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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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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.  40th Anniversary of the Six-Day War 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted Palestinian sources as saying that PM Ehud 
Olmert will meet on Thursday in Jericho with PA Chairman (President) 
Mahmoud Abbas.  Israel Radio reported that the PA government has 
demanded that the calm with Israel be restored -- also in the West 
Bank.  The radio said that on Monday the Palestinian government 
rejected Abbas's request that a truce in the West Bank be postponed 
by one month. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a GOI source as saying on Monday that resuming 
negotiations with Syria is not on the agenda for a scheduled meeting 
between Olmert and President Bush in Washington in two weeks. 
Rather, the two are expected to discuss the diplomatic process with 
the Palestinians, the Arab Peace Initiative and ways of preventing 
Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.  Ha'aretz noted that some of 
Olmert's advisors are concerned that an initiative to renew peace 
talks with Syria might undermine Israel's relations with the US. 
However, the newspaper said that IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi 
strongly supports renewed talks with Syria, with the goal of 
distancing Damascus from its alliance with Iran and contributing to 
a new regional order in which Syria would forge closer relations 
with moderate Arab states.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense 
Minister Peretz told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee on Monday that, while the Syrian calls for negotiations 
must be carefully examined, the IDF cannot afford to lower its 
defense along Israel's northern border.  This morning Israel Radio 
quoted Syrian MP Muhammad Habash as saying on Al Jazeera-TV that 
Israel is planning to start a war with Syria in the summer. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Transportation Minister Shaul 
Mofaz, who is in charge of the strategic dialogue with the US, told 
the newspaper on Monday that there is a 50 percent chance that 
sanctions will convince Tehran to halt its military nuclear program. 
 Mofaz is due to leave today for Washington for talks on the issue 
with senior US officials. 
 
All media marked and commented on the anniversary of the outbreak of 
the Six-Day War 40 years ago today.  Akiva Eldar of Ha'aretz 
recounted that David Kimche, then an IDF Intelligence officer who 
would later become director-general of the Foreign Ministry, and Dan 
Bavli, who was a reserve officer, handed the GOI a document 
proposing a two-state solution, but that the state chose to ignore 
it.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that this week small left-wing 
groups plan to disrupt life in Israel and harm the IDF to mark the 
40th anniversary of the war.  The Jerusalem Post reported that 
historian Michael Oren told the newspaper on Monday that those who 
call the Six-Day War a disaster or a Pyrrhic victory are grossly 
mistaken, because they overlook the fact that Israel was not 
destroyed.  In the interview, Oren said that his research of 
documents in Arab countries has revealed clearly that the Arabs had 
planned to destroy Israel.  The Jerusalem Post noted that, although 
this seems obvious to persons sympathetic to Israel who hold to the 
traditional story of the Arabs' responsibility for the outbreak of 
war, the intervening decades have seen the promulgation of a myth 
that Israel was not really in danger. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that, on July 16, 2006, four days after the Second 
Lebanon War started, Israel's National Security Council recommended 
that the Israeli offensive against Hizbullah be wrapped up as 
quickly as possible, as most of the possible objectives had already 
been met.  In retrospect, however, Ha'aretz noted that it is evident 
that no serious discussion was ever held over recommendations to 
shorten the war.  Ha'aretz also reported that on Monday the head of 
the research division of Military Intelligence, Brig. Gen. Yossi 
Baidatz, told the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee 
that Hizbullah was rebuilding its forces south of the Litani River 
in Lebanon, despite the presence of international peacekeepers in 
the area.  Baidatz's remarks apparently contradict comments made by 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at a speech to the Knesset last week, in 
which he said that "the situation in southern Lebanon has changed 
completely" since the summer 2006 war. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann 
ordered Justice Ministry officials to draft a new version of a law 
that exempts the state from compensating Palestinians for damage 
caused in the course of non-combat activities in the territories. 
If such a law passes, it will mark the first time the Knesset has 
reenacted legislation that was overturned by the High Court of 
Justice.  The court overturned the original law, known as the 
Intifada Law, in December 2006, four years after its enactment. 
Friedmann has asked that the government-sponsored legislation be 
ready within the next two weeks, even if its passage will also 
require a change in the Basic Law. For the new Intifada law to 
survive judicial review, the Basic Law on Human Dignity and Freedom 
will likely need to be amended -- also for the first time.  On the 
other hand, Ha'aretz wrote that Friedmann might prefer to revise the 
Basic Law on the Judiciary to explicitly state that the High Court 
has no authority to rule on the constitutionality of the new law. 
It is unclear whether the Knesset has the authority to pass a 
previously overturned law without changing the wording, or whether 
it must adhere to the guidelines set by the court.  It is also 
uncertain if the High Court would automatically overturn the 
legislation if it passed without any changes. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday, speaking to his supporters, 
Knesset Member Ami Ayalon, who is running neck and neck with former 
PM Ehud Barak to become head of the Labor Party, left open the 
possibility that Labor will stay in the government if he is elected 
party leader.  He was quoted as saying that the decision would be 
made by the party's institutions.  Ha'aretz said that the outgoing 
Labor Chairman, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, who is backing Ayalon, 
hopes to stay in the government.   Ha'aretz wrote that Peretz wants 
a cabinet post that will involve him in socioeconomic issues. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Shas Party Chairman Eli Yishai told 
Vice PM Shimon Peres that the party will support his bid for the 
presidency, having gotten the nod to do so from its spiritual 
leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.  Yishai reportedly told Peres that Yosef 
would instruct all 12 of the ultra-Orthodox party's Knesset members 
to vote for him in the presidential balloting.  Yediot, which filed 
a similar story, found that in a first round of voting among the 
Knesset members, former Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin would garner 
49 votes, Vice PM Shimon Peres 48, and Labor MK Colette Avital 23. 
According to Yediot, Peres would win in a second round with 66 votes 
vs. 54 to Rivlin. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday an alliance of Jerusalem 
Arab organizations launched an international campaign to create an 
independent municipality for Arab residents of East Jerusalem. 
 
