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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 006535 
 
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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¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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All media reported that during his visit to the region 
Wednesday British PM Tony Blair called for the 
cessation of Palestinian terrorism as a paramount need 
for the renewal of the peace process, and the provision 
by Israel of a diplomatic horizon.  The media reported 
that Blair nodded briefly toward Yasser Arafat's tomb 
in what Palestinian officials said was a compromise 
gesture agreed upon at the last minute. 
 
Leading media reported that IDF troops killed three 
Palestinians in the Khan Yunis refugee camp Wednesday, 
and that the IDF later left the city.  Israel Radio 
reported that this morning dozens of mortar shells were 
launched at Gaza Strip settlements.  All media reported 
that Palestinian gunmen killed an Israeli Bedouin who 
was guarding bulldozers near a planned section of the 
security fence in the southern Hebron hills.  Israel 
Radio reported that the police are close to solving the 
crime.  Leading media reported that the IDF has 
recently arrested a Palestinian couple, East Jerusalem 
residents, who planned to carry out a double suicide 
bombing at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem where 15 
Israelis were killed in an August 2001 attack. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that most residents of the Pe'at 
Sadeh settlement, in the Gaza Strip bloc of Gush Katif, 
have reached an agreement in principle with the 
Disengagement Administration for a collective move to 
Moshav Mavki'im, south of Ashkelon, should 
disengagement go ahead.  Nigel Roberts, the World 
Bank's country director for the West Bank and the Gaza 
Strip, was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Jerusalem Post that Israel is willing to consider the 
possibility of letting a third party take over at Gaza 
Strip naval and aerial ports after the disengagement 
plan is carried out. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Canada will send observers 
to the PA in the January 9 elections.  The station 
cited assessments that 600 foreign monitors will 
supervise the elections.  The media reported on the 
first local elections in the territories since 1976, 
which are being held today.  Jerusalem Post notes that 
Hamas-affiliated movements are presenting female 
candidates.  Jerusalem Post reported that Wednesday 
Israel handed over security control in Bethlehem to the 
Palestinians until January 19, ahead of Christmas 
celebrations in the city.  Israel Radio reported that 
PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) will attend the 
Midnight Mass in the Nativity Church. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as 
saying that he will not tolerate any attempt to 
stimulate sedition in the army.  Leading media reported 
that Wednesday former National Religious Party leader 
MK Effi Eitam called on settlers not to don orange 
Stars of David.  The media also cited an announcement 
by Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the 
Territories Wednesday that it has decided to oppose the 
use of force, the wearing of orange Stars of David, and 
the call to refuse among soldiers in the struggle 
against the disengagement plan.  Maariv and Israel 
Radio reported that right-wing 12 Knesset members have 
signed a pledge to be there for settlers on the day of 
their possible evacuation.  Yediot reported that 
hundreds of Lubavicher Hassids from New York are 
planning to come to Israel on an airlift, with the goal 
of bodily preventing the evacuation of Gush Katif. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Rabbi Yosef Alnekave, head of the 
Gush Katif Religious Council, as warning Wednesday on 
the right-wing radio Arutz Sheva (Arutz-7) that some 
settlers may begin manufacturing homemade bombs to fire 
at Palestinians unless the IDF succeeds in stopping the 
barrage of mortar shells fired daily at Gaza Strip 
settlements. 
 
In a paid ad in Ha'aretz, Peace Now calls on Israelis 
to sign a pledge to volunteer to replace any soldier 
who will refuse to evacuate settlers. 
 
Ha'aretz, Jerusalem Radio and Israel Radio reported 
that, "Syrian-Turkey ties warmed up," as the PMs of the 
two countries signed a free-trade agreement in Damascus 
on Wednesday.  The media reported that Turkish PM Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan offered to broker Syrian-Israeli talks. 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that, in an 
unprecedented transaction, Druze farmers in the Golan 
have received permission from Minister Mofaz to sell 
15,000 tons of apples to Syria. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Wednesday, calling the 
number of anti-Israel resolutions in the UN 
"ridiculous," Dutch Ambassador to Israel Bob Hensch 
told reporters that the EU was committed to reducing 
those numbers. 
 
Extensively citing a Bloomberg article, Yediot details 
the assets the late PA chairman Yasser Arafat held 
around the world: USD 545 million in communication 
ventures in Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, and USD 6.6 
million in business enterprises in the U.S.  (two 
software companies and a New York bowling alley). 
Ha'aretz quoted political sources within the U.S. 
Democratic Party as saying that Sen. John Kerry (Mass.) 
will be visiting Israel and the PA early next month, as 
part of a larger Middle East tour.  The newspaper 
quoted Kerry's press secretary April Boyd as saying: 
"The Senator's main goal will be to visit Iraq and 
thank U.S. troops and troops from Massachusetts," 
adding that Middle East peace is high on his agenda. 
 
