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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003120 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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HQ USAF FOR XOXX 
DA WASHDC FOR SASA 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday Israel decreased fuel supplies 
to the Gaza Strip in line with the sanctions approved last week by 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak.   The Jerusalem Post and other media 
reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz plans to meet today 
with Barak to review the legal basis for the decision.  Israel Radio 
reported that on Sunday the High Court of Justice rejected a 
petition by human rights organizations to prevent cuts in the supply 
of electricity and fuel to Gaza.  However, the court will ask the 
state to provide an explanation for the cuts within five days. 
Leading media reported that Israel continues to allow money into the 
Gaza Strip from the West Bank.  Ha'aretz quoted Israeli security 
forces as saying that the money was intended for salaries PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas has committed to paying. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post quoted senior officials in the Prime 
Minister's Office as saying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
is expected to issue invitations for Annapolis next week.  On Sunday 
Maariv reported that Israeli officials told the newspaper that 
Olmert and FM Tzipi Livni had persuaded Abbas to drop demands that 
core issues  be discussed at the Annapolis conference.  Maariv 
quoted an unnamed "senior diplomatic official" as saying: QThe 
Palestinians understand that Annapolis was originally conceived of 
as a meeting to promote the process and they have climbed off of the 
high limb of turning Annapolis into a summit for the final status 
arrangement and peace.Q  The Israeli source added that the parties 
agreed that all progress toward Palestinian statehood would have to 
be contingent upon the completion of the first stage of the road 
map. 
 
On Sunday Maariv reported that security establishment officials are 
warning that "the money for building the separation fence has run 
out and construction will cease within several days.Q  The statement 
was made in the wake of the Finance Ministry's announcement that it 
is not certain that the half-billion shekels (around USD 125.25 
million) that were taken from the projectQs budget in order to 
purchase weaponry will be restored. 
 
Israel Radio reported that an IDF solider was moderately wounded in 
the Nablus refugee camp of Ein Beit Ilma. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted UN officials as saying on Sunday that 
Egypt has returned 48 refugees to Sudan.  Israel deported them to 
Egypt two months ago. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that for the first time, Yad Vashem will 
inaugurate on Sunday an exhibition on Muslims who saved Jews during 
the Holocaust. 
 
Leading media reported that the cabinet might move its weekly 
sessions from Sundays to Tuesdays. 
 
Major media reported that in the closest that Israel has come to 
confirming the air raid last month on Syria, PM Ehud Olmert told the 
cabinet Sunday that Turkish airspace might have been violated during 
the operation.  Olmert offered an ambiguous apology to Turkey, which 
has complained of an airspace violation.   "If Israeli planes indeed 
penetrated Turkish airspace, then it was without prior intent or any 
intent to infringe upon or undermine Turkish sovereignty, which we 
respect," a statement from Olmert's office cited him as telling the 
cabinet.  The statement said that in a conversation with Turkish PM 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week, Olmert "expressed Israel's apologies 
to the Turkish government and the Turkish people for any harm that 
might have been caused."  On Sunday Mohamed ElBaradei, director 
general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), criticized 
on CNN the US and Israel for failing to provide the UN watchdog with 
intelligence about Syria's purported nuclear program.  On Sunday 
Yediot reported that a knowledgeable American source told the 
newspaper that the American intelligence community ordered the 
satellite photographs of the Syrian nuclear reactor that was 
attacked, photographs that were taken by the Digital Globe company 
approximately a month before the strike.  Yediot said that the order 
was intended to allow the media to publish "incriminating" 
photographs of the Syrian compound after the attack. 
 
Over the weekend all media quoted Raleb Majadele, Minister of 
Sports, Culture and Science, as saying on Friday in an interview 
with Israel Radio that Israel is willing to give up the Golan 
Heights in exchange for comprehensive peace.  GOI spokespersons 
denied his comments. 
 
Israel Radio cited criticism by GOI officials of ElBaradei's 
statement that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear 
weapons.  The radio quoted an Israeli official as saying that the 
IAEA has no inspectors in Iran.  Ha'aretz reported that Strategic 
Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman has set up 12 working groups in 
cooperation with the defense establishment to deal with different 
aspects of the crisis over Iran's nuclear program.  Their 
conclusions and recommendations are expected to be included in a 
document Lieberman will present to the cabinet later this year. 
Ha'aretz reported that Lieberman's meetings with officials in the 
defense establishment in recent months surrounding the Iranian 
nuclear issue have resulted in a certain degree of dissatisfaction 
in Defense Ministry circles.  The media reported that on Saturday FM 
Tzipi Livni left for China, where she will lobby for sanctions 
against Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday the head of the Palestinian 
negotiating team for the Annapolis meeting, Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), 
warned of the "dangerous implications" of a failure during the 
gathering.  Speaking to the governing body of the Meretz party in 
Tel Aviv, he also said the success of negotiations depended on 
setting out a timetable for a diplomatic process.  He added that the 
PA was not weak, and that its forces could be deployed in Nablus 
within weeks.  Ha'aretz quoted Reuters as saying that on Sunday the 
PA sent envoys to Damascus to urge Syria not to hold a gathering of 
Hamas members and others opposed to the expected Annapolis meeting. 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz quoted author Amos Oz as saying in his acceptance 
speech for  the 2007 Prince of Asturias award for Letters in Oviedo, 
Spain, that he does not trust Israel's current political leadership 
and that it does not have to reach an agreement with the 
Palestinians. 
 
