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 001805 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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All major media led with various disengagement-related 
issues. 
 
Last night, Israel Radio reported that Finance Minister 
Binyamin Netanyahu met with Shas party mentor Rabbi 
Ovadia Yosef in an attempt to make him reconsider his 
ruling against the proposed referendum bill.  The radio 
reported that Rabbi Yosef conditioned his assent on 
obtaining an assurance that 50 Knesset members would 
vote in favor of a referendum.  (Jerusalem Post prints 
a similar report.)  The station cited an unofficial 
response by PM Sharon's bureau that Netanyahu is acting 
behind Sharon's back, and not for the first time. 
Ha'aretz bannered attempts by Sharon to find Shinui 
Knesset members prepared to defy their party leader 
Yosef (Tommy) Lapid and vote in favor of the 2005 state 
budget.  All media reported that Sharon met with the 13 
"rebel" Likud members Wednesday. 
 
Yediot leads with a "rare insight" into the modus 
operandi and the world of young far-right activists 
determined to stop the disengagement move. 
 
Maariv cited the GOI's belief that the PA is not 
interested in coordinating the civilian aspects of 
disengagement with Israel and that it has decided to 
let Israel carry it out unilaterally.  The newspaper 
says that in exchange for coordination, the 
Palestinians are demanding Israel or U.S. guarantees 
regarding the "day after," as well as a detailed list 
of further areas Israel is prepared to pull out from, 
or an Israeli pledge to resume negotiations toward the 
final-status agreement.  Maariv writes that Palestinian 
PM Ahmed Qurei is not prepared to meet with Vice 
Premier Shimon Peres at this time, and that the GOI's 
main concern is the fate of the efforts to hand over 
evacuated houses of settlers to the PA. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Israel dismissed as a 
"reiteration of old and anachronistic positions" the 
Arab League's decision to relaunch the 2002 Saudi peace 
initiative.  The newspaper quoted an official Jordanian 
source as saying Wednesday that fear of being 
shortchanged caused Syria to torpedo the original 
Jordanian peace proposal last week.  Jerusalem Post 
reported that FM Silvan Shalom told the Knesset that 
Jordan's "welcome" initiative was blocked by countries 
such as Syria and Algeria, and by Arab League Secretary- 
General Amr Moussa, "the same Moussa who as foreign 
minister of Egypt blocked during his tenure all 
attempts at normalization with that country." 
Ha'aretz reported that U.S. envoys Elliott Abrams and 
David Welch have expressed their objections over the 
planned construction of 3,500 housing units in Ma'aleh 
Adumim.  Jerusalem Post says they sought clarifications 
about the plan.  Ha'aretz reported that Sharon told the 
envoys that he is strongly opposed to "shortcuts" in 
the diplomatic process and to proceeding directly to 
final-status talks.  Ha'aretz further reported that 
Sharon told the envoys that Israel will not leap over 
any stage of the road map, and that he knows this is 
President Bush's view as well.  The newspaper reported 
that Abrams and Welch discussed the handover of 
security responsibility in five Palestinian cities with 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.  Abrams and Welch are 
scheduled to meet with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas today. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that FM Shalom gave his ministry the 
challenge of having 10 Arab countries open legations in 
Israel.  The media reported that Shalom Cohen, the 
Foreign Ministry's Deputy D-G for the Middle East and 
the Peace Process, was appointed ambassador to Egypt. 
 
Leading media quoted security officials as saying today 
that an Israeli Arab from Baka al Gharbiya who 
transported the suicide bomber who blew up at the Stage 
nightclub in Tel Aviv on February 25 was also involved 
in deciding on the location where the attack would take 
place. 
 
 
Yediot reported that hundreds of Israeli visa 
applicants every day do not manage to enter the U.S. 
Embassy building in Tel Aviv, since the Embassy has set 
a limit of 150 applicants per day.  The newspaper 
quoted the Embassy spokesman as saying that the number 
of applicants is tremendous, and that the Embassy will 
improve its services. 
 
Erratum: Wednesday's Tel Aviv Media Reaction Report 
referred to Brig. Gen. Yossi Kuperwasser as IDF 
Intelligence chief.  He is the head of IDF 
Intelligence's research department. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "American 
slackness, due to lack of interest or a change in 
attitude, could bring about more destructive results in 
the Middle East than the preexisting ones -- in this 
case, the radical and extremist elements could win." 
 
Liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The inventors of 
the 'unilateral' strategy don't need the agreement of 
the other side, just a wink from the Americans." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Once again, the governments meeting in Algiers missed 
an opportunity to lead toward the peace they insist 
they want, and to assuage Israeli concerns about their 
true intentions." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Bush Has Fled" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 24): "Is 
it possible that after all the warnings concerning a 
'sheriff' looking for someone to shoot at in the Middle 
East, President George Bush, in his second term, is 
much softer than during his first term?  This suspicion 
is increasingly entering the consciousness of the Arab 
rulers, following their scrutiny of U.S. policy in 
recent weeks.  This surprises them and even revives 
their spirits.... The new American policy grants the 
European bloc diplomatic freedom when facing Tehran.... 
[King Abdullah of Jordan] has warned the Americans that 
should Bashar [Assad] win, the credibility of 
Washington's staunch supporters, like himself, would 
plummet.  As it currently appears, the U.S. has 
practically renounced the disarming of Hizbullah and 
the expulsion of Hamas and Islamic Jihad headquarters 
from Syria, and it is not pressing Abu Mazen to disarm 
the terrorist organizations or to unite his security 
branches as he has pledged.... American slackness, due 
to lack of interest or a change in attitude, could 
bring about more destructive results in the Middle East 
than the preexisting ones -- in this case, the radical 
and extremist elements could win." 
 
II.  "Even Fewer at the Next Demonstration" 
 
Liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 24): "The 
minute the administration in Washington accepts the 
Israeli claim that the construction freeze does not 
cover 'planning procedures,' it will accept the 
argument when the planning is over that the 
construction in Ma'aleh Adumim is only meant 'to 
strengthen the Jewish settlement blocs,' as President 
Bush has already affirmed.... Since no serious 
Palestinian will accept a plan for a state without 
territorial contiguity, it is clear that the plan to 
link Ma'aleh Adumim to Jerusalem will torpedo any 
chance for the establishment of a Palestinian state as 
laid out by the road map.  But Sharon and Mofaz aren't 
worried.  The inventors of the 'unilateral' strategy 
don't need the agreement of the other side, just a wink 
from the Americans.  And in general, who cares about 
Plan E-1 when in front of our eyes the vision of peace 
is once again unfolding?  And most of all: why wake up 
suddenly, 'when the plan is not new and was approved by 
Rabin?'  There is no doubt that when the "peace camp" 
calls for a demonstration against the tying of Ma'aleh 
Adumim and Jerusalem and the strangulation of the 
Palestinian state, even fewer demonstrators will show 
up than showed up for last Saturday night's rally. 
Sharon has already tamed them." 
 
III.  "The Arab Summit" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(March 24): "Arab League summits can hardly disappoint, 
since expectations are so low to begin with.  This 
time, however, there was some hope that the leaders 
gathered in Algiers on Wednesday would adopt a 
Jordanian proposal to begin normalization with Israel. 
Instead, they opted to readopt the 'Saudi plan' passed 
in Beirut in 2002.... What Egyptian and Jordanian 
diplomats profess not to understand is why Israelis did 
not appreciate an element in the plan that, in their 
eyes, was a significant olive branch: 'A just solution 
to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in 
accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.' 
The great concession, we are told, is that the solution 
to the refugee problem must be 'agreed upon' with 
Israel.... Perhaps it is unrealistic to expect the Arab 
states to show leadership on this issue when Europe and 
even the United States have been reluctant to 
unequivocally state that there is no 'right of return' 
to Israel and that demanding such a right conflicts 
with the two-state solution.  President George W. Bush 
tentatively made such a statement in his exchange of 
letters with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon last spring, 
but he has not repeated it since.  The fact is that, 
once again, the governments meeting in Algiers missed 
an opportunity to lead toward the peace they insist 
they want, and to assuage Israeli concerns about their 
true intentions.  There is a simple measure of 
leadership: will these states take steps that encourage 
the Palestinians to moderate their demands, most 
importantly concerning the 'right of return'?  Will 
they encourage the Palestinians to take more realistic 
positions that are fully consistent with Israel's 
sovereignty and right to exist? The answer from Algiers 
was, unfortunately, a resounding no." 
 
KURTZER