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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 000820 
 
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 reported that over 30 mortars, including 
Qassam rockets, have been fired at the Gaza Strip's 
Katif Bloc since last night.  The radio's anchor said: 
"This is how a cease-fire in the Middle East looks." 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that earlier a Hamas 
militant was shot to death.  The army denied having 
killed any Palestinians overnight, saying the man might 
have been killed during a "work accident" while 
preparing explosives. IDF soldiers fired at four 
Palestinians approaching the southern Katif Bloc 
settlement of Atzmona.  The station reported that 
Israel held contacts with the U.S. and Egypt, and 
warned the Palestinians about the mortar shelling. 
Israel Radio reported that Hamas militants raided a 
Gaza jail, and freed Hamas prisoners whom the PA had 
arrested.  Several Palestinians may have been killed 
during the forced entry. 
 
Similar to other media, Jerusalem Post quoted senior 
Israeli and Palestinian officials as saying that PM 
Sharon and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) would 
likely meet within a week to follow up on the summit. 
Leading media reported that Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak is likely to visit Sharon's Sycamore Farm, and 
that Sharon would visit Egypt.  Reiterating previous 
statements he made Wednesday, PM Sharon told Ha'aretz 
last night that a referendum on the disengagement plan 
is meant to prevent the pullout from taking place.  He 
said he will put an end to threats against Likud 
Knesset members who support disengagement.  Ha'aretz 
reported that talking to reporters Wednesday, Sharon 
praised Israeli Arab MK Mohammed Barakeh for having 
supported the evacuation-compensation bill at the 
Knesset's Finance Committee, "because the Likud Knesset 
members did not vote with the government."  All media 
reported that Wednesday Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin 
(Likud) expressed his support for a referendum.  Israel 
Radio reported that left-wing politicians demanded he 
resign.  Maariv assesses that there currently is no 
Knesset majority for the state's 2005 budget, which 
could put the disengagement plan at risk. 
 
All media (lead stories in Maariv and Yediot) reported 
that Sharon decided Wednesday to name Yuval Diskin 
director of the Shin Bet.  He will assume this position 
in May.  Diskin, who was deputy director of the service 
until the summer of 2003, built secret links with the 
Palestinians, and had been responsible for developing 
the thwarting of terror bombings and "ticking bombs." 
Jerusalem Post reported that many young Palestinian men 
in Jordan are applying to serve as soldiers of the 
"symbolic" Badr Brigade -- the Jordanian branch of the 
Palestinian Liberation Army, composed of either 
Palestinian refugees or their descendants -- which 
might be deployed in the PA areas as a security force. 
 
Israel Radio reported that 2,000 Palestinian workers 
and traders will be allowed to enter Israel today. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that progress in talks between Israel 
and the Palestinians and relative calm in the 
territories has led the security service this month to 
freeze plans for a water channel along the Philadelphi 
route at Rafah between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.  The 
channel was to have helped prevent the digging of 
weapons-smuggling tunnels and to protect IDF troops. 
 
All media reported that on Wednesday, Abbas dispatched 
several senior Palestinian officials to Damascus and 
Beirut in an attempt to prevent Hamas from violating 
the cease-fire.  Yediot and Jerusalem Post reported 
that Syrian FM Farouk Shara, in a telephone 
conversation with Italian FM Gianfranco Fini on Friday 
on Wednesday, told him that Syria will apply its 
influence on the extremist organizations, including 
Hizbullah, so that they respect the cease-fire achieved 
in Sharm el-Sheikh.  Yediot quoted Israeli defense 
sources as saying that Hamas is bracing for a new 
confrontation. 
 
Leading media reported that on Wednesday, Jordanian FM 
Hani Fawzi al-Mulki asked FM Silvan Shalom to approve 
the nomination of Marouf al-Bakhit, Jordan's current 
envoy to Turkey, as ambassador to Israel. 
 
Maariv reported that the IDF is considering holding off 
on its plan to dismantle its "hesder" units (in which 
yeshiva students combine military service with 
religious studies) until after the completion of the 
disengagement process. 
 
Yediot reported that 15 heads of state will arrive in 
Israel on March 15 to attend the inauguration of Yad 
Vashem's new historical museum. 
 
Maariv reported that the U.S. Consulate-General in 
Israel (sic) is trying to help local business people 
obtain E-1 treaty trader visas. 
 
Yediot reported that foreign diplomats serving in 
Israel, including U.S. Ambassador Dan Kurtzer and the 
U.S. Consul-General in Israel (sic), have protested to 
the Foreign Ministry over a new Interior Ministry 
directive restricting the stay in Israel of hundreds of 
foreign workers employed as servants at the diplomats' 
residences.  The diplomats claim that the directive 
contravenes the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic 
Relations. 
 
Maariv reported that an IAF base Wednesday hosted a 
team from Alhurra-TV.  The newspaper says that this was 
another demonstration of IDF openness following the 
Arab networks' lifting of their boycott of the IDF. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that an oil slick from two 
tankers that collided off the coast of Egypt Friday 
night reached the southern part of the Katif Bloc and 
Rafah on Wednesday. 
 
