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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001062 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The media cited a statement released on Tuesday by PM Ehud Olmert's 
office that Israel has Israel is "disappointed" with the list of 
prisoners Palestinians are demanding in exchange for captured IDF 
soldier Gilad Shalit.  The statement said Olmert convened a meeting 
of senior officials and intelligence commanders Tuesday afternoon to 
discuss the list, and expressed disappointment and reservations. It 
also said there has been some progress in negotiations, but the road 
to completion is still long.  The Jerusalem Post quoted GOI 
officials in Jerusalem as saying that there is no guarantee that the 
Durmush clan in the southern Gaza Strip, believed to be one of the 
groups holding kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, will free him even if 
Egypt succeeds in brokering a swap for Palestinian security 
prisoners.  The sources were quoted as saying that there was no 
certainty that the clan would obey Damascus-based Hamas head Khaled 
Mashal if he told them to release Shalit.  Israel Radio quoted Arab 
sources in Cairo as saying that jailed Fatah/Tanzim leader Marwan 
Barghouti is not included in the list of Palestinian prisoners that 
was allegedly presented to Israel.  The media reported that on 
Tuesday the Almagor Terror Victims Association urged Olmert not to 
free terrorists for Shalit. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's political 
adviser Nimmer Hamad as saying on Tuesday in an interview with Al 
Arabiya-TV that Abbas and Olmert will start their twice-monthly 
meetings next week.  Hamad was quoted as saying that during the 
meeting, Abbas intends to raise the contested issues delaying 
agreement on a future permanent agreement between Israel and the PA. 
 According to Hamad, the issues include the question of Jerusalem, 
the borders of the future Palestinian state, the refugees, and other 
problems affecting the lives of Palestinian citizens, among them 
humanitarian conditions.  The prime objective of the talks, 
according to Hamad, is to help build trust between the two parties. 
He added that the meetings were meant to reach a "political 
horizon".  In conclusion, Hamad called on Israel "not to delay 
contacts toward Shalit's release." 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday a Shas party spokesman 
rejected Rabbi David Yosef's claim that his father, Shas mentor 
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, supports releasing Palestinian security 
prisoners "with blood on their hands" in exchange for Shalit.  The 
spokesman was quoted as saying that Ovadia Yosef was waiting to 
receive an intelligence update from party chairman Eli Yishai before 
issuing a final decision.  Earlier Tuesday, David Yosef reiterated 
that his father supported such a move. 
 
All media continued to report on MK Azmi Bishara's stay abroad: 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that on Tuesday Bishara (Balad - 
National Democratic Assembly) left Jordan for a tour of Europe. 
Ha'aretz quoted sources in his party as saying that he will visit 
Spain and France and participate in international conferences.  He 
will then travel to a conference in Bahrain, and then possibly to 
India.  Media reported that Bishara met with Jordanian FM Abdelelah 
al-Khatib.  Ha'aretz said that the Balad-associated Web site Arabs48 
reported the two discussed regional events.   Ha'aretz and other 
media wrote that on Tuesday Balad continued to claim vehemently that 
the rumors that Bishara is planning not to return to Israel are 
unfounded. 
 
Leading media reported that an Israeli civilian was moderately 
wounded on Tuesday in a shooting attack west of the settlement of 
Kedumim near Nablus.  The wounded man, a resident of the settlement 
of Emmanuel, was standing at a transport station when he was wounded 
by a bullet fired from a passing Palestinian vehicle, apparently 
carrying large amounts of weapons. 
 
Citing press agencies, Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Hatzofe 
quoted a State Department official as saying on Tuesday that USD 59 
million in US aid to help the Palestinian security forces has 
cleared congressional hurdles and is now ready to spend.  The 
official was quoted as saying that the package, reduced from USD 86 
million to avoid having some of the money go to radical groups, met 
with no objections from lawmakers and will soon be distributed to 
security organizations controlled by Abbas.  "We are now approved to 
spend this money," the official was quoted as saying, speaking on 
condition of anonymity because a formal statement on the matter had 
not yet been made.  The media reported that the State Department 
notified Congress of the revised package on March 23, and under 
rules for such notifications, the program is implemented 15 days 
later unless lawmakers file objections ahead of the deadline.  The 
money includes USD 43.4 million in non-lethal training and equipment 
for Abbas's presidential guard and USD 16 million to upgrade Karni 
Crossing. 
 
Israel Radio reported that Defense Minister Amir Peretz has ordered 
Yosef Mishlav, the coordinator of GOI Actions in the Territories, to 
evacuate the house that settlers are occupying in Hebron.  The radio 
said that the IDF will carry out the order in two weeks.  This 
morning Israel Radio reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz 
turned down Peretz's request that the house be evacuated 
immediately. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday PA police officials denied Shin 
Bet claims that a Hamas operative who intended to carry out a 
suicide attack during Passover had managed to infiltrate Tel Aviv 
from Qalqilya last month in a car laden with about 100 kilograms of 
explosives.  The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Israeli 
defense officials called for a revision of security procedures at 
IDF checkpoints in the West Bank.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
most checkpoints lack bomb-detection systems. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday the High Court of Justice 
gave the state five more days to prepare in response to a petition 
demanding that it publish the censored testimonies of the PM, 
Defense Minister, and former chief of staff to the Winograd 
Commission probing the Second Lebanon War before the commission 
releases its interim report later this month. 
 
