VZCZCXYZ0008
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #0954/01 1191009
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281009Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6479
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 3747
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0386
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4019
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 4551
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 3761
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2038
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 4509
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1381
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1825
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8373
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 5854
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 0764
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 4883
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 6832
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 9606
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000954 
 
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 Jerusalem Post quoted defense officials as saying on Sunday that 
the U.S. and Egypt have increased the pressure on Israel to accept 
the cease-fire deal with Hamas before President Bush's visit to 
Jerusalem.  The newspaper quoted a top defense official as saying on 
Sunday: "There is a push to wrap up the deal before Bush's visit. 
The hope is that quiet in Gaza will enable Israel and the PA to 
focus on reaching a peace deal by the end of the year."  On Sunday 
Ha'aretz quoted Israeli security officials as saying that Israel 
will accept a cease-fire only if small Palestinian factions are 
included.  The Jerusalem Post also reported that while the Defense 
Ministry is pursuing the cease-fire talks, senior IDF officers have 
voiced opposition to halting military operations in Gaza.  Maariv 
quoted senior IDF officers as saying that the agreement does not 
serve the army's interests, but that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is 
inclined to accept it provided Egypt's terms are upheld and Gilad 
Shalit's release is accelerated.  On Sunday Israel Hayom reported 
that Khaled Mashal admitted on Saturday in an interview to 
Aljazeera-TV that a cease-fire with Israel was Qanother tactic in 
the management of the struggle against it. 
 
Over the weekend media reported that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has 
cancelled a planned trip to the U.S.  Barak, who was scheduled to 
leave this morning, was to meet with the U.S. Secretary of Defense 
and Vice President.  Israel Hayom quoted a spokesman in Barak's 
office said that the meeting had been cancelled due to technical 
reasons, but cited the belief of other people that the cancellation 
stems from the security situation in the south and the reports in 
the U.S. about the Israeli attack in Syria in September 2007.  The 
Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that Transportation 
Minister Shaul Mofaz is expected to meet with Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice in Washington on Monday, a day before he takes part 
in the quarterly Israeli-American strategic dialogue.  That daylong 
dialogue is once again expected to focus on Iran and the 
ramifications of Tehran's nuclear program.  Mofaz will head the 
Israeli team, and his counterpart on the U.S. side will be State 
Department Counselor Eliot Cohen, who has replaced Nicholas Burns. 
In an interview with Israel Radio, Mofaz was quoted as saying that 
all options regarding Iran are still on the table. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a source in Jerusalem as saying on Sunday that 
Turkey is trying to find a compromise that would allow peace talks 
between Israel and Syria to begin.  Ha'aretz reported that Turkish 
PM Recep Erdogan plans to send an emissary to Jerusalem to brief PM 
Ehud Olmert on his recent talks with Assad in Damascus.  Erdogan 
will apparently send his foreign policy advisor, who is also in 
charge of talks with Syria and has in the past met with Olmert 
adviser Yoram Turbowicz in Ankara.  According to Maariv, Turbowicz 
would conduct the negotiations with Syria.  Ha'aretz quoted the GOI 
source as saying: "The U.S. has never vetoed talks between Israel 
and Syria, which is why there is nothing to stop talks from going 
ahead during this U.S. administration -- if the conditions are 
ripe."    Yediot quoted diplomatic sources saying that Olmert will 
not concede the Golan as a precondition for the negotiations.  In 
response to the congressional hearings on the September strike in 
Syria,  Olmert said over the weekend that "It seems to me that today 
we can say with confidence, not, heaven forbid, with arrogance, that 
the nation of Israel has a government that knows how to protect it, 
that it has a leadership that knows how to take care of our security 
and our future, and perhaps today we know that a little bit more 
than what the general public knew." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that based on an agreement signed with former 
police commissioner Moshe Karadi, right-wing settlers will take up 
residence in a group of buildings in East Jerusalem's predominantly 
Arab neighborhood Ras al-Amud in the next few days.  The building 
had hitherto served as the Samaria and Judea [West Bank] District 
Police headquarters.  The buildings are slated to become the nucleus 
of a new Jewish neighborhood in the so-called Holy Basin area, the 
fate of which is supposed to be decided in Israeli-Palestinian 
negotiations.  Ha'aretz quoted police officials as saying yesterday 
that work began before Passover on vacating the place, and that in 
the coming days they will finish moving the offices to a new 
facility built in controversial Area E1, which connects Jerusalem 
with Ma'aleh Adumim. 
 
