US embassy cable - 05AMMAN5601

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005601 
 
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 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
 
TAGS: KMDR JO 
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN ISRAEL 
AND IRAQ 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- A lead story in all Jordanian papers today, July 
14, highlights the Badran government's policy 
statement that will be presented to Parliament today 
for a vote of confidence.  Other major lead stories 
highlight the suicide bombing in Baghdad yesterday 
that killed 27 children, and the aftermath of the 
Palestinian suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel, two 
days ago. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "A suspicious and condemnable operation" 
 
Daily columnist and former Jordanian Minister of 
Information Saleh Qallab writes on the back-page of 
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(07/14):  "Whoever made the decision to carry out the 
suicide operation in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, is 
either ignorant, stupid, or impetuous.  It is 
unbelievable that a sane person would do something 
like that when the entire world is still cursing those 
who perpetrated the heinous crime in London last 
Thursday.  Even if the people who were responsible for 
the Netanya bombing present all types of 
justifications to prove their good intentions, one can 
only question what they did, because their actions 
have forced the Palestinian people into a corner.  Is 
it coincidence?  That would be hard to believe.  And 
even if it is coincidence, ignorant people have no 
right to claim that they are leaders of a people who 
are party to a complicated struggle, whose cause is 
like no other in the rest of the world, and whose 
cause needs people of wisdom and open-mindedness.... 
The truth is that the harm inflicted by this desperate 
operation reflects thousands of times more against the 
Palestinian people than the Israeli people.  Most 
certainly, the extremists in Israel, who reject the 
withdrawal from Gaza or any part of the West Bank, 
have been waiting for such a terrorist-suicide action 
in order to push the Israeli people against the idea 
of withdrawing....  This attack strengthens the 
Israeli viewpoint of denying the existence of a 
Palestinian party capable of controlling the status on 
the ground following an Israeli withdrawal.  There is 
worldwide popular movement against terrorism and there 
is an expected Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and some 
parts of the West Bank.  So, when a certain party 
sends a naive young man to carry out a suicide bombing 
that targets Israeli civilians, the party hurt would 
be the Palestinian people and the loser would be the 
Palestinian cause, and the one to benefit from it 
would be the one who wants to keep the Palestinians on 
the list of terrorists and their image shaded by Al- 
Qaeda and Osama bin Laden." 
 
-- "The independent Palestinian decision" 
 
Daily columnist Tarek Masarweh writes on the back-page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(07/14):  "The Netanya attack takes matters all the 
way back to square one.  Israel and Islamic Jihad 
fight and the Palestinian Authority and the 
Palestinian people end up paying the price....  Ariel 
Sharon is trying to convince the world public opinion 
that he is a man of peace.  Why would we want to make 
a martyr of him?  He says that he can accept Mahmoud 
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority as peace partners. 
Why would we want to give him the opportunity to put 
Abbas in the position that Yaser Arafat had reached?" 
 
-- "What is justification for the massacre of children 
in Baghdad?" 
 
Semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (07/14) 
editorializes:  "The massacre of children in Baghdad 
yesterday comes as one of the most heinous terrorist 
operations going on in Iraq.  It is a despicable 
operation that has no religious moral justification 
whatsoever.  It has put forth once again questions 
about the purpose of these suspicious attacks and 
their true objectives....  Even if this was a genuine 
resistance attack that targeted an American military 
convoy, whose soldiers were giving out candy to the 
children, could the price that the Iraqis paid - 27 
dead children, dozens wounded, destruction to homes - 
be equal to the price that the American military paid 
- one dead soldier and three wounded?  What is the 
true formula?  Were the American soldiers the real 
target or were they the bait?  It is time to put a 
stop to these crimes.  It is time to speak out in 
condemnation of these low-handed actions that have no 
purpose other than to kill and to breed hatred among 
the people of the country." 
HALE