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 001080 
 
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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Israel Radio quoted President Bush as saying in 
Brussels Tuesday that he and the European leaders with 
whom he met believe that peace in the Middle East is 
"within reach."  The President also said that the 
upcoming London conference is "a meeting at which 
President Abbas will hear that the United States and 
the EU is desirous of helping this good man set up a 
democracy in the Palestinian territories, so that 
Israel will have a democratic partner in peace."  All 
media also quoted Bush as saying: "This notion that the 
U.S. is getting ready to attack Iran is simply 
ridiculous.  And having said that, all options are on 
the table." 
 
The nomination on Tuesday by Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz of Maj. Gen. Dan Halutz as the next IDF chief of 
staff dominates the media.  Ha'aretz and other media 
quoted senior military sources as saying that, due to 
the proximity of the date of the evacuation of 
settlements under the disengagement plan, IDF C-o-S 
Moshe Ayalon will retire toward the end of June.  The 
choice of Halutz provoked mixed reactions, as left-wing 
politicians are particularly critical of the move. 
(Leading media note Halutz's long-time affinities with 
PM Sharon, his son Omri, and the Likud party.)  All 
media recalled Halutz's nonchalant attitude, as IAF 
commander, to the bombing of innocent civilians during 
the July 2002 pinpointed assassination of Hamas 
military leader Salah Shehadeh. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that under pressure from 
international business and diplomatic elements, Sharon 
has decided to reconsider a cabinet decision made in 
June to demolish all of the homes in Gaza Strip 
settlements slated for evacuation under the 
disengagement plan.  Israel Radio reported that Vice 
Premier Shimon Peres is preparing a plan, according to 
which greenhouses and "active businesses" in areas to 
be evacuated would be presented to the Palestinians, 
allowing them to earn a livelihood.  Maariv reported 
that the Disengagement Administration is considering 
moving the residents of Homesh, a settlement near 
Nablus which is slated for evacuation, to the kibbutzim 
Yad-Hana and Bahan, west of the Green Line.  Similarly, 
Yediot reported that Kibbutz Carmiya, which belongs to 
the Meretz/Yahad-affiliated kibbutz movement, will take 
in dozens of settlers from Nissanit in the Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted Col. Yossi 
Kuperwasser, the head of IDF Intelligence's research 
department, as telling the Knesset's Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Committee Tuesday that the terrorist groups 
continue to prepare "strategic" attacks and to produce 
Qassam rockets and mortars.  Israel Radio reported that 
three mortar shells were fired at the Gaza Strip 
settlement of Ganei Tal this morning. 
 
Jerusalem Post cited the Knesset's Finance Committee as 
saying Tuesday that Police Insp. Gen. Moshe Karadi 
requested a 61.1 million-shekel budget supplement 
(around USD 14 million) from the committee in order to 
handle "serious threats" of attacks on the Temple 
Mount. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted PA legislators as saying that 
Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei agreed on Tuesday to revamp 
his proposed cabinet with more reform-minded ministers, 
and to present the new government to parliament today. 
This morning, Israel Radio reported that the crisis 
over the formation of the new cabinet is continuing. 
Leading media reported that the PA on Tuesday welcomed 
President Bush's call for the creation of a contiguous 
Palestinian state and a freeze of settlement activity, 
and that it reiterated its commitment to stopping 
terror attacks on Israel.  Jerusalem Post says that the 
White House hopes to capitalize on Abbas's election in 
order to convince the U.S. Congress to help fund 
projects in the PA. 
 
