VZCZCXRO0696
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #0011 0050742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 050742Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7172
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 8025
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4994
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4842
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6330
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4761
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3365

UNCLAS JERUSALEM 000011 
 
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 (01/05): Potential US peace plan 
dominates local Palestinian news 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
------------- 
Independent daily Al-Quds and PA official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida 
lead with news citing the Israeli daily Ma'ariv that the US will 
present a peace plan and guarantees for ending the 
Palestinian-Israeli conflict within two years. According to the 
plan, Israeli-Palestinian negotiations will start immediately in 
order to reach a final status agreement in two years. Reports note 
that the first issue to be discussed is the final borders of a 
Palestinian state, which should be agreed upon within nine months 
(before Israel's temporary settlement freeze in the West Bank ends). 
Subsequently, talks on Jerusalem and Palestinian refugees will be 
discussed. 
 
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that the PA denied any knowledge of the 
US plan. Al-Ayyam quotes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
stating that he will not agree to preconditions to resume 
negotiations with the Palestinians. 
 
Independent daily Al-Ayyam leads with news on Palestinian Authority 
(PA) President Mahmoud Abbas' meeting with Egyptian President Hosni 
Mubarak yesterday in Sharm el-Sheikh. Abbas noted in a press 
conference after the meeting that the Palestinian position regarding 
negotiations has not changed and that once all settlement activities 
stop, the PA will resume negotiations with Israel. In a question 
about US guarantees, Abbas stressed that the PA doesn't need 
guarantees but needs a clear foundation to resume negotiations. 
 
Al-Quds front pages news on Secretary Clinton's meeting with Qatar's 
Foreign Minister in Washington yesterday. The daily quotes Clinton 
reiterating that the Palestinians deserve to have an independent 
state and that the Israelis deserve to live in security with their 
Palestinian neighbors. She also stressed that the US will continue 
to engage in solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 
 
The three dailies report that the PA will form a "national team" to 
oversee efforts to gain full membership in the World Trade 
Organization (WTO). 
 
------------- 
BLOCK QUOTES: 
------------- 
1) Hani Al-Masri, writing in Al-Ayyam under the title "Abu Mazen and 
the Negotiations," believes that in order to have efficient and 
effective negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis, the 
negotiations strategy must change. Al-Masri suspects that the 
current Israeli government is not ready for peace and therefore 
urges the Palestinians to change the reality on the ground; 
otherwise Israel will never be ready. 
 
2) Al-Quds runs an editorial under the title "The Shameful Torture 
Must Stop Completely" in which the writer praises the PA for 
stopping the torture against Hamas prisoners and calls on Hamas to 
stop the torture of Fatah prisoners in its jails. The writer says it 
is shameful for Palestinian factions to torture their prisoners and 
calls for ending the division. 
 
RUBINSTEIN