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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 005734 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Several media reported that PM Sharon is returning to 
Israel today "for the battle over his political 
future."  Yediot and Maariv highlighted polls among 
Likud Central Committee members, which show that there 
is a majority in that forum in favor of toppling Sharon 
at the committee or for moving up the internal 
elections.  However, Yediot found that a majority of 
committee members prefer Sharon to Binyamin Netanyahu 
as the party's leading candidate in the next elections 
(see below).  Leading media reported that Sharon told 
Jewish American leaders in New York that he has lost 
his majority in the party he founded. 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. 
administration has reservations about Sharon's 
announcement that Israel will not cooperate in 
elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council in the 
West Bank if Hamas candidates participate in the 
ballot.  Leading media quoted Sharon as saying 
yesterday at his meeting with Jewish American leaders 
that he had asked European leaders and UN Secretary- 
General Kofi Annan to press for the disarming of Hamas 
militants and the abolition of their charter, which 
calls for Israel's destruction.  Sharon was quoted as 
saying that Israel would not cooperate in Palestinian 
elections scheduled for January unless those two 
conditions were met.  The media note that Israeli 
assistance is considered vital for smooth elections. 
The media also reported that on Sunday, thousands of 
Hamas militants paraded with weapons through the 
streets of Gaza City in the group's largest show of 
force in years, defying PA efforts to ban public 
displays of arms. 
 
Leading media reported that outgoing U.S. Ambassador to 
Israel Dan Kurtzer left the country on Sunday, and that 
incoming Ambassador Richard H. Jones arrived in Israel 
a few hours later.  On Sunday, Jerusalem Post quoted 
Kurtzer as saying in an interview with the newspaper 
that there is still room for "diplomatic discussion" on 
the matter of settlement expansion.  Kurtzer was quoted 
as saying in an interview broadcast on Sunday: "In the 
context of a final status agreement, the U.S. will 
support the retention by Israel of areas with a high 
concentration of Israeli population."  Leading media 
reported that Sharon said at his meeting with Jewish 
American leaders that Ma'aleh Adumim will be connected 
to Jerusalem.  Maariv quoted him as saying that the 
U.S. now recognizes the "settlement blocs."  Yediot 
quoted Jones as saying that his great dream is to have 
peace come during his term. 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz reported that senior officials in 
the PA and Egypt are discussing the possibility of 
reopening the Rafah border crossing, which Israel 
dismantled and closed before withdrawing from the Gaza 
Strip.  Ha'aretz writes that participants in the talks 
told the newspaper that the crossing would be reopened 
even without explicit Israeli approval, in light of the 
difficulties in preventing people from crossing between 
the Strip and Egypt since the Israeli withdrawal. 
During the weekend, media such as Hatzofe reported that 
Egypt and the PA are exploring the possibility of 
reuniting the Palestinian and Egyptian parts of Rafah. 
Leading media later cited Egypt's denial of such a 
move. 
 
On Sunday, Yediot bannered news that reached senior 
Sharon associates, according to which the PA and senior 
Jordanian officials have held contacts in recent days 
regarding the return of 100,000 Palestinians who fled 
the Gaza Strip. 
 
On Sunday, all media (banner in Maariv) cited Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the UN on 
Saturday, in which he stated his country's intention to 
develop its nuclear program.  On Sunday, Maariv 
reported that Sharon told South African President Thabo 
Mbeki on Friday that nuclear weapons in Iran's hands 
are unacceptable to Israel.  Jerusalem Post reported 
that as the Board of Governors of the International 
Atomic Energy Agency convenes in Vienna, American and 
European delegates are struggling to ensure a majority 
for referring the issue of the Iranian nuclear project 
to the UN Security Council. 
 
All media (banners in Ha'aretz, Yediot, and Jerusalem 
Post) highlighted a statement made by the Justice 
Ministry's Police Investigations Unit on Sunday that 
all investigations into the October 2000 riots that 
left 13 Arab citizens dead have been closed.  The 
decision contradicts many of the conclusions of the Or 
Judicial Commission of Inquiry. 
 
