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DE RUEHTV #2357/01 2130807
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P 010807Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2588
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RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0540
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3302
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0175
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0640
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002357 
 
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 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key Stories in the Media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Secretary Rice's visit to Israel and the West 
Bank is the first step in preparations for the U.S.led international 
peace conference proposed for this fall. The paper, citing 
diplomatic sources in Jerusalem, reported that Prime Minister Olmert 
will tell Secretary Rice that he would like to make a diplomatic 
splash at the summit by having a meeting  with a Saudi official. The 
paper noted that it is doubtful whether the Saudis will even attend 
the summit as Bush has stipulated that only countries that recognize 
Israel's legitimacy  will be invited to participate.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that according to diplomatic officials Rice will ask 
Israel to continue taking steps to bolster PA Chairman Mahmoud 
Abbas. 
 
All media reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke at a 
graduation ceremony in Jerusalem for the Israel Defense Forces' 
command college on Tuesday. He was quoted as saying that there is no 
reason to create an atmosphere of  war and that all sides want 
peace, not war.  In contrast Syrian President Bashar Assad was 
quoted as saying in a letter he wrote to the Syrian army that the 
"resistence model" has won and that the release of Syrian soil is 
sacred. 
 
Leading media reported that Secretary Rice signed a joint statement 
with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan and six Persian Gulf 
states, endorsing the 2002 Arab peace initiative as one of the 
foundations for Middle East peace. 
 
All media quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem as saying 
on Tuesday that Syria is ready to take part in the U.S.-sponsored 
Mideast peace conference, despite the country's stance that 
Washington is behind the instability in the region. 
 
All media quoted Russia's deputy foreign minister as saying that 
Russia intends to downgrade its ties with Hamas, including a 
suspension of high level contacts..  Israel Radio reported that 
Hamas officials claim to have received official invitations to visit 
Moscow and that they intend to go in the near future. The media also 
reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that he is 
the legitimate leader of all Palestinians. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Jordanian government spokesman Nasser 
Judeh as saying on Tuesday that Jordan does not intend to deploy 
troops in the Palestinian territories to aid with security. 
 
Leading media reported that Hamas is setting up a new intelligence 
service in Gaza.  According to Hamas's Interior of Ministry 
spokesman, the new force will become operational within the next few 
weeks and it will focus on security throughout Gaza. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel is seriously looking at buildinga 
nuclear power station  to meet future demand for electricity. 
According to the paper if Israel goes ahead with this plan, it would 
have to open up its nuclear activities to international inspection. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the US Consulate General in 
Jerusalem announced yesterday a new on-line appointment system for 
American Citizens living in Jerusaelm. 
 
Yediot quoted US Consul-General Richard Beer as saying in an 
interview with the paper that the refusal rate in Israel stands at 4 
percent.  According to the consul the number of Israelis applying 
for a US toiurist visa has risen by 50 percent this year. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Akiva Eldar wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "Despite Olmert's generously broad coalition, the prime 
minister is even failing to meet his commitment to dismantle the 
illegal settler outposts in the West Bank.... When will it be time 
to talk?  It is time we realized that time does not take orders from 
Jerusalem.  Abbas is telling every Israeli he meets that in 18 
months at the latest, we will have to look for partners from Hamas. 
If we have a partner, then we must begin talking to him right now. 
If we have no partners, then we best prepare the bomb shelters. 
There is no such thing as a half-partner." 
Economic editor Sever Plotker wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The current administration in Iran fears 
the Qatari model more than an Israeli attack on its nuclear 
devices.... When an oppressive regime and a reconciling regime exist 
next to each other, the model of reconciliation will eventually 
topple oppression.  This is especially true when both have money and 
only one uses it correctly.  That is why in the summer of 2007 we 
can be a little bit more optimistic." 
 
Columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Why 
does [Vice Prime Minister Haim] Ramon believe that now of all times, 
Israel has a worthy partner ...? After all it is the same Abu Mazen 
who isknown to be a weak leader who did not succeed in the past to 
fulfill any of the obligations he took on in past agreements with 
Israel.... It is hard to imagine that this is the man with whom 
Israel could reach an agreement under the threatening shadow of 
Hamas." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I. "Time Does not Take Orders from Jerusalem" 
 
 
Columnist Akiva Eldar wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (08/01): "The Palestinian partner was born in Oslo in the 
summer of 1993, and died seven years later at Camp David.  Following 
seven more years of violence, diplomatic stalemate and renewed 
settlement -- and following the disillusionment from the 
misconception of unilateral moves -- the word 'partner' is slowly 
making a comeback.  The Ramallah branch of the Palestinian 
government is no longer considered 'an entity that supports 
terrorism,' as former prime minister Ariel Sharon's cabinet defined 
it in its December 2001 statement on the Palestinian Authority. 
Following the recent loss of the Gaza Strip to Hamas, Palestinian 
Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was transformed overnight from a 
weak and irrelevant leader to a partner worth strengthening. 
During his last meeting with Abbas, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert even 
mentioned something about possibly agreeing to discuss the permanent 
peace agreement in their next meeting.  However, one should keep in 
mind that when Jerusalem mentions the permanent peace agreement, it 
does not mean the third and final stage of the international 
Quartet's road map plan for peace.... Olmert and Foreign Minister 
Tzipi Livni are not offering to discuss 'an agreed, just, fair, and 
realistic solution to the refugee issue, and a negotiated resolution 
on the status of Jerusalem,' as required in that godforsaken road 
 
map.... Despite Olmert's generously broad coalition, the prime 
minister is even failing to meet his commitment to dismantle the 
illegal settler outposts in the West Bank.... When will it be time 
to talk?  It is time we realized that time does not take orders from 
Jerusalem.  Abbas is telling every Israeli he meets that in 18 
months at the latest, we will have to look for partners from Hamas. 
If we have a partner, then we must begin talking to him right now. 
If we have no partners, then we best prepare the bomb shelters. 
There is no such thing as a half-partner." 
 
II. "Oil on Democracy's Wheels" 
 
Economic editor Sever Plotker wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (08/01): "Let's look around at what is 
happening in the Arab-Muslim sphere: the three fragile democracies 
-- Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq - are surviving somehow.... It is 
still not the democratic Middle East that George Bush continuously 
speaks about, but in the summer of 2007 there is room for cautious 
optimism.... Hundreds of billions of dollars of oil money is also 
strengthening -- for now - the democratic trends.... Oil money will 
fast-forward democratization of the Muslim world; it is already 
generating a change in it.... The danger of instability has weakened 
and the slightly autocratic democratic regimes can afford  a few 
reforms.  At the same time, oppressive regimes, first and foremost 
Iran, are failing disgracefully in their use of oil money.... The 
current administration in Iran fears the Qatari model more than an 
Israeli attack on its nuclear devices.... When an oppressive regime 
and a reconciling regime exist next to each other, reconciliation 
will eventually topple oppression.  This is especially true when 
both have money and only one uses it correctly.  That is why in the 
summer of 2007 we can be a little bit more optimistic." 
 
III. "Dangerous Peace" 
 
Columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv 
(08/01): "Haim Ramon, who was appointed by Ehud Olmert to be Vice 
Prime Minister, has come up with an idea to raise Olmert's political 
stock.... The plan that Ramon is working on focuses on reaching a 
permanent agreement with the Palestinians.  From what we have 
learned so far about the plan, it involves an Israel withdrawing 
from major parts of the West Bank, not unilaterally, but with as 
part of an agreement with Abu Mazen.  It will lay the foundations 
for a Palestinian State in the West Bank.... Why does Ramon believe 
that now of all times, Israel has a worthy partner ...? After all it 
is the same Abu Mazen who is known to be a weak leader and who did 
not succeed in the past to fulfill any of the obligations he took on 
in past agreement with Israel.... It is hard to assume that this is 
the man with whom Israel could reach an agreement under the 
threatening shadow of Hamas.... Moreover, it is most likely that 
Hamas would do everything possible to take over territory that would 
be transferred to the PA ... Such a development ... would put the 
center of Israel in clear danger, one that Israel would not be able 
to ignore.  And so instead of Ramon's plan promoting peace, it might 
lead to a new war." 
JONES