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 006071 
 
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.  Syrian-Lebanese Track 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with last night's defeat of PM Sharon in 
the Knesset vote on the 2005 state budget, which was 
rejected 69-43.  Eight Knesset members were absent. 
Only Likud and United Torah Judaism (UTJ) voted in 
favor of the bill.  Immediately afterwards, Sharon 
fired the five Shinui cabinet ministers.  All media 
reported on the expected negotiations with the Labor 
Party and other parties (notably Shas and UTJ) toward a 
national-unity government.  Ha'aretz quoted senior 
Likud members as saying that Sharon will be hard- 
pressed to expand the government without Shas.  At a 
news conference this afternoon, Sharon hinted that 
Labor would enter his government, and announced that 
cabinet minister Tzipi Livni would become acting 
justice minister. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted President Bush as 
saying Wednesday in Halifax, Canada, that the way to 
resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to promote 
Palestinian democracy, not by pressuring the parties 
regarding particular border routes or settlement sites. 
"This approach has been tried before without success," 
said Bush, adding, "The Palestinian people deserve a 
peaceful government that truly serves their interests, 
and the Israeli people need a true partner in peace." 
 
Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Colin Powell as 
saying that the decision announced Wednesday by Marwan 
Barghouti to run as an independent candidate for PA 
chairmanship may be "problematic."  Leading media cited 
criticism of Barghouti's move within Fatah. 
 
The media reported that Israel and Egypt agreed 
Wednesday on the deployment of 750 Egyptian troops 
along the Gaza-Egypt border.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and FM Ahmed 
Abu el-Gheit proposed at high-level talks in Jerusalem 
Wednesday that Israel pull out from the entire 
"Philadelphi Route" and help bolster the new 
Palestinian leadership's efforts to maintain calm by 
refraining from assassination operations, demolishing 
homes and entering cities in the territories.   The 
media quoted Sharon as saying that a withdrawal from 
Philadelphi would only be possible if the arms 
smuggling from Egypt stops.  Leading media cited FM 
Silvan Shalom's response: "Where there is no terror, 
there will also be quiet, but a hudna [truce] is a time 
bomb.  We favor quiet, but that's not a solution, 
merely postponing the inevitable."  Leading media 
reported that Egypt and Israel will exchange letters 
about the redeployment in order to avoid amending the 
peace treaty, which currently allows Egypt to deploy 
only civilian police in the region.  Ha'aretz quoted 
Suleiman as saying the deployment could occur in 
January.  Israel Radio quoted Palestinian FM Nabil 
Shaath as saying that, in talks with PLO Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), Hamas's leaders have agreed 
to a mutual truce with Israel, when it resumes its 
negotiations with the Palestinians. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as 
saying Wednesday that Israel hopes that the new 
Palestinian leadership to emerge from the January 9 
elections will prove to be a true partner and ready to 
embark on dialogue. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli officials as saying that the 
real reason for the cancellation of the visit of Deputy 
U.S. National Security Advisor Steve Hadley to the 
region was probably the absence of senior PA officials 
from the region and the political crisis in Israel. 
The officials were quoted as saying that the U.S. also 
feared that an American embrace would hurt the new 
Palestinian leadership.  Ha'aretz reported that Elliott 
Abrams, Special Assistant to the President and Senior 
Director of the National Security Council for Near East 
and North African Affairs, will make a private visit to 
Israel this weekend, where he will also hold diplomatic 
talks. 
 
Ha'aretz (Akiva Eldar) reported that Palestinian PM 
Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) wrote a letter two weeks ago to 
the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) coordinating donor- 
nation funding to the territories, in which he 
expressed concern over the possibility that the AHLC 
conference to be held next week in Oslo "may have the 
effect of reinforcing Israel's unilateral acts and 
further harm prospects for a viable solution to the 
conflict by focusing on short-term needs in the Gaza 
Strip without sufficient attention to the West Bank." 
 
Leading media reported that Sharon and Shalom have 
denied a report published in Maariv Wednesday that 
Israel ignored Syrian President Bashar Assad's 
readiness to come to Jerusalem and speak to the Knesset 
as a first step toward renewing peace talks.  The media 
quoted Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu el-Gheit as saying 
Wednesday that he did not bring any message from Syria 
to Israel.  Eytan Bentsur, who was Foreign Ministry D-G 
between 1996 and 2000 and who represented Israel in 
talks with Syrian officials a year and a half ago, 
confirmed in various media that Assad had agreed to 
come to Jerusalem.  Maariv quoted senior Israeli 
defense establishment sources as saying that Israel 
should not turn a blind eye to Assad. 
Leading media reported that FBI officials searched the 
Washington offices of the American Israel Public 
Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday.  Israel Radio 
and Jerusalem Post's and Ha'aretz's web sites reported 
that the FBI issued subpoenas to four senior AIPAC 
officials requesting that they appear before a grand 
jury, possibly in relation with the alleged leaking of 
materials to Israel by Pentagon official Larry 
Franklin.  The FBI officials also seized computer files 
from senior AIPAC employees Steve Rosen and Keith 
Weissman.  Yediot quoted GOI sources in Jerusalem as 
saying that Israel does not spy in the U.S. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Israel Police and the 
Prisons Service are asking the GOI for 470 million 
shekels (around USD 107 million) for carrying out the 
evacuation of settlers in accordance with the 
disengagement plan. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the World Bank wants to 
condition increased international aid to the 
Palestinians upon a series of measures to be taken by 
Israel and the PA, according to a report it issued on 
Wednesday, ahead of the conference of PA donor 
countries in Norway next week.  Israel Radio says that, 
according to the World Bank report, Israel will allow 
35,000 Palestinians to continue working in the country 
for another four years. 
 
