VZCZCXYZ0003
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTV #0008/01 0041153
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 041153Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4831
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEADWD/DA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI PRIORITY 0103
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 3014
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 7070
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 7274
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 6511
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 5180
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 7372
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 4128
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 2353
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 1006
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY 8525
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH PRIORITY 3537
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 7510
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 9597
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH PRIORITY 2331
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 3436
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/COMSIXTHFLT  PRIORITY

UNCLAS TEL AVIV 000008 
 
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 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
Maariv detailed what it says is the American peace plan for the 
Middle East: The immediate start of negotiations between the sides; 
a permanent-status agreement is the objective of the plan; the first 
issue to be discussed: the permanent borders; the goal is to reach a 
compromise within nine months Q before the end of the settlement 
freeze; negotiations over the future of Jerusalem and the refugees; 
and President Obama is expected to place letters of guarantee in the 
hands of both parties.  Maariv says that pressure on the Arab League 
is likely during the implementation of the plan. 
 
Israel Radio quoted PA President Mahmoud AbbasQs spokesman Nabil Abu 
Rudeineh as saying that the PA will be able to renew negotiations 
with Israel only when the latter commits itself (among other 
conditions) to withdrawing to the 1967 borders.  Yesterday The 
Jerusalem Post cited the prediction of a PA official over the 
weekend that peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians could 
be relaunched as early as February following Qencouraging signs 
from he Israeli Government.  The Jerusalem Post quoted PM Benjamin 
Netanyahu as saying in a closed door meeting yesterday that he has 
no intention of restarting negotiations with the Palestinians on the 
basis of the pre-Six Day War lines.  The PM also characterized as 
inaccurate media reports that he has recently shown flexibility 
regarding negotiations over Jerusalem and the refugees.  Leading 
media Palestinian Abbas will meet with Egyptian President, Hosni 
Mubarak in Sharm el-Sheikh today to discuss Israel's latest offers 
to renew talks with the PA.  The Jerusalem Post and other media 
reported that while Abbas continues to refuse to sit down and talk 
with PM Netanyahu, he is in telephone contact with President Shimon 
Peres, who even recently tried to talk him out of resigning.   The 
Jerusalem Post quoted Peres as saying in an interview with the 
Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun on Thursday that he hoped that 
Abbas would run in the next PA election, and that his advice to the 
PA president was that "winners don't quit, and quitters don't win." 
HaQaretz reported that the U.S. administration is making efforts to 
convince Abbas to agree to the resumption of peace talks through a 
series of goodwill gestures on the part of Israel -- including the 
release of prisoners and the transfer of territory under Israel's 
security control (Area B) to Palestinian security control (Area A). 
Abbas has thus far refused to renew the talks as long as Israel 
refuses to institute a complete freeze on West Bank settlement 
building that would include East Jerusalem. 
 
The media reported that IAF planes attacked three targets in Gaza 
overnight Friday and on Saturday morning, a day after Palestinians 
fired Grad-type rockets at Netivot.  Some media reported that Hamas 
threatens to retaliate. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that, fearing violent resistance, the 
IDF plans to deploy large security forces to demolish homes that 
have been built illegally since the government-imposed moratorium on 
Jewish construction in the West Bank took effect in late November. 
Media reported that yesterday settlers held a one-day strike and 
demonstrated in front of the Prime MinisterQs Office. 
 
Yesterday HaQaretz reported that on Thursday FM Avigdor Lieberman 
chastised 150 or so Israeli diplomats for what he described as their 
tendency to overly placate their host nations. 
 
Citing The New York Times, HaQaretz reported that the American 
intelligence community is reassessing its view of the Iranian 
nuclear program, veering from its previous assessment that it 
published in 2007.  Yediot cited The New York Times that Israel has 
been persuaded that this is a window of opportunity for a diplomatic 
move involving sanctions on Iran. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the U.S. has recently signed major arms deals 
with several Arab states and that Israeli officials have expressed 
concern at the scope and content of the agreements.  Among the 
recipients of the advanced arms included in the agreements are 
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the UAE.  The shipments are to 
include anti-ship and antitank missiles as well as so-called smart 
and bunker-busting bombs.  HaQaretz reported that in December the 
Pentagon notified Congress of several arms deals it wanted to carry 
out.  The details of the deals were also posted on the Pentagon 
website.  In its report to Congress the Department of Defense noted 
that none of the deals would "alter the military balance in the 
region."  According to the Pentagon report to Congress, no arms 
deals with Israel have taken place since President Barack Obama took 
office. 
 
