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Viewing cable 09TELAVIV2670, ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
09TELAVIV2670 2009-12-09 11:40 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Tel Aviv
VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #2670/01 3431140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 091140Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4537
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0010
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 2922
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 6966
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 7177
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6417
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 5072
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 7276
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4036
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2253
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0914
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8433
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3445
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7418
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9499
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 2239
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 3313
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY
UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002670 
 
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.  U.S.-Israel Relations 
 
3.  Afghanistan 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported that the QGolan Heights and Jerusalem 
Referendum BillQ is expected to return to the Knesset plenum for a 
key vote, after a late-night decision Tuesday by the Ministerial 
Committee for Legislation ensured coalition support for the 
controversial bill.   The bill, which would require a majority vote 
to approve any withdrawal from East Jerusalem or the Golan - areas 
that are under Israeli sovereignty - passed its first reading during 
the previous Knesset session  and was supposed to be submitted for 
its second and third readings on the first day of the winter session 
of the last Knesset, but the elections intervened.  When the Knesset 
reconvened in the spring, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation 
voted to revive the bill, but the bill's progress was blocked when 
Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor appealed the ministerial 
committee's previous decision to support the legislation.  Meridor 
complained that the law would tie the hands of the government in 
future peace negotiations, saying in the appeal that the bill would 
"add a harmful and unnecessary burden to Israel, which will be seen 
as mounting obstacles against any possible peace agreement."  Last 
night the committee ruled by a vote of 5-2 to reject Meridor's 
appeal. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday, shortly after European Union 
ministers announced their support for the division of Jerusalem 
between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the State Department 
issued a statement saying that the fate of Jerusalem should only be 
determined by Israel and the Palestinians in talks.  "Our position 
on Jerusalem is clear. United States policy remains unaffected and 
unchanged: as has been stated by every previous administration which 
addressed this issue, the status of Jerusalem and all other 
permanent status issues must be resolved by the parties through 
negotiations," the statement read.  The Israeli Foreign Ministry 
issued an official response to the E.U. statement, saying that the 
"European Union ignores the primary obstacle to achieving a 
resolution between Israel and the Palestinians: the Palestinian 
refusal to return to the negotiating table."  "Given the Israeli 
government's efforts to renew the negotiations, Israel regrets that 
the E.U. has chosen to adopt a text that, although containing 
nothing new, does not contribute to the renewal of negotiations," 
the statement continued.  "In light of the extreme draft originally 
presented by the Swedish presidency at the start of discussions, 
Israel does welcome the fact that at the end of the process the 
voices of the responsible and reasonable E.U. states prevailed, 
balancing and improving the text. We also welcome the recognition 
given to the measures and efforts taken by Israel to enable the 
resumption of negotiations," it went on to say.  "We expect the E.U. 
to act to promote direct negotiations between the parties, while 
considering Israel's security needs and understanding that Israel's 
Jewish character must be preserved in any future agreement," 
concluded the statement.   HaQaretz quoted Foreign Ministry 
officials as saying unofficially that Sweden, which holds the E.U.'s 
rotating presidency, had failed.  "The peace process in the Middle 
East is not like IKEA furniture," one official was quoted as saying, 
making a reference to the do-it-yourself Swedish furniture chain. 
"It takes more than a screw and a hammer, it takes a true 
understanding of the constraints and sensitivities of both sides, 
and in that Sweden failed miserably."  The Jerusalem Post cited 
Israeli diplomatic officialsQ feeling of relief following the E.U. 
statement, although Jerusalem publicly Qtook pains not to claim any 
type of victory.Q  Meanwhile, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also issued 
a statement, saying that he "completely rejects the decision of the 
E.U. to support the division of Jerusalem," calling it a real danger 
for the future of Jerusalem and predicting that such a division 
would never work.  HaQaretz reported that Jordanian FM Nasser Judeh, 
however, welcomed the E.U. foreign ministers' statement as an 
"extremely important attitude." 
. 
Leading media reported that today a massive right-wing demonstration 
against settlement freeze -- sponsored by the Yesha Council of 
Jewish Settlements in the Territories -- is expected to take place 
outside the PMQs residence in Jerusalem.  The Jerusalem Post 
reported that yesterday Peace Now held a rally outside IDF General 
Staff Headquarters, in support of the settlement freeze.  Israel 
Radio reported that Peace Now presented data produced by the GOIQs 
Central Bureau of Statistics that show that even during this period, 
construction in settlements is more massive than within the Green 
Line. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that top U.S. officials pressed Saudi FM 
Saud al-Faisal to support Palestinians in holding peace talks with 
Israel, during the FMQs visit to the State Department on Monday. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted hard-line Likud Knesset Member Benny Begin 
as saying that President ObamaQs stance on settlements is more 
problematic than that of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Egypt has begun the construction of a massive 
iron wall along its border with Gaza in a bid to shut down smuggling 
tunnels into the territory. The newspaper quoted Egyptian sources as 
saying that the wall will be nine to ten km. long and will reach 
twenty to thirty meters into the ground.  It will be impossible to 
cut or melt.  The new plan is the latest move by Egypt to step up 
its counter-smuggling efforts.  Although some progress had been 
made, the smuggling market in Gaza still flourishes. 
 