Jerusalem Post notes that the members of the delegation 
of U.S. Senators who ended their visit to Israel on 
Wednesday have made upbeat declarations about peace 
prospects in the Middle East. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that the UN Relief and Works 
Agency (UNRWA) has defied orders by the Jerusalem 
Municipality to stop illegal construction inside its 
Jerusalem compound. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that Wednesday the 
Knesset plenum narrowly rejected a law that would allow 
the Israel Lands Administration to build communities 
for Jews only. 
 
Leading media reported that Tuesday Knesset Member 
Rabbi Michael Melchior (Labor Party-Meimad) created a 
new social movement, "Tnufa" (Momentum), which he said 
might run for the Knesset in the future. 
 
Maariv reported that Saudi Arabia's King Saud 
University has started offering Hebrew classes, which 
are currently attended by 20 students.  The teachers 
are Hebrew speaking Jordanians and Egyptians.  The 
newspaper quoted a Saudi source as saying that it is 
important to learn Hebrew in order to acquire first- 
hand knowledge about the Jews. 
 
Yediot cited a poll conducted in Germany by Bielefeld 
University researchers, according to which over 52 
percent of Germans believe that Israel's actions in the 
territories are not different in principle than what 
the Third Reich did to the Jews.  Almost 70 percent of 
Germans said that Israel is fighting a "war of 
extermination" against the Palestinians.  The results 
of the survey will be published today in Berlin, at a 
conference conducted by bodies fighting the far Right 
in Germany. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Veteran journalist Yaron London wrote in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "It seems that there has never been such a 
wide gap between a majority of Israelis, which is 
averse to this coalition, and the Knesset members who 
have brought it about." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Israel needs a 
strategic change in its attitude toward the UN." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Toward an Unwelcome Government" 
 
Veteran journalist Yaron London wrote in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (December 2): "A public opinion poll 
[published Wednesday in Yediot Aharonot] found that a 
huge majority [of Israelis] opposes the holding of 
elections at this time, and that the three largest 
parties [Likud, Labor and Shinui] together enjoy a 
sweeping majority among voters.  It apparently is no 
coincidence that the percentage of support for those 
parties is similar to that of Israelis who support a 
disengagement from the Gaza Strip.  The clear inference 
of this is that a government formed by the three large 
parties might relieve Israeli politics from its 
predicament.... Very unfortunately, the establishment 
of such a government is not possible, since Sharon 
can't manage to subdue the branch of his party that 
opposes an exaggerated veering of the government to the 
left.  In order to assuage that branch's hostility to 
the Labor Party, Sharon has sacrificed Shinui, and 
bought the support of United Torah Judaism; in order to 
stabilize his government, he intends to invite Shas, an 
opponent of disengagement.... It seems that there has 
never been such a wide gap between a majority of 
Israelis, which is averse to this coalition, and the 
Knesset members who have brought it about." 
 
II.  "Edging Back Toward the UN" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 2): 
"Reading the United Nations resolutions on the Middle 
East is a difficult experience for Israel.... [Yet,] 
Israel has chalked up a few points at the General 
Assembly this year.  For the first time the resolutions 
state that they are 'gravely concerned' about 'suicide 
terror attacks against Israelis,' without mentioning 
their Palestinian perpetrators, and condemn anti- 
Semitism.  At the Foreign Ministry they are proud of 
the achievement.  But in diplomacy there are no free 
lunches, and in return for a certain softening of the 
criticism of Israel's behavior in the territories -- 
the 'military actions' instead of the 'military 
attacks,' for example -- the condemnation of the Jewish 
settlements in the territories has become more 
severe.... A tactic of dealing with clauses and 
formulations is not enough.  Israel needs a strategic 
change in its attitude toward the UN.  Is it perhaps 
worth accepting the applicability of the Geneva 
Conventions to the territories, instead of opposing 
this and being subjected to repeated condemnations?.... 
A government that has dared to initiate an evacuation 
of settlements is able also to reexamine its attitude 
toward the international community.  And just as the 
disengagement plan has improved Israel's international 
standing, it can also enjoy the fruit of a bolder 
diplomacy." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Syrian-Lebanese Track: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "If [Bashar Assad] means a frozen peace 
devoid of legitimacy and bordering on hostility, as we 
have with Egypt, perhaps it is preferable for Israel to 
have the present situation, both stability and 
territory, remain in place." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Bashar's Photo-Op" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (December 2): "The urgency that has now come 
over Assad stems from the fact that George Bush was re- 
elected to the U.S. presidency, contrary to the hopes 
of the Syrian President.  Washington may therefore 
remember Syria's membership in the 'axis of evil' and 
acting accordingly.... Perhaps Syria thinks that Israel 
is like Lebanon, with which it made a 'fraternity and 
friendship agreement' and in practice subjugated it to 
its authority.... If Israel understands that Bashar 
Assad is only interested in using it and being saved, 
without paying anything in return, he should be 
reminded of his father's favorite rule: there are no 
free lunches.  Syria continues to act as a lawbreaking 
state, and therefore its regime has no legitimacy.... 
After four years of Intifada, burning Arab hatred 
unparalleled in the past, and deception, Israel has 
matured.  It no longer automatically buys into the 
peace mumblings of Arab dictators, who do so at its 
expense solely for their own benefit.  Irrespective of 
... three conditions that should be posed to Bashar 
[regarding the removal of Palestinian terror groups 
from Syria, the disarming of Hizbullah, and the removal 
of the Syrian troops from Lebanon], let the Syrian 
president be kind enough to make it clear in his own 
words what he means by 'peace' with Israel.  If he 
means a frozen peace devoid of legitimacy and bordering 
on hostility, as we have with Egypt, perhaps it is 
preferable for Israel to have the present situation, 
both stability and territory, remain in place." 
 
CRETZ