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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 TEL AVIV 003582 
 
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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Gaza Disengagement 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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All media quoted PM Sharon as saying Wednesday at a 
meeting of the ministerial committee on disengagement 
that the move will be implemented as scheduled. 
Sharon's comments followed harsh criticism leveled 
against preparedness for disengagement by National 
Security Adviser Giora Eiland.  Sharon blamed 
"political elements ... groups that are working against 
the disengagement" for what he called "disinformation" 
about the non-implementation of the GOI's preparations 
ahead of the evacuation.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Sharon's bureau has grown increasingly concerned about 
the matter in recent days.  Maariv quoted a senior GOI 
source as saying that settlers who refuse to be 
evacuated will be fined USD 40,000.  Leading media 
reported that, rejecting 12 petitions, the High Court 
of Justice ruled this morning, 10-1, that the 
disengagement is legal.  However, the court rejected 
four particular provisions of the law that deal with 
the terms of the compensation to be paid to evacuating 
settlers.  The court's assertion that the territories 
are not legally part of Israel produced protests on the 
Right and expressions of satisfaction on the Left. 
 
Last night, Channel 2-TV released a poll that showed 
that support for disengagement has dropped below 50 
percent for the first time: 48 percent of the public 
support the plan, 33 percent are opposed and 19 percent 
are undecided. 
 
Leading media reported that Sharon told visiting 
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Wednesday that 
despite Palestinian mortar and rocket attacks and a 
drop in disengagement support in the polls, the 
withdrawal from Gaza will proceed as planned.  At the 
same time, Sharon told Straw that Israel would not 
tolerate disengagement under fire. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Straw as saying Wednesday in 
Ramallah, after meeting with PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinian officials, that 
Britain will not talk to Hamas until it recognizes 
Israel's right to exist and renounces violence. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that on Wednesday, 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and PA Interior Minister 
Nasser Yousef agreed to start coordination of the 
disengagement next week.  Ha'aretz reported that in 
recent days, the U.S. administration has pressed Israel 
to strengthen Yousef.  The newspaper says that Israel 
will ask the U.S. to clarify to Abbas that he must act 
against Hamas every time violence breaks out.  Ha'aretz 
writes that Israel has warned the U.S. that further 
escalation would bring about erosion in the Israeli 
public's support for disengagement. 
 
Leading media (banner in Hatzofe) reported that former 
Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, the mentor of 
religious Zionism, said in remarks to be broadcast 
today in the ultra-Orthodox weekly Hamishpaha and 
Channel 2-TV that soldiers should obey IDF orders to 
evacuate settlements. 
 
Leading media reported that, for the first time since 
the renewed outbreak of violence in the Gaza Strip, an 
IAF plane fired missiles at a car belonging to three 
Hamas militants in the southern Strip on Wednesday 
evening.  Some media reported that the strike's target 
was a mortar launch site.  The media quoted Palestinian 
witnesses as saying that none of the targeted 
Palestinians were injured in the strike.  The media 
quoted Abbas as saying: "Actions such as this can 
destroy the calm, and have no logic in them."  Israel 
Radio reported that a Qassam rocket was fired at Gush 
Katif last night. 
 
Yediot reported that IAF commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer 
Shkedy, who returned last week from a visit to the 
U.S., told senior U.S. administration and defense 
officials that Israel is concerned about an erosion of 
Israel's qualitative edge following the supply of state- 
of-the-art weapons to Arab countries. 
 
Yediot quoted leading liberal author Amos Oz as saying 
during a visit to Norway: "If violence continues, 
Israeli moderates, too, will find it difficult to take 
the road map into account." 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski as 
saying Wednesday that the Jerusalem Municipality does 
not intend to issue demolition orders for houses in the 
Arab neighborhood of Silwan. 
 
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Gaza Disengagement: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "With the 
unilateral disengagement, Israel starts disengaging 
from the grip of enslavement it had imposed upon 
itself, and it is reclaiming control over its life." 
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Along with the criticism 
and the reservations, we must continue to stick to 
supporting disengagement, which has the potential to 
put a stop to the settlers' sense that they are the 
bosses in Israel." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Israel Definitely Has Something To Gain" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (June 9): "An 
allegation has recently built up in Israel.  According 
to it, unilateral disengagement is being carried out 
'without anything in exchange' -- neither 
diplomatically nor militarily.  Thus, it is unwanted. 
Actually, unilateral disengagement offers Israel 
something extremely important in exchange.  The Oslo 
process gravely erred when it placed the fate of the 
Jewish state in the hands of the Palestinians.  The 
accord stipulated that Israelis would receive 
stability, recognition and quiet, should they abide by 
Palestinian conditions -- the right of return, 
Jerusalem, and Palestinian statehood.  Since the 
resolution of those issues is not -- and has never been 
-- possible, Israel acquired neither quiet nor 
stability, to the point of being under an existential 
threat.... With the unilateral disengagement, Israel 
starts disengaging from the grip of enslavement it had 
imposed upon itself, and it is reclaiming control over 
its life.  This is the most important thing it can get. 
Thus, Israel is reducing the pressure that the 
Palestinians have applied on it in order to achieve 
their nationalistic goals.  In the future, Israel's 
hands will be freer regarding arrangements with them." 
 
II.  "Disengagement or the End of Democracy" 
 
Peace Now Secretary-General Yariv Oppenheimer wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (June 9): "There is no 
question that from a political and security 
perspective, there are many flaws in the disengagement 
plan, most of which can still be fixed.... Along with 
this, the major importance of the disengagement plan is 
neither political nor military.  Its chief importance 
is, first and foremost, internal, and its 
implementation has a major role in shaping the face of 
Israeli society as a democracy, and in carrying out the 
will of the majority as reflected in the cabinet and 
Knesset decisions.  This is an historic step, which has 
a critical role in shaping Israeli society for 
generations to come.  For the first time since ... the 
establishment of the first settlement, the question of 
the fate of the settlements and their evacuation is 
facing a practical test on the ground, while touching 
on one of society's most sensitive nerves.... 
Therefore, on the eve of the plan's implementation, as 
the settlers' battle escalates, the Israeli Left must 
internalize what the Right has long since realized: the 
battle over disengagement is not over the fate of the 
settlements.  It is a battle over the character of 
Israeli society as a democratic society, a law-abiding 
society, which intends to leave the territories and to 
create new and clear borders.  Therefore, along with 
the criticism and the reservations, we must continue to 
stick to supporting disengagement, which has the 
potential to put a stop to the settlers' sense that 
they are the bosses in Israel, that there is no law and 
no judges, where everyone does what they like." 
 
KURTZER