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 001319 
 
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.  Syrian-Lebanese Track 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
On Sunday, Jerusalem Post cited President Bush's weekly 
radio address, in which he hailed recent moves toward 
democracy in the Middle East. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Sharon will visit the U.S. on 
April 12, his first visit since President Bush's 
reelection.  The newspaper quoted GOI sources as saying 
that Sharon will be focusing his efforts on 
strengthening understandings with Bush from last April 
with respect to Israel's ongoing control of large 
settlement blocs, and concerning a solution to the 
Palestinian refugee problem outside the borders of 
Israel.  Ha'aretz says that Jerusalem expects 
disengagement, the situation in Lebanon, and the war 
against terror to figure prominently in Sharon's 
upcoming visit, and anticipates that Bush will not 
pressure Sharon to renew negotiations with the 
Palestinians on a final-status agreement.  Ha'aretz 
writes that Sharon is expected to hand over to the U.S. 
administration intelligence data revealing serious 
deficiencies in the reorganization of the Palestinian 
security forces.  The newspaper reported that Abbas is 
slated to be in Washington ahead of Sharon, whom he 
will meet before his trip.  Maariv reported that 
Japanese PM Jonichiro Koizumi has invited Sharon and 
Abbas to a summit meeting at the resort of Hakone.  No 
date has been set for the meeting. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will 
meet this week in an effort to advance talks between 
Israel and the PA.  According to the newspapers, Mofaz 
and Abbas will try to make progress on the issue of 
transferring security responsibility for West Bank 
cities in the hands of the Palestinians.  Leading media 
reported that on Sunday, the heads of the Israeli and 
Palestinian security committees -- Brig. Gen. Gadi 
Eisencott and Gen. Haj Ismail -- met again in a good 
atmosphere.  However, Ha'aretz notes that IDF sources 
advised a cautious approach to Palestinian reports that 
the two officers had come to an agreement on 
transferring security for Tulkarm, and perhaps Jericho, 
to the PA already on Tuesday. 
 
Israel Radio reported that two Israelis were wounded by 
gunfire in Hebron this morning, one of them seriously. 
On Sunday, citing news agencies, Ha'aretz quoted a 
senior Palestinian security official as saying that 
Palestinian police seized weapons on Saturday near 
Hebron. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF expects illegal 
settler outposts to mushroom across the West Bank, but 
that it is not likely to take any action against them 
since troops will be tied up with the disengagement. 
Leading media reported that following a Lebanese 
government announcement on Sunday that Syrian troops 
would be redeployed to the east the next day, Hizbullah 
called for a peaceful pro-Syria mass rally in Beirut. 
On Sunday, leading media quoted Sharon as saying, in 
response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's speech on 
Saturday, that Syria must withdraw completely from 
Lebanon, and that Israel will not be satisfied with a 
partial pullout.  All media reported on U.S. pressure 
on Syria in the matter. 
 
On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted a PA official as 
saying that jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti is 
believed to have orchestrated a rebellion against the 
top leadership of Fatah. 
 
Maariv reported that the residents of all four northern 
West Bank settlements slated for evacuation are 
conducting advanced negotiations for the terms of their 
departure.  Jerusalem Post reported that 45 Gaza 
settlers on Sunday petitioned the High Court of Justice 
protesting the Disengagement Implementation Law and the 
terms of compensation it offers the Jewish residents 
due to be evacuated from Gaza and the northern West 
Bank starting July 20. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that PM Sharon told visiting 
Jordanian FM Hani Fawzi al-Mulki on Sunday that Israel 
will not let a brigade of Palestinian soldiers trained 
in Jordan, the Badr brigade, across the Jordan River to 
take up security duties in the West Bank.  At the same 
time, Sharon said that Israel would support the 
training of PA security officials in Jordan.  Al-Mulki 
was quoted as saying in an interview with Jerusalem 
Post that Syria was serious about entering peace talks 
with Israel and that Jordan would press the U.S. to 
force Israel to withdraw from Syrian lands if Syria 
withdraws from Lebanon.  On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported 
that Israel could release Jordanian prisoners before FM 
Silvan Shalom's visit to Amman scheduled for the end of 
the month.  Leading media quoted al-Mulki as saying 
that King Abdullah of Jordan is not expected to visit 
Israel soon. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that lingering mutual suspicions are 
holding up the agreement to deploy Egyptian forces 
along the Philadelphi route.  In particular, the 
newspaper cited the Israeli defense establishment's 
concern about the proposed upgrading of the Egyptian 
military with advanced American weapons systems at a 
time when its commanders still consider Israel a 
potential threat against which they must prepare 
themselves. 
 
