infrastructure.  Israel Radio quoted Vice PM Ehud 
Olmert as saying that the London conference was a 
"missed effort" because it supported the Palestinians 
without their having to cope with terror.  However, the 
station cited Sharon's bureau as saying that Israel 
welcomes any international effort that would help the 
Palestinians build institutions that will allow orderly 
government. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday, Sharon informed 
the chairman of the Likud Central Committee, Tzachi 
Hanegbi, that he accepts the compromise that Hanegbi 
proposed on the matter of a national referendum on the 
disengagement plan, which the committee will vote on 
tomorrow in Tel Aviv.  According to the compromise, the 
committee will call on members of the Likud faction in 
the Knesset to take steps for the immediate 
promulgation of a referendum law, something Sharon 
objects to vigorously.  Ha'aretz quoted Sharon 
associates as saying Tuesday that Sharon's willingness 
to compromise is based on the facts that the proposal 
does not have a majority in the Knesset, and that he 
sees no point to any unnecessary conflict.  However, 
Yediot quoted Sharon aides as saying last night that 
the PM had not changed his mind. 
 
Maariv led with the meeting that was held Tuesday 
between officials from the Council of Jewish 
Settlements in the Territories and Internal Security 
Minister Gideon Ezra.  The settler leadership said no 
violence would be used against the police and IDF 
troops who were sent to evacuate the settlers in the 
Gaza Strip and northern West Bank, but insisted on 
their right to resist and to demonstrate.  Yediot led 
with the contention of police station commanders that 
they will "collapse" during the disengagement move -- a 
claim denied by Minister Gideon Ezra on Israel Radio 
this morning.  Yediot and Jerusalem Post quoted Shin 
Bet officials as saying Tuesday that the security 
service has undercover agents in the far Right. 
 
Leading media quoted Disengagement Administration head 
Yonatan Bassi as saying before the Knesset's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday that some 800 of 
1,700 families living in the Katif Bloc and northern 
West Bank have already expressed willingness in 
principle to leave their homes under the disengagement 
plan and negotiate financial compensation.  Bassi said 
that he believed that 600 of the remaining 900 families 
would begin negotiating in the months before the 
disengagement is set to begin.  The media quoted right- 
wing Knesset members as saying that Bassi is distorting 
facts, lying, and conducting psychological warfare. 
 
All media reported that Islamic Jihad terrorists in 
Jenin planned a series of attacks on Israeli targets, 
including the firing of rockets at the city of Afula 
and a shooting attack inside a Jerusalem school.  The 
attacks were foiled by Israeli security forces before 
they could advance beyond the planning stage.  The 
details of the planned attacks came to light during the 
interrogation of Jibril Zubeidi, an Islamic Jihad 
operative in Jenin and the brother of the Al Aqsa 
Martyrs Brigades commander in Jenin, Zacharia Zubeidi. 
Jibril Zubeidi was arrested on December 30.   Ha'aretz 
quoted central activists from Islamic Jihad in the 
territories as saying that the group is beset by 
internal strife, as even key leaders of Islamic Jihad 
only knew about the Tel Aviv attack after the fact. 
 
Israel Radio reported that last night, security forces 
uncovered a Hamas weapons factory in Jenin that 
manufactured Qassam rockets.  The station reported on 
an increased state of alert in Jerusalem this 
afternoon, following information about a would-be 
suicide bomber. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Vice Premier Shimon Peres as 
saying that Israel's plan to withdraw from the Gaza 
Strip is boosting investment and tourism, and that it 
may push 2005 economic growth in Israel as high as 6 
percent two years after the country emerged from 
recession. 
 
Maariv banners the government's negotiations with the 
Shas party, 29 days before the deadline for the final 
Knesset vote on the 2005 state budget. 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶1.  Lebanese-Syrian Track: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
Golan Heights remain a 'deposit' for a future peace 
agreement, in which the final border between Israel and 
Syria will be determined and the two states will have 
normal relations. That would be Israel's contribution 
to the new order in the north." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Refreshing Scenes in Beirut" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
2): "The fall of the Lebanese government in the wake of 
mass protest demonstrations against the ongoing Syrian 
occupation was a refreshing surprise. Israel cannot be 
indifferent to the developments in the region, which 
could have an enormous influence on its national 
security.  The developments over the northern border 
oblige Jerusalem to reconsider its policy of many years 
that silently agrees to Syrian control of Lebanon.... 
Bashar Assad's regime suffers from internal weakness 
and external isolation in terms of both the U.S. and 
Europe. Israel need not rescue it in its difficult 
hour.  But Israel must make clear that its refusal to 
speak with an isolated, collapsing government that has 
allied itself with the elements most hostile to Israel 
-- Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinian rejectionist 
front -- is not just an excuse to freeze the peace 
process and annex territories.  The Golan Heights 
remain a 'deposit' for a future peace agreement, in 
which the final border between Israel and Syria will be 
determined and the two states will have normal 
relations. That would be Israel's contribution to the 
new order in the north." 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the 
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "If Sharon wishes for political life in a new 
term, he and all his supporters should seek other 
political options.  There are very few grains left in 
the Likud's hourglass." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Control by the Likud Central Committee" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the 
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (March 2): "This week, the Likud Central 
Committee will convene.  A large majority, with or 
without [a] compromise, will likely support the notion 
of a referendum before the evacuation of settlements. 
When Sharon receives the results of their vote, he will 
send away the messenger, as if he were a bothering 
fly.... If Sharon wishes for political life in a new 
term, he and all his supporters should seek other 
political options.  There are very few grains left in 
the Likud's hourglass.... The end of Sharon's political 
life in the Likud apparently is only a matter of time. 
It is not politics, and certainly not the dream of 
Greater Israel, that are being debated.  It is the 
disrespect and the intolerable humiliation.  The 
[Likud] Central Committee members won't forgive him." 
 
KURTZER