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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000289 
 
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 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported (banners in all newspapers, except 
Maariv) the suicide bombing that took place near Tel 
Aviv's old central bus station on Thursday afternoon. 
Around 30 people were wounded -- one is in serious 
condition, and five others sustained moderate wounds. 
An Islamic Jihad cell in Nablus claimed responsibility 
for the attack.  The Jerusalem Post reported that a PA 
official told the newspaper that Islamic Jihad wants to 
embarrass the PA and Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas 
ahead of Wednesday's legislative elections.   Major 
media reported that on Thursday, Defense Minister Shaul 
Mofaz accused Iran of funding the bombing and Islamic 
Jihad headquarters in Damascus of ordering it.  Media 
reported that Israel has already given details of the 
intelligence behind Mofaz's statements to the U.S., EU, 
and Egypt.  Leading media reported that PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, calling 
it a "despicable act of terror that was carried out 
outside the Palestinian consensus."  Israel Radio 
reported that Egypt and Jordan also condemned the 
attack.  The station reported that the White House and 
State Department condemned the bombing.  The radio 
reported that White House Press Secretary Scott 
McClellan and State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack 
called upon the PA to do everything it can to dismantle 
the terrorist infrastructure. 
 
Maariv bannered its poll that found that over 50 
percent of the Israeli public favor a new unilateral 
withdrawal from settlements in the West Bank (see 
below). 
 
Kadima Knesset candidate and former Shin Bet head Avi 
Dichter was quoted as saying in an interview with The 
Jerusalem Post that Kadima will not lead Israel to a 
unilateral withdrawal from the West Bank and that it is 
in no hurry to make territorial concessions to the 
Palestinians.  The Jerusalem Post quoted a source close 
to Olmert as saying that he is set to make a "dramatic 
speech" at the Herzliya Conference on Tuesday night. 
Israel Radio cited the United Arab Emirates newspaper 
Al-Bayan as saying that Egyptian FM Ahmed Ali Abu el- 
Gheit and Israeli FM Tzipi Livni spoke on the phone on 
Thursday.  Abu el-Gheit reportedly told Livni that the 
degradation of Israeli-Palestinian relations must be 
curbed and that confidence must be built between the 
parties.  Livni reportedly said that she is prepared to 
act with Egypt and the Palestinians in order to resume 
the diplomatic process in the region. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz 
decided on Thursday at a meeting with army and police 
officials that security forces will tentatively plan to 
begin evacuating West Bank settlers from the illegal 
Amona outpost and the Palestinian wholesale market in 
Hebron between January 29-31.  Maariv reported that the 
IDF is confiscating weapons in Samaria (northern West 
Bank) outposts slated for evacuation. 
 
Maariv (Ben Caspit) reported that Otniel Schneller, a 
former head of the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements 
in the Territories, who is slated to serve in the 
government of Ehud Olmert if the latter is elected 
prime minister, presented a political plan to PM Sharon 
a few hours before Sharon's stroke, according to which 
settlements would be evacuated and Palestinian 
territorial contiguity created.  Caspit also discloses 
that in 2001, one year into the Al-Aqsa Intifada, now 
jailed Tanzim leader Marwan Barghouti, through meetings 
with Israeli officials involving his relatives Jihad 
Barghouti and Mustafa Barghouti, tried to end Yasser's 
Arafat rule and reach an agreement with Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Nof Zion, a luxury project in 
southeast Jerusalem with panoramic views of the Temple 
Mount, is being marketed to wealthy American Jews 
seeking a second home in Jerusalem.  The newspaper 
quoted real estate experts as saying that the 
developers are intentionally unloading the project on 
eager, but ignorant, overseas buyers who might not 
understand that it is located in Arab Jerusalem. 
 
Major media reported that Nadim Milham, an Israeli-Arab 
resident of the Wadi Ara region (between Hadera and 
Afula), was shot on Thursday during a raid on the man's 
house.  There is a controversy about whether the police 
acted in self-defense, or whether Milham was killed in 
cold blood.  The media reported that police are bracing 
for violent clashes during Milham's funeral today. 
 
