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

161042Z Aug 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 005054 
 
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 and Northern West Bank Disengagement 
 
¶2.  Iraq 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Last night, the electronic media aired Sharon's brief 
speech to the nation regarding the disengagement.  He 
said that while he had hoped Israel could keep the Gaza 
settlements forever, reality simply intervened.  Sharon 
said that the burden of proof lay with the 
Palestinians: "The world awaits the Palestinian 
response -- a hand offered in peace or continued 
terrorist fire.  To a hand offered in peace, we will 
respond with an olive branch.  But if they choose fire, 
we will respond with fire, more severe than ever." 
Sharon outlined social benefits Israelis would enjoy 
from the move. 
 
All media extensively reported on the emotion-laden, 
relatively peaceful first day of disengagement, as the 
TV stations devoted large swathes of their daily 
programs to reports from the Gaza Strip.  Maariv front- 
paged a personal report from Elei Sinai (northern Gaza 
Strip) by its reporter Eli Bohadana, himself a resident 
of the settlement.   Hatzofe banners: "Gush Katif Is 
Crying."  Ha'aretz reported that the IDF has set a goal 
to finish evacuating the Gaza Strip within 10 days, 
despite the fact that the thousands of people who 
infiltrated the settlements in recent weeks "are 
already escalating beyond what the residents themselves 
deem appropriate."  Leading media reported that half of 
the Gush Katif families are expected to leave by 
Wednesday. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz as 
saying during a press conference this morning that law 
and order will be strictly enforced in the settlements 
slated for evacuation, and that law-breakers will be 
punished.  Mofaz also said that the Palestinians should 
not celebrate at this time, because the army will only 
leave the Strip in a month, a fact of which they have 
been informed but that they have apparently chosen to 
ignore.  Israel Radio quoted Mofaz as saying that the 
defense establishment will decide tonight which 
settlements will be the first ones to be evacuated 
forcibly on Wednesday.  The radio reported that 
physical scuffles between protesters, many of whom are 
staying illegally in the Gaza Strip, and police began 
this morning at the settlement of Neve Dekalim. 
 
Israel Radio reported that, after the completion of the 
disengagement, the U.S. administration will dispatch 
appraisers to Israel to determine the amount of aid the 
U.S. will allot to Galilee and Negev development.  The 
station quoted a State Department spokesman as saying 
Monday that Israel and the Palestinians need to 
coordinate the withdrawal from Gaza.  The radio said 
that the spokesman stressed that the Palestinians have 
an obligation to ensure that the withdrawal takes place 
in an atmosphere of calm.  Israel Radio notes that over 
the past 24 hours, the disengagement has replaced Iraq 
as the lead story in all American media. 
 
Leading media quoted Shaul Mofaz as saying in an 
interview with Al Jazeera-TV that Israel will not cede 
the large settlement blocs in the West Bank. 
 
Abu Obeideh (phon.), the spokesman of Hamas's military 
wing in the Gaza Strip, was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Maariv that Israel emerged humiliated 
from its pullout.  Abu Obeideh said that Hamas would 
continue its struggle and that Ashkelon and Sderot 
residents should continue to be afraid. 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday night, unidentified 
gunmen kidnapped a French journalist who was in the 
Gaza Strip to cover the disengagement.  Jerusalem Post 
writes that the abduction prompted some foreign TV 
crews to leave the area in fear for their lives. 
 
Citing AP, Ha'aretz quoted UN Secretary-General Kofi 
Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric as saying that the 
sponsors of the road map will meet in mid-September to 
assess Israel's disengagement from Gaza and the 
northern West Bank. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Jim Baxendell, a spokesman for 
the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) as saying 
in Cairo that a vehicle from the MFO unit based near 
the Gaza Strip in the Sinai set off an explosive device 
that destroyed it and slightly wounded two peace 
keepers on Monday. 
 
Several media cited the Qatari newspaper Al-Rayah as 
saying that, according to Mauritanian sources, a 
delegation of representatives of the junta that 
overthrew the regime in Mauritania early this month 
secretly visited Israel last week. 
 
