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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000274 
 
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 electronic media reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up 
this morning at Dimona's commercial center and that another was shot 
by the police before detonating explosives.  A woman was killed and 
11 other Israelis were injured.  The media reported that Fatah's 
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the PFLP, and an unknown Palestinian group 
have claimed responsibility for the bombing. 
 
Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that he will remain in the 
government "until the right time ... that is not far away".  All 
media brought up his earlier statements that he was planning to call 
for early elections after the Winograd Report's publication.  Barak 
was also quoted as saying: "I know which challenges Israel faces -- 
Gaza, Hizbullah, Syria, Iran, and rehabilitating the army."  Media 
reported that PM Ehud Olmert reacted by saying that it was the right 
decision and that a stable government was a "national objective." 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Barak's associates as saying that Barak's 
announcement gives Olmert "nine months of political quiet," and that 
Barak will expect more political influence in return for the 
reprieve. 
 
Media reported that this evening seven Knesset members (four from 
the Labor Party, two from Kadima, and one from the Pensioners Party) 
might oppose an announcement that PM Olmert will make about the 
Winograd Report.  Yediot quoted Construction and Housing Minister 
Meir Sheetrit as saying that seven rebels might topple the 
government.  On Sunday Ha'aretz reported that Yossi Sarid, the 
former Meretz leader, and Yaakov Hisdai, who was a member of the 
Agranat Commission that investigated the Yom Kippur War, will speak 
today at a demonstration in front of the Knesset while the Winograd 
report is being debated inside. 
 
Major media reported on Sunday that PM Olmert decided, over the 
protest of Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin, to release Palestinian 
prisoners "with blood on their hands."  Yediot reported that Israel 
will agree to include in the list of released prisoners terrorists 
who took part in the murder of Palestinians who collaborated with 
Israel, and members of terror squads who themselves did not murder. 
Israel Radio quoted Shas leader and cabinet minister Eli Yishai as 
saying that he opposes such a deal.  Maariv quoted Arab sources 
involved in the negotiations with Hamas as saying that Israel has 
recently received a new letter by captive soldier Gilad Shalit. 
Maariv quoted Egyptian sources as saying that this has resulted in 
stepping up contacts toward a prisoner swap.  On Sunday The 
Jerusalem Post quoted defense sources as saying over the weekend 
that Hamas leaders are using Shalit as a kind of protection against 
IDF attacks. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as saying on Sunday 
that Cairo wants Hamas and Fatah to jointly operate the border 
crossing between Gaza and Egypt.  The media reported that the border 
was closed on Sunday my mutual agreement of Egypt and Hamas.  On 
Sunday the Israeli press quoted Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh and his 
senior aide, Ahmed Yousef, as having said on Saturday that their 
aspiration was to sever the Gaza Strip's economic relations with 
Israel.  However, The Jerusalem Post reported today that under 
pressure from Egypt, Hamas backtracked from its call for economic 
disengagement from Israel. 
 
Major media reported that Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin told the 
cabinet on Sunday that long-range rockets and anti-tank and 
anti-aircraft missiles have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip over 
the past 12 days. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the USS San Jacinto, a missile ship 
set to dock at Haifa Port on Monday, is equipped with an 
anti-missile defense system that could be deployed in the region in 
the event of an Iranian missile attack against Israel. 
 
Leading media quoted Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin as saying on Sunday 
that a restaurant/disco adjacent to the Israeli Embassy in 
Nouakchott, and not the embassy itself, was the target of Friday 
morning's shooting in the Mauritanian capital.  The Jerusalem Post 
found a contradiction between Diskin's comment and a claim of 
responsibility by an Al-Qaida affiliate. 
 
All media reported that IDF troops exchanged fire last night with 
two armed men trying to infiltrate Israel's northern border with 
Lebanon in the village of Ghajar.  Ha'aretz quoted security sources 
in Beirut as saying that a Lebanese citizen was killed in the 
incident and another was seriously wounded.  The media quoted an IDF 
spokesman as saying that the Lebanese men were attempting to smuggle 
drugs into Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted investigative journalist Seymour Hersh as 
writing in The New Yorker's upcoming issue that Israel did not have 
a clear idea of the nature of the facility it targeted in Syria on 
September 6. 
 
Leading media reported that PM Olmert has instructed Defense 
Minister Barak to request that the PA repair the Joseph's Tomb 
complex in Nablus.  Barak is expected to discuss this with 
Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Israelis and Palestinians involved in 
interfaith contacts recently drafted a cease-fire agreement between 
Israel and Hamas.  The document, whose implementation includes the 
release of Gilad Shalit, was submitted to the Israeli cabinet and to 
the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip.  Rabbi Menachem Froman of 
the West Bank settlement of Tekoa has for years been involved in 
interfaith dialogue toward Israeli-Palestinian peace.  For several 
months he has been working closely with Khaled Amayreh, a 
Hebron-area journalist who is close to Hamas. 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz reported that the officer of an army unit that 
shot a Palestinian without justification last July was sentenced 
last week to 15 months in prison and a demotion. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon as saying on 
Sunday that Israel is considering stopping all agricultural exports 
from Gaza to Europe via Israel.  He said that the cause is not 
political, but rather health and safety. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that amid growing military 
between Jerusalem and Bogota, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel 
Santos will arrive in Israel on Sunday for his first state visit. 
 
On Sunday Maariv reported that Jewish property was vandalized in the 
mostly Druze village of Pekiin in the Galilee. 
 
