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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media (lead story in HaQaretz) reported that yesterday PM 
Benjamin Netanyahu told the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense 
Committee that Syria is now willing to negotiate without 
preconditions, having retracted its earlier insistence that talks 
could not begin unless Israel first agreed to withdraw from the 
entire Golan.  Briefing the committee on the indirect feelers to 
Syria that he put out several weeks ago via French President Nicolas 
Sarkozy, Netanyahu said that Damascus had initially insisted on this 
precondition.  However, Israel Radio quoted GOI sources as saying 
that Syria has not given up on the return of the Golan.  The radio 
also quoted several senior Syrian spokespeople as saying that other 
options than negotiating with Israel are available to their country. 
 This morning, Israel Radio quoted Deputy Syrian FM Faysal Mekdad as 
saying that he favors Turkish-mediated negotiations with Israel, in 
which the U.S. would have a role. 
 
Israel Hayom quoted senior GOI sources as saying that this week 
Israel will withdraw from the village of Ghajar, which straddles the 
Lebanon border.  Similarly, other media wrote that U.N. diplomat 
Terje Roed-Larsen held unpublicized meetings over the weekend with 
top government leaders, adding fuel to the speculation that an 
Israeli withdrawal from Ghajar is imminent. 
 
Leading media reported that the foreign ministers of the E.U. will 
meet in Brussels today at SwedenQs behest to discuss the concept of 
Jerusalem as the capital of two nations.  Israel Radio and other 
media cited the belief of GOI sources as saying that the ministers 
will reach a compromise agreement.  Israel Radio and the leading 
Internet news service Ynet reported that Congresswoman Ileana 
Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, the senior Republican on the House Foreign 
Affairs Committee, has sent letters to the E.U. foreign ministers, 
calling on them to reject a proposition to recognize east Jerusalem 
as the future capital of a Palestinian state.  Ros-Lehtinen wrote in 
her letter that Jerusalem has been a symbol of religious freedom for 
42 years. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that the Netanyahu government has an 
undeclared but de facto policy of not letting senior political 
figures, such as foreign ministers, enter Gaza from Israel. 
According to government officials, the reasoning is twofold: to deny 
Hamas legitimacy that would accompany such visits and as a way of 
trying to apply pressure over Gilad Shalit.  The policy has come to 
light after Irish FM Michael Martin told a parliamentary committee 
last week that Israel had banned a visit he had hoped to make to 
Gaza.  Responding to criticism that Israel was trying to hide the 
situation in Gaza, Israeli government officials pointed out that 
statesmen can always enter Gaza through Egypt. 
 
Maariv reported that PM Netanyahu has decided to build a barrier 
along the border with Egypt to stem the flow of refugees into 
Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that the heads of the hesder yeshivas (which 
combine religious studies and military service) will meet Tuesday 
with Defense Minister Ehud Barak at his office in Tel Aviv to 
discuss the issue of insubordination after a series of incidents 
that have sparked tension between rabbinic and military authorities. 
 The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday Barak insisted that 
settlers obey the rule of law, as they clashed with security 
personnel at the entrance to Jerusalem and across the West Bank. 
Eight right-wing protesters were arrested.  HaQaretz reported that 
that the status of the Har Bracha yeshiva, which was attacked for 
its role in inciting soldiers, has actually risen since then, even 
among moderate religious Zionists. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted opposition leader and 
Kadima chair Tzipi Livni as saying yesterday that Netanyahu is 
endangering IsraelQs interests by grouping settlement blocs together 
with outposts in his 10-month building moratorium. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, in a meeting with 
Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday, President Obama called 
Turkey an "important player" in keeping Iran's nuclear energy 
program peaceful despite his recent criticism of the Western 
approach towards Tehran.  Speaking beside Obama at a White House 
press conference, Erdogan said that the two leaders discussed what 
could be done "jointly in the region with regard to nuclear 
programs."  He also stressed that "we stand ready as Turkey to do 
whatever we can do with respect to relations between Israel and the 
Palestinians, and Israel and Syria." 
 
Yediot quoted Col. Yossi Baidatz, head of research at IDF 
Intelligence, as saying yesterday at the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs 
and Defense Committee that Iran now possesses 1,800 kg of enriched 
uranium -- enough to produce Qone and a halfQ nuclear weapon. 
Baidatz also said that Israel has missiles capable of reaching 
Israel. 
 
