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P 161138Z MAY 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001438 
 
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.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the shelling of Sderot with Qassam rockets and 
the internecine fighting in the Gaza Strip. 
 
The media reported that more than 20 Qassam rockets fell on Sderot 
on Tuesday.   Thirty people were wounded in the city, including a 
woman who was wounded moderately.  Another 4 rockets landed south of 
Ashkelon last night. 
 
Israel Radio reported that at a meeting convened on Tuesday by 
Defense Minister Amir Peretz, it was decided that the IDF would 
bolster its offensive activity in the Gaza Strip and respond to 
Qassam rocket fire in a series of steps.  The radio quoted an IDF 
officer as saying that Hamas is tying to drag Israel into a 
wide-scale response in order to unite the Palestinians' ranks. 
Israel Radio quoted a senior IDF officer as saying that the Israeli 
defense establishment is concerned that a wide-scale offensive would 
play into the hands of the terrorist organizations and harm Israel. 
The radio said that the defense establishment currently rules out a 
wide-scale operation.  Ha'aretz quoted GOI sources as saying that 
the current rules of engagement in Gaza will remain in force, but 
that if the IDF spots specific targets that exceed these limits, it 
will be able to ask PM Ehud Olmert and Peretz for special approval 
for a strike. 
 
The media reported that on Tuesday at least 15 Palestinians were 
killed in Fatah-Hamas clashes in the Gaza Strip.  Some media 
reported that one of the Palestinians was killed by IDF fire. 
Leading electronic media reported that Hamas militiamen attacked the 
home of Fatah security chief Rashid Abu Shbak at dawn this morning. 
Media said that up to six Fatah militants may have been killed in 
the attack.  Israel Radio reported that the US called on all the 
Palestinian factions to stop the violence in the Gaza Strip.  Deputy 
State Department Spokesman Tom Casey was quoted as saying that the 
parties should act responsibly and allow the residents of the Gaza 
Strip to live their lives in safe surroundings.  Leading media 
reported that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke with PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday afternoon, and told 
him the clashes had "crossed the line" and that both parties must 
cease violence immediately. 
 
Major media reported that on Tuesday, at the meeting of Nobel 
Prizewinners hosted by King Abdullah II of Jordan in Petra, PM 
Olmert told reporters: "I invite the 22 leaders of the Arab states 
who are interested in making peace with Israel to gather at any 
location for talks."  Leading media quoted sources in Olmert's 
bureau as saying that there was a limit to the restraint Israel 
could show in the face of the Qassam attacks and Hamas's build-up in 
Gaza.  Media quoted sources in Olmert's office as saying that he 
told the King in Aqaba that Israel would release frozen tax money 
only after it received assurances the money would be used for 
humanitarian needs, and not go to terrorists.  Israel Radio cited 
the Jordanian newspaper Ad-Dustour as saying that Olmert promised 
Abdullah to look into the issue of Jordanians imprisoned in Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post wrote that, in a new book that "totally 
contradicts everything that has been accepted to this day" about the 
Six-Day War, Israeli authors Gideon Remez and Isabella Ginor claim 
that the conflict was deliberately engineered by the Soviet Union to 
create the conditions in which Israel's nuclear program could be 
destroyed.  The newspaper reported that, coinciding with the 40th 
anniversary of the war, "Foxbats Over Dimona: The Soviets' Nuclear 
Gamble," is to be published by Yale University Press early next 
month. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited a New York Times report that a confidential 
document of the International Committee of the Red Cross accuses 
Israel of violating international humanitarian laws in annexed east 
Jerusalem, isolating Palestinians there from the West Bank and 
preventing them from getting permanent residency.  The Jerusalem 
Post cited a response by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev that 
Israel has received the report but that it did not accept its 
conclusion.  Regev was quoted as saying: "We reject the premise of 
the report.  East Jerusalem is not occupied land, it is part of 
Israel.  All people there were offered Israeli citizenship." 
 
