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 003727 
 
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.  U.S. Israel Security Exports Crisis 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that Deputy Chief of Staff Moshe 
Kaplinsky clarified to Palestinian Deputy Interior 
Minister Jamal Abu Zayd Tuesday that there will be no 
disengagement under fire, that if IDF troops are shot 
at, the IDF will tackle the sources of possible fire 
and that only then will disengagement proceed.  Later 
this morning, the radio reported on substantive 
progress in the Kaplinsky-Abu Zayd talks. 
 
Yediot reported that President Bush assessed, at his 
meeting with British PM Tony Blair in Washington a few 
days ago, that the implementation of the disengagement 
plan would cause a political trauma in Israel, which 
will lead to elections within 12 months of the 
withdrawal.  The newspaper says that Blair expressed a 
similar opinion. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that Deputy National Security 
Advisor Elliott Abrams and A/S David Welch are expected 
to focus on how to improve disengagement coordination 
between the two sides in their talks with both Israeli 
and Palestinian officials on Wednesday, ahead of 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the 
 
SIPDIS 
region. 
 
Hamodi'a quoted a senior IDF source as saying that the 
IDF is prepared to send entire divisions to the Gaza 
Strip "if the terrorists open fire during the 
evacuation."  Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources 
as saying that the IDF will hand over security 
responsibility over Jenin to the Palestinians before 
the disengagement.  The radio cited a response by 
Israeli sources that such a development depended on 
calm being achieved in the area. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Israel's Ambassador to Egypt Shalom 
Cohen as saying that the disengagement is not linked to 
an agreement with Egypt regarding the Philadelphi 
Route, and that it will take place even without a 
border arrangement with Egypt.  The radio also quoted 
Cohen as saying that Israel will withdraw from the Gaza 
Strip, but that its presence along the Philadelphi 
Route will continue until it is certain that smuggling 
has ceased. 
 
Both Ha'aretz and Yediot bannered remarks by IDF Chief 
of Staff Dan Halutz on Tuesday that the IDF will not 
let its soldiers be sitting ducks if right-wing 
extremists open fire during the disengagement.  Leading 
media reported that a "city of tents" has been erected 
in Sa-Nur, one of the northern West Bank settlements. 
Yediot reported that the settlers are "promising" that 
200 additional youths from the extremist "hill youth" 
will move to Sa-Nur.  The newspaper cited IDF concerns 
that that Sa-Nur will be one of the most difficult 
places to evacuate. 
 
Jerusalem Post cited a claim made by the PA Tuesday 
that Israel has been flooding the Palestinian market 
with carcinogenic juice and "suspicious" computers used 
by its Defense Ministry.  The newspaper notes that such 
allegations, which were common under Yasser Arafat's 
rule, have resurfaced in recent weeks in the 
Palestinian media. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Halutz as saying Tuesday that the 
deepening crisis between Israel and the U.S. regarding 
the sale of advanced weapons to China would be settled 
quietly.  Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset's 
Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee, was quoted as 
saying, in an interview from Paris with Israel Radio 
Tuesday that the demand by the U.S. to oust senior 
Israeli defense figures is "illegitimate" and has an 
"element of humiliation."  Steinitz also dubbed the 
United States' expansion of the ban of Israeli weapons 
sales to India and Singapore "illegitimate." 
Transportation Minister Meir Sheetrit was quoted as 
saying, in an interview from Paris with Israel Radio, 
that the argument with the U.S. over security exports 
stems from U.S. considerations -- aiming to prevent 
competition with U.S. manufacturers.  A headline in 
Yated Ne'eman calls the U.S. "friendly but hostile." 
Yediot notes that representatives of Israeli companies 
showing their products at Le Bourget air show near 
Paris are careful not to meet openly with Chinese 
representatives, which they used to do openly before 
the crisis with the U.S. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that, "under international 
pressure this week to open up its nuclear inspections," 
Saudi Arabia pointed the finger at Israel and insisted 
on Monday that it sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty and open its nuclear facilities to international 
inspectors. 
 
