MEDIA REACTION ON "CHAOS" IN GAZA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 006039 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 "CHAOS" IN GAZA Summary -- Lead story in all papers over the weekend, July 17- 18, highlights the chaotic situation in Gaza. Major headlines focus on President Arafat's rejection of PM Qurei' resignation, while the majority of editorial commentary highlight the "urgent need" for Palestinian reform. Editorial Commentary -- "Central authority needed" Centrist, influential among the elite English daily Jordan Times (07/18) editorializes: "The Palestinian National Authority is obviously trying its best to uproot bad governance and erase corruption from its ranks, but has not succeeded in this mission. In all fairness, it must be admitted that the PNA is endeavoring to promote reforms across the board under extremely hard conditions. With the Palestinian leadership locked up in Ramallah for a very long time now, there is probably very little it can do to promote and secure stability and good governance in the Palestinian territories. Still, a more determined effort needs to be exerted by the PNA to rein in all Palestinian factions who still operate freely and according to their own respective agendas. As long as there is more than one central authority in the Palestinian areas, there can be no progress on the reform front. That's a reason more for the PNA to strive to unite all Palestinians under one leadership that has their best interests at heart." -- "It happens in Palestine" Daily columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/18): "It is `a disaster, a catastrophe and security chaos' as the Palestinian Prime Minister said. No party should appoint itself in charge of setting a new law of the jungle and start enforcing it on the pretext of reform and putting an end to corruption. It is also true that pressure leads to explosion.. This time round, the explosion didn't blow up in the face of the occupation forces, but rather in the face of the Palestinian Authority itself, and in a manner that shows the Palestinians as highway robbers copying the Iraqi way of kidnappings.. Even if kidnapping Palestinian personalities, as an expression of rejecting corruption might seem understandable, one cannot understand the kidnapping for four French civilians who are providing humanitarian services for the Palestinian people.. The seriousness lies in the timing. The International Court of Justice has just issued its verdict on the separation wall and the General Assembly is going to issue a decision condemning Israel in the next couple of days. The internal Palestinians developments are not going to help except to further the viewpoint of the racist state [Israel] regarding the wall. The Palestinian President must take historical decisions that would rectify the situation." -- "What is happening in the Palestinian arena?" Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/18) editorializes: "We will try not to beat time and start expecting the worst, but what is happening in the Palestinian arena represents the kind of danger that, unless handled immediately and responsibly, could reflect negatively on the entire Palestinian cause and the fate of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights. We have said before that Israel has ill intentions and that the Palestinians must never hand it the opportunity to get its way. We have sent so many messages to our brethren asking them to rectify the situation before it gets out of control and before the rest of the world starts to believe what the Israelis are saying about the Palestinian Authority and other factions.. As much as we worry - because the Palestinian cause is our cause - we hope and pray that our brethren will be able to overcome this crisis, to rise beyond individual and personal interests, and to close ranks for the protection of Palestinian legitimacy. Time is not on their side. They are required, now more than ever before, to undertake concrete measures and to show courage and capability to take the right decisions before everything collapses and we find ourselves, God forbid, face to face with the reality of the Israeli project with nothing to show." -- "What lies behind the chaos in Gaza" Daily columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al- Dustour (07/18): "It is worthless to talk about the forms of chaos in the West Bank and Gaza without taking a look at the occupation's options and calculations, be they short-term or long-term.. All of what is going on is not benign and goes beyond Fateh, the PLO and the PNA. It is an attempt to narrow the Palestinians' option to accepting the reality of the occupation. Had Yaser Arafat agreed to pay the necessary dues, no one would have rebelled against him, even if he placed the most corrupt person in the highest of ranks, as was the case with the targeted person [the kidnapped Palestinian Security Chief Al-Jabali] when he was appointed to hunt down the most noble of men, shave their beards and suppress the Palestinian opposition in favor of the Oslo program, which Israel used as a tool to penetrate the region." -- "Palestinian reform is an urgent need" Chief Editor Taher Udwan writes on the back page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (07/18): "Events in Gaza last Friday and the seriousness of their political repercussions show that [Palestinian] reform is no longer a topic of dialogue for Palestinian and Arab elites, but rather an urgent need to confront a situation that is deteriorating rapidly.. The matter is no longer about describing reform as an American and Israeli attempt to dictate to the besieged Palestinian President, nor is it an issue through which comparison is drawn between the governments of Abu Mazen and Abu Al-Ala'. It is much deeper than that. It is the future of the Palestinian people and their cause: the fruits of the long struggle.. Palestinian society is a living and active society that includes all types of people. But these people [scientists, thinkers, intellectuals] have no real influence on decisions about the fate of the people, their present or their future. The problem is that the decision-making process that was suitable for the revolutionary era is no longer suitable for the era of siege and isolation, where the powers of the enemies of the Palestinian people are growing.. Finally, reform is necessary, because it will not bring enemies into positions of power, rather it will open the path for the generation of fighters who were born from people's institutions, from the womb of the Intifada, from the suffering of sieges, and from their ability to learn from bitter experiences." HALE