VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #0409/01 0381044
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071044Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9267
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 1646
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 8400
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1538
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2415
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1629
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 9393
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 2364
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 9270
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 9747
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 6382
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 3769
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 8644
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 2874
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4783
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 5871
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000409 
 
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 ICD 
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that PM Ehud Olmert 
confirmed on Tuesday that he would meet with Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice on February 19. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Olmert as saying on Tuesday that the Iranian 
nuclear program can be countered through non-violent means. 
 
Major media reported that on Tuesday Islamic leaders called for a 
new wave of violence against Israel over an archeological excavation 
at the Mugrabi Gate near the Temple Mount in the Old City of 
Jerusalem.  Ha'aretz and Hatzofe quoted Jordan's King Abdullah II as 
saying on Tuesday that the excavations are a "blatant violation that 
is not acceptable under any pretext."  The King was quoted as saying 
that the activity "will only create an atmosphere that will not at 
all help in the success of efforts being undertaken to restore the 
peace process." 
 
The media reported that on Tuesday PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas and Khaled Mashal, the head of Hamas's political bureau, met 
in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ahead of their formal meeting in Mecca 
today.  While The Jerusalem Post dubbed the parley "do or die" talks 
on unity, Ha'aretz said that it was beginning "in earnest." 
 
Yediot cited information that reached the GOI that Syria has 
transferred state-of-the-art anti-tank rockets to Hizbullah. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Juan Guzman, the Chilean judge who 
indicted former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, is in Israel this 
week to study the feasibility of international legal action against 
Israeli decision-makers responsible for the demolition of 
Palestinian homes. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday, deflecting criticism 
for Israel, sources in UNIFIL cast doubt on claims made by the IDF 
that it has failed to properly perform its duties after five 
explosive devices were planted along the Israeli-Lebanese border in 
recent days by Hizbullah. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Bank of Israel Governor Stanley 
Fischer is traveling to Germany and Japan this week to raise support 
for Israel's bid to join the Organization for Economic Cooperation 
and Development as a full member.  Yediot reported that Israel is 
working to have its status of association with the EU upgraded to 
one similar to those of Switzerland and Norway. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Israel's Chief Ashkenazi 
Rabbi and other leading rabbis from around the world signed a 
declaration with leading Hindu leaders in New Delhi that denounces 
terrorism and violence. 
 
Maariv reported that the Director-General of the Knesset, Avi 
Balashnikov, decided to reinforce the Parliament's building with 
concrete -- to protect it from Katyusha rocket strikes. 
 
Yediot reported that Malaysia has invited Rami Mandel, the 
Director-General of the Co-Op supermarket chain, to a trade 
conference in Kuala Lumpur. 
 
Yediot reported that Avishai Gottdiener, the PR and academic 
counselor at Israeli Embassy in Beijing, as saying the Chinese 
Communications University will sent all its Hebrew-language students 
to Israel for a year of studies during the next academic year. 
 
Leading media reported that Poland will invest USD 2 million in a 
marketing campaign meant to change Poland's image among Israelis. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday the cabinet unanimously named Law 
Prof. Daniel Friedman justice minister.  The Knesset is expected to 
approve the nomination today.  The media noted that Friedman, an 
Israel Prize recipient, is a fierce critic of the judicial system: 
In an article in Yediot on Friday, Friedman wrote that Israel was en 
route to becoming a police state. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday the Adelson family foundation 
announced a USD 25-million donation to the "Taglit-birthright 
israel" program, which funds free trips to Israel for young Jews 
from around the world.  The donation, which senior Jewish officials 
in New York described as one of the largest given to a Jewish 
education program, will finance trips for some 10,000 young adults. 
Ha'aretz wrote that on Tuesday Las Vegas-based Sheldon Adelson, one 
of the world's richest men, lavished praise on Taglit, saying it 
helps preserve the Jewish community against assimilation.  Adelson, 
who until recently gave relatively little to Israel, has donated USD 
54 million in Israel over the last three months, including USD 25 
million to Yad Vashem. 
 
All media reported on the death at 71 on Tuesday of conservative 
journalist Uri Porat, originally a Yediot newsman, who was media 
adviser to former PMs Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir and twice 
Director-General of the Israel Broadcasting Authority. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Palestinian leaders are merely exploiting the issue [of 
construction next to the Temple Mount] for political purposes, in an 
attempt to redirect hostility against Israel in the midst of a 
bloody internal conflict." 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Were I to believe that this 
lame government were capable of conspiring, I would say the Israeli 
excavations show that Israel doesn't stand aloof when Palestinian 
blood is spilled like water." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "The Palestinian Authority will have trouble functioning 
even under a compromise agreement." 
 
