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DE RUEHTV #0697/01 0641031
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P 051031Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000697 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
On Sunday Yediot reported that PM Ehud Olmert's senior aides Yoram 
Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman took off on Saturday for a series of 
diplomatic meetings in Washington.  The aim is to persuade the 
leaders of the US administration not to yield to European pressure 
to recognize the Palestinian unity government despite the fact that 
it has neither recognized Israel nor renounced terror. 
 
The media (banner in The Jerusalem Post) reported that US Under 
Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence 
 
SIPDIS 
Stuart Levey held a series of meetings in Jerusalem on Sunday 
focusing on how to get the world's financial institutions to cut 
business ties with Iran.  The Jerusalem Post wrote that the steps 
that Levey was here to discuss are meant to supplement the process 
under way in the UN, and that they are steps that the West can begin 
taking unilaterally, without facing obstacles from Russia and China, 
whose support is necessary for UN sanctions.  Over the weekend major 
media reported that on Saturday diplomats form the five permanent 
members of the UN Security Council and Germany hammered out new 
language for new sanctions on Tehran after it refused to suspend its 
uranium enrichment program. 
 
Vice PM Shimon Peres was quoted as saying in an interview broadcast 
on Saturday on Channel 2-TV that the government was still committed 
to evacuating West Bank settlements.  The station said that he 
blamed the government's failure to do so on Hamas's refusal to 
recognize Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials as saying on Sunday 
that Jerusalem is receiving mixed messages regarding whether the 
Arab states will drop a clause calling for Palestinian refugees to 
return to Israel in the diplomatic initiative they are expected to 
relaunch at a summit in Saudi Arabia later this month. Ha'aretz 
filed a similar report. 
 
Yediot reported that National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin 
Ben-Eliezer canceled a trip to Egypt for fear of being arrested 
there in connection with allegations that troops under his command 
killed 250 Egyptian troops (or Palestinians) in the Sinai at the end 
of the Six-Day War.  The media reported that the Israeli Ambassador 
in Cairo was summoned to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.  Leading 
media reported that Ben-Eliezer is trying to convince the Egyptians 
that he is not responsible for such a crime. 
 
Over the weekend leading media quoted Jordan's King Abdullah II as 
saying on Friday in an interview with Jordan TV that Israel must 
choose between the mentality of "Israel the fortress" or living in 
peace and security with its neighbors. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the attorney for a group of Jewish 
families ordered to evacuate an apartment building in the East 
Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan by next month as saying that they 
will appeal the court ruling.  On Sunday Hatzofe cited an 
announcement by the Arab League that it will transfer USD 150 
million to the Arabs of East Jerusalem as aid in their struggle 
against Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas complained to the EU of a "series of provocative and illegal 
Israeli actions."  He went on to accuse the EU of discrimination 
against the Palestinians, and of fostering an unjust, pro-Israeli 
approach. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, as Abbas and Palestinian PM Ismail 
Haniyeh met in Gaza City on Sunday night to discuss the formation of 
a "national unity government," a war of words erupted between Fatah 
and Hamas, with each side accusing the other of seeking to derail 
the Mecca Agreement. 
 
Major media reported that Iran and Arab diplomats accuse the Mossad 
and the CIA of kidnapping Reza Askhari, an Iranian general, on 
Turkish soil. 
 
Leading media reported that an irregular event was recorded on the 
Syrian border over the weekend: a routine IDF patrol in the southern 
Golan Heights, on the border fence, located six anti-personnel mines 
that were thrown onto the Israeli side of the border.  Engineering 
forces were alerted to the spot and disarmed the mines. 
 
Maariv reported that Israel is requesting the US to let Israel 
purchase more Israeli-made products with the aid it receives. 
 
