Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

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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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Over the weekend all media cited declarations by senior Palestinian
officials that they might unilaterally seek support of the
international community for an independent state. PM Benjamin
NetanyahuQs response dominated the headlines. Senior PA negotiator
Saeb Erekat was quoted as saying in an interview published on
Saturday by the Palestinian Al-Ayyam newspaper that the PA was
considering asking the U.N. Security Council to recognize the
existence of a Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines, with tits
capital in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu said yesterday at the Saban
Forum in Jerusalem: "Any unilateral path will only unravel the
framework of agreements between us and will only bring unilateral
steps from Israel's side." There is no substitute for negotiations
between Israel and the PA, Netanyahu said. "What is needed to start
moving forward is to begin negotiations immediately," Netanyahu
added, and "to start off with a good spirit, one might say with a
generous spirit. I am talking about our side, and that is what I
also told [U.S. President Barack] Obama." Israel Radio reported
that the PA has dismissed IsraelQs response to its plan. The radio
quoted senior PA official Yasser Abed Rabbo as saying that the
Palestinians do not want to proclaim independence, but to determine
their border as the pre-1967 one. Major media quoted FM Avigdor
Lieberman as saying on Saturday that a return to the pre-1967 lines,
with a Palestinian state in the West Bank, would bring the conflict
into IsraelQs borders. The media reported that right-wing
politicians propose annexing the settlement blocs to Israel. Israel
Radio quoted Egyptian officials as saying that a Palestinian state
can only be established when conditions are ripe.

Yesterday HaQaretz reported that last week French President Nicolas
Sarkozy offered to host an international summit in Paris to break
the deadlock in the Middle East peace process. Sarkozy first raised
the proposal in his meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
on Wednesday, then with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and
Syrian President Bashar Assad. HaQaretz said that neither Netanyahu
nor Abbas rejected the offer, though the U.S. administration's
position remains unclear.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who also attended the Saban
Forum yesterday, was quoted as saying in an interview with YediotQs
Nahum Barnea: QYou should not think that President Obama is your
enemy." Clinton was also quoted as saying that neither the
geography nor the demographics had changed since the late PM Yitzhak
Rabin signed the Oslo Accords on the White House lawn in 1993.
Clinton expressed his belief that there would have been a
comprehensive peace in the Middle East a decade ago if Rabin had not
been assassinated. Clinton also expressed optimism about the
conduct of the NetanyahuQs government toward peace.

Leading media published a White House picture of PM NetanyahuQs
latest meeting with President Obama, as the two are smiling and
chatting in the Oval Office private dining room. The photo is
supposedly meant to dispel rumors of a harsh meeting. Yesterday The
Jerusalem Post reported that State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly
and Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley for Public Affairs
pushed back against Iranian efforts to cause a schism in U.S.-Israel
relations and stressed the United StatesQ commitment to continue
pressing toward peace talks despite recent difficulties.

Yesterday HaQaretz reported that last week Brig. Gen. Avichai
Ronski, the IDFQs Chief Rabbi, told students in a pre-army yeshiva
program that soldiers who "show mercy" toward the enemy in wartime
will be "damned." Ronski also told the yeshiva students that
religious individuals made better combat troops

Yesterday HaQaretz quoted the British newspaper The Guardian as
saying on Friday that Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of
launching an "organized campaign" of lies and misinformation against
it in the wake of the organization's support of the Goldstone
Report.

All media reported that the Knesset is likely to grant final
approval today to a controversial law that would set up a biometric
database with information about every citizen of the country. The
database, which Israel Radio says does not exist anywhere else in
the world, would be used to issue "smart" identity cards. Opponents
to the proposed law cite the Qreal threatQ to Israeli welfare and
the possibility that foreign agents might have access to the
database.

HaQaretz reported that less than six months after two Galilee
communities -- Manof and Yuvalim -- proposed changing their bylaws
to make "loyalty to the Zionist vision" a condition of acceptance
into the community, a third -- Mitzpeh Aviv -- has just followed
suit.

All media reported that on Saturday some 2,0000 ultra-Orthodox men
violently demonstrated outside the Intel CorporationQs offices in
JerusalemQs Har Hotzvim industrial park to protest the companyQs
operation of its factory on the Jewish Sabbath. The protests
continued on Sunday. Media reported that Sabbath work in the plant
has been going on for 24 years. Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was
quoted as saying on Sunday: "I am a believer in the status quo and
coexistence within the capital. Intel has been working in Jerusalem
for 24 years in this current framework, and there is no change in
it." Media warned of the negative consequences of a closure of the
factory.

