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 006581 
 
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.  U.S. Foreign Policy 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The tidal waves in South Asia continue to dominate the 
headlines.  Citing international sources, Israel Radio 
reported that 50,000 people are believed to have died 
in the tsunami.  The media reported that 33 Israelis 
were injured in the disaster, four of whom seriously, 
and cited the Foreign Ministry as saying that 200 
Israelis are still missing.  Israel Radio says that the 
ministry does not rule out the possibility that some 
Israelis may have been killed.  Maariv front-paged 
pictures of missing Israelis.  Leading media reported 
that Israel was supposed to dispatch to Sri Lanka a 150- 
strong military delegation, which would set up a field 
hospital in the city of Galle.  However, Israel Radio 
reported this morning that, as the Sri Lankan 
authorities have raised difficulties, equipment and 
drugs will leave Israel without the delegation.  The 
radio reported that a 15-strong Israeli delegation has 
arrived in India.  Conversely, reporting that India has 
declined Israeli assistance, Yediot quoted Foreign 
Ministry officials as saying that this is not the first 
time India has turned down Israeli aid, characterizing 
this as "Indian pride." 
 
Leading media quoted PM Sharon as saying Monday that 
the cabinet will vote on the evacuation of settlements 
in the Gaza Strip and the northernmost part of the West 
Bank as early as next month.  The media reported that 
Monday the cabinet endorsed the disengagement in 
principle, but the decision does not include the 
evacuation of settlements.  Jerusalem Post quoted 
National Union MK Zvi Hendel as saying Monday before 
the Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee 
that unless the government agrees to hold new elections 
or a national referendum, the disengagement plan will 
fail.  Yediot quoted Bentzi Lieberman, the Chairman of 
the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the 
Territories, as saying at the committee's session that 
the government decisions regarding disengagement 
constitute a "collective rape of democratic rules." 
Ha'aretz reported that 25 major Gush Katif (Katif Bloc) 
farmers are negotiating indirectly with the 
Disengagement Administration to receive large 
agricultural plots in the Pithat Shalom region of the 
western Negev in return for their fields in the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Leading media quoted Sharon as saying before the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that 
terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip now have 
shoulder-mounted missiles, and that there are mounting 
concerns that they will shoot down crop dusters flying 
over agricultural zones next to the Strip.  Ha'aretz 
cited intelligence assessments by Israeli officials 
that Hamas will not cease its terrorist attacks in the 
run-up to the PA leadership elections on January 9, but 
that it will consider reducing its activities within 
the Green Line.  Ha'aretz quoted a high-ranking Israeli 
security source as saying that from the point of view 
of Hamas, perpetuating the image that Israel is fleeing 
the Gaza Strip under fire, and primarily the 
organization's attacks, is a vital matter.  Jerusalem 
Post quoted former PA security minister Muhammad Dahlan 
as saying that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti, 
whom he visited on Monday, told him that Israel's 
decision to withdraw from the Gaza Strip and the 
northern West Bank is a victory for the Palestinian 
resistance. 
 
Leading media reported that the police briefly arrested 
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, an independent Palestinian 
presidential candidate, as he campaigned in East 
Jerusalem on Monday. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that today Senator Joseph 
Lieberman (D-CT) will hold talks with high-ranking 
Israeli and Palestinian leaders. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Monday at the Knesset's 
Constitution, Law and Justice Committee A-G Menachem 
Mazuz voiced reservations about the bill proposal 
creating a second deputy PM, saying that Israel's basic 
laws are supposed to be stable and invariable. 
However, leading media quoted Mazuz as saying that 
should the current law be changed, several posts of 
deputy PM should be created.   Yediot and Jerusalem 
Post quoted Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres as saying 
that the Likud is behaving unfairly toward his party, 
which he said cannot wait much longer for its entry 
into the government.  Ha'aretz reported that the 
establishment of a unity government, with a majority in 
the cabinet and Knesset in favor of disengagement, has 
turned the settler leadership into the most significant 
opposition outside and within the Knesset. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted visiting Canadian Justice 
Minister Irwin Cotler as saying that Israel's Arab 
neighbors are making genuine strides toward democracy 
and safeguarding human rights. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that, upon a request by France's 
Chief Rabbi Joseph Sitruk and French Jewish businessman 
Pierre Besnainou, Tunisian President Zine el Abidine 
Ben Ali decided to facilitate the entry of Israelis 
into his country, and to rehabilitate the old Jewish 
cemetery in Tunis. 
Ha'aretz and Maariv reported that Monday a Syrian bride 
crossed the border with Israel in order to marry a 
Druze man from the Golan.  Ha'aretz reported that 12 
Druze students returning from studies in Syria also 
passed through the Golan crossing.  The passages open 
several times a year with Israeli-Syrian cooperation 
and Red Cross assistance. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Chinese Deputy PM Tang 
Jiaxuan is visiting Israel.  The newspaper reported 
that he told Tourism Minister Gideon Ezra that China is 
considering upgrading Israel's status and allowing 
travel agents to send groups of Chinese tourists to 
Israel.  The Chinese Minister also signed an economic 
agreement with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that for the past three years the 
advertiser Larry Weinberg, Vice President of the non- 
profit organization Israel21c (www.israel21c.org), has 
presented a positive image of Israel to the American 
public.  Jerusalem Post reported that Nonie Darwish, a 
Palestinian woman, has recently launched a web site, 
www.arabsforisrael.com, and has begun lecturing across 
the U.S. for the need to stand behind Israel and 
support its existence. 
 
