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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 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that the IDF responded with 
artillery fire and aerial strikes to Sunday's Qassam 
fire.  A Qassam rocket nearly missed a kindergarten in 
Kibbutz Sa'ad near the Gaza Strip on Monday.  Ha'aretz 
reported that the IDF is planning more aggressive 
action in the northern Gaza Strip.  Ha'aretz and Israel 
Radio reported that today the IDF is expected to 
scatter flyers in the northern Gaza Strip, urging 
residents to leave the area.  According to Israel 
Radio, Israel demands that PA policemen evacuate the 
area.  The radio said that this was the first step in 
the creation of a buffer zone.  Yediot quoted PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying that the 
PA's policemen will not abandon positions in the 
northern Gaza Strip.  This morning, Israel Radio quoted 
Israeli security sources as denying that the 
Palestinians have rockets with a 15- to 25-km range, as 
had been publicized by Fatah's military branch during 
the weekend.  Ha'aretz quoted Uri Dekel, Director of 
the IDF's Strategic Planning Division, as saying on 
Monday that Hamas is expected to tone down its terror 
activity if it wins the Palestinian legislative 
elections. 
 
Yediot bannered Sharon's medical file as it was 
released on Monday.  The media, which noted that his 
health is on the whole satisfactory, quoted senior 
physicians at Jerusalem's Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital 
as saying Monday that Sharon will in two weeks undergo 
a catheterization to insert a clam shell-shaped clamp 
on two sides of a small hole in his heart.  The 
procedure will prevent the formation of more blood 
clots and greatly reduce his risk of a recurrent 
stroke.  The media quoted the physicians as saying that 
when Sharon arrived at the hospital on Sunday last 
week, he was unable to communicate and was unable to 
make decisions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PA officials hinted on 
Monday that next month's parliamentary elections might 
be postponed because of the ongoing power struggle in 
Fatah and because of Israel's objection to the 
participation of Jerusalem Arabs.  (See results of poll 
below.)  On Monday, Hatzofe reported that 
representatives of the U.S. administration, who have 
met with their Israeli counterparts over the past few 
days in order to discuss the Palestinian elections, 
have demanded that Israel permit ballot boxes to be 
placed in East Jerusalem.  Hatzofe wrote that one of 
the "official" U.S. representatives who have approached 
Israel is former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who is 
supposed to serve as a monitor for the elections on 
behalf of the US and the EU.  Carter reportedly sent a 
letter to Prime Minister Sharon this week, demanding 
that the East Jerusalem Arabs be permitted to vote for 
the Palestinian parliament as was done in 1996.  On 
Sunday, The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior GOI official 
as saying Saturday that Israel is now inclined to allow 
East Jerusalem Arabs to participate in the Palestinian 
legislative elections.  On Sunday, Ha'aretz quoted 
sources in the Israeli military establishment as saying 
that Abbas is at an all-time political low since taking 
over from Yasser Arafat in November 2004.  The 
newspaper cited the belief of some Israeli intelligence 
officials that Abbas is considering resigning. 
 
On Sunday, Yediot cited "confidential reports" that 
have recently reached the senior political echelon in 
Jerusalem, according to which the U.S. administration 
has grown "weary" of Abbas and that it is disappointed 
in him.  The newspaper quoted one U.S. official as 
saying in a conversation with a senior Israeli 
official: "We have gone back to the Arafat days -- only 
without Arafat."  Yediot reported that the first signs 
the Americans were "sobering up" were discernible in 
the actions of A/S David Welch.  The newspaper quoted 
senior political sources in Jerusalem as saying that 
Welch reprimanded Abbas, and that Welch told him: "Stop 
trying to walk between the raindrops.  You are not 
honoring your commitments." 
 
On Sunday, The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. 
Congress has approved a USD 600-million assistance 
package for joint defense projects, in addition to the 
annual U.S. aid Israel receives.  The newspaper wrote 
that the main component in the package, which includes 
several projects that are being developed and 
manufactured by both countries, is the Arrow anti- 
missile system. 
 
Maariv cited intelligence that reached the Israeli 
defense establishment, according to which Iran has 
already started actions needed to enrich uranium.  The 
newspaper quoted outgoing IDF Intelligence chief Maj. 
Gen Aharon Zeevi-Farkash as saying during a farewell 
meeting with Sharon that the diplomatic option vis-a- 
vis Iran is vanishing. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Likud Chairman Knesset Member 
Binyamin Netanyahu as saying Monday at a Likud Central 
Committee meeting that his "defensible borders" would 
include the Jordan Valley, the Golan, an undivided 
Jerusalem, settlements blocs in the West Bank and the 
hilltops overlooking Ben Gurion Airport, the Gush Dan 
(greater Tel Aviv) region and Route 443 (the northern 
access road from the coastal plain to Jerusalem). 
 
