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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000222 
 
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.-Russia Relations 
 
¶3.  Stanley Fischer's Bank of Israel Nomination 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that this afternoon the Knesset 
approved the 2005 state budget in a first reading, 64- 
53, as the "rebel" Likud Knesset members -- except 
former FM David Levy and Yehiel Hazan -- decided to 
endorse it.  All media had led with the possibility 
that the vote of the "rebels" could have toppled PM 
Sharon's new national unity government.  Leading media 
reported that United Torah Judaism (UTJ) is splitting 
into its two component factions -- Agudat Yisrael and 
Degel Hatorah -- which will remain in the government 
coalition. 
 
Leading media reported that Tuesday Sharon 
congratulated PA chairman-elect Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen) on his "personal achievement" in the elections, 
and told the cabinet that he would be meeting him in 
the "near future."  Israel Radio quoted Secretary of 
State Colin Powell as saying Tuesday on Fox News-TV 
that if Abbas fights those who support violence, "the 
U.S. will be able to support him.''   The radio 
reported that Powell talked on the phone with Sharon 
and FM Silvan Shalom, and urged them to advance the 
peace process.  Israel Radio reported that Jibril 
Rajoub, the PA's National Security Advisor, has 
tendered his resignation.  However, he could receive a 
new position after the establishment of a new 
Palestinian government.  Jerusalem Post quoted sources 
close to Abbas as saying that at least six PA ministers 
would lose their job in the Palestinian government 
reshuffling.   Nagi al-Ghatrifi, deputy chairman of 
Egypt's Al-Ghad Party, was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Jerusalem Post that Sunday's election 
was the jolt that the totalitarian political systems of 
the rest of the Arab world needed. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning an Israeli was 
killed and three IDF soldiers were wounded in an 
explosion near the southern Gaza Strip settlement of 
Morag.  Qassam rockets have been fired at Israeli 
targets in the Gaza Strip.  All media reported that an 
Israeli who was wounded by a shell at the Erez Crossing 
10 days ago died of his wounds.  Israel Radio reported 
that this morning IAF helicopters fired at targets in 
the south of Gaza City.  The radio also reported that 
IDF troops killed two wanted Hamas men in a clash near 
Ramallah, and that security forces made arrests in the 
West Bank. 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that the defense 
establishment has finalized its settlement evacuation 
plans.  Yediot says that the project will be approved 
at Sharon's office on Thursday.  Yediot reported that, 
at the conclusion of the plan's implementation in the 
Katif Bloc, the settlers' houses will be buried under 
sand.  Ha'aretz cited recommendations submitted to the 
GOI by the IDF, according to which the IDF is planning 
to maintain a mobile presence in the areas of the four 
settlements to be evacuated from the northern West 
Bank.  The newspaper also quoted Col. Uzi Buchbinder, a 
Home Front Command official as saying Tuesday that 46 
communities in the western Negev will be exposed to 
Qassam rocket fire after the disengagement plan is 
implemented.  Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, 
experts told the Knesset's Interior Committee that 
strategic energy facilities in Ashkelon and water 
supplies in northern Israel could be in danger if the 
disengagement plan is carried out. 
 
Maariv reported that incoming Interior Minster Ophir 
Pines-Paz (Labor) has decided to dry up the settlers' 
anti-disengagement PR campaign, whose cost thus far has 
been estimated at USD 7 million.  Following a petition 
to the High Court of Justice by Peace Now Secretary- 
General Yariv Oppenheimer, Pines-Paz will enforce the 
ban on fund transfers from the local councils. 
Ha'aretz quoted O/C Northern Command Maj. Gen. Benny 
Ganz as saying Tuesday that the wave of threats from 
pro-settlement elements to refuse to obey army orders 
to evacuate settlements "is more dangerous than any 
flying rocket." 
 
Israel Radio reported that Israel has asked the U.S. 
administration and Congress to help it set up new 
border crossings to the PA, and to improve existing 
crossings. The station quoted Washington sources as 
saying that the cost of the plan is USD 450 million, 
and that Israel is asking the U.S. to participate with 
USD 180 million.  The radio also reported that the U.S. 
is preparing a new aid package for the Palestinians, in 
the sum of USD 200 million, to bolster Abu Mazen.  This 
aid comes on top of a similar sum that the U.S. is 
transferring to the Palestinians, by means of the UN 
and other organizations. 
 
