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DE RUEHTV #1569/01 1491206
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291206Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001569 
 
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. Syria 
 
¶3. US and Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that former prime minister Ehud Barak won 
Monday's first round of the Labor Party primaries. Barak finished 
with 35.6 percent of the votes to Ayalon's 30.6 percent. Current 
Labor Party leader Amir Peretz trailed with 22.4 percent, while 
Knesset Member Ophir Pines-Paz received 8 percent.  A second round 
of voting will take place in two weeks. Media analysts estimated 
that Peretz would join Ami Ayalon in the second round and help him 
to victory. 
 
 
The media summed up two weeks of Qassam rocket firing. Maariv 
reported that 256 (according to Yediot 280) rockets were fired at 
Israel, with two people were killed and 164 injured. Yediot reported 
that 40 percent of Sderot residents had left the city. 
 
Yediot reported that Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah has 
taken Prime Minster Ehud Olmert's threats seriously and gone 
underground. According to the paper he is running his activities 
from a hiding place. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert's senior aide Yoram Turbowicz 
will leave for Washington in a few days for talks with senior 
officials in the US administration. The paper also noted that 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni will meet Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice on Thursday at a convention in Vienna. 
 
Leading media reported that Israel Defense Forces troops shot and 
killed two Hamas militants on Tuesday in a gun battle that broke out 
during a cross-border raid into Gaza. The IDF also arrested 12 
wanted Palestinian militants in the Balata refugee camp in the West 
Bank town of Nablus early Tuesday, including Palestinian parliament 
member Jamal Tirawi, a member of Palestinian Authority Chairman 
 
Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the police have prevented Muslim burial at 
the foot of the Temple Mount for several months, as Public Security 
Minister Avi Dichter responded to pleas to reserve the area as a 
significant archeological site. 
 
Leading media reported on an historic meeting between US and Iranian 
ambassadors in Iraq.  The media noted that the two ambassadors 
issued a press release after the meeting stating that the meeting 
focused on Iraq only. 
 
----------- 
¶1. Mideast: 
----------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If Olmert manages to keep Labor in the 
coalition, with a new defense minister, he will have a few quiet 
months, as the final Winograd report does not endanger him at the 
moment." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "What we need are leaders 
endowed with both brains and brawn -- courageous leaders prepared to 
talk to Syria, Saudi Arabia and all the Sunni Islamic countries in 
order to reach a comprehensive agreement.  Only that will put an end 
to Hamas." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶1. "Olmert's Survival" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (05/29): "The primaries in Labor are the start 
of a new season of 'Survivor,' starring Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. 
The working assumption in the Prime Minister's Bureau is that Labor 
will stay in the coalition, regardless of who is elected to lead the 
party.  In such a scenario, the coming weeks will be dedicated to 
political maneuvering, at the end of which a new minister will take 
over at the Defense Ministry, and the government will continue to 
function as usual.... The national agenda also demands unity, and 
 
not new elections: the Gaza Strip is boiling over, and there are 
threats of war in the North, accompanied by hints of peace.  Sources 
close to Olmert say the 'evaluation' of the Syrian channel is 'very 
serious and very secret.'.... If Olmert manages to keep Labor in the 
coalition, with a new defense minister, he will have a few quiet 
months, as the final Winograd report does not endanger him at the 
moment." 
 
¶2. "Brains and Brawn" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (05/29): "No country in the world 
would sit around and watch one of its cities being bombarded for six 
years, powerless to bring the violence to an end.... Ariel Sharon's 
unilateral disengagement turned out to be a serious mistake.  It 
gave terror a boost, allowed the Iranians to call the shots in Gaza 
instead of the Egyptians, fueled anarchy in the Palestinian street 
and pushed the chances for an agreement even further away.... Every 
time we evacuate Sderot rather than Beit Hanun, we have lost the 
battle.... So what are we going to do with Gaza? Occupy it? We have 
already done that.  What have we achieved by that, apart from 
occupation? Haven't we learned that occupation is like riding on a 
tiger's back? All the fleas go along for the ride.  There are no 
overnight solutions.  What we need are leaders endowed with both 
brains and brawn -- courageous leaders prepared to talk to Syria, 
Saudi Arabia and all the Sunni Islamic countries in order to reach a 
comprehensive agreement.  Only that will put an end to Hamas." 
 
