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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000442 
 
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 
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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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media reported that Hamas vowed to use any means to breach the 
Israeli embargo on the Gaza Strip, hours before a planned mass rally 
in Gaza to protest economic sanctions against the Strip.  As part of 
the demonstration, the protesters are scheduled to march this 
morning toward the Erez crossing in the northern Gaza Strip.  The 
organizers of the demonstration are planning a "human chain" which 
will stretch along the main highway running north to south in Gaza. 
The IDF has bolstered its forces along the border with the Gaza 
Strip, fearing that the rally's participants will try to break into 
Israel.  Commanders have received orders to stop entry into Israel 
"by all means," including sniper fire against the legs of the 
demonstrators.  The media quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as 
saying on Sunday that "Hamas is behind this activity that is 
intentionally placing the civilians at the front -- and not for the 
first time."  "Israel does not intervene in demonstrations inside 
the Gaza Strip, but it will defend its territory and will prevent a 
breach of its sovereign borders," Barak added.  "We are working to 
prevent a deterioration and we are making it clear that if something 
happens, the sole responsibility will be on Hamas."  Other Israeli 
political and military leaders made similar comments. At midday 
Israel Radio reported that the Palestinian demonstration drew far 
fewer people than expected. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that the EU is playing an 
increasingly important role as Israel's "third pillar of survival" 
-- along with the IDF and the U.S. 
 
All media reported that on Sunday the cabinet decided to invest 327 
million shekels (about $91 million) in the fortification of Sderot 
and other communities in the area by 2010.  Over the weekend major 
media reported that thousands of Israelis heeded a call and thronged 
to Sderot on Friday morning to show their solidarity with the 
beleaguered town and to help prop up its faltering economy. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Qatari PM and Foreign Minister, Sheikh 
Hamed bin Jassem al-Thani, told Knesset Member Yossi Beilin (Meretz) 
 
in Doha on Sunday that Qatar is willing to broker a cease-fire 
agreement between Israel and Hamas. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Foreign Ministry welcomed the 
creation by Israeli and Palestinian negotiators of three committees 
to deal with civil affairs issues: water and the environment; legal 
matters; and economic subjects. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post reported that Israeli officials have 
dismissed as a "tempest in a teapot" reports from Arab League 
officials that the organization may withdraw its 2002 peace plan 
unless Israel explicitly accepts the initiative. 
 
On Sunday The Jerusalem Post quoted former Foreign Ministry 
director-general Alon Liel as saying in Washington this week that 
the obstacle to a peace deal with Syria is not Jerusalem but the 
U.S. 
 
Leading media quoted FM Tzipi Livni a saying last night at the 
conference against anti-Semitism, which was held at the Foreign 
Ministry in Jerusalem, that Israel would not take part in the second 
Durban Conference unless it is clear that it will not become a 
platform for anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric. Livni further 
said that the participation of the international community in the 
first Durban Conference gave legitimacy to hatred, extremism and 
anti-Semitism. 
 
Over the weekend, the media reported that on Saturday Israeli forces 
arrested Majdi Tzuibhi Qassam Mabruk, a senior member of the PFLP in 
Nablus.  On Saturday IDF troops hit what they said was a 
mortar-launching cell.  Several activists were struck during the 
weekend.  Israel Radio reports that last night three Hamas activists 
were killed in two raids in Gaza. 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that over 20 
activists were wounded on Friday in clashes with the IDF near the 
security fence at Bil'in.  An American activist was among those 
wounded. 
 
Ha'aretz reported on a rare decision by the Jerusalem Magistrate's 
Court: It has ruled that settlers be removed from the property of a 
West Bank Palestinian. 
 
Senator Barack Obama's top aide, Samantha Power, was quoted as 
saying in an interview with Ha'aretz that she does not believe in 
imposing peace.  Power also rebuffed claims that her candidate is 
hostile to Israel.  Ha'aretz reported that Senator Hillary Clinton 
won the Israel vote in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary (54% for 
Sen. Clinton and 45% for Sen. Obama).  Obama captured a majority of 
the total votes cast by American expatriates worldwide in the ballot 
(66% for Sen. Obama and 33% for Sen. Clinton). 
 
Maariv told the story of Amichai Biton from Chicago, whose father 
emigrated from Israel and who enlisted to serve in Iraq, where he 
fell this week. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that on Sunday Defense Minister Ehud Barak 
objected to PM Ehud Olmert's instructions to make it easier for 
border troops to open fire on anyone trying to cross into Israel 
illegally.  On Sunday Olmert had ordered the defense establishment 
to step up efforts to prevent the illegal infiltration of 
job-seeking Africans into Israel through the border with Egypt. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "When the malice of 
Hamas meets the confusion of an Israeli government that has no 
solution to the Qassam rocket fire, the outcome means playing with 
fire." 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: "If dozens or hundreds of thousands of 
Palestinians try to break into the Negev, the response needs to be 
indiscriminate gunfire into the masses in order to kill." 
 
Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote on page one of the independent 
Israel Hayom: "Now comes Hamas, the standard bearer of Palestinian 
brutality, and dons the mask of supposedly legitimate civil protest 
against the siege on Gaza." 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Look closely at the picture of 
Israeli-Palestinian reality.  Washington isn't in it." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "When Two Sides Play With Fire" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/25): "Hamas loves its 
fellow Palestinians, but it does not love them enough to refrain 
from sacrificing their lives for the sake of a political cause.  The 
demonstration planned for today along the fence between Gaza and 
Israel is ostensibly intended only to sound the outcry of the 
besieged Gazans.  If it deteriorates into a massacre, Hamas will 
proclaim its innocence: Only Israel's hands have spilled this blood. 
 The same duality exists on the Israeli side.  Last night, the IDF 
issued an abundance of threats of fire aimed at the Palestinian 
side.  The assumption was that only a show of brinkmanship would 
deter the crowd from trying to breach the fence.  But as we learned 
in the events of the [Western Wall] tunnel and in October 2000, 
threats of fire could be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Not only Hamas 
hears the IDF's threats.  So too do the soldiers who are sent to 
stop the demonstrators.  When the malice of Hamas meets the 
confusion of an Israeli government that has no solution to the 
Qassam rocket fire, the outcome means playing with fire.... There 
is, of course, another option: For the Israeli government to 
announce that the siege was a mistaken move, and that it has changed 
its mind.  Such a possibility is completely within the realm of 
fantasy: The realistic people sitting around the cabinet table would 
prefer a thousand bullets to one small regret." 
 
 
 
II.  "Shoot Indiscriminately" 
 
Senior columnist Haggai Huberman wrote in the nationalist, Orthodox 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (2/25): "The Palestinians, encouraged by the 
breach of the Rafah border crossing, are likely to try to repeat 
their success at the Gaza Strip's borders with Israel.   This threat 
must be met with a decisive Israeli response, with a clarification 
that cannot be misunderstood.... If dozens or hundreds of thousands 
of Palestinians try to break into the Negev, the response needs to 
be indiscriminate gunfire into the masses in order to kill -- not in 
the air, not in warming.  Shoot to kill.  As opposed to the 
relations between Egypt and the Palestinians, the Palestinians are 
Israel's enemies, not brethren.  When enemies charge at you, you 
take aim and shoot in order to save your life, even if your enemies 
are women and children." 
 
III.  "On the Border of Danger" 
 
 
Veteran journalist Hemmi Shalev wrote on page one of the independent 
Israel Hayom (2/25): "Almost no one knows the name Mubarak Awad 
today, but 20 years ago he was a hot item in main newspaper 
headlines.  Awad, a Jerusalem-born U.S. citizen, was an odd 
Palestinian bird who preached Mahatma Gandhi-style non-violence and 
Martin Luther King-style civil disobedience.... The history of the 
Israeli-Palestinian conflict could have looked completely different 
had the Palestinians adopted the Awad doctrine two decades ago, but 
they preferred to embrace the terrorist ideology and adhere to the 
principle of violence.  In doing so, it could be argued, they 
condemned themselves to many more years of occupation.  Now comes 
Hamas, the standard bearer of Palestinian brutality, and dons the 
mask of supposedly legitimate civil protest against the siege on 
Gaza.  The organization intends to send thousands of mothers and 
children to the border in order to embarrass Israel and exploit what 
is perceived by the Palestinians as their great success in breaching 
the border with Egypt.  It is possible to dismiss Hamas's 
sixties-style flower child masquerade as the height of chutzpah and 
the nadir of cynicism -- but we should not underestimate the 
magnitude of the danger.  The difficult mission that faces the IDF 
today, on the assumption that the border march should indeed 
materialize, is to prevent the border from being crossed -- but also 
to refrain from a diplomatic downfall.  One errant shell or an 
overly accurate salvo of shots could ignite a new fire in the 
territories, inflame the Arab world, entangle Israel in a 
complicated diplomatic crisis and grant the Palestinians a success 
of the kind that Awad could only have dreamed of." 
 
IV.  "Where's Dubya?" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/24): "Last week, [Condoleezza] 
Rice spoke of being frustrated by Israeli policy.  Her aide, David 
Welch, said during a Quartet meeting that the U.S. 'was not 
comfortable with Israel's approach to Gaza.'  Alas, the superpower 
is uncomfortable and frustrated, but it is also slothful..... Every 
U.S. presidential candidate can count on winning the Jewish voted as 
long as he or she extends blind support for Israeli policy, whatever 
it might be.  There is a common assumption that Israel's peace 
policy is designed more to appease Washington than to achieve real 
peace.  If not for U.S. pressure, Olmert would not have met with 
Abbas.  This cuts both ways: If Bush did not oppose the prospect, 
Israel would now be deep in negotiations with Syria.  The premise is 
amply demonstrated each time a senior U.S. officials comes to visit. 
 Like excited hamsters in their exercise wheel, a frenzied running 
begins, as if peace must genuinely be achieved by the end of 2008, 
or at the very least as if the American reaction is to be feared. 
This misleading premise has been in operation for far too long. 
Look closely at the picture of Israeli-Palestinian reality. 
Washington isn't in it." 
 
JONES