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Viewing cable 07TELAVIV2947, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07TELAVIV2947 2007-10-12 13:37 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2947/01 2851337
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121337Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3591
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 2833
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9527
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 2938
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3632
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2864
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0892
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3596
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0461
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0929
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7508
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 4955
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9866
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4014
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 5959
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 8110
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002947 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that in a recent IDF Intelligence (MI) assessment 
doubted the likelihood for success at the regional peace summit. 
According to MI, the Palestinians are looking for immediate gains, 
however in return  they will either postpone or fail to carry out 
their commitments, primarily in countering terrorist activity. 
Political and defense sources who saw the MI assessment told 
Ha'aretz Wednesday that analysts believe that PA Chairman Mahmoud 
Abbas will not be able to assert control over the West Bank cities 
if security responsibility is passed to his forces.  Currently, the 
IDF operates in Palestinian urban centers to counter terrorism, 
while the Palestinians are assigned policing duties.  Ha'aretz 
further said that the report expresses concerns over the pressure 
being applied by the PA on the US to push Israel for more goodwill 
gestures ahead to the summit. 
 
All media quoted Abbas as saying on Wednesday in an interview to a 
Palestinian television station that the Palestinians want to 
establish a state on 6,205 square kilometers of the West Bank, the 
Gaza Strip, and east Jerusalem.  This marks the first time that 
Abbas has referenced a specific number for the size of a future 
Palestinian state.  Abbas said that his demand for a full Israeli 
withdrawal from the  West Bank is backed by UN resolutions.  Abbas 
did leave the door open for border adjustments amounting to a land 
swap.   Yediot understood that Abbas's speech allowed for the 
retention by Israel of areas such as Gush Etzion.  (The Jerusalem 
Post quoted top Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala) as 
saying on Wednesday that the Palestinians are ready to yield parts 
of the West Bank and Jerusalem to Israel, if compensated with an 
equal amount of territory.)  The media reported that he reiterated 
his demand that the problem of Palestinian refugees be solved and 
that he intends to bring any permanent agreement to a referendum. 
Leading media quoted Abbas as saying because of the scope of 
participation by Arab countries in the Annapolis meeting, all 
participants would pay a price for failure.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Abbas is scheduled to meet today with Assistant Secretary of State 
for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch in preparation for next week's 
visit by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. 
 
Maariv reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has ordered a halt 
in construction inside the Gush Etzion, Ma'aleh Adumim, and Ariel 
settlements.  The newspaper said that the purpose of the move is to 
pressure the settler leadership into removing unauthorized outposts 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday the central committee 
of the Yisrael Beiteinu party made a "surprising" decision to make 
"keeping Jerusalem Israel's undivided capital" one of its three red 
lines ahead of the Annapolis meeting. 
 
Israel Radio and Ha'aretz's Web site cited the London-based Al-Hayat 
as saying, based on a French source, that Israel is convinced that 
the two IDF soldiers abducted by Hizbullah in July 2006 are no 
longer alive.  The media reported that Israel calls this speculation 
and says that the soldiers are assumed to be alive. 
 
Israel Radio reported on an IDF incursion into Gaza today. 
The radio reported that in Jenin Border Police killed an armed Fatah 
activist who was reportedly preparing a terrorist attack.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe reported that on August 25 Israeli security forces 
arrested two Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militants who on the same day 
helped two Gaza terrorists cross into Israel. 
 
All media reported that on Wednesday State Comptroller Micha 
Lindenstrauss issued an interim order preventing the cabinet from 
appointing a new accountant general to replace Yaron Zelekha.  As 
ombudsman, Lindenstrauss has the authority to grant protection to 
officials who uncover corruption.  Zelekha uncovered the Bank Leumi 
affair involving PM Ehud Olmert. 
 
Outgoing Deputy IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Kaplinsky was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Yediot that the IDF will eventually have 
to make an incursion into parts of Gaza and remain there for 
months. 
 
Israel Radio quoted a senior Israeli political source as saying that 
Israel is disappointed by comments made on Wednesday by Russian 
President Vladimir Putin in meetings with French President Nicolas 
Sarkozy that he has seen no evidence indicating that Iran is 
attempting to produce a nuclear weapons.  However, major media 
reported that later during the day Putin told a delegation of 11 
European Jewry leaders that Iranian nuclear weapons are a "strategic 
threat."  Putin emphasized that nuclear weapons in Iranian hands was 
also a strategic threat to Russia, even more than to other 
countries.  This is because the missiles Iran can launch can easily 
reach Russia -- not other European countries or the US. 
 