Maariv reported that the U.S. will soon deport an 
Israeli woman who is detained in a Florida jail, 
despite the fact that her husband and five-month-old 
son are American citizens.  She was arrested about one 
year ago as a suspect in a fraud case involving an 
Israeli-owned moving company. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
Sharon government deserves the confidence of the 
Knesset members so the disengagement plan does not end 
up shelved with the entire region sent back into a 
reality of bloodshed and hopelessness." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"How can [Foreign Minister Silvan] Shalom lead a 
campaign against the prime minister he serves and seem 
to undermine the policy he must defend?" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "The claim 
that a referendum would delay the disengagement plan 
and its calendar is unfounded." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "As far as Hizbullah and 
Iran are concerned, the course [Abu Mazen] is steering 
is the start of an existential threat -- serenity and 
calm would pave the way for an American campaign 
against Tehran." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Budget Means Disengagement" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(February 10): "The success of the disengagement plan 
now depends on just one thing: Sharon's ability to 
enlist a Knesset majority for the state's 2005 budget. 
If the budget does not pass in a vote before the end of 
March, the government will fall, and with it, the 
disengagement.  Even those who do not agree with the 
economic policy embodied in the budget must regard the 
vote on the budget first of all as a vote of confidence 
in the disengagement.  The background noise being 
generated by disengagement opponents creates the 
mistaken impression that Sharon has no legitimacy for 
his policies.  But the polls show that two-thirds of 
the public support the disengagement.... The Sharon 
government deserves the confidence of the Knesset 
members so the disengagement plan does not end up 
shelved with the entire region sent back into a reality 
of bloodshed and hopelessness." 
 
II.  "Take Responsibility" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(February 10): "Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, who 
announced that he will lead a campaign for a referendum 
on the government's disengagement plan, says his 
position is a 'matter of principle'.... The entire 
debate on this issue, however, tends to blithely skip 
over a principle that should come first: parliamentary 
responsibility.... We understand that some advocate a 
referendum to compensate for the feelings of 
disenfranchisement among disengagement opponents who 
believe that their representatives have abandoned them 
in order to hang on to their seats for dear life. But 
how can Shalom or Netanyahu claim to be in such a 
position, when, should they so desire, they themselves 
have the ability -- not through a referendum but 
through their votes -- to actualize their opposition to 
disengagement and quite possibly halt it?.... The 
impossibility of Shalom's position is magnified by his 
post as foreign minister.  He is right to be miffed 
that he was not invited to the Sharm e-Sheikh summit, a 
snub that clearly undermines him and seems petty and 
inappropriate on Sharon's part.  At the same time, 
Shalom's behavior seems to have proven Sharon right; 
how can Shalom lead a campaign against the prime 
minister he serves and seem to undermine the policy he 
must defend?  If this government does not have majority 
support, let those who oppose it bring it down.  If, on 
the other hand, more Likud leaders have joined Sharon's 
camp, let's hear that, too.  What we don't need are 
supposed leaders who continue to straddle the fence on 
the critical issue of our day, and who thereby increase 
the very sense of disenfranchisement they claim to want 
to remedy." 
 
III.  "The People Wants a Referendum" 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (February 
10): "Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's linking up with 
the group of senior Likud ministers who demand that a 
referendum on the disengagement [plan] be held, is 
breathing life into activists of the Likud and other 
parties, who had become hesitant about the chances of 
that initiative.... The claim that a referendum would 
delay the disengagement plan and its calendar is 
unfounded.... All public opinion polls indicate that a 
majority among the public supports [the idea of] a 
referendum.... Among those who back it are people who 
support the disengagement plan; however, they 
understand it is unjust and illogical to uproot people 
from their homes when all the actions related to the 
disengagement were taken fraudulently, on the sly, and 
without respecting commitments.  Should a referendum be 
held, and the disengagement plan fail, the Prime 
Minister could start permanent-status negotiations with 
the Palestinians.  Until the [permanent-status phase] 
comes, [Sharon] could find out whether Abu Mazen has 
the strength to put an end to terrorism, to pull up its 
infrastructure, and to fight the representatives of 
Iran and Hizbullah." 
 
IV.  "Nasrallah's Distress" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (February 10): "Should it 
arise, a new Middle East would badly harm Tehran. 
Twenty-six years after the Islamic revolution, the 
establishment of a theocratic state in Iran has become 
a heavy liability for its subjects.  Thus, how can that 
revolution be exported, if not through the Israeli- 
Palestinian conflict?  Hizbullah, too, suffers from 
export hang-ups.... The budding peace is pulling the 
rug from under Hizbullah's feet, and sending it to the 
mire of Lebanese politics.... Since Yasser Arafat's 
death, Hizbullah has been watching the erosion of the 
rules of the game; it is afraid that its regional 
assets could dwindle.... Now Abu Mazen, a leader who 
was elected in free elections of a kind unknown in the 
Arab world, is acting as a soldier of peace.  As far as 
Hizbullah and Iran are concerned, the course he is 
steering is the start of an existential threat -- 
serenity and calm would pave the way for an American 
campaign against Tehran." 
 
KURTZER