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DE RUEHTV #2210/01 2001024
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P 191024Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2355
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 2483
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9200
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2547
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3286
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2518
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0476
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3249
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0120
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0588
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7183
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4596
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9518
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3682
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5622
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 7448
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002210 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Electronic media reported that on Wednesday the US Ambassador to the 
UN, Zalmay Khalilzad, accused Syria and Iran of meddling in Lebanon. 
 He was quoted as saying that there is clear evidence of arms 
smuggling across the Syrian border to terrorist groups. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the international Arabic-language daily Al-Quds 
Al-Arabi as saying that Israel will transfer security control of 
Qalqilya and Jericho to the PA.  The radio later cited confirmation 
of the report by PA sources. 
 
All media reported that in reaction to a report critical of the 
government's actions on the home front during the Second Lebanon War 
published on Wednesday by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, PM 
Ehud Olmert's Office said that "there is a yawning and unbridgeable 
gap between the professional and in-depth report that was written by 
people in the State Comptroller's Office, and the tendentious and 
superficial summary that appears in the report's abstract.  "It 
apparently reflects the personal opinion of the State Comptroller 
toward a number of people, foremost the Prime Minister."  Ha'aretz 
and other media reported that Eliahu Winograd, Chairman of the 
Winograd Commission, announced on Wednesday that the commission will 
warn those liable to be harmed by its conclusions and allow them to 
respond before publishing its final report on the Second Lebanon 
War.  As a result, the report's publication is likely to be delayed 
by several months.  Until now, publication had been widely expected 
in October.  Any delay will have far-reaching political 
implications.  The report is expected to harshly criticize PM 
Olmert, while Defense Minister Ehud Barak has pledged to pull the 
Labor Party out of the government after its publication.  Thus for 
both of them, the delay means another several months in office. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that "in-depth" GOI evaluations of 
Syrian President Bashar Assad's speech to the Syrian Parliament on 
Tuesday, concluded that Assad is looking to ease war fears.  Yated 
Ne'eman quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that Syria is 
interested in exploiting Israel to improve its status. 
 
Yediot disclosed that Israeli citizens suspected of grave offenses 
are secretly imprisoned in the country. 
 
Maariv reported that next week, for the first time in the Knesset's 
history, the Egyptian and Jordanian FMs will appear before the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted sources to FM Livni as saying on Wednesday 
that she has not changed her opinion that Olmert must resign due to 
his mishandling of the Second Lebanon War. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Wednesday Science, Sport, and Culture 
Minister Raleb Majadele asked PM Olmert to send him to Damascus as a 
goodwill emissary.  Majadele also reportedly asked Olmert to declare 
his government's willingness to "make significant and painful 
territorial concessions, as the late Yitzhak Rabin proposed, for the 
sake of a diplomatic arrangement that would lead to relations with 
Syria and to peace and stability in the entire region." 
 
Maariv reported that ten Orthodox soldiers from a paratrooper 
battalion refused to help with the removal of right-wing protesters 
at the site of the vacated West Bank settlement of Homesh.  They 
refused to obey orders after consulting with radical Rabbi Dov Lior 
but eventually complied. 
 
Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas announced that he was working toward 
elections for the PA's Palestinian Legislative Council and 
presidency. 
 
 
Yediot reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad will host Iranian 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday.  Yediot reported that 
Ahmadinejad is expected to offer to train Syrian troops in Iran and 
send Iranian experts to Syria, similar to those who operated in 
Hizbullah's training camps in Lebanon. 
 
Major media reported that on Wednesday the Knesset overwhelmingly 
approved in preliminary reading a bill allowing the Israel Lands 
Authority to continue selling land belonging to the Jewish National 
Fund (JNF) only to Jews, in order to counter a decision made earlier 
this year by Attorney general Menachem Mazuz to prohibit 
discrimination in land sales. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, in a conversation with the 
newspaper, defeated Labor Party leadership candidate Ami Ayalon set 
three conditions for joining the cabinet: because of security 
developments; if he was needed because of diplomatic developments; 
or if Labor remained in the government after the final Winograd 
report was released. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that Oved Yehezkel, a senior aide to PM 
Olmert, is expected to replace Yisrael Maimon as cabinet secretary. 
The cabinet will vote on the appointment on Sunday. 
 
Leading media reported that non-Jewish couples will be able to tie 
the knot in civil marriages, following an agreement reached on 
Wednesday between Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and Sephardi 
Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.  This is the first time that the religious 
establishment has given the go-ahead to civil marriage.  However, 
the new law will be restricted to cases in which both spouses are 
not considered Jewish under Jewish law. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Palestinian high-school students 
from Ramallah, Bethlehem, and east Jerusalem are working on 
technology projects alongside their Israeli counterparts from Beit 
Shemesh, Mevaseret Zion, and west Jerusalem in the MEET (Middle East 
Education Through Technology) program being taught at the Hebrew 
University's Givat Ram campus. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Sapir Academic College 
near Sderot received USD 1.7 million from the [US] United Jewish 
Communities. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that despite a public outcry earlier 
this year that appeared to stave off a cancellation of the English 
News of the Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) on the radio, the 
cash-strapped IBA is now proceeding with draconian cuts anyway. 
 
