VZCZCXYZ0006
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2558/01 2351014
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231014Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2904
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2665
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0651
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3395
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0267
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0733
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002558 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted President Shimon Peres as saying on 
Wednesday that PM Olmert is "holding serious discussions" with PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to put together an 
agreement of principles before a regional meeting to be held in 
November.  Peres' comments came during a meeting with outgoing UN 
Middle East envoy Michael Williams. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has proposed that safe passage for the 
Palestinians from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip be included in an 
exchange of territory with the Palestinians in the framework of the 
agreement of principles now being formulated ahead of the upcoming 
regional meeting.  According to Ha'aretz, the Palestinians will 
receive control of the route, but Israel will maintain sovereignty 
and it will only begin to operate after the PA, under its present 
leadership, reasserts control over the Gaza Strip.  Ha'aretz cited 
Jerusalem's belief that the move will help Chairman Abbas and PM 
Salam Fayyad garner public support in Gaza, which will see the Hamas 
government as an obstacle to renewing communication with the West 
Bank.  Ha'aretz quoted a senior official involved in talks with the 
Palestinians as saying that the agreement of principles will not set 
out the details of the land to be transferred to the Palestinians in 
exchange for Israel's settlement blocs, but will reflect as wide as 
possible a consensus on the core issues.  The details will be 
hammered out in negotiations after the summit.  It is believed that 
for the Palestinians, safe passage is worth more than its nominal 
territory, and therefore this will be a central component in a 
territorial package. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton, the US security 
coordinator for the PA, is checking whether Israel is upholding its 
agreement to stop pursuing Fatah militants in the West Bank. 
Ha'aretz quoted a senior Western diplomat that officers from 
Dayton's team have been meeting with Palestinian security officials 
in several West Bank cities.  "This is part of the activity to help 
the Palestinian security forces institute law and order," the source 
was quoted as saying. 
 
Israel Radio reported that three IDF soldiers were lightly wounded 
by Palestinian gunfire in a Nablus refugee camp.  Ha'aretz and Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe cited an announcement published on Wednesday by 
Abbas's office that the GOI is responsible for the escalation in the 
Gaza Strip.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that on Wednesday 
Palestinians shelled the Sufa Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, 
which stores goods vital to residents of Gaza.  The Jerusalem Post 
and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades 
are threatening to launch hundreds of rockets against Israeli 
targets. 
 
Yediot reported that over the coming months Israel will purchase 
advanced Patriot PAC-3 anti-aircraft missiles, which can provide 
protection against Syrian missiles.  Yediot also reported that on 
Wednesday Iran announced that it possesses a new operational bomb 
named "Kassad" (phon.). 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Democratic presidential candidates 
Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama harshly criticized President 
Bush for authorizing a USD 20-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia 
without any proof of genuine cooperation.  The two Senators, as well 
as Republican candidate John McCain, wrote their comments on The 
Jerusalem Post's blog.  McCain urged an increase in civilian 
assistance while cutting back military aid to Middle East nations 
such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. 
 
Major media reported that, in a precedent-setting ruling, the Hadera 
Magistrate's Court has ordered an IDF officer and the Defense 
Ministry to pay 500,000 shekels (around USD 120,000) to a 
Palestinian family after the officer killed their 16-year-old son. 
The officer, Captain Tzvi Koretzky, who was convicted of negligent 
homicide by a military court, shot and killed Mohammed Zayid of the 
West Bank village of Nazlat Zeid. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted one of PM Ehud Olmert's allies in Kadima 
as saying that a group of at least 10 Kadima Knesset members is 
seriously considering breaking from Kadima before the final Winograd 
Report comes out, in order to maximize their political futures. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the IDF did not intervene when 
dozens of left-wing activists and Palestinians burned vineyards 
during a demonstration in the western Binyamin area of the West 
Bank, between the settlements of Neria and Nahliel, close to 
Modi'in.  Ha'aretz also reported on the incident.  Ha'aretz reported 
that fire broke out 28 times in 18 months on a small piece of West 
Bank land owned by a Palestinian family, which accuses residents of 
the Beitar Illit settlement of harassment. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Turkish Ambassador to Israel Namik 
Tan is set to end his vacation two weeks early to return to Israel 
and register Turkey's concerns about the Anti-Defamation League's 
(ADL) statement that Turkish actions toward the Armenians from 
1915-1918 were "tantamount to genocide."  The Jerusalem Post also 
reported that the ADL has stopped short of supporting a resolution 
currently before Congress that calls on the Bush administration to 
give the "genocide" formal recognition. 
 
Yediot reported that Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann intends to 
restrict the number of petitioners to the High Court of Justice. 
Leading media quoted former High Court judge Dalia Dorner as saying 
on Wednesday that the government is trying to take over the judicial 
branch by means of a constitutional coup.  Dorner was referring to 
Friedmann's reforms taken as a whole.  The media reported that 
politicians from across the political spectrum and other former 
judges also criticized Friedmann's moves. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday dozens of Sudanese 
refugees, alongside Israeli activists, protested their deportation 
outside the Prime Minister's Office. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Olmert has committed himself to involving 
women in all diplomatic negotiations that Israel will conduct in the 
future. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Dr. Joel Mergui, the president of the umbrella 
organization of the Jewish community in Paris, as saying that his 
community is threatened by mass emigration to Israel. 
 
