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P 181016Z AUG 08
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RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2613
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1895
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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7343
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001814 
 
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 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Yesterday Maariv listed security arrangements that Israel has 
drafted for any future final status arrangement with the 
Palestinians.  The Israelis would like to submit this list and to 
have it endorsed by the outgoing Bush administration in such a way 
so that the next U.S. president would be obliged by that 
endorsement.  According to the report, both John McCain and Barack 
Obama told PM Ehud Olmert that they would be happy to accept such an 
arrangement since it would leave them with one less problem to 
address. According to the newspaper, not all the security 
arrangements that Israel supposedly intends to demand are deemed 
acceptable by the Palestinians.  Maariv elaborates on the general 
structure of the inchoate final status agreement that Olmert and PA 
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas are working on.  There remain differences 
between the two sides over borders, the number of Palestinian 
refugees who will be permitted to relocate to Israel and, of course, 
Jerusalem.  According to Maariv, President Bush is considering 
drafting a presidential bridging proposal between the Palestinian 
and Israeli positions that he could leave as his legacy for the next 
administration.  Maariv reported that Bush has not yet decided 
whether to draft such a proposal, which is what Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice would like him to do.  Maariv's Ben Caspit comments 
that pro-Israel lobby groups in the U.S. were likely to oppose such 
a course of presidential action.  Yesterday Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
quoted senior PA official Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that Olmert 
has agreed to joint Jewish-Islamic control of Jerusalem's holy 
sites. 
 
Most media led with Iran's test-launching of a satellite (a spy or 
mock satellite, depending on the media) yesterday.  Experts were 
quoted as saying that the system could be used to launch other 
devices.  Israel Radio quoted White House Deputy Press Secretary 
Gordon Johndroe as saying that the launch is troubling because the 
technology could be diverted to ballistic missiles -- a claim also 
made by Israeli defense experts and politicians.  Maariv reported 
that although the launch did not impress the Israeli defense 
establishment, the latter has determined that Iranian threats 
against Israel have acquired a "super-status."  Media cited Iran's 
announcement that Iranian planes were now able to fly for 3,000 km 
without refueling. 
 
The media reported that the government, at its weekly session 
yesterday, decided to release around 200 Palestinian prisoners as a 
gesture to the PA.  Shin Bet, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu, and 
other right-wing politicians criticized the move, while Hamas 
responded that this is an "attempt to strengthen the Palestinians' 
internal divisions." 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom quoted a spokesman of 
the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv as saying yesterday that the U.S. is 
concerned about the activities of Iranian terror forces in Iraq, 
Lebanon, Afghanistan, and the Balkans.  The information reportedly 
held by the U.S. says that Iran, through Hizbullah, trains Iraqi 
insurgents to strike U.S. and Iraqi government forces.  The U.S. 
report says that the Qods (Jerusalem) force is the Iranian regime's 
primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists and 
Islamic militant groups abroad. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israel Navy has been ordered to 
turn back two boats carrying activists who are attempting to "break 
the siege of Gaza." 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman 
reportedly told Khaled Mashal, the Hamas political bureau head in 
Damascus, a few days ago that Hamas must stop obstructing progress 
in the deal to release Shalit, and uphold its end of the 
Egyptian-brokered truce with Israel.  Yesterday Makor Rishon-Hatzofe 
reported that Hamas officials denied reports of a demand to transfer 
the issue of the Shalit case to European officials, and refute the 
reports issuing  from Israel that they have raised the price for the 
Israeli soldier 
 
Yesterday Israel Radio and other media reported that DM Barak met on 
Saturday in Tel Aviv with Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad, and promised 
him that Israel will continue to work toward lifting restrictions 
for the Palestinians.  Barak said that Israel would expand the Jenin 
experiment to include other cities, in which the PA will strengthen 
its security mechanisms, but that responsibility for security would 
be in the hands of the IDF. 
 
