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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 001866 
 
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.  Blair in Libya 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Yediot reported that Thursday in Washington, the date 
of PM Sharon's visit to the U.S. was set as April 14. 
 
Jerusalem Post (lead story) and Ha'aretz reported that 
Sharon's bureau chief Dov Weisglass will return today 
from intensive discussions in Washington about Sharon's 
disengagement plan, but without any final U.S. approval 
of the plan.  Ha'aretz quoted government sources as 
saying that "Israel did not get the full political 
support" it sought from the U.S.  Hatzofe reported that 
in a leaflet distributed among Likud members, FM Silvan 
Shalom criticized the disengagement plan, which he says 
will increase Israeli-Palestinian friction. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israeli defense experts have 
concluded in the last two days that despite the 
intention of Hamas and other groups to exert revenge 
for Israel's assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, 
there would be no dramatic change in the number or 
intensity of terrorist attacks.  Maariv reported that 
associates of PA Chairman Yasser Arafat have asked the 
CIA to protect him from Israeli assassination attempts. 
The newspaper reported that the U.S. declined to pledge 
that Israel will not assassinate him.  Ha'aretz 
succinctly mentioned similar reports. 
 
Leading media reported that Thursday the U.S. vetoed a 
new UN Security Council resolution draft condemning 
Israel for the killing of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, calling 
the measure "one-sided" and saying it ignored the 
group's bloody record of terrorism.  Three countries 
abstained -- Germany, the UK and Romania.  Israel Radio 
reported that Russia expressed disappointment over the 
U.S. veto. 
 
Leading media (Yediot's lead story) reported that last 
night the IDF killed three Palestinian terrorists who 
tried to infiltrate the Gush Katif (Gaza Strip) 
settlement of Tel Katifa (Maariv: a military outpost in 
the settlement).  They had landed from the 
Mediterranean.  Israel Radio cited the Israel Navy's 
surprise ober its inability to prevent the landing. 
Leading media also reported that a terrorist attack was 
thwarted near Emmanuel in the West Bank, and that three 
Israelis were lightly wounded in a stone-throwing 
incident. 
 
Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz reported that after strongly 
criticizing Israel for Yassin's killing, Egyptian 
President Hosni Mubarak said Thursday that Egypt would 
continue efforts to arrange a meeting between Sharon 
and Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala). 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted Turkish PM Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan as saying in an interview with the 
Turkish newspaper Hurriyet Thursday that Yassin's 
assassination constituted "terrorism," and that he 
could cancel a proposed trip to Jerusalem next month. 
Jerusalem Post reported that sources in Jerusalem 
downplayed remarks by Erdogan ("Mideast peace has 
suffered a serious wound in this incident.  There is no 
road map left.... I don't find such an assassination 
humane."), saying that -- if the quotes are accurate -- 
Israel regrets the remarks.  Maariv reported that an 
agricultural delegation of Israeli women participating 
in a Danish-sponsored project in Egypt had to leave 
Cairo because of security concerns. 
 
The media reported that Husam Abdu, the would-be 
suicide bomber apprehended Wednesday near Nablus, is 
not 14, but 16-and-a-half years old.  Ha'aretz reported 
that military law in the territories does not consider 
him a minor and that the army is considering 
prosecuting him.  All media cited the surprise and 
indignation of his family that terrorist groups used 
him.  However, Hatzofe quoted his mother as saying that 
she would have approved of his act had he been 18. 
 
Yediot reported that following Yassin's killing, CNN 
forbade talk show host Larry King, a "high-priority 
Jewish-American target," from visiting Israel.  All 
media reported that Thailand told its citizens in Gush 
Katif to leave the bloc of settlements.  Yediot 
reported that the Philippine government, which will 
send a high-ranking military delegation to Israel, is 
considering evacuating its foreign worker nationals 
from the country. 
 
Leading media reported that elements in the defense 
establishment have warned that Hamas and other 
Palestinian groups intend to assassinate Chief 
Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, as well as Rabbi Ovadia 
Yosef and Rabbi Kadoorie, in retaliation for the 
killing of Yassin. 
 
Yediot reported that the special Knesset commission 
investigating the weaknesses of Israel's intelligence 
branches at the time of the Iraq War advocates tidying 
up those branches, particularly IDF Intelligence. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The assassination 
of Yassin showed how Ariel Sharon is capable of 
undermining the disengagement plan to which he is 
ostensibly committed." 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Raising the level of 
personal strikes to the political leadership is a 
serious mistake, which was meant to serve the Prime 
Minister's objective in his party." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "The [Israeli] public will not 
accept another empty political promise that does move 
beyond the drawing board." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"This week's killing ... only intensified an already 
strong suspicion that Sharon's moves are not part of a 
broad-based and long-term plan, but a series of shots 
from the hip." 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "One should not 
ignore the courage demonstrated by those [70 prominent 
Palestinians] who initiated the public statement." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Shaken to the Core" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 26): "When 
the Israeli reaction to the assassination of Yassin is 
anxiety over what lies in store and dense 
fortifications, it's not so easy to be convinced that 
the assassination is contributing to state security.... 
The assassination of Yassin showed how Ariel Sharon is 
capable of undermining the disengagement plan to which 
he is ostensibly committed.  He explained the 
assassination as arising from the need to paralyze 
Hamas's ability to sow terror, and to enable the IDF to 
leave the Gaza Strip without leaving behind conditions 
that would facilitate a continuation of terrorist 
attacks.  But at the same time, the action was also 
volatile enough to derail the unilateral withdrawal 
plan -- since the killing of Yassin could easily spawn 
a cycle of actions and reactions that would create a 
situation, or the semblance of one, that would compel 
the IDF to remain in Gaza." 
 
