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P 231106Z DEC 09
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 002779 
 
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WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
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E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
TodayQs newspapers continue to closely follow the latest 
developments in the talks on the prisoner exchange deal for the 
release of Gilad Shalit.  Israel is said to have conveyed its latest 
offer to Hamas through the German mediator and is now awaiting 
HamasQs response.  Reports in both HaQaretz and Maariv say that 
Israel is demanding that at least 100 prisoners (Maariv cites 120, 
while HaQaretz puts the figure at 100-130) of those slated for 
release not be freed to the West Bank, but rather be expelled to the 
Gaza Strip or sent abroad.  The current assessments are that it will 
take at least until the end of December or mid-January to finalize 
the deal.  Hamas sources said that their organization had given all 
it was capable of giving and would make no further concessions.  A 
report in Fox News said that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu did 
not want the Shalit deal to be carried out and was raising various 
demands so that the rejection of the deal would come from Hamas. 
The Prime MinisterQs Bureau denied this report, saying that there 
was a sincere desire to reach a Qresponsible deal that will 
guarantee the security of IsraelQs citizens and prevent Israelis 
from being murdered. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe and other media quoted PM Ehud Barak as saying 
yesterday at a meeting with students in Rishon Lezion that the U.S. 
must prepare for a military option vis-a-vis Iran. 
 
Leading media quoted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as saying 
in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that he would not let a 
third Intifada break out. 
 
Leading media quoted Egyptian FM Ahmed Abu al-Gheit as saying that 
his countryQs building of a barrier along the border with Gaza is 
meant to defend Qagainst threats to national security. 
 
Media quoted FM Avigdor Lieberman as saying yesterday, during a 
congress in the Knesset, that Israeli Arabs are striving to achieve 
an autonomous status.  Israeli Arab Knesset members called him a 
Qracist. 
 
Yediot and Maariv report this morning that Prime Minister Netanyahu 
and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have been engaged in talks over the 
past few days aimed at effecting a split in Kadima, in conjunction 
with the intensive discussions in the Qforum of sevenQ ministers on 
the Shalit deal.  The idea appears to be to persuade at least seven 
Kadima MKs to break off from their party, in order to bolster the 
governing coalition.  The potential defectors, including such 
figures as Shai Hermesh, Ronit Tirosh and Israel Hasson, were 
reportedly offered positions as ministers and deputy ministers. 
Kadima sources criticized the prime minister for dealing with 
political affairs at such a sensitive time and called his actions 
shameful. 
 
Maariv reported that yesterday a Haifa square was named after the 
late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.  Egyptian Ambassador to Israel 
Yasser Reda and Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav attended the ceremony. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted 16 British NGOs as saying that the E.U. 
should publicly confirm a freeze in upgraded relations with Israel. 
 
Maariv quoted Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer as saying in 
an interview with The Economist that peace is the key to swift 
growth. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger saying 
yesterday that Pope Benedict XVIQs decision to proceed with the 
beatification of Pius XII would make it difficult to continue with 
Catholic-Jewish interfaith dialogue.  Nevertheless, Metzger made it 
clear the Chief Rabbinate would not cut off relations with the 
Vatican. 
 
Israel Hayom published the findings of a poll conducted between 
December 9 and 15 by the Harry S. Truman Institute for the 
Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the 
Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah: 
- Fifty-two (52%) percent of the Israeli public are willing to pay 
any price for the return of prisoners; 
- On the other hand, thirty-five (35%) percent believe that 
terrorists who perpetrated attacks in which Israelis were killed 
should not be released because this might encourage more kidnappings 
and terror attacks; 
- Fifty-eight (58%) percent support the release of Arab citizens of 
Israel who engaged in terrorist activity in exchange for Gilad 
Shalit, while 36% are opposed. 
- Regarding the decision of PM Netanyahu to freeze construction in 
the West Bank for ten months, forty-nine (49%) percent of Israelis 
are in favor, while forty-two (42%) percent are opposed to the 
measure. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 
 
¶I.  QThe Paradox of Captivity 
 
Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning HaQaretz (12/23): QWhat is more important for Israel's 
security?  Bombing a nuclear reactor or bringing home a single 
soldier being held prisoner?  Going to war or the future address of 
Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for a prisoner?  Setting 
the borders of the state or the imprisonment of senior terrorists? 
The theoretical answer is clear: Decisions about war and peace are 
more important than the exchange of prisoners.  But in reality the 
attitude is precisely the opposite.  It is much easier for a prime 
minister to divide Jerusalem or destroy Beirut than agree to the 
release of 10 serious Palestinian terrorists to the West Bank in 
exchange for the return of Gilad Shalit from Gaza.... The 
negotiations moved quickly so long as they were about numbers and 
stalled when they moved on to names.  The politicians yearn to 
establish principles for such exchange deals in order to free 
themselves from personal dilemmas and move the discussion back from 
names and faces to more abstract terms.  This will not do them any 
good: Even after the current deal is completed and Gilad Shalit is 
back home this debate will repeat itself if another Israeli is taken 
prisoner.  Then, too, public opinion and the prime minister will be 
occupied much more with [the prisonerQs] return than with the 
fundamental strategic issues. 
 
