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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 
 
--------------- 
Election polls: 
--------------- 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll held on 
Wednesday shows that the Labor Party and Avigdor 
Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu are getting stronger and 
that Kadima and the Likud are weakening: 
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom 
would you vote?"  (Results in Knesset seats -- in 
brackets, results of last week's poll.) 
-Kadima 36 (39); Labor Party 21 (19); Likud 14 (15); 
Shas 11 (11); Yisrael Beiteinu 11 (10); National Union- 
National Religious Party 9 (8); Arab parties 8 (8); 
Meretz 6 (4); United Torah Judaism 5 (6). 
-Yediot's poll found that 57 percent of young Israelis 
eligible to take part in the elections for the first 
time will actually cast their votes.  Yediot published 
those young Israelis' voting intentions, according to 
the poll  (in percentage points): Kadima 26; National 
Union-National Religious Party 18.8; Shas 9; United 
Torah Judaism 9; Arab parties 8.3; Meretz 6.5; Labor 
Party 8.3; Likud 5.5; Green Leaf (a party advocating 
the decriminalization of soft drugs) 4; Avraham Poraz's 
Secular-Zionist Party 2.2.; and Yisrael Beiteinu 2.2. 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey conducted on Wednesday, which also 
shows a decline in support for Kadima and the Likud: 
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom 
would you vote?"  (Results in Knesset seats -- in 
brackets, results of last week's poll.) 
-Kadima 37 (39); Labor Party 21 (20); Likud 14 (15); 
National Union-National Religious Party 11 (8-9); 
Yisrael Beiteinu 10 (8); Shas 9 (9-10); Arab parties 7- 
9 (9); United Torah Judaism 5 (5); Meretz 5 (6). 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All major media echoed remarks made last night by 
Acting PM Ehud Olmert in an interview with Channel 10- 
TV's Yaron London and Motti Kirschenbaum.  Olmert told 
the station that any party that wants to join his 
coalition must agree to the "convergence plan," which 
several newspapers recalled he described in separate 
interviews with them two weeks ago.  In particular, 
Olmert told Channel 10-TV that if Avigdor Lieberman, 
the chairman of the right-wing Yisrael Beiteinu party 
does not adopt his political plan, Yisrael Beiteinu 
cannot join the coalition.  Olmert was quoted as making 
similar comments in an interview with Yediot, in which 
he reportedly declared: "There will be no more rebels. 
I won't allow rebels to hold the coalition to ransom." 
 
Israel Radio quoted Kadima sources as saying that 
Olmert's remarks on Channel 10-TV were mostly directed 
at Yisrael Beiteinu, Shas, and the Likud.  Yediot wrote 
that Olmert's coalition could include Kadima, the Labor 
Party, and Meretz. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Assistant Secretary of State 
for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and the Quartet's 
special envoy James Wolfensohn will visit the region 
next week, mainly for talks with senior PA officials 
regarding humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians. 
Ha'aretz reported that US officials told security 
officials at the Israeli Defense Ministry that the Bush 
administration has decided to halt funding for an 
infrastructure development project in the PA, and that 
it will provide the Palestinians with humanitarian aid 
only.  Ha'aretz wrote that the new policy was 
implemented to make sure U.S. foreign aid money does 
not reach a Hamas-led government, and to prevent 
administration officials from having to make contact 
with representatives of a terror organization. 
Ha'aretz quoted a GOI source in Jerusalem as saying 
that the US rejected Israeli requests that it continue 
funding a few projects in the territories, such as the 
new sewage system in Hebron, saying that all contact 
with the Hamas government was prohibited. Ha'aretz 
reported that the US would, however, continue funding a 
project to install new X-ray machines at checkpoints 
between Israel and the West Bank and Gaza.  Ha'aretz 
reported that James Kunder, Assistant Administrator for 
Asia and the Near East at USAID, arrived in Israel on 
Wednesday to discuss the formation of the Hamas 
government.  The newspaper reported that Kunder met 
with representatives of Palestinian organizations that 
receive US aid, and that he is set to meet Thursday 
with Israeli security officials and visit the Karni 
crossing near Gaza.  Ha'aretz said that the US has been 
pressuring Israel over the last few days to reopen the 
crossing, despite warnings that Palestinians are 
planning to carry out a terror attack there.  The 
newspaper reported that U.S. Ambassador to Israel 
Richard Jones and the U.S. security coordinator, Lt. 
Gen. Keith Dayton told Israeli officials that it's 
important to open the Karni crossing before the Hamas 
cabinet takes power.   Ha'aretz quoted Jones and Dayton 
as saying that if the crossing remains closed, Israel 
will be held responsible for a humanitarian crisis in 
the Gaza Strip, and that it was important to make sure 
the crossing was operating while there was still 
someone to talk to on the Palestinian side. Jones and 
Dayton were quoted as saying that the U.S. 
administration will cut off all contact with the 
Palestinian government after Hamas takes power. 
 