Ha'aretz cited a report published this month by the United Nations 
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that 
donations to the PA almost tripled last year as a result of the 
international boycott of the Hamas government, according to Aid in 
2006 totaled USD 900 million, up from USD 349 million a year 
earlier.  The boycott meant that most countries refused to channel 
money directly to the PA, and Israel refused to transfer the tax 
revenues it collects on the PA's behalf.  However, Ha'aretz wrote 
that Arab and Western nations continued and even increased their 
donations, channeling them through either a "Hamas bypass" mechanism 
known as the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM), or Abbas's 
office.  This money, which compensated entirely for the halt in 
Israeli tax transfers, partially financed the salaries of PA 
employees and was used to make welfare payments to the needy. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Taysir Karaki, the East Jerusalem taxi driver 
who was murdered in Tel Aviv on Monday, will be recognized as the 
victim of a hostile act if the police determine that the motivation 
for his murder was nationalist.  This will make his family eligible 
for assistance by National Security Institute, the Israeli 
equivalent of the Social Security Administration, including a 
monthly stipend of about 10,000 shekels (approximately USD 2517). 
The media said that the murder has shocked France's Jewish 
community. 
 
Israeli strategist Prof. Shai Feldman was quoted as saying in an 
interview with The Jerusalem Post that President Bush could strike 
Iran toward the end of his presidency, but that sanctions are having 
an impact. 
 
Major media reported that on Tuesday Attorney General Menachem Mazuz 
rejected PM Olmert's request that he order a criminal investigation 
against State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has been formally asked to join the 
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) during 
its two-day summit of finance ministers in Paris.  The Foreign 
Ministry received word from European entities last night.  A public 
announcement will be made today during a meeting of EU foreign 
ministers. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio cited the British daily The Times that the 
leading contender for the post of UN Special Coordinator for the 
Middle East Peace Process is the British Michael Williams, in the 
past a BBC journalist and currently an adviser to the British 
Government. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF's National Defense College 
plans to accept more foreign officers after a first successful year. 
 The newspaper said that a US Naval officer and a US Marine studied 
in the institution last year. 
 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a new private scientific research 
institution will soon be established in the Galilee, according to 
plans being developed by Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya President 
Prof. Uriel Reichman. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that the trial of Egyptian 
national Mohamed Sayyed Saber began in Egypt on Tuesday.  According 
to DPA, Saber, a former employee of Egypt's Atomic Power Agency, 
told the Supreme State Security Court that he had always admired 
Israel and its universities, but that he did not spy for it. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that Al-Qaida is threatening to carry out 
an attack against newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy -- 
the "Zionist Crusader." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that last Friday Acting President of Israel Dalia 
Itzik met secretly with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the mentor of the Shas 
party, for a conversation that touched on the vote for the Israeli 
presidential elections, among other issues.  Ha'aretz quoted sources 
in Shas as saying that Itzik was looking for support from Yosef for 
her own presidential bid, in the event that Peres decides not to 
run.  Maariv and Israel Radio reported that oligarch Arkady Gaidamak 
has approached two ultra-Orthodox Knesset members with a plea to 
support Itzik.  The radio said that Itzik denied being a candidate 
for the post.  Ha'aretz reported that Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai 
attempted to make Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, the city's Chief Rabbi, 
remove his candidacy for the presidency.  Labor MK Shelly 
Yachimovich had earlier tried to dissuade Lau from vying for the 
position, sayng that "if he runs a number of affairs from the past 
may resurface." 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited the GOI's Central Bureau of Statistics 
assaying on Tuesday that the consumer price index rose in April, the 
second monthly increase in a row, lifted by word energy prices and 
seasonal gains in the cost of clothing and travel.  The annual 
inflation rate fell the most in three years.  Prices climbed 0.5 
percent in the month and dropped 1.3 percent for the year.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Georgian investments pique Israelis' 
interest. 
 
Yediot reported that Prof. Reuven Yagil, a world expert on the topic 
of camels, will help Ethiopian Muslim tribes living along the Somali 
border develop a modern camel-raising farm.  The newspaper reported 
that USAID and World Bank officials attended seminars that Yagil 
gave at the Ethiopian Agriculture Ministry and in Ethiopian academic 
institutions. 
 
