VZCZCXYZ0006
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #3145/01 3031003
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301003Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3928
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 2920
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9608
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 3054
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3713
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 2947
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1005
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3678
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0546
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1010
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7589
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 5037
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 9957
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4103
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 6040
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 8280
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003145 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that PM Ehud Olmert announced that he has a 
cancerous growth on his prostate.  Olmert, who said his condition 
will not distract him from his work, will undergo surgery shortly 
after the Annapolis meeting.  Ha'aretz said that Olmert's doctors 
presented "too pink a picture."  Media reported that among others, 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad 
 
SIPDIS 
called Olmert to wish him well.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe noted that the 
White House and the State Department said that Olmert's condition 
should not interfere with the Annapolis meeting. 
 
Major media reported that on Monday Attorney General Menachem Mazuz 
prohibited the state from cutting off electricity to parts of the 
Gaza Strip, as Defense Minister Ehud Barak threatened to do.  Israel 
Radio reported that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Human 
Rights Watch criticized Israel's intention to cut off power in 
Gaza. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post quoted Shin Bet head Avraham Diskin 
as saying on Monday that he does not expect a wave of terror 
reminiscent of the second Intifada following Annapolis meeting, even 
if it is deemed a failure.  Speaking at the Knesset's Foreign 
Affairs and Defense Committee, Diskin said that the "high 
expectation and possible failure of the summit could definitely 
spark high motivation for terror attacks [among Palestinian 
militants], but not with the intensity of the terror wave of October 
2000."  The Palestinian people were exhausted and lacked leadership, 
he was quoted as saying.  Yediot quoted Diskin as saying that 
terrorists plan to abduct Israelis from the Sinai and take them to 
Gaza. 
 
All media reported that an IDF reservist paratrooper was killed in 
the Gaza Strip and three other soldiers were wounded in the 
territories. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted US Consul-General in Jerusalem Jacob Walles as 
saying that American firms selected by the US administration will 
 
advise the PA on the organization, training, and equipment of its 
security forces.  Walles added that American security assistance 
will be carried out in consultation with the US security coordinator 
in the territories, Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton.  Walles was quoted as 
saying that the US sees considerable improvement in the performance 
of the Palestinian security forces. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted AP as saying that on Monday Iranian FM Manouchehr 
Mottaki met with Palestinian officials, including some from Hamas 
and Islamic Jihad.  A headline in The Jerusalem Post reads: "Syria's 
Answer to Annapolis: A Conference of Rejections."  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that the PA has dispatched three senior officials to 
Damascus in an attempt to persuade Syria not to host a conference 
called for by Hamas and other radical Palestinian factions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post printed an AP wire report quoting Syrian FM Walid 
Muallem as saying that IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei's criticism of 
Israel and the US over the alleged IAF shrike on Syria was proof of 
the "lies" leveled against Damascus. 
 
Yediot quoted Khaled Ghazal, the Palestinian ambassador to Poland, 
who last week visited the former Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp 
complex along with his Israeli counterpart, David Peleg, as saying 
that he has read many books on the Holocaust and has seen the movie 
The Pianist three times, but that only when one visits Auschwitz 
does one understand the scope of the Holocaust. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Pfizer, the world's largest non-generic drug 
maker, is in advanced talks to establish an R&D center in Israel. 
The daily quoted GOI sources as saying that it will probably erect 
its center in the central Galilee. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Olmert must go to Annapolis as 
Mr. Peace, but play Mr. Security when he gets there.  Annapolis is 
good, but not at any price." 
 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "[Complete disengagement from Gaza] must be 
 
