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Leza L Olson  11/02/2006 09:39:20 AM  From  DB/Inbox:  Leza L Olson

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UNCLAS        TEL AVIV 04354

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    INFO:   POL DAO DCM AMB

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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004354 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1. Mideast 
 
¶2. Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------ 
 
Yediot reported that that US Director of National Intelligence John 
Negroponte is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday after 
visiting Egypt. According to the paper Negroponte's visit has 
nothing to do with the Hamas delegation that came to Cairo to 
negotiate the release of Israeli abducted soldier Gilad Shalit. 
According to the paper, Negroponte will meet with top security 
figures and the prime minister.  Yediot also cites estimations among 
Israelis that the US will soon try to restart a diplomatic process. 
 
Israel Radio reported that US top envoys Elliot Abrams and David 
Welsh are scheduled to arrive in Israel on Wednesday in order to 
prepare Prime Minister Olmert's visit to Washington later this 
month. According to the Jerusalem Post Iran will be the top agenda 
in the meeting between PM Olmert and US President George Bush. 
 
Israel Radio reported on an IDF operation in Beit Hanun in the 
Northern Gaza Strip. The radio reported that according to 
Palestinian sources six Palestinians were killed and forty were 
wounded. But according to IDF sources 9 Palestinians were killed and 
over 50 were wounded; the sources were quoted as saying that the 
operation is expected to last several days.  The radio also reported 
that the IDF massed dozens of armored vehicles close to southern 
Gaza late Tuesday, and the army called on residents of a part of the 
southern Gaza town of Rafah to evacuate their homes. 
 
Kol Israel radio reported that the security cabinet met on Wednesday 
in order to discuss possible actions in Gaza. The IDF's expected 
suggestion was to expand the operation in Gaza including to take 
over the Philadelphi Route.  According to radio reports after 
speaking to several participants in the meeting, it was decided to 
continue pinpoint operations in Gaza (similar to what is done today 
in Beit Hanun) against Hamas and other terrorist groups.  According 
to one account from the meeting, new security cabinet participant 
Avigdor Lieberman offered to adopt the Russian model in Chechnya in 
the Gaza Strip. 
 
Leading media quoted Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah as saying that 
negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal involving captured Israel 
Defense Forces soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser have begun. 
According to Nasrallah the talks are conducted through a UN 
mediator. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported on a UN report indicating that Syria was 
smuggling arms to Hizbullah in Lebanon.  The paper quoted Foreign 
Ministry spokesman Marc Regev as saying that if Lebanon cannot 
implement its side of UNSC resolution 1701, then Israel will rethink 
its side of the bargain. 
 
All media reported on IAF flights aver Lebanon yesterday. The media 
noted that according to Lebanese sources the Lebanese army fired 
back towards the planes. Sources from the IAF were quoted as saying 
that the planes were on an intelligence-gathering mission. Israel 
has said that it will continue to fly over Lebanon until the 
abducted soldiers are returned home and UNSC resolution 1701 is 
implanted fully. The media reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 
visited the headquarters of the Galilee Division in Biranit in 
northern Israel.  In his visit, he said that Hizbullah is no longer 
a threat to Israel. 
 
Hatzofe reported that the UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Terje 
Larsen, in charge of matters concerning Lebanon, is working to 
prepare a plan for an Israeli withdrawal from the area known by 
Hizbullah as the "Shaba Farms." According to the paper Larsen's 
activity is in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, 
which Israel has adopted. 
 
All media reported that in his meeting with members of the Knesset 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, GOC Southern Command Yoav 
Gallant told them that in a short while, Hamas will have a force of 
several thousand gunmen in the Gaza Strip. 
Gallant also warned that Hamas gunmen are equipped with modern 
weaponry and are capable of fighting as anti-tank missile or 
commando units. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Defense Minister Peretz as saying that if 
Gilad Shalit is released it could jump start the peace process with 
the Palestinians. The media also cited Peretz's statement that the 
Saudi initiative could serve as a basis for negotiations.  Yediot 
noted that there is a difference of opinion between Peretz and 
Olmert o the issue and that the Prime Minister's Bureau rejected 
Peretz's statements, saying, "The Saudi initiative has to be read 
carefully in order to realize that it is not a basis for renewing 
negotiations.  The initiative speaks of a return to the 1967 borders 
and the return of refugees to Israel, and this is not something that 
Israel can accept." 
Yediot reported that Hamas is demanding that the Red Cross will be a 
part of the deal to release Shalit in fear that Israel backs off its 
obligations after the soldier is released. 
 
Yediot reported that the settlers have decided to evacuate some of 
the illegal houses supposed to be destroyed in order to show good 
will to Defense Minister Peretz when negotiating the destiny of the 
inhabitant outposts. 
 
