Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06AMMAN5743
2006-07-31 10:23:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Amman
Cable title:
MEDIA REACTION ON ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH COMBAT
how-toVZCZCXYZ0003 OO RUEHWEB DE RUEHAM #5743/01 2121023 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 311023Z JUL 06 FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2748 RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC IMMEDIATE RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0399 RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS IMMEDIATE 1317 RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE RUMICEA/USCINCCENT MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA// IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS AMMAN 005743
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 ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH COMBAT
Editorial Commentary
-- "Qana must be our point of reference"
Columnist Bater Wardam writes on the inside page of center-left,
influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/31): "When we see the
children martyrs in Qana, how can we think of peace, coexistence and
tolerance? Who do we tolerate? The prime minister who ordered the
war? The defense minister who led the army? The soldier who fired
the rocket? The government's spokesman who is trying to justify the
crime and the lies? The media outlets that promote Israeli
viewpoints? The United States that provides political and military
cover for the Israeli crime? Let Qana be our point of reference for
everything. When we are overtaken by the illusion that Israel wants
peace, let us remember Qana. When we talk about normalization and
coexistence, let us remember the children martyrs. When we listen
the U.S. lies, let us remember Qana.... When the Arab regime fails
to rein in Israel, the people will move towards extremism, and when
the international community fails to achieve justice, the Arabs and
Muslims will move towards the so-called terrorism.... Every time we
write about the logic and importance of peace, Israel comes along
and kills off every hope and every illusion of the possibility of
having peace. We can no longer talk about democracy and coexistence
in view of these crimes. We can no longer justify to the angry
masses that abiding by international legitimacy and fighting
terrorism will achieve security and justice for the Palestinian and
Lebanese people. I do not care if Hezbollah is implementing a
Lebanese or Iranian policy. I do not care if Hassan Nasrallah is a
Shiite, Sunni, Buddhist or even an atheist. But as long as they
have become the only weapon that this nation has to retrieve part of
its dignity and seek revenge against the Israeli criminals, then we
are with Nasrallah and with Hezbollah and against any plan or
project that seeks to disarm them.... We curse Israel and we ask
for forgiveness and mercy for the Qana martyrs. And before the
martyrs of Qana, I go down on my knees and apologize for every word
I had written about the possibility of achieving coexistence with
Israel."
-- "The embassy of criminality must shut down"
Columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page of center-left,
influential Arabic daily Ad-Dustour (07/31): "Let the embassy of
criminality shut down and let that despicable flag that is flying in
our country go to hell. There is no more room for them on our land,
and they have no more justification in view of this flagrant scene
of the bloodshed of our folks in Lebanon and Palestine.... The ugly
crime, as the King described it, must have a Jordanian response.
The dirty war, right from the beginning, should make us adopt a
decisive and conclusive stand. If the fragile peace that was
established between us and the Israeli entity came about out of
embarrassment and the tying of our hands, then it must go to hell.
Amman is sad about what has been going on since day one, and it
boils over with every piece of news that comes from the southern
parts of Lebanon and Palestine. But yesterday with the news of the
second Qana massacre, a new type of anger is added to the sadness,
and we stand today facing ourselves wondering about this begrudging
historical enemy to whom we gave peace with good intent, only to
receive from it killing after killing after killing.... We regret
that there is still an embassy and ambassador that act as a thorn in
our side and prevent us from even speaking out. We regret even more
that Jordan, the Arab and nationalistic country, is put in an
awkward position because of the presence of the embassy and the
ambassador."
-- "New Nazis launch the 'final solution'"
Columnist Mahmoud Rimawi writes on the op-ed page of semi-official,
influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (07/31): "Rice expressed her
feelings by what she called deep sadness over the victims of the
Israeli attack. She should have expressed shame, since her
administration supported this dirty war and quickly provided Olmert
and his gang with advanced American bombs.... The organized
massacres that the Hebrew state has been committing over the past
era, which started with Sharon's rule, proves that the people and
countries of the region, as well as the humanity and the world, are
now facing new Nazism that is focused on military armament and
manufacturing, the spread of a culture of racism, organization of
racial extermination campaigns, and complete contempt for the rest
of the world including the allies in Washington."
