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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001352 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Democracy in Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Israel Radio and other media reported that PA Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz are 
supposed to sign an agreement tonight regarding the 
transfer of security responsibility to the Palestinians 
in Tulkarm.  Various media say that Mofaz will press 
Abbas for a bigger crackdown on terrorist groups. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's National Security 
Adviser Giora Eiland as saying that the IDF is likely 
to reoccupy large swaths of Palestinian cities prior to 
evacuating the settlements to prevent a withdrawal 
under fire. 
 
Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.) led with Monday's move of Syrian 
troops to Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and with White House 
Press Secretary Scott McClellan's statement Monday 
demanding an immediate and full withdrawal of Syrian 
forces from Lebanon.  Israel Radio quoted IDF Chief of 
Staff Moshe Ya'alon as saying that Syria could try to 
prove that terror attacks are on the increase while it 
pulls out. 
 
The lead story in Ha'aretz (English Ed.) is based on 
remarks Shinui Knesset Member Avraham Poraz made to 
Ha'aretz Monday: he said his faction would be willing 
to return to the government even if United Torah 
Judaism (UTJ) remains a part of it, to help PM Sharon 
implement the disengagement plan, which Shinui strongly 
supports.  Yediot says that Finance Minister Binyamin 
Netanyahu is prepared to pay hundreds of millions of 
shekels to Shas, in order for that party to abstain 
during the Knesset's vote on the annual budget.  Yediot 
cited the concern of Shas officials that Netanyahu is 
using Shas in order to obtain Shinui's support. 
Speaking on Israel Radio, Netanyahu denied the report. 
Shas chairman MK Eli Yishai told Israel Radio that his 
party cannot be bought.  Yediot quoted Sharon 
associates as saying: "As far as we are concerned, let 
Hamas vote in favor of the budget.  After all, one 
moment after the budget is passed, the government will 
continue to function and disengagement will be carried 
out."  Ha'aretz quoted PM Sharon as saying before the 
Likud's Knesset faction Monday that he could postpone 
the Knesset's vote on the budget, scheduled for March 
17, because of a lack of majority at the Knesset's 
Finance Committee and plenum.  Maariv reported that 
Netanyahu intends to replace the Likud MKs sitting in 
the Finance Committee.  Israel Radio reported that at a 
ministerial meeting to be convened by Sharon today, the 
defense establishment will present details about the 
disengagement plan, including the plan's stages and the 
military aspects of each of them.  Vice Premier Shimon 
Peres will present the civilian and economic aspects of 
the plan and report on efforts to assist the 
Palestinian economy. 
Yediot writes that today's debate at the Knesset's 
Constitution, Justice and Law Committee on the option 
of a national referendum on disengagement will mark the 
start of the last possible move on the matter. 
 
Leading media reported that today Sharon will receive 
the report on illegal setter outposts prepared by 
Attorney Talia Sasson.  Maariv's Ben Caspit says that 
the report indicates that construction at the outposts 
is continuing, in contravention of government 
decisions, and that the Construction and Housing 
Ministry has allotted dozens of millions of shekels to 
illegal construction.  One supposed conclusion of the 
document is that the activity of the Jewish Agency's 
settlement department should be stopped. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Boaz Raday, Minister for Economic 
Affairs at Israel's Embassy in Washington, as saying 
that the U.S. will participate in the funding of the 
military aspects of the disengagement move if Israel 
presents such a request. 
 
All media reported on an investigation whose details 
were revealed on Monday, according to which a 20-year- 
old Israeli Arab from a village in the Western Galilee 
has been arrested on suspicion of planning an attack at 
the Knesset building.  Israel Radio reported that six 
wanted Islamic Jihad activists have been arrested south 
of Jenin. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio cited the U.S. weekly Defense 
News as saying that the IAF and the Israel Navy 
successfully test-fired Israel's Long Range Artillery 
(LORA) missile March 3, after the presence of U.S. spy 
planes in the so-called safety zone above the 
Mediterranean Sea prompted officials to delay the test. 
A sea-based target 200 km from the launch site on 
Israel's coast was hit.  Defense News unsuccessfully 
asked the U.S. Embassy for clarifications. 
 