HaQaretz reported that the U.S. will assist Israel in developing and 
funding the Arrow 3 missile defense system. 
 
Yediot quoted Gregg Rickman, formerly the Secretary of State's 
Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, as saying 
following the closure of the U.S Embassy in Sanaa that the last 
remaining Jews in Yemen should be rescued immediately. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein as saying 
yesterday: QThe peace agreement with Jordan is not as warm as we 
would have liked, nor as the agreement stipulates.Q  Rubinstein, who 
was one of architects of the peace treaty with Jordan, was speaking 
in a synagogue in the settlement of Efrat.  On a different issue The 
Jerusalem Post reported that Canada has refused a Jordanian request 
to hand over the historic Dead Sea Scrolls, currently on loan to 
Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum.  The newspaper quoted Israeli 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor as saying: QThe Dead Sea 
Scrolls are an intrinsic part of Jewish heritage and religion.  The 
scrolls have no relation to Jordan or the Jordanian people. 
 
The Jerusalem Post quoted NetanyahuQs former chief of staff, Yechiel 
Leiter, as saying that he is Qnot interestedQ in serving as 
consul-general in New York.  Leiter has been mentioned as the PMQs 
candidate for the post. 
 
 
 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QWill Obama Attack Israel? 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (1/4): QAs far as Israel is 
concerned] what is important is that Obama and his entourage have 
learned two things.  One of them is that bashing Israel is 
politically costly.  American public opinion is very strongly 
pro-Israel.  Congress is as friendly to Israel as ever.  For an 
administration that is more conscious of its future reelection 
campaign than any previous one, holding onto Jewish voters and 
ensuring Jewish donations is very important.  There will almost 
certainly not be a visit of Obama to Israel this year; he'll wait 
until it will do him some good at the polls (which is a good thing, 
since the less attention he pays to this issue the less harm he'll 
do).  The other point is that the administration has seen that 
bashing Israel doesn't get it anywhere.  For one thing, the current 
Israeli government won't give in easily and is very adept at 
protecting its country's interests.  This administration has a great 
deal of trouble being tough with anyone.  If in fact the 
Palestinians and Arabs were eager to make a deal and energetic about 
supporting other U.S. policies, the administration might well be 
tempted to press for an arrangement that largely ignored Israeli 
interests.  But this is not the case.  It is the Palestinians who 
refuse even to come to the negotiating table -- and that is unlikely 
to change quickly or easily.  Arab states won't lift a finger to 
help the U.S. on Iran, Iraq, or Arab-Israeli issues.  So why 
bother? 
 
II.  QBetween Decades 
 
Senior commentator Ari Shavit wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (1/1): QOn the first morning of the new decade there is no 
euphoria in Israel.  Our economic and security strength creates a 
certain kind of self-confidence.  But the challenges are 
unprecedented -- the Iranian nuclear project, the missile threat, 
the occupation, the loss of legitimacy, the leadership crisis, the 
governability crisis, the social woes, and the collapse of 
education.  In an amazing way, the previous decade did not yield any 
substantial response to any of these challenges.  It gave us a good 
life for the moment without having to contend seriously with our 
basic problems.  The new decade will not be able to continue this 
regime.  The processes that are eroding Israel's support walls have 
gone too far.  Unless there is a sobering up and a change of 
direction, the next 10 years could be more difficult than the 10 
preceding ones.  To avoid waking up despondent on January 1, 2020, 
we have to wake up now. 
 
