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

151112Z Aug 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 005034 
 
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: EXPANDED ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Gaza and Northern West Bank Disengagement 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz's web site reported that the U.S. sees Gaza as 
a starting point in the peace process, but quoted a 
State Department official as saying it was clear little 
may get done in the months after the pullout.  The 
unnamed official quoted as saying, "Our plan is to urge 
both sides to get back to dialogue but we have to see 
how this goes.  You can't script this too much." 
Hatzofe (Haggai Huberman) reported that Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice might visit Israel shortly to 
follow up on the implementation of the pullout from the 
Gaza Strip.  The newspaper cited GOI assessments that, 
further to providing support to Sharon during the 
disengagement, the visit's objective will be to ensure 
that there will be no diplomatic freeze after it. 
 
Last night at midnight, the electronic media reported 
live on the permanent closure of the Gaza Strip to 
Israelis, which marked the start of the disengagement 
(leading stories in all media).  Israel Radio reported 
that several hundred young people, many of them non- 
residents, created disturbances in Gush Katif, and that 
nine protesters were arrested in the northern West 
Bank.  Ha'aretz reported that, despite expectations, 
most Gush Katif residents are still there.  However, 
Jerusalem Post and other media note that 280 of the 290 
families of Nissanit, the Strip's second largest 
settlement, have moved out, and that all the residents 
of Dugit (also in the northern Strip) will leave today. 
Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF is ready to 
evacuate the northern West Bank settlements of Ganim 
and Kadim from Wednesday if the cabinet approves such a 
move.  The radio also reported that many settlers are 
refusing to accept from the army evacuation letters, 
which state that the operation will be conducted by 
force starting Wednesday.  Israel Radio and IDF Radio 
reported that this morning the cabinet voted in favor 
of the evacuation of Gush Katif, the largest settlement 
bloc in the Gaza Strip, further Gaza Strip settlements. 
The vote was 16 in favor and four against. Labor 
ministers backed the measure.  The dissenting votes 
were cast by Likud ministers Limor Livnat, Tzachi 
Hanegbi, Yisrael Katz and Danny Naveh. 
 
Leading media reported that PM Sharon will deliver a 
speech to the nation in which he will supposedly 
empathize with, but not apologize, to, the settlers. 
 
PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas was quoted as 
saying in an interview broadcast last night on Channel 
10-TV that Israel is advancing in the right direction 
but that Israelis should not forget that the pullout 
from Gaza is only the beginning.  Abbas also said that 
Israelis would be welcomed in Gaza as tourists. 
Jerusalem Post quoted PA security officials as saying 
that some 15,000 Palestinian policemen have been 
recruited for the purpose of preventing armed groups 
from disrupting the Israeli pullout.  Israel Radio 
reported that 4,000 Palestinian policemen have already 
been deployed around the settlements.  On Sunday, 
Jerusalem Post quoted senior PA officials as saying 
that the PA is planning to move thousands of PLO 
fighters from Lebanon to the Gaza Strip after the 
disengagement.  Israel Radio quoted Hamas leader in 
Gaza Mahmoud Zahar as saying in the Egyptian daily Al- 
Ahram that his movement will transfer its activity to 
the West Bank and eventually to Jerusalem. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying that 
a meeting held last night between Defense Minister 
Shaul Mofaz and PA Interior Minister Nasser Yousef was 
fruitless.  The station reported that sources in 
Yousef's bureau blamed the Israeli representatives for 
the failure of the talks, citing "their negative 
attitude regarding military coordination of the 
disengagement 
 
Israel Radio reported that mortar shells were fired at 
southern Gush Katif last night, causing no damage. 
 
Southern Command O/C Maj. Gen. Dan Harel was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Ha'aretz that he would not 
have volunteered to implement the settlers' evacuation, 
and that "the IDF was chosen to be the execution 
instrument of the tragedy." 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that Palestinian laborers 
will not be compensated for the loss of their jobs in 
the Gaza settlements' hothouses. 
 
Yediot reported on "bad news for high-tech workers": 
the USG announced during the weekend that the allotment 
of H1B visas for 2006 has been exhausted.  The 
newspaper notes that 800-1,000 Israeli engineers obtain 
work annually in the U.S. through this type of visa. 
 