On Sunday, two Qassam rockets struck Sderot.   One scored a direct 
hit on a home, causing extensive damages but no injuries.  Eight 
more rockets landed in the western Negev today.  Electronic media 
quoted Palestinian sources as saying that seven Palestinians were 
killed and six were wounded in an IAF strike in Gaza this morning. 
According to Israel Radio, a mother and her four young children, as 
well as two armed Palestinians, were killed in the raid. 
 
On Sunday leading media quoted U.S. Republican presidential 
candidate John McCain as saying over the weekend that he would be 
Hamas's worst nightmare, while Democratic rival Barack Obama was 
clearly Hamas's choice for president. 
 
Leading media cited PA President Mahmoud Abbas's disappointment with 
the outcome of his talks with President Bush.  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that Hamas has subsequently urged Abbas to officially 
declare the failure of peace talks with Israel and to resume 
national unity negotiations with the movement and other Palestinian 
factions. 
 
The Jerusalem Post ran a feature on senior State department official 
Robert Danin, who will head Tony Blair's Jerusalem mission. 
 
On Sunday Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. registered an official 
protest with Israel against its ambassador to the United Nations, 
Dan Gillerman, for calling former U.S. President Jimmy Carter an 
"enemy of Israel" and "a bigot" prior to Carter's recent visit to 
the region.  In addition, Ha'aretz reported that the State 
Department is planning to issue a public statement condemning 
Gillerman's comments.  FM Tzipi Livni refused on Saturday to respond 
to the demand by MK Yossi Beilin that Gillerman be recalled.  Beilin 
described the ambassador's statements as "mad."   A Foreign Ministry 
source was quoted as saying that Gillerman's attack on Carter 
"surprised and embarrassed" Jerusalem, which contravened direct 
instructions from Livni to avoid comments on the former president. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted sources in the Palestinian Petroleum 
Authority as saying that on Sunday Hamas militiamen in Gaza attacked 
fuel trucks headed toward the Nahal Oz border crossing , forcing 
them to turn back.  The newspaper also reported that Jerusalem 
expressed mild satisfaction on Sunday that a statement issued by the 
EU on the fuel shortage in Gaza placed at least part of the blame on 
Hamas's shoulders. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted senior sources in Jerusalem as saying that UNIFIL is 
intentionally concealing information about Hizbullah activities 
south of the Litani River in Lebanon to avoid conflict with the 
group.  In the last six months there have been at least four cases 
in which UNIFIL soldiers identified armed Hizbullah operatives, but 
did nothing and did not submit full reports on the incidents to the 
UN Security Council. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Tel Aviv University as saying that former 
U.S. Vice President Al Gore will deliver the opening address at a 
conference on "Renewable Energy and Beyond," scheduled to be held at 
the university on May 20-21. 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that the IAF has resumed flights by F16I 
aircraft after it has been found that the risk from a carcinogen 
present on the planes is low. 
 
Major media reported that Yossi Harel (Hamburger), the commander of 
the ship Exodus, passed away on Saturday, aged 90.  He later 
commanded intelligence operations. 
 
All media (lead story in Yediot and Makor Rishon-Hatzofe) reported 
on the global food crisis, which has also been affecting Israel. 
The price of rice has increased by 50-65%, while that of meat has 
gone up by 40%. 
 
