JORDAN: MEDIA REACTION ON PRESIDENT'S SPEECH,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003495

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, INR/NESA, R/MR,
I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD
USAID/ANE/MEA
LONDON FOR GOLDRICH
PARIS FOR O'FRIEL
USCINCCENT/CCPA, USCENTCOM REAR MACDILL AFB FL
NICOSIA FOR ILMG
STATE PASS TO AID

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KMDR JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN: MEDIA REACTION ON PRESIDENT'S SPEECH,
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

SUMMARY
NEWS REPORTS IN JORDAN'S DAILIES LED WITH DEVELOPMENTS
IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES AND THE PRESIDENT'S CALL TO
CUT OFF AID FROM THE PNA PENDING REFORMS. COVERAGE OF
REACTIONS TO THE PRESIDENT'S MIDDLE EAST SPEECH
REFLECTED POSITIVE COMMENTS FROM ARAB OFFICIALS, AND
CRITICISM FROM ALL OTHER QUARTERS, INCLUDING AMERICAN
AND BRITISH COMMENTATORS.

JORDANIAN EDITORIAL COLUMNISTS CONTINUED TO CRITICIZE
THE PRESIDENT'S MIDDLE EAST SPEECH, CHARGING THAT IT
IGNORED THE ARAB INITIATIVE AND ARAB DIPLOMACY, AND
THAT IT HAS PUT ARAB MODERATES AND THE ISRAELI PEACE
CAMP IN A VERY EMBARRASSING POSITION.


NEWS REPORTS
JORDANIAN DAILIES THIS MORNING COVERED DEVELOPMENTS IN
THE WEST BANK WITH HEADLINES SUCH AS: "A MILLION
PALESTINIANS UNDER CURFEW" IN THE INDEPENDENT, MASS-
APPEAL ARABIC DAILY AL-ARAB AL-YAWM, AND: "PITCHED
BATTLES IN HEBRON AND LARGE WAVE OF ARRESTS IN THE WEST
BANK" IN THE SEMI-OFFICIAL, INFLUENTIAL ARABIC DAILY AL-
RAI. CENTER-LEFT, INFLUENTIAL ARABIC DAILY AL-DUSTOUR
LED WITH THE HEADLINE: "BUSH: NO AID TO THE
PALESTINIANS WITHOUT REFORMS."

COVERAGE OF REACTIONS TO THE PRESIDENT'S MIDDLE EAST
SPEECH VARIED BETWEEN POSITIVE PRONOUNCEMENTS BY ARAB
OFFICIALS, AND CRITICISM FROM OTHER SOURCES. THE
CONTRAST WAS MANIFEST IN TWO ADJACENT STORIES IN AL-
RAI. THE HEADLINE OF THE FIRST READ: "AMR MUSSA: BUSH
DID NOT CALL FOR GETTING RID OF ARAFAT" WHILE THE
HEADLINE NEXT TO IT READ: "EUROPEAN UNION AND CANADA
CRITICIZE BUSH'S CALL FOR GETTING RID OF ARAFAT."

AL-DUSTOUR AND AL-ARAB AL-YAWM REPORTED ON THEIR FRONT
PAGES THE ARREST IN THE U.S. OF A JORDANIAN WHO HAD
SHARED RESIDENCE WITH TWO OF THE SEPTEMBER 11
HIJACKERS.


EDITORIAL COMMENTARY
-- BUSH IGNORES THE ARAB INITIATIVE
MOST WIDELY READ JORDANIAN COLUMNIST DR. FAHED AL-FANEK
WROTE IN SEMI-OFFICIAL, INFLUENTIAL ARABIC DAILY AL-RAI
ON JUNE 27: "THE REFORMS THAT BUSH ASKED EXCLUSIVELY OF
THE PALESTINIANS ARE CORRECT, AND IN FACT THEY ARE
DEMANDED BY THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE. BUT IN REALITY
BUSH IS NOT CONCERNED WITH THEM BECAUSE THE U.S. IS IN
THE HABIT OF DEALING AND MAKING ALLIANCE WITH THE WORST
DICTATORIAL CORRUPT REGIMES. IN FACT, PRESIDENT BUSH
ASKED CERTAIN RULERS TO HELP IMPLEMENT POLITICAL AND
FISCAL REFORMS IN PALESTINE THAT THEY DO NOT CARRY OUT
IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES. THE OTHER POINT IS THAT THE
LEADERS OF JORDAN, EGYPT AND SAUDI ARABIA MADE SEVERAL
VISITS TO WASHINGTON AND SPENT LONG HOURS WITH THE
PRESIDENT TO EXPLAIN TO HIM THE ARAB POINT OF VIEW, AND
THEY RETURNED OPTIMISTIC THINKING THAT THEY MANAGED TO
INFLUENCE HIS THINKING, ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT HE HAD
CLOSED HIS EYES AND EARS TO THEM BECAUSE HE IS
COMMITTED TO SHARON'S VISION."

