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DE RUEHTV #2022/01 1830954
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P 020954Z JUL 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002022 
 
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.  Global War on Terror: UK Terror Attempts 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that difficulty in finding 250 Fatah 
prisoners, who have been in jail for a long time but do not have 
"blood on their hands," is the reason the cabinet was not asked on 
Sunday to approve the prisoner release that PM Ehud Olmert announced 
last week at the Sharm el-Sheikh summit.  On Sunday, in another 
development, Ha'aretz reported that Palestinian sources told the 
daily that Olmert's coordinator for prisoners and MIAs, Ofer Dekel, 
met over the weekend with a number of senior Hamas members 
incarcerated in an Israeli prison.  Among the prisoners were members 
of the senior Hamas leadership whose release Hamas is demanding in 
exchange for freeing Gilad Shalit. 
 
Maariv reported that the IDF is about to start a series of 
wide-scale maneuvers in the Golan.  The newspaper reported that 
Israel conveyed a message to Syria that it has no offensive 
intentions.  Maariv cited the concern of official sources in 
Jerusalem that the Syrians might interpret the exercises as advanced 
preparations for an attack in the coming months.  Maariv reported 
that the IAF is considering procurement of combat versions of Black 
Hawk helicopters. 
 
Leading media reported that on Sunday Israel transferred USD 118 
million in tax revenues to the Palestinian government, as part of a 
series of steps intended to bolster PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud 
Abbas. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that State Department 
officials, looking to shift US Security Coordinator Lt. Gen. Keith 
Dayton's work with Palestinian forces to the West Bank, have begun 
holding discussions with Congressional staff on how to restructure a 
USD 86-million funding program previously allocated to Dayton's 
activities in Gaza. 
 
Media reported that on Saturday six Palestinian militants were 
killed in an IAF attack in the Gaza Strip.  One of the dead was 
Mohammed al-Rai, who was responsible for firing a rocket-propelled 
grenade at an IDF armored personnel carrier on the Philadelphi Road 
in May 2004. 
 
In its lead story, Yediot marked the first anniversary of the Second 
Lebanon War (according to the Hebrew calendar).  On Sunday Ha'aretz 
reported that on Friday UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed 
concern for the lives of the two abducted in Lebanon last summer. 
 
All media reported that Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson submitted 
his resignation from the cabinet to clear the way for PM Olmert's 
expected appointment of Interior Minister Roni Bar-On as finance 
minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.  Israel Radio 
said that, like Hirchson, Bar-On's major qualification is his 
loyalty to the PM. 
 
Leading media reported that over the weekend Izz ad-Din el-Qassam, 
the armed wing of Hamas, resumed firing Qassam rockets.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the group has threatened to attack any 
international force that enters the Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday the cabinet approved a deal to 
allow four Jordanians imprisoned in Israel for killing an Israeli 
officer and a soldier in the Jordan Valley in 1990 to serve out 
sentences in Jordan. 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday the Labor Party's Central 
Committee approved Defense Minister and Labor Party Chairman Ehud 
Barak's proposal that if Olmert did not resign after the publication 
of the Winograd Commission report, the Labor Party would quit the 
government.  The media reported that the Central Committee called 
for elections in 2008 with Barak as the party's candidate. 
 
Leading media (banner in Ha'aretz) reported that on Sunday senior 
GOI officials decided to deport refugees, mostly from Africa, who 
have been crossing into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula.  The 
refugees are most likely to be deported to Egypt, which PM Olmert 
said was willing to accept them after assurance from President Hosni 
Mubarak.  Ha'aretz cited human rights groups as saying that this 
would be a "blatant violation of international law." 
 
Over the weekend the media reported on the latest terrorist attempts 
in Britain. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the heads of several American 
universities will arrive in Israel today for a week of briefings by 
Israeli education officials, politicians, academics, and other 
prominent leaders. 
 
Ha'aretz ran a feature about Magdi Allam, an Egyptian-born Italian 
writer and journalist, who recently published a book "whose name 
alone is enough to endanger his life": "Long Live Israel - From the 
Ideology of Death to the Civilization of Life: My Story." 
 
The media reported that Thomas K. Mooney, the US Defense Attach in 
Cyprus, has been missing since Thursday. 
 
