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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001088 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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SIPDIS 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Yediot reported that, during their meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday, 
PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas will 
discuss the "diplomatic horizon."  Yediot reported that Olmert will 
not discuss the issues of refugees, borders, or Jerusalem with 
Abbas.  Hatzofe reported that Hamas has announced that the US aid to 
the PA's security apparatus is "dirty money." 
 
Israel Radio quoted Gen. Burhan Hamad, head of the Egyptian military 
delegation in Gaza, as saying that he will meet with Israeli 
representatives next week to hear their view about the list of 
Palestinian prisoners that Hamas wants released in exchange for the 
release of abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.  The radio quoted 
Russian envoy Igor Ivanov, who is Russia's National Security 
Adviser, as saying on the Russian Vesty-TV that he is convinced that 
the abducted IDF soldiers will be released.  The Jerusalem Post 
quoted PA National Security Adviser Muhammad Dahlan as saying on 
Thursday that Israel and Hamas do not want Abbas to play any role in 
the talks over Shalit's release, although Abbas is making an effort 
in this direction.  Dahlan was also quoted as saying that a prisoner 
swap in the near future is unlikely. 
 
Ha'aretz led by quoting Israel security sources as saying on 
Thursday that Hamas is supporting Islamic Jihad's rocket attacks 
against Israel with behind-the-scenes activities that include arming 
the organization's militants with Qassam rockets.  The sources were 
quoted as saying that Hamas is emerging as the lynchpin of 
Palestinian terrorist activities against Israel.  The sources added 
that, while Hamas is maintaining a front of abiding by the 
cease-fire with Israel in the Gaza Strip, it is providing Qassam 
rockets to Islamic Jihad militants who are targeting Israeli towns 
in the south.  Ha'aretz quoted Israeli security sources as saying 
that Hamas has adopted a strategy of duality, which will be 
maintained under all circumstances, including a situation of a 
general cease-fire.  On the basis of this strategy, a Palestinian 
organization will continue violent activities against Israel 
notwithstanding a cease-fire. 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that, for the first time on 
Thursday, Hamas extremists openly demonstrated against the 
leadership of the group.  Ha'aretz wrote that a group of nearly 200 
gunmen from the military wing of Hamas and the Executive Force 
demonstrated in the Jabaliya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip against 
the unity government and declared that they will only abide by 
orders from the former foreign and interior ministers, Mahmoud Zahar 
and Said Siam.  Ha'aretz said that another reason for the mutiny 
revolves around disputes over the identity of the Palestinian 
prisoners on a list provided to Israel recently, for a possible 
exchange for Shalit's release.  Ha'aretz reported that a meeting 
scheduled on Wednesday between Nizar Riyan, a senior figure in the 
political leadership of Hamas, and members of the "rebels" ended 
with an exchange of gunfire near Riyan's home. 
 
Yediot reported that, using a "do-it-yourself" method, the Council 
of Jewish Settlements in the Territories has been smuggling trailers 
into settler outposts, explicitly contravening orders by the IDF's 
Civil Administration in the territories.   The newspaper cited an 
assessment that 200 trailers have been assembled so far.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli defense officials told the 
newspaper on Thursday that settlers have plans to purchase 
additional homes in Hebron which the monetary backing of right-wing 
Jewish holidays, to expand the size and property holdings of the 
Jewish community in the city.  The Jerusalem Post reported that on 
Thursday Labor Party leadership candidates Ami Ayalon and Ophir 
Pines called on Defense Minister Amir Peretz to remove the party 
from Olmert's coalition if the cabinet allows settlers to remain in 
a contentious Hebron house. 
 