Major media reported that Wednesday in Ramallah, 
Israeli security forces arrested a Tanzim (Fatah) 
activist on his way to carrying out a bombing in 
Israel, together with two facilitators.  In its lead 
story, Hatzofe cited the belief of Israeli security 
officials that Iran and Hizbullah were behind recently 
foiled terrorist attacks.  This morning, Israel Radio 
reported that IDF troops fired at three Islamic Jihad 
militants near the Gaza Strip border fence in the 
Kissufim area.  The three were in the process of trying 
to plant a 30-kg bomb beside the border fence.  Two of 
the cell members were killed by the gunfire.  The third 
escaped. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that at a multi-party debate on the 
issue of dividing Jerusalem, held Wednesday at the 
Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, former setter 
leader Otniel Schneller, who represented Kadima, 
revealed some details of the party's vision of a 
divided Jerusalem, saying a future Palestinian state 
would include the East Jerusalem neighborhood of A-Tur, 
but not the Old City. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that British sources told 
the newspaper Wednesday that Palestinian prisoners 
rioted some three weeks ago inside the Jericho prison 
that Israel raided last week, underscoring the 
insecurity of the unarmed US and British prison 
monitors there. 
 
Major media reported that Israel is helping the PA 
tackle bird flu, after initial tests conducted on dead 
chickens indicated that the deadly H5N1 strain of bird 
flu has spread to Gaza. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court 
ruled out the route of the separation fence in the 
Sheikh Sa'ad neighborhood east of Jerusalem, following 
a petition filed by 700 of its residents that the 
barrier would cut them off from the village of Jebel 
Mukaber, which served as an artery between Sheikh Sa'ad 
and Jerusalem. 
 
Major media reported that the PLO's Executive 
Committee, which met Wednesday in Ramallah under PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas, is demanding that 
Hamas change the proposed platform for its government, 
and include recognition of the institutions of the 
Fatah-controlled PLO and recognition of Israel and 
agreements between Israel and the PA.  Ha'aretz 
reported that Hamas and its prime minister-designate, 
Ismail Haniyeh, declared the PLO's Executive Committee 
demand to be non-binding, and announced their intention 
to present the new cabinet and its platform directly to 
the Hamas-controlled Palestinian parliament within 
several days. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday, the 
organization Friends of Earth Middle East presented a 
group of Jordanians and Israelis with a map of a 
proposed trans-border ecological peace park along the 
Jordan River.  The newspaper also quoted researchers at 
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem as saying that 
proper use of the Judean (southern West Bank) aquifer 
could provide more than enough drinking water for 
Ma'aleh Adumim, Bethlehem, and Hebron. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that on 
Wednesday, Palestinians and extreme leftists asked 
Canadian authorities to arrest former IDF Chief of 
Staff Moshe Ya'alon upon his arrival in Canada later in 
the day, arguing that he was guilty of war crimes as 
head of the Israeli military during much of the 
Intifada.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Ya'alon 
told the newspaper that Israel's Ambassador to Canada 
Allan Baker told him that did not have to worry about 
being arrested or barred from entering the country by 
Canadian authorities. 
 
Major media reported that last night, an IAF Cobra 
helicopter made an emergency landing in southern 
Israel.  Israel Radio reported that the whole fleet of 
Cobra helicopters was grounded. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Maariv reported that late 
Tuesday night, a Libyan official refused entry to Libya 
to the three Israeli participants in the Breaking the 
Ice mission of peace, saying that Libya does not allow 
"occupiers" to enter its territory. 
 
