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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 003139 
 
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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¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Israel-U.S. Relations 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Yediot writes that PM Sharon is expected to call on PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas today at the AIPAC 
convention in Washington to coordinate positions with 
Israel ahead of the disengagement.  Leading media 
quoted Sharon as saying at a meeting with leaders of 
the organization Israel Bonds Monday that his 
government "will not negotiate Jerusalem" and that it 
will not make any concessions over "the Israeli 
capital, which is united and indivisible for eternity." 
Sharon was also quoted as saying at the same meeting 
that, contrary to the opinion of the defense 
establishment, he believes that Israel must leave the 
Philadelphi route along the border with Egypt.  Yediot 
quoted him as saying at the meeting: "Without offending 
the Arab world, it must be said that their [the Arab 
leaders'] agreements, declarations, and speeches are 
not worth the paper they are written on.  It is better 
to sign agreements with President Bush than with the 
Arab world." 
 
Israel Radio quoted Secretary Condoleezza Rice as 
saying Monday before the AIPAC convention that Israel 
and the Palestinians must fulfill their commitments in 
accordance with the road map.  Dr. Rice issued a call 
to Israel's Arab neighbors to open the door towards 
normalized relations with Israel. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting with 
Labor Party and Yahad (Meretz) politicians that he 
intends to ask President Bush, at their meeting on 
Thursday, for assurances that implementation of the 
road map will begin as soon as Israel completes its 
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.  Abbas was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post: "My goal on 
this trip is to succeed in getting American support for 
the road map and for peace."  Arab League Secretary- 
General Amr Moussa was quoted as saying Saturday in an 
interview published Sunday in Jerusalem Post that he 
would like the Israeli people to carefully examine the 
Saudi initiative for normalization of relations with 
Arab states because "the Arab people want peace." 
 
Leading media reported that Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz met with PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef 
Monday to discuss a number of pending issues, including 
measures the PA intends to take to restore calm, 
coordinating disengagement, and an update on disarming 
fugitives in Tulkarm and Jericho.  The media reported 
that Yousef presented Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz with 
a Palestinian plan towards the implementation of the 
disengagement plan.  According to Yediot and Israel 
Radio, Mofaz rejected the plan, saying it is 
insufficient, shallow, and superficial.  Israel Radio 
and Maariv noted that Mofaz requested that the PA 
submit "proper and serious plans that include details 
of how they will be implemented on the ground."  Maariv 
reported that Mofaz and Yousef agreed to establish two 
new coordination mechanisms ahead of the disengagement 
-- one at the ministerial level, the other one 
comprised of officers from both sides.  Yediot quoted 
Brig. Gen Yossi Kuperwasser, the director of IDF 
Intelligence's Research Department, as saying a few 
days ago that Abbas treats terrorists as heroes and 
therefore refuses to disarm terrorist organizations, to 
punish terrorists, and to put an end to arms smuggling. 
 
Internal Security Minister Gideon Ezra was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post that the 
final cutoff date for the evacuation from the Gaza 
Strip is the eve of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) on 
October 3.  Ezra maintained that 1 billion shekels 
(around USD 228 million) would be saved if the settlers 
agreed to evacuate "quietly" and on their own accord 
without police and army intervention. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that the Hebron Hills 
Regional Council plans to set up 40 new residential 
units at the Mitzpe Yair outpost, near the settlement 
of Sussiya. 
 
Leading media reported that GOI officials admitted on 
Monday that arrangements to relocate settlers are at an 
impasse.  Ha'aretz reported that a group of Katif Bloc 
(Gush Katif) farmers has reached an agreement with 
Disengagement Administration head Yonatan Bassi to 
receive 1,000 dunams (around 223 acres) of agricultural 
land from Kibbutz Karmiya in the western Negev, in 
addition to land the settlers will receive near their 
new homes in exchange for the land they leave behind. 
The newspaper says that the agreement was made despite 
a decision by A-G Menachem Mazuz. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli officials told EU 
anti-terrorism coordinator Gijs De Vries on Monday that 
Israel is increasingly concerned about a growing 
European trend to want to either establish or 
strengthen ties with Hizbullah and Hamas.  Yediot 
reported that Israel has requested clarifications from 
the UK regarding reports according to which it will 
resume contacts with Hamas, following the group's 
strengthening in local elections, and assessments that 
the strength of Hamas will grow even further in the 
PA's legislative elections.  In a different 
development, Yediot reported that the GOI is incensed 
over a new textbook in Spain, which compares the 
separation fence with the Holocaust.  Jerusalem Post 
also reported that on Monday, the Foreign Ministry 
protested the inclusion of an anti-Israeli poem in a 
Norwegian matriculation exam. 
 
