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DE RUEHTV #1104/01 1070940
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170940Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0548
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 1984
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 8723
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 1935
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 2788
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 1978
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 9822
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 2720
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 9623
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0099
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 6705
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4102
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9002
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3197
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5124
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 6540
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001104 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1. Mideast 
 
¶2. Visit of US Secretary of Defense in Israel 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. administration will present in the 
following weeks to the Israelis and the Palestinians a list with 
benchmarks aimed to progress the obligations of both sides. The 
Palestinians will be expected to act in the areas of security and 
terror prevention and Israel will be expected to do its part in 
keeping the Gaza Strip crossings in operation and easing 
restrictions on movement in the West Bank. The newspaper added that 
Secretary of States Condoleezza Rive is expected in the region 
 
SIPDIS 
around mid May for another round of talks with Israelis and 
Palestinians. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Dayton Plan devised by Lieutenant General 
Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the region, will 
not supply weapons to the Palestinian Presidential Guard and will 
focus on training and coordination of activities of all security 
forces loyal to the PA chairman. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that US Secretary of Defense Robert 
Gates is due in Israel on Wednesday. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni met 
the Chinese special envoy to the region, Sun Bigan on Monday. In 
their meeting Livni presented the "political horizon" that Israel 
would focus on in talks with Abbas, including security and economic 
facets of the final status solution. This horizon does not include 
discussion of the final status agreement, including Jerusalem, the 
1967 borders and Palestinian refugees. 
 
Channel 2 reported on Monday night that members of the Winograd 
Committee are considering resigning if the Supreme Court orders to 
make public the protocols of the discussions before the interim 
report is due. Maariv reported that members of the committee are 
considering not preparing the second part of the report, which is to 
deal directly with the war. 
 
All media quoted Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal as warning 
Israel of a military clash on the Golan Heights unless peace 
negotiations were begun: "Syria is interested in renewing the peace 
process and that desire is still valid ... but if the occupying 
Israeli side does not respond positively to the Arab initiative and 
to international calls, then resistance will be the way to restore 
the occupied Syrian Golan." 
 
Yediot reported that the kidnappers of Gilad Shalit are in no hurry 
to close a deal. According to the newspaper Hamas views him as an 
insurance policy against an Israeli invasion and targeted killings. 
The paper also quoted a statement issued by the Palestinian 
organizations in honor of Palestinian Prisoner Day in which they say 
that: "The method of kidnapping soldiers has proven itself and, as 
such, we need to continue to kidnap Israeli soldiers and civilians 
in order to release Palestinian prisoners." Leading media reported 
that Palestinian PM Haniyah announced on Monday that Fatah leader 
Marwan Barghouti is on the prisoners list that the Palestinian are 
demanding in exchange for Gilad Shalit. 
 
Israel Radio this morning reported that four Israelis were shot and 
wounded as they were driving near Naale, a Jewish settlement in the 
West Bank north of Modi'in. One of the Israelis was seriously 
injured and three lightly, the radio reported. 
 
Israel Radio this morning reported that among the 32 people killed 
in the Virginia Tech massacre in the US was also an Israeli 
professor. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the company that facilitated the purchase of 
the disputed house in Hebron occupied by settlers is currently the 
subject of a police probe. The Police are investigating whether the 
company was involved in forgery and fraud in purchases performed 
before the transaction of the contested house. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert banned Deputy Defense Minister 
Efrayim Sneh from participating in a gathering in which Palestinian 
Finance Minister Salam Fayed is also a participant. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Deputy Chief of Staff Major General Moshe 
Kaplinsky is planning to leave his job in the summer in favor of a 
management study program in Harvard. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah 
has requested a visa to attend a Palestinian conference in Rotterdam 
 
and that the Dutch government refuses to grant him a visa since the 
EU considers Hamas a terror organization. 
 
Maariv reported that a senior leader in the Egyptian Muslim Brother 
movement has expressed consent to the establishment of a Jewish 
state next to a Palestinian State as an interim solution to the 
Israeli-Arab conflict. According to the paper his declaration caused 
a major storm in Cairo. 
 
Ha'aretz cited Belgium's Defense Minister Andre Flahaut as saying 
that Israel must pay for the removal of cluster bomb fragments that 
it fired into Lebanon during the Second Lebanon war. 
 
Maariv reported that United States Delta Airline will operate a 
daily flight from Israel to New York. 
 
Yediot reported that an Israeli tourist company is arranging tourist 
trips fro Israelis to North Korea for the first time. 
 
----------- 
¶1. Mideast: 
----------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense commentator Amos Gilboa wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "Out of a 'thousand' questions, I have one important one for 
the Israeli government: where do you get the tireless urge to cling 
on Arab initiatives that are bad for Israel? Why doesn't the Israeli 
government put an Israeli initiative that would serve as its own 
national-diplomatic compass?" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Missing Initiative" 
 
Defense commentator Amos Gilboa wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (4/17): "Newspaper headlines report on first talks between 
Israel and the Arab League in order to open peace negotiations on 
the basis of the Arab Initiative from 2002, which was recently 
reapproved in the Arab summit in Riyadh. Out of a 'thousand' 
questions, I have one important one for the Israeli government: 
where do you get the tireless urge to cling on Arab initiatives that 
are bad for Israel? Why doesn't the Israeli government put an 
Israeli initiative that would serve as its own national-diplomatic 
compass?.... Any move that would accept the Arab Initiative as a 
basis for negotiations, that would hand the Arab League the 
initiative for international moves meant to progress Arab positions, 
that would push Israel to a dangerous diplomatic stand point -- will 
only make real that it is all spin against the threatening wave of 
the Winograd Committee." 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
¶2. Visit of US Secretary of Defense in Israel: 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense columnist Amir Oren opined in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "There are no fateful issues that Gates is authorized to 
conclude with Peretz, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni ... and Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert.... So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just the 
delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries -- an issue 
wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Not a Lot to Discuss" 
 
Defense columnist Amir Oren opined in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (4/17): "[US Secretary of Defense Robert] Gates' visit to 
Israel reflects a decision not to boycott it: He must not skip 
Israel on his visit to the region, though he is known to be cooler 
toward it than his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld.  There are no 
fateful issues that Gates is authorized to conclude with Peretz, 
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (whom he asked to meet, perhaps because 
of the rumor that she is getting closer to becoming prime minister) 
and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  Dealing with Iran is the 
president's jurisdiction.  In Iraq, the Pentagon has refrained from 
accepting overt Israeli help.  Gaza, which the administration is 
making efforts to prevent from bursting into flames, belongs to 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, even in the channel of Security 
 
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Coordinator Keith Dayton.  So what's left? Not a lot, mainly just 
the delicate issue of the sale of arms to other countries -- an 
issue wrapped in hypocrisy on both sides." 
JONES