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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000724 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Intellectual Property Rights 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that at a press 
conference with the foreign media last night, PM Ehud Olmert hinted 
at the prospect of secret talks with Syria.  He was quoted as 
saying: "I hope that they [the Syrians] are prepared to make peace 
with Israel, and I hope that the circumstances will allow us to sit 
together.  That doesn't mean that when we sit together, you have to 
see us."   The Jerusalem Post quoted Alon Liel, a former 
director-general of the Foreign Ministry who is lobbying the 
government to open talks with Syria, as saying that while he did not 
know of any direct secret talks taking place now, it was an open 
secret that Turkey was passing messages between Damascus and 
 
SIPDIS 
Jerusalem. 
 
Israel Hayom (lead story) and Ha'aretz quoted PA Chairman 
[President] Mahmoud Abbas as saying as saying on Wednesday that the 
talks between chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei and FM Tzipi 
Livni are tackling "all the core issues without exception: 
Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, and security."  "We hope 
to achieve a settlement in 2008, there are many obstacles but we 
hope they will be removed. We are all pressing to reach a settlement 
by the target date," Abbas was quoted as saying.  He said settlement 
building in and around Jerusalem, and IDF checkpoints and raids were 
blocking progress towards achieving a deal by the end of this year. 
Ha'aretz reported that Abbas is due to meet with President Bush in 
Washington next month to advance the Israeli-Palestinian peace 
negotiations. 
 
Ha'aretz's Internet site quoted Defense Minister Ehud Barak as 
saying on Wednesday he had agreed to the transfer of new vehicles 
and equipment to Abbas's security forces and to ease travel 
restrictions for West Bank businesses.  Citing fear of militant 
infiltrations, however, Barak signaled he would continue to resist 
Palestinian and Western demands for mass removals of checkpoints and 
roadblocks that restrict travel and trade within the West Bank. 
Ha'aretz noted that Israel hopes that the measures, announced ahead 
of a weekend visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, will 
help blunt complaints it was not doing enough to bolster U.S.-backed 
peace talks and Salam Fayyad's "law and order" drive in the West 
Bank.  Ha'aretz quoted a Palestinian official as saying that Barak 
was "forthcoming" on issues like roadblocks and deployment of 
Abbas's forces.  Media reported that earlier on Wednesday opposition 
leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the decision.  "The idea that 
we will give guns, armored vehicles, and ammunition to the PA as it 
exists today -- and these weapons will even protect us -- is not 
only mistaken, it is foolish," he said. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying on Wednesday 
that a new Israel National Police station will be opened next week 
in E-1, an area that has been the site of a bitter land dispute 
between Israelis and Palestinians. 
 
Maariv cited the defense establishment's current belief that 
Hizbullah's new missiles have a 300-km range and that some of them 
are able to strike Dimona and its nuclear reactor. 
 
The media reported that on Wednesday 15 to 20 Qassam rockets landed 
in the western Negev and that Palestinian snipers targeted Israeli 
farmers along the border with Gaza.  Two persons were slightly 
injured.  The media reported that on Wednesday Israeli security 
forces arrested a senior Hamas operative from Tulkarm, Omar Jaber, 
who reportedly played a key role in organizing the Passover-eve 
suicide bombing at Netanya's Park Hotel, six years ago today. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Maariv reported that the Israel Air Force is 
considering delaying delivery of the remaining F16I fighter plans 
that Lockheed Martin is supposed to supply, until an investigation 
into the discovery of carcinogenic material in one the planes is 
completed. 
 
Leading media cited a statement released on Wednesday by 
ultra-Orthodox Ashkenazi rabbis, according to which harvesting the 
organs of a patient who has been declared brain-dead but whose heart 
has not stopped is "shedding of blood."  The statement came in 
response to a law passed by the Knesset earlier this week governing 
the determination of brain and respiratory death criteria for 
declaring the patient dead.  The law is to go into effect within 14 
months.  The statement was a veiled criticism of the support for the 
law of the senior Sephardic authority on Jewish law, Rabbi Ovadia 
Yosef.  Yosef backed the law based on understandings reached between 
representatives of the chief rabbinate and the heath-care system. 
 
Major media reported that environmental activists, including 
Environment Minister Gideon Ezra, are sponsoring a voluntary 
one-hour blackout of Tel Aviv tonight at 8:00 to demonstrate the 
waste of electricity.  Similar actions have taken place in large 
cities around the world, including Chicago. 
 
Maariv reported that on Wednesday IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi 
told the diplomatic-security cabinet that the army is short of 
"billions of shekels" to confront threats. 
 
Leading media reported that on Wednesday, at a solidarity rally 
organized by the student union at Bar-Ilan University, Noam Shalit, 
the father of Gilad Shalit, blasted PM Olmert for his hesitance and 
failure to decide on the right action to gain his son's release. 
 
