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DE RUEHTV #0860/01 0791115
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201115Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0099
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 1843
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 8592
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1773
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2655
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1834
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 9642
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 2568
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 9483
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 9958
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 6574
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 3971
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 8853
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3066
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 4985
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 6293
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000860 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that on Monday, in a telephone consultation, 
the members of the Quartet decided to maintain their embargo on 
direct aid to the PA government.  Leading media reported that 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern over 
 
SIPDIS 
Palestinian PM Ismail Haniyeh's insistence on the "right to 
resistance" in his initial policy speech.  The radio and other media 
quoted Secretary Rice as saying on Monday:  "I am not going to try 
to interpret what the right of resistance means, but I'll tell you 
it doesn't sound very good to me when one talks about all forms of 
resistance.  So I would put the question to the Palestinian 
government and to its Prime Minister: Do you mean the right of 
resistance by violence?  And let's get an answer."  The Secretary 
was speaking with reporters.  Israel Radio quoted a senior GOI 
source as saying that Rice does not even attempt to deal with 
interpretation. 
 
All media reported that on Monday Hamas took responsibility for 
shooting and moderately wounding an Israeli civilian at the Karni 
Crossing along the Gaza Strip border, while in Sinai Egyptian troops 
caught a Hamas activist from Gaza, who reportedly planned a suicide 
attack in Israel.  Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted senior GOI 
sources as saying on Monday that Hamas's attack proves that the 
organization has not changed or modified its ways but is persisting 
in terror acts.  Ha'aretz reported that a senior Israeli defense 
source told the daily on Monday following the attack: "The time for 
talk is over.  If the cease-fire disruptions persist, the IDF will 
react harshly against the Palestinian terror organizations." 
Ha'aretz said that the attack could be related to the formation of 
the Palestinian national unity government on Saturday. Senior Hamas 
officials have said in the past that they would not give up the 
organization's right to "resist occupation" -- that is, to engage in 
violence.  A limited terror attack like the one carried out on the 
Gaza Strip border demonstrates Hamas's ability to act, while not 
being serious enough to evoke a sharp Israeli protest.   However, 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Palestinian defense sources 
suggested another explanation for the attack.  They were quoted as 
saying that two commanders of Hamas's military wing, Jamal al-Jarah 
and Yusuf al-Zahar, brother of former FM Mahmoud Zahar, were 
responsible for the attacks.   Ha'aretz quoted MK Tzachi Hanegbi 
(Kadima), the chair of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee, as saying on Monday that a military confrontation between 
Israel and the Palestinians in the near future was inevitable, 
adding that "only a miracle could prevent it." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday, in an interview with 
VOA-TV, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed disappointment 
with the new PA unity government. 
 
Leading media reported that on Monday dozens of settlers moved into 
an unoccupied Palestinian building in Hebron, saying it was legally 
purchased from its Palestinian owner for USD 700,000.  The building 
is located near the "worshiper's way," close to the Tomb of the 
Patriarchs in the Israeli-controlled part of the city.  Israel Radio 
reported that a Palestinian lodged a complaint with the police, 
bringing documents proving his ownership of the building. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, fearing for their lives, EU 
monitors stationed at the Rafah Crossing that connects the Gaza 
Strip and Egypt have asked the Israeli defense establishment for 
help in drawing up escape routes from Gaza in the event of an attack 
on the border terminal. 
 
Maariv's Washington correspondent reported that Jewish US 
Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) is likely to introduce a law that 
would include Israel and other countries in the Visa-Waiver Program. 
 Wexler reportedly cited the support that many countries, including 
Israel, have given the US after the 9/11 disaster. 
 