Leading media reported that last night, after months of heated 
debate, the Knesset approved the Biometric Database Law, paving the 
way for the introduction of "smart" identification documents for all 
Israelis.  The Interior Ministry can now store the fingerprints and 
facial contours of all Israeli citizens in a central data bank. 
Once the law goes into effect, there will be a trial period of two 
years, during which participation in the biometric database will be 
voluntary.  If the trial period is deemed successful, Interior 
Ministry officials will be authorized to take the fingerprints and 
facial contours of all Israeli residents before providing them with 
identifying documents.  The documents will include a micro-chip, 
which will contain photos of two fingerprints and the person's 
facial contours.  The plenum finally approved the legislation by a 
vote of 40 to 11, with three abstaining, after coalition skeptics 
forced the Government to draft a compromise to allay fears that a 
biometric database would provide fertile ground for computer hackers 
and violate citizens' basic privacy rights. 
 
The Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio reported that an Islamic Jihad 
operative suspected of transporting two suicide bombers to 
perpetrate an attack in Kfar Sava in 2002? was arrested in a joint 
IDF-Shin Bet operation in Nablus overnight yesterday.  The man went 
underground after the attack -- in which several Israelis were 
wounded -- and has been in hiding for the last seven years.  In an 
unrelated story, The Jerusalem PostQs Web site reported that three 
Arab-Israeli residents of East Jerusalem were indicted three weeks 
ago for suspected membership in the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist 
organization. 
 
HaQaretz reported that coalition and opposition Knesset members are 
drafting a bill to bar foreigners from owning an Israeli newspaper. 
The law appears to target the free daily Israel Hayom, owned by 
American billionaire Sheldon Adelson, an associate of PM Netanyahu. 
Among the bill's initiators are Knesset members Daniel Ben Simon 
(Labor), Yoel Hasson (Kadima) and Ofer Nimrodi, who owns the daily 
Maariv.   Israel Hayom's popularity is seen mainly as a threat to 
Maariv. 
 
All media reported that early yesterday Israeli security forces shot 
and killed Yakir Ben Melech, 34, an Israeli man who attempted to 
infiltrate Gaza near the Erez Crossing.  Some media reported that 
the man may have been mentally unstable.  Yediot quoted him as 
having said that he decided to Qsave Shalit. 
 
IDF Radio quoted Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman as saying last 
night at a rabbinical conference that he believes Jewish law 
(Halakha) should be the binding law in Israel.  The electronic media 
quoted NeQeman as saying last night that he wanted to "restore 
glory" to the judicial system in Israel by reinstating the law of 
the Torah.  He added that this would best be achieved slowly and 
"step by step."  Following the stir he caused, Ne'eman this morning 
clarified that his statements didn't imply a Qcall to replace state 
laws with halachic [Jewish religious] laws, not directly or 
indirectly." His office issued a statement which read, "The minister 
spoke in broad terms on restoring the Jewish law and its importance 
in state life."  HaQaretzQs Web site reported that this morning 
Tzipi Livni harshly criticized Ne'eman's comments, saying they 
should be troubling to "every citizen who cares about what happens 
in Israel in terms of its values and democracy."  Ne'eman's remarks 
also drew criticism from left-wing politicians, including Meretz 
leader Haim Oron and Hadash chairman Mohammed Barakeh.  Ynet quoted 
senior members of the Israeli judicial establishment as saying that 
NeQeman will not be able to hold on to his post following this 
controversy. 
 
Yediot reported on a campaign by the Israeli Foreign Ministry to 
encourage Israelis to seek jobs at the U.N.  Israel Hayom wrote that 
it is the U.N. that is actually looking for Israeli employees. 
 
Maariv reported that an Israeli was among four people arrested in 
connection with a lethal fire at a nightclub in Perm, Russia, on 
Saturday, in which 113 people were killed. 
 
