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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 001862 
 
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 
 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu told the 
cabinet that he would like to resume direct negotiations with the PA 
following the U.N. General Assembly meeting in late September.  A 
senior diplomatic source in Jerusalem told HaQaretz yesterday that 
the U.S. has informed Israel that it is interested in assuming the 
role of "active mediator" during the talks, and in having Qa place 
at the negotiating table." However, FM Avigdor Lieberman told 
reporters yesterday that he sees no chance of peace.   "In the 16 
years since the Oslo Accords, we haven't managed to bring peace to 
the region, and I'm willing to bet that there won't be peace in 
another 16 years, either.  Certainly not on the basis of the 
two-state solution," Lieberman was quoted as saying.  Referring to 
President ObamaQs vision, Lieberman also noted: "The establishment 
of a Palestinian state within two years is an unrealistic goal." 
 
HaQaretz quoted sources close to the PM as saying they hope that if 
an understanding is reached regarding settlement construction, a 
three-way meeting could be held with President Obama and PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas at the U.N. 
 
This afternoon, Netanyahu will travel to London where he will meet 
on Wednesday with U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George 
Mitchell, in order to continue the discussion on the 
administration's demands for confidence-building measures between 
Israel and the Arab world. The U.S. is demanding that Israel freeze 
temporarily construction in the settlements, and is asking the Arab 
world to begin normalizing ties with Israel immediately.   The media 
reported that Netanyahu told the cabinet yesterday that his meeting 
with Mitchell in London is not expected to be the final one, and 
stressed that more meetings will be necessary before peace talks can 
begin.  "The discussions with Mitchell are just the beginning of a 
series of talks and exchanges that have been going on intensively 
recently, and in good spirits," the PM said.  "There has been some 
progress, even though there is no absolute agreement.  There is an 
attempt to minimize the degree of disagreement and discuss matters 
in a much more positive atmosphere.  There is a wish to hold direct 
talks between us and the Palestinians, even though this depends on 
the understandings with the Americans and the Palestinians," 
Netanyahu told his cabinet colleagues.   The media reported that 
Netanyahu held a meeting of his inner cabinet on Thursday night in 
which Qsignificant progressQ: was reported in negotiations with the 
U.S. over a settlement freeze. 
 
HaQaretz recalled that the U.S. would like to be given guarantees by 
Israel that it will freeze settlement construction for at least a 
year, while Israel is offering a six-month hiatus.   The newspaper 
cited the assessment of a diplomatic source in Jerusalem that a 
compromise of 9-12 months will be reached for construction in the 
West Bank, but will not include East Jerusalem or most of the 2,500 
housing units whose construction has already commenced.  Media 
quoted Peace Now as saying on Saturday that construction in the 
Jewish areas of the West Bank dropped 1.5 percent in the first half 
of 2009, compared to the second half of 2008.  Speaking on Israel 
Radio this morning, Culture and Sport Minister Limor Livnat blasted 
the stateQs response to High Court of Justice rulings on the topic 
of illegal construction in the West Bank.  Tzali Reshef, a founding 
member of Peace Now, countered her allegations. 
 
 
HaQaretz reported that Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is 
due to visit Israel next week to meet with political leaders. 
HaQaretz reported that Netanyahu spoke with Jordan's King Abdullah 
Sunday afternoon, and greeted him for the Holy Month of Ramadan, 
which commenced on August 22.  The King reiterated the significance 
of the Arab Peace Initiative and said that "the negotiations must be 
resumed as soon as possible in order to resolve the dispute." 
 
The PM is traveling to London at a time when domestically the 
political scene is relatively calm and his coalition appears to be 
stable.  In the Forum of Six, the group of senior ministers in which 
sensitive political-security issues are discussed, there is 
unusually vocal opposition, and some of the participants are even 
urging Netanyahu onward toward progress on the diplomatic front. 
 
Leading media reported that, in an op-ed article in The Los Angeles 
Times last week, Ben-Gurion University political science instructor 
 
Neve Gordon called for boycott of, divestment in, and sanctions 
against Israel, which he dubbed an Qapartheid state.Q The article 
sparked controversy in the U.S. and Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that the first battery of the Israeli QIron 
DomeQ short-range missile defense system will be operational in June 
¶2010. 
 
All media cited outcry in Argentina and Israel following Iranian 
President Mahmoud AhmadinejadQs choice of Ahmad Vahidi as his 
defense minister.  Vahidi is wanted in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos 
Aires Jewish cultural center. 
 
The media reported that on Friday President Obama greeted the 
Muslims on the occasion of the Ramadan and spoke of his Qunyielding 
support for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict. 
 
