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P 051251Z OCT 07
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002908 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted David Wurmser, an associate of Vice President 
Dick Cheney, as saying that contrary to media reports, Cheney did 
not consider pushing Israel into a military operation in Iran in 
order to justify an American attack on Iran.  The Jerusalem Post 
devoted the key article of its weekly magazine to the prospects of 
nuclear proliferation in the Middle East. 
 
All media reported that during their meeting in Jerusalem on 
Wednesday, PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas 
decided that formal negotiations on core issues such as borders, 
Jerusalem, settlements and refugees would only commence after the 
Maryland gathering.  Yediot quoted a senior Israeli political source 
as saying that Israelis and Palestinians "have decided to make love 
like hedgehogs: slowly and cautiously" (i.e. lowering expectations 
ahead the international meeting).  Leading media reported that the 
joint statement to be formulated ahead of the regional meeting next 
month may include references to the core issues of the final-status 
agreement.  However, such references would be non-committal, and the 
statement will deal only with issues that enjoy clear agreement. 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli sources as saying that the meeting has been 
set for November 26.   Ha'aretz quoted sources in Jerusalem as 
saying that the joint statement will be "significant enough but 
general enough to avoid a blow-up and a crisis."   The sources were 
also quoted as sayng: "The parties understood there was no point to 
pledging that the statement would include agreement on core issues, 
but that if there were issues on which agreement could be reached, 
they would be included in the statement."  Maariv reported that the 
PA is threatening to boycott the Annapolis meeting if Israel refuses 
to discuss the core issues. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Hamas officials told the newspaper 
on Thursday that  Fatah has resorted to "insurgency" tactics in Gaza 
after failing to organize a popular uprising.   The officials told 
the newspaper that Fatah militiamen were behind a series of bombings 
that targeted Hamas members and institutions over the past few 
weeks. Leading media reported that Hamas and Fatah have engaged in 
secret talks under the auspices of Egypt.  Some media said that the 
 
SIPDIS 
purpose of those contacts is the establishment of a national unity 
government.   Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Israeli sources 
reiterated their view that Israel would suspend contact with any 
Palestinian government negotiating with Hamas. 
 
Yediot reported that over the past few days an upgrade to the Google 
Earth software has resulted in clear images of Israel's most 
sensitive  sites. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
plans to shuttle between Jerusalem and Ramallah starting next week 
in an effort to narrow the gaps ahead of the conference. 
 
The media reported that on Wednesday two Palestinians were killed in 
separate IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip.  Three Palestinians were 
injured in the attacks.  This morning Israel Radio reported that the 
IDF killed an armed terrorist in the central Gaza Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel has offered to help rebuild and 
renovate the Justice, Finance and Health ministries in the PA, and 
to train Palestinian judges and lawyers. The plan was unveiled at a 
gathering of donor nations in New York two weeks ago, and will 
include help from Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz cited the US weekly Aviation Week & Space Technology as 
writing last week that Israel successfully disrupted Syria's aerial 
and anti-aircraft defenses using highly advanced technology in its 
strike on Syria last month.  Aviation Week said that Israel employed 
special technology to blind Syrian radars, to ensure the striking 
planes were not detected as they flew over Syrian territory. 
According to the weekly, officials in Iran -- which operates the 
same aerial defense systems -- are concerned by the failure of the 
Russian-made radar. 
 
Yediot reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on 
the Hizbullah leadership to organize protest marches along the 
border with Israel to mark Yawm Al-Quds (Jerusalem Day) today. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that diplomats involved with the work of the UN 
delegation to Israel told the newspaper this week that the 
delegation is severely understaffed and it is unable to properly 
maintain its influence in the immediate region.  According to the 
sources, most of the UN activity in Israel and the PA is coordinated 
with New York. 
Major media reported that IAF planes were dispatched in the 
direction of suspected targets in the vicinity of Eilat, which 
turned out to be US helicopters whose flight had not been 
coordinated with Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a committee headed by a reserve major general 
will examine the alternative proposed by the Haifa municipality to a 
military port in the city, according to an agreement reached between 
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and the Defense Ministry. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that its correspondent Akiva Eldar has won the 
annual Eliav-Sartawi award for Middle Eastern journalism, awarded by 
Search for Common Ground, an international conflict resolution 
organization.  Eldar received the prize jointly with Salameh Nematt, 
a Jordanian journalist, for their "Reaching Across the Divide" 
series, which features correspondence between the two on Middle 
Eastern issues.  "Reaching Across the Divide" is comprised of 10 
separate articles, five by Eldar and five by Nematt.  The series was 
published in Ha'aretz, the Palestinian paper Al-Quds and The 
Baltimore Sun. 
 
