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

071156Z Sep 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 005518 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
SECDEF WASHDC FOR USDP/ASD-PA/ASD-ISA 
HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA 
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR 
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019 
 
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.  Hurricane Katrina 
 
¶3.  Egypt 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that PM Sharon and his senior 
ministers decided this morning that the IDF would 
withdraw from the Gaza Strip on September 12 through 
¶15.  The decision has to be approved by the cabinet on 
Sunday.  At the same time, Egyptian border guards will 
deploy along the Philadelphi road.  Israel Radio 
reported that the ministers accepted [in practice] an 
Egyptian compromise proposal on border control at the 
Gaza-Egypt frontier after the completion of the Israeli 
withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.  Under the terms of the 
proposal, Egypt will announce the closure of the 
current border crossing at Rafah for renovations that 
will last between six and nine months.  During this 
period, the border crossing for people and goods 
between the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza will be relocated 
to a new terminal Israel is to build at Kerem Shalom. 
Ha'aretz quoted an IDF source as saying that Israel is 
to transfer responsibility for most of the area it 
evacuated in the northern West Bank to the PA.  The 
source told Ha'aretz that the IDF would enter the area 
only if intelligence information indicated a terror 
attack was being planned there. 
 
All media reported that a Palestinian was killed and 
three others were wounded by IDF soldiers in Gush Katif 
on Tuesday, when they failed to heed warnings and 
climbed onto an Israeli tank at the evacuated 
settlement of Neve Dekalim.  Palestinians subsequently 
fired Qassam rockets into Israeli territory.  The media 
say that Israel sent a sharp message to the PA last 
night demanding that it meet its commitment to prevent 
mass parades into Gush Katif before the departure of 
the IDF.  Major media (lead story in Yediot) quoted 
senior Israeli military sources as saying that the IDF 
must leave the Strip now. 
 
Israel Radio and leading Israeli news web sites 
reported that dozens of gunmen stormed the Gaza City 
home of former Palestinian security chief Moussa Arafat 
before dawn this morning, dragged him into the street 
and shot him dead. His son was abducted.  A Palestinian 
militant coalition, the Popular Resistance Committees, 
claimed responsibility for those acts.  Israel Radio 
quoted Vice Premier Shimon Peres as saying that the 
anarchy prevailing in the Gaza Strip constitutes a test 
for the PA, which must respect its promise of 'one gun 
and one vote' in its territory. 
 
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Maariv's Ben Caspit that it 
is hard to understand the delay in the U.S. response to 
the New Orleans disaster, and that many questions will 
have to be answered.  Kurtzer was also quoted as saying 
that nobody had ever imagined that the U.S. would face 
such a tragedy 
 
All media reported on Egypt's presidential elections, 
which are taking place today. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an investigation by the 
newspaper and the human rights group B'Tselem 
repudiates the army's version of events concerning the 
August 24 operation in which five Palestinians were 
killed by IDF fire in the refugee camp of Tulkarm. 
While the IDF claimed that five terrorists were killed 
in the incident, the investigation found that the three 
teenage boys killed are not known members of any 
organizations, and that the two adults killed were low- 
ranking militants who were not armed at the time. 
 
Jerusalem Post quoted Construction and Housing Minister 
Isaac Herzog (Labor) as saying Tuesday that Education 
Minister Limor Livnat and other right-wing Likud 
ministers are harming the country's international image 
by issuing statements about strengthening its hold on 
the territories. 
 
Maariv reported that construction continues at illegal 
settler outposts, and that Agriculture Minister Yisrael 
Katz instructed on Tuesday that 15,000 dunams (3345 
acres) of land be fenced for two flocks of sheep in the 
southern Hebron hills. 
 
Leading media reported that Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz told the commanders of the IDF brigades in the 
West Bank on Tuesday that the army should thoroughly 
check the Palestinians at roadblocks, even if this 
causes traffic jams and anger among the setters. 
 
Over the past few days, the media have been reporting 
on discussions concerning the possible fate of the 
synagogues still standing in the evacuated Gaza Strip 
settlements.  The media reported that, on Tuesday, the 
High Court of Justice asked Sharon to check with the PA 
and international bodies into the possibility of 
leaving the synagogues in place.  This morning, Israel 
Radio reported that the PA is demanding that Israel 
destroy the synagogues or remove them from the Strip. 
 
Israel Radio reported that an Israeli delegation led by 
Maj. Gen. Chezi Levy, head of the IDF's Medical Corps, 
will leave for New Orleans this morning in order to 
coordinate humanitarian assistance to the victims of 
Hurricane Katrina.  Yediot reported that the "Israeli 
solidarity plane" will leave for the U.S. Thursday with 
90 tons of humanitarian supplies on board.  Israel 
Radio reported that 15 tons of food, medicine, and 
emergency equipment donated by the Kibbutz Movement 
will be flown to New Orleans tomorrow.  Yediot quoted 
Shas party mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef as saying Tuesday 
that Hurricane Katrina was a divine retribution to 
President Bush "for what he did to Gush Katif." 
 
Jerusalem Post cited a report published by Palestinian 
Media Watch (PMW), which revealed that that after 
having signed a deal with the U.S. for USD 50 million 
to help with housing and infrastructure, PA officials 
called to launch attacks against U.S. soldiers and 
portrayed the U.S. as an "enemy."  PMW noted that in 
recent days PA religious officials in radio and 
television sermons described the U.S. as the "most 
heretic" among countries and as an enemy who is trying 
the Islamic world.  One of the officials allegedly 
called to intensify terror acts against U.S. soldiers 
in the presence of PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas. 
 
