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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000482 
 
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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¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Syrian-Lebanese Track 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media reported that newly confirmed Secretary 
of State Condoleezza Rice met with FM Silvan Shalom at 
the White House on Wednesday.  Israel Radio reported 
that Secretary Rice intends to be more active than her 
predecessor in efforts to resolve the Israeli- 
Palestinian conflict.  Leading media reported that 
Secretary Rice will come to Jerusalem in one month. 
 
SIPDIS 
Israel Radio reported that she is due to meet with 
Sharon's adviser Dov Weisglass during the weekend. 
Jerusalem Post and the radio reported that Secretary 
Rice and FM Shalom discussed the creation of a U.S.- 
mediated mechanism that would be applied in case of 
disagreements or crises between Israel and the PA. 
Shalom reportedly raised Israel's demand that the 
Palestinians act to put an end to terrorism and not be 
content with a cease-fire.  The radio said that during 
the meeting, Shalom also raised the issue of the 
Iranian threat, asking the U.S. to make efforts to get 
the UN Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran. 
Israel Radio quoted Shalom as saying that if the Shas 
party does not enter PM Sharon's coalition, the 
government will have fewer chances of surviving. 
Leading media reported that Israel expects to obtain 
U.S. aid in funding the implementation of the 
disengagement plan, and that earlier this week Foreign 
Ministry D-G Ron Prosor and Israel's Ambassador to 
Washington Danny Ayalon have discussed the issue with 
U.S. officials.  Ayalon was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Ha'aretz that the U.S. will help Israel 
cover the expenses involved in transferring its forces 
from bases in Gaza to new ones inside Israel, and that 
Jerusalem has yet to make any formal request in this 
regard.  Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as 
saying that the White House would announce any new 
funding for Israel. 
 
Leading media reported on the beginning of A/S William 
Burns's visit to Israel.  Ha'aretz and Israel Radio 
reported that last night Burns, Vice Premier Shimon 
Peres, EU envoy Marc Otte, and the World Bank's 
representative in the territories, Nigel Roberts, 
discussed the removal of checkpoints and other economic 
issues concerning the Palestinians.  Israel Radio 
reported that Burns will meet with Sharon today. 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Peres will meet 
with PA Finance Minister Salam Fayyad at the World 
Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, 
on Friday to begin discussing economic cooperation in 
the framework of the disengagement plan. 
All media reported on current progress in Israel-PA 
relations.  PM Sharon was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Shimon Shiffer of Yediot: "Abu Mazen has 
undoubtedly started to work.  I am very pleased by what 
I am hearing on the Palestinian side, and I am very 
interested in furthering the moves with him."  Ha'aretz 
reported that Sharon will meet with PA Chairman Mahmoud 
Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei (Abu 
Ala) in about two weeks and present a package of steps 
and goodwill gestures to help strengthen the new 
leadership and encourage them to continue efforts to 
prevent terror.  Israel Radio reported that a joint 
Israeli-Palestinian tourism exhibit is currently on 
show in Madrid. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that in a preparatory meting on 
Wednesday, between aides of Sharon, Abbas, and Qurei, 
the Palestinians emphasized the importance of freeing 
prisoners.  The Israelis said they understood the 
Palestinian position, and that they would examine the 
request in the context of progress made in achieving 
quiet on the ground.  Maariv reported that Israel has 
acceded to Abbas's request that senior wanted 
Palestinians Tawfiq Tirawi and Rashid Abu Shabak be 
granted freedom of movement.  Leading media reported 
that PA security official Muhammad Dahlan will meet 
with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz next week to resume 
hudna discussions that began in the summer of 2003 
about the IDF quitting the West Bank's city centers, 
which would take place once the Palestinians hand over 
a detailed security plan and say they can take 
responsibility.  Ha'aretz notes that the Israelis have 
been much more serious in discussing their security 
plans than they were in 2003.  Leading media reported 
that Wednesday the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades threatened 
to resume their attacks against Israel, following the 
killing by IDF forces of two of their members in 
Qalqilya. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that on Wednesday Attorney 
General Menachem Mazuz decided that all land managed by 
the Israel Lands Administration, including land owned 
by the Jewish National Fund, will be marketed without 
discrimination or limits including to non-Jews. 
 
