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DE RUEHTV #1808/01 2261105
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P 141105Z AUG 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001808 
 
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.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Israel Radio quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic source as saying 
that Israel might agree to a move led by President Obama in which it 
would pledge to freeze construction in settlements if it receives in 
exchange tangible gestures from the Palestinians and the Arab 
states.  HaQaretz reported that the U.S. told Israel last week that 
Gulf states Oman and Qatar are willing to renew their relations with 
Israel if it agrees to a moratorium on construction in the West 
Bank.  Some media did not mention the settlement proviso.  The 
leading Internet news service Ynet quoted a senior Israeli 
diplomatic source as saying in response to the report about the Gulf 
states that Qat this stage no golden formula has been found and 
there are no negotiations with the Americans, all the more with the 
Palestinians. 
 
Yediot reported that over the past two weeks senior Netanyahu aides 
and U.S. officials have held secret talks in order to reach an 
agreement over a construction freeze in the settlements.  The 
newspaper says that the main argument between the parties is about 
the duration of the freeze and the conditions in which Israel may 
resume construction.  Yediot reported that the U.S. wants Israel to 
stop construction for two years. 
 
HaQaretz reported that PM Netanyahu recently told his ministers to 
refrain from making any comment on the status of Gilad Shalit so as 
not to compromise recent Egyptian-brokered talks on the abducted 
soldier's release from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip.  Maariv 
reported that the Shalit family-run campaign for the release of 
Gilad Shalit requests that HamasQs demands be brought to the 
cabinetQs decision. 
 
Leading media reported that residents of the Bnei Adam outpost have 
agreed to voluntarily evacuate three caravans in their West Bank 
settlement, after being advised to do so by leading rabbis of the 
national religious movement. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday every member of FatahQs 
Higher Committee in the Gaza Strip resigned in protest against what 
one of them described as Qmassive fraudQ in the election for the 
Fatah Central Committee. 
 
PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad was quoted as saying yesterday in an 
interview with HaQaretz that Israel's character is its own business 
and that it is not up to the Palestinians to define it.  He had been 
asked about PM Benjamin Netanyahu's demand the Palestinians 
recognize Israel as a Jewish state.  Fayyad was also quoted as 
saying: "Establishing a proper government is a goal in itself, but 
also a means to end the occupation."  Fayyad noted that the 
Palestinian economy's growth has exceeded all expectations, but 
expressed regret it has taken Israel so long to remove dozens of 
roadblocks, which have stymied the PA's economic development for 
many years.  He cannot understand why Israel bothers with petty 
details such as this roadblock or another, while it has admitted 
they were not necessary.  Fayyad said that Israel must carry out a 
prisoner exchange to end the Gilad Shalit affair immediately. 
 
Israel Radio and Ynet quoted Syrian Ambassador to Turkey Nidal 
Kablan as saying that his country will not give up Turkish mediation 
in its negotiations with Israel. 
 
Israel Radio cited a Lebanese newspaper as saying that Israeli 
Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen is still under the threat of 
assassination. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that The J Street political action 
committee has received tens of thousands of dollars in donations 
from dozens of Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as from several 
individuals connected to organizations doing Palestinian and Iranian 
issues advocacy, according to Federal Election Commission filings. 
Additionally, at least two State Department officials connected to 
Middle East issues have reportedly donated to the PAC, which gives 
money to candidates for US Congress supported by J Street.  The 
organization describes itself as a "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby 
pushing for more American involvement and diplomacy in resolving the 
Middle East conflict. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Israeli sources confirmed 
Yemeni media reports that the overwhelming majority of the final 
remnant of Yemen's ancient Jewish community, numbering some 250 
people, are looking to leave the country for the U.S. or Israel, due 
to persecution and violence. 
 
The Jerusalem PostQs Web site and Israel Radio reported that Arab 
states are lobbying the EU to support their drive to force Israel to 
open up its secretive nuclear program to international perusal. 
 
HaQaretz and other leading media reported that yesterday the Foreign 
Ministry censured Israel's Consul-General in Boston Nadav Tamir due 
to a memo he wrote criticizing Israel's policy on the United States. 
 The envoy apologized for the way the incident unfolded. 
 
HaQaretz and other media reported that Netanyahu sent an official 
response to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's request for clemency 
for Salah Hassan Hamori, of the Popular Front for the Liberation of 
Palestine, a French citizen convicted of plotting the assassination 
of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.  HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu wrote to 
Sarkozy that the parole panel rejected Hamori's request in part 
because he had not expressed regret for his actions and because the 
attorney general believed his early release constituted a danger to 
the public.  Netanyahu also noted that Hamori is considered a 
dangerous prisoner even imprisoned, so he does not meet the criteria 
for parole. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted the IDF as saying in a 
statement released yesterday that a Human Rights Watch report that 
IDF soldiers killed 11 Palestinian civilians holding white flags in 
Gaza during Operation Cast Lead is Qbased on unreliable witness 
reports. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that for participants in a small new 
volunteer program initiated by the Zionist Freedom Alliance -- a 
"revolutionary" group that promotes Zionism on U.S. campuses as an 
indigenous, not biblical or political movement -- connecting with 
Israel means defying international pressure that all construction 
east of the Green Line come to a halt, and heading deep into the 
West Bank to show solidarity with the Jewish communities there. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel has arrested Osama Mansour, one of PA 
President Mahmoud AbbasQs senior advisers on suspicion of 
involvement in a Palestinian plot to take over land in Jerusalem, 
kidnap a man who sells land to Jews, and carry out extortion.  A 
Jewish middleman and two Israeli Arabs are suspecting of aiding 
Mansour in the attempted abduction. 
Yediot reported that President Shimon Peres is scheduled to make a 
working visit to Russia next week and that Russian PM Vladimir Putin 
is expected to visit Israel in October. 
 