Leading media reported that Abbas recently told PA 
leaders in private meetings that he would resign if 
Hamas wins the elections.  Hatzofe reported that this 
week, anonymous Fatah activists threatened to harm him 
if he visits the Gaza Strip. 
 
Yediot cited the belief of PM Sharon's doctors that 
following an improvement in Sharon's condition, he is 
expected to be taken off the respirator and will be 
able to breathe independently. 
 
Yediot reported on a further rapprochement between 
Israel and NATO. 
 
Leading media reported that a civilian security company 
took over the inspection of the Erez terminal crossing 
in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday, marking the end 
of the IDF presence there in the framework of the Gaza 
disengagement. 
 
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that Urua 
[phon.] Hassan Ali, an Israeli Arab who escaped to 
Lebanon during a furlough from jail in April 2005, was 
detained by Hizbullah, and that he provided the 
organization with intelligence about Israel.  He was 
arrested upon his return to Israel in December 2005. 
 
Leading media quoted former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe 
Ya'alon as saying on Thursday that the rule of law was 
harmed during the disengagement, which he said also 
harmed Israel's deterrence in the face of terrorism. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that on 
Thursday, the Israeli defense establishment rejected 
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's announcement 
a day earlier that MIA Ron Arad, who disappeared in 
1986, was dead. 
 
All media reported that on Thursday, French President 
Jacques Chirac warned that France could respond with 
nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a 
terrorist attack or used weapons of mass destruction 
against his country.  All media said that Chirac was 
referring to Iran's efforts to reach nuclear 
capability. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Holocaust Museum 
Watch, a group of American Jewish activists, has 
launched a campaign aimed at getting the U.S. Holocaust 
Museum to recognize anti-Semitic actions by Arab and 
Muslim leaders during World War II and to take a 
leading role in fighting anti-Semitism in the Arab 
world. 
 
Yediot reported that Turin's police chief has requested 
help from the Shin Bet to help secure the 2006 Winter 
Olympic Games. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli officials as saying that 
institutional investors in New York are showing 
tremendous interest in the privatization of Oil 
Refineries, 74 percent of which is owned by the state 
and 26 percent by the Ofer Brothers' The Israel 
Corporation. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey conducted on Thursday: 
-"This week, a new initiative including the possibility 
of a further unilateral disengagement from land in 
Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] was published. 
The initiative includes the evacuation of settlements 
if a peace treaty with the Palestinians is not reached 
within a fixed time.  Do you support or are you opposed 
to a further disengagement in Judea and Samaria?" 
Support: 51 percent; opposed: 49 percent. 
-"If diplomatic efforts fail, should Israel act 
militarily against Iran in an attempt to thwart its 
nuclear program, even at the cost of an Iranian attack 
on Israel?"  Israel should act: 49 percent; Israel 
shouldn't act: 40 percent. 
 
Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a 
survey conducted Wednesday night by Prof. Camille Fuchs 
of the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute, which show a 
rise of the Labor Party to 19 Knesset seats (compared 
to 16 on January 11) and of Likud to 17 (from 13). 
Kadima loses three points (from 44 to 41). 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited a study conducted by 
Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki for the U.S. 
Institute of Peace, which analyzes trends in 
Palestinian public opinion and finds it "is not an 
impediment to progress in the peace process."  The 
study was published in Washington on Thursday. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Olmert was right this week when he 
expressed ... his readiness to strive for a permanent- 
status agreement with the Palestinians.  But it looks 
as though there is no one to talk to in Ramallah." 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The U.S. 
will have to decide if it still sees any chance to move 
forward with Abbas or whether it is time to write off 
the PA." 
 
 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "No One To Talk To" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (January 20): " Abu Mazen is caught in 
a continued crisis of depression and anxiety (he 
opposed peace at Camp David); Hamas doesn't intend to 
reach peace but a hudna [truce] but does intend to 
continue terrorism; the mix of terror and anxiety 
within the Palestinian leadership won't instill in it a 
spirit of conciliation at the negotiating table. 
Because of the above I believe that Olmert was right 
this week when he expressed ... his readiness to strive 
for a permanent-status agreement with the Palestinians. 
But it looks as though there is no one to talks to in 
Ramallah." 
 
