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

251201Z Mar 04

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001830 
 
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.  Campaign Against Terrorism 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Dov Weisglass, senior aide to PM 
Sharon, asked National Security Advisor Condoleezza 
Rice, in talks he held with her over the past two days, 
for U.S. concessions to Israel in return for 
disengagement from the territories.  Israel Radio says 
that the talks have been extended and will continue 
today.  Ha'aretz reported that Weisglass presented 
Sharon's preferred plan: withdrawal from the entire 
Gaza Strip and six settlements in the northern West 
Bank -- Ganim, Kadim, Homesh, Sa-Nur, Mevo Dotan and 
Hermesh.  Ha'aretz quoted a source in Jerusalem as 
saying Wednesday that these were small settlements 
whose evacuation would provide territorial continuity 
and roads to the Palestinians in a relatively large 
area of the northern West Bank, and that greater 
withdrawal is also expected to lead to greater 
concession from the U.S.  Ha'aretz recalls that the 
U.S. has asked Israel that disengagement not interfere 
with the "Bush vision" for the establishment of a 
Palestinian state, and not be perceived as a "prize for 
terror."  Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as 
saying Wednesday that the U.S. is unlikely to publicly 
or formally recognize Israel's claim to major 
settlement blocs in the West Bank for a Gaza 
withdrawal.  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. 
 
All media highlighted (lead stories in all newspapers 
except Ha'aretz) the capture Wednesday near Nablus of 
Husam Abdu, the youngest suicide bomber ever to be 
caught.  IDF soldiers held the 14-and-a-half-year-old 
Palestinian at bay at a roadblock (at the same spot 
where an 11-year-old carrying a bag of explosives was 
caught last week), told him to remove his shirt and 
instructed him about how to defuse the explosives belt 
he was carrying.  The boy told the soldiers that Fatah 
militants promised him 70 virgins in paradise and 100 
shekels -- about USD 22 -- for his family in return for 
his blowing himself up.  Israel Radio reported that the 
Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades first claimed and then 
retracted responsibility for the boy's action.  Israel 
Radio reported that politicians from across the 
spectrum, including Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres, 
condemned the moral degeneration of the men who sent 
the would-be suicide bomber.  This morning, Israel 
Radio reported that 60 prominent Palestinian public 
figures and intellectuals, including legislator Hanan 
Ashrawi, called on Palestinians, in a paid ad in the PA 
daily Al Ayyam, not to respond to the killing of Sheikh 
Ahmed Yassin, and to abandon the path of violence in 
favor of a political resolution of the conflict. 
However, an Israel Radio commentator noted that there 
is no Arafat associate or influential PA official on 
the list of signatories. 
 
Leading media reported that Wednesday Hamas political 
bureau head Khaled Mashal, who operates from Damascus, 
asserted his primacy over the entire movement. 
Jerusalem Post and other leading media quoted him as 
saying in an interview with the London-based Al-Hayat, 
that his group is planning to assassinate Sharon. 
Leading media reported that Wednesday, in talks with 
reporters, Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the new Hamas leader in 
the Gaza Strip, sought to reassure the U.S. that his 
group would not attack American targets.  He said Hamas 
would not deviate from its long-standing policy of 
confining its attacks to Israel and the territories. 
Leading media quoted PA Chairman Yasser Arafat as 
saying that he is not afraid of the Israeli threats 
that he could be next in line for assassination. 
 
Leading media reported that intensive talks are 
underway among members of the UN Security Council on a 
new resolution on Monday's killing of Sheikh Yassin by 
Israel.  Israel Radio reported that the resolution 
draft would include a condemnation of all acts against 
civilians, but predicted that the U.S. would still veto 
it.  The radio reported that Wednesday the Geneva-based 
UN Commission on Human Rights condemned Yassin's 
killing by a roll-call vote of 31 in favor, two against 
-- Australia and the U.S. -- and 18 abstentions. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Wednesday, at a 
meeting with FM Silvan Shalom, UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan offered UN assistance to establish law and 
order in the Gaza Strip after Israel withdraws. 
Ha'aretz reported that Shalom urged Annan to hold a 
meeting at the UN General Assembly for a special debate 
on means to fight terrorism. 
 
Leading media reported that Wednesday the Knesset 
rejected, 44-43, a bill providing that an evacuation of 
settlements require the approval of 61 Knesset members. 
Jerusalem Post notes that Sharon favored the bill. 
 
