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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001538 
 
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.  Greater Middle East Initiative 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that PM Sharon is slated to meet 
today in Jerusalem with the three U.S. diplomatic 
envoys (Stephen Hadley and Elliott Abrams from the 
White House and William Burns from the State 
Department) about the plan for unilateral disengagement 
from the Palestinians and what the U.S. will give 
Israel in exchange for the planned withdrawal from Gaza 
and the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank. 
Ha'aretz writes that the relationship between the 
number of settlements Israel evacuates in the West Bank 
and the depth of the U.S. recognition of the settlement 
blocs of Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim and Gush Etzion, which 
Israel wants to annex in any future peace agreement, 
will be at the core of the talks.  Ha'aretz reported 
that ahead of the envoys' visit, U.S. Ambassador Daniel 
Kurtzer sent Washington some 30 comprehensive questions 
that the diplomats will ask Sharon, starting with how 
many settlements will be evacuated in the West Bank. 
 
Maariv (Ben Caspit) led by divulging a document drafted 
by Israel's National Security Council, headed by 
disengagement coordinator Giora Eiland.  The document 
urges Sharon not to abandon the Philadelphi road but 
rather to expand the buffer zone between the Gaza Strip 
and Egypt, and not to dismantle the three most northern 
settlements in the strip.  The National Security 
Council is offering Sharon four alternatives for 
settlement removal and IDF troop redeployment there. 
The National Security Council recommends that one of 
the alternatives, a large move that creates sufficient 
conditions for creating an independent Palestinian 
state, be presented to the U.S. "as an objective and 
conduct negotiations to secure formal international 
support for the move, with a commitment that there will 
be no further political demands from Israel until the 
Palestinian state that is to be established implements 
the first stage of Bush's vision and the road map." 
The document also recommends not to leave military 
forces in the Gaza Strip after the evacuation, not to 
destroy the infrastructure of the Israeli settlements 
that are to be evacuated, but rather to make an effort 
to turn them over to 'someone,' and to evacuate the 
Gush Katif bloc of settlements in full.  The document 
says that among the issues that need clarifications are 
the future of Gaza's airport and seaport. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted senior diplomatic officials as 
saying Wednesday that Sharon will discuss the future of 
settlements to be evacuated in Gaza with Palestinian PM 
Ahmed Qurei when the two meet next week.  Leading media 
reported that Egypt is pressing the PA to hold the 
meeting.  Jerusalem Post quoted FM Silvan Shalom as 
saying Wednesday that it is clear the PA would agree to 
such a meeting before Sharon travels to Washington in 
order to prevent Sharon from saying in the U.S. that 
there is no one on the other side with whom to talk. 
 
All media reported that five members of the Al-Aqsa 
Martyrs Brigades were killed in Jenin Wednesday by an 
IDF undercover unit.  The men were reportedly on their 
way to carry out an attack on the settlement of Kadim 
near Jenin.  All media also cite the Shin Bet as saying 
that members of a Palestinian terror cell in Khan Yunis 
(southern Gaza Strip) who received funds, instructions 
and training from Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon were 
arrested Wednesday.  The media reported that a high 
state of alert in Jerusalem was declared Wednesday and 
lowered this morning. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Tourism Minister Benny Elon 
(National Union) has hired the services of a New York 
PR agency to explain his opposition to the 
disengagement plan.  The radio reported that 
Construction and Housing Minister Effi Eitam (National 
Religious Party - NRP) is leaving for the U.S., and 
that the same agency published a press release on his 
behalf with a similar message.  Ha'aretz reported that 
the NRP is divided over when to quit the government, 
and that Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) now 
represents a major source of opposition to Sharon's 
plan. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted A/S William Burns as 
testifying Wednesday before the House Committee on 
International Relations that the U.S. Administration 
will act soon to impose firm sanctions on Syria, which 
it accuses of terrorism. 
 
