JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (03/24): PALESTINIANS SEE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000522

SIPDIS

STATE PASS BBG
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM
NSC
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 (03/24): PALESTINIANS SEE
"SUFFERING IN JERUSALEM"

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Main Stories:
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All dailies front page news of the assassination of the deputy PLO
Representative in Lebanon, Brig. Kamal Midhat, who was killed in an
explosion along with three others yesterday afternoon near the Miya
Miya refugee camp. The papers describe Midhat as the most senior PLO
official assassinated in Lebanon since 1982. Al Quds notes that PLO
Chairman Mahmoud Abbas denounced the assassination as a criminal act
targeting all Palestinians in Lebanon. The PLO Representative in
Lebanon Abbas Zaki is quoted as refusing to accuse anyone so as to
"give Lebanese security the chance to investigate the crime".
All dailies run front page coverage of statements by Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday in which he said that
the while the initial round of Palestinian national dialogue in
Cairo had served to define ideas and differences, the upcoming round
will be able to attain agreement between the parties.
All dailies front page AP and Reuters reports quoting a UN report on
human rights abuses during the recent Gaza conflict, noting that the
UN report reveals that ISRAEL violated a number of humanitarian laws
during the conflict, including using a Palestinian child as a human
shield. Citing DPA, Al Quds adds that the Israeli human rights
group "Doctors for Human Rights" claimed in a report that ISRAEL
violated medical ethics during the Gaza war by not allowing for the
evacuation of injured Palestinians and attacking medical rescue
teams.
All dailies lead with reports of Israel's "suppression" of cultural
activities surrounding the inauguration of Jerusalem as "The Capital
of Arab Culture" for 2009. The papers note that Israeli police
arrested and beat 12 Palestinians including prominent journalists,
clerics and social activists.
All papers cite Israeli daily Haaretz in reporting that Israeli
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has suspended the demolition of
settlement houses in the Israeli settlement of Ofra near Ramallah.
Al Quds inside page also reports that the Israeli military removed
an iron gate, installed five years ago, along the main
Nablus-Qalqilyah road in the West Bank, allowing for easier access
between the two cities.
Al Ayyam and Al Quds run a Reuters report revealing that ISRAEL has
promised to allow the entry of most foodstuffs into Gaza following a
U.S. protest. The report notes that the Israeli-US differences over
food shipments into Gaza started after ISRAEL stranded convoys of
trucks carrying noodles and cheese at the Gaza crossings.
Al Quds reports that an Israeli female settler leader, speaking at a
New York synagogue, called for the assassination of Palestinian
Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and the abrogation of the Oslo
Agreement. The settler, who chairs the Israeli settlers "Women in
the Green" movement, said that "we have to destroy all the terrorist
organizations, all the leaders must be killed starting with
President Abbas". --------------
BLOCK QUOTES:
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1) Independent daily Al Quds' editorial is titled, "Inhuman
suffering at Qalandiyah crossing"(03/24): "The Qalandiyah crossing
is the major route for the movement of Palestinians from Jerusalem
to Ramallah and from Ramallah to Jerusalem... the suffering of
Jerusalemites at the crossing is part of a series of unjust Israeli
harassment and policies, including intensified settlement
activities, attempts to evacuate citizens from their houses for
invalid reasons, heavy taxes or separating the city's neighborhoods
from Jerusalem by the separation wall. The reason is known, and
almost openly declared and causes despair and misery among
Jerusalemites who then feel forced to leave Jerusalem and become
easy catch for settlers."

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2) Mohannad Abdul Hamid wonders in independent daily Al Ayyam under
the title, "Are we closer to an internal agreement?"(03/24): "What
is the alternative if [national Palestinian] dialogue fails? Should
it fail, decision makers must return to the people and agree on
early legislative and presidential elections to allow the people
their say. The people's will must be respected regardless of the
outcome..."

WALLES