II.  "Approaching Zero Tolerance" 
 
Washington correspondent Nathan Guttman wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (January 20): 
"The question now facing the [U.S.] administration is 
what to do the day after the Palestinian elections.  It 
is a given fact that Hamas will end up in an 
influential position in the new Palestinian cabinet. 
American law prohibits any contact of American 
officials with organizations on the State Department's 
terror list -- which Hamas has been on for years. 
American diplomats will probably resort to the 
'Hizbullah formula'.... U.S. officials ... will 
continue dealing with the PA without talking directly 
to Hamas representatives.  But this only relates to 
technicalities.  On the broader issue, the U.S. will 
have to decide if it still sees any chance to move 
forward with Abbas or whether it is time to write off 
the PA, reduce involvement to the necessary minimum, 
and wait for better days.  This decision will have to 
be postponed for a few months.  It will depend on the 
level of violence after the elections, on the results 
of the elections in Israel, and on Abbas's ability to 
regain the credit he lost." 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The issue is not 
Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world.... Our 
leaders, with their threats and warnings and pompous 
self-importance, would be advised to hold their 
horses." 
 
Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The ultimate 
solution to the Iran problem is an old-fashioned one: 
revolution." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz: "It is not enough to ask if 
extremist Shi'ite Iran will go nuclear but whether the 
Middle East will be transformed in its wake into a 
region with a number of nuclear countries." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Hold Your Horses" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 20): "If 
the world were indifferent to Iranian threats to 
destroy Israel, we would have something to worry about. 
But this is not the case.  Iran today is a command 
center for global terror, and the danger of it becoming 
a nuclear power also jeopardizes the Gulf States, which 
have more important interests than firing nuclear 
missiles at Israel.  When sources of oil are 
threatened, the whole world is at risk.... The issue is 
not Iran against Israel, but Iran against the world. 
To stop Iran, let alone attack it, is out of our range. 
We like to talk big, but in this terrifying match, we 
should be sitting in the bleachers not playing on the 
field.  As part of the sane world, it is definitely in 
our interest to cooperate in the global effort to put 
the brakes on Iran, through transmitting data or 
participating in international brainstorming.  But it 
is important that while contributing to the global 
collective and its defense, we preserve a sense of 
modesty and lay low.  Our leaders, with their threats 
and warnings and pompous self-importance, would be 
advised to hold their horses." 
 
II.  "An Old-Fashioned Solution" 
 
Editorial Page Editor Saul Singer wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (January 20): 
"Make no mistake, if the mullahs fell, it would be a 
major, perhaps mortal blow to al-Qaida and to militant 
Islam worldwide.  This is so because terrorists depend 
not on military power, which they lack, but on a sense 
of inevitability and despair, which they hope to 
create.  They are either the wave of the future, or 
they are nothing.... The most significant impact of 
economic, or even military, sanctions, may not be their 
direct effects but their contribution to a 
comprehensive denial of legitimacy.  Though the mullahs 
seem to revel in flouting the international community, 
it is such isolation and rejection -- and their own 
people -- that they fear most.  The ultimate solution 
to the Iran problem is an old-fashioned one: 
revolution." 
 
III.  "From Iran, a Nuclearized Mideast?" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev 
Schiff wrote in Ha'aretz (January 20): "The nuclear 
crisis is focused on Iran.  But the truth is that it is 
not how the conflict should necessarily be seen. 
Strategically, the crisis should be regarded from a 
regional perspective.  It is not enough to ask if 
extremist Shi'ite Iran will go nuclear but whether the 
Middle East will be transformed in its wake into a 
region with a number of nuclear countries.  Not a 
bipolar nuclear region, but multi-polar, including 
perhaps terror groups, which raises doubts whether it 
would be possible to prevent the use of nuclear weapons 
in the region." 
 
JONES