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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002737 
 
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 electronic media and Maariv reported that at around 1:45 a.m. 
last night (6:45 p.m. EDT) a rocket landed next to tents in the IDF 
boot camp of Zikim, south of Ashkelon.  Sixty-nine soldiers were 
wounded, one of them critically and most of them lightly. Islamic 
Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees claimed responsibility 
for the attack.  Israel Radio quoted a senior GOI source as saying 
that Israel should respond immediately and powerfully.  Other GOI 
sources were quoted as saying that Israel should carefully prepare 
its response. 
 
Major media (lead stories in Yediot and Ha'aretz) quoted Arab 
sources as saying that last week Israel attacked targets in Syria. 
The media quoted Syrian FM Walid Mualem as saying on Monday during 
an official visit to Turkey that the Israeli warplanes that violated 
Syria's airspace last week dropped live ammunition on Syrian soil. 
Mualem added that Israel's decision not to comment was 
"appropriate."  Mualem was quoted as saying: "Israel used live 
ammunition in a deliberate and hostile attack."  His Turkish 
counterpart, Ali Babacan, demanded a quick explanation from Israel 
over fuel tanks found near the Syrian border in the incident last 
Thursday, which he said involved violation of Turkish airspace by 
Israeli jets.  Yediot quoted the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar as 
saying that the IAF apparently bombed predetermined strategic 
defense targets.  Israel is still not commenting on the incident. 
Leading media quoted former MK Azmi Bishara as saying on a Syrian 
Web site that Israel may have intended to prevent weapons from 
reaching Hizbullah or to take out Syrian anti-aircraft of radar 
installations in order to prepare air corridors for flights to Iran. 
 Last night Channel 2-TV reported that Hizbullah leaders made 
similar remarks.  Ha'aretz reported that Israel has thus far not 
detected any Syrian preparations for war.  Nonetheless, IDF units on 
the Golan Heights are on high alert, and will remain that way 
throughout the holiday period. 
 
Maariv reported that a date has been proposed for the international 
meeting in Washington: November 14-15.  Maariv and The Jerusalem 
 
 
Post reported that PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas is expected 
to leave for Saudi Arabia and will try to convince Saudi Arabia to 
take part in the meeting.  The Jerusalem Post reported that on 
Monday, fearing the outbreak of a new round of Palestinian violence, 
senior Israeli defense officials warned against building up 
expectations for the meeting.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted the 
London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying that the Bush 
administration has promised Abbas important achievements at the 
meeting. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that following their meeting in Jerusalem on 
Monday, PM Ehud Olmert and Chairman Abbas announced that Israel and 
the PA will establish working groups to begin drafting an agreement 
of principles.  The goal is to have the document ready to present at 
a US-sponsored international meeting that will take place in 
Washington later this fall.   Ha'aretz reported that on Monday 
Olmert's Bureau issued a statement saying that the working groups 
will focus on furthering the "two-state vision."  Chief PLO 
negotiator Saeb Erekat and Abbas's chief of staff, Rafiq 
al-Husseini, will head the Palestinian teams.  Israel's teams will 
be headed by senior Olmert aides Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom 
Turgeman, with assistance from representatives of the Foreign and 
Defense Ministries.  Erekat and Husseini told reporters on Monday 
that Abbas and Olmert agreed to hold another meeting on September 
¶25.  In addition, Israel will release additional Palestinian 
prisoners during the first week of Ramadan, which begins on 
Thursday, as a good-will gesture.  Olmert also agreed to Abbas's 
request that Israel transfer PA packages of food and cigarettes to 
Palestinian prisoners during the holiday.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
cited the optimism of Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.  Ha'aretz 
reported that on Monday PM Ehud Olmert's Bureau requested a copy of 
a 1995 paper formulated during secret meetings between Yossi Beilin 
and Mahmoud Abbas. The document addressed a possible framework for 
the permanent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The 
daily said that officials asked Beilin for a copy, possibly because 
Olmert and his aides want to learn about the issues on which Abbas 
expressed agreement in the past and make use of that knowledge in 
the current effort.  Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who succeeded the 
assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, rejected Beilin's proposal to use the 
document as a springboard to a conclusion on the settlement issue. 
The document was not signed and Abbas denied its existence until 
several years later when he told a senior US official of his support 
for the paper. 
 