Yesterday, based on a story published on Saturday in the periodical 
Defense News, Ha'aretz reported that the U.S. and Israel have agreed 
on the deployment of high-powered, early-warning missile radars in 
the Negev desert, to be manned by U.S. military personnel.  The 
radars, known as X-Band, will be linked to a U.S. satellite-based 
alert network.  A spokesman for the Pentagon's Missile Defense 
Agency (MDA) was quoted as saying that the new system could double 
or even triple the missiles' range of identification, which would be 
particularly useful should Iran launch an attack on Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday far-right groups vowed to 
block a recent compromise deal supported by the Yesha Council of 
Jewish Settlements in the Territories, whereby the unauthorized 
Migron outpost will be relocated to new construction in an 
authorized settlement nearby. 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that an independent monitoring 
group in Lebanon -- the International-Lebanese Committee for UN 
Security Council Resolution 1559 -- has disputed a claim made by 
Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, the commander of UNIFIL, that Hizbullah 
has honored UN Security Council, and that it called the UN forces 
"hostages of Hizbullah."  The daily reported that on Friday Dan 
Carmon, acting head of the Israeli delegation to the UN, reprimanded 
Graziano during a personal meeting for ignoring Hizbullah 
violations. 
 
All media reported that yesterday an estimated 5,000 Ethiopian 
Israelis demonstrated outside the Prime Minister's Office in 
Jerusalem to protest against the government's decision to end 
immigration from Ethiopia as 8,700 Falash Mura -- Ethiopians whose 
Jewish ancestors converted to Christianity -- remain in rundown 
camps in northern Ethiopia. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday at the cabinet meeting, Olmert 
lashed out at Defense Minister Ehud Barak, accusing him of blocking 
any meaningful discussion on military matters.  Channel 10-TV 
reported that Barak's wife, Nili Priel, has offered business 
encounters with public opinion leaders.  Priel denied that Barak was 
connected with her business. 
 
Leading media reported that a Qassam rocket fired from central Gaza 
landed yesterday in an open area in the western Negev.  Since the 
start of the cease=fire between Israel and Hamas on June 19, over 20 
Qassam rockets have been fired and some 20 mortar rounds.  Ha'aretz 
reported that the Defense Ministry intends to open the Kerem Shalom 
crossing this week.  Ha'aretz reported that there are no school 
supplies in Gaza. 
 
 
Yesterday IDF Radio reported that the Civil Administration in the 
territories has issued approval for a "U.S. agency" to resurface 
eight roads in Judea and Samaria, under full Israeli sovereignty. 
The cost of the work is estimated at USD 36 million. 
 
Yesterday Israel Hayom quoted informed sources in the police as 
saying that the Israeli authorities took into account from the 
outset the possibility that the U.S. tax authorities might launch an 
investigation into possible wrongdoing by Talansky and that as a 
result he would refuse to return to Israel for cross-examination. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that although Egypt is still considered 
the leading mediator between Hamas and Fatah, reports indicate that 
Yemen, Jordan, and Qatar have also joined the efforts. 
 
Channel 10-TV reported that FM Tzipi Livni has helped chief 
Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Qurei obtain an Israeli ID card for his 
daughter.  Ha'aretz cited a denial by Qurei associates that she 
received the document. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that yesterday a small group of students from Tel 
Avi University hosted a mock regional peace summit based on the Arab 
Peace Initiative.  Ha'aretz quoted one of the organizers, Omer 
Pines, as saying that the army allowed in only three of the five 
invited Palestinian students. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Harvard University has agreed to 
digitize the Israel Broadcasting Authority archives. 
 
--------- 
¶1.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: "It will no longer be 
possible to halt this enormous Iranian project by bombing one 
installation or another.... Only heavy international pressure can, 
perhaps, divert it from its course." 
 
Yoav Limor, the military correspondent of Israel TV, wrote on page 
one of  the independent Israel Hayom: "Iran wants to make it clear 
to [the decision-makers in the West] that this train can no longer 
be halted: it is determined to join the small space club.... And if 
everything goes according to Khamenei or Ahmadinejad's plan, by then 
Iran should already also be a nuclear superpower, a power that will 
try to change the order in the Middle East." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "An Attack Will No Longer Help" 
 
