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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 08 TEL AVIV 000937 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  US/India Civilian Nuclear Accord 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media (banners in Ha'aretz and Maariv) quoted 
Acting PM Ehud Olmert as saying Tuesday that Israel 
will invest no money in construction in the territories 
in the coming years if Kadima wins the upcoming 
elections.  Ha'aretz quoted Olmert associates as saying 
that his spending ban would not include the settlement 
blocs that Kadima wants Israel to retain under any 
future agreement.  The media quoted Olmert as saying 
that more resources would be allocated to the Negev, 
the Galilee, and Jerusalem. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday, Vice President 
Richard Cheney made two statements at the American 
Israel Public Affairs Committee Conference that "left 
little room for speculation, and earned him a long 
round of stormy applause": "The US is keeping all 
options on the table" and "We will not allow Iran to 
have a nuclear weapon."  Yediot and The Jerusalem Post 
also cited Cheney's remarks on the Iranian issue. 
Ha'aretz quoted Vice President Cheney as saying at the 
AIPAC Conference: "There is no doubt that America's 
commitment to Israel's security is solid, enduring and 
unshakeable."  Ha'aretz quoted diplomatic sources 
surrounding the International Atomic Energy Agency as 
saying that over the past day, the US administration 
pressured the European countries not to agree to any 
compromise with Iran regarding the issue of uranium 
enrichment.  Yediot quoted State Department Spokesman 
Tom Casey as saying that the US would not allow the 
Iranian regime to enrich uranium.  Yediot reported on a 
controversy in the US around remarks made by former 
senior Pentagon official Richard Perle in an interview 
with the Italian daily Corriere Della Sera that the US 
is capable of wiping out all of Iran's nuclear 
installations in one night. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the significant development of 
the past two days took place on Capitol Hill when a 
number of Republican congressmen, headed by Republican 
Majority Leader Bill Frist and Senate Majority Whip 
Mitch McConnell, along with Democratic Senator Joseph 
Biden, proposed the Senate's version of a bill against 
the PA.  Ha'aretz quoted the Vice President as saying 
Tuesday: "If the leaders of Hamas desire the help of 
America and the international community to build an 
independent, prosperous Palestinian state, then the way 
forward is very clear.  The Palestinian government must 
recognize Israel's right to exist." 
 
Maariv reported that Israel is involved in confidential 
talks with the US so that funds can continue to be 
channeled to the Palestinians, by-passing the PA.  The 
newspaper wrote that for this purpose, Israel wants to 
make use of humanitarian organizations, "some of which 
are considered anti-Israeli" -- Maariv cited the UN 
Relief and Works Agency.  Maariv reported that Israel 
and the US are drawing up a list of international 
organizations through which the money would be 
transferred to the Palestinians.  Ha'aretz reported 
that an official report by USAID and the Palestinian 
agricultural development corporation warns of 
"financial catastrophe" regarding the Gush Katif 
hothouses purchased by the Palestinian Economic 
Development (PED) Company.  According to Ha'aretz, the 
report states that as a result of the closing of the 
Karni crossing since February 12, the company has 
incurred USD 450,000 in damages a day and the 
cumulative damage has reached USD 4.4 million. 
Ha'aretz wrote that PED's DG Bassam Jaber told the 
newspaper that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice, and the Quartet's Mideast envoy, James 
Wolfensohn, promised at the formation of the company 
and the acquisition of the Gush Katif hothouses that 
the Karni crossing would be open regularly for the 
passage of goods, but this promise was not kept. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that senior IDF officers, 
who acknowledge the IDF's failure to eradicate Qassam 
rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, told the newspaper 
on Tuesday that Israel would have no choice but to 
launch a massive ground operation into the Gaza Strip 
in the near future. 
 
Leading media reported that two Qassam rocket landed in 
the western Negev on Tuesday and this morning, causing 
no casualties.  Maariv reported that Hizbullah experts 
have arrived in the Gaza Strip to advise Palestinian 
terrorist organizations on how to improve the 
efficiency of Qassam rockets and how to build more 
lethal explosive charges.  An IDF soldier and a Defense 
Ministry guard were lightly wounded during a 
Palestinian protest against the separation fence going 
up west of Ramallah.  The IDF arrested at least eleven 
Palestinians in the West Bank.  Leading media reported 
that two Qassam rocket landed in the western Negev on 
Tuesday and this morning, causing no casualties. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited diplomatic assessments in 
Jerusalem that Hamas is feeling increasingly confident 
since PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas reconciled 
himself to a Hamas government and because of cracks 
appearing in the international front that Israel is 
attempting to cobble together.  The newspaper says that 
according to those assessments, Abbas has made it clear 
in recent days that he had no intention of standing in 
Hamas's way, and that he was even defending Hamas in 
the international arena.  The Jerusalem Post quoted 
Abbas as saying Tuesday that he would be prepared to 
free from prison the mastermind of the assassination of 
Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi, but that he 
would not be responsible for any Israeli actions 
against him.  Yediot reported that a Hamas web site 
encourages the phenomenon of suicide bombing among 
children. 
 
