US embassy cable - 04AMMAN6039

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006039 
 
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 "CHAOS" IN GAZA 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead story in all papers over the weekend, July 17- 
18, highlights the chaotic situation in Gaza.  Major 
headlines focus on President Arafat's rejection of PM 
Qurei' resignation, while the majority of editorial 
commentary highlight the "urgent need" for Palestinian 
reform. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Central authority needed" 
 
Centrist, influential among the elite English daily 
Jordan Times (07/18) editorializes:  "The Palestinian 
National Authority is obviously trying its best to 
uproot bad governance and erase corruption from its 
ranks, but has not succeeded in this mission.  In all 
fairness, it must be admitted that the PNA is 
endeavoring to promote reforms across the board under 
extremely hard conditions.  With the Palestinian 
leadership locked up in Ramallah for a very long time 
now, there is probably very little it can do to 
promote and secure stability and good governance in 
the Palestinian territories.  Still, a more determined 
effort needs to be exerted by the PNA to rein in all 
Palestinian factions who still operate freely and 
according to their own respective agendas.  As long as 
there is more than one central authority in the 
Palestinian areas, there can be no progress on the 
reform front.  That's a reason more for the PNA to 
strive to unite all Palestinians under one leadership 
that has their best interests at heart." 
 
-- "It happens in Palestine" 
 
Daily columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(07/18):  "It is `a disaster, a catastrophe and 
security chaos' as the Palestinian Prime Minister 
said.  No party should appoint itself in charge of 
setting a new law of the jungle and start enforcing it 
on the pretext of reform and putting an end to 
corruption.  It is also true that pressure leads to 
explosion..  This time round, the explosion didn't 
blow up in the face of the occupation forces, but 
rather in the face of the Palestinian Authority 
itself, and in a manner that shows the Palestinians as 
highway robbers copying the Iraqi way of kidnappings.. 
Even if kidnapping Palestinian personalities, as an 
expression of rejecting corruption might seem 
understandable, one cannot understand the kidnapping 
for four French civilians who are providing 
humanitarian services for the Palestinian people.. 
The seriousness lies in the timing.  The International 
Court of Justice has just issued its verdict on the 
separation wall and the General Assembly is going to 
issue a decision condemning Israel in the next couple 
of days.  The internal Palestinians developments are 
not going to help except to further the viewpoint of 
the racist state [Israel] regarding the wall.  The 
Palestinian President must take historical decisions 
that would rectify the situation." 
 
-- "What is happening in the Palestinian arena?" 
 
Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(07/18) editorializes:  "We will try not to beat time 
and start expecting the worst, but what is happening 
in the Palestinian arena represents the kind of danger 
that, unless handled immediately and responsibly, 
could reflect negatively on the entire Palestinian 
cause and the fate of the Palestinian people and their 
legitimate rights.  We have said before that Israel 
has ill intentions and that the Palestinians must 
never hand it the opportunity to get its way.  We have 
sent so many messages to our brethren asking them to 
rectify the situation before it gets out of control 
and before the rest of the world starts to believe 
what the Israelis are saying about the Palestinian 
Authority and other factions..  As much as we worry - 
because the Palestinian cause is our cause - we hope 
and pray that our brethren will be able to overcome 
this crisis, to rise beyond individual and personal 
interests, and to close ranks for the protection of 
Palestinian legitimacy.  Time is not on their side. 
They are required, now more than ever before, to 
undertake concrete measures and to show courage and 
capability to take the right decisions before 
everything collapses and we find ourselves, God 
forbid, face to face with the reality of the Israeli 
project with nothing to show." 
-- "What lies behind the chaos in Gaza" 
 
Daily columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed 
page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al- 
Dustour (07/18):  "It is worthless to talk about the 
forms of chaos in the West Bank and Gaza without 
taking a look at the occupation's options and 
calculations, be they short-term or long-term..  All 
of what is going on is not benign and goes beyond 
Fateh, the PLO and the PNA.  It is an attempt to 
narrow the Palestinians' option to accepting the 
reality of the occupation.  Had Yaser Arafat agreed to 
pay the necessary dues, no one would have rebelled 
against him, even if he placed the most corrupt person 
in the highest of ranks, as was the case with the 
targeted person [the kidnapped Palestinian Security 
Chief Al-Jabali] when he was appointed to hunt down 
the most noble of men, shave their beards and suppress 
the Palestinian opposition in favor of the Oslo 
program, which Israel used as a tool to penetrate the 
region." 
 
-- "Palestinian reform is an urgent need" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(07/18):  "Events in Gaza last Friday and the 
seriousness of their political repercussions show that 
[Palestinian] reform is no longer a topic of dialogue 
for Palestinian and Arab elites, but rather an urgent 
need to confront a situation that is deteriorating 
rapidly..  The matter is no longer about describing 
reform as an American and Israeli attempt to dictate 
to the besieged Palestinian President, nor is it an 
issue through which comparison is drawn between the 
governments of Abu Mazen and Abu Al-Ala'.  It is much 
deeper than that.  It is the future of the Palestinian 
people and their cause: the fruits of the long 
struggle..  Palestinian society is a living and active 
society that includes all types of people.  But these 
people [scientists, thinkers, intellectuals] have no 
real influence on decisions about the fate of the 
people, their present or their future.  The problem is 
that the decision-making process that was suitable for 
the revolutionary era is no longer suitable for the 
era of siege and isolation, where the powers of the 
enemies of the Palestinian people are growing.. 
Finally, reform is necessary, because it will not 
bring enemies into positions of power, rather it will 
open the path for the generation of fighters who were 
born from people's institutions, from the womb of the 
Intifada, from the suffering of sieges, and from their 
ability to learn from bitter experiences." 
HALE