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P 230547Z OCT 09
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: SPECIAL ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 
reported to President Barack Obama that the U.S. has made little 
progress in its efforts to renew stalled peace talks between Israel 
and the Palestinians.  Clinton met with Obama to submit an interim 
report on the status of U.S. peacemaking efforts. U.S. Special Envoy 
to Middle East Peace George Mitchell also participated in the 
meeting.  HaQaretz quoted an administration official as saying that 
during the meeting, Clinton advised the President that challenges 
remain before the negotiations could resume.  The official was 
quoted as saying that the Palestinians have strengthened their 
security efforts, while the Israelis have expressed a willingness to 
curtail settlement activity.  But the official said that both sides 
need to do more for the process to move forward.  Following the 
meeting, the White House urged Israel and the Palestinians to do 
more to open the way to renewed peace negotiations.   HaQaretz 
quoted the White House as saying that Mitchell will visit Israel 
next week, in his latest attempt to relaunch peace negotiations 
between Israel and the Palestinians.  Israel Radio quoted  Mitchell 
as saying yesterday in a lecture he delivered in Maine that it is 
too soon to brand his efforts to resume peace talks between Israeli 
and Palestinian leaders a failure.  The administration's current 
efforts in the Mideast are "as difficult and complex as everyone 
told me it would be," Mitchell was quoted as saying. "But we are 
determined to stay the course ... until the job is done." 
Meanwhile, PM Benjamin Netanyahu's representatives at talks in 
Washington, Mike Herzog and Yitzhak Molcho, returned to Israel on 
Wednesday after more than a week of discussions with Mitchell and 
his advisers.  Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was also in 
Washington for talks with American officials.  Molcho briefed 
Netanyahu and other cabinet members on the discussions held in 
Washington.  HaQaretz quoted a Jerusalem source as saying that gaps 
still exist between the Israeli and Palestinian positions and also 
between the American and Palestinian sides that are preventing peace 
talks from resuming.  The source added that conditions are not ripe 
for renewed negotiations at this time.   Yediot quoted a White House 
source as saying that the resumption of negotiations is not near. 
HaQaretz reported that yesterday the White House called on Israel to 
take significant steps to freeze settlements -- and on the 
Palestinians to take significant steps to cease incitement and stop 
terror. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Jurist Richard Goldstone 
challenged the U.S. to justify its claims that the findings in a 
U.N. report accusing Israel and Hamas of war crimes, and possible 
crimes against humanity during Operation Cast Lead were flawed and 
biased.  The Jerusalem Post also reported that yesterday the 
chairman of the International Institute for Criminal Investigation, 
William Schabas, warned that PM NetanyahuQs plan to change the laws 
of war was unrealistic.  He was quoted as saying that the initiative 
was Qalmost an admissionQ Israel had violated international law 
during Operation Cast Lead. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday DM Ehud Barak broke IsraelQs 
official silence on a draft plan to ship one load of Iranian uranium 
abroad for enrichment, saying that there was a need to halt all 
uranium enrichment on Iranian soil.  Barak said that the proposal 
will only delay the Iranian nuclear program by a year.  HaQaretz 
reported that a senior European Union official told Israeli 
officials this week that Israel is not privy to the details of the 
exchanges between Iran and the Western countries regarding its 
nuclear program.  "You do not understand the extent to which you are 
not in the picture. You do not know how much you do not know and 
what is happening in Iran," he was quoted as saying.  Accordingly, 
HaQaretz reported that a number of senior Israeli officials backed 
the European official's statements by saying that the release of the 
draft of an agreement with Iran caught Israel by surprise.  However, 
a senior official in the U.S. administration told HaQaretz yesterday 
that from the minute the talks began on a deal over the uranium 
enrichment program of Iran, Israel was updated on every detail by 
the U.S., and was given detailed reports on the talks with the 
Iranians and the ongoing dialogue on a nearly daily basis.  The 
Prime Minister's Bureau refused to comment.  HaQaretz reported that 
yesterday Iran denied the newspaperQs report about Israeli-Iranian 
nuclear talks. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted U.S. and Israeli military officials as 
saying during a press conference in Tel Aviv yesterday that the 
major Juniper Cobra exercise -- which is widely covered by many 
media -- bears no relation to current events.  Channel 10-TV termed 
the exercise very successful. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Kadima chair and former 
FM Tzipi Livni denied warning the Palestinian Authority not to 
accept OlmertQs peace offer.  Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel 
Martin Indyk had suggested this on Monday. Martin Indyk was also 
quoted as saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that 
Israel-Turkey relations could be headed for a breakup. 
 
The media reported on a possible first government coalition crisis: 
DM Barak opposes Justice Minister Yaakov NeQemanQs proposal to split 
the attorney generalQs functions into two positions. 
 
Yediot published the results of a Mina/Zemach/Dahaf poll showing 
IsraelisQ voting intentions Qwere elections held todayQ (in Knesset 
seats): Likud: 33; Kadima: 28; Yisrael Beiteinu: 12; Shas: 11; 
Labor: 7; Meretz: 6. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Ambassador Susan Rice to Israel: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.   QStand with Us 
 
Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (10/23): Q[The] underinformed world is 
asking why the Palestinians should have to pay for EuropeQs crimes 
by ceding territory to the Jews.  However inadvertently, Obama gave 
weight to this misrepresentation in his speech to the Muslim world 
in Cairo, by linking AmericaQs support with Israel with the 
persecution of the Jews in exile down the centuries, culminating in 
the Holocaust, and failing to mention our connection to this land. 
Now, more than at any time in recent years, Israel looks to what has 
starkly become its only mighty ally, and especially to Obama, to 
help correct the damage -- to highlight IsraelQs fundamental 
legitimacy. 
 
II.  QThe Capitulation Agreement 
 
Former Deputy Defense Minister Dr. Ephraim Sneh (who spent most of 
his political life in the Labor Party) wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (10/23): QCrippling 
sanctions that Secretary of State Clinton talked about cannot be 
expected.  Iran cheaply acquired the freedom to continue its actions 
-- in terror, violence, the oppression of its people, building its 
missile capability and its secretive development of nuclear weapons. 
 We must quickly build the capability needed to thwart the Iranian 
nuclear threat when the deception plan is uncovered, sooner or 
later. 
 
CUNNINGHAM