All media reported that on Monday the Ministerial Committee for 
Symbols and Ceremonies decided that last summer's conflict in 
Lebanon should officially be called a war. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that, an interview published on Monday in the 
Saudi newspaper Al-Jazeera, Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed 
that Syria has been conducting secret negotiations with Israel in 
recent years, as reported by Ha'aretz in January.  Assad was quoted 
as saying that international envoys had shuttled between Syria and 
Israel, carrying each country's point of view regarding peace to the 
other.  Assad added that nothing concrete had come out of the talks, 
especially as "the current Israeli government is the weakest in 
Israel's history."  Major media cited that particular remark. 
"There's an American administration without a vision, and the US 
administration, unfortunately, is central to all peace processes in 
the region," he added.  He also called the US the main obstacle to a 
Middle East peace.  Maariv highlighted the part of the interview in 
which Assad said that war is always an option in the region. 
 
Leading media reported that the US granted an entry visa to Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who plans to address the UN Security 
Council regarding the issues of stiffer sanctions that may be 
imposed on his country.  Leading electronic media quoted The New 
York Times as saying on Monday that Russia has told Iran that it 
will withhold fuel for Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant unless 
Tehran suspends its uranium enrichment program as the UN Security 
Council demands.  The Jerusalem Post quoted opposition leader MK 
Binyamin Netanyahu as saying on Monday that the window of 
opportunity to measure the effect of severe economic sanctions 
against Iran in an effort to stop its nuclear program is not much 
more than one year.   Maariv reported that on Monday the World 
Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency began an English-language 
Internet campaign meant to arouse international consciousness to the 
anti-Semitic character of the Iranian regime and to enlist hundreds 
of thousands of Jewish and non-Jewish Net surfers in their 
struggle. 
 
Ha'aretz, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post cited a claim presented in 
a report drafted by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), an organization 
that monitors Palestinian Arabic-language media and schoolbooks, 
that new textbooks for 12th-grade Palestinian students reject the 
existence of Israel and make no attempt to educate students about 
peace or coexistence.  Maariv underscored Holocaust denial in the 
schoolbooks.  According to the group, the textbooks were written by 
the Center for Developing the Palestinian Curricula and introduced 
by the PA at the end of 2006.  The primary findings of PMW's report 
will be presented to the Knesset's Education and Culture Committee 
today. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the US-backed Iraqi government is 
enforcing the Arab boycott of Israel with increasing frequency.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that an official at the US Embassy in Tel 
Aviv told the newspaper: "The US government is continuing to review 
this matter."  The newspaper said that Iraq officials were 
unavailable for comment.  However, The Jerusalem Post reported that 
a State Department spokesman told the newspaper that Washington was 
"disappointed" over Iraq's decision to participate in the boycott of 
Israel, and quoted him as saying that American officials had "raised 
this issue with Iraqi officials in the past and expect to raise it 
with them again." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a seven-person Turkish technical 
team is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday to look at the excavations at 
the Mugrabi Gate outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, more than a 
month after Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested the idea to PM 
Ehud Olmert during the latter's visit to Ankara.  The team is slated 
to meet with representatives of the Israeli Antiquities Authority on 
Wednesday and the Muslim Waqf on Thursday.  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted Turkish officials as saying that the tem will then return to 
Turkey and write a report to be presented to Erdogan. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Egyptian FM Ahmed Ali Abu al-Gheit 
called claims in Israel that Egyptian soldiers killed Israeli 
prisoners during the Yom Kippur War "absurd." 
 
Yediot reported that, following Monday's attack at the Karni 
Crossing, employees of the Israel Electric Corporation independently 
decided to temporarily interrupt the power supply to the Gaza Strip 
in protest against the wounding of one of their comrades. 
 
Yediot reported that on Monday the World Union for Progressive 
Judaism ("Reform Judaism"), which held a convention in Jerusalem, 
contributed 100 million to Israel. 
 
Yediot reported on the first member of the Black Hebrew Israelite 
community who became an IDF officer. 
 
Maariv reported that a group of French Jews is urging the US 
Congress to legislate a law that would grant French Jews political 
asylum in the US, following what the group says are rising 
anti-Semitism and ethnic prosecution in France. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio reported that Israeli and Jewish immigrant 
organizations are hosting a convention on immigration and immigrant 
absorption, in which representatives of more than 20 countries, 
including Ethiopia, Russia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Georgia, 
Vietnam, Thailand, and Nigeria 
 
Ha'aretz printed an AP wire report citing the Israeli defense 
company Elbit Systems as saying on Monday that small Israeli 
pilotless planes are gathering intelligence for US-led forces in 
Iraq and Afgnanistan.  AP wrote that a CENTCOM official would not 
confirm the use of the drone. 
 