Leading media reported that FM Silvan Shalom told UN 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York on Monday that 
 
SIPDIS 
Syria is beefing up its intelligence forces in Lebanon. 
The media reported that Shalom also requested that 
Annan promote the candidacy of Israel's representative 
to the UN as deputy president of the next General 
Assembly, which is due to convene in September 2005. 
King Abdullah II of Jordan was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Ehud Yaari of Channel 2-TV that Jordan 
is working behind the scenes with other Arab countries 
on an initiative, based on the 2002 Arab Peace 
Initiative, in which all the Arab countries would make 
peace with Israel in exchange for Israel promising a 
viable Palestinian state. 
Leading media reported on Interior Minister Ophir Pines- 
Paz's meeting with his Palestinian counterpart Nasser 
Yousef in Jerusalem on Monday.  The ministers discussed 
security issues, and Yousef raised the issue of family 
reunification for Palestinians who could not join 
spouses living over the Green Line or in Jordan. 
Jerusalem Post reported that he did not get any answer 
from Pines. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel is considering increasing 
the quantity of desalinated water it will send to the 
PA in the Gaza Strip from 5 to 20 million cubic meters 
per year. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli military armor factory 
Plasan Sasa recently won a huge project to armor about 
2,000 army trucks and other American vehicles in Iraq. 
The deal is worth about USD 200 million. 
 
Ha'aretz notes that U/S John Bolton, the next U.S. 
representative to the UN, is a hardliner in the U.S. 
administration. 
 
London Mayor Ken Livingstone was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Jerusalem Post that Israel's policy 
helps Al Qaida recruit terrorists. 
 
Yediot, Maariv and Jerusalem Post cited an announcement 
by the consular section of the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv 
that Israelis will be able to obtain visitor visas to 
the U.S. within 48 hours.  This offer will be available 
until the end of April. 
 
Ha'aretz published the results of Tel Aviv University's 
monthly Peace Index poll, conducted February 28-March 
1: 
- 50 percent of the Jewish public favor a severe 
reaction to the Tel Aviv suicide bombing and 42 percent 
saying Israel should act with restraint. 
-45 percent of the Jewish public believe Abbas is 
making sincere efforts to eradicate terror on the 
Palestinian side, while 42 percent believe he is not 
making sincere efforts. 
-62 percent of the Jewish public support the 
disengagement plan; 30 percent are opposed; 8 percent 
are undecided. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Sharon had 
to have smiled widely when he heard U.S. President 
George W. Bush's weekly radio address Saturday." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If he pulls it 
off, Netanyahu may find his way back into the prime 
minister's seat, but with an agenda inherited from 
Sharon: withdrawal from Gaza and the establishment of a 
Palestinian state.  Let's see him deal with Bush's 
ultimatum." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "A Palestinian reading and hearing this flood 
of reports does not need any incitement against Israel. 
Even if the stories do not touch on them personally, 
the readers understand what the Israeli authorities are 
doing to their people." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Sharon Gets Key Bush Backing" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (March 8): 
"Sharon had to have smiled widely when he heard U.S. 
President George W. Bush's weekly radio address 
Saturday.  In that message, Bush explained to the 
American people that at the London meeting the 
international community 'expressed their support for 
the Palestinians' efforts to reform their political 
institutions, their economy, and their security 
services.'  And then, in a line that must have been 
music to Sharon's ears, he said, 'And the first reform 
must be the dismantling of terrorist organizations. 
Only by ending terrorism can we achieve our common goal 
of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living 
side-by-side in peace and freedom.'  Dismantling the 
terrorist organizations, not co-opting them into the 
political process; ending terrorism, not reaching a 
temporary cease-fire with its practitioners.  Bush's 
comments also went a long way toward putting Jerusalem 
at ease that the President's recent trip to Europe -- 
and Washington's desire to bridge the transatlantic gap 
-- may have brought him closer to the European position 
on the road map, and the European eagerness to begin 
quickly moving through its phases." 
 