HaQaretz reported that a delegation of Egyptian intelligence 
officials met this weekend with senior Hamas figures in Damascus. 
The newspaper said that they discussed the Gilad Shalit issue. 
 
Yediot reported that the residents of the Bnei Adam settlement 
outpost decided over the weekend to remove the three trailers on the 
site voluntarily, as suggested to them two weeks ago. 
 
Leading media quoted President Shimon Peres as saying in an 
interview published yesterday in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai that 
Israel "knows that Hizbullah has 80,000 rockets."  He stressed, 
however, that Israel had no interest in going to war with Lebanon 
and that all differences between Syria, Lebanon, and Israel could be 
solved by negotiations.  The President also accused Hizbullah of 
ruining Lebanon. 
 
Citing an internal memo from a senior Tourism Ministry official, 
HaQaretz reported that the Interior Ministry promised the Tourism 
Ministry last week that tourists who declare that they intend to 
enter only the Palestinian Authority will have their passports 
stamped "Palestinian Authority only," while tourists who declare 
they intend to visit both Israel and the Palestinian Authority will 
have their passports stamped with a regular B2 tourist visa. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), the Chairman of the U.S. 
House of RepresentativesQ Foreign Affairs Committee, as saying last 
week during a closed meeting with Jewish leaders in Los Angeles, 
that the Obama administration is making a mistake in demanding that 
Israel completely freeze construction in the settlements. 
 
Leading media reported that Jewish construction in the East 
Jerusalem of Ras El-Amud (according to HaQaretz, this would be East 
JerusalemQs largest settlement yet) might become a new contentious 
issue between the U.S. and Israel. 
 
The media reported that Egypt is demanding that Israel apologize 
after IDF troops shot an Egyptian soldier patrolling the border, 
mistaking him for a terrorist.  In an unrelated development, Maariv 
reported that PM Netanyahu has promised Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak no to oppose the appointment of the Egyptian Culture 
Minister to the Post of UNESCO Secretary-General.  In exchange, 
Egypt started reconstruction work on CairoQs Synagogue on Saturday. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the IDF is setting up a separate military 
court for West Bank youths.  Until now, adults and minors were 
judged by the same legal authorities. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Vice PM and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe 
YaQalon and FM Lieberman will travel to the U.S. next month to 
deliver PR lectures for Israel.  HaQaretz reported that the Israel 
Project, a pro-Israel lobbying group in the U.S., has launched a 
project intent on shifting the focus of the Obama administration 
away from West Bank settlements, claiming they are not an obstacle 
to peace and that their evacuation would amount to "ethnic 
cleansing." 
 
Israel Hayom reported that FM Lieberman will support the creation of 
a new alliance comprising nations that have common interests with 
Israel.  Lieberman ruled out RussiaQs participation in such a 
partnership, due to its many conflicts of interests with Israel. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported on an QIslamic- and American-funded 
construction impetus in East Jerusalem and the West Bank. 
 
The media reported that yesterday PM Netanyahu called yesterday for 
the Swedish Government to condemn an article in a Stockholm 
newspaper suggesting IDF troops harvested the organs of Palestinians 
they killed.  HaQaretz quoted an official present at the weekly 
cabinet session as saying that Netanyahu told his ministers he did 
not expect the Swedish government to apologize for the article in 
the tabloid Aftonbladet, but that he did not expect it to take a 
stand.  "We're not asking the Swedish Government for an apology, 
we're asking for their condemnation," the official quoted Netanyahu 
as saying.  The PM added that the story was "reminiscent of medieval 
libels that Jews killed Christian children for their blood," the 
official was quoted as saying.  Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt 
has already rejected Israeli calls for an official condemnation. 
However, some sources in Jerusalem expressed satisfaction over an 
entry in the personal blog of Sweden's FM, which led some here to 
believe the official stance in Stockholm has softened.  The media 
also reported that, during an address to students at the University 
Center in the settlement town of Ariel, FM Lieberman blasted Norway 
for celebrating the 150th birthday of Knut Hamsun, a noted Norwegian 
writer who demonstrated Nazi sympathies. 
 
