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151017Z Nov 05

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 TEL AVIV 006470 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank November 13-15, 
 
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2005 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Israeli dailies' top stories were split between 
developments in Israeli politics (Ha'aretz, Yediot, and 
The Jerusalem Post) and Knesset Member Omri Sharon's 
expected guilty plea (Maariv and Hatzofe). 
 
Leading media reported that Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice postponed her departure Monday night 
to work out negotiations with Israel and the 
Palestinian Authority on the contentious issue of the 
Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt.  (Yediot 
headlined: "Rafah Crossing: The Ultimatum.") The 
Jerusalem Post wrote: "That she delayed her departure 
to Korea to get personally involved in the issue was an 
indication of just how important she considered it." 
This morning, Israel Radio reported that Rice cancelled 
her trip to South Korea.  The Jerusalem Post quoted 
Secretary Rice as saying Monday: "A lot of these are 
 
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highly technical issues.  I believe that with will and 
some creativity, and agreement to what the envoy [James 
Wolfensohn] has proposed ... as a way forward should be 
within sight." 
 
Israel Radio reported that a draft agreement regarding 
crossings and movement of goods and people, which the 
U.S. conveyed to Israel, states that Palestinian 
customs officials will be posted at the Kerem Shalom 
crossing and supervised by Israeli customs officials; a 
media room would be set up at the Rafah border 
crossing, as video footage would be inspected by 
Israeli and Palestinian officials.  Should differences 
arise, European monitors would have the final say.  The 
sides reportedly agreed that work would begin on the 
Gaza seaport and the planning of a Gaza airport. 
Passage between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would 
be carried out in the manner proposed by Wolfensohn -- 
by buses and trucks.  Israel Radio quoted diplomatic 
sources in Jerusalem as saying that the Americans would 
like an agreement to be signed today.  Ha'aretz quoted 
a senior GOI source as saying that he expects the 
agreement on the issue to be signed today.  Various 
commentators, notably on Channel 2-TV and Israel Radio, 
said that the Americans are giving the impression that 
the current developments in Israeli politics are 
shortening the diplomatic calendar.  This morning, 
Israel Radio reported that an agreement was reached, 
following a meeting between Secretary Rice, Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz, and Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin. 
The radio reported that Secretary Rice announced that 
the Rafah crossing would open on November 25 for 
pedestrian traffic.  The station quoted Mofaz as saying 
that the role that Egypt played in reaching an 
agreement could be a basis for the future.  The radio 
reported that Yuval Steinitz, the chairman of the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, urged 
the government to reject pressure to sign the agreement 
in its present form. 
 
Leading media quoted Secretary Rice as saying Monday at 
a news conference in Ramallah that she expects Israel 
to fulfill its obligations to put a halt to settlement 
expansion and evacuate illegal outposts.  The media 
reported that Rice told PA officials, including PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying that the 
settlements are contrary to U.S. policy, which opposes 
any steps likely to prejudice final-status agreements. 
Ha'aretz quoted Secretary Rice as saying: "It is very 
important for ordinary Palestinians ... that there be 
freedom of movement between Gaza and the West Bank." 
Hatzofe reported that Secretary Rice has "adopted the 
Palestinian position" by demanding that Sharon agree to 
Hamas's participation in the PA's legislative 
elections. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Secretary Rice as saying Monday in 
Jerusalem that Israel will be included in American 
efforts to advance democracy in the Middle East. 
Ha'aretz reported that Rice told FM Silvan Shalom: 
"There is room to include Israel, and I told Arab 
leaders that."  Ha'aretz reported that Secretary Rice 
praised FM Shalom's efforts to advance Israel's 
relations with the Arab states, and quoted her as 
saying that she expects to hear soon about further 
breakthroughs. 
 
The media reported that Labor Party Chairman Knesset 
Member Amir Peretz forced his party's ministers and 
deputy ministers to sign resignation letters on Monday. 
Leading media say that the move was intended to 
forestall a possible decision by Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon to fire the ministers and to prevent Sharon from 
dividing them by negotiations with those who want to 
remain in the government.  Leading media cited 
increasing criticism of Peretz's moves among Labor 
ministers and his Likud rivals, but also from close 
associates.  The media wrote that Knesset elections are 
likely to be held in March 2006. 
 
All media reported that today, FM Shalom will start a 
visit to Tunisia, his native country. 
 
The media reported that on Monday, during the 
inauguration of the Rabin Center for Israel Studies in 
Tel Aviv, Sharon stressed his personal connection with 
the late PM Yitzhak Rabin, but downplayed the Oslo 
Accords.  The media reported that during the special 
Knesset session in Rabin's memory, Knesset Speaker 
Reuven Rivlin (Likud) offended several Knesset members 
with claims that politicians were still trying to make 
political gains from Rabin's assassination. 
 
The media continued to report on the visit to Israel of 
former U.S. President Bill Clinton and U.S. Senator 
Hillary Clinton. 
 
All media reported that lawyers of Likud Knesset Member 
Omri Sharon, the PM's son, will announce today that 
their client plans to retire from politics after 
reaching a plea bargain over charges related to his 
father's 1999 primaries campaign. 
 
