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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: 
------------------------- 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday Hamas denied a report by Al 
Arabiya-TV that claimed that the movementQs leadership has rejected 
the latest offer presented by a German mediator regarding Gilad 
Shalit release.  Maariv and Israel Radio quoted Hamas officials as 
saying on the movementQs official Web site that Israel refuses to 
free FatahQs Marwan Barghouti, the FPLPQs Ahmed Saadat, and Hamas 
leaders Ibrahim Hamad and Abdullah Barghouti.  Major media reported 
that a senior Hamas official threatened to kidnap other Israelis. 
 
Leading media printed an AP report that Iran is close to clinching a 
deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tons of purified uranium ore fro 
Kazakhstan.  Israel Radio noted that, in an interview with the radio 
last week, Kazakh Ambassador to Israel Galim Orazbakov pledged that 
his country would not aid the Iranian nuclear program. 
 
Kadima Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying in an 
interview with HaQaretz that the election of Tzipi Livni as his 
partyQs leader Qbordered on criminal.Q  Mofaz claimed that Livni 
cannot be a prime minister or lead. 
 
The media reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with 
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other senior Egyptian officials 
to discuss renewing Mideast peace talks. Afterward, Egyptian FM 
Ahmed Abu al-Gheit offered rare praise for Netanyahu, commending him 
for raising various new ideas for advancing the peace process.  Abu 
al-Gheit did not offer details of Mubarak's discussion with 
Netanyahu at Cairo's Presidential Palace, but said he is convinced 
the Israeli leader is serious about resuming talks with the 
Palestinians.  Yediot reported that Mubarak will invite PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas to Cairo in order to make the Palestinians resume the 
negotiations.  Maariv cited the hopes of diplomats that a diplomatic 
summit will take place in Egypt to relaunch the negotiations. 
HaQaretz reported that Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the 
KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday that 
Israel's declared freeze of construction in the settlements will not 
bring the Palestinians to the negotiating table by itself.   "As far 
as the Palestinians are concerned, the decision of the government to 
freeze construction does not constitute the basis for restarting the 
political process, for there to be a basis there also needs to be an 
Israeli statement on Jerusalem," Diskin was quoted as saying that 
there is a crisis in confidence between the PA, Israel, and the 
U.S., because the Palestinians believe Washington could force Israel 
to undertake substantive steps in confidence building. 
 
Israel Radio and other media reported that Netanyahu received a warm 
welcome from a Likud gathering upon his return from Egypt despite 
the settlement building freeze. 
 
Maariv reported on increased security around DM Ehud Barak.  The 
newspaper quoted as defense source as saying that there are concerns 
for BarakQs life in the wake of the settlement construction freeze. 
 
Yediot quoted an Israeli intelligence source as saying that Yemen 
has turned into the new capital of terror.  Maariv reported on 
increasing calls in the U.S. to introduce Israeli-style security at 
airports. 
 
Major media reported that yesterday the High Court of Justice 
revoked the ban on Palestinians traveling or walking on Route 443 
(the eastern segment of the northern Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road), 
ruling it was unauthorized and disproportional.  The court ordered 
the route to be reopened to all within five monthsQ time.  The 
restrictions on Palestinian movement set by the Israel defense 
establishment stemmed from the fact that the road had become a 
Qsecurity Achilles heelQ and a target for terrorist attacks, which 
over the years have claimed lives.  However, Supreme Court Justice 
Dorit Beinisch refused to term the previous situation Qapartheid. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe quoted moderate Deputy PM and Intelligence 
Affairs Minister Dan Meridor (Likud) as saying yesterday at a 
conference of ambassadors being hosted by the Foreign Ministry that 
the Palestinian issue currently appears to be insoluble and that he 
is skeptical about whether the Palestinians were prepared at all to 
reach a solution at present. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that yesterday, in an interview with the 
newspaper, Anti-Defamation League National (U.S.) Director Abe 
Foxman slammed the U.S. administration for what he called its 
Qmischievous and troublingQ decision to seek clarification from 
Israel over last SaturdayQs IDF operation in Nablus.  IsraelQs 
Ambassador to the U.S., Michael Oren, said that the request for 
clarification came from the White House and that it was 
Qunderstandable.Q  Foxman told The Jerusalem Post, however, that 
while the U.S. was a welcome and often necessary intermediary in 
peace efforts, Qthis is something new.  This is America getting 
involved in combat situations. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt as saying 
yesterday in an interview with Nazareth-based Radio A-Shams that 
Israeli Druze should not serve in the IDF, saying such service 
clashes with Druze membership in the Arab nation.  Jumblatt said 
that all Druze are Arabs who follow the Druze religion, and thus 
ties between Druze in different countries and between Druze and 
other Arabs were only natural. 
 
