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P 131102Z FEB 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000471 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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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 reported that Israeli and Palestinian leaders are embroiled 
in a bitter dispute over what topics should be on the agenda of next 
week's trilateral summit.  The summit, involving PM Ehud Olmert, PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas, and Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice, is scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on Monday. 
 The newspaper said that, despite the dispute, Secretary Rice is 
insisting on holding the meeting to demonstrate progress in 
Israeli-Palestinian relations.  However, Ha'aretz quoted GOI sources 
as saying that Olmert is refusing to discuss three major elements of 
any final-status agreement -- Palestinian refugees, the status of 
Jerusalem and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 armistice lines 
-- because he believes that raising any of these issues would doom 
the talks to failure.  Ha'aretz quoted one source as saying: "There 
is no doubt that Abu Mazen [Abbas] will have to make compromises on 
these issues, given Israel's positions, and it is not clear that he 
can get them past the Palestinian street."  Ha'aretz quoted a GOI 
source as saying that, because of the difficulties that discussing 
final-status issues would create, the "artificial definition 
selected for these talks is a 'political horizon.'  We are no longer 
sitting and forming committees on the refugees and Jerusalem." 
 
Major media (lead story in Yediot) reported that, because of Iran's 
threats, Israel is accelerating the development of the Arrow 
missile.  Yediot reported that   today a delegation from Israel 
Aircraft Industries and the security establishment is to leave for 
the US to present the results of the test on Sunday before the 
American missile defense administration.  Yitzhak Nissan, the 
director general of Israel Aircraft Industries, will meet in the 
coming number of days with Boeing officials to discuss increased 
cooperation on the Arrow project.  Currently, Boeing manufactures 
parts of the missile, but the final assembly is carried out in 
Israel.  Media reported that Likud MK Yuval Steinitz, former 
chairman of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, 
told AP that the Arrow's success keeps Israel one step ahead of Iran 
and Syria. 
Israel Radio cited a Financial Times story quoting an internal 
European Union document -- compiled by the staff of EU foreign 
policy chief Javier Solana -- as saying that Iran will be able to 
develop enough weapons-grade material for a nuclear bomb and there 
is little that can be done to prevent it.  Yediot and Israel Radio 
quoted President Bush as saying on Monday, in an interview with 
C-SPAN-TV, that a military action against Iran would be an action of 
last resort.   Maariv cited an Israeli intelligence report as saying 
that the Iranian leadership is split over the development of Iran's 
nuclear program, which might now be frozen.  Maariv said that the 
most important information in the report is the fact that the 
spiritual leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, no longer supports 
the position and approach espoused by Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad -- as he is fearful of a lethal blow that Iran is liable 
to be dealt in the form of international sanctions.  Furthermore, 
the spiritual leader, according to the report, has recently voiced 
his concerns about an American military strike on Iran's nuclear 
installations. 
 
Major media reported that the EU foreign ministers, who met in 
Brussels on Monday, announced that they would not work with a 
Palestinian government that does not recognize Israel.  Ha'aretz and 
Israel Radio quoted German Defense Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier 
as saying on Monday that the non-recognition of Israel, ax expressed 
in the Mecca agreement, is unacceptable. 
 
Hatzofe and Yediot quoted Dr. Muhammad Shihab, a Hamas leader, as 
saying on Monday that Egypt has proposed that Israel release 1,429 
Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the freedom of captured IDF 
soldier Gilad Shalit.  Leading media reported that on Monday Likud 
MK Limor Livnat announced that she was introducing a bill proposal 
that would require a majority 80 Knesset members to approve pardons 
for "terrorist murderers."  Twenty-four MKs have already signed the 
proposal. 
 
Yediot cited intelligence reports that have reached Jerusalem that 
Hizbullah is now capable of launching around Katyusha rockets 
against Israel for four months.  Yediot quoted the Kuwaiti daily 
Al-Rai Al-Aam as saying that Sa'ad bin Ladin, a son of Osama bin 
Ladin, has recently arrived in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain 
Al-Hilweh in southern Lebanon.  This morning Israel Radio reported 
on explosions in two buses in northern Lebanon, in which at least 10 
people were killed. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Olmert's associates criticized 
Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski's announcement Sunday night that 
work on the Mugrabi Bridge leading to the Temple Mount would be put 
on hold, calling the Mayor's decision "bizarre."  The aides were 
quoted as saying that Lupolianski had not consulted Olmert or 
Jerusalem Affairs Minister Jacob Edery before releasing the 
statement.  Leading media reported that on Monday the Jerusalem 
police filed an indictment against Sheikh Raed Salah, the head of 
the northern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, and four of his 
supporters on charges of attacking police officers during an illegal 
protest last week against the excavations near the Temple Mount. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that starting February 1, Israelis entering the 
Gaza Strip have been required to present a passport or travel permit 
at the Erez Crossing. 
 