The media cited statistics presented by police in the 
West Bank: cases of harassment of Palestinians by Jews 
have gradually decreased there after 2001.  The West 
Bank police commander also said that several policemen 
have been forced to move out of the West Bank 
communities they lived in after being threatened by far- 
right Jews. 
Ha'aretz reported that the committee looking into 
Israel's intelligence assessments before the war in 
Iraq criticizes all the intelligence branches for 
erroneous assessments of Iraq's non-conventional 
weapons.  However, the newspaper says that the 
committee establishes that the mistakes were not to be 
considered a failure.  Maariv notes that the committee 
justifies the instruction given to Israelis at the 
start of the war that they open their gas mask kits, 
since Israel's intelligence branches had no knowledge 
of Iraq's WMD capabilities at the time. 
 
All media reported that Wednesday Sharon, at a special 
Knesset session to mark 25 years of peace with Egypt, 
reiterated Israel's determination to reach peace with 
its neighbors.  No representatives from Egypt or other 
Arab countries attended the event. 
 
Yediot reported that Turkey has sharply protested to 
Israel about a recent GOI travel warning for Istanbul 
during the Passover holidays (early to mid-April). 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Wednesday 116,000 Internet 
surfers visited a first-of-its-kind website in support 
of the Geneva Accord ("the first interactive 
demonstration in the world").  Ha'aretz doubts whether 
a "non-virtual" demonstration would have been as 
successful. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the police and Shin Bet found 
that there are "black holes" in the account of freed 
Hizbullah captive Elchanan Tenenbaum, but that there is 
insufficient evidence to recommend canceling the 
immunity deal with him.  The final decision in the 
matter will be made Saturday night at a meeting of 
investigators. 
 
Maariv quoted Seif al-Islam Qadhafi, the son of Libya's 
leader Muammar Qadhafi, as telling Qatari reporters 
Tuesday that Libya intends to discuss granting 
compensation to Jews who left his country.  He invited 
them to return to Libya and receive citizenship. 
Leading media reported that Tony Blair will make a 
"historic" visit to Libya today, in the first such 
gesture by a British prime minister in 60 years. 
Ha'aretz reported that Blair will offer military 
assistance to Libya. 
 
Senegal Appeals Court President Coulibali Lamine was 
quoted as saying in an interview held in Israel with 
the Jerusalem Post that Senegal made a mistake in 
arguing against Israel at the ICJ in The Hague last 
month.  Lamine said: "Every state has to guarantee 
security for its people." 
 
Leading media reported that California Governor Arnold 
Schwarzenegger and noted American entertainers could 
cancel their visits to Israel, following the killing of 
Yassin. 
 
Yediot reported that the Los Angeles-based Simon 
Wiesenthal Center has embarked upon a campaign to free 
12 Iranian Jews who disappeared between 1994 and 1997 
during attempts to flee the country.  In an unrelated 
development, Maariv reported that an 18-year-old female 
Muslim refugee from Iran who came to Israel over three 
years ago has so far been refused residency in the 
country. 
 
All media reported on the testimonies given Wednesday 
at the independent commission investigating the 9/11 
attacks.  Ha'aretz headlined: "Former Administration 
Advisor [Richard] Clarke Testified in Congress: 9/11 
Attacks Could Have Been Avoided." 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The cabinet that ... 
discussed and decided to assassinate Sheikh Yassin two 
weeks before Passover [the shopping climax of the year] 
hasn't devoted a single thought to Israel's economic 
interests." 
 
Conservative columnist Avraham Tirosh wrote in Maariv: 
"A devil who resides in Nablus, Gaza or Damascus, 
heartless, devoid of any human feeling, creates these 
tools of war.  Small children who are walking bombs." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Even 
if the model of peace with Egypt is not the paradigm 
dreamed of by its signatories ... there is no disputing 
the fact it has become a firm cornerstone of reality in 
the Middle East." 
 
Left-leaning contributor Larry Derfner wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The missiles 
they aimed at Yassin also took out the one light at the 
end of the tunnel ... the hope of getting out of Gaza 
and starting to get out of the West Bank." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Government Against its Citizens" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 25): "According to 
extremely detailed reports from cabinet discussions 
before the approval of the assassination [of Sheikh 
Yassin], none of the participants raised the issue of 
tourism, for instance.  Neither did they ask about the 
matter of shopping in the malls, which will be severely 
harmed following the public's fear of coming and 
buying.  This is small fry for a cabinet performing as 
an expanded General Staff, without anyone taking care 
of the daily lives of Israel's citizens.... This must 
be said: Yassin deserved to die, and no Israeli can 
mourn him.  It is also worthwhile recalling that 60 
percent of the Israeli public approve the 
assassination.  But I'll only say that the public hears 
the top military brass repeat at every opportunity 
mantras meant for suckers.  If the public didn't 
believe that, there would have been a national unity 
government a long time ago, which would have been 
convinced that Israel's good lies not only in military 
victory, which of course is a pseudo-victory.  The 
cabinet that ... discussed and decided to assassinate 
Sheikh Yassin two weeks before Passover [the shopping 
climax of the year] hasn't devoted a single thought to 
Israel's economic interests." 
 