Leading media reported that Iran announced Wednesday 
that its security services have arrested 10 persons 
suspected of revealing information regarding its 
nuclear program to the U.S. and Israeli intelligence 
agencies.  Maariv quoted Gen Mohammad Salimi, Iran's 
top army commander, as saying Wednesday that his 
country's military is on standby in case of an attack 
against its nuclear facilities. 
 
Yediot quoted Foreign Ministry D-G Ron Prosor as saying 
at the Herzliya Conference a few days ago that Israel's 
decision-making process is distorted because of the 
army's excessive influence on the political echelon. 
 
Citing Bloomberg, Jerusalem Post quoted Sudanese State 
Minister at the Interior Ministry Mohamed Ahmed Haroun 
as saying Wednesday in Khartoum that Israel is arming 
the rebels in Sudan' western province of Darfur. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted visiting Harvard University 
President Larry Summers, a former U.S. secretary of the 
treasury, as saying Wednesday that demonization of 
Israel and anti-Semitic tension on American campuses 
has lessened considerably and that the divestment 
movement has dissipated. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 23): 
"[Abu Mazen] already knows what everyone will know once 
he is elected: he cannot deliver the goods." 
 
Regional affairs writer Arnon Regular opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Palestinians 
[understand] that the real focal point of decision is 
not in London, and that the person who will determine 
Abu Mazen's future ahead of permanent-status agreements 
is not Blair, but Bush." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in page one 
of conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Blair, to 
his credit, was consistent in his message: Iraq's new 
rules need to apply here as well." 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "More than two-thirds of the 
[Israeli] public supports evacuating settlements for 
peace, even unilaterally.  But [the settlers] don't 
care about that.  The concept of 'majority' is a 
democratic concept." 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in Ha'aretz: "If the 
settlers decide to respond like the citizenry of the 
Ukraine ... no government can prevail over them." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Abu Mazen's Candies" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 23): 
"[Abu Mazen] already knows what everyone will know once 
he is elected: he cannot deliver the goods.  Abu Mazen 
planned to reach an agreement with the various 
Palestinian factions about a cease-fire, even a 
temporary one -- something between a cursory hudna 
[truce] and a fragile pledge of honor -- so as to allow 
him to begin negotiations from a position of personal 
power, and as someone capable of serving as a source of 
authority.... The answer he received from the Hamas 
representatives both in Damascus and in the territories 
was an unqualified no.... It is clear to all that 
[Hamas's] conditions are unacceptable, and their only 
purpose is to embarrass Abu Mazen and to cast him as 
impotent.... It is clear to Hamas that a resumption of 
terror attacks will embarrass Abu Mazen even before the 
elections, and that those terror attacks could have an 
immediate strategic impact.  As such, the chances of 
Abu Mazen successfully achieving a comprehensive 
Palestinian cease-fire agreement are slim.  Israel, 
which had hoped for a successful and coordinated 
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, for good will gestures, 
for opening the seaport and many other things, could 
find itself facing disengagement under fire, 
irrespective of the Palestinian Authority, which could 
go back to being irrelevant.  Given the current 
development of circumstances, that ought to be the 
IDF's working assumption as it prepares for 
disengagement, and not any of those optimistic 
assumptions about 'windows of opportunity,' that have 
been reported by senior cabinet ministers." 
 
 
 
II.  "The Palestinians Understand that the Landlord 
Lives in Washington" 
 
Regional affairs writer Arnon Regular opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 23): "Even 
after Blair's visit, the Palestinians have no tangible 
calendar for the road map.  It is obvious to them that 
the Palestinian state will not be established during 
2005, and they harbor no expectations about Blair's 
summit conferences.  Contrary to the way British 
officials have presented the London conference, the 
Palestinians would be hard-pressed to describe it as 
anything beyond a 'meeting'.... More than once during 
the last year of Arafat's life, the Palestinian 
Authority has described the British policy as the 
'continuation of the Balfour Declaration'  -- an 
Israeli-British plot behind the Palestinians' back. 
During Arafat's life the Palestinians understood -- and 
continue to do so now -- that the real focal point of 
decision is not in London, and that the person who will 
determine Abu Mazen's future ahead of permanent-status 
agreements is not Blair, but Bush." 
 
