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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 10 TEL AVIV 006972 
 
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.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
¶3.  Iraq 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that on Thursday, a Qassam rocket 
landed 2 km south of Ashkelon, in an area that 
comprises strategic installations, and another in a 
kibbutz in the area.  Israel Radio reported that Israel 
has conveyed a message to the PA on the issue of Qassam 
and mortar launchings, but that the PA did nothing to 
stop them.  Leading media reported that the IDF is 
bracing for a tough response in the Gaza Strip.  The 
radio reported that last night the IDF bombarded 13 
roads that served as access roads for Qassam 
launchings, and that it arrested six Islamic Jihad 
activists in the West Bank.  Leading media reported 
that on Thursday, IDF troops thwarted an attempt by 
terrorists to blow up an explosives-laden car in a 
tunnel on the Jerusalem-Etzion Bloc road.  Leading 
media cited Palestinian claims that Palestinians had 
informed the IDF about the car.  At noon, Israel Radio 
reported that an Israeli was severely wounded in a 
drive-by shooting in the southern Hebron hills. 
 
Ha'aretz, Yediot, and The Jerusalem Post reported that, 
contrary to earlier reports and assessments, Mofaz 
decided on Thursday not to allow the operation of 
convoys from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank next week. 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted sources in 
Mofaz's office as saying that the operation was only 
being postponed.  Yediot cited the anger of members of 
the defense establishment toward the U.S. 
representatives who are holding negotiations with 
Israel on the issue.  Yediot quoted one defense 
official as saying that U.S. intervention constituted 
interference in Israel's sovereignty. 
 
All media (lead stories in Ha'aretz and Maariv) 
reported on, or predicted Hamas's landslide victories 
in the local elections held on Thursday in Nablus, 
Jenin, and Al-Bireh, which is next to Ramallah.  Maariv 
bannered an assessment by Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin 
that Hamas could beat Fatah in next month's Palestinian 
Legislative Council (PLC) elections.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that efforts by Palestinian politicians 
were underway on Thursday to persuade jailed Fatah 
leader Marwan Barghouti to abandon his decision to run 
in the PLC elections as the head of the new list Al- 
Mustaqbal (The Future). 
 
Yediot quoted associates of PM Sharon as saying that 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz would not retain his post 
after the elections, because he would have to pay for 
his political mistakes and his ingratitude.  Yediot 
quoted associates of Likud leadership candidate MK 
Binyamin Netanyahu as saying that, should Netanyahu win 
in Monday's party primaries, the party would quit the 
government.  The newspaper cited the belief of Likud 
officials that, if elected Likud chairman, FM Silvan 
Shalom intends to leave the party in the government. 
Shalom was quoted as saying in an interview with The 
Jerusalem Post that Netanyahu is too soft on the PA. 
All media reported that Labor Party Chairman Amir 
Peretz's campaign manager Motti Morel implied on 
Thursday that Sharon was using targeted killings for 
election purposes, which in turn has intensified the 
cycle of violence in the area.  The media quoted Peretz 
as saying on Thursday that Morel's statements only 
represent the campaign manager's opinion.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that New Rochelle, N.Y., native 
and Jerusalem resident Mitchell Barak is running as a 
Knesset candidate for the Likud party. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that on Thursday, a 
group of Lebanese nationals -- the Center for 
Constitutional Rights (CCR) -- filed a civil suit in 
the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia 
against former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon. 
Ya'alon, who is currently in the U.S., as a research 
fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East 
Policy, is being sued for his role in the killing or 
injury of hundreds of residents of the Lebanese village 
of Kafr Kana during the 1996 Operation Grapes of Wrath. 
Ha'aretz reported that CCR attorney Jamil Dakwar told 
the newspaper that the amount of compensation would be 
determined by the jury at the trial.  Ha'aretz and 
Israel Radio reported that last week, CCR and the 
Palestinian Center for Human Rights filed a filed a 
class-action lawsuit against former Shin Bet head Avi 
Dichter.  The lawsuit was submitted on behalf of the 
family members of 14 Palestinians who were killed when 
the IDF dropped a one-ton bomb on a Gaza neighborhood 
in July 2002 during the targeted killing of Hamas 
leader Salah Shehadeh.  The compensation sought in that 
case is estimated in the millions of dollars.  Ha'aretz 
notes that, unlike previous suits for damages against 
senior Israeli officials, the suits submitted against 
Ya'alon and Dichter will be processed by the U.S. 
courts because the two are currently staying in the 
U.S. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday, the state told 
the High Court of Justice that illegal Jewish squatters 
in Palestinian shops in Hebron's wholesale market will 
be evicted by mid-February. 
 