Citing the Israeli press agency Itim, Hatzofe reported 
on a claim by convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, in a 
petition to the High Court of Justice, that Shimon 
Peres, who served as PM at the time of his arrest, 
returned the documents Pollard had seized to then- 
Secretary of State George Shultz, thus paving the way 
 
SIPDIS 
for his conviction. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Gaza and Northern West Bank Disengagement: 
------------------------------------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "When Yitzhak 
Rabin said he'd prefer to see Gaza drown in the sea, he 
was expressing, crudely, what many Israelis felt." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote on 
page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "In 
Sharon's speech to the nation this evening, he won't 
apologize to the settlers.  They have already exhausted 
their right to protest, and now they are damaging the 
authority of the state, its strength and its democratic 
regime." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "This week will spin Israeli society 
and many of its components ... between despair and 
hope, the latter against the background of the 
consoling words of praise of the President of the 
United States and on the other hand the Palestinian 
celebrations full of haughtiness.  Until now it has 
succeeded in not falling apart." 
 
Prominent liberal author David Grossman wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "We should all take a deep breath right now 
and remind ourselves that, in the final analysis, the 
days to come are days of mourning for all Israelis." 
 
Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in Maariv: 
"Real disengagement from the Palestinians won't take 
place, but emergent disengagement among the various 
components of Israeli society will definitely be 
achieved." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "[Likud 
politicians and allies] can still bring down the 
immoral foundation of Sharon's leadership and 
government." 
 
Editor-in-Chief Bassam Jaber wrote in left-leaning, 
Arabic-language weekly Panorama: " We ... believe that 
the withdrawal plan is one step on the way to a 
complete withdrawal from the Palestinian territories." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Gaza First" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (August 15): "It 
is going to be hot, humid and sticky this morning at 
the entrance to Kissufim road, and closed. The barrier 
has been shut on 38 years of occupation in the Gaza 
Strip and on 29 years of settlement.... The occupation 
of the Gaza Strip brought very little pleasure to 
either the occupiers or the occupied.  When Yitzhak 
Rabin said he'd prefer to see Gaza drown in the sea, he 
was expressing, crudely, what many Israelis felt.  Gaza 
was, as one person once wrote, Israel's armpit: poor, 
densely populated, fanatical, violent and polluted, the 
pool from which Israel drew a generation of menial 
laborers.... With the disengagement plan Sharon is 
trying, in his own way, to live out Rabin's fantasy: if 
we can't drown Gaza in the sea, at least we can turn 
our backs on it.  To feel as if we are free of it.... 
After the settlers' tears have dried, after the media 
dust has settled, what will be left imprinted on 
everyone's mind will be that for the first time 
settlements were removed from what is considered to be 
the Land of Israel.  This step is tremendously 
significant, both socially and politically.  The 
settlers have lost the veto power they once possessed 
over the evacuation of settlements.  Rabin, Peres and 
Barak, three prime ministers who wanted to evacuate 
settlements, were daunted by the immense power the 
settlers wield.  Sharon was braver than they: he dared 
to put that legend to the test, and he did so 
unilaterally.... It is no wonder that the religious 
settlers are fighting disengagement with all their 
might: they are fighting for their status, their 
existence, their faith.  They won't be able to raise 
the barrier that was lowered last night at Kissufim 
roadblock; they have their eye on the roadblocks yet to 
come.  In their view, the battle is over the Land of 
Israel.  In the view of the commanders of the police 
and soldiers who will face them, it is a battle over 
the authority of the state." 
 
II.  "The Dream Is Over" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote on 
page one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 
15): "The goal [of disengagement] was to relocate 
communities that we wouldn't keep anyway in any final 
settlement. ... In his detailed narrative, [Sharon] 
correctly predicted that the implementation would be 
complicated -- both in a political and operational 
sense -- and that a year and a half to two years would 
be needed to complete it.  He foresaw the political 
difficulties he would encounter with the Likud 
institutions.  But what my ear discerned more than 
anything was the statement: 'Don't see this evacuation 
as the end of the process.'  In other words, he had 
reached a decision, by himself, about dividing the 
land.  This was Sharon's divorce from the settlers and 
his farewell to the idea of Greater Israel.  As he 
said: 'We had a dream, but it cannot be 
implemented'.... This morning 1,200 officers will give 
the settlers their evacuation orders, with orders that 
they must leave their homes within 48 hours.  Starting 
Wednesday, every Israeli, whether settler or 
infiltrator, will be forcibly evacuated from the Gaza 
Strip. The decision to evacuate passed in the cabinet, 
the Knesset and the High Court of Justice.  But the 
Yesha Council settlers, the extremists, the hilltop 
youth, the Kahanists and some of the rabbis have 
declared a revolt against the authority of the state. 
From rally to rally, from provocation to provocation, 
from threat to threat, they determined to forcibly 
thwart the evacuation by infiltrating in their 
thousands into Gaza, with the IDF as the enemy.... In 
Sharon's speech to the nation this evening, he won't 
apologize to the settlers.  They have already exhausted 
their right to protest, and now they are damaging the 
authority of the state, its strength and its democratic 
regime.  They dare not lift a finger against the army 
or the police, lest they transform the continued 
existence of the state into a dream." 
 