All media reported that yesterday, following a compromise agreed 
upon by High Court of Justice President Dorit Beinisch and others, 
the Judicial Appointments Committee appointed three new justices -- 
BeinischQs favorite candidate Uzi Vogelman; U.S.-born, religious 
judge Neal Hendel; and Isaac Amit, who comes from a religious 
background. 
 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Focus on the Essence" 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (8/24): 
QStopping the momentum of construction and settlement expansion in 
the West Bank is not an Israeli concession to the Americans or the 
Palestinians. Rather, it is in Israel's own interest.... Israel must 
freeze construction without circumventions and provocations.  A 
construction freeze is not the goal, but the means to helping reach 
the essence: an Israeli-Palestinian agreement to end hostilities and 
the realization of the two-state solution, which even the Prime 
Minister now supports.  In his meeting this week with Mitchell, 
Netanyahu needs to focus on removing obstacles that delay the 
renewal of talks with the Palestinians, instead of continuing to 
insist on limited construction in the settlements.  If Netanyahu 
wants an agreement with the Palestinians, as he promised, he must 
save his political strength for the unavoidable conflict with his 
partners on the right -- not wear it down in detrimental feuding 
with the United States. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
"Iran and Syria: So Happy Together" 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (8/24): QOnce Iran gets 
nuclear weapons, which is on the horizon, the alliance's value for 
Syria will rise dramatically.  This is why it was silly for U.S. 
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to suggest recently: QGiven 
what's been going on in Iran and the instability that appears to be 
present there, it may not be in Syria's interest to put their eggs 
into that basket.Q  Well, Assad apparently doesn't agree with her. 
Perhaps she should listen to what he's saying and watch what he's 
doing in order to draw the opposite conclusion.... Iran and Syria, 
along with their clients, are at war with America, and the U.S. 
Government doesn't even know it.  That's why [Supreme Leader 
Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei remarked, QAmerica's blade has become 
blunter in the region.Q  He's right.  That's why if anyone is 
worried about putting all the eggs in one basket, nowadays it is 
America's Arab partners.  The fact that the U.S. is perceived as 
weaker and foolish in the region is far more important than the fact 
that Obama might be more popular in public opinion polls.  With a 
U.S. Government so intent on apologizing to everyone, all but ruling 
out the use of force or power politics and apparently -- in Iran's 
perception -- afraid to confront its enemies, they're concluding in 
Teheran and Damascus, as Ahmadinejad put it: QToday the world has 
realized that Western theories are not working anymore and that is 
why it needs the help and cooperation of Syria and Iran.Q  An 
increase in economic sanctions, which is the main U.S. plan against 
Iran at present, is not going to change this perception -- or 
Teheran's behavior.  But before effective action can be taken, there 
must be the realization that a conflict is going on, one that is far 
more important than the one between the U.S. and al-Qaida. 
-------------------------- 
¶3.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  "Huckabee IsnQt an Oddity" 
 
Columnist Shmuel Rosner, who was HaQaretzQs correspondent in 
Washington, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (8/24): QThe 
[U.S. presidential elections are still remote -- only in 2012. 
Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to look at the numbers [of the 
polls]: Obama -- 47 percent; [Mike] Huckabee -- 44 percent.  The gap 
isnQt big.  Huckabee presents the most attractive alternative to 
Obama.... Last year, when he competed in the Republican Party 
primaries ... he made some pronouncements that were far more unusual 
than expected: he favors a Palestinian state -- if it is established 
in Egypt or in Saudi Arabia, but not in the Land of Israel [Israel, 
including the territories].  All in all, he said at the time: QThere 
is no such thing as a PalestinianQ.... It is hard to guess whether 
he will persist in his diplomatic rebellion, even after a victory in 
the elections.  But if he wins his partyQs nomination, it will be 
meaningful to watch his debates with Obama.  After many years when 
debates on the Israeli-Palestinian issue have been encapsulated by: 
QI agree, but,Q candidates facing the American voters will just 
disagree Q even substantially. 
 
II.  "J StreetQs Dangerous Detour to the White House" 
 
Lenny Ben-David, who served as a senior diplomat in the Israeli 
Embassy in Washington and a member of AIPACQs staff in Washington 
and Jerusalem from 1992 to 1997, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (8/24): QYasser Arafat sought peace with 
Israel, Jeremiah was a bullfrog, the Brooklyn Bridge is for sale, 
Brutus was an honorable man, and J Street is a pro-Israel 
organization.  Not.... Is the press reluctant to challenge an 
organization that has emerged as U.S. President Barack ObamaQs Qtoy 
JewsQ?.... Why should a National Iranian American Council board 
member give at least $10,000 to J Street PAC? Perhaps it is because 
of the very close relationship between the two organizations.... 
Does J Street's leadership perpetrate fraud when it portrays itself 
as pro-Israel to pro-Israel and anti-Israel audiences at the same 
time?.... Only opening all of its financial books will give J Street 
the kosher certification the progressive, pro-Israel, pro-peace 
community deserves. 
 
MORENO