Cablegate: Israel Media Reaction

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STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD

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JERUSALEM ALSO ICD
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PARIS ALSO FOR POL
ROME FOR MFO

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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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All media reported that yesterday settler leaders threatened to ban
IDF civil administration inspectors from their communities as they
prepared to tell PM Benjamin Netanyahu in a face-to-face meeting
this week that they will ignore his 10-month moratorium on new
construction in their communities. The Jerusalem Post reported that
the Yesha Council of Jewish Settlements in the Territories declared
that the moratorium is "illegitimate, immoral, inhuman, and
anti-Zionist." The Jerusalem Post reported that an official from
the Prime Minister's Office refused to respond to that statement.
The purpose of the meeting, the official said, was for Netanyahu to
hear the concerns, complaints and frustrations of the settlement
leaders with respect to the moratorium. He is expected to explain
his decision to freeze all new settlement projects that have not yet
broken ground. Netanyahu, however, had agreed that settlers can
complete 3,000 housing units whose construction had already begun.
The official said Netanyahu would articulate the "high regard in
which he holds the settlement community." The Jerusalem Post
reported that yesterday the conservative Legal Forum for the Land of
Israel asked the High Court of Justice to stop the moratorium until
the Government votes in the matter. Israel Radio quoted Likud
cabinet minister Benny Begin as saying that settlement construction
will resume in force after the end of the freeze.

HaQaretz reported that European Union foreign ministers are expected
to officially call next week for the division of Jerusalem, to serve
as the capitals of both Israel and Palestine. The newspaper cites a
draft document authored by the current holder of the rotating E.U.
presidency, Sweden, which implies that the E.U. would recognize a
unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood. HaQaretz reported
that Jerusalem is waging a diplomatic campaign to keep the E.U. from
issuing such an endorsement, but cited the belief of diplomats close
to the E.U. deliberations that it is virtually inevitable. The
Jerusalem Post quoted U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as saying,
in a message to mark yesterdayQs annual International Day of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People that Palestinian statehood
is a "vital" component necessary for regional peace. Palestinian
officials were expected to use the platform to ask the Security
Council to declare a Palestinian state along 1967 borders, with east
Jerusalem as the state's capital, according to reports published in
recent weeks. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel officials as saying
that IsraelQs Ambassador to the U.N., Gabriela Shalev, who is slated
to address the assembly on Tuesday, is expected to reject the
concept of a one-sided establishment of a Palestinian state,
emphasizing that the only way to achieve peace is through
negotiations. Israel Radio reported the Israeli Foreign MinistryQs
warning that the possible E.U. declaration could hamper the E.U.Qs
ability to mediate in the current peace process.

Maariv continued to cite Arab media that progress on a deal to
release Gilad Shalit is close. Leading media cite December 17 or 24
as possible dates for the swap. Yediot quoted Al Arabiya-TV as
saying that there is a difference of opinions between Israel and
Hamas regarding the release of 50 prisoners from the movementQs
military branch, as Israel refuses to free them. Israel Radio
quoted the London-based Al Hayat as saying that Israel has agreed to
release 17 prisoners from East Jerusalem. Major media quoted
Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch as saying on Sunday that it
is too early to reveal information about the prisoner exchange.

The Jerusalem Post cited figures released yesterday by the GOIQQs
central Bureau of Statistics that the number of housing starts in
the West Bank in the West Bank dropped by 27.6% in the first nine
months of 2009, compared to the same time period in 2008. In
contrast, however, the number of completed homes rose by 30% in the
first nine months of 2009, compared to the same time period in
2008.

HaQaretz reported that the Task Force to Save the Nation and the
Land, the organization that offered every soldier refusing to
evacuate a settlement, and the Kfir Brigade soldiers who publicly
demonstrated their opposition to evacuation, 1,000 shekels (a little
more than $250) for every day they spend in military prison, is a
registered non-profit organization and has a license to operate.
The group receives donations from a U.S. based group that is tax
exempt. No comment was available from the organization. The group,
established in 2003 and rising to fame during the disengagement from
Gaza, melds positions of the extreme right wing and the messianic
Hassidic Chabad sect. The group is headed by Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe,
a Chabad Hassid of the messianic stream, who lives in Kiryat Gat. In
recent years the group began offering monetary rewards to soldiers
and civilians. In response to a question by HaQaretz, regarding the
role of the registrar of NGOs not taking any action to disband the
group for operating illegally, a Justice Ministry spokesman said
that "a review of the file [of the organization] does not reveal any
documents that support this argument. We will be able to examine
this claim if information available to the person making the claim
[against the group] is given to us. Moreover, so long as there is
suspicion of illegal conduct, the authorized body to examine the
matter is the police." Like many of the extreme right-wing
organizations receiving money from U.S. supporters, the funding for
the group enjoys tax-free status. Peace groups and Palestinians
have complained to U.S. authorities, but there has been no change in
the status of the organizationQs supporting the right wing. The
bureau of DM Ehud Barak told HaQaretz that it had instructed the
legal authorities to initiate an immediate investigation into the
role of various elements that encourage soldiers to carry out
protest actions against orders.

