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P 281135Z NOV 07
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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Aftermath of Annapolis Conference 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the concluding ceremony at Annapolis on Tuesday, 
in which President Bush read a joint statement by Israel and the PA, 
in which they agreed to immediately launch peace negotiations in 
order to reach an agreement by the end of 2008.  Reading from the 
statement, the President said: "We agreed to immediately launch good 
faith, bilateral negotiations in order to conclude a peace treaty 
resolving all outstanding issues, including core issues, without 
exception."  According to the statement, Israel and the PA also 
agreed to implement their commitments under the Roadmap.  Ha'aretz 
quoted sources in the Israeli delegation as saying that the 
Palestinians had refused to sign the document until the last minute. 
 Ha'aretz reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told PA 
Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas to "stop the games."  Leading 
media quoted Secretary Rice as saying on Tuesday that PM Ehud Olmert 
and President Abbas will come to the White House today to officially 
start the negotiations. 
 
Banners: "Negotiations on Final Status to Get Underway in Two Weeks" 
(Ha'aretz); "A New Beginning" (Yediot); "The Test Year" (Maariv); 
"The Goal: A Peace Agreement in One Year" (The Jerusalem Post); 
"Agreement at Annapolis: A Palestinian State by End of 2008 (Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe); " Annapolis: Israel and the Palestinians to Try to 
Reach Full Agreement in a Year" (Hamodi'a); "Olmert: 'Reality 
Created in 1967 Will Change Significantly; Israel Willing to Make a 
Compromise Rife with Risks" (Yated Ne'eman); and "The Conference Is 
Over.  What's Next - the Peace Process?" (The Russian-language 
Vesty); and the following Arabic-language websites: Arabs48 
(affiliated with the Balad Party): "Annapolis Conference, the Last 
Chance" and "I'm the Police... of the Middle East" (a pun on "Anna," 
"I am" in Arabic). Assennara: "Olmert Pledged to Do his Utmost to 
Complete the Peace Agreement"; Al-Ittihad: "Annapolis Conference 
Swings within American-Israeli Aggression Strategy"; and Ashams 
Radio: "Moscow to Host the Next Meeting of the Middle East 
Process." 
 
Ha'aretz highlighted comments by President Bush: "With leaders of 
courage and conviction on both sides, now is the time to seek the 
peace that both sides desire" and President Abbas: "Our region 
stands at a crossroad that separated two historical phases, 
pre-Annapolis and post-Annapolis."  In his address, Abbas called for 
an end to the "occupation of all Palestinian lands since 1967, 
including East Jerusalem, as well as the Syrian Golan and occupied 
Lebanese territory," as well as a solution to the Palestinian 
refugee problem.  "We need East Jerusalem to be our capital, and to 
establish open relations with West Jerusalem," he continued, urging 
respect for the holy places of all religions. 
 
Various media quoted Olmert as saying that he did not come to 
Annapolis to "settle historical accounts" for the conflict, adding 
that he was aware of that Palestinians too have suffered greatly. 
Olmert expressed hopes that the sides could resolve the refugee 
issue, one of the toughest sticking points.  "Israel will be part of 
an international mechanism that will assist in finding a solution to 
this problem," he said. 
 
Among the participants of the conference were the foreign ministers 
of most Arab states, including Saudi Arabia,.  Maariv noted that the 
Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Adil al-Ahmad al-Jubayr, applauded PM 
Olmert's speech.  Israel Radio quoted Deputy Syrian FM Faisal Mekdad 
as saying that Syria favors peace, but that ties with Israel will 
only be possible when it fully withdraws to the 1967 borders. 
 
Israel Radio reported that opposition leaders from the Right and 
Left were critical of Annapolis: While Likud Chairman Binyamin 
Netanyahu told the radio that more Israeli concessions will not 
bring peace, Yahad-Meretz leader MK Yossi Beilin said that Olmert 
had not gone far enough to compromise with the Palestinians.  The 
media quoted Avigdor Lieberman and Eli Yishai, the respective 
leaders of Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas, as saying that the Annapolis 
conference was pathetic, but that they would remain in the 
government.  Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and other media reported that the 
Likud and other right-wing elements are increasing their call on 
those parties to quit the government coalition. 
 
Major media reported that Olmert will discuss the Iranian issue in 
his meeting with President Bush today. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Gen. James Jones, the former 
commander of NATO's military forces in Europe, is touted for chief 
U.S. monitor of the Roadmap, as mandated by the joint statement. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Israel's Ambassador to the U.S., Sallai Meridor, 
as saying that the Arab states can do much more for the diplomatic 
process. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that FM Tzipi Livni told the Arab foreign 
ministers at Annapolis that Israel is extending its hand in peace to 
the entire Arab world. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Tuesday one person was killed and dozens 
wounded when Palestinian police opened fire on a demonstration in 
Hebron against the Annapolis conference.  Seven other Palestinians, 
all armed, were killed in clashes with IDF soldiers in the Gaza 
Strip. 
 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that on Tuesday the High Court of 
Justice ruled that the Winograd Commission does not have to include 
comments about individuals in its final report on the government's 
handling of the Second Lebanon War, not does it have to send warning 
letters to those who may be harmed by its conclusions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that President Bush has met with 
American-Jewish author Roy Neuberger, who divides his time between 
New York and Jerusalem and has written "2020," a thriller about a 
massive Islamic terror attack against the U.S. and the West. 
 
