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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 006335 
 
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 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Yediot reported that President Bush told Jewish leaders 
in the White House on Monday that "Arik Sharon" made a 
brilliant decision to unilaterally withdraw from the 
Gaza Strip -- a particularly difficult decision from 
one of the founders of the settlements there -- and 
that this was the right way for Israel at this time. 
 
Leading media reported that PM Sharon ordered the IDF 
to act forcefully against the threat of tunnels in the 
Gaza Strip.  Yediot and other media quoted Sharon as 
saying Monday that if Palestinian terror attacks 
continue, Israel will not coordinate with the 
Palestinians in evacuating the Gaza Strip and the 
northernmost part of the West Bank.  Israel Radio 
reported that last night an IDF force entered Khan 
Yunis, where it demolished buildings that reportedly 
were mostly used in attacks against Israel.  The radio 
also reported that retired Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad will 
supposedly travel to Egypt to meet with top Egyptian 
intelligence official Omar Suleiman, in order to 
coordinate the positioning of Egyptian forces along the 
Philadelphi route.  Jerusalem Post reported that 
warning of immediate danger, Deputy Internal Security 
Minister Jacob Edery called on the GOI Monday to 
immediately begin constructing a security fence along 
the border with Egypt. 
 
Yediot reported that Trade, Industry and Employment 
Ehud Olmert will meet with Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak in Cairo today.  Olmert is expected to convey a 
message from Sharon regarding Israel's demand that 
Egypt prevent terrorist attacks from Gaza and arms 
smuggling into the Strip.  Jerusalem Post and Yediot 
reported that Olmert will sign a free trade agreement 
with Egyptian Foreign Trade and Industry Minister 
Rashid Mohamed Rashid and USTR Robert Zoellick 
involving the creation of Qualified Industrial Zones 
(QIZ). 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the focal point of British PM 
Tony Blair's visit to Israel and the PA next week will 
be his initiative to convene a conference in support of 
the Palestinians following the scheduled January 9 
elections in the PA.  Yediot quoted sources closes to 
Sharon as saying that Sharon will not agree to British 
initiatives regarding such a conference because this is 
an attempt to jump over the stages decided upon in the 
road map.  Yediot reported that former U.S. president 
Jimmy Carter will head a delegation of U.S. election 
monitors, and adds that the Foreign Ministry has 
learned that former U.S. president Bill Clinton has 
requested to join the delegation.  Jerusalem Post and 
Yediot quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as saying 
Monday at the Herzliya Conference that Israel would 
pull its troops out of Palestinians cities before the 
January 9 elections for the Palestinian chairmanship -- 
for a period of 72 hours. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a high-ranking GOI source as saying 
Monday that Sharon wants the cabinet to approve the 
changes to the route of the security fence as a "single 
package," and that he is delaying approval of the 
already amended and completed plan for the Hebron Hills 
area until the completion of the plan to reroute the 
fence in the settlement bloc of Gush Etzion. 
 
Leading media reported that the Labor Party's 
representatives stormed out of coalition talks last 
night, citing its insistence on social measures and on 
the new coalition's parties committing themselves to 
supporting the disengagement plan.  The media also 
reported that coalition talks hit a snag Monday, after 
the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 
informed party chairman Eli Yishai that he sees no 
reason to rescind his ruling against the disengagement 
plan. 
 
All media reported that Hamas activist Mesbah Abu 
Hweileh survived a bombing Monday that destroyed his 
car on a Damascus street Monday.  The media reported 
that Hamas and the Syrian government immediately blamed 
Israel for the explosion.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Israeli officials denied knowledge of the bombing, 
saying Syria "always blames Israel" for untoward events 
on its soil.  The media reported that three Israeli 
soldiers were wounded Monday in a Nablus firefight that 
killed a wanted man from Hamas.  Maariv cited a BBC 
interview with Hamas's political chief Khaled Mashal, 
in which he said that the U.S. and Europe are holding 
secret talks with Hamas even though they have declared 
 
SIPDIS 
it a terrorist organization. 
 
Leading media reported on an uproar, mostly by Israeli- 
Arab Knesset members, following Likud MK Yehiel Hazan's 
speech to the Knesset Monday, in which he referred to 
Arabs as "worms who live underground and above the 
ground."  He was speaking about Sunday's attack near 
Rafah. 
 
Leading media reported that France's highest 
administrative court, the Council of State, moved 
decisively to ban Hizbullah's Al Manar-TV on Monday, 
ruling that the channel had repeatedly violated the 
country's hate laws and ignored its own pledge to avoid 
making anti-Semitic statements 
All media reported that Monday at the Herzliya 
Conference, IDF Spokesperson Ruth Yaron accused Ilana 
Dayan, the host of Channel 2-TV's "Uvda" (Fact) program 
of "cooking" a tape containing an IDF communication 
recorded during the alleged  "confirmed killing" of a 
13-year-old Gaza girl by an IDF officer.  Maariv cites 
an interview published two weeks ago by the IDF's 
official periodical Bamahaneh, in which an army 
commander describes how, in September, he shot and 
killed a terrorist who had thrown his weapon and 
surrendered. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that American citizen Brian Avery, an 
International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer who 
was wounded in the face by gunfire in Jenin in April 
2003, has petitioned the High Court of Justice to 
demand that the police, and not the IDF, investigate 
his case. 
 