Maariv reported that the US administration has decided to cooperate 
with Israel on the matter of Israelis illegally employed in the US. 
According to new arrangements, local police in the US would be able 
to arrest and deport illegal residents.  Maariv also reported that 
he Department of State has officially announced the start of the 
2009 Diversity Immigrant Visa Lottery (a.k.a. the Green Card 
Lottery). 
 
Tzvi Chalamish, Israel's Finance Ministry's lead representative in 
the US, was quoted as saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post 
that long-distance relationships between US-based companies and 
Israel can work. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli pharmaceutical company 
Teva may benefit for the Food and Drug Administration's plan to 
upgrade its generic drug program. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that most of the US public budget allocated to 
security in non-profit organizations goes to Jewish organizations. 
The Jerusalem Post printed a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report that 
the USG budgets USD 19 million to protect Jewish NGOs. 
 
Ha'aretz led with a report that the GOI has formulated a 
multi-faceted plan to fight trafficking in women.  Under the plan, 
it will work to prevent foreign women from being sold into 
prostitution in Israel, reduce prostitution here, and keep Israeli 
women from being sent abroad to work in the sex industry. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The changes 
in the region and the Palestinian leadership's weakness make it even 
more difficult to reach a viable agreement.  It is clear that the 
Annapolis meeting will require much more creativity and daring than 
the previous session at Camp David." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner and diplomatic correspondent 
Aluf Benn wrote from Washington in Ha'aretz: "The moral and 
historical foundation of Rice's thought explain her devotion to 
pushing forward the diplomatic process between Israel and the 
Palestinians, despite the deep surrounding skepticism.... But her 
increased interest does not convince the veterans of the diplomatic 
process." 
 
Security and intelligence affairs commentator Amit Cohen wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv: "The Palestinian threat [not to 
attend the Annapolis meeting] constitutes a gamble with the prestige 
of the US administration, which needs a successful peace 
conference." 
 
Deputy Managing Editor of the conservative, independent Jerusalem 
Post and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in The 
Jerusalem Post and the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: 
"All negotiations should be postponed until after the summit, and 
the summit should be delayed for weeks, then months, then years. 
Otherwise, in the name of 'promoting peace,' Rice and her Israeli 
underlings will foment a new war." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "From Camp David to Annapolis" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (10/5): "The 
negotiations in the fall of 2007 are being held in a very different 
political and strategic environment from those of the previous 
round.  First ... every agreement between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert 
and Palestinian Chairman Mahmoud Abbas will be compared to Clinton's 
plan, to see who conceded and who gained.  Second, building the 
separation fence fixated in the consciousness of most Israelis the 
final border with the West Bank.... Third, the Gaza Strip's status 
has changed entirely.... Fourth, the increased strength of Iran and 
its allies has changed for the worse the regional balance of 
power.... For Israel, this is a blessing and a curse.... Fifth, 
America is no longer as powerful as it was in the Middle East.... 
Sixth and most important, in Arafat's era the question was whether 
he really wanted an agreement, but there was no doubt that he was 
capable of carrying it out.  The situation with Abbas and Salam 
Fayyad is reversed: They mean well, but their power to implement is 
limited.  Any agreement with them would be theoretical, at least 
until they 'gain more power' and accept security responsibility. 
All this indicates that Olmert and Abbas's mission is much harder 
than that of their predecessors Barak and Arafat.  Only the final, 
most serious issues remain open.  There is no time left to waste on 
empty rhetoric.  The changes in the region and the Palestinian 
leadership's weakness make it even more difficult to reach a viable 
agreement.  It is clear that the Annapolis meeting will require much 
more creativity and daring than the previous session at Camp 
David." 
 
