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 002528 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Maariv reported that PM Sharon decided Thursday that 
the date of the disengagement would be August 15. 
Israel Radio quoted White House Press Secretary Scott 
McClellan as saying Thursday that a possible delay in 
the disengagement move is an "internal Israeli matter," 
that the U.S. appreciates Israel's moving forward on 
disengagement, and "that's why it's so important that 
the parties in the region coordinate closely as this 
occurs, and that we make sure that it's a successful 
transition." 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a Jerusalem source as saying that 
Sharon is expected to meet with PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas before the latter's scheduled trip to 
Washington next month. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz 
clarified to PA Minister of Civilian Affairs Muhammad 
Dahlan at their meeting in Tel Aviv Thursday that 
Israel will not pull out from the Gaza Strip under 
fire.  The radio quoted Mofaz as saying that security 
coordination between Israel and the PA is in the 
interest of both sides, but that it is not a condition 
for disengagement.  The station reported that Dahlan 
told Mofaz it will disarm the Palestinians wanted by 
Israel in the cities of Jericho and Tulkarm, in which 
security responsibility was handed over to the PA, but 
that this will take him some time.  This morning, 
Israel Radio reported that two Palestinians suspected 
of involvement in the February 25 bombing in Tel Aviv 
escaped from their jail in Tulkarm. 
 
 
The PM's Passover interviews: 
-Sharon was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Jerusalem Post that although the U.S. has never 
supported settlement, "there will doubtless be more 
discussion" of the issue with the U.S. administration. 
-In an interview with Yediot, Sharon said that it was 
the conditions that had changed, not he, and that he 
wanted to reach an agreement with the Americans, 
knowing time was not unlimited.   He said that if he 
waited, another plan would sprout, and that he wanted 
to save what he could from the settlement drive.  He 
showed more consideration of Abbas than in his previous 
negative "chicken without feathers" metaphor, saying he 
was a "chicken that was trying to fly."  Asked if he 
believed whether a Palestinian state would be 
established in this age, Sharon told the newspaper's 
Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer: "You are young people. 
You have many years to live."  When reminded that 
President Bush conditions such a state upon contiguity 
of land, Sharon mentioned the possibility that 
contiguity could be ensured through the construction of 
tunnels and bridges in the West Bank. 
-In an interview with Ha'aretz, Sharon remarked that he 
does not suggest that Israel accept the Saudi 
initiative or any other Arab initiative, since there is 
a recognized initiative -- the road map.  In that 
interview, Sharon also stated that the problem between 
Israel and the Arabs is the Arabs' lack of readiness to 
recognize the Jews' right to an independent state in 
their land. 
-On Israel Radio, Sharon stated his belief that the 
U.S. administration will not turn a blind eye to 
construction in the settlements, but that "Israel's 
governments have felt it was very important to hold 
areas in Judea and Samaria [the West Bank]." 
-Asked by IDF Radio whether Israel was prepared for the 
disengagement, Sharon said it was, and that he was not 
going to respond to comments on the matter by cabinet 
ministers. 
-Talking to leading Internet news service Ynet, Sharon 
said: "All settlement blocs will be fenced and remain 
in Israeli hands forever as part of the State of 
Israel.  The American approach on the matter has not 
changed at all."  Regarding Abbas, Sharon was quoted as 
saying: "As opposed to his predecessor, whom I viewed 
as personally responsible and never shook his hand, I 
cannot treat Abu Mazen the same way.  I can address him 
as being responsible for not doing the things that need 
to be done.  It's clear to me that he wants to [act] -- 
the question is whether he will." 
-Sharon said that Israel would react harshly to attacks 
that would follow disengagement. 
-Sharon stressed the importance of healing rifts among 
Israelis. 
 
Citing documents it obtained, Ha'aretz reported that 
the continuing failure of the security forces' campaign 
against the smuggling tunnels in the Gaza Strip is the 
result of a series of unnecessary delays and unclear 
decisions that will soon be reviewed by the State 
Comptroller's Office. 
 
President Moshe Katsav was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Jerusalem Post that a formal apology in 
the name of successive governments should be issued to 
Katif Bloc settlers who moved there at the state's 
behest and are now facing evacuation. 
 
