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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 TEL AVIV 002017 
 
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 
 
¶3.  Former Republic of Yugoslavia 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media highlighted comments made by President Bush 
at his joint White House press conference with PM Ehud 
Olmert on Tuesday: "Today, Prime Minister Olmert shared 
with me some of his ideas. I would call them bold 
ideas.  These ideas could lead to a two-state solution 
if a pathway to progress on the road map is not opened 
in the period ahead."  President Bush was also quoted 
as saying: "The Prime Minister and I shared our 
concerns about the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons 
ambitions.... Israel is a close friend and ally of the 
United States.   And in the event of any attack on 
Israel, the United States will come to Israel's aid. 
Israel Radio reported that Olmert's associates were 
extremely satisfied with President Bush's remarks. 
 
The media quoted Olmert as saying at the news 
conference: "I intend to exhaust every possibility to 
promote peace with the Palestinians according to the 
road map, and I extend my hand in peace to Mahmoud 
Abbas, the elected President of the Palestinian 
Authority.... Despite our sincere desire for 
negotiations, we cannot wait indefinitely for the 
Palestinians to change.  We cannot be held hostage by a 
terrorist entity which refuses to change or to promote 
dialogue."  The Jerusalem Post's website quoted Olmert 
as saying after his meeting with President Bush that he 
was "very satisfied" with the understanding he reached 
concerning his plan for possible unilateral withdrawal 
from parts of the West Bank.   In a briefing with 
Israeli reporters after the meeting, Olmert stressed 
that Bush's remarks about his plan, calling Olmert's 
ideas "bold" and "important steps towards peace," were 
made in a "very clear and remarkable way".  Israel 
Radio quoted officials at Abbas's bureau as saying that 
Olmert's remarks were not encouraging.  Israel Radio 
noted that unlike his predecessor Ariel Sharon, Olmert 
called Abbas the "President of the PA." 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic sources in 
Washington as saying that the US will seek 
international support before endorsing PM Olmert's plan 
for unilateral withdrawal from parts of the West Bank. 
The sources were quoted as saying that President Bush 
was not yet ready to back the unilateral Israeli move, 
though he does not oppose it.  Media reported that at 
the press conference, Olmert called his plan a "process 
of realignment."  Ha'aretz reported that author and 
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel helped write the 
speech that PM Olmert will give before a joint session 
of Congress today. 
 
The media reported that on Monday, Olmert met with 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National 
 
SIPDIS 
Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, and on Tuesday with 
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whom, according to 
Ha'aretz, he told that it was time to put the deals 
with China in the past.   Yediot and other media quoted 
Secretary Rice as saying in an interview with Al 
 
SIPDIS 
Arabiya-TV that Olmert does not have a plan yet and 
that he only wants to share some of his ideas with the 
President. 
 
Retiring Deputy Chief Justice Mishael Cheshin was 
quoted as saying in an interview with Ha'aretz: 
"[Chief] Justice Aharon Barak is ready for 30, 50 
people to be blown up, but we will have human rights. 
I am not ready for that.  He thinks that; I think 
differently.  To my great happiness, I am in the 
majority.... I am not ready to take a risk.  Not at 
[Netanya's] Park Hotel and not in Haifa and not in 
buses that blow up in Tel Aviv.  Why should I take a 
risk?  However you look at it, we are dealing with an 
enemy state."   Justice Cheshin was referring to the 
ruling two weeks ago by the High Court of Justice on 
family reunification.  This morning, IDF Radio said 
that Cheshin apologized for his comments about Barak, 
saying they were made in the heat of the moment. 
 
Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Hatzofe reported that 
on Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved, 361- 
37, the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act [also known as 
H.R. 4681]. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a European diplomatic 
official told the newspaper Tuesday that Palestinian PM 
Ismail Haniyeh's comment in his interview with Ha'aretz 
this week that peace was possible if Israel withdrew to 
the 1967 lines was a step toward recognizing Israel's 
right to exist, and was likely timed to coincide with a 
meeting of EU officials in Brussels. 
 
Leading media quoted Defense Minister Amir Peretz as 
saying Tuesday that he intends to begin evacuating 
illegal settler outposts in the near future.  Ha'aretz, 
Yediot, and The Jerusalem Post quoted Peretz as saying: 
"Illegal settlers don't bring honor, or support the 
Israeli population in the territories."  Ha'aretz 
reported that on Tuesday, Jews occupied two apartments 
in the Matityahu East neighborhood in Modi'in Illit in 
contravention of a ruling by the High Court of Justice. 
 
