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P 170636Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002994 
 
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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 
 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank, October 14-18, 2007 
 
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------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz and Israel Radio reported that today Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice will visit Bethlehem and meet with Israeli and 
Palestinian figures, including PM Ehud Olmert and PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas.  Media reported that on Tuesday in Cairo 
Secretary Rice did not rule out the possibility that the Annapolis 
 
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meeting could be postponed.  Ha'aretz quoted Rice as saying last 
night at a dinner for 20 leading Israeli opinion-makers that the 
time has come for an agreement between Israel and the PA and that 
the joint document does not have to include dates for starting and 
concluding the negotiations.  The mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot reported that in her talks in Israel and Egypt, Secretary 
Rice said that in the absence of progress in the diplomatic process, 
Al Qaida would take over the territories.  A headline in the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reads: "Rice Leaving 
without a Date for the Conference." 
 
Ha'aretz and Yediot reported that the Pakistani Ambassador to the UN 
told Israeli Ambassador Danny Gillerman that his country is 
interested in participating in the Annapolis meeting.  They quoted 
Gillerman as saying that the Pakistani Ambassador expressed surprise 
that his country has not been mentioned as a possibly invitee. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Tony Blair is proposing the creation of a 
tripartite committee that would press for reforms in the Palestinian 
security organizations and for improvements in the freedom of 
movement in the West Bank.  Blair calls his plan QThe Rapid Effect 
Project,Q and he thinks that in the coming month or two, it will be 
necessary to carry out a series of high-profile actions to show the 
Palestinians that their lives will improve. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Ghazi Hamad, the spokesman of the 
Palestinian government in Gaza, as saying that Hamas is willing to 
negotiate with the "Israeli occupation." 
 
Yediot reported that Syrian President may be trying to resume 
contacts with Israel.  In the lead story of a special late edition, 
the newspaper quoted a report that an official Syrian representative 
at the UN has admitted that Israel attacked a nuclear installation 
in September. 
 
Israel Radio reported that in their talks in Washington on Tuesday, 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates 
agreed to set up a committee to look into establishing a ballistic 
and short-range missile defense system in Israel.  The radio also 
reported that the two discussed the Arrow-2 defense system. 
 
All media quoted Hizbullah Secretary-General Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah 
as saying on Tuesday that there was "positive progress" in 
negotiations to swap captive IDF reservists Ehud Goldwasser and 
Eldad Regev for Lebanese prisoners in Israel, leading to speculation 
that the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar would be freed.  Nasrallah 
was quoted as saying that he did not have anything to say that would 
shed light on the fate of Israeli MIA Ron Arad's fate.  The 
Jerusalem Post reported that sources in the Prime Minister's Office 
had no comment on Nasrallah's speech, saying only that "Israel 
listens carefully when he speaks."  The sources would also not 
discuss the nature the nature of the information handed over to 
Israel.  Israel Radio quoted sources in Jerusalem as saying that 
Israel will not give up on the failed second stage of a 2004 
prisoner exchange between Israel and Hizbullah that  included 
Israel's expectation of receiving information on Arad.  All media 
quoted Germany's federal prosecutor as saying on Tuesday that two 
men convicted of assassinating Iranian opposition figures in 1992 
would be released, despite a plea by Arad's family. 
 
Leading media reported that on Tuesday two Palestinians were killed 
in a clash with IDF troops in Nablus. 
 
The general tone in the Israeli media (in particular, Ha'aretz's 
lead editorial) is that during his visit to Tehran on Tuesday, 
Russian President Vladimir appeased Iran on the issue of its nuclear 
program. 
 
Yediot reported that during his last meeting with President Bush, PM 
Olmert asked for the release of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Secretary Rice to Israel, West Bank, October 14-18, 2007: 
 
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----------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Like many before her, Rice failed by 
demonstrating the arrogance of the mediator -- the absurd assumption 
that all that is lacking in order to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict 
is the charismatic presence of an experienced diplomat." 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz: "The 
visiting Secretary of State may rightly doubt whether Olmert's 
leadership abilities, and his ability to deliver the diplomatic 
goods, are any better than those of Palestinian Authority Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas." 
 
Former Ambassador to the US, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "Olmert, 
Livni, and Barak are about to take Israel for a ride, which will end 
up costing Israel a great deal -- a ride to Annapolis." 
 