Yediot reported that Nobel Peace Prizewinner and former U.S. Vice 
President Al Gore will visit Israel next year. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Netherlands' largest trade union has 
shelved its plan to hold a Palestinian solidarity conference on 
Thursday, the 60th anniversary of the UN vote on the Partition Plan. 
 The move, which ended concerns of a boycott against Israel, came 
after the Histadrut Labor Federation insisted it be invited. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Aftermath of Annapolis Conference: 
---------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "As one might have 
expected, the Americans overdid the festivities." 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent 
Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The 
[joint Israeli-Palestinian] declaration contains two elements that 
will serve the Israeli right wing in attacks it is expected to make 
on the Prime Minister [the comparison made between Palestinian and 
Israeli terrorism and the rejection of Israel's position on the 
timetable]." 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz: "Whoever 
heard [National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley] talk this week 
about the long and arduous and boring road to building a Palestinian 
state understood that Bush will not be 'Mr. Palestine.'" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: "Bush wanted to protect peace ... but did 
not know that he was actually applying the ... protection to 
Olmert." 
 
Columnist and popular TV talk show host Yair Lapid wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot: "In the Middle East, one should not declare successes too 
soon, but neither should one hurry to announce failures." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz: "If 
Israel refuses to incorporate Gaza and include Hamas in the talks, 
there is no chance of reaching a solution -- certainly not within a 
year.  In such a case, it will keep clinging to the Roadmap as a 
shield against reaching a deal." 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "If Intifada-style 
terrorism rages afresh ... then the eloquence of the speakers and 
the array of their supporters will count for nothing." 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote on page one of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (11/28): "The joint 
understanding, and President Bush's speech, expressed a complete 
Israeli collapse on Tuesday." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "They Overdid It" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/28): "As one might 
have expected, the Americans overdid the festivities.  Someone 
unfamiliar with Middle East affairs might have thought that 
Tuesday's ceremony marked the signing of an eternal peace agreement, 
not the beginning of the beginning of negotiations, under difficult 
conditions....  President Bush spoke as a person who believes that 
here in Annapolis, he created the infrastructure for a new coalition 
against what is called in diplomatic language 'extremists,' and in 
more concrete terms, Iran and fundamentalist movements in the Muslim 
world.   If he wished to inspire his Arab listeners with this talk, 
it is doubtful whether he succeeded.  There was little inspiration 
in the room, only the chilly politeness of those who have a great 
deal to say, but a clear interest in not saying it.  Whatever the 
conference at Annapolis brings, if at all, it is a great success for 
U.S. diplomacy.  The entire world, including the Arab world, came 
under the aegis of America, like in the good old days (for the US) 
of the early 1990s." 
 
II.  "Who's in Favor of Ending (Israeli) Terrorism?" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent 
Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz 
(11/28): "The [joint Israeli-Palestinian] declaration contains two 
elements that will serve the Israeli right wing in attacks it is 
expected to make on the Prime Minister.  The first is the comparison 
the declaration makes between 'terrorism and incitement that is 
perpetrated by Palestinians or Israelis.'  Translation: Olmert 
agreed that Israel too is responsible for terrorism and incitement 
against the Palestinians, and that America will decide in every case 
who is inciting and who is a terrorist.  No public relations spin 
will be able to erase that.  The comments Ariel Sharon's government 
presented for the Roadmap specifically rejected the requirement that 
Israel 'cease the violence and the incitement against the 
Palestinians.'  Now Israel has given up on its opposition and a 
moral comparison has been established, which leaves Olmert with a 
lot of explaining to do.  The second problematic element, from 
Israel's point of view, is the commitment to 'make every effort' to 
complete the agreement by the end of 2008.  On this matter, the 
Palestinian demand for a timetable was accepted, and Israel's 
position, which proposed to leave the timing unspecified, was 
rejected." 
 
