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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001397 
 
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 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Leading media (banner in Maariv) cited a U.S. 
administration warning regarding the findings of the 
Sasson report on illegal outposts, which says that 
successive Israeli governments have violated the law 
over the past 12 years.  Maariv quoted Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice as saying, following her meeting 
with FM Silvan Shalom Tuesday, that it is not possible 
to constantly recall the Palestinians' commitments to 
dismantle the infrastructure of terror, and that Israel 
must abide by its own commitments and evacuate the 
illegal settlements.   Israel Radio reported that 
Secretary Rice told FM Shalom that Israel must respect 
 
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the commitments it made at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit. 
Jerusalem Post quoted a Shalom spokesman as saying that 
Secretary Rice did not mention the Sasson report. 
 
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Shalom told Israel Radio that Israel has already 
dismantled dozens of outposts and that it is in the 
process of completing the process.  Ha'aretz recalls 
that at their last meeting, Secretary Rice told senior 
Sharon adviser Dov Weisglass that President Bush 
expects Jerusalem to take immediate action based on the 
conclusions and recommendations of the report. 
Ha'aretz reported that Shalom asked Secretary Rice that 
there be no shift in the West's stance, and that she 
agreed.  Ha'aretz also reported that Shalom raised anew 
Israel's request to cancel the American travel advisory 
warning U.S. citizens not to travel to Israel, and that 
Secretary Rice responded that her department would 
 
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consider ways to do so. 
 
Major media (lead story in Ha'aretz) reported that PA 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz 
reached an agreement last night on the handover of 
security responsibility in Jericho and Tulkarm to the 
Palestinians in a few days.  Abbas said the PA expects 
that the area to be handed over will include the 
outlying villages around the cities, and not just the 
cities.  Mofaz said that the negotiations between the 
sides must proceed cautiously and "step by step," with 
the security of Israel's citizens "the uppermost 
priority for us."  He demanded that the Palestinians 
take more action to disarm the terror groups and arrest 
activists.  Israel Radio quoted Jibril Rajoub, the 
security adviser to Abbas, as saying that all the 
Palestinian factions have agreed to a total cessation 
of attacks both inside and beyond the Green Line, that 
Hamas will participate in this summer's Palestinian 
Legislative Council (PLC) elections, that Hamas is 
prepared to integrate the PLO, and that the ball now is 
in the Israeli court.  The radio says that Rajoub's 
message to Israel is that it has a partner.  Ha'aretz 
quoted Abbas as saying Tuesday that the Palestinians 
would only carry out security reforms if there is 
progress toward establishing a Palestinian state. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Mofaz will visit Cairo on 
Thursday upon the invitation of Egyptian President 
Hosni Mubarak. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that four "rebel" Likud MKs in the 
Knesset's Finance Committee may vote in favor of the 
budget in the committee vote next week if their demands 
for additional funding for their pet projects are met - 
- and if they do so, it will remove the last obstacle 
to passing the budget through the committee.  For its 
part, Yediot reported that the group intends to vote in 
favor of the budget at the committee, but focus their 
opposition in the plenum vote in late March. The 
newspaper, which quoted Sharon associates as saying 
that Shinui will vote in favor of the budget in the 
plenum vote in order to bring about the implementation 
of disengagement, cited a denial by senior Shinui 
members.  Jerusalem Post and other media reported that 
the Likud has already begun preparing for elections 
that would be held automatically if the budget does not 
pass by March 31.  Yediot bannered, and Israel Radio 
cited, a harsh verbal attack made Tuesday on PM Sharon 
by Shas party mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.  Rabbi Yosef 
said that Sharon was "cruel" and "wicked," and 
expressed his wish that Sharon receive a blow from God 
and die.  Rabbi Yosef's comments came after a meeting 
with the settler rabbis who criticized the 
disengagement plan.  On the other hand, Rabbi Yosef 
refused to endorse a national referendum on 
disengagement.  Maariv quoted Finance Minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu as saying Tuesday that the Likud could split 
if such a referendum not take place. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon as 
saying Tuesday at a conference on Low-Intensity Warfare 
that the new Palestinian leadership has made the 
decision not to use terrorism as a "political tool," 
but that the PA must also reinforce the concept of one 
rule in the territories.  Jerusalem Post quoted him as 
saying at the same venue that Israel intends to phase 
out all Palestinian laborers within the next three 
years "because of what has happened here in the last 
four and a half years." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Ambassador Dan Kurtzer has 
conveyed a message to the Foreign Ministry asking 
Israel to stop making statements about the withdrawal 
of Syrian forces from Lebanon.  The newspaper says that 
FM Shalom turned such a demand into the centerpiece of 
his latest visit to the U.S. and that Washington 
believes that such comments are detrimental to American 
interests in the region.   Similarly, Ha'aretz cited 
the United States' displeasure with reports that Israel 
is demanding that the U.S. and Europe not reduce their 
pressure for a complete withdrawal of both Syrian 
forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. 
All media reported on, and Jerusalem Post led with, a 
demonstration attended by hundreds of thousands of 
Lebanese in downtown Beirut Tuesday, in an overwhelming 
show of power and support for Syria.  The media 
highlighted a speech Hizbullah leader Sheikh Nasrallah 
made at the rally, in which he blasted Israel and the 
U.S.  Leading media quoted President Bush as saying 
Tuesday: "Freedom will prevail in Lebanon." 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. security envoy Lt. 
Gen. William Ward, accompanied by a staff of nearly two 
dozen, is expected to arrive within a week to begin 
helping the PA reorganize its security apparatus. 
 