Andrew Standley, the new E.U. Ambassador to Israel, was quoted as 
saying in an interview with The Jerusalem Post that European funding 
of NGOs does not constitute QmeddlingQ in public policy. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday President Mubarak acceded to 
PM Netanyahu's request to allow hundreds of Jewish pilgrims to visit 
the tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira near Alexandria at the end of 
next week.  Citing security concerns, Egyptian authorities had 
initially refused to allow a traditional hilula, or remembrance 
ceremony held on the anniversary of a revered rabbi's death, to take 
place at the tomb. 
 
Leading media quoted Qatom spyQ Mordecai Vanunu, whom the police 
accuses of violating his parole, as saying that the only purpose of 
his meeting with Norwegian Bible Professor Kristin Joachimsen 
earlier this week was a date. 
 
Maariv reported that FM Avigdor Lieberman is pressing for 
recognition of Evangelical Christians that would result in easier 
entry into Israel, the authority to establish special tribunals, and 
receiving funding from the government.  The newspaper says that 
Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas), who fears missionary activity, 
objects to the proposed move. 
 
Leading media reported that last night the Tel Aviv Municipality 
held the awards ceremony for the 2009 Sokolow Prize for Journalism. 
Both awards for print journalism went to writers for HaQaretz: Zvi 
Bar'el and Yossi Melman.  David Witzthum of Israel TV and Omri 
Asenheim of Channel 2-TV also received prizes. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QTerms of Reference 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (12/30): 
QThe [Obama] administration, after a year of driving down the wrong 
road, is now back to where the Bush II White House had 
constructively left matters -- meaning that there can be no return 
to the 1949 Armistice Lines, and that agreement hinges on land 
swaps, on Israel's retention of strategic settlement blocs and on 
the Palestinians accepting the legitimacy of Israel as a Jewish 
state.  Talks can resume as soon as Abbas drops his prerequisite 
demand for a total settlement freeze everywhere over the Green Line. 
 An administration that wants a breakthrough peace agreement in 2010 
might also want to rethink its own terms of reference.  Here are 
some suggestions: the less the U.S. says about construction in 
Jewish neighborhoods of Jerusalem the better.... The administration 
now needs to take on board that the settlement issue is a 
red-herring.  The sooner the administration incorporates the concept 
of a demilitarized QPalestineQ into its peacemaking, the faster 
progress can be made.  A workable mechanism for Israeli and 
international oversight of crossing points between the West Bank and 
Jordan is equally essential.  There can be no QrightQ of 
Palestinians refugees and their descendants to QreturnQ to Israel 
proper.  One final suggested term of reference: the administration's 
Iran policy is the peacemaking lynchpin.  The quicker the mullahs 
are defanged, and Hamas and Hizbullah deflated, the sooner moderate 
Arab elements may be willing to take chances for peace.... The more 
[the President] leans on Iran, the closer the region gets to 
peace. 
 