Leading media reported that Monday Israel and the EU 
signed the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) 
agreement. 
 
Maariv cited research conducted by an organization 
aiding new immigrants, according to which each 
immigrant from North America costs the Israeli economy 
USD 200,000. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Israel will try to reach an 
agreement that will put government in the Gaza Strip in 
the hands of an authorized Palestinian body.... But we 
may be disappointed -- either because Abu Mazen does 
not want to and/or cannot.... Sharon should continue 
with disengagement [anyway]." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Holding Abbas to a higher standard does not weaken 
him.  It provides the only hope of steering him toward 
transforming his society into one intent on building 
its own state rather than destroying Israel." 
 
Geneva Accord co-initiator and Yahad party leader Yossi 
Beilin wrote in Maariv: "The Labor Party inside the 
government would 'understand' Sharon if he should 
decide that the circumstances are not right for 
[withdrawal from Gaza]." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
¶I.  "From Terror Attack to Disengagement" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (December 14): "Upon Arafat's 
death and with the establishment of Abu Mazen's regime, 
there will be somebody to talk to about disengagement. 
Israel will try to reach an agreement that will put 
government in the Gaza Strip in the hands of an 
authorized Palestinian body.  The U.S. and Egypt are 
already active to reach such an agreement. But we may 
be disappointed -- either because Abu Mazen does not 
want to and/or cannot.  Then Sharon will face a minor 
dilemma, of the kind Barak faced: freeze the situation 
as is and wait for a phone call from Ramallah; or 
improve Israel's position and situation by a unilateral 
move of disengagement, and only afterwards wait and 
expect some sort of Palestinian willingness to discuss 
the final peace arrangements.  Sharon should continue 
with disengagement, on the assumption that it is 
essentially unilateral.  That it is without a 
Palestinian partner.  With concern that Palestinian 
terror will continue, but that the IDF and the settlers 
will no longer be in the Gaza Strip.  Because leaving 
the Gaza Strip, even unilaterally, is not giving up 
assets and receiving nothing in return, rather it is 
removing an extra burden, even if terror continues." 
 
II.  "Ominous Silence" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(December 14): "Abbas is the leader of Fatah and its 
presumed candidate for president.  His refusal to 
condemn this attack [in Gaza Sunday], much less use the 
thousands of armed men under his control to crack down 
on supposedly illegal militias, means he is making a 
choice.  If he maintains it, it is a choice of 
fruitless bloodshed, a path that is likely to produce 
more Israeli casualties and many more Palestinian 
ones.... We are being assured, now, that all good 
things must wait for the Palestinian election, which 
will strengthen Abbas.... Let Abbas tell his people 
that the billions in assistance and a chance to build 
their own state will only come when the Palestinians 
prove they are abandoning terrorism and embracing 
democracy.  That this must be the path of Palestinian 
nationalism, not perpetual war with Israel.   But Abbas 
won't say that unless he knows it to be true. And it 
won't be true so long so Israel and the U.S., not to 
mention Europe, seem poised to shower him with 
unconditional support the minute he is anointed in an 
uncontested election.... In the meantime, holding Abbas 
to a higher standard does not weaken him.  It provides 
the only hope of steering him toward transforming his 
society into one intent on building its own state 
rather than destroying Israel." 
III.  "Unity in Order to Prevent Disengagement" 
 
Geneva Accord co-initiator and Yahad party leader Yossi 
Beilin wrote in Maariv (December 14): "When, instead of 
Mofaz and Shalom, a Nobel Prize winner [Shimon Peres] 
explains [Sharon's] policy, it will be much easier for 
him to go back to his old habits.  He will have no 
reason to hurry.  He knows that in exchange for a few 
cabinet portfolios he will buy himself a loyal ally who 
will not threaten his authority.  He will also be able 
to go back to raising extreme proposals, knowing that 
Labor will veto them, thus quieting its conscience.... 
The Labor Party, which supports withdrawal from Gaza 
while it is in the opposition, will allow it to be 
carried out.  On the other hand, the Labor Party inside 
the government would 'understand' Sharon if he should 
decide that the circumstances are not right for that, 
and will also explain to the world that the time is not 
yet ripe for it.  The members of the Labor Central 
Committee, who will convene in order to approve a 
coalition agreement, still have an opportunity to 
prevent the mistake to which its leaders are leading 
them a second time." 
 
CRETZ