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P 190922Z JUN 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001314 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
All media led with the truce which took effect this morning. 
Ha'aretz quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying yesterday that the 
"tahdiya" is "fragile and may be very short."  Major media reported 
on, and Yediot, Maariv, and Israel Hayom bannered, the 
dissatisfaction of Gilad Shalit's father Noam with the truce 
agreement, which he said -- in a letter to PM Ehud Olmert, Defense 
Minister Ehud Barak, and FM Tzipi Livni, and in an interview with 
Israel Radio -- betrayed promises made to his family.  Noam Shalit 
claims that the cabinet and Olmert pledged to include his son's 
release as part of any agreement and that he now fears that Hamas 
may use this opportunity to smuggle his son abroad if the Rafah 
crossing opens.  Electronic media reported that moments before the 
truce took hold, the IAF killed a member of a Qassam rocket squad 
preparing to launch near the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. 
Palestinian sources said the man killed was a Hamas operative. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the deployment of a multinational 
Arab force in Gaza could possibly be the final stage of the truce 
that began today.  The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior defense 
official involved in the cease-fire talks as saying that Egypt 
raised the request for the deployment of the Arab force during 
meetings between Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's 
Diplomatic-Security Bureau, and Egyptian Intelligence chief Omar 
Suleiman.  Israel, the defense official was quoted as saying, was 
not completely opposed to the idea since it would ultimately bring 
Arab countries such as Egypt to "take responsibility" for events in 
Gaza.  The deployment was also raised as a way for PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party to regain control of the Gaza 
Strip.  The official said that while Israel was therefore in favor 
of the initiative, the defense establishment was skeptical that it 
would succeed in light of Hamas's public opposition as well as the 
operational challenges it would pose for the IDF.  One such 
challenge would be concerns over accidentally harming soldiers of 
the multinational force while pursuing terrorists inside the Gaza 
Strip. 
The Jerusalem Post quoted senior defense officials as saying last 
night that a deal for the release of abducted IDF reservists Ehud 
Goldwasser and Eldad Regev has been finalized, although it will take 
several days to implement.  Major media quoted Ehud Barak as saying 
yesterday in consultations with senior IDF officers that it is "very 
likely that the abductees are not alive."  Israel Hayom reported 
that reserve generals were furious at the price Israel is paying in 
the deal with Hizbullah.  Yediot reported that early next week 
President Shimon Peres will pardon Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar, 
who is included in the prisoner exchange with Hizbullah. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted GOI officials as saying yesterday that 
Israel wants to resolve the Sheba Farms issue within the framework 
of direct negotiations with Lebanon.  Ha'aretz reported that several 
days ago Egypt asked UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the 15 
members of the Security Council to demand that Israel withdraw as 
soon as possible from the Sheba Farms and place them under UNIFIL 
control until their fate is decided by a UN resolution or a 
delimitation of the Syria-Lebanon border.  Ha'aretz reported that 
Egypt's Ambassador to the UN told the ambassadors of those countries 
that a diplomatic resolution of the Shaba Farms issue would be a 
"blow to Hizbullah and Iran." 
 
Yediot quoted Olmert as saying in an interview with the French daily 
Le Figaro that direct negotiations with Syria are close. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday in Petra, at a meeting of 
29 Nobel Prize laureates, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa 
charged that Israel was not serious in its intentions to negotiate 
peace with the Palestinians.  Peres replied: "I am not prepared to 
listen to what you have to say.  Israel evacuated many settlements 
in Gaza in a very difficult process, and what did we get for it? 
Why is Hamas firing rockets at Israel every day?  Israel wants 
peace, and Israel is willing to do a lot for the sake of peace." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the dissolution of the Knesset may take place 
only towards the winter.  Leading media reported that yesterday FM 
Livni began campaigning for Kadima leadership with two speeches in 
which she indirectly attacked Olmert and vowed to do his job better. 
 Maariv reported that the spat between Olmert and Barak is 
intensifying. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that yesterday Rabintex Industries reported an 
$18.6 million vehicle conversion order from the U.S. Army.  The work 
will be conducted by its subsidiary Bartek, over 10 months. 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs 
correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Just like Oslo, for the 'tahdiya' Israel is 
paying in hard currency for general future commitments.... The 
present strategic goal is not peace, but quiet, even if only for a 
short time -- until the elections." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "From Israel's perspective, the 
understandings on quiet that have been achieved via Egypt are just 
as important as a comprehensive agreement with Abu Mazen alone -- 
which would remain on the shelf." 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "[The 'tahdiya'] is a priceless gift to 
Hamas.  Without it, it would have backed down." 
 
