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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 000362 
 
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 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
PA Elections 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Israel Radio reported that Hamas has apparently won the 
Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections, 
gaining 70 of the council's 130 seats, and that it is 
likely to be able to form a government.  The radio 
quoted Hamas spokesmen as saying that the organization 
won 46 to 48 percent of the votes in the regions, and 
over 40 percent in the all-PA ballots.  The Israeli 
electronic media and major news web sites cited 
Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei's office as saying this 
morning that Palestinian Cabinet members submitted 
their resignations today following Hamas's apparent 
victory.  Israel Radio quoted Qurei as saying that the 
resignation was meant to allow Hamas to assemble the 
next Palestinian government.  Israel Radio quoted GOI 
sources in Jerusalem as saying that Israel will not 
hold talks with a Hamas-dominated government, and that 
it will not have ties with it.  The web sites of 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that Acting PM 
Ehud Olmert will convene a special meeting with defense 
chiefs this evening to discuss Hamas's apparent 
victory.  The station quoted Vice Premier Shimon Peres 
as saying that Hamas will have to deal with the 
termination of international aid to the Palestinians. 
Leading media reported that Israeli conservatives on 
the right are blaming last summer's disengagement for 
the Hamas victory and criticized the decision to allow 
Hamas to participate in the elections.  Ha'aretz's web 
site quoted Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz as saying 
that his party does not consider the Islamic group to 
be a partner for peace negotiations. 
 
All media (banners in all dailies, except Yediot and 
Maariv) had reported that Fatah probably won the PLC 
elections with a slight edge over Hamas, depending on 
the findings of exit polls.  The turnout was close to 
80 percent.  Israel Radio reported that the election 
results will be published today.  The radio quoted 
Olmert as saying on Wednesday during a meeting with 
U.S. Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) that he will be happy to 
meet with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to 
discuss the Roadmap and Abbas's commitment to disarm 
Palestinian terrorist organizations, principally Hamas. 
The station further quoted Olmert as saying that Israel 
will not accept a situation in which Hamas, which calls 
for Israel's destruction, will be part of the PA and 
will not be disarmed.  Israel Radio reported that Abbas 
called on the international community to assist in the 
resumption of talks between Israel and the 
Palestinians.  The radio quoted Abbas as saying that 
this is the beginning of a new era and that the PA 
needs the assistance of the world's countries to return 
the parties to the negotiating table and reach a peace 
agreement.  The station quoted President Bush as saying 
he would not deal with Hamas unless it renounced 
seeking Israel's destruction.  Israel Radio quoted 
State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack as saying: 
"It's a great day for the Palestinian people.  This is 
a historic moment for them.... Turnout has been high. 
And this should be a day for celebration for the 
Palestinian people.  They are able to express their 
views and express their will through the ballot box." 
The radio noted that McCormack would not comment 
further on his statement.  Israel Radio also quoted him 
as saying: "The Quartet has made it very clear that the 
Palestinian cabinet should not include any member who 
does not recognize Israel's right to exist or has not 
renounced violence." 
 
Yediot reported that newly appointed FM Tzipi Livni 
will hold three important diplomatic meetings over the 
next several weeks: with Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and with 
German Chancellor Angela Merkel.   The daily wrote that 
the Livni-Rice meeting will take place on February 7, 
and that the Secretary invited Livni to talk with her 
about the ramifications of the Palestinian 
parliamentary elections. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Olmert will soon present for 
government approval two changes to the route of the 
separation fence: removing the Palestinian village Beit 
Iksa, near the western entrance to Jerusalem, from the 
"Israeli" side of the fence, and splitting the route in 
the area encompassing Ariel. 
 
Yediot reported that the IDF presented Defense Ministry 
Shaul Mofaz with a document detailing the uprooting of 
780 Palestinian olive trees over a six-month period. 
The newspaper wrote that the document indicate that 
residents of the Scali Farm were behind the deeds. 
Yediot reported that Mofaz subsequently ordered the 
evacuation of the settler outpost. 
 
Both Yediot and Maariv led with what they say is the 
list of Kadima candidates for the Knesset.  Both 
newspapers wrote that the first candidates on the list 
are (in descending order) Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, 
Meir Sheetrit, and Avi Dichter.  While Yediot reported 
that the candidates in the sixth to the tenth spot are 
Haim Ramon, Shaul Mofaz, Uriel Reichman, Tzachi 
Hanegbi, and Marina Solodkin, Maariv said that Marina 
Solodkin, Haim Ramon, Shaul Mofaz, Tzachi Hanegbi, and 
Abraham Hirchson fill those spots. 
 
Major media reported that PM Sharon could be admitted 
to the Loewenstein Hospital Rehabilitation Center in 
Raanana.  Leading media cited a Loewenstein Center 
statement on its web site that close to 86 percent of 
comatose patients in its neurological intensive care 
unit have recovered consciousness -- a figure it 
describes as one of the highest in the world. 
 
Based on news agencies, Ha'aretz, Yediot, and The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Iran's Defense Minister, Gen. 
Mostafa Mohammed Najar, as saying, in a statement read 
on Iranian state television on Wednesday, that, were 
Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran would 
respond so strongly that it would put the Jewish state 
into an "eternal coma."  Maariv reported that among the 
many correspondents who covered the PLC elections was a 
representative of the Iranian state channel el-Alam 
(the world), which reported by means of satellite to 
Tehran. 
 
