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 002667 
 
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.  Syrian-Lebanese Track 
 
¶3.  Vladimir Putin's Visit to Israel, April 27-28 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted President Bush as saying at a press 
conference Thursday: "We're working closely with the 
Russians on the issue of vehicle-mounted weaponry to 
Syria.  We didn't appreciate that, but we made 
ourselves clear. As to Iran, what Russia has agreed to 
do is to send highly enriched uranium to a nuclear 
civilian power plant, and then collect that uranium 
after it's used for electricity -- power purposes. 
That's what they've decided to do." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has rejected a proposal 
by the U.S. to supply the Palestinians police officers 
in the West Bank with weapons that would assist them in 
performing their duties.  The newspaper reported that 
Israeli officials told U.S. officials: "Let them first 
take the weapons from the terrorists."  Ha'aretz 
further reported that Israel has flatly rejected plans 
by PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to absorb 
wanted Palestinians and their weapons into the PA's 
security mechanisms and thus "launder" their possession 
of arms in the future.  Instead, Israel has stipulated 
five conditions for reaching an agreement concerning 
wanted me who have been involved in terror activities 
so as to facilitate the continuation of the IDF's 
withdrawal from the Palestinian cities, with Qalqilya 
next on the list. 
 
Maariv reported that next week the IDF will send draft 
orders to thousands of reservists ahead of the 
disengagement.  This is the most important call-up 
since Operation Defensive Shield in 2002.  All media 
reported that 15,000 to 20,000 people attended an anti- 
disengagement rally in the northern West Bank Thursday. 
Yediot reported that the state has acquired 300 dunams 
(around 67 acres) of land next to Nitzan, between 
Ashdod and Ashkelon, on which 450 housing units will be 
built for the Neve Dekalim (Gaza Strip) settlers, at a 
cost of 31.5 million shekels (around USD 7.2 million). 
 
All media reported that Russian President Vladimir 
Putin reassured Israel, in meetings with President 
Moshe Katsav and PM Sharon, regarding the Russian arms 
sale to Syria and Russian assistance to the Iranian 
nuclear program.  Yediot quoted Putin as saying that 
the U.S. attempt to impose democracy in the Middle East 
destabilizes the region, that the U.S. policy 
encourages the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and that 
the U.S. is holding secret talks with the Taliban 
leaders in Afghanistan.  Israel Radio cited a 
clarification by visiting Russian FM Sergey Lavrov that 
his country has not proposed an international 
conference on the Middle East, but a professional 
meeting. 
 
IDF Intelligence chief Aharon Zeevi-Farkash was quoted 
as saying in an interview with Yediot that the Mossad 
and Shin Bet have thwarted over 10 terrorist attacks 
against Israel abroad in that past two months. 
 
Israel Radio reported that a mortar shell was fired at 
an Israeli target.  The radio cited an Al Jazeera-TV 
report that the PA's Preventative Security has arrested 
two members of Fatah's Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades on 
suspicion of involvement in firing mortar shells at 
Israeli settlements.  In protest, several members of 
the Brigades in Gaza demonstrated opposite Abbas's 
home, demanding that the two men be released 
immediately. 
 
Leading media reported that MK Mohammed Barakeh 
(Hadash) was among 10 left-wing activists and a press 
photographer who were lightly injured Thursday when 
security forces dispersed a demonstration against the 
separation fence close to the West Bank village of 
Bil'in. 
 
All media reported that two residents of the village of 
Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border, were 
kidnapped to Lebanon by Hizbullah in early April and 
released after four days. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice as saying in an interview with NBC that Syria must 
cease all "covert activity" in Lebanon. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted former U.S. mediator Aaron David Miller 
as saying that the U.S. policy adopted a distinct pro- 
Israeli policy during the 2000 Camp David talks that, 
together with other mistakes, led to the failure of the 
negotiations between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat. 
 