In an interview with Yediot, Jordan's incoming 
Ambassador to Israel, Marouf al-Bakhit, urged Israel to 
release the Jordanian prisoners it detains.  Al-Bakhit 
told Jerusalem Post that "recognizing the right of 
return is important," but that "the implementation of 
the right of return is different and it is up to the 
parties concerned." 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF's Judge Advocate- 
General, Avi Mandelblit, told the Knesset's 
Constitution, Justice and Law Committee on Tuesday that 
if the quiet with the Palestinians holds, the army will 
consider returning to the policy of having the Military 
Police investigate every incident in which a 
Palestinian is killed by IDF troops. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that on 
Monday, the central committee of the World Council 
Churches, an organization representing up to a half- 
billion Christians worldwide, including more that 340 
Protestant and Orthodox churches in over 120 countries, 
announced its decision to encourage its member churches 
to divest from companies that participate in "illegal 
activities" in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 
 
Maariv reported that around 30 far-Left students 
heckled Israel's Ambassador to Italy Ehud Gol before he 
gave a lecture at the University of Florence on 
Tuesday. 
 
Yediot reported that on Tuesday, the Elta Company 
presented the new generation of Israeli spy satellites, 
which will be able to produce detailed photographs of 
every point on earth on a 24-hour basis. 
 
Yediot reported that Bank of Israel Governor-designate 
Stanley Fischer underwent a Shin Bet interrogation on 
Monday, because he will have access to confidential 
materials. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "This 
American policy is not dependent on who is head of the 
Israeli government, just as the demand of the 
Palestinian leadership did not become any less rigid as 
the chairmanship passed from Arafat to Abbas." 
 
Veteran spokesperson of the settlement movement Yehudit 
Tayar "addresses" Ariel Sharon in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "You have with your 
bulldozer style trampled on our rights as citizens; but 
even worse, you have virtually ripped the country in 
pieces." 
 
Gadi Baltiansky, Director General of the Geneva 
Initiative Headquarters, wrote in popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "Now we can build the fence ... and ... later 
dismantle sections of it in the last part of the story 
that is known in advance.  But things can also be 
different.  It can also be decided, in an act of 
leadership of which Ariel Sharon is capable, to end the 
march of folly." 
 
Yahad (Meretz) Knesset Member Avshalom Vilan wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "A bizarre coalition of settlers from the 
hilly area of Israel and fundamentalist Christians from 
the American heartland ... is fighting in unison 
against territorial concessions of any sort in the Holy 
Land.... This ideological coalition presents a genuine 
danger to Israel-U.S. relations." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
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¶I.  "The Context Is the Message" 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(February 23): "The importance of Bush's comments in 
Brussels [on Monday] is not their content, but their 
context -- the time, the place and the audience.  Since 
laying out his [two-state] vision for the first time, 
Bush has waged war on Iraq ... Yasser Arafat has died 
and has been replaced by Mahmoud Abbas ... and Ariel 
Sharon has initiated the evacuation of all of Israel's 
military presence and every settlement from the entire 
Gaza Strip, and four settlements in the northern West 
Bank.  Even though he made no direct reference to it in 
his Brussels speech, Bush clearly supports the Sharon 
plan.... The location that Bush chose for his speech is 
also significant: Brussels, the capital of Europe and 
home to the headquarters of both the European Union and 
NATO.  Bush came to Brussels as the winner in his 
country's elections, and it is he alone who formulates 
the policies of his administration, an administration 
that has been cleansed of dissenters such as former 
secretary of state Colin Powell.... Bush's target 
 
SIPDIS 
audience was made up not only of the Europeans, but 
also of Abbas and Sharon.  Abbas was told that the 
opportunity that has opened up in front of him is 
momentary and fleeting.  To Sharon -- and perhaps no 
less than him, his Likud opponents who hope to scupper 
the disengagement -- Bush sent a reminder that a 
Palestinian state will not be cobbled together by 
pieces of non-contiguous land.  This American policy is 
not dependent on who is head of the Israeli government, 
just as the demand of the Palestinian leadership did 
not become any less rigid as the chairmanship passed 
from Arafat to Abbas." 
 
