Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 TEL AVIV 005197

SIPDIS

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
USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL FOR POLAD/USIA ADVISOR
COMSOCEUR VAIHINGEN GE FOR PAO/POLAD
COMSIXTHFLT FOR 019

JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD
LONDON ALSO FOR HKANONA AND POL
PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IS KMDR MEDIA REACTION REPORT
SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

--------------------------------
SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
--------------------------------

1. Gaza and Northern West Bank Disengagement

2. Mubarak Presidential Campaign

3. Iraq

-------------------------
Key stories in the media:
-------------------------

All media reported that the evacuation of Netzarim on
Monday concluded the departure of all Gaza settlers.

At noon local time today, the electronic media were
reporting on progress in the evacuation of the West
Bank settlements of Homesh and Sa-Nur by security
forces. Maariv had cited the security forces' concern
that Homesh would present the greater amount of
resistance. Yediot quoted IDF Chief of Staff Dan
Halutz as saying that anybody who opens fire will be
neutralized immediately. The media quoted spokesmen
for the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlers in the
Territories and other right-wing leaders as saying that
the idea that armed disengagement opponents are holed
up in those settlements is a fabrication. Maariv
reported that September 8 has been set as the date of
the final withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Yediot, Jerusalem Post and Israel Radio quoted
President Bush as saying Monday before the National
Convention of Veterans of Foreign Wars, in Salt Lake
City: "This past week, Prime Minister Sharon and the
Israeli people took a courageous and painful step by
beginning to remove settlements in Gaza and parts of
the northern West Bank. The Israeli disengagement is an
historic step that reflects the bold leadership of
Prime Minister Sharon." The President was also quoted
as saying: "We remain fully committed to defending the
security and well-being of our friend and ally, Israel,
and we demand an end to terrorism and violence in every
form, because we know that progress toward peace
depends on an end to terror." Yediot quoted Bush as
saying: "We're helping the Palestinians to prepare for
self-government." Yaron Dekel, the radio's Washington
correspondent, notes that Bush made a connection
between the new Iraq and Israel/Palestine. Jerusalem
Post and Israel Radio reported that Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has invited Vice PM and Finance
Minister Ehud Olmert to visit her during his upcoming
U.S. trip.

Yediot, Jerusalem Post, and Israel Radio reported that
PA Chairman [President] Mahmoud Abbas called Sharon
Monday night to praise him for what he called a
"courageous" and "historic" decision, and congratulated
him for carrying out the disengagement plan. The media
reported that the two leaders have decided to meet.
Jerusalem Post reported that PA Civilian Affairs
Minister Muhammad Dahlan warned on Monday that "new
violence" would erupt if Israel fails to relinquish
control over the border crossings into the Gaza Strip.

Jerusalem Post reported that a senior GOI official told
the newspaper that Israel is likely to begin
dismantling unauthorized settlements in the West Bank
within 90 days of the evacuation of the northern West
Bank settlements. The official was quoted as saying
that the evacuation of the Gaza settlements has
"changed the rules of the game." However, Israel Radio
quoted a senior official at Sharon's bureau as saying
that the disengagement, and not the dismantling of
settler outposts, is presently on the agenda.

Ha'aretz quoted Brig. Gen Yossi Kuperwasser, the
director of IDF Intelligence's Research Department, as
saying on Monday before the Knesset's Foreign Affairs
and Defense Committee that the Palestinian terrorist
organizations would try to increase their members'
motivation by attacking soldiers after the settlers
leave the Gaza Strip. This morning, Israel Radio
reported that IDF troops were fired at near Jenin.
There were no casualties among the soldiers.

Leading media reported on conciliatory talks
Palestinian PM Ahmed Qurei held Monday with leaders of
"rejectionist" Palestinian organizations in Damascus.
Jerusalem Post reported that Hamas and Islamic Jihad
announced Monday that they have reached an agreement
with the PA according to which the two groups will not
be disarmed.

Israel Radio cited the Council for World Jewry as
saying that Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has
accepted an invitation from the organization to deliver
an address.
Maariv quoted Sharon associates as saying that the PM
is considering quitting the Likud and establishing a
new Center/Right party.

Yediot and Maariv reported that news web sites in
Russia and Russian-language web sites in Israel spread
false reports of Sharon's death.

Maariv reported that the United Nations Development
Program financed banners bearing the UN emblem, which
were displayed in Gaza Strip streets, and which read:
"Today Gaza, Tomorrow Jerusalem and the West Bank."
The newspaper says that the signs angered the Foreign
Ministry and international Jewish organizations.

