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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 001910 
 
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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All major media lead with referendum bill Knesset 
failure and the subsequent termination of the political 
struggle against the disengagement plan. 
 
All mass circulation dailies report that yesterday the 
Knesset voted down the National Referendum Bill by an 
overwhelming majority of 72 to 39, as 3 MK's abstained 
and 6 stayed out. Ha'aretz and other dailies report 
that 27 Likud MK's voted against Prime Minister Sharon 
and for the referendum, and that two Shinui MK's defied 
the party decision and stayed out, along with all Shas 
MK's. A Yediot Ahronot headline sums up the vote 
saying: "The bottom line: there are presently no more 
parliamentary obstacles that could prevent the 
execution of the disengagement plan." 
 
The media further tied yesterday's vote with the Yesha 
Council demonstration outside the Knesset. Ha'aretz 
reported that yesterday, just a few thousand protesters 
attended the rally. The organizers announced that the 
initially planned 36-hour demonstration will last just 
one day and that "the struggle is now moving to the 
streets and the Katif Bloc."  The same report adds that 
Yesha leaders said 100,000 will nonviolently prevent 
the disengagement, break the law and are willing to go 
to jail. 
 
According to Yediot Aharonot, yesterday's vote makes 
the budget vote simpler and the Knesset may pass the 
second and third hearings "as soon as tonight." Yediot 
reports that "Sharon has a solid majority of 66-67 MK's 
supporting the state budget." 
 
Ha'aretz reported on the ongoing struggle between 
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister 
Ari'el Sharon over Likud leadership. After Sharon 
indirectly accused Netanyahu of damaging the Government 
to promote his affairs, and after the PM associates 
warned Netanyahu "to watch his back," Ha'aretz cited 
Netanyahu associates as saying that this is "an 
unprecedented stage in the prime minister's peoples' 
threats. which tramples over every democratic norm and 
introduces mafia-like threats." 
 
Israel Radio at 07:00 AM reported that work will begin 
tomorrow on a new, 43-kilometer section of the 
separation fence in the south, between Shomriya and 
Metzudot Yehuda. Security officials said that so far 
sections had been built along 215 kilometers of the 764 
kilometers planned. 
The Jerusalem Magistrates Court yesterday lifted a gag 
order, Ha'aretz says, reporting that the Jerusalem 
District Police on Sunday arrested three right-wing 
extremists from Lod who are suspected of trying to sell 
weapons to the Settlers Council for use against 
soldiers and police taking part in the disengagement 
process. Council members filed a complaint with the 
police when approached by the three and, speaking in 
court, the police rejected the claim that one of the 
arrested men is a provocateur working for the GSS. 
 
Ha'aretz US correspondent elaborates on AIPAC struggle 
to maintain its power in Washington in the wake of the 
Franklin affair, while attempting to avoid an 
indictment. Washington political sources are cited as 
saying that AIPAC's current problem is the shift in 
Israel's stands, which places the Jewish lobby "right 
of the GOI."  According to the report, Israeli 
representatives in Washington and AIPAC members 
exercise caution in view of the Franklin investigation. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: While "in Texas, Sharon will 
celebrate the victory of the bulldozer.  At the heart 
of his conversation with the president will be 
strengthening the understandings regarding Israel 
preserving for itself the settlement blocs in the West 
Bank." 
 
Chief economic editor Sever Plotzker opined in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot:  "The withdrawal from Gaza must not turn into 
a cover for all contemptible political acts, for every 
offense against integrity, for any malfunction in 
governmental doings and for the over-concentration of 
power in the hands of a few at the top." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Approval of the construction plans could cloud the 
atmosphere between Israel and the PA, and even spark a 
renewal of violence." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
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¶I.  "The Bulldozer Won" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Ben wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 29): "On April 11, Ariel 
Sharon will go to a victory party at U.S. President 
George W. Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.... But more 
than anything in Texas, Sharon will celebrate the 
victory of the bulldozer.  At the heart of his 
conversation with the president will be strengthening 
the understandings regarding Israel preserving for 
itself the settlement blocs in the West Bank.  Bush 
already accepted the principle last year. Now Sharon 
wants to make sure the American promise for an 
annexation of the blocs in the future is turned into 
permission to build, in exchange for the evacuation of 
settlers from Gaza and northern Samaria.... Bush's 
letter from April 2004, which the administration 
reaffirmed over the weekend, shows that America is not 
interested in the abstract justice of the International 
Court in The Hague or the cries of the occupied 
Palestinians.  Recognition of the 'new realities on the 
ground' is the great victory of force, proof that 
Jewish settlement does set the border.... Those who 
thought Sharon had turned into a leftist and began 
worrying about "the rights of the Palestinians" were 
very wrong. Sharon still believes the bulldozer and the 
housing units will set the border, with America's 
support and backing. The upcoming meeting in Crawford 
is meant to grant him further strength. 
 
II.  "Not Everything is Kosher" 
 
Chief economic editor Sever Plotzker opined in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (March 29):  "The vote against a referendum 
constitutes another important achievement for Prime 
Minister Sharon, who is succeeding in leading the 
cabinet and the Knesset to the gates of disengagement 
with determination and momentum.... Nonetheless, we 
cannot ignore the troubling and even dangerous aspects 
of the prime minister's conduct on the path to 
achieving his goals. Sharon is striving to get 
disengagement implemented at almost any cost, and the 
cost is not negligible.... The goal of disengagement 
from Gaza is very important for the future of the State 
of Israel, but not important enough to give a Kashrut 
certificate from the outset to any means to achieve it. 
The withdrawal from Gaza must not turn into a cover for 
all contemptible political acts, for every offense 
against integrity, for any malfunction in governmental 
doings and for the over-concentration of power in the 
hands of a few at the top.  We must not devote 
ourselves to disengagement as if it were the vision of 
the end of days or an intoxicating drug.  The annals of 
the State of Israel are not numbered until after 
disengagement; Israel will have to live with its 
problems even after the last of the soldiers and the 
last of the settlers leave Gaza." 
 
III.  "Provocation in Ma'aleh Adumim" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (March 
29):  "The desire to avoid doing anything that might 
sabotage the prime minister's political efforts to 
achieve a majority for the disengagement plan has 
postponed the public debate about the final border with 
the Palestinians.  But no matter how strong the desire 
to support Ariel Sharon at this stage and to postpone 
debate over the future of the settlements to a later 
stage, it is difficult to accept the revelation that 
the government plans to build another 3,500 housing 
units ... between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim, and 
thus obstruct the territorial contiguity needed for a 
Palestinian state, something Sharon has already agreed 
on.  The construction plan for Ma'aleh Adumim is the 
basis for a new dispute between Israel and the U.S. and 
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.  Approval 
of the construction plans could cloud the atmosphere 
between Israel and the PA, and even spark a renewal of 
violence. It is impossible to continue demanding of the 
Palestinians that they prevent terror when Israel is 
not keeping its commitments to suspend all settlement 
activity." 
KURTZER