Citing AP, Maariv reported that Israel has returned 
parts of repaired Harpy drones to China -- after the 
U.S. expressed concerns over the matter. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Tuesday UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan forwarded a letter to the UNGA setting out a 
framework and the next moves for the creation of a UN 
register of the damage Israel's construction of a 
separation barrier is causing Palestinians in the 
occupied West Bank.  The UNGA called for the registry 
last summer after demanding that Israel comply with an 
advisory opinion issued by the International Court of 
Justice (ICJ). 
Israel Radio and Ha'aretz quoted IDF Intelligence chief 
Maj. Gen. Aharon Zeevi-Farkash as saying Tuesday that 
Iran will be capable of enriching uranium in six 
months.  Maariv quoted him as saying that Abbas is weak 
and unpopular, and that he will not fight the 
Palestinian public.  Zeevi was speaking at Haifa 
University. 
 
All media reported that the Haifa District Court is due 
on Wednesday morning to sentence the leaders of the 
radical northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, 
after they reached a plea bargain agreement with the 
state prosecution.  The Islamic leaders had mainly been 
indicted for contact with a foreign (Iranian) agent and 
abetting Hamas.  Raed Salah, the group's leader, will 
be released in six months, and the other defendants in 
a few days.  While citing the prosecution a saying that 
the case represents one of the first actions against 
financing of world terror, Israel Radio cited the 
Islamic Movement as saying that "the mountain gave 
birth to a molehill."  The Shin Bet opposed the deal. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has reported to the U.S. 
administration on the recent crisis with Russia.  The 
newspaper says that Israel did not ask the U.S. to 
intervene in solving the problem that caused the crisis 
to erupt, even though the U.S. has dealt with this 
matter in the past.  Yediot cited a denial by official 
Israeli sources of a Channel 2-TV report that the 
bilateral crisis was the result of a claim by President 
Vladimir Putin that Israeli elements have assisted and 
funded Viktor Yushchenko's election campaign.  Ha'aretz 
also reported that tension is mounting in Jerusalem 
ahead of Syrian President Bashar Assad's visit to 
Moscow, on January 24. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that, three weeks after Israel 
and Syria agreed that Golan Druze could sell their 
apples in Syria, bureaucratic snags are delaying the 
deal. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the UN Security Council 
asked Israel and Hizbullah on Tuesday to respect the 
"Purple Line" demarcating the Israeli-Lebanese border. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an Arabic translation of 
portions of the most extensive planning document ever 
produced in Israel -- the master plan for the year 2020 
-- has been published by the Center of Arab Unity 
Studies in Beirut.  This institution brings together 
intellectuals from the Arab countries with the goal of 
reviving pan-Arabism and addressing "Zionism and 
imperialism." 
Yediot reported that Orly Benny-Davis, a former Israeli 
who resides in South Carolina and is a "respected 
political activist in the Republican Party," will 
arrive in Israel next week to promote the construction 
of a "third temple."  She is prepared to hear any 
suggestion, except blowing up the mosques on the Temple 
Mount. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a well-placed official Israeli source 
as saying that the GOI believes that Stanley Fischer's 
appointment to the post of governor of the Bank of 
Israel will increase Israel's chances of acceptance to 
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and 
Development (OECD). 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that visiting state attorneys 
from U.S. states, in particular Delaware Attorney- 
General Jane Brady, have expressed their admiration for 
Israel's state of preparedness against terrorist 
attacks. 
 
Maariv, Jerusalem Post and Hatzofe reported that at a 
news conference Tuesday, President Bush presented the 
new Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, 
who Maariv says is a Jew, and Jerusalem Post "a rabbi's 
son." 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan as saying Tuesday that he will convene a 
special session of the UNGA on January 24 to mark the 
60th anniversary of the liberation of the extermination 
camps in Europe. Over 110 member nations of the UN have 
already agreed to hold the meeting -- there have only 
been 27 such sessions since the foundation of the UN. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman observed in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "As things appeared 
this week, Sharon and his new government intend to grab 
the opportunity offered with the election of Abu Mazen 
and not repeat the mistake of the previous government, 
which waited for Abu Mazen the chick to grow its 
feathers." 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in nationalist, 
Orthodox Hatzofe: "Ariel Sharon has broken [a] record. 
A Likud-led government -- Sharon's -- is being 
supported by the votes of the Left and the Arabs." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
¶I.  "Helping the Chick Grow Its Feathers" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Uzi Benziman observed in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 12): 
"Official Jerusalem understands that something happened 
this week: a new government arose in Ramallah and in 
Israel, and in another week a new administration will 
take office in Washington.  And there's the rub.  The 
powers that be in Israel are taking into account that 
the second Bush administration will not necessarily be 
identical with the first: neither in its approach to 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, its composition, nor 
the balance of power inside it.  A significant change 
is expected in Bush's attitude toward the Palestinians, 
as could already be seen in the president's warm 
congratulations to Abu Mazen and the invitation to the 
White House that Bush extended to the new Palestinian 
president.  The U.S. administration will be the power 
supply that sends current to Jerusalem and Ramallah to 
divert the violent conflict to a track of political 
dialogue.  He will demand that Abu Mazen make a major 
change in his government's capability for enforcing his 
will on the Palestinian street and foremost on the 
terror organization, and he will demand that Israel 
help Abu Mazen and thus fulfill its part in the 
actualization of the road map.  As things appeared this 
week, Sharon and his new government intend to grab the 
opportunity offered with the election of Abu Mazen and 
not repeat the mistake of the previous government, 
which waited for Abu Mazen the chick to grow its 
feathers." 
 