Maariv reported that the Kadima leadership intends to 
transfer the budget of the World Zionist Organization's 
settlement department to fund the convergence plan and 
develop the Negev and Galilee.  The organization, which 
was controlled by the Right and which is most likely to 
pass into the hands of Kadima, used to channel 100 
million shekels (around USD 22 million) annually into 
construction in the territories. 
 
Leading media quoted IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as 
saying Tuesday before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and 
Defense Committee that he would not recommend occupying 
the Gaza Strip in response to Qassam rocket attacks on 
Israeli communities, and that the defense establishment 
is making a great effort to find technological 
solutions to better contend with the Qassam rockets 
from the Gaza Strip, of which 72 percent land within 
Israel.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Halutz as saying 
that terrorists are smuggling tons of TNT into Israel 
from Sinai.  Ha'aretz, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post 
cited the Egyptian Interior Ministry as saying Tuesday 
that Yousri Mohareb, a man named by the Egyptian 
authorities as a member of a group behind bomb attacks 
in Sinai, received weapons and bomb-making training in 
the Palestinian territories. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday, the High Court 
of Justice approved the route of the separation fence 
between Ma'aleh Adumim and the Palestinian village of 
Azariyeh and along the roads leading to the city. 
 
Last night, Channel 10-TV reported that on Tuesday, 
Iran again test-launched a Shihab-3 missile with a 
1,300-km range.  Maariv said this was a signal to the 
US -- and Yediot to Israel as well. Yediot and Maariv 
reported that Israel is developing Tomahawk -like 
cruise missiles. 
 
Hatzofe quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh 
Hassan Nasrallah as saying Tuesday that his 
organization has thousands of rockets that can strike 
any military or civilian target in northern Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that tomorrow, in Ramallah and the 
Gaza Strip, Hamas, Fatah, and other Palestinian 
factions are due to open a national dialogue on the 
future of the PA. 
 
Italian FM Massimo D'Alema was quoted as saying Tuesday 
in an interview with Maariv that Israeli concerns about 
him are not justified and that he is committed to 
Israel's security. 
 
Major media reported that according to the annual 
Amnesty International report, released Tuesday, there 
was a marked drop in violence between Israelis and 
Palestinians in 2005, although there was a continuation 
of attacks by both sides.  According to the report, 
some 190 Palestinians, including around 50 children, 
were killed by the IDF, and 50 Israelis, including six 
children, were killed by Palestinian armed groups.  The 
report states that many of the Palestinian casualties 
"were killed unlawfully, in deliberate and reckless 
shootings, shelling and air strikes in densely 
populated residential areas, or as a result of 
excessive use of force."  The report also cites IDF 
blockades and attacks of Palestinians by the IDF and 
settlers. 
 
Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and other media cited 
statistics released Tuesday by the Jerusalem Institute 
for Israel Studies, according to which some 59 percent 
of Jerusalem residents, 413,000 Jews and Arabs, live in 
areas of the city that came under Israeli rule after 
the Six-Day War.  Forty-four percent of those 413,000 
residents -- 182,000 people -- are Jews, and 56 percent 
are Arab.  The Arabs living in the post-1967 areas 
constitute 98 percent of the city's Arab population, 
while Jews living in those sections constitute 39 
percent of the Jewish population. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, in an 
effort to broaden Israel's overseas support, the 
Knesset's Christian Allies Caucus launched in 
international women's council that will work to bring 
female Christian and Jewish supporters of Israel 
together. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that in recent years, Jewish donors 
have established Israel studies centers in the US, and 
to a lesser extent in Europe.  At least 12 such centers 
and institutes -- nine in the US and one each in 
Canada, Germany, and Russia -- exist.  The newspaper 
quoted academics in the US, Europe, and Israel as 
saying that the reason is political -- following the 
hesitation to link with Israeli institutions of higher 
education due to calls for an academic boycott, 
opposition to the occupation, the discrimination of 
Palestinian citizens of Israel, and other motives. 
 
