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 000321 
 
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.  President Bush Inauguration 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that last night, a Shin Bet agent 
was killed and seven other security personnel were 
wounded when a suicide bomber from Hamas blew himself 
up at the IDF's Orhan outpost at the Katif Bloc 
junction.  A Palestinian passer-by was also wounded. 
The media reported that earlier on Tuesday, PM Sharon 
told the IDF commanders in the Gaza Strip to "do 
whatever it takes" to stop Qassam rocket and mortar 
attacks at once.  Israel Radio reported that Sharon 
will convene the diplomatic-security cabinet today. 
All media reported that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu 
Mazen) arrived in the Gaza Strip Tuesday for scheduled 
meetings with armed factions of Fatah, Hamas and 
Islamic Jihad.  Leading media reported that senior PA 
officials are pessimistic regarding the success of 
Abbas's talks.  Leading media quoted Fatah sources as 
saying that the group has reached an agreement with 
Hamas and Islamic Jihad to stop mortar attacks against 
Israel proper.  Jerusalem Post reported that an initial 
group of 45 PA security officials is to go to Egypt for 
security training in February. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, Israel accused 
Hizbullah, Iran, and Syria of being behind the recent 
wave of terror.  The newspaper reported that on Tuesday 
night, senior GOI officials threatened action "here and 
elsewhere" against those responsible. 
 
All media reported that at her confirmation hearing 
before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday, 
Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice reminded 
 
SIPDIS 
Israel and the Palestinians of their responsibility at 
this "moment of opportunity."  Leading media quoted NSA 
Rice as saying that she expects to be deeply involved 
in efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 
but that there are no immediate plans to send a special 
envoy to the Middle East.  The media emphasized Rice's 
comment:  "The new Palestinian leadership in word is 
devoted to fighting terror; it needs to be devoted in 
deed to fighting terror."  She added that the 
administration had pressed the Palestinians hard to 
control the militants.  Israel Radio reported that NSA 
Rice warned Syria that it faces new sanctions and "long- 
term bad relations" with the U.S. because of its 
suspected interference in Iraq and ties to terrorism. 
Ha'aretz cited an AP report on the Middle East portion 
of NSA Rice's testimony. 
Israel Radio reported that Palestinians opened fire on 
IDF troops on the Karni-Netzarim road in the Gaza Strip 
on Wednesday and fired a mortar shell at a Gaza 
settlement.  There were no casualties.   The radio also 
reported that security forces arrested 13 senior wanted 
Palestinians in Nablus last night. 
 
All media reported that FM Silvan Shalom has appointed 
Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, who resigned the day before as 
spokesman and political secretary and spokesman of the 
Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories, 
to be his media adviser.  The media have recently cited 
Mor-Yosef's disapproval of the council's active 
opposition to the disengagement plan and its moderate 
support for soldiers refusing evacuation orders, which 
he said contradicted its formal stance of opposing such 
actions.  A senior Hatzofe columnist criticizes Mor- 
Yosef's change of mind. 
 
Under the headline, "A Settler Turned Me Into a 
Cripple," Maariv prominently front-paged the picture of 
a Border Police officer who became hemiplegic following 
an injury he sustained last May during the evacuation 
of an outpost near the settlement of Yitzhar.  The 
officer urges the settlers to restrain themselves; 
otherwise, "there will be many more like me on both 
sides." 
 
All media reported that a Knesset committee slammed 
Israeli banks on Tuesday for "severe negligence" in 
handling the accounts of thousands of Jews who perished 
in the Holocaust, the assets of which totaled some 1 
billion shekels (USD 230 million). 
 
Leading media reported that the U.S. has imposed 
economic penalties on several Chinese companies it says 
helped Iran in its effort to improve its weapons 
programs. 
 
