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 002157 
 
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 
CDR USCENTCOM 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.  Global War on Terror 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that FM Tzipi Livni and Defense 
Minister Amir Peretz will meet today with Assistant 
Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David 
 
SIPDIS 
Welch, who is coming to the region for additional talks 
in the wake of PM Ehud Olmert's visit to Washington. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Yediot wrote that in its annual 
Trafficking in Persons Report published Monday, the 
State Department determined that Israel had not done 
enough to fight human trafficking and thus designated 
it a "Tier 2 Watch List" country, the third echelon in 
a four-level scale, and a one-level drop from last 
year's Tier 2 rating.  The report states: "Israel is 
placed on Tier 2 Watch List for its failure to provide 
evidence of increasing efforts to address trafficking, 
namely the conditions of involuntary servitude 
allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers." 
The Jerusalem Post said that the report also notes that 
Israel failed to pass a law, drafted in 2003, which 
makes all forms of human trafficking a crime.  "Israel 
should extend the scope of its anti-trafficking law to 
criminalize labor trafficking and establish a shelter 
for such victims," the report was cited as saying. 
Israel Radio also cited the State Department report. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that Olmert will travel to 
Jordan on Thursday for a meeting with King Abdullah II. 
Ha'aretz noted that in recent weeks, the King has 
voiced concern that Olmert's "realignment" plan could 
pose a threat to Jordanian national security.  The 
Jerusalem Post cited AP that quoted Jordanian 
government spokesman Nasser Judeh as saying Monday that 
Jordan will close Jordanian banks' branches in the 
Palestinian territories should these branches be 
targeted by Hamas activists. 
 
Leading media reported that EU policy chief Javier 
Solana arrived in Israel Monday for talks with Olmert, 
Livni, Vice PM Shimon Peres, and Peretz.  Ha'aretz 
reported that Solana told them that the EU was still 
putting together its mechanism to "bypass Hamas" and 
transfer aid to the PA.   The newspaper quoted a 
political source in Jerusalem as saying that Israel is 
prepared to allow the transfer of funds for clearly 
defined humanitarian purposes, but not for the purpose 
of paying PA officials' wages.  Ha'aretz said that 
Peres spoke to Solana about the need to create jobs in 
the PA so as to lessen its dependency on foreign aid. 
"If Hamas says it does not need the free world, let it 
approach the Arab states so that their money can serve 
to finance the various mechanisms," the newspaper 
quoted Peres as saying.  Ha'aretz wrote that Livni 
spoke with Solana about the need to uphold "the process 
of the international delegitimization" of Hamas and its 
positions -- namely, its refusal to accept demands to 
recognize Israel, abandon terror, and honor existing 
agreements.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel 
made clear Monday that it views the Fatah-Hamas dispute 
over the proposed referendum as an internal Palestinian 
matter that will not change Israel's insistence that 
the PA fulfill its obligations under the Roadmap.  The 
Jerusalem Post wrote that PM Olmert and FM Livni 
relayed this message in separate meetings with Solana. 
Israel Radio also noted that Israel is staying out of 
the intra-Palestinian dispute.  Yediot reported that 
Israel and the PA were stops ahead of Solana's visit to 
Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted FM Livni as saying Monday before the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that 
Israel may pass on the names of Hamas members to 
European countries in order to ease the implementation 
of a European decision to block Hamas members from 
entering those states.  Tzipi was quoted as saying that 
Israel decided to hand over the names of Hamas 
ministers and Hamas parliament members after a number 
of them who were not included on the Europeans' current 
list of those Hamas members forbidden entry entered 
Sweden and Norway and then continued to travel across 
Europe. Livni was further quoted as saying: "The 
diplomatic freeze [between Israel and the Palestinians] 
is not government policy but rather a result of the 
current reality.  It is not possible to close our eyes 
when we have no partner sitting opposite us."  However, 
Livni also said, "There are developments we want to 
push forward with Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas]." The FM also noted that the 
GOI's main policy is to advance the two-state concept. 
 
All media reported on, and Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem 
Post, and Yated Ne'eman bannered the expected 
announcement today by PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas of a referendum on the so-called "Prisoners' 
Document."  Ha'aretz reported that Hamas leaders told 
the newspaper that they would urge a boycott of the 
vote.  Maariv and other media cited Hamas's allegation 
that Abbas is trying to carry out a coup in the PA. 
Leading media reported that six Palestinians were 
killed in Fatah-Hamas clashes Monday.  A Yediot 
headline: "Gaza on Cusp of War."  Palestinian PM Ismail 
Haniyeh was quoted as saying in an interview with 
Yediot: "I proposed to Abu Mazen new ways out of the 
crisis and new solutions for engaging in dialogue so as 
to reach agreements. We have no alternative but to work 
together. I hope that the dialogue continues."  Haniyeh 
was further quoted as saying: "We are interested in the 
success of the dialogue. We need to show mutual 
patience and not according to a stopwatch." Haniyeh was 
quoted as saying that the referendum that Abbas would 
like to hold is not a goal unto itself, and that the 
"goal that we are interested in is to achieve an 
agreement."  Yediot said that Haniyeh repeatedly 
underscored in the interview that the "Prisoners' 
Document" can serve as a basis for negotiations, but 
there are clauses that need to be amended and 
reworded."  He rejected the warnings that were aired by 
Abbas and said that understandings could be achieved 
even without threats. 
 