All media reported that Knesset Member Binyamin 
Netanyahu has decided to rethink his strategy in coming 
weeks, after his advisors have concluded that he stands 
to lose the vote on early primaries in the Likud 
Central Committee meeting on September 26. 
 
Citing Pakistan News Wire, Ha'aretz quoted Pakistani FM 
Mahmood Kasuri as saying on Monday that his country has 
had secret contacts with Israel for at least the past 
decade. 
 
Ha'aretz published the results of Tel Aviv University's 
Peace Index poll, conducted August 30-September 1: an 
overwhelming majority of 71.5 percent of the Jewish 
public thinks the unilateral disengagement from Gaza is 
not the end of the story, but only a first step toward 
an extensive evacuation of West Bank settlements in the 
context of a final agreement with the PA.  A very small 
minority (15.8 percent) does not believe there will be 
further evacuations, and the rest (12.7 percent) are 
undecided.  However, when asked for their position on 
an extensive evacuation of West Bank settlements, 34.3 
percent said they would support it only in the 
framework of a peace agreement with the Palestinians, 
13.5 percent would favor it even on a unilateral basis, 
and 41.8 percent said they would not support a far- 
reaching evacuation in the West Bank under any 
conditions. 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Bush administration thinks 
that it is best to defend its precious Sharon ... so 
that he can defeat Netanyahu in the [Likud] primaries. 
But the White House ... fails to comprehend Israeli 
politics." 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized: 
"[Education] Minister [Limor] Livnat, who continued to 
sit at the cabinet table when Gush Katif was being 
destroyed ... elicits laughter in both right and left 
wing circles when she talks about 'not succumbing to 
American dictates.'" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
¶I.  "Bush Is Also Wrong About the Israeli Hurricane" 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet wrote in independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (September 7): "In the most banal 
way, the Bush administration thinks that it is best to 
defend its precious Sharon and even internationalize 
his protection so that he can defeat Netanyahu in the 
[Likud] primaries.  But the White House ... fails to 
comprehend Israeli politics.  If Sharon wins the 
primaries because of promises not to advance the peace 
process in any way, it would be better that he's not 
elected.  And Washington is wrong if it thinks that 
even Sharon can toss aside such pre-election promises 
after the vote.  A wise administration would have tried 
to get Sharon to stick with his earlier statements, and 
would have prepared for two possibilities that are both 
preferable to what it chose.  One is that Sharon will 
win despite sticking to his new policy line.  The other 
possibility is that Sharon will fail and let Netanyahu 
tie the noose of diplomatic recalcitrance around his 
own neck.  If this happens, then even the most junior 
translator of the Israeli media at the embassy in Tel 
Aviv would know that Sharon would embark on a new and 
fascinating political path." 
 
II.  "Empty Words" 
 
Nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe editorialized (September 
7): "Education Minister Limor Livnat showed 
determination and courage by defying the U.S. 
administration -- truly the pinnacle of heroism.... 
Minister Livnat, who continued to sit at the cabinet 
table when Gush Katif was being destroyed and its 
residents were being exiled ... elicits laughter in 
both right and left wing circles when she talks about 
'not succumbing to American dictates.'  The minister, 
who succumbed to the amenities of government and did 
not follow in the footsteps of her colleague, Binyamin 
Netanyahu, taught all of us what value words have when 
she and her fellow Likud ministers are the ones who 
utter them." 
 
---------------------- 
¶2.  Hurricane Katrina: 
---------------------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the 
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "Make no mistake: this is Bush's America, the 
Republicans' America, which rates its citizens only 
based on their achievements." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"In the Distant United States" 
 
Veteran op-ed writer and the late prime minister 
Yitzhak Rabin's assistant Eytan Haber opined in the 
lead editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (September 7): "[President Bush's] clumsy and 
uncaring attitude in the affair of the Katrina disaster 
has won him even more enemies than the many he had.... 
America sealed its ears, its eyes, and its heart to 
that latest catastrophe.  But make no mistake: this is 
Bush's America, the Republicans' America, which rates 
its citizens only based on their achievements.  The bad 
luck of those who remained on the sidelines and in the 
storm condemned them to weakness and worthlessness -- 
to human powder.  The United States is a superpower 
that knows the concept of 'compassion' only from the 
dictionary.... It's a country devoid of compassion." 
 
--------- 
¶3.  Egypt: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Any Egyptian dictator will always need Israel as an 
external enemy to distract the people from his 
misrule.... Our best long-term hope for security is the 
spread of freedom in the Arab world." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Egypt 'Votes'" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(September 7): "The essence of democracy is the 
peaceful transfer of power following an authentic 
expression of the popular will.... The only Arab 
country that can see such a democracy on the horizon, 
despite the plague of terrorism unleashed by 
neighboring dictatorships against it, is Iraq.  The 
irony is that Egypt, though ostensibly much safer and 
more 'stable' than Iraq, is nowhere near to achieving 
Iraq's freedom of the press, to the authenticity of the 
Iraqi election in January, and to the current dynamism 
in Iraqi politics.... Israel, for its part, need not 
care who rules Egypt, but very much which system does. 
We should realize that, despite the peace treaty, 
normalization with Egypt has much less to do with the 
Palestinian problem than with the democracy problem. 
Any Egyptian dictator will always need Israel as an 
external enemy to distract the people from his misrule. 
Let no one be confused: elections are tools that can be 
used to subvert or advance freedom and democracy.  No 
true democracy has ever threatened its neighbors.  Our 
best long-term hope for security is the spread of 
freedom in the Arab world." 
 
KURTZER