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P 201039Z MAY 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001124 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Aftermath of Obama-Netanyahu Meeting 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
HaQaretz quoted an American official as saying during PM Benjamin 
Netanyahu's visit to Washington this week that the U.S. expects 
Israel to make concrete concessions to the Palestinians before 
President Barack Obama's visit to Cairo on June 4.  The cabinet is 
due to discuss the situation in Gaza this Sunday, and one concession 
the U.S. would like to see is for Israel to decide at this meeting 
to ease its restrictions on imports and exports of goods to Gaza. 
It also wants Israel to ease restrictions on movement in the West 
Bank.  The American official was quoted as saying that this would 
ease Obama's efforts to persuade Arab states to begin taking steps 
toward normalization, without waiting for a full-fledged 
Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.  To Netanyahu's pleasure, Obama 
favors this idea, recognizing that it would soften Israeli public 
opinion on the peace process.  However, American sources were quoted 
as saying that senior Saudi officials have so far rejected outright 
the idea of gradual normalization.  HaQaretz reported that Saudi 
Arabia, for its part, has been pressing Obama to present a detailed 
plan for an Israeli-Palestinian final-status agreement and then urge 
the parties to begin negotiations on its implementation.  Senior 
Saudi officials have proposed that Obama present a plan similar to 
that offered by former president Bill Clinton.  Israel Radio 
reported that U.S. and Israeli teams have started discussing 
security and strategic aspects stemming from the PMQs visit to 
Washington.  IDF Radio quoted political officials in Jerusalem as 
saying that this was the first time that an American peace plan has 
been put forward without advance coordination with Israel, and that 
this was unprecedented and worrisome. 
 
Both Yediot and Maariv (the latter cited Arab sources) led with 
reported outlines of President ObamaQs Mideast peace plan -- the 
establishment of a contiguous demilitarized Palestinian state with 
East Jerusalem as its capital, the internationalization of the Old 
City of Jerusalem, the PalestiniansQ renouncement of the right of 
return, and normalization of diplomatic and economic relations with 
the Arab states. 
 
The media reported that Congress and the White House are united in 
their demand that Israel stop building in the territories and 
demolish unauthorized outposts.  Yediot noted that Jewish officials 
and Congress members lead this Qoffensive.Q  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that Netanyahu refused to make any commitments concerning 
settlements during his trip to Washington. 
 
Leading media reported that the President vowed to maintain IsraelQs 
nuclear ambiguity policy. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday Secretary of State Hillary 
Clinton made clear that President Obama's administration expects not 
only Israel and the Palestinians to uphold their commitments, but 
also Arab nations and other countries.  In her meeting with 
Netanyahu, Clinton stressed Washington's backing of the two-state 
solution.  She also emphasized the White House's demand that Israel 
halt all construction in West Bank settlements.  The Secretary was 
quoted as saying in a conversation with foreign journalists in 
Washington: "The President was very clear yesterday in his statement 
that he wants to see a stop to the settlements. 
 
Maariv reported that Netanyahu told associates that he did not 
promise not to attack Iran.  Israel Radio quoted CIA Director Leon 
Panetta as saying in an interview with Global Viewpoint that knows 
that if Israel attacks the Iranian nuclear installations on its own, 
this would create a giant problem.  Panetta acknowledged having 
visited Israel and talked with Netanyahu.  Israel Radio quoted 
Kurdish leaders in Iraq as saying that they are opposed to letting 
Israeli warplanes fly over their region on their way to Iran. 
 
The media reported that yesterday the IAF bombed targets in Gaza, 
including smuggling tunnels and a weapons factory, in retaliation 
for the launching of a Qassam rocket on Sderot, in which a house was 
damaged and a resident injured. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the IDF may allow PA forces to 
police the West Bank town of Tulkarm. 
 
All media reported that yesterday, ignoring warnings from Hamas and 
his own Fatah faction, PA President Mahmoud Abbas swore in a new 
government headed by PM Salam Fayyad.  Several media said that this 
would prevent Palestinian national unity. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday, in a landmark decision, the 
High Court of Justice ruled that the principle of equality obliges 
the state to give financial support to private conversion programs 
belonging to non-Orthodox as well as Orthodox groups.  The ruling 
was issued in response to a petition by the Reform movement, which 
until now has received state funding only for nonreligious purposes, 
such as educational activities or helping new immigrants. 
Yesterday's decision grants it funding for a clearly religious 
activity. 
 
Maariv reported that five cabinet ministers (from Yisrael Beiteinu 
and the Labor Party) will visit Russia over the next month. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin told 
the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that his service 
had recommended Israel overthrow the Hamas regime in Gaza while Ehud 
Olmert was prime minister.  He was quoted as saying that this would 
not require occupying the entire strip, and would enable Israel to 
advance the peace process.  Diskin was quoted as saying that the 
central question in an operation to overthrow the Hamas regime is 
the timing.  "There is no room for an effective peace process" as 
long as Hamas rules Gaza, Diskin was quoted as saying.  If PA 
elections were held today, Hamas would very likely win in the West 
Bank as well as Gaza, he added. 
 
Electronic media reported that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 
announced Wednesday that Iran has successfully test-fired a new 
advanced missile with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to 
strike Israel and southeastern Europe as well as U.S. bases in the 
Gulf.  Israel Radio commented that Iran no longer bothers to conceal 
its military achievements. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel will reopen its embassy in New Zealand 
after a seven-year hiatus.  FM Avigdor Lieberman also announced that 
Israel will open a diplomatic representation in Sao Paulo. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that attracting and retaining young 
people in the Negev was the focus of the two-day United Jewish 
Communities conference that opened on Monday in Miami. 
 