Maariv reported that during the talks Egyptian 
intelligence chief Omar Suleiman held with Israeli and 
PA leaders, Egypt agreed to monitor elements that could 
perturb the stability in the Gaza Strip following the 
IDF's withdrawal, but not to take up security 
responsibility there.  Leading media reported that 
Wednesday the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) 
elected Rouhi Fatouh from Gaza City, a close ally of PA 
Chairman Yasser Arafat, as its speaker.  Ha'aretz says 
that the move is being seen in the PA as Arafat's first 
significant internal response to Sharon's plan to 
withdraw from the Gaza Strip.  This morning, Israel 
Radio quoted Arafat as saying that he welcomes the 
disengagement plan, provided it leads to Israel's 
withdrawal from all the Palestinian territories. 
The media continued to publish contradictory reports 
about possible Likud-Labor contacts regarding the 
formation of a national unity government.  Labor Party 
Chairman Shimon Peres was quoted as saying at a public 
party venue that there are no such contacts.   Former 
PM Ehud Barak called Sharon's disengagement "serious" 
and said that he favors Labor's entry into the 
government when the right-wing parties leave it. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that on May 1, as 10 new 
nations join the EU, 1 million Israelis (Maariv: 1.1 
million) will be entitled to an EU passport.  The 
newspapers cited data provided Wednesday by Ambassador 
Giancarlo Chevallard, who heads the EU delegation in 
Israel.  Ha'aretz and Maariv cited the results of a 
poll conducted in December 2003 by Mina Zemach (Dahaf 
Institute) for the EU delegation in Israel [NB: some of 
the findings were printed by either of the two 
newspapers]: 
-85 percent of Israelis believe that membership in the 
EU is very important for Israel (up from 77 percent in 
February 2003). 
-55 percent of respondents believe that relations with 
the U.S. contribute more to Israel than its relations 
with the EU (down from 62 percent in February 2003). 
-74 percent of respondents claim that the EU is one- 
sided in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
-55 percent of respondents believe that EU financial 
aid to the Palestinians harms Israel's interests (down 
from 64 percent in February 2003). 
-Two thirds of respondents believe that the EU's 
attitude vis-a-vis Israel is anti-Semitic under 
pretenses of moral principles. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a spiritual center for Ethiopian 
immigrants was dedicated Wednesday in Lod.  The 
institution is funded by the Chicago-based 
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which 
donated some 1.5 million shekels (about USD 334,000) 
for the construction of the building. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "[Sharon] understands that perpetuating the 
occupation is more dangerous for Israel than Hamas 
growing stronger.... But the manner in which Sharon is 
promoting his strategic idea is intolerable." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"Now the fate of [Sharon's] plan rests in the hands of 
two people -- George W. Bush and Binyamin Netanyahu." 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Israel should 
awaken and make the chaos theory, which has been turned 
against it, into a weapon for its benefit." 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Not Serious" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (March 11): "As far as the fundamental 
strategic idea is concerned, Sharon is right.  His 
determination to evacuate the entire Gaza Strip is 
impressive.  His intention to open the Gaza-Egypt 
border is creative and interesting.  His thoughts of a 
complementary evacuation of parts of the West Bank are 
brave and far-reaching.  It seems that Sharon has 
finally -- and belatedly -- internalized the fact that 
the main threat facing Israel is demographic, not 
terrorist.  He understands that perpetuating the 
occupation is more dangerous for Israel than Hamas 
growing stronger.... But the manner in which Sharon is 
promoting his strategic idea is intolerable.... There 
is not even the start of an understanding with the 
Americans regarding the stabilizing mechanism that will 
be introduced to absorb the massive jolts that will 
accompany the withdrawal.... The next few months will 
be critical.  The way in which the withdrawal plan is 
formulated over the coming months will determine 
whether Israel finally disengages itself from the kiss 
of death that is a binational existence.  It will 
determine whether, after 37 years of folly, Israel is 
able to withdraw back into its own borders and to take 
its destiny in its own hands.  The way in which 
Sharon's bureau handles the withdrawal has generated 
some very serious questions." 
 
