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Leza L Olson  12/01/2006 02:14:44 PM  From  DB/Inbox:  Leza L Olson

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HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
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JERUSALEM ALSO ICD 
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ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: IS KMDR
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported on, and Ha'aretz (English Ed.) led with, praise 
lavished on Thursday by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on PM 
Ehud Olmert for his address on Monday at a memorial event for 
Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.  Ha'aretz cited 
sources in Olmert's bureau quoting Secretary Rice as saying: "The 
speech will contribute to calm and will further the peace process in 
the region."  Ha'aretz reported that during their meeting on 
Thursday, Olmert updated Rice on the talks held a day earlier with 
visiting Egyptian Chief of Intelligence Omar Suleiman, regarding 
efforts to gain the release of abducted Israel Defense Forces 
soldier, Gilad Shalit.  Ha'aretz wrote that the Secretary informed 
Olmert of the content of her talks earlier in the day with 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.  Following her meeting 
with Olmert, Rice met with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.  Ha'aretz 
said that the Secretary expressed her appreciation for the restraint 
Israel has exercised in recent days in the face of continued rocket 
fire from the Gaza Strip.  Rice added that the cease-fire in the 
Gaza Strip needs to be bolstered with further measures.  Yediot 
reported that Olmert and Livni conveyed to Rice their concerns about 
Hamas's arming.  Ha'aretz quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark 
Regev as telling reporters that Olmert wants to extend the 
cease-fire to the West Bank once it has proven effective in the Gaza 
Strip.  Israel Radio reported that defense sources will oppose this 
trend.  In a headline above a picture of the Bush-Rice meeting, 
Hatzofe wrote that Olmert was "receiving orders."  Leading media 
quoted Rice as saying following her meeting with Abbas earlier that 
Israel and the Palestinians should step up efforts to revive peace 
talks and move toward a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict.  "Hopefully we can take this moment to accelerate our 
efforts and intensify our efforts toward the two-state solution that 
we all desire," Rice said at a news conference with Abbas. 
 
Yediot reported that, after the GOI instructed the IDF to discuss 
the stabilization of the truce with Palestinian organizations, 
Israel is coordinating the cease-fire with Hamas.  Yediot quoted 
Noam Shalit, Gilad Shalit's father, as saying during a press 
conference on Thursday that he has sent messages to Khaled Mashal, 
the head of Hamas's political bureau. 
Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.), The Jerusalem Post, and Maariv led with 
Lebanon-related issues.  Ha'aretz cited fears in Lebanon that 
Hizbullah-initiated demonstrations against the regime in that 
country might provoke riots today.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Israeli defense officials expressed extreme concern on Thursday over 
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah's call for a massive 
protest to being down the Lebanese government.  The Israeli 
officials warned that UNIFIL might be expelled from Lebanon if PM 
Fouad Siniora were forced to leave office.  Maariv quoted Olmert as 
saying during a closed meeting on Tuesday with the ambassadors of 
the EU that Israel does not intend to "give Hizbullah what it wants 
in exchange for caskets."  Maariv quoted the PM as saying that he 
does not intend to reach any agreement with Hizbullah before he 
obtains evidence that the captured IDF soldiers are alive.  Maariv 
said that Olmert clearly hinted that IDF soldiers Eldar Regev and 
Ehud Goldwasser, who were kidnapped by Hizbullah, might not be 
alive. 
 
Last night Channel 10-TV told the story of "Avi," an Israeli 
residing in the US, who came in possession of current documents and 
photographic material related to one of America's most wanted men, 
Hizbullah's chief operations officer Imad Mughniyeh, whose latest 
known pictures were published decades ago.  According to the 
station, "Avi" gave the materials free of charge to Israel's three 
intelligence agencies, which invited him to Israel.  Channel 10-TV 
reported that the agencies reneged on their promises to "Avi," 
including granting Israeli citizenship to his companion "Anat," a 
national of an Eastern European country, which would have allowed 
her to live in the US. 
 
Israel Radio reported that a Hebron Palestinian youth was killed by 
Border Policemen after he threw a firebomb at the forces.  Citing 
Reuters, Ha'aretz reported that IDF soldiers shot dead a Palestinian 
youth in Nablus on Thursday.  The radio said that a Qassam rocket 
was fired at the western Negev, and that the IDF arrested 29 
Palestinians -- mostly Hamas militants -- in the West Bank. 
 
All media quoted Abbas as saying at the joint press conference with 
Secretary Rice that the talks with Hamas on the establishment of a 
 
SIPDIS 
government of national unity have reached a "dead end."  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Abbas is expected to make a "dramatic 
announcement" this weekend regarding the ongoing crisis with Hamas 
over the formation of a Palestinian unity government.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that PA officials told the newspaper that Abbas was 
considering the possibility of firing the Hamas-led government and 
holding a national referendum on early parliamentary elections. 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that last night the High Court of 
Justice rejected, 4-3, petitions that demanded the establishment of 
a state commission of inquiry into the second Lebanon War.  Israel 
Radio reported that the Movement for Quality Government will appeal 
the ruling. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the US might demand that the UN Security 
Council impose sanctions on Iran even without Russia and China's 
assent.  Former Israeli Ambassador to Tehran Uri Lubrani, an advisor 
to the Defense Minister on Iran, was quoted as saying in an 
interview with Ha'aretz that instead of launching a military 
operation against Iran, he favors fomenting a popular regime change 
and paralysis of the Iranian oil industry, suggesting that the US 
foot the bill for the operation. 
 