 
 
 
II.  "Condoleezza's Show" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner and diplomatic correspondent 
Aluf Benn wrote from Washington in Ha'aretz (10/5): "Rice views the 
end of the Israeli occupation of the territories and the 
establishment of a Palestinian state as the modern revival of the 
struggle for civil rights in America.... She views Abu Mazen and 
Fayyad as the heirs of Martin Luther King -- leaders striving to 
equality and freedom through dialogue and persuasion, not through 
bombs and guns.  The moral and historical foundation of Rice's 
thought explain her devotion to pushing forward the diplomatic 
process between Israel and the Palestinians, despite the deep 
surrounding skepticism.... But her increased interest does not 
convince the veterans of the diplomatic process.... They believe she 
accompanies the process from above ... and is not well-versed in the 
details.... [In their view] Rice has no 'peace team'.... Her 
assistant in near eastern affairs, David Welch, is her envoy to the 
region, but he is responsible over a huge geographical area and 
cannot devote all his time to 'Israel-Palestine.'" 
 
III.  "Abu Mazen's Gamble" 
 
Security and intelligence affairs commentator Amit Cohen wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/5): "The gaps between the two 
sides, say the Palestinians, will lead to the failure of the 
conference.  They cast the responsibility on Israel, they direct 
their threats to Washington, but the great loser from the whole 
story will be Abu Mazen.  For the Palestinian Authority, the worst 
option is to go to the conference and return empty-handed.... The 
second option, which Abu Mazen is now brandishing like a sword, is 
simply not to show up.  This way, he will be able to gain, perhaps, 
five minutes of grace in the face of Hamas's criticism.... 
Therefore, it should be taken into account that the Palestinian 
threat constitutes a gamble with the prestige of the US 
administration, which needs a successful peace conference.  Senior 
sources in the Palestinian Authority point out that in the last 
meeting between Abu Mazen and President Bush, the latter said that 
failure is out of the question.  President Bush intends to impose 
his full weight in order to ensure the success of the conference. 
This, in any case, is what the Palestinians are gambling on.  If the 
Americans believe that Abu Mazen is not coming, they may pressure 
Olmert to draft a broader document than he wishes.  In the meantime, 
despite the threats, the joint teams will continue to try to draw up 
a joint document for the conference.  But it is difficult to see how 
this task can succeed without US pressure.  The core issues -- which 
Israel is not willing to deal with at all, according to the 
Palestinians -- are still far from resolution.  Abu Mazen, for some 
reason, believes that by the end of November it will be possible to 
discuss these landmines, and even present a solution for them in 
principle.  If this expectation is a precondition for the 
participation of the Palestinians in the Annapolis conference, it is 
difficult to believe that it will indeed take place.  On the other 
hand, it could be understood from the statements of the Palestinian 
information minister last night that the summit would be attended by 
more countries than the World Cup.  In this situation, the 
Palestinians may believe that the summit can be held even without 
them." 
 
IV.  "Rice's Rabbit Hole" 
 
Deputy Managing Editor of the conservative, independent Jerusalem 
Post and right-wing columnist Caroline B. Glick wrote in The 
Jerusalem Post and the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
(10/5): "It is manifestly clear that by succumbing to Rice's 
obsession with summitry, the Olmert government is playing with fire. 
 It is committing Israel to negotiating positions that deny the 
country the ability to demand that the Palestinians come to terms 
with the Jewish state and live at peace with it.  And it is 
rendering strategically suicidal seven-year-old offers the starting 
point of all negotiations for years to come.  On Wednesday, the 
State Department announced that Rice's conference is being postponed 
until the end of November to give the parties sufficient time to 
'prepare the groundwork' to somehow ensure the summit's success. 
Also Wednesday, Olmert and Abbas reportedly agreed that the 
conference would be nothing more than the starting point for future 
negotiations.  It can only be hoped that these approaches will be 
combined.  All negotiations should be postponed until after the 
summit, and the summit should be delayed for weeks, then months, 
then years.  Otherwise, in the name of 'promoting peace,' Rice and 
her Israeli underlings will foment a new war." 
 
JONES