US embassy cable - 03AMMAN3555

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003555 
 
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 MIDDLE EAST AND IRAN 
 
 
                        Summary 
 
-- The lead story in all Jordanian dailies today, June 
16, is the ongoing trial of two high-level officials 
of the General Intelligence Department in a banking 
fraud case.  Another prominent story in the papers is 
the government's preparations for the parliamentary 
elections scheduled for tomorrow, June 17.  Reports on 
developments between the Palestinians and the 
Israelis, as well as developments in Iraq and 
continued confrontations between the Iraqi resistance 
and the allied troops continue to receive front page 
attention. 
 
          Editorial Commentary on Middle East 
 
-- "Sharon's moderation and the [US] administration's 
extremism" 
 
Daily columnist Tarek Masarweh writes on the back page 
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai 
(06/16):  "The American position went back to its 
condemnation of the Palestinians.  In return, Sharon 
began playing the role of the moderate, acknowledging 
the occupation of Nablus, Jenin, Hebron and other 
major Palestinian cities, accepting the Palestinian 
state, and offering a truce and a withdrawal..  Since 
there are, in Sharon's cabinet and within the Israeli 
ruling party, those who call for expelling the 
Palestinians and for violence against and death for 
the Arabs, then why should not Palestine have Hamas, 
Jihad and the PFLP?  We have to remember that 
Washington, which turned the legitimate Palestinian 
opposition into terrorist organizations, has also 
cancelled all the symbols of the Palestinian Authority 
and agreed that its elected president be placed under 
siege.  What does it mean to label both the opposition 
and the Authority as terrorists?  How do they expect 
the Palestinians to accept political solutions under 
these circumstances?  Is not rejecting the regime and 
the opposition together a denial of the Palestinian 
entity in its entirety?" 
 
-- "Sharon asks for a truce" 
 
Daily columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed 
page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al- 
Dustour (06/16):  "Sharon asks for a truce with Hamas. 
Who would believe that this terrible `bulldozer' would 
finally go down on his knees and ask for a truce..  In 
light of this, we must wonder: when the resistance 
movement is achieving all this and forcing the 
occupiers to retreat while it suffers from the lack of 
Palestinian consensus, why not support it fully so 
that it might force the enemy to retreat even more?" 
 
-- "Success in wars does not make peace" 
 
Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of 
independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm 
(06/15):  "The U.S. administration proved that it is 
the `mother of warriors'.  From its war on 
Afghanistan, through its war on Iraq, and now its war 
on the Hamas movement in Palestine, there lies a 
common denominator, namely the capability of President 
Bush to start wars and militarily win them.  On the 
ground, however, the situation does not change much. 
America's military victories against the Taliban in 
Afghanistan and against Saddam Hussein in Iraq were 
not coupled with political victory.  In other words, 
the Americans' capability to make wars is paralleled 
by drastic failure in making peace..  The problem with 
the U.S. policy is that it functions with the 
mentality of `those who are not with us are against 
us'.  This is an approach that justifies war but does 
not make peace.  Peace is established among enemies 
and not among parties of the same alliance.  That is 
why the American war in Afghanistan failed to make 
peace there and the tribal wars have only ended in the 
American media.  The same thing in Iraq.  America's 
weapons of mass destruction removed Saddam Hussein, 
but they failed in restoring Iraq as a stable and safe 
home for its people.  As for the escalating peace 
crisis in the Middle East, Bush and his administration 
have already taken sides with Israel and its extremist 
security theory.  That is why the roadmap, under 
America's concept of implementation, has generated a 
war on Hamas and Jihad.  Tomorrow, we may see the 
American marines in the service of Sharon's military 
campaigns. 
 
             Editorial Commentary on Iran 
 
-- "Iran's demonstrations are not a foreign 
conspiracy" 
Daily columnist Bater Wardam writes on the op-ed page 
of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour 
(06/16):  "The leadership in Iran may claim an 
American conspiracy that is instigating Iranian 
college students to protest against the symbols and 
philosophy of the Republic and to call for liberal 
reforms.  This is because all countries of the third 
world have become accustomed to ascribing their 
internal problems to the presence of a foreign 
conspiracy instead of acknowledging the root causes of 
these problems and finding logical solutions for them. 
However, Arab politicians and analysts have no right 
to mislead the Arab public by adopting this analysis 
and justification just to spite the United States. 
The truth that must be acknowledged is that the 
demonstrations of the liberal students in Iran have 
political, social and cultural justifications that 
stem from the Iranian status quo.  Whoever wants to 
ignore this would commit the same sin of having 
ignored the internal contradictions in Iraq and 
blaming the United States." 
GNEHM