MEDIA REACTION ON LEBANON

UNCLAS AMMAN 005537 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 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KMDR JO SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION ON LEBANON Editorial Commentary -- "Diplomacy of assistance and assisting diplomacy" Columnist Oraib Rantawi writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/24): "Every time there is a conflict or a struggle, the Arab countries rush to send conveys of assistance to the devastated folk and brethren in Palestine and Lebanon and, before that, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. The matter so far is desired and required.... But when the assistance becomes a replacement to politics with all its stances, measures and steps and when the assistance becomes the very beginning and end of politics, then that is the worst disaster. The Arabs, who no longer have a designated role or distinguishable presence even when issues have to do with them, have replaced politics and 'historical stances' with conveys of assistance. When their conveys call for help as they are subjected to American-Israeli bombing, the Arabs do nothing and settle for insisting on exercising the 'diplomacy of assistance' that has become their 'only strategic option' after the fall of their only peace option." -- "A responsible and honorable position" Center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/24) editorializes: "Jordan's stances that King Abdullah expresses are responsible and honorable and do not take to improvisations and explanations because they are not wordy stands, but rather are accompanied by action and movement. These days, Jordan's stances vis-`-vis Lebanon are expressed clearly through beneficial consultations, effective movement and urgent assistance. That is the different between those who talk and act and those who just talk." -- "Rice bears good tidings of prolonged killing and destruction" Columnist George Haddad writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/24): "U.S. Secretary of State, Ms. Condi, told the people of this region, that is afflicted with aggression, occupation and all forms of random killing, savage destruction, oppression, displacement and extermination, the good tidings that all that is happening in Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine is but the 'labor pains of the birth of the new Middle East'! The strange thing - if there is anything left to be thought of as strange in the conduct of such 'civilized' barbarics - is that the 'civilized' lady says this without a twitch of remorse. Could any person of sane mind and body who has even the simplest of humanitarian and moral standards actually make the destruction of life a condition for the birth of life?! Why would the killing of thousands of innocent people and civilians, the burning of children and the 'civilized' endeavor to exterminate every breath of non-Jewish life be just 'labor pains' for the birth of the new Middle East where only the Star of David would be shining in its sky...? Rice and her 'civilized' boss, as well as the people in his administration, its gangs and mafias, are not only rejecting a ceasefire and the exchange of prisoners in Lebanon, but also their 'civilized' humanitarianism is egging them to provide the state of usurpation and terrorism with a shipment of advanced weapons and laser bombs ... thinking that such savagery and barbarism is going to make Lebanon and the Lebanese surrender in fear." -- "We and Lebanon" Columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page of center-left, influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/24): "If what is going on in Lebanon constitutes the labor pain that will give birth to a new Middle East, then we must all expect the repetition of Lebanese massacres in our own countries. If Palestine was first, Iraq was second, Lebanon was third and Syria will be the fourth, then we must expect that the massacres to reach each and every Middle East country. It is clear that the American-Israeli project is founded on the idea of disarming all the countries of the region. They start with what is called illegal armament and then move on to take the weapons of armies that might be a threat to Israel some day. We are not talking about an illusion or political fantasy, and we are not adopting one of those traditional conspiracy theories. What is happening on the ground confirms this. The Lebanese experience must constitute a reality check for everyone. The Israeli-American advancement cannot be thwarted except by rethinking the stances. The reality we see before us and experienced since the signing of the treaties says that Israel is moving on with its plans ... and that if we have any care or concern for the future for our children and our homelands, then now is the time to make a stand. Let the expulsion of the [Israeli] ambassador be the first of the Jordanian steps, closing the [Israeli] embassy the second, and nullifying the Wadi Araba treaty the third. After all, we do not want the Israeli to salute us with his right hand and kill us with his left." -- "On the state and its sovereignty: the case of Hizbollah" Columnist Fahd Khitan writes on the inside page of independent, mass-appeal Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm (07/24): "Of the many criticisms directed against Hizbollah is that his latest operation against Israel caused the start of a war between Lebanon and Israel. These critics argue that the decision of war and peace belongs only to the state and that no organization or party is entitled to rob the state of that right. These critics also say that the solution in Lebanon lies in the prevalence of the state's sovereignty on all the land and the disarmament of Hizbollah. According to international and legal logic, this perspective is very correct, but in the Arab and Lebanese situations it is not accurate at all. The international powers and the United States in specific do not care about the state's stature and standing, but rather Israel's security.... The discrepancy in the theory of the state's sovereignty is the fact that it is adopted by Arab parties who are crying over Lebanon and its sovereignty today but who forget that the sovereignty in their own countries has been completely usurped.... The forces and the intelligence apparatus of the United States today control the decision-making process in most of the Arab countries. Lebanon was actually under Syria's control and has been set free. Ever since then, the United States and Israel have been trying to subject it to another hegemony, and the opportune point of entry for that is the pretext of Hizbollah's weapons and its influence in the South. That is why it has to be broken so that that the Lebanese state can prevail and cast its control the American way and so that Lebanon becomes a northern 'backyard' for Israel.... The Arabs can accuse Hizbollah of many things, including its relationship with and role in favor of Iran and its connections with Syria, but as far as sovereignty and state prevalence are concerned, then they must beg our pardon." -- "The Arab option" Columnist Jamil Nimri writes on the back-page of independent, centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad (07/24): "Just as the U.S. administration saw in the Iraq war a point of entry for achieving 'certain' arrangements for the Greater Middle East neatly organized as Bush and his administration imagined, the same is happening in Lebanon now according to what Rice said so confidently. She does not want a ceasefire because it is a 'false promise' and a return to the old Middle East, when the purpose of this war is to create the new Middle East! How will that be achieved on the ground? This is the problem that America and Israel are facing now, just as they had always starting with the Palestinian situation; namely the lack of even the smallest level of objective, wise and just vision. The Arabs must be careful and must not look at Hizbollah as just an Iranian tool. There is an Arab option that must rebel against the American foolishness and the Israeli arrogance. This is possible because the American-Israeli project is not realistic and is going to lead to neither stability nor peace. There is not a single moderate Arab that will tow this American-Israeli line." HALE