Yediot reported that businessman Lior Dagan, a dual Israeli-American 
citizen, was found dead a month ago in his Dubai hotel, the apparent 
victim of a heart attack.  The newspaper reported that the FBI and 
local security authorities later determined that he was murdered. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "New diplomatic initiatives, some of them bold and 
surprising ... are opening a small window of hope that the dull man 
[Olmert] will one day turn into a leader." 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"The current diplomatic process is liable to repeat the destructive 
route of Oslo, creating an illusion of progress fueled by a natural 
need to nurture hope, a hope that will be exploited by cynics who 
believe they have the power to dictate the rules of the game and 
decide who will lose it." 
 
Veteran journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "New Palestinian Authority Prime 
Minister Salam Fayyad's agenda bears a strong resemblance to US 
President George Bush's surge in Iraq: good ideas, but many years 
too late." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Perhaps Olmert Is a Leader, After All" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Yael Paz-Melamed commented in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (7/19): "New diplomatic initiatives, some of them 
bold and surprising ... are opening a small window of hope that the 
dull man will one day turn into a leader -- not a big one, not a man 
who should be followed, but someone who will somehow leave his 
imprint on the history of this country.  He suddenly has an agenda 
-- not a simple one, not really a popular one, and he moves with 
worthy speed to move it forward without looking sideways.  Only 
Kadima. [An allusion to the slogan: 'only Likud'].  For instance, 
consider the decision to release 250 Palestinian prisoners, 
including several 'with blood on their hands, to bolster 
Abu-Mazen.... Consider the decision to pardon wanted Palestinians 
willing to lay down arms.... Let's go on with Israel's shift towards 
Syria.... Everything has definitely started [in this direction].... 
One must assume that there are indications that something is 
happening: talk about a mini-convergence plan; Bush's rather 
insignificant speech that still envisages a regional conference; 
Tony Blair's arrival next week and the onset of  his work; and Fatah 
activists on the level of Farouk Kaddoumi being allowed to enter the 
West Bank.... One should not forget that [Olmert] has not yet begun 
to handle the evacuation of illegal outposts, thus leaving a hot 
potato and the proof of his leadership in his hands." 
II.  "Beware of Oslo's Destructive Route" 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(7/19): "The diplomatic process being conducted by Olmert and Bush 
serves as a peg on which to hang [current] optimism.  The problem is 
that the reality does not show signs of surrendering to theories and 
desires.... The illusion of the Palestinians, who saw how under Oslo 
the settlements were doubled and a draconian occupation regime was 
installed, evaporated in a violent manner, shattering the Israeli 
illusion that the conflict could be ended without paying the price. 
The current diplomatic process is liable to repeat the destructive 
route of Oslo, creating an illusion of progress fueled by a natural 
need to nurture hope, a hope that will be exploited by cynics who 
believe they have the power to dictate the rules of the game and 
decide who will lose it.  Those who are amusing themselves with the 
process, those who are exploiting it to promote their political 
aims, those who are becoming addicted to it to fulfill their heart's 
desire, and those who want to use it to improve their grievous 
condition under the occupation should all recall that it is easy to 
create illusions, and it is easy to err because of them.  But the 
price will be paid by everyone, including those who are moving the 
process forward through mere words.  The Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict cannot tolerate another shattered illusion." 
 
III.  "Salam Fayyad's Surge" 
 
Veteran journalist Evelyn Gordon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (7/19): "New Palestinian Authority Prime 
Minister Salam Fayyad's agenda bears a strong resemblance to US 
President George Bush's surge in Iraq: good ideas, but many years 
too late.... Unlike the surge, Fayyad's plan may never ultimately be 
implemented. Indeed, given the PA's record, any rational person 
would bet against it.... Since Fayyad, like Abbas, has already 
declared that he will never use force against the militias, the 
chances of the armed gangs disappearing look slim.... The same goes 
for economic development.... Arafat preferred to invest in terrorism 
and his own bank account.  Thus following the PA's establishment 
Palestinians' per-capita income plummeted and unemployment soared. 
And Abbas, again, wasted a second chance, post-disengagement.  A 
rapid push to develop Gaza would have won massive international and 
Israeli support.  But he made no move to, for instance, build 
housing for refugees in the former settlements.... Overall, PA 
development efforts will now receive far less Israeli support than 
they would have earlier.  Maybe Fayyad will nevertheless work a 
miracle. But even if he makes a sincere effort -- which is far from 
certain -- it may well, like the surge, prove too late." 
 
CRETZ