Prominent liberal author A.B. Yehoshua wrote in Yediot Aharonot: 
"The cease-fire should not be treated merely as a legal agreement 
signed on paper, but as a tender sapling planted in the ground.   It 
must be cultivated, watered, invested in and protected, so that it 
can gain strength and become a strong tree, which it will not be 
easy to uproot by means of a single Qassam rocket or shell." 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom (6/19): "Perhaps Israel did not go to Munich, but it 
crawled to Canossa." 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "The 
upgrade of [Israel-EU] relations perhaps takes on its deepest 
significance in light of the EU's role as a Quartet member." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "The Lesser Evil" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs 
correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (6/19): "The cease-fire agreement between 
Israel and Hamas, the very same organization that Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert said once again on Wednesday that we are not talking to, 
has one thing in common with the Oslo Accords.  Just like Oslo, for 
the 'tahdiya' Israel is paying in hard currency for general future 
commitments.  This is not a case of 'quiet for quiet,' a formula 
proposed many months ago.... Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi 
understands the coalition picture, but there are quite a number of 
senior officers below him who see the agreement as a big mistake. 
In their eyes, Israel has not even attempted to try a long list of 
measured operations that are less than an conquest of the Gaza 
Strip, but if tried, might have forced Hamas to accept a cease-fire 
from a completely different position.... It is hard to ignore the 
influence of the Second Lebanon War on Israel's operations in Gaza. 
The pain of Lebanon is still clearly felt.  Such pain adds to the 
limited political dialogue and dictates the choice of a cease-fire. 
In Olmert's present situation, any agreement will be presented as an 
achievement: not just the tahdiya, not just the return of the 
abducted soldiers in the hands of Hizbullah..... The present 
strategic goal is not peace, but quiet, even if only for a short 
time -- until the elections." 
 
II.  "Aspiring to a Lengthy Cease-Fire" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (6/19): "[The 'tahdiya'] is a unique 
agreement because of the massive Egyptian involvement both in 
achieving it and promising to uphold it.  Egypt has made efforts to 
secure agreements from all the Palestinian factions, even the 
tiniest and most negligible.  Syria, too, supports the cease-fire, 
and apparently Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), 
about whose status Israel is concerned, is also prepared to help 
guard the crossings.  From Israel's perspective, the understandings 
on quiet that have been achieved via Egypt are just as important as 
a comprehensive agreement with Abu Mazen alone -- which would remain 
on the shelf.  In any case, there is no contradiction between the 
two.... [Moreover], it is always more worthwhile to release 
prisoners in return for a soldier who has been taken captive than to 
endanger other soldiers in a daring rescue operation that will exact 
a price in lives." 
 
III.  "Agreement with the Devil" 
 
Chief Economic Editor Sever Plotker opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (6/19): "Israel did not need HamasQs 
recognition.  We live very well without it, thank you very much. 
Hamas, at the present stage of its political development, 
desperately needed Israeli recognition, since the doors of the 
family of nations are locked before it.  It would have remained 
perpetually outside the boundaries of the Arab mainstream, 
ostracized and rejected, like Al-Qaida.... The strategy of refusal 
caused the decline of Al-Qaida, its considerable weakening and a 
gradual loss of the magical influence that it wielded over hundreds 
of millions of Muslims.  Its stock dropped drastically; in the end, 
few are willing to be considered friends of lepers.... [The 
'tahdiya'] is a priceless gift to Hamas.  Without it, it would have 
backed down.  Under the pressure of the Palestinian and Arab street, 
for lack of military options and with a sense that the oxygen of its 
radical rhetoric was running out, Hamas would have unilaterally held 
its fire, drafted a new charter, agreed to release Gilad Shalit to 
the Egyptians and accepted the firm conditions posed to it by Israel 
and the international community for receiving minimal recognition. 
We were a hair's breadth away from this.  But it was not Hamas that 
backed down.  Israel backed down.  What remains for us to hope for? 
It remains for us to hope that the Israeli government will not 
repeat the same mistake in the north, and will not conduct 
'indirect' negotiations with Hizbullah on drawing up the border 
between us and Lebanon." 
 