Ha'aretz reported that the Greek Orthodox Church in
Jerusalem elected Theophilos III as a new patriarch on
Monday, replacing Irineos I, who was dismissed over an
alleged land deal with Jews in East Jerusalem that
angered Palestinians and sparked a church crisis.

Under the headline "The First Bedouin Diplomat," Maariv
reported that Ismail Khaldi, an Israeli Bedouin, who
completed the Foreign Ministry's cadet course this
week, explained the disengagement on Abu Dhabi-TV.

Channel 10-TV presented the results of a New Wave poll,
which shows a trend reversal among registered Likud
voters:
-"If elections for Likud chairmanship were to take
place today, for whom would you vote?" Ariel Sharon:
35.6 percent; Binyamin Netanyahu: 28.3 percent.
Maariv and Jerusalem Post also printed the poll's
results.

--------------------------------------------- -
1. Gaza and Northern West Bank Disengagement:
--------------------------------------------- -

Summary:
--------

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz: "The political
formula accepted in recent years, in the plans laid out
by Presidents Clinton and Bush, teach us that the
'facts on the ground' are a function of the number of
settlers."

Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized:
"[Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's] remarks send
the wrong message. America needs to stands firm, and
publicly so, on Abbas's road map obligations to
dismantle the terrorist infrastructure."

Ha'aretz editorialized: "Israel explicitly committed
itself to dismantling 24 outposts immediately after the
disengagement.... The undertaking was given to U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, without any

SIPDIS
connection to the road map."

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv: "Some Israelis can't stand the tears
of joy shared by soldiers, policemen, and settlers."

Correspondent Yakov Shaus wrote in conservative,
Russian-language daily Vesty: "Although the majority of
Israelis support Ariel Sharon's [initiative], the
demolition of settlements is a serious drama for
them.... But some ... media feel happy about it -- and
this is an obvious sign of a split in Israeli society."

Block Quotes:
-------------

I. "A Dream Undone"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote on page one of
independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz (August 23): "With
hindsight, the settlement movement in Gaza seems the
futile delusion of 'a planner whose computer got
unplugged in the middle,' as one senior source put
it.... Sharon ... is correct when he speaks sadly about
the shattering of the dream, and says that had the
Jewish people settled a million settlers in the
territories, instead of just a quarter of a million,
things would have been different. The political
formula accepted in recent years, in the plans laid out
by Presidents Clinton and Bush, teach us that the
'facts on the ground' are a function of the number of
settlers. That's the factor that will determine what
will remain and what will go. International law sees no
distinction between Netzarim and Gush Katif, which were
destroyed, and a thriving city like Ma'aleh Adumim or
the Ramot neighborhood in Jerusalem."

II. "Spotlight on Abbas"

Conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized
(August 23): "Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
handed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas a rare
opportunity. He shouldn't blow it.... If Abbas
succeeds in building, in his words, a 'civilized'
Palestinian society, he will find many partners willing
to help.... The U.S., Europe and Israel will be happy
to support a forward-looking Gazan entity.... Rather
than seeking to out-Hamas Hamas, it is imperative that
Abbas, for the wellbeing of his own regime as well as
the chance of moving forward in an accommodation with
Israel, dismantle the various Islamic terrorist
apparatuses and those that operate under his own Fatah
umbrella. The basic international demands of the PA
have been repeated ad nauseam.... Meanwhile, Sharon is
accurately gauging the mood in Israel when he promises
that there will be no 'second disengagement' and that
"consensus" settlements ought to be nurtured. U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has unfortunately

SIPDIS
chosen to stir the pot on this sensitive topic, telling
The New York Times that she expected Israel to make
additional West Bank concessions while paying mere lip-
service to what America expected from Abbas. Her
remarks send the wrong message. America needs to
stands firm, and publicly so, on Abbas's road map
obligations to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure.
The onus is on Abbas to show his people how to make
constructive use of the opportunity presented to them,
at so painful a price, by Sharon."

III. "Time to Disengage From the Outposts"

Ha'aretz editorialized (August 23): "The results of the
evacuation of [the northern West Bank settlements of]
Sa-Nur and Homesh are a forgone conclusion.... At least
another 24 additional illegal outposts deserve to be
evacuated in the same manner. We are referring to some
of the illegal outposts that attorney Talia Sasson
mentioned in the report she presented to the government
in March.... Israel explicitly committed itself to
dismantling 24 outposts immediately after the
disengagement -- ones that were put up during Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's term of office. The
undertaking was given to U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, without any connection to the road
map, and it is in Israel's interest to uphold it....
The illegal outposts are like magnets for the most
negative elements among religious Zionism, and there is
no reason to allow them to continue organizing
themselves and to burgeon.... The Prime Minister has
the right to decide on the next pullout, and he has no
reasons or political constraints forcing him to
dillydally."

