JORDAN: JANUARY 15 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA

UNCLAS AMMAN 000145 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PPD, IIP/GNEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR JO SUBJECT: JORDAN: JANUARY 15 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA ¶1. SUMMARY: Beneath sorrowful images from Gaza, banner headlines in today's Jordan-based newspapers focused on the apparent disagreement among Arab League member states. King Abdullah's meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon topped local coverage. Public protests were few as the Islamist community planned large-scale demonstrations in coming days. Op-ed commentary criticized the Arab League. END SUMMARY. ¶2. All dailies today in Jordan continued to publish extensive front and inside-page coverage of the latest developments in and around Gaza. Banner headlines and large color photos of sorrowful images remained the norm. Egypt's announcement that Hamas has accepted its proposal for a weeklong ceasefire led front-page coverage, along with reports that the number of dead and injured in Gaza reached 1,015 and 4,500 by yesterday evening. Headlines centered on news that various Arab League member states will hold as many as three separate "summits" in Doha, Riyadh, and Kuwait City to discuss the conflict. ¶3. Relying on a Royal Court statement, the dailies began local coverage with King Abdullah's reiteration that the international community must shoulder its responsibility, saying "bringing and end to the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip and assisting the people must be a top priority for the world." His reiteration came during a meeting in Amman with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The King also received a telephone call from Qatar Emir Hamad Al Thani on Jordan's participation at the Arab League summit in Doha. According to Al-Ghad, an unnamed Jordanian official stated that Jordan would participate in the Doha summit if the number of participating member states reaches a quorum. ¶4. Dailies reported that Lower House MPs failed to obtain a quorum to allow discussion of the government's policy in connection with the crisis in Gaza. Deputies were able to launch a discussion on mechanisms that could be created "to bring Israeli war criminals to justice." That discussion resulted from a petition signed by 37 lawmakers requesting the House to sue Israeli leaders for war crimes, including genocide. ¶5. Public protests yesterday reportedly consisted of a call by the Muslim Brotherhood on leading persons in government, professional associations, political parties, tribal and civil society organizations to participate in a "Public Conference to Support Gaza" to be held on Saturday. Almost 1,000 participants have agreed to attend. The Brotherhood is also planning for a one-million-man march to the border with Israel. Other demonstrations included a march at the University of Jordan by 1,000 faculty members. University President Khalid Karaki and his deputies led the march from the gate of the main library and to the King Hussein Auditorium. The Jordan Construction and Contractors Association announced that it is collecting photographs via email and SMS of "the crimes in Gaza." ¶6. Editorial Commentary -- "Gaza Should Not Have Happened" The main editorial in the January 15 edition of the elite, small circulation Jordan Times opines, "There is a growing clamor for Israel's grotesque aggression on the Gaza Strip to be properly examined in a war crimes tribunal. This is an endeavor the Arab world ought to spearhead to mitigate what has been a shameful showing by the countries of this region. The Arab world needs to take a long, hard look at itself. For all its feebleness when it comes to foreign affairs, one could hardly imagine the European Union, a coalition of countries far more varied than those making up the Arab world, standing by paralyzed should one of its own be subjected to the kind of barbarism that Gaza has been subjected to. After almost three weeks, there has not been a unified Arab position. There has been no collective political initiative that could have turned the screws on Israel long before the unimaginably horrific images from Gaza came out, that have slowly forced the West to act. In fact, Arab countries are still squabbling whether to convene an emergency summit. After three weeks. There is of course little new in this. The Arab League is a paper tiger if ever there was one. But that is not the fault of the league, but of its member states. The pompous tussle for diplomatic preeminence and the more covert and unseemly tussle for foreign aid by individual countries, places Arab countries, by their own volition, in a prisoner's dilemma, where cooperation would yield the greatest gains, but the promise of individual deliverance makes everyone act selfishly, thus yielding the worst outcome for all." BEECROFT