III.  "Country in Turmoil" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Amnon Dankner wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (August 14): "This week will spin 
Israeli society and many of its components into public 
and private conflicts between emotion and thought, 
between various perceptions of democracy, between 
conflicting understandings of the boundaries of protest 
and opposition, between despair and hope, the latter 
against the background of the consoling words of praise 
of the President of the United States and on the other 
hand the Palestinian celebrations full of haughtiness. 
Until now it has succeeded in not falling apart in the 
force of the emotions that contradict the bonds that 
keep it whole.  The gloomy prophecies that prevailed 
regarding such a violent disintegration have been 
proven false, and now it remains to see whether there 
will be enough insight to restrain the wild elements at 
the fringes of the camp, to overcome the tearing pain, 
to continue to show responsibility and to emerge whole 
from this shake-up that in the past tore and ripped 
apart societies and countries that appeared to be 
strong and united." 
 
 
IV.  "Something to Mourn" 
 
Prominent liberal author David Grossman wrote in 
Ha'aretz (August 15): "We should all take a deep breath 
right now and remind ourselves that, in the final 
analysis, the days to come are days of mourning for all 
Israelis.  Mourning for the personal and ideological 
pain of the settlers whose dreams have been shattered; 
mourning for the fact that Israel was drawn into such a 
dangerous and unrealistic adventure like the creation 
of Gush Katif; mourning for the fact that the state 
brought itself to the place where it was forced to do 
such a violent, warlike and brutal thing to thousands 
of its citizens; mourning for the abyss that is being 
created inside our home, and for the disaster that 
could befall us very soon; and mourning for the 
situation in which we are trapped, Jew against Jew with 
a foreign, naked hostility that stands in complete, 
existential contradiction to our own interests.... At 
the end of the day, the uprooting of the settlements 
and the people is an act in which all Israeli citizens 
have a role and responsibility, whatever their 
beliefs." 
 
¶V.  "A Disaster Foretold" 
 
Conservative columnist Nadav Haetzni wrote in Maariv 
(August 15): "Whatever happens, there will be no 
disengagement.  The implementation of Sharon's plan 
will booby-trap Israel: the more power is left in its 
hands -- at border crossings, in the security 
'envelope' -- we'll be perceived as responsible for 
everything in the Gaza Strip.  The more power we 
relinquish, the more dangerous the freedom of action 
granted to the terror state that will arise.  This, 
'disengagement' -- the false concept born of a prime 
ministerial spin -- will assume its correct meaning. 
Real disengagement from the Palestinians won't take 
place, but emergent disengagement among the various 
components of Israeli society will definitely be 
achieved." 
 
VI.  "On the Eve of the Gate's Closing" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (August 
15): "Sharon can't respond to Qassam rocket fire 
emanating from behind those settlements he wishes to 
evacuate.  The Western and Arab world won't allow him a 
proper response that wouldn't take the civilian 
Palestinian population into consideration.  We have 
already hear the voice of [Attorney General] Meni 
Mazuz, who said that uncontrolled artillery fire 
wouldn't be allowed and that it would be viewed as a 
war crime.  In conjunction with the United Torah 
Judaism Knesset members, Likud ministers and Knesset 
members can still bring down the immoral foundation of 
Sharon's leadership and government.... This would save 
Israel from a harsh catastrophe -- Heaven forbid -- 
should the deportation decree indeed be implemented." 
 
VII.  "Hopefully, Only the First Step" 
 
Editor-in-Chief Bassam Jaber wrote in left-leaning, 
Arabic-language weekly Panorama (August 12): "I'm 
writing this article while only few hours separate us 
from the withdrawal plan, which the Prime Minister 
Sharon described as the most complicated and difficult 
step facing Israel... We believe that the extreme 
right's opposition reflects the fear of the settlers 
and their supporters about the next steps.... We are 
among those who believe that the withdrawal plan is one 
step on the way to a complete withdrawal from the 
Palestinian territories....  We believe that the 
withdrawal from Gaza is for the benefit of both 
Israelis and Palestinians, since no one really knows 
what would have happened if no separation was made 
between the two nations.... Our belief is that this 
withdrawal is an initial step that will be followed by 
many others, despite Sharon's statements that reflect 
the opposite, which we believe are only his way to 
reduce pressure on him from fanatic Rabbis who want to 
keep Israel amidst ongoing clashes with the 
Palestinians and the neighboring Arab countries." 
 
KURTZER