JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (9/16): DISCUSSING THE LEGITIMACY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 001721 SIPDIS STATE PASS BBG STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM NSC FOR ABRAMS CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU PARIS ALSO FOR POL ROME FOR MFO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (9/16): DISCUSSING THE LEGITIMACY OF ABBAS AFTER JANUARY 9 -------------- Main Stories: -------------- The PLO denouncing of remarks by Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al concerning the end of Palestinian Authority President Abbas's legitimacy in January 2009, leads coverage in the three dailies. Citing a statement issued by the PLO's Executive Committee following its September 15 meeting presided over by Abbas, the reports highlight a sharp Committee response insisting that Hamas' stance has no legal basis. The reports also spotlight the Committee's pessimistic view on peace negotiations, stating that there has been no real progress and that chances of forging an agreement before the end of the year are slim or none at all. "Every day that passes without an agreement with the Palestinians is one more day that we will regret," according to Israeli Premier Olmert, quoted on all front pages. Highlighting his September 15 remarks before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the reports also quote Olmert expressing Israel's willingness to help solve the Palestinian refugee issue. The Palestinian Authority's (PA) announcement to allocate $23 million for projects benefiting Bedouin communities in the Jordan Valley is front-page news in Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. Quoting PA Minister of Information Riad Al-Malki after the PA's weekly cabinet meeting, the papers again report that the PA will fund the full salaries of government employees this month, in addition to paying half of all employee benefits. Citing an AFP report, Al-Ayyam and Al-Hayat Al-Jadida quote chief Palestinian negotiator Sa'eb Erekat confirming that Palestinian Authority President Abbas will meet with President Bush in Washington on September 25, not the 26th. In another front-page article, Erekat is reported saying that the September 16 meeting between Abbas and Israeli Premier Olmert will deal with four themes: Assessing the progress of ongoing negotiations; reiterating Palestinian opposition to any partial settlement or the postponement of any final-status issues; dealing with the implementation of the first phase of the Roadmap, including settlement activities; discussing the issues of Palestinian deportees, Palestinian prisoners and the "siege" imposed on Gaza. Al-Ayyam front-pages a story citing an Israeli radio report that an aide to Israeli Premier Olmert recently met with Hamas members from the West Bank. Hamas member Nasser Iddin Al-Sha'ir denied meeting with Israeli officials and stressed that negotiations fall under the responsibility of the PLO and PA Presidency, according to reporting. A public opinion poll conducted by Ramallah-based Alpha International shows that 68% of those surveyed prefer to get their news from Al-Quds daily and Al-Jazeera. Turmoil in the global financial market and crisis in local real estate markets, including the collapse of the U.S.-based investment bank Lehman Brothers, receive front-page coverage in Al-Hayat Al-Jadida. -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- ¶1. Under the title, "Required... Exit From Useless Debate", Al-Quds independent opines in its main editorial (09/16): "The debate over JERUSALEM 00001721 002 OF 002 President Mahmud Abbas' remaining time in office is heating up over the issue of whether it will end on January 9 or at the end of the [Palestinian Authority's] Legislative Council cycle in 2010... this is not the issue at all... The division... is deepening despite all mediation efforts to date and those that will continue until Eid Al-Fitr. Those [Hamas] who declare that they will not acknowledge the legitimacy of the President after January 9 must answer a basic question: Do they acknowledge today the legitimacy of the President and the Presidency? Are they prepared to respond and positively deal with the President and the Presidency?! The answers are simple and clear: Those who support national division are the same ones creating the destructive national crisis and the political vacuum. The only solution to any internal crisis is through the restoration of national unity... not through the stoking of disputes here and there that can only serve narrow factional and party goals." ¶2. Regular columnist in independent Al-Ayyam Rajab Abu Sarriya opines under the title, "Gaza Faces One of Two Scenarios" (09/16): "What Khalid Mish'al declared in Damascus [non legitimate President unless new elections held in January] clearly reveals, leaving no room for doubt, the unchanged Hamas position that does not seek nor desire... dialogue, at least in the next four months until presidential elections and before the truce with Israel ends... Mish'al himself announced a couple of weeks back that the only funder of his movement is Iran, thus completing the picture, as if saying to the Arab world who seek an end to Palestinian division... that we [Hamas] have no use for you [Arabs], you give us nothing. Gaza is now faced with one of two scenarios, either dialogue will actually begin, and end the division before the year is over ... Or, Egyptian attempts and Arab follow-up efforts will continue until both parties- Arabs and Egyptians- are forced to carry out their threats to publicly label Hamas a hindrance to dialogue... This would leave the door wide-open for President Mahmud Abbas to carry out his threats to declare Gaza a rebel region, disobedient to the legitimate central power... this will lead to a tight closure and complete isolation of the Gaza Strip." WALLES