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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000199 
 
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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All media reported that PM Sharon's new government was 
narrowly approved in the Knesset Monday, 58-56, with 6 
abstentions, despite no-confidence votes from 13 
members of his own Likud party, thanks to support from 
outside the coalition by the Yahad faction (except 
Yossi Sarid, who abstained), and the abstention of two 
Israeli Arab Knesset members.  One United Torah Judaism 
(UTJ) Knesset member, Meir Porush, who was slated to 
become deputy transportation minister, abstained; some 
media cited the belief of Knesset sources that he was 
instructed to do so by one of the rabbis on UTJ's 
Council of Torah Sages.  Anti-disengagement Hatzofe 
bannered: "Transfer Government Underway Thanks to Arab 
and Left-Wing Votes."  (The newspaper views the 
evacuation of settlements as an illegitimate transfer 
of Jews from their homes.)  The media say that the new 
government's first test will come Wednesday when the 
proposed state budget for 2005 is brought before the 
plenum for a first reading.  Maariv and other media say 
that despite Shas's current opposition to the 
government, Sharon has demonstrated optimism regarding 
Shas's inclusion in his coalition, following the 
victory of Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen): Shas mentor Rabbi 
Ovadia Yosef could change his ruling on disengagement. 
 
Leading media reported that Sharon is expected to 
telephone PA chairman-elect Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) 
today to congratulate him on Sunday's election victory. 
Yediot reported that Israel has offered to grant the 
Palestinians control of Ramallah, and later of other 
cities.  Israel Radio reported that President Moshe 
Katsav called Abbas this morning to congratulate him, 
telling him he is interested in meeting with him after 
Sharon does.  The station quoted Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz as saying at this morning's cabinet meeting that 
Israel must talk with PA representatives.  Jerusalem 
Post quoted Abbas as saying Monday that the 
Palestinians "are ready for peace." 
 
All media reported that President Bush reached out 
Monday to Abbas with a proposal for direct talks and a 
White House meeting, urging him to quickly bolster 
Palestinian security forces to take on militants.  Bush 
praised Israel for letting Palestinian voters in 
Jerusalem have access to polling stations and said 
there were more steps Israel should take, citing the 
need for Israel "to fulfill its obligation on the 
withdrawal from the territories that it has pledged to 
withdraw from.  He added that Israel "can play an 
important part in the development of the Palestinian 
state" and stressed the need for the Palestinian 
leadership to "consolidate security forces so that they 
can fight off those few who still have the desire to 
destroy Israel as part of their philosophy." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that visiting Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) 
asked Sharon Monday why Israel is not evacuating the 
illegal settler outposts in the West Bank.  The 
newspaper cited Sharon's reply that the public mood in 
Israel regarding the disengagement plan, and 
Palestinian terrorism, are making such a move 
difficult.  Jerusalem Post reported that Sharon told 
Kerry that Abbas will be tested by how he stops terror, 
but that as a first step Israel will accept an internal 
Palestinian cease-fire.  Jerusalem Post reported that 
Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ), the head of a visiting 
Congressional delegation, called Monday for the new PA 
leadership to fight terrorism and incitement, and enact 
transparency in finances as a condition for receiving 
more U.S. aid. 
 
All media reported that over 15,000 people attended a 
two hour-long anti-disengagement prayer rally opposite 
the Knesset on Monday.  Maariv and Hatzofe reported 
that on Monday Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi, A-G 
Menachem Mazuz, and State Attorney Eran Shendar decided 
to take stronger measures against manifestations of 
violence expected to take place as the implementation 
of the disengagement plan starts.  Among other proposed 
steps, quick trials would be conducted. 
 
Maariv reported that according to one proposal, 3,000 
Palestinian houses would be demolished to dig the 
trench proposed by the IDF in order to prevent the 
digging of tunnels under the Philadelphi route. 
Jerusalem Post reported that hundreds of Palestinian 
students attending a rally at Bir Zeit University on 
Monday called for more suicide attacks against Israel. 
The newspaper also reported that Sana al-Hibel, a woman 
from the Gaza Strip, called on Abbas to end the firing 
of Qassam rockets. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning Qassam rockets 
and mortar shells were fired at Sderot and Gaza Strip 
settlements.  There were no casualties.  In a different 
development, Ha'aretz quoted senior Israeli defense 
officials monitoring Hizbullah activity as saying that 
the Shi'ite organization runs a "conveyor-belt" 
operation in the territories, as its goal is to create 
as many terrorist cells as possible, and Hizbullah is 
happy with even the smallest attacks. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Monday the UN declared that 
Hizbullah bears the main responsibility for the death 
of a French officer from IDF fire on Sunday. 
Ha'aretz reported that a military court sentenced a 
soldier who lied to Military Police and his commanding 
officers during a probe into the death of Tom Hurndall, 
a British International Solidarity Mission (ISM) 
volunteer, to five and a half months in jail. 
Ha'aretz reported that a bill circulating in the 
Palestinian Legislative Council stipulates that the 
PA's National Security Council will become the most 
influential PA body over the Palestinian government's 
security apparatus.  Abbas will be "supreme commander" 
of the security forces, but unlike Yasser Arafat, he 
will not take part in the council's meetings. 
 
