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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 006564 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
On Monday, all media bannered the deadly tsunami that 
hit South Asian coasts on Sunday, saying that dozens of 
Israelis in the area are unaccounted for, especially in 
southern Thailand, India, and Sri Lanka.  Israel Radio 
cited the Foreign Ministry as saying that some 500 
Israelis known to have been in the affected areas still 
have not called home.  Leading media reported that, 
responding to a call by Sri Lanka's President to the 
international community, Israel has dispatched a 
medical team to that country. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv reported that the isolated Gaza Strip 
settlement of Netzarim will be evacuated first. 
Leading media quoted Yonatan Bassi, the head of the 
Disengagement Administration, as confirming Sunday that 
all 20 families from the Pe'at Sadeh settlement in the 
Gaza Strip will relocate to Moshav Mavki'im south of 
Ashkelon by May 21.  Bassi said that five families from 
additional settlements will move to Mavki'im.  Ha'aretz 
reported that the Knesset's Constitution, Law and 
Justice Committee decided to delete the punitive 
clauses in the proposed Evacuation Compensation Bill, 
which sets out the financial recompense to be offered 
to settlers who evacuate their homes in the Katif Bloc 
(Gush Katif) and northern West Bank under the 
disengagement plan.  On Sunday, Yediot reported that 
following a decision by the Knesset's Constitution, Law 
and Justice Committee Chairman MK Michael Eitan, the 
government will be forced to convene in January and 
notify the Gush Katif settlers six months in advance of 
the precise evacuation date of their settlements. 
Ha'aretz reported that approximately 30 Thai workers 
out of the 400 employed in the Katif Bloc have left the 
area since last week. 
 
On Sunday, all media quoted Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) 
as saying Saturday that the Palestinians demand a full 
Israeli withdrawal from the territories, including East 
Jerusalem, and that they "will not accept settlements, 
and that includes Ma'aleh Adumim, the Etzion Bloc, and 
Ariel."  Abbas also said that he will not use force 
against Hamas, that there will be no peace without the 
release of all jailed Palestinians, including Tanzim 
leader Marwan Barghouti, and that he will follow in 
Yasser Arafat's footsteps.  (Yediot headlined: "Arafat, 
Model 2005.")  However, Abbas said he was extending his 
hands in peace.  FM Silvan Shalom was quoted as saying 
in an interview with Israel Radio that he is 
disappointed by Abbas's remarks. 
All media reported that Sunday the cabinet unanimously 
approved a series of measures meant to facilitate the 
elections for PA chairmanship on January 9.  Leading 
media cited international pressure as the reason for 
these steps.  Israel Radio reported that this morning 
Israel released 159 Palestinian prisoners, in a gesture 
to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  Jerusalem Post 
reported that some 600 prominent Palestinians have 
called for an end to armed attacks on Israel and urged 
the PA to push for democratic reforms.  The appeal was 
made in an open letter to the Palestinian leadership 
published in Palestinian newspapers on Sunday. 
 
On Sunday, leading media reported that Hamas racked up 
significant achievements in Thursday's elections for 
local councils in the West Bank: out of 26 races, Hamas 
won seven to nine [sources varied], and Fatah won in 12 
local authorities.  On Monday, Ha'aretz reported that 
on Sunday the PA announced the official results of last 
Thursday's municipal elections, but that it declined to 
give a breakdown as to how many of the winning 
candidates belonged to Fatah as opposed to Hamas. 
 
On Sunday, all media reported that following the 
internal Labor Party elections, MK Ophir Pines-Paz is 
slated to become interior minister; MK Yitzhak Herzog 
will get the national infrastructure portfolio; MK 
Shalom Simhon will be environment minister; and Knesset 
members Matan Vilnai and Haim Ramon will be ministers 
without portfolio.  Leading media reported that Sunday 
an interministerial committee approved a bill proposal 
that would allow Shimon Peres to become PM Sharon's 
second deputy. 
 
On Friday, Jerusalem Post quoted a senior U.S. 
administration official as saying that the U.S. is 
contemplating incursions into Syrian territory in an 
attempt to kill or capture Iraqi Ba'athists who it 
believes are directing at least part of the attacks 
against U.S. targets in Iraq. 
 
Israel Radio quoted senior GOI sources as saying that 
opponents of the disengagement plan are expected to 
come to settlements slated for evacuation in order to 
bolster them.  On Sunday, Yediot reported that for the 
first time a soldier who is a "disengagement objector" 
has been removed from an officers' training course. 
 