------------------------------------- 
Aftermath of Obama-Netanyahu Meeting: 
------------------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Prepare for Round Two" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (5/20): 
QNetanyahu's return from his first meeting at the Obama White House 
without having reached any understandings with the president on the 
most central issues means that Israel has missed an important 
opportunity.  It is to be hoped that in his forthcoming visit to the 
Middle East, Obama will not leave Jerusalem off his itinerary, but 
will give Netanyahu another chance to formulate a joint action plan 
for Israel and the United States, in accordance with the solution 
that is accepted by most of the world: partition of the land on the 
basis of the 1967 borders, security guarantees and normalized 
relations with neighboring countries. 
 
II.  "Seeing Linkage, Plainly" 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (5/20): 
QSaeb Erekat, the hard-line chief PLO negotiator, is described as 
QdiscouragedQ and QdisappointedQ in The Washington Post by the 
outcome of Monday's White House meeting between Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu and President Barack Obama.   He started out in a 
bad mood, telling The Jerusalem Post he opposed any friendly 
gestures by the Arab League toward Israel even if the Netanyahu 
government put a total freeze on settlement construction in Judea, 
Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] ... and metropolitan Jerusalem. 
Netanyahu has foolishly allowed himself to be perceived as an 
obstacle to progress by making an issue over Palestinian statehood, 
when he could so easily have found an Qin principleQ formulation 
that would in no way have undermined his legitimate concerns about 
the dangers Palestinian sovereignty poses. On Monday, Obama in 
effect told Netanyahu: You want our help in stopping Iran getting 
nuclear weapons?  Ease your grip on the West Bank so the 
Palestinians can create their state there.  Exerting leverage in 
this way is nothing new What makes the current situation unique is 
the gravity of the Iranian threat and the ascendency of Hamas and 
Hizbullah, combined with the fact that a charismatic American 
president, capable of using the Qpower to persuadeQ in a coherent 
and determined manner, is apparently becoming convinced  -- in part 
by ostensible Qfriends of IsraelQ  -- that Israeli intransigence is 
at the root of Palestinian and wider regional tension.... Netanyahu 
has failed to define Israel's Qred lines,Q or say unequivocally what 
he's for.  Nevertheless, no one whose lobbying platform is 
indistinguishable from Erekat's should get away with telling you 
he's Qpro-Israel. 
 
III.  "Politics and Practicality" 
 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in Ha'aretz (5/20): QU.S. 
administrations that want to distance themselves from Israel have 
always put settlements on the agenda. Israel has always managed to 
evade this American pressure, and it has expanded the settlements 
under the pretext of natural growth.... The Obama administration 
wants to show that, unlike the previous U.S. administration, it does 
not dote on Israel, so it is no surprise that the settlements have 
once again taken center stage.  This poses a problem for Netanyahu, 
since his coalition has a firm majority of right-wing Knesset 
members.... The settlements will pose a far greater problem for 
Netanyahu than the two-sate solution, since on that issue, the 
Americans are ready to demonstrate understanding of his political 
constraints. 
 
IV.  "It Will Be Gloriously Bad" 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late prime 
minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in an editorial of the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (5/20): QObama wants to 
separate the Siamese twins that have been connected for a generation 
-Q the U.S. and Israel.  What to do, he doesnQt like the pictures 
that arrived over the last decades from Jakarta and Tripoli showing 
the Israeli and U.S. flags always being burned together.  Speeches 
in Tehran and Karachi always talked about American-Zionist 
imperialism.... Make no mistake -- no one knows this better than 
Netanyahu -- words of praise and courtesy are part of known American 
hypocrisy... At this stage America is moving away from Israel....The 
window of opportunity in the decades-long special relationship is 
beginning to close. 
 
¶V.  "An American Message" 
 
Senior Middle East affairs analyst Zvi Bar'el wrote in Ha'aretz 
(5/20): QThe public dialogue between U.S. President Barack Obama and 
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was intended partly as an American 
monologue for Arab states, and particularly Iran.  Obama further 
clarified his Iran policy Monday when he explained that he does not 
intend to limit discussions with Tehran by setting a date in 
advance, and said he is willing to include Iran as a partner to 
diplomatic negotiations in the region.  The nuclear issue has taken 
on a softer tone, with Obama hinting an Iranian nuclear weapon would 
be a danger to the Islamic Republic itself, as it could lead to 
nuclear technology spreading to neighboring Arab states.  Obama 
QforgotQ all about Syria, not mentioning it by name and only 
implicitly including it in the hoped-for peace agreement between 
Israel and its Arab neighbors.  For now, these messages may calm the 
nerves of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak -- who is scheduled to 
visit Washington next Tuesday -- and Saudi Arabia, which is closely 
watching Obama's intentions on the Palestinian issue and Iran. 
 
VI.  "Dispute Management Strategy" 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Uri Elitzur, who was director of the prime 
ministerQs bureau during Netanyahu's first term, wrote in the 
editorial of the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (5/20): 
QIn the foreseeable future, there will be unfriendly relations 
between Israel and the U.S., and quite a bit of friction.  This does 
not stem from the Prime Minister's personality, and it would not 
have been significantly different had Olmert still been prime 
minister.  It stems mainly from the change in U.S. policy.  What the 
prime minister must do now is draw up a dispute management strategy 
with the U.S. -- how to maintain ongoing relations with the U.S. 
without reaching a rift.  A great deal of wisdom is needed here, and 
an understanding of the U.S. and the forces operating in it, and 
Netanyahu has both of these more than any other Israeli leader. 
 
MORENO