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DE RUEHTV #0029/01 0041113
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041113Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4855
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RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1389
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 3978
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0825
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000029 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media (banner in Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.)) reported that in an 
interview with Reuters on Thursday President Bush called Israeli 
settlement expansion an "impediment" to the success of revived peace 
efforts and urged Israel to follow through on its pledge to 
dismantle unauthorized settler outposts.  Bush was also quoted as 
saying that his visit is also aimed at thwarting Iran.  Leading 
media reported that the President's schedule is too busy to hold a 
three-way meeting with PM Ehud Olmert and PA President Mahmoud 
Abbas.  However, Israel Radio and other media reported that the 
President will visit Ramallah, where he will meet with Abbas and 
Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad. 
 
Bannering "Bush: Iran Lied to the World," Yediot continued to 
present highlights of the full interview with Bush that appears in 
today's newspaper.  He was quoted as saying that he will try to 
build a coalition against Iran, and that Olmert is a man endowed 
with vision, in whom he believes and whom he likes. 
 
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post, PM Olmert praised "our 
friend" in the White House, warned of the daggers of a one-state 
solution, and wished he were at liberty to provide the public with 
more details of everything he is doing to serve Israel. 
 
The media reported that the IDF killed nine militants in the Gaza 
Strip on Thursday and two Hamas members this morning.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that a senior official in the Prime Minister's Office 
characterized Thursday's Katyusha rocket attack on Ashkelon as "very 
problematic" and a "strategic threat."  The official was quoted as 
saying that it showed once again the urgency of stopping the arms 
smuggling from Sinai into the Gaza Strip.  Ha'aretz quoted defense 
sources as saying that Israel will not respond to the attack with a 
large-scale operation in Gaza.  Leading commentators believe that 
Hamas is hiding behind claims of responsibility issued by various 
Palestinian organizations. 
 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that PM Olmert promised King 
Abdullah II during a flash visit to Jordan that Israel will not set 
up new settlements in the territories and will not confiscate new 
territory in the West Bank.  Olmert made the statements after the 
King recently criticized Israeli construction in Har Homa and 
Ma'aleh Adumim. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted PA officials in Ramallah as saying on 
Thursday that the prospects for a breakthrough in the peace process 
in the near future have dwindled following reports that Israel will 
demand that the future Palestinian state be demilitarized. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Thursday the High Court of Justice 
confirmed Israel's right to continue diminishing the quantities of 
fuel it transfers to the Gaza Strip to the planned weekly amount of 
230,000 liters. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, in a letter sent earlier this week 
to Military Advocate General Brig. Gen. Avihai Mandelblit, the 
Public Committee against Torture in Israel charged that IDF solders 
are using dogs to attack and harass Palestinian civilians and 
detainees. 
 
Ha'aretz (lead story in its English Ed.) reported that Labor Party 
Chairman (and Defense Minister) Ehud Barak is considering a call for 
 
early elections by the end of 2008 after the release of the final 
report of the Winograd Commission, expected in the next few weeks. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, after decades of battling, Israel 
received seats on the UN's Human Settlement Program and the 
Environment Program panels, both based in Nairobi. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited a study released on Thursday by Hebrew 
University researchers that found that Israel's image in the 
international media deteriorated after the pullout from the Gaza 
Strip, despite Israeli expectations that the unilateral withdrawal 
would boost support for its policies. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israel is not ruling out the possibility of 
Hizbullah holding remains of IDF soldiers, as stated by Hizbullah 
leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday. 
 
Maariv reported that Defense Minister Barak has hinted to PM Olmert 
that he will initiate a coalition crisis if Olmert does not stop 
reforms launched by Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann. 
 
Yediot reported that 16 prominent U.S. business people will visit 
 
Israel next week.  The group includes Nancy Tellem, President of CBS 
Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, her husband NBA 
agent Arn Tellem, who may purchase an Israeli sports team, and 
former top Coca Cola executive Herbert Allen. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that American medical schools in 
Israel have finally received recognition from the Israeli Council 
for Higher Education (ICHE), a step that will allow their graduates 
to remain in Israel for their residencies. 
 
