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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: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
President Bush to Israel, West Bank, January 9-11, 2008 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the first day of President Bush's visit to 
Israel.  They reported that the President met this morning with 
opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu and former prime minister Ariel 
Sharon's sons Omri and Gilad.  The Jerusalem Post expected Netanyahu 
to press the President on Iran and the status of Jerusalem.  Bush 
visited Ramallah and will also travel to Bethlehem.  Major media 
(lead story in Ha'aretz (Hebrew Ed.)) expect Bush to tell PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas that he must choose between a state and 
chaos. 
 
The Jerusalem Post bannered: "Bush: This Is a Historic Opportunity 
for Peace."  The Shas Party-affiliated weekly Yom Leyom bannered the 
President's comment that he was hopeful he could achieve an 
agreement. 
 
All media emphasized that President Bush told his Israeli hosts that 
unauthorized West Bank settler outposts "ought to go."  Israel Hayom 
bannered: "Bush: You Will Also Need to Talk about the Right of 
Return." 
 
Yediot bannered: "Olmert to Bush: [Israel] Bracing for Large-Scale 
Operation in Gaza."  The media quoted Olmert as saying that there 
will not be peace until terror stops, and that Israel has made clear 
to the Palestinians that Gaza must be part of the package.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe underscored President Bush's comment that he does not 
expect Israelis to accept a terrorist state. 
 
Leading media reported that President Shimon Peres and PM Ehud 
Olmert presented Iran's secret nuclear program to the President. 
Maariv bannered: "Israel to the President: You Are Being Cheated." 
The media quoted Bush as saying: "Iran was a threat, Iran is a 
threat, and Iran will be a threat if the international community 
does not come together and prevent that nation from the development 
of the know-how to build a nuclear weapon."  At a press conference 
following his meeting with Olmert, Bush said that the National 
Intelligence Estimate on Iran's nuclear program did not alter his 
 
stance.  "I interpreted it [the NIE] to mean you better take the 
Iranian's threat seriously," he added.  "Our unequivocal 
conclusion," Olmert said, referring to the Israeli report, "is that 
they [the Iranians] are busy developing nuclear weapons."  Bush 
agreed, saying that his understanding of the NIE report is that the 
Iranians could resume their weapons program with the same ease that 
they froze it in 2003. 
 
The media linked a volley of Qassam rockets that landed on Sderot to 
the President's visit.  Leading media reported that on Wednesday an 
IDF strike in the northern Gaza Strip killed two Palestinians.  The 
media reported on protests against President Bush's visit in the 
PA. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that during the arrival ceremony at 
Ben Gurion Airport, the President asked Industry, Trade, and 
Employment Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) not to quit the government. 
Several newspaper quoted Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef as saying 
that "no one is authorized to discuss concessions on Jerusalem." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israeli Arab political activists joined 
left-wing protests around the country on Wednesday to demonstrate 
against President Bush's visit to Israel and the West Bank.  Several 
hundred Hadash (Communist) activists participated in an anti-Bush 
demonstration in front of the American Consulate in West Jerusalem. 
"Bush totally and blindly adopts Israel's most extreme positions and 
prevents progress toward a final-status agreement," Hadash Chairman 
Mohammed Barakei said during the demonstration.  Meanwhile, Balad 
party members protested at universities in Tel Aviv, Haifa and 
Jerusalem, and in Nazareth and Umm al-Fahm.  Major media reported 
that In Lebanon, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah called Bush's 
visit a "black day in Arab history" and said that he had come to 
visit on its 60th anniversary a state that has no right to exist. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday Israeli defense 
officials raised concerns that information being providing to UNIFIL 
and the Lebanese Armed Forces was also reaching Hizbullah. 
 
Leading media reported that fifty-seven Knesset members have come 
out against a plan to compensate settlers for leaving their homes 
east of the separation fence. 
 
A Mina Zemach/Dahaf poll for Yediot asked: "Do you believe that 
Bush's visit will succeed in moving forward the negotiations with 
the Palestinians?"  No: 77%; Yes: 21%. 
The poll also asked: "How does the Bush visit influence PM Ehud 
Olmert's status?"  No influence: 59%; it strengthens Olmert: 38%; it 
weakens him: 3%. 
 
Ha'aretz published the results of a Dialog poll that found that 61% 
of Labor Party voters favor remaining in the government after the 
publication of the Winograd report.  In Yediot's poll, that 
percentage was 56%. 
 
------------------------ 
President Bush to Israel, West Bank, January 9-11, 2008: 
------------------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "It would be easier to market 
concession to the Palestinians, if the U.S. decidedly removes the 
Iranian threat by striking in Iran." 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot: "[Progress in the negotiations] can be made through 
'small' arrangements that are not arrangements of 'principle' as 
each one individually has no future political significance, but over 
time, they would aggregate into a significant step." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The 
most important thing Bush can do in Ramallah is to say to the 
Palestinians that if they want a state they must stop spewing hatred 
and glorifying terrorism." 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz: "In [the present] state of 
affairs [in the Middle East], the United States does not have the 
safety margins for another mistake such as the one that brought 
Hamas to power." 
 
