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P 210947Z AUG 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002539 
 
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 
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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.  Muslims in European Society 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that a week ago President Shimon Peres met in 
his office with Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad and that he is willing 
to meet with PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
Israel Radio quoted the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi as saying that 
Chairman Abbas is trying to convince Israel to let exiled 
organization heads in Syria return to the Palestinian territories, 
in order to keep Damascus from using them to interfere with 
Palestinian affairs. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the first preparatory meeting 
leading to the 2009 UN World Conference against Racism will take 
place at the UN offices in Geneva next week and be chaired by Libya, 
and that the UN watchdog UN Watch already dubs it a "second Durban." 
 The 2002 conference in Durban, South Africa, was a theater for 
powerful anti-Israel rhetoric. 
 
All media reported that on Monday an IAF missile hit a truck in 
Bureij, in the central Gaza Strip, killing six Hamas gunmen who had 
launched mortar shells at Israel.  Israel Radio quoted Palestinian 
sources as saying that Naser Mabrouk, a PFLP militant, was killed in 
a clash with the IDF in Nablus. 
 
Major media quoted European Union officials as saying on Monday that 
the EU has stopped paying for shipments to Gaza's main power plant 
over concerns that Hamas might tax electricity to fund its 
government.  Leading media reported that Egypt subsequently 
announced that it will continue to supply electricity to the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli defense establishment 
is fiercely opposed to a UN initiative to redraw Israel's border 
with Lebanon and ultimately revoke Israeli sovereignty over the 
Sheba Farms.  The newspaper reported that a UN cartographer sent by 
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit the Sheba 
Farms in the coming weeks. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday Fatah legislator Muhammad 
Dahlan returned to Ramallah after spending six weeks abroad for 
medical treatment, sparking speculation about his future plans.  The 
newspaper quoted some Fatah activists as saying that he would openly 
challenge the leadership of PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli diplomatic officials have 
made clear in recent days that Israel continues to express its 
displeasure with Moscow over arms sales to Syria.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that Israeli officials see Russian economic and 
strategic interests behind such sales.  Maariv quoted the official 
Syrian newspaper Tishrin as saying on Monday that Israel has 
bellicose intentions.  Tishrin wrote that US military aid to Israel 
is evidence of the latter's shortage of weapons. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that a survey by the 
American journal Foreign Policy showing that 15 of 108 foreign 
policy leaders in the US believe that Israel does not serve US 
national security interests has raised eyebrows in Jerusalem.  The 
Jerusalem Post says that the survey precedes the publication in 
early September of a book by two US professors slamming the 
US-Israel alliance.  The Jerusalem Post also reported that the 
British daily The Financial Times released a poll that showed the 
Israel was no longer viewed in large parts of Europe, or in the US, 
as a threat to global security. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Rani Loewenstein, a senior Israeli official, as 
saying that the Palestinian government needs to establish an 
alternative social security net in the West Bank in order to beat 
Hamas at its own game and win elections.   Ha'aretz wrote that 
Loewenstein's plan was recently handed over to senior Palestinian 
officials during a closed conference at the Washington Institute for 
Near East Policy.  According to the newspaper, Loewenstein is 
considered one of the closest Israeli officials to Palestinian PM 
Salam Fayyad and Israel's main liaison with the Palestinians on 
economic and financial affairs over the last five years. 
 
Leading media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying on Monday 
that the IDF needs to be bigger and more technologically advanced to 
deal properly with future threats. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israeli military sources told the newspaper 
on Monday that the army does not intend to renew its contract with 
some 170 security guards in West Bank settlements. 
 
Maariv reported that most Sudanese refugees who have arrived in 
Israel are Christians who do not come from the Darfur province. 
They were persecuted because of their religion. 
 
Leading media quoted Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer as 
saying on Monday that the sub-prime mortgage crisis does not affect 
the Israeli economy. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli team of six doctors and 
nurses left on Monday night to assist earthquake victims in Peru. 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Knesset Member Prof. Shlomo 
Breznitz (Kadima) has  launched a volunteers project called 
"Backpackers in India," involving public and private Israeli 
organizations.  Former Knesset Member Etti Livni, who is active in 
the project, was quoted as saying: "The project could be a means of 
creating links between Israeli and Indian youth for the sake of 
peace and society. It will also be held to show the other face of 
Israel and Israelis in India. 
 
