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P 171152Z AUG 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001824 
 
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: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that yesterday, Israel's Ambassador to the U.S. 
Michael Oren rejected recent assessments that Israel was planning an 
attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.   In an interview with Fareed 
Zakaria on CNN, Oren also said: "The government of Israel has 
supported President Obama in his approach to Iran -- engagement and 
outreach to Iran."  According to the envoy, Iran is also involved in 
stirring up tensions in the Palestinian arena.   The Jerusalem Post 
reported that PM Benjamin Netanyahu will be Qtaking EuropeQs 
temperatureQ during his upcoming trip to London and Berlin, on the 
possibility of imposing crippling sanctions on Iran If it refuses 
WashingtonQs offer of engagement over its nuclear program. 
 
Israel Radio quoted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, now visiting 
Washington, as saying in an interview with the Egyptian daily 
Al-Ahram that he is putting the peace process on top of his agenda. 
Mubarak called on Israel to take practical steps such as a 
settlement freeze.  The media reported that he will meet with Jewish 
American leaders while in the U.S. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Daniel Herschkowitz, the head of the 
Habayit Hayehudi (The Jewish Home) party, as saying yesterday, based 
on conversations with Netanyahu, that Netanyahu will reject 
President ObamaQs request for a freeze on natural growth in West 
Bank settlements. 
 
HaQaretz reported that residential trailers are playing a major role 
as West Bank settlers try to create facts on the ground before the 
U.S. and Israel reach any decision on a construction freeze in the 
settlements.  In recent months, settlers have been trying to 
assemble trailers at a quickened pace. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Hamas leader Khaled Mashal as saying 
yesterday in an interview with the Qatari newspaper Al-Watan that 
Hamas is interested in opening a dialogue with the Obama 
administration because current U.S. policies are much better than 
those of former President George W. Bush.  MashalQs remarks were 
published a day after Hamas foiled an attempt by a more radical 
Islamic group to establish an Islamic emirate in Gaza.  Mashal also 
denied reports about progress in negotiations for Gilad ShalitQs 
release. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Israeli officials as saying yesterday that 
the Defense Ministry is postponing the delivery of cement to Gaza 
out of fear that Hamas will get its hands on the material and use it 
to rebuild its military infrastructure damaged during Operation Cast 
Lead.  Yesterday, mako.co.il, the online service of Channel 2-TV, 
reported that the IDF released documentation --  a film clip -- 
showing how Hamas fighters used Palestinian civilians as human 
shields in the course of Operation Cast Lead.  The excerpt was 
published following recent criticism on the subject by human rights 
organizations. 
 
Yesterday, The Jerusalem Post quoted senior Israeli officials as 
saying on August 15 that Jerusalem expects Lebanon and the 
international community to fully implement Security Council 
Resolution 1701. 
 
Expanding on the issue of obstacles placed in the way of foreign 
nationals who enter Israel if they have family, work, business, or 
academic ties in the West Bank, The Jerusalem Post quoted an 
American citizen married to a Palestinian from Ramallah and who has 
a return ticket to the U.S. through Ben-Gurion Airport as saying 
that she was horrified to discover that she had been given one of 
the new limited entry stamps after visiting her in-laws in Jordan 
for a family wedding. The Jerusalem Post also cited information for 
travelers posted on the Web site of the U.S. Consulate-General that 
the Consulate can do nothing to assist in getting this visa status 
changed. 
 
HaQaretz reported that American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a 
nonprofit organization that sends millions of shekels worth of 
donations to Israel every year for clearly political purposes, such 
as buying Arab properties in East Jerusalem, is registered in the 
U.S. as an organization that funds educational institutes in 
Israel. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that a reception tonight, featuring 
former U.S. presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee at the Shepherd Hotel 
in Jerusalem, has turned into a hotly contested venue for protests 
both for and against Israeli policy in the area. 
 
Over the weekend Israel Radio reported that Galilee farmers who 
found themselves in dire financial straits sold rights (through 
intermediaries) to their privately-owned land to the highest bidder 
-- allegedly wealthy residents of the Gulf states. 
 
Yediot reported on a project called Middle East Education through 
Technoogy (MEET), in which 120 high-school Israeli and Paestinian 
students meet during summer programs.  he project is now in its 
sixth year. 
 