The Jerusalem Post and other media quoted PM Netanyahu as saying
yesterday at the cabinet meeting that France is IsraelQs preferred
broker for peace negotiations with Damascus as he rejected SyriaQs
call for Turkey to hold such talks.

The Jerusalem Post and other media reported that yesterday
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Industry, Trade, and
Labor Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer signed a renewable energy R & D
cooperation agreement.

Yesterday HaQaretz quoted IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi
as saying last week before the KnessetQs Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee that the army is willing to probe claims of wrongdoing by
its soldiers.

Yesterday Maariv reported that on Friday afternoon, five cars from
the American Consulate-General in Jerusalem arrived at the new
Gilboa (Jalame) border crossing between Israel and the northern West
Bank -- a Qborder crossing that was officially opened just last week
to motor vehicle traffic with American funding to boot.Q Passengers
in the convoy refused to identify themselves. As a result, their
entry into Israel was delayed by approximately four hours. At a
certain stage Defense Ministry and police officers were called in to
the border crossing, but despite their repeated requests, the
Americans refused to roll down their windows and claimed that that
was the arrangement with them. "What can I do?" a dismayed Israeli
police woman asked her superior officer, "the driver doesn't want to
give his ID." The Israeli security personnel, who appeared to be
unnerved by the Americans' arrogant behavior, tried to explain that
they were afraid that the drivers were not diplomats but, rather,
East Jerusalem Palestinian residents. Those efforts were made in
vain. Ultimately, the incident ended only a number of hours later,
when two security officials from the American Embassy in Tel Aviv
arrived and persuaded the people in the convoy to present their
passports as required. Maariv quoted a security official who was
involved in the incident as saying on Saturday: "There are always
provocations at the roadblocks with people from the consulate in
Jerusalem. Their cars are driven by drivers from East Jerusalem who
insist not to be inspected, despite the fact that they don't have
diplomatic immunity. We need to make sure that the people in
question are diplomats, but that can't be done through opaque black
windows." The incident resulted in the closure of the border
crossing for the entire day, which made many Israeli Arabs who
wanted to use the crossing to visit their Palestinian relatives turn
back. Maariv quoted a spokesman for the Defense Ministry as
saying: "We operate in keeping with the procedures that were set by
the Foreign Ministry and in keeping with the accepted rules in the
world with respect to the bearers of diplomatic passports." The
daily quoted an American diplomat as saying on Saturday: "There was
a misunderstanding that was resolved in the end."

Maariv cited an Iranian opposition Web site as saying yesterday that
retired Iranian general Alireza Asgari, who disappeared in Turkey in
2007, had been kidnapped by the Mossad, transferred to a third
country, and is now detained in Israel.

Yediot reported that yesterday a group of teachers from Morocco
concluded an eight-day seminar at Yad Vashem.

Israel Radio reported that President Shimon Peres is slated to meet
today in Buenos Aires with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de
Kirchner

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Mideast:
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I. QObamaQs Drama

Washington correspondent Orly Azolai wrote in the mass-circulation,
pluralist Yediot Aharonot (11/16): QThe worst moment would be when
Obama gives up and declares that there is no more hope. He tried
and failed. This would mean that the Palestinians would do one of
two things: unilaterally proclaim their state in the Q67 borders and
receive recognition Q however partial Q from the worldQs nations.
The United States nay not be the first country to do so, but it
ultimately will. The PalestiniansQ second option will be a passage
to the contingency plan dreamt up by many of them and a declaration
that the two-state solution has failed and that they are no longer
interested in it -- they will want a single state. They will to be
equal citizens in one state between the Jordan River and the
[Mediterranean] Sea. As far as Israel is concerned, this would be
the end of the Jewish State. Those who do not see where this leads
are historically and diplomatically blind. Obama is not unsighted:
a man who succeeded in being elected president after half a term in
the Senate and becoming the first Black president in U.S. history
can be farsighted. Now is his moment of truth in the Middle East.
This time Obama must produce drama.

