VZCZCXYZ0018
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2933/01 2831018
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 101018Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3569
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 2826
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9520
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2928
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3625
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2857
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0881
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3589
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0451
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0922
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7501
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4948
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9856
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4007
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5952
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 8097
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002933 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Maariv reported that on Tuesday in Cairo Egypt's President Hosni 
Mubarak and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman told Industry, Trade, 
and Labor Minister and Shas leader Eli Yishai that abducted IDF 
solider Gilad Shalit feels well and "has even gained weight." 
Mubarak was quoted as saying that only Egypt can help bring Shalit 
back home. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the gap between Israeli and Palestinian 
positions regarding the document to be presented at the Annapolis 
meeting has created an atmosphere of despondency among Palestinian 
negotiators.  Ha'aretz reported that the appointment of former 
Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) to lead the 
Palestinian team is viewed by Israel as an attempt to undermine the 
talks.  The Palestinians view his appointment as proof that PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas is taking the talks seriously. 
The paper stated that the Palestinians are looking for a clear 
document which specifically addresses borders, Jerusalem and 
refugees whereas the Israeli side is looking for something 
non-specific which would represent a starting point for 
negotiations. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a "parade" of diplomats, including 
Quartet envoy Tony Blair and Assistant Secretary of State for Near 
Eastern Affairs David Welch, are visiting the region to help Israel 
and the PA draft a joint declaration to be endorsed at Annapolis. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
is scheduled to arrive from Moscow. The daily quoted diplomatic 
officials as saying that it is not yet clear how many days she will 
remain, and what other countries she will visit while in the region. 
The officials were quoted as saying that there were no immediate 
plans for a trilateral meeting between her, Pm Ehud Olmert, and 
Abbas.  They were also quoted as saying that there was no guarantee 
that, as many expect, she would announce a date and venue for the 
international meeting.   The Jerusalem Post also reported that 
Olmert told visiting Turkish FM Ali Babacan at a meeting they held 
on Monday that the US-sponsored conference was to focus on the 
Palestinian, not the Syrian, track.  The Jerusalem Post reported 
that Babacan told the newspaper on Tuesday that the Arab peace plan, 
which calls for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan, is on the 
table at the November meeting. 
 
All media reported that on Tuesday police interrogated PM Olmert for 
five hours in his Jerusalem residence over the Bank Leumi affair. 
All media cited remarks made on Tuesday on Israel Radio by 
Attorney-General Yaron Zelekha that Olmert and then-finance minister 
Abraham Hirchson offered plum jobs to him and to Treasury legal 
adviser Yamima Mazuz, ostensibly to win them over to Olmert's side 
in the Bank Leumi affair. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that several leading experts connected 
to the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 
December 1988 told the newspaper that the conviction of Libyan 
intelligence officer Abdelsbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi for the 
terrorist attack will be overturned in an appeals process.  The 
newspaper said that the spotlight might again fall on Iran and the 
PFLP-General Command. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Olmert is scheduled to travel to 
Paris and London on October 21-23 for his first meetings with French 
President Nicolas Sarkozy and British PM Gordon Brown since they 
took over their respective offices earlier this year.  This will be 
Olmert's first trip abroad since meeting with President Bush in 
June. 
 
Leading media reported that Germany is expected to release Kazem 
Darabi, an Iranian convicted of murder in the case of the 1992 
killings of an Iranian dissident and his interpreter in Berlin's 
Mykonos restaurant.  He was supposed to be released in the second 
stage of the 2004 prisoner exchange between Israel and Hizbullah, 
which never took place.  The media reported that Darabi is thought 
to have  information on the fate of Israeli MIA Ron Arad.  Media 
reported that Arad's family will travel to Germany next week to try 
to convince the German authorities not to release Darabi. 
 