The media reported on a sharp exchange of words between Olmert and 
Likud leader MK Binyamin Netanyahu at the Knesset's Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Committee on Monday, around their policies toward the 
Palestinians, Hamas, and the Golan Heights during their respective 
terms. 
 
Maariv reported that Issa Zananiri (phon.), a Palestinian graduate 
of Bir Zeit University, is a member of the team planning Tel Aviv's 
light railway project.  Maariv reported that the Jerusalem 
International Book Fair allegedly does not allow Samah Maher Dandis 
to participate in the fair.  Dandis was supposed to be the first 
Palestinian publisher represented at the event. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that the Council of Jewish Settlements in 
the Territories has embarked on a campaign to convince US Jews to 
buy houses in settlements. 
 
Maariv reported that the Israeli electronics and armaments concern 
Elbit is accusing its rival, Israel Aircraft Industries, of 
sabotaging a USD 50-million deal involving the upgrading of Russian 
helicopters. 
 
Maariv reported that Zvi Hefetz, Israel's Ambassador to the UK, 
recently received from the Egyptian Ambassador in London a map of 
the Middle East that does not mention Israel. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If there is anyone who needs 
recognition, it is not Israel but the Palestinians, who will need 
ours." 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The Palestinians need 
help to help themselves....  This cannot be done by the EU or the 
UN.  Only a legitimate Arab regime, one with enough power and money, 
can do it -- and the Saudis may be the best candidate for the 
role." 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the lead editorial of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "If we have an 
alternative, we must wait until the proper time.  What is the proper 
time in Jerusalem, which lives on a powder keg?.... It is tomorrow 
or in fifty years." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Who Did You Say Needs Recognition?" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/13): "The Mecca agreement, 
which has no clause recognizing Israel or on abstaining from terror, 
is a farce in the eyes of the US administration and Israel.  The 
immediate response of the Prime Minister's Office was that Israel 
has no intention of recognizing a Palestinian unity government as 
long as Hamas refuses to recognize Israel.  What I can't figure out 
is what all this 'recognition of Israel' business is about.  What 
kind of obsession is this, getting up every other day and demanding 
that our bitter enemies recognize us?  The way things stand today, 
who needs their recognition?.... The State of Israel does not need 
recognition.  It is already recognized as one of the wonders of the 
world -- by the very dint of its existence, after seven Arab 
countries tried to wipe it off the map, by what it has managed to 
create, by what it has accomplished in the span of 59 years.  Israel 
is a political and geopolitical fact, as well as a household name. 
If there is anyone who needs recognition, it is not Israel but the 
Palestinians, who will need ours, if they ever have the brains to 
adopt the UN resolution passed 60 years ago and get around to 
establishing a state of their own." 
 
II.  "A Saudi Protectorate For Palestine?" 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/13): "The Palestinians 
need help to help themselves....  This cannot be done by the EU or 
the UN.  Only a legitimate Arab regime, one with enough power and 
money, can do it -- and the Saudis may be the best candidate for the 
role, especially as it may also fit into their own overall view of 
trying to stabilize the region.  In other words, and without beating 
around the bush:  The Palestinians have to come out from under 
Israeli occupation, but they are unable to create the infrastructure 
that will give their political entity the necessary stability.  A 
Saudi protectorate could be the way out of this conundrum, and the 
notion should be seriously addressed by all concerned.  If the UN is 
now considering independence for Kosovo under a UN guiding hand, why 
not something similar, under Saudi protection, for the 
Palestinians?" 
 
III.  "One Bridge Too Far" 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the lead editorial of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/13): "We should have 
no illusions: The latest battle for the 'Mugrabi Ascent' is not over 
a bridge or archaeological digs.  The war is over Israeli 
sovereignty in the most sacred place to Jews -- and one the holiest 
ones to the Muslims.... There is a lot of truth in the claim that 
that this is a religious war that will not end in the foreseeable 
future.  Truly, every time disturbances occur in Jerusalem, the 
allegations are almost always against Israel.... What to do, the 
world id not enthused about seeing us as liberators, as we would 
like.  So, what to do now?   If there is a choice -- and this is 
about human lives ... we have to build and reconstruct.  But if we 
have an alternative, we must wait until the proper time.  What is 
the proper time in Jerusalem, which lives on a powder keg?.... It is 
tomorrow or in fifty years.  We waited for thousands of years; we 
shall wait for the proper moment, and only then shall we wage war." 
 
JONES