II. QSave UN/SC Res. 242

The conservative, independent Jerusalem Post editorialized (11/16):
Q[Saeb] Erekat and [Mahmoud] Abbas are wasting time and torpedoing a
two-state solution with their intransigence.... It's clear why
Erekat wants to abandon 242. The resolution's masterfully crafted
language insists on an exchange of land for peace using the formula
Q Qwithdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in
the recent conflictQ -- that deliberately does not call for a
pullback from all territories. So rather than bargain in good faith
to build a viable accord, Erekat and Abbas are betting on an outside
imposed solution. Their way will not bring reconciliation, mutual
security and peace, but doom yet another generation of Israelis and
Palestinians to more bloodshed. Would it not be better if the
Palestinians returned to the bargaining table and the sooner the
better?

III. QNo State and a Half

Senior op-ed writer Akiva Eldar commented in the independent,
left-leaning Ha'aretz (11/16): QKadima Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz's
peace plan is a refreshing change, particularly in light of his
past, although no peace agreement will emerge from it.... What will
Israel do if Abbas announces that by a reasonable date, say,
December 31, 2010, the option of a state and a half -- Israel and
alongside it a Palestinian entity -- will go the way of the West
Bank's Qvillage leaguesQ of the 1980s [bodies staffed by Palestinian
collaborators appointed by Israel]? The question therefore is not
why Netanyahu needs Abbas and Fayyad, but why they need
Netanyahu.... Abbas' decision to end his political career brings the
end of the PA in Ramallah closer, along with Netanyahu's moment of
decision on dividing the land. While Mofaz has not given Netanyahu
the magic political formula that will bridge the gap between the
Bar-Ilan speech and Abbas' resignation speech, Mofaz took away
Netanyahu's political excuse by bypassing Kadima leader Tzipi Livni
on the left. Netanyahu can no longer hide behind the threat that
halting construction in the settlements and painful concessions will
bring down his government. If Netanyahu is serious about a
two-state solution, he has 32 partners at his disposal: the Kadima
Knesset members and the four Labor rebels who will be glad to
replace the rejectors of compromise in Likud and its partners to the
right.

IV. QA Partner in the North

Ha'aretz editorialized (11/15): QThe recipe for an agreement is
known based on the talks that six Israeli prime ministers, including
Netanyahu and Barak, have conducted with Syria over the past 18
years. It involves an Israeli withdrawal from all of the Golan
Heights in exchange for security arrangements and a normalization of
relations. Also needed is a creative solution for the dispute over
the final border. The ability of Assad and his regime to carry out
any agreement is not in question. Netanyahu must respond to the
renewed opportunity that Assad is presenting to him. Instead of
saying he is ready for negotiations Qwithout preconditionsQ but
without committing to anything, he must move all the way to a peace
agreement that will improve Israel's strategic situation. He has a
partner in Damascus.

V. QThe Usual Syrian Round

Political commentator Shalom Yerushalmi wrote in the popular,
pluralist Maariv (11/16): QFour and a half months have passed [since
French President Nicolas Sarkozy asked Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu to focus on Syria], and nothing has happened on the Syrian
front. There is no reason for anything dramatic to happen today.
Netanyahu will not withdraw from the Golan Heights, and the Syrians
will not accept a partial withdrawal, whereas the Prime Minister
cannot offer them even that. It is all or nothing. Netanyahu has
committed himself thousands of times not to withdraw from the Golan,
and he now again faces the test of credibility that is so important
to him. The right wing will crucify him for any withdrawal, the
voices of the opponents can already be heard in the government, and
the left wing will also not applaud him. In brief, there is no way
it will happen. However, indirect and non-committal talks could be
held, even if nothing comes of them. A political process has many
dividends, even if it is futile. Netanyahu can present himself as a
peace lover, and receive a bit of vital sympathy around the world.
Bashar Assad uses the talks to escape from the isolation and
sanctions. The Americans and the Quartet leaders also show that
they are achieving something. What could be wrong with that?....
Two days before the elections, Netanyahu went with his son Avner to
the Golan Heights. He planted a tree near the community of Aniam,
and promised Avner that his son would see the tree, which would take
root in the Golan under Israeli sovereignty. So what will happen
first? Will my grandchildren see our house in Damascus after full
peace reigns, or will Netanyahu's grandchildren enjoy the fruit of
the tree under conditions of ongoing conflict? I think the answer
is clear.

CUNNINGHAM

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