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