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

271031Z May 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 003222 
 
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: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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All media reported on, and major outlets led with, the 
visit of PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to the 
White House Thursday.  Leading media quoted Bush as 
saying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will 
visit Israel and the PA before the disengagement move. 
 
The media underscored President Bush's positive 
attitude toward Abbas and noted that Bush's remarks at 
the meeting seemingly contradict the reported contents 
of his April 2004 letter to PM Sharon regarding 
settlement blocs.  Each media outlet highlighted a 
different aspect of Abbas's talks with Bush. The 
leading story in Ha'aretz begins with Bush's demand 
that Israel halt all settlement construction. 
Referring to Abbas's reported statement at a meeting 
with Congressional leaders that the Palestinians "will 
be throwing roses as the Israelis withdraw," Maariv 
banners, "Abu Mazen Promises a Rose Withdrawal," and 
cited concerns among the IDF that Bush accepts Abbas's 
position despite the fact that the Palestinian leader 
has only made promises.  Yediot emphasizes the U.S. 
demand that Israel refrain from destroying the 
settlers' houses in the Katif Bloc (Gush Katif). 
Jerusalem Post banners: "Bush Pledges USD 50 Million in 
Direct Aid to PA; Praises Abbas's Courage at 'Start of 
Difficult Journey.'"  Hatzofe's headline: "Bush Slapped 
Sharon in the Face."  Channel 10-TV's Arab affairs 
correspondent commented on Thursday: "Bush appeared 
more Palestinian than a Palestinian."  Palestinian FM 
Nasser Al-Kidwa was quoted as saying in an interview 
with Ha'aretz's Akiva Eldar, which was conducted before 
the senior PA delegation's trip to Washington, that the 
U.S. should take a more prominent, activist role in the 
Middle East. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that at a meeting Thursday with 
U.S. Jewish officials just before his White House 
visit, Abbas said Sharon has rejected efforts to open 
back-channel communications about final-status issues. 
 
Maariv quoted Defense Ministry sources as saying that 
the GOI is considering releasing Palestinian prisoners 
"with blood on their hands." 
 
Yediot reported that, following U.S. pressure, Israel 
has committed itself to handing over to the PA all of 
the information it possesses on infrastructure in the 
Gaza Strip.  All media quoted Disengagement 
Administration Director Yonatan Bassi as saying 
Thursday that the GOI's decision to spend dozens of 
millions of dollars for temporary housing for evacuated 
settlers was a mistake.  Bassi cited settler pressure 
on Sharon.  Nevertheless, the Knesset's Finance 
Committee allocated 150 to 220 million shekels (around 
USD 34 million to 50 million) to the project, depending 
on the media.  Israel Radio reported that on Thursday, 
the state submitted documents to the High Court of 
Justice, hinting that it would freeze the plan it has 
presented for permanent housing for evacuees if the 
settler families do not enroll in it within two months. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Hamas leaders in the West 
Bank and Gaza have told the newspaper that Hamas will 
not attack Israeli forces evacuating the Gaza Strip 
later this summer, instead maintaining a "state of 
calm." 
 
Ha'aretz writes that the official results of the 
Egyptian referendum on constitutional change constitute 
a victory for President Mubarak's party. 
 
All media reported that the Association of University 
Teachers, Britain's largest union of university 
educators, voted on Thursday to end its boycott of Bar- 
Ilan and Haifa Universities.  The decision passed with 
a two-thirds majority. 
 
All media reported that acceding to President Moshe 
Katsav's request, 40 anti-disengagement students from 
across Israel ended their 12-day hunger strike on 
Thursday, 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Egypt is demanding that the New 
York conference of members of the Nuclear 
Nonproliferation Treaty issue a summary statement 
urging treaty members to take operative steps to compel 
Israel to permit international supervision of its 
nuclear program.  However, the newspaper quoted sources 
involved with the conference as saying that Egypt 
vehemently opposes any mention of Iran's nuclear 
program in the summary document, and that Egypt is 
insisting that the document focus solely on Israel's 
nuclear program, in order to isolate Israel 
diplomatically and bar it from scientific ties with 
other countries in the field of nuclear research.  The 
sources were also quoted as saying that the U.S. and 
the EU oppose Egypt's demand to paint Israel as the 
world's nuclear "bad boy." 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has 
prevented the deputy chairman of the Islamic Movement's 
northern branch, Sheikh Kamal Khatib, from taking part 
in a conference on the right of return, which is 
scheduled to take place in London this weekend. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday, Israeli F-15 
planes escorted a British Airways airliner flying from 
London to Tel Aviv, because of a failure in the 
airplane's communications.  The Israeli authorities 
feared that the plane had been hijacked. 
 
