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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Israeli Politics 
 
¶2.  Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted top advisers to PM-designate Benjamin 
Netanyahu as saying yesterday that he is expected to lobby Secretary 
of State Hillary Clinton next week against U.S. recognition of a 
possible Palestinian unity government that would include Hamas.  The 
newspaper quoted Zalman Shoval, one of Netanyahu's five primary 
foreign policy advisers, as saying: QWe shall try to convince our 
American friends that this is not something that would help the 
peace process, and that it would only make it easier for all sorts 
of other players -- the Europeans and the Russians -- to deal with 
Hamas.  To return Hamas as a partner is not what America is 
interested in."  The Jerusalem Post quoted another adviser to 
Netanyahu as saying that Israel does not want to strengthen Hamas, 
but at the same time it wants to find a mechanism whereby assistance 
could be provided to the civilian population of Gaza.  This, the 
adviser said, was likely to be the focus of talks over the next few 
days with both U.S. Middle East special envoy George Mitchell, whom 
Netanyahu will meet shortly after his arrival today, and Clinton, 
who will arrive Monday. 
 
Yediot reported that PM Ehud Olmert is intensifying IsraelQs efforts 
to release Gilad Shalit.  The daily reported that Ofer Dekel, the 
PMQs point man on the issue, will visit Cairo today and present 
Egyptian officials with new Israeli ideas.  Maariv quoted Egyptian 
FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit as saying yesterday that calm is prevailing in 
effect between Israel and Hamas.  In an interview with Channel 2-TV 
last night, Olmert assessed that the chances of releasing Shalit 
were greater now than under the incoming Netanyahu-led government. 
In the interview, Olmert also said that he was close to a meeting 
with Syrian FM Walid Muallem.  Maariv quoted Olmert as saying 
yesterday at a farewell event organized by the Manufacturers 
Association of Israel that he came very close to reaching peace with 
the Palestinians. 
This morning Israel Radio reported that former foreign ministers 
from various Western countries, including IsraelQs Shlomo Ben-Ami, 
urged Israel to talk to Hamas. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that Avigdor Lieberman will demand 
that his Yisrael Beiteinu party be granted authority to choose the 
justice minister in the incoming government in order to appoint 
Daniel Friedmann, who currently occupies the position.  HaQaretz 
quoted senior Likud officials as saying that Lieberman raised the 
issue in talks with Netanyahu, who did not offer immediate 
opposition.  HaQaretz reported that, if Netanyahu is forced to form 
a narrow right-wing government -- as appears likely in light of 
Kadima chief Tzipi Livni's stated intention of leading the 
opposition instead of joining a Likud-led coalition -- he will have 
no choice but to accede to Lieberman's demand, even though he is 
under criminal investigation for alleged financial improprieties. 
Israel Hayom quoted senior Labor Party members as saying that party 
Chairman Ehud Barak is still considering joining NetanyahuQs 
governing coalition.  Speaking on Israel Radio this morning, Labor 
MK Shelly Yacimovich ruled out this possibility. 
 
All media quoted DM Ehud Barak as saying yesterday, responding to 
news that IranQs nuclear reactor at Bushehr has become operational: 
"Time flies.  It's slipping through our fingers.  Even if the [U.S.] 
administration decides to engage in dialogue, such dialogue must be 
brief and limited in time.Q  As to the possibility that Israel may 
take action against Iran, Barak said: "At the moment what is needed 
is sanctions, but Israel does not rule out any option and recommends 
that others not rule out any option as well. We mean what we say." 
The Jerusalem Post quotes senior Israeli defense officials as saying 
yesterday that the activation of the Bushehr reactor demonstrates 
the international communityQs failure to stop the Islamic Republic 
and the possibility that it will obtain a nuclear weapon. 
 
HaQaetz reported that the 2008 Country Reports on Human Rights 
Practices, issued by the State Department yesterday, found that 
Israel harms human rights in the territories.  The Israel chapter 
also cites the public debate on Qtransfer of ArabsQ and 
pronouncements by Avigdor Lieberman. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted a senior Hamas officials as saying in 
Cairo that Hamas and Fatah agreed yesterday to exchange prisoners as 
part of a deal still being negotiated to reconcile the feuding 
groups. 
 