The media reported that on Monday morning, IDF troops 
killed Amjad Hinawi, Hamas's top commander in the 
northern West Bank.  The Jerusalem Post notes that 
Hinawi shot and murdered David Boim, an American 
yeshiva student, in 1996.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Hamas's military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam, said in a 
statement faxed to AP, that "the painful retaliation of 
al-Qassam is coming." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, after a 
delay of eight months, the High Court of Justice held a 
hearing on an appeal by the PA involving 15 lawsuits 
for damages caused by Palestinian terrorists during the 
Al-Aqsa Intifada. 
 
Yediot, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Israel is cooperating with Iran, Pakistan, Egypt, and 
the PA, in the establishment and operation of a 
scientific/research particle accelerator at Jordan's 
University of Balaka. 
 
The media reported that during the weekend, the police 
interrogated Israel's Ambassador to the UK, Zvi Hefetz, 
under suspicion of money laundering related to his 
business relations with Russian tycoon and Maariv 
newspaper shareholder Vladimir Gusinsky. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel is trying to persuade 
Jewish federations and communities in the U.S. to 
finance Israeli aid programs in foreign countries. 
 
Israel Radio reported that today, the state sold a 
controlling stake in Bank Leumi, the country's second 
largest bank, to U.S. equity investment fund Cerbus 
Gabriel for 2.474 billion shekels (around USD 522 
million). 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported on the fight by the Israeli 
music group Coolooloosh's American lead singer, Joel 
Covington, against the Interior Ministry's decision to 
deport him from the country because he has stayed 
illegally in Israel for much of the past six years. 
The newspaper reported that more than 275 supporters 
have signed a petition on his behalf. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank, November 13-15, 
 
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2005: 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Wolfensohn was immediately accused 
of being Abu Mazen's assistant." 
 
Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The most 
prevalent protest [in the Arab world] was over the fact 
that Muslims had dared to murder Muslims, and not that 
innocent people had been killed.  The implication of 
this is frighteningly clear: terror in and of itself is 
not an act to be condemned." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: 
"Labor Party members must understand, prior to the 
unstoppable decision toward which [newly elected Labor 
Party Chairman Amir] Peretz is leading the way, that 
all these attempts are at odds with decent politics. 
Worse yet, a significant danger to democracy in Israel 
lies concealed. Let Peretz carry on with his labors." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Gaza-Style Economics" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (November 15): "Who would have thought 
that ... [Quartet special envoy] Jim Wolfensohn would 
have delivered a reproof speech ... about Israel's 
responsibility for developments in distant Gaza's 
economy?  This happened during an Israeli-American 
dialogue at the Saban Forum.... Wolfensohn was 
immediately accused of being Abu Mazen's assistant.... 
What Israel can do is to send a certain amount of money 
to Gaza, behind the backs of the terror organizations, 
and not through the corrupt PA institutions.... If, by 
means of force and threats, the PA and Hamas prevent 
Gazans from receiving their money, Israel will at least 
enjoy good will and create initial frictions between 
destitute [Gaza] residents and the Palestinian 
leadership.  This is already something." 
 
II.  "The Arab Version of the Amman Terror Attacks" 
 
Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (November 13): 
"About half of those killed in the Amman terror attacks 
were Palestinian Jordanian citizens and Palestinians 
from the West Bank.... I hoped that the blind 
murderousness that had hit them would arouse in the 
Palestinians questions about the justice of suicide 
bombing attacks, but this hope was dashed.... The most 
prevalent protest [in the Arab world] was over the fact 
that Muslims had dared to murder Muslims, and not that 
innocent people had been killed.  The implication of 
this is frighteningly clear: terror in and of itself is 
not an act to be condemned.  The mistake has to do with 
the religious identity of the victims.... This denial 
is that of the masses and of the intellectuals.  The 
contention that it is impossible that Muslims would 
commit such a heinous act and therefore those who did 
it were not Muslims, was understood by the masses of 
Jordanians in its simplest meaning: if Muslims didn't 
do it, then obviously others did, and these others are 
those who aspire to weaken the Arabs, in other words -- 
the Jews.... The [West Bank] villagers are incapable of 
containing the thought that the mentality motivating 
the shahids that come from their midst is the same that 
motivates the suicide bombers sent by Abu Musab al- 
Zarqawi to murder their relatives.  You don't need to 
be a psychologist to realize that admitting this would 
lead them to the mouth of a dark pit, where the awful 
realization resides that those who committed the murder 
in Amman are not 'the others,' 'the Israelis,' 'the 
Zionists,' 'America,' the CIA, but rather the victims, 
in other words, the deniers themselves.'" 
 
III.  "Let Peretz Carry On With His Labors" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(November 15): "[Newly elected Labor Party Chairman 
Amir] Peretz angers his rivals because he plans to 
stand by the explicit promise he made to his voters: to 
quit the government and reestablish the Labor Party as 
a staunchly dovish, social-democratic opposition 
offering a clear and unequivocal alternative to the 
current right-wing government. Labor ministers, who 
have become used to the pleasantness of power, 
apparently hope to dissolve this commitment and defer 
it as long as possible to gain time and weaken Peretz. 
Labor Party members must understand, prior to the 
unstoppable decision toward which Peretz is leading the 
way, that all these attempts are at odds with decent 
politics.  Worse yet, a significant danger to democracy 
in Israel lies concealed.  Let Peretz carry on with his 
labors." 
 
JONES