Israel Radio reported that on Monday, Attorney Talia 
Sasson, who wrote the report on unauthorized settler 
outposts, sharply criticized the Civil Administration 
in the Territories' involvement in the settlement 
policy in the West Bank.  Ha'aretz reported that the 
Civil Administration, with the blessing of the State 
Prosecutor's Office, has been a key partner in real 
estate deals that would turn Palestinian property into 
Israel's state land.  Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, 
the Jerusalem committee of the Zionist Council in 
Israel recommended that an emphasis be placed on 
developing Jerusalem beyond the Green Line, toward the 
north, south, and east.  Ha'aretz reported that on 
Monday, the Housing and Construction Ministry released 
tenders for the construction of 228 housing units in 
the West Bank: 150 units in Betar Illit and 78 units in 
the Givat Hazait neighborhood in Efrat. 
 
Meretz Chairman Yossi Beilin was quoted as saying on 
Israel Radio on Monday that his party intends to be a 
part of the new government to take office after the 
March elections, even if Sharon is elected to head it. 
 
On Sunday, Ha'aretz quoted people who demonstrated 
against the separation fence near the West Bank village 
of Beilin on Friday as saying that police beat one 
Israeli and one Palestinian protester while they were 
in restraints. 
 
On Sunday, Maariv reported that in a series of 
interviews with the London based newspaper Al-Hayat, 
the national Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, issued 
a call to end suicide bombing attacks that are 
committed amid the civilian population, saying that 
they were detrimental to the Palestinians. 
 
On Monday, all media reported that on Sunday, IDF Maj. 
Gen. Uzi Dayan (reserves) unveiled his new party 
Tafnit, which is to focus on social issues. 
 
Ha'aretz cited statistics for 2005 released by the 
Jewish Agency, according to which the number of 
immigrants from Western countries has hit a record 
high, although overall immigration is stabilizing. 
Some 23,000 people have moved to Israel this year, 4 
percent more than in 2004.  By contrast, immigration 
from North American has risen by 15 percent since last 
year and immigration from France has risen by 23 
percent in the same period. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that "after days of taking a pounding 
in the press," the Israeli airline on Monday withdrew 
its objections to broadcasting the Channel -2 TV's 
investigative journalism show of the near collision on 
the ground at JFK Airport in New York, which involved 
an Israir plane. 
 
Leading media cited a poll conducted by al-Najah 
University in Nablus among Palestinians and published 
on Monday, according to which Hamas was expected to win 
31.4 percent on the vote in the parliamentary 
elections.  Jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti's al- 
Mustaqbal list came in second with 26.8 percent.  The 
official Fatah list received only 17.7 percent.  Some 
media cited polls showing that Fatah might get more 
than 45 percent if united. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "There is only 
one reason for the Qassam rocket fire ... to bring 
about the cancellation of the Palestinian elections." 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the editorial of Yediot Aharonot: 
"Delaying the [Palestinian legislative] elections ... 
would only allow the lie of Fatah's regime to exist for 
a little while longer.  Until the explosion, which, at 
that point, will be inevitable." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Hamas wants to be 
Israel's next 'no partner.'" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "For all practical purposes, it is 
already all over for Abbas." 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Until the West 
demands reformist policies throughout the region ... it 
will be left to wonder why it must continuously choose 
between the autocrats and the Islamists." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Political Qassam Rocket" 
 
Regional correspondent Ronni Shaked wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (December 27): 
"There is only one reason for the Qassam rocket fire 
and the combative statements of the terror 
organizations about shelling Ashkelon and Ofakim: to 
bring about the cancellation of the Palestinian 
elections.... Who is opposed to a security escalation? 
Hamas.  This is not about love for Israel, but mainly 
about the fact that the Hamas operatives are certain of 
their victory in the elections, and fear that the 
Qassam rockets could steal their political victory.... 
And who is the person who is most interested in Qassam 
rocket fire and a security escalation?  Abu Mazen.  The 
Palestinian 'rais' is caught in an election conundrum. 
He fears a Hamas victory, no less than he fears a 
victory of the young guard consisting of Barghouti and 
company.  Only a cancellation of the elections will 
preserve his standing, and therefore an Israeli 
military operation will take the chestnuts out of the 
fire for him and serve as an excuse for him to cancel 
the elections.... Islamic Jihad, which is not 
participating in the elections, is celebrating with the 
Qassam rockets.  Its patrons in Iran and Lebanon wish 
for a security escalation.  With elections or without. 
They want the continuation of the armed struggle, and 
fantasize about a security zone in Gaza modeled after 
southern Lebanon.  Israel faces a dilemma.  A security 
escalation means intervention in the elections that 
will cause international criticism and lead to 
accusations of damaging the Palestinian democracy.  A 
restrained response will project weakness.  Therefore 
the response is measured, even restrained.  In the 
meantime, as long as there are no fatalities and no 
other instructions -- the IDF is bombing the sand dunes 
of Gaza and praying that the rain will overcome the 
Qassam rockets." 
 
