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 003057 
 
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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Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that Israel has 
warned the PA that it will respond severely to Qassam 
rocket and mortar attacks by Palestinian groups in the 
Gaza Strip, which all media say were aimed at Israeli 
targets in the Katif Bloc (Gush Katif) and the western 
Negev Wednesday and this morning.  The media reported 
that for the first time in months, the IAF operated 
against Hamas cell members spotted firing a mortar at 
the Katif Bloc, killing activist Ahmed Shahwan. 
Hatzofe bannered: "Disengagement War."  Yediot cited 
increasing assessments among the defense establishment 
that the disengagement move will be carried out "under 
fire."  Israel Radio reported that PM Sharon will 
convene a meeting with the heads of the defense 
establishment this afternoon to discuss the Palestinian 
attacks.  The radio also quoted Deputy Defense Minister 
Zeev Boim as saying that the disengagement will not be 
carried out if rockets and mortars are fired during the 
evacuation. 
 
Yediot reported that First Lady Laura Bush will visit 
the Al-Aqsa Mosque under heavy security, as well as the 
Western (Wailing) Wall and Yad Vashem. 
 
Leading media, including Jerusalem Post (banner), 
reported that minors arrested during Monday's cross- 
country street protests against disengagement may be 
courting a criminal record that could stick to them for 
many years. 
 
All media reported that some 30 Nobel laureates, 
including Vice Premier Shimon Peres, as well as other 
international figures, including former U.S. president 
Bill Clinton, gathered in Petra, Jordan, on Wednesday, 
to find ways to fight terror, poverty, and violence. 
Jerusalem Post reported that Peres briefed King 
Abdullah II on Israel's pullout, plugging his Labor 
Party, saying that its position is that the peace 
process should continue after disengagement. 
 
Maariv (lead story) and other media reported that the 
employees' committee at the Foreign Ministry is 
demanding that an investigative commission be 
established regarding the affair of Ambassador to the 
U.S. Danny Ayalon. 
 
Maariv reported that Ali Saad-Ali, a Libyan citizen 
representing the International Committee of the Red 
Cross (ICRC) has arrived in Israel to advance the 
process in which Magen David Adom (the Red Shield of 
David) will join the ICRC. 
Ha'aretz reported that Germany decided Wednesday that 
Jews who were incarcerated for at least six months in 
certain labor camps in Hungary, Tunisia, Morocco, and 
Algeria during World War II are now eligible to receive 
pension payments. 
 
All media quoted Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and the 
Director General of the Prime Minister's Office, Ilan 
Cohen, as saying Wednesday that the government will 
give Katif Bloc settlers one more week to decide 
whether to join the Nitzanim relocation plan, and that 
otherwise they may not be able to move en bloc.  The 
media reported that the settler leaders rejected the 
"ultimatum" and condemned the government's "spectacle 
of deception." 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that, in what is 
seen as a blow to PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas, the Palestinian Legislative Council on Wednesday 
refused to radically change the parliamentary election 
law, this increasing chances that the vote may be 
postponed. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that the FBI 
monitored conversations in which former senior AIPAC 
officials Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman passed on to 
the Israeli Embassy in Washington and to Washington 
Post information received from Pentagon analyst Larry 
Franklin. 
 
Citing Reuters, Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that 
PA Information Minister Nabil Shaath called Wednesday 
for the suspension of Ibrahim Mdaires, a Muslim 
preacher who described Jews as "a virus resembling 
AIDS" and denied the Holocaust in a sermon broadcast 
live on Palestinian television. 
 
Ha'aretz printed a DPA (German press agency) dispatch 
quoting Jordanian legal sources as saying that 
Jordanian authorities have charged eight men with 
plotting to attack Israeli and American tourists in 
Jordan, and with planning to launch military operations 
in Israel from Jordanian soil in 2004 and 2005. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Socialist International, a 
worldwide organization of socialist, social democratic, 
land labor parties, will meet in Israel next week for 
the first time in 25 years.  Fatah will be sending a 
large delegation to the conference, which will meet in 
Tel Aviv on Sunday and Monday, and then move to 
Ramallah. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that last week, Egyptian film star 
Adel Imam launched his latest film, "An Embassy in the 
Building," which, for the first time in Egyptian movie 
history, involves the character of an Israeli 
ambassador in an Arab capital.   Ha'aretz writes that 
the movie could make the job of incoming Israeli 
ambassador Shalom Cohen easier, simply because the 
Egyptian public will be more used to the presence of 
the Israeli embassy -- even if it is only on screen. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
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Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Despite blunt 
threats from Israel, the Islamic organization [Hamas] 
is apparently calling the shots now, to a large extent 
holding the disengagement hostage." 
 
