Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ABUDHABI1994
2006-05-15 09:41:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Abu Dhabi
Cable title:  

MEDIA REACTION: IRAN/PALESTINE/UAE FTA/REFORM IN THE

Tags:  OIIP KMDR AE KPAO TC 
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001994 

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: IRAN/PALESTINE/UAE FTA/REFORM IN THE
MIDDLE EAST


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABU DHABI 001994

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: IRAN/PALESTINE/UAE FTA/REFORM IN THE
MIDDLE EAST



1. SUMMARY: A columnist in "Al-Bayan" cautions the use of
military force against Iran. An editorial in "Al-Khaleej" says
it is disgraceful for the U.S. to provide Israel with Weapons of
Mass Destruction while preventing the Arabs from providing the
Palestinians with basic support. A UAE columnist in "Al-Khaleej"
advises the Arab countries to be cautious about Iran's quest for
nuclear power and not get deceived by Iran's promises. Most
Arabic and English newspaper carried a wire story on Sheikha
Lubna's hope for a signed U.S. trade deal by the end of 2006.
"Al-Bayan" carried an almost full-page exclusive interview with
George Mitchell, former U.S. Senator on issues of Iran, Israel
and Guantanamo. A female columnist in "Akhbar Al-Arab"
criticized American projects for reform in the Middle East. End
Summary.


2. Under the headline "Are direct negotiations a way out?", a
columnist, Dr. Naseef Hatta, wrote in Dubai-based Arabic daily
"Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) 5/14:

"The military solution should be ruled out because it cannot help
change the Iranian standpoint. The military solution could drive
them towards the nuclear power option and exposes the region to
the hazards of a comprehensive bombing campaign in the Middle
East... Iran's role in the region needs to be recognized by the
U.S."


3. Under headline "Disgrace", Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily "Al-
Khaleej" (circulation 85,000) wrote 5/14 unsigned editorial:

"Arabs throughout the decades have always lost because they
depended on America. America, which cannot be on their side,
not even 1%, in any issue that might annoy Israel since their
strategies are set on siding with Israel against the Arabs, while
spending billions of dollars, crossing seas and oceans and waging
wars for Israel... The U.S. provides the Zionist Entity with
Weapons of Mass Destruction, weapons of terror and destruction
while stopping Arabs from providing Palestinians with what
supports them to live. This is disgraceful."



4. Under headline "So that we do not get deceived", Dr. Mohamed
Bin Huwaiden, a UAE columnist, wrote 5/14 op-ed in Sharjah-based

pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 85,000):

"Iran is trying hard during this period to stir up its diplomats
targeting neighboring countries, especially in the Arab Gulf
region, in an attempt to convince these countries that Tehran has
no intention to develop military nuclear power... Iran today is
closer to the control and domination of the Gulf region through
its military power, thereby, increasing the gap between itself
and other countries especially Saudi Arabia and Iraq so as to
ensure that there is no country in the region that can threaten
Iran in the future... As long as Iran is operating under such a
regime... all probabilities show that despite Iran's continuous
assertions, it will keep trying to develop nuclear weapons. This
is obvious, especially because of Iran's perseverance in having
the right to fertilize uranium on its land even in small
quantities. Therefore, so that we do not get deceived by Iran's
promises, we need to seriously contemplate the future with an
emotionless perspective or standpoint that is not based on
speculations, so as to properly face such a future."


5. Most local Arabic and English newspapers carried a 5/15 wire
story article on UAE Economic Minister Sheikha Lubna al-Qassimi
stating that she hoped for a completed U.S. trade deal by the end
of 2006. She said that she expected the fifth round of talks to
begin before the end of summer and a deal to be signed by the end
of the year. She also declined to comment on media reports that
said Washington was pressing the UAE to open up its heavily
protected telecommunications sector before the 2015 deadline set
by the World Trade Organization.


6. Under headline "Mitchell regards hitting Iran as unlikely
and demands Israel to stop building settlements", Dubai-based
Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000) carried an
exclusive full-page interview with former U.S. Senator George
Mitchell on 5/15:

"Americans themselves will decide who to hold responsible for the
thousands of mistakes committed in Iraq as previously stated by
Secretary Condoleezza Rice... And whether I agree or not with

SIPDIS
the latest policies practiced in Iraq, we need to deal with the
reality that we are living in and have everybody focus on how to
resolve these issues in Iraq."

"I still believe that setting up an economic embargo, which was
imposed on Saddam Hussein's regime and applied by the UN and the
U.S., is the best and the most correct policy to practice.
However this was implemented in a weak form by the U.S.
administration."

"Iran is not like Iraq, and the U.S. and European policies toward
Iraq differ from those directed toward Iran. Washington follows
a diplomatic line in dealing with the Iranian portfolio as is
done with the North Korean one."

"I do not believe that the U.S. will take a military action
against Iran, but the people in charge of the Iranian nuclear
case should work harder to help the diplomatic efforts succeed.
The U.S. also asserted that it would use all options including
military action, but I believe that Washington will more likely
choose the diplomatic option..."

"It is expected that Iran, having a strong influence in Iraq, to
react against the U.S. through Iraq if the U.S. ever strikes
Iran..."


7. Dubai-based Arabic daily "Al-Bayan," (circulation 90,000)
also carried a short interview with the former U.S. Secretary of
Defense William Cohen, 5/15:

"The number of U.S. soldiers involved with human rights
violations is very limited; we have condemned such acts... My
friend Senator John Mekin is pressing on the Congress to
establish laws prohibiting the use of torture as a way of
extracting confessions."

"The U.S. Congress should press the American government to
provide prisoners with a living environment complying with
international human rights and I believe that the Guantanamo
detainees should be taken to court... I think this will happen
and these prisoners in Guantanamo will be put on trial through
military courts."


8. Under headline "U.S. reform project in the Middle East", a
female columnist, Marwa Krediya, wrote in a 5/15 op-ed in Abu
Dhabi-based pan-Arab daily "Akhbar Al-Arab" (circulation 20,000):

"Although the U.S. is spending enormous amounts of money to
conduct social and economic studies in order to understand the
community structure of the Middle Eastern societies, it still
fails to understand the truth of such nations, especially when
you hear the clear statements made by its leaders...
Accordingly, I say this to those in charge of the Western
cultural projects: The intellectual proposals that are
introduced to the nations, regardless of its contents, will not
receive an effective acceptance and will not cause radical
changes for two main reasons: First, the absence of credibility
from the side that is proposing such ideas... Second, these
proposals are not based on the symbolic elements of these
nations. The U.S. administration imposes the symbols of its own
culture on societies wherever it finds symbols that it does not
like. For instance, how can I ask a tribal-based community to
hold elections and have everybody participate, when such a
community has its own unique structure which is resistant to
outside intervention?"


SISON