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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 000960 
 
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.  Iran: Nuclear Program 
 
¶3.  Sudan: Darfur 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Acting PM Ehud Olmert was quoted as saying Wednesday in 
an interview with The Jerusalem Post that Israel's 
permanent borders will be set within the next four 
years, during which time construction will also begin 
in the controversial E1 section between Ma'aleh Adumim 
and Jerusalem.  Olmert was also quoted as saying that 
he had no intention of meeting PA Chairman [President] 
Mahmoud Abbas after the elections. 
 
Maariv quoted Olmert as saying Wednesday at an election 
rally that Kadima has already won the elections. 
Olmert emphasized that his party must garner as many 
Knesset seats as possible.  Yediot bannered a statement 
made Wednesday by Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu 
that PM Sharon and his son Omri raised the level of 
corruption in Israel to a hitherto unknown level. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that FM Tzipi Livni 
welcomed the International Atomic Energy Agency's 
(IAEA) decision Wednesday to finally send the Iranian 
nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council, but said 
that this was just the first step in a long journey to 
use diplomatic pressure to stop Iran's march toward 
nuclear weapons.  Ha'aretz reported that intelligence 
services in the West are convinced that Iran is using 
covert means to develop nuclear weapons, in addition to 
the nuclear program under the partial supervision of 
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).   The 
newspaper wrote that Russian intelligence apparently 
agrees with this assessment.  Maariv quoted Iran's 
Representative to the IAEA Ali-Asghar Soltanieh as 
saying on Wednesday that the US is not immune from pain 
and damage. 
 
Yediot reported that Yitzhak Ben-Gad, Israel's Consul- 
General in Miami, called Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad the "new Haman" in a speech he delivered 
before a world conference of rabbis that took place in 
Miami.  Haman, who is mentioned in the Book of Esther, 
is the archetype of those would eliminate all the Jews. 
Yediot reported that The Washington Post dubbed 
Israel's Representative to the UN Danny Gillerman the 
"undiplomatic diplomat" for "shouting a barnyard 
obscenity involving a bull" during the AIPAC Conference 
when he dismissed the theory that Iran and Hamas might 
soften their anti-Israel views. 
 
Globes reported that Industry, Trade, and Employment DG 
Raanan Dinur announced on Tuesday that Under Secretary 
of Commerce for Industry and Security David McCormick, 
who is currently visiting Israel, will hold talks with 
Israeli officials regarding the supervision of exports 
of weapons and security products from Israel.  Globes 
reported that last year, trade between Israel and the 
US amounted to USD 18 billion.  Israeli exports to the 
US grew by 4.65 percent and amounted to USD 12 billion. 
US exports to Israel amounted to USD 6 billion. 
 
Israel Radio and the major news web sites (including 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post) reported that the 
State Department's 2006 Human Rights Report voices 
criticism of human rights conditions in Israel, the 
occupied territories, and the PA.   The media said that 
in Israel, the GOI in general respects the human rights 
of the citizens, but in some areas there is still 
discrimination, violence and government corruption. 
The report found that the GOI also discriminates 
against non-Orthodox Israeli Jews.  The report 
allegedly noted that conditions in Israeli security 
prisons are bad and a small number of the prison guards 
pursue a policy of harassment against the Palestinian 
inmates.  With regard to the human rights situation in 
the PA territories, the report says the PA did not 
supervise its security forces in an appropriate manner, 
and permitted their personnel to use unacceptable 
violence including torture. The Palestinian legal 
system is inefficient and short of resources and 
personnel, and people do not receive a fair trial. The 
report says there has been an improvement in the 
conditions under which journalists work in the 
territories, especially after Abbas's democratic 
election.  The report says that the PA is also tainted 
with governmental corruption.   The six countries which 
head the list of states which violate human rights are 
Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Iran, Cuba, China and 
Zimbabwe.  The report also criticizes countries which 
are friendly to the US, among them Saudi Arabia, where 
there are arbitrary arrests and a lack of freedom of 
conscience." 
 
Israel Radio reported that despite warnings of 
terrorist attacks, Israel will reopen the Karni 
crossing this morning after it reviewed the security 
and humanitarian aspects of the move.  Ha'aretz and the 
radio reported on a shortage of basic goods in the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Maariv reported that the US Embassy in Israel and the 
American Consulate-General in Jerusalem warned AmCits 
in the country to prepare for a natural disaster in the 
region.  The newspaper reported that the Embassy and 
Consulate asked AmCits to register in order to 
facilitate communications in the event of a disaster. 
 
All media (lead story in Hatzofe) quoted Abbas as 
saying in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere 
Della Sera that he does not want to interfere in the 
Israeli elections, but that he hopes that Olmert will 
win.  The media cited Netanyahu's response that the 
Palestinians support Olmert because he does not demand 
that the Palestinians fight terrorism.  Leading media 
cited Abbas's claim that he was misquoted. 
 