Citing the American-Jewish newspaper The Forward, HaQaretz notes 
that the QcolorfulQ family of Chelsea ClintonQs fianc, Marc 
Mezvinksy, is a Qprominent Jewish political clan that includes a 
former U.S. congressman convicted of fraud; another member of 
Congress who fell on her sword for a future in-law in a vote that 
ended her political career; no fewer than 10 brothers- and 
sisters-in-law, and a fervently anti-Zionist uncle. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
¶I.  QAll Pain, No Gain 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/8): 
QThe [U.S.] administrationQs minimalist response to NetanyahuQs two 
historic announcements [the Bar-Ilan University speech recognizing a 
demilitarized QPalestineQ and his November 25 announcement of a 
10-month moratorium on new settlement construction], along with its 
failure to persuade Arab governments to take steps toward 
normalization with Israel and demonstrate that the Arab Peace 
Initiative is not simply a propaganda ploy, can only make one wonder 
where this freeze is going to lead.  If it means so little to the 
White House and nothing to the Palestinians Q if it is, moreover, 
not part of some larger coherent strategy in which Netanyahu 
enunciates what IsraelQs boundaries ought to be Q and if the 
moratoriumQs gut-wrenching impact domestically is all pain and no 
gain, what are its benefits?.... The real reason [Mahmoud] Abbas 
does not want to talks [with Israel] is because he hopes that by 
hanging tough, an exasperated Washington will impose the Fatah 
position on Israel.  On top of that, he does not want to appear 
conciliatory when HamasQ fortunes are on the rise. So NetanyahuQs 
U.S.-pressed freeze has pitted settlers against soldiers.  It hasnQt 
swayed Abbas or the Arab League.  Hamas is bemused. Europe is little 
impressed.  The Obama administration, which so far has merely 
offered parsimonious praise, needs to do better. 
 
II.  QThe Wink Became a Rebellion 
 
Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/8): QWhat this column 
described on Friday as Benjamin Netanyahu's Qbig wink,Q a clever 
tactical ruse designed to freeze construction in the West Bank for 
10 months only, has turned into a full-fledged revolt much faster 
than we expected.... [Beside antagonism within the government], in 
the settlements ... the waves of protest and opposition currently 
look like a tsunami in the making.  The concern that it could 
eventually flood the country, sweeping aside everything in its path, 
is a serious one.... Instead of Qtwo states for two peoples,Q Bibi's 
initiative has revealed an Israel with two peoples inhabiting a 
single state.  It is not clear whether he realized the opposition 
would be this fierce and this violent.  But it is clear that when 
the time comes to evacuate outposts the opposition will be even more 
violent and could even degenerate into bloodshed.  Because over 
there, they don't buy ruses accompanied by a wink.  If negotiations 
with the Palestinians resume before the 10 months are over, as the 
settlers fear will happen, this will not be an Qedict of 
destruction,Q as Danny Dayan [who chairs the Yesha Council of 
Settlements in the Territories] claims, but rather a renewed effort 
to determine the state's permanent borders.  Ze'ev Jabotinsky 
[LikudQs ideological forefather] is dead and the dream of the 
QGreater Land of IsraelQ was buried by Sharon.  Netanyahu must prove 
that he is cut from the cloth that turns a compulsive manipulator 
into a leader of the nation as a whole -- and that he has the 
strength of mind to suppress the rebellion. 
 
III.  QA Firm Hand Will Prevent Insurgence 
 
Prominent liberal-centrist playwright Yehoshua Sobol wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (12/8): QAny Israeli who wishes to destroy, 
from the outset, any possibility of negotiations, has to prove that 
Israel is not a serious partner.  In order to do this, he must prove 
that the Israeli government is incapable of carrying out decisions 
that it itself passed.  In other words: he must show the Israeli 
government as an empty vessel and the person heading it as spineless 
and as incapable of compelling the government and the security 
forces to carry out the governmentQs policy.  This is precisely what 
the efforts of the extremists among the settlers aim for.. This act 
of the settlers will bring IsraelQs image as a country of law and 
order to a nadir that has no compare in recent years.  The anarchy 
that will be created here in wake of the governmentQs failure to 
instate its policy will threaten the future of Israel more than all 
its external enemies. 
 
