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 004950 
 
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.  Gaza Disengagement 
 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported on mass anti-disengagement prayers 
held next to Jerusalem's Western (Wailing) Wall on 
Wednesday, which were attended by 70,000 to 100,000 
protesters, depending on the sources.  Ha'aretz 
reported that senior IDF and police officers admitted 
on Wednesday that the number of right-wing activists 
who have infiltrated Gush Katif has risen significantly 
recently, just four days before the start of 
disengagement.  Ha'aretz reported that leaders of the 
Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories 
are planning to give protesters at tonight's anti- 
disengagement rally in Tel Avi a long list of 
instructions for disrupting the evacuation of Gaza 
Strip settlements set for next week.  Jerusalem Post 
reported that commanders suspended the final exercise 
in the kibbutz of Kerem Shalom (south of the Gaza 
Strip) on Wednesday after complaints that border 
policemen used excessive force against soldiers acting 
as settlers. 
 
Speaking on Israel TV last night, PM Sharon said that 
Binyamin Netanyahu's "flight" from the government was 
"irresponsible."  Sharon, who complained about the 
incitement against him, said that one of the Likud 
"rebels," who was part of a delegation he dispatched to 
Washington in order to discuss the disengagement, asked 
a congress member to prevent U.S. military aid to 
Israel after the disengagement.  Various journalists 
named Knesset Member Uzi Landau as the "rebel" in 
question.  Landau denied the allegation.  Speaking on 
Israel Radio this morning, Likud "rebel" Knesset Member 
Gilad Erdan said that Sharon is making unverified 
claims and accusations against his opponents because of 
recent public opinion polls. 
 
Israel Radio cited the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram as 
saying that Israel and Egypt will sign a protocol next 
week on the handover of the Philadelphi route to Egypt. 
Leading media quoted Netanyahu as saying, in a speech 
to the Knesset Wednesday: "The agreement with Egypt is 
full of loopholes; it is a very bad agreement.  Egypt 
has committed itself to preventing smuggling, but it 
has not prevented arms smuggling.  It is so clumsy that 
it is tragic."  Israel Radio reported that on 
Wednesday, PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas asked 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to pressure Israel 
 
SIPDIS 
to pull out from the Philadelphi area.  The station 
said that they discussed the coordination between 
Israel and the Palestinians prior to disengagement. 
Israel Radio reported that this morning, Israeli and 
Palestinian officers will start managing a joint 
operations room in the Gaza Strip, which will work on 
pre-disengagement coordination. 
 
In a speech broadcast last night on all three TV 
channels, President Moshe Katsav begged forgiveness 
from his "brothers," the settlers due to be evacuated, 
and asked them to prevent a rift in the nation. 
 
Ha'aretz cited research it conducted recently, which 
found that, for the first time, the proportion of Jews 
living in territories under Israel's control has 
dropped below 50 percent, standing slightly more than 
49 percent.  The results are based on figures supplied 
by Israel and the PA's official statistics bureaus. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. representative to the 
UN, John Bolton, visited the offices of the Israeli 
delegation to the UN on Tuesday and held a long talk 
with Israel's Representative Danny Gillerman.  The 
newspaper says that the Israeli delegation saw Bolton's 
visit as a special gesture toward Israel.  The 
newspaper reported that sources in the Israeli 
delegation refused Wednesday to divulge the contents of 
the conversation, but quoted UN sources as saying that 
Gillerman had outlined Israel's plan of action for the 
next General Assembly that opens next month.  Ha'aretz 
writes that Gillerman reportedly said Israel would take 
increased steps to combat anti-Israel resolutions in 
the General Assembly and to improve its position among 
the bloc of European nations.  The newspaper says that 
the two ambassadors also agreed to continue the close 
cooperation between their two delegations and to 
coordinate moves. 
 
