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DE RUEHTV #2409/01 2191025
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P 071025Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002409 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz headlined that PM Olmert is considering a proposal to 
transfer an area equivalent to 100% of the territory occupied in 
1967 to the Palestinians as a basis for their state. Israel is also 
considering trading settlements in the West Bank for Arab 
communities within Israel if agreed to by their residents. The plan 
was suggested to PM Olmert by President Shimon Peres. The office of 
the PM issued a statement denying any such plans. 
 
All media reported that the Monday meeting between PM Olmert and PA 
Chairman Abbas in Jericho had a good atmosphere and that the 
delegations discussed all issues.  The media reported that Chairman 
Abbas asked PM Olmert to release more Palestinian prisoners and to 
remove additional names from Israel's wanted lists. PM Olmert told 
Chairman Abbas that he will take this under consideration. Olmert 
was quoted as saying that the joint vision is two countries side by 
side. 
 
Three thousand security personnel were involved in the removal of 
protestors and settlers from the wholesale market in Hebron on 
Tuesday morning. Israel Radio reported that during the evacuation 
dozens of teenagers stood on roofs of the market throwing rocks, 
eggs, and light bulbs at the security forces.  The Radio reported 
that according to police reports 13 security officials and 13 
activists were wounded. 
 
Media reported that on Monday, twelve IDF soldiers refused orders to 
take part in the Hebron operation in the most wide-scale military 
refusal since the Gaza disengagement. The soldiers were brought 
before a disciplinary and were banned from participating in battle 
missions. 
 
Israel Radio reported that a Qassam rocket fired at Israel fell 
short and killed two Palestinian children and wounded five more. 
The media reported that a Qassam rocket landed in Sderot on Monday, 
no casualties or damage was reported. 
Ha'aretz quoted a senior Israeli official as saying that 
negotiations with Hamas on the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad 
Shalit were revived last week with Egyptian mediation. 
 
Leading media reported that the Winograd Committee will allow those 
who may be damaged by its conclusions to appear before it to defend 
themselves. 
 
Ha'aretz Internet web-site quoted State Department's special envoy 
for Holocaust issues as saying that  the section of the site devoted 
to background notes on Germany would be altered following a protest 
from The Simon Wiesenthal Center which claimed that key information 
on the Holocaust was omitted. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store as 
saying in a meeting with President Peres that Norway has broken all 
of its ties with Hamas. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
Senior veteran columnist Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "A conference that intends to discuss a 
permanent agreement has to prepare everything in advance, down to 
the last detail.... Is the current government of Israel prepared for 
the Bush conference?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "The US needs a regional meeting in 
November no less, and probably far more, than either the Israelis or 
the Palestinians.  The US needs this meeting to show the Iranians 
that there is a coalition of the moderate Arab willing who will some 
day stand up to them." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The two leaders [PM Olmert and 
PA Chairman Abu Mazen] find it important to present their talks, 
which have become to be in fact diplomatic negotiation, as 
especially positive even if the chances of reaching a permanent 
agreement are not good." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
¶I. "Ehud and Ehud to the Summit" 
 
Senior veteran columnist Yoel Marcus wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (08/07): "The journalists who accompanied 
Condoleezza Rice [in her visit to the ME] were vague on the 
achievements of her short visit.  Granted, in half a day here and 
half a day there, you can't organize an international summit. 
President George W. Bush came up with his two-state vision five 
years ago, but in practice, he hasn't done a thing to make it 
happen.... Bush is pushing for an international summit of moderate 
countries in the region that are in favor of two democratic states 
living in peace and security, saying no to violence and recognizing 
Israel's right to exist.... A conference that intends to discuss a 
permanent agreement has to prepare everything in advance, down to 
the last detail.... Is the current government of Israel prepared for 
the Bush conference?.... Is a prime minister who is up to his neck 
in criminal investigations, and whose popularity in the opinion 
polls has dropped below 10 percent, capable of reaching an agreement 
that involves territorial concessions and dismantling 
settlements?.... If Olmert survives the Winograd report and the 
criminal inquiries against him without elections, the two of them 
[Ehud PM Olmert and MoD Barak] can work things out and attend the 
international summit together. Better to have Ehud and Ehud at the 
conference table than Benjamin Netanyahu and Moshe Feiglin." 
 
II. "Nothing but a Sideshow" 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (08/07): "On the surface, it all looks so 
very important.... When Olmert and Abbas sat down in Jericho's 
Intercontinental Hotel ... they were talking about issues that 
effect us deeply.... But these issues, as fundamental as they might 
be, must be seen within the greater context of the overall tumult in 
the Middle East and the US effort to do something -- anything -- to 
contain it.... The US needs progress here to try and consolidate a 
moderate Arab coalition as a counterbalance to the threatening 
Shi'ite crescent.  And there is no better way to breathe life into 
this moderate coalition then to show diplomatic progress on the 
Israeli-Palestinian front.  The US needs a regional meeting in 
November no less, and probably far more, than either the Israelis or 
the Palestinians.  The US needs this meeting to show the Iranians 
that there is a coalition of the moderate Arab willing who will some 
day stand up to them.  The US, at some point, will leave Iraq, but 
it is unlikely to do so unless it has assurances that there is a 
coalition of states that will not just let Iran march into the 
breach.  It is in the US's interests to cobble this coalition 
together as soon as possible.... We're important, but we're just one 
brick in the anti-Iranian coalition the Americans want to form.... 
Israel and the Palestinians, or rather a possible 
Israeli-Palestinian agreement, are the glue the US has in mind to 
stick that coalition together. " 
 
III. "Abbas Needs Success" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (08/07): "Fruitless negotiations 
with Israel might push him [PA Chairman Abbas] to renew talks with 
Hamas leaders Khaled Mashal and Ismail Haniyeh.  Israel understands 
the chairman's sensitive situation.... The two leaders find it 
important to present their talks, which have become to be in fact 
diplomatic negotiation, as especially positive even if the chance of 
reaching a permanent agreement are not good. Both parties are 
concerned about a joint enemy -- Hamas --; both face political 
rivals from home that challenge them.... Successful negotiations 
with a framework agreement on establishing a Palestinian state would 
protect Abu Mazen from the constant criticism by Hamas that he 
cannot bring change or present a diplomatic horizon in his talks 
with the Israelis." 
JONES