JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (04/22): DOUBTS ABOUT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000694 SIPDIS 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 (04/22): DOUBTS ABOUT NEGOTIATIONS, A CHANGED HAMAS? -------------- Main Stories: -------------- The lead story in the three dailies quotes Hamas Leader Khaled Masha'al saying "Hamas will accept a state within the '67 borders along with a truce, but without recognizing Israel." This runs along side reports in the three dailies of comments made by former President Carter stating that in his talks with Hamas, they agreed to a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders if this is approved through a national referendum." Other front-page stories quote Secretary Rice saying "Hamas must renounce violence as a step SIPDIS towards showing it actually wants peace." WAFA news agency reports that the Spokesperson for Palestinian President Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudaina, said the meeting between President Abbas and President Bush in Washington "would evaluate and tackle in detail the process of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations." The dailies also carry a DPA story quoting Abu Rudaina as saying that "negotiations with Israel are going on without achieving any progress on any issues." In coverage of events in Gaza, the dailies carry prominent coverage of the deaths of three Palestinians in Gaza following an Israeli airstrike on April 21. Related reports state a bombing took place in Gaza near the Al Dera Tourist hotel. The reports state the attack was carried out by unknown gunmen who detonated a home-made bomb. Al Quds also reports that another Gazan died after being unable to seek medical care outside of Gaza. Israeli authorities closed the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, Al Quds reports. This was in order to "secure" the city for settler groups celebrating Passover, according to the report. The dailies also note that Israeli authorities have closed the Old City of Jerusalem for the second day. President Abbas continued his visit to Tunisia, where he met with Tunisian President Ben Ali, all papers report. Al-Quds quotes Abbas saying "we reject postponing negotiations on any of the final status issues." Other reports quote Ben Ali saying he will exert every effort to support the Palestinians. The front page of Al-Quds carries a report on a book published by a former State Department official, Aaron Miller, entitled "The Much Too Promised Land: America's Elusive Search for Arab-Israeli Peace." In his book, the report notes, Miller argues that many ethnic groups have tried to influence U.S. foreign policy, but none have reached the effectiveness of Jewish Americans. -------------- BLOCK QUOTES: -------------- ¶1. Independent Al-Quds carries an op-ed by PLO executive committee member Tayseer Khaled entitled: "Annapolis conference launched problematic negotiations and ongoing settlements" that read in part: "... While it is true that Annapolis brought the two sides, Palestinians and Israelis, back to negotiations and that it gave these negotiations one year to reach an absolute solution to the conflict, widespread average Palestinian and Arab opinion does not reflect comfort or optimism with this decision for a number of reasons. One is that this conference set the Roadmap, which was approved by the Quartet in 2003, as a reference for these negotiations. It is known that the American government delayed JERUSALEM 00000694 002 OF 002 adopting the Roadmap for a long time, so as not to let it distract the invasion of Iraq.... In reality what has been agreed on in Annapolis is that the parties should go back to the negotiating table after years of boycotting it, and that they should exert efforts to reach an agreement even though this requires, according to Bush's speech, painful compromises on both sides. Taking into consideration the realities that have been imposed on the ground by Israel, this is not likely to happen." ¶2. Independent Al-Ayyam carries an op-ed by regular columnist Rajab Abu Sariah, entitled, "Once again... Gaza first" that reads: "... Even if we are going to question political language, we can say that Hamas changed its political speech. This was voiced clearly after Sana'a and after the Damascus summit, and is tied to several reasons. One of them is the fact that the Israelis have tightened the siege on Gaza as never before. This put Hamas in a real iron cage... It is ok [for Hamas] to reach an agreement after a bloody experience no matter the route, even if it is through a former American President. [As the saying goes] if one wants grapes, he should not fight with the guards. In this way things can move forward towards solutions for all pending issues." DUFFY