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DE RUEHTV #0325/01 0421115
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 111115Z FEB 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000325 
 
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 top story over the weekend was the wounding of two brothers from 
Sderot, aged eight and 19, on Saturday night.  One of the younger 
brother's legs was amputated.  Right-wing politicians and some 
ministers have called for drastic measures to be taken in response. 
Construction and Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) was widely 
quoted as saying at the weekly cabinet meeting that Israel should 
"raze" a Gaza neighborhood after warning its residents.  On Sunday 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert told visiting Austrian FM 
Ursula Plassnik last Wednesday: "I am fending off heavy pressure to 
launch a major ground operation in Gaza," and he added that 
hopefully through sanctions an escalation can be avoided.  Leading 
media further quoted the Prime Minister and Defense Minister Barak 
as saying over the last few days that Israel needs to continue its 
preparations for a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip, 
but there is no point in rushing into one.  Ha'aretz and other media 
reported that the IDF and the Shin Bet are preparing to step up 
assassinations against key Hamas figures in the Gaza Strip,  though 
the renewed campaign is not likely, at this stage, to include 
members of the Hamas political leadership.  Yediot reported that 
Hamas's "chief of staff," Muhammad (or Ahmed) Jaabari, went 
underground (according to Israel Radio, Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh did 
so as well).  On Sunday, media reported that several ministers, 
including FM Livni and Minister Ami Ayalon, support bringing 
international troops into the Gaza Strip.  Israel Hayom quoted Livni 
as saying recently: "No organization is more appropriate than NATO 
to lead this process." 
 
All media reported on protests by Sderot residents.  On Sunday 
demonstrations took place at the entrance to Jerusalem, and other 
ones are expected to happen today in Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv 
area. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that politicians on the 
Right called upon Shas to leave the government immediately after The 
Jerusalem Post revealed on Sunday that in secret talks, FM Tzipi 
Livni had made concessions to the Palestinians on Jerusalem. 
 
 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz reported that senior IDF officials told the 
newspaper that Hizbullah has managed to deploy large numbers of 
Katyusha rockets and anti-tank missiles in southern Lebanon and that 
these weapons in Shi'ite villages have been undetected by UN 
observers.  The sources were further quoted as saying that Hizbullah 
is  reluctant to use the weapons after the 2006 war  and that 
Israel's deterrence has not been diminished. 
 
Leading media reported that on Sunday PM Olmert flew to Germany, 
where he will meet the mediator in the Gilad Shalit prisoner swap. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. administration is urging Israel to 
engage Egypt in immediate dialogue to resolve the border issue.  The 
U.S. wants Israel to show some flexibility on Egypt's demand to add 
750 soldiers to its border force, as well as to agree to Palestinian 
PM Salam Fayyad's proposal to take over responsibility for the 
Israel-Gaza Strip border.   Ha'aretz said that Assistant Secretary 
of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch visited Egypt, Israel 
and the PA last week and held talks on the situation in the Gaza 
Strip.  The newspaper reported that Secretary of State Condoleezza 
Rice is expected to visit the region herself shortly.  On Sunday The 
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior PA official in Ramallah as saying 
that the purpose of Rice's visit is to prevent the collapse of peace 
talks between Israel and the PA. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that for the first time in months, the IDF imposed 
a full closure on Jenin after receiving a tip that a suicide bomber 
planned to use it as a base to attack an Israeli target. 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz reported that Sen. John McCain is using the 
"Israel tool" to woo Conservative republicans. 
 
Media cited doubts expressed by Israeli demographers regarding the 
accuracy of data published over the weekend by Ramallah's Central 
Bureau of Statistics that the Palestinian population had grown by 
870,000 in the West Bank over the past decade. 
 
