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DE RUEHJM #0141/01 0250809
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 250809Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7369
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 8064
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 5019
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4863
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6351
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4782
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3386

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JERUSALEM 000141 
 
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 (01/25): Local press report that 
no progress was made during Special Envoy Mitchell's visit 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
-------------The dailies lead with news on Special Envoy George 
Mitchell's meeting with Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud 
Abbas in Amman yesterday. The headlines announce that nothing new 
came out of the meeting. Independent daily Al-Quds' headline reads 
that the PA refuses to resume negotiations without clear terms of 
reference and without a full cessation of settlement activity. PA 
official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that Mitchell reaffirmed 
the US commitment to a comprehensive peace in the Middle East, 
including the establishment of an independent Palestinian state. The 
PA President's Spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh noted that it is too 
early to talk about a breakthrough in the resumption of 
negotiations. 
 
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that King Abdullah of Jordan met with 
Special Envoy Mitchell yesterday and reiterated the importance of 
continuing US efforts to resume peace talks between the Israelis and 
the Palestinians. 
 
The dailies report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 
stated that the big settlements in the West Bank are an integral 
part of Israel and will remain there forever. 
 
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida front pages news that the Arab Information 
Ministers said that the draft Congressional legislation to impose 
sanctions on Arab satellite channels that promote incitement an 
intrusion on the internal affairs of the Arab states. Additionally, 
they called on the US to differentiate between incitement and the 
right of the Palestinian people to defend their rights. 
 
The dailies report on Hamas member Aziz Dweik announcing that the 
PLC will continue working as usual despite the January 24 deadline 
by which elections were supposed to be held. Dweik called for a 
meeting of all PLC members and asked the President's office to 
"facilitate the meeting in an effort toward national reconciliation 
and creating a unified front against Israel." 
 
The dailies report that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak criticized 
Hamas yesterday regarding its position on the steel wall. Mubarak 
accused Hamas of creating chaos on the Egyptian border and stressed 
that Egypt has sovereignty over its land. 
 
Al-Quds front pages a report that there is a serious crisis in 
Israeli-Jordanian relations because of Israeli construction works in 
Jerusalem. Al-Quds also runs news citing an Israeli source saying 
that one of Netanyahu's aids visited Jordan twice this month and 
conveyed messages that Israel wants Jordan to play a key role in 
ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. 
 
---------------- 
Weekend Stories: 
---------------- 
 
Sunday, January 24: 
 
Al-Quds and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida run front page stories on President 
Abbas' meeting today in Amman with the Special Envoy Mitchell. 
Reports cite Israeli government officials saying that President 
Obama will continue his efforts to achieve progress in the peace 
process, but at a different pace after admitting his mistaken 
assessment of the level of Israeli and Palestinian's readiness to 
return to negotiations. Chief PA negotiator Saeb Erekat said that 
 
JERUSALEM 00000141  002 OF 003 
 
 
Israel is imposing pre-conditions on the resumption of negotiations 
and is imposing the reality of a one state solution or the 
bi-national state. The reports also note that Israeli sources claim 
that Egypt is playing a negative role to prevent the resumption of 
peace negotiations. 
 
Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida run front page stories on Nabil Abu 
Rudeineh, the Spokesperson for the Office of the President, calling 
on Hamas to sign the Egyptian national reconciliation plan to allow 
the conducting of general presidential and legislative elections. 
Abu Rudeineh added "There is an important and maybe a last chance if 
Hamas signs the Egyptian document to allow the conducting of 
elections in June, thus allowing all matters to be addressed through 
these elections." 
 
The local press report on US National Security Council Spokesperson 
Mike Hammer stating that the US is ready to provide security 
assurances and guarantees to the Palestinians and Israelis if an 
agreement is reached, stressing Washington's commitment to the peace 
process. Hammer added, in an interview with the London-based Al 
Sharq Al Awsat newspaper, "We hope to play the role of the fair 
broker. We talk to the Israelis and the PA and they should know that 
it's in their interest to get back to the negotiations and that 
their security needs will be realized through the reaching of an 
agreement. In this context, the US is ready to provide some 
guarantees to reassure the parties that the agreement will hold and 
that they can be confident that they will be in a better situation 
as a result of the agreement." 
 
Al-Quds front pages a story on Israeli MK Yisrael Hasson from 
Kadima, an ex-senior official in the Israeli Shabak who took part in 
the negotiations with the Palestinian side in the past, saying that 
the question of Jerusalem should be resolved on the basis of 
partnership without dividing up the city. Hasson also said that the 
Palestinian leadership should have the courage to tell its people 
that the historic agreement with Israel, once reached, will not 
realize the right of return for Palestinian refugees. 
 
Saturday, January 23: 
 
The three dailies lead with stories on Friday's meeting between 
President Abbas and Special Envoy George Mitchell. Reports note that 
the meeting ended with disagreements between the Palestinian and 
American views, thus deepening an atmosphere of pessimism regarding 
the possibility of resuming negotiations. The Spokesperson for the 
Office of the President Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that Mitchell's 
latest round in the region, despite its importance, has not achieved 
a breakthrough as no agreement was reached to resume negotiations. 
 
The three dailies also front page stories on a large demonstration 
that took place in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of East Jerusalem 
on Friday by Palestinians, foreign solidarity activists, and members 
of Israeli left wing movements protesting settlement activities and 
house evictions. Israeli forces sealed off the entrances to the 
neighbourhood and deployed hundreds of Israeli soldiers, police 
forces, and special units preventing the protestors from reaching 
the settlement outposts and the houses that were seized in the 
neighbourhood. The Israeli forces arrested 13 protestors. A similar 
demonstration took place in the Al Bustan neighbourhood in Silwan to 
protest Israeli plans to demolish 88 houses there. 
 
Al-Quds runs a front page story citing the Israeli army radio 
station reporting that settlement activities continue in Kiryat 
 
JERUSALEM 00000141  003 OF 003 
 
 
Nataveem near Nablus despite the decision to temporarily freeze 
settlement activities in the West Bank for ten months. 
------------ 
BLOCK QUOTE: 
------------ 
Talal Okal, writing in Al-Ayyam under the title "The US Reverse Will 
Jeopardize the Whole Region" opines that in light of the 
deteriorating US role in the Middle East peace process and the lack 
of any other key player like the EU or UN, Israel will become 
stronger and will implement harsher policies on the ground. 
RUBINSTEIN