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 002087 
 
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. Mideast 
 
¶2. Pope John Paul II 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
In disengagement related stories, Maariv reported that 
a broad meeting was held at the Prime Minister's bureau 
yesterday on settlers' relocation, in which Sharon 
called on the parties involved to expedite their work. 
Yediot Aharonot and other media reported that Sharon is 
examining the possibility of moving all the national 
religious settlements of the Katif Bloc to the Nitzanim 
region in one piece.  Maariv reported that Sharon met 
the Neve Deqalim rabbi yesterday, and that incoming 
chief of staff Halutz visited Ganey Tal and met 
settlers there.  Both meetings were reportedly held to 
calm the settlers' spirits. 
 
Maariv quoted senior U.S. officials as saying in the 
last few days tyhat they will demand from PM Sharon 
clarifications regarding the construction in Ma'ale 
Edumim.  The paper also cited these officials as saying 
that the U.S. is interested that Israel will take steps 
to strengthen Abu Mazen.  Yediot Aharonot reports that 
Minister of Communications Dalia Itzik held a secret 
meeting yesterday with PA Civilian Affairs Minister 
Muhammad Dahlan upon his request that Israel grant 
another cellular phone operator license.   At the 
meeting, Dahlan complained that Israel is not helping 
Abu-Mazen, claiming that ahead of the 17 July 
elections, the PA chairman does not have an achievement 
to show. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PA Chairman Abbas is promoting a 
move for elections for the Legislative Council to be 
relative rather than regional, contrary to early 
agreements with Hamas, whose representatives told 
Haaretz they might reconsider the decision to run in 
the elections.  Abbas also ordered an investigations 
against four PA officials on suspicion of corruption. 
 
Ha'aretz carries a GSS report on the capture of three 
members of a Palestinian terror cell who planned to 
carry out a triple bombing attack at the Latrun 
junction, between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and a 
shooting attack on soldiers in the Ramallah area. 
Security forces arrested the three members of the 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine cell some 
three months ago, the Shin Bet announced Monday 
evening.  In a separate incident, Shin Bet agents have 
arrested a Hamas activist in Jerusalem.  On Monday in 
the West Bank, IDF paratroopers arrested two 15-year- 
old Palestinians carrying homemade bombs at a 
checkpoint south of Nablus.  One of the youths pulled a 
knife in an attempt to stab a soldier. 
Ha'aretz reported that Minister of Environment Shalom 
Simhon announced yesterday that he has asked his 
officials for a detailed briefing within 24 hours on 
the process leading to the establishement of the West 
Bank dump.  Simhon said he will instruct the Civil 
Administration not to allow absorption of household 
garbage at the dump except for construction waste, and 
also announced he will enable Palestinians to dump 
building waste there.  The Civil Administration 
announced it would tighten oversight of the dump.  MK 
Ran Cohen (Yahad) raised the matter at yesterday's 
meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee 
and was told by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon that "the 
matter troubles him." 
 
The Jerusalem Post cites IDF officers addressing the 
Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee as saying 
that Palestinians are test firing Kassam rockets, that 
now have a 9km range, into the sea.  Intelligence 
Branch's Brig. Gen. Kupperwasser said Hamas and Islamic 
Jihad are looking for excuses to renew attacks on 
Israeli targets.   Referring to Syria, he said that 
despite plans to pull out of Lebanon, Syria was 
increasing its cooperation with Hizbullah.   He said 
Syria was liable to demand linking its withdrawal with 
an Israeli withdrawal according to UN Resolution 242, 
while trying to create a rift between the Lebanese 
opposition and the US and France. 
 
Ha'aretz headlined that an emissary on behalf of NATO 
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer will arrive 
 
SIPDIS 
soon in Ramallah for talks with Palestinian Authority 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and other senior PA officials. 
According to reports reaching Jerusalem from informed 
sources, the purpose of the visit by Scheffer's 
emissary will be to explore options for 
institutionalizing ties between the PA and NATO. 
 
Yedi'ot Aharonot reported that ahead of the Passover 
holidays, the Antiterror Staff at the Prime Minister's 
Office issued a travel advisory calling on Israelis not 
to travel to the Sinai as terror threats against them 
in Egypt are very high. 
 