Yediot cited The Los Angeles Times as saying that the Arab Bank, one 
of the largest Arab financial institutions in the world, is 
suspected of transferring funds from wealthy Saudi businessmen to 
Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and other terrorist groups.  The investigation 
of the bank lasted for three years. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday two leading representatives of the 
village of Ghajar straddling the border with Lebanon called on FM 
Tzipi Livni to act in order to prevent the division of the village. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Anti-Defamation League as saying over 
the weekend that a late-February meeting between representatives of 
American Christian denominations and Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad amounted to a "shameful betrayal of American values and 
the Christian-Jewish relationship.  The Jerusalem Post printed an AP 
piece that on Sunday Ahmadinejad denied that he had backed the Saudi 
peace initiative, following claims by Saudi Arabia's official news 
agency that he had expressed support for it. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that representatives from Israel and 
Turkey will meet in Israel this week with the hopes of boosting 
their economic cooperation, which has already quintupled since the 
two countries entered into a trade agreement in 1997. 
 
The media prominently reported on mutual recriminations between 
Olmert and State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss regarding the 
Comptroller's interim report on government conduct during the 
Lebanon war last summer. 
 
Yediot reported that, "like in the US," Attorney General Menachem 
Mazuz is considering appointing special prosecutors in affairs 
involving individual public figures. 
 
Maariv reported that last week Rada Mansour, Israeli Consul-General 
in Atlanta, began broadcasting PR programs for Israel on a local 
radio station. 
 
Maariv reported that Jewish American billionaire William Davidson 
from Detroit donated USD 75 million to the Hadassah Hospital, Ein 
Kerem, Jerusalem. 
 
Polls among registered voters of the Labor Party, commissioned by 
the three major Hebrew-language newspapers, found that Labor Party 
Chairman and Defense Minister Amir Peretz would be soundly defeated 
by former PM Ehud Barak and MK Ami Ayalon, were primaries held today 
in the party.  Maariv found that, were a second round of voting to 
take place, Ayalon would win over Barak. 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "It is the 
duty of the government of Israel not to reject the hand that is 
being offered by Saudi Arabia." 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: 
"Washington apparently did not understand that [Saudi Arabia's 
National Security Adviser Prince] Bandar and the Saudis have goals 
and interests of their own." 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in a page one editorial in 
the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe: "Ahmadinejad seeks to rein in the 
Saudi activity against his nuclear policy.  This is the reason for 
his arrival in Riyadh." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The 
equality and destruction agendas don't mix.  Israeli Arab leaders 
and organizations need to choose between them, and the Adalah 
constitution is part of the wrong choice." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "A New Chance For Peace" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (3/4)): "The 
decision of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia to hold the Arab League 
summit in Riyadh later this month to discuss proposing the 2002 Arab 
peace initiative anew, offers a fresh opportunity to revive the 
peace process between Israel and its neighbors, and to bolster the 
moderate axis in the Middle East against the emerging Iranian 
nuclear threat.  Abdullah's original initiative proposed a simple 
formula: A complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories, 
including Jerusalem, in return for normalizing relations between 
Israel and the Arab world.... Saudi Arabia holds a unique status 
because of the King's role as the guardian of Islam's holiest sites 
and also because of the country's oil wealth.  It is therefore in a 
position, more than any other state, to offer religious and economic 
backing to peace settlements between Israel and the Palestinians, 
Syria and Lebanon.  Saudi Arabia and Israel also share concerns 
about the growing strength of Iran and both wish to prevent another 
war in the region.  They have a shared interest in the renewal of 
the peace process.... It is the duty of the government of Israel not 
to reject the hand that is being offered by Saudi Arabia.  Olmert 
must consider the Arab peace initiative to be an appropriate basis 
for dialogue, one that will lead to a permanent settlement and a 
settling of the status of Israel in the region, and which will serve 
as a definitive response to Ahmadinejad and his partners in the 
extremist camp.  A renewed peace process will save Olmert's 
government from the impasse in which it is stuck.  It is important 
that the four weeks left before the summit in Riyadh involve 
intensive diplomatic efforts to formulate an agreed-upon framework 
for the regional peace initiative." 
 