The media continued their extensive coverage of the 
60th anniversary commemorations of the liberation of 
the death camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where dozens of 
world leaders, including U.S. Vice President Dick 
Cheney and President Moshe Katsav, will attend a 
ceremony this afternoon.  The media reported that at a 
special Knesset session Wednesday, Sharon warned 
against "new anti-Semites" who are focusing on Israel 
and portraying it as "Nazi" in its war against 
Palestinian terror.  Jerusalem Post quoted Katsav as 
saying that there are no guarantees against another 
Holocaust "in future generations."  Leading media cited 
a proclamation issued by President Bush on Tuesday, 
stating that the occasion is an opportunity to pass 
along lessons of the Holocaust to the future. 
 
Leading media reported that a 3-year-old Palestinian 
girl was killed by IDF fire in the center of the Gaza 
Strip on Wednesday.  The IDF claims she was killed by a 
Qassam rocket. 
 
All media reported that some 100 settlers from the 
Katif Bloc violently disrupted a meeting Wednesday 
afternoon between IDF officers and Palestinian police 
officers at the crossing near Khan Yunis.  Yediot 
headlined: "The Palestinians Came to Fight Terror and 
Were Attacked by Settlers."  Leading media reported 
that Likud Knesset members, activists of the party's 
central committee, and settler leaders Wednesday urged 
Sharon to hold a national referendum before the 
disengagement.  Israel Radio noted that fewer people 
than expected attended the meeting. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that at a gathering 
in Jerusalem on Wednesday, dozens of mostly religious 
soldiers and officers, settlers, and those identifying 
with religious Zionism publicized their firm promise 
not to refuse orders. 
 
All media reported that the courts have permitted 
publication of the main suspicions against Iyad Khaled 
al-Ashwah, the Lebanese-born Danish citizen who was 
arrested on January 6 on suspicion of having been sent 
to Israel by Hizbullah to gather intelligence about 
security installations and to recruit Israeli Arab 
agents.  Maariv quoted Mofaz as saying at a press 
conference in London Wednesday that Hizbullah possesses 
missiles capable of striking Tel Aviv. 
 
Yediot reported that "senior Americans" have conveyed a 
suggestion to Syrian President Bashar Assad that he 
return to Israel the remains of MIA Zecharia Baumel, an 
AmCit who disappeared during the 1982 Lebanon War, so 
that he can tell the Arab public that he returned the 
body of an American, which could be interpreted as a 
confidence-building measure. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that under pressure by Jewish groups, 
Columbia University announced on Wednesday that it was 
postponing "indefinitely" a conference on the renewal 
of the Middle East peace process, scheduled to have 
taken place today.  The newspaper quoted officials in 
New York as saying that the timing of the conference 
was suspect, because the university promised to publish 
at this time findings of the inquiry into accusations 
of racist comments by professors of Middle Eastern 
origin against Jewish students.  The Jewish officials 
were quoted as saying that the conference, which was 
initiated by former U.S. senator George Mitchell, was a 
"transparent attempt to deflect attention away from the 
severity of the accusations."  Ha'aretz and Jerusalem 
Post reported that Ambassador Ayalon pulled out of the 
conference before the postponement announcement. 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "It now turns out, in a totally predictable 
manner, that the only IDF that the settlers recognize 
is an aggressive and occupying IDF, not an IDF that 
dares to reach agreements with the enemy." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
decision by ... the IDF ... to disperse soldiers from 
the hesder yeshivas [in which yeshiva students combine 
military service with religious studies] throughout the 
army ... was correct and courageous." 
 
Liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"In a reversal of roles, the Left is now nurturing the 
paranoia of the 'demographic demon' and writing its own 
charm for it: a withdrawal from populated territories 
while continuing to discriminate collectively against 
the Arab citizens of Israel." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Skin is Coming Off" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (January 27): "As the date for the 
implementation of the disengagement plan draws near, 
the sides are shedding their skin.... On Wednesday 
settlers from the Katif Bloc attacked Palestinian 
police who came to hold a coordination meeting with IDF 
commanders prior to transferring responsibility over 
the southern Gaza Strip to them.  After that they also 
clashed with the police who came to disperse their 
violent demonstration.  The rioters did not conceal the 
fact that although this was the implementation on the 
ground of an agreement between the IDF and the 
Palestinian Authority, at the orders of the political 
echelon, this did not change a thing in their eyes. 
They thus made it clear that the state's institutions 
exist on condition -- the condition being that they 
serve their worldview.... And it now turns out, in a 
totally predictable manner, that the only IDF that the 
settlers recognize is an aggressive and occupying IDF, 
not an IDF that dares to reach agreements with the 
enemy.... It is very unlikely that the Gaza Strip 
settlers are winning any political converts by this 
manner of combat, but it appears that they have long 
since moved beyond a political battle.... From now and 
until the implementation of the plan, the battle is 
actually over the government's ability to enforce its 
decisions.  On Wednesday we received a clear hint that 
this battle will not only be waged by democratic 
means." 
 
II.  "Dismantling the Arrangement" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(January 27): "The decision by Maj. Gen. Elazar Stern, 
commander of the IDF Manpower Branch, to disperse 
soldiers from the hesder yeshivas [in which yeshiva 
students combine military service with religious 
studies] throughout the army and not allow them to 
continue serving in religiously homogeneous companies 
and regiments was correct and courageous.  Over the 
years, the hesder yeshivas have changed from an 
instrument used to encourage religious youth to enlist 
in the army to a separatist, inegalitarian phenomenon 
that could even be dangerous for the army and 
society.... The decision is particularly appropriate 
now, before the disengagement, and in light of letters 
from individuals and groups in the religious Zionist 
community promising that they will refuse orders to 
take part in the disengagement, and calls by some 
rabbis to refuse orders." 
 
III.  "Beware the Demographic Demon" 
 
Liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in Ha'aretz 
(January 27): "Every now and then, with inexplicable 
timing, we suddenly encounter rumors that the 
demographic demon -- the one that lies in the recesses 
of the Arab woman's womb -- has raised its head once 
again and is threatening to wipe out, God forbid, the 
entire Zionist enterprise.... The right-wing circles 
have discovered that the demographic demon had been 
abducted from them, and is being used by others to 
justify the evacuation of the Gaza Strip; and if the 
demon doesn't serve the purposes of the right, one has 
to pretend that it doesn't exist.  In a reversal of 
roles, the Left is now nurturing the paranoia of the 
'demographic demon' and writing its own charm for it: a 
withdrawal from populated territories while continuing 
to discriminate collectively against the Arab citizens 
of Israel." 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Syrian-Lebanese Track: 
-------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "For the first 
time since coming to power, Bashar Assad must decide 
quickly which direction to take: a confrontation or an 
arrangement with Israel and his new neighbor, the U.S. 
in Iraq.  Any delay is liable to hurt him first, his 
credibility and the chances of his survival." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Syrian Split Personality" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (January 27): 
"Fear has become the dominant component in the past two 
years in making decisions in Syria, and in recent 
weeks, it has bordered on obsession. The Syrians are 
convinced that in the next few months there will be a 
military attack on them from either the U.S. or 
Israel....  The more pragmatic stream in the Syrian 
leadership -- for example, the person designated to be 
foreign minister, Walid el-Mualem, or chief of staff 
Ali Habib, who knows exactly just how unprepared his 
army is for war -- advocate appeasing the Americans and 
urgently embarking on some sort of diplomatic process 
with Israel.  Such negotiations, even if they never 
come to fruition, are meant to provide a bridge to the 
future, and immunity from an American attack.  An 
important question in this regard has to do with the 
role of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders in 
Damascus, and the answer is unknown. Both these 
approaches do not reflect a real change in Syrian 
policy.  There is no possibility for such change as 
long as the separatist and unpopular Alawite minority 
rules by force of might over the Sunni minority, and as 
long as in neighboring Iraq a change is taking place at 
this very moment that will turn the ruling minority 
into being ruled themselves.  Nonetheless, for the 
first time since coming to power, Bashar Assad must 
decide quickly which direction to take: a confrontation 
or an arrangement with Israel and his new neighbor, the 
U.S. in Iraq.  Any delay is liable to hurt him first, 
his credibility and the chances of his survival." 
KURTZER