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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 TEL AVIV 004304 
 
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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¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  London Bombings 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Israel Radio reported that on Monday, the delegation of 
senior Israeli officials to Washington officially 
presented Israel's disengagement-related aid request to 
the U.S. administration.  The radio cited a White House 
announcement, which said that President Bush admires PM 
Sharon's courageous leadership and that the 
disengagement decision opens new opportunities. 
 
Maariv and Jerusalem Post cited the news agency AP as 
saying that it had misquoted British Tony Blair's 
comment in an interview with BBC Radio 4, in which he 
allegedly linked the July 7 London bombings with the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Yediot, Maariv, and 
Hatzofe cited the German weekly Bild Am Sonntag, which 
quoted Mossad sources in Tel Aviv as saying that the 
Mossad suspects a link between the London bombings and 
the 2003 bombing of the Mike's Place pub next to the 
U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.  According to the sources, 
the same type of explosives was used in both cases. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that the diplomatic- 
security cabinet will today discuss the establishment 
of a new border crossing between Israel, Egypt, and the 
Gaza Strip.  According to Ha'aretz, the new 
installation would be the first step of Israel's 
decision to withdraw from the Philadelphi route. 
Israel Radio reported that the chairman of the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yuval 
Steinitz (Likud), and Knesset Member Dani Yatom (Labor) 
will this morning submit a petition to the High Court 
of Justice against the government and the attorney 
general on the issue of the stationing of Egyptian 
forces on the Philadelphi Road. Citing the opinions of 
senior jurists, they will ask the court to order the 
government to submit the changes in the peace treaty 
with Egypt to the Knesset. 
 
Ha'aretz cited news agency reports, according to which 
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana criticized Israel 
on Monday for the fence it is building around 
Jerusalem, and Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei said it made 
a farce of efforts to restart the peace process. 
Leading media quoted Minister Haim Ramon (Labor) as 
saying on Monday that the Jerusalem fence is meant to 
ensure a Jewish majority in the capital, as well as to 
keep out terrorists, contradicting government 
statements that it is only a temporary measure. 
Leading media (banners in Yediot and Maariv) reported 
that Jerusalem's Central Bus Station was completely 
evacuated last night after suspected disengagement 
opponents placed a fake explosive charge in the 
building.  Hatzofe quoted right-wing sources as saying 
that agent provocateurs had placed the bomb.  Ha'aretz 
reported that one of the recommendations of an IDF 
document, which can be described as the army's "code of 
ethics" for the disengagement, is that security forces 
be allowed to open fire on evacuation opponents who 
endanger the lives of the soldiers and police only when 
"all else has failed." 
 
Ha'aretz quoted FM Silvan Shalom as saying before the 
Tel Aviv Commercial Industrial Club on Friday that the 
Foreign Ministry will strengthen its efforts aimed at 
normalizing relations with Arab and Muslim countries 
following disengagement.  The newspaper says that the 
Gulf states, Pakistan, and Indonesia are among the 
countries the Foreign Ministry hopes will show 
increased openness toward Israel following the pullout 
from Gaza and northern West Bank.  Yediot reported that 
Foreign Ministry Director-General Ron Prosor and Yaki 
Dayan, the head of the ministry's political desk, made 
a confidential visit to Morocco last week to discuss 
the resumption of bilateral diplomatic relations and a 
possible visit by FM Shalom to Morocco. 
 
Leading media reported that on Monday, the Knesset 
passed a law, according to which assassinated tourism 
minister Rehavam Zeevi, who headed the far Right 
Moledet party, is to have his legacy memorialized 
through the work of a public institution.  The law was 
approved in a 43-15 vote initiated by Moledet Knesset 
Member Aryeh Eldad and co-signed by more than 40 
Knesset members.  The legislation sparked a furor in 
the Knesset over the idea that the state would finance 
a center to spread Zeevi's idea of transferring Arabs 
out of the Land of Israel (i.e. Israel, including the 
territories). 
 
Leading media cited a report submitted on Monday by the 
Jewish People Policy Planning Institute to the 
Knesset's Immigration and Absorption Committee, 
according to which, in 2006, for the first time since 
the state's establishment, the number of Jews living in 
Israel will exceed the number of Jews in the U.S. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Javier Solana as denying, in an 
interview with the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, that the EU 
is conducting talks with Hamas. 
 
