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DE RUEHTV #2816/01 3511138
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P 161138Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 2383
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002816 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iraq 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as saying 
that important progress had been made in the talks between Israel 
and the Palestinians even though the goal of an agreement this year 
had not been met.  After a meeting of the Quartet at the UN, Rice 
said that Israel and the Palestinians had discussed, for the first 
time in a decade, the core issues. The radio reported that UN 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised, in his words of farewell for 
Secretary Rice, the efforts of the Bush administration to promote 
the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians and called for 
them to continue.  Ban was quoted as saying he expected 
president-elect Barack Obama to support the effort to reach an 
agreement that would lead to the establishment of a Palestinian 
state alongside Israel.  Israel Radio reported that foreign 
ministers from members of the UN Security Council will meet this 
evening to approve the principles of the direct negotiations between 
Israel and the Palestinians based on the Annapolis process. 
 
Israel Radio reported that representatives of the Quartet declared 
yesterday that there would be no retreat from the peace process 
between Israel and the Palestinians.  They praised the continuation 
of talks between Israel and the Palestinians in order to establish a 
Palestinian state alongside Israel in peace and security.  The 
Quartet's representatives condemned the attacks on Israel and urged 
the Palestinians to dismantle the terror organizations.  They also 
urged Israel to freeze the settlements and to restrain radical 
settlers. The Quartet's representatives expressed concern about the 
siege on the Gaza Strip and demanded that humanitarian aid to the 
residents not be affected. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday President Bush extended his 
warmest greetings to the Jewish people during a Chanukah 
candle-lighting ceremony. 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that Richard Falk, the 
UNQs Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Palestinian 
Territories, was barred from entering Israel on Sunday after the 
Foreign Ministry charged him with Qlegitimizing Hamas terrorismQ and 
Qdrawing shameful comparisons to the Holocaust. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted former ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon 
as saying yesterday that U.S. President-elect Barak Obama and his 
designated secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, could support an 
exchange of territories and populations in the West Bank as part of 
an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.  Ayalon is seeking 
a Knesset seat with Avigdor LiebermanQs Yisrael Beiteinu. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that dozens of Bedouin citizens were 
made homeless after an unrecognized village was razed by the Israel 
Land Administration, days after a state-appointed commission 
recommended that many unrecognized villages be accepted as legal. 
 
Maariv quoted a senior Israel Prisons Service officer as saying that 
unlike Gilad Shalit, Palestinians enjoy particularly favorable jail 
conditions.  The media quoted PA President Mahmoud Abbas as saying 
that the Palestinians will not give up on the release of all 
prisoners and IsraelQs withdrawal. 
 
Major media reported that Israeli stocks and NGOs are losing/might 
lose dozens of millions of dollars from Bernard MadoffQsQ fraud. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday Hizbullah Secretary General 
Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah called on his supporters to lift the siege 
on Gaza. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Israel plans to send one of its most senior 
security officials -- the head of the Defense Ministry's 
Diplomatic-Security Bureau. Maj. Gen. (res) Amos Gilad --- to Moscow 
tomorrow to express concern over Russia's decision to renew contacts 
with Iran for the sale of advanced anti-aircraft missiles. 
 
Electronic media reported that last night in Al-Yamun (West Bank), 
northeast of Jenin, IDF troops killed an Islamic Jihad militant. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that in February the Israeli-made Heron 
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle will make its debut in Afghanistan as the 
main surveillance drone for the Canadian Armed Forces. 
 
HaQaretz and Israel Radio reported that after expressing 
contradictory positions on Sunday, Hamas's leadership on Monday 
adopted a united stance: The cease-fire with Israel, which expires 
this Friday, will not be extended.  Media reported that rockets have 
landed on the western Negev this morning.  Major media cited a claim 
by Israeli security officials that Iran has been applying heavy 
pressure on Hamas not to renew the truce agreement with Israel.  The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli defense officials as saying yesterday 
that Iran is replacing Egypt as the main influence on Hamas. 
 
Yediot reported that around a month ago n New York President Shimon 
Peres and FM Tzipi Livni secretly met with Bahrain King Hamad bin 
Isa al-Khalifa. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday Supreme Court President Dorit 
Beinisch blasted the government for having failed to move a section 
of the separation fence as required by a court ruling issued 15 
months ago, and ordered it to do so with no further delay. 
 
Major media reported that the Jewish population of the West Bank has 
grown three times as fast as the general Israeli population over the 
last decade, according to a 2007 statistical yearbook published by 
the Ariel University Center of Samaria (northern West Bank]) in 
conjunction with the Samaria and Jordan Valley regional councils. 
The lion's share of the settlements' growth stems from a high 
birthrate: However, settlers still accounted for only 3.8% of the 
total Israeli population at the end of 2007, and 4.9% of the Jewish 
population. 
 