Israel Radio reported that an unidentified Hamas source 
told the station on Wednesday that Hamas will retain 
control of the Interior Ministry in the new Palestinian 
government, putting thousands of security officers 
under its control. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday, Peace 
Now held a demonstration in front of the Defense 
Ministry in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary 
of the release of Talia Sasson's report calling for the 
removal of illegal settler outposts in the West Bank. 
 
Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef, the director of Jerusalem's 
Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem, where PM 
Sharon is hospitalized, said in an interview with 
Channel 2-TV Wednesday that had he been anyone else, 
Sharon would have been moved to Loewenstein Hospital 
Rehabilitation Center in Raanana. 
 
Ha'aretz translated a Reuters story on a harsh face-off 
between senior Republican Senators and President Bush 
on the matter of Dubai Ports World's management of six 
US seaports. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that FM Tzipi Livni decided Wednesday 
that Israel's Ambassador to the US, Danny Ayalon, is to 
be reprimanded subject to a hearing by the deputy state 
prosecutor.  Ha'aretz wrote that Livni's decision comes 
on the backdrop of a recommendation by State Prosecutor 
Eran Shendar.  Other media cited minor disciplinary 
measures to be taken against Ayalon. 
 
Ha'aretz reviewed a new book by American-born 
journalist and researcher Gershom Gorenberg, "The 
Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the 
Settlements, 1967-1977."   Referring to the budding 
settlement movement, Gorenberg told the newspaper: "It 
is completely obvious that the Israelis deceived the 
Americans.  But it is equally clear that it was very 
convenient for the Americans to be deceived.  They were 
preoccupied with the Vietnam War, and viewed the whole 
world only though the prism of the Cold War." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported Tuesday that, in honor of 
International Women's Day, some 20 Israeli and 
Palestinian women gathered in Jerusalem's American 
Center for a videoconference between Jerusalem and 
Washington, with the participation of members of the 
PEACE X PEACE organization, which empowers women as the 
most effective means to enrich lives locally and 
promote peace globally. 
 
All media reported that on Wednesday, American actress 
Sharon Stone attended an event in Jaffa with Israeli 
and Palestinian children organized by the Peres Center 
for Peace. 
 
Major media reported that American tycoon Donald Trump 
is involved in luxury real-estate projects in Israel. 
Yediot reported that Trump will invest in the 
construction of the tallest building in Israel -- in 
Ramat Gan. 
 
Channel 10-TV and Ha'aretz published the results of a 
survey conducted this week by Prof. Camil Fuchs of the 
Amanet Group's Dialogue Institute: 
-"Were elections for the Knesset held today, for whom 
would you vote?"  (Results in Knesset seats -- in 
brackets, results of poll conducted on March 2.) 
-Kadima 37 (37); Labor Party 19 (19); Likud 17 (15); 
Shas 10 (10); National Union-National Religious Party 
10 (11); Yisrael Beiteinu 8 (7); Arab parties 8 (9); 
United Torah Judaism 5 (6); Meretz 4 (6); Green Leaf (a 
party advocating the decriminalization of soft drugs): 
2 (0). 
-The poll found that the ratio of undecided voters 
("floating votes") corresponds to 24 Knesset seats. 
-"Do you support or are you opposed to Kadima's plan to 
evacuate settlements unilaterally, as Avi Dichter 
proposed this week?"  Opposed: 49 percent; support: 37 
percent; undecided: 14 percent. 
 
A Yediot/Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll held on 
Wednesday shows the Likud as weakening and the Labor 
Party as stagnating: 
-"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 (38); Labor Party 20 (20); Likud 14 (15); 
Shas 11 (10); Yisrael Beiteinu 10 (9); Arab parties 8 
(8); National Union-National Religious Party 8 (7); 
United Torah Judaism 6 (6); Meretz 6 (5). 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling 
Institute survey conducted on Wednesday, which shows a 
slight decline in support for Kadima and the Labor 
Party: 
-"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 38 (39); Labor Party 19 (21); Likud 17 (18); 
Shas 9 (9); National Union-National Religious Party 9 
(9); Yisrael Beiteinu 9 (7); United Torah Judaism 5 
(5); Arab parties 8 (8); Meretz 5 (5). 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "We must carry out a broad unilateral 
pullout in the West Bank already now." 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a 
lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is Labor 
Party Chairman Amir Peretz's right to meet with Abu 
Mazen, but at least let him not presume to claim that 
he is fighting terror." 
 
