Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05AMMAN5601
2005-07-14 10:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION ON SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN ISRAEL

Tags:  KMDR JO 
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141055Z Jul 05
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 005601

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

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KMDR JO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON SUICIDE BOMBINGS IN ISRAEL
AND IRAQ


Summary

-- A lead story in all Jordanian papers today, July
14, highlights the Badran government's policy
statement that will be presented to Parliament today
for a vote of confidence. Other major lead stories
highlight the suicide bombing in Baghdad yesterday
that killed 27 children, and the aftermath of the
Palestinian suicide bombing in Netanya, Israel, two
days ago.

Editorial Commentary

-- "A suspicious and condemnable operation"

Daily columnist and former Jordanian Minister of
Information Saleh Qallab writes on the back-page of
semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai
(07/14): "Whoever made the decision to carry out the
suicide operation in Netanya, north of Tel Aviv, is
either ignorant, stupid, or impetuous. It is
unbelievable that a sane person would do something
like that when the entire world is still cursing those
who perpetrated the heinous crime in London last
Thursday. Even if the people who were responsible for
the Netanya bombing present all types of
justifications to prove their good intentions, one can
only question what they did, because their actions
have forced the Palestinian people into a corner. Is
it coincidence? That would be hard to believe. And
even if it is coincidence, ignorant people have no
right to claim that they are leaders of a people who
are party to a complicated struggle, whose cause is
like no other in the rest of the world, and whose
cause needs people of wisdom and open-mindedness....
The truth is that the harm inflicted by this desperate
operation reflects thousands of times more against the
Palestinian people than the Israeli people. Most
certainly, the extremists in Israel, who reject the
withdrawal from Gaza or any part of the West Bank,
have been waiting for such a terrorist-suicide action
in order to push the Israeli people against the idea
of withdrawing.... This attack strengthens the
Israeli viewpoint of denying the existence of a
Palestinian party capable of controlling the status on
the ground following an Israeli withdrawal. There is
worldwide popular movement against terrorism and there
is an expected Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and some
parts of the West Bank. So, when a certain party
sends a naive young man to carry out a suicide bombing
that targets Israeli civilians, the party hurt would
be the Palestinian people and the loser would be the
Palestinian cause, and the one to benefit from it
would be the one who wants to keep the Palestinians on
the list of terrorists and their image shaded by Al-
Qaeda and Osama bin Laden."

-- "The independent Palestinian decision"

Daily columnist Tarek Masarweh writes on the back-page
of semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai
(07/14): "The Netanya attack takes matters all the
way back to square one. Israel and Islamic Jihad
fight and the Palestinian Authority and the
Palestinian people end up paying the price.... Ariel
Sharon is trying to convince the world public opinion
that he is a man of peace. Why would we want to make
a martyr of him? He says that he can accept Mahmoud
Abbas and the Palestinian Authority as peace partners.
Why would we want to give him the opportunity to put
Abbas in the position that Yaser Arafat had reached?"

-- "What is justification for the massacre of children
in Baghdad?"

Semi-official, influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (07/14)
editorializes: "The massacre of children in Baghdad
yesterday comes as one of the most heinous terrorist
operations going on in Iraq. It is a despicable
operation that has no religious moral justification
whatsoever. It has put forth once again questions
about the purpose of these suspicious attacks and
their true objectives.... Even if this was a genuine
resistance attack that targeted an American military
convoy, whose soldiers were giving out candy to the
children, could the price that the Iraqis paid - 27
dead children, dozens wounded, destruction to homes -
be equal to the price that the American military paid
- one dead soldier and three wounded? What is the
true formula? Were the American soldiers the real
target or were they the bait? It is time to put a
stop to these crimes. It is time to speak out in
condemnation of these low-handed actions that have no
purpose other than to kill and to breed hatred among
the people of the country."
HALE