Leading media reported that Stanley Fischer, the new 
Governor of the Bank of Israel, will enter his post on 
Sunday. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Sharon-Peres 
duo ... must take the irreversible step that will 
compel the future leaders of this country to keep going 
... until Israel's establishment is complete and the 
state has permanent, occupation-free borders." 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "A majority 
of Israelis is probably indifferent to the 
[disengagement] plan, but indifference cannot be 
confused with support." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The End of a Generation" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (April 29): 
"Disengagement from Gaza will happen.  Even if Sharon 
denies that there will be another round of 
disengagement in the West Bank, it is clear as day that 
the U.S. administration will push for Stage B and Stage 
¶C.  Because the alternative is a bloody Intifada the 
likes of which we haven't seen yet.  In the same way 
that Ben-Gurion took the irreversible step of declaring 
the establishment of the state, Begin took the 
irreversible step of signing a peace agreement with 
Egypt, and Rabin took the irreversible step of 
endorsing the Oslo Accord, the Sharon-Peres duo, with 
their combined age of 159, must take the irreversible 
step that will compel the future leaders of this 
country to keep going -- no matter what the extremists 
and crazies say -- until Israel's establishment is 
complete and the state has permanent, occupation-free 
borders." 
 
II.  "How Will Israel Speak?" 
 
Extreme right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (April 29): 
"The Prime Minister's supporters claim that a majority 
of Israelis support the [disengagement] plan.  But the 
truth is probably different.  A majority of Israelis is 
probably indifferent to the plan, but indifference 
cannot be confused with support.... In the absence of a 
referendum -- and assuming that the government will not 
fall before the withdrawal because the Labor, Yahad 
(Meretz) and Arab parties will protect Sharon to ensure 
that elections are out of the question -- what is the 
vehicle through which Israelis will be able to voice 
their opposition to a plan adopted without their 
consent with which they are becoming increasingly 
disenchanted?" 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Syrian-Lebanese Track: 
-------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"For the first time in decades, [Lebanon's] destiny is 
its own to shape." 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Good Morning Lebanon" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(April 29): "Now, with Syria gone, Beirut must make the 
most of its American and French backing, and lose no 
time unleashing its famous economic zest.  However, 
even the morning after its upcoming election, Lebanon 
will not be able to immediately restore its role as a 
regional economic engine.  To accomplish that, Beirut 
will have to dispose of its invaders not only from 
without, but also from within.... For the first time in 
decades, [Lebanon's] destiny is its own to shape. 
Plainly put, the Lebanese people's choice is between 
reaction and progress, poverty and prosperity, even 
life and death.  Hopefully, they will make the right 
choice, and gradually inspire more in the oppressive 
Middle East to follow in their footsteps." 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
¶3.  Vladimir Putin's Visit to Israel, April 27-28: 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Doron Rosenblum wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "Political-security-minded Israel ... 
wavers between striking a blow and whining, in a kind 
of perpetual childhood." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Parable of Putin's Visit" 
 
Columnist Doron Rosenblum wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (April 29): "In response to the deep 
bombings in the [1967-70] War of Attrition the Russians 
came to defend Egypt with a crowded network of 
missiles, which was one of the causes of the disaster 
of the Yom Kippur War; in response to the destruction 
of the PA infrastructure, there is nobody to fight 
terror; in response to the showcase flights over 
Lebanon, the entire north of the country turned into a 
hostage of the Hizbullah rockets; in response to the 
flights over Assad's palace, Syria received missiles. 
When the long-term results become evident, we go over 
to the other extreme: the arrogance turns into 
'astonishment,' and the 'let 'em have it' turns into [a 
panic cry of] 'oy gevalt': that's when we run to the 
apron strings of our American nursemaid.  That is the 
nature of political-security-minded Israel: it wavers 
between striking a blow and whining, in a kind of 
perpetual childhood.  For decades, nothing has changed 
and no lesson has been learned, as has been well 
demonstrated by the mini-parable called Putin's visit. 
(But wait a minute, we almost forgot the 'political 
achievements' of the visit, which are also typical: a 
condemnation of anti-Semitism and a rejection of the 
despicable attempt by the guest to propose a peace 
plan.)" 
 
KURTZER