All media reported that security forces will carry out an extensive 
drill across the country Israel today to test the defense 
capabilities of the army, police, rescue forces, and local 
authorities.  As part of the drill, which will continue into 
Wednesday, an air raid siren will sound in all parts of the country 
at 2 P.M. 
 
Ha'aretz cited a recent survey by the World Union for Progressive 
Judaism showing that more than half of Israeli Jews support the 
right of Diaspora Jews to criticize Israel on particular issues. 
 
Ha'aretz cited the results of a University of Haifa poll according 
to which only 5 percent of Israelis are unhappy with the country's 
political system. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "[The Palestinians] are trying to fool Israel and the world 
into believing that it is possible to do business with Abu Mazen 
while ignoring Ismail Haniyeh, who holds the real power in 
Palestinian politics." 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Those who 
support recognizing all or part of the Hamas-Fatah terror government 
are in breach of international law and of UN Security Council 
Resolution 1373, which bars member states from financing terrorists 
and those giving them safe harbor.  There is no peace process, only 
a war process." 
 
Yehuda Lancry, former Likud Knesset member and former ambassador to 
France, wrote in Maariv: "Mutual recognition, the very basis of the 
Oslo Accords, cannot put up with ambiguity." 
 
Gershon Baskin, the Co-Director of the Israel-Palestine Center for 
Information and Research (IPCRI), wrote in The Jerusalem Post: 
"Arguing about the virtues of recognizing the new Palestinian 
government is a waste of time.  Wasting time now is criminal.  Now 
is the time for an Israeli peace initiative." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Self-Delusion" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv 
(3/20): "The artificial distinction between Abu Mazen and the Hamas 
government headed by Ismail Haniyeh, but in reality by Khaled 
Mashal, ignores reality.  If the Chairman is capable of inducing 
Hamas to accept the principles of the Roadmap and the Oslo 
agreement, so much the better, then it would be worth while for 
Israel to talk to it. But when Haniyeh declares, on the 
establishment of the government, that terrorism will continue and 
the 'right of return' remains in force, what does Abu Mazen have in 
his empty hands?  It's the same lady in a different guise, hiding 
behind a diplomatic facade, aimed at opening the pockets of the 
Europeans.  The Palestinians are now taking their first sovereign 
steps.  They are trying to fool Israel and the world into believing 
that it is possible to do business with Abu Mazen while ignoring 
Ismail Haniyeh, who holds the real power in Palestinian politics. 
Israel has to cry out to the entire world that Abu Mazen and Ismail 
Haniyeh are one and the same.  Together they have to choose what 
course they are going to take.  It would be inadmissible for each to 
go in a different direction and for Israel to be fooled into 
following one of them.  The test lies in the release of Gilad 
Shalit.... Is this the Abu Mazen who prepared the joint statement by 
himself and Dr. Yossi Beilin?  Or is it the Abu Mazen who at Camp 
David incited Yasser Arafat to reject the generous peace offered by 
Barak?.... In order to reach the distant goal [of peace], Israel has 
to stand firm in the opening stage.  It is almost essential to wipe 
out the basic Arab premise that pressure and patience will always 
wear down Israel's position. This erosion is necessary precisely for 
promotion of peace, and not the madness in which the Defense 
Minister votes in favor of the boycott of the Hamas government, 
while giving up the essential stage of abrogation of terrorism, 
almost in the same breath." 
 