--------- 
¶2. Syria: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "It is 
not clear why Assad's supposed peace overtures are taken seriously 
when he continues to be a main sponsor of terrorism against Israel, 
and the idea of him making a Sadat-like trip to Jerusalem is 
risible.  It also makes little sense, however, for Israel to be seen 
as the party that is refusing to negotiate with a belligerent Arab 
state.  Assad is bluffing, and bluffs should be called." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
"Call Assad's bluff" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (05/29): 
"It is striking that even the most oppressive dictatorships feel a 
need to pretend to reflect the popular will.  Such single candidate 
elections show that even dictators feel the need to genuflect toward 
the fundamental premise of democracy: that the people hold the right 
to choose their leader.... Syria's Assad is no exception.... The 
idea that this regime is interested in making peace with Israel 
strains credulity. It is not clear why Assad's supposed peace 
overtures are taken seriously when he continues to be a main sponsor 
of terrorism against Israel, and the idea of him making a Sadat-like 
trip to Jerusalem is risible.  It also makes little sense, however, 
for Israel to be seen as the party that is refusing to negotiate 
with a belligerent Arab state.  Assad is bluffing, and bluffs should 
be called.  Prime Minister Ehud Olmert should say that he is willing 
to meet with Assad anywhere, including Jerusalem or Damascus.  At 
the same time, Olmert should say that he does not believe that Syria 
is serious about peace, and therefore it is important for 
international sanctions to be tightened against the regime to force 
it to end its rampant support for aggression and terrorism.  Our bet 
is that Assad will not meet with Olmert, though he may try to launch 
lower level talks.... If Assad does surprise, and does meet Olmert, 
this would be a victory for Israel.  This is not because Israel 
needs to be legitimized by such a regime, but because it would be a 
significant 'concession' by the most stalwart member of the 
rejectionist Arab camp.  But Assad won't surprise.  The irony is 
Olmert, even with an approval rating of 3 percent, is more 
legitimate than '99 percent' Assad.  This dictator, as strong as he 
may wish to seem, is too weak to make peace." 
 
--------------- 
¶3. US and Iran: 
--------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Middle East affairs correspondent Zvi Barel wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "If the U.S. is willing to 
negotiate with Iran on a cardinal issue like Iraq, there is no 
reason why the nuclear question will not move from the corridors of 
the United Nations to a track of direct negotiations between the two 
countries, which is what Tehran wants." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Axis of Evil meets the Great Satan" 
 
Middle East affairs correspondent Zvi Barel wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (05/29): "The meeting of the 
Iranian and the American ambassadors in Baghdad merits the adjective 
'historic' after 27 years during which there were no open 
negotiations between the two countries -- neither direct nor mission 
specific.... On a practical level, the two sides presented their 
overall interests in Iraq and only in that country, and according to 
reports from Baghdad, the two sides are in agreement on some 
issues.... The talks yesterday have identified Iran as a strategic 
partner for the U.S. and Iraq, and therefore, as a country that can 
also pose demands on other matters, with the expectation that they 
be met.  After all, if the U.S. is willing to negotiate with Iran on 
a cardinal issue like Iraq, there is no reason why the nuclear 
question will not move from the corridors of the United Nations to a 
track of direct negotiations between the two countries, which is 
what Tehran wants.  Washington will find it difficult to explain the 
difference between its willingness to hold open and direct 
negotiations over Iraq and continue to press for sanctions on Iran 
on the nuclear issue.  Clearly, if the two sides agree to continue 
their public meetings, and upgrade the level of their officials in 
the talks, not only will the nuclear question be on the agenda for 
discussion, but also civilian cooperation between the Great Satan 
and the Axis of Evil -- a vision that has been promoted for years by 
the American petroleum giants and other private investors.... There 
is also a hard lesson for Israel in this meeting: The country that 
supports Hezbollah and Hamas, rejects the Arab peace initiatives and 
whose president threatens to wipe Israel off the map is benefiting 
from a strategic standing with Israel's strategic partner - 
America." 
JONES