Columnist Hilary Leila Krieger wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The overblown rhetoric on 
the centrality of Palestine -- which has long had real consequences 
for Israel and the United States -- is now becoming more than 
verbiage for Arab states as well." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Bridge Over Troubled Water" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/7): 
"Palestinian leaders, whether from Fatah or Hamas, have been keen to 
find an excuse to divert attention from their internal problems.  So 
it is not surprising that many have jumped on Israel's 
reconstruction of an access bridge to Jerusalem's Temple Mount.  It 
was the perfect red-herring issue for Palestinian Authority Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas and exiled Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, who held a 
much-touted 'national unity' summit in Mecca (sic) on Tuesday.... 
Palestinian leaders are plainly seeking to use this nonevent to 
reignite memories of Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount in 
2000, which was used to catalyze the second Intifada.  They 
evidently also see a Palestinian interest in a rerun of the violent 
clashes of 1996, after a second exit to the Western Wall tunnel was 
opened.  Palestinians falsely claim the entire project is a 
clandestine Israeli plot to dig under and cause damage to the 
Al-Aqsa Mosque.  Actually, Palestinian leaders are merely exploiting 
the issue for political purposes, in an attempt to redirect 
hostility against Israel in the midst of a bloody internal conflict. 
 Such exploitation, so widely endorsed by the Palestinian 
leadership, is dismaying, if sadly unsurprising.  Cynical appeals 
for a renewed Intifada and violent resistance discredit the 
purported Palestinian moderates, who are standing 
shoulder-to-shoulder with extremists' efforts to whip up hostility. 
Such appeals can only cause more bloodshed and despair.  Any real 
concerns about the salvage and building work should, and patently 
could, be handled appropriately and calmly, through open dialogue 
and constructive debate." 
 
II.  "Sullying the Silence" 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/7): "The Temple Mount is 
indeed in our hands, rough though they may be, but that doesn't mean 
it's appropriate to act as though others have no stake in that 
territory.  Were I to believe that this lame government were capable 
of conspiring, I would say the Israeli excavations show that Israel 
doesn't stand aloof when Palestinian blood is spilled like water. 
After all, the Palestinians will now put an end to their violent 
internecine clashes and turn their anger -- and perhaps also their 
arms -- toward Israel.... Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will show 
Benjamin Netanyahu that the Likud leader is not the only one who can 
rock the foundations of volatile coexistence... The Israel 
Antiquities Authority comes up with many damaging and unnecessary 
plans.  When I was the minister responsible for deciding on such 
plans, I opposed them, even though they all seemed reasonable at the 
outset.  If the works are not crucial or urgently needed to save 
lives, then it's best to steer clear of the compound of 
conflagration." 
 
III.  "No Democracy on the Horizon" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz 
(2/7): "Despite optimistic forecasts of Fatah and Hamas reaching a 
compromise in Mecca, there is no doubt that the Palestinian national 
movement is at one of its lowest points in history.  This stems from 
the fact that the Palestinians, who claim to be a coherent national 
entity, are admitting they are incapable of managing their own 
affairs, and are compelled to seek outside intervention.... But the 
hardest problem of all, which will remain unsolved, is that the 
Palestinian Authority will have trouble functioning even under a 
compromise agreement.  No agreement will bridge all of the 
ideological gaps between the parties, and will only slightly assuage 
the violent power struggles.  In other words, even the best 
Fatah-Hamas agreement will not turn Palestinian society into a 
Western democracy overnight.  A traditional social structure, clan 
loyalties and political factionalism all create a need for an 
authoritarian leader, like those of the Palestinian Authority's Arab 
neighbors.  Without a leader like Arafat, society collapses into the 
rule of violent gangs." 
 
IV.  "US Convinced Shi'ite Threat Pushing Sunnis Toward West" 
 
Columnist Hilary Leila Krieger wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/7): "The argument that 
the ascendancy of Shi'ite Iran and its Hizbullah and Hamas allies 
has aroused sufficient fear in 'moderate' Sunni regimes to push them 
toward America, Israel and a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict has gained considerable traction within the US 
administration.... The overblown rhetoric on the centrality of 
Palestine -- which has long had real consequences for Israel and the 
United States -- is now becoming more than verbiage for Arab states 
as well.  They too, have to deal with their Frankenstein in the form 
of pumped up Islamic extremism." 
 
JONES