Yoav Frummer wrote from New York in popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "A short, painful look around us proves that we 
may have hastened to rejoice." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "Putting Things on Ice" 
 
Columnist Avraham Tal wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (March 9): "How can we make sure that 
when the [final-status] agreement is finally reached, 
the reality on the ground will not prevent implementing 
the vision of two separate states, while ensuring the 
Jewish majority in the Jewish state?  To this end, we 
must carry out a broad unilateral pullout in the West 
Bank already now.... How can we ensure, in any case, 
that the developing Jewish settlements in the West Bank 
do not prevent, in the future, a separation from the 
Palestinians?  The answer is 'putting things on ice' -- 
a term that has lost its impact from overuse in the 
past, but still carries weight.... A real freeze 
requires resolve and consistency.  But it is possible 
to accomplish.  And as preparation for the future 
negotiations over a peace agreement, it is preferable 
to the attempt to evacuate dozens of settlements and 
tens of thousands of settlers in return for nothing." 
 
II.  "Fighting Terror?" 
 
Middle East affairs commentator Dr. Guy Bechor, a 
lecturer at the Interdisciplinary Center, wrote in mass- 
circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (March 9): "When 
[Labor Party Chairman Amir] Peretz recently met with 
the PA President, not only did he fail to raise the 
demand to halt the Fatah terror, he also continued the 
pretense that Hamas is the active party in terror. 
What is worse is that Amir Peretz reached an agreement 
with Abu Mazen that if the Labor Party should form the 
next government, they will 'immediately' return to the 
negotiating table.  This will cause us to regress by 
ten years, to the situation where Arafat sat at the 
negotiating table while continuing to encourage the 
terror of all the [Palestinian] factions, knowing that 
terror was helping him and encouraging Israel to 
accelerate the negotiations.  This odd situation has 
two possible and troubling causes: either the Labor 
Party representatives do not properly understand the 
situation on the ground, particularly in light of the 
change that has taken place following the Palestinian 
elections, or else they are choosing to ignore this 
change.  It is Labor Party Chairman Amir Peretz's right 
to meet with Abu Mazen, but at least let him not 
presume to claim that he is fighting terror." 
 
III.  "Retreating Democracy" 
 
Yoav Frummer wrote from New York in popular, pluralist 
Maariv (March 9): "[Over a year ago], leading 
Neoconservative Bill Kristol declared in an interview 
with Maariv that 'Bush was right -- democracy is 
winning.'  A short, painful look around us proves that 
we may have hastened to rejoice.... As Richard Perle, 
one of the original hawks, heavy-heartedly admitted to 
me this week that the situation in the Middle East was 
'deteriorating'.... Fourteen years ago, Francis 
Fukuyama announced that the 'end of history' had 
arrived.... It was only a matter of time until this 
becomes universally applied.  Using Churchillian logic, 
the current conditions prove that we haven't reached 
the end of history -- not even the beginning of its 
end.  In the best case, we have reached the end of its 
beginning." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote on page 
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The real 
question will be whether Dick Cheney's commitment to 
AIPAC can stand -- that the Americans will not allow 
Iran to acquire nuclear weapons." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Diplomatic Effort Against Iran" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote on page 
one of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (March 9): 
"On Tuesday, a State Department official told Ha'aretz 
that 'the Russians don't want the issue [of Iran's 
nuclear program] to go to the Security Council.' 
Congressional and administration officials therefore 
concede that the diplomatic confrontation with Iran 
will end in disappointment. Then the real question will 
be whether Dick Cheney's commitment to AIPAC can stand 
-- that the Americans will not allow Iran to acquire 
nuclear weapons.  All the options are on the table, 
Cheney said.  But which one will the US choose?  And at 
what price?  And when?" 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------------ 
¶3.  Sudan: Darfur: 
------------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "The century-long Arab war against the 
Jewish presence in the Land of Israel is made of the 
same bloody intolerance the world has seen against the 
Blacks in Sudan." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Darfur Genocide Continues" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (March 9): "On Tuesday, a US 
Congressional delegation that had visited Sudan told UN 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 'The issue of Darfur 
 
SIPDIS 
challenges the conscience of our country.'  So what is 
being done about it?.... Genocide, ethnic cleansing, 
racism -- all such characterizations surely apply.  But 
surely the Jewish people should need no further 
explanations; our flashes of recognition are immediate. 
Nor have the atrocities ended, nor will they end if 
action is not taken..... Israel, too, should not be 
silent.  It should not matter that both the 
perpetrators and the victims are predominately 
Muslim.... The century-long Arab war against the Jewish 
presence in the Land of Israel is made of the same 
bloody intolerance the world has seen against the 
Blacks in Sudan.  As a Jewish and democratic state, 
Israel must speak out when thousands of people are 
being slaughtered, starved and displaced." 
 
JONES