US embassy cable - 04AMMAN331

UNCLAS AMMAN 000331 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR, 
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA FOR ALTERMAN 
USAID/ANE/MEA 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MIDDLE EAST 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, January 14, 
highlight Iraq-related developments, including the 
downing of an American Apache helicopter near Fallujah 
and continued Iraqi "resistance operations" against 
coalition forces.  Another lead story today highlights 
developments on Israeli-Palestinian issues, including 
Prime Minister Sharon's "hint" at the possibility of 
Israel's withdrawal from Gaza. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Israel's call on Syria and the long struggle of 
will power" 
 
Daily columnist Mohammad Amayreh writes on the op-ed 
page of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(01/14):  "It is Damascus' right to view the Israeli 
prime minister's call on the Syrian President to visit 
occupied Jerusalem as not serious.  It is Damascus' 
right to question Israel's motives towards the entire 
peace process in the region.  This is because Israel 
has never taken a serious step in the direction of 
peace..  Damascus can learn a lesson from Sadat's 
visit, which has opened the door for settling the 
issue but could not use it to benefit the Arab nation 
or Egypt.  Damascus can also learn from Palestinian 
efforts and initiatives to activate negotiations 
through many concessions that yielded nothing, but 
burned under Israel's indifference and intransigence.. 
No doubt Syria has a sincere desire for peace, but 
that would be just, comprehensive and lasting peace 
that begins with the withdrawal of the occupation 
forces, the dismantling of Israeli settlements in the 
Golan, and then negotiating on other issues such as 
water and borders." 
 
-- "Education Minister Toukan's plan" 
 
Chief editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(01/14):  "Developing the curricula, not changing it. 
This is what Dr. Khaled Toukan [Jordanian Minister of 
Education] said.  He also said that this development 
is in its third stage, for which preparations started 
before the 9/11 attacks in New York, and this means 
that the issue of changing the curricula has nothing 
to do with American pressures on countries of the 
region to change the curricula.  Even if these 
pressures existed on Jordan, this development plan 
will not be an inside-out change of the cultural or 
religious concepts in our curricula, not because we 
are capable of standing up to Washington's pressures, 
but because our educational system is already and 
originally based on educational foundations that are 
free of concepts of extremism and that include 
concepts of Arab unity and the nation's causes, and 
this is something no one can force us to change.  It 
is wrong to reject development and to attack the plan 
on the pretext that combating and resisting American 
demands for change." 
 
GNEHM