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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000662 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Major media (lead story in Ha'aretz) reported that on 
Monday, the outgoing Palestinian parliament passed a 
law at its final session substantially expanding the 
powers of PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas in what 
Hamas said was a last-minute bid to rein it in before 
it takes over parliament and forms the new government. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PA officials in 
Ramallah told the newspaper that in an attempt to 
prevent Hamas from taking control over the media, Abbas 
decided to place the PA's radio and television stations 
under his jurisdiction.  Israel Radio quoted Mahmoud 
Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, as saying that his 
organization does not intend to recognize Israel, that 
it will continued its armed struggle against Israel, 
and that he expects the new PA parliament to repeal all 
agreements signed with Israel.  Leading media quoted 
Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas's political bureau, as 
saying in an interview with the Russian newspaper 
Nezavisimaya Gazeta that Hamas might disarm.  Mashal 
also recognized the 1967 borders, despite Hamas's 
position that Palestine's borders are the Jordan River 
and the Mediterranean Sea.  Speaking on Israel Radio, 
Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said that Israel would 
have preferred Hamas to rescind its charter, disarm, 
and recognize Israel, but that the GOI has the means to 
cope with a Hamas-led PA.  This morning, the radio 
cited The New York Times as saying that Israel and the 
U.S. are coordinating moves to destabilize the PA. 
Israel Radio quoted senior Israeli diplomatic sources 
as denying the report. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Mofaz is visiting Cairo this 
morning to discuss the rise of Hamas with Egyptian 
President Hosni Mubarak. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a GOI official as saying on 
Monday that Israel is unconcerned that the current 
cloud hovering over its relationship with Russia -- 
because of Russian President Vladimir Putin's 
invitation to Hamas -- will impact on Moscow's vote in 
the UN over the Iranian issue. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted experts as saying that Hamas 
is unlikely to drum up enough money to keep the PA 
afloat very long without help from the West.  The 
newspaper reported that Mashal and his delegation left 
the Qatari capital, Doha, for Khartoum Sunday, with 
trips also scheduled to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted PLO representative in Washington Afif 
Safieh as saying on Sunday on CNN's Late Edition with 
Wolf Blitzer that the "pro-Israeli Likud wing around 
the world" is working to inflame relations between 
Western and Arab-Muslim societies.  Ha'aretz 
interviewed Ahmed Akari, the young Muslim Dane who 
presented the controversial Muhammad cartoons to the 
Muslim Conference in Cairo in December.  Akari 
reportedly told the newspaper: "I see no connection 
between our activity [that of Akari's delegation] and 
the riots.  We only tried to demonstrate that a Danish 
newspaper offended Muslims by deciding to publish 
caricatures of Muhammad." 
 
On Monday, Ha'aretz reported that Israel completed 
cutting off the eastern sector of the West Bank from 
the remainder of the West Bank in 2005.  Some 200,000 
Palestinians are reported to be prohibited from 
entering the area, which constitutes around one-third 
of the West Bank, and includes the Jordan Valley, the 
area of the Dead Sea shoreline, and the eastern slopes 
of the West Bank hills.  Ha'aretz reported that Israeli 
military sources told the newspaper that the moves have 
been "security measures" adopted by the IDF, and that 
they have no connection to any political intentions 
whatsoever. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Hamas's military wing, Izz al- 
Din al-Qassam, has recently finished registering and 
collecting weapons used by its activists in the 
northern Gaza Strip, a process sources said began at 
the order of Hamas's political bureau, after the Hamas 
victory at the polls. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF has launched 
an investigation to determine whether a Palestinian 
shepherdess was killed on Monday afternoon near the old 
Kissufim crossing in central Gaza.  Israel Radio 
reported that three Qassam rockets landed in southern 
Israel this morning, causing no injuries. 
All media reported that on Monday, Iran resumed its 
uranium-enrichment program.  Maariv and Israel Radio 
cited research published on Monday by the Oxford 
Research Group that a surprise American or Israeli air 
strike on Iranian nuclear sites would involve 100 
fighter planes and could cause approximately 10,000 
civilian as well as military casualties. 
 
The media reported that the Knesset's House Committee 
has approved the make-up and powers of the 
parliamentary commission inquiry into the violent 
events that took place during the evacuation of the 
West Bank settler outpost on February 1.  The Knesset's 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee will serve as the 
commission inquiry.  Ratification of the move by the 
Knesset plenum is still pending. 
 
Leading media reported that the Yesha Council of Jewish 
Settlements in the Territories is falling apart, as two 
of its leaders -- Shaul Goldstein and Eliezer Hisdai -- 
are leaving the council. 
 
All media reported that on Monday, the Tel Aviv 
Magistrate's Court convicted Likud MK Naomi Blumenthal 
on charges of election bribery and other counts.  The 
media also reported that the same court will today 
impose a sentence on PM Sharon's son, former MK Omri 
Sharon, who was convicted of falsifying corporate 
documents and lying under oath during his father's 1999 
primaries campaign. 
 