On Sunday Maariv reported that Defense Ministry and Air Force 
representatives participated in the testing of the Lockheed 
Martin-manufactured THAAD anti-ballistic missile, which was carried 
out last Friday in Hawaii.  Security officials have assessed that 
there has been progress in the negotiations for the purchase of the 
system by Israel, even though this could call into question the 
further development of the Arrow 3 system. 
 
Leading media reported that former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 
and CNN founder Ted Turner arrived in Israel on Sunday for a visit 
of the country and Jordan. 
 
Palestinian academic Sari Nusseibeh was quoted as saying on Sunday 
in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that the Palestinians would 
be prepared to forgo the right of return for millions of refugees in 
 
return for a full Israel withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders, 
including East Jerusalem and the Old City. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that on Sunday Yisrael 
Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman presented PM Ehud Olmert with new 
demands: A final-status agreement with the Palestinians should be 
based on a territorial exchange and mutual recognition of the need 
for two separate states.  The document demands that Olmert insist on 
a "complete end" to all Palestinian activities.  Lieberman suggested 
that NATO forces could be deployed in the territories. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that the PA intends to fire 
30,000 members of the West Bank security forces. 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday Larissa Trimbovler, wife of 
Yigal Amir, the jailed assassin of Yitzhak Rabin, gave birth to a 
boy in Jerusalem. The brit milah (Jewish circumcision ceremony) will 
take place next week, apparently on November 4, the civil-calendar 
anniversary of Rabin's murder. 
 
Maariv quoted the German weekly Focus as saying on Sunday that the 
three arrested Muslims who had planned to attack US institutions in 
Germany on September 11, also intended to blow up the Israeli 
Embassy in Berlin. 
 
Yediot reported that on Sunday the Knesset's Constitution, Law, and 
Justice Committee endorsed a law proposal aimed at barring  persons 
who have made unauthorized trips to enemy countries from presenting 
their candidacy to the Knesset.  Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann 
supports the bill, while Attorney General Menachem Mazuz is opposed 
to it. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a ministerial committee on Greek Patriarchate 
affairs is recommending that the GOI recognize Theofilos III as head 
of the Greek Orthodox Church in the country.  The decision, spurred 
by American pressure and the personal involvement of Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice, is supposed to put an end to a convoluted 
affair in the course of which various parties in Israel tried to 
condition the patriarch's appointment on his selling real estate 
properties to Jews. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko is 
expected to ask Israel to recognize the genocide of the Ukrainian 
people by the Soviet regime when he visits in a couple weeks. 
Israel is not expected to accede to the request, which has won the 
support of Jewish community leaders in Ukraine, so as not to damage 
its relationship with Vladimir Putin's government. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that FM Tzipi Livni will sign a tourism agreement 
with China today. 
 
All media reported that the Israel Police's national fraud squad 
unit has for over two years been conducting a criminal investigation 
of Gilad Sharon, son of former PM Ariel Sharon, on suspicion that he 
served as a conduit for transferring to his father USD 1.8 million 
from businessman Arie Genger.  On Sunday Ha'aretz said that the 
charge was included in a lawsuit brought last week in a New York 
court by Genger's ex-wife Dalia Genger. 
 
Major media reported that on Sunday the Histadrut Labor Federation 
threatened to start a general strike if the secondary school 
teachers' strike was not resolved. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[Ehud Barak's] latest 
decision, to cut off the power to Gaza, is an excellent example of 
the difference between being wise and being a wiseacre.... It is an 
idiotic decision." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Those 
who berate Israel for alleged collective punishment are apparently 
not incensed by the rocketing and routine terrorization of ordinary 
Israelis." 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz: "Do not 
belittle the Annapolis summit.... For the first time, it will become 
crystal-clear who aspires toward peace and, more important, who 
flees from it as if from fire.  Israel is going to Annapolis as if 
by force." 
 
