VZCZCXYZ0002
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #3606/01 3610554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 270554Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4728
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 3178
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 9839
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 3358
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3947
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 3199
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1329
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3937
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0788
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1262
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 7822
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 5288
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 0206
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4334
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 6278
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 8696
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 003606 
 
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 
 
 
Please note: Block Quotes only. 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The government is opting for 
inaction [on settlement construction] until after Bush's visit." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "Egypt is not an enemy country, or even a 
rival that needs to be slapped down. It is worthy of Israel's 
trust." 
 
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland, former director of Israel's National 
Security Council, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "More determined American statements on the issue of 
smuggling are a condition for changing the situation.... The peace 
agreement with Egypt is an important asset and must be preserved. 
Nevertheless, we shouldn't live with illusions about 'what Egypt 
really wants.'" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in Yediot Aharonot: "Few 
leaders in Israel understand the full significance of the hourglass 
that is running out for a solution of 'two states for two 
peoples.'" 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Waiting for Bush" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/26): "Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert is scheduled to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on 
Thursday in an attempt to solve the so-called settlement crisis that 
has plagued negotiations since the Annapolis summit late last 
month.... In the framework of the mutual accusations between the two 
parties, the Palestinians are trying to portray Israel as 
intransigent in its refusal to stop its settlements while trying to 
establish a fait accompli.  Official sources in Jerusalem say the 
imbroglio [around construction in the Jerusalem neighborhood of] Har 
Homa is the result of a decision by low-ranking government 
bureaucrats in the Housing Ministry.... Moreover, the Har Homa 
affair exposed the differences in the perceptions that both parties 
adhere to.  As far as Israel is concerned, the neighborhood is an 
integral part of unified Jerusalem, and not part of the 
territories.... To the Palestinians, construction in the territories 
is an obstacle to peace and an act that jeopardizes the 
negotiations.  In addition, the Palestinians realize that Israel -- 
which is expecting its first visit by U.S. President George W. Bush 
next month -- is at a disadvantage internationally as far as 
settlements are concerned.  Their objective is to dominate the 
headlines until Bush arrives.  But the problem goes deeper than 
head-butting in the media. Israel has demanded that the Palestinians 
fulfill their duties according to the Roadmap plan for peace, which 
the U.S. devised for both parties.  But Israel has failed to meet 
its own obligations such as the evacuation of settlements, a total 
freeze on all construction in the territories, and allowing the 
Palestinians to reopen their institutions in East Jerusalem.  Each 
of these moves carries a political price that could cause Olmert's 
coalition partners -- mainly Shas and Yisrael Beiteinu -- to 
jeopardize his government.  Meanwhile, the government is opting for 
inaction until after Bush's visit." 
 
 
II.  "A Partner, Not a Rival" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (12/26): "Egypt, which is fighting radical 
terrorists in its own country and deals harshly with the Muslim 
Brotherhood, of which Hamas is an offshoot, does not want Hamas's 
military wing to get stronger, and certainly does not want the small 
terrorist groups nourished by collaborators in Sinai to get 
stronger.... At the same time, Egypt is also active in the political 
sphere.  It is continuing its attempts to reconcile Fatah and Hamas 
in an effort to establish a Palestinian unity government that would 
take overall responsibility for security.  Egypt is also continuing 
its efforts to bring about the release of captive Israeli soldier 
Gilad Shalit via negotiations with the organizations responsible for 
his abduction.... Barak's meeting in Egypt, then, has two purposes: 
demonstrating the importance of the alliance between Israel and 
 
Egypt by reviving a positive atmosphere between the two countries, 
and creating an infrastructure for effective cooperation against 
terrorism in the Gaza Strip.  Egypt is not an enemy country, or even 
a rival that needs to be slapped down. It is worthy of Israel's 
trust." 
 