III.  "To Palestine via the Side Road" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in Ha'aretz (11/28): "A 
source who knows both Bush and Rice described the difference between 
them this week: Rice understands nothing at all about politics while 
Bush understands mainly politics.... Bush has another year in office 
and his National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley, this week met 
with Jewish and Christian leaders from the concerned opposition and 
even succeeded in calming their fears.  He sounded to them sober and 
without illusions.  Annapolis is not a move but rather an attempt to 
start a process, he said.  He is quite cautious and he too, like 
Abbas and perhaps also like Olmert, has the label of a dull 
technocrat.  He never starred like Rice on the covers of magazines 
and never enjoyed the kind of public relations that she is used to 
getting.  But Hadley is a much more effective national security 
adviser than Rice was.  Whoever heard him talk this week about the 
long and arduous and boring road to building a Palestinian state 
understood that Bush will not be 'Mr. Palestine.'  If Abbas can, let 
him be." 
 
IV.  "Making Peace for the Cameras" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (11/28): "[On Tuesday President Bush] gave 
the audience a victory look.   Had he glanced to the left, Bush 
would have seen Ehud Olmert, giving his own victory look at the 
television cameras.  Olmert is Tuesday's real winner.  Bush wanted 
to protect peace ... but did not know that he was actually applying 
the ... protection to Olmert.... Almost everyone received what they 
wanted at Annapolis.  Each one spoke to his own audience.  Bush 
celebrated the last pose as world leader, just like in the past. 
Abu Mazen returned to Ramallah without yielding, with the revival of 
the Palestinian track." 
 
¶V.  "Cheap Pessimism" 
 
Columnist and popular TV talk show host Yair Lapid wrote in Yediot 
Aharonot (11/28): "It is no accident ... that the origin of the 
phrase 'haste is from the devil' is from Arabic.  In the Middle 
East, one should not declare successes too soon, but neither should 
one hurry to announce failures.  This can be attested to by all 
those who dismissed the chances of peace with Egypt and Jordan, as 
well as those who prophesized that 'there will be no disengagement,' 
and those who promised -- just on Tuesday -- that the Syrians would 
not go because the Iranians would not permit them.  We should not 
make light of the sincerity of Olmert's and Abu Mazen's intentions. 
They both mainly stand to lose from the process that was renewed on 
Tuesday, and we should ask ourselves why they decided nonetheless to 
commit to it before the entire world.... Pessimism, like cynicism, 
is a wonderfully easy solution.  It is also a conservative trait of 
people who believe that only the reality that is familiar to them is 
valid." 
 
VI.  "Bring in Hamas" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz 
(11/28): "If Arab states -- headed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- 
manage to revive talks between Fatah and Hamas, Abbas would be 
hard-pressed to reject Hamas, especially as Saudi Arabia has 
strengthened his standing by attending Annapolis.  Moreover, how 
could Abbas hold negotiations with Israel while Gaza is running out 
of fuel and its electricity is being reduced?  Washington too should 
find a way to redefine its insistence on 'disbanding terror 
infrastructure,' a motto set in stone on the Roadmap -- a motto that 
has so far thwarted the Roadmap's implementation.  If Israel refuses 
to incorporate Gaza and include Hamas in the talks, there is no 
chance of reaching a solution -- certainly not within a year.  In 
such a case, it will keep clinging to the Roadmap as a shield 
against reaching a deal." 
 
VII.  "Going for Broke" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (11/28): "The bottom line 
of the process formally revived here at Annapolis is that it 
represents a case of going for broke -- of seeking to achieve the 
hitherto unattainable final peace agreement within barely a year, 
before the Bush era is over, before the extremists have gathered 
further strength.  But though Olmert has agreed to sever the revived 
diplomatic effort from the ever-present security concerns, it is the 
reality on the ground that, as always, will determine the fate of 
this new effort.  If Intifada-style terrorism rages afresh, if Abbas 
proves incapable of marshalling the strength to thwart it, and if 
the wide Arab and international backing evidenced here is of 
irrelevant practical effect, then the eloquence of the speakers and 
the array of their supporters will count for nothing." 
 
VIII.  "Complete Israeli Collapse" 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote on page one of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (11/28): "The joint 
understanding, and President Bush's speech, expressed a complete 
Israeli collapse on Tuesday, a withdrawal from all the principles 
that had guided the government thus far on the way to Annapolis.... 
Olmert has backed down from the demand based on the Roadmap, 
according to which the next stage of the agreement will only be 
implemented after the Palestinians fight terror.... Olmert for the 
first time adopted the Arab initiative -- which presents the 
toughest Arab positions such as an uncompromising right of return 
and a withdrawal from all of East Jerusalem -- by stating that he 
'appreciates and respects it, and values its contribution.'    Bush, 
for the first time, talked about the Israeli 'occupation,' when he 
said that the Israelis must show that they are willing to put an end 
to the occupation that began in 1967.  Bush did not mention the 
letter to Sharon in which he agreed to recognize settlement blocs or 
the reality that has changed since 1967.  Bush did not mention any 
issue in his speech that is of significance to Israel.  For 
instance, he did not mention the rocket fire." 
 
MORENO