Maariv reported that this week Defense Minister Amir Peretz decided 
to adopt the defense establishment's view that a fence be built in 
the middle of the village of Barta'a, which straddles the 
Israel/West Bank border. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the Baker/Hamilton committee recommends 
the creation of a conference, in which Iran and Syria would also 
participate, in which the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would also be 
discussed.  The radio reported that senior members of the Republican 
Party could object to some recommendations of the committee, 
principally a pullback of US forces from Iraq.  The radio hinted 
that those officials might also object to the committee's advice on 
the Middle East. 
 
British Ambassador to Israel Tom Phillips was quoted as saying on 
Wednesday in an interview with Ha'aretz (English Ed.) that Britain's 
policy toward Israel will not change when British PM Tony Blair 
steps down. 
 
Media reported that on Thursday an Egyptian state security court 
confirmed death sentenced against three men found responsible for 
the October 2004 Sinai bombings in which 34 civilians, including 13 
Israelis, were killed. 
 
All media reported that former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Ya'alon left 
New Zealand earlier this week, after an arrest warrant was issued 
against him there as a suspect of war crimes.  After the retired 
general, who had been on a private visit in New Zealand, departed 
the country, the warrant was canceled. 
 
Yediot said that the Israeli-Palestinian radio station Kol Hashalom 
serves as a "rare meeting place" between bereaved people on both 
sides. 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The US President is trying to strengthen 
[Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri] Al-Maliki, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad 
Siniora, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.  But how 
will the battered and bruised Bush summon the resources to help 
them?" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "In order to promote an initiative, there 
is need for a different Palestinian government." 
 
Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"Olmert apparently realized that he had to go back to the sources, 
and the sources of Kadima are, simply stated: a diplomatic 
process." 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "Olmert has recognized the Hamas government de facto.... 
[But its] infrastructure is crippled." 
 
Meretz Party Chairman, Knesset Member Yossi Beilin wrote in The 
Jerusalem Post: "[Olmert] understood that US President George Bush 
will demand that Olmert address the Palestinian issue." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Triple Trouble" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/1): "The US President is trying to 
strengthen [Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri] Al-Maliki, Lebanese Prime 
Minister Fouad Siniora, and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud 
Abbas.  But how will the battered and bruised Bush summon the 
resources to help them?  The three leaders are similar, but there 
are also substantial differences between them.  The Bush 
administration sees Al-Maliki as being insufficiently resolute to 
act in accordance with the interests that will calm his country. 
The White House is concerned that he is sometimes motivated by 
impulses that do not correspond with the objective.... The American 
position is different regarding Siniora: The Bush administration 
does not have a shadow of a doubt regarding his motives and 
intentions, but they understand full well that the weakness of his 
government doesn't allow him to do more.  In other words, Siniora is 
the right person in the right place.  As for Abbas, the Americans 
are not worried about the purity of his intentions, but they think 
he too has difficulty understanding how to carry them out.  And 
unlike with Siniora, they are not convinced that he will ever reach 
this understanding, even when he is handed the means and the 
resources. Perhaps, as a Bush administration official put it a few 
months ago, he has the will, but not the personality." 
 
II.  "Respect Him but Suspect Him" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/1): "When a prime minister declares, 
as Olmert declared, that he has no need for an agenda, the agenda 
pursues him.... There are no free lunches.  The cease-fire enables 
Hamas to gain strength in Gaza, and what is even more severe in the 
eyes of Minister Avi Dichter: it enables it to build an 
infrastructure in the West Bank as well.  If Hamas builds up its 
strength in the West Bank, the entire center of the country will be 
exposed to rockets and suicide bombings.  The next stop in the 
journey is the prisoners' agreement.... [Foreign Minister] Tzipi 
Livni will support the release of prisoners with blood on their 
hands, if the release is part of a comprehensive initiative.  When 
Israel gives the Palestinians a gesture here and a gesture there, it 
weakens Abu Mazen and strengthens Hamas.  Only when the gestures are 
part of an initiative, a plan, are they beneficial, believes Livni. 
This is also the opinion of the leaders of the moderate, diplomatic 
camp on the Palestinian side.  But in order to promote an 
initiative, there is need for a different Palestinian government. 
And terror must be battled against, in keeping with the Roadmap. 
All the plans, including Olmert's plan and the plan put forth by 
Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos, speak first about a war on 
terror and only then about an Israeli withdrawal.  It is difficult 
to see how Abu Mazen can overcome this obstacle." 
 
