Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

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P 161137Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV
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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
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HQ USAF FOR XOXX
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JOINT STAFF WASHDC FOR PA
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TAGS: OPRC KMDR IS

SUBJECT: ISRAEL MEDIA REACTION

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SUBJECTS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:
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Mideast

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Key stories in the media:
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Various media, including Israel TV and Channel 10-TV, reported that
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit the region before the

SIPDIS
Annapolis meeting. Israel Radio quoted the Kuwaiti newspaper
Al-Jarida as saying that the U.S. is considering postponing the
meeting as Arab countries are only prepared to send mid-level
representatives to the gathering. Yediot quoted a senior State
Department official as saying on Thursday that Syria and Saudi
Arabia will participate in the meeting. Ha'aretz and other media
reported that on Thursday senior Russian officials told their
Israeli counterparts that Syria will participate in the Annapolis
meeting, even with a low-level delegation. Israel Radio reported
that Israel welcomes Syria's participation in the meeting, but
insists that Syria must understand that the Palestinian issue will
be its main topic. Ha'aretz quoted Israeli sources as saying that
Russia has asked Israel to include in the joint declaration a
statement that the summit is the first step of a regional diplomatic
effort for Israel to achieve peace with its neighbors.

Ha'aretz quoted Palestinian sources as saying that Saudi Arabia is
furious that Israel is not willing to mention in Annapolis'
concluding remarks the Arab League peace proposal as a take-off
point toward final-agreement negotiations. Maariv reported that PM
Olmert may not let Defense Minister Ehud Barak attend the meeting.
Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that the right wing is increasing its
opposition to Annapolis.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the defense establishment has
warned against making goodwill gestures to PA Chairman [President]
Mahmoud Abbas ahead of Annapolis. The Jerusalem Post also added that
Shin Bet officials have warned that Abbas might be tempted to "blow
up" the meeting under the pretext that Israel was not making enough
concessions. Maariv cited Israel's concern that the US may demand
that Israel release 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the Annapolis
meeting.

Makor Rishon-Hatzofe reported that PM Ehud Olmert is considering
reopening the Orient House in East Jerusalem. The house was home
to the PLO during the 1990's and was closed by Israel at the start
of the second Intifada.

PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat was quoted as saying in an interview with
The Jerusalem Post that he rejects PM Olmert's call for an explicit
Palestinian recognition as the "Jewish state," saying he was baffled
as to why Olmert wanted to "poke us in the eye" over the issue.

Maariv reported that Israel and Syria have officially designated
Turkey to mediate between them.

Major media quoted the International Atomic Energy Agency as saying
on Thursday that information about Iran's nuclear program is
diminishing. Israel Radio reported that the U.S. has subsequently
prodded the UN Security Council members to apply stronger sanctions
on Iran. Yediot stressed the IAEA's declaration that Iran is
cooperating with the agency. Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor
Lieberman was quoted as saying in an in an interview with The
Jerusalem Post that the "unacceptable" IAEA report is further proof
that IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei is pro-Iranian. Makor
Rishon-Hatzofe quoted Israeli diplomatic and military sources as
saying on Thursday that Israel is bracing itself for the possibility
of Iran turning nuclear.

Leading media reported that at the "Jerusalem Forum" held in
Istanbul on Thursday, Hamas spokespersons warned Chairman Abbas not
to concede anything in Jerusalem at Annapolis. Raed Salah, the
leader of the northern branch of Israel's Islamic movement, said at
the gathering that that all refugees will return to Jaffa and the
Galilee.

Ha'aretz and Yediot quoted a senior aide to Britain's Prince Charles
as saying that there is "no chance" the prince would ever visit
Israel as such a visit would boost Israel's image.

Ha'aretz and other media reported that on Thursday IDF troops opened
fire on a car carrying Qassam rocket launchers in the northern Gaza
Strip, killing two and injuring five. Yediot and other media
reported that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz has required the
Israeli defense establishment to warn the PA two weeks in advance of
disruptions of the power supply to Gaza.

The Jerusalem Post reported that on Thursday the northern West Bank
outposts of Harhivi and Shvut Ami were evacuated without
resistance.

Maariv reported that the construction of the West Bank security
fence was stalled following the cancellation of a debate at the
Prime Minister Office on Thursday.

Yediot quoted former PM Ariel Sharon's top advisor Dov Weisglass as
saying in his testimony to the Winograd Commission that Sharon would
not have started a war in July 2006.

All media reported that on Thursday a farmer from the Sharon area
was critically wounded when he was stabbed by unknown assailants in
a field. Media reported that police arrested Palestinian and
Israeli-Arab suspects, and that the attack could have been carried
out because of nationalistic or criminal motives.

All media reported on the continuing conflict between Justice
Minister Daniel Friedmann and the High Court of Justice. Ha'aretz
reported that Friedmann is drafting a bill that would limit the High
Court's ability to rule on matters of government and defense policy.
Leading media reported that the entire Labor Party stands behind
the High Court.