The media reported that yesterday morning, two rockets landed in 
open fields in southern Israel.  The IAF retaliated by striking 
smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor.  Two other rockets 
were launched today -Q one of them hitting a house in Sderot. 
 
All media reported that PM Olmert will return Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos 
Gilad, who heads the diplomatic security bureau of the Defense 
Ministry, to his post as envoy to talks being held in Egypt over a 
Gaza cease-fire.  Olmert will also withdraw the complaint he filed 
with the Civil Service Commission against Gilad.  Gilad personally 
apologized to Olmert yesterday, saying he regretted his criticism of 
Olmert in Maariv a week ago.  Today Israel Radio quoted a small 
group of families of terror victims as saying that they oppose 
letting Amos Gilad Q who they say is QsoftQ on issues concerning 
Hamas and Hizbullah -- return to his position. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards have been 
increasing their involvement and control over HizbullahQs operations 
since terror operations head Imad Mughniyah was killed a year ago. 
Maariv ran a feature on IranQs intensifying involvement in eastern 
African countries -Q Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, and 
Djibouti. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Israel's Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) 
recently intensified its attacks on the Director General of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA), Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, for 
failing Qin his attempts to persuade Syria to allow visits by IAEA 
inspectors to three sites in Syria with suspected links to Syria's 
confidential nuclear program" and being soft on Iran.  Presumably, 
the attacks are coming due to the report that ElBaradei will leave 
his position at the end of the year and be replaced by a new 
director, with representatives from South Africa and Japan vying for 
the spot. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported 
that Charles QChasQ Freeman, whom President Obama intends to appoint 
chair of the National Intelligence Council, had peddled a 
Saudi-funded, anti-Israel textbook. 
 
Leading media reported that Turkish President Abdullah Gul is 
interested in making an official visit to Israel in the coming 
months to put an end to the crisis in relations between his country 
and Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israel thanked Cyprus for 
 
confiscating Iranian arms on their way to Gaza. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Attorney GeneralQs office 
rejected a plea that Israel establish an external apparatus to 
investigate deaths and civilian injuries caused during Operation 
Cast Lead. 
 
Leading media reported that Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman, 
former pro-Israel lobbyists accused of illegally disclosing national 
defense secrets, scored an important victory ahead of their April 
trial when a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that they can use 
some classified information at their trial. 
 
Morton Klein, the national (U.S.) president of the conservative 
Zionist Organization of America, was quoted as saying in an 
interview earlier this month with The Jerusalem Post that American 
Jews are beginning to realize that peace isnQt as imminent as they 
had previously thought. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday the leaders of reform 
Jewry in North America urged the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal 
Center to relocate its planed Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem to an 
alternative location in the city due to the location of a Muslim 
cemetery on a section of the planned construction site.  The 
condemnation by the liberal stream of Judaism came three months 
after the High Court of Justice approved the central Jerusalem site 
of the $250 million museum site. 
 
HaQaretz quoted senior Kremlin officials as saying that business 
tycoon Arkady Gaidamak lodged a request yesterday to reinstate his 
Russian citizenship.  He reportedly hopes that this action will 
complicate a potential extradition to France, where he is being 
tried in absentia over his involvement in the QAngolagate 
arms-dealing affair. 
 
Maariv reported that immigration figures for 2008 were the worst 
since the establishment of Israel. 
 
--------------------- 
¶1.  Israeli Politics: 
--------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz: QIn democracies, situations arise in which a 
real leader serves the nation's interests from the opposition.  This 
is one of those times. 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit, whose article opposing Tzipi Livni was the 
most talked about of the election campaign, wrote in Ha'aretz: 
Q[Tzipi] Livni's decision to thwart a national emergency government 
is no longer just a failure; it is a patently immoral decision that 
endangers Israel's future. 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Pursuing Peace from the Opposition" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/26): QWhether [Tzipi] Livni and her fellow 
Kadima members like it or not, struggling as they are to set aside 
the reins of government, she is a leader of the peace camp. 
Elections for the 18th Knesset returned the right to power and sent 
that camp into the opposition.  From there Livni can continue talks 
with Palestinian representatives, even about Jerusalem, without fear 
of [Shas leader] Eli Yishai's taking apart the government as a 
result.  If it is indeed in her power to build a bridge between the 
two sides, she should seek to draft a final-status agreement.  That 
is the only way to rescue hopes of peace and turn the next elections 
into a referendum on Israel's future as a Jewish democratic state. 
Who knows, maybe that's also the way to energize Netanyahu: Ariel 
Sharon said that the Gaza disengagement was a response to Yossi 
Beilin's Geneva Initiative.  In democracies, situations arise in 
which a real leader serves the nation's interests from the 
opposition.  This is one of those times. 
 