Over the weekend IDF Radio reported that last Wednesday Sheikh 
Abu-Hader Jabri and Haj Akram Abu-Sneineh, the heads of the two 
largest Palestinian clans in Hebron, met with Zvi Katzover, the 
mayor of Kiryat Arba, as well as the heads of Jewish settlers in 
Hebron. Both sides declared the meeting as one of reconciliation. 
"We don't see you as settlers but as residents," Jabri was quoted as 
telling his Jewish interlocutors. 
Major media reported that on Sunday the government approved an 
ambitious 870-million shekel (approx. $241 million) plan designed to 
help absorption of Ethiopian immigrants into Israeli society. 
 
Ha'aretz, Yediot, and Maariv reported that the Jerusalem District 
Court ruled on Sunday that alleged child molester Avrohom Mondrowitz 
can be extradited to the U.S. for offenses committed between 1980 
and 1984. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "The solution 
to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is political, and should always 
be pursued.  At the same time, Israel must prove that the blood of 
its citizens cannot be forfeited -- so that in the future, its 
neighbors will abide by the agreements to which they have 
committed." 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It is doubtful whether 
the Olmert government was prepared to decide on even one war.  But 
it was fated to decide on two." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "What 
Israel really needs, and what Hamas fears most, is not NATO troops, 
but Western governments unequivocally backing Israel's right to 
self-defense.  This means backing Israel when it holds Hamas leaders 
accountable and when it demands that Egypt control its own border. 
This is how Hamas can be defeated without war, while sparing the 
lives of many Israelis and Palestinians." 
 
Meretz-Yahad Party Chairman Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom: "If Hamas honors [a] cease-fire agreement fully and 
prevents Qassam rockets, mortar shells and other harm to Israel, we 
will refrain from going into the Gaza Strip and carrying out 
targeted killings.  If it does not keep its word, we will also be 
released from our promise." 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: "The 
Prime Minister's moderate policy leads to further withdrawals." 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Restraint Is Not Possible" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (2/11): "The 
firing of Qassam rockets against Sderot and the nearby kibbutzim is 
not stopping and is extracting a heavy price in terms of fear and 
blood.  Responsibility for the shooting from the Gaza Strip, which 
has been going on for seven years -- both before and after the 
disengagement from the Strip -- falls on the Palestinians.  Were it 
not for the shooting, Israel would not respond.  For the past eight 
months Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip alone, and it is no longer 
possible to explain away the shooting as due to a lack of control 
over rogue organizations.  The time has come for the Palestinians to 
ask themselves and their leadership about the direction they are 
heading.... The disengagement was not a mistake, but a necessary 
move of vision and hope.  Hamas undermined the hope for a shared 
future and opted to preserve, as its declared policy, its 
'resistance' to the existence of Israel, and by extension continue 
its path of violence.  While Israel is trying to correct its 
historic error of settling in the heart of the Palestinian 
population by converging into old-new borders of a more ethical 
democracy, the Palestinians elected Hamas, which is not willing to 
compromise.  The Qassam attacks are not proof that the disengagement 
failed, but that the Hamas rule is leading the Palestinians into a 
new round of an unnecessary war.... The solution to the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict is political, and should always be 
pursued.  At the same time, Israel must prove that the blood of its 
citizens cannot be forfeited -- so that in the future, its neighbors 
will abide by the agreements to which they have committed." 
 
II.  "Back in the Spring" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/11): "It could very 
well be that we are fated both to fight Hamas and to talk to it, the 
question is only in which order: do we first fight them and then 
talk or do we first talk with them first and then fight them?  With 
that being the situation, the little that is required of the 
politicians is to be truthful with themselves and their voters.  On 
Sunday Binyamin Netanyahu stood in front of a microphone and blamed 
the situation that has evolved on disengagement.  He forgot that he 
served as one of the senior ministers in the government that decided 
on disengagement, and that he supported disengagement in the 
decisive vote in the Knesset.... In another few weeks ... the 
security cabinet will have to decide whether there isn't any other 
choice but to send massive numbers of IDF troops into the Gaza 
Strip.  To hear it from Netanyahu, he makes it sound like a field 
trip to see the anemones near Kibbutz Saad [in the northern Negev]. 
In real life the decision will be hard as hell to make.  It is 
doubtful whether the Olmert government was prepared to decide on 
even one war.  But it was fated to decide on two." 
 
