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DE RUEHTV #2553/01 3221124
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P 171124Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002553 
 
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: 
------------------------- 
 
The media highlighted the continued Israel-Hamas confrontation along 
the Gaza border: an air strike killed four members of a mortar crew; 
a Sderot resident was wounded by a Qassam rocket.  Israel Radio 
reported that today the crossings with Gaza are closed following the 
rocket attacks.  Leading media reported that Ashdod is prepared to 
endure rocket attacks.  HaQaretz reported that yesterday senior IDF 
officers criticized certain cabinet ministers for beating the drum 
for military action in Gaza.  Yesterday The Jerusalem Post quoted PM 
Ehud Olmert as saying that the GOI would continue to step up 
pressure on Hamas by keeping Gaza border crossings closed and taking 
unsuspected measures.  Yesterday Yediot reported that Egyptian 
authorities secured HamasQs consent to renew the truce agreement 
with Israel.  The newspaper also reported that Olmert will meet with 
PA President Mahmoud Abbas today (Monday). 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice 
instructed settlers occupying a house in Hebron to evacuate it 
within three days, but that a coalition of right-wing organizations, 
Knesset members, and West Bank rabbis said that they plan to oppose 
the move firmly.  HaQaretz quoted a participant as saying during the 
meeting: QIf the house is evacuated, there will be Amona part two 
here,Q referring to the February 2006 clashes between settlers and 
security forces during the evacuation of a West Bank outpost. 
 
All media (banner in The Jerusalem Post) reported that Water 
Authority head Prof. Uri Shani warned the cabinet yesterday that 
water rationing for household use would be introduced this spring if 
this winter is a dry one.  He added that recent forecasts for the 
region are not optimistic. 
 
Yesterday The Jerusalem Post reported that New York Sen. Hillary 
Clinton has leaped to the top of the list of candidates to become 
secretary of state.  The newspaper quoted Doug Bloomfield, a former 
AIPAC legislative director, as saying: QFor Israel, I think this 
would be win-win. 
 
Yediot reported that Stuart Levey, the Treasury DepartmentQs Under 
Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, arrived in 
Israel yesterday.  Levey, who is in charge of economic sanctions 
against Iran, met with the Mossad leadership and FM Tzipi Livni. 
 
Leading media reported that cabinet minister Ami Ayalon is not 
likely to join Meretz.  Some media reported that he will head 
Meimad, the moderate religious party that has been an ally of Labor. 
 The media highlighted LikudQs renaissance at a central committee 
meeting last night.  Newcomers there, in particular Benny Begin, 
were warmly applauded there.  Israel Radio reported that influential 
former Likud MK Uzi Landau has switched to Yisrael Beiteinu.  Maariv 
reported that Shlomo Deri, the brother of former Shas leader Aryeh 
Deri, is establishing a party that Aryeh would lead from the 
outside. 
 
Leading media reported that British FM David Miliband arrived in 
Israel yesterday for a two-day visit.  HaQaretz reported that he is 
expected to express strong opposition to West Bank settlements.  The 
newspaper reported that FM Tzipi Livni told Miliband that the 
supervision over goods from the West Bank is exaggerated.  Miliband 
told The Jerusalem Post that Iran is feeling the impact of 
sanctions.  Yesterday HaQaretz reported that the Institute for 
Science and International Security  recently released a report 
urging U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to take a number of 
measures to avoid nuclear proliferation in the Middle East, 
including convincing Israel to halt production of nuclear weapons. 
 
Yesterday HaQaretz reported that John Ging, the director of the UN 
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in Gaza, 
told the newspaper last week that IsraelQs policies are 
strengthening the stance of extremists there. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Hamas has dramatically reduced its money 
transfers to various charitable organization in the West Bank 
formerly linked to the group, as the PA continues to assert its 
control over those organizations. 
 
Yesterday HaQaretz reported that last week an important U.S. web 
site revealed the name of one of the candidates for the next head of 
Shin Bet.  According to the Shin Bet Law, the names of organization 
employees, with the exception of the head, are prohibited from 
publication in Israel. 
Yediot reported that billionaire Arkady GaidamakQs party will take 
part in the Knesset elections. 
 
Over the weekend The Jerusalem Post, Maariv, and HaQaretz reported 
that Russia is considering purchasing Israeli unmanned aerial 
vehicles.  Yesterday Yediot reported that Israel will refurbish 
Boeing 767-300 aircraft for the Japanese company Mitsui and that it 
may sell advanced security systems to the UN Procurement Branch. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post quoted the 
King of Bahrain as saying in New York that he would facilitate the 
return of Jewish expatriates through restored citizenship and land 
offers. 
 
