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P 181047Z MAY 09
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
PM Netanyahu to Washington 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that today PM Benjamin Netanyahu will meet and 
have lunch with President Barack Obama, and later meet with 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  Tomorrow he is slated to meet 
with Defense Secretary Robert Gates and congressional leaders. 
 
All media reported that PM Netanyahu will use his meeting with 
President Obama to stress that "time is running out" for stopping 
Iran's nuclear program, so Obama must not spend more than a few 
months on his planned dialogue with Tehran unless real progress is 
achieved.  HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu will say that if 
progress is not achieved within a few months, the U.S. must move 
quickly to more aggressive measures against Iran.  HaQaretz quoted 
NetanyahuQs aides as saying that he is encouraged by an interview in 
Newsweek yesterday in which Obama says he is not "naive" about Iran 
and is not taking "any options off the table."  The purpose of the 
planned dialogue is to "offer Iran an opportunity to align itself 
with international norms," according to Obama.  The President 
signaled that he has no intention of pursuing regime change in Iran, 
but stressed that Iran should be able "to maintain its Islamic 
character" while not being a "threat to its neighbors."  He said he 
understands why Israel views Iran as an "existential threat," and 
that because of this, IsraelQs "calculation of costs and benefits 
are going to be more acute. They're right there in range, and I 
don't think it's my place to determine for the Israelis what their 
security needs are." Obama can "make an argument" that his approach 
"offers the prospect of security, not just for the United States but 
also for Israel, that is superior to some of the other 
alternatives." 
 
On another key issue, Israeli-Palestinian talks, media quoted 
Netanyahu's aides as saying that he does not intend to accede to 
America's request that he express support for a two-state solution, 
which is likely to lead to conflict.  HaQaretz reported that 
Netanyahu will present a series of security demands that he views as 
essential to any final-status agreement, including demilitarization 
of the West Bank and Israeli control of its airspace.  He will 
reportedly cite Hamas' control of Gaza as a major barrier to 
progress.  HaQaretz reported that, concerning the settlements, he 
will propose establishing a bilateral Israeli-American committee to 
reach understandings on reining in construction and evacuating 
outposts.  He will also demand that such Israeli steps be matched by 
Palestinian progress on fighting terror. 
 
The Jerusalem Post cited estimates made by the Israeli establishment 
that Iran is in the midst of a multi-year plan that it hopes will 
culminate in the production of several hundred missile launchers and 
over 1,000 long-range ballistic missiles within the next six years. 
 
Yediot and Israel Radio reported that yesterday steps were taken to 
expand the Maskiyot settlement in the northern Jordan Valley, as 
well as other settlements.  HaQaretz cited figures released recently 
by the GOIQs Central Bureau of Statistics according to which in 2007 
natural growth accounted for 63% of settlement population growth, 
whereas internal migration accounted for 37%. 
 
Leading media quoted the UN Committee against Torture as saying on 
Friday that Israel should investigate the secret detention facility 
known as1391, halt punitive housing demolitions, investigate 
Operation Cast Lead, and improve its treatment of security 
detainees. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, after a career spanning half a 
century, longtime Defense Ministry official and Iran expert Uri 
Lubrani appears to be on his way into forced retirement over power 
struggles with Mossad. 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday President Shimon Peres conveyed to 
the Palestinians through King Abdullah II of Jordan that Israel is 
interested in immediately resuming negotiations with the PA.  The 
media reported that Peres told the World Economic Forum in Jordan 
that Netanyahu wants peace.  Maariv reported that chief Palestinian 
negotiator Saeb Erekat told the newspaper in Jordan that President 
Obama is the only person who can impose anything on Israel. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Israel bars thousands of items, including 
vital products for everyday activity, from entering Gaza. 
Altogether only 30 to 40 select commercial items are now allowed 
into Gaza, compared to 4,000 that had been approved before the 
closure Israel imposed on Gaza following the abduction of Gilad 
Shalit.  The Jerusalem Post quoted the Israeli-Palestinian Chamber 
of Commerce as saying that trade between Israel and Palestinians 
reached 15 billion shekels (around $3.75 billion) in 2008. 
 
Leading media reported that DM Ehud Barak allowed the far-Right 
Jewish Home Knesset members to tour the Palestinian side of Hebron 
(QH1Q), but that criticism made him change his mind. 
 
Israel Radio and the leading news Web site Ynet reported that 
Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman has informed Fatah and 
Hamas that Egypt will force an agreement between them by early July 
if they do not manage to reach one by then.  The radio also reported 
that the two factions have agreed to set up a joint security force 
by the end of the year. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media cited the results of a Smith 
Research poll released yesterday: 31% of Israelis labeled Obama 
pro-Israel, 14% considered him pro-Palestinian, and 40% felt he is 
neutral.  Fifteen percent were undecided. 
 