Leading media reported that on Wednesday the US House Foreign 
Affairs Committee approved a measure calling the killings of 
Armenians early in the 20th century genocide.  The move was in 
defiance of President Bush's attempt to persuade Congressional 
members to reject it.  Ha'aretz quoted Armenian Archbishop Aris 
Shirvanian from Jerusalem as saying: "The Turks are not the only 
ones who believe the way to Washington passes through Jerusalem.  We 
also know that this alliance is very important, and the day Israel 
recognizes the Armenian genocide, the US administration will, too." 
 Ha'aretz said that the "almost mystical belief" that Israel and the 
Jewish lobby have the power to sway votes on Capitol Hill is 
sometimes reminiscent of the conspiracy theory in the style of the 
protocols of the Elders of Zion, and that this is probably the one 
thing the Turks and Armenians have in common in their historic war 
over the recognition of the Armenian holocaust. 
 
Yediot ran a feature about Israelis doing brisk business with Burma 
(Myanmar). 
 
Leading media cited a New York Times story that Secretary Rice 
believes that the information that Israel passed on to the US 
regarding the September 6 raid on Syria is not reliable, while Vice 
President Dick Cheney claims that the information is credible. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that on November 3-5 the Saban Center for 
Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution will hold an 
Israeli-Palestinian-American dialogue during its fourth annual 
Mideast policy forum in Jerusalem and Amman. 
 
Major media reported that on Wednesday the Security-Diplomatic 
Cabinet decided to provide anti-missile protection to all Israeli 
airliners. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted the office of Defense Minister Barak that he does 
not intend to interfere in the legal dispute over the final report 
of the Winograd Commission.  Barak does not intend to order the head 
of the defense team at the IDF Advocate General (MAG), Colonel Orna 
David, to rescind her letter to the commission.  In her letter, she 
asked the commission to verify reports that it does not intend to 
issue warning letters to officers who may be personally affected by 
the findings in its final report.  In her letter, David warned that 
unless such warning letters were issued and the right to respond 
granted to the officers in question, MAG would petition the High 
Court of Justice.  Ha'aretz reported that Likud Knesset Member Yuval 
Steinitz called on Barak to order David to "put an end to the 
absurdity" in which the IDF is confronting a government committee of 
investigation in the halls of the Supreme Court. 
 
Ha'aretz cited a Reuters report quoting Hamas as saying on Wednesday 
that it would hold reconciliation talks with Chairman Abbas's Fatah 
faction.  Hamas hinted it might be ready to give up control of the 
Gaza Strip. 
 
Geostrategist Arnon Soffer from the University of Haifa was quoted 
as saying in an extensive interview with The Jerusalem Post that he 
did not recommend that Israel kill Palestinians, but that he said 
that Israel would have to kill them -- because of the pressure at 
the border with Gaza. 
 
Maariv reported that Ehud Barak has allowed a Palestinian youth 
soccer team to leave Gaza for Jordan in order to participate in the 
Asian Youth Championship. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted officials as saying on Wednesday that 
Israel has agreed to grant residency permits to thousands of 
Palestinians who have been living illegally in the West Bank on 
expired visitors' visas as a new confidence-building gesture to 
Abbas.  Ha'aretz, Maariv, and The Jerusalem Post reported that the 
High Court of Justice decided on Wednesday in a precedent-setting 
ruling that Israeli labor laws will be applied to Palestinians 
working in West Bank settlements. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported on the activity of the 
Arcobaleno-Rainbow Theater comprising young Arabs, Jews, Druze, and 
Circassians from different communities in the Galilee. 
 
Maariv reported that despite President Hugo Chavez's hostile 
attitude to Israel, a Venezuelan TV network is broadcasting a 
documentary series favorably depicting the history of Zionism. 
 
Ha'aretz published the results of a Dialog poll conducted this 
week: 
Do you support the talks between PM Olmert and Chairman Abbas? 
       Yes: 51%;  No: 42%; Undecided: 7%. 
Should investigations against Olmert be frozen? 
     No: 64%; Yes: 28%; Undecided: 8%. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Dov Weisglass, top diplomatic adviser to former prime minister Ariel 
Sharon, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: 
"True, the Roadmap was adopted and approved by the Palestinian 
Legislative Council, but from the outset, the Palestinians found it 
difficult to implement it, and are most likely happy to discover 
that Israel is not seriously demanding its implementation." 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: 
"The ruling Jewish community will continue, even when it becomes a 
minority, to force [a] split on the Palestinians with the usual 
means." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "There 
is nothing that makes the threat of force more credible than its 
use, so diplomats should be the first to congratulate Israel for 
taking concrete action to back the objectives of Western 
diplomacy." 
 
