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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 003467 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Ha'aretz reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice will be visiting the region at the end of next 
week in an effort to promote coordination of the 
disengagement between Israel and the PA.  The newspaper 
and other media reported that Secretary Rice will visit 
the PA on June 18 and Israel on June 19.  (On June 21, 
PM Sharon is due to meet with PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas.) 
 
Citing Reuters, Israel Radio quoted "senior officials 
in Washington" as saying that the Bush administration 
is showing signs of easing its hard-line approach 
toward Hamas.  The sources are quoted as saying that 
the White House was not opposed to Hamas's 
participation in the PA elections despite the movement 
not having disarmed and its being included in the U.S. 
list of terrorist organizations.  The radio quoted 
senior administration officials as saying that the U.S. 
could talk with Hamas members who are not involved in 
terror.  The sources do not rule our negotiations with 
Hamas if it disarms and puts an end to violence.  The 
radio cited Reuters as quoting diplomats in Washington 
that the change in the attitude vis-a-vis Hamas stems 
from pragmatic motives, mainly the movement's success 
in the local elections and its participation in 
elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council 
(PLC).  The radio quoted White House spokesman Scott 
McClellan as saying that President Bush has not changed 
his view of Hamas as a terrorist group that must be 
disarmed.  Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli 
officials are expected to tell British FM Jack Straw 
when he arrives in Israel on Tuesday that removing 
Hamas from the EU's terror list would harm the global 
war on terrorism, undermine PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas, and set the diplomatic process back a 
number of paces. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning, hundreds of 
Palestinians clashed with police, protesting the visit 
of Jews to the Temple Mount, during Jerusalem Day, the 
holiday celebrating the unification of Jerusalem during 
the Six-Day War.  The radio noted that the police will 
not allow organized groups of Jews to ascend the Mount. 
 
Jerusalem Post and Yediot reported that Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz will this week hand over to the PA 
paperwork detailing the location of settlements and 
settlement infrastructure in Gush Katif to facilitate 
close coordination with the PA on disengagement. 
Jerusalem Post quoted a spokesman for the Yesha Council 
of Jewish Settlements in the Territories as saying that 
the move "endangers the lives of residents of the 
settlements." 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Attorney Talia Sasson, the author of 
the report on illegal settlement outposts, as saying 
that not a thing has changed in the government's 
handling of the issue in the three months since she 
presented her report. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Saad Hariri, the son of 
assassinated former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri, told 
Newsweek that if elected Lebanese PM, he would enter 
negotiations with Hizbullah regarding its disarming. 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that FM Silvan Shalom told 
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Friday that Syria is 
still active in Lebanon.  Yediot and Maariv reported 
that Shalom demanded of Annan that Israel be added to 
the UN Security Council. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Israeli government has been 
exerting strong diplomatic pressure to prevent the PA 
from executing some 50 Palestinians who were convicted 
of collaborating with Israel and sentenced by a 
military court to execution.  The newspaper writes that 
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer has been among 
those who have appealed to senior PA officials. 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has also clarified to the 
PA that the continuation of the process of freeing 
Palestinian prisoners held in Israel is contingent on 
the decision to refrain from carrying out the 
executions. 
 
During the weekend, the media reported that Islamic 
Jihad tried to fire about five rockets at the 
settlements of Ganim and Kadim from Jenin in recent 
weeks.  Ha'aretz cited the IDF's concern that the 
launchings prefigure post-disengagement happenings. 
 
All media reported that Abbas decided on Friday to 
postpone the PLC elections indefinitely. 
 
Citing AP, Ha'aretz on Sunday reported that on 
Saturday, Syria's information minister denied Israeli 
claims that his country is developing new missiles and 
that it test-fired Scud missiles last week, calling the 
accusations an "expression of Israel's hostile 
intentions."  On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that 
Israeli military sources stand by their claim.  On 
Sunday, Ha'aretz cited IDF Intelligence's belief that 
Syrian President Hafez Assad's show of power is an 
attempt to hide the weakness of his regime. 
 