Ha'aretz's web site reported that the government recently posted on 
YouTube three videos related to the terror attack at Jerusalem's 
Mercaz Harav Yeshiva earlier this month.  Ha'aretz reported that 
while the poster was not identified as having any connection to the 
government, the Prime Minister's Office was actually behind the 
upload to the popular video file-sharing site.  This is the first 
time that a government body has used the site in response to a 
terror attack.  A source close to the latest measure has told 
Ha'aretz that Jerusalem will upload videos to YouTube in the event 
of any future terror attacks.  Leading media reported that on 
Wednesday a senior rabbi urged "state-sanctioned revenge" against 
Arabs to bolster Israel's deterrence.  Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the 
Chief Rabbi of Safed, suggests hanging from a tree the children of 
the terrorist who carried out the attack at the yeshiva.  He made 
his remarks in an article due to be distributed in synagogues this 
Shabbat in the Eretz Yisrael Shelanu ("Our Land of Israel") 
newsletter.  Ha'aretz reported that Mossawa, the Advocacy Center for 
Arab Citizens of Israel, is demanding that Attorney General Menachem 
Mazuz censure Eliyahu over these comments and punish him "with the 
fullest severity of the law."  Members of Meretz's youth wing urged 
Mazuz to investigate the rabbi and to prohibit the newsletter's 
distribution, while Reform Judaism officials also issued a harsh 
condemnation of Eliyahu's statement. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday the UN Human Rights 
Council appointed American Jewish law professor Richard A. Falk -- 
who has compared Israel to the Nazis -- as special investigator on 
Israeli actions in the territories for a six-year term. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Khaled Salam, a former adviser to 
Yasser Arafat, is planning to invest some $600 million in a tourist 
project in Jordan, prompting the PA leadership in Ramallah to launch 
an investigation into the sources of the money. 
 
Major media reported that on Wednesday the Knesset decided that a 
parliamentary committee will discuss whether to recognize the World 
War I-era mass murder of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire as 
genocide.  The government did not oppose the motion.  The Knesset's 
House Committee will decide whether to hand the issue over to the 
Knesset's Education Committee, as Meretz's Haim Oron wants, or to 
the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, as requested by Yisrael 
Beiteinu's Yosef Shagal.  The latter generally holds hearings behind 
closed doors.  Israel Radio also cited the move.  Ha'aretz quoted 
the Foreign Ministry as saying that a debate on the Armenian 
genocide might harm Israel-Turkey relations. 
 
Maariv reported that on Tuesday a Kazakh court ruled that Israelis 
have trained forces to carry out a coup in the country. 
 
Ha'aretz reviewed a new book ("The Man Who Pushed America to War") 
that describes the role of Iraqi politician Ahmad Chalabi in 
providing false intelligence about Saddam Hussein's military 
capability to the U.S. administration.  The book also queries the 
contribution of Israeli intelligence to the formation of the U.S. 
conception that led to the Iraq War. 
 
Yediot and other media reported that on Monday convicted spy 
Jonathan Pollard wrote PM Olmert that Olmert's bureau has stolen 
money coming to him and his family.  Leading media quoted State 
Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss as saying that accusations that his 
investigation into the government's treatment of the Pollard affair 
will thwart Pollard's release are "surreal."  Some media commented 
that Olmert is using the affair and its leak to Yediot to ram 
Lindenstrauss. 
 
In an interview with Maariv, prominent Israeli director Daniel 
Barenboim for the first time criticized the Palestinians' actions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that on Wednesday Likud Chairman 
Benjamin Netanyahu publicly attacked the government for employing a 
"passive economic policy" amid the global financial crisis and a 
possible slowdown in the economy.  Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post 
reported that the U.S.-based equity fund York Capital Management is 
buying a 4% stake in Bank Hapoalim, the largest Israeli bank, at a 
discount of about 4% compared with the opening price on the Tel Aviv 
Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a bill calling for the creation of a third 
public school system combining Orthodox and secular education passed 
a preliminary reading in the Knesset on Wednesday.  Such legislation 
would mark the first time since the state's founding that a public 
educational system has been established. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited the Jewish 
Telegraphic Agency as saying that a Gallup poll among Jewish 
Democrats in the U.S. found that Senator Hillary Clinton would take 
48% of the Jewish votes, while Senator Barack Obama would receive 
43% of the Jewish votes. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Bush is now behaving like a responsible 
adult, who is no longer looking for major headlines but only to pass 
on a policy that is worthy of continuing: in Iraq, in North Korea, 
and also in the Israeli-Palestinian corner of the Middle East. 
Hopefully, this is the case." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "Does 
Russia really have an interest in Iran prevailing against the 
U.S.?.... If Russia were to take ... an about-face and join the side 
of peace, it would do more for peace than a thousand conferences." 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in Ha'aretz: "'The environment' does not 
know ethnic fences.... But including the Palestinians in the Israeli 
environment ostensibly means annexation, or at least recognizing 
that the occupation is not temporary; that is how political disputes 
become enmeshed in ecological discourse." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Drive Slowly" 
 
