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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002702 
 
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.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media quoted Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal as saying 
on Thursday afternoon that Syria is weighing its response to an 
alleged violation of its airspace early on Thursday.  Maariv 
bannered: "On the Edge of a Flare-up."  All media reported that the 
GOI and IDF remained silent.  However, The Jerusalem Post quoted 
Israeli defense officials as saying that Israel is "fully prepared" 
for the possibility of a conflict in the North.  On Thursday 
afternoon and evening Israeli electronic media continuously 
broadcast news items and commentary related to the affair. 
(Israeli-Arab) Minister of Science, Culture, and Sport Raleb 
Majadele was quoted as saying in an interview with the 
Arabic-language Assennara (his comments were also carried by Israel 
Radio) that Israeli planes enter Syrian air space on a daily basis 
and that they may have overflown Syria to either take photographs or 
simply by mistake. Majadele added that this would not start a war 
with Syria.  In answer to a question by a Channel 2-TV's 
correpondent, Syrian Vice-President Farouk Shara was quoted as 
saying in Rome that the Israeli "attack" was meant to produce 
tension and justify a future war.  Media quoted Shara as saying that 
Syria does not want to be dragged into war.  Ha'aretz quoted the 
Iranian news agency IRNA as saying that on Thursday Iran's 
Ambassador to Syria, Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, called Syrian defense 
officials, telling them that his country was prepared to give "any 
kind of assistance" required by Syria. 
 
All media reported that on Thursday nine Palestinian militants and a 
civilian were killed in separate clashes with the IDF in the Gaza 
Strip.  An IAF missile killed six militants from Islamic Jihad and 
the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades who were heading 
toward the border security fence in central Gaza, in what Israel 
said was an attempt to storm an IDF outpost or abduct a soldier. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a group of Likud, Labor, and Kadima 
Knesset members decided this week to join forces in support of 
a proposal to change the electoral system to allow for direct regional 
elections for a portion of the Knesset. 
 
Leading media reported that on Thursday Hamas turned down a request 
by the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit abducted 
IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.  Ha'aretz quoted Osama Al-Mazini, a senior 
Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, as saying that allowing a visit 
might le Israel learn of Shalit's whereabouts. 
 
Major media reported that on Thursday in the Vatican President of 
Israel Shimon Peres discussed the issue of the abducted Israeli 
soldiers with Pope Benedict XVI. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that in recent days the Foreign Ministry 
has exchanged "strong words" with the Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv 
over a diplomatic document the embassy sent back to Oslo calling for 
criticism of Israel for allegedly using torture in prisons. 
 
Maariv reported that PM Olmert is endeavoring to show the Winograd 
Commission that he is implementing its interim report. 
 
The Arabic-language Kull Al-Arab reported that Professor Nadim 
Rouhana will head the Balad party, succeeding former MK Azmi 
Bishara, who fled Israel amidst allegations that he provided 
intelligence to Hizbullah. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that British Israelis expect HRH 
Prince Edward's private visit to Israel to act as a counterweight to 
the academic boycott of Israel. 
 
Yediot presented the results of a Mina Zemach (Dahaf Institute) poll 
conducted ahead of the Jewish New Year: 
-"Which actions do you support in order to stop Qassam rocket fire 
into Sderot and the communities around Gaza?"  Immediately stop 
supplying water and electricity following every attack: 72 percent; 
initiate a military operation: 60 percent; request UN intervention: 
37 percent; continue the restraint policy: 24 percent; invite Hamas 
to negotiations: 23 percent. 
-"Which problem facing Israel worries you most?"  The Iranian 
threat: 26 percent; traffic accidents: 23 percent; the condition of 
education: 23 percent; the Qassam rockets: 12 percent; the economic 
situation: 8 percent; Syria: 5 percent. 
-"How do you assess the security situation in Israel?"  Bad: 72 
percent; good: 26 percent. 
-"Are you certain that Israel will survive in the distant future?" 
Certain: 74 percent; not certain: 25 percent.  The rate of certainty 
in Israel's survival has shrunk by one third over the past year. 
 
A poll by the Tel Aviv local supplement of Yediot found that 46 
percent of the city's residents prefer incumbent Mayor Ron Huldai to 
former Meretz party chairman and cabinet minister Yossi Sarid -- 
with 40 percent of voting intentions -- an undeclared candidate for 
the municipal elections due to take place next year. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "How did a situation come about in which 
more and more  people have stopped asking if war will break out and 
are asking when?" 
 
Professor Eyal Zisser, the Chairman of the Department of Middle 
Eastern History at Tel Aviv University and a senior expert on Syrian 
and Lebanese affairs, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot: "The status quo between [Israel and Syria] is 
increasingly being breached.  Both sides should make an increasing 
effort in the future to avoid deterioration." 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jacky Hoogie wrote in Maariv: "Syria's 
hands are tied.... Israel should thank Assad for this restraint with 
a bouquet of flowers." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea and diplomatic correspondent Shimon 
Shiffer wrote in Yediot Aharonot: "[Vice Prime Minister] Haim Ramon 
is the dove that Ehud Olmert sends to the Palestinians with an olive 
branch in his mouth." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Why Was Olmert Silent?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (9/7): "At this rate, Ehud Olmert is 
liable to succeed where all his predecessors failed: to be the first 
prime minister to match Ben-Gurion.  Not in successes.  In wars.... 
How did we reach this situation?  Only a few years ago Assad was 
willing to come to Jerusalem and relayed messages that he was 
willing to renew negotiations without preconditions and sent 
conciliatory and moderate messages to Jerusalem?.... How did a 
situation come about in which more and more  people have stopped 
asking if war will break out and are asking when?  And why does 
Israel never learn lessons before [impending] traumas?  Who will 
head the next commission of inquiry?" 
 
