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 002841 
 
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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Yediot reported that First Lady Laura Bush plans to 
make a six-day visit to Israel and other Middle East 
countries on May 19 in order to push the peace process 
forward. 
 
All media highlighted PM Sharon's address at the death 
camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau Thursday.  He said: "With 
all the desire to advance the peace process, we must 
always stand on guard and rely only on ourselves.  Jews 
can only rely on themselves."  Sharon also blasted the 
use of Holocaust symbols by those who object to the 
Gaza disengagement plan. 
 
The media reported that Qassam rockets and mortar 
shells were launched at Israeli targets Thursday and 
this morning.  One house was hit in Sderot.  Yediot 
reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has 
instructed a revision of Israel's self-restraint 
policy.  Ha'aretz reported that the IDF uncovered an 
eight-meter deep tunnel Thursday afternoon between 
Egypt and Israel, close to the town of Rafah. 
Jerusalem Post reported that the Karni goods crossing 
in the northern Gaza Strip was closed for several hours 
Thursday due to warnings that terrorists were planning 
an attack there. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Gush Katif (Katif Bloc) 
Council of Rabbis will release a letter in the next few 
days calling on area residents to refuse to sign a 
document to participate in the Nitzanim relocation 
plan. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Col. (res.) Danny Tirza, the Defense 
Ministry official in charge of the separation fence, as 
saying that Israel will offer state land to the 
Palestinians whose land was confiscated for the 
construction of the fence.  Tirza spoke at a High Court 
of Justice debate on four petitions filed by West Bank 
villagers.  The newspaper quoted Chief Justice Aharon 
Barak as saying that the state must provide farmers 
whose land was seized with other land.  If that is 
impossible, then they must be compensated.  Jerusalem 
Post and other media quoted the Association of Civil 
Rights in Israel as saying in a statement to the High 
Court that the International Court of Justice in The 
Hague was correct in declaring that the fence was a 
gross violation of international law and should be 
moved back to the Green Line. 
 
Israel Radio reported that President Bush has extended 
U.S. sanctions against Syria.  The station quoted him 
as saying that Syria endangers U.S. security. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has agreed to Russia's 
proposal to give two transport helicopters to the PA. 
Leading media reported that Fatah appears to have won 
the local elections in Gaza and the West Bank Thursday. 
Late this morning, Israel Radio reported that as 70 
percent of the votes have been counted, Fatah garnered 
51 out of 84 local authorities, while Hamas took 28 
local authorities.  Results from all of the communities 
are expected to take several days. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., 
Danny Ayalon, as saying that Naor Gilon, the head of 
the embassy's political department, who allegedly held 
contacts with Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, will 
return to Israel this summer for personal reasons. 
Yediot quoted sources in the embassy that the decision 
to remove him was made mainly because of the concern 
that he could be indicted in the affair. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Association of University 
Teachers (AUT) in the UK has decided to call a special 
meeting to reconsider its boycott of the universities 
of Bar-Ilan and Haifa. 
 
All media reported that leaders of the Greek Orthodox 
Church in the Holy Land announced Thursday that they 
are breaking off all contact with Patriarch Irineos I 
because of corruption suspicions and that they are 
considering having him dismissed.  Irineos has been 
accused of leasing prime church property to Jews. 
 
All media reported that an IDF soldier bearing a 
tattooed swastika on his left arm, who admitted to 
maintaining contacts with neo-Nazi groups abroad, was 
arrested in Ariel (West Bank) Wednesday night.  His 
mother also admitted holding Nazi views.  They 
emigrated from Latvia in 1996. 
 
Maariv reported that Lebanese Gen. Michel Aoun is 
returning to Lebanon after 15 years in exile.  He told 
the newspaper that he is in favor of peace with Israel, 
but that "this is not the most important thing now." 
 
Ha'aretz printed an article by former U/S of Defense 
Dov Zakheim, who advocates nourishing civil society in 
Middle Eastern countries to achieve long-term political 
change in the region. 
 
A Maariv/Teleseker poll found that: 
-Only 54 percent of Israelis support Sharon's 
disengagement plan. 
In response to two questions related to Israel's 
upcoming 57th Independence Day: 
-"When you look at what is happening in Israel, do you 
think that Israel is on the right course?"  Yes: 46 
percent; no: 44 percent. 
-"Do you believe Israel will continue to exist after 
2048?"  Yes: 77 percent; no: 14 percent. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote from 
Auschwitz in popular, pluralist Maariv: "The Americans 
are fed up with the Israeli refrain blaming Abu 
Mazen....  There is a problem with this refrain: it is 
true.  On the other hand, it has exhausted itself." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"Abu Mazen has improved the atmosphere of 'law and 
order' in the Arab towns.  This is a lot but not 
enough." 
 