Maariv reported that after the publication in the media regarding 
the decision that none of the four commanders of the divisions who 
fought in the war in Lebanon will lose their jobs and the ensuing 
anger in the public, especially among bereaved family's who lost 
their sons during the war, Defense Minister Peretz is considering to 
freeze some of the appointments. 
 
All media reported that President Moshe Katzav was hospitalized for 
medical tests after feeling chest pains. He was released home after 
no illness was found. 
 
----------- 
¶1. Mideast: 
----------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "As Israel 
grapples with the challenges on its northern and southern borders, 
its conceptual overhaul can no longer credibly accommodate the 
notion of overwhelming reliance on outside forces to provide 
protection." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Problem with Foreign Forces" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/01): 
"There is no mistaking the worrying similarity between the 
challenges that beset Israel on its borders with Lebanon and Gaza. 
Both were sites of unilateral Israeli withdrawals, followed almost 
instantaneously by reinforcement of the most fanatical terrorist 
organizations Israel faces.... In both cases, Israel, pulling back 
to international border lines, hoped it could rely on neighboring 
forces and the international community to ensure those borders were 
respected: UN forces and the Lebanese army in Lebanon, Egyptian 
forces along the Philadelphi Corridor that separates Egypt from the 
Gaza Strip, and various other international players.  In both cases, 
such hopes have been dashed, and any expectation of a change for the 
better is being dashed too.... As Israel grapples with the 
challenges on its northern and southern borders, its conceptual 
overhaul can no longer credibly accommodate the notion of 
overwhelming reliance on outside forces to provide protection." 
 
-------- 
¶2. Iran: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Michael Freund wrote a letter to President George Bush in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Hence, I am writing to 
you because I am convinced that you alone understand and appreciate 
the gravity of the current situation, and I pray in my heart that 
you will not let it stand.  I appeal to you now ... Please strike 
Iran hard with military force, and dismantle its nuclear weapons 
program, before it is too late." 
 
Foreign news editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv: 
"Less then a billion dollars dazzle the Russian eyes, enough in 
order to sell a mass-destruction ability to a country that threatens 
to demolish the Jews.  Damn it! even the Nazis paid more." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I. "An Appeal of Faith to President Bush" 
 
Columnist Michael Freund wrote a letter to President George Bush in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/01): "Dear Mr. 
President, I am writing to you because I am afraid.  I have been 
closely following the rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad over the past few months, and I want you to know that I 
am gripped with a sense of fear.  I fear for the future of Israel 
and for that of the entire Jewish people.... I fear for the future 
of the West, because outside of Washington, few and far between are 
the leaders with the common sense and courage to stand up to the 
Tyrant of Teheran.  And I fear for the future of the world, because 
if Iran's fundamentalists get their hands on a nuclear weapon, it 
will only be a matter of time before their extremist allies abroad 
become similarly armed.  Hence, I am writing to you because I am 
convinced that you alone understand and appreciate the gravity of 
the current situation, and I pray in my heart that you will not let 
it stand.  I appeal to you now ... Please strike Iran hard with 
military force, and dismantle its nuclear weapons program, before it 
is too late.   I know you believe, as I do, that God guides the 
destiny of men and of nations.  And I know you believe, just as I 
do, that He raised you up to the helm of power precisely at this 
critical period, to serve as His agent and His instrument in this 
world.... The United Nations is a lost cause, and we have no faith 
in Russia, China or international institutions.  The sad fact is 
that most of the world will not shed a tear if Mr. Ahmadinejad 
succeeds in achieving his dreadful aims.  Here in Israel, our own 
leadership is tired and weak.... There is only one person now, Mr. 
President, who can stop this terrifying scenario from coming to 
pass, and I believe that person is you.... I will be praying for 
you, as will many others, and I hope that you take this message to 
heart.  Be strong, be strong, Mr. President, and through you, may we 
all be strengthened." 
 
II. "For a Handful of Rubles" 
 
Foreign news editor Arik Bachar wrote in popular, pluralist Maariv 
(11/01): "The time has come that we stop being surprised by our 
friends sitting in the Kremlin.  The Russian leaders do not love us 
more then they love the Rubles that flow into their treasury.  They 
sold weapons that killed our soldiers in Lebanon and now, according 
to reports, they have managed to arrange themselves a USD 800 
million deal -- completing the first nuclear reactor on Iranian land 
-- in return for consent of soft  sanctions on Iran's atomic 
military plan. Less then a billion dollars dazzles Russian eyes, 
enough in order to sell a mass-destruction ability to a country that 
threatens to demolish the Jews.  Damn it! even the Nazis paid 
more.... The Russians are simply not our friends and it is not only 
because we are good friends with America.  Russia misses its Empire 
reputation that it lost and one of the ways to get it back is to 
gain a fortune, even in sleazy deals with Israel's enemies that 
threaten to destroy it." 
JONES