Conservative contributor Menachem Ben wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "The Palestinian refugee problem is the Arab 
League's problem, not a Zionist one.  The world must be told this 
basic truth -- Bush's visit is the first opportunity for this." 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "The 
fact that the issue of Har Homa is increasingly clouding 
[U.S.-Israel] relations is cause for concern." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Starting Off on the Right Foot" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/10): "Olmert sees the Iranian 
and Palestinian issues as interlinked.  It would be easier to market 
concession to the Palestinians, if the U.S. decidedly removes the 
Iranian threat by striking in Iran.  Bush would have an easier time 
selling that strike, if he can point to progress in negotiations 
with the Palestinians.  Except it would take more than a handshake 
between the two leaders to realize such a far-reaching deal." 
 
II.  "Not Political, Not in Principle" 
 
Dov Weisglass, who was former prime minister Ariel Sharon top 
diplomatic advisor, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (1/9): "The security] reality is not expected to improve 
for the foreseeable future, and in fact, it will most likely get 
worse.  Therefore, the chances of reaching a permanent status 
arrangement, even meeting minimum Israeli conditions, does not 
exist, and certainly not in the space of one year, as declared at 
Annapolis.... Now is the time to again reflect on more practical, 
and less 'festive' steps.... A precondition for this is completing 
the security fence, following the route that was agreed upon with 
the U.S.... One of the steps that Israel should take is to evacuate 
immediately all unauthorized outposts.... [Among] other steps: ... 
withdrawing the IDF from Palestinian population centers and shifting 
troops, as far as possible, west toward the fence area in such a way 
as to safeguard central Israel from Palestinian rocket fire ... 
Areas that are vacated of an Israeli presence would be given to the 
PA to administer while keeping Israeli security measures and 
intelligence as far as necessary.  In parallel, Israel would work 
together with the world's nations to develop the Palestinian 
economy, to raise the standard of living, and create a real motive 
for the Palestinians to want quiet and stability.   All of this can 
happen through 'small' arrangements that are not arrangements of 
'principle' as each one individually has no future political 
significance, but over time, they would aggregate into a significant 
step." 
 
III.  "Tell Abbas to Stop Educating for War" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/10): 
"No one expects [Mahmoud] Abbas to start teaching his people to be 
good Zionists.  But he cannot make peace when he is readying them 
for war.  On the contrary, just as it took Israelis years to reverse 
the inculcated rejection of a Palestinian state, it will take 
Palestinians years to reverse their rejection of the rights and 
history of a Jewish state.  It is a long process, but for a peace 
agreement to happen, it must be begin and be fast-tracked. 
Accordingly, the most important thing Bush can do in Ramallah is to 
say to the Palestinians that if they want a state they must stop 
spewing hatred and glorifying terrorism.  Rather than constantly 
using the 'right of return' as code for Israel's destruction, Abbas 
must tell his people the truth: a Palestinian state requires giving 
up the dream of Greater Palestine, making peace with the Jewish 
democracy of Israel, and building a state alongside it in most of 
the West Bank and Gaza." 
 
IV.  "On a Divine Mission" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in Ha'aretz (1/10): "This was the essence 
of [President Bush's June 24, 2002] statement: The solution to the 
100-year-old conflict is a two-state solution, but before the 
two-state solution is implemented a Palestinian conversion must take 
place.  Only after the Palestinian people undergo a conceptual, 
ideological and institutional conversion will it be possible to 
establish a Palestinian state that will exist alongside Israel in 
peace and prosperity.... In [the present] state of affairs [in the 
Middle East], the United States does not have the safety margins for 
another mistake such as the one that brought Hamas to power.  A 
mistake of that kind will not only endanger Israel's future, it will 
endanger the ability of Western civilization to confront the forces 
of September 11, 2001." 
 
¶V.  "Right vs. Right" 
 
Conservative contributor Menachem Ben wrote in the popular, 
pluralist Maariv (1/10): "[According to studies recently published 
in Ha'aretz and Maariv], the number of Jews who were expelled -- or 
were forced to leave following persecutions -- from the Arab 
countries is greater that of Arab refugees who fled, or were 
expelled from, Israel in 1948.  Moreover, the property confiscated 
from Jews in the Arab countries is incomparably more important that 
the property and land abandoned by Arab refugees.  Here are the 
exact figures, as officially recorded in the Arab states: Around 
850,000 Jews left them from 1948 through the early 1970s.  Around 
600,000 of them were absorbed in Israel.  According to the UN, the 
original Palestinian refugee population numbered 600,000.... The 
Palestinian refugee problem is the Arab League's problem, not a 
Zionist one.  The world must be told this basic truth -- Bush's 
visit is the first opportunity for this." 
 
VI.  A Cold, Alienated Visit" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (1/10): 
"There is a feeling that the President's visit is a kind of tourist 
excursion for someone who really loves Jerusalem and Israel, but 
that hardly contributes to U.S.-Israel relations.... The fact that 
the issue of Har Homa is increasingly clouding those relations is 
cause for concern.  Once again, this proves that personal friendly 
relations between the U.S. President and the Prime Minister of 
Israel are meaningless -- if a crisis can be created around such a 
topic.  The only positive point in the visit would be if President 
Peres succeeds in moving something in intelligence about Iran."