III.  "Back on Track" 
 
Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in Ha'aretz 
(12/1): "Two [close associates of Ehud Olmert] said that [his 
November 27 speech] was nothing but an aggregation of speeches and 
statements that had already been delivered and stated: in the 
Knesset, in his victory speech on election night, and in the 
'convergence' interviews.  This is how one rebuilds the image of the 
leader whose status has been eroded and who has been mortally 
wounded because of the war.  But even without all the surrounding 
brouhaha, it can be said that Olmert's speech put his government on 
its natural track again.  Since the Lebanon War, this government had 
lost its sense of direction.  After all the declarations, all the 
spin, the cross-eyed glances to the right, and the foaming at the 
mouth on the Iranian issue, Olmert apparently realized that he had 
to go back to the sources, and the sources of Kadima are, simply 
stated: a diplomatic process." 
 
IV.  "Bacteria Hunters" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv 
(12/1): "Calm came to pass for various reasons.  The first, obvious 
one is that Hamas in Gaza became entangled due to the IDF's shrewd 
fighting and the West's refusal to recognize its war-mongering 
government.  The cease-fire saved the remainder of its rule.  IDF 
Chief of Staff was right in saying that the [Israeli] government 
consulted the IDF only partially before it implemented the 
cease-fire.  It did not want a truly professional opinion before 
exacting a success. There are less transparent reasons [for the 
cease-fire]: Olmert has recognized the Hamas government de facto. 
It is an organization whose main purpose is to rehabilitate the 
infrastructure of terrorism in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West 
Bank].  This infrastructure is crippled." 
 
¶V.  "Is Olmert Serious This Time?" 
 
Meretz Party Chairman, Knesset Member Yossi Beilin wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/1): "Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert's speech Monday at Sde Boker was the third of three 
major orations he has lately given on matters of war and peace.... 
He understood that US President George Bush will demand that Olmert 
address the Palestinian issue just as he understands that the 
Quartet's demands of the nascent Palestinian government will be much 
more moderate than the demands placed on PA Prime Minister Ismail 
Haniyeh's government these past months.... If only he is serious 
this time.  If only he would move, as I recently suggested, toward a 
final agreement that follows the Geneva Accords, or would find 
another way to reach an historic deal, the members of Meretz-Yahad 
will raise their hands in favor, even from our modest place in the 
opposition." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "There 
is a huge gap between Bush's description of the [Iranian] problem 
and US actions." 
 
Meretz Knesset Member Avshalom Vilan, a founding member of Peace 
Now, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Can we really 
afford populism when dealing with what may be the most important 
question for Israel's security?" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Beyond Alarms" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/1): 
"There is a huge gap between Bush's description of the [Iranian] 
problem and US actions.  If the world is facing a 'mortal threat' 
from Iran, why does the US seem to be so actively contemplating 
asking Iran to help with Iraq?  It is ironic that the Bush speech in 
Riga was made to NATO leaders.  NATO, after all, is supposed to be a 
body of collective self-defense, a forum for action -- as in the 
case of the joint forces now operating in Afghanistan that Bush 
praised.  NATO could also be a forum for imposing sanctions, backed 
by the threat of military action.   Russian and Chinese 
foot-dragging cannot be allowed to become an excuse for collective 
Western suicide.  In Riga, Bush came over like a fire chief sounding 
the alarm who, instead of organizing his trucks to put out the fire, 
pens a letter 'to whom it may concern.'  The US needs to lead the 
world in confronting Iran.  This means spelling out what economic, 
diplomatic, and if necessary, military measures must be taken to do 
so.  If Bush does not, the historic indictment of which he speaks 
will be of his own term of office, during which a global threat 
which could have been stopped was allowed to reach its most critical 
stage." 
 
II.  "Populism Instead of Foreign Policy" 
 
Meretz Knesset Member Avshalom Vilan, a founding member of Peace 
Now, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/1): 
"Israeli interests suggest the formation of a wide coalition of the 
international community, thus portraying Iran as a challenge to the 
world, rather than a risk to regional stability, important as that 
may be.  Only a global coalition could apply an effective economic 
pressure leading to significant political pressure.... Instead of 
creating an atmosphere of fear and panic, the Israeli Prime Minister 
and his cabinet would do better to create coalitions between 
possible allies.  The coalition should be undoubtedly be led by the 
United States, but it cannot rely on American power and readiness 
for action alone.... Olmert and Netanyahu are continuing the line, 
drafted by first Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion that 'it 
does not matter what the gentiles do but what the Jews do.'  Both 
policymakers fall short of grasping that the world has changed, and 
in an era where globalization prevails, threats and public policy 
should not be coordinated solely from Jerusalem.  Henry Kissinger 
was quick to comprehend this -- 'Israel has no foreign policy but 
only domestic politics.'  But if in the past the truism of 
Kissinger's witty wording was enough to carry a comprehensive 
foreign policy, we may now have reached the point when this becomes 
a strategic threat.  Can we really afford populism when dealing with 
what may be the most important question for Israel's security?" 
 
JONES