VZCZCXRO3864
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #2086/01 3240949
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 200949Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6717
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC//DAS-ZD/DACS-ZK//
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
RHMFIUU/CMC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7955
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4922
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4772
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6260
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4691
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3286

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 002086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS BBG 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC 
CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS
 
SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (11/20):  Popular Campaign Against 
Settlements; PA Rejects Temporary Borders 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
-------------Al Citing Ma'an and Reuters, independent daily Al-Quds 
quotes jailed Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti, saying that 
Palestinian-Israeli negotiations have failed. He called for a 
popular campaign against settlements and urged Palestinians to apply 
a mix of diplomatic and popular action as well as other means to 
achieve statehood.  He also called on Hamas to end the internal 
state of division, which he referred to as "a crime against the 
nation" and restore national unity. 
 
-  The Palestinian Authority's (PA) official daily, Al-Hayat 
Al-Jadida, reports on the statement by Mohammad Nasr, member of the 
Hamas political bureau, that Hamas will not sign the Egyptian 
national reconciliation proposal. 
 
-  Independent daily Al-Ayyam leads with President Mahmoud Abbas 
reiterating that his decision not to run in the next elections is a 
"final" one.  During an interview with BBC in Amman, Abbas said that 
Hamas is conducting secret negotiations with Israel in Geneva for a 
state with temporary borders. 
 
-  In an exclusive interview with Al-Ayyam, Yasser Abed Rabbo, 
Secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee, stated that the PA 
will not consider any proposal that fails to include a complete 
cessation of settlement activities or which allows for temporary 
borders. 
Al 
Al Al-Quds reports on Nabil Shaath, Fatah Central Committee member, 
reiterating that the Arab States are assisting the PA in its attempt 
to get the UNSC to adopt a resolution recognizing an independent 
Palestinian state. 
 
Al Al Quds and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida lead with continued reporting on 
settlement construction.  Al-Hayat Al-Jadida quotes Arab-Israeli 
Knesset member, Ahmad Tibi, regarding GOI plans to construct 15,000 
Israeli housing units in "occupied" Jerusalem.  Al-Quds, citing 
Khalil Tufakji a Palestinian expert in settlements affairs, reports 
that under a plan endorsed by the GOI in 1996, Israel will construct 
more than 48,000 housing units (to accommodate 500,000 settlers) in 
Jerusalem by 2020.  Al-Quds also front pages that "In light of U.S. 
pressure... Israel postpones the release of a tender to construct 
1500 housing units in Jerusalem" in Har Homa and Pisgat Ze'ev. 
 
-  Ma'an and the dailies report on the arrest of an Israeli 
teenager, by Israeli police, for stabbing a 42-year-old Palestinian 
in East Jerusalem.  According to reports, the teenager attacked the 
man while he was at a bus stop. 
 
-  The dailies and Ma'an report on the announcement by the 
Palestinian Telecommunications Company (PalTel) that it cancelled 
its agreement with Jordan's Zain Telecommunication Network due to 
Zain's inability to fulfill basic conditions of the agreement. 
 
Pa Ma'an reports that Palestine was allocated a postal code by the 
Universal Postal Union (UPU) following successful talks with UPU in 
Berne, Switzerland.  The issuance of the postal code will help 
guarantee the independence of the Palestinian postal system when it 
is re-launched, making it distinct from the Israeli system. 
 
 
JERUSALEM 00002086  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
------------- 
BLOCK QUOTES: 
------------- 
       RRajab Abu Sirriyeh opines in independent daily Al-Ayyam 
under the title "Abu Mazen... a different leadership figure" 
(11/20): "In his announcement not to run in the next elections, 
Abbas seems very serious and intent ... his ultimate goal at this 
juncture is to achieve national unity and end the internal 
division...he is willing to sacrifice running if this will achieve 
national unity". 
 
 
--------------------------PALESTINIAN CYBERSPACE: 
----------------------- 
Palestinian social media scene (Twitter and Facebook) has mocked the 
U.S. Government's response to Israel's announcement of the 
construction of 900 new units in Gilo, specifically the choice of 
"dismay."  Also circulating are reports on American Jews traveling 
to Jerusalem to join settlers in a cornerstone ceremony for future 
Jewish settlements.  (Reference to USG's response to new 
settlements:  http://ow.ly/DB2g; 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7REFp3YDkc; Cornerstone ceremony: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L_PilOjjes.) 
 
 
 
 
--------------------- 
Cartoons of the Week: 
-------------------- 
1) Independent daily Al-Ayyam on November 16 showed Israeli Prime 
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trying to decide which unilateral steps 
to take in response to the PA's move to seek international 
recognition of a Palestinian state. The caption reads: Israel and 
its future steps!? 
 
 
 
 
 
2) On November 17, Al-Quds ran an illustration of the anticipated 
Palestinian state as scattered islands in the sea: Ramallah appears 
with the Palestinian flag; Jenin, Nablus, etc., have no geographic 
contiguity. 
 
 
 
 
RUBINSTEIN