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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001351 
 
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.  Performance of PM Sharon's Government 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the investigation of Elchanan 
Tenenbaum and the fallout from Maariv's revelations 
about PM Sharon's alleged connection with Tenenbaum's 
family. 
-In interviews to all TV stations and other media, 
Sharon reiterated that he had been unaware that 
Tenenbaum is the former son-in-law of his former 
business partner Shimon Cohen.  Sharon was quoted as 
saying that Maariv's expose is a "malicious libel." 
Israel Radio quoted staff members in Sharon's bureau 
that it could have been a ploy by right-wing elements 
to thwart his diplomatic moves. 
-All media cited strong reactions to Maariv's 
revelations on the Right and on the Left.  Cabinet 
ministers close to Sharon, such as Ehud Olmert and 
Limor Livnat, defended Sharon in media interviews and 
opinion pieces. 
-All media reported that the lie detector tests to 
which Tenenbaum was submitted indicated that he spoke 
the truth on most questions he was asked. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that Stephen 
Hadley and Elliott Abrams from the White House and 
William Burns from the State Department will visit 
Israel next week to continue discussions on Sharon's 
disengagement plan.  Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted 
National Security Council Spokesman Sean McCormack as 
saying that the plan has the "potential to be 
historic."  Reporting on talks the Israeli diplomatic 
team held in Washington with White House and State 
Department officials, Ha'aretz (Aluf Benn) says that 
Israel and the U.S. are considering the removal of PA 
Chairman Yasser Arafat through the disengagement plan. 
The Israeli officials believe the plan is welcomed by 
the young PA leadership, and opposed by Arafat. 
 
All media reported that Wednesday three Gazan activists 
from the Hamas military wing who were apparently trying 
to gather intelligence in the Netzarim area were killed 
when an IDF helicopter fired a missile at their car. 
Maariv and Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli security 
officials as saying that the man responsible for 
dispatching a female suicide bomber to the Erez 
crossing in mid-January was among them.  The police 
declared the highest state of alert throughout the 
entire country in advance of the Purim holiday, which 
will take place during the weekend. 
Ha'aretz cited a report by the European Institute for 
Research on the Middle East that Britain and other 
European states gave the Palestinians more than 20 
million euros (around USD 25 million) to pay for legal 
and information consultation.  [NB: The institute is an 
independent, non-governmental organization created to 
examine relations between the EU and the Middle East.] 
Ha'aretz also quoted British and Palestinian sources as 
saying that Britain has agreed to finance new operation 
centers for the PA police in the West Bank and Gaza 
Strip.  The newspaper quoted Israeli defense sources as 
saying that the British aid aims to strengthen the 
Palestinian police in the territories and is part of 
its support for Palestinian bodies acting against 
terrorist organizations. 
 
Channel 2-TV reported Wednesday that Arafat has 
dispatched a Palestinian official to explore the 
possibility of being buried on the Temple Mount, close 
to the graves of the Husseini family to which he 
belongs.  The station reported that the extremist 
Muslim Palestinian group Tahrir has strongly come out 
against the proposal. 
 
All media reported that Wednesday the Haifa District 
Court sentenced three Israeli-Arab youths from Kafr 
Manda in the lower Galilee to jail terms of between 14 
and 20 years for planning terrorist attacks in the 
north of the country.  The intended attacks had not 
been carried out, but the judges said they took their 
gravity into account.  This morning, Israel Radio and 
IDF Radio reported that the same court indicted two 
Israeli-Arab brothers for allegedly having been 
recruited by the Abu Moussa faction of Hizbullah, 
serving as couriers, and passing on training material 
and operational instructions to members of the Tanzim- 
Fatah infrastructure in Jenin. 
 
All media reported that Wednesday Justice Dalia Dorner, 
the outgoing head of the Central Elections Committee, 
ruled that the next general elections should be held in 
November 2007 and not in 2006.  She admitted that her 
verdict is "but a corridor" to an expected High Court 
of Justice decision. 
 
Yediot reported that the water-supply agreement with 
Turkey will be signed today. The accord stipulates that 
Turkey will sell 375 million cubic meters of water to 
Israel over a 20-year period. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot quoted an Immigration Police 
official as saying that his organization will soon 
begin using a computerized system to compile 
information used to identify and track foreign workers 
in Israel. 
Yediot reported that Wednesday the Prime Minister's 
Office approved a "grandiose" plan to transfer its 
offices and the prime minister's official residence to 
a new "White House-style" compound that should be 
completed by 2009. 
 