Hatzofe cited an intelligence report recently received by the 
Israeli defense establishment, according to which dozens of 
Hizbullah fighters have received rockets from Damascus.  The 
newspaper said that Hizbullah fighters fetch the weapons directly 
from Russian planes and transport them to Lebanon.  Israel Radio 
reported that Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN's special representative 
for children and armed conflict, has accused Israel of having 
violated international law during the Second Lebanon War. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday Balad Party Chairman MK Azmi 
Bishara confirmed his intention to resign from the Knesset, telling 
the Nazareth-based newspaper Hadith A-Nas that he is being 
persecuted.  Bishara made similar statements to other Arab 
 
 
newspapers. 
 
Major media (banner in The Jerusalem Post) quoted Monsignor Antonio 
Franco, the Vatican's ambassador to Israel, as saying on Thursday 
that he will not attend the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day 
ceremony at Yad Vashem on Sunday in protest over a caption at the 
museum that states that Pope Pius XII did not protest the Nazis'' 
mass murder of Jews during World War II.  Media noted that the 
bitter dispute, which threatens to upset the fragile relations 
between the Catholic Church and Israel, has erupted as the Vatican 
presses ahead with longstanding plans to make Pius a saint. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that, in a confidential internal document, air 
traffic controllers at Ben-Gurion Airport warned of serious safety 
problems. 
 
Leading media quoted American-Syrian businessman Ibrahim (Abe) 
Suleiman as saying on Thursday, before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Committee, that if Israel and Syria begin negotiations, 
they can reach agreement within six months and allow Damascus to 
disengage from Hizbullah and join the war on terrorism.  During the 
meeting Suleiman said that "accepting the Israeli-Syrian document of 
understandings that was formulated will allow Syria to assist in the 
global struggle against terrorism, cut its ties with Hezbollah and 
assist the American struggle in Iraq."  Suleiman, who resides in 
Washington, has close ties with the Syrian leadership, and called on 
Israel to hold official talks with Syria.  The media reported that a 
sharp confrontation erupted during the committee session.  Professor 
Uzi Arad of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, an associate of 
former PM Binyamin Netanyahu, said that, during a meeting with 
Suleiman in Washington about a month ago, he had told him that the 
"Assad family does not want peace."  Arad also claimed that Suleiman 
told him that the only way to make peace with Syria was to "do what 
the Turks did."  Two issues undermining relations between Syria and 
Turkey were resolved when Ankara threatened Damascus with war. 
Ha'aretz noted that Arad had initially taken part in the talks 
between Suleiman, who has close ties with the Syrian regime, and 
Alon Liel, former head of the Foreign Ministry.  After three 
meetings Arad left the talks, claiming that Liel was agreeing to 
misleading concessions.  The media said that Suleiman vociferously 
rejected Arad's claims.  Ha'aretz reported that Olmert has not 
allowed Suleiman to visit a Syrian imprisoned in Israel.  Maariv 
quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that a third party is 
holding feelers with Damascus. 
 
Yediot reported that Jordan's King Abdullah II has invited Knesset 
Speaker and Acting President of Israel Dalia Itzik for a one-day 
visit to Amman next week. 
 
Conservative American journalist Robert Novak was quoted as saying 
in an interview with Ha'aretz, during a recent visit to Israel, that 
he has "formed the impression that the Palestinians are prepared to 
reach an agreement, and that if there were a more courageous 
leadership in the United States and in Israel, it would be possible 
to make the Arab League's resolution in Riyadh a lever for progress 
toward a peace agreement." 
 
Ha'aretz wrote that a review of recently unsealed Senate Foreign 
Relations Committee hearings from 1967 afford a candid look at 
Washington's views on Israel, the Arabs, and American Jews at the 
time of the Six-Day War.  In particular, the newspaper addressed the 
question of how far America should go in safeguarding Israel's 
interests, which Ha'aretz noted has been troubling US lawmakers for 
decades. 
 
All media reported that on Thursday the Tel Aviv District Court 
sentenced three Israelis -- one of them a Jew -- to 13 years in 
prison for driving a Palestinian suicide bomber to the Netanya 
shopping mall in 2005, where he carried out an attack in which five 
people were killed and 30 injured. 
 
