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DE RUEHTV #1094/01 1061044
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161044Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0532
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RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 1980
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 8719
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1931
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2784
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1974
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 9816
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 2716
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 9619
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0095
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 6701
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4098
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 8998
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3193
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5120
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 6536
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001094 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media highlighted Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day. 
 
All media reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert meet with P.A. 
President Mahmud Abbas in Jerusalem on Sunday. The first part of the 
meeting was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and 
Minister of Defense Amir Peretz. According to Ha'aretz, which quotes 
diplomatic sources, PM Olmert supports General Dayton's plan for the 
training and arming of the Palestinian Presidential Guard. The paper 
cited Palestinian sources as saying that the meeting was 
unproductive. 
According to the media PM Olmert promised Abbas that Israel will 
accelerate the efforts to remove roadblocks in the West Bank. The 
media highlighted that PM Olmert told PA Chairman Abbas that he was 
willing to hold their next meeting in Jericho. 
 
All media reported on Sunday that Israel is willing to meet with the 
Arab League's committee for furthering the Saudi peace initiative 
after the official appointment of the committee next week. Ha'aretz 
quotes U.S. officials as saying that the expected dialogue between 
Israel and the Arab League would be a move of historic significance. 
 
 
The media reported that the Supreme Court is expected to rule on 
Monday when the transcripts of the testimonies of the PM, Defense 
Minister and Chief of Staff will be released to the public. The 
media noted that the members of the Winograd Committee announced on 
Sunday that the committee will release the testimonies two weeks 
after the interim report is submitted to the government. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Syria announced on Sunday that the views of 
Syrian-American businessman Ibrahim Suleiman, who appeared last week 
in the Israeli Knesset do not represent those of Damascus. 
 
All media reported that an unknown group of Palestinian militants 
claimed that they have executed the kidnapped BBC reporter Alan 
Johnston. These reports have been discredited by the Palestinian 
 
Authority forces. 
 
All media reported that the Magistrate Court refused on Monday to 
shed light on the allegation against Balad MK Azmi Bishara. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Navy and NATO are 
conducting a week long naval exercise in Eilat. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported on the March 2007 Tel Aviv University 
Peace Index that found that half of Israeli Jews think the Arab 
League peace proposal could serve as a basis for negotiations on a 
regional peace agreement and that half think it should be rejected. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reports that despite a promise made to the US 
nearly 18 months ago to drop its trade boycott against Israel, the 
Saudis continue to enforce the Arab League boycott. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "It's impossible 
to exaggerate the importance of the Arab initiative and the direct 
Arab appeal to Israel.... The current process is one of 
implementation, one that at least makes an active attempt to 
persuade, rather than just to declare intentions.  For the first 
time, Arab states are offering their services as mediators." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "At the end 
of the day, the Arab states have to decide how important it is to 
them to create a real peace process. The Palestinians cannot pull 
themselves out of their spiral of radicalism and anarchy alone. The 
Arab states, by taking meaningful steps toward opening contacts with 
Israel, can do much more to point the Palestinians away from war and 
terrorism than anything the international community or Israel can 
do." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I. "A Nod to the Arab Plan" 
 
Independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (4/16): "Relations 
between Israel and the Arab states are liable to undergo a historic 
turning point when the delegation from the Arab League follow-up 
committee requests a meeting with the Israeli government to discuss 
the Arab initiative in the coming days.... It's impossible to 
exaggerate the importance of the Arab initiative and the direct Arab 
appeal to Israel.... The current process is one of implementation, 
one that at least makes an active attempt to persuade, rather than 
just to declare intentions.  For the first time, Arab states are 
offering their services as mediators, not just with respect to local 
issues that stem from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Instead, 
they have adopted a comprehensive approach that confronts regional 
interests and is prepared to adopt Israel as part of the solution, 
not just as part of the problem.  This is the same approach that 
Israel has hoped for since its establishment - and perhaps the time 
has now come to realize it.... As such, the Israeli government must 
not only be welcoming and make appropriate statements.  It must also 
provide a practical response, describing how it plans to implement 
the political negotiations.... Israeli and Arab readiness to turn a 
new diplomatic leaf must be accompanied by an immediate and tangible 
change in the reality of the occupation.  At the same time, Israel 
also has the right to ask the Arab states that are promoting the 
initiative to clarify what their practical contribution will be to 
the negotiations." 
 
 
II. "The Arab's Choice" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/16): 
"Yesterday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas met for the first of an indefinite series of 
biweekly meetings announced during Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice's last visit. Before the meeting, Olmert reacted positively to 
reports that the Arab League might set up a working group of its 
more moderate states to flesh out the recently revived Arab peace 
initiative. The question is, does all this diplomatic movement 
amount to anything?.... Though some Palestinians claim that nothing 
will happen because Israel's government is weak, this is the pot 
calling the kettle black.  Olmert is far from popular, but he is 
indisputably the prime minister and the government he leads is, at 
least on paper, stable.  Abbas, by contrast, proved unable to rein 
in Hamas even when he was in charge, before the elections that 
handed Hamas the government.... Under such circumstances, 
Olmert-Abbas meetings must be considered a curiosity that is, 
through a momentary alignment of the diplomatic firmament, 
ostensibly in the marginal interest of all parties.  It is not a 
venue that, in and of itself, will produce anything of significance. 
 It would be understandable to dismiss potential meetings under Arab 
League auspices with Israel as similarly insubstantial.  Yet this 
would be a mistake, and it is good that Olmert has already expressed 
Israel's willingness to participate without conditions.... At the 
end of the day, the Arab states have to decide how important it is 
to them to create a real peace process. The Palestinians cannot pull 
themselves out of their spiral of radicalism and anarchy alone. The 
Arab states, by taking meaningful steps toward opening contacts with 
Israel, can do much more to point the Palestinians away from war and 
terrorism than anything the international community or Israel can 
do." 
JONES