Yediot reported that in Paris over the last weekend 20 Israeli and 
Palestinian economists, headed by Vice PM Haim Ramon and PA Economy 
Minister Kamel Hasuna, drafted an economic declaration of principles 
within the framework of a final status agreement. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that Egypt is still involved with 
efforts to free three Israeli soldiers held by Hamas and Hizbullah. 
The information came to light after a meeting on Monday between 
Jerusalem's chief negotiator, Ofer Dekel, Omar Suleiman, in Cairo. 
Ha'aretz reported that Dekel is refusing to comment on the meeting, 
but quoted sources involved with the talks as saying that the 
meeting was meant to prepare for the renewal of negotiations with 
Hamas and Hizbullah through Egypt.  Yediot quoted sources involved 
in the negotiations as saying that there is agreement between Israel 
and Hamas that Israel would release 450 prisoners in exchange for 
Shalit, but that Israel has clarified that in no way will it release 
detainees with "blood on their hands."  Maariv reported that on 
Monday PM Olmert promised Chairman Abbas that he will recommend a 
release of Palestinian prisoners.  Ha'aretz quoted Internal Security 
Minister Avi Dichter as saying on Monday that the Hamas Executive 
Force officer captured by Israel on Friday is a bargaining chip in 
the effort to free Gilad Shalit. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday the head of Israel's 
National Security Council, Ilan Mizrachi, announced that he will be 
leaving on November 1, after holding the position for some 18 
months.  His deputy, Itamar Ya'ar, and the head of the country's 
counterterrorism unit, Danny Arditti, will also be leaving their 
posts. 
 
Speaking on Israel Radio last night, State Prosecutor Eran Shendar 
recommended opening criminal investigations against PM Olmert in two 
additional cases.  The PM is already under criminal investigation 
over the privatization of Bank Leumi, Israel's second-largest bank, 
and is to be questioned under caution in that case in the near 
future.  Both of the two new cases involve Olmert's conduct in his 
previous role as industry, trade and employment minister.  One 
involves suspicions that Olmert gave special consideration to a 
company represented by his friend and former law partner, Uri 
Messer, in grant allocations by the ministry's Investment Center. 
The other involves suspicions that he made political appointments at 
the Small Business Authority. Both cases began with an investigation 
and subsequent scathing report by State Comptroller Micha 
Lindenstrauss. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday the national water 
company Mekorot announced that "another dry winter will bring 
Israeli water supplies to the red lines." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday Gen. David Petraeus, the commander 
of the Multi-National Force - Iraq, and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan 
Crocker assured the US Congress that the situation in that country 
was improving.  Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that 
Petraeus talked about a partial pullout of US forces from Iraq by 
the middle of 2008. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hy Brown, the chief engineer of New 
York's World Trade Center, who is now a resident of Jerusalem, will 
build solar houses in the Negev, 
 
Leading media reported that OC Central Command Maj. Gen. Gadi Shammi 
decided on Sunday that seven IDF soldiers who disobeyed orders and 
refused to take part in evacuating settlers from Hebron's wholesale 
market last month will be suspended from combat units. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Monday a Palestinian youth who was shot in 
the head during an IDF operation on Friday died of his wounds in 
Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. 
 
Yediot reported that the "olive tree war" between Palestinians and 
settlers is continuing. 
 
Maariv reported that Egypt has raised the entrance fee it levies 
from Israeli travelers crossing the border into the Sinai, from 46 
Egyptian Pounds (EGP) -- around USD 10 -- to EGP 500 - around USD 
¶100. 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that on Monday the Counter-Terrorism 
Bureau in the PM's Office issued a travel advisory to Israelis 
planning trips to Colombia, following reports in the Colombian media 
of Israeli involvement in military training in Colombia.  The 
warning said the "threat has increased against Israelis connected 
with the Colombian government, particularly assassination and 
abduction." 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Maybe what happened -- or didnQt happen 
 
-- in Syria or elsewhere on one of the nights last week, will prove 
itself to have been an act that did not hasten the advent of war 
but, rather, somehow increased the chances of peace." 
 
Current affairs correspondent Yoav Stern wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The three-way diplomatic liaison that binds 
Ankara, Damascus, and Jerusalem is a very sensitive matter indeed." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "Turkey does not want to 
be blamed for letting Israeli planes use its airspace [to attack 
Iran].  And therefore, it may now just be building deniability." 
 
Columnist Aviad Kleinberg wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot: "In almost every domain Israel has no national 
goals.... Think about the way in which, without any plan or 
diplomatic sense, Israel carried out a crawling annexation of the 
territories." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Once again, it seems that [the US] is 
approaching a crossroads of decision: After all, the frustration of 
an American president in the face of arrogance is nothing compared 
to that of a president being faced by a regime [Syria's] that 
embodies a concrete danger." 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Israeli Silence is Golden" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (9/11): "The pace of the drip is slow but 
regular. On Monday a significant step up was recorded. Syria 
announced, for the first time and in a clear voice, that the Israeli 
operation in its territory was not merely a 'flight,' but an 
offensive operation.... The current Israeli silence is golden.  We 
can be encouraged by what we see on the other side.  The Syrians, 
even though they are already aware of the fact that they were 
attacked and admit as much, have not begun to go wild.  Maybe the 
opposite is true.  The reports about a massive call-up of reserves 
in Syria have gone nowhere; and the various Syrian spokesmen, after 
warning Israel and promising a response, note that 'Syria is intent 
on peace, not war.'  Who knows, maybe what happened -- or didnQt 
happen -- in Syria or elsewhere on one of the nights last week, will 
 
 
prove itself to have been an act that did not hasten the advent of 
war but, rather, somehow increased the chances of peace.  That is 
the way it works in the Middle East, everything is upside-down." 
 