Leading media cited an interview Abbas granted Time 
Magazine, in which he said: "President Bush doesn't 
have the right to prejudice final-status issues.  These 
issue should be discussed in the final stages, not 
now."  Abbas also denied Bush's role in the 
democratization of the Middle East, and placed 
responsibility for the February 25 suicide bombing in 
Tel Aviv on Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that FM Silvan Shalom met in New 
York with Senator Hillary Clinton, who told him she had 
demanded that the U.S. impose sanctions on Syria to 
force it to leave Lebanon.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Sharon will meet Tuesday with Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice and National Security Advisor Stephen 
Hadley. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Israel 
responded skeptically to reports published Sunday, 
stating that Damascus instructed senior Islamic Jihad 
and Hamas leaders to leave Syria, following the Tel 
Aviv suicide bombing.  Jerusalem Post cited an Islamic 
Jihad announcement that the attack was carried out by a 
rogue cell. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv and Yediot cited the Foreign 
Ministry's denial on Saturday of a report by the Irish 
newspaper Evening Herald that a Mossad hit squad was 
stopped as it was planning to kill two members of the 
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who had been deported to 
Ireland after the siege of the Church of the Nativity 
in Bethlehem three years ago. 
 
All media, except Jerusalem Post, led with what police 
officials called the biggest money-laundering case in 
Israeli history, thought to involve hundreds of 
millions of dollars in the past year.  Twenty-four 
employees, past and present, of Bank Hapoalim's 
Hayarkon Street branch were arrested on Sunday.  The 
police froze 180 accounts held by 18 customers in the 
branch.  Among those likely to be questioned are Maariv 
owner Vladimir Gusinsky and Israel's Ambassador to the 
UK Zvi Hefetz, who was Gusinsky's point man in Israel. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv and Ha'aretz presented the findings 
of a study carried out by Prof. Steven Cohen of the 
Hebrew University among U.S. Jews, which show a 15-20 
percent drop between 2002 and 2004 in nearly all the 
indicators measuring emotional attachment to Israel. 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz cited another recent study, carried 
out on behalf of the United Jewish Communities of North 
America, showing that only 4 percent of Jewish students 
with a non-Jewish parent feel a special link to Israel. 
Forty-five percent of the Jewish students in America 
have a non-Jewish parent. 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶1.  Syrian-Lebanese Track: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Former ambassador to the U.S. Prof. Itamar Rabinovich 
wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: 
"The U.S. now clearly wishes to take absolute advantage 
of Syria's vulnerability in Lebanon in order to extract 
concessions on other contentious issues, and perhaps to 
demolish Assad's regime completely." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "These players could draw Israel into a very 
complex and dangerous situation." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "[The Syrian President's 
speech] was Bashar Assad in the mold of Hafez Assad." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The United States Will Not Give Up" 
 
Former ambassador to the U.S. Prof. Itamar Rabinovich 
wrote in mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot 
(March 7): "U.S. pressure in recent days and the 
question of the Syrian withdrawal [from Lebanon] have 
focused international attention on the issue of Syrian 
hegemony in Lebanon.  But the U.S. has a broader agenda 
vis-a-vis Damascus.  Washington has identified Lebanon 
as Syria's Achilles heel and has decided to concentrate 
its efforts on that issue.  In fact, the U.S. is 
striving to obtain concessions from Syria on other 
matters and it views Syria as a target for political 
changes and the key to a regional transformation.... 
The U.S. now clearly wishes to take absolute advantage 
of Syria's vulnerability in Lebanon in order to extract 
concessions on other contentious issues, and perhaps to 
demolish Assad's regime completely.... Damascus wishes 
to convey a clear message to the Lebanese opposition: 
if you continue to demand a Syrian pullout, we will 
support a Shi'ite demand for a new balance of power in 
Lebanon in order to reflect the fact that the Shi'ites 
have become the largest community in the country 
II.  "A Dangerous Situation For Israel" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (March 6): "A security and governmental vacuum 
was created in Lebanon in the wake of the Hariri 
assassination, and this vacuum has been expanding with 
the passage of every day.... Hizbullah has gained the 
most from this situation.... Even if Assad sincerely 
intends to redeploy his 14,000 troops in Lebanon, he 
has absolutely no intention of releasing his grip on 
it.  In the last four months the number of Syrian 
intelligence agents stationed in Beirut has risen from 
a few hundred to thousands.  Now they are being joined 
by Hizbullah guerrillas, Iranian Revolutionary 
Guardsmen and Lebanese intelligence agents, who long 
ago began taking orders from Damascus.  These players 
could draw Israel into a very complex and dangerous 
situation." 
 
