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DE RUEHTV #1763/01 2251405
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P 121405Z AUG 08
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001763 
 
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.  Iran 
 
¶3.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz reported that PM Ehud Olmert has presented Palestinian 
President Mahmoud Abbas with a detailed proposal for an agreement in 
principle on borders, refugees, and security arrangements between 
Israel and a future Palestinian state.  The centerpiece of Olmert's 
proposal is the suggested permanent border, which would be based on 
an Israeli withdrawal from most of the West Bank.  In return for the 
land retained by Israel in the West Bank, the Palestinians would 
receive alternative land in the Negev, adjacent to the Gaza Strip. 
The Palestinians would also enjoy free passage between Gaza and the 
West Bank without any security checks.  Under Olmert's offer, Israel 
would keep 7 percent of the West Bank, while the Palestinians would 
receive territory equivalent to 5.5 percent of West Bank.  Israel 
views the passage between Gaza and the West Bank as compensating for 
this difference: Though it would officially remain in Israeli hands, 
it would connect the two halves of the Palestinian state.  The land 
to be annexed to Israel would include the large settlement blocs, 
and the border would be similar to the present route of the 
separation fence.  Israel would keep Ma'aleh Adumim, Gush Etzion, 
the settlements surrounding Jerusalem and some land in the northern 
West Bank adjacent to Israel.  In the second stage, once the 
Palestinians complete a series of internal reforms and are capable 
of carrying out the entire agreement, Israel would remove any 
settlers remaining east of the new border. 
 
Almost all media continued to lead with the fighting in Georgia. 
The media cited President Bush's statement yesterday.  The Jerusalem 
Post reported that Russian charge d'affaires Anatoly Yurkov told the 
newspaper yesterday that Russia very much appreciates the "balance" 
approach that Israel has demonstrated during the current conflict. 
FM Tzipi Livni told the leading Internet news site Ynet yesterday 
that Israel was maintaining its friendly ties with Georgia, and also 
shared with Russia a "common way of looking at things."  This 
morning Israel Radio reported that an El Al plane left Ben-Gurion 
Airport to bring back Israelis stranded in Tbilisi.  The media also 
reported on the suffering of the Jews of Georgia. 
 
Leading media cited a Defense Ministry announcement yesterday that 
Israel's border crossings with Gaza will be shut today in response 
to a rocket attack on southern Israel from Gaza.  The rocket landed 
next to a Sderot kindergarten. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that a Palestinian who refused to vacate his 
apartment in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah was 
imprisoned for three weeks.  The Nahalat Shimon organization is 
active "judaizing" property in the area.  Maariv reported that ten 
days ago, west of Bethlehem, soldiers arrested a Palestinian, cuffed 
him, and left him on the side of the road.  The force's commander 
was suspended for 21 days. 
 
Yesterday, in an interview with Ynet, Defense Minister Ehud Barak 
disparaged FM Tzipi Livni for criticizing Barak for interfering in 
Kadima party affairs.  Ha'aretz reported that Minister Shaul Mofaz 
is drawing a "surprising" level of support in Kadima. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Deputy Hamas Chairman Mousa Abu Marzuk as saying 
in an interview with the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi that Hamas 
has recently received a new Israeli offer to discuss the release of 
Gilda Shalit through Qatari mediation.  Abu Marzuk indicated that 
Hamas will only accept understandings already reached though the 
Egyptian mediator and that it will not budge from its positions. 
Ha'aretz reported that yesterday senior Hamas sources confirmed that 
the group is not prepared to resume talks to release Shalit as long 
as Israeli does not entirely lift the siege on Gaza and does not 
revoke all constraints on Israel-Gaza trade.  Ha'aretz cited the 
London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat as saying that Egypt and Hamas are 
deeply divided regarding the Shalit affair: Hamas reportedly accuses 
Egypt of foot-dragging. 
 
