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DE RUEHTV #2634/01 3311221
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P 261221Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2302
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002634 
 
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 Jerusalem Post and other media reported that PM Ehud Olmert said 
yesterday in Washington that it will soon be possible to reach a 
peace agreement with the Palestinians.  HaQaretz reported that 
Israel is asking President Bush to outline to Barack Obama the 
reasons for the U.S. commitment to ensure that IsraelQs strategic 
deterrence is not compromised.  "I discussed with the president and 
his most senior staff issues connected to the core of the special 
relationship between Israel and the U.S., strategic matters of the 
utmost importance, and the ability to preserve those ties in the 
coming years," Olmert told reporters yesterday.  According to 
HaQaretz, top administration officials told Olmert there was no 
point in a presidential letter from Bush, since it would not bind 
Obama.  The sides decided instead on a list, compiled by the White 
House and delivered to Obama's transition team, that reviews all 
understandings and agreements.  In addition to the Iranian nuclear 
issue, Israel is also hoping to receive promised military aid and 
advanced weapons systems, and to restrict the U.S. supply of 
advanced weapons to Arab states. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the IDF has assassinated wanted men in 
apparent defiance of High Court of Justice guidelines for such 
operations.  The documents reveal that the IDF approved 
assassinations in the West Bank even when it could have been 
possible to arrest the targets and that top-ranking army officers 
authorized the killings in advance, in writing, even if innocent 
bystanders would be killed as well.  Moreover, the assassination of 
at least one individual was postponed due to an impending visit by a 
senior U.S. official.  Finally, HaQaretz discovered that contrary to 
what the state told the High Court, assassinations were subject to 
only minimal restrictions prior to the court's ruling. 
 
All media reported that an undercover investigation led by Israeli 
authorities, in cooperation with police from Peru and Spain, has led 
to the breakup of an international cocaine ring and the largest 
seizure of drugs in Israeli history.  Over a ton and a half of 
cocaine, estimated to be worth 2 billion shekels (around $504 
million), was seized in three raids around the world.  In a separate 
development, all media reported that yesterday a Thai court 
sentenced two Israelis to death after convincing them of smuggling 
23,000 Ecstasy pills.  Yediot cited the DEAQs suspicion that the two 
are linked to crime kingpin Yitzhak AbergilQs organization.  The 
Foreign Ministry has said it will intervene in their behalf. 
 
All media reported that today Olmert may present his own plan to 
secure Israelis pension savings, just a day after the Finance 
Ministry unveiled its financial bailout package.  HaQaretz quoted 
sources in the Prime MinisterQs Office as saying that Olmert was 
dissatisfied with the treasury plan. 
 
Leading media reported that UN General Assembly President Miguel 
d'Escoto Brockmann has called for "concrete action" against Israel 
over the country's treatment of Palestinians.   He was quoted as 
saying that the international community should consider sanctions 
against Israel including "boycott, divestment and sanctions" similar 
to those enacted against South Africa two decades ago. 
 
Major media reported that the Labor PartyQs petitions arbitration 
court has ordered the cancellation of all reserved spots on the 
partyQs Knesset candidates list.  This means that Infrastructure 
Minister Benjamin Ben-EliezerQs position is no longer safe. 
 
HaQaretz reported that PM Olmert hinted yesterday that the 
government will not forcibly evacuate settlers from the so-called 
"House of Contention" in Hebron, but that it will instead settle for 
preventing settler attacks on their Palestinian neighbors.  Yediot 
reported that yesterday DM Ehud Barak decided that policemen, not 
soldiers, will evacuate the house.  Israel Radio reported that last 
night dozens of young Jewish settlers vandalized Palestinian 
property near the house. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the issue of Amona 
returned to the High Court of Justice, when 10 Palestinian farmers 
who own land on the site of the illegal outpost filed a petition, 
demanding that the government evict the 40 families living on the 
outskirts of the settlement of Ofra. 
 
Major media cited the state-run Iranian Students News Agency that 
quoted an Iranian prosecutor as saying that he will request the 
death sentence for three suspects accusing of spying for Israel. 
The Jerusalem Post reported that U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham 
hosted a concert at his residence in tribute to slain Wall Street 
Journal journalist Daniel Pearl. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the four American citizens running 
for Knesset in the December 8 Likud primary told a party-related 
audience yesterday that Israel can learn a lot from the U.S. about 
how to improve the country. 
 
Israel TV published the results of a Geocartographia poll according 
to which the Labor Party would shrink from its current 19 seats to 7 
seats -Q one seat less than the new Meretz.  The poll found that 
Likud would rise to 37 seats.  Kadima, which all polls had credited 
with 30 seats, dropped to 25. 
 
Makor Rishon cited the results of a special poll conducted by the 
Center for Ideas and Education at the Berl Katznelson Foundation, 
through the Market Watch institute: 77 percent of Israelis no longer 
believe that there is a chance of peace with the Palestinians over 
the next five years.  The lack of belief was prevalent mostly among 
young people aged 18 to 24 and religious.  The poll also found that 
more than 70 percent of the Israeli public does not believe that 
there is currently a partner for talks with the Palestinians. 
Approximately a quarter of the respondents answered that there was a 
partner for peace.  These respondents were mostly secular, 
traditional, over 65, and with an above-average income.  But a 
surprising number of almost 40 percent of the respondents said that 
they supported holding peace talks with Hamas. The percentage of 
those who opposed peace talks with Hamas among slightly more than 
half of the public is higher among men, the ultra-Orthodox and 
religious population and those who live in the Jerusalem region. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QAfter the [Israeli] elections the [U.S.] 
administration will have to work with the winner; [ObamaQs] 
challenge will be to persuade Netanyahu to act pragmatically and not 
get into a pointless ideological wrangle with him.  And this 
challenge pales beside the challenge of finding a Palestinian leader 
reliable and strong enough to sign an agreement and implement it. 
 