A senior U.S. administration official was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that the 
U.S. does not believe Egypt is secretly developing 
nuclear weapons, despite a finding by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Egypt has been 
conducting experiments which the IAEA says could be 
part of a hidden nuclear weapons program. 
 
Leading media reported that, for the seventh 
consecutive year, U.S., Turkish, and Israeli naval 
forces will hold a joint exercise today in the 
Mediterranean.  Israel Radio notes that Jordan will 
send an observer to the maneuver. 
 
Maariv reported that the Spanish government has invited 
representatives from Arab states and senior PA 
officials, but not Israeli officials, to attend a world 
summit on terror that will take place on the 
anniversary of the March 1, 2004 Madrid bombings. 
 
Last night, Channel 10-TV broadcast a report by its 
team that flew with U.S. troops on an aid mission to 
Banda Aceh, Indonesia. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
(January 11): "The victory of Fatah's candidate, 
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) ... is likely to be an 
important milestone in the efforts to obtain a halt to 
the violent conflict, and thereafter perhaps an 
agreement as well." 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the lead editorial of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Who would have 
believed that the silent civil majority that yearns for 
normalcy would at long last make its voice heard loudly 
in Israel and in the Palestinian Authority?" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of 
Yediot Aharonot: "Sharon has the resoluteness, but he 
wants for votes.  Abu Mazen has the votes, but many 
people doubt how resolute he is.  The two of them are 
planning to make revolutionary changes in the Middle 
Eastern reality." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Abbas and Fatah's election victory can 
definitely be interpreted as a victory of the strategy 
of negotiations with Israel and establishing a state 
alongside it, and not instead of it." 
 
Oslo accords architect Ron Pundak wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "The course steered by Abu Mazen could lead 
to peace and security in this region, but it takes two 
to tango.... Now more than ever, the key is in Israel's 
hands." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"A major goal for this coalition in general, and its 
religious members in particular, is to avert a civil 
war as Israelis are detached from communities they 
built with the government's encouragement." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Partner For the Pullout -- and After" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(January 11): "The victory of Fatah's candidate, 
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), in the election for a new 
Palestinian Authority chairman is likely to be an 
important milestone in the efforts to obtain a halt to 
the violent conflict, and thereafter perhaps an 
agreement as well.... The new PA chairman was elected 
against the background of a new reality in the region 
and the world: four years of bloodshed, which resulted 
in many victims and heavy damage; an American 
government that is seeking a way out of the ongoing 
crisis in Iraq; and hints of a new direction in Syria. 
But more important than any of these is the change in 
Israel. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement 
plan, which has just received a boost in the form of a 
new government that includes Labor, is slated to 
dismantle all Israeli settlements and military 
installations in the Gaza Strip this year and transfer 
them to the Palestinians.  This is a dramatic move that 
accords with the Palestinians' interests.  Abu Mazen 
can integrate his plans for a cease-fire and the 
rehabilitation of the security services in Gaza with 
the PA's assumption of full responsibility for the Gaza 
Strip.  Such integration will increase the odds of 
success for the disengagement, which is currently the 
most relevant diplomatic plan on the agenda of both 
parties to the conflict." 
 