A poll conducted by Maariv/New Wave found that: 
-47 percent of Israelis believe that Sharon knew about 
the Tenenbaum-Cohen family connection; 26 percent 
believe that Sharon was unaware of it; 27 percent are 
undecided. 
-42 percent believe that the fact that Sharon had a 
business connection with Tenenbaum's family influenced 
his decision to carry out the prisoner exchange; 41 
percent do not believe so; 17 percent are undecided. 
-43 percent of respondents believe that Sharon should 
not resign if he knew about the Tenenbaum-Cohen 
connection; 42 percent believe that Sharon should 
resign in that case; 15 percent are undecided. 
 
 
------------------------------------------ 
¶1.  Performance of PM Sharon's Government: 
------------------------------------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
government failed in its duty.... A comprehensive 
investigation is needed." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: " Now, when 
[Sharon] has turned against [the settlers] and they use 
the same methods against him, he is the last one who 
should complain." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Today the public feels like a 
sucker.... But the public at large continues, at this 
stage, to believe that there is no alternative to Ariel 
Sharon yet." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "In an 
atmosphere of heavy suspicion ... it behooves the Prime 
Minister to resign immediately." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Test of Credibility and Judgment" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
4): "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Wednesday denied that 
extraneous interests, including a special personal 
interest in Elchanan Tenenbaum, influenced him while he 
was pressing the government to approve a deal to free 
hundreds of Palestinian and other prisoners for the 
return of Tenenbaum and the bodies of three soldiers 
killed when they were captured by Hizbullah.... The 
government failed in its duty as the supreme authority 
responsible for such decisions in the State of Israel, 
as a group of ministers with shared responsibility, and 
not the Prime Minister alone, or him and a handful of 
ministers alongside him, as in cases of war cabinets or 
emergencies requiring immediate decisions.... A 
comprehensive investigation is needed into the way 
information was handled, the staff work and the 
decision-making in the Tenenbaum affair.  It would be 
best that the investigation not be conducted in a 
political framework, like the Knesset Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Committee, but in the skilled hands of the 
State Comptroller's Office and its branch for security 
matters." 
 
II.  "The Mountain and the Molehill" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 4): 
"Sharon came by this onslaught honestly.  First, 
because he and his sons have made the two words 'I 
didn't know' into a family creed.  It is hard to 
respect the innocence of a person who doesn't know what 
is the source of millions of dollars that go in and out 
of his house.  Now, when it appears, ostensibly, that 
Sharon truly didn't know, many find it hard to believe 
him.  The main political factor today undermining 
Sharon's credibility is the settlers.  They have an 
existential interest in sabotaging his unilateral 
withdrawal plan.  Their agents will do anything -- 
except for using weapons -- to topple him.  If they can 
stick him with a dubious tie to Tenenbaum, they would 
consider this to be a great success.  This too Sharon 
came by honestly.  For years he built them up -- and 
they him.  He knows their tricks very well: some of 
them he invented himself.  Now, when he has turned 
against them and they use the same methods against him, 
he is the last one who should complain." 
 
III.  "Is It Reasonable?" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (March 4): "It is ... no secret that 
the owners of this paper are among Sharon's close 
friends.  In spite of this, the facts were reported 
because of their public importance and nothing could be 
more honorable, since professional and journalistic 
considerations are our only guide.... Ultimately, this 
story is a story of trust, of probability and of a 
whirlwind in which facts and feelings spin together. 
This is also a question of the public's feelings.  In 
the 2001 elections, the public sent Ehud Barak home 
because it felt like a sucker upon seeing the 
Palestinians getting proposals that were far-reaching 
in their generosity from the prime minister and getting 
the Intifada in return.  Today the public feels like a 
sucker as more repulsive details emerge on redeemed 
captive and controversial Elchanan Tenenbaum.  But the 
public at large continues, at this stage, to believe 
that there is no alternative to Ariel Sharon yet and 
that is why some Israelis will continue not to believe 
Sharon but will continue to support him as long as 
there is no other option." 
 
