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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Climate Change and Environment 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted President Obama as saying in an interview with 
Al-Arabiya that the time has come for Israel and the Palestinians to 
return to the negotiating table.  Obama tried to lower expectations 
and said that the crisis would not be resolved in a few months. 
However, he said he was confident that beginning progress, in 
cooperation with the U.S., the EU, Russia and all the Arab states in 
the region, would lead to real progress. On another subject, the 
President said that Washington would extend a hand to Iran if its 
leaders would relax their fists.  He said that the U.S. would use 
all the means at its disposal, including diplomacy, in its relations 
with Tehran.   The radio reported that Obama instructed his envoy to 
the Middle East, George Mitchell, to work tirelessly to make real 
progress in his talks with leaders in the region.  However, he 
stressed that he did not expect that Mitchell would reach his goals 
overnight. 
 
HaQaretz reported that, using intense diplomatic pressure over the 
past two days, Israeli officials blocked a French attempt to weaken 
Jerusalem's stance vis-`-vis Hamas in a prepared closing statement 
for the meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels last night. 
France offered an ambiguous formulation that would have made it 
possible to open the crossings without conditioning such a measure 
on the presence of representatives of Palestinian President Mahmoud 
Abbas.  France also wanted the statement to say that the EU would be 
prepared to hold talks with a future Palestinian unity government 
that agreed to honor the principles of the Israeli-Palestinian peace 
process.  HaQaretz and Israel Radio reported that the Czech 
Republic, the current holder of the EU presidency, together with 
Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, worked jointly to push the 
French initiative off the agenda.  HaQaretz reported that Jerusalem 
views the French move as an attempt to get the Quartet to soften its 
conditions for international recognition of Hamas.  HaQaretz quoted 
a senior Israeli official as saying yesterday that since the end of 
the Gaza operation, Jerusalem fears a break in European support for 
the boycott of the Hamas government in Gaza.  Israeli officials are 
particularly perturbed about recent comments by French diplomats in 
off-the-record meetings that assert that Hamas cannot be ignored. 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and Israel Radio reported that Egypt is trying 
to reach an agreement over the date of a tahdiya (calm period) 
between Israel and Hamas.  The radio cited February 5 as the date in 
an optimal scenario. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and incoming 
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice as saying that the U.S. will 
engage in dialogue with Iran.  The radio noted that Clinton did not 
address the issue of rocket attacks against Israel.  The radio 
reported that President Shimon Peres spoke last night with Secretary 
of State Hillary Clinton.  Peres was quoted as saying that despite 
what happened in Gaza, and years of attacks on Israel, Israel wanted 
peace and was acting to achieve it.  It was Peres's impression that 
the U.S. administration does not intend to put pressure on Israel at 
this time. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that French President Nicolas 
Sarkozy invited Noam Shalit, the father of Gilad Shalit Q a dual 
French-Israeli citizen Q to an urgent private meeting in Paris.  The 
radio cited a statement issued by the Elysee Palace ahead of the 
meeting that Sarkozy was trying to obtain Gilad Shalit's release, 
among other ways, by talking to Hamas with the help of Syria and 
Qatar.  The radio reported that President Obama's special envoy 
George Mitchell will meet in Paris today with Sarkozy. 
 
Electronic media reported that this morning Palestinian militants 
fired RPG rounds on an IDF patrol along the Gaza border.  The media 
reported that Israeli tanks fired back at Palestinian houses and 
quoted Palestinians as saying that a Palestinian farmer was killed. 
An IDF soldier was killed and three others were wounded in the 
attack. 
 
Israel Hayom reported that Jordan will return its ambassador to 
Israel. 
 
The media reported that both Likud and Labor vowed that their goal 
is to see Kadima vanish after the elections.  HaQaretz reported that 
yesterday Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) threatened to 
assassinate Hamas PM Ismail Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders. 
HaQaretz reported that Ehud Barak is seeking to QPutinizeQ his image 
to attract Russian immigrantsQ votes.  HaQaretz reported on efforts 
by Netanyahu to come close to a reluctant religious Right.  Maariv 
reported that understandings between Likud Chairman Benjamin 
Netanyahu and Shas will not allow Avigdor LiebermanQs faction 
Yisrael Beiteinu to sit in NetanyahuQs government, because Lieberman 
promised his voters to pass a civil marriage law.  Makor 
Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Meretz has instructed its activists to 
present Lieberman as the equivalent of the late Austrian 
right-winger Joerg Haider or the French nationalist Jean-Marie Le 
Pen.  TV and radio campaign ads have begun broadcasting today. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that yesterday Likud Chairman Benjamin 
Netanyahu told a World Jewish Congress convention that Muslims 
should take part in the fight against anti-Semitism. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that in his new book, QWe Can Have 
Peace in the Holy Land: a Plan that Will Work,Q former U.S. 
President Jimmy Carter claims that Hamas will be involved in any 
agreement and that there wonQt be peace without it. 
 