II.  "Arik, You've Let Me Down" 
 
Veteran spokesperson of the settlement movement Yehudit 
Tayar "addresses" Ariel Sharon in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (February 23): "I once so 
admired you, Ariel Sharon.  Now you, along with your 
patched-up, opportunist government, have joined the 
pathetic ranks of those who have caved in to terror, 
all those 'enlightened' people who have, for reasons of 
overconfidence, corruption and conceit, given up on the 
ideals this country was built on.  You have with your 
bulldozer style trampled on our rights as citizens; but 
even worse, you have virtually ripped the country in 
pieces.... Do not fool yourself.  This Land does not 
belong to you.  Many of us think you are attempting to 
erase your shady, arguably criminal activities by 
directing media attention toward the disengagement 
scheme.  I can only express my disdain at your decision 
to destroy the national fiber, and for what?  For 
nothing.  Abraham Lincoln said: 'A house divided 
against itself cannot stand'.... We represent the 
covenant that the Jewish people have between our God 
and our Land. No prime minister or government decision 
can change that." 
 
III.  "End the March of Folly" 
 
Gadi Baltiansky, Director General of the Geneva 
Initiative Headquarters, wrote in popular, pluralist 
Maariv (February 23): "The American promises with 
regard to the settlement blocs, the Clinton ideas, the 
Geneva understandings, and from now on the route of the 
separation fence as well -- all those point at Israel's 
future permanent borders.  The negotiations will begin 
with the seven percent included on this side of the 
fence, and end with three-four vital percentage points, 
in return for which unpopulated alternative areas will 
be given.  So now we can build the fence without 
talking to the Palestinians, invest billions, absorb 
international criticism, and all this to later 
dismantle sections of it in the last part of the story 
that is known in advance.  But things can also be 
different.  It can also be decided, in an act of 
leadership of which Ariel Sharon is capable, to end the 
march of folly....  Acknowledging reality requires 
beginning negotiations over the final status 
arrangement, knowing that an agreement that protects 
Israel's true interests is achievable.  If we have 
already reached the recognition what the end will look 
like, it is the duty of both leaderships to bring us 
this end already, so that we can all enjoy the new 
beginning that we are so eagerly awaiting and so richly 
deserve.... Now we need a great leader to take a great 
step.  Until then, perhaps it would be preferable for 
the security establishment not to demonstrate 
surprising speed in building the fence.  The time that 
elapses until its irrelevant sections are dismantled 
will be much shorter than the time that elapsed from 
the construction of the settlements in the Gaza Strip 
until their dismantlement." 
 
IV.  "A Pernicious, Dangerous Alliance" 
 
Yahad (Meretz) Knesset Member Avshalom Vilan wrote in 
Ha'aretz (February 23): "A bizarre coalition of 
settlers from the hilly area of Israel and 
fundamentalist Christians from the American heartland - 
- and not the East or West coasts -- is fighting in 
unison against territorial concessions of any sort in 
the Holy Land.... This ideological coalition presents a 
genuine danger to Israel-U.S. relations.... It is 
liable to lead to a break in the historic link between 
American Jews and the Democratic Party, and even weaken 
the link between them and the mainstream Republican 
Party.  This would do heavy political damage.... It is 
clear, as well, that even the great freedom given to 
the Sharon government during President Bush's first 
term has ended.... The Republican administration also 
has economic interests it must uphold -- for instance, 
those related to oil.  In the prospective collision 
between economic interests and religious prattle, it is 
utterly clear who will pay the full political price for 
being on the wrong side, particularly as oil is found 
in the fields of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and not 
Israel.  There is no escaping the conclusion that the 
unholy alliance between the Jewish and Christian 
extreme right wings is short-term, and absolutely runs 
counter to Israel's long-term interests.  Thanks to 
painstaking work of many years, Israel has succeeded in 
reaching far-ranging understandings with the U.S. 
administration that have enabled the transfer of 
weapons and freedom of diplomatic maneuvering.  The 
hyper-activity of Israeli extremist right-wing groups 
is liable to harm these good relations.  Destroying is 
much easier than building." 
 
KURTZER