The Jerusalem Post writes that the planned construction of the West
Bank city of Rawabi combines Palestinian entrepreneurialism and
Israeli experience.

HaQaretz quoted IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Avi Benayahu as saying
yesterday that his office is to begin drafting computer experts with
an eye toward establishing an Internet and new media department
unit. Responding to criticism of Israel's ability to face hostile
entities on the Web, Benayahu said that the new program would be
able to deal with the problem.

The Jerusalem Post reported that, Qin the face of the growing
missile threat against Israel,Q the IDF Operations Directorate has
established a new department responsible for coordinating efforts to
protect IDF bases.

NATOQs Deputy Secretary General Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero, who
visited Israel last week, was quoted as saying in an interview with
HaQaretz that his organization will not play a role in the peace
process and that Israel has a key role to play in preventing
terrorism throughout the Mediterranean.

HaQaretz reported on sharp criticism by senior Foreign Ministry
officials of the appointment by FM Avigdor Lieberman of Qparty hack
Dorit Golender as Ambassador to Russia since she has no diplomatic
experience.
All media reported that the trial of Ivan Demjanjuk, who is accused
of involvement in the murder of 27,900 Jews in the death camp of
Sobibor, opened in Munich yesterday.

Yediot reported that the immunization of all Israelis against swine
flu will start in two weeks. Maariv and other media reported that
12 patients have died over the past five days Q the number of deaths
linked to the virus has risen to 63.

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Mideast:
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I. QTerrible Blather

Senior columnist and longtime peace advocate Yoel Marcus wrote in
the independent, left-leaning Ha'aretz(12/1): Q[In his op-ed on the
Middle East last month, New York Times pundit Thomas] Friedman was
witty, as usual, but a president plummeting in the polls is not
going to go into an election year at risk of losing his Democratic
majority in Congress. Indeed, Thursday's New York Times editorial
disagreed with Friedman, a warm-hearted Jew who wants to give us a
good shake until we say we're ready. The New York Times, in
contrast, says the administration lacks initiative and
determination, and points to the failure of the President and his
advisers to revive negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
QPeacemaking takes strategic skill. But we see no sign that
President Obama and Mr. Mitchell were thinking more than one move
down the board,Q the paper said. There is no choice but to keep
trying, lest the extremists lead to another war. And so a freeze is
unacceptable. Netanyahu has not really changed. As usual, he will
do what needs to be done only when he is forced to. That is
actually what The New York Times is demanding. The maturity of
Netanyahu's leadership will be tested in his ability to implement
the construction moratorium in the territories, no matter how
QterribleQ the price is. Nothing can be worse than renewed terror
or war.

II. QU.S. and Israel: Lessons of 2009

David Makovsky, senior fellow and director of the Project on the
Middle East Peace Process at the Washington Institute, the co-author
with Dennis Ross of the new book QMyths, Illusions and Peace,Q wrote
in Ha'aretz (12/1): QThe announcement of a moratorium on building in
the settlements ends the first chapter of U.S.-Israel relations
during the Obama era. There are lessons for all.... One lesson is
that even if the Israeli opposition cannot say QyesQ to Barack
Obama, the United States has lost mainstream Israelis. A second
lesson is that caution is required in raising expectations. Abbas
cannot be less Palestinian than the U.S.... There are also lessons
for Israel. Trust at the top is indispensable. Obama and Netanyahu
will both be around for some time. Israelis have bemoaned the lack
of trust between the two. Israel believes it was ambushed on the
issue of a settlement freeze. On the one hand, Israel is correct in
claiming that the Obama administration erred by denying the verbal
understanding between the U.S. and Israel in 2003 on defining the
geographic expansion of settlements. This undermines the prospect
of future verbal understandings with the U.S. On the other hand,
trust goes both ways. Israel does not emphasize the fact that it
never implemented the West Bank understanding of 2003 that it now
declares to be key.... Indeed, there are lessons for Arabs, too.
Despite Obama's speech in Cairo, which raised expectations, the
long-standing Arab dream of the U.S. bending Israel to its will did
not materialize.... The Arab states need to contribute their share
to ensure that Netanyahu's gesture is not lost. They need to
provide Abbas with political cover and declare their unambiguous
support for peace negotiations now between Israel and the
Palestinians.