II.  "The Voice of the Majority" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the lead editorial of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 11): 
"The masses that voted for Abu Mazen in the race for 
the president of the Palestinian Authority ... also 
voted, given the circumstances, against the ideology 
that Arafat nurtured for years. Arafat rejected 
democratic elections, rejected the establishment of a 
Palestinian governmental authority that would disarm 
the terror organizations, rejected genuine dialogue 
with Israel and rejected the establishment of a 
Palestinian state inside borders based on a realistic 
compromise.  All of Arafat's rejections became central 
components in the platform on which Abu Mazen ran and 
won.   And who would have believed that Fatah, a 
secular Palestinian political movement, which was 
eulogized by so many experts as washed out and as 
having capitulated to the frothing wave of Islamic 
extremism, would suddenly awaken from its coma, 
organize and achieve such an impressive victory in the 
elections?  But historical surprises abound not only in 
the Palestinian arena, but in our arena as well.  Who 
would have believed that the overtly left wing party 
Yahad would raise its hand in the Knesset in favor of a 
government led by Ariel Sharon, so that Sharon -- as 
the prime minister of a stable government -- might 
implement his plan to remove all Jewish settlements 
from the Gaza Strip?  Who would have believed that the 
silent civil majority that yearns for normalcy would at 
long last make its voice heard loudly in Israel and in 
the Palestinian Authority?  This is a clear and 
practical voice that democratically defeats both Jewish 
messianism and Palestinian messianism.  Those who did 
not believe, evidently, were people of little faith." 
 
III.  "Sharon and Abu Mazen: Together But Alone" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of 
Yediot Aharonot (January 11): "This could have been an 
era of positive change.  A new president was elected to 
the Palestinian Authority who he has consistently 
spoken out against terrorism and violence.  The 
majority that he received gives him prestige in the 
world and a mandate to make changes at home.  He needs 
a strong, self-assured Israeli government that will 
help him establish himself.  Sharon has the 
resoluteness, but he wants for votes.  Abu Mazen has 
the votes, but many people doubt how resolute he is. 
The two of them are planning to make revolutionary 
changes in the Middle Eastern reality.  All provided 
that ['rebel' Likud Knesset Members] Madame Naomi 
Blumenthal and Monsieur Mickey Ratzon, not to mention 
Yehiel Hazan, deign to give them permission." 
 
IV.  "A Victory For the Two-State Approach" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz (January 11): "Mahmoud Abbas's impressive 
victory in the Palestinian Authority's presidential 
elections is to a large extent also a victory for the 
Fatah movement.... The Fatah movement has not only not 
disintegrated, but it appears to have pulled itself 
together and been strengthened.... This success for the 
movement is of enormous importance because it is the 
movement that led the Palestinian public and the PLO to 
recognize the state of Israel and stick to a 'two 
states for two peoples' strategy.... Abbas and Fatah's 
election victory can definitely be interpreted as a 
victory of the strategy of negotiations with Israel and 
establishing a state alongside it, and not instead of 
it.  Even at the height of the suicide bombings, polls 
in the territories showed that the majority still 
believed that a two-state arrangement would be the best 
-- and the elections this week confirm that remains the 
overwhelmingly prevailing view." 
 
¶V.  "The Second Palestinian Revolution" 
 
Oslo accords architect Ron Pundak wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (January 11): "Abu Mazen's election to the 
presidency of the Palestinian Authority, and his new 
status at the head of the PLO are placing the 
Palestinians and their leadership at a new crossroads. 
The easier direction would be the continuation of the 
violent Arafat-style revolution.  The more difficult 
course leads to an Abu-Mazen-style civilian revolution. 
In actual fact, we are already in the twilight zone 
between the two, but an opportunity for significant 
change has now been created.  In this context, Israel 
can be compared to traffic lights.... The course 
steered by Abu Mazen could lead to peace and security 
in this region, but it takes two to tango.  In order 
for the Palestinians to show restraint and considerable 
tolerance required of them, Israel must help Abu Mazen 
create an increasing number of positive stimuli. 
Alongside a true dialogue, a release of prisoners, the 
lifting of roadblocks, and a general change of attitude 
will help Abu Mazen turn the [Palestinian] street from 
violence and incitement into conciliation and a 
diplomatic solution, fighting and the war into a 
dialogue and peace, the first revolution into the 
second one.  Now more than ever, the key is in Israel's 
hands.  If we so want, we'll make Palestinian change 
possible.  If we don't, we'll perpetuate war and 
terror." 
 
VI.  "Challenge and Promise" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(January 11): "The new government's most daunting goal 
will, of course, be to pull Israel out of the Gaza 
Strip and northern Samaria [i.e. the northernmost part 
of the West Bank], as has already been decided by the 
outgoing government and approved by the Knesset.  That 
goal, however, could have been accomplished by a 
secular coalition.  The reason such a configuration was 
not chosen was the great desire to avert civil strife, 
a goal that stands a better chance of being 
accomplished with at least some religious politicians 
on Sharon's bandwagon.  It follows that a major goal 
for this coalition in general, and its religious 
members in particular, is to avert a civil war as 
Israelis are detached from communities they built with 
the government's encouragement." 
 
KURTZER