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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000018 
 
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.  Anti-Terrorism Efforts 
 
¶3.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
The media reported that yesterday PM Benjamin Netanyahu expressed 
cautious optimism that talks with the Palestinians will soon resume. 
 "In recent weeks, I've had the impression there is a certain change 
in atmosphere, and I hope that a maturation that would enable the 
negotiating process to move forward has occurred," he told a meeting 
of his Likud faction at the Knesset.  HaQaretz quoted officials in 
the Prime Minister's Office as saying that Netanyahu was 
particularly encouraged by yesterdayQs meeting between PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.  For weeks, 
Abbas has been insisting that he will not resume negotiations unless 
Israel completely freezes construction in West Bank settlements and 
in East Jerusalem. But at Monday's meeting, Abbas repeatedly said 
that he would postpone any decision on whether or not to restart the 
talks until he sees what happens during next week's visit to 
Washington by two senior Egyptian officials, Foreign Minister Ahmed 
Abu al-Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.  HaQaretz cited 
the belief of Israeli officials that Abbas will agree to resume the 
talks after that visit, or else after U.S. Special Envoy for Middle 
East Peace Senator George Mitchell's visit a few days later. 
However, they predicted, he will first try to wrest as many 
guarantees as possible from the U.S. administration.  Nevertheless, 
in an interview with the Palestinian News Agency after his meeting 
with Mubarak, Abbas reiterated that his view on the need for a 
complete settlement freeze has not changed.  A senior member of the 
Palestinian negotiating team also told HaQaretz yesterday that 
Abbas' demand for a freeze on construction in East Jerusalem has not 
changed -- a precondition for which Abbas enjoys considerable 
support in the Arab world.  Abbas insisted that he was not seeking 
any American guarantees beyond this. "We don't want guarantees; we 
want a clear, well-prepared basis for negotiations," he said. 
However, HaQaretz quoted Palestinian sources as saying that in 
practice he apparently plans to insist that this "basis" include a 
guarantee that talks will resume at the point at which they left off 
under Netanyahu's predecessor, Ehud Olmert.  Maariv reported that 
the Egyptian Foreign MinistryQs spokesman, Hossam Zaki, confirmed 
the existence of an American peace plan providing for Palestinian 
statehood in two years. HaQaretz quoted Zaki as saying that the 
Abbas-Mubarak meeting focused on an Egyptian proposal for reviving 
the talks that includes a promise of a Palestinian state within two 
years and American letters of assurance to both Israel and the PA 
about the nature of the final-status agreement.  Netanyahu, at his 
meeting with Likud MKs, also stressed that the current flurry of 
diplomatic activity is focused solely on ideas for reviving the 
talks.  Commenting on reports in the press about various concessions 
he has allegedly agreed to make on final-status issues, he said, 
"The peace plans that are being ascribed to me in the media are 
untrue."  "We are serious in our intention to reach a peace 
agreement, but we will insist that the outcome of the negotiations 
be determined at the negotiating table," he continued. "Israel is 
ready for negotiations with the PA without preconditions."  At a 
meeting Monday with special Quartet envoy Tony Blair. Netanyahu 
urged the international community to press Abbas to resume the 
talks.  "We must start talking," he said. "The international 
community must refrain from taking steps that are liable to cause 
the Palestinian side to harden its positions. Instead, everyone must 
act in a way that will encourage the Palestinians to return to 
negotiations." 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that IsraelQs top decision-makers are 
against discussing the border issue first in future negotiations 
with the Palestinians.  The newspaper and other media outlets said 
there have been reports of a U.S. interest in solving the border 
issue within the next nine months, before the end of the 
construction moratorium in the settlements, so it would be clear 
afterward where Israel could and could not build.  However, The 
Jerusalem Post quoted a senior official in Jerusalem as saying that 
the problem with that approach is that it would mean Israel 
relinquishing land and settlements without getting anything in 
return, and then having to begin discussing the more difficult 
issues of Jerusalem, refugees, and the demilitarization of a future 
Palestinian state.  "In this case you give up territorial assets, 
and what have you done?" asked the official.  "You haven't ended the 
conflict, and haven't dealt with refugees or Jerusalem. This idea is 
a nonstarter for all the ministers, from Left or Right."  The 
official was quoted as saying that from Jerusalem's point of view, 
the idea that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed must be 
the guiding principle in future talks, just as it has been in 
previous rounds. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that unlike Netanyahu, FM Avigdor 
Lieberman expressed pessimism yesterday about the possibility of 
talks with the Palestinians achieving results in the near future 
even if they do resume.  "It will not be possible to reach a 
complete agreement in two years," Lieberman warned Blair during his 
meeting with the envoy.  "It is not a realistic target. We must 
begin direct talks without committing to any deadline. In the past, 
we have set deadlines that were not kept and it led to violence." 
 