All media reported that yesterday the Bank of Israel dropped its 
discount rate by 0.75% to a historic low of 1%. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF and the Justice Ministry 
have chosen the mantra Qthe best defense is a good offenseQ as the 
center of legal talking points as part of a joint effort to counter 
war-crimes allegations against Israel related to Operation Cast 
Lead. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Daniel Shapiro, a top Obama 
campaign official once responsible for Jewish outreach, has been put 
in charge of Middle East issues at the National Security Council. 
 
Leading media quoted State Prosecutor Moshe Lador as saying 
yesterday that the impending general elections cannot play a part in 
the police's investigative procedures.  Lador has been criticized 
for the policeQs National Fraud Unit's decision to subpoena Yisrael 
Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman's daughter and seven of his 
aides for further questioning so close to the elections.  Leading 
media quoted Attorney General Menachem Mazuz as saying that 
Lieberman would not be investigated before the elections. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday FM Tzipi Livni met with 
the U.S. Ambassador.  She was quoted as saying that the Gaza 
operation should serve as a turning point in the region. 
 
HaQaretz reported that high on the agenda of DM Ehud Barak's visit 
to Washington is a request for military equipment to top off stores 
depleted in Operation Cast Lead, in particular a remotely detonated 
explosive device used for clearing bombs laid by the enemy. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Palestinian straw firms are said to 
be trying to QstealQ Gaza reconstruction funds. 
 
Israel Hayom expects President Shimon Peres to engage in a Qsharp 
frontal confrontationQ with Turkish PM Tayyip Recep Erdogan and Arab 
League Secretary General Amr Moussa at the World Economic Forum in 
Davos on Thursday.  The daily quoted Peres as saying yesterday: QI 
donQt intend to leave the stage to IsraelQs critics and Hamas 
supporters. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu and three quarters of 
LikudQs candidates declined to sign a loyalty oath ruling out a 
Palestinian state that was distributed to all the parties of the 
Right.  HaQaretz quoted Prof. Efraim Inbar, the director of the 
conservative Begin-Sadat (BESA) Center for Strategic Studies at 
Bar-Ilan University, as saying that, in light of the failure of 
efforts to realize a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict and the unlikelihood of creating a binational state, the 
most effective way to deal with the conflict is through "controlled 
management" of the problem that includes the evacuation of isolated 
West Bank settlements. 
 
Yediot reported that yesterday a group of prominent writers and 
intellectuals appealed to DM Barak to request that he open an 
investigation into the shelling of the house of Dr. Abu al-Aysh in 
Gaza on January 16.  The physician, who had worked in Israel, lost 
three daughters in the incident. 
 
Yediot reported that former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will 
visit Iran next month.  The daily quoted Schroeder associates as 
saying that the trip is coordinated with President Obama and the 
German Foreign Ministry. 
 
The media reported on the arrest of a group of Upper Nazareth youth 
who attacked Israeli Arabs and vandalized their property.  Maariv 
reported that the police are collecting weapons from Israeli Arabs 
in the north of the country.  The newspaper quoted Israeli-Arab 
representatives as saying that the operation only serves to bolster 
the stigma associated with the community. 
 
The media reported that Catalonia has canceled a World Holocaust Day 
ceremony in protest of the Gaza operation.  Yediot quoted South 
AfricaQs Deputy Foreign Minister Fatima Hajaig as saying during an 
anti-Israel rally that QJewish money rules in the entire world. 
Maariv reported that thousands of Venezuelan Jews have left the 
country, most of them for the U.S. and Spain, not Israel. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Finance Minister Roni Bar-On took part 
yesterday in a fundraising drive by Israel Bonds and came home with 
half a billion dollars from FloridaQs Jewish population. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QOnly one man is 
still preventing governments in the West from launching direct 
dialogue with the Hamas that was not defeated.  His name is Barack 
Obama.  But for how much longer? 
 
Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom: Q[George MitchellQs] visit to the Palestinian 
Authority and Israel was first and foremost intended to find out 
where things stood before negotiations became stalled. 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: QThe threat on our doorstep 
today is the election of a Bibi-Lieberman [Netanyahu-Lieberman] 
government. 
 
Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for 
Research and Information, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post: QThe most likely outcome of the war in Gaza, just 
like the war in Lebanon, is an international presence, starting in 
Gaza, and maybe later on in the West Bank. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Hamas Wasn't Defeated" 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/27): QDuring my 
most recent trip abroad, I was deeply stunned.  I was stunned by my 
meetings, conversations, lectures and the media, which spoke in a 
unified voice that was very different from the voice that is heard 
in Israel: Israel lost the war in Gaza.  It lost it in a major way. 
Despite the fact that it used all of its military capabilities, 
despite the fact that it showed no self-restraint, Israel did not 
break Hamas, did not minimize its influence and failed in its public 
relations effort to cast it as a terrorist movement that posed as a 
threat to world peace -- which is something that it did succeed in 
doing with Hizbullah.  That unflattering summary of Operation Cast 
Lead has been offered not only by Israel's usual opponents and 
critics, but also by its sworn friends and supporters.... The ... 
Wall Street Journal, one of the most pro-Israel newspapers in the 
English language, published a huge article in its weekend paper 
explaining how Israel had strengthened Hamas, how it had turned it 
into the dominant force in the Palestinian arena, how Hamas had 
emerged from the warfare in Gaza with the upper hand, and why as a 
result Israel is going to be obliged, despite itself, to resign 
itself to a Hamas state in the entire Palestinian Authority.... Only 
one man is still preventing governments in the West from launching 
direct dialogue with the Hamas that was not defeated.  His name is 
Barack Obama.  But for how much longer? 
 
II.  "He DidnQt Come to Make Peace: Mitchell Wants an Update" 
 
Former Meretz leader Dr. Yossi Beilin wrote in the independent 
Israel Hayom (1/27): QThe appointment of a special envoy is a clear 
signal the new President views the Middle East as a region that 
warrants first-priority, urgent treatment.  MitchellQs appointment 
is that of a clever, experienced cautious and responsible person. 
His visit to the Palestinian Authority and Israel was first and 
foremost intended to find out where things stood before negotiations 
became stalled.... [MitchellQs vision wonQt commit the next prime 
minister but it is the basis that can be formed this week and used 
next month.  I believe it is in any case evidence of serious 
intentions. 
 
III.  "Biberman at the Gate" 
 
Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in the 
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/27): Q[Tzipi Livni] believes 
that we have shared interests with Obama, both in the war on terror 
and moving toward peace, whereas Bibi [Benjamin Netanyahu] opposes 
the principle of two countries for two peoples and no one has ever 
heard him put those two words together -- a Palestinian state.  In 
an article in the Washington Post this week, Jackson Diehl describes 
Netanyahu as a prime minister who both hurt the peace process and 
poisoned relations with Washington.  The Obama-Hillary Clinton team 
has put a confidence-building process into motion, and now the rest 
is up to us, says Livni.  In the third century BCE, Roman mothers 
used to say QHannibal ad portasQ -- Hannibal is at the gate -- to 
scare children who wouldn't eat.  The threat on our doorstep today 
is the election of a Bibi-Lieberman government.  Watch out.  A 
Biberman government is at the gate. 
 
IV.  "Get Ready for Internationalization" 
 
Gershon Baskin, Co-Director of the Israel/Palestine Center for 
Research and Information, wrote in the conservative, independent 
Jerusalem Post (1/27): QThe most likely outcome of the war in Gaza, 
just like the war in Lebanon, is an international presence, starting 
in Gaza, and maybe later on in the West Bank.   It would be very 
judicious for the next government of Israel to plan a positive 
response to international pressure and U.S. assurances for an 
international presence on the ground.   Rather than taking a 
knee-jerk negative response, the new government of Israel would be 
wise to plan a strategy for renewing a serious peace process 
predicated on more international involvement.  Israel and Palestine 
as well as Israel and Syria and Israel and Lebanon have failed to do 
it on our own.  Senator Mitchell, General Jones and whoever else 
President Obama sends our way should be greeted with open arms and 
full cooperation.   If they succeed, we will all succeed. 
 
----------------------------------- 
¶2.  Climate Change and Environment: 
----------------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Environment writer Amir Ben-David opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QBarak Obama is turning out to be the 
person the world needed to fight global warming in earnest. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Yes, He Is Keeping His Promise" 
 
Environment writer Amir Ben-David opined in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/27): QBarak Obama is turning out to be 
the person the world needed to fight global warming in earnest. 
Obama will be able to promote in action what Al Gore instilled into 
world consciousness.... IsraelQs leaders had better learn that the 
emission of greenhouse gases is no les an important problem than 
security and the economy. 
 
CUNNINGHAM