US embassy cable - 04AMMAN3026

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 003026 
 
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 THE MIDDLE EAST 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Jordan's editorialists and columnists denounced 
what they saw as U.S. condoning, if not prior approval 
of the Rantissi killing, linking it to President 
Bush's response to P.M. Sharon's withdrawal plan. 
They bewailed Arab weakness and the inability of Arab 
governments to stand up to the U.S. and Israel, whom 
they described as pursuing policies that are 
indistinguishable from each other.  The lead story in 
all papers today, April 20, carry verbatim the Jordan 
News Agency report on King Abdullah's decision to 
postpone his meeting with President Bush to the first 
week of May, as they put it, "until the U.S. stand and 
position vis--vis issues related to the Palestinian 
issue are clarified."  Another lead story highlights 
the Security Council emergency meeting to discuss 
Israel's assassination of Hamas leader Rantisi.  All 
papers also highlight the beginning of Spain's 
withdrawal of its forces from Iraq. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "The American President and the numerous lines and 
colors" 
 
Columnist Haidar Rashid writes on the op-ed page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(04/20):  "The United States gave Israel the green 
light to assassinate the Hamas leader, and, a few days 
ago, the U.S. administration had crossed the red lines 
of the Palestinian cause when President Bush declared 
his support for Sharon's plan for withdrawal from Gaza 
and dropped the most important element of the conflict 
between the Palestinians and the Israelis, namely the 
right of return..  The American occupation forces are 
going to withdraw from Iraq.  This is a truth that no 
two can argue.  The Israeli occupation cannot kill the 
spirit of resistance and defiance in the Palestinians. 
More killing the Sharon way means for Palestinian 
determination to resist and fight back..  What is 
going on in the United States, which is affecting 
areas of tension and struggle here, is a form of 
psychological pressure and planning on the basis of 
the elections.  Yet, the U.S. administration's 
crossing of the red lines in the Palestinian issue 
with such arrogance and the potential repetition of a 
similar thing in the Iraqi issue state the President 
Bush's most important battle [the presidential 
elections] may not be guaranteed at all." 
 
 
 
-- "Helpless even to express pain" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/20):  "What is going on in the dark minds of the 
leaders of Tel Aviv?  We do not know the reality of 
anything.  We know for sure that they would not have 
gone this far had the Palestinian and Arab status quo 
been different and had the United States not turned 
into an `occupations caterer' and the `thug' of wars, 
eliminations, assassinations and invasions.  We do not 
know what could be said.  Events tie tongues and the 
humiliation and degradation that suffocate people are 
blocking the words and prevent them from coming out. 
The call for patience and forbearance is like pouring 
oil on a raging fire..  We have nothing but our 
helplessness to do anything.  We cannot even express 
our pain and frustration.  Alas the situation we have 
come to." 
 
 
-- "Winning is the George Bush's only concern" 
 
Columnist Yaqoub Jaber writes on the op-ed page of 
center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/20):  "Everything that George Bush is doing these 
days is designed first and foremost to strengthen his 
chances of winning a second presidential term..  A man 
who wants to stay on the throne of the world for 
another four years to continue his aggressive approach 
towards people, supported by the neo-conservatives who 
have made of Israel an idol for their worship and who 
have ignored even the simplest of human and moral 
principles in their dealings with the Palestinian 
cause..  How else do we explain these humiliating 
concessions made by a superpower to Sharon?  How did 
Bush allow himself to bypass all international 
resolutions related to the return of the refugees, 
withdrawal to June 4th borders and considering the 
settlements as illegal, unless of course his first and 
foremost concern was to win the vote of the Jewish 
electors and to use the Jewish American's power and 
money in strengthening his chances of winning the 
elections?" 
 
 
-- "American is being haughty and its enemies are 
exaggerating" 
 
Columnist Yaser Abu Hilaleh writes on the op-ed page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(04/20):  "By adopting the Sharonic approach of 
intransigence, President Bush leaves no choice for the 
Arabs but to surrender or resist, and this is a 
president who means what he says, even if he was under 
the pressure of elections.  The Arabs and Muslim do 
not need a public relations campaign led by Al-Hurrah 
to rectify the image of Sharon, because in their minds 
he is a war criminal starting with Qibya and leading 
to Sabra and Shatila, and if there had been any 
justice in this war against terrorism, Sharon would 
have been a prisoner in Guantanamo.  He [President 
Bush] is right to belittle the Arabs and the Muslims 
and place all his eggs in Sharon's basket.  Bush knows 
that Israel is a nuclear and industrial state and part 
of the American culture and market, while the Arabs 
and Muslims are scattered and divided and backward.. 
America cannot be defeated in Falluja, but it can be 
defeated in Iraq if the battle is prolonged.  The 
Iraqi people realize that much dear blood has been 
spilt over the course of a third of the century, and 
that much dear blood is being shed today in battles 
with a cause, not saving Iraq from Sharon and Bush but 
rather saving the world from Sharon and Bush." 
 
-- "The position of `we were not aware'!" 
 
Columnist Jawad Bashiti writes on the op-ed page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(04/20):  "A new position is being adopted by the Bush 
administration vis--vis every crime committed by 
Sharon, namely the position of `we did not have prior 
knowledge'.  Without declaring its clear support for 
Israel's assassination crimes, the Bush administration 
tends to detail and clarify its position by saying 
things like: Israel has the right to defend itself; 
whoever is assassinated must have been a terrorist or 
leading a terrorist group; we urge Israel to consider 
the consequences of its actions.  From such a 
position, one would conclude that Israel, under the 
emblem of combating terrorism, has the right to commit 
assassinations even if the United States did not have 
prior knowledge of them, because there is no need for 
that!" 
 
-- "Going back to square one" 
 
Daily columnist Rakan Majali writes on the back page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(04/20):  "Israel is the one that confirms, in words, 
in deeds and on the ground, that the conflict is that 
of existence and not of borders.  The American and 
Israeli stands unite in adopting the idea that the 
conflict is that of existence, allowing Israel to take 
over everything, and in so doing the massacres 
continue, the killing of leaders continue, and the 
disarmament of the Palestinian people of all the 
principles of existence continue.  Israel and America 
want the conflict to return to square one as a 
conflict of existence.  They do not want to any 
options for the Palestinian people and the Arab nation 
but to accept this clear-cut and flagrant defiance." 
HALE