Major media (lead story in Yediot) reported that a 
State Comptroller report to be released today sharply 
criticizes the government's treatment of settlers 
evacuated under the disengagement plan.  In particular, 
the report finds special fault with the Disengagement 
Administration.  Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, 
Disengagement Administration Director Yonatan Bassi 
said that the facts presented in the report are totally 
disconnected from their context.  Bassi also questioned 
why the report was made public three weeks before the 
elections. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, divestment 
activists in the UK were handed a defeat after the 
Church of England's financial advisors -- the Ethical 
Investment Advisory Group -- voted unanimously to 
reject the Church's call to divest from the American 
company Caterpillar Inc. 
 
Yediot quoted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as 
saying recently during a closed discussion that 
Israelis should not be afraid of visiting Egypt, and 
the Sinai in particular. 
 
Ha'aretz wrote that highly confidential documents from 
the Ministry of Justice dating from the early 1990s, 
copies of which were sent to the Ministers of Defense, 
Justice and Housing as well as the Attorney General, 
confirm the existence of a vast network of ties between 
Likud and Labor governments, and land dealers and 
settlers' associations, for the purpose of acquiring 
land in the West Bank. 
 
All media reported that Israeli underworld kingpin Zeev 
Rosenstein, who was extradited to the US from Israel, 
made his first court appearance in Fort Lauderdale on 
Tuesday.  The media reported that upon landing in 
Florida, Rosenstein made contact with Attorney Roy 
Black, one of Miami's top lawyers, who represented 
William Kennedy Smith during his trial for rape. 
 
Yediot reported that the US Embassy's web site that 
allows Israelis to apply for visas to the US has been 
repeatedly crashing. 
 
Maariv cited Israel's concern that the embassies of 
Costa Rica and El Salvador, which are the only ones 
located in Jerusalem, might move to Tel Aviv, following 
Oscar Arias's victory in the Costa Rican presidential 
elections. 
 
Yediot reported on an uproar at Columbia University 
around an invitation made to Norman Finkelstein, a 
Jewish American academic who holds anti-Israeli views, 
to speak tonight before student unions, including the 
Muslim Students Association.  The newspaper wrote that 
Finkelstein will present his stance that Jewish 
organizations exploit the Holocaust to deflect 
criticism of Israel and to extort European banks and 
governments for compensation. 
 
Yediot reported that Rania Jubran, an Israeli-Arab 
woman who is the daughter of a High Court judge, will 
enroll in a prestigious cadet course in the Foreign 
Ministry. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime 
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "It is not too late to stop 
a Middle Eastern 9/11 from taking place, but if Israel 
doesn't act soon, and decisively, that is where we may 
all end up." 
 
Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the Israeli-Palestinian web 
site bitterlemons.org, a former director of the Jaffee 
Center for Strategic Studies, who was an advisor to 
former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz: "[Mahmoud] Abbas is not 
relevant to the current situation, and for now a peace 
process is not possible.  Hamas is our 'partner,' for 
better or for worse." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Israeli] human rights 
organizations are the state's pride, not a threat that 
must be liquidated or minimized." 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Bitter Plan" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (March 8): "[Former Shin Bet Director 
and prominent Kadima party member] Avi Dichter sowed 
embarrassment this week in Kadima when he declared a 
plan for an additional unilateral withdrawal.... It 
appears that the confusion created by that declaration 
contradicts Sharon's pronouncements following the 
disengagement from Gush Katif and the northern West 
Bank.  Sharon then declared that the disengagement was 
a one-time affair and that any additional pullout would 
take place in the framework of final-status 
negotiations with the Palestinians -- in keeping with 
the Roadmap.... A new withdrawal without an agreement 
would necessarily be damaging to Israel.  It might make 
extremist organizations -- including Hamas -- intensify 
their war in order to force Israel to satisfy their 
demands." 
 