II.  "Unity before Calamity" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit, whose article opposing Tzipi Livni was the 
most talked about of the election campaign, wrote in Ha'aretz 
(2/26): QEven if Iran does not use its nuclear weapons, the fact 
that it has such weapons will change the world.  A world with a 
third of its energy resources under Iranian patronage is a different 
world.  A world subjected to the caprices of a nuclear Middle East 
is a different world. If by the summer of 2010 Iran is a nuclear 
power, that will destroy any chances of peace.... The insufferable 
dilemma is between the bomb, or to bomb.  Both possibilities are 
disastrous.  Israel has only a few months to formulate a third 
possibility, but to wake the world up at the last minute and 
convince the Obama administration, Israel needs a sane government. 
Israel needs a national unity government.  For the last three years 
Tzipi Livni has been foreign minister.  During this precious time 
she did not do a single substantive thing to stop the centrifuges of 
Natanz. Livni's failure vis-a-vis Iran is so much more serious than 
Golda's before the Yom Kippur War.  But Livni's decision to thwart a 
national emergency government is no longer just a failure; it is a 
patently immoral decision that endangers Israel's future.  Kadima 
must immediately reverse the irresponsible decision.  History will 
never forgive any Israeli who stood in the way at this time of 
truth. 
 
------------ 
¶2.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
The independent, left-leaning HaQaretz editorialized: QOutgoing 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak must 
immediately order the opening of the crossings to enable the 
orderly, constant entry of essential products into Gaza. 
 
Columnist Gideon Eshet ironically wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QIf Netanyahu is unhappy about the 
existing situation and rejects two states, the needed creativity 
leads to one state for two peoples -Q unless we believe in apartheid 
as the preferred system. 
 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Pasta Is Not a Weapon" 
 
The independent, left-leaning HaQaretz editorialized (2/26): 
QIsrael's legitimate struggle against Hamas does not gain credence 
from the fact that the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations 
Committee, John Kerry, discovered during his visit to Gaza that 
trucks loaded with bags of pasta are not being permitted to enter 
the Strip because Israel is letting in only rice.  The result is 
that Hamas has chalked up points to its credit in the struggle for 
world public opinion.  The closing of the border crossings has so 
far not opened the way for Gilad Shalit to be returned and there is 
not an iota of evidence that tightening the closure will advance his 
release by Hamas.  It is superfluous to wait for the worsening of 
the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and for additional pressure from 
outside.  Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister 
Ehud Barak must immediately order the opening of the crossings to 
enable the orderly, constant entry of essential products into 
Gaza. 
 
II.  "One State for Three Peoples" 
 
Columnist Gideon Eshet ironically wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (2/26): QExamining possible politics in 
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, three options can be perceived. 
The first one -Q maintaining the status quo.  WhatQs bad about this? 
 We have been ruling the territories for over 40 years, so why not 
another 40 years?  How many Israel-hating left-wing people and goys 
will say that this is apartheid?  We know that this is all that is 
needed to ensure the security of Israel and its residents.  The 
second option lies in Labor-Kadima-MeretzQs Qtwo statesQ Q- a 
Qnon-creativeQ option because of the structure of the [governing] 
coalition and mainly because thereQs no real partner.  Netanyahu 
doesnQt want to try something that has no chance.  The third one can 
be found in the cellar of LikudQs HQ -Q one state for two peoples. 
The original version talks about three people: the Jewish one, the 
Palestinian one, and the Jordanian one Q- all under one rule.... If 
Netanyahu is unhappy about the existing situation and rejects two 
states, the needed creativity leads to one state for two peoples - 
unless we believe in apartheid as the preferred system. 
 
CUNNINGHAM