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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2096/01 2560926
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120926Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8408
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 4382
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0988
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 4735
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 5172
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 4384
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 2744
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 5144
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2005
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0227
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 8984
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 6465
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 1389
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 5486
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 7447
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 0314
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0430
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002096 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media quoted PM Ehud Olmert as saying yesterday that he 
would resign immediately after a new Kadima leader is elected and 
recommend that the president ask the new leader to form a 
government.  Ha'aretz reported that Olmert is expected to resign 
next Thursday, the day after Kadima's September 17 primary, if the 
result is settled in the first round.  Olmert was also quoted as 
saying that he had not promised Syria anything, but that each side 
knows what the other one wants. 
 
In an interview with Ha'aretz, PA President Mahmoud Abbas expressed 
his doubts that any peace agreement can be reached by the end of 
2008, as not one of the six key issues in a final-status arrangement 
has yet been resolved.  Abbas was also quoted as saying that the 
Palestinians will demand that in any agreement, part of the refugees 
be returned to Israel. 
 
Israel Radio reported that the State Department issued a statement 
refuting a report published yesterday by the Palestinian paper 
Al-Ayyam, which quoted an American official as saying that Israel 
and the Palestinians are negotiating over the future of Jerusalem 
and the Dead Sea area.  Yediot and The Jerusalem Post reported on 
the dissatisfaction and anger of GOI officials over the remarks. 
The politicians were quoted as sayng that the Americans had broken a 
clear commitment not to publicly discuss details of the 
negotiations.  The Israeli officials also claimed that the Jerusalem 
issue is not being negotiated.  Yediot reported that Israel asked 
the U.S. to refute the remarks.  The Jerusalem Post reported that PM 
Ehud Olmert told a Kadima Party meeting in Ramat Gan that his 
government was sticking by its position that Jerusalem should be 
left until the end of the talks. 
 
The media modestly marked the 15th anniversary of the signing of the 
Oslo Agreement at the White House. 
 
Leading media reported that President Shimon Peres will represent 
Israel at the UN General Assembly. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted Noam Shalit as saying yesterday that he has yet to 
receive confirmation that his son, Gilad, received the letter Noam 
sent him via French President Nicolas Sarkozy. 
 
Ha'aretz quoted former Mossad chief Shabtai Shavit as saying at the 
counterterrorism conference in Herzliya that if there is no 
Israeli-Palestinian agreement by the end of the year, Hamas or 
Hizbullah will be tempted to provoke Israel into an armed conflict. 
 
Major media reported that in two separate incidents on Wednesday, 
settlers unleashed a dog against a soldier and injured an officer at 
an unauthorized outpost.  Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported 
that settlers also attacked an IDF outpost. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Austria's justice ministry, security 
services, and Jewish community are furious over a Vienna court 
decision to unfreeze a banned account of the Palestinian group, Abu 
Nidal. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that Aryeh Deri is not likely to ask President 
Peres for a pardon so that he can run for the elections from mayor 
of Jerusalem and that he may turn to the Jerusalem District Court. 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe cited a complaint by a right-wing legal group 
that Deri and Peres may have colluded: the two met before the 
presidential elections, thus there is a suspicion that the Shas 
Party supported Peres' election in exchange for abridging the period 
of Deri's moral turpitude. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that this week Pakistani television 
journalist Khalid Ansari visited Israel to prepare a major 
documentary on the Jewish people to be screened later this year on 
his country's widely watched GEO TV network. 
 
Ha'aretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the Tel Aviv 
Stock Exchange followed global markets downward, descending to March 
2007 levels. 
 
All media highlighted the discovery of the body of 4-year-old Rose 
Pizem, who went missing four months ago, in a suitcase in Tel Aviv's 
Hayarkon River. 
 
Maariv presented the results of a TNS/Teleseker poll among Kadima 
voters: 
Were the primaries to take place today, which of the candidates 
would you elect as head of the party? (In brackets: People who are 
sure they will vote): 
Tzipi Livni: 46.4% (47.2%); Shaul Mofaz: 27.6% (31.6%); Avi Dichter: 
7.5% (5.1%); Meir Sheetrit: 4.5% (5.4%); 14% are undecided. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: " Every time 
an election looms, be it for the Knesset, local government, or a 
party primary, the 'who will divide Jerusalem' issue miraculously 
returns to raise the emotional temperature.... Jerusalem will in the 
end be the capital of two states, and the refugees will be 
compensated for their abandoned properties.  Even if years go by 
before a final accord is signed, it will look no different." 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Everyone Will Divide Jerusalem" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (9/12): "Every 
time an election looms, be it for the Knesset, local government, or 
a party primary, the 'who will divide Jerusalem' issue miraculously 
returns to raise the emotional temperature.... Anyone who engages in 
real peace negotiations with the Palestinians will have to accept a 
division of Jerusalem; anyone who preaches its integrity and unity 
is simply deceiving the public..... Some want to divide the city to 
preserve a Jewish majority in the capital, others so that it would 
be a better place to live.  Some believe that without this 
partition, the conflict will never end.... Kadima contains a 
spectrum of opinions.  But what everyone must understand is that 
core issues like the right of return and Jerusalem are inseparable 
elements of the negotiations, and no matter who is prime minister, 
Israel has already committed to discussing them.  Jerusalem will in 
the end be the capital of two states, and the refugees will be 
compensated for their abandoned properties.  Even if years go by 
before a final accord is signed, it will look no different." 
 
CUNNINGHAM