HaQaretzreported that workers at the Negev Nuclear Researc Center 
in Dimona were made to drink uranium in 988 as part of an 
experiment, according to a lawsuit filed four months ago in the 
Beersheva Labor ribunal by a former worker at the facility. 
 
Ove the weekend all media underscored a spate of cruel murders and 
other violent crimes. 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Quiet: Now Is the Time for a Solution" 
 
Former Meretz leader and former Justice Minister Yossi Beilin wrote 
in the independent Israel Hayom (8/17): QWe would do well to 
remember August 2009.  It is a moment that ostensibly we ought to be 
able to enjoy.  The Israeli economy appears to have overcome the 
global economic crisis even before other economies, and the Tel Aviv 
Stock Exchange is breaking new heights.  Hamas in Gaza has stopped 
firing rockets, and Hizbullah has opted to suffice with childish 
demonstrationsQso that the state of quiet has been maintained in the 
north as well.  Abu Mazen succeeded in holding the Fatah Central 
Conference and became in its aftermath a leader with a stronger 
mandate to promote a meaningful political solution.  The economic 
prosperity on the West Bank has been shown to us by nearly every 
media outlet: the night life in Nablus, the restaurants in Ramallah, 
the Palestinian children who go to Bat Yam and see, for the first 
time in their lives, the sea.... It would seem as if nothing were 
urgent and that we might now relax and wait to hear U.S. Special 
Envoy to the Middle East George MitchellQs offers and President 
Barack ObamaQs speech at the U.N.  In the meantime, we might as well 
take a brief vacation.  But that is precisely the same mistake that 
recurs nearly every summer, one decade after the next ever since the 
great victory of 1967.... Instead of trying to get a tan in the 
damaging rays of the sun, the government would do well to draft the 
Israeli peace initiative and to avert a situation in which August 
2009 turns into an all-too-brief recess between the clouds of war. 
 
II.  "Palestinian State Is Not Synonym for Terrorist Entity" 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (8/17): QFor some reason [as far as official 
Israel is concerned] the continued calm on Israel's eastern border 
and the order Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government 
has imposed in cities the IDF has been good enough to evacuate have 
been unable to prove that the Palestinian state is not necessarily a 
synonym for a terrorist entity.  Nine years after the outbreak of 
the Al-Aqsa Intifada and almost five years after Yasser Arafat's 
death, a solid Palestinian leadership is waiting for Israel.  It's a 
leadership that speaks out and acts decisively against violence. 
The sixth Fatah convention approved a diplomatic solution based on 
two states within the 1967 borders.  Although a mountainous 16 years 
of diplomatic process have produced a molehill, the option of 
returning to the armed struggle against the occupier has been pushed 
to the margins.  The Palestinian leadership, as well as the 
countries of the Arab League, are showing understanding for Israel's 
concerns; our Palestinian neighbor will be immeasurably less armed 
and dangerous than our northern neighbors.  We can only hope that 
its security forces will not abuse their new recruits and that their 
officers will not be liars. 
 
 
 
 
III.  "Nowhere to Go" 
 
Columnist and former intelligence officer Amos Gilboa wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (8/17): QFollowing the Fatah conference in 
Bethlehem last week, one can describe the political situation of the 
Palestinians with two simple English words: dead end. There is a 
zero chance of reaching a final status arrangement with the 
Palestinian anytime in the near future.... Analysts and politicians 
are telling us: There is hope.  One can make a deal with this new 
Fatah leadership.  And why is this?  Because the conference stated 
that it was in favor of the peace option, that this was its path, 
that it favors the two-state solution.... These are false arguments. 
 The mere fact that the Palestinians make use of the secret words 
Qtwo-state solutionQ and QpeaceQ means absolutely nothing.  They 
have been saying this since the Oslo Accords.  So long as delegates 
to the Palestinian conference see a need to render their positions 
more extreme, this means they understand well where the wind is 
blowing in the Palestinian street.  So where is all this heading? 
We will witness in the near future many ideas about some 
international conference or another, one or another American plan to 
reach an agreement.  Just so long as activity is produced to conceal 
the sorry reality, and also to create a lot of headlines.  And 
Israel?  The best thing it can do is to publish its own initiative, 
and if not -- at least refrain from provocation and be sure to be 
coordinated with the Obama administration. 
 