Maariv cited the London-based daily Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat as quoting a 
senior official in Paris as saying that France has warned Iran about 
a possible attack against its nuclear installations by the end of 
the year if it continues its nuclear program. 
 
Ha'aretz said that agricultural connections are being forged in 
secret between Israel and a number of Southeast Asian Muslim 
 
SIPDIS 
countries.  The recent contacts are with nations that do not have 
diplomatic relations with Israel, and have also previously avoided 
economic relations.  Ha'aretz reported that Indonesia, the largest 
of these countries, recently approved the travel of a large 
delegation of businessmen and agricultural experts to the privately 
run Agro-Mashov agricultural exhibition to be held in Tel Aviv on 
April 18-19. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, following years of deliberations 
and as one of the many lessons drawn from the Second Lebanon War, 
the IDF has decided to establish a new command that will unite and 
be responsible for utilization and operations of all Israeli special 
forces. 
 
Major media reported that on Tuesday the police interrogated PM 
Olmert for four hours about the Tax Authority bribing scandal. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the full-feature documentary, 
"Withdrawal From Gaza," which offers a sympathetic portrait of the 
Gush Katif settlers, premiered in Los Angeles on March 23 "to 
skeptical local reviews." 
 
All media quoted Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter as saying on 
Tuesday that Central District head Cmdr. David (Dudi) Cohen is his 
candidate to be the Israeli Police's next inspector-general. 
 
Yediot cited the results of a poll conducted in Switzerland by the 
local statistics institute GFS: 54 percent of the Swiss public 
believes that religious fanatics rule Israel; 50 percent of the 
Swiss believe that Israel runs a "war of extermination" against the 
Palestinians in the territories. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former senior IDF 
official in the West Bank and former head of Israel-PA coordination, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "One can 
only envy the way the US handles terrorists and their family 
members." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian 
sympathizer Amira Hass opined in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "Even though this is defined as a war, the prevailing 
axiom is that the Palestinians are always 'terrorists,' even when 
they act against soldiers and not civilians." 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, 
wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "For the first time in years, the United 
States and Israel are not broadcasting on the same wavelength on 
very major issues.... The American lifeline could become a millstone 
for Israel." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz: "Pelosi is 
not setting independent foreign policy, but domestic policy -- feet 
in Damascus, head in New Hampshire.  It was not Israel's interest 
 
nor Syria's that guided her, but the good of the Democratic party." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "It's 
hard to imagine any democracy which would abide similar outright 
disloyalty, least of all a country at war and facing such 
unparalleled existential threats as Israel." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Things Are Different in America" 
 
Palestinian affairs researcher Moshe Elad, a former senior IDF 
official in the West Bank and former head of Israel-PA coordination, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/11): 
"One can only envy the way the US handles terrorists and their 
family members.  America has proven over the years that it advocates 
an uncompromising war against every terrorist, until he is brought 
to trial.  An entire system of investigators and jurists zealously 
devotes itself to tireless pursuit until the criminal is brought to 
justice, the money and assets of the individual and the organization 
that sent him are impounded, and huge compensation suits are filed 
on behalf of the victims' families.  The US citizen knows that he 
will never be abandoned, and that he will never be a pawn of 
'confidence building measures'....  In the US, [a major terrorist] 
will not be released before he finishes serving the sentence for his 
heinous crimes." 
 
II.  "Prisoners or Criminals?" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian 
sympathizer Amira Hass opined in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (4/11): "The failing political and security mechanisms are 
the ones that for years have formulated the axioms in Israel 
concerning the Palestinian prisoners.  The first axiom is that every 
Palestinian security prisoner is a criminal.... Since the signing of 
the Oslo agreement, most Israelis have been denying the fact that we 
are the citizens of an occupying state.  They define the current 
Intifada as a war that has been declared against us by the fictive 
Palestinian state.  And even though this is defined as a war, the 
prevailing axiom is that the Palestinians are always 'terrorists,' 
even when they act against soldiers and not civilians.  The 
companion axiom to this is that only on our side are there 
'soldiers,' even when they are sent to act against an occupied 
civilian population.  The common denominator of these axioms is the 
distinction between blood and blood and person and person.  The Jew 
is always worth more, much, much more, when he is a victim, when he 
is a soldier, when he is a POW.  This distinction plays a 
significant role in Palestinian support for the tactic of 
abduction." 
 