Former ambassador to the US Itamar Rabinovich wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"The day after the elections will see an increase in the efforts to 
convince the new president, whoever he or she may be, that there is 
no better way to shake off Bush's legacy than by bringing about a 
far-reaching change in the Middle East policy of the United 
States." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Let There be Darkness" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/29): "Something is 
happening to Ehud Barak in his second term.  He is so wise in his 
own eyes, so mature and worthy and better than anyone else, that 
being wise is no longer enough for him.  Now he is a wiseacre.  His 
latest decision, to cut off the power to Gaza, is an excellent 
example of the difference between being wise and being a 
wiseacre.... It is an idiotic decision.... Firstly, it punishes not 
the Qassam rocket cells but the Gazan population, and pushes into 
the arms of Hamas and terrorism.  Secondly, it is opposed to all 
norms of morals and international law.  Instead of severing Israel 
from the occupation, at least as far as Gaza is concerned, it 
exacerbates IsraelQs image as a cruel occupier.  Thirdly, it does 
not conform to the effort to reestablish a dialogue with the 
Palestinian Authority and with the moderate Arab regimes.  The 
foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan or Saudi Arabia will not be able 
to sit quietly in Annapolis while Barak is plunging Gaza into 
darkness, not to mention Abu Mazen.... But why complain about Barak? 
 We have a prime minister who is willing to accept this folly 
silently, just to keep from rocking the boat.  We have a foreign 
minister who is supposed to warn of the diplomatic damage, but she 
too is silent.  We have a president who is supposed to represent the 
moral aspect of our life, but he too is silent.  There are members 
in the Labor PartyQs Knesset faction who will not keep still on any 
issue, but have nothing to say on this topic." 
 
II.  "No Security, No Power" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (10/28): 
"On Thursday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak gave the go-ahead to 
gradually reduce the provision of Israeli power and other supplies 
to Gaza.... Yes the government bent over backwards to stress that 
none of the above should be regarded as retaliatory, lest Israel be 
accused of collective punishment.... Scandalously ... those who 
berate Israel for alleged collective punishment are apparently not 
incensed by the rocketing and routine terrorization of ordinary 
Israelis.... Hence little purpose is served by hiding behind 
'continuing disengagement' terminology.  Equivocations and 
euphemisms imply admission of guilt.  Israel should not undercut its 
own case with superfluous apologetics.  It is much more effective to 
tell it like it is and clearly affirm that this country's rights to 
self-defense are not less legitimate or inferior to others'." 
 
III.  "The Importance of a Failed Summit" 
 
Very liberal columnist Gideon Levy wrote in Ha'aretz (10/29): "Do 
not belittle the Annapolis summit.... For the first time, it will 
become crystal-clear who aspires toward peace and, more important, 
who flees from it as if from fire.  Israel is going to Annapolis as 
if by force.  The Prime Minister's hands are tied.  If he were to 
dare to raise the core issues, which are the only thing to be 
discussed there, then his political fate would be sealed.... Israel 
never had as few excuses for evading progress toward peace, the 
ambient climate was never more conducive to progress.  The terror 
card cannot be played again, because the terror has abated.... There 
is more.  The security issue is much greater today on the 
Palestinian side.  Israel can no longer continue to mouth slogans 
about security, after seven years in which it killed 4,267 
Palestinians, 861 of them children and teens, in comparison to 467 
Israelis who were killed, according to data from [the Israeli human 
rights organization] B'Tselem.  Another excuse that no longer washes 
is the 'no partner' one. Israel has never had an easier peace 
partner than Mahmoud Abbas.... The real role of the US will also be 
exposed at the summit: No other agent is as capable of making as 
great a contribution to advancing peace in the region as is 
Washington, but in the absence of any pressure on Israel ... 
Annapolis is shaping up as no more than a perfunctory gesture from 
America.  We tried, the Americans will say.... All the cards will be 
shown at Annapolis, and that is no small thing.  The world will see 
and judge, Israelis will see and decide: Do we genuinely want 
peace?" 
 
IV.  "What Will Happen After Busha[[" 
 
Former ambassador to the US Itamar Rabinovich wrote in Ha'aretz 
(10/29): "In its latest issue, dated November 8, The New York Review 
of Books published in a prominent -- if not screaming -- manner a 
letter signed by eight famous individuals ... warning ... of the 
grave dangers inherent in a possible failure of the Annapolis 
conference.... The authors see the Annapolis conference as a 
'genuine opportunity for progress toward a two-state solution'.... 
The chances that the 'letter of the eight' will influence the Bush 
administration's policy are small.... The importance of this letter 
must be sought in two other contexts.  The first is the effort to 
shape the American agenda on the 'day after' the presidential 
elections.... The day after the elections will see an increase in 
the efforts to convince the new president, whoever he or she may be, 
that there is no better way to shake off Bush's legacy than by 
bringing about a far-reaching change in the Middle East policy of 
the United States.  Another context is the continuing erosion of 
Israel's standing in the United States.  This does not manifest 
itself in public opinion polls and in votes in Congress, but rather 
in the loss of the 'moral horizon.'" 
 
JONES