Liberal columnist Gadi Taub wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot: QThere is no way to unilaterally withdraw at the 
moment.  But there is a lot to do in order to prevent ourselves from 
sinking into the binational mire. 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S. and former chief negotiator with Syria 
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: QIf the Israeli-Syrian conflict is to be resolved, 
and if Damascus is to build a new relationship with Washington as 
part of the same process, it would take leadership and statesmanship 
to make it happen. 
 
Gerald M. Steinberg, Executive Director of www.ngo-monitor.org and 
chair of the Political Science Department at Bar-Ilan University, 
wrote in The Jerusalem Post: QIf the Arab states and the Europeans 
are seriously committed to a peace initiative based on mutual 
acceptance and an end to conflict, they will need to actively 
disassociate themselves from ... virulent anti-Israel campaigning. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Peace within Reach, Redux" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/26): QObama should learn two lessons from 
this way of doing things (the missed opportunity of 2000].  The 
first is that plans aren't enough: The public proposal for an 
Israeli-Palestinian peace published by his close associates is 
absolutely identical to Bush's positions and the positions of 
previous presidents.  The question is how to turn it into a reality, 
and no one has found an answer.  The second lesson is that leaders' 
terms of office are short and they must not wait. The expectation 
that in the three weeks between his inauguration and the Israeli 
elections Obama will present a peace plan that will convince the 
Israelis to vote for QTzipi and not BibiQ [Netanyahu] seems 
unrealistic and contrary to the way he has conducted himself until 
now.  Obama wants peace, but he also reads public opinion polls.  If 
the trend of the strengthening of the right and the rise of Benjamin 
Netanyahu continues in Israel, he will not risk public support for a 
loser.  After the elections the administration will have to work 
with the winner; his challenge will be to persuade Netanyahu to act 
pragmatically and not get into a pointless ideological wrangle with 
him.  And this challenge pales beside the challenge of finding a 
Palestinian leader reliable and strong enough to sign an agreement 
and implement it. 
 
II.  "Negotiations Going Nowhere" 
 
Liberal columnist Gadi Taub wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (11/26): QThe three large [Israeli] parties have ... 
returned to the same tune: They will boldly strive to achieve an 
agreement that will ensure peace with security.  The parties differ 
in the price they are willing to pay, but it does not really matter. 
 We are debating among ourselves over the price of merchandise that 
the Palestinians do not want to buy.  It appeared as if we had 
awoken from our slumber and understood this after Camp David 2000. 
It appeared as if we understood that our entire conceptual system 
was fundamentally flawed -- both on the Right and on the Left.  And 
then we stopped talking about QconcessionsQ that have to be done Qin 
exchange for peace.Q  We slowly but surely understood that things 
were the reverse of what we thought: It is not that we want a 
greater Israel and they want partition.  Just the opposite: We need 
partition and the Palestinians want to prevent it.  They aspire to 
an Arab majority throughout the land, and partition will rob them of 
this.... True, there is no way to unilaterally withdraw at the 
moment.  But there is a lot to do in order to prevent ourselves from 
sinking into the binational mire.  We can complete the construction 
of the fence already, start bringing back the settlers and leave the 
army on the other side until a way is found to prevent rocket 
terror.  Zionism is a serious matter.  This movement knew how to 
make decisions.  A real leadership would not let a handful of 
settlers and several tin rockets crash the Zionist vessel into 
binational shoals. 
 
III.  "How Not to Negotiate with Syria" 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S. and former chief negotiator with Syria 
Prof. Itamar Rabinovich wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (11/26): QWith Syria, early public discussion of an 
idea to be raised in the negotiation is likely to undermine it.... A 
second lesson, hardly an earthshaking discovery, was that you must 
not appear too eager for the deal. This immediately raises the 
price. From this perspective, whoever leaked the [defense 
establishmentQs] document [this week] to HaQaretz has weakened 
Israel's hand in the negotiation with Syria.  This does not mean 
that a negotiation of this importance can or should be conducted in 
total secrecy, and that a signed and sealed deal should be delivered 
to a stunned public.  Public diplomacy is an essential part of any 
negotiation and conflict resolution.  But so is secret diplomacy. 
If the Israeli-Syrian conflict is to be resolved, and if Damascus is 
to build a new relationship with Washington as part of the same 
process, it would take leadership and statesmanship to make it 
happen.  Secret diplomacy (for the parties to establish the 
fundamentals of the deal) and public diplomacy (to prepare the 
ground for painful concessions and anticipated gains) would have to 
be sequenced carefully if the process is to succeed against many 
odds. 
 
IV.  "Arab Peace or Durban War?" 
 
Gerald M. Steinberg, Executive Director of www.ngo-monitor.org and 
chair of the Political Science Department at Bar-Ilan University, 
wrote in The Jerusalem Post (11/26): QAs the Annapolis negotiations 
end without apparent progress, hopes for peace are refocusing around 
the revived 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.  But while the promoters of 
this effort highlight the breakthrough in accepting the legitimacy 
of Israel and an end of conflict, many of our potential Arab 
partners are promoting demonization through another round of the 
Durban process.  The use of terms like Qapartheid,Q anti-Semitism 
both new and old, and efforts to promote academic and other boycotts 
are the exact opposite of the peace arrangements proclaimed in the 
Arab initiative.... In declaring the failure of efforts to prevent 
the second Durban conference from emulating the first, the Israeli 
government has set down a clear marker.  If the Arab states and the 
Europeans are seriously committed to a peace initiative based on 
mutual acceptance and an end to conflict, they will need to actively 
disassociate themselves from such virulent anti-Israel 
campaigning. 
 
MORENO