Leading media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as saying on 
Tuesday before the Knesset's State Control Committee that in a few 
years Israel will be protected from 90 percent of missile and rocket 
fire. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted Abdullah Nimr Darwish, 
the founder of the southern branch of Israel's Islamic Movement, as 
saying on Tuesday night at an Iftar dinner hosted by President 
Shimon Peres: "The Israeli flag will fly in the capitals of 57 Arab 
[and Muslim] states -- something that the fathers of Zionism did not 
dare to dream of."  The Jerusalem Post reported that Ambassador 
Richard Jones held an Iftar dinner on the same day. 
 
Yediot quoted Israeli sources as saying that US pressure is delaying 
the launching of Techstar, an advanced Israeli spy satellite, from 
India. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that more than half a million Israelis 
have signed a petition -- organized by the OneVoice movement -- 
calling on the Israeli and Palestinian governments to reach a peace 
agreement within the next year based on a two-state solution and an 
Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Foreign Ministry is organizing a meeting 
of Israeli ambassadors and consuls in the US, Canada, and the UN to 
coordinate their policies with respect to Iran. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday NATO signed a cooperation 
agreement with Egypt. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted visiting Turkish FM Ali Babacan as saying on Tuesday 
that if the US Congress recognizes the World War I massacre of 
Armenians as genocide, this might cause serious damage to Turkey's 
relations with the Jewish people and Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday Maj. Gen. Eli Marom took over the 
command of the Israel Navy from David Ben Ba'ashat. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday in Amman three Israeli doctors 
treated40 Iraqi children -- whose ages ranged from a few months to 
14 years old -- suffering from heart disease in a rare instance of 
cooperation.  The doctors were quoted as saying that they hoped 
their actions will improve relations between the two Mideast nations 
and ease tensions between Israel and the rest of the Arab world. 
The heart program is sponsored by Save a Child's Heart (SACH), a 
humanitarian organization founded in Israel in 1996. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted the Gisha Center, and Israeli advocacy 
group, as saying that Saed Hasan, a Palestinian high tech executive 
from Ramallah, has been denied permission to enter Israel to attend 
an executive MBA program run by Northwestern University 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "The conclusion to be drawn from an analysis of the words 
of Bush, [Admiral Michael] Mullen, and others in the American 
leadership is that Israeli policy will be persuasive only if it is 
based on a compromise -- far-reaching and involving a significant 
withdrawal -- with moderate forces in the region." 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "There still is no certainty that the Palestinians will 
agree to participate in the meeting if they do not get what they 
want." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "The Winograd Commission's partial report, 
which was published about six months ago, should have been enough to 
bring about the Prime Minister's resignation." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The 
Winograd Commission needs to have its final say, and soon." 
 
Eliezer Yaari, the Director-General of the New Israel Fund, wrote in 
Ha'aretz: "Israeli society must ...  learn to be satisfied with the 
desire to return to parts of the Land of Israel, with the attachment 
alone, without any intention of turning it into the political right 
to return." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Islam Is the Enemy" 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (10/10): "Bush is not ignoring internal politics, the 
voices of a minority that can be influential in close races, 
especially if it is canvassed.  But in foreign affairs and defense, 
Islam is not just one topic among many, it is the main topic. 
Toward the end of his presidency, Bush is confronting one active 
enemy with many faces: extremist Islam. Sunni or Shi'ite, Iranian or 
Iraqi, Lebanese or Palestinian, everyone who is plotting against the 
Americans belongs to one extremist wing or another of the Islamic 
religion.... While Russia and China are considered competitors and 
in the future perhaps rivals again -- but not enemies -- eliminating 
North Korea from active membership in the 'axis of evil' will grant 
the Middle East almost exclusive attention in Washington.  In 
essence, the division of the world according to Bush into good guys 
versus bad guys is worded as 'moderate Muslims versus extremist 
Muslims,' with the former group needing assistance to keep the 
latter in check.... The conclusion to be drawn from an analysis of 
the words of Bush, [Admiral Michael] Mullen, and others in the 
American leadership is that Israeli policy will be persuasive only 
if it is based on a compromise -- far-reaching and involving a 
significant withdrawal -- with moderate forces in the region. 
Extremists who oppose such a compromise should be presented in their 
religious rather than national context: confrontation with the 
ayatollahs, Hezbollah and Hamas, not with Iranians, Lebanese and 
Palestinians.  A refusal to give in to the former, who are trying to 
destroy Israel, will be accepted with understanding." 
 