-- THE SIGNIFICANCE OF IGNORING THE ARAB INITIATIVE
DAILY COLUMNIST MAHMOUD AL-RIMAWI WROTE IN SEMI-
OFFICIAL, INFLUENTIAL ARABIC DAILY AL-RAI ON JUNE 27:
"DESPITE THE FREQUENT MEETINGS THAT PRESIDENT BUSH MADE
WITH ARAB LEADERS, AND WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE PUBLICIZED
ABOUT A POSITIVE SPIRIT IN THESE MEETINGS THAT WERE
HELD AT THE HIGHEST LEVELS, IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE
AMERICAN HAWKS, WHO SHOULD BETTER BE DESCRIBES AND THE
AMERICAN LIKUD, WERE DOING ALL THAT THEY COULD TO MAKE
THE ADMINISTRATION'S VIEWS COMPATIBLE WITH THOSE OF THE
OCCUPATION GOVERNMENT IN TEL AVIV. THIS IS THE GREAT
DANGER OF THE SPEECH. ONE NEEDS TO BE AN IMBECILE TO
BELIEVE AND TRUST THAT THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE
PALESTINIAN STATE SHOULD START WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF
ITS NUCLEUS WHILE CLOSING THE DOOR AGAINST SERIOUS
NEGOTIATIONS ON THE SYRIAN AND LEBANESE TRACKS. ARABS
ARE NOW CALLED UPON TO MOBILIZE THEMSELVES TO END THIS
SAGA THAT USES THE PRETEXT OF FIGHTING TERRORISM TO
PREVENT PEACE AND ABET THE STATE TERRORISM THAT IS
BEING PRACTICED BY THE WAR CRIMINALS OF TEL AVIV."

-- ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
PROMINENT JORDANIAN COLUMNIST URAIB RANTAWI WROTE IN
CENTER-LEFT, INFLUENTIAL ARABIC DAILY AL-DUSTOUR ON
JUNE 27: THE TONGUE [THAT UTTERED THE SPEECH] BELONGED
TO PRESIDENT BUSH, BUT THE HAND [THAT WROTE IT] WAS
THAT OF SHARON, TO THE POINT THAT SHARON COULD EASILY
CLAIM COPYRIGHT OF THIS SPEECH. PRESIDENT BUSH'S
SPEECH IS A PERSONAL DEFEAT FOR ARAFAT, AND A STAB FOR
ARAB DIPLOMACY. NOT ONLY BECAUSE IT IGNORED COMPLETELY
THE INITIATIVE OF PRICE ABDULLAH AND THE BEIRUT
DECLARATION, BUT ALSO BECAUSE IT ADOPTED THE ISRAELI
VERSION FROM A TO Z, AND REFUSED TO COMMIT ITSELF TO
ANY ARAB RIGHTS OF INTERESTS. THE NET RESULT IS THAT
BUSH HAS OPENED THE DOOR FOR ESCALATING THE CRISIS
RATHER THAN SOLVING IT. HE HAS GIVEN FRESH IMPETUS FOR
EXTREMISTS IN THE REGION, MADE THE LIFE OF ARAB
MODERATES EXTREMELY DIFFICULT, WEAKENED THE PNA IN
FAVOR OF ITS RIVALS, GIVEN SHARON AND THE RIGHT-WING
CAMP A NEW LEASE OF LIFE, AND PLACED THE ISRAELI PEACE
CAMP UNDER SIEGE."

-- WHERE IS THE ISRAELI PEACE PARTNER?
TAHER AL-ADWAN, CHIEF EDITOR OF INDEPENDENT, MASS-
APPEAL ARABIC DAILY AL-ARAB AL-YAWM WROTE ON JUNE 27:
"PRESIDENT BUSH'S SPEECH CONTAINS MANY ERRORS, THE MOST
IMPORTANT OF WHICH WAS TO PORTRAY THE PALESTINIAN
LEADERSHIP AND ITS PRESIDENT, ARAFAT, AS UNFIT TO BE A
PARTNER IN MAKING PEACE, EVEN THOUGH ARAFAT HAS A NOBEL
PEACE PRIZE, AND HE WAS THE FIRST PALESTINIAN LEADER TO
SHAKE HANDS WITH ISRAELI LEADERS AND TO RECOGNIZE
ISRAEL. IF PRESIDENT BUSH WERE BALANCED, HE WOULD HAVE
CALLED FOR A CHANGE IN THE ISRAELI LEADERSHIP, BECAUSE
EVEN ISRAELIS ACKNOWLEDGE THAT SHARON WAS A VOICE
AGAINST EVERY PEACE TREATY WITH EVERY ARAB COUNTRY, AND
HE IS AN EXPERT OF CRIMINALITY, MASSACRES, AND
DESTRUCTION. BUT BUSH CHOSE NOT TO BE BALANCED, AND HIS
VIEWS WILL PASS AS DUST, THE SAME AS THE DUST RAISED BY
THE CHAINS OF SHARON'S TANKS." GNEHM