MEDIA REACTION ON EGYPT, IRAQ AND MIDDLE EAST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 009453 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 TSOU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON EGYPT, IRAQ AND MIDDLE EAST Summary -- Lead story in all papers today, December 7, continues to highlight reports related to Saddam Hussein's trial. Front-page reports feature color photos of a defiant Saddam with headlines quoting his "go to hell" remarks to the court. Editorial Commentary on Egyptian Elections -- "After the success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt" Chief Editor Taher Adwan writes on the back-page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (12/06): "Reactions in the Arab media to the success of the Muslim Brotherhood in attaining second place in the [Egyptian] parliamentary elections after the ruling party indicates the importance of what is going on, not only because Egypt is the largest Arab country, but also because the Muslim Brotherhood is not just an Egyptian movement, but an Arab and global one.. This is not the first time that the Muslim Brotherhood attains parliamentary seats in Egypt. They have been there as independents or as part of other party lists. Yet, this is the first time that they are present in their own capacity as the Brotherhood, having waged the electioneering battle with their own slogans and their own Egyptian constituents.. Furthermore, this success by the Brotherhood in the largest Arab country has not this time stirred any negative reactions from Washington or western capitals that are preoccupied with fighting 'radical Islam'. On the contrary, there was more than one indication from the U.S. administration, most important of which is Rice's remarks, to the effect that America does not oppose the presence of Islamic 'extremists' in positions of authority if they abide by the rules of the democracy game. It seems that the Arab world is on the threshold of a new era where the Brotherhood takes up parliamentary and political positions. This leads to the conclusion that the Brotherhood will have a political role to play in Iraq, as well as in Palestine since Hamas announced its participation in the municipal and legislative elections. If we add to that the Brotherhood's role in Egypt and its elections, then hints of America's 'courting' of the Brotherhood in Syria cannot go unnoticed as Washington seeks for popular opposition to the Syrian regime.. In short, all pretexts for banning the Brotherhood from taking part in the political reform process are unconvincing. Where would political pluralism be then?" -- "The Islamists and the duality of involving and excluding them" Daily columnist Rakan Majali writes on the back-page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (12/06): "In the beginning of his second term in office, President Bush expressed admiration for the ideas of Jewish political thinker Sharinski of imposing democracy as the only solution for the problems of the Middle East, and started to show enthusiasm and even obsession about the birth of a new Middle East under his administration and started to call for in-depth and comprehensive changes in the Arab and Muslim worlds, considering democracy a ready- made magic recipe that could be exported to societies in isolation of their specificity, circumstances and nature. Although President Bush did not backtrack from his demands for democracy for the region, he has started reconsidering and recalculating the consequences of implementing democracy, particularly in view of the success achieved by the Islamists through the ballot boxes.. Judging from the elections in Egypt, it is clear that the U.S. administration has started in recent months to conduct direct and indirect contacts with the Islamists in the Arab world and to convince the ruling regimes to involve them in the elections in a limited matter and under the ceiling of the ruling authority and through specific constraints that would achieve their presence in the political scene but without allowing the repetition of the massive success of the Islamists in Algeria." Editorial Commentary on Iraq -- "Cherchez the dollar!" Daily columnist Nahed Hattar writes on the back-page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al- Yawm (12/06): "The latest scandal of the American 'reconstruction' of Iraq is this official program to publish paid advertisements in the form of articles and news reports praising the occupiers in the 'free' Iraqi media. The Iraqi media, under Saddam Hussein, was totalitarian and hardline and expressed the one viewpoint of the authority. That was known and clear and you could accept it or simply ignore it. It did not fool you. But the media 'freedom' that was brought by the American occupation is based on deceit.. This funding program does not apply to Iraq alone. The first years of the third millennium have witnessed an extensive plan of media promotion for the American empire under liberalistic slogans. This plan included financing the establishment of media organizations, implicitly and explicitly, as well as the open and declared programs that organize visits and courses in the United States for Arab journalists. This multi-faceted explicit and implicit activity has led to the rise of the phenomenon of clear support for the colonization and occupation in the Arab media and culture and animosity for the Arab national liberation movement." Editorial Commentary on Palestinian Israeli Peace Process -- "Netanya operation: a necessary response to Sharon's practices" Columnist Yaser Za'atreh writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (12/07): "It was not strange that the Palestinian Authority was quick to condemn the Netanya operation, as it is required to do so by means of the agreements and pledges it made. However, the denunciation by any other Arab party for the operation seems neither logical nor acceptable. Our understanding of the official Palestinian condemnation of the operation does not in any way eliminate our rejection of the prevailing approach to Sharon's program that continues to advance and move along without any convincing reactions or responses.. Under these circumstances, the opposition forces had to have a reaction and a response.. As for the [Palestinian] Authority and its reaction to what is going on, the situation seems to frightening, because it is doing nothing, neither to confront the episodes of assassinations and arrests, not to defy the episodes of violations related to the settlements, the taking of land and the continued building of the wall." HALE