----------- 
¶1. Mideast: 
----------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (April 5): "Election 
year has already begun, and the political establishment 
is behaving accordingly.. All these ploys mean just one 
thing -- the government's political maneuverability 
will come to an end after the disengagement." 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The possibility that 
Israeli nuclear facilities would be subject to the IAEC 
supervision is not on the agenda at all.... When there 
are no more totalitarian states in the Middle East; 
when not a single country calls for the annihilation of 
Israel; when it is proven that no country between the 
Mediterranean and the Gulf holds nuclear weapons or 
plans for their production -- Israel would agree to 
discuss its status on the issue, not a moment sooner." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Elections Are Already Here" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (April 5): 
"Election year has already begun, and the political 
establishment is behaving accordingly.  Even if Ariel 
Sharon remains in office and makes it through to 
November 2006, his attention and actions have already 
turned toward politics -- to the Likud primaries 
against Benjamin Netanyahu,.... All these ploys mean 
just one thing -- the government's political 
maneuverability will come to an end after the 
disengagement.  The expectation for a rapid move that 
would wash Israel out of the territories won't come to 
pass in the near future.  Mahmoud Abbas will have to 
find a way to survive without too many Israeli 
gestures, because the Arabs get no concessions in an 
election year.  True, Sharon's promises to keep half of 
the West Bank in Israel's hands don't hold much water; 
if he remains in power, he will do whatever he pleases 
in any case.  But as he prepares for his final showdown 
in the Likud, even Sharon will have to act somewhat 
like a Likudnik." 
 
II. "No to Nuclear Supervision" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (April 5): "The American 
democracy is nothing like the Israeli anarchy.  An 
American secretary who does not coordinate his remarks 
with the White House will soon become a 'has-been.' 
This is even truer with lower level officials.  This is 
why Israel must carefully listen to a recent call by 
mid-level State Department officials on Israel to agree 
to the IAEC supervision of its nuclear weapons.... The 
possibility that Israeli nuclear facilities would be 
subject to the IAEC supervision is not on the agenda at 
all.  It is a red line.  Forever?  Yes and no.  In 
practice -- yes; as a vision -- no.  When there are no 
more totalitarian states in the Middle East; when not a 
single country calls for the annihilation of Israel; 
when it is proven that no country between the 
Mediterranean and the Gulf holds nuclear weapons or 
plans for their production -- Israel would agree to 
discuss its status on the issue, not a moment sooner. 
The absence of an Israeli reply to the unusual remarks 
in the U.S. might be viewed as tacit or conditional 
consent on its part, but no such consent exists." 
 
--------------------- 
¶2. Pope John Paul II: 
--------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (April 
5): "The pope not only recognized Israel's sovereignty, 
but also put an end to a 1,500-year-old Christian 
doctrine that viewed the Jews' continuing exile as a 
key proof of the validity of the Christian faith..  The 
Vatican is expected to play a role in any future 
resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 
primarily on the issue of Jerusalem. And its attitude 
toward Israel and the Jews will dictate its policy." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
Anti-Semitism is a Sin, He Said" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (April 
5):  "Forty years ago, during the papacy of Paul VI, 
the Vatican published a revolutionary Nostra Aetate 
that spoke for the first time of the deep connection 
between Judaism and Christianity and the importance of 
opening a dialogue between the Catholic Church and the 
Jews.  But John Paul II was the one who translated the 
dead letters of a document accepted only by a minority 
into an open, warm and personal statement toward the 
Jews and the State of Israel.... The establishment of 
relations between the Vatican and Israel in 1994 had 
significance far beyond its diplomatic import.  With 
this act, as with his visit to Israel afterward, the 
pope not only recognized Israel's sovereignty, but also 
put an end to a 1,500-year-old Christian doctrine that 
viewed the Jews' continuing exile as a key proof of the 
validity of the Christian faith.... In Europe, which is 
undergoing a process of secularization, a new anti- 
Semitism is sprouting, while in Russia, the old anti- 
Semitism is reemerging in full force.  In this 
situation, the views of John Paul II, who defined anti- 
Semitism as 'a sin' and 'evil,' were a source of hope. 
The question of continuity and the fear of a retreat 
from the path he blazed also have diplomatic 
significance.  The Vatican is expected to play a role 
in any future resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict, primarily on the issue of Jerusalem.  And its 
attitude toward Israel and the Jews will dictate its 
policy." 
KURTZER