This morning Israel Radio reported that Hamas will soon give its 
reply, including reservations, to IsraelQs offer regarding the 
prisoner exchange swap.  The radio quoted Moussa Abu Marzouk, the 
Damascus-based deputy head of HamasQ political bureau, as saying 
that the German mediator has not produced the desired result despite 
his efforts and that Israel has changed its stance. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the cabinet has instructed the IDF to issue 
gas masks to all citizens.  The original plan called for just 60 
percent of the population to receive protection kits.  The newspaper 
reported that a major biological attack drill is slated to be held 
next week in the greater Tel Aviv region. 
 
Yediot reported that Israel canceled a visit to the U.K. by a 
delegation of senior IDF officers after the British authorities 
announced that they would be unable to promise that the officers 
will not be arrested.  Israel Radio reported on an emerging solution 
to the problem, according to which the General Prosecution in 
Britain will have to back up local magistrateQs courtsQ demands to 
arrest foreigners accused of war crimes.  Media reported that 
Patricia Janet Scotland, Baroness Scotland of Asthal, the Attorney 
General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland, a ministerial 
position in the UK Government, is about to visit Israel for talks 
with legal officials, in a bid to resolve the problem.  Israel Radio 
quoted an Israeli official cognizant with the talks with the British 
authorities as saying that it is unconceivable that laws originally 
intended to stop Nazi war criminals should be used against 
Israelis. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Shin Bet is considering beefing up 
its teams of security guards stationed at Ben Gurion Airport and on 
Israeli commercial flights. 
The media cited expressions of anger by Arab Knesset Members 
vis-a-vis settlers and the IDF.  Yesterday at a session of the 
KnessetQs Constitution, Law, and Justice Committee, MK Taleb a-Sanaa 
(United Arab List-TaQal) called settlers a Qmalignant tumor, 
setting off a flurry of furious reactions from the assembled Knesset 
members.  HaQaretz reported that the IDF has denied allegations that 
it trains its canines to attack anybody heard saying: QAllah hu 
akbar,Q Arabic for QGod is great.Q  Speculations of such practices 
were exposed first by Israel RadioQs military correspondent, Carmela 
Menashe, and echoed by Israeli Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab 
List-TaQal). 
 
Yediot and Maariv reported that an Israeli defense delegation headed 
by National Security Adviser Uzi Arad left for India on Sunday for a 
strategic dialogue.  The newspapers reported that the sides will 
discuss the Iranian and terror issues. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QWeakness Is an Asset 
 