Leading media reported that Israel has refused entry to the Muslim 
wife of a Jewish immigrant from Iran.  She is currently in custody 
in Turkey but could be sent back to Iran within days, where she is 
likely to be severely punished. 
 
All media reported on Thursday's suicide bombing in Iraq's 
Parliament and the truck bombing that destroyed a bridge over the 
Tigris River in Baghdad.  A Ha'aretz commentary is headlined: 
"Strategic Bombing." 
 
Yediot quoted associates of Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson as 
saying that he will soon be resigning.  Maariv reported that the 
police also suspect Hirchson of tax fraud. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that far-reaching changes have been 
promised at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) to prevent a repeat of 
the incident where the Deputy British Ambassador was strip-searched 
by security officers on her way to a pre-arranged meeting at the PMO 
last month. 
 
Maariv reported that the New York City parade that will commemorate 
40 years of the reunification of Jerusalem will feature a model of 
the Western Wall. 
 
All media reported that the rate of the US dollar on the Tel Aviv 
financial market continued to drop on Thursday (4.066 shekels to a 
dollar).   Maariv bannered: "Free Fall." 
 
Maariv printed the results of a TNS/Teleseker Polling Institute 
survey according to which 72 percent of Israelis support a bill 
stating that every candidate for the Knesset will be required to 
pledge that he recognizes the existence of Israel as a Jewish state; 
18 percent are opposed. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "The Prime Minister finds himself in an unfortunate 
negotiating position because his predecessors failed..... Public 
opinion will determine the expectation that Israel will eventually 
give in." 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "When the 
government rejects Arab hands stretched out in peace, the Knesset 
cannot make do with deliberations void of political impact." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (4/13): "US Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice is the moon that governs the tide of Middle East 
diplomatic activity.  When she visits the region, activity flows; 
when she is absent, it ebbs." 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "It is a serious mistake to think that refraining from a 
reaction to the kidnapping of the soldiers in July would have spared 
us a war.  The war would have arrived later, after greater 
incitement on the part of Hizbullah and Iran." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Olmert's Catch-22" 
 
Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv 
(4/13): "At the time he heard the news about the kidnapping of the 
soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser in northern Israel, Ehud 
Olmert was sitting with the parents of Gilad Shalit, explaining to 
them that he would redeem their son with the release Palestinian 
prisoners with blood on their hands.  Surrendering to terror was not 
on the agenda.  This was an absolute principle, even if Olmert 
himself were to pay a hefty personal price for this.  This was Ehud 
No. 1.  Ehud No. 2 is now in charge.... The Prime Minister finds 
himself in an unfortunate negotiating position because his 
predecessors failed..... Public opinion will determine the 
expectation that Israel will eventually give in.... Olmert No. 1 
knew that willingness to discuss the release of murderers would be a 
mistake.  Olmert No. 2 is someone completely different." 
 
II.  "The Prince of Tides" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (4/13): "US Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice is the moon that governs the tide of Middle East 
diplomatic activity.  When she visits the region, activity flows; 
when she is absent, it ebbs.... Rice is delaying [her next visit] 
until after [the publication of the interim report of the] Winograd 
[Commission probing the Second Lebanon War], apparently so she can 
gauge Olmert's domestic political position... The Saudis, too, seem 
to be waiting to see how things play out domestically in Israel 
before making their next move.  Following the Riyadh conference, a 
decision was made to set up working groups to make contacts -- as 
the Bahraini Foreign Minister said -- 'all influential parties, 
including Israel, to activate the Arab Peace Initiative'.... It is 
doubtful, however, that the super-caution Saudis would take a step 
pregnant with such significance in the Arab world id they were not 
convinced that their Israeli interlocutor, Olmert, would still be 
the prime minister a few months down the line." 
 