Maariv cited the Egyptian weekly Al-Ousbou as saying 
that the Mossad and elite IDF units are behind the 
terrorist attacks in Iraq and assassinations of Iraqi 
nuclear scientists. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
¶1.  U.S. Israel Security Exports Crisis: 
---------------------------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Israel can continue to wage a war of attrition with 
America; but can only come out the loser in such a 
battle." 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Time To Make Peace With the U.S." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (June 
15): "Israel has sinned over the years in creating 
negative sentiment among the American security and 
intelligence community.  The sense conveyed from 
Jerusalem, and even more so from the Kirya [Defense 
Ministry compound] in Tel Aviv, is that Israel has no 
qualms about putting one over on its benefactors in 
Washington, as a supplement to the generous aid heaped 
upon it.  Just as Israel customarily objects to 
American initiatives to sell -- as a superpower and out 
of economic considerations -- sophisticated weaponry to 
moderate Arab states that could endanger Israel, so too 
is the United States disgruntled about the export of 
arms and technology from Israel to countries that are 
viewed as a threat to American interests.  For a year 
or so, Israel hoped the conflict would die down with 
time.  It appears there is no chance of this happening. 
The Prime Minister and Defense Minister must intervene 
directly and put an end to the affair -- both its 
institutional and personal aspects -- as soon as 
possible.  For their part, the Americans must make 
haste in formulating their position in the joint 
memorandum.  Israel can continue to wage a war of 
attrition with America; but can only come out the loser 
in such a battle." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The appointment of Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman as 
one of 21 vice presidents of the UN General Assembly is 
a symbolic advance for Israel, and an equally small 
step in the rehabilitation of the UN." 
 
Liberal columnist B. Michael wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "There is no reason in the 
world for the Palestinian Authority not to declare 
publicly and seriously that it is inviting every 
settler who so desires to continue to live in his home 
as a resident with equal rights in the Palestinian 
state." 
Gershon Baskin, the co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine 
Center for Research and Information, wrote in Jerusalem 
Post: "The most essential element of creating the 
Palestinian state is effective and good governance of 
Gaza first.  It is also essential for the Palestinians 
to understand that Israel will not make it easy." 
 
Gideon Bachar, deputy director of the Foreign 
Ministry's Jordan, Syria and Lebanon Department, wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[Israel] should 
avoid ... the adoption of the anti-Shi'ite Sunni trend 
that characterizes many Arab states." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "VP Gillerman" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(June 15): "The appointment of Israeli Ambassador Dan 
Gillerman as one of 21 vice presidents of the UN 
General Assembly is a symbolic advance for Israel, and 
an equally small step in the rehabilitation of the UN 
as an organization that might positively contribute to 
peace and security in the world.  The fact that this 
step is imbued with such significance is a sign of how 
far the UN has to go in treating Israel equally to 
other nations.... None of this, of course, will matter 
unless the fundamental political discrimination that 
Israel suffers from at the UN changes.  This 
discrimination could conceivably continue even if 
Israel is allowed to fully participate in all UN 
bodies.  Israel's real problem at Turtle Bay is that an 
organization that is supposed to protect innocent 
nations against unprovoked aggression has, in the 
immortal words of then U.S. ambassador to the UN Daniel 
Patrick Moynihan, 'joined the jackals'....  The 
continuing Arab refusal to make peace with Israel and 
accept our existence is an assault on the UN Charter 
and on the decisions of the League of Nations and the 
United Nations that affirm our rights in this land and 
as a member state.  On many levels, including its 
unique definition of refugees in the Palestinian case, 
to include their descendants, the UN continues to 
indulge this assault.  To the extent that Gillerman's 
new status marks a changed approach, it is to be 
welcomed, but it should not be seen as more than a 
small step toward repairing a record that continues to 
undermine the prospects for peace, security and freedom 
in this region." 
 
