MEDIA REACTION ON MIDDLE EAST

UNCLAS AMMAN 004317 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 USCINCCENT//CCPA, USCENTCOM REAR MACDILL AFB FL STATE PASS TO AID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON MIDDLE EAST Summary -- Lead stories in all papers today, August 5, highlight yesterday's "wave" of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, including a suicide bus bombing in the north of Israel. Headlines mark the attacks as a retaliation by the Palestinian resistance to Israel's brutality against the Palestinian people. Stories also carry President Bush's "condemnation" of the attacks and the Palestinian and Israeli reactions. Editorial commentaries hold Israel responsible for the continuation of the violence Editorial Commentary on Middle East Issues -- "The occupation and the suffering of the Palestinians" Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (08/05): "Israel's crimes go almost unnoticed by the international media and hardly receive any coverage if compared with the coverage given to a suicide bombing inside Israeli territories. This international silence towards the Palestinians' incredible suffering under occupation is being used by Sharon and his government to continue his cycle of killings and destruction. Meanwhile, the main and only reason for this tragedy continues to be overlooked, namely the occupation. The return of the suicide bombings to what they used to be puts Sharon and even Bush in tight spot, simply because the Palestinian Authority no longer exists on the ground, and the only real presence of security in the West Bank is for the Israeli army. This suggests their failure to bring the Palestinian people down to their knees and to strip them of their spirit and their resistance." -- "Israeli terrorism springs violence in Palestine" Daily columnist Rakan Majali writes on the back page of center-left, influential Arabic Al-Dustour (08/05): "Even Israeli newspapers are saying that Israeli confrontations, escalation and the use of its military machine will only lead to more suicide bombings. Whatever Israel decides to call these bombings, the outcome is the same, namely that the state of frustration and desperation, that results from the Hebrew State's exercise of humiliation and oppression against Palestinian people and denial of their rights, will only lead to more bloodshed. GNEHM