Washington correspondent Shmuel Rosner wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (3/27): "Well-positioned persons note that 
Clinton passed down to his successor a dysfunctional peace process, 
a violent Intifada.  The size of the abyss into which the two sides 
slid was commensurate to Clinton's ambition to bring an end to the 
conflict.... The outgoing president -- in 10 months -- intends to 
leave his successor the keys to a car in working order.... If the 
talks break down because of Jerusalem or the right or return, or the 
agreement of principles, the Roadmap path will also be blocked, 
which will be a reenactment of the Clinton mistake.  Rice does not 
want to see this happen, nor does Bush.  Seven years after taking 
office, the President is no longer a dangerous, inexperienced 
driver.  Bush is now behaving like a responsible adult, who is no 
longer looking for major headlines but only to pass on a policy that 
is worthy of continuing: in Iraq, in North Korea, and also in the 
Israeli-Palestinian corner of the Middle East.  Hopefully, this is 
the case." 
 
II.  "Better than a Peace Conference" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (3/27): 
"To call the Russian approach to fostering peace in the region 
indelicate would probably be an understatement.  'Thuggish' is the 
word that comes to mind.... Moscow seems to be reprising the old 
Soviet policy of being weapons supplier to rogue states and sticking 
its finger in the eye of the West.  How this is in the interest of 
today's Russia is difficult to imagine.  What is clear, however, is 
that Israel should have no part of it.  Russia is attempting to host 
a peace conference while protecting the main source of war: Iran.... 
This does not mean that Israel should oppose a constructive Russian 
role.  On the contrary; Israel should make clear that it welcomes 
Russian involvement in isolating Iran, Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. 
Russia cannot have it both ways.... Does Russia really have an 
interest in Iran prevailing against the U.S.?  If not, Russia should 
truly join, not impede, the international campaign to force Iran to 
back down.  If Russia were to take such an about-face and join the 
side of peace, it would do more for peace than a thousand 
conferences." 
 
III.  "The Same Air, the Same Water" 
 
Very liberal columnist Meron Benvenisti, deputy mayor of Jerusalem 
from 1971 to 1978, wrote in Ha'aretz (3/27): "'The environment' does 
not know ethnic fences.... But including the Palestinians in the 
Israeli environment ostensibly means annexation, or at least 
recognizing that the occupation is not temporary; that is how 
political disputes become enmeshed in ecological discourse.... This 
system -- called in sanitized language 'the occupation' -- is not a 
 
military occupation, a takeover of lands and a temporary situation 
that will end when peace comes, but a permanent situation in which 
even those who are struggling to end it are partners in achieving 
its latent goal.  The goal is for the Palestinians not to 
consolidate economic power that will 'steal' environmental resources 
from Israelis.  That is the real goal of the regime of closures, the 
strangulation of physical planning, and especially the prevention of 
Palestinians from working in Israel: to ensure that the Palestinians 
remain in their backward condition.  This will not pry away the 
environmental resources, which will remain an internal Israeli 
matter.  It seems to Israelis that they have the power to maintain 
this monopoly on the environment indefinitely, but this is a 
dangerous illusion.  After all, they do not have the power to stop 
Palestinian population growth or even the rise in their living 
standards, which will affect the bitter struggle we can expect over 
the distribution of environmental resources.  Only if these 
influences become a part of public discourse will the way we deal 
with ecological issues be complete." 
 
--------------------------------- 
¶2.  Intellectual Property Rights: 
--------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Jonathan Band, a copyright lawyer in Washington, D.C., and an 
adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: "The new [Israeli 
copyright] legislation contains many improvements, but one in 
particular -- the fair use provision -- will ensure that Israel 
remains among the world's technology leaders." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Israel Now Has the Right Copyright Law" 
 
Jonathan Band, a copyright lawyer in Washington, D.C., and an 
adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center wrote in 
the conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (3/27): "In November 
2007, the Knesset passed a new Copyright Law.  The law, which takes 
effect in May of this year, replaces a legal framework dating back 
to the Mandatory period.  The new legislation contains many 
improvements, but one in particular -- the fair use provision -- 
will ensure that Israel remains among the world's technology 
leaders.... The Knesset met this challenge by including in the new 
law a 'fair use' provision modeled on the fair use doctrine in the 
U.S. Copyright Act.... U.S. entertainment interests and their 
Israeli affiliates opposed the fair use provision.  They in essence 
feared that Israeli courts were not sophisticated enough to apply 
the fair use doctrine properly.  Fortunately, the Economics 
Committee had more faith in the Israeli courts, and provided the new 
law with the flexibility essential for a vibrant technology 
sector." 
 
JONES