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P 081144Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000044 
 
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 
 
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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
Mideast 
 
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Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Major media reported that Israel/PM Benjamin Netanyahu will no 
longer demonstrate flexibility in the negotiations over Gilad 
ShalitQs release.  Israel Radio quoted a senior Israeli diplomatic 
source as saying that Israel is not prepared to release some 
Palestinian prisoners and that it will not compromise on this 
issue. 
 
The media reported that last night the IDF launched a series of air 
strikes overnight against targets in Gaza, hours after a Katyusha 
rocket fired from the Strip hit an area south of Ashkelon.  The 
media reported that at least three Palestinians were killed.  Four 
others are missing.  The IDF Spokesman's Office said IAF aircraft 
bombed four Gaza targets: a tunnel linking the Strip to Israel, a 
weaponry workshop in Gaza City, and two smuggling tunnels linking 
the southern Strip to Egypt.  The Jerusalem Post cited IsraelQs 
concern that Iran and Hizbullah may be forging a Fatah terror 
splinter group. 
 
HaQaretz reported that a high-level American delegation is visiting 
Israel this week, headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Human 
Rights Michael Posner.  The delegation arrived on Sunday and has met 
with cabinet ministers, senior civil servants, and IDF officers as 
well as representatives of Israeli human rights organizations. 
Posner was quoted as saying that his delegation wants to help Israel 
remove the Goldstone report on last year's war in Gaza from the 
international agenda.  He said this should be accomplished through 
an Israeli investigation of the five most serious incidents 
described in the report, all of which involved civilian deaths. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Washington is now considering the possibility 
of launching "proximity talks" between Israel and the Palestinians, 
as PA President Mahmoud Abbas continues to object to direct talks. 
Under this plan, U.S. Special Envoy Senator George Mitchell and his 
staff would meet separately with both parties, present each side's 
positions to the other and then try to bridge the gaps.  This is the 
 
same system both George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton used 
(unsuccessfully) for Israeli-Syrian talks.  HaQaretz says that the 
idea arose after Abbas made it clear to both the U.S. and Egypt that 
he would not meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unless Israel 
pledged to completely freeze all construction in the West Bank and 
East Jerusalem for five months after the talks began. Israel refuses 
to do so.  The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel does not want to 
see deadlines imposed on the negotiating process with the 
Palestinians, even as the U.S. is endorsing the idea of a two-year 
time frame.  Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren told The 
Jerusalem Post: QIn the past, attempts to impose time frameworks 
have not proved either realizable or helpful.  Oren talked hours 
before Mitchell touted his idea that peace with the Palestinians can 
be reached within two years. 
 
All media reported that yesterday Labor Knesset Member Ophir 
Pines-Paz announced his resignation from the Knesset and departure 
from his party.  He was quoted as saying: QI have no faction and no 
leader.Q  Pines-Paz stated that his party had abandoned its values 
over the past 15 years.  Einat Wilf, an associate of DM and Labor 
Chairman Ehud Barak, will succeed him in the Knesset.  The media 
agree that the resignation dashes the rebels' hopes of splitting 
from Labor to form a separate faction, a move requiring at least a 
third of the party's MKs.  DM Barak, who expressed his regret over 
Pines-PazQs departure, was quoted as saying: QEveryone is 
replaceable, even myself. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint 
Chiefs of Staff, as saying yesterday during an appearance at the 
Washington Institute for Near East Policy that the U.S. does not 
want to see confrontation with Iran but that it is still preparing 
its military for that possibility. 
 
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin has 
secretly met with President Abbas.  The newspaper quoted senior 
Palestinian officials as saying that the two discussed the new 
diplomatic initiative that Egypt is leading with WashingtonQs 
approval. 
 
HaQaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that the Prime Minister's 
Office issued a complaint to the White House several days ago 
lamenting ongoing incitement against Israel by Palestinian leaders. 
In the complaint, senior officials in the Prime Minister's Office 
urged their American counterparts to demand that PA President 
Mahmoud Abbas cease to glorify the memory of terrorists who murdered 
Israelis.  The complaint went on to insist that the Palestinians 
live alongside Israelis peacefully and spread peace.  This complaint 
is the first of its kind against Palestinian incitement to gain 
media attention in Israel, after many years during which Israel 
largely refrained from making official complaints, or delivered 
these complaints discreetly to the Palestinian President. 
 
Maariv and other media reported that DM Barak has instructed to ease 
building instructions for settlers in the West Bank. 
 
Media quoted some Israeli defense officials as saying that the Iron 
Dome missile defense system cannot give complete protection. 
 
Maariv and Israel Radio reported that Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon has 
recommended to FM Avigdor Lieberman not to extend the mandate of 
TIPH (Temporary International Presence in Hebron) which expires at 
the end of this month because, according to Ayalon, TIPH has 
produced distorted and one-sided reports. 
 
A Yediot feature compares the attitude of Israelis to Gilad Shalit 
to that of Americans to Qlittle knownQ U.S. Taliban prisoner Pfc. 
Bowe Bergdahl.  In another article, Yediot features Gen. Stanley 
McChrystalQs activity in Afghanistan. 
 