A Maariv/Teleseker poll: 
 
-"Do you support the disengagement plan?"  Yes: 58 
percent (among Likud voters: 49 percent; among Likud 
Central Committee members: 39 percent).  No: 29 percent 
(among Likud voters: 37 percent; among Likud Central 
Committee members: 53 percent). 
-"In the distant future, are you prepared for 
Palestinian sovereignty in part of the Arab 
neighborhoods in East Jerusalem?"  Yes: 57 percent 
(among Likud voters: 40 percent; among Likud Central 
Committee members: 30 percent).  No: 39 percent (among 
Likud voters: 56 percent; among Likud Central Committee 
members: 68 percent). 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote from Washington on 
page one of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "On Thursday ... America reissued a clean 
bill of health to the Palestinian Authority." 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz: "Bush and his advisers 
proved on Thursday that there is more than one way to 
read the letter to Sharon." 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz: 
"Abu Mazen can't present his voters with an American 
undertaking that after democratic elections, a reform 
of the security mechanisms, the disarming of the 
militants and a peaceful disengagement, Bush will bare 
his superpower claws in order to drag Sharon into a 
final-status agreement." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Love Around the Corner" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote from Washington on 
page one of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot 
(May 27): "On Thursday ... America reissued a clean 
bill of health to the Palestinian Authority.... It can 
be said that the Palestinians gained a few points on 
Thursday, and Israel lost some.   Sharon frequently 
waves aloft President Bush's commitment to take into 
consideration the concentrations of Israeli population 
in the West Bank during negotiations on the final 
status arrangement.  Yesterday, in response to the 
Palestinians' request, Bush gave a balancing 
commitment.... These statements weaken Sharon to a 
certain degree in his debate with the opponents of 
disengagement.... The religion that currently rules in 
Washington is democracy.  Bush believes that democracy 
solves everything -- including an existential bloody 
conflict over 100 years old.  If the Palestinian state 
is democratic, he said yesterday, everything can be 
solved, including the problem of air space.  Anyone who 
lives in the Middle East knows that this is a 
simplistic, naive, perhaps even dangerous approach. 
But anyone who holds a position of leadership in the 
Middle East knows that lip service must be paid.  Abu 
Mazen contributed his part yesterday to this fairy 
tale....   The disengagement plan afforded Sharon 
control over the political agenda.  This was its great 
advantage.  But there is no perpetual control in the 
Middle East.  The big brother's eye is watchful, 
especially since there is a little brother named Abu 
Mazen, who yesterday officially became a favored son of 
the administration.  Perhaps not as close and important 
and Sharon, but no less beloved." 
 
II.  "Without a Letter, But With a Lot of Good Will" 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz (May 27): "Bush's 
presents to Abu Mazen may not be dramatic, but they 
definitely evidence good will and a positive attitude 
toward the Palestinian leader.  To a great extent, Abu 
Mazen will be able to mark the date of the meeting as 
an event equal in importance to the historic meeting 
between Bush and Ariel Sharon on April 14, 2004, during 
which Sharon received the commitment letter.  What Abu 
Mazen got was actually not a letter, but much warmth 
and many public declarations of support.... President 
Bush and U.S. diplomacy also scored an achievement. 
After Sharon was granted a letter of guarantees a year 
ago, the President was criticized for having given 
everything already in the first round, and given Sharon 
so much in exchange of the disengagement -- to the 
point that it wouldn't be possible to ever reach an 
accord with the Palestinians based on those 
understandings.... But Bush and his advisers proved on 
Thursday that there is more than one way to read the 
letter to Sharon.... The United States has now leveled 
the ground, placing on it two relatively contented 
Middle Eastern players.  Each of them has received 
commitments and understands that they are blurred 
enough to allow Bush to maneuver between them after the 
Israeli withdrawal is completed.... For the moment, the 
administration prefers to deal with 'the day after.'" 
 
III.  "Same Words, Different Melody" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar opined in Ha'aretz (May 
27): "In April, Bush said that Abu Mazen had taken a 
number of steps in the field of security, but that the 
Palestinian Authority had to do more against terror.... 
On Thursday, Bush termed Abu Mazen 'a man of peace,' 
who is acting with determination against terror.... If 
the disputes with regard to the settlements and Hamas 
didn't exist, Bush would have to invent them.  They 
provide a pretty wide berth to the president, who is 
making do with actions that do not deviate from 
managing the conflict.  According to the public 
statements, in the meeting with Abu Mazen, as in the 
case of the talks with Sharon, the issues of a 
timetable, verification mechanisms and enforcement 
measures were not on the agenda.... And the main issue: 
Abu Mazen can't present his voters with an American 
undertaking that after democratic elections, a reform 
of the security mechanisms, the disarming of the 
militants and a peaceful disengagement, Bush will bare 
his superpower claws in order to drag Sharon into a 
final-status agreement." 
 
KURTZER