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 003167 
 
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.  Newsweek Reports of Koran Desecration at Guantanamo 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media (banner in Jerusalem Post) reported that in 
his speech to the AIPAC convention in Washington 
Tuesday, PM Sharon urged PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas to coordinate the disengagement with 
Israel, which would "enable us to embark on a new era 
of trust and build our relationship with the PA." 
Sharon added: "In this pre-road map phase -- and we are 
still in the pre-road map phase -- we see great 
opportunities with Chairman Abbas."  Sharon promised to 
release the next tranche of Palestinian prisoners. 
Israel Radio cited the PA's response that this gesture 
was meant to satisfy the U.S. government, and that 
Sharon had already committed himself to it at he Sharm 
el-Sheikh conference.  Sharon also said that the PA 
still had commitments to meet under the road map.  The 
media reported that Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who 
spoke at the convention, praised Sharon's disengagement 
move.  Israel Radio reported that Sharon returned to 
Israel this morning. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that during his meeting Thursday with 
President Bush, Abbas will focus his efforts to 
ensuring that Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip 
is not accompanied by the expansion of settlements. 
Israel Radio and Ha'aretz web site reported that Abbas 
told reporters upon arriving in Washington this 
morning: "We want from the United States a clear 
political position regarding the implementation of the 
road map as well as economic aid.  We hope we can get 
it." 
 
Israel Radio cited the London-based newspaper Al-Quds 
Al-Arabi as saying that Abbas has secured the agreement 
of Hamas leaders to postpone the elections for the 
Palestinian parliament.  The radio later cited a denial 
by Hassan Yousef, Hamas's leader in the West Bank. 
 
Al media reported that on Tuesday, police and the Shin 
Bet arrested three Sderot residents suspected of 
collecting information about security arrangements at 
Sharon's Negev ranch.  They were later released. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that five reservists who were 
recently called up for military service in the 
territories have told their commanders they will not 
show up, as a means of protesting against the 
disengagement plan.  All five are religious, and some 
live in settlements.  Yediot reported that the IDF's 
Southern Command has authorized soldiers to use live 
fire against Palestinian demonstrators trying to enter 
settlements during the disengagement operation.  The 
newspaper also reported that foreign workers employed 
in the Katif Bloc will be deported from Israel if they 
refuse to be evacuated. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that construction work 
continued unabated along the Philadelphi Route on 
Tuesday, despite Sharon's recent statements declaring 
that Israel will hand over the area to Egypt if 
Palestinian weapons smuggling is stopped.  Jerusalem 
Post and Ha'aretz also reported that A-G Menachem Mazuz 
has instructed Sharon and other ministers to inform him 
of the details of an agreement being formulated with 
Egypt to station new Egyptian forces on the border so 
that he can determine whether the deal would have to be 
ratified by the Knesset. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that on 
Tuesday, in its annual report on the state of human 
rights in the world, Amnesty International accused the 
IDF of actions constituting crimes against humanity and 
war crimes.  The report also cited human rights 
violations in the PA. 
 
Citing AP, Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday, Lebanese 
President Emile Lahoud vowed to recover the disputed 
Sheba Farms area and said that the conflict with Israel 
would continue until there was peace in the Middle 
East. 
 
Leading media reported that at the Hawara checkpoint 
near Nablus Tuesday, IDF soldiers arrested a 15-year- 
old Palestinian boy who was discovered carrying two 
pipe bombs.  This is the second such arrest of a 
teenager at the roadblock in the past two days. 
 
Leading media reported that the Synod of all the 
Orthodox Churches, which closed Tuesday in Istanbul, 
announced after two days of discussion that it is 
deposing Irineos I, the Greek Orthodox patriarch of 
Jerusalem.  Irineos denied having signed a deal to sell 
prime East Jerusalem property to Jews. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that around 25 North American 
university professors who want to combat anti-Israel 
bias among academics will hold a conference at Case 
Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, during 
the last weekend in October. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
----------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "A courageous 
leadership would prepare the public for the inevitable 
withdrawal [to the Green Line] ... instead of deluding 
the public with empty promises that will only cause 
more killing and sorrow." 
 
Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized: "The U.S. 
knows perfectly that the terrorist groups are rearming 
and strengthening ahead of the inevitable next round of 
violence, but this won't spoil the party it will hold 
for [Mahmoud Abbas's] important visit." 
 