Globes reported that the American company VeriFone is 
conducting negotiations to purchase its Israeli rival 
Lipman for USD 800-900 million. The price reflects a 
premium of 20-30 percent over electronic payment 
technology company Lipman's current share price. 
VeriFone, which has a market cap of USD 2 billion, 
provides electronic credit card clearance services, a 
similar line of business to that of Lipman. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Friends of the IDF 
collected USD 12.5 million during two gala dinners in 
Miami and New York this week. 
 
Maariv featured the tribulations of dozens of Africans 
from various areas, including Darfur, who illegally 
made their way to Israel, where they are now 
incarcerated. 
 
Maariv reported that Um Muhammad, who served as a chef 
for the late Saudi King Fahd for 15 years, moved to 
Jerusalem's Shuafat neighborhood and is now working in 
a restaurant in Abu Gosh (inside Israel). 
 
Ha'aretz and other media cited the results of a poll 
conducted among Israeli Jews by the Geocartography 
Institute for the Center Against Racism, which found 
that 68 percent of Israeli Jews would refuse to live in 
the same apartment building as an Israeli Arab.  Yediot 
highlighted the finding of the survey that one-third of 
Israelis believe that Israeli Arabs should not be 
allowed to vote in Israeli elections.  Maariv stressed 
the fact that 63 percent of the respondents said that 
Israeli Arabs constitute a security threat. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Olmert's gamble is 
not simple: Even if he manages to sell the evacuated 
settlements in exchange for political support from 
Washington, he could find out that the angry 
Palestinians have set out to foil his plans." 
 
Veteran journalist Yaron London wrote in the editorial 
of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "These 
elections are a referendum that will either approve or 
reject the Convergence Plan." 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "A de facto trusteeship will undoubtedly 
establish a new Palestinian Authority that is not based 
on the Oslo Accords, of which the only sections left 
are those that are comfortable for Israel... The 
opening of the Karni crossing due to American pressure 
should serve as an example of more daring steps." 
 
Yonatan Touval, a researcher at the Economic 
Cooperation Foundation, an NGO founded by the 
architects of the Oslo Agreement, whose objectives are 
to build, maintain and support Israeli-Palestinian and 
Israeli-Arab cooperation in the political, economic, 
and civil society spheres, wrote in Ha'aretz: " If the 
international community wants to map the road ahead 
constructively, it should start by turning the page on 
a plan the rumors of whose death were never premature 
and whose end had best be finally and officially 
declared." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Olmert's Gamble" 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 23): "There's 
no doubt Israel deserves 'defensible borders.'  But the 
word 'defense' has two meanings, military and legal, 
and the gap between the meanings represents Israel's 
political dilemma.  Nowadays, tanks, fortifications and 
fighters are not enough to protect the border.  A good 
defense attorney is also required.... Olmert wants to 
achieve both a military and legal defense, and believes 
he will be able to leverage in his favor the Hamas 
victory in the Palestinian election and the rest of the 
Bush administration's term in office.... Olmert's 
gamble is not simple: Even if he manages to sell the 
evacuated settlements in exchange for political support 
from Washington, he could find out that the angry 
Palestinians have set out to foil his plans." 
 