Yediot reported that Transportation Minister Meir 
Sheetrit and his Moroccan counterpart Karim Ghellab, 
who met in Marrakech on Thursday, at a EU-sponsored 
conference of transportation ministers from the 
Mediterranean countries, decided to resume regular 
flights between Israel and Morocco. 
 
Visiting former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas 
Pickering was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Ha'aretz, which encompassed all Middle East issues and 
U.S.-Israel relations, that the plight of Syrian 
President Bashar Assad is Israel's opportunity to end 
the conflict with Syria. 
 
Yediot reported that on Thursday, Archbishop 
Christodoulos, Greece's top cleric, dubbed Israel 
"hell" at a religious ceremony in Athens. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot quoted Netanyahu as saying on 
Thursday, in a speech to an Israel Bar Association 
conference in Tel Aviv, that he had recently rejected 
an offer by leading Italian industrialist Carlo De 
Benedetti to serve as Italy's finance minister.  Yediot 
quoted De Benedetti as saying Thursday that his offer 
had been made in banter. 
 
Maariv translated an article by Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice ("The Promise of Democratic Peace") 
that originally appeared last Sunday in The Washington 
Post and opposes the idea that ethnic values could 
prevent the advent of democracy in the world. 
 
The results of polls in Yediot and Maariv show that 
Kadima retains its strength.  Yediot's survey predicts 
38 Knesset seats for Kadima (Maariv: 39), 23 for Labor 
(Maariv: 22), and 11 for Likud (Maariv: 13 under 
Netanyahu, 11 under Shalom) 
 
The Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll found 
that 49 percent of Israelis favor the division of 
Jerusalem; 49 percent are opposed to it.  56 percent 
believe that Sharon will divide Jerusalem.  This survey 
also found that 58 percent of Israelis believe that 
Iran's construction of a nuclear reactor should be 
addressed through diplomatic means, while 36 percent 
favor its destruction in a military operation. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Gayer's exposure of the truth should 
not upset Sharon." 
 
Nationalist Hatzofe editorialized: "This time, it is 
not only the opposition that is hurling criticism at 
... the inconsiderate capitulation to the United 
States, which involves very serious dangers to Israel's 
peace and security." 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The 
'revolution of the young Palestinians' in Fatah, headed 
by Marwan Barghouti, which led to the defeat of Abu 
Mazen and the members of his generation, dealt a 
stinging defeat in the municipality elections on 
Thursday." 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Had 
Fatah's leaders been wise enough to integrate the young 
guard into their electoral slate, they would at least 
have had a chance to stop Hamas.  Now, the situation 
appears more problematic." 
Dr. Jonathan Spyer, a research fellow at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "'Unilateralism' involves the 
interaction of two partners.  Those partners are Israel 
and the United States." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Time For New Concessions" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (December 16): "Kalman Gayer, the 
Prime Minister's adviser on public opinion polls, was 
accurate when he told Newsweek that in a final-status 
agreement, Sharon would agree to a far-reaching 
compromise in ... Jerusalem and a concession over 90 
percent of the territories.... Sharon would do well to 
stand behind [Gayer's] remarks.... An opening gambit 
that would leave the settlement blocs in the 
territories fortified behind the separation fence would 
constitute a basis for negotiations with the 
Palestinians over a final-status agreement.  This is 
what Dr. Yossi Beilin and Amir Peretz are proposing. 
But there's no Palestinian leader, not even Abu Mazen 
or Marwan Barghouti, who can at this time give up the 
return of the 1948 Palestinian refugees to Israel in 
its Green Line borders.  Therefore, Gayer's exposure of 
the truth should not upset Sharon.  In actual fact, a 
unilateral withdrawal to the separation fence would 
advance the final status.  During [Sharon's] next term 
Jerusalem will be out of the game.  And later?  'God is 
great,' as the saying goes both in Hebrew and Arabic." 
 