Yediot reported that preparations are intensifying for 
moving former PM Ariel Sharon next week to the 
rehabilitation hospital at Sheba Medical Center, Tel 
Hashomer, in the Tel Aviv area. 
 
All media (banner in Yediot) extensively reported that 
on Tuesday, Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi and 12 
other senior law officials received warning letters 
from the Zeiler Committee, which was appointed to 
review the bungling of a murder case involving the 
Parinyan crime family.  Letters of warning are usually 
issued when there is a significant chance that an 
indictment will follow. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea, at this time a research 
fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at 
the Brookings Institution, wrote from Washington in 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "The [US] 
administration is adopting Olmert's plan 
[conditionally].... This is a very far-reaching gesture 
... towards Israel's prime minister." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the 
Internet edition of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, there were many good 
reasons to be satisfied with his first meeting with US 
President George W. Bush." 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "[Israelis] who are not asking for any favors 
from the Palestinians ... should adopt a positive 
attitude toward Haniyeh and his stance." 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "In light of the great opposition, 
inwardly and outwardly, and the deep cracks that have 
been revealed in the [convergence] plan, Israel should 
seek an arrangement that is based on a reciprocal 
agreement." 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former 
ambassador to the US, wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "Arab 
[peace] initiatives must be blocked before they gather 
momentum." 
 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "His Great Day" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea, at this time a research 
fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at 
the Brookings Institution, wrote from Washington in 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/24): 
"Ehud Olmert has good reason to feel good this morning. 
He is leaving Washington with a good part of his 
expectations fulfilled.... In fact, the administration 
is adopting Olmert's plan on the condition that it is 
raised only after a clear and convincing step is taken 
of examining the possibility of negotiations with Abu 
Mazen.  This is a very far-reaching gesture by the Bush 
administration towards Israel's prime minister.  It is 
not every day that the President of the US stands 
alongside an Israeli prime minister who announces that 
Israel is determined to reorganize the settlements into 
settlement blocs within the West Bank territories.  If 
on the topic of convergence the Americans listened to 
Olmert a great deal, on the Iranian issue they expected 
him to listen to them.  The message they conveyed was 
simple: at this stage, it would be best for Israel to 
keep a low profile concerning Iran   Israel must not 
act alone." 
 
II.  "George Bush Wants the Convergence Plan Too" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the 
Internet edition of independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(5/24): "For Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, there were 
many good reasons to be satisfied with his first 
meeting with US President George W. Bush.  In the press 
conference that followed their first round of talks, 
Bush warmly adopted Olmert's initiatives for an 
extensive withdrawal in the West Bank, terming them 
'bold ideas' that 'could be an important step' to 
peace.  The president also pledged that the United 
States would hasten to Israel's defense in the event of 
an attack by Iran, and, no less important to Olmert, 
stressed the personal relationship between them.... In 
anticipation of the visit, Olmert, his cabinet and the 
White House had all lowered their respective 
expectations -- effectively convincing the media that 
Bush's support for the convergence plan would be 
lukewarm, and that Iran would be the central topic of 
the meeting.  These lowered expectations served as an 
agreeable backdrop for Bush's supportive statements, 
fortified by Olmert's allusion to the fact that Bush 
had been the first world leader to support former prime 
minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan." 
 
III.  "The Two Sides of Haniyeh" 
 
Arab affairs commentator Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz (5/24): "[Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail 
Haniyeh] allows his ministers to meet with Israeli 
officials on such matters so as to improve the quality 
of life in the West Bank and Gaza.   However, Haniyeh 
has shown no sign of compromise on the fundamental 
issues.  He does not officially recognize Israel or the 
legitimacy of the Jewish state, nor does he allow 
political negotiations with what he considers to be the 
occupying power.... How should Israelis react to 
Haniyeh's position?  Those who think Haniyeh wants to 
maintain contact with Israel on day-to-day issues in 
order to become stronger and ultimately destroy the 
Jewish state when he believes he is capable of doing so 
should completely reject what he has to offer.  And 
those who are not asking for any favors from the 
Palestinians -- who don't care if they recognize Israel 
and will be satisfied if the Palestinians get used to 
coexistence without violence -- should adopt a positive 
attitude toward Haniyeh and his stance." 
 
