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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2790/01 3471801
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 121801Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002790 
 
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 
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COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD 
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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 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
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Israel Radio reported that Saudi Arabia and the Arab League have 
written President-elect Barak Obama that they are ready for full 
peace with Israel in exchange for full withdrawal. 
 
All media quoted FM Livni as saying yesterday that it is not always 
possible to bring every soldier home.  Livni was talking to students 
at a Tel Aviv high school.  She was responding to a student who 
asked why soldiers should risk their lives for the state given the 
government's failure to bring back Gilad Shalit.  Leading media also 
quoted Livni as saying that a Palestinian state is the solution for 
Israeli Arabs. 
 
Maariv reported that senior Israeli ministers are demanding a 
significant change in Israeli strategy, which would allow firing at 
Gaza and stopping supplies of electricity and fuel.  The newspaper 
reported that DM Ehud Barak has checked the [possibility with 
IsraelQs top legal experts.  Yediot quoted Gaza sources as saying 
that Hamas has decided, in coordination with other organizations in 
Gaza, that calm will continue. 
 
All media reported that yesterday the Likud elections committee 
moved far-right activist Moshe Feiglin from the 20th place on the 
party ticket to 36th, despite his strong showing at this week's 
party primary.  The move is seen as a triumph for Likud Chairman 
Benjamin Netanyahu, who was concerned that the success of his 
archrival Feiglin and his supporters in the primary would foil his 
effort to present his right-of-center party as more centrist for the 
election.  At first Feiglin said he would appeal the decision and 
even petition the High Court of Justice.  But a few hours later he 
changed his tack.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu told 
the newspaper yesterday that only he would determine the partyQs 
policies Q no matter who was on the list.  Yediot bannered: 
QLikud-Style Democracy. 
 
HaQaretz reported that 100 million shekels in cash (around $25 
million) was transferred to Gaza banks Thursday to enable salaries 
to be paid to PA employees in the Strip. But PA officials in 
Ramallah admitted there is no guarantee that some of the money did 
not find its way to Hamas.  The newspaper also reported that the UN 
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) struggles 
daily for permits to supply Gaza with essential goods. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu told a group of European 
ambassadors in Tel Aviv that he has no interest in Israel ruling 
over Palestinians in the West Bank and that he is more optimistic 
about the Palestinian negotiating track than the Syrian. 
 
Leading media reported that a GOI-established committee has 
recommended that dozens of QunrecognizedQ Bedouin villages be 
accepted. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio reported that yesterday in Yemen a Yemeni 
extremist Muslim shot and killed Moshe Nehari, a leader of the 
Jewish-Yemeni community. 
 
Leading media quoted the Hollywood Foreign Press Association as 
saying yesterday that "Waltz with Bashir," Ari Folman's animated 
film recounting his experiences as a soldier in the First Lebanon 
War, was nominated yesterday for Best Foreign Film in next month's 
Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles. 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs 
correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz: QHamas is convinced that Israel will 
eventually give in to the public and media pressure and free 
everyone on its list, regardless of how dangerous they are. 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post: Q[Netanyahu] has assured 
various international officials since the primary that he would 
continue with the Annapolis process, but with some red lines. 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Gleefully Watching the IndecisionQ" 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel and Palestinian affairs 
correspondent Avi Issacharoff wrote on page one of the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (12/12): QTzipi Livni may have been trying to 
send a message to Hamas regarding Israel's unwillingness to pay the 
price it is demanding for Gilad Shalit.  But her wording was 
distinctly problematic.  There is a big difference between the 
reality that fighting can result in casualties and the government's 
abandonment of a live soldier in captivity.  And it is hard to 
overstate the importance of the latter.  In a country giving its 
citizens fewer and fewer reasons to believe they ought to risk their 
lives in its defense, it is crucial that soldiers at least feel 
convinced that everything possible will be done to bring them home 
should they be taken captive.  Media outlets have increasingly been 
declaring that Qany priceQ should be paid for Shalit.  It is hard to 
know whether the public agrees.... As for Hamas, it is gleefully 
watching the growing public pressure in Israel for the government to 
capitulate to its demands -- namely, the release of some 1,400 
Palestinian prisoners, including 450 whom it has demanded by name. 
These include many people involved in major terror attacks, and 
Israel has thus far agreed to free less than half of them.  But 
Hamas is convinced that Israel will eventually give in to the public 
and media pressure and free everyone on its list, regardless of how 
dangerous they are. 
 
II.  "Continuing Annapolis, but with QRed LinesQ" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon wrote on page one of the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (12/12): QIsrael must 
control the airspace of a future Palestinian state, and that entity 
would have to be demilitarized, Likud head Benjamin Netanyahu has 
been telling foreign officials in recent days.... [He] has assured 
various international officials since the primary that he would 
continue with the Annapolis process, but with some red lines.... 
Those red lines -Q in addition to the demilitarization of a 
Palestinian state and Israeli control of its air and electromagnetic 
space Q also include a unified Jerusalem under Israeli control, and 
an Israeli presence in the Jordan Valley.... Netanyahu has said in 
these meting that the current situation in Gaza was Qunacceptable, 
and that Israel could not accept the existence of what was turning 
into an Iranian base of operation. 
E 
 
CUNNINGHAM