Israel Radio reported that this morning, a Qassam 
rocket landed on a house in Sderot.  A woman was 
lightly injured and another one suffered from shock. 
The station reported that the IDF responded with 
artillery fire against the northern Gaza Strip.  All 
media reported that in an air strike on Monday evening, 
the IDF assassinated two operatives from the Popular 
Resistance Committees in the Gaza Strip, Majdi Hamed 
and Imad Asalaya.  According to the IDF, Hamed, who 
also served in the PA's Preventive Security Service, 
was involved in several attempted terrorist attacks. 
He allegedly played a central role in two attempts to 
blow up the Karni crossing, last December and this past 
April.  Three other Palestinians were wounded in the 
operation.  The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
Israeli defense establishment has begun debating the 
need for a massive military operation throughout the PA 
territories to destroy the terror infrastructure prior 
to withdrawal under the "realignment" plan. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Justice Minister Haim Ramon 
as saying Sunday that the evacuation of illegal 
outposts would begin in a few weeks.  This morning, 
Israel Radio, reported that the High Court of Justice 
rejected a petition by Peace Now to evacuate six 
outposts. 
 
Maariv reported that the Gush Etzion (Etzion Bloc) 
Regional Council is proposing to the Palestinians a 
land swap which on the one hand would distance the 
separation fence from the settlers' homes in the 
settlements of Kfar Etzion, Bat Ayin and Migdal Oz, 
while on the other hand, would give the Palestinian 
state land that now belongs to the Etzion Bloc. 
 
All media reported that the state budget for 2006 is 
expected to pass its first reading in the Knesset on 
Wednesday, after agreements were reached Monday to 
secure the abstention of eight National Union-National 
Religious Party MKs (excluding MK Arye Eldad) and 
Yisrael Beiteinu MKs.  The deal will cost the 
government 302 million shekels (around USD 67.5 
million) to get the budget and supplementary Economic 
Arrangements Bill passed.  This figure is beyond the 
1.4 billion shekels (around USD 312.6 million) 
allocated through coalition agreements.  Funding will 
come from within the budget.  All media reported that 
Olmert and Peretz agreed on Monday to strive to 
stabilize the government coalition. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Turkish President 
Ahmet Necdet Sezer is scheduled to arrive in Israel 
today for a largely ceremonial two-day visit that both 
Israel and Turkish diplomats said is a "confirmation" 
of the "close ties" between the two countries.  Sezer 
is scheduled to meet with Abbas, but not with any Hamas 
officials, on Thursday. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Nigerian President Olusegun 
Obasanjo fired his National Security Adviser Gen. Aliyu 
Gusau a week ago.  Ha'aretz cited Nigerian media that 
Gusau's dismissal followed an interview he granted 
Ha'aretz, in which he tried to shirk responsibility 
from the Israeli-Nigerian security deal. 
 
Yediot reported that Jordan has asked Israel to 
demolish a Palestinian building that was constructed on 
the site that was slated for the construction of a 
royal palace in Jerusalem before the Six-Day War. 
 
The Yediot-associated leading news website Ynet wrote 
that despite the long wait, the good news for visa 
applicants at the US Embassy in Tel Aviv is that most 
of them eventually obtain visas.  Yediot summarized the 
story, which includes an interview with Consul-General 
Richard Beer.  Yediot and Ynet also cited a USG 
announcement over the weekend that visas for 2007 for 
hi-tech jobs have run out. 
 
Under the headline: "Pentagon Against Geneva 
Convention," Yediot cited a story published Monday in 
The Los Angeles Times that the Defense Department has 
decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet 
of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans 
"humiliating and degrading treatment." 
 
Media reported that on Monday, an Islamic militia 
claimed control of Somalia's capital Mogadishu. 
 
Media reported that former Peruvian President Alan 
Garcia won the presidential elections in his country. 
Ha'aretz headlined: "US-Backed Candidate Elected Peru's 
President." 
 
Erratum: The name of the Hamas militant killed in a 
bomb attack in the Gaza Strip on Sunday is Ahmed Yousef 
Sari, and not Muhammad Sadi, as erroneously printed in 
Monday's Media Reaction report. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
Dr. Mordechai Keidar, an expert on Arab and Islamic 
affairs at Bar Ilan University, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The chaos that Arafat created and 
knew so craftily how to control and manipulate for his 
own needs, has become too big and strong a genie for 
Abu Mazen to control." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The impression 
[from a demonstration in Ramallah Monday] was that 
Fatah is undergoing a positive change." 
 