Maariv reported that senior Israeli public figures from all 
political persuasions have written PM Ehud Olmert asking that he 
raise the issue of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard in his last 
meeting with President Bush. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QWe can only hope that America's first black 
president will remind the Israelis of what happened to the 
Bantustans.... To ensure that the Jews do not get carried away in 
their rejoicing, it is important for Obama to point this out even 
before the polls in divided Jerusalem kick off, and to reveal his 
peace plan. 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIn the first stage, the IDF would take 
over Gaza.  In the next stage, it would turn it over to a pan-Arab 
force.  In the third stage, the pan-Arab force would turn it over to 
the soldiers of the Palestinian Authority. 
 
Intelligence affairs correspondent Yossi Melman wrote in Ha'aretz: 
QThe discovery of enriched uranium at the Syrian military site that 
Israel bombed last year may be the first step toward revealing 
SyriaQs smoking gun. 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QIt's 
good ... that the Saudis say they're self-conscious about what 
Islamist violence has done to the image of the Muslim faith.  How 
sad that these moves come at a pace so glacially slow.  But, of 
course, better late than never. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Hamas Is Waiting for Netanyahu" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/17): QIn an article in the East Jerusalem 
newspaper Al-Ayyam, [veteran Palestinian columnist Hani al-]Masri 
analyzed the reasons for the failure of the Egyptian-mediated 
reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah.  He claimed that 
Hamas, which has not succeeded in ending the rule of PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas before the end of his term in January 2009, has 
decided to wait for Netanyahu's second term, to start a month later. 
 Why should Hamas pay a high price, such as recognizing Israel, 
wrote Masri, when in a few months from now Netanyahu will be sending 
Abbas to drink the Dead Sea?  Obama's reaction to Netanyahu's ideas 
for an Qoverall peaceQ was not available at the time of this 
writing.  We can only hope that America's first black president will 
remind the Israelis of what happened to the Bantustans -- the black 
enclaves invented by the white apartheid regime in South Africa.  To 
ensure that the Jews do not get carried away in their rejoicing, it 
is important for Obama to point this out even before the polls in 
divided Jerusalem kick off, and to reveal his peace plan. 
 
 
II.  "Gaza in Three Stages" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/17): QNo matter how you look at the 
story of the agreement with Hamas ... Hamas has to be removed.  The 
question is whether we can find a responsible body to fill the 
vacuum that it will leave behind.  This returns us to the two-stage 
or three-stage idea [proposed to me by a senior minister over six 
months ago].  In the first stage, the IDF would take over Gaza.  In 
the next stage, it would turn it over to a pan-Arab force.  In the 
third stage, the pan-Arab force would turn it over to the soldiers 
of the Palestinian Authority.  This idea, which sounded surreal only 
six months ago, sounds a bit more reasonable today, when the PA 
soldiers who were trained by the Americans in Jordan control Jenin 
well, and are successfully wiping out the Hamas nests in the 
southern Hebron hills.  The chances are not great, but the 
alternative, of sending the IDF into Gaza in order to stay, is less 
attractive.  Patience, Ehud Barak says to his colleagues.  Remember 
July 12, 2006.  Don't engage in hard-line rhetoric.  Perhaps this 
time he is right. 
 
III.  "Syria and the Iranian Path" 
 
Intelligence affairs correspondent Yossi Melman wrote in Ha'aretz 
(11/16): QThe discovery of enriched uranium at the Syrian military 
site that Israel bombed last year may be the first step toward 
revealing SyriaQs smoking gun.... Pushing Syria into the corner is 
reminiscent of what happened to Iran.  Tehran also denied at first 
that it had built hidden nuclear facilities.... When the truth 
finally emerged, Iran was forced to admit the existence of the 
sites, but continued to deny that they were being used for nuclear 
activity.  As it was confronted with ever more facts, it continued 
weaving its web of lies, until the IAEA finally labeled it a 
non-compliant country that had violated its obligations under the 
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the UN Security Council 
imposed sanctions on it.  Syria is still far from that point, but 
the discovery of uranium at the bombed site could be a turning 
point.  It could be the first step toward finding the smoking gun 
that incriminates Damascus in the international community, and 
strengthens IsraelQs claim that its own operation was necessary and 
justified to prevent Syria from developing a nuclear weapon. 
 
 
 
 
IV.  "The King & Peres" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/17): 
QThe [interfaith] conference [in New York], like similar Saudi 
gestures of late, must fundamentally be understood in the context of 
the country's efforts to raise its regional profile.  This involves 
actively seeking a role as peacemaker.  It involves, too, a 
well-orchestrated bid for political influence by a country worried 
by waning economic influence.  As the world's largest oil exporter, 
after all, the Saudi government is understandably anxious about 
falling oil prices, and the consequent diminishment of political 
clout.  That said, the symbolism of King Abdullah sitting through a 
speech by President Peres last Wednesday and later dining in the 
same hall together sends an encouraging message.  It's good, too, 
that the Saudis say they're self-conscious about what Islamist 
violence has done to the image of the Muslim faith.  How sad that 
these moves come at a pace so glacially slow.  But, of course, 
better late than never. 
 
CUNNINGHAM