II.  "Saudi Arabia Tripping Up the US" 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (3/4)): 
"Whether the initiative came from Washington or originated in 
Riyadh, the US administration has recently decided to encourage 
Saudi Arabia, to a large degree instead of Egypt, to play an active 
part in the diplomatic processes in our region.  However, Saudi 
Arabia has intentions of its own, which do not always match 
Washington's intentions.  The most severe deviation is actually on 
the Palestinian issue.... Washington apparently did not understand 
that [Saudi Arabia's National Security Adviser Prince] Bandar and 
the Saudis have goals and interests of their own: they did not want 
to isolate Hamas, they wanted to bring it close to them (including 
by financial means), in order to thwart the ties that have begun to 
emerge between the Sunni terror organization and Shiite Iran.  Hamas 
may be extreme, but the main thing is that it is Sunni (after all, 
the Saudi regime is no less fundamentalist than Hamas).  What really 
worries the Saudi leadership is the concern of the rise in the 
strength of the Shi'ites in the Middle East, including within Saudi 
Arabia, and this anxiety increases with every day of battles in 
Iraq, where the Shiites are gaining the upper hand.  It is not that 
the Saudi royal family does not want to get rid of the 
Israeli-Palestinian problem, particularly if this comes at the 
expense of IsraelQs interest, but it has more urgent problems." 
 
III.  "When the Iranian Nuclear Program Met the Saudi Initiative" 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in a page one editorial in 
the nationalist, Orthodox Hatzofe (3/4)): "King Abdullah of Saudi 
Arabia can feel great satisfaction after this past weekend.  The 
visit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad to his country gave another 
push to the upgrade of his standing as the foremost leader of the 
Arab world -- at the expense of Egyptian President Mubarak.  This is 
certainly a dramatic visit, since Saudi Arabia is the country that 
is currently leading the general Arab battle against the Iranian 
nuclear program..... Ahmadinejad seeks to rein in the Saudi activity 
against his nuclear policy.  This is the reason for his arrival in 
Riyadh.  Even if it fails, and even if Saudi Arabia fails in its 
attempt to persuade the Iranian president to forego his nuclear 
adventure -- as of now, both failures appear realistic -- the status 
that Ahmadinejad has given King Abdullah can no longer be erased. 
The battle over hegemony in the Arab world between Saudi Arabia and 
Egypt was already expressed last week.  On Thursday it was reported 
that the Egyptians are mainly angry at the Hamas leaders, who 
despite the original plan ultimately decided to sign the agreement 
in Saudi Arabia rather than in Cairo." 
 
IV.  "Equality and Destruction" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (3/4)): 
"The latest draft constitution [for Israel] was produced by Adalah, 
the 10-year-old organization purportedly seeking to uphold the 
rights of Israel's Arab citizens.  It redefines the state not as 
Jewish but as 'democratic, bilingual, and multicultural' -- all 
objectives much beloved by enlightened world opinion and 
legitimately resonant, but in this case both enticing and deceptive. 
 The Adalah outline remarkably resembles what the dubiously 
cancelled PLO Charter touted for decades -- replacing Israel with a 
supposedly democratic state.... Prof. Shlomo Avineri, a respected 
centrist and diplomat, perceives Adalah's draft as nothing less that 
an 'extreme nationalist Arab plan for Israel's annihilation as a 
Jewish state, while coating these aims in the outward trappings of 
human rights and justice.'  Fortunately that isn't exclusively a 
Jewish viewpoint. The Forum of Druze and Circassian Authorities in 
Israel also outrightly rejects Adalah's paper, reaffirming Israel's 
standing as a 'Jewish and a democratic state that champions equality 
and free elections. We refuse to support the eradication of the 
state to which we had tied our fate in a bond forged in blood.'   It 
should be obvious that a community that pledges itself to Israel's 
destruction -- however elegantly termed -- cannot at the same time 
effectively battle real manifestations of discrimination and advance 
the positive agenda to which it has historically been committed. 
The equality and destruction agendas don't mix.  Israeli Arab 
leaders and organizations need to choose between them, and the 
Adalah constitution is part of the wrong choice." 
CRETZ