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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS
 
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION 
 
-------------------------------- 
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT: 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶1.  Mideast 
 
¶2.  Iran 
 
------------------------- 
Key stories in the media: 
------------------------- 
 
HaQaretz reported that following heavy international pressure, PA 
President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to the U.S. proposal to hold talks 
with Israel -- in the format of indirect negotiations conducted by 
U.S. special envoy for Middle East Peace Senator George Mitchell. 
Yesterday senior Palestinian sources confirmed Sunday that Abbas has 
agreed in principle to the U.S. proposal for indirect talks. 
According to the same sources, Abbas intends to ask for a number of 
clarifications with the U.S. administration and will consult with 
Arab leaders prior to giving Washington his final response.  Abbas 
is inclined to respond positively to the American proposal, as a 
refusal would shed negative light on the Palestinian position. 
HaQaretz reported that senior Israeli officials noted that PM 
Benjamin Netanyahu believes the talks will begin in late February 
and will result in the resumption of direct negotiations between 
Israel and the PA. 
 
Yesterday HaQaretz reported that the U.N. is likely to refer the 
Goldstone Report to the International Criminal Court. 
 
 
 
Featuring a picture of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wearing 
special laser glasses, all media cited IranQs announcement that it 
will enrich its stockpile of uranium to 20% beginning tomorrow.  The 
Jerusalem Post and other media quoted the Prime MinisterQs Office as 
saying yesterday that PM Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Moscow 
next Sunday for talks expected to focus on getting Russia to back 
stepped-up sanctions against Iran.   Israel Radio reported that FM 
Avigdor Lieberman has left for Baku to convince Azeri President 
Ilham Aliyev to back sanctions against Iran.  (A high-level Iranian 
delegation visited Azerbaijan last week.) 
 
Major media reported that Syrian President Bashar Assad on Sunday 
vowed to stand by Lebanon's side against any Israeli "aggression," 
in an escalating war of words between Damascus and Jerusalem.  In 
other news, Yediot reported that Syria has contributed $300,000 to 
the residents of East Jerusalem. 
 
Assad made the remark to the speaker of the Lebanese Parliament, 
Nabih Beri, in Damascus, according to the official Syrian news 
agency, Sana.  On the other hand Netanyahu told the ministers at the 
start of SundayQs weekly cabinet meeting, that Israel had made peace 
"with Egypt and Jordan and we aspire to do so with Syria and the 
Palestinians. We can achieve this with two conditions: The first is 
that we hold negotiations without preconditions. We will not accept 
the notion that Israel makes major concessions in advance. We will 
not enter negotiations for which everything is decided in advance." 
 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that Deputy FM Daniel Ayalon shook the 
hand of Saudi Prince Turki al-Faysal during a panel of the Munich 
Security Conference on Saturday.  Yediot was shocked by the fact 
that Israel only sent Ayalon to the conference, which prominent 
world leaders attended. 
 
HaQaretz quoted Minister Michael Eitan (Likud) as saying at a Geneva 
Initiative conference in Dimona over the weekend that proponents of 
the Greater Land of Israel -- including the recently established 
Land of Israel caucus in the Knesset, hawkish Likud members, and 
other Knesset members -- are deceiving the public because their 
dream cannot be fulfilled.  "You can't deceive all the time and 
speak about Greater Israel," Eitan said. 
 
Yesterday media reported that the Ministerial Committee for 
Legislative Affairs was to discuss a bill sponsored by Knesset 
Member Moshe Matalon of Yisrael Beiteinu to annex the West Bank 
portion of Route 443. The bill, which has received the support 
another 17 Knesset members, was introduced following the High Court 
of JusticeQs ruling to permit Palestinian vehicular access to the 
road.  However, Matalon acquiesced to the PMQs request to withdraw 
his bill from the agenda the committeeQs meeting.  Then again, 
Matalon told The Jerusalem Post that the bill would be brought back 
to the committee after being discussed by government leaders. 
 
Leading media reported that yesterday the IDF arrested two foreign 
activists near Ramallah, citing expired visas, according to the 
two. 
 
HaQaretz reported that Interior Minister Eli Yishai has banned 
Palestinian geographer Khalil Tufakji, a resident of Jerusalem, from 
traveling abroad for six months, citing unspecified security 
concerns.  Tufakji is an expert on IsraelQs settlement policy. 
 
Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported that hundreds of New York 
Times readers have demanded the removal of Ethan Bronner, the 
American dailyQs Jerusalem bureau chief, from his post because his 
son enlisted in the IDF.  Maariv and The Jerusalem Post reported 
that some senior members of the New York Times backed the demand, 
while the Editor-in-Chief insists that Bronner must keep his 
position.  The Jerusalem Post quoted Government Press Office Danny 
Seaman as saying that the issue of bias comes up only regarding 
Jewish reporters. 
 
Leading media reported that the IDF weighs jailing soldiers 
alongside Palestinian detainees. 
 
All media reported that on Saturday an 11-year boy lost his leg when 
the stepped on a landmine in the Golan.  Yesterday the IDF 
acknowledged that there are problems with some of the fences 
surrounding minefields on the Golan Heights, and that in some of the 
areas the fences are not visible. However, IDF sources reiterated 
yesterday that the minefield the boyQs family entered, with five 
members ending up injured by a mine, was fenced and had clearly 
visible warning signs. 
 