III.  "Bush's Lifeline is Israel's Millstone" 
 
Zalman Shoval, senior Likud member and former ambassador to the US, 
wrote in Yediot Aharonot (4/11): "For the first time in years, the 
United States and Israel are not broadcasting on the same wavelength 
on very major issues.  The American policy, in the last lap of the 
Bush administration, has two main and parallel goals: To mobilize 
the support of the 'moderate' Arab states, headed by Saudi Arabia, 
on behalf of calm in Iraq (the aggressive speech of the Saudi King 
against the US may destroy this illusion), and prevent a Shi'ite and 
Iranian takeover of the Middle East and its oil.  These two 
objectives are not connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 
but the battered administration has been forced to change its policy 
and make gestures towards those, including the European Union, who 
argue that linkage should be created -- even artificially -- between 
the two issues, in order to appease Saudi Arabia and the Arab world 
in general.   In other words, any progress, even ostensible 
progress, on the Israeli-Palestinian issue could provide the 
Americans with a lifeline on other topics.  The trouble is that the 
American lifeline could become a millstone for Israel.  Israel, no 
less than the United States and perhaps more, is interested in the 
same goals: Peace with the Arab world and blocking the increase in 
Iran's strength -- but not at the excessive price demanded, for 
example, by the participants of the Arab summit in Riyadh.  Despite 
this, Olmert has already been compelled to agree to meetings with 
Abu Mazen, despite the fact that the latter continues to break all 
his commitments, and despite the fact that since the forming of the 
'unity government' he has effectively become a servant of Hamas. 
And these pressures will mount, if the trend of pushing Israel to 
accept the 'Saudi initiative' continues.... How did we reach this 
unfortunate situation?  Israel's political and diplomatic activity 
in the past year was fraught with failures and errors.  Whether 
these stemmed from inexperience or from neglect, Israel's diplomatic 
situation is now more complicated than ever, and at a period that is 
critical for its future." 
 
IV.  "In Pelosi's Playground" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz (4/11): 
"Pelosi is not setting independent foreign policy, but domestic 
policy -- feet in Damascus, head in New Hampshire.  It was not 
Israel's interest nor Syria's that guided her, but the good of the 
Democratic party.  This is not the first time that a senior 
legislator has decided to sting the administration with a 
high-ranking visit to a hostile capital.  This is also not the first 
time Israel has been used to rack up points in a domestic American 
struggle.  However, in the race for 2008, the risk to Israel is 
increasing.  The Middle East is at the center of the American 
agenda. Every detail in US policy regarding Iraq, Iran, Syria, 
Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Hamas, radical Islam, and terror 
affects Israel directly.  Every detail affecting that policy is at 
the center of a profound debate, at least on the rhetorical level. 
This development will mandate Israel's extreme caution in talks with 
the administration and Congress.  Standing Israeli policy -- trying 
to remain in the American political middle ground -- will be more 
complicated than ever this year.... Therefore, even if Olmert is 
correct in his understanding of Israel's political interest, it is 
unlikely his actions reflect careful consideration of American 
political sensitivity. He would have done better to hold his tongue. 
 From now until November 2008, it's not a good idea to get on the 
seesaw in Pelosi's playground." 
 
 
 
 
¶V.  "Azmi Bishara's Primary Victims" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/11): 
"Arab-Israeli Knesset Member Azmi Bishara of Balad -- a nonstop 
source of provocative antics and brazen agitation -- has seemingly 
pulled off his most riveting exploit to date by keeping this 
country's entire body-politic and general public on tenterhooks, 
awaiting any hint of his future plans.  Will he return from his 
current stay in Jordan, or will he abscond?  The mystery is further 
deepened by leaked reports -- despite a thick veil of official 
secrecy -- of possibly severe charges in the offing against him for 
'endangering Israel's security'....  Bishara had traveled to enemy 
states like Syria and Lebanon on a number of occasions, and ... 
proceeded to unabashedly identify with Israel's worst enemies, whom 
he egged on to confront Israel.  Last September, in Damascus, he 
'warned' Syria's regime that 'Israel might launch a preliminary 
offensive,' in an attempt 'to overcome internal crisis and restore 
deterrence'....  Bishara never equivocated about his loyalties, 
which invariably lay with Israel's foes.  After the IDF's retreat 
from Lebanon in 2000, he crowed at an Umm el-Fahm rally [in Israel]: 
'Hizbullah won and for the first time since 1967 we taste victory. 
Hizbullah is justly proud of its achievement in humiliating Israel.' 
 He later repeated the same sentiments in Damascus....Despite 
[Israel's] tolerance, Bishara hectored in Beirut: 'We don't want 
your [Israel's] democracy. Give us Palestine.'   It's hard to 
imagine any democracy which would abide similar outright disloyalty, 
least of all a country at war and facing such unparalleled 
existential threats as Israel.... Bishara is a potent symbol of a 
radicalizing politician, who deliberately fans the flames, whips up 
discord and jeopardizes Israel's fragile intercommunal equilibrium. 
His radicalized electorate is in turn likely to vote for ever-more 
extreme representatives, thereby triggering a truly vicious cycle. 
The sooner this cycle is broken, the better Israeli Arabs would 
fare.  The sooner they recognize that cynical politicians 
unconscionably make political capital at their expense, while doing 
nothing to improve their lot, the faster Israeli Arabs will disprove 
growing perceptions of them as strategic risks from within." 
 
JONES