The major media, except Ha'aretz, led with Mofaz's 
approval of a reform that would cut compulsory army 
service for males from 36 months to 24 months. 
Soldiers serving in combat, combat support units, and 
other areas deemed vital, would serve 28 months and 
would receive a significant increase in monthly 
salaries as well as additional monetary benefits. 
Mofaz stressed that the implementation of the plan 
would be carried out gradually, in two stages, to be 
completed by 2010. 
 
Leading media reported that on Monday, police 
questioned MKs Azmi Bishara and Talab al-Sana about 
recent trips to Arab countries that are considered 
enemy states. 
The electronic media reported that the Yemen-born 
iconic singer Shoshana Damari passed away in Tel Aviv 
this morning at the age of 83. 
 
An investigate report shown on Channel 10-TV last night 
cast doubts on the reliability of the polling methods 
in various institutes in Israel.  Ha'aretz commented 
that the findings of the report are inconclusive. 
 
Israel Radio, Ha'aretz's web site, and the leading 
Internet news web site Ynet cited a Gallup poll about 
U.S. opinion towards Israel and the Palestinians.  The 
media quoted Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. Danny 
Ayalon as saying that the results of the poll showed 
that "the U.S. is a true friend" of Israel: 
-68 percent of Americans are favorable to Israel  -- 21 
percent "very favorable".  Only 23 percent view Israel 
unfavorably, the lowest figure since the first Gulf 
War. In contrast, the favorable percentage was topped 
out at 79 percent. 
-A solid majority of Americans believe the U.S should 
not give any financial assistance to the Palestinian 
Authority: 57 percent of Americans oppose financial aid 
to the Palestinians while Hamas is in power, and 30 
percent would give it only under the condition that the 
PA government would recognize Israel.  In addition, 22 
percent of Americans say the U.S. should deal with the 
Palestinians unconditionally. On the other hand, 44 
percent say the U.S. should engage the Palestinians 
only in the event the new Hamas-led government 
recognizes Israel.  One in four Americans say the 
United States should sever relations with the 
Palestinians irrespective of their official policy 
toward Israel.  Only 11 percent of all Americans have a 
favorable view of the PA compared to 78 percent 
unfavorable, 29 percent of which hold a "very 
unfavorable" view.  This is the most negative answer 
Gallup got on the PA since 2000, when it started 
tracking responses to this issue. 
 
A Geocartographia poll conducted on behalf of IDF Radio 
found that some 70 percent of Israeli respondents 
believe that the implementation of the disengagement 
plan did not contribute anything towards peace, while 
only 20 percent thought the plan was a stimulus for 
improved relations with the Arab world.  However, a 
significant majority believes that the withdrawal from 
Gaza aided relations with Europe. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Op-ed Section Editor Amos Carmel wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "A normal, 
mature, and sane country does not need any recognition 
of its existence and legitimacy." 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Putin's offer 
to talk to Hamas is ... like a key to a lock for the 
Americans, a blessing and not a curse.  The initiative, 
therefore, is in the hands of Hamas." 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "John Negroponte, director of U.S. 
intelligence, [told] the Senate Select Committee on 
Intelligence ... that the Hamas victory did not 
necessarily mean an end to hopes of a negotiated peace 
agreement.... Unfortunately, Hamas does not share this 
viewpoint." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "The Jordan Valley settlers are 
part of an obsolete political worldview." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Sharon, in a correct strategy with the 
correct timing, conquered the heart of the majority of 
the people.  Kadima will gallop ahead even without its 
founder." 
 
Menachem Fruman, the Rabbi of the settlement of Tekoa, 
who has held meetings with Hamas leaders, wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "The camp of Greater Israel 
and the camp that wants a normal life in this country 
are facing off against each other.... It looks as if 
this country, on which so many hopes have been pinned 
and for whose sake we have made so very many 
sacrifices, will collapse." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Don't Recognize Us" 
 
Op-ed Section Editor Amos Carmel wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (February 14): 
"As experience accumulated from Israel's relations with 
the PLO has taught us, there is no difficulty in 
stretching negotiations in order to obtain a scanty 
[recognition], thus laying aside the need to translate 
it into binding steps.... Beyond the practical side, 
there is the simple matter of national self-pride, 
which too many Israelis tend to despise.  A normal, 
mature, and sane country does not need any recognition 
of its existence and legitimacy.... A [modern] country 
can't afford any consideration of recognition or lack 
thereof by a religious-fanatic organization." 
 
II.  "It's Up to Hamas" 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (February 14): 
"In the context of Bush's war on terror and the trial 
of Hamas supporters in Florida, direct American contact 
with Hamas is still possible, but it is more sensitive 
and will be used against the administration when it is 
exposed in Congress and in the press. Russian President 
Vladimir Putin's offer to talk to Hamas is therefore 
like a key to a lock for the Americans, a blessing and 
not a curse.  The initiative, therefore, is in the 
hands of Hamas.  It is within its power to harass the 
miserable government of Acting Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense 
Minister Shaul Mofaz and cause it a series of defeats, 
if only Ismail Haniyeh and Khaled Mashal, instead of 
rejecting entirely the Israeli-American-Quartet 
conditions, chose to ask for time to consider, demand 
clarifications and offer counter-conditions.  Putin and 
Rice will be able to call this 'transmission of 
messages' but it will in effect be negotiations, with 
agents' fees to the Russians, a result of the American- 
Israeli decision to allow Hamas to participate in the 
elections and win them." 
 