All media reported that on Sunday the Jerusalem District Court 
sentenced Shas MK Shlomo Benizri, who was convicted of accepting 
bribes, breach of faith, obstructing justice, and conspiracy to 
commit a crime, to eighteen months imprisonment and an 80,000-shekel 
fine (approx. $ 23,000).  The sentence involved moral turpitude, 
which automatically revoked Benizri's membership in the Knesset. 
Benizri's successor in the Knesset could be Mazor Bayana, who plans 
to push for increased immigration from his native Ethiopia. 
 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz: "Soon Israel will have to choose between two contradictory 
policies: seeking peace with its neighbors, or denying them nuclear 
capability." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "The cease-fire, if successful, could 
establish a period of absence of hostilities whose duration would 
depend on the speed at which both sides, Israeli and Palestinian, 
proceed along the path toward a peace agreement." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: 
"Experience shows that Hamas will use [a truce] to rearm and 
regroup, then come at Israel twice as hard.... A counter-proposal 
might be the wisest approach." 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz: "If 
achieving peace with Syria is one of Olmert's burning ambitions, and 
if he is endowed with leadership characteristics, the Prime Minister 
is capable of getting the public backing he needs." 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[Allegedly,] Israel's 
deterrence was raised.   No one is better than we are.  But in the 
long run we are going to pay for all this boasting." 
 
Veteran columnist and anchor Yaron London wrote in Yediot Aharonot: 
"The political outlook of most Jews was shaped in the spirit of the 
Enlightenment period, whereas most Muslims trail far behind.  Hamas 
is an expression of the spirit of the Middle Ages, which cannot be 
moderated with words, only by force." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Peace or the Nuclear Option" 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (4/28): "Soon Israel will have to choose between two 
contradictory policies: seeking peace with its neighbors, or denying 
them nuclear capability.  Until now, Israel has avoided such a 
dilemma because its neighbors either tried and failed to obtain 
nuclear capabilities (Iraq and Syria), or have accepted the status 
quo.  But what if a change in government or policy in Jordan or 
Egypt, or in one of the countries with which Israel may sign a peace 
deal in the future, leads to an attempt to acquire nuclear 
capabilities?  Such a course of action would not constitute a breach 
of any peace accord.  After all, a clause prohibiting nuclear 
capabilities would be reciprocal. Israel's dilemma, then, will be 
whether to risk violating the accord by launching a strike against 
its neighbor's nuclear facilities or restrain itself and accept a 
nuclear Middle East." 
 
II.  "Instead of Doing Nothing" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (4/27): "The objection to the proposal for a 
bilateral cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is understandable.... 
What is the point of a cease-fire if every organization or faction 
 
can rain Qassam rockets onto Israeli territory while Hamas, the 
actual ruler of the Gaza Strip, can claim that its hands are 
clean?.... The cease-fire entails Israeli agreement to allow the 
reopening of the Rafah crossing and thus to restore life in the 
Strip to a reasonable and tolerable level.  That is an essential 
interest of Hamas, which seeks to prove that it can function as a 
responsible government for its citizens, and it may be expected to 
enforce the cease-fire on the other groups as well.  It is also in 
the interests of Israel, Egypt and the Palestinian Authority.  This 
is because the sanctions that Israel imposed on Gaza, which were 
received at first with understanding by the international community 
and even with Arab cooperation, now place Israel and the countries 
that have signed peace treaties with it -- Egypt and Jordan -- under 
heavy public pressure.... The creation of an opportunity for calm 
and for continuing the negotiations without violent interruptions 
obligates Israel to respond positively to the cease-fire proposal. 
The objection and potential for risk embodied in the proposal 
require Israel to tighten its military cooperation with Egypt, to 
allow more Egyptian troops to deploy along the border with Gaza and 
to set clear conditions for monitoring and controlling the Rafah 
crossing.  This is not the ideal outcome of the war of attrition 
underway now for years along the border, but those who drag their 
feet in peace talks must make do with a fragile cease-fire.  The 
cease-fire, if successful, could establish a period of absence of 
hostilities whose duration would depend on the speed at which both 
sides, Israeli and Palestinian, proceed along the path toward a 
peace agreement." 
 