Former Mossad Director Ephraim Halevy wrote in the mass-circulation, 
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (1/5): QWe should relate to the threat 
made by the Palestinian President at the end of last week, who said 
that if Israel were to continue its actions such as the killing of 
the murderers of Rabbi Hai, the PA would have to reexamine the 
security cooperation between Israel and the PA.  This is an empty 
threat both on the political and the security level: if the partial 
cooperation that exists today stops, Israel will have no interest in 
allowing the U.S. to continue strengthening the PA militarily.  The 
units that the Americans are training with Jordanian assistance and 
with IsraelQs consent mainly act to suppress the Hamas opposition in 
Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] and thus safeguard Abu 
MazenQs regime.  Without this security cooperation, the PA will 
collapse.  In the course of the last few months Abu Mazen was able 
to leverage his weakness and the weakness of the PA into an Qasset, 
so much so that the U.S. made his perpetual strengthening by Israel 
into an essential condition for renewing JerusalemQs diplomatic 
dialogue with it.  The Palestinian PresidentQs language of threats 
against Israel of last week should persuade even the Obama 
administration, as well as the Israeli Government, that the expiry 
date on this policy has passed. 
 
II.  QTime to Talk 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/5): QThe 
peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has become an 
empty phrase since Israel's elections, interchangeable with the word 
Qdaydreaming.Q  On the Israeli side, Prime Minister Benjamin 
Netanyahu has insisted on conditions that will prevent a renewal of 
the process such as Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish 
state, or not freezing construction in East Jerusalem.  On the 
Palestinian side, President Mahmoud Abbas has insisted on freezing 
all Israeli construction over the Green Line, even after Washington 
gave Israel Qdiscounts.Q  Over the past few days, a crack seems to 
be opening in the ice, and the peace process has a chance to be 
revived.  Netanyahu met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 
presented the outlines of a plan, and was even praised by the 
Egyptian foreign ministry.  Abbas is also willing to move ahead; 
reports from his visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt indicate that he 
is ready to be more flexible in his conditions.  These positive 
signs must be encouraged, because when peace talks are frozen they 
are replaced by another, more threatening and dangerous dialogue.... 
This calm can flourish if it is nourished by the hope of a better 
future.  A lack of diplomatic prospects could generate a new wave of 
terror.... Abbas and Netanyahu must sweep away preconditions to 
renew the talks, even if such conditions are justified.  A 
construction freeze in the settlements, even if it is not total, and 
adopting the two-state principle are appropriate incentives to get 
the Palestinians back to the table.  Palestinian security control of 
the West Bank is the QgoodsQ Israel has always demanded. Now is the 
time to resuscitate the Roadmap's other conditions and begin a new 
stage in the peace process. 
 
III.  QEmpty Talk 
 
Liberal columnist and television anchor Ofer Shelach wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (1/5): QWhen any of the government leaders 
are asked why  make a pretense of talking, they shrug their 
shoulders and talk about tactics.  QThe process must be maintained, 
and Qwe have to provide hope,Q mainly to look good in Washington. 
About the assumption that ultimately the ongoing frustration will 
lead to another round of violence, they respond with a shrug of the 
shoulders: in any case, among the government and the public on both 
sides, the majority views events in terms of an almost eternal 
conflict, and all that is left is to control when it blows up.  And 
only the people who die in the next five years and afterwards, it is 
only for them that this whole business is more than empty talk. 
 
IV.  QWhere Is Netanyahu Leading To? 
 
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Uri Elitzur, who was director of the Prime 
MinisterQs Office during Netanyahu's first term, wrote in the 
editorial of the nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (1/5): 
QThere are mounting signs that a far-reaching political deal is 
being concocted, and that it will involve an Israeli withdrawal from 
nearly all of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West Bank].... Not only 
has the public not been given real information about the Prime 
MinisterQs position, but the cabinet ministers do not know in which 
direction Netanyahu wants to lead Israel.  Either way, this is cause 
for great concern.  If Netanyahu, indeed, has changed his spots and 
has become a true believer in Yossi BeilinQs idea of two states, 
that constitutes utter bankruptcy of the national camp and will be 
yet another instance in which a Likud prime minister has stolen the 
will of his voters and has used deceit to have their votes serve a 
left wing agenda.  And if Netanyahu is merely playing a tactical 
game that is geared to prove to the world that it is impossible to 
reach an agreement because the Arab side isnQt interested in peace, 
that is a very dangerous game that is being played on a very 
slippery slope that could end with an avalanche. 
 