Maariv reported that the Prime Minister's Office is in advanced 
stages of negotiations with the leading French automaker Renault for 
the possible establishment of a car-manufacturing plant along the 
Israel-Jordan border.  The plan would provide employment for 50,000 
Jordanians, Israelis, and Palestinians. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the Foreign Office and the Prime 
Minister's Office are in the last stages of negotiations with 
Russian President Vladimir Putin's bureau regarding the return to 
Russia of the historical Russian Compound in central western 
Jerusalem in exchange fore USD 100 million. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the total sum of Israeli billionaire Yitzhak 
Tshuva's investments in Las Vegas is USD 5 billion, since he plans 
 
SIPDIS 
to invest USD 3.5 billion to build a huge complex named after his 
flagship New York property, The Plaza.  Ha'aretz estimated Tshuva's 
personal fortune at USD 2.5 billion last year, but said that it has 
increased since on asset value and new acquisitions.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that Africa Israel Investments Ltd., Israeli 
billionaire Lev Leviev's property company, agreed to buy the clock 
tower portion of MetLife Inc.'s former New York headquarters for USD 
200 million, its third purchase of a Manhattan landmark in three 
months.  Africa Israel announced on Tuesday that it plans to invest 
an additional USD 110 million in the building to convert it into 
luxury apartments. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Israel cannot allow itself to be 
dragged, to play into Hamas's hands, to fall into a trap laid by the 
Iranians and the Syrians, and to become entangled once again in 
purposeless warfare in the Gaza Strip." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The Mecca Accord that promised to bring calm 
to the internecine Palestinian fighting and led to the establishment 
of a unity government in the PA is increasingly being drowned in 
blood as Israel debates whether to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, and if 
 
so, when." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "It would befit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 
who was a senior partner to the failure when he served as mayor of 
Jerusalem, to replace the slogan of unity with a reasonable and fair 
policy for division of the city." 
 
Moshe Amirav, a former Jerusalem city councilor for the Likud, and 
later adviser to former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "What would we lose if the Old City [of Jerusalem] were to 
turn into a place where we are partners rather than owners?" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "One gets the impression that the government ministers fail 
to demonstrate an appropriate deep understanding of key diplomatic 
issues, too." 
 
Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center and the author of 
a book on the Six-Day War, wrote in Maariv: "The alliance between 
Israel and the US was forged in the flames of 1967." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Unwilling, Unable" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/16): "If no far-reaching diplomatic 
change takes place in the region, Israel will have to enter the Gaza 
Strip and disarm Hamas's military strength.  Israel understands that 
as time goes by, this challenge becomes more complex and intricate: 
More tunnels are being dug, more defensive arrays are being set up, 
booby-trapped pits are being dug, and anti-tank weapons are being 
purchased in large quantities....  Time is not working in our favor. 
 Hamas is growing stronger, Fatah is becoming weaker.... Instability 
is increasing.  But Israel should choose the timing for such a move 
carefully, discerningly, after preparing its military strength well. 
 Israel cannot allow itself to be dragged, to play into Hamas's 
hands, to fall into a trap laid by the Iranians and the Syrians, and 
to become entangled once again in purposeless warfare in the Gaza 
Strip." 
 
II.  "Drowning in Blood" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (5/16): "Tuesday was just another regular day 
in the Middle East. The Gaza Strip took another step on the road to 
becoming like Somalia, or Afghanistan, with the bloody Hamas attack 
against the Fatah camp near the Karni Crossing.  The Mecca Accord 
that promised to bring calm to the internecine Palestinian fighting 
and led to the establishment of a unity government in the PA is 
increasingly being drowned in blood as Israel debates whether to 
reoccupy the Gaza Strip, and if so, when.... With ... warnings [by 
the military against such an operation] Olmert can continue showing 
restraint while warning the international community that he is 
losing his patience." 
 
III.  "Forty Years of 'Unity'" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (5/16): "Ehud Barak was the first prime 
minister who suggested dividing the city [of Jerusalem] based on the 
principle of what the Jews have the Jews get, and what the Arabs 
have the Arabs get.  The Clinton plan, the Geneva Accord, and the 
Arab peace initiative also propose a similar basis for dividing the 
city.  It would befit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who was a senior 
partner to the failure when he served as mayor of Jerusalem, to 
replace the slogan of unity with a reasonable and fair policy for 
division of the city." 
 