Yediot (Ronen Bergman) reported that the Mossad missed 
an opportunity to kill Osama bin Laden five years ago, 
before the 9/11 attacks.  The newspaper said that in 
the 1990s, the Israeli intelligence agency recruited a 
female confidante of bin Laden who was supposed to kill 
him.  However, the newspaper said that due to a crisis 
between Israel and the PA, the intelligence services of 
the country in which the assassination was supposed to 
take place stopped cooperating with Israel.  When the 
cooperation resumed, bin Laden had moved to another 
country and the operation was aborted. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Harvard Law School Prof. Alan 
Dershowitz as saying at a Bar-Ilan University 
conference on press freedom that anti-Israel boycotts 
encourage terror. 
 
Globes (banner) and Yediot reported that New York State 
Governor George Pataki surreptitiously introduced in 
his state's budget a clause that would allow New York 
State's Division of Housing and Community Renewal to 
finance projects at Jerusalem's Hadassah University 
Hospital, Ein Karem, through an issuance of bonds.  The 
newspapers reported that Pataki's initiative sparked 
uproar in New York State. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that in a special cabinet meeting to 
be held today at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, the 
government will approve plans to request responsibility 
over the Jewish pavilion at the Auschwitz-Birkenau 
Museum in Poland. 
 
Ha'aretz cited the International Fellowship of 
Christians and Jews (IFCJ) as saying on Wednesday that 
devout Christians have increased their contributions to 
Israel and Diaspora Jewry by 30 percent last year, 
while contributions of Jews throughout the world 
continue to dwindle.  The newspaper cited that IFCJ as 
saying that Christians contributed 130 million shekels 
(around USD 28 million) in 2005. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the American "investment 
boutique" Discipline Partners, which manages a 
portfolio worth USD 500 million, wants to interest 
Israeli financial agencies in joint ventures. 
 
Maariv reported that the leading Hollywood-based 
literary and talent agency CAA has decided to employ 
Liron Petrosil, who was the secretary of Danny Ayalon, 
Israel's Ambassador to the U.S.  The newspaper noted 
that Judy Shalom-Nir-Mozes, the wife of former FM 
Silvan Shalom, had demanded that he be dismissed over 
the fact that he did not arrange a meeting between her 
and the American singer Madonna. 
 
A TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute survey published by 
Maariv found that the Left (Labor Party and Meretz) is 
gaining three Knesset seats: 
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom 
would you vote?"  (Results in Knesset seats -- in 
brackets, results of previous poll.) 
-Kadima 41 (43); Labor Party 22 (20); Likud 13 (14); 
Shas 10  (11); Arab parties 8 (7); Meretz 6 (5); 
National Union 6 (6); United Torah Judaism 5 (6); 
Yisrael Beiteinu 5 (5); National Religious Party 4 (3). 
 
Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a 
survey conducted on Wednesday by Prof. Camille Fuchs of 
the Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute: 
-Kadima would win 44 Knesset seats (41 in a poll taken 
one week ago); the Labor Party would garner 21 seats 
(up from 19); and Likud gain 14 seats (down from 17). 
 
------------- 
PA Elections: 
------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "If Hamas is in control, Palestinian 
democracy will be cut down in its youth.... There are 
no peaceful years ahead of us." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page 
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Even before 
polling ended in Wednesday's parliamentary elections, 
it was clear that after almost 40 years, Fatah was 
nearing the end of its monopoly in running the affairs 
of the Palestinian Authority." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Palestinians Vote" 
 
Veteran columnist Yaron London wrote in the lead 
editorial of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (January 26): "As I write these lines, our 
Palestinian neighbors are electing the representatives 
for their legislature.... There have never been freer 
elections than these in the entire Arab world, except 
for Lebanon.  This fact underscores the rebuttal to the 
theory that free elections in Arab societies lacking a 
democratic tradition strengthen those organizations 
that advocate an Islamic theocracy.  If Hamas is in 
control, Palestinian democracy will be cut down in its 
youth.... Only a few believe that Mahmoud Abbas will 
manage to keep his promise to disarm the rival 
organization, and so we will face a powerless 
Palestinian government, where half of the members are 
agents of an armed fanatic militia.  If that happens, 
the chances of making progress on the road map will 
fade, and very soon Israel will be forced to recognize 
the fact that there is no hope for a peace agreement 
any time soon and for dividing the land through 
consent.  Because the demographic clock is working 
against the Jews, and because the occupation erodes our 
resilience, the government of Israel, whatever its 
composition, may have to stabilize a temporary border 
whose route is already agreed on by a majority of the 
public.  In the past we evaded making decisions on the 
pretext that there was nobody to talk to and now we've 
decided to decide, whether there is somebody to talk to 
or not.  This leads to the conclusion that topping the 
public agenda in the coming years will still be the 
issues that have been tormenting us for a long time: 
shaping the country's borders, an act that entails 
forcibly uprooting tens of thousands of Jews living in 
the occupied territories.  There are no peaceful years 
ahead of us." 
 
 
II.  "A Milestone For Palestinian Politics" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote on page 
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (January 26): 
"Even before polling ended in Wednesday's parliamentary 
elections, it was clear that after almost 40 years, 
Fatah was nearing the end of its monopoly in running 
the affairs of the Palestinian Authority.... Is a 
partnership between the Fatah and Hamas possible? 
Judging by Palestinian leaders from all factions, 
neither has much choice.  The alternative is chaos and 
civil war.... Hamas spokesmen made efforts Wednesday to 
blur their positions when asked about the various 
possibilities [of election results].  Some said they 
would be ready to negotiate with Israel; others 
dismissed it.  They were evasive and spoke of assuming 
roles in the new Palestinian government that would not 
require contact with Israel.  They gave contradictory 
replies about taking part in a national unity 
government.  Either way, there is no doubt that 
yesterday's elections constitute an extremely important 
milestone in the Palestinians' political life." 
 
JONES