II.  "An Illegitimate Government" 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in nationalist, 
Orthodox Hatzofe (January 12): "Ariel Sharon has broken 
[a] record.  A Likud-led government -- Sharon's -- is 
being supported by the votes of the Left and the Arabs, 
without a Jewish or Zionist majority.  All those who, a 
decade ago, claimed that the Rabin government was 
illegitimate because it didn't enjoy a Jewish or 
Zionist majority, cannot evade this contention today 
when we're talking about the extreme Left government 
headed by Ariel Sharon -- the government of the 
transfer [of Jews from their homes]." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Russia Relations: 
-------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Foreign 
Ministry ... has been warning in recent weeks about the 
formation of a Sino-Russian axis as a counterweight to 
the American supremacy in the world." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"A Cold Wind Is Blowing" 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 12): 
"The Foreign Ministry's center for political research, 
the smallest and poorest of Israel's intelligence 
branches but perhaps the most sober of all of them in 
its political assessments, has been warning in recent 
weeks about the formation of a Sino-Russian axis as a 
counterweight to the American supremacy in the world, 
which would have a bad influence on Israel's strategic 
position.  Such an alliance could rip open a hole in 
the front that has formed against a nuclear Iran.  Bush 
prefers to devote 2005 to political activity, to go 
through two more elections in Iraq (for a constitution 
and the permanent government), and only after 2006 go 
to war against the ayatollahs.  But Sino-Russian 
opposition could speed up Bush's military moves.  The 
incoming American foreign policy leadership -- 
Condoleezza Rice, the designated undersecretary Robert 
Zoellick and the designated deputy secretary for 
political affairs Nicolas Barnes, now ambassador to 
NATO -- is considered friendlier to Israel than the 
outgoing trio -- Colin Powell, Richard Armitage and 
Mark Grossman.  That leadership is more aggressive 
toward Iran, more suspicious of Russia and more 
combative toward Syria, against whom the U.S. has 
suspended its tensions for the coming weeks in exchange 
for a promise from Damascus to freeze its aid to the 
opponents of an Iraqi election.  This is all far from 
being a replay of the Cold War, the conflict that had 
so many ramifications for the Israeli-Arab front, but 
there is a searing cold in the air.  It may be 
seasonal, but it could last." 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶3.  Stanley Fischer's Bank of Israel Nomination: 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Should we not ... be proud that we, a small country, 
have attracted an economist of such global stature?" 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
opposition to the appointment of a new immigrant to a 
senior position is narrow-minded." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Welcome, Stanley Fischer" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(January 12): "The choice of Stanley Fischer as the 
eighth governor of the Bank of Israel was not an 
obvious one, nor without risks.  But it was a brave and 
possibly inspired choice, both on the offering and 
accepting ends.... The reaction of some, that this 
choice is a slight against our own qualified economists 
and business leaders, is somewhat small-minded.  Should 
we not instead be proud that we, a small country, have 
attracted an economist of such global stature?  Are we 
not signaling, properly, that our economy is not an 
island, and not just a bystander, but a potential 
competitive player in the global economy?" 
 
II.  "Stanley Fischer, One of Our Own" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(January 12): "The opposition to the appointment of a 
new immigrant to a senior position is narrow-minded. 
It is as if Israelis are willing to see new immigrants, 
at least in the early days of their integration, only 
as street-cleaners or standing behind the supermarket 
check-out counter, no matter what their profession. 
Opposition to the appointment of a bank governor, 
either from Israel or America, who represents too right- 
wing -- essentially Thatcheresque -- a worldview, could 
be understood.  But as long as the policy of the 
government and the finance minister is such, it is 
impossible to expect the appointment of a governor with 
a different worldview." 
 
KURTZER