III.  QTwo Hats 
 
Contributor and settler Elyakim Haetzni wrote in Yediot Aharonot 
(1/3): QRabbi Meir Avshalom Hai was murdered by several of the 
leaders of the El-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades.  This terror organization, 
which publicly accepted responsibility for the attack is, like 
Tanzim, essentially part of Fatah, which is led by Abu Mazen. He 
inherited this structure from his predecessor Yasser Arafat.... A 
simple question arises: why is it that those figures, who agonize 
over every clause in our agreements with the PLO, choose to ignore 
the clearly stated articles in the fourth appendix of the interim 
agreement, which provides Israel with criminal jurisdiction over 
acts committed in the QterritoriesQ against Israeli citizens as well 
as the right to demand the extradition of those suspected of having 
committed such acts, such as the fourth assassin of Rabbi Hai?  The 
reason is that already in the jolly days of Oslo, the Palestinians 
announced that they would never extradite a Palestinian to Israel, 
and all Israeli governments have accepted this blatant breach of 
such a vital clause in the agreement.  Such scandalous behavior 
continues also under the leadership of the man who devised the 
slogan QtheyQll give -- theyQll getQ [Netanyahu].... Lately we have 
also been hearing our security services praise the Palestinian 
forces for their cooperation in their war on terror -- seemingly 
good news.  They neglect, however, to tell us precisely whom they 
are fighting against, are they also fighting the El-Aqsa Martyrs 
Brigades?.... For there is nothing advantageous about their fighting 
Hamas and Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades.  As far as they see it, 
this is not a war on terror, but rather a bloody struggle for power, 
a gang war, to which they have successfully recruited the IDF. 
 
IV.  QKadimaQs Future 
 
Former Meretz leader, former Justice Minister, and chief Israeli 
promoter of the Geneva Initiative, Yossi Beilin, wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (1/4): QThe assessment that was prevalent 
after the elections, according to which Kadima was a ruling party 
that was incapable of existing in the opposition, was disproved, at 
least temporarily.... Kadima, which won 28 seats only due to the 
left wing, can only exist if it expresses the aspirations of the 
left wing.  The split in the party has been postponed for a while, 
but it is imprinted in the nature of the contradictions that 
characterize it.  A centrifugal process will make it a much smaller 
Knesset faction.  This appears already now as an irreversible 
process.  Livni can save her party in the next elections only if she 
decides to continue the big bang by making Kadima into a center-left 
party that replaces the Labor Party.  Otherwise Kadima will 
disappear from the map, just like Dash [allied to Menachem Begin in 
the 1970s] and Shinui [during the past decade]. 
 
--------------------------- 
¶2.  Anti-Terrorism Efforts: 
--------------------------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QIslamic Terror, Remember? 
 
Columnist and former intelligence officer Amos Gilboa wrote in the 
popular, pluralist Maariv (1/4): QAfter September 11, 2001, 
President Bush proclaimed a third world war against terror, which 
would last for many years.... Obama ... removed the word Qterror 
from his lexicon: in all his programmatic speeches over the past 
year -- in Ankara, in Cairo, at the U.N. General Assembly, in his 
address to Congress -- the word QterrorQ did not appear.  He knows 
no Qwar against terrorQ... The big question at the start of the new 
year is this: will the Obama administration change its basic 
attitude to Islamic terror and start viewing it as a challenge of 
the first order, which requires to be placed high on the United 
StatesQ priority list, or will it more or less continue its current 
basic attitude and fear to utter the word QterrorQ?.... One of the 
key issues at the beginning of this decade is that the world powers 
have ceased to effectively influence world affairs.  There no longer 
is a Qworld orderQ.... Will the Obama administration succeed in 
forming a Qworld orderQ with the other powers (Russia, China, India, 
the European Union, Japan, and Brazil)? 
 
II.  Q443 + 253 = 9/11 
 
Defense commentator Amir Oren wrote in the independent, left-leaning 
Ha'aretz (1/4): Q[Eric] Holder, [Condoleezza] Rice, and Obama, as 
well as Carter and Clinton, who were both governors of southern 
states before becoming president, have copied a simplistic notion of 
the civil rights struggle involving American blacks and implemented 
it in U.S. foreign and defense policy.  Racist white mayors and 
state troopers harassing innocent black pedestrians and motorists? 
That's exactly what Muslims on Flight 253 and Palestinians on Route 
443 must be spared, even if the world blows up.  The intrusive 
inconvenience to those belonging to high-risk groups, meaning those 
who create risks and not those exposed to them, should create a 
measure of deterrence and difficulty for terrorists.  The price of 
misguided lenience in the other direction is much higher. 
 
CUNNINGHAM