done in an orderly and responsible manner, with the support of 
Europe and the United States." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"There is no benefit or logic in the attack launched against Egypt 
by intelligence officials in Israel, to the point of comparing it to 
a state that supports terror.  But someone is apparently itching to 
get to the Aswan Dam." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Not at Any Price" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (10/30): "From here, Annapolis 
looks like a Fata Morgana on a sizzling day in the Sahara Desert.... 
This project is the private initiative of U.S. Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice.  After the failure of the American offensive in 
Iraq, she wants to give George Bush a farewell gift, a little 
something from our neighborhood.  Bush's involvement will not 
resemble the very deep involvement of presidents Carter and Clinton 
at Camp David.  This meeting is going to be a quickie. An 
international brief encounter, not an international conference.... 
There is an essential difference between Rice's involvement and 
Bush's.  Rice can be tough with Israel, but only the President can 
twist Israel's arm.  Bush, who is about to end his presidency 
without bombing any nuclear reactors in Iran or pulling American 
troops out of Iraq, wants Olmert to be prime minister of a secure 
Israel.  Rice has instructions from Bush not to pressure Olmert into 
doing anything he thinks will endanger Israel's security.... There 
will be no international summit or encounter without a draft that 
sums up the core issues in the conflict in a manner acceptable to 
both sides.  Israel agrees to these rules.  The trouble is that, in 
practice, any agreement that Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas sign at 
Annapolis will obligate only half of Palestine.  Abbas will be 
stronger in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of most of 
his people.  The Israeli public does not have the strength, 
emotional or otherwise, for another dummy compromise with the 
Palestinians.... The Olmert administration is taking a risk by 
agreeing to make concessions on core issues in the conflict with the 
Palestinian Authority.  An agreement to which only half the 
Palestinian people are committed will not be worth the paper it is 
written on.  Olmert must go to Annapolis as Mr. Peace, but play Mr. 
Security when he gets there.  Annapolis is good, but not at any 
price." 
 
II.  "Acting out of Frustration in Gaza" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (10/30): "It is easier for Israel to attack a 
reactor in Syria than hit nearby Beit Hanun [in the northern Gaza 
Strip], because it is difficult, if not outright impossible, to 
avoid civilian casualties there.... More than any defensive or 
deterrent effect, this policy is simply about revenge.  It is 
understandable, in view of the continued attacks, but it cannot be 
accepted as a policy that was conceived in a rational manner by the 
Defense Ministry.  The role of the defense establishment is to 
defend the country, not to avenge on its behalf, and not to dampen 
the frustration of the residents of Sderot by announcing operations 
stinking of spin.  Moreover, the power that these civilians 
supposedly have to influence the Hamas government and make it stop 
the rocket fire against Israel is minimal.... If the aim is indeed 
complete disengagement, it is impossible to accomplish this only by 
disengaging from Gaza, nor can this be seen as part of an 
opportunistic maneuver, or as punishment.  It must be done in an 
orderly and responsible manner, with the support of Europe and the 
United States.  The Gaza Strip is not independent, and will remain 
so for the foreseeable future.  The babies of Gaza depend on the 
government of Israel more than the Hamas government, and the 
decision to punish them for the Qassam rockets does not contribute 
to the safety of the residents of Sderot." 
 
 
 
 
III.  "War against Egypt in the Winter" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz 
(10/28): "In briefings with Israeli journalists, intelligence 
officials claim that Egypt wants to see 'Israel bleeding'.... Israel 
is furious that Egypt allowed about 80 Hamas explosive experts -- 
allegedly trained in Iran -- to enter the Gaza Strip.  As if the 
Qassam rockets had been waiting for them to arrive.  In fact, Egypt 
represents an excellent culprit because it can also be punished -- 
by freezing U.S. economic assistance, for instance.... Despite the 
Israeli claim, Egypt is conducting a vigorous struggle against 
terror.  Its efforts are primarily directed against those suspected 
of smuggling weapons.... The problem is that Egypt sometimes 
operates like Israel.  Lacking sound intelligence, it detains 
hundreds and even thousands of people in the area, demolishes homes 
and conducts interrogations using methods that are anything but 
gentle.  This generates enormous anger among the Bedouin 
population.... Could Egypt do more to stop the smuggling?  The 
answer is yes, apparently it could -- that is, if it receives 
Israel's okay to deploy more forces.... Egypt is Israel's ally -- 
not only in matters involving oil, gas and trade, but also in the 
fight against terrorism.  It is Israel's only ally that maintains a 
dialogue with both Hamas and Fatah -- and this is good.  There is no 
benefit or logic in the attack launched against Egypt by 
intelligence officials in Israel, to the point of comparing it to a 
state that supports terror.  But someone is apparently itching to 
get to the Aswan Dam." 
 
JONES