III.  "Appeasement Redux" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global 
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist 
Barry Rubin, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (February 14): "[In the 1930s,] the 
Germans weren't against 'us' [the democratic countries] 
but merely against the Jews, who were thus the ones 
pushing conflict with Germany for their own interests. 
Sound familiar?  Just substitute Iran, Hizbullah, 
Hamas, radical Islamists, Iraqi insurgents or Syria. 
All of these groups are aligned, while the West 
displays its divisions and doubts.... John Negroponte, 
director of U.S. intelligence, [told] the Senate Select 
Committee on Intelligence [on February 2] that the 
Hamas victory did not necessarily mean an end to hopes 
of a negotiated peace agreement.... Unfortunately, 
Hamas does not share this viewpoint.  It can burn all 
the bridges it wants and suffer little or no 
consequences; at least, not from the appeasers.  Much 
of the same pattern applied to the PLO, Osama bin 
Laden, Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and Islamist Iran 
in the recent past.... After the September 11, 2001, 
terror attacks on America many called them a Pearl 
Harbor-like wake-up call to Western unity and the 
democratic struggle against totalitarian, anti-freedom 
forces.  Yet there are probably more people, at least 
among respected Western elites, who think the problem 
is Islamophobia, America and Israel rather than radical 
Islamism, terrorism and corrupt dictatorships blaming 
their bad systems on others.  What year is it anyway?" 
 
IV.  "Obsolete Security Asset" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (February 14): "In a graduated 
process determined primarily by security 
considerations, the Israeli government has, over the 
last few years, almost totally severed the West Bank 
from the Jordan Valley, and transformed the Jordan 
Valley area into a Jewish region.... The Jordan Valley 
settlers are part of an obsolete political worldview 
that saw obstruction of passage from the east into 
Israel as an existential security need, and the 
settlers as those who would defend the border.  This is 
a similar approach to the one that led to the 
establishment of the Gush Katif communities.  Between 
the eastward expansion of Ma'aleh Adumim, the westward 
expansion of the Jordan Valley communities, and the 
expansion of the settlement blocs toward the Green 
Line, the Palestinians are left with no territory on 
which to establish a state.  The imprisonment of the 
Palestinians in a small area and the increasing 
depletion of their sources of employment do not serve 
Israel's security needs, even if for a moment someone 
thought he succeeded in capturing another dunam [parcel 
of land] and more might." 
 
¶V.  "A Farewell to Sharon" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in 
Ha'aretz (February 14): "Sharon's greatness was that at 
every stage he recognized the turning point.... As he 
lies on his deathbed, cut off from what is happening, 
between critical condition and danger to his life, it 
is infuriating to see the Schadenfreude [taking joy in 
the suffering of others] of the extremist rabbis and 
the Greater Land of Israel crazies who view his 
condition as punishment from heaven, and who are liable 
to draw encouragement from this personal tragedy which 
will lead to violent resistance and a civil war against 
those who continue his way.  But their battle is lost 
in advance.  Sharon, in a correct strategy with the 
correct timing, conquered the heart of the majority of 
the people.  Kadima will gallop ahead even without its 
founder." 
 
VI.  "Dialogue Is Better than a Commission of Inquiry" 
 
Menachem Fruman, the Rabbi of the settlement of Tekoa, 
who has held meetings with Hamas leaders, wrote in 
popular, pluralist Maariv (February 14): "The camp of 
Greater Israel and the camp that wants a normal life in 
this country are facing off against each other.... In 
order to prevent [clashes between them], which are, in 
my opinion, a far greater existential danger to our 
lives than the ascent of Hamas -- perhaps we would do 
well to try much harder to talk to each other, to 
respect each other, to hear each other.... And if no 
agreement emerges from this?  I would like to respond 
to that with very sharp words: in that case, it seems 
that there will be utter destruction.  It looks as if 
this country, on which so many hopes have been pinned 
and for whose sake we have made so very many 
sacrifices, will collapse.  Such things have already 
happened in our nation's history.  The legal 
institutions will not help here.  A profound 
ideological controversy cannot be resolved by force of 
law.  The law can and must subdue criminals, but not 
the world of the settlers and their supporters.  Even 
if the media calls them 'lawbreakers' or even merely 
'rioters,' they are not members of the underworld.  If 
the feeling I have is so very harsh, one can imagine 
how strong the Torah's call (Deuteronomy 30:19) 'Choose 
life!' sounds to me.  Before it is too late, let's 
talk." 
 
JONES