Liberal columnist Yehuda Litani wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The very 
authorization of the [Palestinian] uprooted's mass 
memorial ceremonies attests to the fact that Israelis 
have somewhat matured." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Alexander Maistrovoy wrote in 
popular, pluralist Russian-language Novosty Nedely: 
"The Israeli Prime Minister would most likely prefer to 
make a step towards Abu Mazen, thus getting an 
opportunity to continue construction in settlement 
blocks.  This would satisfy both the Americans and the 
Labor Party -- his coalition partner -- and also allow 
him to carry out the disengagement plan undisturbed." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Hamas Is Calling the Shots" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote on page one of 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (May 19): "After a 
few days of relative quiet, a flare-up in Gaza showed 
how fragile the Israel-PA-Hamas triangle can be. 
Despite blunt threats from Israel, the Islamic 
organization is apparently calling the shots now, to a 
large extent holding the disengagement hostage.  If 
Hamas wants, it can continue the shelling and force 
Israel to withdraw under fire, which would mean massive 
destruction in Gaza as the withdrawal takes place.  If 
Hamas wants, it can hold its fire, keeping up its 
momentum toward the upcoming Palestinian parliamentary 
elections -- if they take place as scheduled -- and 
then create a new difficulty for Israel and the PA 
both.... The events yesterday in Gaza created a 
situation similar to the one last week in the north, 
after some Hizbullah fire.  Israel sees itself as 
obliged to retaliate for such provocations but doesn't 
want to overreact lest it complicate the situation. 
That's why Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz speaks of 
measured reactions.... More important, perhaps, than 
that was the image shown throughout the Arab world, of 
Palestinian troops running for their lives away from a 
mob throwing rocks at them while Hamas men shoot at 
them.  At least three PA security men were wounded.  So 
far, Hamas is the victor." 
 
II.  "Nakba Day" 
 
Liberal columnist Yehuda Litani wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (May 19): 
"Israel's Independence Day is also the day of those 
Israeli Arabs who were uprooted -- and their 
descendants.  Those who are dubbed 'internal refugees,' 
the residents of the villages inside the Green Line 
that were destroyed during the 1948-49 battles, and 
their relatives make use of the holiday.  Picnics are 
organized on the ruins of the villages they inhabited 
until 57 years ago.  Thus, picnics took place this year 
... in dozens of villages whose residents were uprooted 
during the War of Independence.... Our Independence is 
their Nakba (catastrophe).  Despite the fact that 
hundreds of Jews attended the uprooted's memorial 
ceremonies, most Israel Jews demonstrated indifference 
to their pain.  Some of them -- mostly the younger ones 
-- aren't aware of it at all.... But the very 
authorization of the uprooted's mass memorial 
ceremonies attests to the fact that Israelis have 
somewhat matured.  They're not yet prepared to identify 
with the other side's pain, but they're at least 
allowing it to publicly express its feelings in 
locations where its Nakba occurred." 
 
III.  "What Next?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Alexander Maistrovoy wrote in 
popular, pluralist Russian-language Novosty Nedely (May 
19): "The current tranquility is only temporary.  The 
question is not whether there would be a new twist of 
violence, but rather when and under which 
circumstances.... Mahmoud Abbas's call for an immediate 
meeting with Sharon looked like a desperate outcry... 
Although Sharon's office has not yet replied, this 
meeting will take place at a certain point; the 
question is at which extent the Israeli and the 
Palestinian leader will succeed in changing the 
situation and reaching normalization....  A conflict 
with the U.S. administration is what Sharon needs 
least, especially when one takes into consideration the 
friction over construction in Ma'aleh Adumim.  The 
Israeli Prime Minister would most likely prefer to make 
a step towards Abu Mazen, thus getting an opportunity 
to continue construction in settlement blocks.  This 
would satisfy both the Americans and the Labor Party -- 
his coalition partner -- and also allow him to carry 
out the disengagement plan undisturbed." 
KURTZER