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P 031108Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2837
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0859
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3567
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0431
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RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7481
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4928
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RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 3987
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5932
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 8059
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002896 
 
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 
 
 
Please note: There will not be a Tel Aviv Media Reaction report 
Thursday, October 4, 2007, due to the Simchat Torah holiday. 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Myanmar 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will 
visit the region in mid-October to work on the agenda for the 
Annapolis meeting. 
 
Maariv reported that during a meeting with PM Olmert on Tuesday, FM 
Tzipi Livni wished to set principles for a final-status agreement, 
while Barak called for minimizing the importance of the planned fall 
meeting.  Israel Radio quoted Barak associates as saying that Barak 
and Livni concur on the goals of the Annapolis meeting and that both 
believe that the negotiations should be conducted cautiously and 
without high expectations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Tuesday Israeli defense 
officials expressed skepticism Tuesday that PM Olmert's negotiating 
team could agree with the Palestinians on fundamental final-status 
issues ahead of the Annapolis meeting.  The officials were quoted as 
saying that with Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu in his government 
coalition, Olmert had little leeway in negotiating with the 
Palestinians and would be forced to use vague language in the 
declaration of principles. One example had to do with the final 
borders of a future Palestinian state.   The Jerusalem Post quoted 
an Israeli defense official as saying: "The declaration will not be 
able to say: 'The borders will be the pre-1967 lines,'" adding: "But 
instead, it will have to say something like: 'In accordance with' or 
'based on' the pre-1967 border." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Fatah leaders warned on Tuesday 
that a failure in the upcoming international meeting would have more 
dangerous repercussions than the botched Camp David summit in 2000. 
Ha'aretz reported that the Bush administration may delay the 
international meeting until late November, so that PM Ehud Olmert 
and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas will have more time to 
formulate a joint declaration.  Olmert and Abbas will meet Wednesday 
at the PM's official residence in Jerusalem, and for the first time, 
their negotiating teams will also be present. The two leaders will 
meet privately and then brief the negotiating teams on the aims of 
the joint declaration.  Ha'aretz reported that there are significant 
gaps between the two sides' starting positions, and a particularly 
bitter dispute revolves around the essence and substance of the 
joint declaration.  Olmert is now rejecting titles such as 
"declaration of principles" or "agreement of principles."  Instead, 
he is proposing a general "declaration of interests" -- a term that 
did not exist in previous negotiations -- that would serve as a 
starting point for detailed negotiations following the Annapolis 
meeting.  He is also demanding that the declaration include a 
reference to two previous documents: President Bush's letter to 
former PM Ariel Sharon on April 14, 2004, and the Roadmap. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has 
appointed the head of the Defense Ministry's Diplomatic-Military 
Bureau, Amos Gilad, as his representative at the talks with the 
Palestinians.  The Jerusalem Post quoted officials close to Barak 
and Gilad said Tuesday it was unlikely anything concrete would come 
from the talks and that it was important to begin lowering 
expectations ahead of the international conference so it would not 
trigger a third Intifada if it failed.   The Jerusalem Post reported 
that a defense official involved in the talks told the newspaper: 
"We need to be realistic and realize that Abbas will have extreme 
difficulty in delivering on any of his commitments." "There is also 
a real chance that the Palestinians will pull out of the 
[international] summit even before it takes place due to Israel's 
refusal to commit itself on final-status issues." 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday Sima Vaknin, Israel's military 
censor, allowed the local media to report that the IDF had raided an 
"unspecified target" deep inside Syrian territory, without 
attributing their reports to foreign sources.  Media cited the Prime 
Minister's Office's "discomfort" over the censor's announcement. 
The IDF Spokesman's office was quoted as sayng that it did not 
authorize the disclosure of the strike.  Israel Radio quoted Syrian 
FM Walid Mualem as saying that Israel's action arise suspicions. 
 
Electronic media reported that a Hamas militant was killed by IDF 
fire in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza. 
 
