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 001920 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media quoted PM Sharon as saying Monday that if 
some coalition partners leave the government when he 
presents his disengagement plan to the cabinet after 
returning from the U.S., he will form a new coalition 
that very day.  Maariv reported that State Attorney 
Edna Arbel's recommendation that Sharon be indicted 
frustrated Likud-Labor negotiations for the formation 
of a national unity government, in which six 
portfolios, including the foreign ministry, had 
allegedly been promised to the Labor Party.  Ha'aretz 
reported that Sharon's speech to the Likud convention 
tonight will not mention his legal problems, nor the 
disengagement plan that is creating political problems 
for him.  All media reported that Monday the High Court 
of Justice ordered Sharon's son Gilad to hand over 
potentially incriminating documents in two corruption 
probes involving the Sharon family. 
 
Leading media reported that last night FM Silvan Shalom 
affirmed his support for Sharon.  Jerusalem Post and 
Israel Radio quoted Shalom as warning Sharon against 
forming a coalition with the Labor Party.  The radio 
quoted Shalom as saying that the leak of Arbel's 
recommendation was "wicked" and meant to influence the 
legal process.  Jerusalem Post also reported that 
Shalom slammed Vice PM Ehud Olmert for suggesting that 
Israel should withdraw unilaterally, even without 
receiving U.S. compensation, and quoted Shalom as 
saying: "Those who are calling for unconditional 
unilateral separation are completely wrong.  The 
Americans have been involved in every diplomatic 
agreement in Israel's history and their assistance 
should be welcome."  Ha'aretz quoted Sharon as 
testifying before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and 
Defense Committee that he agreed to evacuate four 
settlements in the northern West Bank because the quid 
pro quo from the U.S. would be much more "serious and 
significant" than if Israel only evacuated the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Maariv (Ben Caspit) reported that U.S. Ambassador Dan 
Kurtzer has been "flooded" by queries from the White 
House, the National Security Council and the State 
Department -- requesting that he try to explain to them 
what Sharon's real condition is, whether he is a lame 
duck and, if so, what is the degree of his handicap. 
Yated Ne'eman quoted MK Nissan Slomiansky, the chairman 
of the coalition's National Religious Party, as saying 
that Sharon does not have an option for an alternative 
government.  Ha'aretz reported that dozens of cabinet 
ministers, Knesset members, local mayors, high-ranking 
IDF officers and other prominent public figures have in 
recent weeks signed a petition called "A People's 
Petition - We Will Be There" that brands dismantling 
settlements a "moral, national crime." 
Ha'aretz reported that today Stephen Hadley and Elliott 
Abrams from the White House, and William Burns from the 
State Department, will brief senior European officials 
in Brussels about last week's Israeli-American talks in 
Washington over the disengagement plan.  The newspaper 
notes that the three U.S. envoys will then travel to 
Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 
followed by a visit to Amman to meet with Jordan's King 
Abdullah.  The delegates are slated to meet with Sharon 
in Jerusalem Thursday. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that while the IDF is "confused" 
about the disengagement plan, the Palestinians in the 
Gaza Strip are already making practical preparations 
toward an Israeli withdrawal.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Egypt has mediated a deal to divide responsibilities 
and spheres of influence between Jibril Rajoub, the 
current National Security Advisor to PA Chairman Yasser 
Arafat, and Muhammad Dahlan, former head of the Gazan 
Preventive Security services, as Cairo moves ahead with 
its plan for unified security services in the PA and a 
unified Palestinian leadership to present to the 
Americans. 
 
This morning, Israel Radio reported that the IDF, which 
fears that terrorists could leave Nablus to carry out 
attacks, is encircling the city. 
 
The media reported that the Israeli Arab community will 
commemorate Land Day today, culminating in a protest 
strike and a march in the Galilee -- from the village 
of Arabe to the town of Sakhnin.  Land Day marks the 
28th anniversary of clashes with the police over land 
confiscation, in which six Israeli Arabs were killed. 
 