Leading media marked two years since Ariel Sharon fell into a coma. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a replica of a collection of 
Biblical illustrations created by a Holocaust victim while hiding 
from the Nazis during World War II will be presented to President 
Bush during his visit to Yad Vashem next week. 
 
Ha'aretz (English Ed.) reported that former U.S. poet laureate 
Robert Hass will be in Israel next week for a conference at Tel Aviv 
University on "Poetic Natures: The Environment, Literature, and the 
Arts." 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent 
Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "When 
a chance to embarrass Israel fell into their hands [the 
Palestinians] took it." 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post: "[Olmert] and Bush and Abbas ... set 
themselves this improbable one-year deadline." 
Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold wrote in the nationalist, 
Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "The [April 2004] Bush letter [to 
Sharon] did not intend to impose an outline for designing a future 
framework for negotiations." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Meetings of the Minds" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn and Washington correspondent 
Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/4): 
"At Annapolis, Olmert, Abbas and Bush promised to make 'every 
effort' to complete the Israeli-Palestinian agreement by December 
¶2008.  In the meantime a month has gone by and the agreement is not 
a single millimeter closer.... There is no doubt that Olmert 
supports removing the Jewish settlements in the West Bank that are 
outside the security fence -- that was the basis of his 'convergence 
plan' -- but now it looks as though he has caved in to Palestinian 
and American pressure.  He tried to reach an understanding with 
Abbas about construction in the settlements even before the 'Har 
Homa crisis.'  We will continue to build in the large blocs, he told 
the Palestinian president, but we will not expropriate land or 
establish new settlements.  In many places, explained Olmert, lands 
have fallen into the hands of private contractors, and if they have 
permits, they can start building tomorrow.  Thus machinery and 
construction will be visible, especially within the blocs.  I can't 
stop everything, Olmert said.  The Palestinians heard him, but when 
a chance to embarrass Israel fell into their hands they took it.  As 
far as they -- and the Americans -- are concerned, there is no 
validity to the Israeli distinction between 'neighborhoods in 
Jerusalem' and 'Jewish settlements in the territories.'  Har Homa is 
beyond the Green Line, just as Itamar and Eli are." 
 
III.  "The Asymmetry Confronting Bush" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (1/4): "As Bush flies in ... the question 
is -- as it has been through so many bloodily failed previous 
efforts at peace-making -- is not whether Israel is anxious for a 
viable accord, or whether America and much of the international 
community want one, but whether the Palestinian leadership is, and 
if so whether it speaks for or can win over the Palestinian 
public.... Olmert rightly remarked [in an interview with The 
Jerusalem Post this week], when asked whether anything had moved 
since Annapolis, that it was somewhat absurd to be expecting 
progress in a matter of weeks when 'we are talking about a conflict 
of 100 years.'  Indeed, it is.  Except that it was he and Bush and 
Abbas who set themselves this improbable one-year deadline." 
 
IV.  "The Bush Administration against the Bush Letter" 
 
Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold wrote in the nationalist, 
Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (1/4): "It is important to stress that 
Sharon believed that Bush's [April 2004] letter not only gave Israel 
the settlement blocs, but also another territorial element.  One 
year later Sharon described to Ha'aretz ... his conception of 
'defensible borders', in particular the Jordan Valley as an 
extremely important area  militarily.... The Bush letter did not 
intend to impose an outline for designing a future framework for 
negotiations, but it presented the basic American stance regarding 
the final-status agreement, were the U.S. to detail its positions to 
the sides in case the negotiations reached a stalemate.... Bush's 
letter did not deal with the Jerusalem issue, but in the past few 
years Israel obtained great American acceptance of its claims.... 
The important point is that [in the late 1990s] Washington did not 
pressure Israel to stop construction at Har Homa, whereas today the 
Bush administration is willing to criticize Israel on construction 
in East Jerusalem -- only because this might affect the 
post-Annapolis negotiations." 
 
MORENO