Leading media reported that Turkey has detained at 
least 10 alleged members of Al-Qaida, who are suspected 
of preparing to attack Israeli tourists.  Several media 
cited a denial by the Turkish police Wednesday. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Islamic Jihad leader Ramadan Shalah 
as saying that his group will continue its attacks in 
Israel and the territories after the disengagement. 
 
Israel Radio reported that today, Jordan's King 
Abdullah II will meet with Israeli Arab leaders from 
the Negev, headed by Knesset Member Talab El-Sana 
(United Arab List).  The radio reported that the King 
will ask to hear from his guests about their conditions 
and the situation following the Shfaram attack. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Vice PM and incoming Finance 
Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Wednesday, in a 
Jerusalem address to the foreign press, sponsored by 
the Washington-based pro-Israel advocacy group The 
Israel Project, that Israel's upcoming pullout from the 
Gaza Strip is not a trade-off for keeping the West 
Bank, and that the government is ready to resume 
negotiations with the Palestinians, based on the road 
map, after the unilateral withdrawal.  Olmert was 
quoted as saying, in an interview with Yediot, that by 
resigning, Netanyahu aimed to topple the government and 
thwart the disengagement. 
 
Yediot quoted GOI sources, particularly at the Foreign 
Ministry, as saying that the renewed alliance between 
PM Sharon and FM Silvan Shalom following Netanyahu's 
resignation could cost Danny Ayalon his post of 
ambassador to the U.S. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported on a project in which Arab and 
Jewish youngsters get to know each other by playing 
soccer.  The initiative is sponsored by Soccer for 
Peace, a New York-based non-profit organization, in 
cooperation with the Givat Haviva Institute. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that famed U.S. entertainer and 
political activist Harry Belafonte told the newspaper 
Wednesday that he was retracting his recent statement 
on Cybercast News Service that Jews had served "high 
up" in the Third Reich, a comment which angered several 
Jewish organizations.  He continued, however, to 
maintain that Jews had contributed to Hitler's cause 
and that the Bush administration resembled the Nazi 
regime. 
 
----------------------- 
¶1.  Gaza Disengagement: 
----------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: " The 
disengagement opponents' incitement against the law and 
the orders will not sabotage the evacuation, but will 
pave the way to civil war.... This lawless state is not 
the one we yearned for." 
 
Geography Professor at Haifa University Arnon Sofer 
addressed the settlers in popular in popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "Disengagement is Israel's elixir of life.  It 
will be implemented and will return sanity to Israel!" 
 
Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman responds in Maariv to 
Amnon Sofer: "Pressure by Rice and the U.S. President's 
advisers stand opposite the weighty identity and the 
deep connection that have existed for millennia between 
the Jewish people and its historic homeland." 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Paradoxically, 
Israel is today more disengaged from Gaza than it will 
be in a few weeks if the idea of the safe passage route 
is implemented." 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Flouting the Law" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(August 11): "The disengagement opponents' incitement 
against the law and the orders will not sabotage the 
evacuation, but will pave the way to civil war.  Anyone 
who objects to the evacuation may express his opinion 
and speak out against it loudly, as well as point to 
the risks he thinks it entails.  Democracy is tested by 
the freedom it grants to express opinions that others 
see as upsetting and diverging from the proper path.... 
But freedom of expression does not mean freedom of 
incitement.  Freedom of protest does not include 
freedom of incitement to disobey the law, nor the right 
to stop democratic processes at the Kissufim road 
[leading to Gush Katif].  This lawless state is not the 
one we yearned for." 
 
