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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 TEL AVIV 001042 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Israel's Jericho Operation 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that a tense 10-hour siege of the PA 
prison in Jericho ended Tuesday night when Ahmed 
Saadat, the mastermind behind the 2001 assassination of 
tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, and four other 
Palestinians involved in Zeevi's assassination, walked 
out and surrendered to troops who were poised to burst 
in and seize them.  Fuad Shubaki, the paymaster of the 
Karine A weapons ship, also gave himself up.  The media 
said that the six men will be tried in Israel.  "We Got 
Them" and "Swift and Elegant," read just two of the 
front-page headlines in Maariv, while Yediot opted for 
"The Score Is Settled" and a "Lesson For Hamas."  The 
Jerusalem Post cited Acting PM Ehud Olmert's denial 
that political considerations were involved in his 
decision-making.  The media noted that Israel's major 
political parties expressed support for the IDF 
operation, but that some politicians, especially in the 
Likud, were quoted as saying that Olmert was fishing 
for floating votes.  Major media reported that during 
the siege of the prison, Meretz-Yahad Chairman Yossi 
Beilin tried to broker a deal with PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas.  Leading media reported that 
Hamas did not respond to the operation. 
 
The media reported that the US and Britain declared 
that they decided to withdraw their personnel because 
Abbas refused repeated demands for full compliance with 
the terms of the deal brokered by the US in May 2002, 
according to which US and British agents would monitor 
the Jericho jail to ensure the PA does not release the 
six men.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel 
briefed the US on its plan a short time before IDF 
forces reached the Jericho prison and that it kept the 
Americans updated on the progress of the raid.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic sources as saying 
Tuesday that the briefings were done both through the 
US Embassy in Tel Aviv and the Israeli Embassy in 
Washington.   The Jerusalem Post printed a March 8, 
2006 letter to Abbas signed by Jerusalem-based 
diplomats US Consul General Jake Walles and UK  CG John 
Jenkins, in which they wrote: "The Palestinian 
Authority has never fully complied with basic 
provisions of the agreement that established the US and 
UK Jericho Monitoring Mission." The Consuls General 
wrote that their countries would have to terminate 
their involvement with the Jericho monitoring 
arrangement and withdraw their monitors with immediate 
effect if the PA did not "come into full compliance" 
with the arrangements.  Major media reported that the 
US and UK denied any involvement in the IDF operation 
Israel Radio reported that on Tuesday, Deputy State 
Department Spokesman J. Adam Ereli placed the 
responsibility for the departure of the monitors on the 
PA  and refrained from criticizing the IDF over the 
Jericho operation.  Ereli was quoted as saying: "We 
think it's important that all sides exercise restraint 
and calm."  Yediot and The Jerusalem Post also cited 
Ereli's briefing. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the UN Security Council will 
today consider a new proposal submitted by Qatar to 
condemn Israel for the Jericho operation.  The text was 
drawn up by Qatar's UN ambassador Abdel Aziz el-Nasser, 
after the failure of an attempt last night by Qatar to 
obtain a presidential declaration condemning Israel. 
In the new text, which has been submitted to members of 
the counsel for their perusal, the UN calls on Israel 
to return the prisoners to the territory of the 
Palestinian Authority and to withdraw its forces from 
Jericho.  The radio quoted UN diplomats as predicting 
that Qatar's new text of will also be rejected because 
the US will veto it.  Israel Radio reported that US 
Representative to the UN Ambassador John Bolton last 
night walked out of the council meeting and it was 
clear that no presidential declaration would be issued, 
because such a declaration has to be adopted 
unanimously. 
 
The media reported that a wave of attacks on foreigners 
in the territories took place as a result of the 
Israeli raid, with armed PFLP gunmen kidnapping at 
least 10 journalists and aid workers and vandalizing 
offices linked to the US and UK.  Most of the abducted 
foreigners have been released.  The media reported that 
the reactions in Western capitals and media to the IDF 
operation in Jericho were fairly positive. 
 
Yediot quoted Serge Brammertz, the Belgian prosecutor 
leading the UN investigation into the assassination of 
former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri, as saying in a report 
to the Security Council that he was moving closer to a 
"unifying theory" of the blast that killed Hariri. 
Yediot reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad and 
his Deputy Farouk Shara, Syria's former FM, will be 
questioned by a UN inquiry team within a month. 
Yediot reported that the EU paid 15 million Euros that 
the PA owed the Israeli fuel company Dor Alon. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that US medical instruments and 
supplies giant Stryker is on the verge of signing a 
deal to acquire Israeli company Sightline Technologies 
for USD 150 million. 
 
The Jerusalem Post printed a paid ad issued by AmConGen 
Frankfurt -- a pre-solicitation notice for the issuance 
of a request for proposal for the construction of a new 
annex building at AmConGen Jerusalem. 
 
--------------------------- 
Israel's Jericho Operation: 
--------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Abu Mazen is 
gradually losing the vestiges of support he had in the 
West." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "One side was as determined to bring the 
murderers to justice as the other was to set them 
free." 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote on page one 
of Yediot Aharonot: "Tuesday's operation in Jericho was 
a message that was being delivered to a specific 
address.  The message was: Don't break agreements 
because you'll pay dearly for it.  The address was the 
Hamas extremists." 
 
Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The [Israeli] 
public likes leaders who show diplomatic moderation and 
military toughness, who return land and kill Arabs." 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv: "The swift and quiet 
operation in Jericho would not have been ordered were 
it not for the elections.  Not our elections -- theirs 
[the Palestinians']." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Jericho First" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 15): 
"Tuesday's operation was a second test of Ehud Olmert's 
performance as acting prime minister. The first, the 
evacuation of Amona, left a few question marks in its 
wake. Tuesday's events unfolded without a hitch.... The 
results are good for Kadima.  The voters like 
operations of this kind, in which the enemy is 
humiliated and our troops return safely to their bases. 
But the impact could very well either die out in a day 
or, even worse, could fly back in Kadima's face like a 
boomerang if a new wave of lethal terrorism begins. 
The impression is that the impact of Tuesday's events 
was felt in a far more palpable manner on Abu Mazen's 
regime.... Abu Mazen is gradually losing the vestiges 
of support he had in the West.  The inclination in the 
European Union is to terminate all projects in the 
Palestinian Authority.  His request, to be given a six- 
month extension to get rid of Hamas, has not been met 
with great support.  His coffers are empty.  On 
Tuesday, when the clashes were underway in Jericho, he 
was off in Europe.  That happens to him quite often. 
He is a tragic figure.  Regretfully, the tragedy is not 
only his; it is ours as well." 
 
II.  "Justice in Jericho" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (March 15): "The PA requirement to 
extradite terrorist suspects to Israel under the Oslo 
Accords was never implemented, so Israel never had an 
opportunity to try [Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam] 
Zeevi's killers.... For Israelis, the idea of the 
Palestinian assassins on the loose was unacceptable. 
For the Palestinians, particularly the incoming Hamas 
government, the prospect of the killers, who for many 
of them are heroes, remaining behind bars was 
unthinkable.  One side was as determined to bring the 
murderers to justice as the other was to set them 
free.... The cult of terror has not lost its grip on 
Palestinian society, and the rise of Hamas portends, if 
anything, its comeback.  But all this is not just 
Israel's problem, as the reaction to the IDF operation 
indicates. Even before the standoff ended, citizens 
from the US, Australia, Switzerland, South Korea and 
other countries were kidnapped in Gaza, and the EU and 
British Council headquarters were torched.  So we 
return to the new Islamist formula: if you protest, 
ridicule or fight back against our violence, we will 
become more violent and accuse you of aggression.  Not 
only does the cult of suicide bombings continue, but 
added to it is the use of rampant violence to 
intimidate the West." 
 
III.  "Don't Mess With Us" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote on page one 
of Yediot Aharonot (March 15): "Tuesday's operation in 
Jericho was a message that was being delivered to a 
specific address.  The message was: Don't break 
agreements because you'll pay dearly for it.  The 
address was the Hamas extremists.... This aggressive 
message will trickle down deeply. It already has. The 
Hamas leadership is comprised of people who know how to 
interpret Israeli actions -- to interpret and to 
fear.... The operation in the Jericho jail will 
strengthen the moderates in Hamas and the Palestinian 
Authority and will weaken the extremists. As such, it 
will also strengthen Abu Mazen." Because what will Abu 
Mazen say to Hamas?.... You achieved the humiliation of 
the Palestinian security forces and a military and 
public relations victory for Israel." 
 
IV.  "'Give Back Territory and Kill Arabs'" 
 
Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 15): "'To 
return territory and kill Arabs' is a favorite 
expression of the 'ranch forum' of Ariel Sharon's 
advisers.... The [Israeli] public likes leaders who 
show diplomatic moderation and military toughness, who 
return land and kill Arabs.  Sharon followed the rule 
during his five-year reign, and his heir-apparent, 
Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, will do the 
same..... Kadima's strategists could not have wished 
for a more successful operation only a day before the 
pollsters began their work for the weekend papers. 
This week's polls are critical: if Kadima's slide can 
be halted at 37 or 38 Knesset seats less than two weeks 
before the election, then there will be a general sense 
that the battle has been won.  If it was only up to the 
advisers, they would have given the green light for the 
Jericho operation next week.... Sharon promised, Olmert 
kept the promise.  If that's not passing on the baton, 
then what is?  Now we must wait and see whether Kadima 
restrains itself, or whether it uses images from the 
Jericho operation in its election broadcasts." 
 
¶V.  "Rehavam Zeevi's Legacy" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one 
of popular, pluralist Maariv (March 15): "There isn't a 
single government in Israel, perhaps with the exception 
of one formed by Yossi Beilin, that would not have done 
what the Olmert government did on Tuesday.  That is 
something that both Binyamin Netanyahu and Amir Peretz 
would have to admit.  The swift and quiet operation in 
Jericho would not have been ordered were it not for the 
elections.  Not our elections -- theirs [the 
Palestinians'].  The rise of Hamas to power turned the 
tables, reshuffled the deck and broke all the rules.... 
This veer by Olmert to the Right did not begin on 
Tuesday -- the interviews he gave over the weekend, his 
revised plans for the future with the Palestinians, the 
need for national reconciliation, for engaging in 
internal dialogue, for bolstering the settlement blocs, 
the visit to Ariel.... Still, a warning needs to be 
aired: In our region, in our condition, euphoria often 
ends in catastrophe.  Hizbullah is still planning to 
set the north ablaze, the intelligence warnings keep on 
piling up, and the potential for explosive 
complications still exist.  The most formidable enemy 
facing Ehud Olmert was and remains time." 
 
JONES