 
IV.  "From Problem to Solution" 
 
Moshe Amirav, a former Jerusalem city councilor for the Likud, and 
later adviser to former prime minister Ehud Barak, wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (5/16): "After we have tried almost everything and almost 
everything failed, we should engage in national soul-searching and 
ask ourselves: Perhaps it is time to rethink Jerusalem?.... How can 
the 'city of dispute' of the previous century become the 'city of 
peace' in the 21st century?.... What would we lose if the Old City 
were to turn into a place where we are partners rather than owners? 
How terrible would it be if such a small portion, less than one 
percent of the capital's area, would be given an international 
status?  What would happen?  This is what would happen: Jerusalem 
would turn from a problem into a solution.  If we turn Jerusalem 
into the great key to the conflict, in its broader sense, not only 
the political sense, new vistas will be opened to us.  Jerusalem can 
be the key to the heart of the Muslim world, to reconciliation with 
the Arab states, to peace with the Palestinians.  These are, of 
course, naive thoughts, since I know that when policymakers -- 
Jewish, Muslim and Christian -- come to the issue of Jerusalem, they 
become fixated, detached from reality, and suffer, mystically, as a 
metaphor, from the 'Jerusalem Syndrome.'" 
 
¶V.  "What Is Tzipi Livni Striving For?" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (5/16): "As foreign minister, [Tzipi] Livni has shown 
activity and has aspired to move the peace process forward.... At 
the time of her [recent] visit [to Egypt], she granted an interview 
to the newspaper Al-Ashram, in which she found it proper to promise 
that the withdrawal from Gaza will not be the last one and that the 
establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel will require 
further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank.  That uttering was 
one of those that managed to antagonize some of her cabinet 
colleagues.... The Winograd report said that the cabinet members 
failed when they refrained from holding a comprehensive and 
fundamental debate regarding the cardinality of the military 
operation and its consequences and when they approved all the army's 
recommendations.  One gets the impression that the government 
ministers fail to demonstrate an appropriate deep understanding of 
key diplomatic issues, too." 
 
VI.  "Six Days that Changed the World" 
 
Michael Oren, a senior fellow at the Shalem Center and the author of 
a book on the Six-Day War, wrote in Maariv (5/16): "The [Six-Day] 
War brought about an extreme change in Arab and Palestinian 
politics, but the changes that it caused in Israel were of seismic 
magnitude.  Even if many have forgotten this, the IDF waged the 
Six-Day War with French weapons, not American weapons.  The United 
States, even in the days of friendly presidents such as Kennedy and 
Johnson, refused to sell offensive weapons to Israel and even 
rejected an Israeli proposal for permanent military communication 
with the IDF.  The American reservations were ended in June 1967, 
when Israeli fighter planes destroyed hundreds of Soviet-made Arab 
fighter planes and the IDF ground forces crushed the armies of 
Egypt, Syria and Iraq, which were armed with Soviet weapons.  If in 
the past, Israel was perceived by US policymakers as a diplomatic 
burden, it now appeared to them as a strategic power center, the 
ultimate ally in the Cold War.   Johnson even agreed on a deal for 
selling Patton tanks and advanced Phantom planes to Israel.  The 
alliance between Israel and the US was forged in the flames of 1967. 
 Deeper than the change in US-Israeli relations, however, was the 
upheaval in Israel's self-perception.  A basically secular state, 
most of whose population lived in the coastal plain and the Negev, 
now experienced a dramatic reunion with its biblical homeland.... In 
the absence of Arab partners for peace, there were many Israelis who 
could not resist the temptation to settle in these sacred areas." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Intelligence affairs correspondent Yossi Melman wrote on page one of 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Reliable information or a 
diplomatic manipulation -- that is the big question surrounding the 
statements on Monday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International 
Atomic Energy Agency, to the effect that Iran has achieved a 
significant technological advance in its efforts to enrich 
uranium." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Reliable Intel or Dangerous Manipulation" 
 
Intelligence affairs correspondent Yossi Melman wrote on page one of 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (5/16): "Reliable information 
or a diplomatic manipulation -- that is the big question surrounding 
the statements on Monday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, to the effect that Iran has 
achieved a significant technological advance in its efforts to 
enrich uranium.  If the information, as reported in The New York 
Times on Tuesday, is accurate, then Iran has reached the stage 
described by Israeli intelligence as the 'point of no return'.... 
Either way, the moment of decision is approaching for all involved. 
It is clear, therefore, that 2007, or 2008 at the latest, marks the 
time when it will become clear whether Iran will have nuclear 
weapons, with all its implications for Israel, the broader Middle 
East and the international community." 
 
JONES