II.  "Beware: Al Qaida Is Targeting Israel" 
 
Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime 
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (March 8): "The writing is 
on the wall: Al Qaida is gearing up to attack the 
Jewish state.  Yet no one seems to be paying very much 
attention.  Like a shark honing in on its prey, Osama 
bin Laden's henchmen are progressively encircling the 
Jewish state, creating bases of operation in areas 
bordering Israel.... This fits in precisely with what 
we know to be the group's ultimate objective: to wage 
war against the Jewish state.... We need to start 
making it abundantly clear to friends and allies in the 
West that they cannot expect Israel to carry out 
further retreats when the threat posed by Islamist 
fundamentalism is already within striking distance of 
our major towns and cities.   Most importantly, though, 
Israel must start taking the danger of a possible Al- 
Qaida attack much more seriously and adopt an 
aggressive, preemptive posture to eliminate the 
organization's infrastructure in places such as Gaza. 
It is not too late to stop a Middle Eastern 9/11 from 
taking place, but if Israel doesn't act soon, and 
decisively, that is where we may all end up." 
 
III.  "Yes, He's Not Relevant" 
 
Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the Israeli-Palestinian web 
site bitterlemons.org, a former director of the Jaffee 
Center for Strategic Studies, who was an advisor to 
former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in left- 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz (March 8): "[Mahmoud] 
Abbas is not relevant to the current situation, and for 
now a peace process is not possible.  Hamas is our 
'partner,' for better or for worse.  Abbas is a good 
person with noble sentiments.  He opposes violence and 
appears genuinely to want a two-state solution.  He 
remains chairman of the PA and head of the PLO.  So 
far, so good.  But he is incapable of acting 
decisively, and unable to deliver on his commitments. 
He promised to disarm the militias -- those of Hamas, 
Fatah and Islamic Jihad -- and could not.  He wanted to 
clean out the ranks of Fatah and the PLO from the old 
guard of corrupt politicos, and failed.  Nor are his 
own ideological commitments necessarily congenial to a 
successful peace process with Israel.  He agreed with 
Hamas in March 2005 in Cairo that the right of return 
would be exercised for all refugees to their former 
lands -- a sure formula for the elimination of 
Israel.... Even if he had a mandate to negotiate and 
the capacity to do so, peace talks with him would 
likely fail.  In the unlikely event that they 
succeeded, Abbas would not be able to deliver, because 
he does not have a mandate.  Hamas does.... Palestinian 
moderates like [Saeb] Erekat are either in denial or 
genuinely don't understand that they have been replaced 
by the Muslim Brotherhood, with all that entails for 
the future of Palestinian society and Israeli- 
Palestinian relations.  Israel undoubtedly shares the 
blame for Abbas' failure and Hamas' election 
triumph.... But to blame mainly us for Hamas's victory, 
as many Palestinians do, is simply another form of 
Palestinian denial.  Nor does it alter the outcome we 
must now deal with." 
 
IV.  "Who Is For the State, and Who Is Against?" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (March 8): "Israeli human rights 
organizations that try to help Palestinians have never 
enjoyed widespread public support.... [Even so], 
Machsom Watch is a unique women's human rights 
organization comprised of hundreds of women.... The 
assumption is that the presence of these mature women, 
some of whom are the mothers or grandmothers of 
soldiers, [at IDF checkpoints] prevents excessive abuse 
and slightly eases the suffering and humiliation that 
is the lot of thousands.  This organization -- like 
other human rights organizations, each of which focuses 
on a different consequence of the occupation -- is the 
least that Israeli citizens can do to try to prevent 
injustices stemming from the occupation.  Life under 
the anomaly of an occupation regime produces strange 
solutions, such as the presence of women alongside 
soldiers in an effort to ensure a more humane routine. 
The human rights organizations are the state's pride, 
not a threat that must be liquidated or minimized." 
 
------------------------------------- 
¶2.  US/India Civilian Nuclear Accord: 
------------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Whatever Bush's 
motivations for signing the nuclear agreement with 
India, the President of the US has in any case set back 
the nuclear non-proliferation efforts by 30 years." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"A New Nuclear Age" 
 
Senior military affairs analyst Reuven Pedatzur wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 8): "There 
could not have been a worse timing for the signing of 
the nuclear pact between the US and India last week. 
While President Bush is leading the international 
campaign against the nuclear programs of North Korea 
and Iran, it legitimized India's nuclear program, and 
thus granted India the status of a legitimate nuclear 
power in every respect.  This happened two years after 
he announced with great resolve that new nuclear powers 
should not be added to the list of the five nuclear 
powers, and eight years after the US administration 
imposed sanctions on India after it conducted a series 
of nuclear tests.... Whatever Bush's motivations for 
signing the nuclear agreement with India, the President 
of the US has in any case set back the nuclear non- 
proliferation efforts by 30 years.  He blatantly 
violated the rule that was set more than 30 years ago 
according to which nuclear technology is not provided 
to countries that have not signed the NPT.   Thus, the 
American president has greatly harmed the chances of 
denying nuclear weapons to Iran." 
 
JONES