Maariv reported that a NASA delegation recently met with senior IDF 
officers and warned them about the threat of the secret U.S. 
satellite L-21 crashing into an inhabited area in a few weeks. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli-American firm 
Amdocs and the Israeli NICE Systems have recently made in-roads in 
the U.S. market. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The 
government, in its present composition in particular, has no reason 
to continue to exist if it does not intend to bring about an 
agreement with the Palestinians.  For any other purpose, it can be 
replaced with a right-wing government." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "Olmert's government 
does not enthuse [Labor Party voters], that is for certain, but they 
are less enthusiastic about the alternative -- early elections and a 
Likud-right wing government." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "However 
long the Olmert government manages to survive in office, one fears 
the devalued political culture it has embraced will be with us for a 
lot longer." 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (2/3): 
"The stronger the connection Gaza has with Egypt, the stronger the 
Egyptian control over the area will be and the more likely it will 
become that there will be quiet." 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized: "It seems plain that the freeze 
[of the settlement blocs] is a direct consequence of American 
pressure, amid Bush's accelerated 2008 countdown to a permanent 
Israeli-Palestinian accord." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Meaning of Responsibility" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/4): "In 
spite of the fat that he agreed that the Winograd report is harsh in 
terms of the government, and in spite of his express promise to 
resign if the findings of the commission pointed to failures by the 
man who heads it, Ehud Barak has decided to remain in his post.... 
The government, in its present composition in particular, has no 
reason to continue to exist if it does not intend to bring about an 
agreement with the Palestinians.  For any other purpose, it can be 
replaced with a right-wing government.... There are quite a few 
security experts in Israel, but apparently only one coalition, 
centered around Kadima and Labor, that is capable at this moment of 
launching a political process, legislating evacuation-compensation 
arrangements already now for settlers who are interested in 
returning to Israel, dismantling outposts, and utilizing the coming 
year to sign a final-status agreement with the government of Mahmoud 
Abbas.  Such an opportunity will not return soon, and the footsteps 
of the approaching right-wing 'orange' government can already be 
heard loud and clear." 
 
II.  "Barak against Time" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/4): "There is no 
glory in [Ehud Barak's] decision [to remain in the government], 
certainly no moral glory.   Barak made a commitment, explicitly or 
implicitly, to bring about the Labor Party's withdrawal from the 
government on the day that Winograd was to submit his final report. 
This commitment was made as part of a political alliance he forged 
with [Labor Knesset Member] Ophir Pines.  Barak committed himself -- 
unwillingly -- to withdraw, and Pines called upon his supporters to 
vote for him.  It is improper to break promises, particularly when 
Barak has already received his reward in the polls.  This is not the 
norm to which pupils are educated in civics classes.  But it is 
doubtful whether Barak could have acted differently.... Leaving [the 
 government] now would have benefited neither Barak nor his party. 
It is doubtful whether the Labor Party voters who were in favor of 
leaving nine months ago still think so today.  Olmert's government 
does not enthuse them, that is for certain, but they are less 
enthusiastic about the alternative -- early elections and a 
Likud-right wing government." 
 
III.  "Devalued Norms" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/4): 
"Menachem Begin and Golda Meir both experienced disastrous wartime 
failures that were largely the fault of the defense 
establishment..... In Olmert's case, the fact that the vast majority 
of the electorate profoundly disapproves of his leadership and 
believes he must step down over the war's missteps; the fact that 
reservists who may be called upon again sooner or later to risk 
their lives.... Instead, the prime minister is thriving in the area 
where he is indeed expert -- political survival.... The ability to 
feel and act on shame, once eroded, unfortunately, is difficult to 
rebuild.  However long the Olmert government manages to survive in 
office, one fears the devalued political culture it has embraced 
will be with us for a lot longer." 
 
IV.  "Keeping Our Interests" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (2/3): 
"The stronger the connection Gaza has with Egypt, the stronger the 
Egyptian control over the area will be and the more likely it will 
become that there will be quiet.  Of course, that depends on whether 
the Egyptians are interested in that and whether they are more 
interested in achieving that than Hamas.  Meanwhile, Israel needs to 
demonstrate that it is keeping all of its military and economic 
options open to stop the Qassam rocket fire. On Saturday there was 
sporadic rocket fire into the western Negev.  Every resumption of 
rocket fire needs to be met with a response -- be it by means of 
exacting a heavy military price or by means of cutting the power 
supply.  Israel has to prove to the Palestinians that it will not 
balk at using the most severe means at its disposal.  The Hamas 
leaders should be reminded that if they behave like the leaders of a 
terrorist organization then that is how they will be treated." 
 
¶V.  "Capitulation to All" 
 
The Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/3): "The security and 
demographic imperative to maintain the settlement blocs in the 
Jerusalem area is compelling.... It seems plain that [their] freeze 
is a direct consequence of American pressure, amid Bush's 
accelerated 2008 countdown to a permanent Israeli-Palestinian 
accord.  At the same time, it should be noted, the government is 
demonstrating a parallel tendency to capitulation when it comes to 
the illegal West Bank outposts it has pledged repeatedly to 
dismantle.  Month after month goes by, promises are gravely 
repeated, nothing happens on the ground, and the government's 
domestic and international credibility declines inexorably -- in the 
process reducing any prospect of outside support for those 
settlement interests that are truly vital.  With settlement, as with 
so many other areas of policy, the government's only aspiration 
seems to be survival. And if survival means capitulating to American 
pressure one day, and pressure from the champions of the illegal 
outposts the next, so be it.  The terrible consequence, of course, 
is the sacrificing of crucial Israeli interests along the way." 
 
JONES