Maariv reported that the Shin Bet leaves Palestinian patients 
seeking medical care in Israel the choice of collaborating or going 
back home without treatment. 
 
Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter was quoted as saying in 
interviews with IDF Radio and other media on Tuesday that his call 
to end probes of sitting prime ministers did not relate to Olmert 
but to future PMs. 
 
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was quoted as saying in an interview 
with Yediot that as a US president, she will not let Iran possess 
nuclear weapons and that the US will not renounce any options in the 
matter. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Jewish organizations slammed 
presidential candidate John McCain for calling America a "Christian 
nation."  The newspaper reported that his campaign told The 
Jerusalem Post on Tuesday that the affair was an "unfortunate" 
misunderstanding. 
 
Leading media reported that a Reuters photographer was injured on 
Tuesday when IDF troops fired warring shots at Palestinians who were 
approaching the fence at the Erez Crossing.  They were waiting for 
the arrival of relatives released from Israeli jail. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that 79 Senators -- 
including all those running for president -- signed a letter to 
Secretary Rice calling for greater Arab support for the peace 
 
SIPDIS 
process ahead of the international fall meeting.  The Senators 
demanded cooperation "from those Arab states with close relations to 
the US who have not signed agreements with Israel."  Major media 
cited a policy paper prepared by former top US officials -- 
including former US ambassadors to Israel Samuel Lewis, Edward 
Walker, and Thomas Pickering -- saying that Saudi participation 
should not define the success of the Annapolis meeting. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday hundreds of right-wing 
activists began marching toward the former West Bank settlement of 
Homesh, despite warnings from the army and police that terrorist 
groups were planning to attack Israelis in the area. 
 
 
Leading media reported that four Hamas police officers were killed 
and two wounded on Tuesday when a car exploded outside a Hamas 
security headquarters building in Gaza City.  At first the 
Hamas-controlled Gaza Interior Ministry released a statement saying 
the car was hit by an Israeli naval vessel offshore.  Israeli media 
reported that this was an internal conflict and cited the IDF as 
saying that it was not involved. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that leading American Jewish organizations are 
planning a PR campaign to urge Interpol to issue international 
arrest warrants for the perpetrators of a 1994 bombing attack 
against the Jewish community building in Buenos Aires.  Ha'aretz 
noted that during his address to the UN General Assembly last week, 
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner criticized Iran, saying that 
Tehran had failed to cooperate with Argentina's law enforcement 
agencies over the bombing. 
 
Maariv and The Jerusalem Post cited the British weekly The Sunday 
Telegraph as saying that the US and Persian Gulf states will jointly 
train ahead of a possible war with Iran.  Yediot ran a feature on 
the Jews of Iran, who fear they might be exposed to the greatest 
perils if war breaks out between Iran and Israel. 
 
Yediot quoted The Washington Post as saying on Tuesday that the US 
Marine Corps purchased sniffing dogs from Israel, but that they 
failed to detect explosives in Iraq because they only understand 
orders in Hebrew. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "As opposed to what is commonly assumed, the 
real controversy before and after the summit will not be the right 
of return, Jerusalem, or borders.... The real gap between the sides 
[will be] the question of the timetable." 
 