-- "Qana 2006"
Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back-page of independent,
centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad (07/31): "Do we call it a massacre? Do
we call it a slaughter? Do we pin it in our Arab memories as another
Israeli crime that thwarts all proposals for peaceful coexistence
with a barbaric racist enemy? Do we consider it a result of the
shameful Arab reality? Do we consider the United States an
accomplice in the crime? Do we condemn the frailty of the United
Nations? All that we can do, but we are still ashamed of this
helplessness to preserve the lives of children whose bodies were
torn by the Israeli terrorism tools in a shelter where they escaped
anyway from the Zionist war. We are angry that Israeli flags rise
in Amman and Cairo while the voices of the victims of Israel's
terrorism rise in the skies of Lebanon and Palestine.... We
remember all the Israeli killing and we form the genuine image of
Israel: a rogue country built on hatred and resentment; a country
whose children sign the rockets of destruction that kill the
Lebanese children; a country that takes life from death. It is not
the Arabs who raise their children on hatred and glorification of
death, but Israel. It is not the Arabs who justify terrorism, but
the President of the United States of America, George Bush. He
supports the terrorism of the Israeli state and justifies its taking
of innocent lives as legitimate self-defense.... Israel's
criminality will not produce a new and safe Middle East. Let
America stop belittling the minds of Arabs and offending their
feelings as it promises this new Middle East. The outcome of the
Israeli criminality and American complicity is an environment where
only violence is created and where only the desire for vengeance is
grown.... Meanwhile, Israel's ambassadors must not stay in Cairo
and Amman, and Jordan and Egypt's ambassadors must not stay in Tel
Aviv. Let the Jordanian and Egyptian anger at the Israeli crimes be
manifested, at least in protest, by the withdrawal of the
ambassadors."
HALE
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 ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH COMBAT
Editorial Commentary
-- "Qana must be our point of reference"
Columnist Bater Wardam writes on the inside page of center-left,
influential Arabic daily Al-Dustour (07/31): "When we see the
children martyrs in Qana, how can we think of peace, coexistence and
tolerance? Who do we tolerate? The prime minister who ordered the
war? The defense minister who led the army? The soldier who fired
the rocket? The government's spokesman who is trying to justify the
crime and the lies? The media outlets that promote Israeli
viewpoints? The United States that provides political and military
cover for the Israeli crime? Let Qana be our point of reference for
everything. When we are overtaken by the illusion that Israel wants
peace, let us remember Qana. When we talk about normalization and
coexistence, let us remember the children martyrs. When we listen
the U.S. lies, let us remember Qana.... When the Arab regime fails
to rein in Israel, the people will move towards extremism, and when
the international community fails to achieve justice, the Arabs and
Muslims will move towards the so-called terrorism.... Every time we
write about the logic and importance of peace, Israel comes along
and kills off every hope and every illusion of the possibility of
having peace. We can no longer talk about democracy and coexistence
in view of these crimes. We can no longer justify to the angry
masses that abiding by international legitimacy and fighting
terrorism will achieve security and justice for the Palestinian and
Lebanese people. I do not care if Hezbollah is implementing a
Lebanese or Iranian policy. I do not care if Hassan Nasrallah is a
Shiite, Sunni, Buddhist or even an atheist. But as long as they
have become the only weapon that this nation has to retrieve part of
its dignity and seek revenge against the Israeli criminals, then we
are with Nasrallah and with Hezbollah and against any plan or
project that seeks to disarm them.... We curse Israel and we ask
for forgiveness and mercy for the Qana martyrs. And before the
martyrs of Qana, I go down on my knees and apologize for every word
I had written about the possibility of achieving coexistence with
Israel."
