MEDIA REACTION: QUARTET MEETING IN US/MECCA MEETING

UNCLAS ABU DHABI 000183

SIPDIS

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 ERELI
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: IIP KMDR TC
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: QUARTET MEETING IN US/MECCA MEETING

1. Summary: "Al-Khaleej" considers the Quartet meeting in Washington
an American attempt to reinforce that the committee's positions do
not deviate from the American position. A columnist in "Al-Ittihad"

criticized the fact that there is no tolerance among Muslims towards
the others and called on them to accept others regardless of their
beliefs or religious affiliation. A columnist in "Al-Khaleej" hopes
that the upcoming meeting in Mecca will put an end to the
inter-Palestinian killings and achieve Palestinian reconciliation.
End summary.

2. Under the headline "American Quartet committee", Sharjah-based
pan-Arab daily "Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000) editorialized on
2/5:
"The recent Quartet committee meeting in Washington was merely an
American attempt to recall that the committee's position does not
deviate from the American position of keeping a tight siege on the
Palestinian people and sticking to the proclaimed conditions
necessary for the resumption of pledged international aid. It seems
that when the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called for a
Quartet meeting, she was aiming to reassure herself that the
positions of the committee's members regarding the Palestinian cause
remains confined to the American and Israeli positions and to the
ways of dealing with that cause. Evidently she can now rest
assured..."

3. Under the headline "Social tolerance is the solution", a
columnist, Dr. Abdul-Hameed Al-Ansari, wrote a 02/06 op-ed in Abu
Dhabi-based Arabic semi-official daily "Al-Ittihad" (circulation
65,000):

"Social tolerance can hardly be seen in the lives of Arabs and
Muslims. This view is not unfair because this is the reality of
this nation, regardless of the allegations that have been ranting in
the public, as evidenced by the laws and religious studies...
Clearly, the virtue of social tolerance fell for good from the
contemporary lexicon of Arabs and Muslims lives. All this is
because of the phenomenon of religious extremism spreading in the
lives of Arab societies, which in turn prompts others - as a
reaction to this extremism - to become extremists in order to deal
with this scourge... The only basis for the theory of social
tolerance is to accept one another as they are, regardless of their
identification or classification as a precondition, and as a human
being first and foremost... There is no room for Arabs and Muslims
to solve their problems but to accept and adopt the terms of Human
Rights conventions against racism that are laid out by the UN.
These conventions mark the solutions reached after the long
experience of many dark European decades."



4. Under the headline "Mecca Meeting", Jaafar Mohammed Ahmed, a
columnist, wrote a 02/06 op-ed in Sharjah-based pan-Arab daily
"Al-Khaleej" (circulation 90,000):

"Saudi King's invitation to open a dialogue at the House of God in
Mecca should leave the Palestinian factions with only one option:
success, failure is not accepted. The leaders of Hamas and Fatah
are required to meet in Mecca today to immediately stop the
Palestinian bloodshed and direct all efforts towards Jerusalem and
the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The meeting is an opportunity towards starting
a successful national dialogue, for reaching a consensus on
controversial issues, and for forming a national unity government.
Leading figures and cadres of Fatah and Hamas should shoulder their
responsibility in stopping the bloodshed and putting the past behind
them. Reaching for permanent, not temporary, harmony, through
dialogue is the only way to promote Palestinian unity. We all hope
that everybody will come to Mecca today with open hearts and hands
extended towards reconciliation and agreement on all pending issues
to spare people the scourge of strife and to stop Palestinian
bloodshed."
SISON