US embassy cable - 04TELAVIV6655

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 TEL AVIV 006655 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR NEA STAFF 
 
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 
 
 
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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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The tsunami disaster continued to dominat all major 
media.  The Israeli angle: 22 Israelis are still 
reported as missing. 
 
Jerusalem Post quotes Industry, Trade and Labor 
Minister Ehud Olmert as saying that Israel will need to 
carry out a large-scale withdrawal from the West Bank 
after the initial disengagement from the Gaza Strip. 
According to Olmert, this should happen whether or not 
there is a viable peace partner on the Palestinian 
side.  Kol Israel cited sources in PM Sharon's bureau 
as saying that they reject Olmert's talks about another 
disengagement and that the only plan that PM Sharon is 
obliged to follow is the road map. 
 
All media reported that Defense Ministry Director- 
General Amos Yaron refused to provide details on the 
rift between the defense establishment and the Pentagon 
over Israel's weapons deal with China in the Knesset 
Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meeting on 
Wednesday.  His refusal caused a storm among the 
members of the committee and some left the meeting in 
protest.  Jerusalem Post reported that China's senior 
foreign policy official, State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan, 
has told the U.S. to stay out of its Harpy drone 
aircraft deal with Israel. 
 
Ha'aretz reported that the cabinet will view the new 
fence route after the PA elections.  The paper notes 
that the route's approval might spark a conflict 
between Israel and the new Palestinian leadership as it 
penetrates deeply into the West Bank. 
 
Israel Radio this morning reported that the IDF has 
started an operation in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in 
the southern Gaza Strip in order to halt mortar and 
missile fire at settlements.  Three Palestinian 
militants were killed during the operation. 
 
Leading media reported that according to IDF figures 
released on Wednesday, 118 Israelis were killed in the 
war with the Palestinians in 2004, 445 fewer than in 
the previous year. 
 
The media reported that a new coalition is unlikely to 
be established next week due to difficulties in 
negotiations with United Torah Judaism and the Knesset 
Constitution, Law and Justice committee's ongoing 
discussions on the so-called Peres bill.  Maariv 
reported that 13 Likud members sent a letter in which 
they announced that they will not support the 
government. 
Leading media reported that according to a new law that 
was passed by the Knesset on Wednesday, anyone who 
gives money to the family of someone who committed a 
terror attack will be considered a terrorist financer 
and face a prison sentence of 7 to 10 years. 
 
Jerusalem Post reported that a group of anti- 
disengagement MKs proposed that Jews and Israelis 
abroad have the right to vote in the Israeli elections. 
 
Leading media reported that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon 
met with the IDF Brigade Commanders Forum on Wednesday. 
In the meeting the PM was told that the settlers are 
preparing for a fight during the implementation of the 
disengagement plan. 
 
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Mideast: 
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                       Summary: 
                       -------- 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in left-leaning, independent 
Ha'aretz: "The Israeli determination to disengage and 
the Palestinian readiness to change make the year 2005 
a year of rare opportunity.  In order to capitalize on 
this opportunity, however, we have to move from 
politics to diplomacy.  We must domesticate the wild 
idea of the disengagement and make it into part of an 
overall Israeli plan." 
 
Nationalist writer Uri Dan commented in popular, 
pluralist Maariv: "Suicide terrorists still stand 
waiting, willing to try and flood Israel with new waves 
of terror, and only the GSS and the IDF are stopping 
them.  Whoever believes that Abu Mazen and his gang 
will block these trends in 2005 is deluding himself and 
his people ... Eventually he will be overwhelmed by 
these waves just like in Phuket." 
 
                     Block Quotes: 
                     ------------ 
 
1. "Year of Truth" 
 
Columnist Ari Shavit wrote in left-leaning, independent 
Ha'aretz (December 30): "The two events that best 
define the outgoing year took place toward its end: On 
Tuesday, October 26, the Israeli parliament adopted the 
disengagement plan, and on Monday, November 12, the 
Palestinian people buried Yasser Arafat.  In so doing, 
within a span of 20 days or so, the face of the country 
was changed, as was the face of the Middle East.  The 
Jewish national movement decided in organized and 
democratic fashion to begin the long process of ending 
the occupation, while the Palestinian national movement 
separated in spontaneous, chaotic and perhaps temporary 
fashion from the ethos of terror of its founder.  In so 
doing, without us even noticing, the war as we knew it 
ended.  In so doing, without us having even rendered 
our opinion, a new peace process was launched.... The 
Israeli determination to disengage and the Palestinian 
readiness to change make the year 2005 a year of rare 
opportunity.  In order to capitalize on this 
opportunity, however, we have to move from politics to 
diplomacy.  We must domesticate the wild idea of the 
disengagement and make it into part of an overall 
Israeli plan." 
 
2. "The Year of the Tsunami" 
 
Nationalist writer Uri Dan commented in popular, 
pluralist Maariv (December 30): "There is no reason to 
party: 2005 is going, most probably, to be the year of 
the tsunami, internationally, regionally and locally. 
The waves of terror and war will threaten the lives of 
innocent people the same way the waves of the sea took 
the lives of thousands of people from Indonesia up to 
Somalia.... The Palestinian tsunami: it seeps and 
breaks through the smuggling tunnels to the Gaza 
Strip....  Suicide terrorists still stand waiting, 
willing to try and flood Israel with new waves of 
terror, and only the GSS and the IDF are stopping them. 
Whoever believes that Abu Mazen and his gang will block 
these trends in 2005 is deluding himself and his people 
... Eventually he will be overwhelmed by these waves 
just like in Phuket." 
KURTZER