III.  "How Iraq Changed Tony Blair" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in page one 
of conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (December 
23): "Blair's brief trip to Iraq [on the day of the 
lethal attack against U.S. troops in Mosul] left its 
impact.  Just how great an impact was apparent well 
beyond Blair's condolences.  It was apparent in his 
unequivocal words about fighting terrorism and creating 
democracy, and in his comments about the diplomatic 
process here.... Israel's eventual embrace of the 
conference [promoted by Blair], even though it will not 
attend, was the result of assurances that the meeting 
will not deal with the peace process, but only with 
Palestinian reform, and also assurances that Blair -- 
during his visit to Israel -- would speak out 
forcefully against terrorism.  Blair lived up to his 
side of the bargain.... Blair, while in Iraq, framed 
the current fight there as 'very clearly a battle 
between democracy and terror.'  It's obvious that you 
can't say that in Baghdad one day, and say something 
completely different in Jerusalem the next.  Blair, to 
his credit, was consistent in his message: Iraq's new 
rules need to apply here as well.  The new rules also 
apply in respect to the viability of the Palestinian 
state.  Blair charted new ground for a European leader 
by intimating that a Palestinian state is not an end in 
and of itself, and that its viability goes beyond the 
usual catch-phrases of territorial contiguity and 
economic independence." 
IV.  "The Mask is Torn" 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (December 23): "That's it. 
The mask has been torn off.... An enormous chasm -- a 
chasm of culture, of values -- yawns between a majority 
of the Israeli public and the settlers.  The talk about 
a majority of the Israeli public is based on repeated 
public opinion polls that establish that more than two- 
thirds of the public supports evacuating settlements 
for peace, even unilaterally.  But they don't care 
about that.  The concept of 'majority' is a democratic 
concept.  The settlers' authority stems not from that, 
but from Halacha [Jewish religious law].  The entire 
Land of Israel is sacred and so on and so forth.... We 
are not fellow member of the same people.  We are two 
peoples, despite the reciprocal responsibility that was 
forced upon us against our will.  We, that public 
defined earlier, foot the bill for the activities of 
the minority working against us, sacrifice our sons to 
protect them, keep any chance for peace out of reach 
because of their settlement in Arab population centers, 
but they don't even appreciate that.  For some of them, 
we are like the Nazi regime, and have come to expel 
them from their homes.  And we are financing even that 
sick campaign, and we reconcile ourselves even to that 
-- because in our democracy, freedom of speech is a 
supreme value.  And they look at us, and they know 
precisely where our weak spots are, and they exploit it 
for their own gain.  And everything, of course, is in 
the name of God and the Torah." 
 
¶V.  "Not a Refusal to Serve -- But a Rupture" 
 
Settler leader Israel Harel wrote in Ha'aretz (December 
23): "The phenomenon of refusal [to serve military 
orders] was not created by the Council of Jewish 
Settlements in Judea, Samaria and Gaza [i.e. the 
territories]; on the contrary, it opposed it with all 
its might.  The one responsible for it more than anyone 
else is none other than the Prime Minister.  He decided 
to uproot the Gaza settlements, and is forcing the 
army, even at the cost of a possible rupture in its 
ranks, to carry out his decision by force.  It is 
toward him, as well as toward the Defense Minister who 
also -- mirabile dictu -- made a complete about-face, 
that the Chief of Staff should direct his accusations. 
An army -- certainly the IDF -- cannot prevail over 
tens of thousands of its own people by force.  If the 
settlers decide to respond like the citizenry of the 
Ukraine -- if they come in large force for a long-term, 
nonviolent struggle -- no government can prevail over 
them.  Ukraine has proved that it is enough for a few 
thousand determined and persistent demonstrators, who 
are undeterred by threats and provocations, to effect a 
profound change." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "What the Americans are trying to do is to 
twist the arms of mighty China and little Israel.  The 
problem is that from Israel's point of view it is 
always worthwhile to let the neighborhood bully win." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Neighborhood Bully" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (December 23): "The latest reports that the 
U.S. has warned Israel not to send back to China spare 
parts for attack drones that Beijing purchased in the 
past ought to worry and perhaps shock Israelis.  But 
perhaps not.... The Americans feel that they own the 
world and certainly the State of Israel, and their word 
is law.... From their point of view, the Israelis and 
the Chinese can both go jump in the lake.... Israel has 
promised not to harm the vital security interests of 
the United States and is honoring that promise.  But 
the Pentagon officials don't care.  They intend to show 
us who is boss.  The neighborhood bully has taken to 
the streets and all the children are running for cover. 
In the Pentagon today there is a group that is in 
distress.  They are Jews, they are senior and they are 
accused of pushing the United States into the 
superfluous and muddled war in Iraq in order to help 
Israel.  This group is trying to get rid of its Israeli 
taint and it trying to pin the blame on Israel.  Anyone 
with eyes in his head knows how dependant Israel is on 
the United States for everything -- in defense, in 
world politics and for its economy.  In Israel today 
only the air is free (and it is polluted enough).  Over 
everything else, for better or worse, America is in 
control.  What the Americans are trying to do is to 
twist the arms of mighty China and little Israel.  The 
problem is that from Israel's point of view it is 
always worthwhile to let the neighborhood bully win." 
 
KURTZER