 
II.  "The Palestinian Option" 
Liberal columnist B. Michael wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (June 15): "The 
[disengagement] plan's obdurate unilateralism was born 
in the framework of its authors' intentions to cause 
damage.... With that having been said, the Palestinian 
leadership still has one option available: to take 
unilateral steps of its own.  For instance, with regard 
to the settlers and their future: the general 
Palestinian approach towards the settler issue is 
featured solely by anger, hatred, bitterness and a 
yearning to see them disappear from view and from the 
horizon.  All those emotions are quite justified, but 
it would be a good idea to propose, even to demand that 
the Palestinian leaders formulate a position that is 
somewhat wiser, somewhat more balanced, somewhat more 
productive.  There is no reason in the world for the 
Palestinian Authority not to declare publicly and 
seriously that it is inviting every settler who so 
desires to continue to live in his home as a resident 
with equal rights in the Palestinian state.  After all, 
an ethnic or religious minority most certainly can live 
in their future state just like minorities live in 
other properly run states.  Breaking zealously guarded 
ethnic purity is one of the best aspirations of peace, 
coexistence and reconciliation.... There is no point 
denying that such an invitation has tactical and 
strategic public relations value as well.  Beyond its 
fundamental human and democratic decency, it will quite 
effectively dull the impression of the supposedly 
necessary 'uprooting' of the settlers and will render 
their evacuation an act of volition. It will create 
another option in the internal-Israeli debate about the 
future of all the settlements in their entirety. And, 
of course, it will at long last put an end to the 
demagogic chatter about 'judenrein' and other inanities 
that are argued." 
 
III.  "Palestinian Opportunity" 
 
Gershon Baskin, the co-CEO of the Israel/Palestine 
Center for Research and Information, wrote in Jerusalem 
Post (June 15): "In projecting 'day after' scenarios, 
it is essential to conceive of a plan that will ensure 
that Gaza 'first' will not result in Gaza 'only' -- the 
biggest Palestinian fear.  So something must be done to 
gain support from both Palestinians and Israelis for a 
bilateral peace process.... It is time to reverse the 
strategy, to embrace a plan for reaching Jerusalem, 
sovereignty and full statehood by working from the 
bottom up.  The foundations for the achievement of the 
end-game goals can be achieved by accepting the Gaza 
first plan.  If the Palestinians can build the first 
layer of statehood in Gaza, the other layers will 
follow with greater ease.  The most essential element 
of creating the Palestinian state is effective and good 
governance of Gaza first.  It is also essential for the 
Palestinians to understand that Israel will not make it 
easy.... The Palestinians can issue declarations that 
the Palestinian state will be within the 1967 Green 
Line; they can announce their determination that Gaza 
first will be the first real concrete step toward the 
establishment of sovereignty and independence for the 
Palestinian state.  I don't think the Palestinians will 
adopt this strategy.  But I believe that if they did, 
they would be taking their own fate in their own hands, 
creating a new and more positive reality for 
themselves." 
 
IV.  "Not Every Shi'ite Is an Enemy" 
 
Gideon Bachar, deputy director of the Foreign 
Ministry's Jordan, Syria and Lebanon Department, wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (June 15): "The 
Middle East in is the middle of processes of change, 
the strength of which has recently been growing.... The 
rising forces include Islamic terrorism and radicalism 
... the Kurds, principally in northern Iraq but also 
increasingly in Syria.... Alongside those forces, U.S. 
military and diplomatic involvement is increasing.... 
The declining forces are first and foremost Arab 
regimes and states ... as evidenced during the latest 
Arab League [summit]... All this necessitates in Israel 
new thinking about its geo-strategic place in the 
region: can it find new allies?.... Among other things, 
what [Israel] should avoid is the adoption of the anti- 
Shi'ite, Sunni trend that characterizes many Arab 
states.  Not every Shi'ite is an enemy; there are many 
moderate Shi'ites who are prepared to engage in 
dialogue with Israel.  Regarding Iran, it is only the 
activity of the regime, not the people and society that 
must be fought.... Sensitivity to the changes now 
taking place in the Middle East also creates a chance 
of being integrated into it and building a life of 
peace and prosperity for Israel and its neighbors -- 
both Arabs and non-Arabs." 
 
CRETZ