IV.  "An Agreement All the Same" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (5/24): "The charm [of Olmert's 
convergence plan] is now being eroded, and not only 
because of the negative position of the international 
community.  The daily Qassam rocket fire at the Negev 
communities from the territories evacuated in Gush 
Katif, is a cause of great concern.  This week, it was 
reported widely that Al Qaida has penetrated the Gaza 
Strip, and that Iran plans to supply the terrorists 
with weaponry.  This reality increases the fear that a 
similar future can be expected for the territories that 
stand to be evacuated in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the 
West Bank], and that the withdrawal will create a new 
terrorist state on our eastern border.   The concept of 
'permanent borders,' which can supposedly be attained 
unilaterally, also lies under a great question mark. 
The plan gives the Palestinians most of the territories 
of Judea and Samaria -- after they have already 
received the Gaza Strip -- without an agreement that 
will lead to an end of the conflict.  In time, if the 
Palestinians agree to make peace, they will probably 
not settle for the territories that have been 
evacuated, and Israel will face heavy pressure to carry 
out further withdrawals.  In light of the great 
opposition, inwardly and outwardly, and the deep cracks 
that have been revealed in the plan, Israel should seek 
an arrangement that is based on a reciprocal 
agreement." 
 
¶V.  "Same Old Story" 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former 
ambassador to the US, wrote in Yediot Aharonot (5/24): 
"An important element in the Arab-Palestinian strategy 
is resurrecting the peace initiative of Abdullah, the 
former Saudi heir apparent who is now the king.  'If we 
can succeed in causing Hamas to adopt this initiative, 
all the reservations that Israel and the world have 
against it should disappear,' said the Arab speakers 
[at a policy discussion I recently attended at the 
Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington], reminding the US 
that it also supported the initiative in the past. 
Apparently, the hints that the Hamas leadership could 
support the position paper prepared in prison by [Fatah 
leader] Marwan Barghouti are also part of this move. 
The aforesaid Arab initiative does speak about the 
possibility of normalizing relations between Israel and 
the Arab world, but it makes this contingent upon 
preconditions that place Israel's very existence in 
question.  For example, consent to UN Resolution 194 on 
the Palestinian refugees, which is no more than the 
'right of return' in another guise, and [consent] to a 
complete withdrawal from all territories seized by 
Israel in 1967, including East Jerusalem and the new 
neighborhoods around Jerusalem, and of course all the 
settlements in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank]. 
These Arab initiatives must be blocked before they 
gather momentum." 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Arnon Yafe wrote in ultra-Orthodox Yated 
Ne'eman: "Iran will develop an atom bomb within ten 
years.  How does [the CIA] get along without agents in 
Iran?" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The CIA Kills Snakes Instead of Drying Up the Ponds of 
Terror." 
 
Columnist Arnon Yafe wrote in ultra-Orthodox Yated 
Ne'eman (5/24): "The CIA, which employs thousands of 
agents, no longer fulfills its duty.  Its staff can no 
longer present the President of the US with information 
and analysis that would allow him to know how and where 
to deploy diplomatic and military personnel.  Iran will 
develop an atom bomb within ten years.  How does [the 
CIA] get along without agents in Iran?... Spying 
missions are slowly shifting to the Pentagon.... Deep 
strategic analysis is lacking -- this is a life-and- 
death question, because wars are also a result of 
intelligence failure, as was the case during the Yom 
Kippur War." 
 
---------------------------------- 
¶3.  Former Republic of Yugoslavia: 
---------------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of 
Political Science and former director-general of the 
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "Serbia needs reassurance 
and a time to rebuild its society.... This can be done 
only if Kosovo becomes independent." 
 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Next -- Independence For Kosovo" 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of 
Political Science and former director-general of the 
Foreign Ministry, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (5/24): "On Sunday, a 
majority of the voters in Montenegro opted for 
independence and for severing the remaining tenuous 
links that bound them to Serbia.... Serbia needs 
reassurance and a time to rebuild its society.  A 
generous European policy, paving the way for a 
relatively quick entry into the EU, could be a way to 
assuage Serbian sensibilities, help underpin its 
transition to democracy and wean it from its hegemonic 
memories.  But all this can be done only if Kosovo 
becomes independent. Serbian rule over Kosovo Albanians 
was the last colonial rule in Europe; NATO put an end 
to it. Now the outcome -- independence -- has to be 
granted international legitimacy.  There is no other 
way." 
 
CRETZ