Leading media reported that 100,000 people, according 
to the organizers, participated in the Salute to Israel 
Parade in New York on Sunday.  The media also reported 
that thousands of Jews gathered in Central Park to 
protest against the disengagement plan.  The protest 
was organized by an ad hoc coalition of right-wing 
Jewish organizations and was billed as the first effort 
to negate the organized Jewish establishment's 
prerogative to "identify with Israel." 
 
Jerusalem Post cited a petition to the High Court of 
Justice by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, 
according to which the government determined the route 
of the security fence near the Palestinian village of 
Na'alin (north of Modi'in) to satisfy the commercial 
needs of a private real estate company.  All media 
reported that an IDF soldier lost an eye during clashes 
in Bil'in, near Ramallah, where the fence is being 
built. 
 
Ha'aretz cited figures published ahead of Jerusalem Day 
by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, 
according to which some 403,000, or 58 percent, of 
Jerusalem's Jewish and Arab residents live in areas 
added to the city following its unification.  Leading 
media published the institute's findings that the 
number of Jews who left the city last year was the 
largest since the 1967 war.  Jerusalem Post quoted Vice 
Premier Shimon Peres as saying on Sunday that annexing 
all of East Jerusalem had been a mistake. 
 
Channel 2-TV reported on Sunday that the mystery 
submarine that Israel detected snooping off its shores 
last November belonged to the U.S. Navy and was on a 
spy mission.  According to the unattributed report, 
Israeli officials have not indicated what the Americans 
may have been looking for.  Jerusalem Post quoted 
military sources as saying that "there was nothing to 
support the information in the Channel 2-TV story." 
 
Ha'aretz lengthily featured increasing evidence that 
suggested that religious discrimination at the USAF 
Academy, where evangelical Christianity is being 
promoted, has become a deep institutional problem. 
 
All media highlighted the government's pledge to fight 
crime, which was the main topic discussed during 
Sunday's cabinet meeting. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[Sharon] 
wanted ... to put the Bush formula into formaldehyde 
for many years, and guarantee the existence of the West 
Bank settlements 'until the Palestinians become Finns.' 
If this was the objective, it appears this can 
cautiously be pronounced a failure." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"[Outgoing chief of staff] Moshe Ya'alon's decision of 
half a year ago, to set up a task force to investigate 
the IDF's norms of combat, still exists solely on 
paper." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Despite the weaknesses [in his status] Abu 
Mazen must be Israel's only Palestinian address." 
 
Former chief of IDF Intelligence Shlomo Gazit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "If you bite off more than 
you can chew you can't swallow anything.  Certainly, 
Ariel Sharon understands that this sober view of things 
does not apply only to our withdrawal from the Gaza 
Strip." 
 
Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime 
Minister's Office under former PM Yitzhak Shamir, 
argued in popular, pluralist Maariv: "The decisive day 
is fast approaching.  [A group of ministers headed by 
Binyamin Netanyahu] can stop the deterioration, replace 
Sharon, and return Israel to sanity, independence, and 
maneuvering ability in its harsh condition." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Size of the Trauma" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (June 6): 
"Disengagement was a decision made by one man.... What 
did Sharon really want?  He wanted, as [top Sharon aide 
Dov] Weisglass told [Ha'aretz columnist Ari] Shavit, in 
an interview published last October, to put the Bush 
formula into formaldehyde for many years, and guarantee 
the existence of the West Bank settlements 'until the 
Palestinians become Finns.'  If this was the objective, 
it appears this can cautiously be pronounced a failure. 
The Palestinians have not become Finns, but the 
decrease in the amount of terror attacks, Arafat's 
death and Abu Mazen's election have turned them into 
Finns in the eyes of most of the world, and to a large 
degree in the eyes of the U.S. administration as well. 
When Abu Mazen came to Washington 10 days ago, Bush 
embraced him warmly, with no criticism.  If there was 
formaldehyde, it has evaporated.  I have no knowledge 
of what will happen here during the battle against 
disengagement or on the day after it.  I foresee that 
the formula will be something like this: the length of 
the respite to follow [disengagement] will be 
determined by the size of the trauma.  One day the 
respite will end, political pressure will be renewed, 
and in the opinion of many -- on the Right and on the 
Left -- terrorism will also be renewed.  The coming 
years, Shavit believes, will be the years of the 
dividing of the land.  He is an optimist.  A pessimist 
would say: not the dividing of the land, rather its 
disintegration." 
 