II.  "The Palestinians Against Fatah" 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever 
Plotker wrote in the editorial of Yediot Aharonot 
(December 25): "Hamas's might stands out saliently 
against the backdrop of Fatah's bankruptcy.... Free 
elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council are 
the principal legitimate expression of the deep change 
that has occurred in the Palestinians' political 
preferences.  Delaying the elections will not change 
the reality itself, it would only allow the lie of 
Fatah's regime to exist for a little while longer. 
Until the explosion, which, at that point, will be 
inevitable." 
 
III.  "Here Comes the Next 'No Partner'" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (December 25): 
"Israel has no status or power to create change [in 
Palestinian politics].  Israel lost it during the past 
year when it decided to ignore Mahmoud Abbas in the 
same way that it had ignored Yasser Arafat.  Any 
gesture Israel seeks to make toward Abbas -- and it is 
not revealing any such intentions -- would be 
immediately interpreted as intervention in the 
Palestinian elections.... In response to Israel's 
unilateral step and policy of keeping the 'yes partner, 
no partner' option open, the Palestinian public (as 
opposed to its leadership) is making its own unilateral 
move in voting for Hamas.... No Palestinian leadership 
will be able to ignore the status of Hamas any 
longer.... Hamas wants to be Israel's next 'no 
partner.'  This is the appropriate Palestinian national 
response in Hamas's perspective.  Thus, the Israeli 
option will close for a long time, because anyone 
seeking a diplomatic process will have to talk with 
Hamas also.  In the very same way, anyone seeking to 
neutralize Iranian nuclear weapons will have to talk 
with Ahmadinejad, and anyone wishing to strengthen the 
government of Lebanon will have to talk with Hizbullah. 
For someone who is not interested in a diplomatic 
process, it does not matter in any case whether Hamas 
or someone else controls the Palestinian Authority." 
 
IV.  "Nowhere, Fast" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (December 26): "Palestinian politics is 
just starting to get interesting.  Yet much of the 
world seems to be oblivious -- at least in terms of 
actual policy -- to the monumental changes taking 
place.  Every day I read articles in newspapers, 
journals and other places which explain in lofty terms 
how Mahmoud Abbas and the moderates must be helped; how 
he needs to be encouraged to fight terrorism, and how 
what he really needs is a good socioeconomic policy.  I 
say: Wake up and smell the olive oil!  He cannot even 
prevent allies from being gunned down or kidnapped 
within five minutes of his house by dozens of armed 
raiders.  For all practical purposes, it is already all 
over for Abbas.  He may have deserved better, but after 
all, too, the Lord helps those who help themselves and 
Abu Mazen didn't fulfill that requirement.  What is 
actually impressive is how alone he is.  Every day more 
allies desert him.... Hamas and Barghouti, supposedly 
the people's saviors from a corrupt, inept Abu Mazen, 
are going to damage the [Palestinian national] movement 
even further." 
 
¶V.  "Mubarak's Ultimatum" 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized (December 26): "We 
Westerners are desperate to see the political systems 
in the Middle East evolve from authoritarian theocratic 
or oligarchical models to some variation of 
representative government.  That desire suffered 
another setback on Saturday when former Egyptian 
presidential candidate Ayman Nour, 41, was sentenced to 
five years in prison for (what outside observers insist 
are trumped-up charges of) forgery.... So how far along 
is Egypt today -- after both a presidential and a 
parliamentary election -- on the road toward 
'democracy?'  Not very.... For genuine democracy to 
evolve, it needs to be nurtured.  Until the West 
demands reformist policies throughout the region -- 
including a truly free press, accountable government 
and the kind of political socialization that could 
contribute to democracy's development -- it will be 
left to wonder why it must continuously choose between 
the autocrats and the Islamists." 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Prof. David Menashri, Director of the newly-established 
Center for Iranian Studies in Israel, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Israel shouldn't lend its hand to 
turning the issue of nuclear Iran into a problem that 
is entirely Israel's, or into something that 
necessitates an 'Israeli-made solution.'" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Proper Awareness" 
Prof. David Menashri, Director of the newly-established 
Center for Iranian Studies in Israel, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (December 27): "[Iranian President 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's] extreme utterances ... could be 
useful in one key issue -- the nuclear one.  Whether or 
not his attack against Israel was policy-induced, it 
might create the impression that Iran's nuclear policy 
is Israel's problem only.  As far as [Ahmadinejad] is 
concerned, should his remarks be interpreted in this 
fashion, the Muslim world and Europe would be less keen 
to take steps against Iran's nuclear policy.  However, 
Israeli counter-declarations do not contribute to 
solving the problem.  Israel shouldn't lend its hand to 
turning the issue of nuclear Iran into a problem that 
is entirely Israel's, or into something that 
necessitates an 'Israeli-made solution.'" 
 
CRETZ