III.  "Cairo's Double Game" 
 
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Giora Eiland, former director of Israel's National 
Security Council, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (12/26): "It is convenient for Egypt that Israel bleed, it 
is convenient that the conflict continue, it is convenient that 
Israel be forced to undertake military activities that elicit 
international condemnation.  Against this background, it is possible 
to understand Egyptian carelessness in all matters relating to arms 
smuggling to Gaza.  Professionally, it's easy to close the 
border.... Egypt has fairly good intelligence information on the 
people behind the smuggling, but it makes no effort to arrest them. 
And when it does arrest them already, it releases them a short time 
later.  The efficiency of the Egyptian security forces is high as 
long as this serves EgyptQs true interests.  These interests, as 
said, don't exist with regard to preventing weapons from entering 
Gaza.  What can be done?  The controlled crisis that Foreign 
Minister [Tzipi Livni] created is the right thing to do, but true 
effective action can only be taken by the Americans.  As we know, 
Egypt receives USD 1.3 billion in security aid from the United 
States.  Since the September 11 terror attacks, the U.S. Congress 
has more and more reservations about the benefit the U.S. derives in 
return for this aid.  More determined American statements on the 
issue of smuggling are a condition for changing the situation. 
Israel does not have to break all the rules.  The peace agreement 
with Egypt is an important asset and must be preserved. 
Nevertheless, we shouldn't live with illusions about 'what Egypt 
really wants.'" 
 
IV.  "Israel's Existential Need" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in Yediot Aharonot 
(12/26): "[The Palestinians'] demands at this time focus on the full 
and scrupulous implementation of the hated Paris agreement: free 
passage of goods, services, people and capital between the 
territories and Israel.  Just remove the roadblocks, they told us, 
and everything will be fine.  We donQt need any separation fence, 
any wall or economic border between you and us.  One economy for two 
peoples, as they see it, is a stage in the path to one state for two 
peoples.  The Saudis, the Qataris, the Europeans, and even the 
Americans understand this.  They realize that only a short time is 
left to save the idea of a Palestinian state on its own and a Jewish 
state on its own.  This explains the willingness displayed by the 
West to donate billions of dollars to rehabilitate and strengthen 
the Palestinian economy as a separate economic entity.  It was not 
for love of Palestine that the donor countries promised to give Abu 
Mazen's shaky government the fantastic sum of USD 7.5 billion in 
aid.  This money is meant mainly to serve one goal: to prevent the 
collapse of the 'partition planQ' and to hasten the establishment of 
a Palestinian state alongside Israel before it is too late. And it 
may already be too late.  One of the most indubitable signs of the 
change in approach of the public opinion shapers in the Arab world 
is the move from using the word 'occupation' to using the word 
'apartheid'.... Few leaders in Israel understand the full 
significance of the hourglass that is running out for a solution of 
'two states for two peoples.'  As for the general public, it assumes 
that a full divorce agreement has already been reached with the 
Palestinians.... This is self-delusion: a new and dangerous reality 
is being created here of 'two administrations for one state,' from 
which the path is short to one bi-national state.  On the stateQs 
60th anniversary, forming an independent Palestinian state that is 
separate from Israel has become an existential need, not for the 
Palestinians, but for the Jews." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime 
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: "Our government seems to show more concern for what 
the U.S. State Department thinks than what the Israeli public 
deserves." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
"Better 'Steroids Diplomacy' than 'Shtetl Diplomacy'" 
 
Columnist Michael Freund, who was an assistant to former prime 
minister Binyamin Netanyahu, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (12/26): "To some extent, all this back-and-forth 
trekking by American officials brings to mind Henry Kissinger's 
'shuttle diplomacy' after the Yom Kippur War, when he sought to 
bring about the signing of an interim agreement between Israel and 
Egypt.  But in fact what we are witnessing now is something much 
worse.  It is what I refer to as 'shtetl diplomacy,' which is when 
the sovereign government of the State of Israel reverts back to the 
age of Jewish powerlessness in 19th century Eastern Europe and acts 
accordingly.  Instead of doing what is in Israel's best interests, 
such as strengthening the Jewish presence in Jerusalem and putting 
an end to Palestinian rocket attacks on Sderot and the Negev, the 
government turns to Washington for its marching orders.  The result 
is that our government seems to show more concern for what the U.S. 
State Department thinks than what the Israeli public deserves.... 
Given the way in which they have been conducting themselves of late, 
a bit of 'steroids diplomacy' might just give our feeble leaders the 
boost they need to stop retreating and to start fighting for what is 
rightfully ours." 
 
JONES