On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that the Bush 
administration is blaming Israel for undermining its 
sustained diplomatic efforts to persuade Europe not to 
resume arms sales to China.  The newspaper quoted a 
senior administration official as saying: "Something is 
going badly wrong in the military relationship" between 
Israel and the U.S."  Jerusalem Post further quoted him 
as saying that the dispute can now only be resolved "at 
a high level." 
On Friday, Jerusalem Post reported on anti-Israel hate 
programs being broadcasted on Iranian TV. 
 
Leading media reported that hundreds of settlers from 
the areas to be evacuated demonstrated Sunday near the 
Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, disrupting traffic in the 
city's center.  They were protesting against what they 
view as the army's lack of response to mortar attacks 
on Gaza Strip settlements and western Negev 
communities. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that IDF soldiers north of the 
Kissufim crossing in Katif Bloc shot and killed two 
Palestinians they feared were planning to launch a 
bombing attack before dawn on Sunday.  The media 
reported that IDF troops killed a deputy of Al-Aqsa 
Martyrs Brigades Zakaria Zubeidi commander and three 
other Fatah militants in Jenin during the weekend. 
 
All media reported that Sunday the Tel Aviv District 
Court indicted leftist activist Tali Fahima on charges 
of aiding the enemy in wartime, transmitting 
information to the enemy, contact with the foreign 
agent, illegal possession of a firearm, support for a 
terror group, and contravening a legal order. 
According to the indictment, Fahima helped operatives 
of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades evade capture by the 
IDF by translating a secret IDF document involving an 
arrest operation for Zubeidi. 
 
Hatzofe cited an interview Yuval Steinitz, the chairman 
of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 
gave to the newspaper of the organization of IDF 
handicapped, in which he reportedly said that the 
extensive training of Egyptian forces and the fact that 
Egypt does not prevent large-scale arms smuggling into 
the Gaza Strip indicate that Egypt plans to wage war 
against Israel. 
 
On Sunday, Yediot cited a recommendation by a GOI- 
appointed committee that Israeli Arabs perform a stint 
of national service. 
 
Leading media reported that the police arrested nuclear 
whistleblower Mordecai Vanunu on Christmas Eve, as he 
attempted to attend the Midnight Mass in Bethlehem. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that two firebombs were thrown early 
Sunday at the Hassan Bek mosque south of the Tel Aviv 
beach promenade.  The Mosque serves Jaffa's Muslim 
population. 
Ha'aretz reported that the Interior Ministry decided 
this weekend that children of illegal foreign workers 
and their families will not be deported over the next 
few months, but that they will instead be given visa 
extensions until March 1. 
 
Jerusalem Post reports that the private Israeli airline 
Israir expects to earn revenue of USD 25 million from 
flights from Tel Aviv to New York, which it will resume 
in late March. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The response of 
the settlers to the intention to evacuate a handful of 
settlements ... has pulled the thin veneer from the 
hard nut that is the settlers." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "British Prime Minister Tony 
Blair's efforts to muster international support for 
rebuilding the Palestinian Authority are an appropriate 
form of external intervention." 
 
Oslo skeptic, author Eyal Megged wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "This is a call 
to all those who insist on making peace now (and I am 
not blaming anyone, that is not my aspiration), to 
prepare to turn over a new mental leaf." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Sadly, it appears the taboo on true reconciliation 
with Israel as a Jewish state with a moral right to 
exist in this region is still too powerful for even the 
bravest aspiring Palestinian politician to break." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Right To Uproot and the Right of Return" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 27): "The 
obsessive highlighting of the danger of the 'rupture in 
the people' (or the 'unity of the people,' as the Prime 
Minister put it in his Herzliya speech), transformed 
the disengagement plan into a dispute between right and 
left.  As if none of this had anything to do with 
Palestinians, or might have any effect on the situation 
on the other side of the Green Line.... [Nonetheless,] 
the disengagement plan has already made an important 
contribution to peace between Israel and Palestinians. 
The response of the settlers to the intention to 
evacuate a handful of settlements in the Gaza Strip, 
which subsist on Thai labor, and four shriveled 
settlements in Samaria [the northern West Bank], has 
pulled the thin veneer from the hard nut that is the 
settlers.  Let every Jewish mother and every Israeli 
father who are sending their children to defend a 
settlement know that they have raised them to fight in 
a war commanded in God's name." 
 