-- "The embassy of criminality must shut down"
Columnist Basem Sakijha writes on the op-ed page of center-left,
influential Arabic daily Ad-Dustour (07/31): "Let the embassy of
criminality shut down and let that despicable flag that is flying in
our country go to hell. There is no more room for them on our land,
and they have no more justification in view of this flagrant scene
of the bloodshed of our folks in Lebanon and Palestine.... The ugly
crime, as the King described it, must have a Jordanian response.
The dirty war, right from the beginning, should make us adopt a
decisive and conclusive stand. If the fragile peace that was
established between us and the Israeli entity came about out of
embarrassment and the tying of our hands, then it must go to hell.
Amman is sad about what has been going on since day one, and it
boils over with every piece of news that comes from the southern
parts of Lebanon and Palestine. But yesterday with the news of the
second Qana massacre, a new type of anger is added to the sadness,
and we stand today facing ourselves wondering about this begrudging
historical enemy to whom we gave peace with good intent, only to
receive from it killing after killing after killing.... We regret
that there is still an embassy and ambassador that act as a thorn in
our side and prevent us from even speaking out. We regret even more
that Jordan, the Arab and nationalistic country, is put in an
awkward position because of the presence of the embassy and the
ambassador."
-- "New Nazis launch the 'final solution'"
Columnist Mahmoud Rimawi writes on the op-ed page of semi-official,
influential Arabic daily Al-Rai (07/31): "Rice expressed her
feelings by what she called deep sadness over the victims of the
Israeli attack. She should have expressed shame, since her
administration supported this dirty war and quickly provided Olmert
and his gang with advanced American bombs.... The organized
massacres that the Hebrew state has been committing over the past
era, which started with Sharon's rule, proves that the people and
countries of the region, as well as the humanity and the world, are
now facing new Nazism that is focused on military armament and
manufacturing, the spread of a culture of racism, organization of
racial extermination campaigns, and complete contempt for the rest
of the world including the allies in Washington."
-- "Qana 2006"
Chief Editor Ayman Safadi writes on the back-page of independent,
centrist Arabic daily Al-Ghad (07/31): "Do we call it a massacre? Do
we call it a slaughter? Do we pin it in our Arab memories as another
Israeli crime that thwarts all proposals for peaceful coexistence
with a barbaric racist enemy? Do we consider it a result of the
shameful Arab reality? Do we consider the United States an
accomplice in the crime? Do we condemn the frailty of the United
Nations? All that we can do, but we are still ashamed of this
helplessness to preserve the lives of children whose bodies were
torn by the Israeli terrorism tools in a shelter where they escaped
anyway from the Zionist war. We are angry that Israeli flags rise
in Amman and Cairo while the voices of the victims of Israel's
terrorism rise in the skies of Lebanon and Palestine.... We
remember all the Israeli killing and we form the genuine image of
Israel: a rogue country built on hatred and resentment; a country
whose children sign the rockets of destruction that kill the
Lebanese children; a country that takes life from death. It is not
the Arabs who raise their children on hatred and glorification of
death, but Israel. It is not the Arabs who justify terrorism, but
the President of the United States of America, George Bush. He
supports the terrorism of the Israeli state and justifies its taking
of innocent lives as legitimate self-defense.... Israel's
criminality will not produce a new and safe Middle East. Let
America stop belittling the minds of Arabs and offending their
feelings as it promises this new Middle East. The outcome of the
Israeli criminality and American complicity is an environment where
only violence is created and where only the desire for vengeance is
grown.... Meanwhile, Israel's ambassadors must not stay in Cairo
and Amman, and Jordan and Egypt's ambassadors must not stay in Tel
Aviv. Let the Jordanian and Egyptian anger at the Israeli crimes be
manifested, at least in protest, by the withdrawal of the
ambassadors."
HALE