Yediot reported that President Bush has decided that 
Vice President Dick Cheney will head the U.S. 
delegation to the official commemoration of the 
liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.  Former U.S. 
presidents Jimmy Cater, George H. W. Bush, and Bill 
Clinton will also be part of the delegation.  President 
Moshe Katsav will head a 200-strong Israeli delegation. 
 
All media reported that the Bach Committee on Senior 
Civil Service Appointments has endorsed Stanley 
Fischer's nomination to the post of governor of the 
Bank of Israel, and that the government is expected to 
appoint him shortly. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"Israel's goal should not be cutting off contact with 
Abu Mazen even before he begins his term in office, but 
to make him take energetic, quick steps that will win 
the support of the Palestinian people." 
 
Contributor Dr. Gadi Taub, a Hebrew University lecturer 
in Israeli society, wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "What is troubling is that 
beneath everything that can be dismissed as rhetorical 
flourish that is geared to meet domestic needs, the 
issue of the right of return was and remains a 
principal tenet in [Abbas's] worldview." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Europe ... should not be lecturing Sharon, but telling 
Abbas that he had better show results quickly or Israel 
will have no choice but to take drastic steps to 
provide for its own security." 
 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The 
cunning Abu Mazen is ... most likely to convince the 
terror organizations to stop striking at the Katif 
Bloc, Sderot, and so on, in exchange for generous 
financial aid." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "No More Killing" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(January 19): "Israel's goal should not be cutting off 
contact with Abu Mazen even before he begins his term 
in office, but to make him take energetic, quick steps 
that will win the support of the Palestinian people. 
The ambition is not to push the Palestinians into a 
civil war but to establish, together with them, 
stability that will enable a cease-fire and diplomatic 
negotiations.... If the Palestinians and their new 
leaders want to protect their families, they must help 
Abu Mazen and the new leadership overcome the madness 
of the terror and the self-destruction that has 
infected some Palestinian groups.  That is the proper 
response for the situation now -- measured, and passing 
the ball over to Abu Mazen and the Palestinian 
population.  There's no way to know if this reaction 
will work and at what pace, but it is clear that if it 
fails, the deterioration to the use of far-reaching 
means will become inevitable." 
II.  "Disengagement From the Right of Return" 
Contributor Dr. Gadi Taub, a Hebrew University lecturer 
in Israeli society, wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 19): "It is not Abu 
Mazen's remarks about the glory of 'shahids,' which 
recently began to make their way into his statements 
(for instance, at the annual ceremony commemorating the 
establishment of Fatah) that are troubling.  What is 
troubling is that beneath everything that can be 
dismissed as rhetorical flourish that is geared to meet 
domestic needs, the issue of the right of return was 
and remains a principal tenet in his worldview.... Time 
is on the side of those who employ those tactics. 
Those who are banking on a Palestinian victory by means 
of demography are not in a rush to get anywhere.  On 
the contrary: they have time for endless talk.... 
Partitioning the land is the sole means at our disposal 
to prevent a bi-national state with an Arab majority 
from evolving, and the disengagement plan must not be 
made contingent upon the hidden motives of the new 
'rais.'  Otherwise we could find ourselves negotiating 
disengagement for another ten years without actually 
disengaging.  That is why Israel must not change its 
unilaterally established timetable.  It needs to make 
it clear to the Palestinians that we are leaving Gaza. 
If they want to reach a peaceful settlement before 
that, good.  If not, we will see them from the far side 
of disengagement, and then we will see.  Peace, perhaps 
not at present.  Disengagement in any event, yes." 
 