III.  "Hamas's Offer" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (4/28): 
"The prospect of a six-month truce is superficially enticing -- even 
one that is, in the words of Hamas chief Khaled Mashal, purely 
'tactical'.... Regrettably, however, experience shows that Hamas 
will use this time to rearm and regroup, then come at Israel twice 
as hard.  Moreover, the price of saying yes would be a massive boost 
to Hamas's standing and torpedo any prospect of cutting a deal with 
moderate Palestinians.  Unfortunately, the situation is exacerbated 
by Abbas.  Concluding his final White House meeting with George W. 
Bush on Saturday, the Palestinian leader told his people that the 
peace talks with Israel are going nowhere because of 'settlement 
expansion.'  Yet negotiating precedent makes plain an Israeli 
readiness to dismantle the overwhelming majority of settlements, and 
Olmert has stressed repeatedly his sense of an Israeli imperative 
for an accommodation.  If the talks are indeed as fruitless as Abbas 
claims, therefore, he must be making unrealistic demands, from a 
position that combines weakness with ineptitude.  So what should 
Israel do about Hamas's truce offer?  A counter-proposal might be 
the wisest approach.  First, Hamas should free Gilad Shalit in an 
exchange palatable to the Israeli body politic; next, it should 
allow American-trained forces loyal to Abbas to be redeployed 
throughout Gaza.  Only then should Jerusalem accept a truce -- with 
the explicit proviso that any sign of enemy war preparations would 
instantly void the cease-fire." 
 
IV.  "Above All, Olmert Must Want Peace" 
 
Liberal op-ed writer Uzi Benziman commented in Ha'aretz (4/28): "If 
achieving peace with Syria is one of Olmert's burning ambitions, and 
if he is endowed with leadership characteristics, the Prime Minister 
is capable of getting the public backing he needs.  To do so, Olmert 
must occupy center stage, not operate solely from behind the 
curtains.  This means he has to create a stable coalition for the 
peace initiative, get the support of the defense establishment, and 
prepare the public for the concessions that successful negotiations 
will entail.  A poor start does not necessarily say anything about 
the expected results. Even the counter-examples -- the assassination 
of Rabin and Ehud Barak's political downfall in the wake of 
negotiations with the Palestinians -- do not contradict the bottom 
line, that above all, Olmert must want." 
 
¶V.  "Dangerous Exposure" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (4/27): "Had the 
Americans shown the pictures [from the alleged Syrian nuclear 
reactor] to the North Koreans behind closed doors without citing 
their source in order to secure achievements in the negotiations 
with them and to prove to them that they had been lying, that 
wouldnQt have been so bad.  At least it would have obviated 
provoking the Syrians.  It is very safe to assume that someone in 
Israel wanted to demonstrate to the Americans just what IsraelQs 
capabilities are and how credible Israeli intelligence is when it 
comes to other countries in the region.  Israel, after all, has been 
trying to convince the Americans to accept its reading of the 
progress Iran has made on its way to the production of nuclear 
weapons.  But none of those reasons justify the damage that was 
caused to a national intelligence asset.... The intelligence 
officials on either side might have had agreements about what should 
be publicized and how.  But as soon as that material landed in the 
laps of Israeli and American politicians, who use it for domestic 
purposes, those agreements became worthless.  Initially, perhaps, 
they'll be able to claim innocence and say that no damage was done. 
Rather, on the contrary, Israel's deterrence was raised.   No one is 
better than we are.  But in the long run we are going to pay for all 
this boasting." 
 
VI.  "We Are All Muslim Sages" 
 
Veteran columnist and anchor Yaron London wrote in Yediot Aharonot 
(4/28): "Those who advise us to talk to Hamas are, in most cases, 
commentators of the secular, democratic, and liberal variety.... It 
is interesting that commentators of this breed are the last to agree 
that a consensus can be reached with Jewish religious authorities on 
the image of the state and the character of Israeli society.... 
Imagine a council with representatives of the senior spiritual 
leaders of the national-religious and the ultra-Orthodox.  Would 
rabbis [from all those persuasions] ... agree that the 'divine 
promise' is a text written by humans who needed a formative 
religious idea in order to strengthen their control of the territory 
known as the 'Land of Israel'?  Would they agree that the source of 
political hegemony is the will of the people as manifested in civil 
law, that religious law should defer [to civil law] in case of a 
clash between the two, that there is no conditional democracy, that 
all citizens deserve equal rights and that women are equal to men in 
all rights?  None of them would agree.... Hamas's religious 
authorities are no different from them, with one exception: the 
political outlook of most Jews was shaped in the spirit of the 
Enlightenment period, whereas most Muslims trail far behind.  Hamas 
is an expression of the spirit of the Middle Ages, which cannot be 
moderated with words, only by force." 
 
MORENO