SIPDIS 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶1.  Gaza and Northern West Bank Disengagement: 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[Last night's 
address] was the speech of [Sharon's] life, the 
decisive evening in his turbulent career, the blast off 
to a complex operation he had planned and organized for 
two years." 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "[In his speech to the nation, Sharon 
demonstrated] no sense of how to truly lead such a 
controversial move.... All the citizens of Israel, 
supporters and opponents, deserved better." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "After decades of occupation 
and exploitation, Israel has an obligation to be at the 
forefront of giving assistance to rehabilitate Gaza and 
ensuring the Palestinians' prosperity." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"It will take the concerted effort of Israel and the 
international community ... to ensure that the Israeli 
pain and sacrifice we are seeing today are not for 
naught and that Palestinian celebrations are not 
harbingers of a new round of belligerency." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: "There can 
be no doubt: this warrior hero has erased his past with 
a single stroke and will be recorded in all his 
notoriety in the history of the Jewish people." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in Jerusalem Post: "The main problem 
is not that the radicals, who enjoy about 80 percent 
support, will take over, rather that they will easily 
block diplomatic progress and maintain the terror war 
against Israel, damaging their own people more than 
their enemy." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Speech of His Life" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 16): "[Last 
night's address] was the speech of [Sharon's] life, the 
decisive evening in his turbulent career, the blast off 
to a complex operation he had planned and organized for 
two years.... He wanted to convey a number of messages. 
His disillusionment over the hope that Israel could 
hold onto Netzarim and Kfar Darom 'forever,' and the 
recognition of the 'changing reality' that drove him to 
the disengagement.  He had chosen a unilateral move 
because of the Palestinians' obstinacy.  He demanded 
that the Palestinians fight terror as a condition to 
resuming negotiations.... He spoke of yearning for 
inner unity and mutual respect rather than 'hostility 
among brethren' and hatred.  There was also a reminder 
of the coming elections.... On Channel 2-TV, Sharon's 
rival, Binyamin Netanyahu, warned of the terrorism 
expected after the pullout, and presented his opposing 
platform: a demand for reciprocity and keeping security 
matters in Israel's hands, adding 'Don't give them a 
port.'  Sharon's aides commented that Netanyahu voted 
for the disengagement four times, and was partner to 
the decision to build the port in February.  Sharon 
displayed understanding for the suffering of the 
Palestinians crowded in the refugee camps in Gaza 'in 
greenhouses of growing hatred.'" 
 
II.  "We Deserve Better" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Ofer Shelach opined in the 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (August 16): "The speech the Prime Minister 
made last night made one thing abundantly clear: just 
how crazy was the settlement enterprise, which Sharon 
himself headed for two decades, how delusionary and how 
dangerous.  The few and unconvincing explanations that 
Sharon gave for his ostensible turnabout -- from the 
man who called for 'settling every hilltop' and who 
thought up the most far-reaching settlement schemes -- 
to the man who ordered uprooting thousands of Jews from 
their home without an agreement -- only made it clear 
how little thought was behind the entire business in 
the first place.... You cannot help but sense that 
Sharon interprets the word 'leadership' according to 
the single criterion of 'I want, therefore I do.'  He 
has no sense of how to truly lead such a controversial 
move, and how to minimize (since canceling is 
impossible) the difficult implications for the day 
after.... It looked as if the speech ... was made 
mainly because Sharon was told that he had to make it. 
Like the entire move that Sharon led up until 
disengagement, which was mainly an impressive political 
step in its own right and very little of it was 
actually preparing people mentally, it was much more of 
a statement of imperiousness than an act of 
persuasion.... All the citizens of Israel, supporters 
and opponents, deserved better." 
 
III.  "Partners in Unilateralism" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (August 16): "Without 
negotiations -- which have instead been called 
'coordination' -- with the Palestinian Authority's 
leadership, without the determination of PA Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) ... and without the intensive 
involvement of Egypt ... the disengagement would look 
completely different.  It is also impossible not to be 
impressed by the enormous contribution of James 
Wolfensohn, the Quartet's envoy, who advanced key 
issues... After decades of occupation and exploitation, 
Israel has an obligation to be at the forefront of 
giving assistance to rehabilitate Gaza and ensuring the 
Palestinians' prosperity.  Realizing the dream of its 
old-new neighbors is to a large extent also in Israel's 
interest.  And the Palestinian leadership, for its 
part, is facing an enormous challenge, because what is 
needed is not only an improved standard of living, but 
also construction of a security, economic and political 
model that, alongside the benefits it will bring to 
residents of Gaza, will also tranquilize Israeli fears 
about additional diplomatic moves in the West Bank. 
Abu Mazen, who said on Sunday that the withdrawal from 
Gaza marks the start of an independent Palestinian 
state, will have trouble making this statement come 
true without cooperation from Israel, which expects the 
terrorist organizations to be destroyed, illegal 
weapons to be collected and for a unified Palestinian 
force to have sole security responsibility." 
 
