VZCZCXRO9303
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #2117/01 3301511
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 251511Z NOV 08
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3347
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 7418
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4400
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4251
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 5745
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4167
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2733

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002117 
 
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 (11/25):  "A NATIONAL UNITY 
GOVERNMENT - A SOLUTION TO DIVISION?" 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
------------- 
The dailies lead with coverage of the "inauguration" speech by 
Palestinian Authority President Abbas, the second Palestinian to be 
symbolically voted "President of State" on November 23.  Abbas 
pledged to establish a free and independent Palestinian state and 
work towards ending the Gaza "siege" in his November 24 remarks.  He 
criticized Israel for expanding settlements and seeking to "Judaize" 
Jerusalem.  He also criticized Hamas' de facto rule of Gaza.  In 
related reporting Al Ayyam's front page runs a response to Abbas' 
recent call for early elections, should internal Palestinian 
division persist.  Hamas leader Zahhar insisted on November 24 that 
Abbas cannot call early parliamentary elections without the approval 
of the Hamas-controlled parliament, adding, "Abbas is facing a 
serious political crisis and is trying to find a way out." 
 
Al Hayat Al Jadida and Al Ayyam publish front page reports and 
photos from Gaza where Israel allowed 30 truckloads of food and 
230,000 liters of diesel fuel into the Gaza Strip on November 24. 
The photos show flour sacks arriving into Gaza, and workers pumping 
diesel fuel into the electricity plant.  Al Ayyam also frontpages 
news that Egypt has increased its military forces along the Gaza 
borders, in response to a crowd of Gazans gathered at the crossings, 
demanding entry to Egypt.  In other news, Al Ayyam's inside page 
reports that Hamas prevented Muslim pilgrims from leaving the Gaza 
Strip for Saudi Arabia, but has charged them approximately $1,000 
anyway, despite Hamas' failure to secure visas to Saudi Arabia. 
Finally, Al Quds' front page runs an AP article about Gaza banks 
running out of cash and reports on an inside page that foreign 
journalists have brought their protest on the ban denying entry by 
journalists into Gaza, before the Israeli High Court. 
 
Al Quds' front page cites Israel's Yedeot Aharanot daily when 
revealing that an official Israeli document legalized the use of 
"violence" when interrogating Palestinian detainees.  The three 
papers also publish a front page story about a video released by 
Israel's BTselem human rights organization, showing an Israeli 
policeman ramming a Palestinian woman and man from Jerusalem's 
Silwan neighborhood with his metal helmet, as the Israeli military 
demolished a Palestinian house in the background. 
 
Al Ayyam's front page reports that Israeli military demolished the 
Palestinian home of an 11-member family in the East Jerusalem 
neighborhood of Al-Azariyya on November 24, according to witnesses 
and international observers. The Ma'an network notes that the 
building was the sixth Palestinian house to be demolished in East 
Jerusalem in the last three weeks.  Al Quds inside page reports that 
Jewish Israeli religious students demolished a wall and destroyed 
tombs in a Muslim cemetery belonging to the Palestinian Dajani 
family in Jerusalem. 
Al Quds' front page runs an AFP story reporting that President Bush 
and Israel's Premier Ehud Olmert confirmed, at their farewell White 
House meeting on November 24, that peace efforts will continue after 
they leave office, and that Israel would benefit from the 
establishment of a Palestinian state. 
Al Ayyam's front page cites Israel's Haaretz newspaper reporting 
that an Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) report shows that the cost of 
reoccupying Gaza would be $125 million per month.  The paper noted 
that the IDF command does not intend to launch a mass offensive on 
Gaza, but rather is convinced that Hamas will remain committed to 
the truce.  In another front page article, the paper cites Reuters 
when quoting Israel's Interior Minister Shitrit calling for the 
adoption of the Arab peace initiative as the, "best channel for 
 
JERUSALEM 00002117  002 OF 002 
 
 
realizing peace in the Middle East." 
 
------------ 
BLOCK QUOTES: 
------------ 
 
1)  Hani Masri opines in Al Ayyam under the title, "The President's 
[Abbas'] call for elections:  A tactic or recognition of 
division?"(11/25):  "If the necessary agreement [between Fatah and 
Hamas] isn't possible, then the... alternative to continuing and 
deepening division is... temporarily putting up with division by 
establishing a national consensus government.  [That government] 
would halt current deterioration and work towards creating an 
atmosphere conducive to... national unity and ... holding 
presidential and legislative elections in mid 2009;[the timing 
]falls in the middle of the supposed end of the President's term 
[Abbas] in December 2008 and the agreed-upon end of the Legislative 
Council's term on December 5 2010... There is no alternative to 
reforming and improving the PLO, whether Hamas joins the 
organization or not." 
 
2)  Rajab Abu Saraya writes in Al Ayyam under the title "Last minute 
choices" (11/25):  "[Israel] continues to blackmail the Gaza 
authorities with the 'food for security' scheme... Israel [seems to 
be] succeeding for the first time in negotiating with 'local' 
Palestinians on specific issues instead of bundling all final 
agreement issues into one package.  The last minute choices are 
difficult and rather dangerous... the best solution remains crafting 
an internal unity miracle..." 
 
Walles