IV.  "Government Under a Heavy Cloud of Suspicion" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (March 4): 
"No one can believe that the acquaintance between the 
Sharon and the Cohen-Tenenbaum families did not come up 
in the course of the negotiations for the release of 
the prisoners from Hizbullah captivity.... In an 
atmosphere of heavy suspicion about criminal behavior 
by the Prime Minister; in an atmosphere of heavy 
suspicion that he is being blackmailed by the Austrian 
government; in an atmosphere of heavy suspicion about 
the prisoner exchange deal that was secured under foul 
smelling circumstances -- it behooves the Prime 
Minister to resign immediately.  His conduct regarding 
the unilateral disengagement, which will entail the 
expulsion of the Jews from Katif [in the Gaza Strip], 
also appears to be insane when one considers the Prime 
Minister's actions from the past both distant and near. 
Does this not oblige the coalition to suspect that in 
this case too something foul, something very foul is 
lying in concealment but is destined yet to be 
exposed?" 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Internationalizing 
the solution would free the sides from conflict with 
their respective national ethos.... The current 
international constellation offers Israel a ripe moment 
for just such an arrangement, with the world being run 
by a single friendly superpower." 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "An Israeli unilateral withdrawal from the 
Gaza Strip must be a complete and absolute severance 
from this piece of land, a divorce." 
Foreign News Editor Shmuel Rosner wrote on page one of 
Ha'aretz: "Kerry has always promised a special envoy 
for the peace process.  In fact, this is his only 
practical promise [in this domain], and even that idea 
has developed in contradictory directions." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "It's Time to Internationalize the Solution" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 4): "Sharon 
wants to give up the ethos of 'settlement throughout 
all of the Land of Israel' to buy some quiet.  But like 
Ehud Barak, he'll find out that the Palestinians don't 
give up something for nothing.... Internationalizing 
the solution would free the sides from conflict with 
their respective national ethos.  In their name, the 
superpowers would give up 'the right of return' and 
'Judea and Samaria' and would also have to give up 
their own contribution to fanning the flames of the 
conflict.... The current international constellation 
offers Israel a ripe moment for just such an 
arrangement, with the world being run by a single 
friendly superpower.  Thus, perhaps, the conclusions of 
the [1937] Peel Commission can be fulfilled, in which 
even if the partition does not offer the Jews and Arabs 
'all they want, it offers each what it wants most, 
namely freedom and security.'" 
 
II.  "Cut Off From Gaza Completely" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (March 4): "The army correctly argues that 
withdrawing from Philadelphi [the narrow route along 
the Gaza/Egyptian border] will make it possible to 
smuggle in Katyusha rockets that will threaten 
Ashkelon. But the army also knows that weapon smuggling 
will not stop in any case, that this road by itself 
cannot put a stop to the phenomenon.... Israel's 
supreme interest in withdrawing from the Philadelphi 
road is evident by Egypt's panicky reaction to the 
idea.  The Egyptians know that the moment that the IDF 
leaves the road and no longer is a buffer between them 
and the Palestinians, this hot potato will fall into 
their laps.  Just like before 1967, they will bear all 
the responsibility, toward Israel, toward the U.S. and 
toward the entire world if there is terror from Gaza at 
Israel using weapons smuggled from Egypt.... An Israeli 
unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip must be a 
complete and absolute severance from this piece of 
land, a divorce.  The border with Gaza must be 
completely closed: no workers, no factories, no shared 
industrial zones, no civilian responsibility and no 
settlements.  Those who will have to face the Gaza 
Strip will be their Arab brothers, and that way, 
finally, the Arab world can do its part in contributing 
to the welfare and livelihood of the Palestinians, the 
people it has been so concerned about for the last 
three and a half years.  Who can object to such an 
absolute detachment by Israel?  After all, this is what 
the Palestinians, the Egyptians and the world have been 
demanding for decades." 
 
III.  "Kerry and Israel: Like Clinton, But Less 
Emotionally" 
 
Foreign News Editor Shmuel Rosner wrote on page one of 
Ha'aretz (March 4): "John Kerry is no big fan of 
Sharon.... But ... a few weeks ago ... he 
unhesitatingly said: 'I believe that Sharon is prepared 
to make peace'.... Kerry also said that he understood 
the reasons for building the separation 'fence'.  He 
sounded like someone who believes that the U.S. 
shouldn't oppose its erection -- provided its route 
more or less coincides with the Green Line.... His 
adversaries say that he is fickle and that he adapts 
himself to fads.  His supporters claim that he 
recognizes that the world is complex.... His principal 
assertion, which he has reiterated many times, is that 
the administration should demonstrate greater 
involvement in efforts to resolve the conflict.... 
There is no agreement about this claim among U.S. 
experts and diplomats.... Kerry has always promised a 
special envoy for the peace process.  In fact, this is 
his only practical promise [in this domain], and even 
that idea has developed in contradictory directions." 
 
KURTZER