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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 004815 
 
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.  Iraq 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All major media reported that police last night halted 
thousands of anti-disengagement activists at the Peduim 
junction two km west of Ofakim after the demonstration 
departed the Negev town in an attempt to reach Gush 
Katif.  Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that 
hundreds of people managed to infiltrate Gush Katif. 
 
Maariv cited the belief of senior IDF officers that the 
army will have no choice but to embark upon a large- 
scale offensive in the Gaza Strip before the evacuation 
of settlements starts.  The newspaper reported that the 
army has started increasing the number of its forces in 
the Strip. 
 
Leading media reported that PM Sharon decided on 
Wednesday to submit a proposal to the cabinet for 
approval on Sunday, according to which the isolated 
Gaza Strip settlements of Netzarim, Kfar Darom, and 
Morag would be the first ones to be evacuated.  This 
does not match the calendar planned by the IDF.  Yediot 
reported that Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz will 
propose in the coming cabinet meeting to decide, along 
with the vote on the implementation of disengagement, 
to declare a national day of mourning on the day of 
Gush Katif's evacuation. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday, Sharon devoted 
more than six hours to discussions on the future joint 
"customs and tax envelope" for the Gaza Strip, Israel, 
and the West Bank.  He also addressed the critical 
question of control over crossings with the Strip after 
the implementation of disengagement.  The newspaper 
says that Sharon refrained from revealing positions, 
but said, "The easier we make it to cross from Egypt 
into Gaza, the harder it will be leave Gaza for Israel 
and the West Bank.  Ha'aretz cited four options in the 
matter, which were presented by Giora Eiland.  Each 
alternative is supported by a different cabinet 
minister. 
 
Ha'aretz and Jerusalem Post quoted Palestinian 
officials as saying that 30 Egyptian security officers 
arrived in Gaza on Wednesday to help train 5,000 
Palestinian police officers to ensure order there after 
an Israeli withdrawal. 
 
Ha'aretz's English web site reported that the 
Construction and Housing Ministry issued two tenders 
today for the building of 72 housing units in the 
settlement of Betar Ilit, which is situated between 
Jerusalem and the Etzion Bloc of settlements in the 
West Bank.  The site and Israel Radio also reported 
that on Wednesday, Health Minister Danny Naveh (Likud) 
submitted a proposal to Cabinet Secretary Yisrael 
Maimon urging the government to approve building a new 
Jewish neighborhood between Jerusalem and Ma'aleh 
Adumim as part of a construction plan known as E-1. 
Naveh was quoted as saying that the plan is meant to 
prevent 'a Palestinian stranglehold' around Jerusalem 
and is especially necessary at this stage in order to 
strengthen Jewish settlements and security in the West 
Bank while the government simultaneously evacuates 
settlers from the Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Jerusalem police chief Ilan Franco as 
saying Wednesday, during a High Court of Justice 
hearing on the separation fence, the crossings to be 
built in Jerusalem as part of the separation fence will 
actually improve the lives of Palestinians in East 
Jerusalem. 
 
Israel Radio cited a GOI warning to Israelis about 
traveling to Jordan, following information that 
terrorist organizations could carry out attacks in the 
kingdom, as the Jordanian security services have 
reportedly arrested 11 Al-Qaida activists. 
 
All media recall that Mauritanian President Maaouya 
Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, who was deposed Wednesday, is a 
"close friend of Israel" (as in Ha'aretz).  This 
morning, Israel Radio reported that the Foreign 
Ministry has decided not to close the Israeli Embassy 
in Nouakchott. 
 
Yediot cited a "Newsnight" BBC-TV report broadcast 
Wednesday, which said that, unbeknown to the U.S. 
administration, the UK supplied Israel with 20 tons of 
heavy water in 1958. 
 
Yediot led with a report made public by the GOI's 
Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, which found 
that the gap between rich and poor in Israel greatly 
increased in 2004.  Yediot and Maariv cited a World 
Bank index, analyzed by the BDI economic group, 
according to which Israel is the most corrupt (80.8 
percent on the BDI index) of Western states (average: 
91.4 percent). 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "D- 
Day, when Israel will decide in favor of sane, 
sovereign democracy and against messianic zealotry, is 
indeed approaching." 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The 
Palestinians want arms in order to show power within 
their society, while Israel is firm in its belief that 
a rifle that is in Arab hands in the first act, will 
necessarily fire at Jews in the third act." 
 
Very liberal columnist Yehuda Litani wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "This disengagement is not even the beginning 
of a reconciliation process, but rather a move of 
deceit and cunning." 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Can we admit that we think 
a great, great thing is about to happen in this 
country?" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "You Want Trauma?  Fine" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(August 4): "On Tuesday ... teenagers from some of the 
Gush Katif settlements announced that they plan to 
commit suicide on the day of the evacuation.... 
Settlement leaders have not hidden their intentions. 
They say explicitly that they want to 'sear' the public 
consciousness with a trauma so severe that a move such 
as the disengagement will never happen again.... All 
that remains is to tell the 'exiles,' the potential 
suicides and their friends: you want trauma?  Fine. 
Don't threaten.  On the contrary: wear sackcloth, pour 
ashes on your heads, cry out in a mighty voice and 
declare your mourning.  Anyone who hurts himself or 
others is responsible for his own actions -- not the 
army, the police or the government.  D-Day, when Israel 
will decide in favor of sane, sovereign democracy and 
against messianic zealotry, is indeed approaching. 
That, therefore, is what settler extremists should 
'sear' into their consciousness: the disengagement will 
happen, and Israel, if it wants to survive, will also 
seek to continue the process." 
 
