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

011120Z Jul 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004142 
 
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.  Aftermath of U.S.-Israel Security Exports Crisis 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media highlighted the evacuation by the IDF and 
police on Thursday of the residents of the Maoz Hayam 
Hotel at the Neve Dekalim settlement in the Gaza Strip, 
which has become an outpost of right-wing extremists 
during the past few months.  The IDF declared the Strip 
a closed military zone on Thursday at noon, meaning 
that no Israelis other than residents of the Gaza 
settlements were allowed to enter the Strip.  This 
morning, Israel Radio reported that the IDF will today 
lift the closure, with some supervision.  Maariv 
banners: "Evacuation Has Started."  Referring to the 
results of the poll it publishes today (see below), 
Yediot banners: "Leap in Support For Evacuation." 
Hatzofe's headline reads: "Transfer Has Begun." 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that on Thursday, an 
additional incidence of disobedience occurred when a 
soldier told his commanders that he refused to take 
part in the army's plan to close Gush Katif to non- 
residents. 
 
Leading media quoted PM Sharon as saying Thursday at 
the Caesarea Conference in Jerusalem that the Gaza 
Strip must be renounced so that Israel can be built. 
He slammed Jewish extremists who are "trying to 
terrorize society" and "to tear it apart." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday, the IDF killed a 
total of two Hizbullah infiltrators, and that the army 
searched for a third one.  Israel Radio reported that 
the UN called upon the Lebanese government to extend 
its control over all of its territory, to exert its 
monopoly on the use of force and to put an end to all 
attacks emanating from its territory.  Lebanese 
Information Minister Charles Rizq was quoted as saying 
in an interview with Maariv that Lebanon seeks peace 
and that Hizbullah should be integrated into his 
country's political system as a party. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio quoted Assistant Secretary of 
State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch as saying 
before the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee 
that the U.S. has "some concerns" about settlement 
activities on the West Bank.   Leading media quoted Lt. 
Gen, William Ward, U.S. security coordinator in the 
Middle East, as saying before the committee that the 
strengthening of Palestinian security forces prior to 
Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has had 
mixed success, and that their transformation from 
autonomous fiefdoms to a centralized body is not 
complete.  Israel Radio quoted Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) 
as saying at the committee session that he supports the 
aid plan for the Negev and Galilee. 
 
All media reported that IDF troops entered Nablus on 
Thursday after receiving information that two soldiers 
had been kidnapped when they lost their way and entered 
the city.  The IDF later realized there was no basis 
for the reports.  The media quoted Palestinian 
authorities as saying that they had no evidence of 
abduction.  Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday morning, 
Palestinian police handed over to the IDF an Israeli 
citizen who had mistakenly entered Bethlehem. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that this week, the U.S. 
authorized the sale to Egypt of 25 anti-aircraft 
missile launchers to be deployed in two battalions. 
The newspaper also reported that the Pentagon has 
announced that it is resuming U.S. participation in 
joint maneuvers with the Egyptians in the Bright Star 
games to be held in Egypt this September. 
 
A Yediot survey of visa procedures at various 
diplomatic representations in Israel found that the 
process at the U.S. Embassy is "awfully tough."  The 
newspaper quoted the U.S. Embassy spokesman as saying 
that the Embassy is constantly investing efforts to 
improve the quality and ease of its services. 
 
Ha'aretz reveals that while serving as a major general 
in the IDF in 1956, Yitzhak Rabin proposed transferring 
the Palestinians from the West Bank, according to a 
book published by the State Archive last week. 
 
Ha'aretz featured the conclusion of Dr. Pamela and 
Ambassador Robert Pelletreau's tenure as directors of 
the Middle East office of the Search For Common Ground. 
The newspaper quoted Robert Pelletreau, who engineered 
official contacts between the U.S. and the PLO in 1988, 
as saying that President Bush has, in fact, taken the 
U.S. out of the game and has become part of the problem 
rather than part of the solution.  Pelletreau suggests 
that Bush's decision to keep his distance from the 
peace process has its source in domestic politics, 
especially on Capitol Hill. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that President Bush on Wednesday 
directed the creation of a new National Security 
Service within the FBI.  The newspaper cited the 
concerns of human rights organizations in the U.S. that 
bringing down the barrier between the FBI and the CIA 
could lead to violation of Americans' human rights. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted 
Wednesday night: 
-62 percent of Israelis support the disengagement (53 
percent in a previous poll): 31 percent are opposed (38 
percent in a previous poll). 
A Maariv/Teleseker poll conducted this week: 
-54 percent of Israelis support the disengagement (55 
percent two weeks ago); 34 percent are opposed (35 
percent two weeks ago). 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one 
of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: 
"Thursday's operation went quickly and without 
casualties, but the main lesson is that the army and 
the police have still not changed their mentality. 
Disengagement is here." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "How is it possible 
that even those [cabinet ministers] who voted in favor 
of the [disengagement] plan have avoided backing Sharon 
up in public?" 
 
Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The American legislators sought to 
tie the administration's hands and to prevent money 
transfers to terror-backers.  But it turns out that 
even in the great United States, there is a difference 
between the law and the administration's actions." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The End of Restraint" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one 
of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (July 
1): "It took the army time to realize that the people 
sitting in the Maoz Hayam Hotel [in Gush Katif] had not 
come to show their opposition to disengagement. They 
had come to provoke the Palestinians, to create 
provocations and to push the Palestinians into 
responding with violence, to ignite the Gaza Strip, to 
involve the IDF in fighting masses of Palestinians, and 
to enforce their wish to halt disengagement.  Only the 
moment that these provocations began to become overt, 
blatant and photographed in all their ugliness to the 
eyes of the entire world, did somebody decide not to 
wait until the end of disengagement and to get to the 
point right away....  Even the tactical closure of the 
Gaza Strip on Thursday, to carry out the operation in 
the hotel, is before its time.  Situation assessments 
had stated that closing the Gaza Strip would take place 
as close as possible to the time of disengagement. A 
month before, and if possible, even less.... We can 
only hope that this lesson-learning does not boil down 
to mutual slaps on the back.  True, Thursday's 
operation went quickly and without casualties, but the 
main lesson is that the army and the police have still 
not changed their mentality.  Disengagement is here." 
 
II.  "Silence of the Lambs as Israel Burns" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 1): "The 
country is burning and the lambs are silent.... There 
is a principle known as collective responsibility. 
Sharon's success will be [the cabinet ministers'] 
success.  Yet no one has come out in defense of Sharon 
-- or in defense of the decision reached by his 
government, to be more precise.  Even the Labor 
ministers, who joined the government to insure Sharon a 
majority on disengagement, are not standing up for 
him.... Nine Likud ministers voted in favor of the 
disengagement, and five against.  How is it possible 
that even those who voted in favor of the plan have 
avoided backing Sharon up in public?  Are they secretly 
working against him?  Do they want to see him fail? 
The biggest surprise is Ehud Olmert, who used to act as 
if he were the godfather, if not the father, of the 
disengagement initiative. You don't hear a peep out of 
him any more.... What is disturbing at this acute stage 
is the absence of any act of leadership on Sharon's 
part that will show them what's what.  Now is the time 
for him to say to his silent and subversive ministers: 
make up your minds.  Are you with me or against me?  If 
you're against me -- get out.  And that also applies to 
the biggest troublemaker of them all, Netanyahu the 
Zigzagger.  The eyes of the world are now upon us, and 
the clock is ticking.  By the end of the year, we must 
reach the point where not a Jew is left in the Gaza 
Strip.  That is the goal, and that is the time frame. 
Period." 
 
III.  "An American Check For Terror" 
 
Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (July 1): "Last Friday, a subcommittee 
of the U.S. House of Representatives discussed U.S. 
assistance to Palestinian terror.  A new, worrying 
report was place on the desk of the subcommittee.  It 
was drafted by the organization Palestinian Media 
Watch, which is headed by Itamar Marcus.  The report 
says that the U.S. Government funds Palestinian 
institutions that sponsor terror -- in contravention of 
U.S. law.... It was exactly in order to prevent that 
phenomenon that, in January, the U.S. Congress passed a 
special law banning the transfer of funds to sponsors 
of terrorism.  The American legislators sought to tie 
the administration's hands and to prevent money 
transfers to terror-backers.  But it turns out that 
even in the great United States, there is a difference 
between the law and the administration's actions.  Of 
course, the report's data are known to the Washington 
leaders.  Still, the will to create an imaginary 
reality in the Middle East prevails over compliance to 
the law.... This deceptive American move is combined 
with another one by the Israeli government.  The 
creation of an imaginary reality, and the deception of 
the public are needed in both capitals.  Whitewashing 
Abu Mazen is as important to Bush as its is to the 
Sharon family's bureau -- the hell with reality." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
¶2.  Aftermath of U.S.-Israel Security Exports Crisis: 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Arrogance is 
the most prominent feature in the Rumsfeld-era 
Pentagon.  It doesn't stop in Iraq." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"The damage the current [Israeli arms sales] system has 
inflicted on our foreign affairs as well as our 
national coffers cannot be exaggerated.  It also need 
not and must not be tolerated." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Chinese Acupuncture" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (July 1): 
"Israel has two kinds of friends in Washington: those 
who support it unconditionally and are certain of its 
perfection, and those who love Israel in a patronizing 
fashion -- they know better than Israel what is good 
for it.  Doug Feith, who is No. 3 at the U.S. Defense 
Department, belongs to the second category.... All of 
[Defense Ministry Director-General Amos] Yaron's 
requests to come to Washington and to confront Feith 
were rejected.... Accusations hurled at Israel reached 
the President.  The crisis caused Sharon to face a 
dilemma: he didn't feel like talking to Bush about it. 
Sharon needs the President's good will regarding much 
more significant matters, such as the disengagement.... 
Perhaps this isn't just the story of the crafty Israeli 
who sells weapons above and under the table, but also 
that of the arrogant American who does not bother to 
prove, who behaves towards other governments like a 
Wild West cowboy.  Arrogance is the most prominent 
feature in the Rumsfeld-era Pentagon.  It doesn't stop 
in Iraq." 
II.  "Rethink Arms Exports" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(July 1): "Once [Defense Minister Shaul] Mofaz returns 
[from talks with U.S. officials later this month,] the 
government must comprehensively revise its arms exports 
decision-making process.   The damage the current 
system has inflicted on our foreign affairs as well as 
our national coffers cannot be exaggerated.  It also 
need not and must not be tolerated.  A situation 
whereby the retired generals who run this part of the 
military-industrial complex make moves involving 
sensitive, long-term diplomatic implications about 
which they are neither equipped nor mandated to decide 
must be brought to an end.  A new forum, comprising 
politicians, diplomats, economists and academics, must 
be set up and assigned with the task of providing our 
otherwise praiseworthy arms exporters the one thing 
they so fatefully lack: proper supervision." 
 
KURTZER