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DE RUEHTV #1979/01 2421039
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001979 
 
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.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Ha'aretz quoted a senior GOI source as saying that Hamas recently 
increased the number of Palestinian prisoners it wants released in 
exchange for Gilad Shalit, from 1,000 to 1,500.  Ha'aretz and Israel 
Radio reported that for the first time, Israel will share a list of 
450 prisoners with Hamas, some "with blood on their hands."  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted sources in Gaza as saying that the results of 
a recent election held for one of Hamas's key decision-making bodies 
are likely to hinder efforts to free Gilad Shalit.  Leading media 
quoted Shalit's mother Aviva as saying yesterday that Israeli 
politicians are too preoccupied with their own affairs to work for 
her son's release.  She was speaking at a rally to mark Shalit's 
third birthday in captivity.  Referring to comments made by 
politicians about the number of Palestinian prisoners whom Hamas has 
demanded in return for freeing Shalit,  Aviva Shalit was quoted as 
saying: "Whoever wants to avoid [paying] a high price -- you had all 
the time in the world to do this.  A country that forgets its 
soldiers will eventually be forgotten by its soldiers." 
 
Citing an interview of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas with Al Arabiya-TV, 
leading media quoted him as saying that the return of Palestinian 
refugees to Israeli territory is being discussed in the negotiations 
with Israel.  Abu Mazen said that the Palestinians were also 
demanding all of East Jerusalem, which was occupied in the Six Day 
War.  He added that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed that 
East Jerusalem, the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea be included in 
the territory of the Palestinian state.  Israel Radio quoted GOI 
sources as saying that if a Palestinian state is established, 
refugees would only be able to enter it, and not Israel.  The radio 
reported that Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit heard from Secretary 
Rice that an Israeli-Palestinian agreement will be ready by next 
month. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted diplomatic officials in Jerusalem as 
saying yesterday that Syria's rush to take advantage of the conflict 
in Georgia and the Russia-U.S. rift to cozy up to Moscow seems to 
indicate that it is not interested in serious negotiations with 
Israel even with U.S. participation. 
 
Ha'aretz and other media reported that yesterday Labor's Knesset 
faction stood squarely behind the party leader, DM Ehud Barak, 
quashing rumors that there is a plot to replace him. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that two boats run by the 
pro-Palestinian Free Gaza group sailed back to Cyprus from Gaza 
yesterday, carrying seven Palestinians, including five children. 
Ha'aretz says that initially, the group had also planned to take 12 
Palestinian students who have been accepted to foreign universities 
but barred from leaving Gaza by Israel.  However, that plan was 
dropped when it turned out that the students did not have visas to 
enter the countries in which they sought to study. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the U.S. Republican Party accuses 
the Democrats of weakness on Iran.  The newspaper cited the 
Democrats' response that the Bush-McCain approach to foreign policy 
has endangered Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that two Israeli Arabs from Shfaram -- both 
university students -- have been arrested on suspicion of belonging 
to Islamic Jihad and planning attacks that included assassinating 
Israeli pilots, scientists, and university professors.  The father 
of one of the two suspects is himself suspected of taking part in 
the 2005 lynching of IDF deserter Eden Natan Zade, who killed four 
Arab civilians in a bus. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a recent study by the IDF's 
Planning Division shows that the ballistic missile threat to IDF 
bases in the Central region and South is not as grave as once 
thought and the bases would not need to be evacuated in the event of 
a war in the North. 
 
All media reported that yesterday Hizbullah downed a Lebanese Army 
helicopter.  Ha'aretz wrote that it was wrongly identified as an 
Israeli one.  Israel Radio gathered that the incident was linked 
with the appointment of a new Lebanese chief of staff.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Israeli defense sources as saying that the 
Lebanese Army helps Hizbullah conceal construction of military 
infrastructure from UNIFIL. 
 
Yediot reported that former Israeli ambassador to Washington Danny 
Ayalon has joined Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beiteinu party. 
 
Leading media reported that this morning police will interrogate PM 
Ehud Olmert in his residence for the seventh time.  The Jerusalem 
Post quoted Morris Talansky's Israeli lawyers as saying that U.S. 
prosecutors want to "debrief" him in connection with the ongoing 
investigations in the U.S. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday for the first time, 
Interior Ministry officials allowed Druze women from the Golan to 
participate in a religious pilgrimage in Syria, calling it a 
"goodwill gesture" to commemorate Israel's 60th anniversary. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Meretz MK Ran Cohen is considering running 
for Tel Aviv Mayorship. 
 
Globes reported that the giant, American-based multinational 
agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto will invest $65 
million in the Israeli agricultural start-up company Abujan. 
 
Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll: 
If Knesset elections were to be held today and Livni to head Kadima 
with the following parties running, for which party would you vote? 
Results in Knesset seats.  (In brackets: Maariv's August 1 poll): 
Likud: 31 (33); Kadima:23 (20);  Labor Party: 12 (17): Yisrael 
Beiteinu: 12 (12); Shas:9 ( 9); Arab parties: 10 (10); National 
Union Party and National-Religious Party:8 ( 6); Meretz: 5 (4); 
United Torah Judaism: 6 (4); Social Justice -- new party headed by 
Arkady Gaidamak: 4 (5); Pensioners Party:0  ; Green Party 0 (5) 
 
If Knesset elections were to be held today and Shaul Mofaz to head 
Kadima with the following parties running, for which party would you 
vote?  Results in Knesset seats.  (In brackets: Maariv's August 1 
poll): 
Likud: 31 (33); Kadima:16 (16);  Labor Party: 16 (20): Yisrael 
Beiteinu: 11 (13); Shas:8 (9); Arab parties: 10 (10); National Union 
Party and National-Religious Party:8 ( 6); Meretz:6  (4); United 
Torah Judaism: 6 (4); Social Justice -- new party headed by Arkady 
Gaidamak: 5 (4); Green Party 3 (0; Pensioners Party: 0. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The leader who understood the significance 
of the change [in the world's balance of power] better than others, 
and is working to leverage it to his advantage, is Syrian President 
Bashar Assad." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"New Middle East" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/29): "The leader who understood the 
significance of the change [in the world's balance of power] better 
than others, and is working to leverage it to his advantage, is 
Syrian President Bashar Assad.  In these days of uncertainty and 
searching for allies, Assad is putting Syria up for sale.  After a 
prolonged isolation, which reached its climax in a series of 
humiliations ... Assad launched a diplomatic offensive.  The 
previously ostracized president is now highly sought after.... Assad 
was quick to take Russia's part in its war with Georgia.... Assad 
resumed peace talks with Israel, at a low profile, signaling that 
the border will remain quiet if Israel leaves Lebanon to him and 
respects his new standing in the region.  Ehud Olmert assented, 
without paying a price politically.... Assad is waging the most 
delicate and sensitive game with Iran: He wants to preserve the 
strategic partnership with Tehran, while he offers the West and 
Israel a weakening of those ties if they present him with an 
alternative.  Assad did not join in the hate-filled diatribes of his 
ally Ahmadinejad, and agreed to take in stride the Iranian criticism 
of his talks with Israel.  Israel is currently preoccupied with 
domestic political crises and criminal cases; the upheavals in the 
region and in superpower relations are of zero interest.  But these 
are reshaping Israel's strategic horizon, and Olmert's heirs will 
have to adapt their policy to fit a new and different world.  They 
will have something to learn from Bashar Assad." 
 
-------------------------- 
¶2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: "[Hubert 
H.] Humphrey, who ultimately lost to Richard M. Nixon, may have been 
the last instinctive friend of Israel to seek the presidency..... 
What the Obama-Biden ticket needs to demonstrate is that backing for 
a secure Israel living within defensible boundaries is as integral 
to Democrats today as it was when Hubert Humphrey was their 
standard-bearer." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"From Humphrey to Obama" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (8/29): 
"[Hubert H.] Humphrey, who ultimately lost to Richard M. Nixon, may 
have been the last instinctive friend of Israel to seek the 
presidency..... On the night Humphrey accepted the nomination, 
Barack Obama, born August 4, 1961, was seven years old.  For Obama's 
generation, and even more for the ones following it, political, 
moral or theological certainties about Israel -- or about anything 
else -- are passe..... The Obama-McCain campaign kicks off in 
earnest after next week's Republican National Convention, and 
Israelis have been watching the presidential race with 
fascination.... Do Obama and Biden think it is possible to be 
'pro-Israel' in 2008 while being sanguine over an Israeli withdrawal 
to the 1949 Armistice Lines?  Where does the campaign stand on 
strategic settlement blocs and a Jewish presence in such Jerusalem 
neighborhoods as Gilo, East Talpiot, and Har Homa [that are beyond 
the Green Line]?.... It may be unrealistic for Israelis to expect 
that an administration taking office in January 2009 will empathize 
with Israel the way a 1969 Humphrey White House might have.  But 
what the Obama-Biden ticket needs to demonstrate is that backing for 
a secure Israel living within defensible boundaries is as integral 
to Democrats today as it was when Hubert Humphrey was their 
standard-bearer." 
 
CUNNINGHAM