II.  QThey DonQt Believe Him 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (12/30): QIn 
his talks with [Kadima party leader Tzipi] Livni, Netanyahu asked 
her why no one seems to believe his stated intention of advancing 
the peace process with the Palestinians.  The answer to his question 
is clear.  His decisions and actions raise doubts about his desire 
to bring about a peaceful resolution of the conflict.  Netanyahu is 
superb at equivocating.  He halted new residential construction in 
the settlements and then added settlements to the list of national 
priority areas.  He promised that the Qtime is ripe to renew the 
peace processQ and went to Cairo to meet Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak, and at the same time issued public tenders for hundreds of 
new apartments in East Jerusalem.  How is it possible to take his 
call to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return to 
the negotiating table seriously when Israel is tightening its hold 
on the disputed city?.... If Netanyahu wants people to believe him, 
he has to convince them that he is committed to advancing the peace 
process, with no tricks and no gestures aimed at compensating the 
settlers.  Only after he proposes a new path and demonstrates 
willingness to confront the right over it will it make sense to 
shore up the coalition from the left. 
 
III.  QMilestone in the Right Direction 
 
Legal commentator Boaz Okun, who was Director of IsraelQs Courts 
from 2004 to 2006, wrote in the mass-circulation, pluralist Yediot 
Aharonot (12/30): QTodayQs apartheid no longer comes in an outspoken 
wrapping, which explicitly declares superiority or oppression.  It 
lurks beneath the surface, and crawls slowly and cunningly to the 
surface, with all the prejudices sprouting next to it, and it is 
already permissible to speak about someone who Qlooks like an 
Arabush [derogatory term for an Arab]Q or explain where prostitutes 
come from.  Route 443 is just one example of the practices employed 
in the territories, which are part of a systematic and declared 
policy of applying one law to Jews and another to Arabs.  This is 
not related to the war on terror, it is related to the policy that 
prefers the Jewish interests in the territories in the areas of 
water, lands and so on.  No one likes to hear that our state is 
almost like South Africa or becoming like it.  Nevertheless, we 
should beware.  Apartheid states are created slowly and tend to 
collapse all at once.  When they do so, it happens without advance 
signs, like ... marionettes whose strings are suddenly cut. 
 
IV.  QIsraelis Who Care for Palestinian Prisoners 
 
The nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe editorialized 
(12/30): QToo many Israelis -- those who call for the conclusion of 
the Shalit deal and the acceptance of HamasQ conditions -- do not 
view the release of the terrorists as a bad thing at all.  As a 
matter of fact, they supported the release of terrorists in the past 
and will support such actions in the future not only in exchange for 
GiladQs release but also for free.... It is not by chance that the 
same people who appear to be prepared to pay dangerous prices in 
order to release Shalit are not willing to pay the lightest cost in 
Israeli-U.S. relations in order to promote the release of one 
Israeli -- Jonathan Pollard (there is no symmetry here: activists 
for PollardQs release will not push forward a deal to free 
terrorists in exchange for him, in the same way most of them object 
to the emerging Shalit deal). 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QWanted: a Responsible Adult 
 
Military correspondent Amos Harel wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (12/30): QIt must be stated plainly: Israel 
does not have independent strike capability against Iran -- not in 
the broad sense of the term.... It is doubtful whether Israel can 
allow itself to act against the wishes of the United States -- to 
stand alone against an Iranian response and begin an open-ended 
operation against a nation of 70 million people.... Over the past 
year, the Obama administration has provided the world with ample 
reason to criticize it for its naivete, its overblown confidence in 
the power of the spoken word to tear down walls, and its impotence 
on North Korea.  On the Iranian front, however, it has acted exactly 
as it should.  Its pursuit of dialogue has pushed Tehran into an 
uncomfortable corner, created unanticipated common ground between 
the U.S. and Russia, and could even lead to harsh sanctions against 
Iran.  What Israel needs now is a responsible adult, one who knows 
how to pull the emergency lever should the need arise.  If such an 
adult cannot be found in Jerusalem, we must hope there is one 
sitting in the White House. 
 
CUNNINGHAM