Eran Shayson, the analyst team leader at the Re'ut Institute, a 
non-partisan advisory organization to the Government of Israel, 
wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv: "Israel must brace for a 
failure of the talks.... As far as Israel is concerned, the goal of 
the Annapolis conference should first and foremost be the 
strengthening of the two-state principle as the foundation for the 
diplomatic process." 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "One Mistake in the Fall" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/17): "We can start from the end: It was a 
mistake -- not necessarily the decision to convene an 
Israeli-Palestinian peace summit in Annapolis or a 'meeting,' as the 
Americans insist on calling the event, but the early announcement of 
the planned timetable.... US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
made a mistake, and also tripped up President George W. Bush, when 
she dragged him into accepting this timetable.... Like many before 
her, Rice failed by demonstrating the arrogance of the mediator -- 
the absurd assumption that all that is lacking in order to solve the 
Arab-Israeli conflict is the charismatic presence of an experienced 
diplomat.... The US Secretary of State in recent years has moved 
between too much interference in petty matters: On the one hand, as 
in her decision to make the effort to achieve the 'crossings 
agreement' in Gaza, which was never implemented; and a lack of 
concentration regarding important core issues on the other, as in 
her unrealistic agreement to enable Hamas to participate in the 
Palestinian elections.  In both cases she twisted Israel's arm, and 
in both she was mistaken.... Pessimistic observers already believe 
that it would be better to postpone [the fall meeting] to a more 
propitious time, while the more optimistic are trying to propose 
means of saving it from collapse.  Therefore, as the tired joke 
goes, the principle has already been laid down.  Now all that 
remains is to argue about the price that all the parties will pay 
for this mistake." 
 
¶I.  "Leaving Annapolis Unscathed" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz (10/17): 
"Even if Olmert's tone is different in his meetings with the 
Secretary of State, and even if Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni softens 
 
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her position, the image Rice is getting is that of a recalcitrant 
government that is not eager to avail itself of the international 
summit next month to achieve peace with the Palestinians.  Instead, 
the impression is that this government merely aspires to emerge from 
the summit unscathed; in other words, not to damage its relations 
with the US.... In retrospect, the picture that emerges from the 
meetings Rice had is one of division in the Israeli leadership, 
which is similar to the instability of the Palestinian leadership. 
The visiting Secretary of State may rightly doubt whether Olmert's 
leadership abilities, and his ability to deliver the diplomatic 
goods, are any better than those of Palestinian Authority Chairman 
Mahmoud Abbas." 
 
III.  "No Free Ride" 
 
Former Ambassador to the US, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and 
former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (10/17): 
"As is well known, there is no such thing as a free lunch.  And 
unlike what some people might believe, there are also no free rides. 
 Yet Olmert, Livni, and Barak are about to take Israel for a ride, 
which will end up costing Israel a great deal -- a ride to 
Annapolis.... How has Mahmoud Abbas suddenly become a 'partner for 
peace?'  The answer is, we made him into a partner for peace.  The 
withdrawal from Gush Katif brought Hamas to power, turned the Gaza 
Strip into a hotbed of terrorism, and left Abbas without a mandate 
to conduct Palestinian affairs.  Now that Hamas has rid itself of 
Abbas -- or in Olmert's upside-down world, Abbas has rid himself of 
Hamas -- here comes the partner for peace. None other than Mahmoud 
Abbas.  Here is the law of unintended consequences, at least for 
those who cannot see beyond their own nose.  By unilaterally 
uprooting the settlers in Gush Katif because 'there is no partner 
for peace,' the Olmert government has with its own hands created a 
partner for peace.... But there are no free rides.  The Israeli 
government's readiness to make these concessions will be firmly set 
in the court of public opinion.  It is not going to be easy 
retracting those concessions.  Of course, our Foreign Minister, 
Tzipi Livni, believes that these concessions are for our own good. 
It seems that we have hard this song before.  Remember Gush Katif? 
That was also supposed to be for our own good." 
 
IV.  "The Strategic Thereat of the Palestinian Authority Falling 
Apart" 
 
Eran Shayson, the analyst team leader at the Re'ut Institute, a 
non-partisan advisory organization to the Government of Israel, 
wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (10/17): "The failure of the 
diplomatic process might spell the demise of the moderate 
Palestinian camp and the principle of a historic compromise.  The 
combination of a potential Palestinian demand for one state, a basic 
delegitimization of Israel, and continued tension between Israel and 
its Arab citizens, might accelerate a reversal of positions among 
leading states and institutions in the international community 
vis-`-vis the solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.... 
Israel must brace for a failure of the talks.  Key principles of 
such preparedness are the strengthening of the institutions of the 
Palestinian Authority and ensuring the principle of separation 
between Israel and the Palestinians through the use of unilateral or 
agreed-upon steps.  As far as Israel is concerned, the goal of the 
Annapolis conference should first and foremost be the strengthening 
of the two-state principle as the foundation for the diplomatic 
process." 
 
JONES