VZCZCXRO9417
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #1596/01 2400729
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 270729Z AUG 08
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2625
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC//DAS-ZD/DACS-ZK//
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
RHMFIUU/CMC WASHINGTON DC
RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7285
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4274
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4127
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 5621
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4041
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2608

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001596 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS BBG 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR ABRAMS 
CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS
SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (8/27): Guarded Optimism following 
Rice's Meetings with Palestinians and Israelis 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
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News about the visit of the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza 
Rice, to Ramallah on August 26 and her meeting with the Palestinian 
Authority (PA) President, Mahmoud Abbas, capture the front page 
headlines of the three dailies.  The dailies report that during 
their joint press conference in Ramallah, Rice and Abbas stated that 
the Israeli settlement activities in the Palestinian lands form an 
obstacle to the peace process and contradict agreements, the Road 
Map, and the targets of negotiations in the anticipated peace 
process.  The official spokesperson of the Palestinian Presidency, 
Nabil Abu Rudayna, said on August 26 in an interview with AFP that 
for the first time, Rice suggested new ideas in the context of the 
peace process and that the coming weeks will be crucial. Following 
the Rice-Abbas meeting, the Palestinian Chief Negotiator announced 
that Abbas will meet with the Israeli Premier, Ehud Olmert, on 
August 31 and will meet with President Bush in September. 
 
All dailies highlight news about developments in the Palestinian 
national dialogue in Cairo.  They report that the Islamic Jihad 
leader, Muhammad Al-Hindi, said on August 26 that Egypt's mission to 
unite the Palestinians is difficult but not impossible.  Another 
leader in the Islamic Jihad, Nafez Azzam, said that his party 
discussed a number of solutions, including the formation of a 
national unity government, with the Egyptian Chief of Intelligence, 
Omar Suleiman.  Citing DBA, Al-Quds and Al-Ayyam write that 
according to Muhammad Al-Hindi, the Cairo dialogues between the 
Palestinian factions will continue during the month of Ramadan. 
 
Citing different news agencies, the three dailies write that a 
reliable Palestinian security source declared on August 26 that the 
Palestinians and Israelis agreed to close the files on dozens of 
Palestinians who are wanted by Israel, with Israel agreeing not to 
pursue or attack these individuals. 
 
All dailies cover a meeting between the Egyptian President, Hosni 
Mubarak, and the Israeli Minister of Defense, Ehud Barak, on August 
¶26.  They write that the Egyptian president urged Israel to 
cooperate in order to improve the humanitarian conditions in the 
Gaza Strip and to demonstrate flexibility in order to achieve a 
prisoner exchange deal [with Hamas] before the beginning of 
Ramadan. 
 
The dailies highlight the results of a report produced by the 
Israeli NGO "Peace Now," stating that Israeli settlement activities 
in the West Bank doubled during the first half of 2008. 
 
Al-Ayyam reports that negotiations between Palestinian factions are 
being held in the Gaza Strip in order to form a national committee 
to release the political prisoners arrested in the wake of the Gaza 
beach explosion.  Reliable sources told Al-Ayyam that by giving 
consent for the committee to be formed, President Abbas allowed 
negotiations between the Palestinian factions to accelerate. 
 
Citing a Reuters story, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that according to 
an Israeli official, Israel closed its crossing points with the Gaza 
Strip on August 26 following the firing of two rockets from the Gaza 
Strip into Israel on August 25. 
 
 
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BLOCK QUOTES: 
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JERUSALEM 00001596  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  Independent Al-Quds runs an editorial entitled, "The Settlement 
Activity Should Be Condemned with Clear Cut Sentences" (8/27): 
"[T]he U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, talked, after her 
meeting with [the Palestinian Authority (PA)] President Mahmoud 
Abbas in Ramallah, about the expansion of [Israeli] settlement 
activities, which have doubled several times during this year ... 
Her words in this regard were diplomatic because she said that she 
informed her Israeli counterparts that she does not believe that the 
[Israeli] settlement activity 'helps in the peace process' and that 
everybody, according to her, 'needs to take steps that reinforce 
trust between the two sides and everything that threatens this trust 
should be avoided'... The difference between what the American 
mediator in the peace process can declare regarding the settlement 
activity and what should be said is very big: the Israeli settlement 
activities in the West Bank are not discreet; in fact, the plans are 
published in the Israeli media. In addition, the American 
administration tracks Israeli settlement activities in several ways. 
General Fraser's group in the Palestinian Territories sends reports 
on this issue to the U.S. State Department. There are also 
satellites which observe the Israeli actions in the Palestinian 
Territories and around the world..." 
¶2.  Al-Hayat Al-Jadida runs an editorial by its Chief Editor, Hafez 
Al-Barghouthi, entitled, "Comprehensive Peace" (8/27): "[F]or the 
first time, there is some optimism in the statement issued by the 
Israeli Prime Minister and the U.S. Secretary of State regarding the 
reaching of an agreement before the end of the year [2008]. 
Moreover, the meeting of the U.S. Secretary of State with the 
[Israeli and Palestinian] negotiators together and separately 
confirms what she said during the press conference--that the two 
sides do not negotiate in front of the media.  All this indicates 
the seriousness of the negotiations... [The Palestinian] president 
seeks a comprehensive and not partial peace...The Palestinians' 
determination in their stance and the support of the Palestinian 
dialogue in Cairo...may result in support for the Palestinian stance 
towards comprehensive peace.  Without this, Israel will claim that 
there is no Palestinian partner, while in fact there is no Israeli 
partner capable of making a peace decision." 
 
 
WALLES