II.  "Sharon Has Surrendered to U.S. Pressure" 
 
Nationalist Hatzofe editorialized (December 16): 
"Following Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's 
demand, Israel has accepted to allow movement of buses 
between the Gaza Strip and Judea and Samaria [i.e. the 
West Bank, first in a limited fashion -- five buses a 
day -- and later freely, after an agreement is reached 
between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.... This 
is yet another inconsiderate concession by Sharon's 
government at a time when terrorism is increasing. 
This time, it is not only the opposition that is 
hurling criticism at the ... move by the Prime Minister 
and his Defense Minister, but also members of the 
cabinet, over the inconsiderate capitulation to the 
United States, which involves very serious threats to 
Israel's peace and security.... As long as terror is 
raging ... this is not the appropriate time for talking 
about 'safe passage' between the Gaza Strip and Judea 
and Samaria.  Our security comes first." 
 
III.  "A Debilitating Split" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized 
(December 16): "The background to the split [in Fatah] 
was a power struggle between the veterans and the young 
guard, a struggle that has greatly intensified over the 
year that has passed since Yasser Arafat's death, which 
created a vacuum in the Palestinian leadership.  With 
regard to their political positions, there is no real 
difference between the two groups.... The split greatly 
weakens Fatah, the Palestinian ruling party, and 
threatens its status as the foremost party in 
Palestinian politics.... This development has major 
implications for the ability to stop Hamas's rise. 
There is no doubt that the younger candidates, who are 
popular with the public, are the only group that can 
block Hamas.  Had Fatah's leaders been wise enough to 
integrate the young guard into their electoral slate, 
they would at least have had a chance to stop Hamas. 
Now, the situation appears more problematic.  The two- 
headed campaign is liable to drive additional voters 
toward Hamas, thereby further disrupting the diplomatic 
process." 
 
IV.  "The Revolution of the Young Palestinians" 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 16): 
"The  'revolution of the young Palestinians' in Fatah, 
headed by Marwan Barghouti, which led to the defeat of 
Abu Mazen and the members of his generation, dealt a 
stinging defeat in the municipality elections on 
Thursday....  The young people, led by [Muhammad] 
Dahlan, [Sufian] Abu Zaida, and [Fares] Kadoura, with 
Marwan Barghouti behind them, pulling strings from his 
prison cell, will have to prove themselves in the more 
important campaign, against Hamas, and work towards a 
victory in the elections for the Legislative Council. 
With their youthful spirit, they are capable of 
winning.  The big loser is Abu Mazen.  He will remain 
the 'rais' of the Palestinians during his term of 
office, another four years, during which he will have 
to take the young people into consideration.  The last 
stage that will mark the exchange of generations will 
come in other four years when Abu Mazen will end his 
term of office. After him the next 'rais' will be 
elected, perhaps Marwan Barghouti." 
 