II.  "Between Bush and Netanyahu" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz 
(March 11): "Now the fate of the plan rests in the 
hands of two people -- George W. Bush and Binyamin 
Netanyahu.  The president will determine what Israel 
gets for an evacuation.  The finance minister is the 
key to the support of most of the Likud ministers for 
the plan.  There's a vicious circle involved in this. 
Netanyahu is demanding Sharon bring an impressive 
'compensation package' from the Americans.  For that 
the Americans need a substantial withdrawal from the 
West Bank.... But a deep withdrawal from the West Bank 
will make it difficult for [Likud ministers] Netanyahu, 
Limor Livnat and Danny Naveh to support the plan, for 
ideological reasons and for another reason raised by 
Livnat: Israel will be losing territorial bargaining 
cards.... The Likud is convinced that Shimon Peres and 
his colleagues in Labor are so hungry for power that 
they won't be deterred on their way into Sharon's 
government by the police investigations and Sharon 
scandals.... [But] breakthroughs, from Sadat's visit 
and through Madrid, Oslo, the Lebanon withdrawal and 
the disengagement plan, were all born in narrow 
governments.  It is difficult to tell whether Sharon 
and Peres will break that tradition or bury both the 
withdrawal from Gaza and the planned evacuations in the 
West Bank, instead." 
 
III.  "Who's Afraid of Chaos?" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 11): "On 
the eve of Israel's disengagement from the entire Gaza 
Strip, the Arab rulers have once again brandished their 
secret weapon saved for emergencies: the 'chaos 
 
SIPDIS 
theory.'  This theory contends that without the Arab 
rulers, chaos ('fawda' in Arabic) will reign in the 
Middle East, and that they -- Mubarak, Abdullah, 
Arafat, Assad and Qadhafi -- are guarding Israel from 
it.... The Palestinians are currently engaged in 
disseminating warnings that Israel's evacuation from 
Gaza will lead to chaos.  Tony Blair has already bought 
this argument from Abu Ala during his visit to London, 
and other European leaders are following suit.  But 
this seems to be a false alarm.  Hamas, which belongs 
to the school of thought of the Muslim Brotherhood, 
will not confront the PA head-on due to its ideological 
structure, especially since its strength there is much 
smaller than the Palestinian Authority's police and 
army forces even in its present situation.  In general, 
it is time to understand that the chaos theory does not 
have a leg to stand on.  Three and a half years after 
the outbreak of the Intifada, Israel should awaken and 
make the chaos theory, which has been turned against 
it, into a weapon for its benefit.  It should say to 
the Arab leaders: the chaos you talk about is not proof 
of our need to stay in the Gaza Strip, but rather the 
reverse -- it is our reason to disengage from it 
completely.  The chaos will thereby turn from the 
friend of the Arab leaders into our friend." 
 
----------------------------------- 
¶2.  Greater Middle East Initiative: 
----------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Left-leaning contributor Larry Derfner wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Something is 
out of whack here.  The Likudniks and Republicans, who 
have the lowest opinion of the Arabs, are also claiming 
to have the highest aspirations for them." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Arabs' New Friends" 
 
Left-leaning contributor Larry Derfner wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 11): 
"Something is out of whack here.  The Likudniks and 
Republicans, who have the lowest opinion of the Arabs, 
are also claiming to have the highest aspirations for 
them.... Despite what President Bush seems to think, a 
democrat is not somebody who just wants to be free; a 
democrat is somebody who also wants his political 
opponents to be free.  But nobody is really going to 
want his political opponents to be free if he's 
convinced that their freedom will mean the end of his 
own, and in the Arab Middle East this is a wholly 
justified fear.  It's the guiding principle of politics 
in the region, which is why Arab democracy has never 
gotten off the ground.... The truth is that several 
Arab dictatorships are repressing their people's clamor 
for war with Israel or Islamic revolution. So far, none 
has been found repressing a popular desire for anything 
that could be called democracy.   Liberals don't like 
to talk about this because they're afraid of being 
called racists.  Right-wingers know this about 
liberals, of course, which is why they can go on 
singing about Arab democracy (while daydreaming about 
future invasions) with little interruption." 
 
KURTZER