JORDAN: JANUARY 4 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA SITUATION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000018 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PPD, IIP/GNEA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KPAO KMDR JO SUBJECT: JORDAN: JANUARY 4 MEDIA REACTION TO GAZA SITUATION AMMAN 00000018 001.4 OF 002 ¶1. SUMMARY: Over the New Year's holiday weekend, developments in Gaza continued to dominate front and inside pages as well as op-ed pages of Jordanian media outlets. Coverage gave equal treatment to Jordanian public demonstrations and to efforts by King Abdullah and government officials to stop Israel's military offensive. Statements by the President and the Secretary have been accurately and prominently reported. END SUMMARY. ¶2. Over the local holiday weekend and Sunday, developments in Gaza dominated front and inside pages of all major news outlets and other Jordan-based media. Like last week's coverage, weekend coverage relied heavily on international wire service accounts of events on the ground in Gaza. Unlike like week, public demonstrations received equal and, at times, greater attention than the ongoing efforts by King Abdullah and government officials in seeking a stop to Israel's military offensive. ¶3. In the largest public event of the weekend, approximately 50,000 Jordanians gathered in Amman's Sports City stadium on Friday to express anger at Israel and solidarity with the people of Gaza. Saturday editions of all newspapers led with large color photos and stories on the stadium event, along with reports of demonstrators confronting riot police near the Israeli embassy. All papers published photos depicting a stadium demonstrator burning the Israeli flag. Secretary Rice's statement of January 2 were also reported in the foreign news pages of all major Arabic dailies published Saturday. ¶4. Sunday's newspapers led with King Abdullah's reaction to Israel's ground invasion. He is quoted as saying that "the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip has deteriorated to an extent that cannot be tolerated," during a telephone conversation with Quartet envoy Tony Blair on Saturday. In a statement issued by the Jordan News Agency, Foreign Minister Bashir called on the international community "to shoulder its responsibility towards this humanitarian catastrophe," and renewed Jordan's condemnation of Israeli actions. ¶5. Al-Arab Al-Yawm on Sunday placed a report on President Bush's weekly radio address on its front page. The President's statements characterizing the rocket attacks against Israel as "acts of terror" and remarks on the conditions of a ceasefire were reported �00A;accurately. The newspaper also published on its front page part of a letter sent by Amnesty International to Secretary Rice. The letter accuses the U.S. of "taking an unbalanced stand toward Israel's aggression on the Gaza Strip." ¶6. All print outlets on Sunday published inside-page ads by several not-for-profit organizations based in Jordan inviting the public to support Palestinians in Gaza through donations. The Jordanian Hashemite Charity Organization, Professional Associations, Jordan Chamber of Industry, and "Tkieyt Um Ali" each placed ads calling on Jordanians to help their "brothers" in Gaza with cash or in-kind donations. The relief efforts are reportedly part of a nationwide campaign to provide humanitarian help for noncombatants in Gaza. ¶7. Editorial Commentary -- "Gaza Alone Decides" Columnist Fuad Abu Hejleh in January 4 edition of the independent Arabic daily Al-Ghad comments, "Gaza will not fall despite the bombing and the killing and despite the silence about the crime, which is a silence equal to active participation. What Gazans say with their steadfastness is not a slogan or a motto, but rather a fact that Israel knows very well, having opted to withdraw from Gaza as if running from hell.... Khaled Misha'al and Ahmad Jibreel can speak from Damascus, accusing others of betrayal and inaction. Hassan Nasrallah can speak from Beirut. Mahmoud Abbas can launch warnings about the adventure, while he himself gambles on the feasibility of negotiations that have brought nothing but destruction to Palestinians and can visit the departing president at the White House in search of something that does not exist in America. Yet, all these and their allies in Arab and foreign countries do not decide what happens in Gaza; only the people of Gaza know what they have to do." -- "Prevalent Questions and the Arab Regime" Columnist Mohammad Abu Rumman in the January 4 Al-Ghad opines, "I believe it is a drastic mistake that some political trends commit when they belittle the movement of the Arab street and its message against the Gaza aggression and render as mere shouting and empty noises without any genuine political weight. I categorically disagree with these trends. The movement of the street today puts the Palestinian cause back on its right course, especially that the peace settlement track has gone bankrupt. Gaza is creating, within the Arabs everywhere, a new struggling spirit, with which the Palestinian cause regains its respectable position.... We will gain nothing if we continue to blame Hamas. The required approach for our political and media rhetoric is to make this historical moment AMMAN 00000018 002.2 OF 002 one of stern criticism of the miserable reality of the Arab citizens and one that highlights the responsibility of the Arab official regime for that." Abu Rumman then focuses on the position of moderate Arab governments, asking, "If the official Arab regime has placed all its eggs in the basket of the peace settlement, has proposed the peace initiative as the maximum level of compromise possible, has depended so much on President Bush and found nothing of benefit in the face of Israel's intransigence, what is the replacement for the Arab regime today? Does Hamas' end and dismantling in Gaza strengthen the Arab balance of power or does it serve the Israeli stand? If there are Arab regimes that fear Iran more than Israel, why do they not then support Hizbollah and Hamas instead and create a new reality? Does the Arab regime today lack completely any means of pressure on Israel other than going to the U.S. to beg? Why does the Arab regime not adopt the project of the 'third peaceful intifada' and promote the Palestinian cause internationally and politically against the occupation?" -- "In Defense of the Demonstrations' 'Venting' Role" Columnist Ahmad Abu Khalil in the January 4 edition of independent, opposition Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm observes, "With every wave of demonstrations, people engage in a discussion about their usefulness and meaning and a position that regards them as mere 'venting' becomes prevalent. In reality, venting is a natural thing for man and it is the result of 'congestion,' which is also natural for man.... Yet, at the national level, the responsibility of striking a balance between venting and congestion lies with the decision-makers, and when it comes to venting via demonstrations, determining the usefulness of the venting becomes the decision-maker's responsibility. This is because the national decision at the end of the day is a form of national 'venting,' basically an expression of a position that represents the people, their interests and their emotions. Positive venting that occurs via demonstrations should play a role in determining the national decision. There would be a problem if the decision-maker simply allowed the venting to occur and took his decision regardless of the content and direction of that venting." -- "Punishing Gaza in Vain" Daily Star editor at large and Jordan-born journalist Rami Khouri commented in the January 2 edition of the elite, small circulation English daily Jordan Times: "God punished the arrogance and hubris of the Hebrews in the Old Testament by making them wander the wilderness for 40 years before allowing a later, more humble, generation to enter Canaan. The current generation of Israeli Jews is not as proficient at learning these 40-year lessons, it seems, to judge from Israel's current ferocious attack on Gaza. It was exactly 40 years ago to the day - December 28, 1968 - that Israeli commandos raided Beirut airport and destroyed 13 Lebanese civilian aircraft, in retaliation for a Palestinian attack against an Israeli airliner in Athens. Israel aimed to inflict a revenge punishment so severe that it would shock the Arabs into preventing the Palestinians from fighting Israel. Today, 40 years and countless attacks and wars later, Israel again uses massive retaliatory and punitive force to pummel the Palestinians of Gaza into submission. Hundreds of Palestinians have died in the first 24 hours of the Israeli attack, and several thousand might die by the time the operation ends.... The biblical 40-year time span between Israel's attack on Beirut airport on December 28, 1968, and its war on Gaza on December 27, 2008, is eerily relevant. It is time enough for frightened and arrogant Israelis to learn that in all these years their weapons have promoted neither quiescence among neighboring Arabs nor security along Israel's borders. The exact opposite has happened, and it will happen again now. BEECROFT