Cablegate: Jerusalem Media Reaction (12/11): Additional Funds For

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OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHJM #2256/01 3451324
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111324Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6962
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC//DAS-ZD/DACS-ZK//
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
RHMFIUU/CMC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CNO WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7989
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4956
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 4806
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6294
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 4725
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3329

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 JERUSALEM 002256

SIPDIS

STATE PASS BBG
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC
CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD

JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD
LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU
PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS

SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (12/11): Additional Funds For
West Bank Settlements Dominates Palestinian Media

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Main Stories:
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Settlements
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The main story in all three dailies is Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu announcing yesterday that he will allocate an additional
$28 million to support settlements in the West Bank. The dailies
quote Ahmad Qurei, member of the PLO Central Committee, reiterating
that the proposed additional allocation undermines efforts of the
international community to revive the peace process. Saeb Erekat,
PLO Chief Negotiator, noted that Netanyahu's announcement of
allocating additional funds for the West Bank settlements proves
that the moratorium is only a trick to deceive the U.S.
administration.

Independent daily Al-Quds runs a headline citing the Israeli
grassroots Peace Now Movement that 3,492 settlement units will be
established during the moratorium.

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Prisoner Swap
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Palestinian Authority (PA) official daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports
that, according to well-informed Palestinian sources, agreement on
the Israeli-Hamas prisoner swap is stuck on five controversial
issues:
- Israel's refusal to release 10 senior leaders, including
Barghouti;
- Israel's refusal to release five female prisoners, accused of
killing Israeli soldiers;
- Israel's refusal to ease its siege on Gaza;
- The length of time released prisoners would be required to remain
outside of West Bank and/or Gaza following release; and,
- Israel's refusal to guarantee that it will not re-arrest or
assassinate any of the released prisoners if they remain in the West
Bank and Gaza.

--------------------------------------------- --
UNRWA Commissioner General Visits Sheikh Jarrah
--------------------------------------------- --

Dailies report that Karen AbuZayd, Commissioner General of the U.N.
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
(UNRWA), conducted her last official visit as the head of the relief
agency, to Palestinian families evicted from their homes in the East
Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. AbuZayd expressed her
sorrow for Israeli actions in East Jerusalem. Ma'an reports that
Israeli police gave AbuZayd five minutes to leave the home of
Al-Kurd family during the visit.

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Nobel Prize Ceremony

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All three dailies include coverage of President Obama's speech
during the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. Al Ayyam is the only daily
that carries it as a front page story (below the fold). Al-Quds
runs photos and an article on its back page. The article
entitled,"Obama Humbly Accepts Nobel Prize and Recognizes the Debate
About His Selection" summarizes the main points of the speech.

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National Reconciliation
------------------------

Dailies and Ma'an report that according to the head of the
Palestinian Reconciliation Committee, Iyad As-Serraj, talks between
Hamas and Fatah could resume within days if both parties agree to a
bilateral meeting.

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BLOCK QUOTES:
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Ali Badwan, writing in Al-Quds under the title "Palestinians and
d
Future Choices" opines that President Abbas' announcement not to run
in the next elections proves that attempts to achieve a political
solution to the problems in the Middle East, the Palestinian
-Israeli conflict in particular, have reached a dead end.

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Palestinian Cyberspace:
-----------------------

The main issues being discussed in Palestinian social media are the
EU Statement and original Swedish proposal and settler activities;
attention to prisoner swap news decreased.

EU Statement: Palestinian bloggers did not explicitly attack or
praise the EU Statement and the original Swedish draft; rather they
focused on the positive outcomes of the final statement. In an
interview on bitterlemons.com, which was later posted on Ma'an,
Mahdi Abdul Hadi, head of the Palestinian Academic Society for the
Study of International Affairs (PASSIA) in Jerusalem characterized
the Swedish draft as: "...a wake-up call from Sweden to the rest of
the European community about the status of Jerusalem today."
http://maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=2 45061

An Op-ed by Hasan Abu Nimh, former permanent representative of
Jordan to the United Nations, entitled "Another EU Policy Statement
Will Not Stop Israel's Colonization" was also widely circulated.
(The op-ed was originally published in The Jordan Times and
published on the blog with the author's permission.)
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10934 .shtml

And, an op-ed by Ghassan Al-Khatib, Director of the Government Media
Center, was popular among Palestinian Twitters:
http://www.bitterlemons.org/issue/pal1.php.

Settler activities: Palestinian Twitters circulated several
articles and videos focusing on settler activities in West Bank.
Al-Jazeera's online English site reported on Palestinian houses
seized by settlers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGxF9eGzsfw.

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Another link showed settler attacks on Palestinian properties in
Nablus: http://palsolidarity.org/2009/12/9605.

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Cartoons of the Week:
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To view our weekly cartoons of the week please see the links below.

EU Statement: The cartoon on this link appeared in the PA official
daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida December 9, the day after the EU adopted
its statement on Jerusalem. The stars in the official EU emblem
have been replaced with the emblematic Jewish Star of David to
illustrate Israel's influence on the EU and its statement.
Click to see cartoon

Noble Peace Prize: The cartoon on this link was published in
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida today, following yesterday's Nobel Peace Prize
ceremony. It is placed under the headline, "Obama Receives Nobel
Peace Prize and Defends Just War."
Click to see cartoon

Human Rights Day and Nobel Prize: The cartoon on this link appeared
in independent daily Al-Quds today. It shows two Palestinian
children asking their mother questions on the occasion of
International Human Rights Day and following the Nobel Peace Prize
ceremony. The child to the left asks, "Where are our [Palestinian]
rights?" While the second child asks, "Where is peace? Click to
see cartoon

AF/PAK cyberspace reaction: The cartoon on this link, drawn by
Brazilian leftist cartoonist Carlos Latuff, was posted on the
influential (popular) Palestine Think Tank site and has since been
circulated by Palestinian social media. Click to see cartoon

RUBINSTEIN

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