JORDAN: JANUARY 13 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000112 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PPD, IIP/GNEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR JO SUBJECT: JORDAN: JANUARY 13 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA AMMAN 00000112 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. SUMMARY: Gaza news coverage by Jordanian media outlets on Tuesday described Israel's "methodical destruction" and the fierce battles between Palestinian militants and IDF units. Arab and international diplomatic efforts also received attention, specifically King Abdullah's consultations with Egyptian President Mubarak, Arab League maneuvers, and the condemnation by the UN Human Rights Council. Local coverage highlighted attempts to organize a boycott of American and Israeli products. Op-ed commentary weighed the risks of "bold political stances against Israeli criminality" and, by association, U.S. interests. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Major media outlets in Jordan sustained their extensive news coverage of Gaza and related developments. In general, newspapers led with the latest developments in Israel's military operations, describing their "methodical destruction" in Gaza and the "fierce" battles between Palestinian militants and IDF units. Front-page summaries also reported the telephone conversation between King Abdullah and Egyptian President Mubarak on Arab and international efforts to end Israel's offensive and address the humanitarian needs in Gaza. Also on the front pages were Qatar's call for an emergency Arab summit meeting on January 16 and the Arab League's invitation to an emergency Arab foreign ministers meeting in Kuwait the same day. All papers published international wire service accounts of the UN Human Rights Council's decision in Geneva to condemn the Israeli incursion into Gaza and "to stop the serious violations" there. Reports focused on the vote count. ¶3. A front-page report in Al-Arab Al-Yawm newspaper quoted an unnamed senior government official as ruling out the possibility that Jordan would annul the Wadi Araba treaty and would expel the Israeli ambassador as "a response to the Israeli aggression on Gaza." The official cited Jordan's "higher national interests." ¶4. Al-Ghad newspaper reported that the conflict in Gaza is now spawning campaigns to boycott Israeli and American products. Several civil society organizations are urging consumers to boycott "Zionist" products through rallies and advertisements. One such organization named Itharrak ("Do Something") aims to recruit young people into boycott efforts by staging a sit-in later today in front of a Starbucks coffeehouse in Amman's Sweifieh district. ¶5. Editorial Commentary -- "Cancelling Treaties and Relations" Columnist Sameeh Al-Ma'aitah in the January 13 edition of the independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad observes, "With every season of the Zionist aggression on Palestine or others, political, popular, and parliamentary voices rise, calling for cancelling the Jordanian-Israeli peace treaty. This, from the political and legal viewpoint, is legitimate, because the treaty is a political case that any party can reject or accept. Sometimes such calls are necessary in order to make the Zionist entity feel that what it is doing is deepening feelings and rejection of, even those countries that have treaties. These calls are not pressure on the government, but rather a helping hand to allow it to expand in space for maneuvering and expression. Maybe we in Jordan must agree and cooperate, so that these calls constitute pressure on the occupation entity, and not a reason for domestic friction.... Maybe we should formulate a single Jordanian context, regardless of our differences in evaluating the feasibility of and need for this relationship. Israel must feel that it is a heavy burden, that relations with it are costly to those who believe in them, and that it must pay the price if it wants to maintain these official relations.... We hope for a united Arab stand that punishes Israel and makes it pay the cost of its aggression. This is because there a state of distrust in Arab relations that forces each party to think about its own interests and makes it fearful about taking a step for which it would end up paying the price alone, not only with Israel, but also with America and Europe and a number of other Arab countries." -- "Pulling the Rug From Under Barack Obama's Feet" Columnist Hani Hourani in the January 13 Al-Ghad asserts, "President Obama is required not only to abandon the silence that he continues to exercise vis-`-vis the 60-year-old Middle East conflict, but also to announce forcefully and explicitly the beginning of an American approach that would be different from that we have known over the decades.... The approach that Palestinians and Arabs dream about does not involve calling on the United States to abandon its friendship with Israel or its commitment to Israeli security. These matters have long been outside the realm of their expectations and even their dreams. The longed-for approach has to do with the United States regaining a sense of justice and fairness and seriously seeking to play its role as the honest broker.... But the most important wish as far as the Arab world is concerned is to prevent Israel's friends from pulling the rug from under the feet of the dream for change, which Obama launched and won on its basis. For the Middle East to change, its people need to see a core change in the mentality and behavior of the American White House." AMMAN 00000112 002 OF 002 -- "Withdrawing the Ambassador: Arguing About the Open Options with Israel" Managing editor Fahed Khitan in the January 13 edition of the independent, opposition Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm comments, "At this stage and with the expectation of an imminent conclusion of the aggression on Gaza, many officials believe that the government will settle for a 'half-step,' mainly asking Ambassador Ali Al-Ayed not to return to his position in Tel Aviv. The popular and parliamentary pressure on the government will continue towards adopting a diplomatic measure against Israel, and the government will continue to maneuver to avoid such an option for well-known political considerations. The most important thing, however, is to adopt bold political stances against Israel criminality.... There is conviction that Jordan does have an extensive margin to escalate its opposition to the Israeli policy on the local and foreign levels. If expelling the Israeli ambassador is not viable, then allowing demonstrations and protests in front of the Israeli embassy is possible and required." BEECROFT