II.  "Fragile Reality" 
 
Professor Eyal Zisser, the Chairman of the Department of Middle 
Eastern History at Tel Aviv University and a senior expert on Syrian 
and Lebanese affairs, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (9/7): "The announcement by the Syrian army on 
Thursday aroused concerns about a military clash between the two 
countries, concerns that seemed to be have been laid to rest in 
recent weeks.... In its language and content, the Syrian 
announcement was reminiscent of previous announcements issued by the 
Syrians in the wake of similar incidents that in which the Syrians 
warned that they would respond at the time and place that they find 
appropriate, but in reality they prefer to stay quiet.  However, one 
should note that the reality prevailing today between Israel and 
Syria is different from that which prevailed between the two 
countries until the Second Lebanon War.  One must hope, therefore, 
that both countries will know how to contain the incident, if it 
actually took place, and it looks like that is indeed the case. 
However, the status quo between the two countries is increasingly 
being breached.  Both sides should make an increasing effort in the 
future to avoid deterioration." 
 
III.  "Syria's Hands Are Tied" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Jacky Hoogie wrote in Maariv (9/7): 
"Damascus knows well how to deny its responsibility for the 
assassination of a Lebanese leader, but it is not a country that 
would invent allegations of an Israeli operation in its territory. 
The reason for this is simple: such an action represents a threat to 
Syria's ego and it has no use in exposing it, to which one must add 
the firm belief that Syria is not interested in a confrontation with 
Israel.  Thus it will not seek unwarranted provocations.... Damascus 
has declared that it reserves the right to respond to Israel.  This 
was lip service to the Arab public in Syria and outside it, which 
has for years demanded its leaders to extract a hefty price from 
Israel.  But because of the nature of the operation -- just an 
overflight of Syria, without casualties on the ground -- Syria's 
hands are tied.... Israel should thank Assad for this restraint with 
 
a bouquet of flowers." 
 
IV.  "Ramon Draws a Map" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea and diplomatic correspondent Shimon 
Shiffer wrote in Yediot Aharonot (9/7): "[Vice Prime Minister] Haim 
Ramon is the dove that Ehud Olmert sends to the Palestinians with an 
olive branch in his mouth.  Ramon has a plan, whose details we will 
bring below.  He is convinced that he is acting with permission and 
authorization.  The Prime Minister's Bureau says he has permission, 
but not authorization, and that everything he proposes is at his own 
initiative.  If it works, somehow, for Israel and the Palestinians, 
the Ramon plan, retroactively, will become the Olmert plan.  If it 
doesnQt work, it will be Ramon's alone.  This technique is known in 
diplomatic language as deniability.  Ramon is not just proposing, he 
is proposing a lot.... Ramon tells the Palestinians that the moment 
Israel built the separation fence, it determined its border in the 
West Bank.... The Palestinians would be compensated for the 
territories they lost with identical territory inside the Green 
Line.  Ramon talks to the Palestinians about a land corridor between 
Gaza and Hebron.... In the document of principles, both sides would 
promise, immediately after signing, to carry out the first stage of 
the Roadmap.... Jerusalem: Ramon, in his talks, adopts the principle 
that Clinton outlined in January 2001.... Refugees: This is the most 
complicated subject,  Ramon tells his interlocutors on the other 
side.  The document of principles will have to say that the right of 
return will be realized in the Palestinian state.  Israel will not 
bring refugees inside its borders unless this is part of a quota and 
is defined as a humanitarian gesture." 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Arnon Gutfeld, a Professor of American History at Tel Aviv 
University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: " All 
measures being taken by Russia restrict the possibility of American 
action against Iran, but this does not mean that any of the sides 
can remain nonchalant." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
"Will Bush Attack Or Won't He?" 
 
Arnon Gutfeld, a Professor of American History at Tel Aviv 
University, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/6): 
"Akin to President Ronald Reagan, President George Bush has an 
agenda and a plan of action.... His agenda includes an attempt to 
eradicate the enemies of the US in Iraq; a 'long-term war' on 
terror; [and] the encouragement of democracy throughout the war.... 
However, since he was reelected in 2004, his efforts to promote his 
agenda have utterly failed.... But Bush -- the most ideological 
president to sit in the White House for the past half-century -- is 
determined to be a proactive president through January 19, 2009. 
This 'lame duck' has at his disposal a might unequalled among any 
mortals.... In the short term Congress and public opinion will find 
it hard to restrict his steps.... All measures being taken by Russia 
restrict the possibility of American action against Iran, but this 
does not mean that any of the sides can remain nonchalant. Only a 
week ago President Bush declared in an address to the Veterans of 
Foreign Wars Convention that an Iran that strives to acquire nuclear 
weapons would threaten the Middle East with a nuclear Holocaust, 
adding, " We will confront this danger before it is too late."  Is 
this a 'lame duck's' declaratory policy or a declaration of 
intentions by the superpower?" 
 
JONES