MEDIA REACTION: WEST'S HAMAS POLICY, AND AMERICAN UUSE

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000152 SIPDIS DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI, NEA/PPD, NEA/P, AND INR/R/MR LONDON FOR GOLDRICH PARIS FOR ZEYA USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH FOREIGN PRESS CENTER FOR ASILAS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO KMDR OIIP MU SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: WEST'S HAMAS POLICY, AND AMERICAN UUSE OF INTELLIGENCE AS PRETEXT FOR WAR IN IRAN AND IRAQ -------------- EU Hamas Policy -------------- ¶1. On January 31, tThe privately owned Arabic daily newspaper "al- Watan" published on January 31 an editorial under the headline, "Why the Palestinians are Paying for the Mistakes of Others:": "The EU and the United States are punishing the Palestinians for electing their own representatives...This policy of punishment and deliberate starvation clashes with all human, moral, and ethical principles that the West advocates. Where is their sense of justice and respect for human rights? The Palestinians are fighting for their rights and their land, so how can the world ask them to sit silently and without protection while Israel eliminates them? Europe's best option is to remove Hamas from the list of terrorist countries and guide it to safe shores, so that both sides can forge common ground for dialogue." -------------- -------------- Supporting Appeal to Separate Policy toward Hamas Vs.from Aiding to Ordinary Palestinians -------------- -------------- ¶2. The government-owned Arabic daily "Oman" published an editorial on February 2 entitled, "The Difference between Humanitarian Work and Politics:": "Hamas and all Palestinians are suffering from continuous threats by the U.S., EU and other donors to make aid conditional on Hamas's policy on the Peace Process, disarmament, and the recognition of Israel. Thousands of Palestinians depend on the health services, education, food, and shelter that humanitarian organizations and countries provide, and so this policy aimed at Hamas affects them, too. Donor countries must distinguish between political and humanitarian concerns. -------------- American Uses of Intelligence as Pretext for War in Iran and Iraq -------------- ¶3. "Oman" also featured an editorial on February 4 entitled "Misleading Information from the CIA:": "A hidden war has begun between America and Iran under the guise of confronting Iran's nuclear program. At the same time, investigations have started about the CIA's misleading information on Iraq's weapons, which led to war. The situation in the Arabian Gulf is becoming very sensitive because of the war in Iraq, the war on terrorism and Iran's continuing crisis with the West. While America worries about how an Iranian nuclear weapon might threaten Israel, Israel has dozens of bombs that threaten the whole Middle East region, especially the Arab world. Is America concerned about that? When it comes to nuclear proliferation, the regional dimension needs to be stressed. The world supports the destruction of all nuclear arsenals, especially Israel's, because Israel is an antagonistic entity that will resort to anything in its conflict with the Arabs. Dialogue, not violence, is the best way to reach solutions. There are enough wars in the region as it is, and the CIA has already provided too much misleading information, pushing arrogant military personnel to war against other nations." BALTIMORE