III. QHouse of Cards

Former Ambassador to the U.S., former Minister of Foreign Affairs,
and former Minister of Defense Moshe Arens wrote in Ha'aretz (12/1):
QAt this time the Palestinian state may be no more than an
impossible dream. The reality is that there are currently three
Palestinian entities -- the Kingdom of Jordan, the Hamas-ruled
enclave in Gaza, and the area of Judea and Samaria [i.e. the West
Bank] that is not in the control of Abbas, although his headquarters
is there. No law of nature prohibits the existence of three
Palestinian states at some future date, but it seems patently
unreasonable and not very likely. Freezing settlement construction
in Judea and Samaria for the next 10 months is not going to change
that. So why did Benjamin Netanyahu's government decide on the
10-month settlement freeze, which is no more than a futile gesture?
The prevailing explanation is that the Israeli government wanted to
please President Obama. Although personal relations between the
leaders of nations are not completely unimportant in international
relations, it is certainly not the first priority in conducting a
country's foreign policy. Relations between Israel and the United
States are not based on personal sympathy, but rather on common
values and strategic interests. When there are differences of
opinion between two friendly nations they are not resolved by trying
to please one or the other leader. They are certainly not resolved
through the issuance of orders by one side to the other. Israel is
a small country, but it is an independent country. Netanyahu does
not have to state, as Menachem Begin did, that we are not a banana
republic, but he does need to make that clear. That is of great
importance for U.S.-Israel relations in the years to come.

IV. QCooperation with the U.S.

Zalman Shoval, a senior Likud member and former ambassador to the
U.S., wrote in the independent Israel Hayom (12/1): QAs was
apparently agreed in advance, U.S. and Israeli spokespeople stressed
that the Israeli decision on a construction moratorium in Judea and
Samaria [i.e. the West Bank] was a unilateral step, and this was in
order to spare Washington the need to relate to the question of
whether or not this was done with the United StatesQ consent. There
may have been earlier understandings, but the importance of the
official statements in praise of the [Israeli] Government's decision
-- statements made in Washington -- is that they give the seal of
approval. Israel proposed a construction delay of half a year, the
Americans demanded a year, and the compromise was ten months.... The
avowed aspiration of the U.S. administration is to reach a permanent
status arrangement within a set period of time. In the meantime, it
seems it will focus on an attempt to launch talks at relatively low
levels between the sides, with its Qfacilitation.Q It's hard to
believe that this goal, i.e. reaching a permanent status
arrangement, will be reached in the foreseeable future. After all,
there is no practical possibility of bridging between Israel's
positions and those of the Arabs on the core issues, i.e. refugees,
Jerusalem, and settlements. The proof of that is that the
Palestinians flatly rejected even the most far-reaching proposals of
the Olmert government on the matter. In fact, the famous moderation
of the QmoderatesQ among the Palestinians is only to a degree, and
does not even include recognition of the right of the Jewish people
to a state of their own. That said, Israel does not want and should
not stand in America's way when it claims that perhaps it is
possible to reach positive results.... Our target audience at the
moment is not Ramallah but, rather, Washington. We should also
remember that the U.S., under Obama, and Israel under Netanyahu,
have unprecedented cooperation on security matters. With the clock
hands of the Iranian nuclear threat ticking quickly ahead, anyone
who criticizes the Prime Minister's latest decision and anyone who
has harsh criticism, sometimes overly harsh, of the U.S.
E
administration, should also take this fact into account.

V. QThe Gilad Shalit Deal

Former Meretz leader, former Justice Minister, and chief Israeli
promoter of the Geneva Initiative, Yossi Beilin, wrote in Israel
Hayom (12/1): QGilad Shalit will not be the last abducted Israeli --
not only because his very release will increase the appetite to
kidnap others. As long as there is no peace between us and the
Palestinians, there will be violent occurrences in this area ,
including abductions.... It would be better to make every possible
effort to resolve the conflict and understand that until then we
will need to waver in dilemmas of the Shalit affair type.

VI. QIn defense of Barack Obama

Lenny Ben-David, who served as a senior diplomat in the Israeli
Embassy in Washington and a member of AIPACQs staff in Washington
and Jerusalem from 1992 to 1997, wrote in the conservative,
independent Jerusalem Post (12/1): QThe Obama administration
certainly has committed its share of questionable activities, such
as ignoring George W. Bush's assurances on Israeli population
centers in the West Bank, being over-confident in the ability of
Palestinian security forces, attempting to appointment Chas Freeman
to a high intelligence post, and abysmally executing its campaign
against Israeli settlements and building in Jerusalem. Perhaps the
biggest mistake of all, however, was the advice given by Obama
advisors that the rules of tikkun olam [a Hebrew phrase meaning:
mending the world] have a place in the compassionless Middle East.
The diplomatic failures led the New York Times editorial board to
conclude on November 28, QWe don't know exactly what happened but we
are told that Mr. Obama relied more on the judgment of his political
advisers -- specifically his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel -- than of
his Mideast specialists.Q Misguided, perhaps. But to declare the
Obama administration to be anti-Semitic is just wrong. Let's keep
the debate in the area of policy. Unfortunately, there'll be no
shortage of topics to discuss.

MORENO

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