Washington correspondent Hilary Leila Krieger and correspondent 
Caleb Ben-David wrote in The Jerusalem Post: "The Israeli strike on 
Syria last month has become a Rorschach test of sorts for Bush 
administration policy makers." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
ΒΆI.  "And Israel Is Silent" 
 
Dov Weisglass, top diplomatic adviser to former prime minister Ariel 
Sharon, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot 
(10/11): "Ariel Sharon's government had two major diplomatic 
achievements in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Roadmap 
conditioned permanent status negotiations on the Palestinian 
Authority preventing terror; and 2) President BushQs letter to Prime 
Minister Sharon that states the United States' positions of not 
demanding withdrawal to the 1967 borders, that  the large Jewish 
settlement blocs will remain in Israel's hands; and no return of 
refugees to Israel but rather to the newly established Palestinian 
state.... The public Palestinian position being pushed in advance of 
the international conference, ignores this entirely.  And Israel is 
silent.  True, the Roadmap was adopted and approved by the 
Palestinian Legislative Council, but from the outset, the 
Palestinians found it difficult to implement it, and are most likely 
happy to discover that Israel is not seriously demanding its 
implementation.  And another thing to remember: The Roadmap  ... is 
a document accepted by all nations and received the validity of a UN 
Security Council resolution.  As for the President's letters: the 
Palestinians never agreed to the US position, and in thQ case too, 
the Palestinians were not sorry to discover that Israel was not 
publicly demanding its implementation.  The US has a central role in 
any Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, and because of its special 
standing, only the US can bring the negotiating sides to an 
agreement.... Of course it is impossible to know what is being said 
in the secret channel of negotiations, but in this part of the 
world, a great deal of weight -- sometimes decisive weight -- is 
given, in fact, to public positions.  The media creates expectations 
on both sides and determines the sense of an achievement or of a 
failure. Israel, therefore, must publicly and decisively use its 
diplomatic assets, because if it does not, they will disappear. And 
that must not happen." 
 
II.  "Splintering as a Strategy" 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(10/11): "The ruling Jewish community will continue, even when it 
becomes a minority, to force [a] split on the Palestinians with the 
usual means -- the carrot and the stick, dictating the agenda, 
threats, collective punishments and bribery.  This will preserve and 
even deepen the lack of coordination, the conflicting interests, and 
the weakness of the splintered Palestinian communities..... Israeli 
propaganda has no interest in stressing the achievements of this 
split; on the contrary, Israel aims at erecting an 'existential 
threat' scarecrow that portrays a monolithic adversary that relies 
on the dark forces of 'Islamo-fascism'.... That is why this strategy 
can succeed; attention is diverted to marginal issues such as the 
Jewish National Fund and the 'division of Jerusalem,' and even those 
who are informed and well-versed, are surprised when the 
fragmentation is brought to their attention.  It is not a Nelson 
Mandela that the Palestinians need, but rather a Giuseppe Garibaldi, 
who should rise from their midst and unite them." 
 
III.  "Force and Diplomacy" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/11): 
"The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the still mysterious 
Israeli strike in Syria last month has sparked a raging debate in 
Washington's corridors of power.  At the center is reported Israeli 
intelligence that North Korea was helping Syria develop nuclear 
weapons.  'The debate has fractured along now-familiar fault lines, 
with Vice President Dick Cheney and conservative hawks in the 
administration portraying the Israeli intelligence as credible and 
arguing that it should cause the United States to reconsider its 
diplomatic overtures to Syria and North Korea,' the report states. 
'By contrast, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her allies 
within the administration have said they do not believe that the 
intelligence presented so far merits any change in the American 
diplomatic approach'.... Using their whole brains, much of 
Washington officialdom, it seems, quietly opposed the Israeli 
strike, seeing it as a wrench thrown in the cogs of diplomacy.  But 
is it really so smart to see force and diplomacy as conflicting 
alternatives?  The terror-sponsoring states certainly do not..QDoes this mean the West should respond in kind?  Of course not.  But 
it is no less absurd to argue that force, or even the threat of 
force, has no place in Western policy.... There is nothing that 
makes the threat of force more credible than its use, so diplomats 
should be the first to congratulate Israel for taking concrete 
action to back the objectives of Western diplomacy.  Just as we need 
to use all of our brains, in a world of serious and growing threats, 
the West needs to employ all the tools at its disposable in a wise 
and integrated manner." 
 
IV.  "As American Officials Argue over the Implications of the IDF 
Strike in Syria, Israel Can Take Solace in its Ability to Go it 
Alone" 
 
Washington correspondent Hilary Leila Krieger and correspondent 
Caleb Ben-David wrote in The Jerusalem Post (10/11): "The Israeli 
strike on Syria last month has become a Rorschach test of sorts for 
Bush administration policy makers, many of whom are viewing the 
incident in relation to how they think the US should proceed on 
diplomatic nonproliferation initiatives.... Bush administration 
officials don't like to talk on the record about how the Israeli air 
strike has factored into policy in North Korea, and Rice avoided the 
Syrian incident when meeting with w group of Jewish leaders last 
week, according to those familiar with the meeting.  But it was 
reported that [Assistant Secretary of State Chris] Hill brought up 
the incident with the North Koreans.  The State Department 
officially reiterates the importance of nonproliferation as a goal 
of the Six-Party talks." 
 
JONES