Today's Situation

ISRAELIS UNCONCERNED BY BAKER , December 07, 2006

Israel was in a state of shock Thursday over the murder of a 13-year-old girl, whose body was found the bathroom of her high school in the Golan Heights town of Katzrin. In the two widest-read newspapers, Yedioth Ahronoth and Maariv, and on the morning radio news shows, the gruesome murder was the lead story.

Both those papers, however, still found room for extensive coverage of yesterday's publication in Washington of the report by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former representative Lee Hamilton.

One of the key findings of the report, which primarily focused on American policy in Iraq, is that the United States is unable to achieve its goals in the Middle East without direct involvement in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The Israeli media divides the findings of the report vis-?-vis Israel into three main categories: the Palestinians, the rest of the Arab world and the Iranian nuclear threat.

Regarding the Palestinians, the Baker-Hamilton report concludes that talks on a final settlement should be held, so that a two-state solution in line with Bush's ideas can be achieved. The committee also urged the Bush administration to give its full backing to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, and to try and further talks on the creation of a Palestinian national unity government.

In relation to the broader Israeli-Arab conflict, the panel is recommending talks, involving Israel, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians, within a 'Madrid Conference framework.' The panel also recommended that Israel hold talks along two main axes: Syria-Lebanon and the Palestinians. The panel concludes that Israel must return the Golan Heights to Syria as part of a peace treaty, and says that in exchange Israel will be granted security guarantees from the United States on this front.

The panel briefly touched on the question of the Iranian nuclear program, and its main recommendation is that the issue should continue to be handled by the United Nations Security Council. It also suggests that efforts should be made to convince Iran to contribute to the stabilization of the situation in Iraq through regional support groups - which the Baker-Hamilton panel suggests should be set up.

Israeli reaction to the report was quick to follow its publication.

According to Haaretz, the Prime Minister's Office said it is unlikely that U.S. President George W. Bush will alter his Middle East policy with regard to Israel in light of the report. Sources at the PMO said that 'Olmert is not unduly concerned with the report because in his recent meeting with Bush at the White House, he was promised that the U.S. would not divert from the principles of its policy in dealing with terrorist groups and in countering the Iranian nuclear program.'

Others were less sanguine.

Former Israeli UN Ambassador Dr. Dore Gold told Arutz 7 that the American demand that Israel retreat from the Golan Heights was 'worrisome.'

Speaking on Army Radio, meanwhile, former National Security Advisor Giora Eiland said that Bush 'is caught between a rock and a hard place,' explaining that while the U.S. government is keen to bring an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the president is unwilling to make any major changes in Washington's relationship with Israel.

Uzi Dayan, another former national security advisor, stated that the report will have a direct bearing on American strategy but there is no need for concern in Israel. He added that what should concern Israelis is the 'lack of vision and leadership.'

Peace Now, on the other hand, welcomed the report, according to Ynet. 'The Israeli government should study the report and implement it, and not burry it's head in the sand and ignore the explicit recommendations in the report….Israel's policy of refusing any political initiative is a recipe for renewed violence and a third intifada,' said a spokesman for the movement.

Elsewhere, The Jerusalem Post quotes Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak as saying that a deal for the release of Gilad Shalit are in the final stages, and that the sides are now waiting for Hamas' approval. Mubarak warned, however, that there were 'other parties who are intervening against the interest of the Palestinian people.' He did not specify who those parties were.

Haaretz, meanwhile, reports that Hamas has recently prepared a list of leading Palestinians held in Israeli prisons that the organization will demand in exchange for Shalit and that Abbas Sayed, the mastermind of the massacre at the Park Hotel in Netanya at Passover in 2002, in which 29 civilians were killed, is among those listed.

While Prime Minister Olmert has intimated recently that he would be willing to release prisoners serving long sentences - a euphemism for those convicted of killing Israelis - the inclusion of the person behind one of the more traumatic terror attacks in recent times may be too much for Israel to stomach.

Maariv reports that the military censor yesterday cleared for publication the IDF's report of the kidnapping of two soldiers on the northern border. According to the report, both soldiers were wounded in the kidnapping - one of them critically - raising fears that they may not have survived. If this is indeed the case, it would go some way to explaining recent comments by Olmert regarding the state of negotiations with Hizbollah over the soldiers' release.

The above text was written and compiled by Simon Spungin using newpaper, radio and wire reports, in English and Hebrew.

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