Leading media commented on a limited military operation and arrests 
by the IDF in the Gaza Strip.  This morning Israel Radio quoted 
Palestinian sources as saying that IDF troops wounded Palestinian 
youths in the West Bank. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Shin Bet will tell a Knesset committee 
today that it has halved its reliance on the special detention 
authority it was granted last year.  According to the order, which 
functions as a temporary law, the Shin Bet is allowed to hold 
detainees for four days before they receive a hearing.  The order in 
question is a temporary provision designed to allow the Shin Bet to 
detain Gaza citizens even after the disengagement from the Gaza 
Strip in 2005 and the subsequent abolition of military rule there by 
the IDF. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that an internal report by the IDF's Civil 
Administration in the territories found that at least 25 percent of 
the structures built by Israelis in the West Bank's Area C (full 
Israeli control) were constructed on private Arab-owned land. 
According to the report, only 0.5 percent of the illegal structures 
were constructed on land registered to Jewish owners.  The data also 
indicate that Israel is practicing a discriminatory policy: It is 
more lenient on illegal construction by Jews than by Palestinians. 
Although the Jewish population in the area is four times larger than 
the Arab population, the authorities have demolished three times as 
many Palestinian-controlled structures as Jewish-controlled 
structures.  Ha'aretz also reported that the report found that the 
Civil Administration had finished mapping only nine illegal outposts 
in the West Bank, containing 131 structures, by mid-2006. 
 
Leading media reported that the IDF and police will provide security 
for a Peace Now rally today in Hebron, near the center of the Jewish 
community there, to protest 40 years of settlements. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, in a debate among Democratic Party 
US presidential candidates on Sunday, New Mexico Governor and former 
US Permanent Representative to the UN Bill Richardson backtracked on 
his earlier suggestion that former Secretary of State James Baker 
would be his Middle East envoy and instead suggested former 
President Bill Clinton 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday the Justice Ministry 
charged that Amnesty International's report on the treatment of 
Palestinians in the West Bank was "immoral" and "inaccurate." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that former IDF Intelligence head Maj. 
Gen. (Res.) Aharon Zeevi-Farkash called on Monday, during a 
conference at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel 
Aviv, for the establishment of an international "intelligence pool" 
to combat Al-Qaida.  He was quoted as saying that countries like the 
US and the UK need to start to "view their Muslim populations 
differently" and as a potential threat. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that expanding the powers of the 
European monitors at the Rafah crossing between the Gaza Strip and 
Egypt was among the topics discussed when senior EU and Israeli 
officials met in Jerusalem on Monday for the annual EU-Israel 
Association meeting. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Egypt will host representatives of the major 
Palestinian factions later this month for talks in a cease-fire 
agreement that Egyptian officials are busy preparing. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Acting Israel Tax Authority Director General Yehuda 
Nasradishi as saying on Monday that compensation for direct damage 
from the fighting around communities surrounding the Gaza Strip -- 
which he estimated at 826 million shekels (approx. USD 203.5 
million) would be paid only on the basis of claims filed, and not 
automatically, as was the case for damages from the Second Lebanon 
War.  Nasradishi was quoted as saying that 626 claims have been 
filed for damages sustained around Gaza. 
 