II.  "Why Now?" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 26): "For a split 
second the danger had arisen that a tiny speck of 
sanity had spread over Israel's territory.... 
Palestinian terrorism continued with the horrendous 
Ashdod Port murders and the cruel dispatching of 
children who would blow up next to Israelis, which 
spawned proper IDF responses in Nablus and Gaza.  But 
something was in the air.  There was talk of an 
arrangement, of a mini-peace.  Ariel Sharon, Ehud 
Olmert, Shaul Mofaz and Silvan Shalom immediately 
realized the gravity of the situation and brought back 
the enmity of old.... It is not that pinpoint 
assassinations are wrong.  But they should be limited 
to the professional level [i.e. those executing 
attacks].  The killing of the 'Engineer' [Hamas bomb- 
maker Yihie Ayash] in 1996 was justified, although it 
was followed by a wave of bus bombings.  Raising the 
level of personal strikes to the political leadership 
is a serious mistake, which was meant to serve the 
Prime Minister's objective in his party." 
 
III.  "How Serious is Sharon?" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (March 26): " If Sharon's 
decision rests on security considerations, as he has 
made it clear, every additional day the IDF remains in 
the Strip is superfluous.  One should remember that 
Sharon has not made the disengagement from the Strip 
contingent on the receipt of U.S. aid or approval, 
therefore, there is no need to wait for the U.S. 
position to implement the withdrawal.... [Besides,] on 
Wednesday, Sharon voted in favor of a bill that, if 
passed into law, would require a majority of 61 votes 
in the Knesset to evacuate settlements in the 
territories.  Although one could see Sharon's vote as 
an expression of self-confidence that shows he believes 
he will be able to overcome constraints of the law, it 
is impossible not to see his vote as adopting a 
political constraint, albeit a symbolic one.... It is 
difficult to assess the disorder that may ensue if it 
emerges that the plan will not be put into practice due 
to various constraints, from home or abroad.  The fact 
that the plan is unilateral -- a respectable constraint 
in itself -- cannot allow Sharon to hang its non- 
implementation on external (i.e. American or 
Palestinian), political or bureaucratic factors.  The 
public will not accept another empty political promise 
that does move beyond the drawing board." 
 
IV.  "Wanted: a Plan" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 26): "Say what you want about Prime Minister 
Ariel Sharon, he sure knows how to change the subject. 
When it seemed he was about to be indicted, he dropped 
the bombshell of a unilateral dismantling of 
settlements in Gaza.  Then, just as that plan was 
running into increasing resistance within his own 
party, he drops a literal bombshell on Hamas leader 
Ahmed Yassin.  Not that we are suggesting the Prime 
Minister has consciously engineered these diversions, 
but the fact is that this week's killing has shifted 
attention from the broader picture, which is not about 
this or that resident of the Gaza Strip, but about the 
Strip itself.... This week's killing, having come as an 
isolated shot followed by nothing other than deep 
entrenchment in expectation of retaliatory response, 
only intensified an already strong suspicion that 
Sharon's moves are not part of a broad-based and long- 
term plan, but a series of shots from the hip.  The 
situation, not to mention history, demands a lot more 
than that." 
 
¶V.  "Finally: Soul Searching" 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 26): 
"Finally, after three-and-a-half years of continuous 
terror, male and female suicide bombers, and the use of 
children as human bombs, the Palestinians are beginning 
to do some soul-searching.  The problem is that the 
initiative by 70 Palestinian public figures, who 
Thursday called on the Palestinians to stop the terror 
and go for a popular Intifada, came too late.... It is 
also too bad that this initiative came after the 
Palestinian street is already full of hatred.... It is 
also too bad that the petition does not mention the 
moral value of the cessation of the killing: the 
signatories to the public statement call on their 
people to stop the terror in order not to give Sharon 
reasons to continue the fighting, and not in order to 
maintain the value of a human being as such. 
Nonetheless, one should not ignore the courage 
demonstrated by those who initiated the public 
statement.... There is no doubt that one should welcome 
this initiative and encourage the signers to expand 
their number, to address their people directly and tell 
them unhesitatingly: enough of this terror.  The soul 
of the simple person on the street is sick of the 
roadblocks, the suffering, the distress and the terror. 
It is reasonable to assume that the silent majority is 
prepared to accept the new initiative.  The question is 
whether the terror organizations and the leaders of the 
gangs will agree to lay down their arms.  The way 
reality looks today, that seems really far away." 
 
------------------- 
¶2.  Blair in Libya: 
------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Researcher in strategic affairs at the 
Interdisciplinary Center Dr. Shmuel Bar wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 26): "In 
actual fact, the Blair-Qadhafi meeting serves the 
interest of both leaders, and is the direct outcome of 
the American ultimatum against the 'Axis of Evil' 
countries." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"An Alliance of Interests" 
 
Researcher in strategic affairs at the 
Interdisciplinary Center Dr. Shmuel Bar wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 26): "In 
actual fact, the Blair-Qadhafi meeting serves the 
interest of both leaders, and is the direct outcome of 
the American ultimatum against the 'Axis of Evil' 
countries.  Qadhafi may have been considered the 
craziest of Arab leaders, but he clearly knows about 
rewards and punishments.  When he understood that his 
involvement in terrorist attacks had gone overboard, he 
renounced terror.... He is demonstrating a perfectly 
pragmatic behavior.  Consequently, Thursday's meeting 
constituted the first step toward the renewed 
blossoming of the Libyan economy.... But Tony Blair, 
too, had an interest in this meeting.  He is currently 
under domestic crossfire because of the British army's 
involvement in Iraq.  By being the first Western leader 
who extended his hands to Qadhafi, Blair wished to 
prove to his adversaries -- and to the numerous Muslim 
voters in Britain -- that he can not only be a fighter, 
but also a friend when facing the Arab world." 
 
KURTZER