II.  QDanger: Popular Struggle 
 
Far-left Palestinian affairs correspondent Amira Hass wrote in 
Ha'aretz (12/23): QThe popular struggle, even if it is limited, 
shows that the Palestinian public is learning from its past mistakes 
and from the use of arms and is offering alternatives that even 
senior officials in the Palestinian Authority have been forced to 
support - at least on the level of public statements.... The brutal 
repression of the first intifada and the suppression of the first 
unarmed demonstrations of the second intifada with live fire have 
proved to Palestinians that the Israelis do not listen.  The 
repression left a vacuum that was filled by those who sanctified the 
use of arms.  Is that what the security establishment and its 
political superiors are trying to achieve today, too, in order to 
relieve us of the burden of a popular uprising? 
 
III.  QLearn the Lessons Now 
 
Giora Eiland, former Director of IsraelQs National Security Council, 
wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot Aharonot (12/23): 
QAny negotiations on a prisoner exchange that are held in the future 
between Israel and its enemies can be expected to place Israel at a 
disadvantage.... [During Operation Cast Lead,] giving up the idea of 
a comprehensive deal was a severe mistake.... [Also,] as soon as you 
let the negotiators conduct negotiations without first establishing 
the principled positions in a cabinet resolution, this enables the 
negotiations to develop to the point of a detailed proposal and when 
you sit down to discuss it only two choices remain: either approve 
the only proposal that exists or create a crisis of confidence with 
the other side, with the mediator, with public opinion, and so 
forth.  This phenomenon is relevant not only to negotiations on a 
prisoner exchange, but also to many diplomatic issues.  If we 
remember how the Oslo Accords were approved, it seems as though the 
process was similar. 
 
IV.  QNo Shalit, but Staying in Power 
 
Senior columnist Nahum Barnea wrote in Yediot Aharonot (12/23): 
QThere is nothing wrong with the attempt of the Netanyahu-Barak duo 
to dismantle Kadima.  In the hunting grounds of politics, eating 
your rivalQs flesh is part of the game.  We could even accept, 
albeit grudgingly, such an effort made in the midst of the 
discussions on the Shalit deal.  Netanyahu and Barak are talented 
individuals.  They are capable of handling two kinds of deals at the 
same time.  It is more difficult to accept the pose. [Netanyahu] is 
not agonizing at all.  While the entire country was vigilantly 
following the discussions of the forum of seven in Jerusalem, 
Netanyahu and Barak were courting defectors in the back benches of 
the opposition.  Surprisingly enough, it becomes apparent that they 
are no less interested in staying in power as they are in Shalit. 
The obtuseness is infuriating, but more annoying is the 
hypocrisy.... Some say that the move succeeded and the Knesset 
members will already leave Kadima this week.  Others say that it 
failed.  Some say that we will have to wait for a few weeks in order 
to witness this cosmic event.  On paper, this move will extend the 
governmentQs lifespan. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
 QA Gesture for Montazeri 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/23): 
QLet's not fool ourselves; the Iranian opposition is not 
Western-oriented and certainly not agnostic on Israel.  Still, it is 
significant that former presidential hopefuls Mir Hossein Mousavi 
and Mehdi Karroubi, along with former presidents Mohammad Khatami 
and Hashemi Rafsanjani, have all latched onto [the late Grand 
Ayatollah Hossein Ali] Montazeri as a symbol.... Unfortunately, for 
those of us who'd like to see regime change, the opposition is not 
yet a cohesive movement and has no concrete strategy.  Its limited 
goals are to overturn the rigged elections and increase freedom of 
expression.  Meanwhile, Western leaders are arriving, glacially, at 
the realization that Iran's duplicitous determination to manufacture 
nuclear weapons -- and perfect the means to deliver them -- is not 
going to be reversed by diplomacy.  The Chinese and Russians are 
likely to enfeeble any effort at a robust sanctions regime; Germany 
and Italy will find it hard to reduce their dependency on Iranian 
lucre.  But there is something that's doable right now and doesn't 
require financial sacrifice or very much diplomatic daring: to 
signal support for the Iranian opposition, countries which value 
liberty should opt to indefinitely extend the vacations of their 
ambassadors now on home leave for the Christmas and New Year 
holidays.  Is that too much to ask in honor of Montazeri's memory? 
 
CUNNINGHAM