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

301057Z Jun 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004119 
 
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.  Lebanese-Syrian Track 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media underscored unrest involving settlers and pro- 
settler demonstrators on Wednesday, including road 
blockages throughout the country, during which at least 
five police officers were wounded and 147 demonstrators 
were arrested.  The media noted the police's 
efficiency.  The media reported that settlers attempted 
to lynch a 16-year-old Palestinian in Gaza and that PM 
Sharon has given instructions to find those who harmed 
him.  Settlers clashed with soldiers who came to 
evacuate the extremists' Tal Yam stronghold on the 
Mawasi coast near Gush Katif.  Leading media quoted 
Sharon as saying: "All that rioting must stop."  Sharon 
was quoted as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz that 
the government must take "every measure" necessary to 
end acts of violence and road blocking by right-wing 
extremists.  Sharon was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Yediot that what is occurring is not a 
struggle over disengagement from Gaza, but over the 
state.  All media reported that Attorney General 
Menachem Mazuz decided Wednesday that anti- 
disengagement protesters will no longer enjoy 
privileged conditions when arrested, but that they will 
be treated like every other detainee.  Jerusalem Post 
reported that the Shin Bet ordered the security heads 
of cabinet on Wednesday to take measurements of 
ministers for flak jackets. 
 
All media reported that on Wednesday afternoon, an IDF 
soldier was killed and three others were lightly 
wounded when Hizbullah shelled an IDF outpost in the 
Sheba Farms area.  The IDF responded with artillery 
fire aimed at Hizbullah positions in Lebanon.  At the 
same time, IAF fighter jets attacked five Hizbullah 
positions in Lebanon.  The clashes started as a group 
of five Hizbullah fighters crossed the border in the 
area.  Israel lodged complaints to the UN with the 
commander of UNIFIL and Israel's representative to the 
UN Danny Gillerman.  Leading media reported that 
fighting continued this morning.  Israel Radio cited 
IDF claims that a Hizbullah member was killed or 
wounded in the Sheba Farms, a report denied by 
Hizbullah. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli officials as saying that Israel 
will not transfer Qalqilya to the PA this week, even 
though Sharon promised to do so at his meeting with PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas last week.  The 
officials said that the delay is due to the escalating 
violence in the West Bank.  Ha'aretz and Yediot also 
say that the heads of the defense establishment 
reported Wednesday to the security-political cabinet 
that Abbas is not as weak as he claims to be.  They 
claim that he is trying to put on a facade of weakness 
to avoid taking action against the terror organizations 
and to pressure Israel into efforts to bolster his 
regime.  Ha'aretz reported that the defense officials 
point out a certain weakening on the part of Abbas. 
 
Maariv reported that on Tuesday, the U.S. House of 
Representatives approved a USD-2.5 billion U.S. aid 
budget for Israel -- USD 2.3 billion as defense 
assistance and USD 240 million as economic assistance. 
Maariv says that the amount is not due to change 
substantially when it comes up for a vote at the U.S. 
Senate in a few weeks. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that PA Minister of Civil 
Affairs Muhammad Dahlan, who is in charge of 
coordinating the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip with 
Israel, on Wednesday accused Jewish settlers of 
"poisoning" the lands in the settlements slated for 
evacuation. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Fatah Central Committee 
Chairman Farouk Kaddoumi, a strong opponent of the Oslo 
Accords, will participate in the discussions of the 
committee in Amman today.  The committee is convening 
for the first time since Yasser Arafat's death. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that, for the first time ever, 
an Arab satellite TV network has agreed to take part in 
a project with an Israeli TV network: Abu Dhabi 
Satellite Channel will broadcast a documentary film 
series about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on 
Saturday night, produced by Search For Common Ground, a 
non-profit organization.  The film will air 
simultaneously on Israeli Cable Channel 8, the 
Palestine Broadcasting Corporation, and the private 
Palestinian Maan-TV network. 
 
Yediot reported that the Israel Air Force has 
officially become the "Air and Space Branch,"  (rough 
translation) reflecting strategic changes in its 
operations. 
 