II.  "Diabolical Act" 
 
Conservative columnist Avraham Tirosh wrote in Maariv 
(March 25): "A devil who resides in Nablus, Gaza or 
Damascus, heartless, devoid of any human feeling, 
creates these tools of war.  Small children who are 
walking bombs.... There is not supposed to be any 
connection between a child, any child -- Jew, Arab or 
the son of any other nation -- the symbol of purity and 
wholesomeness, and the devil, the symbol of evil and 
pollution.  But here there is.  A diabolical act.  It 
is a diabolical act because it is inconceivable that we 
are talking about human beings.  It is inconceivable 
that the person who sends children to blow up and to 
become a paste of flesh and blood spread like manure on 
the face of the earth, even for the sake of a cause 
that he perceives to be sacred, is a human being whose 
heart is capable of feeling compassion and love.  Now 
they will say again: 'What do you want from them, from 
those devils, it is all because of the oppressive 
occupation.  That is what forces them to take such 
insane action.  They have no choice.  Their death and 
the death of their children is better than their dismal 
lives.'  In other words, Israelis are to blame for 
their spilt blood.  There is a border.  A border that, 
whoever crosses it, even in war, even in the midst of a 
struggle that he perceives to be most exalted of all, 
is neither a freedom fighter nor a person fighting for 
liberation and freedom, but a monster, a devil in human 
form, who sacrifices even his own children to the 
Moloch of hatred and insanity.  It lies beyond human 
comprehension." 
 
III.  "An Unconditional Peace" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
25): "The 25th anniversary of the signing of the peace 
treaty between Israel and Egypt comes at a difficult 
time for both countries.... Even if the model of peace 
with Egypt is not the paradigm dreamed of by its 
signatories, Sadat and Menachem Begin, there is no 
disputing the fact it has become a firm cornerstone of 
reality in the Middle East.  It was almost self-evident 
that Israel would ask Egypt to step in to guard the 
border between Israel and Gaza should Israel withdraw 
from the Strip.  But the importance of the peace goes 
far beyond that.  It proves that even after bitter 
wars, wise, committed and untiring political efforts to 
achieve reconciliation can break the cycle of hostility 
and over time build a proper relationship with Arab 
countries.  This peace, together with the peace with 
Jordan, have become daily evidence that despite 
contradictions and even disputes, the countries of the 
region can live alongside each other with quiet and 
stable neighborliness." 
 
IV.  "Fear and Loathing in Israel" 
 
Left-leaning contributor Larry Derfner wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 25): 
"The air force just knocked off Gazan terrorist No. 1, 
and Israelis aren't acting very victorious -- they're 
afraid to sit in a downtown restaurant again.  When the 
explosions begin, then we'll really have fear, agony, 
rage, and of course more escalations, and then nobody 
will be talking anymore about any disengagement plan. 
It will be too late.  I'm afraid it already is.... The 
missiles they aimed at Yassin also took out the one 
light at the end of the tunnel that's shone since this 
war of attrition began -- the hope of getting out of 
Gaza and starting to get out of the West Bank.  It was 
certainly no sin to kill Yassin, but it was reckless 
and self-destructive in the extreme, and who knows how 
many innocents who otherwise would have lived are going 
to get killed for it?" 
 
------------------------------- 
¶2.  Campaign Against Terrorism: 
------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "The world faces a tough, extended 
and frustrating war against this new arch-evil -- 
terror....  In this battle Israel ... can serve as a 
beacon to the world." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"All Quiet on the Appeasement Front" 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (March 25): "The denouncements of 
Israel, which boost the confidence of the terrorists, 
will not do the Europeans any good when Al Qaida 
decides their time has come, just as fascism was 
unimpressed by the capitulation to its advances.  After 
all, it was Spain, one of the European countries most 
critical toward Israel, that suffered the worst act of 
terror since the attack on America.  Could there be a 
clearer message than this that there is no hope for 
appeasement?.... Neither the actions nor the failures 
or the U.S. created Al Qaida.  Nor is Western 
civilization to blame that Muslims in Algeria massacre 
whole villages of their coreligionists -- sometimes 
hundreds of souls in a single night --with their women 
and children, and the world remains silent.  The world 
faces a tough, extended and frustrating war against 
this new arch-evil -- terror.  But despite the European 
cowardice -- even betrayal -- the world will win.  In 
this battle Israel, despite the weakness encompassing 
it at times -- the result of the continuous 
psychological warfare being waged against it from 
within and without -- can serve as a beacon to the 
world, lighting the path -- the ethical one, too -- to 
victory." 
 
KURTZER