II.  "Conflict at a 5.56 Millimeter Caliber" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach commented in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 4): "The 
Palestinians have been warning for some time that the 
Palestinian police and the security services, or what 
is left of them after nearly five years of systematic 
dismantling by Palestinian and Israeli hands alike, 
lack arms and ammunition.  Extremely high-placed 
Palestinians said this to U.S. General Ward months ago, 
and others conveyed the message to senior Israeli 
officials....  In Israeli eyes, this is nonsense that 
shows how deceitful the other side is and how naive the 
Americans are.  So you lack arms?  Says the Israeli 
rationale to its regular partner in dialogue, that is, 
to itself -- you can get it from Hamas.... The Israeli 
consciousness, not only on the Right, which objected to 
the decision to give them guns, found peace for itself 
over the past five years, with great effort and at a 
bloody price, deep within the policy of 'there is no 
partner.'  The objective truth is unclear.  What is 
certain is that anyone who seeks to carry out terror 
attacks does not lack guns and ammunition.  There will 
be enough rifles and bullets for those who wish to 
wreak terror on the roads, just as explosives are not 
the problem of those who wish to stage suicide 
bombings.  What stands behind this debate is pure 
symbolism of disbelief: the Palestinians want arms in 
order to show power within their society, while Israel 
is firm in its belief that a rifle that is in Arab 
hands in the first act, will necessarily fire at Jews 
in the third act." 
 
III.  "The Morning After" 
 
Very liberal columnist Yehuda Litani wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (August 4): "Sharon wishes to create a new map 
of settlement blocs in the West Bank, opposite 
Palestinian enclaves such as Hebron, Ramallah, Nablus 
and Jenin, which will be connected by roads, not by 
geographical contiguity.  Even if Israeli army forces 
are not posted within these enclaves, Israel will 
continue to control the territories by remote control 
and will send in troops when necessary.  In such a 
situation, the Palestinian Authority under Abu Mazen's 
leadership will be weakened even further, and the 
anarchy in the West Bank will increase.... [In the 
future], instead of gradually dying out, the Israeli- 
Palestinian conflict would be re-ignited time after 
time due to the actions for strengthening the 
settlement blocs in the West Bank.... This 
disengagement is not even the beginning of a 
reconciliation process, but rather a move of deceit and 
cunning: evacuating a small part in return for building 
and settling in a much larger part.  The comparison 
between Sharon's disengagement initiative and De 
Gaulle's giving up Algeria in the early 1960s is 
inapplicable.  From the beginning of his term as 
president at the end of the 1950s, De Gaulle knew that 
the battle for Algeria was lost.  In contrast to him, 
Sharon believes that Israel will continue to control 
most of the West Bank territories, and what he has done 
until now in the chess game between us and the 
Palestinians is to sacrifice a pawn or a bishop in 
order to protect the queen's life.  The morning after 
disengagement will not look rosier than the present 
mornings." 
 
IV.  "Why the Long Faces?" 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (August 4): "I'd like to see 
one TV anchor in this country introduce a story on the 
Gush Katif settlers without the mandatory pained 
expression on his face.... The key word here is 
'mandatory.'  The message going out to the Israeli 
public via the mainstream media is that the withdrawal 
from Gaza and northern Samaria [the northernmost part 
of the West Bank] is to be treated like a funeral, like 
Yom Kippur.... The whole Western world is 
congratulating Israel on getting out of Gaza, on 
finally doing the right thing, the smart thing, the 
best thing for Palestinians and Israelis alike -- and 
here in Israel the Jews are doing their damnedest to be 
miserable.... Can we admit that we think a great, great 
thing is about to happen in this country?  Can we stop 
trying to exaggerate and exaggerate the sympathetic 
hurt we feel for the settler families being dislocated, 
and instead start to  -- dare I say it? -- celebrate? 
Yes, there is one genuine source of pain in this story 
-- the 8,500 settlers being forced to move.  They are 
definitely deserving of every Jew's sympathy.  But this 
has gone way, way out of proportion." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iraq: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "As more caskets are removed from cargo 
planes ... America will bite the hands of those who 
sent it to war." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"And Slowly Creeps Death" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in an 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (August 4): "On Wednesday, seven U.S. soldiers 
were killed in Baghdad, and 14 more on Thursday.  Who 
cares, except the bereaved families?  The Americans, 
the world, Israelis are shrugging their shoulders and 
moving on to the next item in the newspaper, on the 
radio and television.... As more caskets are removed 
from cargo planes ... and as more tears run down from 
children who lost their fathers, America will bite the 
hands of those who sent it to war (for those who have 
forgotten, this is was happened during the Vietnam 
War)." 
 
KURTZER