US embassy cable - 03AMMAN3461

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003461 
 
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 ISRAELI ASSASSINATION 
ATTEMPT AGAINST HAMAS' RANTISI 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- Lead story in all papers today, June 11, highlights 
Israel's failed assassination attempt against the life 
of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantisi in Gaza yesterday. 
Some reports feature President Bush's reaction to the 
attempt; while all reports featured the Palestinian 
Authority's denunciation of the assassination attempt 
and Hamas' "promise" to retaliate. 
 
                 Editorial Commentary 
 
-- "An attempt to assassinate Rantisi or the peace 
efforts?" 
 
Daily columnist Mohammad Amayreh writes on the op-ed 
page of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(06/11):  "Right from the beginning, we said that it 
is difficult to be reassured by Sharon's promises or 
by his intentions towards implementing the roadmap. 
The Israeli army, yesterday, tried to assassinate one 
of the Hamas leaders in Gaza.  This assassination 
attempt, for which Israeli helicopters were used, was 
undoubtedly sanctioned by Sharon.  Even though the 
Israeli government categorizes this attempt as part of 
combating terrorism, the outcome contradicts 
everything that was agreed upon, including the truce 
or ceasefire agreement and the promise to grant the 
Palestinian prime minister the opportunity to deal 
with the Palestinian factions to try to convince them 
to stop the so-called `violence'.  This assassination 
attempt, which is not the first of its kind, 
constitutes a clear Israeli effort to impede the 
implementation of the roadmap.  It is a crime to be 
added to Sharon's already full record of bloody crimes 
against the Palestinian people and their combatant 
forces." 
 
-- "Assassinating Rantisi or Abu Mazen?" 
 
Daily columnist Sultan Hattab writes on the op-ed page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(06/11):  "Why would Sharon put Abu Mazen in this 
corner?  Why would he want to abort Abu Mazen's 
mission and not allow him the chance to do the 
necessary on the part of the Palestinians to fulfill 
the roadmap?  The issue therefore is not an issue of 
searching for security, stability and calm.  Rather, 
the Israeli right-wing is trying to impose their own 
vision and conditions in order to eliminate the pulse 
of the Palestinians and to destroy the infrastructure 
of the Palestinian resistance, leading to uprooting 
the Palestinian people." 
 
-- "The Palestinian struggle is not a charitable 
organization!" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/11):  "The assassination attempt against the life 
of Hamas leader Abdul Aziz Rantisi in Gaza yesterday 
shows once more that the problem in the Middle East is 
not the `terrorism' of the Palestinians, but the 
terrorism of the Israeli state.  The American 
complicity in these assassinations perpetrated by the 
Sharon government, when Palestinian resistance 
operations are looked upon as terrorism and aggression 
is regrettable and degrading.  Sharon's criminal act 
in Gaza, and not Hamas' rejection of dialogue with Abu 
Mazen, is the indication of the future that awaits the 
roadmap.  The extremist Israeli government is going to 
take advantage of the roadmap to escalate its 
provocations and aggression against the Palestinian 
people.  Israel is the one that is encouraging 
violence, pouring oil on an already raging fire every 
time there is a sign of hope for getting out of the 
vicious circle of killing and destruction.  Sharon's 
operation yesterday must not be a reason to stop or 
suspend dialogue among the Palestinians.  If there are 
any priorities on the Palestinian agenda now, 
maintaining the Palestinian national unity should be 
top of that priority list..  If there is to be a 
Palestinian political response to the assassination 
attempt, it should that which stresses the Palestinian 
dialogue and emphasizes the option of resistance, 
because the resistance is the main card that the 
Palestinians have as long as the occupation exists.. 
The criminal Gaza operation shows that Sharon views 
the roadmap as a means to ignite Palestinian civil 
war, nothing more and nothing less." 
-- "Attempting to assassinate the roadmap" 
 
Daily columnist Urayb Rintawi writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/11):  "Israel's assassination attempt against 
Abdul Aziz Rantisi was nothing but an attempt to abort 
the roadmap and this opportunity to achieve just and 
lasting peace..  Israel would not have gone this far 
in its insane war against the Palestinian people and 
in its bloody targeting of the peace process and with 
it Palestinian rights and lives, had it not been for 
America's silence about these crimes and the 
encouragement that the extremist and blood-thirsty 
right-wing Israelis receive from the U.S. 
administration.  Washington placed the war criminal on 
a pedestal, and it is up to it alone to bring him down 
from it, if it really wants to give peace a chance." 
 
-- "Who blames Sharon?" 
 
Centrist, influential among the elite English daily 
Jordan Times (06/11) editorializes:  "It just does not 
sink in with Ariel Sharon that violence breeds 
violence.  Hamas is indeed an obstacle to both the 
implementation of the roadmap and prospects for peace 
and stability in the entire region.  But bombing 
Gaza's residential and most densely populated areas, 
killing three innocent Palestinians and injuring 
scores of people in an attempt to take the life of one 
of Hamas' most popular leaders is only going to 
undermine, not help, the cause of peace.  It would be 
no exaggeration to say that no one is more eager than 
the Palestinian National Authority to see Hamas 
relegated to the fringes of Palestinian politics.  But 
political assassinations or attempts on the life of 
leaders such as Abdul Aziz Rantisi only strengthen 
Hamas and play in the hands of extremist groups.. 
This umpteenth episode of Israeli state terrorism is 
bound to be echoed by more terrorist operations by 
Hamas.  The circle of violence has been activated. 
What was a truce has ended in another terrible 
military escalation against Palestinian civilians.. 
For peace to get a chance, at some point, someone will 
have to put the blame where it belongs." 
GNEHM