Israel Radio reported that on Monday, UN Secretary- 
General Kofi Anan announced that UN officials have 
verified the Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon.  The 
radio also reported that Secretary Rice told the AIPAC 
convention that the U.S. will not rest until Syria 
completes the troop withdrawal, referring to Syrian 
intelligence forces that continue to operate in 
Lebanon. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Palestinian Election 
Commission informed Abbas on Monday that parliamentary 
elections cannot be held on July 17, as planned, 
because the commission is not yet ready. 
 
Yediot and Jerusalem Post quoted Venezuelan President 
Hugo Chavez as saying Monday that his country will soon 
develop civilian nuclear technologies to assist Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Egyptian playwright and satirist 
Ali Salem, who has paid a heavy price for his 
conciliatory attitude toward Israel, will arrive in 
Israel next week to receive an honorary doctorate from 
Beersheva's Ben-Gurion University.  The university said 
it chose Salem "as a sign of deep esteem for an 
important playwright, writer, and satirist whose talent 
and courage has earned him his reputation in Egypt and 
throughout the Arabic speaking world." 
 
All media reported that on Monday, members of the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee 
lambasted FM Silvan Shalom against the background of 
his sour relations with Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. 
Danny Ayalon and the alleged involvement of his wife 
Judy Nir-Mozes-Shalom in ministerial appointments. 
 
Leading media reported that retired Maj. Gen. Uzi Dayan 
will head a new political movement -- "Tafnit - An 
Agenda For Israel" -- that will work on a strategy to 
change the nature of political discourse in all aspects 
of public life in Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that associates of outgoing IDF 
Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon have started a web site 
sharply criticizing Mofaz. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Israel should be interested in Abu Mazen receiving 
political guarantees from Washington, which he can then 
present as part of his election campaign to the 
Palestinian parliament." 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (May 24): 
"As long as terror continues, there is no possibility 
of pursuing the path of peace.  President Bush is aware 
of this.  One can only hope that he will properly 
explain it to Abu Mazen." 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the editorial of mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "This flammable mixture of 
political procrastination, bureaucratic sloppiness, 
practical helplessness and the ideological zealotry of 
a few who are willing to do anything, is liable to turn 
disengagement into a practical and national nightmare." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Uncritically putting a Western 
template onto the contemporary Middle East leads to 
remarkable distortions, and a failure to understand the 
present or predict the future." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Guarantees For Abu Mazen" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (May 
24): "Abu Mazen is currently asking Washington for a 
road map to the road map: guarantees that the stages 
and processes that the sides agreed on both in the road 
map and at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit will not merely 
be adhered to as a gesture of good will but will become 
mandatory policy in which the U.S. plays the chief 
role.  Abu Mazen has the feeling that Washington is 
dragging its feet with regard to everything that has to 
do with giving backing to the Palestinian side.  This 
feeling grows stronger in the face of the achievements 
that Abu Mazen can already present [the United States] 
with, the most important being the cease-fire between 
the armed factions and Israel and the chance of turning 
Hamas into part of the political fabric of the PA. 
These are still fragile achievements.... But Israel ... 
is quick to see in this ... a sign that Abu Mazen has 
failed miserably.  This is the reason for the 
conclusion by some of Israel's policy-makers that Abu 
Mazen is not a worthy partner and that therefore there 
is no point in trying to coordinate the pullout from 
Gaza with him, and that the PA is not worthy of 
receiving political guarantees from the U.S.  This 
conclusion is both hasty and unmerited.  Israel has an 
interest in coordinating the withdrawal with the 
Palestinian Authority as well as in seeing Abu Mazen 
leading the diplomatic process even in the political 
pressure cooker in which he finds himself.  Therefore 
Israel should be interested in Abu Mazen receiving 
political guarantees from Washington, which he can then 
present as part of his election campaign to the 
Palestinian parliament." 
 