II.  "'Your Money and Your Life'" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (3/20): "Faced 
with complete rejection of their minimal conditions, the Israeli 
Left, the Europeans and the State Department took the only step they 
could possibly take: They ignored everything the Palestinians said 
and did. Confronted by the Palestinians' absolute commitment to 
terror and extortion, they have closed their eyes and moved to 
embrace the fantasy that there is a deal to be made with the 
Palestinians.... For its part, the State Department, while 
stipulating that it won't speak to Hamas, is more than happy to 
speak with Fatah ministers who flack for Hamas.  The Americans' 
favorite terror financier and recycled PA Finance Minister Salam 
Fayyad will be visiting Washington later in the week.  In one of his 
most recent exploits, Fayyad oversaw the disappearance of USD 100 
million in tax revenue that Israel transferred to Abbas's office. 
The Palestinians could not be clearer about their demands.... 
Indeed, a reading of 60-year-old documents shows that little of 
substance has changed since Palestinian Arabs first resorted to 
terror to foil the emergence of a Jewish state.... The only thing 
that can be done in the face of this historically consistent 
depravity is to finally declare that the jig is up.  Those who 
support recognizing all or part of the Hamas-Fatah terror government 
are in breach of international law and of UN Security Council 
Resolution 1373, which bars member states from financing terrorists 
and those giving them safe harbor.  There is no peace process, only 
a war process.  And if we do not recognize this fact and fight, we 
shall soon begin to bury more innocents whose lives will be 
sacrificed because we were too stubborn to acknowledge reality." 
 
III.  "The Test of Recognition" 
 
Yehuda Lancry, former Likud Knesset member and former ambassador to 
France, wrote in Maariv (3/20): "Mutual recognition, the very basis 
of the Oslo Accords, cannot put up with ambiguity.... Mutual 
recognition made many Israelis change their views.... It is a 
process that the Palestinians, too, must share, because there is no 
basis for making peace without it.... As one of the Palestinian 
architects of the Oslo Accords, Abu Mazen understands perfectly the 
importance of mutual recognition.  It is obvious to him that without 
it Yitzhak Rabin would not have signed agreements. It is also clear 
to him that an Israel headed by Olmert will not cooperate with a 
government that refuses to recognize it.  It would have been better 
if some European Union countries, which hasten to support Ismail 
Haniyeh's government, helped Abu Mazen bring Hamas into the alliance 
of mutual recognition with Israel.  France, an EU member, which is 
interested in having the Palestinian unity government recognized, 
should more vigorously work in favor of mutual recognition as the 
unshakeable basis of Israeli-Palestinian relations." 
 
IV.  "An Imaginary Announcement" 
 
Gershon Baskin, the Co-Director of the Israel-Palestine Center for 
Information and Research (IPCRI), wrote in The Jerusalem Post 
(3/20): "Israeli cabinet statement, March 25, 2007, regarding the 
Arab summit in Riyadh:.... ''While recognizing the need for 
mutually-agreed adjustment to the boundaries between Israel and the 
future State of Palestine, Israel recognizes that the basis for 
negotiations over boundaries is the Green Line armistice agreement 
of 1949'.... The above does not have to be an imaginary report. 
Everything written above is acceptable to almost all of the 
ministers of the Israeli government.... Should the Palestinian 
masses reject the solution of two states in favor of one democratic 
state from the river to the sea, it is only a matter of time before 
the entire international community comes to their support, and then 
the end of the Zionist dream is in sight.  If the Palestinian masses 
adopt the one-state democratic solution, Israel cannot win that 
battle.  And although an unimaginable amount of blood would be 
spilled, in the end Israel would no longer be the state of the 
Jewish people.  Those Israeli nationalists and their supporters 
abroad -- Jews and non-Jews alike, who reject peace with our 
neighbors -- are nothing less that suicide bombers aiming to destroy 
Israel.  This may seem to some to be a gross exaggeration, but it is 
not.  Those who reject the risks of making peace are guaranteeing 
the demise of Israel by their blindness and failure to understand 
that time is not in our favor.  Arguing about the virtues of 
recognizing the new Palestinian government is a waste of time. 
Wasting time now is criminal.  Now is the time for an Israeli peace 
initiative.  Olmert, kadima! -- forward.  Your time is running 
out." 
 
JONES