The media continued to report and comment on the Katsav affair. 
 
Maariv reported that American Jews are donating less to the Joint 
Distribution Committee and Jewish Agency and instead giving directly 
to Israel. 
 
Yediot reported that the principal Israeli diplomats in the US and 
at UN Headquarters in New York will be the first diplomats to use 
hybrid-fuel vehicles.  The newspaper reported that US Ambassador to 
the US Sallai Meridor started the initiative.  Yediot quoted Foreign 
Ministry officials as saying that this is a symbolic gesture, which 
could nonetheless bring image achievements to Israel. 
 
Maariv reported that The New York Times listed the (Israeli) Idan 
Raichel Project among the most important world music CDs released 
over the past year. 
 
Maariv reported that Israeli security guards are providing security 
for Walid Jufali, a Saudi tycoon. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in the left 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz: "Abu Mazen will not be able to 
fulfill any agreement with Israel without an arrangement with 
Hamas." 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "If Blair tries to 
implement in Palestine what he and Bush failed to achieve in Iraq, 
he will add another failure to his record.  Both he -- and more 
importantly, the Palestinians -- deserve better." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Fatah Is Waiting For Israel" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in the left 
leaning, independent Ha'aretz (7/2): "The embarrassment and 
confusion in the top echelons of Fatah stem first and foremost from 
the clear impression that the Palestinian street favors Hamas.  In 
light of this, there is now a situation where Fatah activists on the 
West Bank are waiting for Israel and the IDF to do their dirty work 
of repressing and eliminating Hamas in Gaza.... The loser will be 
Israel, which will be accused once again of crimes against the 
civilian population.  Among the leadership of the PA, in most of the 
Arab regimes, and of course in Europe, America and Israel, nobody 
wants Hamas, whose support comes mainly from the general Palestinian 
public.  It is clear today to every Palestinian that if Hamas is not 
in the game, then there is no game.  Abu Mazen will not be able to 
fulfill any agreement with Israel without an arrangement with Hamas. 
 Abu Mazen and the PLO, and the Arab regimes, have to get along with 
Hamas, and not with the 'help' of a siege, or via assassinations or 
starvation policies carried out by Israel." 
 
 
II.  "A Road Map For Mr. Blair" 
 
Shlomo Avineri, Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and 
former director-general of the Foreign Ministry, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (7/2): "There is one aspect 
of [Tony] Blair's mission statement which is new -- and in which he 
may get some results if he moves wisely and carefully: He is to help 
the Palestinians build up coherent institutions.... There is a wider 
context here, and Blair should learn from the Iraqi experience, 
where he shared President Bush's naive belief that absent Saddam, 
Iraqi democracy would automatically flourish.... Tony Blair would be 
making a colossal mistake in focusing on trying to achieve another 
set of elections, or another chimerical unity government (the Saudis 
tried this, and failed dismally).  What the Palestinians need at 
this moment is not another futile exercise in Western-imposed 
democracy but assistance in putting together the building blocs of a 
coherent polity.... As European history as shown, before you get 
democracy you need a strong and efficient state..... There are no 
short cuts, and if Blair tries to implement in Palestine what he and 
Bush failed to achieve in Iraq, he will add another failure to his 
record.  Both he -- and more importantly, the Palestinians -- 
deserve better." 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶2.  Global War on Terror: UK Terror Attempts: 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "There 
is no escaping the overarching truth: We, the West, are under 
attack, and will continue to be until we not only recognize that war 
has been declared against us, but act decisively and collectively to 
win that war." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The West at War" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (7/2): 
"Defeating amorphous groups like al-Qaida may be difficult even if 
they can be deprived of state sanctuary and the growing prospect of 
a nuclear umbrella. But defeating them without addressing these key 
elements of sponsorship -- including the billions of dollars still 
flowing from Saudi Arabia and other countries in support of radical 
Islamist schools -- is not possible.  However successfully they were 
foiled, the latest terrorist attempts against the United Kingdom 
demonstrate that no wide open society can hermetically seal itself 
off.  There is no escaping the overarching truth: We, the West, are 
under attack, and will continue to be until we not only recognize 
that war has been declared against us, but act decisively and 
collectively to win that war." 
 
JONES