IV.  QA Convenient Distractions 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/8): QOn the eve of signing the settlement 
construction freeze order, Avigdor Lieberman told reporters that the 
settlements had never been an obstacle to peace. The proof, the 
Foreign Minister explained, is that the Jewish settlement enterprise 
in Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] did not stop Egypt and 
Jordan from signing peace agreements with Israel.  Therefore, the 
settlements are not the real reason why the Palestinians are 
refusing to resume peace negotiations.  The natural growth and 
mortality rates among residents in Judea and Samaria since the two 
Arab neighbors signed peace agreements provide the strongest proof 
that Lieberman is correct.  He just forgets to mention that the 
Egyptians and Jordanians took Israel's promises to end the 
occupation seriously.  Even the Palestinians, the direct victims of 
land theft, did not present the construction freeze as a condition 
for negotiations.  The settlements are not the real reason for 
President Mahmoud Abbas's refusal to meet with Prime Minister 
Benjamin Netanyahu.  The point of contention hinges on a completely 
different issue: the peace process.  Abbas insists that the talks on 
the permanent status agreement be based on the parameters of the 
2003 Roadmap, which received affirmation in a U.N. Security Council 
Resolution.  The map is reminiscent, among other things, of the Arab 
peace initiative which focused on normalization in return for an 
Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967.  Netanyahu 
has yet to utter the word QRoadmapQ and refuses to revise its 
timetable (which originally called for the conflict to end in 2005). 
 The Prime Minister is also rejecting the Palestinian demand to 
resume the negotiations at the point where Abbas and Ehud Olmert 
ended them a year ago.  For Netanyahu, the crisis regarding the 
settlements was therefore the perfect diversionary tactic; first he 
wore out the Americans with fights over the wording of the 
construction freeze and now the clashes with the settlers over the 
freeze orders are distracting the public from the wording of the 
negotiations.  A foreign diplomat this week offered another 
indication that the Netanyahu-Lieberman government managed to 
transform the settlements into an obstacle to peace. 
 
 
¶V.  QAfter Three and a Half Years 
 
Chief Economic Editor and senior columnist Sever Plotker wrote in 
the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/8): QIt could be 
that Gilad Shalit will be released soon; I hope. It could be that 
the negotiations for his release will reach a positive end; I hope. 
Even if this happens, that will be insufficient to make up for the 
flawed way in which these negotiations were conducted.  The first 
flaw: the secrecy.  The negotiations have been held behind closed 
doors, under a heavy mantle of censorship and disinformation.  The 
second flaw: passivity.  The Palestinian side submits a list of 
names of prisoners and Israel removes those that are not to be 
considered and discusses the others.  The third flaw: lack of 
proportionality.  In exchange for kidnapped soldiers of low military 
rank, Israel is willing to discuss the release of prominent and 
senior terrorists, on condition that they are few in number.  We can 
learn a lesson from these flaws and propose, in their place, another 
format, one that is completely opposite, when bargaining with 
Hamas.... Common Israeli thinking reflects the belief that it is 
better to release one terror leader than 100 field activists.  That 
is a mistake: the starting point for a discussion on a prisoner 
exchange must be that a soldier is not exchanged for a general, only 
a soldier for soldiers. The damage to IsraeliQs security from the 
release of 50 infamous terror leaders is immeasurably greater than 
the damage from the release of 2,500 rank and file field activists 
-- on condition that there is not among them even one senior 
terrorist.  Let Hamas bargain and say: please remove 500 prisoners 
from the list and instead release a terror bigwig who is close to 
our leadership.  LetQs see them do that.  ItQs still not too late to 
think outside the box and begin a new strategy in the negotiations 
for Shalit -- unless the Israeli government has already committed to 
a secret, passive and QqualityQ deal from which it cannot retract. 
If not, let us turn things upside down. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
 QA Regime Whose Days Are Numbered 
 
Columnist Boaz Bismuth, who was IsraelQs Ambassador to Mauritania 
between 2004 and 2008, wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/8): 
QDemonstrations by the Iranian opposition have long ceased to be a 
QrebellionQ attempt against President Ahmadinejad and they 
represented the will to depose Supreme Leader Khamenei and unsettle 
the idea of QVelayat e-FaqihQ (the Islamist regime) which is the 
basis of the Islamic Republic.  All signs point to the fact that the 
question is not Qwhether,Q but when the street will topple the 
regime.... Iranian rule is isolated more than ever -- domestically 
and abroad.  When it has nothing to offer and when the rest of the 
Arab world [sic] closes its door to it, it can only further 
radicalize and choose the option of conflict at every opportunity. 
February 11, Islamic Revolution Day, will probably be yet another 
day of demonstrations against the Ayatollahs.  So will every future 
festive day turn into a nightmare for a regime, the days of which 
are numbered. 
 
CUNNINGHAM