Jerusalem Post cited the satisfaction of Israeli and 
Jewish circles over President Bush's appointment Monday 
of U/S John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the UN. 
 
Former PM Ehud Barak was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Jerusalem Post that if the security 
fence is not built around the settlement blocs soon, 
Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim, and the Etzion Bloc could end up 
outside the country's final borders. 
 
Israel Radio reported that security forces have defused 
an explosive charge in Rafah, along the border with 
Egypt.  The radio also reported that a Qassam rocket 
was launched at the Gaza Strip settlement of Gadid. 
There were no casualties. 
 
A senior PA security official was quoted as saying in 
an interview with Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the PA 
has decided to impose restrictions on preachers who 
deliver Friday sermons in West Bank and Gaza mosques. 
Under the new restrictions, preachers would not be able 
to deliver sermons that have not been authorized by the 
PA, in an effort to curb incitement. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday, the Fraud Squad 
questioned the deputy to the CEO and the man in charge 
of international private banking at Bank Hapoalim 
regarding the alleged money-laundering affair.  Leading 
media reported that a senior official or even the head 
of a CIS state (according to Israel Radio, possibly a 
minister in Kazakhstan), may have maintained an account 
at the bank for the purpose of laundering funds. 
 
Maariv published the results of a Kan/Bar-Ilan 
University poll conducted among 16- to 18-year-olds: 
-48 percent say they are right wing; 18 percent say 
they are left wing; 14 percent identify with the 
political center. 
-20 percent of the youngsters (13 percent of the 
secular ones and 36 percent of the religious ones) say 
they will refuse to evacuate settlements. 
-42 percent (42 percent of the secular ones and 29 
percent of the religious ones) do not want to serve in 
the territories. 
 
 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "Since 1992, when Yitzhak 
Rabin came to power, a black market in settlement 
outposts has developed in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the 
West Bank].... Ariel Sharon is the first prime minister 
who decided to expose these things." 
 
Labor Party Knesset Member Prof. Yuli Tamir, one of the 
founders of Peace Now, wrote in Maariv: "What, of all 
the things discussed by the report [on illegal settler 
outpost], did Sharon not know?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If Bush sticks to 
his line ... Israel will be required to leave the West 
Bank and Golan Heights.  The settlers understand this 
and presumably so does Sharon." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left 
Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in Ha'aretz: 
"The [separation] fence will never be completed, 
because even after its construction is finished, it 
will perpetuate the policy of annexation, usurpation 
and severance." 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yigal Sarna opined in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Palestine is 
another planet about whose real life 99 percent of 
Israelis know nothing about." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "End to Trailer Rule" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 9): "The Sasson 
report was described Tuesday in Jerusalem as 'one of 
the most important state documents written in the past 
decade.'  [Its author] Talia Sasson dismantled the 
Israeli banana republic, one banana after another. 
Since 1992, when Yitzhak Rabin came to power, a black 
market in settlement outposts has developed in Judea 
and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] -- a diverse, 
sophisticated, covert and efficient industry, financed 
by the same government that is supposed to prevent 
it.... It can be said, and rightfully so, that Ariel 
Sharon was the originator and founder of this 
operation.... On the other hand, Ariel Sharon is the 
first prime minister who decided to expose these 
things.  To anchor them in a special government 
document.  To mark them.  To show them to the world. 
If this is not a sign that the man has changed his 
path, there will be no other signs.... Now the ball is 
in the political court.... The settlers will yet lament 
the strategic historical error that drove them to stick 
to every settlement outpost, to fight for every 
trailer, to bring upon themselves the Sasson report and 
disengagement, instead of going for a compromise with 
Sharon when it was still possible, to evacuate the 
settlement outposts willingly and agree to the 
evacuation of three or four settlements in the Gaza 
Strip.   Now all that is history.  As is the Sasson 
report." 
 
