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DE RUEHTV #3582/01 3541059
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P 201059Z DEC 07
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
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Mideast 
 
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Key Stories in the Media: 
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PLEASE NOTE: Block Quotes only, Thursday, December 20, 2007. 
 
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Mideast: 
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Summary: 
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Senior military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is no coincidence 
that Israel chose to intensify the targeted killings on the eve of 
the Eid al-Adha.  It rubs more salt into the wounds.  The despair 
and the feeling of being strangled is only growing deeper among the 
Gaza Strip's inhabitants." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I. "A Leader in Distress" 
 
Senior military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/20): "The calm that 
prevailed in the Gaza Strip over the past two days is not 
coincidental.  Hamas operatives are making a concerted effort to try 
to convince all the militant groups in Islamic Jihad and in the 
Popular Resistance Committees to lower their profiles and wait with 
'the great vengeance.'  At the same time, Ismail Haniya is issuing a 
public call that Israel sees as authentic, for a cease-fire.  For 
its part, Israel is not taking up the gauntlet.  Are we missing 
another historic opportunity? The answer: regrettably, no.  This is 
not an opportunity; it is, once more, a tactic.... Haniya's call is 
more the call of a political leader in distress.  Unlike Hamas's 
generals, this is a political leader who is reading the 
political-regional picture and the mood of the public that elected 
him.... It is no coincidence that Israel chose to intensify the 
targeted killings on the eve of the Eid al-Adha.  It rubs more salt 
into the wounds.  The despair and the feeling of being strangled is 
only growing deeper among the Gaza Strip's inhabitants.  Haniya 
wants to stop that deterioration, at least temporarily.  So he 
suggests stopping, taking a breath, giving hope, organizing some 
more.  But Israel does not intend to throw Haniya a life preserver." 
 
 
II. "Hamas's 'Offer'" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/20): 
"The IDF's successful operations against Islamic Jihad's top 
terrorists in Gaza have sparked calls from Hamas for negotiations 
and speculation over whether a massive ground operation against 
Hamas can be avoided after all. We've been through this movie.... It 
would be foolish for Israel to let up the military pressure against 
the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza now.  Despite the talk in Hamas 
and Islamic Jihad of 'revenge,' increased Israeli military pressure 
on the killers and their dispatchers will not lead to more 
terrorism, but less.... If the IDF's military successes continue, it 
is possible that a lasting cease-fire could ensue, even without a 
massive ground operation in Gaza. 
 
III. "Building a Dispute in Jerusalem" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/20): "The 
construction of a neighborhood of this size [the plan to build a new 
neighborhood in the Atarot area IN Jerusalem] has clear political 
ramifications.  It will make it very difficult to implement any 
arrangement to divide Jerusalem between Israel and the future 
Palestinian state.... The question of Jerusalem is an essential one 
for the future of any arrangement with the Palestinians.  Without an 
acceptable arrangement in Jerusalem, Mahmoud Abbas cannot sign an 
agreement even if he wants to.  The Arab and the Muslim world will 
not let him.  The feeling is that officials on the Israeli side who 
understand this sensitivity see in it the potential to undermine any 
arrangement with the Palestinians by creating a new controversy in 
Jerusalem.  The assumption of these officials seems to be that most 
Israelis view construction in Jerusalem as a natural thing, while 
for Palestinians it could be a reason to break off the negotiations. 
 Even if additional housing is needed, solutions should be found by 
building more densely and higher, as accepted in cities elsewhere in 
the world." 
JONES