The media cited the results of an annual University of Haifa survey 
of Jewish-Arab relations in Israel (taken in 2008) showing that 
40.5% of Israeli Arabs claim the Holocaust never happened.  HaQaretz 
quoted Prof. Sammy Smooha, who conducted the survey, as saying that 
he believes that the denial rate reflects a protest more than actual 
disbelief in the Holocaust.  The poll, taken in 2008, found that 41 
percent of Israeli Arabs deny Israel's right to exist as a Jewish 
state. Another 53.7 percent accept Israel's right to exist.  The 
figures show that Arab attitudes are hardening compared to previous 
years. In 2003, for instance, 65.6 percent of Israeli Arabs 
recognized Israel's right to exist as a Jewish and democratic state, 
and in 2006, only 28 percent denied the Holocaust.  Nevertheless, 
HaQaretz and Maariv reported that Smooha insisted that overall, 
"there is no clear, consistent trend of radicalization" over the 
last 30 years, contrary to the prevailing view among the public and 
policy-makers. He argued that this lack of substantive long-term 
change shows that Arabs are adapting to Israel's existence. 
 
--------------------------- 
PM Netanyahu to Washington: 
--------------------------- 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot: QThere are people 
around Obama who are convinced that they know Netanyahu well, and 
that he is not trustworthy.  Trust is NetanyahuQs great problem. 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized: QIsrael must 
act now, without waiting to hear what the Palestinians will say. 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv: QNetanyahu is expected to place this bomb 
[the Iranian nuclear program] right on ObamaQs desk and look him in 
the eye.  This is your responsibility, he will say to him. 
 
Washington correspondent Orly Azolai wrote in Yediot Aharonot: QFor 
his [upcoming Cairo] speech to be substantiated, [President Obama] 
has to reach understandings with Netanyahu, which he will present in 
Egypt. 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized: QOne 
clear sign that the President is a realist: He's reportedly urging 
the Arab League to modify its 2002 initiative, transforming it from 
an unworkable diktat to a genuine peace plan. 
 
Deputy Editor-In-Chief Uri Elitzur wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe: Q[Crises with the U.S] 
didnQt cause Israel to collapse and the strategic alliance was not 
broken. 
 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "A Question of Trust" 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote on page one of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/18): QThere are 
people around Obama who are convinced that they know Netanyahu well, 
and that he is not trustworthy.  Trust is NetanyahuQs great problem. 
 Establishing trust is the immediate task.  Not the question of two 
states or not, and not even the Iranian question.  If he establishes 
trust, it will be easier for him to persuade the administration on 
the Iranian issue, perhaps even on the Palestinian issue.... When 
the Obama administration is compared to the Bush administration, 
there is no doubt that Israel has been downgraded -- less 
importance, less intimacy, less goodwill, less respect.  However, it 
is too soon to say whether this is significant.  Presidents evolve 
 
into their post.  So do prime ministers.  This happened to Kennedy, 
Johnson, Nixon, Clinton, and the two Bushes.  In nine months or a 
year, Obama may stand in a completely different place than where he 
stands today -- and the same is true for Netanyahu.  If Netanyahu 
wanted to hear my advice a few hours before his meeting, I would 
tell him: Hold your own on issues where you are convinced.  DonQt 
apologize.  DonQt be overly clever. 
 
II.  "Act Now" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (5/18): 
QNetanyahu and Obama are presumably not interested in a publicized 
confrontation.  It was therefore implied in advance that the two 
sides would agree on certain tactical formulations, such as the 
establishment of joint teams to discuss subjects that are still 
under consideration -- without explicitly referring to the 
QAnnapolis processQ bequeathed by George W. Bush and Condoleezza 
Rice.  An outcome of this kind shouldn't satisfy those who advocate 
a swift process aimed at reaching a peace agreement between two 
states that respect each other's sovereignty and borders.  The end 
result must not be postponed until Washington and Jerusalem finish 
shaping their policy and then come up with a compromise between the 
two plans.  The time that will elapse until then could create a 
reality that is frozen rather than coordinated.... All Obama's 
advisers, as well as international figures involved in the process, 
such as Quartet envoy Tony Blair, have noted three milestones: 
putting an end to settlement construction, including construction 
excused by Qnatural growthQ; removing the illegal outposts; and 
refraining from demolishing homes in the Palestinian neighborhoods 
of East Jerusalem.  One must not link the timing of such moves -- 
which will benefit the Palestinian population and the moderate 
leadership of the Palestinian Authority, which is struggling against 
Hamas and striving to show that there is a difference between Gaza 
and the West Bank -- to the wait for the revival of the overall 
peace process.  Israel must act now, without waiting to hear what 
the Palestinians will say. 
 