Ha'aretz reported on a drama series on Iranian state TV that carries 
the message that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a "European 
problem" and that Israeli Jews should therefore return to their 
original homelands on that continent. 
 
Yediot reported that the police have recommended that Finance 
Minister Abraham Hirchson be indicted for theft and embezzlement. 
Leading media reported that the police have recommended the Shula 
Zaken, PM Olmert's former chief of staff, be indicted in an alleged 
bribery affair. 
 
Maariv prominently commented on a possible resumption of the Cold 
War, this time between the US and Russia. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the American hedge fund Cerberus-Gabriel is 
resuming its bid to obtain a permit from the Bank of Israel to 
control Bank Leumi, Israel's second-largest bank. 
 
Ha'aretz presented the results of Tel Aviv University's Peace Index 
poll conducted among Israeli Jews on May 28-30: 
-Only 37 percent are currently convinced by PM Olmert's claim that 
there is no immediate and total way to stop the Qassam fire; 53.5 
percent think he is mistaken.  Indeed, 46 percent ascribe the 
leadership's decision not to launch a military operation in Gaza to 
the conclusions of the Winograd Commission's interim report (vs. 39 
percent who do not believe this is the reason). 
- A large minority -- 42 percent -- favors reoccupying Gaza and 
staying there to make sure the fire is not resumed, while 48 percent 
oppose such a move.  Sixty-three percent (vs. 28 percent), however, 
support a limited ground operation after which IDF forces would 
withdraw.  The public is almost evenly divided between 47 percent 
who support holding direct negotiations with Hamas on stopping the 
rocket fire on Sderot, and 48 percent who oppose such negotiations. 
- Among those who generally support negotiations, 63 percent also 
favor direct contacts with Hamas on the rocket fire and only 33 
percent are opposed to such talks.  But among those who generally 
oppose contacts with the Palestinian Authority, only 18 percent 
favor negotiating with Hamas, compared with a majority of 56 percent 
who are opposed. 
- In any case, an overwhelming majority -- 76 percent -- of the 
Jewish public believe that Israel should not respond positively to 
Hamas's offer about ceasing IDF arrests of and strikes on its 
members in the West Bank in return for promises to stop the Qassam 
fire. 
 
The Jerusalem Post presented a poll released on Monday by James 
Zogby's Arab American Institute in conjunction with Americans For 
Peace Now, which shows strong support for a two-state solution among 
both American Arabs and Jews, and for a presidential candidate who 
would play an active role in the peace process if elected. 
 
---------------------------------------- 
¶1.  40th Anniversary of the Six-Day War: 
---------------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Just like the name of the unforgettable 
[Israeli] book ... from 1967 -- 'Sorry We Won ' -- Israel in June 
2007 looks like a country that is ashamed of everything that 
happened here 40 years ago.  But had it happened differently, we 
would not be here today." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "It is 
not the lack of a Palestinian state that perpetuates the war, but 
the war, and the rejection of Israeli sovereignty at its heart, that 
perpetuates the lack of a Palestinian state." 
 
Historian and columnist Tom Segev wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Those [Israelis belonging to] the 1967 
generation did not appreciate the damage caused by the occupation -- 
among other things, to the fundamental ideological and moral values 
that gave birth to the country, and to its democratic fabric.  This 
was the major failure of that generation." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian 
sympathizer Amira Hass wrote in Ha'aretz: "Starting in 1991, Israel 
has been creating two kinds of expanses between the Mediterranean 
and the Jordan: a superior, open, developed and improved space for 
the Jews, and a shattered space tainted by intentional 
de-development for the Palestinians.... No wonder there is nostalgia 
for the occupation that existed before 1991!" 
 
Dr. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator of the Palestine 
Liberation Organization, wrote in Ha'aretz: "If Israel fails to 
accept [the Arab League's] generous offer, we could lose the last 
chance for peace based on the two-state solution and might instead 
face a long bloody conflict." 
 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Had Things Happened Differently, We Wouldn't Be Here" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/5): "The [Six-Day] War was preceded by 
days of existential fear.  The public in Israel was exposed to 
Nazi-like Arab propaganda, which threatened to kill, to annihilate, 
to destroy and to throw the Jews into the sea.... Forty years after 
the Six-Day War, Israel under the Olmert government is defeated in 
the public diplomacy battle, defeated in the politics of history and 
is incapable of eliciting even the most minimal air of national 
uplifting. Just like the name of the unforgettable [Israeli] book 
... from 1967 -- 'Sorry We Won ' -- Israel in June 2007 looks like a 
country that is ashamed of everything that happened here 40 years 
ago.  But had it happened differently, we would not be here today." 
 
