MEDIA REACTION: US, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE/IRAN

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 001538

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARP; NEA/PPD; NEA/RA; INR/R/MR; PA; INR/NESA;
INR/B; RRU-NEA IIP/G/NEA-SA
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE; NSC
SECDEF FOR OASD/PA
USCINCCENT FOR POLAD
LONDON FOR MCKUNE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: US, ISRAEL AND PALESTINE/IRAN



1. Summary: A columnist in "Al-Khaleej" states that the
support and patronage of the United States supports Israel's
campaigns against the Palestinians. "Al-Bayan" complains
about the biased support the U.S. gives to Israel. An op-ed
in "Al-Bayan" renounces the double-standard of U.S. nuclear
policies. End Summary.



2. Under headline "Supporting aggression by preventing its
condemnation", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej"
(circulation 85,000) wrote 4/15 unsigned editorial:

"The United States seizes each and every opportunity to show
that it opposes the Arabs and Palestinians, and that it
stands on Israel's side and sticks to its policies of
aggressiveness, expansion and racism. The U.S. is
effectively besieging the Palestinian people and starving
them while pressuring other states to contribute to this
crime and this is only the latest episode. Last Thursday
the United States suspended the Security Council's
resolution that demanded Israel cease overusing its power
against Palestinians. John Bolton, the American ambassador
in the United Nations, well known for his inclinations to
Zionism and his support to this entity, behaved as if he
were the Israeli delegate and justified his country's
standpoint by saying that the resolution criticized the
Zionist entity in an unbalanced way. With this he is saying
that the proclaimed war against Palestine is a natural
Israeli right and that calling to stop this war is unjust...
This is the Israel who enjoys the support and patronage of
the United States, the Israel that goes to war, invades
countries and launches campaigns to justify its actions. It
was for Israel that the occupation and invasion of Iraq
occurred, the Great Middle East projects conducted, fake
democratic slogans raised, and the decision to target Syria
and Lebanon made. As for Israel, the Security Council is
forbidden to demand it ceases its immoderate use of power
against the Palestinians".


3. Under headline "The blind inclination", Dubai-based
Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) wrote 4/15
editorial:
"What is really regrettable about the latest American
position is that John Bolton, the delegate from the United
States, notified members of the Security Council that one of
the reasons his government refused the project proposed
within the presidential statement issued by the Security
Council was that it described Palestinian lands as occupied,
including Eastern Jerusalem, and that Israeli military
actions expose Palestinian civilians to danger...
Washington's biased support for the Hebrew state distracts
it from it duties to protect the international law and deter
those who violate it. Sorrowfully, the International
Security Council will remain paralyzed and weak against
Israeli aggression because the American position that does
not observe justice and law wherever the Hebrew State is
concerned, which is the biggest threat to the region's
security."


4. Under headline "Why Iran?", a columnist, Ahmed Omarabi,
Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000)
wrote 4/15 op-ed:
"While India owns an arsenal of assorted nuclear weapons,
American storms and hurricanes are instigated against Iran
at the mere thought that it might in the future succeed in
industrializing nuclear weapons. The reason for this is
well known: Israel."



SISON