III.  "How to Beat Hamas" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (2/11): 
"There are two things that Hamas wants, and two more that it really 
fears. Hamas would love a repeat of the 'humanitarian crisis,' in 
which the international community sides against Israel for slightly 
reducing electricity supplies by cutting fuel to Gaza.  Israel was 
completely justified in taking this step, but Europe and the U.S., 
which should have exposed Hamas's ploy, acted as dupes of the 
terrorist regime and blamed, or did not sufficiently defend, 
Israel.... The other option Hamas hopes Israel will take is to 
invade Gaza in force.... This brings us to the two options that 
Hamas does not want and which Israel should pursue.  The first is to 
stop holding the 'political' leadership of Hamas immune.... The 
second option that is long overdue is to publicly demand that Egypt 
do what it takes to shut down the weapons flow into Gaza.... It has 
become fashionable to talk of stationing NATO troops in Gaza.  What 
Israel really needs, and what Hamas fears most, is not NATO troops, 
but Western governments unequivocally backing Israel's right to 
self-defense.  This means backing Israel when it holds Hamas leaders 
accountable and when it demands that Egypt control its own border. 
This is how Hamas can be defeated without war, while sparing the 
lives of many Israelis and Palestinians." 
 
IV.  "It Cannot Go On Like This" 
 
Meretz-Yahad Party Chairman Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom (2/10): "The Israeli government is responsible for what 
is happening in the western Negev.... The correct thing to have done 
would have been to reach a peace agreement with the Palestinians 
that included Gaza. We should have reached one on May 4, 1999, and 
we missed that opportunity. Sharon's agreement, and Olmert's after 
him, to allow Hamas to run in the Palestinian elections and accept 
the American dictate, from a naove perception of democracy, was a 
terrible mistake, and Hamas's takeover of Gaza pushed off the 
chances of reaching peace.  A large-scale operation in Gaza will not 
stop the Qassam rockets, and will claim victims on both sides.... 
Out of its own interest, Hamas wants to reach a cease-fire with 
Israel.  This is also our interest.  It is possible that Hamas wants 
to buy time, but Israel needs time until it has protection from the 
rockets.  If Hamas honors the cease-fire agreement fully and 
prevents Qassam rockets, mortar shells and other harm to Israel, we 
will refrain from going into the Gaza Strip and carrying out 
targeted killings.  If it does not keep its word, we will also be 
released from our promise.  The price is minimal, and the chance for 
calm is better than any other alternative." 
 
¶V.  "Simply Resisting Pressure Will Lead to a Withdrawal" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (2/11): 
"[Prime Minister Ehud Olmert] is again avoiding to fully confront 
the Gaza terrorists.... Olmert's policy does not being us any closer 
to future peace.  Its result is the opposite.  Over the past weekend 
40 Qassam rockets were launched at Sderot, injuring many people and 
causing material damage.... Olmert believes that the international 
arena will validate his policy.  However, he found out during a 
conversation with the Austrian Foreign Minister  that his 
counterparts are not satisfied with that.  They demand that he make 
bigger concessions to the Palestinians -- in other words, the 
Europeans want Israel to declare a withdrawal to the '67 borders. 
They believe that this is a necessary condition for pushing peace 
regional peace forward.  At the end of the conversation Olmert 
ignored the [Austrian] Foreign Minister.  In fact, the Prime 
Minister's moderate policy leads to further withdrawals -- but 
Olmert continues to turn a blind eye.  We have to be aware of this 
situation, as we contend with the Prime Minister's remarks on 
containing pressure, instead of on embarking on a military 
operation." 
 
MORENO