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 001819 
 
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 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Yediot quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying Tuesday, at an 
international convention of mayors taking place in 
Jerusalem, that Israel will wait for six months to see 
whether there is a partner on the Palestinian side, and 
if there is none, it will carry out unilateral actions. 
Olmert warned that Israel would not negotiate with the 
PA if it did not accept the three conditions set by the 
international community -- as the newspaper said he 
defined them: recognition of Israel, abandonment of 
violence, and acceptance of previous agreements signed 
between the Palestinians and Israel.   Yediot quoted 
sources in Olmert's office as saying that Israel does 
not expect President Bush to make a decision regarding 
the convergence plan at his upcoming meeting with 
Olmert.  The newspaper quoted the sources as saying 
that one should not forget that before the Americans 
supported former PM Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan, 
at least 20 meetings took place between American and 
Israeli officials. 
 
In its lead story, Ha'aretz reported that members of 
the Quartet, which is meeting in New York, reached a 
"silent agreement" Tuesday to establish a trust fund 
that it claimed will pay the salaries of Palestinian 
civil servants through the office of PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas.  Ha'aretz's web site quoted 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying at a news 
 
SIPDIS 
conference with other Quartet members: "The thrust of 
the statement is that the international community is 
still trying to respond to the needs of the Palestinian 
people."  Ha'aretz and Yediot quoted Secretary Rice as 
saying: "It is to provide assistance to the Palestinian 
people so they do not suffer deprivation."  Yediot 
quoted Secretary Rice as saying that the international 
community will not talk with the Hamas government, 
which encourages terrorism.  Israel Radio quoted Rice 
as saying that the EU had initiated the move.  Ha'aretz 
quoted sources close to Quartet representatives as 
saying that the initiative for the trust fund came from 
France.  Israel Radio claimed that the US had given in 
to pressure by its Quartet partners.  Ha'aretz quoted 
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying that the 
international mechanism to be used, which has not yet 
been fully decided on, should begin as soon as possible 
and be reviewed after three months.  Ha'aretz reported 
that senior Abbas aide Saeb Erekat told Reuters the 
Quartet's plan did not go far enough.  Ha'aretz said 
that in parallel, the Quartet members reiterated the 
three demands posed to the Hamas government if any 
cooperation between the international community and the 
Palestinian government is to be resumed -- recognition 
of Israel, abandonment of terrorism, and acceptance of 
previous agreements signed between the Palestinians and 
Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the US administration 
views new legislation regarding Hamas as "unnecessary" 
and that it is calling on Congress to make revisions 
that would moderate the limitations the bill imposes on 
providing assistance to the Palestinians. 
 
Yediot reported that Palestinian FM Mahmoud Zahar's 
claim that he met with a European minister turned out 
to be no more than a chance encounter with Portuguese 
FM Diogo Freitas Do Amaral in an Abu Dhabi hotel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that in an assessment of the 
situation at the Karni crossing over the weekend, 
Defense Minister Amir Peretz adopted the line of his 
predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, saying he would reopen Karni 
according to the security situation.  The newspaper 
reported that the Peres Center for Peace disseminated a 
report to relevant GOI ministers, saying that the 
closure of the Karni crossing causes an economic and 
humanitarian collapse in the Gaza Strip.  Yediot and 
The Jerusalem Post cited the NGO Physicians for Human 
Rights-Israel as saying in a report published Tuesday 
that the Palestinian health system has collapsed as a 
result of the cessation of transfers of tax money by 
Israel and the termination of international assistance. 
Ha'aretz reported that four Palestinian kidney patients 
died in Gaza because of the economic crisis in the PA. 
Citing AP, The Jerusalem Post quoted US officials as 
saying that the US plans to spend USD 10 million of the 
money it took back from the PA on a new medical program 
rather than let it get into the hands of Hamas. 
 
Leading media reported that 15 Palestinians, five of 
them youths, were wounded Tuesday in the Gaza Strip in 
a series of clashes between Hamas supporters, on one 
hand, and activists of Fatah and the Palestinian 
Preventive Security forces.  Today, Israel Radio 
reported that the Hamas-led government and Fatah issued 
a joint announcement forbidding Palestinians from 
carrying weapons. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that MKs Avshalom 
Vilan (Meretz) and Colette Avital (Labor Party) will 
today present a bill according to which residents of 
settlements will be able to leave their homes in 
exchange for compensation starting today. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that hoping to unify 
religious Zionist ranks in advance of their anticipated 
fight against further territorial withdrawal, settler 
leaders are seeking spiritual advice from former 
Ashkenazi chief rabbi Avraham Shapira and 10 other 
prominent rabbis. 
 