Yuval Steinitz, Chairman of the Knesset's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The 
demilitarization of Sinai is a strategic asset of 
Israel, and sane countries do not give up strategic 
assets in order to score dubious tactical 
achievements." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "What We'll Be Killed Over" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (May 25): "The 
answer is so pat and self-understood that the question 
is no longer asked.  'The settlement blocs are vital to 
Israel, and Jerusalem will be united for eternity,' the 
state's leaders proclaim, and nobody even asks why 
anymore.  What's so vital about [the West Bann 
settlements of] Ariel, Ma'aleh Adumim, Efrat and Kiryat 
Arba, that it's worth getting killed for them?  That 
question is important to every Israeli because in the 
coming years the battle over annexation of the blocs 
and East Jerusalem will be at the center of the 
conflict with the Arabs.  Israel will be threatened 
with boycotts and international isolation, and many 
will pay with their lives if the war with the 
Palestinians resumes.  It is important, therefore, that 
every Israeli citizen demand explanations from the 
country's leaders and understand where they are headed 
before electing them.... There's no need to rush to the 
Green Line.  One can and should demand a suitable 
security and political return from the Palestinians and 
the Syrians.  But a courageous leadership would prepare 
the public for the inevitable withdrawal, come up with 
creative solutions for border amendments and 
territorial exchange and enlist international support 
for them, instead of deluding the public with empty 
promises that will only cause more killing and sorrow." 
II.  "Abu Mazen's Visit to Washington" 
Ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman editorialized (May 25): 
"The U.S. administration, which wished for Arafat's 
disappearance from the political arena, is pinning all 
its hopes on Abu Mazen.  The alternative is extremist 
Islam, which -- to day the least -- hasn't been overly 
popular in [the West] since 9/11.  The fact that Abu 
Mazen hasn't respected any of the agreements he signed, 
and that he doesn't intend to disarm the terror groups, 
doesn't disturb Washington at this time.  The Americans 
view the relative quiet in the region, which he 
achieved with the terror groups, an honorable 'entrance 
card' to the White House.  True, the cease-fire is 
temporary and meant to help Ariel Sharon evacuate 
Jewish settlements in the Gaza region, but who is 
focusing on the future?  The U.S. knows perfectly that 
the terrorist groups are rearming and strengthening 
ahead of the inevitable next round of violence, but 
this won't spoil the party it will hold for the 
important visit." 
 
III.  "Out of the South, Evil Shall Break Forth" 
 
Yuval Steinitz, Chairman of the Knesset's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (May 25): "The 
likes of this have not been heard since the 12th 
century BC, when the inhabitants of Troy brought the 
famous wooden horse into their city and caused their 
destruction with their own hands.  Could it be that 
little Israel will invite, of its own volition, the 
largest, strongest and most dangerous Arab army to 
deploy its troops in the demilitarized area on the 
border of the Negev, in immediate proximity to its 
major Air Force bases and other facilities?  Israel's 
small size was the consideration that the late prime 
minister Begin had in mind when he insisted that in the 
peace agreement not a single Egyptian soldier be 
stationed near the Negev, only 'civilian police 
officers with personal firearms'.... The Egyptians are 
now trying to squeeze out of Israel a precedent-setting 
concession on the matter of demilitarizing Sinai.  This 
is under the guise of a sudden willingness on their 
part to finally battle the arms smuggling from their 
territory.... In any case, professional agencies in 
Israel agree that the Egyptians have 'not excelled' in 
their battle against arms smuggling in recent years due 
to a lack of will; and conversely, if they wish to 
begin excelling at this task, they are already capable 
of acting against the smuggler networks in the depth of 
Sinai without making the 'effective treatment' 
contingent on changes in the demilitarized zone.  The 
demilitarization of Sinai is a strategic asset of 
Israel, and sane countries do not give up strategic 
assets in order to score dubious tactical achievements. 
Is Jerusalem, like Troy, undergoing a tragic loss of 
strategic sanity?" 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
¶2.  Newsweek Reports of Koran Desecration at 
Guantanamo: 
-------------------------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Attorney Rafik Jabarin wrote in left-leaning 
Arabic-language weekly Panorama: "Newsweek's apology is 
suspect, and was given under pressure." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Suspicion Over Newsweek's Apology" 
 
Columnist Attorney Rafik Jabarin wrote in left-leaning 
Arabic-language weekly Panorama (May 20): "Newsweek's 
apology is suspect, and was given under pressure.... 
What has been published about the investigators is 
true, since the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib is 
normal.... Therefore, the mistreatment of the Koran is 
also to be expected from them, despite the Pentagon's 
statement two years ago requiring the investigators to 
respect the Koran. It seems like the American statement 
and the apology came only to calm the anger of the 
Muslims and nothing more." 
 
KURTZER