II.  "Complicated Relations Among Ankara, Damascus, and Jerusalem" 
 
Current affairs correspondent Yoav Stern wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/11): "The three-way diplomatic liaison that 
binds Ankara, Damascus, and Jerusalem is a very sensitive matter 
indeed.  Last week's alleged aerial incursion by Israeli warplanes 
that reportedly penetrated into Syria through Turkish airspace just 
served to make things more complicated.... Dr. Alon Liel, the 
Foreign Ministry's former director general, is an expert on Turkey. 
He believes that while Ankara's relationship with Israel is subject 
to increasing tensions, the Turks and Syrians are undergoing a 
gradual rapprochement.  According to Liel, the Anti-Defamation 
League's recent announcement that it now regarded the events of 1915 
-- in which an estimated 1.5 million Armenians were massacred -- as 
genocide perpetrated by the Turks did not help matters.  For the 
Turks, the statement was cause for much anger and heated resentment. 
 Many in Israel, meanwhile, view Turkey's recent political 
developments with concern.... The statements by Ankara's Foreign 
Minister, Ali Babacan, who demanded an explanation from Israel over 
it alleged use of Turkish airspace to strike in Syria, demonstrated 
Turkey's resentment regarding the incident.  Liel argues that Israel 
should take extra care not to damage its relationship with 
Turkey.... However, irrespective of the government's discontent with 
 
Israeli actions, the Turkish army -- which is does not share any 
aspiration of compounding Turkey's Islamic national identity -- 
maintains warm relations with Israel.  The two armies undergo joint 
training. Turkey's trade relations with Israel are also in good 
shape.  Additionally, Turkey has recently been reported mediating 
between Syria in Israel in an attempt to jump-start negotiations 
between Jerusalem and Damascus.  Turkey's relationship with Syria, 
meanwhile, has only improved in recent years, since Syria stopped 
supporting the PKK.... 'Syria and Turkey have started mutual visits 
by senior diplomats, and have begun cooperating on security-related 
matters,' Liel said." 
 
III.  "Talking 'Turkish' with the Syrians" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (9/11): "There is something 
ironic in Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan's protest on Monday 
over alleged flyover of Syrian territory last week.... Interesting 
words from the foreign minister of a country that just nine years 
ago amassed thousands of troops on its border with Syria and rattled 
its sabers to get Syria to end is support for the separatist Kurdish 
Workers' Party (PKK) and to cough up its leader, Abdullah Ocalan.... 
While some are suggesting that Turkey's tome is a manifestation of 
its anger at the Anti-Defamation League's decision to reverse its 
stand on the massacres of Armenians during World War I and refer to 
them as genocide, the more plausible explanation has more to do with 
Iran.  According to this reasoning, Turkey needs to protest loudly 
and clearly the possible violations of its airspace now because it 
is thinking that at some point Israel might attack Iran's nuclear 
facilities.  In that eventuality, Turkey does not want to be blamed 
for letting Israeli planes use its airspace.  And therefore, it may 
now just be building deniability." 
 
IV.  "We Don't Need Any Advice" 
 
Columnist Aviad Kleinberg wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (9/11): "In almost every domain Israel has no 
national goals.... Think about the way in which, without any plan or 
diplomatic sense, Israel carried out a crawling annexation of the 
territories.  We pushed the Americans, the world, the UN, Israel's 
High Court of Justice.  We pushed yet another acre and deported 
shepherd after shepherd.  We succeeded very well.  And now what?  We 
are stuck with an impossible map and an almost insoluble 
demographic-social problem." 
 
¶V.  "Smoke on the Horizon" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (9/11): "North Korea announced several days 
ago that in the context of its current negotiations about nuclear 
disarmament, the US has agreed to remove it from the list of 
terror-supporting countries -- a club whose other members include 
Syria and Iran, Sudan and Cuba.  In Iraq, which was dropped from 
this exclusive list at the time when Saddam Hussein's regime was 
dismantled, the Americans admitted their mistake when they failed in 
their searches for vestiges of weapons of mass destruction.  But in 
Israel, official sources estimate that the announcement was nothing 
more than a foolish attempt to amend a mistake with a mistake. 
After the initial victory in Iraq, voices were heard here to bring 
down the Syrian regime as well, but the prolonged entanglement on 
the streets of Baghdad has limited American room for maneuver.  The 
Syrians have taken good advantage of this for small, irritating 
stings, while skillfully avoiding a clear invitation to a 
confrontation: by infiltrating into Iraq, arming Hizbullah, 
undermining Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, and supporting 
Palestinian terror.  And the less the US desires a confrontation, 
the more frustrated it becomes.  Now, once again, it seems that it 
is approaching a crossroads of decision: After all, the frustration 
of an American president in the face of arrogance is nothing 
compared to that of a president being faced by a regime that 
embodies a concrete danger." 
 
JONES