III.  "Asselborn's 'Arafat Excuse'" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(January 19): "Luxembourg's foreign minister and 
president of the European Union Council, Jean 
Asselborn, visiting the region on Tuesday, called for 
an 'urgent meeting' between Israeli and Palestinian 
leaders, saying 'I ask Israel to give him [Abbas] a 
chance.'  Earlier, Asselborn reportedly said that 'The 
"Arafat excuse" no longer exists ... with Arafat gone 
the problem of the peace process's dead end 
disappears.'  Thank goodness the word has come down 
from Luxembourg: our problems are over, if only we 
would open our eyes and see.... Israel has proved 
repeatedly that the scope and pace of its military 
actions are directly related to the terror threats we 
face.  The Palestinian side knows full well that if it 
stops terror, Israeli military incursions will stop, so 
long as it is clear that terrorist groups are not using 
the respite to rearm and reorganize.... Europe, 
accordingly, should not be lecturing Sharon, but 
telling Abbas that he had better show results quickly 
or Israel will have no choice but to take drastic steps 
to provide for its own security.  Asselborn should 
further tell Abbas that the Palestinians' 'Arafat 
excuse' is gone: either they stop terror and incitement 
or their financial and diplomatic honeymoon with Europe 
will be over." 
 
IV.  "An Anticipated Decision" 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (January 
19): "On the eve of his arrival in the U.S., where he 
will be welcomed as someone who opposes terror and 
applauded by both houses of Congress, Abu Mazen had to 
make the 'bold decision' to fight Hamas and Islamic 
Jihad.  [Palestinian factions] are most likely to 
exchange fire; some may even be killed and wounded, but 
all this will happen before and during his trip to the 
U.S., until the first shipment of money arrives -- from 
the U.S. and Europe.  The cunning Abu Mazen is also 
most likely to convince the terror organizations to 
stop striking at the Katif Bloc, Sderot, and so on, in 
exchange for generous financial aid, while turning a 
blind eye from the quantity of weapons that will be 
produced, smuggles and upgraded during the quiet period 
that Abu Mazen deems necessary." 
 
-------------------------------- 
¶2.  President Bush Inauguration: 
-------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
U.S. expert and Middle East lecturer Professor Eytan 
Gilboa wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "In order to earn a good place in history, 
[Bush] will need to design a policy recognizing the 
limitations of the U.S. -- actually during an era when 
it is considered the only superpower." 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in an editorial of Yediot Aharonot: "Only 
by putting his house -- the U.S. economy -- in order 
will George Bush succeed in fulfilling his ambitious 
plans during his second term." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Bush and the World, Chapter Two" 
 
U.S. expert and Middle East lecturer Professor Eytan 
Gilboa wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (January 19): "The changes Bush has made in 
his government cannot herald changes in his policy. 
What he did was to replace Secretary of State Colin 
Powell, who opposed his war strategy, with his loyal 
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.  He didn't 
touch the Pentagon leadership, which is responsible for 
the world war on terror -- and this isn't because he 
believes the Defense Department staff did a good job. 
Continued failure in Iraq will certainly cause the 
replacement of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and his 
Deputy Wolfowitz.... The tasks Bush is facing are 
colossal; in order to fulfill them, he'll need 
international cooperation, even with hostile and 
reticent elements such as the UN and the EU.  Most 
paradoxically, in order to earn a good place in 
history, he will need to design a policy recognizing 
the limitations of the U.S. -- actually during an era 
when it is considered the only superpower." 
 
II.  "Clouds in America's Skies" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in an editorial of Yediot Aharonot 
(January 19): "When he swears to serve the American 
nation for four more years. George Bush will not only 
have to fight a phenomenon that dogs U.S. presidents 
during their second term -- fatigue of the fighting 
spirit -- but, first of all, to remove the heavy cloud 
marring all the inaugural ceremonies.  That cloud is 
not the situation in Iraq, but the situation -- 
economic conditions -- in America itself.  The American 
economy is in a quagmire.... It isn't the American 
taxpayer who pays for the U.S. Government's huge 
deficits, but China's central bank, which buys hundreds 
of billions of dollars in U.S. bonds.  This is an 
absurd and dangerous dependence: the world superpower 
will cease to be a power if it continues to live above 
its means and to rely upon the whims of foreign 
capital.... Only by putting his house -- the U.S. 
economy -- in order will George Bush succeed in 
fulfilling his ambitious plans during his second term." 
 
KURTZER