II.  "The Vote as a Referendum" 
 
Veteran journalist Yaron London wrote in the editorial 
of mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 
23): "This time, this time of all times, participation 
in the electoral process is even more important than 
usual.  These elections are a referendum that will 
either approve or reject the Convergence Plan, an 
ambitious project by means of which its architects 
presume to establish Israel's permanent borders.  This 
plan is fiercely controversial and, if the government 
pursues it, we are sure to have stormy years ahead, 
outbreaks of violent rebellion, vehement Palestinian 
resistance and tremendous costs that probably will not 
leave anything for our own welfare.  The plan's 
proponents believe that there is no avoiding this 
historical decision, difficult as it may be, and the 
opponents rejoin that it will end in catastrophe for 
us.  That is a question that only brutes can say is of 
no interest to them.  Let there be no doubt:  Ehud 
Olmert means what he says.... In order to underscore 
his commitment, Olmert announced [last night] that no 
party that was opposed to the Convergence Plan would be 
party to his coalition government and, by so doing -- 
if a politician's vows are of any value -- demarcated 
its borders.  Neither the Likud (if Netanyahu survives 
as the party leader) nor Yisrael Beiteinu will be part 
of that coalition, not to mention those parties even 
further to the Right.  The assertion was clear and the 
decision ahead is sharp and painful.  May none of us 
evade making it." 
III.  "The Trusteeship Alternative" 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti wrote in 
Ha'aretz (March 23): "[Acting Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert's spokespeople confirmed that it's not the 
humanitarian crises itself that's bothering him, but 
the 'international reverberations' the closure [of the 
Gaza Strip] has caused.  It has also become clear that 
the 'international reverberations' -- rather than 
general elections - are the sole factor liable to 
change Israel's policy, and an American edict 
undermines any 'sovereign and proud' Israeli 
position.... The status quo that Israel wants to 
perpetuate generates boredom and revulsion that push 
the international community away from intervention, but 
dismantling the PA would force a de facto trusteeship, 
if only to monitor the continued financial support of 
the Palestinian people.... A de facto trusteeship will 
undoubtedly establish a new Palestinian Authority that 
is not based on the Oslo Accords, of which the only 
sections left are those that are comfortable for 
Israel... The opening of the Karni crossing due to 
American pressure should serve as an example of more 
daring steps.  Whoever does not want to speak with the 
Palestinian Authority or pay a billion dollars a year 
to rule over the occupied territories should not 
complain when faced with the alternative." 
 
IV.  "Epitaph For a Roadmap" 
 
Yonatan Touval, a researcher at the Economic 
Cooperation Foundation, an NGO founded by the 
architects of the Oslo Agreement, whose objectives are 
to build, maintain and support Israeli-Palestinian and 
Israeli-Arab cooperation in the political, economic, 
and civil society spheres, wrote in Ha'aretz (March 
23): "Tailor-made to bypass Yasser Arafat, satisfy 
Ariel Sharon, and (no less challenging) bridge the 
differences between the Quartet members themselves, the 
[Roadmap] plan was deeply flawed and probably destined 
to fail.  Yet to insist that the newly-formed 
Palestinian government adopt the Roadmap is not only to 
raise a ghost, but to continue turning a blind eye to 
Israel's role in aborting this ill-conceived plan from 
the outset.... Anyone who believed that Israel's 
unilateral pullout would lead the parties back to the 
road map, however, could only be in for a 
disappointment.  Although the disengagement plan was a 
resounding success for Sharon, the pullout, it turned 
out, had only further distanced Israel from the road 
map, since it placed Israel, as Sharon was soon to 
announce, in a' pre-road map stage.'  The prospect of 
movement 'post' disengagement could only be, to put it 
mildly, preposterous.  Now that Sharon is gone and 
Arafat is long dead, the road map remains a ghostly 
specter.  But it need not haunt us still.  If the 
international community wants to map the road ahead 
constructively, it should start by turning the page on 
a plan the rumors of whose death were never premature 
and whose end had best be finally and officially 
declared." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "If there is no Western threat to bypass 
the UN, either through NATO or an ad hoc 'coalition of 
the willing,' Russia and China will have little 
incentive to go along." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Bypass UN on Iran" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (March 23): "Sanctions remain a long-shot 
effort to change Iran's course.... What is clear is 
that lowest common denominator sanctions of the sort 
Russia and China might accept will be insufficient -- 
unless, perhaps, these countries face a choice of 
joining in an international effort or being bypassed 
entirely.  The standard must be what the situation 
demands, not what Russia and China will agree to.... 
Russia and China ... have a lot to lose if the US and 
Europe make a habit of bypassing the UN Security 
Council.  It is only in that body that they wield a 
veto that gives them power disproportionate to their 
economic and diplomatic weight in the world.  But if 
there is no Western threat to bypass the UN, either 
through NATO or an ad hoc 'coalition of the willing,' 
Russia and China will have little incentive to go 
along." 
 
JONES