II.  "When Everything Is Permissible" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (June 
6): "It is impossible to ignore the article published 
in Maariv over the weekend, which stated that on the 
night between February 19 and 20, 2002, Israel Defense 
Forces soldiers, acting under explicit orders, carried 
out untargeted killings in which 15 Palestinian 
policemen were shot to death at three checkpoints.  In 
the article ... soldiers related that the nighttime 
operation was hastily planned in response to the 
killing of six soldiers earlier that evening at the Ein 
Ariq checkpoint.... To discover the truth of this 
assessment, it is necessary to investigate the facts. 
But that is a difficult task, because the chief of 
staff at that time was Shaul Mofaz, who is now defense 
minister.... For this, we need an inquiry committee 
headed by a judge.... During the second Intifada, the 
army has put very few soldiers and officers on trial, 
and it seems as if all restraints have been removed. 
[Outgoing chief of staff] Moshe Ya'alon's decision of 
half a year ago, to set up a task force to investigate 
the IDF's norms of combat, still exists solely on 
paper.  The regrettable and frightening conclusion that 
IDF soldiers are liable to draw from this is that 
everything is permissible." 
 
III.  "The Only Palestinian Address" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz (June 6): "Despite the weaknesses [in his 
status] Abu Mazen must be Israel's only Palestinian 
address.  He is the sole legitimate leader.  He was 
elected for four years; negotiations must be held only 
with him and every possible effort must be made to make 
him a full partner in attempts to reach an agreement. 
The strengthening of Hamas is indeed a cause for 
concern, but there is not a lot that Israel can do 
about it.  Abu Mazen, too, is worried by this. 
Therefore, there is not much room for hesitation on the 
question of what will happen if Hamas succeeds in the 
elections.  The only thing that is possible to do and 
should be done is to build a relationship of trust and 
closeness with Abu Mazen and his people. 
 
IV.  "Biting Off More Than You Can Chew" 
 
Former chief of IDF Intelligence Shlomo Gazit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (June 5): "Today we mark the 
38th anniversary of the Six-Day War.... [After the 
pullouts from the Sinai and Lebanon,] the next phase of 
sobering up is about to be carried out in another three 
months.  Settlement in the Gaza Strip stemmed from [a] 
fantasizing strategy -- that Israel is capable of 
seizing whatever it pleases.  The Palestinians are 
incapable of preventing us from achieving our 
aspirations.  What a shame it is that it took 35 years, 
until Ariel Sharon took office in the Prime Minister's 
Bureau, to understand what can only be seen from the 
windows in that office: if you bite off more than you 
can chew you can't swallow anything.  Certainly, Ariel 
Sharon understands that this sober view of things does 
not apply only to our withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. 
The same rule applies to the two remaining fronts-the 
Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West 
Bank].  The negotiations on both those fronts are still 
before us.  We should not delude ourselves with 
baseless dreams." 
 
¶V.  "Disengagement Is Purely Terror" 
 
Yossi Ben-Aharon, who was director-general of the Prime 
Minister's Office under former PM Yitzhak Shamir, 
argued in popular, pluralist Maariv (June 5): "The 
group of ministers headed by Binyamin Netanyahu, which 
gave Sharon an ultimatum regarding his assent to a 
referendum, must from now on stop pinning its hopes on 
luck.  If those ministers do not take their fate and 
that of the country in their own hands, they will 
become irrelevant.  The decisive day is fast 
approaching.  They can stop the deterioration, replace 
Sharon, and return Israel to sanity, independence, and 
maneuvering ability in its harsh condition.  More than 
once, Ariel Sharon has said that by the end of this 
year, there will be no Jews left in the Gaza region. 
I'll dare to paraphrase and state that before 2005 is 
over, Sharon will no longer be prime minister.  The 
moment of this happening depends on a fistful of brave, 
who I hope still exist in Israel." 
 
KURTZER