Yediot and Maariv led with the ongoing crisis in the educational
system and giant demonstration that is planned for Rabin Square in
Tel Aviv on Saturday night. Yediot bannered an open letter by PM
Ehud Olmert to the teachers, which contains promises of monetary
compensation. Israel Radio reported that an agreement with the
secondary school teachers' union may be signed today in Olmert's
office.

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Mideast:
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Summary:
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Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz: "Olmert's diplomatic target is a 'shelf
agreement' in which the Palestinians will be coerced to sign an
agreement."

Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in Ha'aretz:
"People who have spoken with [Avigdor] Lieberman, the Minister of
Strategic Affairs, during the last few days got the impression that
he is taking most of the credit for transforming Annapolis from a
formative event in the history of the Middle East to a
'get-together' lasting just a few hours."

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz:
"We exist, and we are a Jewish state. The Arab countries that
attacked after Israel's Declaration of Independence did do because
it was a Jewish state. We made peace with Egypt and Jordan in spite
of being a Jewish state."

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post: "Israel committed a strategic error in
not requiring that Palestinians to recognize Israel as the 'Jewish
state' at the very start of the attempts at peace making almost 20
years ago."

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

I. "The Science of Hope"

Diplomatic correspondent Aluf Benn wrote in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/16): "Olmert's diplomatic target is a
'shelf agreement' in which the Palestinians will be coerced to sign
an agreement against their will: Israel as the state of the Jewish
people and Palestine as the state of the Palestinian people. The
agreement will present a model for the resolution of the conflict
and will be endorsed by the UN Security Council....The
implementation of the agreement will be postponed -- maybe for many
years, until the Palestinian Authority recovers and presents a
proper system of government and defense. Until then the situation
in the West Bank will continue, with the IDF and the settlers, but
nobody will be able to claim that Israel; is an occupier, a
land-grabber, and a snatcher of Palestinian rights: Israel has
agreed to withdraw from the territories and is only waiting for the
Palestinians to pull through."

II. "Assassinating Annapolis"

Political parties correspondent Yossi Verter wrote in Ha'aretz
(11/16): "Paradoxically, for [cabinet ministers Avigdor Lieberman
from Yisrael Beiteinu and Eli Yishai from Shas], the 'Annapolis
declaration' will be a double blessing: It will leave them in their
cabinet seats, with all the goodies that go with that, and will also
allow them to boast to their voters about their targeted
assassination of the summit -- to which, by the time of this
writing, official invitations had yet to be issued. (The joke
making the rounds in right-wing circles these days is: 'Why haven't
invitations been issued for the summit yet? Because you send out
wedding invitations two months ahead of time, but invites to a
funeral only go out the day before.') People who have spoken with
Lieberman during the last few days got the impression that he is
taking most of the credit for transforming Annapolis from a
formative event in the history of the Middle East to a
'get-together' lasting just a few hours."

III. "A Stupid Demand"

Senior columnist and longtime dove Yoel Marcus wrote in Ha'aretz
(11/16): "Neither side wants to be blamed for the failure of the
summit, which is shaping up as a kind of multi-delegation, global
conference orchestrated by the President of the United States. And
then we wake up one morning to the announcement by the Palestinian
Authority's chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who says the PA is
planning to recognize Israel's right to exist (well, thank you, Mr.
Erekat), 'but will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state.' You
read that statement over and over, and try not to explode.
Especially at our stupidity at even making the demand that they
recognize for us our Jewishness.... The ever-present threat against
the very fact of Israel's existence is what has caused, or at least
encouraged, the expansion into the territories by tens of thousands
of settlers. It is this threat that eggs on the Jewish extremists
and has turned this country, which has longed so much to live in
peace, into a country of occupiers. We exist, and we are a Jewish
state. The Arab countries that attacked after Israel's Declaration
of Independence did do because it was a Jewish state. We made peace
with Egypt and Jordan in spite of being a Jewish state. If there is
anyone who needs recognition, it's the Palestinians."

IV. "The 'Jewish Israel' Genie"

Editor-in-Chief David Horovitz wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (11/16): "As Annapolis looms closer, with
even its scaled down joint statement of principles still anything
but finalized, Olmert is said to be confident that the 'Jewish
Israel' genie he chose to let loose will yet be satisfactorily
addressed there. That confidence is not shared by the Israeli
negotiating team that is attempting to formulate a mutually
acceptable text for the Palestinians. But [Palestinian negotiator
Saeb] Erekat ... also reckoned it would not derail resumption of the
negotiating process.... Israel committed a strategic error in not
requiring that Palestinians to recognize Israel as the 'Jewish
state' at the very start of the attempts at peace making almost 20
years ago. Postponement of that moment of fundamental reckoning has
only spilled bloodshed and the development of the false sense on the
Palestinian side that it can yet be subverted."

JONES

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