Military correspondent Alex Fishman wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (8/18): "It's not 
specifically the new toy Iranian satellite that worries IsraelQs 
security experts. What is a lot more troubling is that this 'space 
show' revealed another piece of the enormous puzzle that composes 
the strategic threat that is being built against us.... The novelty 
is in the fact that the Iranians don't stop for a moment the 
construction of the strategic threat.  If international pressure 
leads to a temporary halt in one sphere, for example, the 
development of a nuclear warhead -- as the Americans claim -- then 
they invest, at an accelerated pace, in other spheres.  In 
satellites, for example, which is a completely legitimate sphere, or 
in a less legitimate sphere -- uranium enrichment.  After all, in 
the end, all these spheres will converge into one.  But the Western 
world -- stuck in a sort of repression or insane denial -- doesn't 
really believe that this will happen.  It will no longer be possible 
to halt this enormous Iranian project by bombing one installation or 
another.  In Baghdad, in the early 1980s, there was one reactor that 
Iraq received from France.  The moment it was destroyed, the project 
was destroyed.  In this case, there is a monster that is being built 
right in front of our eyes and the eyes of the world.  Only heavy 
international pressure can, perhaps, divert it from its course." 
 
II.  "They Want to Be a Superpower" 
 
Yoav Limor, the military correspondent of Israel TV, wrote on page 
one of  the independent Israel Hayom (8/18): "Iran again made it 
clear yesterday where it's headed: to being a leading regional 
superpower, one that cannot be ignored, a power that has the atom 
bomb and that goes into space, against its most hated enemy -- 
Israel.  The path to realizing these aspirations is long, but let 
there be no confusion.  Iran is following a clear path, with 
determination and force, and ultimately, it will also reach its 
goal.  Three years ago it launched the first satellite of its own 
making, but then the launcher was Russian; yesterday before dawn it 
took another step forward, and carried out the first all-Iranian 
launch.... Since Israel is already threatened by the Shihab 
[missile], this message is mainly intended for the decision-makers 
in the West, those who are about to decide on the matter of 
intensifying the sanctions on Tehran.  Iran wants to make it clear 
to them that this train can no longer be halted: it is determined to 
join the small space club, and it has an orderly space program that 
corresponds to its intentions, a plan that when it is completed -- 
in about 2015 -- it will launch into space the first Iranian 
espionage satellite.  And if everything goes according to Khamenei 
or Ahmadinejad's plan, by then Iran should already also be a nuclear 
superpower, a power that will try to change the order in the Middle 
East.  That is the real (double) challenge that yesterday's launch 
poses to the world, which, in the meantime, continues to ignore all 
the Iranian writing on the wall." 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: "Israel's 
relationship with the Palestinian Authority and its leaders is very 
fragile.... Releasing the prisoners is a bearable price." 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized: "[The unauthorized outpost of] Migron is no 
more legal or illegal than [the veteran settlement of] Ofra, located 
beside it." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Bearable Price" 
 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (8/18): "The 
[upcoming] prisoners' release is meant to buttress the shaky reign 
of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.  The Palestinian 
public, in Gaza and especially in the West Bank, is weighing the 
accomplishments and failures of Abbas and Palestinian Prime Minister 
Salam Fayyad and comparing them to those of Hamas since it forcibly 
took over the Gaza Strip in June 2007.  So far, however, Abbas has 
not managed to demonstrate to his people that his way, which favors 
compromise with Israel, has led to better results than Hamas' 
violence in Gaza (and Hizbullah's violence along the northern 
border).  Abbas will not be able to bring his people significant 
Israeli concessions on borders, the refugees or Jerusalem by the end 
of Olmert's time in office.  The horizon of a diplomatic solution 
may not be growing more distant, but it certainly continues to be 
out of reach. 
Commuting the sentences of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons is a 
tangible asset that Israel can give to Abbas.... Israel's 
relationship with the Palestinian Authority and its leaders is very 
fragile.  Every effort should be made to avoid slipping into another 
round of violence and to ensure that Abbas and Fayyad do not lose 
all remaining control over the radical elements on their side.  For 
this purpose, releasing the prisoners is a bearable price." 
 
II.  "Ofra First" 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (8/17): "At present we are witnessing the 
final days of yet another government that failed to promote a 
political solution.  Moving a few homes from Migron does not absolve 
it from its historic miss.  Another government that held peace talks 
is gasping its final breaths.  The next government that takes its 
place will find itself faced with more settlers on the same patch of 
land that is slated for partition, whether they reside in Migron or 
in another settlement.  Migron is no more legal or illegal than 
Ofra, located beside it.... Circumstances in the West Bank are 
conspiring to create one state with greater rights for Jews. 
Partition is becoming impossible to implement.  This is the future 
toward which the Israeli public -- both right and left -- is 
marching while it obsesses over a caravan in Migron." 
 
CUNNINGHAM