Prof. Ruth Gavison, a member of the Winograd Commission and the 
founding president of Metzilah: Center for Humanistic, Liberal, 
Jewish, and Zionist Thought, wrote in Ha'aretz: "A two-state 
solution that does not recognize the right of both peoples to 
self-determination in a part of their homeland would be a dangerous 
and unstable solution for both peoples, and for the entire region." 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The fact that Syria has in effect acknowledged an 
attack on its soil and that it has not reacted so far to the raid 
through military means has greatly reduced concerns about war 
breaking out because of Israeli idle talk." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Rice's Clock" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/3): "As opposed to what is commonly 
assumed, the real controversy before and after the summit will not 
be the right of return, Jerusalem, or borders.  These have all been 
discussed and clarified in endless forums, and a general outline for 
solving them has already been written in many versions.  At most 
they will serve as an excuse, a stumbling block, to conceal the real 
gap between the sides: the question of the timetable.  An official 
involved in the discussion recently offered an interpretation of the 
exchange of roles between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel once 
accepted the need to give now (evacuation, prisoners, checkpoints) 
to receive compensation in the future: an end to the conflict.  Now 
the situation is reversed.  The Palestinians are being asked to 
compromise now (Jerusalem, the right of return) to receive 
compensation in the future: a Palestinian state.  All this, of 
course, on the assumption that the principles being signed now will 
be only a 'diplomatic horizon' for the future, as Rice promised, 
rather than a plan for immediate implementation.  Between Rice's 
shortening time frame and her preliminary promises, senior political 
leaders are detecting with a certain disappointment that impatience 
is growing.  The clock is likely to win." 
 
II.  "The Right and the Return" 
 
Prof. Ruth Gavison, a member of the Winograd Commission and the 
founding president of Metzilah: Center for Humanistic, Liberal, 
Jewish, and Zionist Thought, wrote in Ha'aretz (10/3): "A just and 
stable peace between Jews and Palestinians is a critical interest 
for both peoples.  The 'two states for two peoples' solution grants 
neither everything they desire, but does give each of them an 
essential part of it.  A two-state solution that does not recognize 
the right of both peoples to self-determination in a part of their 
homeland would be a dangerous and unstable solution for both 
peoples, and for the entire region.... The Palestinians should not 
be required to give up the right of return, but Israel does not need 
to recognize it.  The time has certainly come for the issue of the 
Palestinian refugees to be settled in a humane and proper way via 
comprehensive diplomatic talks, and the refugees are entitled to 
compensation for their lost property.  But the realization of their 
'right' must not be allowed to torpedo both peoples' chances for a 
life of independence, liberty and dignity." 
 
III.  "More Is Still Hidden Than Overt" 
 
Military correspondent Amir Rappaport wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (10/3): "The [military] censorship's decision to 
allow Israeli media to publish the fact that the IDF attacked on 
Syria -- without quoting 'foreign sources' appears to be a technical 
matter.  In fact it is very significant.... Beyond the very fact of 
the raid in Syria, authorization was not granted to publish any 
other details from Israeli sources.  More is still hidden than 
overt.... The fact that Syria has in effect acknowledged an attack 
on its soil and that it has not reacted so far to the raid through 
military means has greatly reduced concerns about war breaking out 
because of Israeli idle talk.  But, were all the details ... to be 
published ... pressure on Syria to carry out retaliatory action 
against Israel would increase." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Myanmar: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "It's an ugly word we live in.  My point 
is that Israel is part of the ugliness." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Shalom, Myanmar" 
 
Liberal columnist Larry Derfner wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/3): "In Africa, Israel's best-know 
... emissaries were kibbutz agricultural advisers.  But then came 
the Six-Day War, and the Yom Kippur War, and the hardening of the 
 
Israeli-Arab conflict, and Israel's abandonment of its socialist, 
agrarian ideals in favor of becoming a little Jewish Texas, and this 
country's best-known emissaries in Africa became mercenaries and 
arms merchants.  These are the chief emissaries we've sent to 
Myanmar, too.... I don't think Israel is unique or even unusual when 
it comes to war profiteering and propping up dictators, mass 
murderers, mass torturers, and the like.  It's an ugly word we live 
in.  My point is that Israel is part of the ugliness.  If we're no 
worse than the rest of the world, we're not better, either.  We also 
help our evildoers, real bad ones, when it's in our interest.  But 
we don't admit this, we pretend not to know it, we wash it out of 
our minds.  And from this phony pretext of moral superiority, we 
condemn Russia and China and Europe for doing business with Iran, 
for selling arms to Syria, to Saddam's Iraq, to any Arab or Muslim 
dictator aligned against us." 
 
JONES