MEDIA REACTION: SETTLEMENT EXPANSION IN PALESTINE, HATE

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000597

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI (TROBERTS),NEA/PPD (CWHITTLESEY),NEA/P
(FFINVER),INR/R/MR

LONDON FOR GOLDRICH
PARIS FOR ZEYA
USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH
FOREIGN PRESS CENTER/ASILAS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP MU
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: SETTLEMENT EXPANSION IN PALESTINE, HATE
GROUPS IN AMERICA, AND REFORMING THE ARAB WORLD


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International Mediator, Mediate!
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1. On April 7, the government-owned Arabic daily "Oman" carried
an editorial entitled, "Sharon's Projects to Where?"

"Despite the Palestinian leadership's insistence that Sharon
withdraw from the Gaza strip, it appears that he will once again
ignore their requests and go against his previously conciliatory
statements by expanding Israeli settlements in the West Bank. If
the Bush administration were to demand that the roadmap be
implemented, it would force Sharon to give up his plans to expand
the settlements... If Bush really wants peace between Israel and
Palestine, he will stress to Sharon that the U.S. will not allow
Israel to continue building settlements in the West Bank."

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Terrorism: Where Is Our Focus?
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2. On April 9, the privately-owned Arabic daily "al-Watan"
carried an editorial entitled "The American Usama":

"Since September 11, the American security community has closely
watched Arabs and Muslims in the United States and worldwide out
of a fear that they may be affiliated with al-Qaida or Usama Bin
Laden. They forget that in America there are over 760 hate
groups that promote violent forms of racism. The American
security services are not concerned with these groups that are
known to have illegal weapons and regularly carry out crimes
against humanity. The events of September 11 have distracted
American policemen and the FBI from their own homegrown
terrorists, so they target Arabs and Muslims. It is wise to keep
track of Usama's followers inside of the U.S., but it is foolish
to ignore the millions of potential homegrown Usamas that live
throughout the United States and carry arms of all kinds,
including the kinds of biological and chemical weapons that have
yet to be found in Iraq."

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Arab Nations Reform Decisions
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3. The privately-owned Arabic daily "al-Watan" published an
editorial on April 10 entitled, "What they want from the Arabs":

"It is crystal clear that America aims to protect Israel from all
harm. To do this, it has changed its policy toward Arab nations.
The new policy is to make war on, embarrass, and humiliate Arab
countries that do not reform in the ways that it wants them to.
Given this situation, Arab nations have only two options:
willingly adhere to America's demands, or resist change and face
its might."

STEWART