The media quoted Khaled Mashal, the head of HamasQ political bureau, 
as saying yesterday in Yemen that PM Netanyahu bears responsibility 
for the fact that the prisoner swap between the sides has not yet 
been carried out.  In a different development, The Jerusalem Post 
reported that the IDF Home Front Command is preparing for the 
possibility that Hamas will fire missiles up to a range of 80 km. 
from Gaza in the event of a future conflict with Israel. 
 
In an interview with Israel Radio this morning, FM Avigdor Lieberman 
said that he favors the resumption of negotiations with Syria 
without preconditions and that his party, Yisrael Beiteinu,  will 
vote for the QJerusalem-Golan ReferendumQ bill. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported 
that U.S. Jewish and non-Jewish Qpro-peaceQ groups have established 
a coalition. 
 
Citing the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, The Jerusalem Post reported 
that U.S. Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) is the latest to call for 
a Justice Department investigation into whether Viva Palestina USA, 
a pro-Palestinian group, has been raising money on college campuses 
for Hamas. 
 
Channel 10-TV reported last night that Kadima leader Tzipi Livni 
agreed to cede to the Palestinians some 92.7% of the West Bank 
during negotiations she held as foreign minister with Palestinian 
Authority negotiator Ahmed Qurei in 2008.   According to a report on 
the negotiations Livni conducted from the end of 2007 to the end of 
2008, Livni would also have given the Palestinians some 3% of land 
in various parts of Israel as compensation for the 7.3% of the West 
Bank that Israel would retain.  In her plan, the Jordan Valley would 
be given up, but Ariel would remain part of Israel, connected to the 
Green Line by a thin corridor.  While her offer was more generous 
than what former Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the Palestinians 
at Camp David in 2000, it fell short of what then-PM Ehud Olmert 
offered PA President Mahmoud Abbas in talks he held even as Livni 
was negotiating with Qurei.  Under Olmert's plan, the Palestinians 
would receive 94.5% of the territory.  According to the Channel 
10-TV report, the Palestinians put forth a proposal of their own, 
under which they would receive 98.1% of the territory. 
 
HaQaretz and other media quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel 
Ayalon as saying that Turkish forces have prevented a Hizbullah 
attack on an undisclosed Israeli target in their country.  In a 
meeting with Turkish journalists, Ayalon thanked Turkey earlier this 
week for the successful operation and the bilateral cooperation. 
According to defense sources, the attack was meant to avenge the 
killing of senior Hizbullah operative Imad Mughniyah -- who died in 
a car bombing in Damascus in February 2008. The organization sees 
Israel as responsible for the assassination.  The planned attack in 
Turkey was exposed over a month ago, with Turkish media publishing a 
warning issued by the local police's senior command to its officers 
to take steps to prevent a Hizbullah attack on American and Israeli 
targets.  Turkish reports said Hizbullah had set up a network of 
Iranian agents posing as tourists in Istanbul, with the cooperation 
of Iranian security agencies. 
 
------------ 
1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
I.  QOne Chain of Command 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/9): QIt 
appears Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi lost his 
patience this week after the incitement by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, 
the head of the Har Bracha hesder yeshiva.  Ashkenazi took the 
uncharacteristic step of recommending to Defense Minister Ehud Barak 
that the yeshiva be removed from the hesder arrangement, in which 
religious studies are combined with military service.  Ashkenazi is 
right.  Melamed permits himself to excoriate the IDF, both orally 
and in writing, to dismiss the authority of its commanders and to 
call on his students to disobey orders. The Defense Minister is 
loath to take the Chief of Staff's advice.... That is a mistake. 
The government must not give in to those who do not accept its 
authority, particularly if certain rabbis threaten that their 
students will not enlist in the army.  The more the state ignores 
the incitement in the hesder yeshivas, the more it allows it to 
grow.... About two weeks ago, at the annual memorial for David and 
Paula Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no 
place for refusal, there are no ideological factions in the IDF,s 
and there is a single chain of command.  The Chief of Staff's 
recommendation puts that declaration to the test. 
 
II.  QA Story Foretold 
 
Eytan Haber, veteran op-ed writer and assistant to the late Prime 
Minister Yitzhak Rabin, opined in the mass-circulation, pluralist 
Yediot Aharonot (12/9): QSomeone in Jerusalem or Washington has 
decided to make the [Jewish] residents of Judea and Samaria [i.e. 
the West Bank] crazy, pinch their nerves, and -- perhaps -- break 
them.... If, in a future agreement with the Palestinians, the sides 
jointly decide to evacuate settlements in Judea and Samaria, Israel 
has already proved -- not long ago -- that it can carry out an 
evacuation in a matter of one to three days.  If it is ordained 
(some will add: God forbid) that one of the settlements should be 
sacrificed on the altar of peace, we should treat this as a 
temporary grief ... that should not wrack the settlersQ nerves. 
Looking at the wasted energies on both sides is ridiculous -- one 
more trailer, one more wall, one more porch.  Enough!  IsnQt there 
anything else to do? 
 