IV. "Warmongers"

Senior columnist Dan Margalit wrote in popular,
pluralist Maariv (August 23): "Some Israelis can't
stand the tears of joy shared by soldiers, policemen,
and settlers.... When they see an Israeli being
uprooted from his home, they immediately remember the
bitter fate of Palestinian refugees in 1948. They had
a scenario, in which they envisioned that the settlers
would infringe the rule of law, disintegrate democracy,
attack soldiers and policemen with fists and sticks,
perhaps even with machine-guns. But this didn't take
place. How bad.... Ahead of the struggle over Sa-Nur
today, [Ha'aretz] feared it would end with moderation,
restraint, and responsibility.... Thus, [the newspaper
editorialized on August 21]: 'In the coming conflict
between the army and police and hundreds or thousands
of zealots, there is no room for restraint or
forbearance.' Why isn't there room for this?.... Why
conquer the target forcibly when this can be done
reasonably?"

V. "Evacuation Is No Reason For Fraternizing With
Terrorists"

Correspondent Yakov Shaus wrote in conservative,
Russian-language daily Vesty (August 22): "Although the
majority of Israelis support Ariel Sharon's
[initiative], the demolition of settlements is a
serious drama for them. Even if this decision was
necessary because of the previous mistakes of the
[Israeli government's] settlement policy, the scenes of
clashes between soldiers and women and children are
bound to traumatize people's hearts and consciences for
a long time. But some ... media feel happy about it --
and this is an obvious sign of a split in Israeli
society. This split is caused by different attitudes
towards the disengagement.... After the unilateral
disengagement is completed, [the left-wingers] would
demand ... fraternity with the Palestinians. The right-
wing opposition is ... waiting for the Labor party to
withdraw from the government in order to take revenge
of Sharon's 'capitulation.'"

----------------------------------
2. Mubarak Presidential Campaign:
----------------------------------

Summary:
--------

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post: " Has the moment come when change is
unavoidable? No, not during Mubarak's reign, at
least."

Block Quotes:
-------------

"Mr. Mubarak Goes to the Polls"

The Director of the Interdisciplinary Center's Global
Research in International Affairs Center, columnist
Barry Rubin, wrote in conservative, independent
Jerusalem Post (August 23): "Mubarak can ... take real
credit for Egypt's performance under his rule. Things
could have been a lot worse, as Syria (more repressive,
imperialist in Lebanon), Iran (Islamist regime),
Algeria (disastrous civil war), and Iraq (foreign
aggression and a bloodthirsty tyrant) have shown. The
majority of people in Egypt seem to understand this
fact, which is why they are not so eager to support
either Islamist or democratic alternatives. Has the
moment come when change is unavoidable? No, not during
Mubarak's reign, at least. As for the future, he has
not named a successor. The door has been left open for
his son, Gamal, who now poses as a reformer himself.
Yet Mubarak seems to understand how controversial, and
potentially destabilizing, such a decision would be and
has not come close to indicating that a family
succession is his plan. There are plenty of ex-
generals who have served as cabinet ministers, or
governors who could be candidates when the real
election -- just before or after Mubarak's death --
takes place."

---------
3. Iraq:
---------

Summary:
--------

Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri
wrote in conservative, independent Jerusalem Post:
"There is no way of putting Humpty-Dumpty together
again.... It would be advisable to think outside the
box and realize that Iraq is not a country anymore."

Block Quotes:
-------------

"Iraq Is Not a State Anymore"

Hebrew University Professor of Political Science and
former Foreign Ministry director-general Shlomo Avineri
wrote in conservative, independent Jerusalem Post
(August 23): "There is no way of putting Humpty-Dumpty
together again. The Kurds and the Shi'ites will go
their separate ways, and both entities have the
paramilitary capability to do so. There is no Iraqi
army capable of maintaining the unity of the country.
And, just as in the former Yugoslavia, the separate
countries -- Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia -- have a better
chance of creating coherent and democratic systems than
the old coercive Yugoslavia, the same may apply to
Iraq.... The U.S. will obviously have to change its
policy over Iraq -- maybe this is what President George
W. Bush is devoting his vacation to. It would be
advisable to think outside the box and realize that
Iraq is not a country anymore. This is not the end of
the world, but it calls for courageous and creative
thinking about alternatives."

KURTZER

© Scoop Media