The Jerusalem Post reported that after becoming stranded at 
Ben-Gurion Airport due to an alleged 9,000-shekel debt (around 
$2250), the journey to Israel of an American couple Q Jack and Suzan 
Baumann from Miami --  has been transformed into a nightmare: the 
wife had a miscarriage in the airport and the husband claims that 
the no-exit ban was the result of a mistaken identity. 
 
------------ 
¶1.  Mideast: 
------------ 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
¶I.  QThe Illusion of QSyria First 
 
Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/8): QWhen Mitchell returns the mandate 
President Obama gave him to resume negotiations with the 
Palestinians, he would do well to also give back the mandate for 
reopening the Syrian track.... It's hard to believe that the Syrians 
are willing to cooperate via yet another round of negotiations at 
the expense of the Palestinians.  Just a week ago, Syrian Minister 
Bouthaina Shaaban criticized Arab countries for ignoring the 
suffering of the residents of the Gaza Strip.... It's hard to 
exaggerate the contribution of peace with Syria to Israel's position 
in the region, especially to security in the West Bank and the Gaza 
Strip.  The Damascus channel must be reopened.  This must be done in 
parallel with the Ramallah channel, not instead of it. 
 
II.  QThe Moment of Decision Nears 
 
Ha'aretz editorialized (2/7):. QIn his speech at the Herzliya 
Conference, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he thought 
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians would be resumed in 
the coming weeks under American mediation. U.S. Secretary of State 
Hillary Clinton said over the weekend that the focus of the talks 
would be the 1967 borders, with territory swaps.... Clinton's 
statement makes it clear that Netanyahu's grace period is nearing an 
end. Instead of senselessly courting the right, he should take a 
courageous stand and state clearly to his political partners that a 
withdrawal from the territories and the evacuation of the 
settlements are what is needed. Otherwise Defense Minister Ehud 
Barak's warning that without partition Israel will become a 
binational apartheid state will become a reality. 
 
 
III.  QThe Extremists Set the Tone for Hamas 
 
Veteran journalist and television anchor Dan Margalit wrote in the 
independent Israel Hayom (2/7):  QHamas apologized in response to 
the Goldstone report for the Israeli civilian casualties it caused 
in the years it fired Qassam rockets on the Gaza periphery 
communities.  That was a wise response since Richard Goldstone, in 
an attempt to retain a smidgen of decency in the report his 
commission wrote, threw in a few crumbs of criticism for the 
Palestinians as well.... Hamas, which retracted its nominal apology, 
has encumbered its demand that the siege on the Gaza Strip be eased. 
 While there is no practical significance to HamasQs apology and its 
subsequent retraction, it is nevertheless indicative of the 
processes in place within the Hamas leadership -- mainly in Damascus 
-- in which the extremists appear to have gained the upper hand. 
This development perhaps also sheds light on the reasons for Hamas 
unyielding position on Gilad ShalitQs release. 
 
IV.  QWords, Words, Words 
 
Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in the independent, 
left-leaning Ha'aretz (2/8): QAs for a sober assessment of the 
Israeli-Syrian situation, by all indications the Syrians continue to 
be deterred from attacking Israel by their appreciation of Israel's 
military capability and the response they can expect to aggression 
on their part.  Over the years they have amassed a large arsenal of 
ballistic missiles hoping to deter Israel from taking military 
action against Syria.  This Syrian deterrent has been effective 
enough to keep Israel from calling Syria to account for its support 
for Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.  So far. 
 
¶V.  QSalam Fayyad Cannot Deliver 
 
The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global Research in 
International Affairs Center, columnist Barry Rubin, wrote in the 
conservative, independent Jerusalem Post (2/8): QWhile [Defense 
Minister Ehud] Barak said [at the Herzliya Conference] that regional 
instability made it harder to give the Palestinians everything they 
wanted (the PA could be overthrown by Hamas, subverted by Iran and 
Syria, unwilling or unable to stop cross-border attacks), Fayyad 
responded that once Israel left, the region would become more stable 
and peaceful. ThatQs a rather questionable assertion.... [A 
particularly inciting] sermon delivered by the imam whom Fayyad 
appointed in Nablus was] meant to shape Palestinian politics and 
public opinion; what Fayyad says is meant to shape Israeli and 
Western politics and public opinion.  Fayyad believes what he said 
but, as a figurehead, also knows that he isnQt going to change the 
dominant Palestinian view or even try to do so.  The audience 
applauded Fayyad because it does want peace and prefers him to all 
the worse alternatives, especially Hamas but also those in Fatah. 
Yet few have any illusions that peace is at hand or that Fayyad is 
going to deliver it. 
 
--------- 
¶2.  Iran: 
--------- 
 
Block Quotes: 
------------- 
 
QAhmadinejad -- Yes and No 
 
Columnist Boaz Bismuth, who was IsraelQs Ambassador to Mauritania 
between 2004 and 2008, wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (2/8) : 
QLast Tuesday Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared during an interview with 
Iranian state television that his country was prepared to enrich 
uranium outside its territory in exchange for nuclear fuel -- 
exactly what the world powers had suggested to the International 
Atomic Energy Agency in October.... Is it surprising that no one 
treats Ahmadinejad seriously?   Maybe this is because, one day 
earlier, the Iranian President talked about a QsurpriseQ he was 
preparing for the West -- and even a Qhard blowQ as part of February 
11, the 31st anniversary of the Iranian revolution.  Yesterday he 
threatened again.  In fact Ahmadinejad is bidding for time and 
trying to tease the West as his nuclear scientists attempt to beat 
the clock.  Within 24 hours he is able to simultaneously broadcast 
conciliation and enrich uranium as he pleases. 
 
CUNNINGHAM