II.  "Hardships on the Way to the Conference" 
 
Conservative columnist Yosef Harif wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (10/10): "US Secretary if State Condoleezza Rice is returning 
to the region as she apparently fears that the holding of the 
international summit planned for the end of November is still 
uncertain.  Besides the fact that there currently are few countries 
that have guaranteed their participation, it turns out that the 
Palestinians are putting up demands that are hardly acceptable to 
Israel.... In light of Olmert's eagerness to take part in the 
international meeting, Rice will apparently not find it hard to 
reach an understanding with the Israeli side, but there still is no 
certainty that the Palestinians will agree to participate in the 
meeting if they do not get what they want." 
 
III.  "No One but Olmert" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (10/10): "The Winograd Commission's partial 
report, which was published about six months ago, should have been 
enough to bring about the Prime Minister's resignation: In 
unequivocal terms, the commission declared that he failed in every 
aspect of the Second Lebanon War's conduct, and that he bears full 
responsibility for this.  But in Israel's political culture, in 
which refusing to take responsibility has become the norm, these 
clear, harsh statements were insufficient to cause Ehud Olmert to 
resign.... The Winograd Commission will give the public an 
authoritative account of the Second Lebanon War: It has heard the 
testimony and scrutinized the documents, and to this day, no one has 
cast doubts on its integrity and skill.  Granted, the panel promised 
the court that it would enable anyone liable to be harmed by its 
final report to plead his case before it and examine the evidence. 
Nevertheless, we must hope that it will find a way to avoid either 
submitting a superficial and pointless report, on one hand, or being 
dragged into the cross-examination of witnesses, on the other.  As 
for the question of responsibility -- that was already settled in 
the interim report." 
 
IV.  "Time to Report" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/10): 
"While pledging to implement the recommendations [of the Winograd 
Commission's] interim report, Olmert has hitherto ignored the 
conclusion implicit on many of its pages, a conclusion recognized 
and essentially endorsed by his foreign minister when she told him 
that it required his resignation.  It remains to be seen if as harsh 
or still harsher a final report -- even if devoid of a direct call 
for him to vacate his office -- would trigger the political 
maelstrom he avoided at the interim stage. Conventional wisdom is 
that Olmert would be willing and politically able to discount 
anything less than an unequivocal recommendation to quit.... If the 
Winograd Report only comes out when further events -- and possibly 
further grievous mistakes by the government -- overtake and 
overshadow its subject matter, then its conclusions may be rendered 
irrelevant and the lessons it would have subsequent governments 
internalize may be offered too late.  The Winograd Commission needs 
to have its final say, and soon." 
 
¶V.  "The Right of the Link" 
 
Eliezer Yaari, the Director-General of the New Israel Fund, wrote in 
Ha'aretz (10/10): "It should be recalled that from the outset 
Zionism conceded the political right to all parts of the Land of 
Israel, and tried to achieve international political recognition of 
the Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel, within any possible 
physical border.  At the same time, the national institutions of the 
Jewish people never conceded their attachment to parts of the Land 
of Israel that did not receive political recognition.  This view -- 
a bond that does not translate into a full right to the territory -- 
was shared by national-religious Zionism, as opposed to the secular 
Revisionist camp, which did not give up the distinction between an 
attachment and a right..... Justice will be achieved when both sides 
undergo this process in which they concede the political right 
without losing the bond.  Israeli society must also learn to be 
satisfied with the desire to return to parts of the Land of Israel, 
with the attachment alone, without any intention of turning it into 
the political right to return.... One of the reasons why the left 
and center, which have given up on the attachment to the land 
(despite hollow declarations about 'Jerusalem the city that was 
reunified') are having difficulty dealing with the Palestinian side 
is due to this absence of a bond.  For this purpose there is no 
difference between Ehud Olmert, Ehud Barak, Yossi Beilin, Avigdor 
Lieberman, or Zehava Gal-On." 
 
JONES