US embassy cable - 02AMMAN2696

UNCLAS AMMAN 002696 
 
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 
USCINCCENT//CCPA, USCENTCOM REAR MACDILL AFB FL 
STATE PASS TO AID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MIDDLE EAST AND SUICIDE 
BOMBINGS 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- The lead story in the Jordanian media today, May 
28, focuses on the Moroccan King's visit to Jordan and 
his talks with King Abdullah about regional 
developments.  Another lead story highlights the 
suicide bombing in Tel Aviv yesterday and Israel's 
"reoccupation" of some Palestinian cities. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "Martyrdom operations are within the context" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(05/28):  "In the beginning of the Intifada and when 
Israeli occupation forces would enter the Palestinian 
areas known as zone A, we would hear protests all the 
way from Europe to the United States, forcing Israel 
to pull its forces.  This happened because the world 
then believed that these Israeli invasions would 
destroy the peace process.  We no longer hear these 
protests.  The reality is Zone A does not exist in 
practice, and, simply, neither does the Palestinian 
sovereignty on the ground.  The clock has really 
turned back.  The victims are the peace process and 
the Oslo accord.  And while the Palestinians argue 
about `reform' and `elections', Sharon's occupation 
becomes a reality covered up by the United States and 
met with international silence.  Sharon's thugs defend 
their continuous invasions and mass arrests in the 
West Bank as actions to stop `terrorist' operations. 
Yet, these operations are within the context.  They 
are a humble response to an occupation that is 
determined to impose its hegemony on a besieged 
people." 
 
-- "Division about martyrdom operations" 
 
Daily columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(05/28):  "In principle, these operations cannot be 
considered a routine aspect of a liberation movement. 
A suicide bombing in a facility for young men, women 
and children will only be viewed as a brutal action, 
and thus cannot be supported or justified before the 
world.  However, in some instances they can explained 
and in turn push for a balanced international pressure 
to put an end to the causes and circumstances.  When 
Sharon is determined to use his military power to 
crush the Palestinian people and destroy them, that 
crushed and unarmed party has no other choice to 
respond to this brutality except by similar brutality. 
The suicide bombings represent a sensitive and serious 
issue.  They must be made to be linked, in the eyes of 
public opinion, with the idea of a response to Israeli 
brutality." 
GNEHM