III.  "Hafez's Son" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jackie Hoogie wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 6): "In his speech, 
[Bashar] Assad had a few objectives in sight.  First he 
had to gain a little time until the Arab League Summit, 
which is due to gather in Algiers this month, and where 
he hopes to have the League endorse his presence in 
Lebanon with an official resolution.... A second 
objective is the splitting of the [Lebanese] 
opposition.... The Syrian President is now hoping to 
divide the world's powers -- America, which has already 
announced that his declaration was not enough, on one 
side, and all the European states, which will insist on 
waiting and seeing and on granting the guy some more 
time... In brief, this was Bashar Assad in the mold of 
Hafez Assad." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The greatest crime, in the PA's eyes, is not terror 
itself but thwarting terror." 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning, 
independent Ha'aretz: "Democracy's loss will only be 
peace's gain if Sharon commits to putting the peace 
process back on track where it was left by the left 
after his famous trip to the Temple Mount." 
 
Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, president and founder of the 
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, wrote 
in Ha'aretz: "At a time when the rest of the world is 
arrayed against us, evangelical Christians are true 
friends who stand alongside us." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Back to Thugocracy" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 6): "Scant international or even local attention 
has been accorded news that the Palestinian Authority 
has decided to resume executions by the end of this 
month.  Of the 15 inmates on death row, none are 
terrorists, but about half were convicted for 
'collaborating with Israel.'  Presumably the latter 
offense includes helping Israel foil suicide bombings. 
By our book that not only is the last deed for which 
one ought to be put to death, but it is precisely what 
the PA ought to be encouraging.... When the PA imposes 
capital punishment on those it charges with helping 
Israelis root out terror (allegations which are highly 
dubious in most cases), it only adds insult to the 
injury inherent in its own inaction.  It says the 
greatest crime, in the PA's eyes, is not terror itself 
but thwarting terror.  Nor is there any reason to trust 
the PA judicial system.  The last time such 
'collaborators' were executed officially was on a 
January morning in 2001.  'Trials' are normally brief 
and haphazard affairs that in no democratic country 
would be considered due process.... While Israel is 
denied credit for its incomparably autonomous and 
unregimented judiciary, the mockery of what parades as 
law next door escapes censure.... We agree with 
Minister Natan Sharansky's urgent plea to Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon that Israel immediately demand 
the PA desist from this travesty-in-the-making. " 
 
II.  "Democracy's Losses" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in left-leaning, 
independent Ha'aretz (March 7): "The day after the 
London meeting last week, one of the newspapers 
reported that 'there is growing fear in Jerusalem that 
after the disengagement from Gaza, international 
pressure will mount concerning a final status 
agreement.'  That's right -- fear of a peace agreement. 
Abu Mazen's call to adopt the principle of mutuality 
with regard to actions against terror and the 
occupation, as written and agreed to with signatures in 
the road map plan, has not echoed in the public 
arena.... Sharon will deserve the compassion of the 
peace camp only if he orders an immediate end to all 
the unilateral steps he is taking in the West Bank and 
East Jerusalem, starting with the construction of the 
fence outside the sovereign territory of Israel. 
Democracy's loss will only be peace's gain if Sharon 
commits to putting the peace process back on track 
where it was left by the left after his famous trip to 
the Temple Mount." 
 
III.  "We Need Evangelical Christian Support" 
 
Rabbi Yehiel Eckstein, president and founder of the 
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, wrote 
in Ha'aretz (March 7): "In a recent op-ed column ('A 
Pernicious, Dangerous Alliance,' Ha'aretz, February 
23), Knesset Member Avshalom Vilan expressed concern 
about the alliance that is being 'forged' between 
evangelical Christians in the U.S. and the extreme 
right in Israel.  A sober and correct consideration of 
the situation would lead to the conclusion that today, 
more than ever, Israel and its leaders should welcome 
the embrace offered by the evangelical community, which 
should not be taken lightly.  This support is 
particularly important given recent expressions of anti- 
Semitism and the anti-Israeli attitude of Europe and 
the UN.... In contrast to the evangelical movement, the 
Presbyterian Church, which is considered one of the 
liberal Protestant movements, declared a consumer 
boycott and a move toward divestment from Israel a few 
months ago.  The Presbyterians were not even 
embarrassed to say their objective was to produce 
economic isolation, as was done to South Africa during 
apartheid.  The Episcopalian Church is considering 
doing something similar.... This boycott does not issue 
from sublime humanitarian motives.  These churches did 
not call for a boycott of the darkest and most savage 
regimes known to humanity.... While it is true that 
many of the evangelical Christians belong to the right 
wing of the political map, their love for Israel is 
unconditional.... At a time when the rest of the world 
is arrayed against us, evangelical Christians are true 
friends who stand alongside us." 
 
KURTZER