Leading media reported that Cabinet Secretary Oded Yehezkel was 
questioned under caution for eight hours yesterday on suspicion of 
fraud and breach of trust.  The police interrogation focused on his 
alleged role in affairs related to Olmert during his tenure as 
minister of industry, trade, and labor. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the Civil Administration has "offered" to 
move two Bedouin villages eastward -- from Israel to the West Bank. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited Israel's concern that Russia would sell 
more advanced weaponry to Syria during President Bashar Assad's 
visit to Moscow next week. 
 
Major media reported that Hadash MK Dov Henin has announced his 
candidacy for Tel Aviv mayorship, becoming incumbent Mayor Ron 
Huldai's main contender. 
 
Yediot reported that the Jerusalem Municipality is considering 
extending the route of the light railway under construction to the 
Old City's Dung Gate, close to the Western Wall.  The newspaper also 
reported that the route could include a 600-meter-long tunnel under 
Mt. Zion. 
 
Yediot reported that the Immigration Authority is recommending that 
the government make use of thousands of dogs along the Egyptian 
border to prevent illegal immigrant infiltration. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Tehran must be saying, we don't need a 
nuclear bomb to wipe Israel off the map ... Hizbullah and Hamas 
rockets will do the job much more cheaply." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"No Peripheral Vision" 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/12): "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not as stupid 
as he looks.  His almost daily bombastic threats against Israel, 
accompanied by his insistence that Iran has every right to continue 
enriching uranium -- the raw material for a nuclear bomb -- has 
succeeded in totally focusing most Israeli leaders on the Iranian 
threat, to the disregard of more immediate threats that are under 
our very nose.  For some years now, most Israeli politicians have 
become like horses with blinders: They can only look straight ahead. 
 They seem to have lost their peripheral vision.   In the meantime, 
Hizbullah and Hamas are doing Iran's work.  In the north and the 
south they continue to erode Israel's deterrent capability.  Tehran 
 
must be saying, we don't need a nuclear bomb to wipe Israel off the 
map -- so long as we keep Israel hypnotized by the Iranian nuclear 
threat, Hizbullah and Hamas rockets will do the job much more 
cheaply.... Mofaz, like Olmert and Barak, is hypnotized by 
Ahmadinejad.  All he can talk about is the nuclear threat from 
Iran.... And Tzipi Livni?  She has only one thing in her head: 
establishing a Palestinian state, which she seems to think is the 
solution to all of Israel's problems.  These politicians better take 
the blinkers off and take a good look in all directions.  Danger may 
be lurking in what are to them unexpected places." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Gaza has no raw materials, but it does have 
the most valuable resource of the 21st century: a young, energetic 
population with free time -- just like Taiwan after the Chinese 
civil war." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Taiwan of the Middle East" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/12): "Gaza has no raw materials, but it 
does have the most valuable resource of the 21st century: a young, 
energetic population with free time -- just like Taiwan after the 
Chinese civil war.  It is both necessary and possible to teach Gaza 
residents to test and develop software at competitive prices. 
High-tech exports require no physical shipping.... This idea was 
presented to the World Bank's representative, but he dismissed it 
scornfully.  'That's good for the long term.'  That was a mistake. 
The long term is a collection of short terms.  What is not begun now 
will never materialize in the future.  The U.S. administration and 
the World Bank wasted time finalizing the Agreement on Movement and 
Access with Israel, which, predictably, was promptly violated.  Gaza 
remained with neither agriculture nor high-tech -- just shortages. 
The good news is that it is not too late.  If Hamas quells the 
internal violence, enforces the truce with Israel and internalizes 
its responsibilities toward Gaza's residents, it can build a new 
economy in Gaza.  But it should not waste time on agriculture; it 
should train unemployed Palestinians for modern jobs and gradually 
wean Gaza from its dependence on Israel for transit.  This will not 
end the conflict or eliminate terror.  But if the distress were 
eased, if Gaza residents were employed, and if the storm brewing 
under the surface were calmed, that would be a huge achievement. 
And should Gaza flourish, that would also give hope to Palestinians 
in the West Bank.  Delusional?  Absurd?  Look at Taiwan." 
 
MORENO