IV.  "Sharon Speaks" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(August 16): "The echoes ... of Ehud Barak's logic 
behind the unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon were 
unmistakable [in Sharon's speech to the nation on 
Monday]. Sharon was saying that Israel had gone as far 
as it could militarily under the existing rules of the 
game, so the only way Israel could advance further was 
to change those rules....  Though called unilateral, 
disengagement is thus really an unwritten, unsigned 
agreement with the international community.  The 
agreement says: if we hand over territory fully to a 
Palestinian government, you will hold that government 
diplomatically and economically responsible, and we 
will hold it militarily responsible, if it refuses to 
eliminate terrorism from its realm.... When Sharon said 
that responses to further attacks would be 'more severe 
than ever,' he was signaling that he intends to begin 
acting according to the new rules.  The international 
community's job will be to do its best to ensure he 
does not have to, by imposing new levels of diplomatic 
and economic pressure on the Palestinians that, 
together with Israeli deterrence, force dramatic 
changes in their behavior.  It will take the concerted 
effort of Israel and the international community, then, 
to ensure that the Israeli pain and sacrifice we are 
seeing today are not for naught and that Palestinian 
celebrations are not harbingers of a new round of 
belligerency." 
 
¶V.  "Inform Rice" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (August 
16): "U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, 
according to reports, is expected to arrive in the 
region to offer her support and to encourage Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon while he executes the decree of 
expulsion.  It is very important to offer Ms. Rice a 
modest gift, a file with all the English-language 
newspaper clippings about Israel's situation on the eve 
of the Six-Day-War.  Ms. Rice was a little girl back 
then and she, like the younger generation in Israel, is 
completely unaware of the atmosphere of terror that 
reigned in those weeks, when all the Arab countries 
joined forces to annihilate the state of Israel.... We 
did not initiate that war.  It was forced on Israel, 
and to evacuate the Gaza Strip now is to reward the 
aggressor.  The withdrawal is also a public admission 
of surrender to terrorism....  Sharon is a transient 
phenomenon, just like Bush and Ms. Rice, but we will 
remain here with the awful precedent set by the Sharon 
government.... Sharon is teaching the world that Jews 
can be exiled and beaten, and this will manifest itself 
in the activity of all those anti-Semitic organizations 
across the globe.  Sharon took a step that no one 
pressured him to take.  The road map was the plan, but 
he chose to embellish it and to precede it with the 
expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif.  There can be no 
doubt: this warrior hero has erased his past with a 
single stroke and will be recorded in all his notoriety 
in the history of the Jewish people." 
 
VI.  "Hamas's Hangover" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in Jerusalem Post (August 16): 
"After first treating Israel's withdrawal as a trick, 
Palestinians are now celebrating it as a great victory. 
But after the partying ends even the anti-alcohol Hamas 
is going to have a big hangover... The main problem is 
not that the radicals, who enjoy about 80 percent 
support, will take over, rather that they will easily 
block diplomatic progress and maintain the terror war 
against Israel, damaging their own people more than 
their enemy.  The radicals will also continue to use 
incitement to foment such hatred among young people as 
to ensure the conflict continues many years, thus 
blocking the creation of a Palestinian state.  They 
will preserve anarchy, thereby preventing any 
improvement in Gazan living standards or the proper use 
of aid money.  They will stop Abbas from consolidating 
an effective government.  And they will persuade the 
world that the Palestinians don't want, or at least are 
unready, for peace.  There is an expression for this 
kind of situation, and it is not 'great victory,' 
rather 'from the frying pan into the fire.'" 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iraq: 
--------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It appears that 
the political process being conducted in Iraq around 
the constitution is taking place in a bubble that is 
detached from reality -- in a country where dozens of 
people get killed every day." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Constitution Is Far Removed From Reality" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 16): "The 
[Iraqi] draft constitution offers the Kurdish minority 
some ... concessions that are not all agreed upon. 
Despite the demand by the Shi'ite religious leadership 
that Islamic law be 'the basic source' of legislation, 
the draft stipulates that Islamic law will only be 'a 
basic source.'  The omission of the article 'the' from 
the text signifies a significant and far-reaching 
concession, not only to the Shi'ites' secular faction, 
and of the Kurds who were opposed to a religious 
formulation altogether -- it will also strengthen the 
status of women.  On the other hand, the draft 
constitution is still rather unclear regarding the 
powers of the central government.... Participation of 
the Sunnis in decision-making [which the constitution 
drafters are opposed to] could assist in the 
continuation of negotiations against terrorist 
organizations and, more importantly, would give the 
Sunnis a power of veto regarding the adoption of the 
constitution through a referendum.  Meanwhile, it 
appears that the political process being conducted in 
Iraq around the constitution is taking place in a 
bubble that is detached from reality -- in a country 
where dozens of people get killed every day." 
 
KURTZER