Israel Radio reported that two soldiers were lightly 
wounded today in the Gaza Strip when a bomb exploded at 
the settlement of Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif. 
Yediot reported that Israel has started developing a 
missile to be used against long-range rockets in 
possession of Hizbullah. 
Ha'aretz reported that over 400 immigrants will leave 
North America tonight for Israel on two specially 
chartered El Al flights.  These are the first of eight 
flights of immigrants due to leave North America before 
the end of this year. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "When Tony Blair 
cites the conflict in the Middle East ('the Israeli 
occupation,' of course) as one of the three reasons for 
Islamic terror, he is no different from your common 
anti-Semite." 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz: "It is time for 
a second Balfour-type declaration -- a declaration that 
will recognize both the rights of the Palestinians in 
this land and the right to existence of Israel as the 
national home of the Jewish people.  Tony Blair is the 
only statesman who can make this new declaration." 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "When [the Palestinians] 
change their minds, and conduct flexible negotiations, 
the fence, and not only the Green Line, will be the 
foundation ... for a permanent frontier, because the 
fence is much more than just a fence." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Mistaken Culprits" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (July 12): "When 
Tony Blair cites the conflict in the Middle East ('the 
Israeli occupation,' of course) as one of the three 
reasons for Islamic terror, he is no different from 
your common anti-Semite.  The vast majority of Arab 
affairs scholars and experts define global terror as a 
clash of civilizations.  Religion versus progress, the 
forces of darkness against the forces of light, poverty 
versus affluence -- that sort of thing.  Even after 
attacks more horrific than those in London -- New York 
and Madrid come to mind -- no one dragged the Jews into 
it.  Oh, and Mr. Blair: with millions of Muslims in 
Europe, and England in particular, constituting a 
hothouse for mega-terror, how come you haven't taken 
minimal steps to guarantee the safety of your people? 
After screwing up like that, isn't it customary in your 
country to step down?" 
 
II.  "Blair's Third Way" 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz (July 12): 
"Between the unacceptable route of the status quo [in 
Israeli-Palestinian relations] and the current 
treacherous route of the final-status agreement, 
[British Prime Minister Tony] Blair must carve out a 
third way.... It was the Balfour Declaration that gave 
shape to this land in the 20th century.  Although many 
Arabs and not a few British citizens had reservations 
about it, it had a deep moral basis.  And now it is 
time for a second Balfour-type declaration -- a 
declaration that will recognize both the rights of the 
Palestinians in this land and the right to existence of 
Israel as the national home of the Jewish people.  Tony 
Blair is the only statesman who can make this new 
declaration.  If he phrases it well and if he proceeds 
cautiously along the drawn-out process of realizing it, 
the imprint he will make in this land will be deep -- a 
true British seal of realistic morality." 
 
III.  "Separation and Fence Refuseniks" 
 
Veteran print and TV journalist Dan Margalit wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (July 12): "No Israeli Arab 
... would prefer to be a member of the opposition to 
Yasser Arafat or Abu Mazen in Ramallah instead of a 
Knesset member in Jerusalem opposing Ehud Barak and 
Ariel Sharon.  Everybody knows that.  Now it emerges 
that many Palestinians feel just like the Israeli 
Arabs. About 55,000 of them were given a golden 
opportunity to free themselves from the crushing, 
oppressive occupation and to link up with their 
brothers in the West Bank.... True, it is not 
enough.... But lo and behold, with the help of the 
separation fence, we are beginning to dismantle the 
occupation, not only in Gush Katif, but also in the 
capital.... The [Jerusalem Envelope] fence, which [Vice 
Prime Minister Ehud] Olmert submitted to the government 
[on Monday] is the fruit of integrated, balanced 
thought, which effectively protects Israeli lives 
against Palestinian terrorism, while giving a more 
durable status to a judicious, unilateral political 
aim, which will exist so long as the Palestinians do 
not seriously mean what they say.   In the future, when 
they change their minds, and conduct flexible 
negotiations, the fence, and not only the Green Line, 
will be the foundation ... for a permanent frontier, 
because the fence is much more than just a fence." 
 
 
-------------------- 
¶2.  London Bombings: 
-------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in nationalist, Orthodox 
Hatzofe: "The West fears that extremist terror groups 
might lay their hands on a 'nuclear suitcase' -- 
commonly dubbed 'dirty bombs' -- but it turns out that 
the West has very good reasons to worry even before 
those weapons are being used." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Wretchedness of the West" 
 
Columnist Shaul Schiff wrote in nationalist, Orthodox 
Hatzofe (July 12): "Britain's conduct in the wake of 
the London bombings is plainly shameful.  A power that 
is a G-8 member, with intelligence services that are 
considered excellent, sophisticated weapons, and so on, 
is unable to rescue victims from the underground in a 
reasonable amount of time.  But it should be obvious to 
all that when Al-Qaida or one of its branches decided 
to hit Britain, it would go straight for its soft 
underbelly.... What is most worrisome in this whole 
affair is that there was no prior warning of the 
possibility of an attack.  This means that all the 
intelligence forces of the West working jointly in the 
fight against terror haven't yet succeeded in 
penetrating the centers of radical Islam in order to 
obtain information about the movement of people and the 
possible movement of terrorists.... The West fears that 
extremist terror groups might lay their hands on a 
'nuclear suitcase' -- commonly dubbed 'dirty bombs' -- 
but it turns out that the West has very good reasons to 
worry even before those weapons are being used." 
 
KURTZER