III.  "Mission Impossible" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote on page one of the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (5/18): QNetanyahu will make clear to 
Obama that Israel will not be able to tolerate [a nuclear-armed 
Iran].  That there is no working assumption among the Israeli 
security establishment that allows for such a possibility.  That if 
put on the brink, Israel will be forced to act.  Be the price what 
it may be, be the results what they may.  Netanyahu is expected to 
place this bomb right on ObamaQs desk and look him in the eye.  This 
is your responsibility, he will say to him.  You are the leader of 
the free world.  Free for at least the time being.   This is 
NetanyahuQs plan.  Will it work?  Will he succeed in his mission? 
ItQs hard to say.  Netanyahu is known to have the reputation of 
someone who blinks first in moments of pressure.... Netanyahu will 
try to turn Iran, in the eyes of Obama, to what Germany was in the 
eyes of Churchill.  Back then the United States waited until the 
attack on Pearl Harbor before finally going to war.  Today, 
Netanyahu will say, the war is already here.  We do not have the 
privilege of being able to wait. 
 
IV.  "Obama Wants Historical Peace" 
 
Washington correspondent Orly Azolai wrote in Yediot Aharonot 
(5/18): QShortly before the elections, Barack Obama met with Jews in 
Florida, removed his jacket, loosened his tie and said to them: In 
Hebrew, my name is Baruch.  Several months later, as an incumbent 
president, he stood before the parliament in Ankara, Turkey and 
emphasized that his middle name was Hussein.  Today, when Prime 
Minister Netanyahu crosses the threshold of the White House, he will 
find neither Baruch nor Hussein.  He will find an American president 
free of sentiment.  An ambitious president, who is well aware of the 
problems of minority groups, but refuses to see the world in black 
and white.... Obama knows full well that his meeting with Netanyahu 
today will have two silent partners: U.S. Jewry on one hand and the 
Muslim world on the other.  The American Jews mostly voted for him, 
but they would not want to see an Israeli prime minister humiliated, 
and Obama is aware of this. Obama is now in the midst of a campaign 
aimed at dissipating [Muslim] hatred, or at least weakening it.... 
For his [upcoming Cairo] speech to be substantiated, he has to reach 
understandings with Netanyahu, which he will present in Egypt. 
 
¶V.  QObama, the Realist 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (5/18): 
QNaturally, Washington and Jerusalem have had policy differences, 
yet these do not obscure our long-term mutual strategic interests. 
After a series of meetings with Arab leaders, and after seeing 
Netanyahu today, Obama should conclude that the reason there has 
been no breakthrough is principally attributable to Arab 
intransigence.   But aren't settlements the main obstacle?  If only 
they were.  Arab rejectionism predates the issue of settlements by 
two whole decades.  Israel can hardly dispute the long-standing U.S. 
 
contention that settlements complicate peace-making....  At the same 
time, the Jewish state is willing to make painful territorial 
concessions Everyone pays rhetorical homage to the Qtwo-state 
solution. In 1988, the PLO began hinting that it was willing to 
abandon the destruction of Israel in favor of two states.  While the 
authenticity of this PLO commitment remains debatable, all Israeli 
premiers from Yitzhak Rabin to Netanyahu have made it plain that 
Israel does not wish to rule over the Palestinians.  In practice, it 
is the Palestinians who reject the two-state solution.... Given what 
the Palestinians have done to Gaza, Netanyahu is saying: Before we 
put anything like Olmert's offer back on the table, let's figure out 
what kind of sovereignty the Palestinians can be given without 
Israel's security being endangered.  Obama will surely not blame 
Israelis for not wanting to wake up to an Iranian Revolutionary 
Guard base looming over Ben-Gurion Airport.  The issue, then, is not 
how to quickly restart negotiations, but how to avoid past pitfalls. 
 One clear sign that the President is a realist: He's reportedly 
urging the Arab League to modify its 2002 initiative, transforming 
it from an unworkable diktat to a genuine peace plan.  That would 
mean getting real about boundaries, refugees -- and, we trust, 
recognition of Israel as a Jewish state. 
 
VI.  QCountering Prayers to Obama 
 
Deputy Editor-In-Chief Uri Elitzur wrote in the editorial of the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (5/18): QThe President of 
the U.S. is neither a king nor a Caesar.  Israel doesnQt work for 
him and he doesnQt work for the Israeli far Left.  There have often 
been disagreements between Israel and the U.S. administration. 
There have also been tensions, crises, and attempts to impose.  They 
didnQt cause Israel to collapse and the strategic alliance was not 
broken. 
 
MORENO