II.  "You're Leading Us to Another Catastrophe" 
 
Geography Professor at Haifa University Arnon Sofer 
addressed the settlers in popular, pluralist Maariv 
(August 11): "You know that we Jews represent a 
minority in the Land of Israel [Israel, including the 
territories].  Even if we adopt fallacious demographic 
research conducted by some of your friends in the U.S., 
we'll be a minority in less than ten years.... The fact 
that you turn a blind eye to this key fact is a 
crime!.... Your fight for Gush Katif and settlements 
beyond the separation line [from the Palestinians] is 
sterile and useless.  Israel will have to separate from 
the West Bank.  This is clear to everyone who ... has 
listened to Condoleezza Rice and the U.S. President's 
advisers.... The worst price, which nears a 
catastrophe, is the loss of Jerusalem.  Your talk about 
Jerusalem being your foremost interest ... is empty.... 
Secondly, you are turning Israel into a third-world 
state.  Israel's infrastructure is crumbling because 
you have paved over 1,000 km of sterile by-pass roads 
in the territories.... Disengagement is Israel's elixir 
of life.  It will be implemented and will return sanity 
to Israel!" 
 
III.  "We Are Zionism's Success Story" 
Settler leader Bentzi Lieberman responds in Maariv to 
Amnon Sofer (August 11): "[Sharon] has managed to have 
his plan passed by the government and Knesset by 
manipulating the law, using proscribed methods of 
threats, dismissals, bribery, and dubious appointments. 
Does this contravene the essence of democracy?  So 
What?  Shall we sacrifice all values on the altar of 
democracy?.... Our entire strength lies in the Jewish 
nation's firm right to establish a Jewish state in the 
homeland.... Pressure by Rice and the U.S. President's 
advisers stand opposite the weighty identity and the 
deep connection that have existed for millennia between 
the Jewish people and its historic homeland." 
 
IV.  "Regret's Brother" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Guy Bechor, a lecturer 
at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 11): "It 
has been decided to operate the safe passage route 
between Gaza and Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] 
via Kiryat Gat 'as of now with escort convoys'....  If 
the idea of the safe passage does take on flesh, then 
in the framework of 'disengagement,' Israel will better 
'connect' with the Palestinians from Gaza.  The latter 
will stand in line to cross into the West Bank, from 
where they will go straight into Israel -- since the 
separation fence is still incomplete.  Paradoxically, 
Israel is today more disengaged from Gaza than it will 
be in a few weeks if the idea of the safe passage route 
is implemented.  Masses of Palestinians fleeing Gaza 
for Israel is a scenario that is obvious and expected, 
since the Third World, where the GDP is USD 900, as it 
is in Gaza, always aspires to get to the First World, 
where the GDP is USD 17,500, as it is in Israel.  In 
wake of the job seekers from the Gaza Strip, terror is 
liable to follow.... Of the hastiness with which 
decisions are made at this time, a Palestinian proverb 
says: 'Haste is the brother of regret.'" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Defense commentator Reuven Pedhazur opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It is ... 
reasonable to assume that if the ayatollahs control 
nuclear weapons, they will arrive at a 'rational' 
conclusion." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"After Iran Joins the Club" 
 
Defense commentator Reuven Pedhazur opined in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 11): "There 
are many in Israel who claim that, unlike the 
superpowers' decision-makers, the ayatollahs are not 
rational and therefore one cannot rely on the 
possibility of deterring them from using the bomb. 
From there it is a short distance to promoting the idea 
of attacking Iran's nuclear facilities.... However, it 
is more reasonable to assume that if the ayatollahs 
control nuclear weapons, they will arrive at a 
'rational' conclusion.  That is what happened in the 
case of India and Pakistan, which joined the nuclear 
club in 1998, much later than many other nations. 
Since then, the leaders of both countries -- whose 
prolonged dispute has already led to three wars -- have 
behaved extremely cautiously with regard to any use of 
military power.  It is reasonable to assume that, at 
the moment of nuclear truth, Iran's considerations will 
be identical.... Even Khomeini was not prepared to pay 
with the lives of his citizens that were being taken by 
the Iraqi missiles.  The price that nuclear weapons 
could exact from the Iranians is, of course, infinitely 
steeper and it can be assumed that no Iranian leader 
would be prepared to pay it simply in order to kill 
'Zionist infidels.'" 
 
KURTZER