Major media reported that the Israel Navy foiled an 
attempt to smuggle a massive quantity of explosives 
into Gaza last week.  The news was released for 
publication only Tuesday, after navy divers finished 
retrieving some 550 kilograms of TNT from the sea. 
 
Leading media quoted IDF Intelligence head Maj. Gen. 
Amos Yadlin as saying Tuesday before the Knesset's 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that provided 
there are no interruptions to the Iranian nuclear 
program, Iran will have a nuclear weapon by 2010.  The 
Jerusalem Post and other media quoted Brig. Gen. Yosef 
Kuperwasser, the head of Military Intelligence's 
Research Division, as saying Tuesday: "Iran is 
interested not only in turning into a superpower, but 
also in changing the world order."  Leading media 
reported hat IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and 
the Defense Ministry's diplomatic adviser Amos Gilad 
protested Tuesday against Vice Premier Shimon Peres's 
warning that Iran could also be wiped off the map. 
Yediot reported that members of the UN Security Council 
have decided to offer Iran a choice -- either 
incentives or sanctions -- to drop its nuclear 
ambitions.  Yediot quoted sources in New York as saying 
that the US agreed to this compromise 
"unenthusiastically" as it believes that this is a 
"return to a point where we have already been."  Yediot 
reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told 
reporters that the US demands that the Security 
Council's draft resolution be mandatory under Chapter 
VII of the UN Charter. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Dr. Jurgen Ruttgers, Minister- 
President of North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest German 
federal state, as saying Monday that Iranian President 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be a welcome guest for 
June's World Cup soccer tournament. 
 
Visiting Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was quoted as 
saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that he 
was impressed with Israel's use of technology to fight 
terrorism and provide security for its citizens. 
 
Hatzofe reported that on Monday, British PM Tony Blair 
told a delegation of European rabbis that the war in 
Iraq helps Israel.  Ha'aretz quoted British Ambassador 
to Israel Simon McDonald as saying Tuesday that his 
government did not believe that academic boycotts were 
productive and preferred academic cooperation.  He was 
responding to a report in Tuesday's Ha'aretz that 
academics in the UK were planning to back a far- 
reaching boycott of Israeli academics and academic 
institutions that do not dissociate themselves from GOI 
policy in the territories. 
 
Maariv reported that former PM Ariel Sharon will be 
moved next week to the rehabilitation hospital at Sheba 
Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, in the Tel Aviv area. 
 
Ha'aretz cited an Amnesty International report that 
will be published today that states that Israeli arms 
vendors are feeding wars in the developing world. 
 
All media (banner in Maariv) reported that the subject 
of the "questionable appointment" to which State 
Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss referred on the eve of 
Tuesday's publication of his annual report is Civil 
Service Commissioner Shmuel Hollander's veteran 
assistant, Edna Alfasi, who was named deputy director. 
The appointment allegedly was made without a public 
tender, notwithstanding the candidate's lack of the 
necessary qualifications for the position.  In his 
report, Lindenstrauss also reported that Olmert, who 
chaired the Israel Land Council as minister of 
industry, trade and labor, exceeded his authority and 
became overly involved in a 2004 sale by the Israel 
Lands Administration of commercial properties at Jaffa 
Port to the Tel Aviv Municipality. 
 
Yediot ran a lengthy feature ("The Pink House") of Vice 
President Dick Cheney's daughter Mary. 
 
Major media reported that on Monday in Van Nuys, 
California Superior Court Judge Martin Herscovitz 
sentenced Benjamin Frandsen, who murdered the Israelis 
Ben Wertzberger and Arad Ne'eman in December 2002, to 
life imprisonment without parole. 
 
Channel 10-TV, Yediot, and Maariv reported that Dorit 
Moussaiof (phon.), the Israeli-born wife of Icelandic 
President Olafur Grimsson, was detained at Ben Gurion 
Airport Monday for one-and-a-half hours because she did 
not present an Israeli passport as required by law. 
The media quoted Moussaiof as saying: "Because of this, 
everybody hates the Jews." 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post cited the results of a 
poll taken among Israelis by the Israel Democracy 
Institute, according to which some 62 percent of 
Israelis believe that the government should encourage 
the country's Arab citizens to emigrate. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former 
senior IDF official in the West Bank and former head of 
Israel-PA coordination, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz: "Revolution will come indeed.  Yes, 
it might not be a revolution but a coup.... Perhaps 
this is the only way Palestinian society can be 
redeemed from its harsh situation." 
 
