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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PARIS 001976 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU; AF/PA; 
EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA 
FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR 
AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; 
ROME/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Demonstrations Against French 
Government Employment Policy Israeli Elections 
PARIS - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 
 
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT: 
 
Demonstrations Against French Government Employment Policy 
Israeli Elections 
 
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE: 
 
As a result of today's strikes to protest PM Villepin's youth 
employment legislation (CPE) there are no paper deliveries. 
This report is based exclusively on Internet versions, except 
for afternoon paper Le Monde published yesterday. 
 
Liberation leads with "March and Strike" but also announces on 
its front page: "Israel Votes Without Sharon" and reports that 
"Moussaoui Wanted to Attack the White House." 
 
In its five-page coverage of the CPE situation, Liberation 
interviews a professor from the University of Toulouse who 
believes that Villepin's legislation "is a direct attack on 
France's Labor Code, which dictates all the employer/employee 
regulations. In a separate article Liberation is very critical 
of the speech given by Interior Minister Sarkozy in the north 
of France and titles its report: "Sarkozy Goes It Alone." In 
Le Figaro Alexis Bezet titles his editorial "There Is Life 
After the CPE" in reference to Sarkozy's speech. (See Part C) 
Le Monde's headline reads: "63% of the French Reject the CPE 
and the Villepin Method." 
 
Liberation predicts that Sharon's Kadima party is the favorite 
in the elections in Israel. (See Part C) 
 
Liberation carries an article entitled "Immigration Peoples 
the Streets in America." Pascal Riche reports on the 500,000 
Hispanic demonstrators who marched in L.A. against the new 
immigration legislation: "President Bush is at the center of 
the tempest. He could well lose the little authority he has 
left. He is opposed by the most conservative in his own party 
on the issue of legalizing immigrants. Last Thursday he called 
for the nation to `align its rhetoric with its traditions and 
to avoid pitting one group against another.'" Le Monde 
reports: "Since the House of Representatives voted in December 
2005 a law that would criminalize housing or assisting an 
illegal immigrant and proposing the construction of a wall in 
four sections along the Mexican border, the mobilization has 
been intense. President Bush, who has lost control of his 
party on this issue, is proposing a formula of `guest worker' 
which would lead to progressive regularization." 
 
Liberation titles its article on Moussaoui: "A Kamikaze 
Defense" and notes the many inconsistencies of his testimony. 
"For weeks his defense team was making progress, but his 
testimony is bringing their house down. while some are calling 
Moussaoui's strategy "legally assisted suicide." 
 
Le Monde reports on the "Controversy Surrounding a Raid on a 
Shiite Mosque in Iraq," noting the U.S. army had denied that 
its forces were responsible for Sunday's raid in which 16 
died. The Americans indicated the operation had been led by 
Iraqi Special Forces "to disrupt a terrorist cell."  The U.S. 
nevertheless "recognized that some American Special Forces 
soldiers had been present, but as advisors, specifying that 
none of them had gone into the mosque and that the mosque 
hadn't been damaged." 
 
Le Monde devotes a page to the "declassified Pentagon report 
on the Iraq invasion" under the headline "Saddam Was Counting 
on Paris and Moscow." It quotes the report's conclusions "that 
the strongman feared a coup but never believed in an American 
victory," and that "the most important element in Saddam's 
strategic calculation was his confidence in France and Russia. 
France and Russia had billions of dollars of contracts in 
Iraq, with an implicit counterpoint that their position would 
be favorable to the regime. And the French wanted to show the 
world their weight in the UN Security Council." 
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES: 
 
Demonstrations Against French Government Employment Policy 
 
"Surreal" 
Antoine de Gaudemar in left-of-center Liberation (03/28): "Two 
thirds of the people who are asked say they are against the 
CPE. Yet the government is not budging. While the country will 
be on strike, although the word itself has been avoided, the 
Prime Minister will be lunching with the King of Spain; the 
President remains deaf to the solemn calls for intervention. 
The only one speaking out is the Minister of the Interior, 
Sarkozy. who is thinking only of his political future, 
criticizes his own government's doings and makes no statement 
of solidarity. As for Villepin, his deafness will have once 
more disappointed youth about our nation's politicians. 
Unfortunately the collateral damage will go beyond Villepin 
and his personal political future." 
 
"There Is Life After the CPE" 
Alexis Bezet in right-of-center Le Figaro (03/28): "Sarkozy 
suggested that the legislation on the CPE be `suspended.' 
Those who wanted a controversy to rise from Sarkozy's stance 
will have been disappointed. But as President of the UMP he 
reassured the party that `there is life after the CPE.' 
Sarkozy does not want his presidential aspirations to suffer 
from the CPE controversy. But he cannot set himself apart from 
Villepin's government. Hence his calls for `a compromise.' 
Sarkozy also strongly believes that France can reform, despite 
the message from the street, which in his view is more about 
the government's `method' than the reform itself. Still, 
Sarkozy remains firm: union-held monopolies must end, as well 
as the single work contract. Sarkozy favors helping the 
unemployed find new jobs and supports pushing up the mandatory 
retirement age. His therapy methods are radical and 
courageous. Sarkozy's stance is that to better reform 
tomorrow, the government must give in a little today on the 
CPE." 
 
Israeli Elections 
 
"Separation" 
Pierre Haski in left-of-center Liberation (03/28): "The 
Israeli elections will coincide with the elections to invest 
the Palestinian Parliament. In a not so distant time, these 
two elections would be taking place in a climate of tension 
and violence, considering how extremely contradictory are the 
options at hand. Yet this is not the case: the Islamic success 
has hardly affected the political debate in Israel. And all 
reports indicate that the Palestinian voters did not chose 
Hamas for its anti-Israeli agenda, but rather to put an end to 
years of corruption, nepotism and incompetence. This relative 
and reciprocal indifference does not a policy make, and will 
not suffice to ensure peaceful coexistence between the two 
neighbors. But it does make it possible to move towards a more 
dispassionate and real separation wished for by a majority on 
both sides. Sharon's most important political legacy is 
undoubtedly to have instilled the notion of unilateral 
withdrawal in the minds of the Israeli people. A large 
majority of Israelis have already turned their backs on the 
occupied territories and rid the Palestinians from their 
minds. Withdrawing from the West Bank as per the Olmert plan 
and in keeping with Israel's security interests will 
accentuate this trend. But it would be illusory to imagine 
that a durable peace can exist without an agreement: this is 
what has not been clearly spelled out in the program set out 
by Olmert, the probable winner of the Israeli elections, 
assuredly because it is the most difficult part of the 
program." 
 
"Kadima, an Unlikely Winner" 
Jacques Guyon in regional La Charente Libre (03/28): "If the 
last polls have it right, Olmert will be the winner. This 
outcome may appear surprising: after all Kadima is a recent 
party made up of an improbable amalgamation of disenchanted 
Likud and Labor followers. It is a party without deep 
traditional and historical roots created by Sharon, who went 
into a coma weeks after creating the party. Olmert's probable 
victory is also puzzling because he is such a new political 
figure who was destined to remain in the shadows of Sharon's 
strong personality. But all these handicaps do not seem to 
have weighed in against much heavier issues. Many among the 
pacifists, starting with Peres, have accepted the notion that 
peace will not be the result of an agreement with the 
Palestinians, but the result of separation." STAPLETON