Gen. William Fallon, who in March 2008 resigned as CENTCOM Commander 
was quoted as saying in an interview with Yediot that, like in Iraq, 
change will be effected in Gaza by a combination of military means 
and dialogue. 
 
Yediot reported that the U.S. administration has conveyed to Israel 
a list of demands whose acceptance will allow Israel to joint the 
Visa Waiver Program.  The newspaper quoted Interior Minister Meir 
Sheetrit as saying that most demands are just and to the point. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday the Jerusalem District Court 
indicted a West Bank settler -Q the son of the spokeswoman of the 
Jewish community of Hebron -- on charges of kidnapping and 
assaulting a Palestinian minor. 
 
Leading media reported that veteran journalist Gideon Reicher is 
joining the PensionersQ Party as the second person on the Knesset 
E 
list. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that yesterday Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi 
Yona Metzger met with convicted spy Jonathan Pollard, who told him 
that he has great expectation from President Bush and that he hoped 
to be released soon. 
 
HaQaretz reported that birthright israel, the popular initiative 
offering young Jews free trips to Israel, may be unable to pay for 
thousands of such trips in the summer of 2009, due to the financial 
meltdown of its largest donor.  A $20-million pledge to the group 
from casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is now in question. 
 
All mainstream Hebrew-language newspapers led with investigations by 
the Health Ministry of the sudden deaths of four toddlers over the 
past month. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QIt seems as 
though there is no alternative other than to continue the lull and 
to dig up from the rubble of history the series of understandings 
reached with Hamas in June via Egyptian mediation. 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz: QNetanyahu 
will have only one problem: The international community will view 
him as responsible for the freeze, and will therefore try to 
pressure him. 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized: QThe 
Hamas government must take care to return the abducted soldier to 
his family, with no connection to a cease-fire agreement. 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Extend the Truce" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/16): QOn 
Friday, the Gaza cease-fire will officially expire.  On the face of 
it, there should be no doubt about it -- the lull has in any case 
evaporated.... [However], at present, it seems as though there is no 
alternative other than to continue the lull and to dig up from the 
rubble of history the series of understandings reached with Hamas in 
June via Egyptian mediation.  In another two months, a new 
government is expected to emerge in Israel, which will have to 
decide on a policy toward Hamas.  In another month, when Mahmoud 
Abbas's term in office comes to an end, there is liable to be an 
upheaval in the Palestinian government.  Under these circumstances, 
it would be better to refrain from causing unnecessary uproar in 
Gaza by embarking on operations that are liable to further 
complicate Israel's position, particularly among residents of the 
western Negev.  Empty, threatening slogans certainly do not 
constitute an alternative to a carefully thought-out decision, which 
must be made as soon as possible. 
 
II.  "Now ItQs All or Nothing" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz (12/16): QThe 
stances taken by Netanyahu and Abbas pose a dilemma for the new 
administration in Washington. President-elect Barack Obama and 
Secretary of State-designate Hillary Clinton are committed to a 
two-state solution, but they will discover that any attempt to 
conclude a final-status agreement quickly is doomed to failure.... 
As far back as 1995, Yossi Beilin opined that the leftist government 
had to achieve Qmaximum peaceQ before the next election, lest Likud 
take power and halt the peace process.  This is the third time since 
then that Likud has been poised to return to power.  But just like 
the previous two times, this time, too, it will apparently enjoy 
freedom of action in managing the diplomatic process.  Netanyahu 
will have only one problem: The international community will view 
him as responsible for the freeze, and will therefore try to 
pressure him. 
 
III.  "The Return of Shalit Even without a Resumption of Calm" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized 
(12/16): QIsrael ... is trying to apply pressure on Hamas to extend 
the [lull], but to no avail.  According to the Defense Minister, 
Gilad Shalit is a reason to prefer calm over a wide-ranging 
operation.  The Hamas government must take care to return the 
abducted soldier to his family, with no connection to a cease-fire 
agreement.  If not, Israel will continue to abide by its commitments 
to the Palestinians, regardless of whether or not there is a 
cease-fire agreement. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iraq: 
--------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QBush is hated in Iraq 
almost the way Saddam was.  But it will be hard to uproot, even by 
force, democracy, which he established in Iraq and has perhaps been 
the occupationQs only achievement. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"BushQs Shoes" 
 
Arab affairs correspondent Smadar Perry wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/16): QThe hurling of 
the shoes tells the story of the new Iraq: When SaddamQs statue 
broke into pieces, the masses took off their shoes to strike the 
hated dictator.  A year later BushQs images were trampled upon and 
the Stars and Stripes was defiled with dirty shoes.  Bush is hated 
in Iraq almost the way Saddam was.  But it will be hard to uproot, 
even by force, democracy, which he established in Iraq and has 
perhaps been the occupationQs only achievement. 
 
CUNNINGHAM