¶V.  "Strategic Unilateralism" 
 
Dr. Jonathan Spyer, a research fellow at the 
Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (December 16): "Despite the emerging 
contours of what one might call 'strategic 
unilateralism,' its elements are unlikely to be 
adorning election banners anytime soon.  The reason for 
this is because 'unilateralism' involves the 
interaction of two partners.  Those partners are Israel 
and the United States.  The latter, however, has 
interests of its own which necessitate the appearance 
of progress toward bilateral agreement between Israelis 
and Palestinians.  In difficult straits in Iraq, and 
influenced by the centrality placed on the Israeli- 
Palestinian dispute in the political culture of the 
Arab world, the U.S. wants at least the impression of 
motion.  The pressure placed on Israel to rapidly 
conclude the recent negotiations on the Rafah Crossing 
was a product of this.  An Israeli attempt to impose a 
unilateral arrangement runs counter to such desires. 
It would represent the final foreclosing of 
international hopes for the imminent settlement of the 
conflict.  That such hopes were themselves founded on 
an illusion of rapprochement remains too bitter a pill 
for the international community to swallow. 
Consequently, the Kadima party will fight the coming 
elections with vagaries and lip service to the road 
map.  And if Ariel Sharon forms the next government, he 
will hope that the growing chaos on the Palestinian 
side will eventually become sufficiently apparent to 
Israel's closest ally to convince Washington that 
'strategic unilateralism' is the best possible way to 
take the heat out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 
Further unilateral moves will then be presented as a 
regrettable response to an unavoidable reality." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"The international community -- as opposed to any 
individual country -- could exercise the military 
option.... What remains uncertain is whether such a 
decision will ever be reached." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Is There a Military Option?" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(December 16): "Although President Bush says that 
military action against Iran has not been dropped from 
the agenda, it is clear that Washington is not pursuing 
this track at the moment.... Prime Minister Ariel 
Sharon was right in acknowledging that the military 
option against Iran exists.... He never said anything 
about Israel.  He was speaking about military 
intervention in general.  In sum, the international 
community -- as opposed to any individual country -- 
could exercise the military option if a decision is 
made that Shi'ite Iran's status as a nuclear power 
poses an international danger or threatens the 
stability of the world, and not just the Middle East. 
What remains uncertain is whether such a decision will 
ever be reached." 
 
--------- 
¶3.  Iraq: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The nature of 
[Iraq's government] coalition will ... largely 
determine whether the United States is able to set a 
timetable for withdrawing its forces from Iraq." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "Though Iraqis and Palestinians may want 
'a strong leader' ... they look to democracy as a 
system to protect them from despotic rule." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Shi'ites, Kurds Expected to Rule" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 16): "The 
most likely scenario [in the aftermath of the Iraqi 
parliamentary elections] is a victory for the liberal 
Shi'ite bloc headed by former prime minister Iyad 
Allawi ... and the formation of a strong coalition 
comprised of this group plus the Kurdish bloc, headed 
by President Jalal Talabani.... The nature of the 
coalition will also largely determine whether the 
United States is able to set a timetable for 
withdrawing its forces from Iraq.  A coalition headed 
by Allawi and based on Kurdish support would presumably 
be 'security-oriented' and would favor a hard-line 
policy against rebellious districts.  It would also try 
to repulse Iranian influence.  In contrast, a 
government headed by [Ibrahim] Jafari, since it would 
include former Ba'athists, would be viewed as a 
national reconciliation government.  Such a government 
might well restore relative tranquility to Iraq, but 
would also tend to cooperate closely with Iran." 
 
II.  "Arabs Want Democracy, Too" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (December 16): "In Iraq, despite the 
terrorism, a robust competition has emerged among real, 
if untested, political parties vying for influence in a 
real and free political process.  Among Palestinians, 
there is no free press, and the 'parties' are 
essentially armed factions whose power derives as much 
from the bullet - both fired at Israelis and used to 
intimidate their own people -- as potentially from the 
ballot.  Accordingly, just as many have been too quick 
to eulogize Iraqi democracy, they have been too quick 
to celebrate Palestinian democracy.  In both cases, 
however, the popular desire for effective, accountable 
government has been demonstrated.  Though Iraqis and 
Palestinians may want 'a strong leader,' they are 
hardly in the mood for corrupt and brutal dictators on 
the model of Saddam Hussein and Yasser Arafat, and they 
look to democracy as a system to protect them from 
despotic rule." 
 
CRETZ