All media reported that an IDF soldier was moderately 
wounded Thursday when the jeep in which he was 
traveling was hit by an explosive device near the Gaza 
Strip security fence. 
Leading media cited an announcement by police Thursday 
that Jerusalem police recently foiled a plan to murder 
three policemen, chop up their bodies, and steal their 
guns for sale on the black market.  Police named the 
would-be assassins as brothers Walid and Nidal Shubaki 
from the A-Ram village north of Jerusalem.  Four of the 
14 suspects are Israeli citizens -- one Jewish and 
three Arab -- and the rest are Palestinians living in 
or near Jerusalem. 
 
Maariv cited Wall Street Journal as saying Thursday 
that Israel's Discount Bank was among the financial 
institutions that unwittingly channeled around USD 20 
million to over 45 terrorist groups or charities that 
were used as front organizations. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, IDF Advocate 
General Brig. Avihai Mandelblit appealed the acquittal 
of an IDF officer who opened fire during a May 2003 
incident in which James Miller, a British 
photojournalist, was killed in the Gaza Strip. 
 
Leading media cited complaints by employees of the 
Israeli Embassy in Washington that Anne Ayalon, the 
wife of the Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., humiliated 
them.  Yediot reported that the Civil Service 
Commission will investigate the matter. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll: 
-64 percent of settlers say they will not resist 
evacuation; 22 percent say that they will resist 
passively; 4 percent say they will forcibly resist the 
security forces; 4 percent say they will take part in 
demonstrations; 3 percent say they will take part in 
the opposition (without stating how); 3 percent are 
undecided. 
-49 percent of settlers say they will obey the army 
rather than the rabbis during evacuation; 39 say they 
will obey the rabbis; 2 percent say that it depends on 
the rabbis' identity; 10 percent are undecided. 
 
A Ha'aretz survey found that Sharon's popularity is 
declining.  His performance is rated 5.95 on a scale of 
1 to 10, with 1 being the lowest (figures in January: 
6.25; February: 6.6; and March: 6.6). 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Chances that the Palestinian people will be satisfied 
with Islamists leaders are low, and prospects that the 
same people power that crowns them eventually will 
depose them are high.  The choice, in any event, cannot 
be Israel's or any other foreign power's; it can only 
be made by the Palestinian public." 
 
Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "At first, the 
process of Israeli-American negotiations seemed to 
create a convenient starting point for Israel.... 
However, it makes negotiations between the sides 
superfluous." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Whom Should We Back?" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(April 22): "Today, those of Oslo's supporters who 
concede its general failure often agree also about its 
misconception concerning democracy.  In the spirit of 
the American analysis of the Middle East since the 
September 11 attacks, Israelis of all stripes should 
finally understand that it its not up to them to choose 
their neighbors' leaders, nor to back or trip them. 
That also goes for Abbas.... Many outside the PA still 
question the wisdom of allowing Abbas's regime to be 
toppled, one way or another, by Islamists.  The answer 
to them is that if he has failed to win the people 
hearts no external power will salvage him, however 
unpalatable Israel might consider such a shift.  And if 
the people's genuine democratic choice is Islamism -- 
and we'll presumably get a good sense of this should 
elections to the Palestinian National Council take 
place as scheduled in July -- then that it what they 
will have.  Chances that the Palestinian people will be 
satisfied with Islamists leaders are low, and prospects 
that the same people power that crowns them eventually 
will depose them are high.  The choice, in any event, 
cannot be Israel's or any other foreign power's; it can 
only be made by the Palestinian public." 
 
II.  "The Coming Pax Americana" 
 
Former Mossad director Ephraim Halevy wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (April 22): 
"President Bush is relentlessly promoting the road map, 
which he views as an important instrument to execute 
his policy.  At first, the process of Israeli-American 
negotiations seemed to create a convenient starting 
point for Israel and appeared to give Israel 
achievements in relation to the U.S. position regarding 
various aspects of the permanent solution.  However, it 
makes negotiations between the sides superfluous.  It 
makes the United States the exclusive arbiter in all 
issues of the conflict and in the future will make it 
impossible for Israel to exert pressure on the 
Palestinians in relation to subjects on which the 
Americans adopt the Palestinian position.  The 
assumption that the U.S. will always reject Saudi or 
Egyptian or Palestinian approaches that are not 
acceptable to Israel requires proof.  If there are 
developments in the region that adversely affect the 
situation of the U.S. to the point where it must repay 
one of the countries of the Arab world, or if the U.S. 
is asked to intervene in Saudi Arabia or in the 
northern system and feels it must prove that it is not 
facing off frontally against the Arab world, there are 
clauses in the road map that will make it possible for 
Washington to accept a particular Arab position without 
departing from the road map." 
 
CRETZ