III.  "Stepping Into the Diplomatic Void" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (4/13): "The 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee welcomed an unusual 
guest yesterday. The committee chairman, MK Tzachi Hanegbi, and MK 
Zahava Gal-On, invited Dr. Ibrahim (Abe) Suleiman, an American of 
Syrian origin, and Dr. Alon Liel, a former director general at the 
Foreign Ministry, to hear about their secret talks and the framework 
they formulated for a diplomatic settlement between Israel and 
Syria.... If Israel had a proper prime minister, he would not have 
allowed an individual with ties to the Syrian leadership to visit 
the Knesset (and Yad Vashem) without inviting him to cross the 
street to his office so that he could meet with Israeli 
decision-makers.... A senior official at the Foreign Ministry said 
in response [to a similar rejection by his ministry] that 'there was 
no wish to create a false impression, as if officials are holding 
negotiations with Suleiman.'  According to the official, if Syria 
wants to negotiate, there are other ways to do that.  What other 
'ways' is he talking about?  Is he not aware that the Israeli 
government has kept its ears closed for the past year to the 
repeated calls by President Assad -- publicly and through diplomatic 
channels -- for a resumption of peace talks?  Parliamentary 
activity, however energetic and important it may be, cannot serve as 
an alternative to the continued paralysis of the political 
leadership.  In the situation we find ourselves, when the government 
rejects Arab hands stretched out in peace, the Knesset cannot make 
do with deliberations void of political impact.  All elected 
representatives opposed to this will be responsible for the results 
of such failure." 
 
IV.  "There Should Have Been a Preventive Strike" 
 
Senior columnist and chief defense commentator Zeev Schiff wrote in 
Ha'aretz (4/13): "[During the years preceding the Second Lebanon 
War, Israel] did not try to stop the transfer of Iranian weapons to 
Damascus, a move the Americans implied they would accept with 
understanding.  Israel never once struck at the convoys transferring 
the missiles to Lebanon, and never struck even one Hizbullah missile 
warehouse, or even the short-range rockets near the border. 
Although Israel prepared itself adequately for long-range missiles 
and carried out several painful localized operations, these did not 
affect the construction of the threatening system.  The result was 
that during this period Israeli deterrence against Hizbullah and 
Iran increasingly eroded.... The prime minister at the time, Ehud 
Barak, rejected the suggestion by chief of staff Shaul Mofaz to take 
strong action against Hizbullah after the kidnapping of the three 
soldiers.  The main reason was to not open a second front.  Israel 
wanted to focus on the Palestinian front.  This was later also the 
opinion of Ariel Sharon as prime minister.  Sharon certainly did not 
want to open a second, broader front against Iran, which had built 
the threatening system in Lebanon.  Hizbullah and Iran read things 
differently.  They understood that Israel was incapable of properly 
handling combat on two fronts at the same time.  Hizbullah acted on 
this assumption when it embarked on the kidnapping on July 12, 
2006.... It is a serious mistake to think that refraining from a 
reaction to the kidnapping of the soldiers in July would have spared 
 
us a war.  The war would have arrived later, after greater 
incitement on the part of Hizbullah and Iran." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Politically, the Democrats would demonstrate willingness to stand 
together against a common threat, and inoculate themselves from 
accusations that they are 'soft on Iran.'" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Don't Undermine Sanctions" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/13): 
"We have no comment on the age-old debate between American branches 
of government over the right to conduct foreign policy.  Yet the 
issue is not just a matter of rights, but of wisdom, and of the 
impact that particular strategy might have on American 
effectiveness in the world.  The choice of Pelosi and Lantos to 
visit Damascus, for example, and the latter's design to go to Tehran 
illustrate what might be called an obsession with the 'importance of 
dialogue.'  Is Pelosi really claiming that there has been a lack of 
dialogue with Iran?.... Europe world be more receptive to a call for 
draconian sanctions if it came from both sides of the American 
aisle. Politically, the Democrats would demonstrate willingness to 
stand together against a common threat, and inoculate themselves 
from accusations that they are 'soft on Iran.'  Substantively, they 
could show that they take their own belief in nonmilitary measures 
seriously, and want to put them into practice as strongly as 
possible." 
 
JONES