Yediot, Maariv, and The Jerusalem PostQs web site reported that 
yesterday the Koret Foundation (KIEDF) and the Overseas Private 
Corporation (OPIC) launched a 600-million shekel (around $150 
million) campaign to support the Negev and Gilboa regions. 
Ambassador Cunningham attended the ceremony at President Shimon 
PeresQ residence. 
 
 
-------- 
Mideast: 
-------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QStarting from the End 
 
Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in 
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (1/8): QIn the past few 
weeks, a number of threatening messages have arrived in Jerusalem 
from the White House.  The U.S. President's top adviser, Rahm 
Emanuel, was quoted by our diplomats in Washington as having said 
that Obama was tired of both the Israelis and the Palestinians. 
Emanuel reportedly told them something to the effect that they were 
wasting precious time and missing the opportunity to reach peace. 
Eventually the United States will simply give up, stop dealing with 
this interminable conflict and we leave Israel alone, he reportedly 
said.... There are people who believe that the only person among us 
at this time who is capable of giving up territory and moving the 
settlers is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who, like Begin, would 
enjoy massive support if he were to make concessions in return for 
peace.  However, nothing will move without an American plan, without 
a massive push, even a forced one, from Obama.  We were always wary 
of a forced solution but it is most likely that there are greater 
dangers than that -- the continuation of terrorism and Palestinian 
demographic dominance.  Instead of broadcasting to us weariness and 
anger, it would be better if Obama would initiate a mediation 
proposal or obligatory arbitration so as to achieve peace and 
permanent borders between the two peoples. 
 
II.  QMeanwhile, Netanyahu Is in an Evasive Mood 
 
Diplomatic correspondent and television anchor Ben Caspit wrote in 
the popular, pluralist Maariv (1/8): QIn the final analysis, he is 
cheating.  It is not yet clear whom.  Are the cheated ones 
Obama-Peres-Barak-Mubarak, or [senior Likud members] 
Benny-Bogie-Tzipi (Hotovely), Kahlon, and Livnat?  Netanyahu is 
simultaneously holding both ends of a very long stick.  The problem 
is that he is walking on a tight rope over an abyss.  He wonQt get 
far when he has at most nine months until the end of the 
[construction] freeze.... He may be behind the initiatives ... to 
launch real negotiations with the Palestinians with a clear deadline 
(two years).... Or he may want to waste time, exhaust everyone, and 
return to the warm lap of [his wife and patrons].... On the other 
hand there may be a condition such as [a plan providing for a 
withdrawal to the 1967 lines], he could be wriggling and itQs 
impossible to know but it is possible to understand heQs in a bind, 
and that Qright nowQ thereQs nothing, but should there be something, 
weQll know what to do -- or we wonQt. 
 
III.  QProvocation in East Jerusalem 
 
The independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz editorialized (1/8) : 
Netanyahu's encouragement -- albeit silent -- to the variety of 
government, municipal, and private blueprints to populate East 
Jerusalem with Jews is casting doubt over his enthusiastic calls to 
resume the talks with the Palestinians.  Accelerating Israeli 
construction in the east of the city, which the international 
community sees as the capital of the future Palestine, is regarded 
as provocation, intended to sabotage the negotiations even before 
they begin.  Like his predecessors, Netanyahu agreed to negotiate 
over Jerusalem's status as part of the final status agreement.  But 
his acts foil any possible compromise, deepen the conflict in the 
city and destroy the chance to implement the two-state solution. 
 
IV.  QWhy No QViva Somalia ? 
 
The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (1/8) : 
QWhat could be worse than being forgotten in the rubble of war?  As 
The New York Times reported this week, Gazans feel forsaken.  The 
constant flow of humanitarian aid is staving off hunger and disease, 
but a pall of listlessness besets the Strip.... There's a revealing 
comparison to be made between the QsiegeQ of Gaza and what is 
happening in Somalia, where the World Food Program this week was 
forced to abandon one million tormented people because Islamist 
gunmen have made it impossible for its staff to operate.... The 
difference between Somalia and Gaza is that the people of Somalia 
are not only forgotten in the rubble, their desperation is... simply 
not interesting.  They are people without options.  Those 
responsible for their plight are Islamists, not Zionists or 
Westerners -- though, for the Euro-Left, it's all America's fault 
somehow.  In stark contrast, the people of Gaza do have options that 
would end their misery.  They could stop supporting Hamas, which has 
mobilized their polity against coexistence with Israel; they could 
make peace among themselves and allow the comparatively moderate 
West Bank Palestinian leadership -- which is recognized by the 
international community -- back into the Strip.  They could free IDF 
soldier Gilad Shalit whom they kidnapped in 2006.  They could stop 
launching mortars against Israel's civilian population, as they 
repeatedly did this week.  They could choose a two-state solution 
and accept that Jews also have a right to a homeland.  They could 
end the Qsiege.Q  They could build instead of reveling in the rubble 
and in their victimization. 
 
CUNNINGHAM