US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA2452

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 002452 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAN, WHA/PDA 
WHITE HOUSE PASS NSC/WEUROPE, NSC/WHA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OIIP, OPRC, CA, TFUS01, TFUS02, TFUS03 
SUBJECT:  MEDIA REACTION: MIDDLE EAST 
 
 
MIDDLE EAST 
1.   "Blowing apart Mideast hope" 
The liberal Toronto Star opined (8/26): "Millions of 
Israelis and Palestinians feel betrayed today, as the 
Middle East lurches back into chaos after a brief 
respite. Most endorse the American-brokered 'road map' 
to peace. Yet they've just seen their leaders fritter 
away a precious two-month truce. Palestinian President 
Yasser Arafat, furious at being sidelined by 
the Americans and Israelis, never did give Prime 
Minister Mahmoud Abbas the backing he needs to suppress 
extremists. Instead, Arafat undermined him.... Last 
week's horrific bus bombing in Jerusalem by Hamas, in 
which 21 Israelis died, was one of the most vicious 
attacks yet. But Israeli Prime Minister 
Ariel Sharon, too, has failed to live up to the spirit 
of the road map.... And Sharon's policy of hunting down 
and killing Hamas and Jihad leaders has spurred new 
attacks.... The violence of the past week should 
inspire Bush to get more actively involved, if only to 
salvage his own flagging credibility. This post 9/11, 
terror-fighting president has broad interests in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan and 
elsewhere. He has to be seen to be even-handed, as he 
tries to end three years of violence in which 2,300 
Palestinians and 840 Israelis have died. Yet he is 
being thwarted by regional actors who can't bring 
themselves to take the first steps. Bush must step up 
pressure on Arafat and Abbas to crack down hard on 
terror, so that Israelis can safely ride buses again. 
But he must also press Sharon to speedily quit the 
occupied areas so that the road map's pledge of a 
Palestinian state by 2005 looks like more than wishful 
thinking. The Palestinian and Israeli leaders must be 
prodded to places where they would not willingly go, 
left to their own blinkered vision. America's 
credibility rides on it. So do the hopes of millions." 
 
2.   "Stand Firm" 
Under the sub-heading, "Western nations must not shrink 
from the escalating threats of terrorism," the right-of- 
center Calgary Herald observed (8/25): "Middle East 
developments have led all parties to a critical 
confluence, which future historians will judge to be 
one of that blood-soaked land's pivotal moments. From 
western leaders, the situation demands wisdom, courage 
and, above all, resolution. At stake are two key 
pillars of U.S. Middle East policy. Failure does not 
mean the political status quo, but a fundamental 
reordering of the area, to the West's detriment. 
America's two regional objectives are a liberal 
democracy in Iraq and peace in Israel/Palestine, 
through the so-called road map process. Success would 
mean a better tomorrow for people who have never known 
hope. If the Americans can be forced out, however, 
Islamic theocracies from Iraq to Saudi Arabia are the 
most likely result - and even, perhaps, Israel's 
isolation.... The Americans cannot find Osama bin 
Laden. Powerful they are, but not omnipotent.... 
Likewise, they have deposed Saddam Hussein, but cannot 
find him. Nor have they brought peace to Iraq, much 
less the hoped-for better life.... Therefore, Iraqi 
nationalists have accepted aid from whomever offers. 
Facilitated by Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, America- 
hating militants come to Iraq from all over the region, 
as well as Chechnya and even Bosnia.... Meanwhile in 
Israel, old hatreds - guided, we suspect, by those with 
a larger picture - have been manipulated in an attempt 
to demolish the second pillar of U.S. Middle East 
policy, a permanent peace settlement. The terrorist 
plan is manifest: inflame the whole region, force out 
the U.S. and remake the Middle East, not as a 
constellation of liberal democracies but as Islamic 
republics, nests of terrorism, a Taliban culture with 
Saddam's efficiency. The West cannot tolerate such an 
outcome. If we do not win today, we will have to fight 
again some other time. Fortunately, the English- 
speaking people can draw inspiration from their own 
defining moments, as when Abraham Lincoln took up the 
Confederate challenge or Great Britain's years standing 
alone against Nazi Germany. Today is another such 
moment, and it belongs to U.S. President George W. 
Bush. We must hope he can keep the American people with 
him long enough to see that his vision, not the default 
one, becomes reality." 
 
CELLUCCI