III.  QTalk WonQt Help 
 
Liberal columnist Gideon Samet, who was Consul-General in 
Philadelphia, wrote in the popular, pluralist Maariv (12/9): 
QYesterday the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union 
was about to call for the recognition of Palestine in the Q67 
borders and Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the new entity 
The United States will not be able to prevent the transformation [of 
the European initiative] into an international fact, even it vetoes 
such a resolution proposal at the Security Council.  Washington lost 
much of its leadership ability following shuttle diplomacy that 
ended in a whimper Q a temporary settlement freeze.  The new reality 
is not a recent phenomenon.  It results from a flawed or 
intentionally obstructive management of the negotiating instruments 
by Israelis and Palestinians for too long -- and also by the 
Americans, despite routine calls to Qgo back on track. 
 
IV.  QThe Swedish Initiative as Metaphor 
 
Yossi Alpher, coeditor of the bitterlemons family of Internet 
publications and former director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic 
Studies at Tel Aviv University, wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (12/9): QWhat does Netanyahu expect? 
Basically, the [Swedish] proposal [on Jerusalem] reiterated known 
European and international positions.  And Israel's recent behavior 
in Jerusalem -- the disastrous house expulsions in Sheikh Jarrah, 
excavations at Silwan/City of David and expansion into disputed 
territory at Gilo -- essentially invites a reprimand.  Still, there 
is little likelihood of real European pressure on Israel.  The E.U. 
has limited clout as a diplomatic player in the Arab-Israel 
conflict.  Conceivably, that situation may soon change, with the 
advent of an E.U. president and foreign minister.  But for the 
moment, we simply don't know to what extent this new system will 
enable the union of 27 European states to better formulate and 
implement a foreign policy.  Meanwhile, we recall that last July, 
outgoing E.U. foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana proposed that 
the U.N. plan unilaterally to create and recognize a Palestinian 
state -- seemingly a much more far-reaching initiative -- without 
generating more than an international yawn. 
 
V.  QSuspend Your Zionism 
 
Settler leader Yisrael Medad wrote in The Jerusalem Post (12/9): 
QWhile I can comprehend Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's concern 
for what he considers more primary national interests than keeping 
his electoral platform promises to those who voted for him regarding 
the continuation of the Jewish return to the national homeland, his 
recent decisions are quite incomprehensible.  To think that even the 
opposition leader, Kadima chairwoman Knesset Member Tzipi Livni, can 
justifiably criticize him from a right-wing perspective says much 
about Netanyahu's policies.... In essence, Netanyahu's government is 
inadequately dealing with the internal-social front, the economic 
front, and the diplomatic-security front.  Our Prime Minister is 
asking us to suspend our Zionism, suspend our natural logic, and 
suspend our economic personal freedoms for quirky political behavior 
that will last 10 months -- after which all will revert to normal: 
normal growth, normal development, normal security.  This is truly a 
matter of suspended belief. 
 
-------------------------- 
2.  U.S.-Israel Relations: 
-------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QBirds of a Feather 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (12/9): QWhen the two leaders met in Jerusalem 
during Obama's presidential campaign, he told Netanyahu that people 
saw them as strongly ideological, but they were in fact both 
pragmatists.  He was right.  Despite all the disagreement and public 
tension between then, Netanyahu and Obama are alike in terms of 
their leadership styles.... But the big question remains: what will 
Netanyahu do when push comes to shove on going to war against Iran? 
Will he avoid taking action and explain that the Qnational interest 
requires him to sit tight, or will he lead like Obama -- who 
captivated with his statements about the QgoodQ war in Afghanistan 
-- and embark on a military adventure to make good on his promise 
Qto prevent a second Holocaust?Q  The like-minded leader in the Oval 
Office can be an example in both directions. 
 
---------------- 
3.  Afghanistan: 
---------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
QChinese (Indian, and Russian) Wisdom 
 
Former Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami wrote in the 
mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/9): QOne cannot 
ignore ChinaQs interest in the stability of its neighbors. 
Afghanistan is part of western ChinaQs vital security.... ChinaQs 
diplomatic recipe is the golden path -- the United States had better 
focus on it.  Resolving the Kashmir conflict is the key to stability 
in Afghanistan, which will cease being the playground of India and 
Pakistan.  Instead of insisting on useless war games, the Americans 
should lever their influence in India and Pakistan in order to 
return them to peace negotiations.  Beyond increasing the number of 
troops, President Obama should strive for a comprehensive agreement 
in Afghanistan.  This would mean enlisting the neighboring countries 
to promote a national reconciliation agreement that would include 
all parties: the government, the Taliban, and the war barons. 
 
CUNNINGHAM