II.  "The Real Culprit" 
 
Labor Party Knesset Member Prof. Yuli Tamir, one of the 
founders of Peace Now, wrote in Maariv (March 9): "The 
Sasson report is no more than confirmation of what we 
already knew.  The Israeli government, knowingly and 
deliberately, finances lawbreakers and generously 
extends to them the economic support that it denies to 
young couples, terminal patients and senior 
citizens.... Only a public that is totally captivated 
by the charm of disengagement is willing to look aside, 
and relieve the real culprits of accountability.... 
What, of all the things discussed by the report, did 
Sharon not know?  Did he not know that the illegal 
settlement outposts were flourishing?  Did he not know 
that the Jewish Agency's Settlement Division was 
misusing its power and betraying the trust of the 
Jewish people by supporting the establishment of 
illegal settlement outposts, in contravention of U.S. 
law?.... Did he not fund, as housing minister, the 
employment of the engineers and architects who planned 
the construction?  Was he not, in every public position 
he filled, at the forefront of the settlement activity 
in the territories?  In a well-ordered country, the 
State Attorney's Office would be investigating the main 
culprit -- the prime minister.  In Israel, the prime 
minister requests an objective report, comes out 
sharply against himself and searches for culprits.... 
The settlements have exploited the State of Israel, 
under Sharon's sponsorship and with his permission. 
The public should decide who is accountable for this. 
Let us hope it is not an unfortunate clerk who did not 
hear that the prime minister suddenly changed his 
tune." 
 
III.  "What's the Choice?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 9): "The 
Israeli right suffers from selective hearing.  Its 
people cheer when Bush calls for democracy in the Arab 
world or a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.  They ignore 
all the clauses about Israel, even when Bush declares a 
solution to the Israel-Palestinian dispute as the most 
burning issue on the international agenda.  They prefer 
not to hear that.  They forget that Israel is part of 
the Middle East, and that it also has to do its part to 
reshape it.... If Bush sticks to his line, and the 
regimes around Israel line up with the Americans and go 
through changes, Israel will be required to leave the 
West Bank and Golan Heights.  The settlers understand 
this and presumably so does Sharon, even when he turns 
right, like he did last week, promising that [the West 
Bank settlements of] Hebron, Beit El and Shiloh will 
remain in Israel's hands.  After all, just three years 
ago he was saying the exact same thing about Netzarim 
[in the Gaza Strip]." 
 
IV.  "The Fence Will Never Be Completed" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left 
Palestinian sympathizer Amira Hass opined in Ha'aretz 
(March 9): "The construction of the separation fence is 
being carried out in the language of control that has 
evolved here since 1947, and has not been altered even 
in the years of the political negotiations at the end 
of the 20th century.  In Israeli propaganda, Israel is 
the attacked victim, and therefore may do anything to 
protect itself.  There is no correlation between the 
subjective feeling of the victim and Israel's objective 
-- military -- power and strong international status. 
The fence's route -- with or without the High Court's 
kosher stamp -- clearly promotes the intentions to 
annex Palestinian land.  These intentions were not 
stopped in 1994, with the Oslo Accords, but 
accelerated.... The constructed fence is continuing in 
its energetic destruction, but the fence will never be 
completed, because even after its construction is 
finished, it will perpetuate the policy of annexation, 
usurpation and severance." 
 
¶V.  "The Elephant and the Cat" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yigal Sarna opined in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 9): 
"Those who tour the territories ... can understand that 
Israel is one-hundredfold stronger than the 
Palestinians, with enough military power to vanquish 
eight Palestines.... Those who tour the territories 
without official escorts understand the deceit behind 
Mofaz's descriptions of the Palestinian Authority as 
cunning, strong ... plotting, and in control of the 
situation and of a Palestinian nation that 
mischievously refuses to grant us a proper response to 
our painful concessions.... Palestine is another planet 
about whose real life 99 percent of Israelis know 
nothing about.... Israelis do not want to know about 
... a huge prison where even the safety and stability 
of a normal jail do not apply.... Israelis do not want 
to know that the army prevents even passable 
Palestinian government -- a government that does not 
rule by itself and does not assume any 
responsibility.... Its elected chairman, who is devoid 
of authority ... quite flimsily rules under Shin Bet 
supervision." 
 
KURTZER