IV.  "The Obama Prisoner-Release Doctrine" 
 
Columnist Shmuel Rosner, who was HaQaretzQs correspondent in 
Washington, wrote in Maariv (8/17: "Here is an interesting exercise 
in Middle Eastern scriptwriting: A current or past senior Israeli or 
American official travels to Gaza.  In complete contrast to official 
Israeli and American policy, he holds talks with the Hamas 
leadership.... He brings to Israel in his car the kidnapped soldier 
Gilad Shalit.  Is anyone against this?  This is not a bloated 
scenario -- not as far as Americans are concerned: Over the past two 
weeks similar events occurred on the other side of the planet. 
Former President Bill Clinton visited North Korea on an Qunofficial 
mission, but with the knowledge and the blessing of the Barack Obama 
administration.  He returned with two captive female American 
journalists.  There was criticism, but it was contained by the 
clicking of the cameras memorializing the returneesQ tears of joy. 
Over the past weekend, there was a repeat performance -- on a 
smaller scale: Burma (whose unrecognized name is Myanmar) is not 
more dangerous than North Korea.  Senator Jim Webb isnQt as famous 
as Clinton.  Nonetheless, Webb traveled to boycotted, extremist 
Burma, and returned with a nice booty: the American prisoner John 
Yettaw.... [Preconceptions] will fall like a stack of cards if the 
Hamas leaders decide to make one small gesture in exchange for such 
a brief encounter.... If this is happening in America -- which is 
rather indifferent to its prisonersQ fate -- all the more in 
Israel. 
 
¶V.  QFatahQs Ticking Bomb 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/17): QAs Fatah continues 
the conflict and blocks a resolution for years, they face lower 
living standards and destructive violence.  If Fatah becomes more 
radical, as indicated by Abbas's choice for successor, the 
Palestinian people will suffer even more.... Fatah has apparently 
chosen as its next leader a man who rejects the 1993 Israel-PLO 
(Oslo) agreement and the ensuing peace process.  Muhammad Ghneim was 
so passionately opposed even to negotiating with Israel that he 
refused to go to the Gaza Strip and West Bank with Arafat in 1994. 
He also refused to participate in the PA as long as it was involved 
in the peace process.  So can Ghneim participate now because he has 
changed his mind, or rather -- as seems more likely -- that Fatah no 
longer takes the peace process seriously?  This situation is 
equivalent to Russia picking a hard-line Stalinist as its next 
leader.... If Ghneim takes over, you can not only forget about peace 
-- which doesn't look too promising anyway -- but the status quo 
could also be jeopardized.  The re-radicalization of Fatah might 
lead to a very big, even violent, sustained crisis.  Attention must 
be paid to this development. 
 
VI.  QBreaking the Final Taboo 
 
Security and intelligence affairs commentator Amit Cohen wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (8/16): QHamas has faced a number of 
violent challenges since it seized power in the Gaza Strip.  It 
emerged from all of them successfully.  The al-Qaida operatives 
managed to hurt Hamas, but even they are no match for the Hamas 
security forces' superior numbers and weaponry.  But as opposed to 
previous instances, this time Hamas wasn't fighting against a clan 
or an organization; rather, it was fighting against a competing 
religious doctrine, which is much harder to defeat.  The struggle 
between the Muslim Brotherhood-to wit, Hamas and the Salafi-jihadi 
school, has been under way for many years across the Muslim world. 
The defeat in Rafah does not necessarily spell an end to the 
phenomenon. 
The conflict between those two schools of religious thought is 
complex and profound.  A large part of it stems from differing 
religious interpretation and beliefs about proper Muslim conduct -- 
and not from disagreements about Israel.  From Israel's point of 
view, there is not much difference between the two schools.  Hamas 
is prepared to speak about a cease-fire and a hudna, while the 
al-Qaida operatives reject such an option out of hand.  But in terms 
of their long-term strategies, both of them believe in jihad as an 
inseparable part of their being.  Still, to generalize, it is clear 
that Hamas is capable of showing more pragmatism.  Hamas, for 
example, was willing to receive the former U.S. President, Jimmy 
Carter, as a VIP visitor to Gaza.  Alternatively, the members of the 
Salafi school of thought had planned to assassinate Carter.  They 
believe that figures such as Carter must not be tolerated.  They 
believe that Hamas is groveling before the West, before 
Christianity, by accepting figure such as Carter or Tony Blair. 
They repudiate any notion of foreign relations or even foreign 
public relations.  The only publicity they need is well-covered 
violence. 
 
MORENO