Aluf Benn of Ha'aretz reviewed a new book, "Waging 
Peace: Israel and the Arabs, 1948-2003," by Prof. 
Itamar Rabinovich, one-time chief negotiator with Syria 
and former ambassador to the U.S.  Rabinovich writes 
that Arafat is to blame for the failure of the Oslo 
peace process.  However, he says that an interim deal 
can be struck with the Palestinians now -- but only 
with Arafat. 
 
Leading media reported that Monday the Knesset Finance 
Committee approved the cabinet's decision to make an 
across-the-board cut of 4.8 billion shekels (around USD 
1.06 billion) in the state budget for 2004. 
 
All media reported that today the police will release 
freed Hizbullah captive Elchanan Tenenbaum and place 
him under house arrest. 
 
In an exclusive Maariv feature, Italian Jew David Gerbi 
describes his recent visit to his native town: Tripoli, 
the Libyan capital. 
 
Yediot reported that 70 supporters of nuclear 
whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu from around the world, 
including the actress Susannah York and Nobel 
Prizewinners, will come to Israel to celebrate his 
release in around three weeks. 
 
Convicted spy Jonathan Pollard was quoted as saying in 
an interview with Maariv that he is entreating Sharon 
to "come and rescue" him during his upcoming visit to 
Washington. 
 
Ha'aretz underscored President Bush's statement Monday 
that the seven new members of NATO (Estonia, Latvia, 
Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria) 
"bring moral clarity to the purposes of our alliance." 
 
This morning, Israel Radio reported that a poll 
conducted in the U.S. found that Bush has regained his 
lead over Sen. John Kerry. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal contributor, Tel Aviv University Prof. Tanya 
Reinhart wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "Even the U.S. has not yet dared execute 
publicly a spiritual-religious leader." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "What are the implications of Ahmed 
Yassin's death for Palestinian politics?.... The real 
issue is the power struggle between Fatah and Hamas." 
 
Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri 
wrote in Jerusalem Post: "The cold peace Egypt offered 
Israel should be kept.  One can only wish something 
similar could be achieved with the Palestinians.  Yet, 
in marking the 25th anniversary of this agreement, one 
should realize what it is -- and what the Egyptians 
chose it should not be." 
 
Far-left, Arabic language Al-Ittihad editorialized: 
"The successive U.S. administrations have used the 
[right of] veto at the Security Council to protect the 
Israeli aggressor from any international condemnation 
to stop its crimes.... This American position is 
serving and encouraging barbaric Israeli terrorism 
against the Palestinians." 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Israel vs. the Safeguards of Mankind's 
Conservation" 
 
Liberal contributor, Tel Aviv University Prof. Tanya 
Reinhart wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (March 30): "Since 9/11, within the context of 
the war against terrorism, the United States has been 
applying pressure to cancel safeguards anchored in 
international law.  But even the U.S. has not yet dared 
execute publicly a spiritual-religious leader (for 
instance, those of the Taliban in Afghanistan).  Now, 
with U.S. blessing, the Israel has established that 
this, too, is allowed.  The rule of the military is 
turning Israel into a leader in the destruction of the 
protections that mankind created for its own 
conservation -- protections that Israel may need 
someday, as already proved by history." 
 
II.  "The Fatah-Hamas Rivalry" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (March 30): "What are the implications 
of Ahmed Yassin's death for Palestinian politics?  In 
the short run, it brought sympathy for Hamas from the 
general population.  But this event is unlikely to have 
much lasting impact.  The real issue is the power 
struggle between Fatah and Hamas.... Arafat, as many 
Fatah leaders know, is responsible for the declining 
fortunes of his group as well as of his people. By 
refusing to take strong action against Hamas, stop 
terrorism, and rein in the thuggish activity of 
militias waging battle against Israel, he is 
discrediting the PA, Fatah, and the nationalist 
cause.... But Hamas has its own problems in the pursuit 
of power.  However many terrorist attacks it can mount, 
it is going to be weaker without Yassin.  Hamas is a 
very fragmented organization, with no alternative 
preeminent leader in sight.... While no one should have 
any illusions that Hamas will stop trying to strike 
Israel with terrorism, Rantisi's elevation is not going 
to make it a tougher organization.  Speaking of 
Rantisi, let it not pass without notice that when 
Israel tried to kill him, one of the complaints brought 
by foreign politicians and journalists was that he was 
'only' Hamas's spokesman and not involved in terrorism. 
As has repeatedly happened before, the organization's 
own decision shows how naive such distinctions are." 
III.  "Just an Absence of War" 
 
Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri 
wrote in Jerusalem Post (November 26): "Exactly a 
quarter of a century ago -- in March 1979 -- Israel and 
Egypt signed a peace treaty which put an end to decades 
of war between the two nations.... Yet today relations 
between Israel and Egypt are bitter, and Israelis speak 
of a cold peace.... It now appears that the Egyptian 
strategy has been, from the very beginning, not to move 
toward reconciliation and rapprochement.  The current 
Palestinian Intifada is a mere excuse.  In signing the 
treaty Egypt wanted -- legitimately -- to get back its 
territory, but in return it never aimed at anything 
save a cold peace.... Peace is not just an absence of 
war.  It is a state of mind, a moral disposition, an 
ethical commitment. This is not what the Egyptians were 
seeking.  The cold peace Egypt offered Israel should be 
kept.  One can only wish something similar could be 
achieved with the Palestinians.  Yet, in marking the 
25th anniversary of this agreement, one should realize 
what it is -- and what the Egyptians chose it should 
not be." 
 
IV.  "Vetoes That Serve Terrorism" 
 
Far-left, Arabic language Al-Ittihad editorialized 
(March 28): "The U.S. State Department's strategic 
planners have put forward an agenda of 'confronting' 
the sharp increase of hatred felt by the nations of the 
world ... towards American imperialism!  But they 
[American foreign policymakers] didn't design policies 
to treat the real reasons for this hatred.... The blood 
of the people in the region, especially Palestinian 
blood, is bleeding because of the American strategic 
aggression that grants unlimited support ... to Israel. 
In addition, the successive U.S. administrations have 
used the [right of] veto at the Security Council to 
protect the Israeli aggressor from any international 
condemnation to stop its crimes.... This American 
position is serving and encouraging barbaric Israeli 
terrorism against the Palestinians.  This was also a 
clear message to the Arab regimes, on the eve of the 
proposed Arab league summit, that the U.S. 
Administration doesn't show any consideration for Arab 
leaders.  They [Arab leaders] are nothing but zero." 
------------------------------- 
¶2.  Campaign Against Terrorism: 
------------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"There is a network of groups and governments that 
believe in using terror to subjugate the West and make 
the world safe for tyranny.... Intelligence can be a 
critical tool in winning this war, but it cannot tell 
us what the war is about or outline our broad 
strategy." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Intelligence's Limits" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 30): "The problem with the concept of 
'intelligence failure' is that it presumes that 
intelligence normally succeeds.  If there is any lesson 
from the investigations both here and in the U.S., it 
is that policy makers must assume the structural 
fallibility of their intelligence agencies.... What 
9/11 shows ... is that if intelligence is to mean 
anything it must first have some grasp of the major 
currents sweeping the globe.  Is it surprising that 
Western intelligence services missed 9/11 when they did 
not anticipate the fall of the Soviet Union?.... We 
should keep in mind not what we think we know, but what 
we do know: that there is a network of groups and 
governments that believe in using terror to subjugate 
the West and make the world safe for tyranny.  We know 
they must be beaten, and that the key to beating them 
is to drive a handful of governments out of the terror 
business.  We also know that tyranny and terror are 
inextricably linked, so that a policy of supporting 
Western values of freedom and human rights is also 
necessary to achieve peace and security.  Intelligence 
can be a critical tool in winning this war, but it 
cannot tell us what the war is about or outline our 
broad strategy." 
 
KURTZER