¶V.  QDCQs Open Arms 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/5): 
QIt is fitting ... to acknowledge the ongoing aid Israel receives 
from the United States.  It may not come out of purely altruistic 
motives, yet Washington's intentions are largely good, and absent 
its unwavering military and diplomatic backing, the world would be 
an even lonelier place for our Jewish state.... Especially at a time 
when Americans are hurting economically, this financial support to 
Israel is deeply appreciated.  In light of our shared values and 
mutual interests, the American people should know that they can 
always count on Israel.  Israelis also recognize that America has 
interests elsewhere in our region.... But the sale of weapons to 
Egypt is the hardest to fathom.... The Pentagon insists none of this 
will Qadversely affect the military balance in the regionQ.... Since 
1975, America has invested $14.83 billion in a wide array of AID 
projects to make Egypt a better place for its people.  Helping 
ordinary Egyptians is where Washington's emphasis can continue to do 
the most good.  Adding to Egypt's considerable stockpile of weapons 
hardly benefits its people. And such weapons could, heaven forbid, 
one day fall into the wrong hands. 
 
--------------------------- 
¶2.  Anti-Terrorism Efforts: 
--------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QThe American Air Farce 
 
U.S.-based columnist Shmuley Boteach wrote in the conservative, 
independent Jerusalem Post (1/5): Q[Here] is the level of farce that 
passes for airport security here in the United States.... Just a few 
days [after the attempted bombing of an American airliner over 
Detroit], one of New York's three premiere airports [Newark Liberty] 
is shut down because a man walked straight through a QsecureQ exit 
without being stopped.  Nice to know we're being protected by the 
Keystone Kops.... Israel has the most secure airport in the world. 
I cannot imagine for a moment that a man with nitroglycerine in his 
undies would ever have made it on an Israeli plane.... What Israel 
excels at is not even ethnic profiling so much as psychological 
profiling.... Israel, after all, often dispatches humanitarian 
rescue teams to various parts of the world after an earthquake or 
tsunami.  Why not immediately dispatch a high-level security team to 
Washington to advise an increasingly hapless Homeland Security 
Administration about the right way to deploy limited resources in 
securing a vast air network?  I realize that Israel is a tiny 
country and has to secure only one major airport.  But then again, 
unlike the U.S., it lives surrounded by terrorists yet has an 
exemplary record in protecting air travel. 
 
--------- 
¶3.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QThe Americans Are Leading to a Disaster 
 
Yisrael Yosefi, a settler and former Mossad official, wrote in the 
nationalist, Orthodox Makor Rishon-Hatzofe (1/5): QThe military 
option against Iran has been ruled out: in ObamaQs vehement speech 
upon accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, in which he talked about Qjust 
wars,Q he did not mean Iran but Afghanistan.... [In a subsequent 
meeting with European Union officials, Defense Secretary Robert] 
Gates explained [approximate rendering]: QIn order to prevent Iran 
from acquiring nuclear weapons, weQll offer it a package of 
incentives and deterrence that will convince the Iranian 
administration that it is less safe with nuclear weapons than 
without them.Q  One may surmise that Gates meant a nuclear-free 
Middle East.  In this situation, the Americans will demand that 
Israel destroy all its nuclear weapons in exchange for an Iranian 
pledge to stop its accelerated development of uranium enrichment.... 
I suggest a few possibilities: first, to take the masses into the 
street with a call to prevent a new Holocaust; second, to recruit 
Jewish opinion in the world and explain to it that, should Israel be 
annihilated, this would influence the security of every Jew; third, 
to convince the U.S. Congress that the Shihab-6 missile with which 
the Iranians will ultimately threaten the United States; and lastly, 
that the destruction of all Iranian nuclear installations must be 
accepted by the world as a just war. 
 
CUNNINGHA