II.  "Murder in Their Eyes" 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 8): "Israeli 
politics is no stranger to inner squabbles.... We've 
even seen political assassination.  But this time, a 
prime minister is being threatened in the political 
home he built himself.... [At the Likud Central 
Committee meeting on March 3] Sharon had many 
attackers, but not a single defender.  There were some 
who played innocent and said all they wanted was a 
referendum.  There were others who openly denounced the 
disengagement plan. But the worst of the speakers -- 
critics and cowards alike -- were the hypocrites. And 
the man who heads that camp is Benjamin Netanyahu.... 
If he pulls it off, Netanyahu may find his way back 
into the prime minister's seat, but with an agenda 
inherited from Sharon: withdrawal from Gaza and the 
establishment of a Palestinian state.  Let's see him 
deal with Bush's ultimatum." 
 
III.  "With Such News, Who Needs Incitement?" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz (March 7): "The Israeli demand that the 
Palestinian Authority halt the incitement against 
Israel in the Palestinian media and school system is 
well known.  It is a justified demand.... [However,] 
the pounding rhetoric of the past is gone.  But what 
can be found in the Palestinian press -- and in large 
quantities -- are the news items about what is 
happening on the ground: detailed, daily reports with 
dramatic headlines accompanied by lots of photographs 
about what the IDF and the settlers are doing in the 
West Bank and Gaza.... This kind of information has 
become routine.  It is delivered in a dry, understated 
tone as it describes theft, humiliation and abuse of 
helpless women, children and ailing prisoners who are 
in isolation or undergoing repeated, lengthy terms of 
administrative detention without trial.  A Palestinian 
reading and hearing this flood of reports does not need 
any incitement against Israel.  Even if the stories do 
not touch on them personally, the readers understand 
what the Israeli authorities are doing to their 
people." 
 
 
------------------------- 
¶2.  Democracy in Mideast: 
------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "On the strategic level, 
every American initiative that weakens the 
dictatorships in the Middle East will also be of 
benefit to Israel ... even if Bush proves himself to be 
demanding of Israel as well." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Are liberal Arabs now an important 
factor in the region's politics for the first time 
ever?  Absolutely." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Democratization is Good for Jews and Arabs" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (March 8): "Even if Bush 
ultimately fails, he has set off a tsunami in the quiet 
waters of the Middle Eastern dictatorships.... There 
are similarities between the dilemmas facing the U.S. 
and those faced by Israel.  The Americans are 
jeopardizing, in their determined effort to 
democratize, those regimes that cooperate with it. So 
too is Israel.... Democracies are better and more 
reliable partners in dialogue.... On the strategic 
level, every American initiative that weakens the 
dictatorships in the Middle East will also be of 
benefit to Israel, even if in the foreseeable future 
the clashes along the northern border escalate, and 
even if Bush proves himself to be demanding of Israel 
as well.  The weakness of the regime in Damascus does 
not bode well for Israel in the immediate future.  Nor 
does a second round of civil war in Lebanon, where at 
least some will try to channel the rage southward 
towards their neighbors in the Upper Galilee.  But on a 
substantive level, the pressure on Assad is good for 
Israel.  Mainly for those Israelis who would prefer, 
when the time is ripe, to make a peace that involves a 
compromise on the Golan Heights." 
 
II.  "A New Dawn?" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (March 8): "What the heck is going on in 
the Middle East?  Is it the dawn of a liberal 
democratic era?  Maybe.  Does it make the much-reviled 
U.S. policy look good?  Definitely.  Are liberal Arabs 
now an important factor in the region's politics for 
the first time ever?  Absolutely.... The popular 
upheaval in Lebanon against Syrian domination is 
glorious, especially important as the first real 
example of mass political participation in a moderate 
cause in the modern Middle East.... This is good, but 
it is more of a nationalist rather than liberal or 
democratic movement.... Unfortunately, the remaining 
cases -- the Palestinians, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia -- 
provide less change than it seems.... Of course, by 
allowing even minimal change dictators may be making 
fatal miscalculations, lifting the lid enough to let 
out a liberal genie who will sweep them away.  Each 
step builds a momentum encouraging the masses to 
perceive the dictators more in terms of clay feet than 
iron fists." 
 
KURTZER