II.  "Welcome Intervention" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (December 24): "British Prime 
Minister Tony Blair's efforts to muster international 
support for rebuilding the Palestinian Authority are an 
appropriate form of external intervention for the sake 
of toning down the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and 
restarting the diplomatic process.... International 
support is important on several levels: to strengthen 
the new Palestinian president who will soon be elected, 
to raise money to finance the PA's activities and 
economic development in the territories, and to 
reorganize the Palestinian security services. 
International support also has domestic importance in 
helping leaders to take unpopular steps.  This has 
already happened in Israel: Sharon used the letter of 
commitments that he received in April from U.S. 
President George W. Bush to help him overcome 
opposition to the disengagement plan in the Likud and 
isolate the settlers' lobby.... Sharon acted wisely 
when he reached an understanding with Blair over the 
terms of the international conference in London, 
despite his opposition in principle to Israel's 
participation in it.  He thereby enabled this visit by 
the leader of a friendly country, who emphasizes his 
deep commitment to Israel's security at every 
opportunity, to be crowned with success.  Now, the ball 
is in the Palestinians' court: They will have to do 
their part and prove that they are able to bring about 
the necessary changes in the PA." 
 
III.  "Turning Over a New Mental Leaf" 
 
Oslo skeptic, author Eyal Megged wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 27): 
"The reality is that the dream of two countries living 
side by side in harmony between the Jordan River and 
the Mediterranean Sea is perhaps our dream, but not 
[the Palestinians'].  This dream is nothing but an 
artificial implant, provided through the generosity of 
the peace camp.'  That is the truth, and it is not 
wishful thinking, but comes from the mouths of those 
who have had this dream implanted in them.  You cannot 
help but get the impression that their rejection is not 
just physical.  It is accompanied by revulsion.  These 
words are not being written from a 'right-wing' 
perspective whose bottom line is 'there is no one to 
talk to.'  Just the opposite: this is a call to all 
those who insist on making peace now (and I am not 
blaming anyone, that is not my aspiration), to prepare 
to turn over a new mental leaf -- at this historical 
moment.  That they think again, that they think 
differently.  Perhaps about a division of a different 
kind, certainly not one in the form of the false charm 
known as 'disengagement,' which will only lead us to an 
impasse.  Think about a solution of a different sort, 
because the good old solution will never be a 
solution." 
 
IV.  "Not Much of A Choice" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(December 27): "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday 
stressed how vital it is that Israel be seen throughout 
the world as facilitating the Palestinian Authority's 
upcoming election.  That is certainly so.... Sharon, 
however, may be unrealistically optimistic when 
expecting the election to perhaps produce a peace 
partner for further road map explorations.  There is no 
denying that the sounds emanating from the Palestinian 
campaign trail are hardly the sort to instill hope 
among Israelis.... Even Abbas has openly wrapped 
himself in Arafat's mantle and gone out of his way to 
show respect for the terrorists he claims not to 
support.... Sorely missing from the Palestinian 
equation is a peace camp, one that need not embrace 
Israel -- as some Israelis do the Palestinians -- but a 
party that argues, as our own 'national camp' [the 
Right] does, that the national interest requires 
painful concessions.... Sadly, it appears the taboo on 
true reconciliation with Israel as a Jewish state with 
a moral right to exist in this region is still too 
powerful for even the bravest aspiring Palestinian 
politician to break.... It may emerge that Israel had 
nothing to gain from the Palestinian elections, or it 
may be that some of Sharon's purported optimism proves 
well founded.  Would that the latter turns out to be 
the case.  In that light, Sunday's unanimous cabinet 
approval for pulling out of Palestinian towns and 
keeping a low profile on the sidelines during the 
lections is the only sensible move." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Despite the 
Phalcon affair, Israel insisted on not 
understanding.... No profit, no matter how much, for 
the Israeli defense industries is worth a crisis with 
Israel's main and only ally, the U.S." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
"It Made Their Blood Boil" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 24): 
"The signals that the Pentagon is sending Israel over 
the present crisis are sharp and harsh.  This is not 
just a personal crisis of trust between two top 
officials in the two security establishments.... This 
is a conflict of substance over the dying spasms of the 
military-commercial romance between Israel and China -- 
a romance that began in secret in the early 1980s, with 
the consent and encouragement of the Americans, and 
which ended, in practice, with a loud crash and an 
enormous crisis with the administration with the 
Phalcon affair in 2000.... Despite the Phalcon affair, 
Israel insisted on not understanding.  The defense 
industry milieu in Israel is a powerful player with 
great influence.  In addition, the security 
establishment thought that we were smarter, that our 
friends in Congress would look out for us, that the 
formal definitions would be on our side -- and 
continued to sell problematic military equipment to 
China.... The end of the current crisis is clear: 
Israel will bow to American terms.  But perhaps this 
time, for a change, the security establishment will 
realize that it has to stop trying to be a wise guy. 
No profit, no matter how much, for the Israeli defense 
industries is worth a crisis with Israel's main and 
only ally, the U.S." 
 
KURTZER