During the weekend, major media reported that Pakistani 
President Pervez Musharraf urged Israel to show its 
"courage," and the Jewish community to use its 
influence, to solve the Palestinian dispute once and 
for all," which requires Israel to pull out of the West 
Bank and agree on a solution for Jerusalem that 
respects the city's "international character." 
Musharraf was speaking before an audience of Jewish 
American leaders in New York on Saturday.  He was 
quoted as saying in an interview with Jerusalem Post 
that he has no timetable for ties with Israel. 
Jerusalem Post quoted Israel's representative to the UN 
Danny Gillerman as saying that he considered 
Musharraf's intimation that Israel's presence on land 
it captured in the 1967 war in the West Bank and Gaza 
to be the root cause of Islamic terrorism to be very 
problematic."  Gillerman was also quoted as saying that 
now that direct contacts had been initiated, Israel 
could and would try to "push [Musharraf] along a little 
faster." 
 
On Sunday, leading media reported that Sharon and PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas are expected to meet 
in Jerusalem on October 2, before the Jewish New Year. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv cited a diplomatic initiative to lay 
a pipeline from Iraq through Jordan to Ashkelon, where 
tankers bound for Europe would be filled.  The 
newspaper says that King Abdullah II of Jordan is 
involved in the initiative. 
 
On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that at the Clinton 
Global Initiative conference in New York, Vice Premier 
and Labor Party Chairman Shimon Peres received praise 
from former U.S. president Bill Clinton and Quartet 
envoy James Wolfensohn.  The newspaper reported that, 
"in what sounded like an endorsement of the Labor Party 
and Peres," Clinton called on the Jews around the world 
to get involved in Israel and create a climate in the 
"body politic" to move the peace process forward. 
Maariv reported that the Central District Planning and 
Building Committee has decided to approve the 
establishment of an industrial park near the border 
terminal that is currently being built near the Israeli 
Arab town of Taybeh.  The terminal may serve as a 
future gateway between Israel and the PA. 
 
Ha'aretz cited a message sent recently by Bahrain's 
treasurer, Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa, to the U.S. 
commercial delegation in the kingdom, which said, 
"Bahrain recognizes the need to withdraw the primary 
boycott against Israel and is developing the means to 
achieve this." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the state will allocate USD 1 
million to defend senior army officers charged abroad 
with war crimes, if a bill proposed by Justice Minister 
Tzipi Livni is passed.  The draft law will be submitted 
for the cabinet's approval at its regular weekly 
meeting next Sunday. On Sunday, Ha'aretz cited an AP 
story, which quoted Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark 
Regev as saying on Friday that British police have 
canceled an arrest warrant for Gen. (res.) Doron Almog 
for alleged war crimes, for procedural reasons. 
However, Regev cautioned that similar warrants could 
still be issued in the UK against Israeli commanders. 
Yediot and Maariv also reported on the cancellation of 
Almog's arrest warrant. 
 
On Sunday, Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Air 
Force has dispatched 10 of its best warplanes to 
Turkey, where they will dogfight with other nations in 
the international Anatolian Eagle joint air maneuvers. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday, the Homeland 
Security Studies Program of the Interdisciplinary 
Center in Herzliya and the Maxwell School of Government 
at Syracuse University signed an agreement for 
collaboration on the study of counterterrorism and 
homeland security. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that the "Library of Life in 
the Desert," pioneering software for storing and 
analyzing biological information about the Dead Sea and 
its desert environment, is to be developed jointly by 
scientists from Israel, Jordan and the U.S.  The 
decision was agreed upon last week in Jordan at a 
bioinformatics workshop held by the non-profit Bridging 
the Rift Foundation. 
 