II.  "The War That Didn't End" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/5): 
"Over the past 40 years, [the Six-Day War] victory has been 
transformed in international and even, to a large extent, in Israeli 
eyes into a burden and a mark of Cain.  The besieged Israel of June 
4, 1967 has, for some, become the besieger of the Palestinians. A 
nation, once threatened, is seen as an occupier.  This 
transformation has contributed to and been exacerbated by an 
internal rift within our society, as symbolized by the poles of 
Peace Now and the settler movement.  Both of these movements are now 
badly battered: the first destroyed by the wave of Palestinian 
suicide bombings that were the response to the Israeli offer of a 
Palestinian state, the second devastated both by war and peace 
agreements that convinced the public that the Palestinian population 
cannot be absorbed without destroying our society and democracy.... 
It is not the lack of a Palestinian state that perpetuates the war, 
but the war, and the rejection of Israeli sovereignty at its heart, 
that perpetuates the lack of a Palestinian state.  Until this 
fundamental truth is absorbed and becomes the basis of international 
policy, the 1967 war, like all those before and after, will not be 
fully resolved." 
 
III.  "What Was Forgotten That Morning" 
 
Historian and columnist Tom Segev wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/5): "It cannot be said with certainty that 
had all Israelis agreed to withdraw from all the territories, all 
the Arabs would have agreed to make peace.  But those of the 1967 
generation did not appreciate the damage caused by the occupation -- 
among other things, to the fundamental ideological and moral values 
that gave birth to the country, and to its democratic fabric.  This 
was the major failure of that generation.  More and more Israelis 
say today that they do not believe in peace.  Many among them are 
young.... The challenge they face is merely to manage the conflict 
in a better way than their parents did, so that life will be more 
tolerable.  In view of the circumstances they are inheriting from 
their parents, that is no small task." 
 
IV.  "In Praise of the Occupation" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent and far-left Palestinian 
sympathizer Amira Hass wrote in Ha'aretz (6/5): "The occupations 
brought about by the 1967 war accomplished one great thing: They 
reunited the majority of the Palestinian people within the 
boundaries of their homeland.  For the first time in 19 years it was 
once again possible for Palestinians to live and experience 
together, as a group, the expanse between the Mediterranean Sea and 
the Jordan River.... [However,] starting in 1991, Israel has been 
creating two kinds of expanses between the Mediterranean and the 
Jordan: a superior, open, developed and improved space for the Jews, 
and a shattered space tainted by intentional de-development for the 
Palestinians.... No wonder there is nostalgia for the occupation 
that existed before 1991!" 
 
¶V.  "An Offer That Cannot Be Refused" 
 
Dr. Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator of the Palestine 
Liberation Organization, wrote in Ha'aretz (6/5): "Like all the 
nations of the world, we refuse to live under occupation or any 
other system that denies us our full civil and political rights.  If 
Israel fails to accept [the Arab League's] generous offer, we could 
lose the last chance for peace based on the two-state solution and 
might instead face a long bloody conflict that will result in many 
victims on both sides -- something Israel can prevent if it begins 
to face the current realities of the new Middle East.  In the life 
of every nation, there comes a time to face difficult and historic 
choices.  Based on past experience, with a critical eye to the 
future and our commitment to future generations, the Arab world is 
choosing the path of peace, compromise and negotiation by extending 
its hand to you, the Israeli people.  In order that we might see 
peace in our generation and secure a peaceful future for our 
children, let us together shape a new reality of peace in the Middle 
East." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "In contrast 
[to Woodrow Wilson,] Bush never completely matched his visionary 
rhetoric to his actual policies." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Echoes of 1919" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick 
wrote in the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (6/5): "While 
[the late US President Woodrow] Wilson's vision was unrealistic, he 
has to be credited for his unstinting devotion to it.  In contrast, 
Bush never completely matched his visionary rhetoric to his actual 
policies.  And today, increasingly abandoned by his supporters and 
undermined by his own advisers who reject his vision and insist on 
returning to fantasyland, Bush has apparently abandoned his own 
doctrine of war and peace.... While upholding Islam as a religion of 
peace, the administration courted Islamic preachers of war.... As 
for the Palestinians, Bush has opted to ignore Fatah's involvement 
in terrorism, its jihadist indoctrination of Palestinian society and 
its strategic collaboration with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah, 
Iran, and Syria.  By upholding Fatah, Bush blocked all possibility 
that an alternative, liberal and democratic Palestinian leadership 
could emerge.  The same pattern has held in Egypt.... As Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaims that the countdown to the 
next Holocaust has begun while actively waging war against the US 
and its allies on all available fronts, the catastrophe that will 
follow an American relapse into isolationism and appeasement is 
undeniable." 
 
JONES