Maariv reported that Lisa Damast (phon.), a former assistant to Sen. 
Hillary Rodham Clinton, will immigrate to Israel today. 
 
In its lead story, Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that over 25,000 
Israelis working in high-tech -- out of 60,000 -- have left for the 
US over the past seven years. 
 
IDF Radio and other media reported that senior Israel National 
Police officer Asher Ben-Artzi was placed on involuntary leave.  He 
is suspected of having helped criminal elements receive visas to the 
US. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "[Israel] has entered an era of 
poor leadership with respect to its quality, its motivation, and its 
ability to put an end to the occupation." 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Hamas and the PA will come to an arrangement.  Israel's 
adamant opposition to any compromise and its threats against Abu 
Mazen should he make concessions to Hamas will not succeed in 
preventing this." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "August's Hot Air Balloons" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/21): "The initiative to sum up 
the principles of [an] agreement [with Mahmoud Abbas] within two or 
three months lacks a foundation and has no basis in reality.  As 
compared to Menachem Begin, who evacuated all of Sinai, and to Ariel 
Sharon, who evacuated 23 Jewish settlements in the territories, 
Olmert has barely evacuated two families from Hebron -- at most. 
His coalition partner, Labor Party Chairman and Defense Minister 
Ehud Barak, holds that we do not have a partner for a permanent 
status agreement and need at least five years to get the Israel 
Defense Forces back on its feet.  The country has entered an era of 
poor leadership with respect to its quality, its motivation, and its 
ability to put an end to the occupation.  'When little people cast a 
big shadow, it is a sign that the sun is setting,' goes the ancient 
Chinese proverb.  Fact: August is already on its way out, without 
peace, without war, with two or three Qassam rockets and many hot 
air balloons afloat." 
 
 
 
II.  "The Palestinian Wrestling Match" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Danny Rubinstein wrote in Ha'aretz 
(8/21): "The Hamas regime in Gaza will survive.  Abu Mazen's PA in 
the West Bank will continue to boycott it, and it will also continue 
to conduct negotiations with Israel over an agreement on principles, 
which might well be achieved in the coming weeks.  But this will 
obviously be a virtual agreement, because the road to implementation 
is still long, and without Hamas, such an agreement is in any case 
of little value.  Neither side is capable of defeating the other, 
and therefore, they will have no alternative but to negotiate and 
arrive at an agreement sooner or later.  The Palestinian public in 
both Gaza and the West Bank wants national unity, as do many parts 
of the Arab world and the international community.  Therefore, the 
pressure in this direction on leaders in both Gaza and the West Bank 
will increase, until in the end, Hamas and the PA will come to an 
arrangement.  Israel's adamant opposition to any compromise and its 
threats against Abu Mazen should he make concessions to Hamas will 
not succeed in preventing this." 
 
-------------------------------- 
¶2.  Muslims in European Society: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Zali Yafe wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe: "The West will pay dearly for not facing with the 
fact that the most common first name among English babies is 
'Muhammad.'" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Nothing Suspicious in the West" 
 
Columnist Zali Yafe wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe (8/21): "Regrettably, many people believe that the 
Israeli-Arab conflict is the source of the [current] danger and that 
of the new terror taking hold of the world.  Of course this is a 
very convenient 'assumption,' which will lead nowhere.... The West 
will pay dearly for not understanding that Israel is the only 
country that truly fights terror.  The West will pay dearly for not 
facing with the fact that the most common first name among English 
babies is 'Muhammad.'  It will pay dearly for not doing anything 
ahead of 2043, when France will have a Muslim majority.... If the 
West does not wake up it will be late.  There is a time for 
conciliation and a time for having second thoughts.  Conciliating a 
body whose real purpose is to destroy the other has not succeeded in 
the past, and will not succeed in the future with organizations like 
Hizbullah and Al-Qaida because the idea contradicts religious 
fundamentalist beliefs." 
 
JONES