This morning, Israel Radio's news bulletins led with 
North Korea's renouncement of nuclear weapons. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll conducted 
on Sunday among members of the Likud's Central 
Committee: 
-"Should the Likud primaries be moved up?"  Yes: 47 
percent; no: 45 percent; 8 percent were undecided. 
-"Who should lead the Likud in the next elections?" 
Sharon: 39 percent; Netanyahu: 28 percent; Uzi Landau: 
16 percent; 8 percent were undecided. 
-"Should Uzi Landau retire from the race, whom would 
you prefer?"  Sharon: 43 percent; Netanyahu: 40 
percent; 17 percent were undecided. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey conducted on Sunday among members of 
the Likud's Central Committee: 
-"Will you vote for or against the proposal to depose 
Sharon?"  In favor: 47.8 percent; against: 41.6 
percent; 10.6 percent were undecided. 
-"Whom would you prefer to see as head of Likud and its 
candidate for prime minister?"  Sharon: 37.5 percent; 
Netanyahu: 30.3 percent; Landau: 17.7 percent. 
-"Whom would you prefer if only Sharon and Netanyahu 
are candidates?"  Netanyahu: 42.9 percent; 39.3 
percent: Sharon. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "To 
expect the prime minister of Israel to declare a 
willingness to divide Jerusalem and return to the 
borders of 1967 is unrealistic.... [However], Sharon's 
speech, following the withdrawal from Gaza, has created 
a dynamic of reconciliation." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Egypt will make an effort to protect the 
border from its side without creating violent friction 
between its troops and the Palestinians....  There is 
no reason to feign innocence and claim they [the 
Egyptians] tricked us." 
 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Instead of suggesting that Sharon is undermining 
Palestinian democracy, the U.S. and EU should apply the 
same yardstick to democracy building among the 
Palestinians as they do in their efforts to promote 
freedom in Afghanistan and peace in Ireland.  The 
ticket for participation is abandoning the gun." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "If Peace Be His Mission" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(September 18): "'The most important test' for the 
Palestinian Authority that Sharon spoke of in his 
speech [at the UN General Assembly]  -- namely, the 
prevention of acts of terror -- is not separate from 
Israel's actions.  Sharon's declaration that he will 
continue to build in the settlement blocs until the 
final stage of the negotiations -- as he said in 
interviews with the U.S. media in conjunction with his 
conciliatory address to the UN -- is of no help to the 
success of the Palestinian 'test'.... [On the other 
side], the Palestinian leadership did not join in the 
enthusiasm over Sharon's address to the UN, and its 
officials, each in his own style, emphasized instead 
what wasn't said.  To expect the prime minister of 
Israel to declare a willingness to divide Jerusalem and 
return to the borders of 1967 is unrealistic, and does 
nothing to better the atmosphere.  Sharon's speech, 
following the withdrawal from Gaza, has created a 
dynamic of reconciliation that should be grabbed with 
both hands and utilized to the maximum.  The planned 
meeting between Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas must be a 
first joint step toward moving the political process 
forward." 
 
II.  "Of Course, Egypt Is To Blame" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
Ha'aretz (September 18): "'Egypt promised,' 'Egypt made 
a commitment' or 'I expected more of the Egyptians,' as 
Ariel Sharon said in New York, are the 'charges' that 
now comprise the indictment against Cairo.  Egypt, it 
should be remembered, did Israel a great favor: it 
freed Israel from its presence on the Philadelphi route 
and thus provided Sharon the possibility of declaring 
that the Gaza Strip in its entirely had been freed from 
Israeli occupation.... Egypt will make an effort to 
protect the border from its side without creating 
violent friction between its troops and the 
Palestinians.  This is the maximum that could be 
attained under the conditions that Israel dictated, and 
there is no reason to feign innocence and claim they 
tricked us.... Egypt has no less of an interest than 
Israel in seeing that it does not abut a Palestinian 
Hamas state.  But it seems that as long as some 
shrieking politicians still regard Egypt as an enemy 
state, it will continue to also be held responsible in 
their eyes for poverty in Israel and the results of the 
matriculation tests." 
 
 
 
III.  "Bullets or Ballots" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized 
(September 19): "We understand -- and share -- the 
American goal of democratizing the Palestinian 
Authority.  But what incentive does Hamas have to 
abandon the 'armed struggle' if it can simultaneously 
pursue the bullet and the ballot?  The notion that 
Hamas in government would set aside its raison d'etre - 
- expelling the Jews from the Middle East -- and focus 
on social services, sanitation and public health is 
naive.  So too is the idea that once it tastes power it 
will share it indefinitely with non-Islamist 
Palestinians.... Can any true democrat imagine 
yesterday's elections in Afghanistan -- or in Germany, 
for that matter -- permitting the participation of 
armed militias; or an armed IRA competing in Northern 
Ireland's elections?  A genuinely representative system 
demands more than going through the motions of 
elections.  More important than elections themselves 
are the conditions under which they are held.... So 
instead of suggesting that Sharon is undermining 
Palestinian democracy, the U.S. and EU should apply the 
same yardstick to democracy building among the 
Palestinians as they do in their efforts to promote 
freedom in Afghanistan and peace in Ireland.  The 
ticket for participation is abandoning the gun." 
 
JONES