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DE RUEHTV #0127/01 0151112
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P 151112Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 3287
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1441
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 4024
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0870
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1344
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000127 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The media highlighted PM Ehud Olmert's declaration on Monday that he 
intends to advance with negotiations on the core issues even if it 
will result in a loss of his parliamentary majority.  The statement 
was made in advance of Olmert's meeting today with Yisrael Beiteinu 
Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, who has threatened to pull his party out 
of the coalition if Olmert opens discussions on  borders, Jerusalem 
and refugees.  FM Tzipi Livni made a similar pronouncement in a 
speech to the Knesset plenum on Monday.  Yediot and The Jerusalem 
Post led with reports that today Olmert will ask Lieberman to stay 
in the government.  The Jerusalem Post quoted sources close to 
Olmert as saying that Lieberman will be persuaded to stay in the 
coalition because he wants to be involved in policy decisions on 
Iran.  Maariv reported that coalition members are convinced that 
Lieberman will quit the government coalition on Wednesday. 
 
Major media reported that on Monday in Jerusalem FM Livni met with 
the head of the Palestinian negotiating team, Ahmed Qurei, for a 
first discussion of the core issues. Livni said ahead of the meeting 
that while the talks are not secret, they are discreet and should be 
conducted away from the cameras.   Ha'aretz reported that in 
addition to negotiations on core issues, nine teams will be created 
to deal with other issues including water, security arrangements, 
judicial issues, trade and economics, infrastructure the environment 
and compensation. 
 
Electronic media reported that this morning a volunteer from Ecuador 
at Kibbutz Ein Hashlosha was killed by Palestinian sniper fire from 
the Gaza Strip.  Israel Radio quoted an Israeli defense source as 
saying that the incident brings an incursion into the Strip closer. 
Media reported that hours earlier at least nine Palestinians died in 
an IDF ground and air raid on Gaza City.  Several media reported 
that one of the killed was the son of Hamas leader and co-founder 
Mahmoud Zahar.  Maariv reported that an army simulation conducted 
last week showed that an IDF invasion of Gaza would result in high 
casualties. 
Israel Radio reported that Israel has foiled attempts to smuggle 
into the Gaza Strip materials than can be used to make explosives by 
putting them in sacks of concrete or salt.  The Jerusalem Post and 
Israel Hayom reported that on Monday Israel Airports Authority 
inspectors discovered two tons of dual-purpose fuel, which can be 
used to produce Qassam rockets, during a sample check of a 
humanitarian aid transport vehicle at the Kerem Shalom crossing from 
Israel into the Gaza Strip.  Ha'aretz reported that PA security 
officials recently seized 16 kilograms of explosives and a 
ready-to-fire Qassam-like rocket from Hamas operatives in Nablus. 
 
Ha'aretz, Maariv, and other media reported that PM Olmert told the 
Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that he is 
opposed to a large-scale military operation.  Ha'aretz also quoted 
him as saying in a meeting with members of his Kadima party that 
during his visit to Israel, President Bush "said things [on Iran] 
that were remarkably accurate and poignant."  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that Olmert warned that all options are on the table when 
it came to Israel's need to defend itself against a nuclear Iran. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that PA officials in Ramallah told the 
newspaper on Monday that Syria and Iran have stepped up their 
efforts to overthrow PA President Mahmoud Abbas and his ruling Fatah 
party, 
 
The media reported that on Monday Defense Minister Ehud Barak met 
with representatives of the bereaved families of soldiers during the 
Second Lebanon War.  He refused to sign a document presented by some 
of his interlocutors that would have made him promise to resign his 
post following the release of the final Winograd report on January 
¶30. 
 
Maariv reported that in case of a new conflict with Hizbullah, the 
Lebanese organization would launch cluster bombs capable of hitting 
a wide area of northern Israel. 
 
Yediot reported that its Washington correspondent, Orly Azolai, was 
openly invited to Saudi Arabia to cover President Bush's visit to 
Riyadh.  She was even interviewed live on a local TV station. 
 