Leading media reported that Monday the U.S. presented 
Acting Justice Minister Tzipi Livni with an extradition 
request for underworld kingpin Zeev Rosenstein. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Immigrant Absorption Minister Tzipi 
Livni as saying that immigration from Argentina dropped 
by 71.6 percent in 2004.  Conversely, 2,850 immigrants 
from the U.S. will have arrived by the end of the year 
-- the largest figure in the last twenty years. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "There is something 
disturbing, very disturbing, that a debate about 
Israel's right to exist is being held at all.  It is 
becoming increasingly clear that this is one of the 
highest prices Israel is paying for the current 
Intifada and the war in Iraq." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin: "Perhaps a 'silent majority' of Arabs and 
Muslims do want democracy and modern society in the 
Western sense; but such people may be only a 'silent 
minority.'" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Delegitimize the Debate" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 28): "'A 
world without Israel,' screams the cover of the new 
January 2005 issue of the American magazine, Foreign 
Policy.... There is something disturbing, very 
disturbing, that a debate about Israel's right to exist 
is being held at all.  It is becoming increasingly 
clear that this is one of the highest prices Israel is 
paying for the current Intifada and the war in Iraq.... 
In the international community, the debate reverberates 
mainly in the declarations by European politicians 
regarding their support for 'Israel's right to 
exist'.... American, Indian and even Egyptian statesmen 
do not talk about Israel's 'right to exist.'  The prime 
minister, foreign minister and other Israeli leaders 
tend to ignore the entire matter, listening politely to 
their European hosts, wiping the spit off their faces, 
and continuing the conversation.  Perhaps their 
approach is the right one: if Israel justifies its 
existence and by doing so becomes a party to the 
debate, it may legitimize it.  But despite the silence, 
the calls to destroy Israel are not dying out and the 
debate on them is just growing stronger.  The time has 
come for the government to take note of this problem, 
and try to come up with appropriate ways to deal with 
it." 
 
II.  "Struggle for the Mideast" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (December 28): "As 2004's most important 
development in the Middle East I would nominate the 
rise of a liberal reformist movement in the Arab world. 
... This movement is not just a few liberal professors 
living and preaching in the West.  It has a 'popular' 
and 'militant' element missing in earlier movements. 
Yet there is still no single liberal leader or movement 
anywhere in the Arab world able to mobilize large 
groups of people.  Perhaps a 'silent majority' of Arabs 
and Muslims do want democracy and modern society in the 
Western sense; but such people may be only a 'silent 
minority'.... The really engaging question is why it 
has been so hard to gain popular support for reform and 
moderation.  A common claim by Arab liberals is that 
the masses do support them, but secretly.  'Our numbers 
are small,' said Egyptian liberal Saad Eddin Ibrahim, 
'not so much for lack of fellow citizens yearning for 
liberal governance, but out of fear of publicly 
expressing those yearnings.'  There is truth in this, 
but fear is not the only problem.  Arab liberals must 
also compete against the persuasive force of other 
ideologies, such as Arab nationalism and Islamism, and 
the rewards they can offer their adherents." 
 
------------------------ 
¶2.  U.S. Foreign Policy: 
------------------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Perhaps the biggest challenge facing Bush now, beyond 
stabilizing Iraq, is staving off a nuclear Iran.  Yet 
U.S. policy could not be more incoherent on this 
score." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"A Job For the NSC" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(December 28): " [The] main purpose [of national 
security councils] is to play traffic cop to the strong 
bureaucracies that fight over national security 
decisions.  In the U.S. and Israel, as in most 
countries, a myriad of separate bodies deal with 
defense, foreign affairs and intelligence, all of which 
have their own institutional strengths, weaknesses and 
biases.... NSC staffs [in the U.S. and Israel] usually 
do not exhibit the level of independence that they were 
founded to provide.... Though we often look to the U.S. 
as a model for how a proper government runs things, 
America is, in this case, a negative example.  Perhaps 
the biggest challenge facing Bush now, beyond 
stabilizing Iraq, is staving off a nuclear Iran.  Yet 
U.S. policy could not be more incoherent on this score, 
with the White House labeling Iran a member of the 
'axis of evil' while the State Department dubs it 'a 
democracy' and flatly denies that the U.S. is pursuing 
a policy of regime change.  Ultimately, the credit or 
blame for such inconsistencies cannot be laid on the 
doorstep of NSC staffs, but rather on those of the 
political leaders who tolerate the warring 
bureaucracies underneath them.  But NSC staffs are 
supposed to provide another function that is sorely 
needed here, that of strategic planning." 
 
KURTZER