II.  "The Abu Mazen-Bush Meeting" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (May 24): 
"Alongside disagreements, many points, which don't 
always match Israel's positions, have been agreed upon 
toward Abu Mazen's visit [to Washington]... This no 
doubt is an important meeting, a very significant one 
from the Palestinians' point of view -- of course if 
they provide their contribution to the progress of the 
peace process in the region.  At this time, one would 
be hard-pressed to say that they have fulfilled their 
duty.... One can only hope that, during his talks with 
the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, President 
Bush will skillfully explain to him that in order to 
advance in the direction of peace, which we all yearn 
for, one must first and foremost disarm the terror 
organizations and ensure a stable cease-fire; only then 
will it be possible to sensibly start talks to push the 
peace process forward.  As long as terror continues, 
there is no possibility of pursuing the path of peace. 
President Bush is aware of this.  One can only hope 
that he will properly explain it to Abu Mazen." 
 
III.  "Nothing Is Ready" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the editorial of mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (May 24): "Approximately a 
year and a half have elapsed since Prime Minister 
Sharon first revealed his plan for a full withdrawal 
from the Gaza Strip and the evacuation of all the 
Israeli settlements.  Eighteen months are, by all 
accounts, a long enough time to find all the answers to 
all the practical questions entailed in evacuation: 
when will it begin, when will it end, where will the 
settlers move, which of them will agree to move without 
violence, how much money will each family receive, what 
should be done with the buildings, who will be in 
charge of the border crossings, etc. etc.  However, 
even today, three months away from the assumed (and 
temporary) date when disengagement is to begin, there 
are no satisfactory answers to any of these questions. 
Not only has the fate of the buildings not been 
decided, neither has the fate of the people been 
decided.... This flammable mixture of political 
procrastination, bureaucratic sloppiness, practical 
helplessness and the ideological zealotry of a few who 
are willing to do anything, is liable to turn 
disengagement into a practical and national nightmare." 
 
IV.  "Mideast Fantasies" 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (May 24): "Uncritically putting a 
Western template onto the contemporary Middle East 
leads to remarkable distortions, and a failure to 
understand the present or predict the future.... A 
second element here is a tendency to acceptance of 
regional ideology as truth.... The situation has 
reached the point that many students studying the 
Middle East in European or American colleges get 
largely the same messages and understanding of the 
region they would receive if they were attending 
universities in Damascus or Teheran.  Finally, the 
culture-denying mind-set includes a strong streak of 
utopian and wishful thinking.  It is not true that if 
people want peace or democracy, or prosperity or 
international fraternity they should begin by assuming 
these things can be quickly or easily achieved.... What 
is especially dangerous here is that once people get 
starry-eyed about how everyone is moderate, ideology 
does not matter, extremism is a figment of the 
imagination, and evidence to the contrary is 
rejected.... These are the real difficulties facing a 
more accurate Western perception of the Middle East. 
Unless they are confronted and addressed, the common 
pattern of recent years, in which misunderstandings 
produce disasters and crises, will continue." 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Israel-U.S. Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"What is being threatened is the right of any community 
to lobby on behalf of American interests as it sees 
them without being tarred with a taint of dual-loyalty 
reminiscent of other countries and eras." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
"Put Up or Shut Up on AIPAC" 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(May 24): "Anyone who has ever attended AIPAC's policy 
conference, particularly from other countries where 
Jewish communities are free but lie low politically, is 
astounded by the confidence, organization and display 
of democratic power.  Each year, it is a celebration of 
a community that revels in the democratic game and 
represents the epitome of the unique American tradition 
of popular participation in politics and government. 
That this year has been no different is no small 
triumph over the small, dark cloud that has hung over 
the entire event. The cloud, as far as we can tell, 
stems less from something that two AIPAC employees may 
have done and more from the sense that, somewhere in 
the bowels of the U.S. government, what AIPAC does, 
indeed what AIPAC is, is suspect.... There comes a 
point when the investigation itself becomes suspect, 
and when elected officials begin to wonder whether the 
mantle of national security is being illegitimately 
used to trample civil rights and engage in bureaucratic 
warfare.... AIPAC is a proud American institution and 
deserves better from a government and Congress which so 
lavishly praise its work.  Any organization can have 
its lapses, but what is being threatened is the right 
of any community to lobby on behalf of American 
interests as it sees them without being tarred with a 
taint of dual-loyalty reminiscent of other countries 
and eras. Its accusers should put up or shut up, so 
that an organization with 100,000 loyal American 
members can go about its democratic business." 
 
KURTZER