Conservative columnist Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of 
the Begin-Sadat Strategic Center at Bar-Ilan 
University, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "The future of Olmert's [convergence] 
program will probably be determined by domestic 
factors, rather than by whatever international support 
he may gather." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Crossroads in Palestine" 
 
Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former 
senior IDF official in the West Bank and former head of 
Israel-PA coordination, wrote in independent, left- 
leaning Ha'aretz (5/10): "'Al-Thawra Hatta Al-Nasr!' 
('Revolution Until Victory') was and remains the Fatah 
organization's famous battle cry.... The Palestinians 
are now at an unfamiliar crossroads from which there 
are three ways out: The first one, in absence of a 
central administration, regime chaos may lead to a 
lawless situation.... The second one, a cantonization 
of diadochs -- the creation of autonomous cantons ruled 
by diadochs (kinds of regional rulers combining 
authority over clans and the means of maintaining armed 
militias straddling parties and organizations).  For 
instance, Jibril Rajoub would rule in Hebron, and 
Muhammad Dahlan and his men would rule in Gaza.  The 
third one, which is increasingly plausible, would be a 
military and civilian coup initiated by the heads of 
Fatah with the support of the [PA] security branches 
and quiet assent by Israel for retaking power.  The 
West, Israel, and the Palestinians themselves, 
understand that it's easier to make the PLO improve its 
moral behavior than to make Hamas cancel its Charter 
and recognize Israel.  Revolution will come indeed. 
Yes, it might not be a revolution but a coup; it 
apparently won't be directed at the Zionist entity, as 
an entire generation of Palestinians had dreamt, but 
against Hamas's grunting.  Perhaps this is the only way 
Palestinian society can be redeemed from its harsh 
situation." 
 
II.  "What Motivates Unilateralism?" 
 
Conservative columnist Prof. Efraim Inbar, Director of 
the Begin-Sadat Strategic Center at Bar-Ilan 
University, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (5/10): "The appeal of unilateral steps, 
including the completion of the separation fence, is 
probably also an expression of the naive aspiration for 
a simple solution.  The Peace Now slogan was given a 
try.  Now it is the turn of 'us on one side, them on 
the other.'  And the idea is convincing and attractive, 
even though Palestinian terrorism does not really allow 
Israel to disengage from the territories.... In fact, 
the Israeli leadership understands that pure 
unilateralism, appealing as it may be to the people, is 
not a true policy option.  The withdrawal from Gaza was 
not entirely unilateral as it was approved first in 
Washington and only afterwards by the Israeli cabinet. 
Leaving the Palestinians to their own devices may well 
be what they deserve, but even Israeli unilateralists 
view international involvement positively in order to 
prevent a large-scale humanitarian disaster in the 
Palestinian territories.  Moreover, the Olmert 
government intends to secure international support -- 
or at least some level of understanding for its 
unilateral program.  Nevertheless, the future of 
Olmert's program will probably be determined by 
domestic factors, rather than by whatever international 
support he may gather." 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  Iran: Nuclear Program: 
-------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized: "The choice before Russia and China is 
unmistakable: Will they join the world in an attempt to 
peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, 
or will the US and Europe be forced to move ahead 
without them?" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Choice For Russia and China" 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post 
editorialized (5/10): "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's 
letter [to President Bush], far from diverting the UN 
from its path toward imposing sanctions on Iran, should 
reinforce Western determination to confront this 
delusional regime.  Through it make little sense when 
seen through the West's prism of nations acting in 
their rational self-interest, it has become abundantly 
clear that the mullahs are, ironically, on a crusade to 
confront the entire West and everything it stands for. 
Rather than seeking to avoid a 'clash of 
civilizations,' the mullahs seem to be relishing this 
prospect, and view every escalation in their own 
belligerence as helping to protect, rather than 
endanger, their regime.... It should be obvious at this 
point that even draconian sanctions may not be 
sufficient to turn Iran away from its present course; 
it is all the more clear that non-binding resolutions 
are at best a waste of time.  The choice before Russia 
and China is unmistakable: Will they join the world in 
an attempt to peacefully prevent Iran from obtaining 
nuclear weapons, or will the US and Europe be forced to 
move ahead without them?.... As US Senator John McCain 
puts it, 'There's only one thing worse than the United 
States exercising the military option, that is a 
nuclear-armed Iran.'" 
 
JONES