Maariv reported that Israeli investors and Arab sheikhs, notably 
from the UAE, are competing for real estate in the former Soviet 
republic of Georgia. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the late Israeli politician Moshe Sharett, 
who was PM during the 1950s, revealed in his diaries that in January 
1955, then defense minister Pinhas Lavon proposed a "horrific" plan 
for a military operation in the Gaza Strip and ordered then IDF 
chief of staff Moshe Dayan to employ "certain means" in the 
demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria.  According to Sharett, 
Lavon "plotted atrocities that were averted thanks to the outrage of 
chiefs of staff." 
All media (banner in Globes) reported that the Israeli economy grew 
by 6.6 percent in the fist half of 2007 and that unemployment sank 
to 7.6 percent during that period.  The US dollar has declined 4 
percent against the shekel in the last three weeks, reaching a rate 
of 4.17 shekels on Wednesday. 
 
Yediot reported that American entertainer Madonna will arrive in 
Israel for the Jewish New Year with 3,000 students of the Kabbalah 
Center from all over the world, including Demi Moore, Ashton 
Kutcher, fashion guru Donna Karen, and possibly Bruce Willis. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Perhaps it would be best to lay 
aside the calming-yet-alarming announcements and instead make a more 
serious effort to talk with Syria." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "This is 
a time when UN and European claims to be honest brokers and even 
friends of Israel will be put to the test.  It is not possible to 
press for peace and to sponsor and participate in the fomenting of 
hate." 
 
Veteran print and electronic journalist Yaakov Ahimeir wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Why give such a huge sum to a state that 
only represents, in the view of distinguished researchers, a 
'strategic burden'?" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Barak: A Voice From the Past" 
 
Columnist and former Meretz Party Chairman Yossi Sarid wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/23): "The Defense Minister, 
preparing for the next war, is still mouthing the concepts of 
previous conflicts.  He speaks of 'clear and unequivocal victory' 
and 'deterrence, warning and decisive action.'  Barak has not yet 
grasped why we didn't win 'unequivocally' in the first Lebanon war, 
before the cutbacks, and if we did, why we fled.  And why we didn't 
win the second Lebanon war despite our decisive military supremacy; 
and why we didn't win even in Gaza, which is continuing to fire 
Qassam rockets at us.  Or why the Americans are not triumphing in 
Iraq and Afghanistan, as they didn't triumph in Vietnam and as the 
Russians failed in Afghanistan and Chechnya.  When has any country 
won a war by clear, decisive action lately, anyway?  Are we to be 
forced to conclude that Barak is a man whose time has passed?  I 
have a suggestion that could reduce the gigantic expenses: Perhaps 
it would be best to lay aside the calming-yet-alarming announcements 
and instead make a more serious effort to talk with Syria.  Perhaps, 
after all, it is possible to make peace with it and bring peace upon 
us and the whole region.  That could save us a great deal of money, 
hundreds of billions, not to mention a lot of blood." 
 
II.  "Stop Durban II" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/23): 
"You might ... be surprised were you to discover that ... a 
conference [to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians] was 
being sponsored not by a virulently anti-Israel organization, but by 
such august bodies as the United Nations and the European 
Parliament.   Yet there is no other conclusion that can be drawn 
simply by glancing at the agenda of the "United Nations 
International Conference of Civil Society in Support of 
Israeli-Palestinian Peace," which is to be held next Thursday at the 
European Parliament in Brussels.... If anti-Israel groups want to 
hold a conference completely excluding an Israeli point of view, 
there is nothing stopping them.  But what are the UN Secretary 
General's office and the European Parliament doing there?  How does 
such a conference 'promote peace'?  Actually, there will be Israelis 
there.  As Hillel Neuer of UN Watch puts it: 'The conference will 
showcase Arab presenters who justify suicide bombings and accuse 
Israel of being vile, racist and illegitimate, and for balance it 
will also feature Israeli presenters who justify suicide bombings 
and accuse Israel of being vile, racist and illegitimate.'  We know 
what this looks like because it has happened before.  The infamous 
2001 Durban conference 'against racism' restored the 'Zionism is 
racism' canard a decade after that resolution was repealed by the UN 
General Assembly, and openly excluded anti-Semitism from the hatreds 
it was ostensibly meant to combat.... Next week, the UN is holding a 
planning meeting in Geneva for a 2009 follow-on conference to 
Durban.  Given the groups behind this meeting, we can expect it will 
be more of the same.... This is a time when UN and European claims 
to be honest brokers and even friends of Israel will be put to the 
test.  It is not possible to press for peace and to sponsor and 
participate in the fomenting of hate.  It is not enough to 
 
 
retroactively express 'regret' at outcomes that were foregone 
conclusions.  The time to stop Durban II is now. " 
 
III.  "When Israel Turns Into a Burden" 
 
Veteran print and electronic journalist Yaakov Ahimeir wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (8/23): "The presidential candidates, most 
of whom are green in foreign policy, will have to present their 
opinions about harsh allegations against the pro-Israeli lobby. 
Even if they don't publicly express their disapproval, in the middle 
of a race that is gathering heat and the media-covered political 
debates are enough to turn the issue of whether Israel is an asset 
or a burden into a key issue.  It would only be normal for some 
taxpayers to ask themselves whether it is worth it for the US 
Treasury to approve USD 30 billion in military aid to Israel in the 
coming decade, in the spirit of the memorandum of understanding that 
was recently signed in Jerusalem.  Why give such a huge sum to a 
state that only represents, in the view of distinguished 
researchers, a 'strategic burden'?" 
 
JONES