IV.  "A Beginning, Not an End" 
 
Prominent liberal author A.B. Yehoshua wrote in Yediot Aharonot 
(6/19): "Realistic logic eventually overcame the hesitations and 
evasions, and the cease-fire was indeed signed.  We can only regret 
the wasted time, in which suffering and destruction dominated on 
both sides.  It is important to remember one principle in the 
100-year war with the Palestinians.  The Israelis and the 
Palestinians are neighbors -- people who will live in proximity to 
each other forever.  Therefore, the military considerations in this 
war are not similar to those in force between distant countries that 
are fighting each other.  The residue of blood, both our and theirs, 
remains in the region, trickling into the memory and infrastructure 
of the two peoples.  Therefore, an immediate cessation of the 
bloodshed is more vital than the fantasy of complete 'victory' in 
the long term.... All those who rightly feared the 'large-scale 
operation,' must mobilize all their strength to fortify and deepen 
this cease-fire, in order to create a long-lasting state of calm, 
which will be able in future to become part of a peace agreement 
with the Palestinian Authority.... Therefore, the cease-fire should 
not be treated merely as a legal agreement signed on paper, but as a 
tender sapling planted in the ground.   It must be cultivated, 
watered, invested in and protected, so that it can gain strength and 
become a strong tree, which it will not be easy to uproot by means 
of a single Qassam rocket or shell." 
 
¶V.  "Israel Crawled to Canossa" 
 
Veteran journalist and anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom (6/19): "Perhaps Israel did not go to Munich, but it 
crawled to Canossa.  It did not want to stick to its target.  It did 
not want to dream.  It has recognized Hamas, opened the crossing 
points, given up on preventing the smuggling of rockets into the 
Gaza Strip, and put Gilad Shalit in very grave danger.... Anybody 
who remembers Olmert's vow in June 2006 that he would bring Shalit 
back, immediately and with no quid prod quo, cannot help being 
skeptical about the Prime Minister's optimistic prediction that 
Shalit will be released now.... So the government did not stop at 
the red light.  This morning the 'tahdiya' opened without Shalit. 
And nobody knows if it will be honored, and for how long, and what 
the IDF will encounter when it is over, on the day when Hamas 
resumes the shooting." 
 
VI.  "Israel's EU Upgrade" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (6/19): 
"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and EU foreign ministers ushered in a 
new era in Israeli-European relations this week at a meeting in 
Luxembourg. After a year of intensive negotiations ... the EU-Israel 
Association Council announced an upgrade in the relations between 
Israel and the EU.  This entails increased diplomatic cooperation; 
Israel's participation in European agencies and environmental, 
educational, agricultural, banking and space programs; and an 
examination of possible Israeli integration into the European single 
market.  The move encountered stiff resistance from the usual 
quarters.  The Arab League tried to torpedo it.....  A coalition of 
humanitarian organizations, meanwhile, expressed their intense 
disappointment that the EU failed to make the upgrade contingent on 
ending Israel's 'abuses' of Palestinian human rights.... The EU'S 
move -- and the deepening ties it heralds -- is a welcome one for 
several reasons.  First, at an auspicious time, it braces and 
reinforces a growing friendship.... The announcement is welcome, 
too, in light of the fact that the EU remains the financial backer 
of the PA and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.  The EU's 
engagement with the region, after all, has not always been 
judicious.... The upgrade is also welcome for the economic fruits it 
promises to bring to an already robust partnership.... But the 
upgrade of relations perhaps takes on its deepest significance in 
light of the EU's role as a Quartet member, and the increased 
leverage with which Israel can now encourage the Europeans to take a 
firm stand against Hamas and Iran, while coaxing Palestinian 
relative moderates to temper their demands so as to increase chances 
of a bargaining breakthrough.  For all these reasons, the EU 
announcement, and the far-reaching effects it betokens, represent a 
step in the right direction." 
 
JONES