Discussing former Vice President Al Gore, Washington 
correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz: "Is this 
what the United States and the world would have needed 
right now -- a president who is at his best when 
speaking about global warming?  Is there any place 
today for a president whose primary concerns are not 
terror, Islam or Iraq?" 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
¶I.  "On the Edge of the Abyss" 
 
Dr. Mordechai Keidar, an expert on Arab and Islamic 
affairs at Bar Ilan University, wrote in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (6/6): "The emerging picture out of 
Gaza is grave, since a group of 1.3 million people is 
standing far too close to a keg of dynamite that is 
enveloped by a cloud of gasoline fumes. Everyone is 
afraid of the one spark that will set everything on 
fire, from which no one will escape.... The chaos that 
Arafat created and knew so craftily how to control and 
manipulate for his own needs, has become too big and 
strong a genie for Abu Mazen to control.... And what 
will happen if [the latter] fails at the referendum? 
He is going for broke, since he knew from the moment he 
voiced the idea of a referendum ten days ago that Hamas 
would never agree: for two whole years they negotiated 
in Cairo and elsewhere a 'hudna,' a cease-fire, so in 
ten days they are going to overcome problems that are 
far more complex and difficult, first and foremost 
recognition -- even de facto -- of Israel?  A number of 
security organizations have been formed in the Gaza 
Strip in the past number of weeks.  This was done by 
the parties solely to prove to one another just how 
determined they were to dictate their agenda to the 
other side, by force if need be.  Those security 
organizations are terribly on edge and their fingers on 
the trigger are rather itchy." 
 
II.  "Fatah Solidarity: Change For the Better" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/6): "The 
demonstration Fatah organized in the center of Ramallah 
on Monday to mark 39 years since the 'nakhsa' -- the 
Six-Day War defeat -- appeared not to be unusual.... 
But it seemed like those who led the current Intifada 
and lost pride of place to the younger generation had 
gathered there primarily to fight for their political 
standing in a conflict with Hamas.  The impression was 
that Fatah is undergoing a positive change.  Perhaps 
it's the mistakes by Hamas, which is toughening its 
positions, or perhaps it's Fatah's refraining from 
superfluous internal strife.  Fatah leaders who were at 
the demonstration are talking about a decision to leave 
the disputes behind, and work to enlist the public that 
has been neglected in recent years: academics and 
businessmen." 
 
III.  "Gore's Concern" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in 
Ha'aretz (6/6): "America is suddenly talking about Al 
Gore again -- in admiring tones and with longing, 
too.... This, of course, raises two interesting options 
with respect to the man: On the one hand, maybe he 
really could have been a wonderful president -- smart, 
inquisitive, knowledgeable, focused; perhaps he could 
have been successful in areas in which the president 
who beat him, George Bush, has failed.... But another 
possible conclusion can be drawn from Gore's 
reemergence: Is this what the United States and the 
world would have needed right now -- a president who is 
at his best when speaking about global warming?  Is 
there any place today for a president whose primary 
concerns are not terror, Islam or Iraq?" 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Americans 
have no quarrel with the Iranian army, but only with 
the regime and the Revolutionary Guards. And when the 
conflict comes, Washington will spare the army and give 
it a role in the new regime." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"Cementing the Plans For an Assault" 
 
Defense and foreign affairs columnist Amir Oren wrote 
in independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/6): "The 
Americans have no quarrel with the Iranian army, but 
only with the regime and the Revolutionary Guards. And 
when the conflict comes, Washington will spare the army 
and give it a role in the new regime.... There are 
three stages on the American ladder. The first is an 
internal change of policy. The second is an internal 
"regime change" with external help. As hopes emanating 
from the first two stages fade, an external effort will 
be required to change the nuclear capability.... 
Without an Iranian concession, even if Condoleezza Rice 
and [Iranian Foreign Minister] Manuchehr Motaki do 
speak, the results are going to be similar to those of 
the James Baker dialogue of the deaf with Tariq Aziz a 
week before Bush Sr.'s attack on Iraq in January 1991." 
 
------------------------- 
¶3.  Global War on Terror: 
------------------------- 
 
                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "There seems to be no limit 
to the willingness of Western elites to justify 
jihadists in acts of war against their societies." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------- 
 
"The Path to Our Destruction" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist 
Caroline B. Glick wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (6/6): "There seems to be no 
limit to the willingness of Western elites to justify 
jihadists in acts of war against their societies.... 
Even though the apparent ringleader of the [Ontario] 
terror cell served as a prayer leader and a member of 
the board of directors of his local mosque, in the wake 
of Friday's arrests, Canadian and other Western 
commentators and editors continued to argue that the 
arrested terrorists bore no relationship to the larger 
Canadian Muslim community.... Because of the defiant, 
irrational, and immoral refusal of Western political, 
cultural, and media elites to acknowledge the threat 
that internal and external jihadist forces manifest to 
the very notion of human freedom, they make it 
impossible for their societies to take measures to 
protect themselves." 
 
JONES