Yediot cited Israel's satisfaction over the cancellation by Russia 
of a missile sale to Iran. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer as 
saying on Monday at a Geneva Initiative-sponsored conference in 
Herzliya that President Bush's tenure has been largely characterized 
by a "lack of commitment" to the Arab-Israeli process, and that it 
seems unlikely that the outgoing President will be able to bring 
peace to the region before the end of his term. 
 
Leading media reported that on Monday Supreme Court President Dorit 
Beinisch lashed out at 20 Knesset members who signed a letter 
criticizing her for meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard 
Jones.  She strenuously denied that the court is holding political 
discussions or accepting dictates from anyone, Israeli or foreign. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Shlomo Lecker, the lawyer for peace 
activist Brian Avery who was injured by the IDF in 2003, as saying 
that the IDF hid information from the High Court of Justice. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Monday in Beijing Industry, 
Trade, and Labor Minister Eli Yishai signed a memorandum of 
understanding with China to boost research cooperation and trade in 
agriculture, telecommunications, and water technology. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli web portal Walla 
Communications Ltd. announced on Monday that it has signed a 
strategic cooperation agreement with Yahoo! Inc. on Internet search 
engines. 
 
Ha'aretz, The Jerusalem Post, and Israel Radio reported that the 
government is encouraging the immigration of physicians from North 
America and Britain because of a shortage in doctors. 
 
All media reported that on Monday the U.S. dollar has fallen to its 
lowest level against the shekel in nine-and-a-half years.  It now 
trades for 3.72 shekels per dollar. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "The real battle, between Rice and Israel, will now take 
place over the President's support, with Rice having the upper hand, 
because until his next visit here, Bush will expect to see results 
on the ground." 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz: 
"If there is anyone who knows this, it's Olmert:  When you've got a 
friendly president like Bush, you don't mess around. In the 
political world, even a lame duck has talons." 
 
Liberal columnist Ofer Shelach wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv: "Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, who are fighting over the votes 
of [the liberal] camp, do not feel the need to do something about 
the outposts, no matter what the Americans will say." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Without 
... support from the Arab states, no amount of money or even direct 
pressure can induce the weak, divided and radicalized Palestinians 
to work seriously toward reconciliation.  The second missing piece 
is more effective U.S. persuasion of Europe to tighten its sanctions 
against Iran." 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz: "There 
is no American pressure and there will be no American pressure for 
Israeli concessions.  If unauthorized outposts in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank] should be removed it is not because of a 
'commitment' Israel made to the U.S., but because these outposts are 
illegal under Israeli law." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Generals of Professor Rice" 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (1/15): "In June 2002, the President adopted the idea of 
[Palestinian] independence on one condition: combating terrorism 
before a state can be established.  At Annapolis that condition was 
put away.  Thus, Professor Rice of Stanford University invented a 
program offering a direct path to a doctorate, in parallel with 
classes to prepare for the high school matriculation exams.  The 
supervisor is Lieutenant General William Fraser III, assistant to 
the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, whose role is to monitor 
the mechanism for implementing the first stage of the Roadmap.... 
During Rice's visits to Israel, Fraser has so far sat in the 
meetings and kept quiet, like a well-mannered child among a group of 
elders.  Now he is expected to talk with the two sides and demand 
that they report progress on implementing their respective 
commitments -- Israel to evacuate outposts and stop construction in 
the settlements, and the Palestinians to counter terrorism.  Setting 
up the Fraser mechanism will enable Rice to demand from Israel a 
 
detailed timetable for evacuation, a working program that will 
commit the government irrespective of whether Ehud Olmert remains at 
its head.  Any delay in the evacuation, which served the 
Palestinians as an excuse to pause their counterterrorist 
activities, will no longer serve to delay the bargaining over a 
final-status agreement.  The real battle, between Rice and Israel, 
will now take place over the President's support, with Rice having 
the upper hand, because until his next visit here, Bush will expect 
to see results on the ground." 
 
