US embassy cable - 04MUSCAT2002

UNCLAS MUSCAT 002002 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARP (TROBERTS), NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY), NEA/P 
(FFINVER), INR/R/MR 
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH 
PARIS FOR ZEYA 
USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH 
FOREIGN PRESS CENTER/ASILAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO, KMDR, OIIP, MU, Public Affairs 
SUBJECT: MUSCAT MEDIA REACTION: FALLUJAH, MIDDLE EAST, ARAFAT 
 
------------------- 
No Aid for Fallujah 
------------------- 
 
1. Privately-owned Arabic daily "Al-Watan" published an editorial 
on November 16 under the headline "Weak on Humanitarianism": 
 
"Recent U.S. military operations in Fallujah show a lack of 
humanitarian concern on the part of those charged with executing 
the military campaign.  Innocent people are being killed.  Some 
press reports claim that serious human rights violations are 
taking place.  Others allege that there are no procedures in 
place to protect unarmed civilians and that American forces 
prevent aid organizations from entering the city.  Media 
broadcasts show dead bodies littering the streets.  Amnesty 
International has called upon the U.S. to abide by international 
law and protect injured insurgents who are no longer able to 
continue fighting, particularly after a British TV station 
broadcast the killing of an injured Iraqi by an American soldier 
on November 11." 
 
--------------- 
Achieving Peace 
--------------- 
 
2. An editorial appeared in the government-owned Arabic daily 
"Oman" on November 14 entitled "The Need for Peace": 
 
"Experience has shown that the use of force to resolve the 
problems of the Middle East does not work.  The events in Iraq 
over the past year-and-a-half should make it clear to everyone 
that military assaults are not the answer.  The United States and 
other world powers should pursue other options - new policies - 
to resolve the region's conflicts.  For example, America's 
discussion of the Palestinian issue should not be theoretical. 
It should be as concrete as possible, giving as much detail as 
feasible about how the U.S. plans to advance the peace process, 
particularly with regard to Israel's withdrawal from Palestinian 
territories.  The `War against Terror' has become a ruse to 
justify the escalation in violence and the violation of human 
rights.  Without active international involvement and a just 
resolution of the conflicts within the framework of international 
law, there cannot be peace in the region." 
 
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End Of An Era 
------------- 
 
3. "Oman" also carried an editorial on November 13 entitled "The 
Last Farewell": 
 
"The Palestinian people, together with the Arab and Islamic 
world, bid a final farewell to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. 
He spent more than four decades trying to improve the situation 
of his people. Firm in his belief in God and the fairness of his 
cause, Arafat carried the sorrows and tragedies of the 
Palestinians to all parts of the world, highlighting the tyranny 
of the Israelis.  Since his days as the president of the 
Palestinian Student Union in Cairo, Arafat walked along this 
difficult path.  He left his people with a solid foundation for 
the future.  The widespread international respect given to Arafat 
upon his death indicates that the world will continue to view the 
Palestinians as living symbols of a people unjustly driven from 
their land." 
 
BALTIMORE