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DE RUEHTV #1119/01 1080914
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180914Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001119 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz (internet) this morning cited Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as 
saying that the U.S. is considering a regional summit with Saudi 
involvement. Olmert was quoted as saying that the U.S. is thinking 
of a summit that would include: the Quartet members (the US, EU, UN 
and Russia) as well as Egypt, Jordan, Marocco, Israel, the P.A. and 
Saudi Arabia. Olmert added that there is a possibility that a 
delegation of the Arab League will come to Israel following the Arab 
foreign ministers meeting Tuesday in Cairo. 
 
All media reported that Secretary of States Condoleezza Rice met 
Palestinian Minister of Finance Salam Fayad in Washington on 
Tuesday. Talking to the press after their meeting Fayad said they 
talked about ways to ease Palestinians' economic problems. 
 
All media reported that Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas 
has reached an agreement with the Islamic Jihad movement whereby the 
organization will cease Qassam rocket firing. Ha'aretz quoted IDF 
sources as confirming that there has been a sharp drop in rocket 
fire as a result of the agreement. 
 
Leading media reported that US Secretary of Defense is scheduled to 
arrive in Israel on Wednesday. Maariv writes that Gates' visit 
symbolizes the final end of the crisis between the Israeli and the 
American security establishments. Maariv adds that the aim of the 
visit is to prepare U.S.'s allies in the Middle East towards the 
possibility that the U.S. would withdraw from Iraq. The newspaper 
said that Iran will be one of the main topics Secretary Gates is 
expected to raise. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted sources in the Arab League on the eve of a 
meeting of Arab foreign ministers as saying that the ministers are 
not going to discuss direct negotiations with Israel but only ways 
of marketing the Arab peace plan to the world. 
 
Leading media reported that the Shin Bet (Israel Security Services) 
said on Tuesday that Iran has been making efforts to recruit 
Israelis who are visiting relatives in Iran to spy in Israel for 
Iran; the media noted that the Shin Bet caught one Israeli who 
agreed to do it. Following these attempts the Shin Bet believes that 
it is imperative that legislation is passed defining Iran as an 
enemy country in order to prevent Israelis from traveling there. 
 
All media cited reports that Egypt has arrested and indicted three 
people for spying for Israel. Two of the three are foreign nationals 
-- from Japan and Ireland  -- and one is Egyptian. 
 
Leading media cited Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying in an 
interview to a Lebanese paper that Syria is preparing for a 
potential war with Israel and that it is improving its defensive 
capabilities. 
 
All media reported that Israeli President Moshe Katzav's period of 
incapacity is ending next week and that he intends to extend it. 
 
All media cited estimations of senior government officials that 
Minister of Finance Avraham Hirshzon will resign in the near future 
since if he doesn't do it himself, the Attorney General Menachem 
Mazuz will force him to do so. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Veteran columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "The ball is now in the Arab countries' hands. In order for 
their declarations to be executed and fruitful they must acknowledge 
the fact that true peace means mutual concessions. Without such an 
acknowledgment the Israeli-Arab conflict might remain unsolved." 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The Saudis 
are being given license to speak with forked tongues. They promised 
the US to discontinue their embargo against Israel, a precondition 
for entry to the World Trade Organization.... But its commitment was 
mere lip-service.  Saudi policy did not change.... But the Saudi 
disingenuity now comes as Riyadh presents itself as the new would-be 
patron of regional peace." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I. "No Preconditions" 
 
Veteran columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv 
(4/18): "Now we are witnessing a serious turnabout when most of Arab 
countries, influenced by Saudi Arabia, ...  have expressed their 
willingness to negotiate peace and normalization with Israel.  But 
it seems that the wished-for peace is not close. This is because the 
Arabs' inflexible demands to open a dialogue with Israel with three 
preconditions: Israel withdrawing to the 1967 borders, the 
establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its 
capital and the implementation of the right of return to Palestinian 
refugees.... The only chance to promote peace is with no 
preconditioned negotiations.... If there is no change, the Arab 
initiative ... shall not succeed since Israel cannot give up 
defendable borders so it will not agree to the 1967 borders and the 
return of refugees because that means the extinction of the Jewish 
state.... The ball is now in the Arab countries' hands. In order for 
their declarations to be executed and fruitful they must acknowledge 
the fact that true peace means mutual concessions. Without such an 
acknowledgment the Israeli-Arab conflict might remain unsolved." 
 
II. "Saudi Hypocrisy" 
 
Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/18): 
"Contrary to its solemn undertakings, Saudi Arabia has not dropped 
its anti-Israel trade boycott.... This travesty has continued for 
nearly a year and a half.  Worse yet, it is no darkly concealed 
secret.  The Saudi deception is quite overt, yet no government had 
 
SIPDIS 
seen fit to take the world's largest oil exporter to task for fear 
of offending it.  The Saudis are being given license to speak with 
forked tongues. They promised the US to discontinue their embargo 
against Israel, a precondition for entry to the World Trade 
Organization.... But its commitment was mere lip-service.  Saudi 
policy did not change.... But the Saudi disingenuity now comes as 
Riyadh presents itself as the new would-be patron of regional peace. 
 It claims to want to serve as the driving force in forging a viable 
solution to the decades-old conflict between the Arab world and 
Israel.... The notorious old Arab boycott of the Jewish state -- 
which, incidentally, has failed to prevent or even retard Israel's 
economic success -- is fundamentally inconsistent with aspirations 
to coexistence.  Surely, if the Saudis wish to be taken seriously as 
advocates of progress, they must prove their sincerity on an issue 
that is most patently under their own control.  Failure to do so can 
only reinforce those Israeli skeptics who warn that the Saudis are 
merely out to further yesteryear's inimical Arab agenda via new 
tactics. " 
JONES