II.  "A Lame But Determined Duck" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz 
(1/15): "One of the current demands facing Israel is the immediate 
evacuation of unauthorized outposts.  This evacuation has become a 
test on several counts: First and foremost, whether the Prime 
Minister is able to keep promises to the United States, and whether 
he realizes that if he does not uproot settlements, he turns Bush 
into a partner in the Israeli occupation in the eyes of the moderate 
Arab countries.  But then you get up one morning this week and hear 
Olmert bombastically declaring what a disgrace it is that these 
outposts are still around.  Really?  Where has he been until now? 
What's he been doing that kept him from dismantling even one measly 
outpost?  Waiting for the Winograd report?  Quaking in his boots at 
the thought of a face-off with the settlers?  If there is anyone who 
knows this, it's Olmert:  When you've got a friendly president like 
Bush, you don't mess around. In the political world, even a lame 
duck has talons." 
 
III.  "Promises that Won't Be Honored" 
 
Liberal columnist Ofer Shelach wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (1/15): "[Olmert] knows, and so does Bush, that despite the 
fact that an American order is generally viewed in Israel as much 
more than a Biblical precept, not a trailer will move.  Why is that? 
 Because Israel is not a state.  A state, you know, is a rational 
collective in which everybody keeps the law -- part of the 
agreed-upon social contract.... We have a prime minister who says 
that not removing the outposts is 'debasing,' as if he were the 
State Comptroller or a newspaper columnist.... And the Left?  It 
does not really want to deal with the outposts, out of fear that the 
images of a removal would appear to weaken the possibility of 
reaching a large-scale, historic settlement removal that will bring 
a peace treaty.  The Left and the cynical politicians who pretend to 
lead it do not want a state here.  It would mean the end of the 
current agenda, which is not more than an inter-tribal conflict. 
Thus, Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak, who are fighting over the votes of 
that camp, do not feel the need to do something about the outposts, 
no matter what the Americans will say." 
 
IV.  "Go to Europe" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/15): 
"At other times in the U.S., Bush urged the Arab states to emulate 
Anwar Sadat's courageous gesture that led to Israel's peace treaty 
with Egypt. Yet, where it counts, speaking in Arab countries, Bush 
was silent.  Easing the pressure on the Arab states to make minimal 
gestures toward Israel is deeply misguided. If Arab states were to 
start meeting Israeli leaders, either in Israel or their own 
countries, this would send a powerful signal to the Palestinians 
that now is the time to make peace. Without such support from the 
Arab states, no amount of money or even direct pressure can induce 
the weak, divided and radicalized Palestinians to work seriously 
toward reconciliation.  The second missing piece is more effective 
U.S. persuasion of Europe to tighten its sanctions against Iran. 
More than he needed to come to this region, Bush needs to go to 
European capitals and say explicitly, 'If you want peace in the 
Middle East and the world, you must join the U.S. in sanctioning 
Iran.'  If Europe imposed the same trade and diplomatic sanctions 
that the U.S. already has imposed on Iran, the pressure on Tehran 
would be tremendous and the aura of inevitability around an Iranian 
bomb would be punctured.  But this will not happen unless Bush 
personally raises the level of his Iran diplomacy towards Europe to 
that of the efforts he is now dedicating to the Annapolis process. 
After all, the success of Annapolis depends on facing down Iran, not 
the other way around." 
 
¶V.  "Pressure from Fantasy Land" 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (1/15): 
"Olmert's repeated assertion that what needs to achieved in the 
peace process has to be achieved while George W. Bush is in the 
White House is not very intelligent.  There is no point in 
antagonizing the person who will move into the White House a year 
from now.  Nor for that matter should one antagonize the members of 
the Democratic Party, who now control Congress and might run the 
administration a year from now.  The talk about the need to give in 
to American pressure comes straight out of fantasy land.  There is 
no American pressure and there will be no American pressure for 
Israeli concessions.  If unauthorized outposts in Judea and Samaria 
[i.e. the West Bank] should be removed it is not because of a 
'commitment' Israel made to the U.S., but because these outposts are 
illegal under Israeli law." 
 
JONES