Leading media reported that Infrastructure Minister 
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer today will sign with Egyptian Oil 
Minister Sameh Fahmi in Cairo today a significant 
agreement to procure natural gas from Egypt -- in an 
amount of USD 2.5-3 billion over 15 to 20 years. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Avi Bettelheim wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "I [am] more sure than 
ever that the entire [disengagement is] going to be all 
right, if only because the settlers are very close to 
making the rest of the public sick and tired of them." 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If the police 
deploy a 6,000-strong force throughout the country, but 
are unable to prevent roads from being blocked, what 
will happen during the pullout, when a larger number of 
police will be busy evacuating the [Gaza] Strip?" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Why is the 
Israeli evacuation from the Gaza Strip known as 
'disengagement,' if afterwards the Palestinian workers 
will return to Israel as though nothing has happened?" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "They Kicked the Ball Into Their Own Net" 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Avi Bettelheim wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (June 30): "On Wednesday, 
as I watched the scenes from the blocked roads on 
television, I was more sure than ever that the entire 
[disengagement] was going to be all right, if only 
because the settlers are very close to making the rest 
of the public sick and tired of them -- and when that 
happens, their battle will become insignificant, and 
will be unable to change anything of the government's 
original plan for the evacuation of the Gaza Strip and 
northern Samaria [the northernmost part of the West 
Bank].  When the extreme Right took the law into its 
own hands in the territories, the general public, which 
is usually apathetic, was prepared to turn a blind eye, 
because it did not affect the crowded schedule of their 
lives.... It is a pity that the impotent leadership of 
the settlers and their irresponsible spiritual leaders 
cannot calm the tempers and behavior of their followers 
and explain to them the limits of legitimate protest, 
and perhaps they just do not wish to.  For protest is 
legitimate and it is hard not to sympathize with the 
pain of those who are to be evacuated, but what 
happened yesterday and last week on the roads, 
including scattering metal barbs, could very easily get 
out of hand and lead to loss of life.... Disengagement 
cannot and must not be stopped, and the police and 
other law enforcement agencies have to stop the process 
that began as legitimate protest but is deteriorating 
very rapidly into rampaging without limits, as though 
this were a children's game and human life and the 
future of the democratic state were not at risk." 
 
II.  "Escalation Everywhere" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (June 30): "If 
anyone was still harboring doubts, along came 
Wednesday's day of battles throughout the country and 
laid them to rest: the disengagement has arrived.... 
The events of the past week proved what was already 
learned, in sweat and blood, on the hills of Samaria 
[i.e. the northern West Bank] -- the extreme right 
interprets any concession as a sign of weakness and any 
delay in the legal handling of a problem as a license 
for fiercer provocation.  The violence is coming from 
the pullout opponents, and it is dictating the nature 
of the confrontation.  The IDF and police are gradually 
streamlining their responses to riots, but the events 
of recent days constitute a worrying prelude ahead of 
the real thing in August.  If the police deploy a 6,000- 
strong force throughout the country, but are unable to 
prevent roads from being blocked, what will happen 
during the pullout, when a larger number of police will 
be busy evacuating the [Gaza] Strip?" 
 
III.  "Pulling the Wool Over Our Eyes" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (June 30): 
"Anyone who has been following what has been happening 
on the roads over the past few months cannot help but 
notice that the Palestinian workers are returning.... 
These images have not been seen for several years.... 
What is worse is that Deputy Prime Minister Shimon 
Peres has recently been holding economic meetings in 
order to return to the Israeli labor market tens of 
thousands of Palestinian workers, the great majority of 
whom will come from post-disengagement Gaza.  This is a 
severe phenomenon both for Israel and for the 
Palestinians, and it should be nipped in the bud.  The 
correct policy should be: zero Palestinian labor in 
Israel.  Why is the Israeli evacuation from the Gaza 
Strip known as 'disengagement,' if afterwards the 
Palestinian workers will return to Israel as though 
nothing has happened?.... After disengagement, Israel 
should open the border between the Gaza Strip and 
Egypt.  This way the Palestinians will return to work 
in the Arab world -- through Egypt -- and from there to 
the entire world, and the issue of their labor will 
become an internal Palestinian or internal Arab issue. 
Just as Israel should not worry about the livelihood of 
the residents of Jordan or Syria, it should not worry 
about the Palestinians." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Lebanese-Syrian Track: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Hizbullah wants to 
define the type of challenge it is posing the new 
government: now that Lebanon has gotten rid of Syrian 
forces, the government must also get Israel out of the 
Sheba Farms, or else Hizbullah will take care of it." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Hizbullah Sends a Message -- To Beirut" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (June 30): 
"Hizbullah said Wednesday's attack, in which it opened 
fire on the IDF posts and launched mortar shells at 
them, came in response to Israeli infiltration of 
Lebanese territory. But on the eve of the appointment 
of a new Lebanese prime minister, which is set for 
today, it's difficult not to link the domestic politics 
to the attack on Har Dov [the Sheba Farms].... The new 
government will depend primarily on Christian support, 
as indicated by Wednesday's announcement by Christian 
opposition leader Gen. Michel Aoun that he plans to 
join the government.  Such a government is likely to 
have a troublesome agenda from Hizbullah's perspective. 
A government dependent on Christian parliamentary 
support would not only feel free of Syrian pressure but 
would also have to cope with the continued 
implementation of UN Resolution 1559, which would 
require Hizbullah to disarm and become an organization 
that is political but not militaristic.... Hizbullah 
wants to define the type of challenge it is posing the 
new government: now that Lebanon has gotten rid of 
Syrian forces, the government must also get Israel out 
of the Sheba Farms, or else Hizbullah will take care of 
it by dragging Lebanon into violent conflict with 
Israel.  This is also Hizbullah's opportunity to see 
how the new political leadership in Lebanon will view 
the military monopoly Hizbullah has claimed in relation 
to Israel." 
 
KURTZER