Ha'aretz publisher Amos Schocken wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"[The amendment to the Citizenship Law restricting 
marriage with foreigners] raises the question of 
whether Israel truly wants the type of peace of which 
the Prime Minister has spoken." 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Until the 
U.S. abandons the contrived belief that what happens to 
Israel has no connection to what happens to the U.S., 
it will be unable to see -- and thus thwart -- the 
dangers that await it." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Americans Are Getting Addicted" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote from 
Auschwitz in popular, pluralist Maariv (May 6): 
"Washington is setting off concern.  The Americans are 
fed up with the Israeli refrain blaming Abu Mazen, 
demanding that he 'fight terror,' making him 
responsible for everything, and concluding that he 
cannot do anything.  There is a problem with this 
refrain: it is true.  On the other hand, it has 
exhausted itself.  The Americans are now getting 
addicted to what they call the 'Abu Mazen process.' 
They hope to see results eventually.  Meanwhile? 
Patience.  Thus, expansive American-international 
headquarters are being established in Israel and the 
Palestinian Authority to coordinate disengagement and 
its supervision.... Israel's problem is that General 
[William] Ward and envoy [David] Welch ... arrive empty- 
handed and dole out the burden of proof and their 
demands almost equally between the Palestinians and us. 
They respond to each Israeli claim with an assertion of 
theirs -- regarding plans for the future, hopes, the 
lack of an alternative.  In the IDF, even in the close 
vicinity of the Defense Minister, some people are 
currently encouraging a change in tone -- abandoning 
the moaning, irritable tune; trying to integrate 
productive optimism; 'bombing' the Palestinians with 
easing measures, mainly in the economic and 
humanitarian fields; and preparing the alibi for the 
next crisis.  It turns out that the game is not 
entirely sold out.  The judge is objective.  One should 
prepare." 
 
II.  "Abu Mazen Could Do a Lot More" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (May 
6): "Abu Mazen has clearly made an effort to meet some 
of the demands presented to him so that he can make a 
good impression with Bush.... His people are making 
efforts to coordinate with Israel on the disengagement 
although it is not clear if they will be able to 
maintain quiet in the Gaza Strip.  Abu Mazen has 
improved the atmosphere of 'law and order' in the Arab 
towns.  This is a lot but not enough as long as Qassam 
rockets are still sent in Israel's direction.  Abu 
Mazen has support in numerous world capitals and 
similar support among many in Israel, too, including 
Defense Minister Mofaz.  It is not clear how true that 
is for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who so far has not 
yet met with him.  It is important that such a meeting 
be held before Abu Mazen leaves for Washington." 
 
III.  "Does Israel Want Peace?" 
 
Ha'aretz publisher Amos Schocken wrote in Ha'aretz (May 
6): "The amendment to the Citizenship Law -- which 
prevents an Israeli citizen, and particularly an Arab 
Israeli, from marrying someone who was born in the 
occupied territories and from living with that person 
in Israel -- is a source of harsh discrimination and 
will exacerbate the boycotting of Israel by the Arab 
public.  A similar decree, if imposed on Jews in any 
country, would have elicited a harsh Israeli reaction, 
and justifiably so.... Spouses from different countries 
in the EU can marry and live together with their 
partners in whichever of the member countries they 
choose.  The citizenship of each of the spouses 
remains, or can remain, that of the country of which he 
or she was a citizen prior to the marriage.  Anyone who 
aspires to peace between us and the Palestinians and 
the Arab people must understand that this, to a large 
extent, is the meaning of such a peace.  The amendment 
to the Citizenship Law is discriminatory, undemocratic 
and it turns Israel into an apartheid state.  It also 
undermines the aspiration to establish this kind of 
peace between Jews and Arabs in Israel, and between us 
and the Palestinians and the Arab peoples of the 
region.  Above all, it raises the question of whether 
Israel truly wants the type of peace of which the Prime 
Minister has spoken." 
 
IV.  "Wake Up Washington!" 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (May 6): "If 
the Bush administration had not made the intellectually 
unsupportable decision to refuse to accept that the 
Palestinian war against Israel is a crucial front in 
the global jihad, the President and his advisers would 
no doubt be asking Sharon some very hard questions 
right now.  Israel's planned withdrawal from Gaza and 
northern Samaria present a tangible threat to U.S. 
national security interests from both military and 
psychological warfare perspectives.  On the military 
level, one of the core principles of the U.S. counter- 
terror strategy is to deny terrorists sanctuary.  Yet 
Gaza and northern Samaria [the northernmost part of the 
West Bank] are both poised to become new operational 
bases for global terror organizations.... Unless one 
ignores reality, it is impossible to sustain an 
argument that as presently constituted, Israel's 
withdrawal from Gaza will do anything other than 
strengthen the cause of global jihad and Arab 
authoritarianism.  Unfortunately, until the U.S. 
abandons the contrived belief that what happens to 
Israel has no connection to what happens to the U.S., 
it will be unable to see -- and thus thwart -- the 
dangers that await it." 
 
KURTZER