US embassy cable - 05AMMAN6399

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006399 
 
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 MIDDLE EAST 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead stories in all papers today, August 9, 
highlight a variety of regional and domestic 
developments on all fronts, such as the continued 
crisis regarding the Iraqi constitution, the 
escalation between the United States and Iran over 
Iran's nuclear program, preparations for Israel's 
withdrawal from Gaza. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "What comes after the withdrawal: peace or 
annexing?" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back-page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(08/09):  "We welcome that time when the occupation 
ends and vacates the realms of the Gaza Strip.  It is 
going to be a great occasion because it means that 
Israel was forced to withdraw for the first time from 
the land of Palestine..  There is a but here though, 
and that is the fear that Arab countries and other 
countries of the world will consider the Israeli 
withdrawal from Gaza as being peace between the 
Israelis and the Palestinians, whereby any Palestinian 
demands or national struggles or resistance that come 
at a later stage would be portrayed as objecting to 
that peace or rejecting the available opportunity, 
which would mean that Sharon will have succeeded in 
partitioning the solution from the cause.  During his 
latest visit to Paris, Sharon was quoted as saying: 
`Arabs talk about withdrawal from Gaza.  I am talking 
about annexing the West Bank'.  This is very serious 
talk, despite the fact this is nothing new in terms of 
the Israeli Prime Minister's views and ideas.  The 
seriousness of this talk lies in the fact that it 
marks a Sharon-like plan that has already been being 
implemented on the ground for years with one objective 
in mind, namely annexing more than 40% of the West 
Bank..  Politicians must not belittle another very 
important phenomenon that is apparent.  Sharon is not 
withdrawing from Gaza as a result of a peace agreement 
with the Palestinians, but as a unilateral decision. 
The seriousness of this phenomenon lies in the fact 
that this could constitute the beginning of saying 
that there is no Palestinian `match' or `partner' in 
the negotiations..  The anticipated withdrawal from 
Gaza must be accompanied by a Palestinian and Arab 
campaign on the political and media levels to declare 
the following:  first, the demand for a complete and 
comprehensive withdrawal from the West Bank up to the 
June 4 borders; second, the refusal to pay a political 
price to Sharon, such as Arab recognition and 
normalization with the State of Israel; and third, the 
need for Arab countries to stop their diplomacy 
meetings with the Sharon government to discuss the 
Palestinian issue as long as this government refuses 
to return to the negotiating table." 
 
-- "The alternatives to the occupation" 
 
Daily columnist Tarek Masarweh writes on the back-page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(08/09):  "The main thing is ending the occupation of 
every inch of Palestine, be that through negotiations 
or a unilateral decision, as is happening now with the 
withdrawal from Gaza.  There is no point in the 
selectiveness that some Palestinians and Arabs are 
exercising when they say that the withdrawal is going 
to turn Gaza into a huge prison, as if it were 
Switzerland under occupation!  There is international 
conviction that Israel's occupation is not in the 
interest of the region, nor the superpowers' nor even 
Israel's..  We have a withdrawal, and this means that 
the withdrawal is not just from Gaza, but also from a 
very important part of the north of the West Bank, 
meaning that the borders with Egypt are going to be 
Palestinian borders with no Israelis and that the Gaza- 
West Bank passageways, although open and monitored, 
are going to be open.  National interest dictates the 
alternatives..  No one can say no to ending the 
occupation because if they do, they would be saying no 
to freedom." 
 
-- "Real steps towards withdrawal" 
 
Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(08/09) editorializes:  "Those who are preparing to 
undertake protests and rejections with regard to the 
[Israeli] withdrawal [from Gaza] are truly the enemies 
of freedom..  Whether Netanyahu resigns from the 
Sharon government or thousands of Israeli protesters 
gather or hundreds of settlers refuse to the leave the 
Palestinian lands, what is happening now constitutes 
real steps towards withdrawal, however the Israelis 
think about it.  All we hope is that the Palestinians 
realize the value of this withdrawal and that they do 
not imitate the Israelis in their miscalculation of 
the meaning and importance of this gradual withdrawal 
from the land." 
HALE