The media reported that IsraelQs Central region was brought to a 
standstill all afternoon and evening as police set up roadblocks on 
all the main roads around Ben-Gurion Airport and leading into the 
West Bank, following an eyewitness account that a soldier had been 
kidnapped in the area.  The report turned out to be wrong.  The 
Palestinian MaQan news agency reported that a group calling itself 
the Al-Quds Army had claimed responsibility for the reported 
capture. 
 
Yediot reported that the U.S. dollarQs rate on the Tel Aviv money 
market has plunged since Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer 
stopped regulating it. 
 
HaQaretz ran a feature about White House Social Secretary Desiree 
Rogers. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Not Obama, but Abbas" 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (8/14): QAn Obama visit [to Israel] would 
be encouraging, welcome, and almost certainly constructive.  Israel 
would certainly be pleased to hear directly from the President.  But 
the voice we need to hear is that of Abbas -- -- an Abbas speaking 
to his people and to ours in terms he did not employ at FatahQs 
Bethlehem gathering.  An Abbas countering the duplicitous ArafatQs 
assertion to the Palestinian public that the Jews have no rights and 
no legitimacy here.  An Abbas explaining to his people and to ours 
that we are fated to live together and that he will meet us on the 
road to a better future.. It gets ever harder [to believe that 
Abbas is indeed a Palestinian devoted to compromise when he] 
presides over the relegitimization of the murderous Aqsa Martyrs 
Brigades at a Fatah conference that did anything but advance 
prospect for reconciliation. 
II.  "Hope Stuck in the Mud" 
 
Far left columnist Gideon Levy wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/14): QBarack Obama's America is not 
delivering the goods.... He came into office amid much hoopla.  The 
Cairo speech ignited half the globe.  Making settlements the top 
priority gave rise to the hope that, finally, a statesman is sitting 
in the White House who understands that the root of all evil is the 
occupation, and that the root of the occupation's evil is the 
settlements.  From Cairo, it seemed possible to take off.  The sky 
was the limit.  Then the administration fell into the trap set by 
Israel and is showing no signs of recovery... Perhaps they will 
reach a compromise and agree on nine months [of construction freeze 
in the settlements], not including natural growth though allowing 
completion of apartments already under construction -- a grand 
accomplishment.  Jerusalem has imposed its will on Washington.  Once 
again we are at the starting point -- dealing with trifles from 
which it is impossible to make the big leap over the great 
divide.... An America that will not pressure Israel is an America 
that will not bring peace. 
 
III.  "A Black Stain of Collaboration" 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized (8/14): 
QAfter the terrorist rocket-launching became intolerable and the 
[human rights] organizations did not do or say anything, the IDF 
embarked on a large offensive against HamasQs stronghold in Gaza.  A 
few months after the operation, the human rights groups have turned 
the operation into a goldmine by promoting Qhuman rights;Q they are 
extracting testimonies of actions and violations that no one can 
verify -- there isnQt even a need for this.  The Foreign Ministry 
has embarked on an appropriate action to stop European funding of 
the group QBreaking the Silence.Q  But this is not enough.  The IDF 
should not be entrusted with the human rights groupsQ propaganda; 
the entire government must grant full backing to the IDF.  The 
motives of the human rights groups, especially since the 2001 Durban 
Conference are explicit: a political struggle that makes a cynical 
use of Qhuman rightsQ concepts.  Those organizations must be told: 
You have destroyed the true human rights values by turning them into 
weapons against democracy and Israel. 
 
IV.  "Showdown in Bethlehem" 
 
Palestinian affairs correspondent Khaled Abu Toameh wrote in The 
Jerusalem Post (8/14): QDuring the Fatah congress in Bethlehem, 
officials like [Muhammad] Dahlan, [Jibril] Rajoub, and [Tawfik] 
Tirawi came under sharp criticism from many of their colleagues who 
accused them of being part of the corrupt regimes of Yasser Arafat 
and his successor, Abbas.  Some delegates even went as far as to 
demand that the trio be put on trial for their QcrimesQ against the 
Palestinians when they were in office.  All three were responsible 
for the establishment of security forces that imposed a reign of 
terror and intimidation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the 
signing of the Oslo Accords 16 years ago.  To describe the three men 
as QreformistsQ is like praising the rulers of Kuwait and Saudi 
Arabia as feminists, liberals, and champions of gays and lesbians, 
these critics claimQ.... While Abbas and his camp may have tightened 
their grip on Fatah, itQs premature to talk about a new era of 
stability and unity in the ruling faction. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"The Day of the Bomb" 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Ben Caspit wrote in the popular, pluralist 
Maariv (8/14): QRight now, the Americans have reservations [about 
attacking IranQs nuclear facilities]. There is an internal argument 
in Israel, but as of now some believe that an attack is a possible 
and necessary move.  Some Israelis say that the Iranian people are 
not in the situation of 1980, when Saddam Hussein invaded and all 
Iranians united around Khomeini.  Besides, it is reasonable to 
believe that reasonable attack, with reasonable means, could be 
effective.  How effective?  Israelis say it would delay [IranQs] 
nuclear plans for a few years and preventQaccelerationQ -- for a 
long time.  It should be enough. 
 
MORENO