OMAN MEDIA REACTION: OF TIMETABLES, TONGUES, AND

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000062 SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD, NEA/PI, INR/R/MR, NEA/SA/EX/PMO LONDON FOR NEA WATCHER PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER FOREIGN PRESS CENTER FOR NEA WATCHER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR MU SUBJECT: OMAN MEDIA REACTION: OF TIMETABLES, TONGUES, AND ASSASSINATION ¶1. SUMMARY: Omani editorials over the past week have criticized the EU for allowing Israel to impede progress on settlements, rebuked Tony Blair for his role in the invasion of Iraq, and targeted Israeli PM Netanyahu for shoring up support for his government by returning to a policy of political assassination. END SUMMARY. -------------- ISRAEL IGNORES TALK AND TIMETABLES -------------- ¶2. On January 27, private daily "al-Watan" (circulation 42,000) wrote that EU is afraid to make decisions regarding Israeli commitments to the Palestinians, calling them "Promises Never Fulfilled": "To avoid Israeli anger, European officials have become very sensitive when it comes to talk about Palestinian-Israeli issues. Every European envoy confirms the need for setting a timetable for the settlement process, but who is going to set it? ...Even when Washington set a timetable for a Palestinian state within the "Road Map", Israel did not comply and buried it with the administration that developed it." -------------- "1,000 TONGUES" CANNOT JUSTIFY IRAQ INVASION -------------- ¶3. "Al Watan" on January 28 opined that Tony Blair betrayed the trust of the British people and dragged them into unjustified war. "Blair before the Chilcot Committee": "Were Tony Blair given 1,000 tongues to justify his country's participation in the Iraq invasion, he would not be able to convince anyone that the decision was right or legitimate. He is trying to ... justify war in Iraq and to extract false legitimacy in order to escape the consequences of being guilty. Blair gave up his credibility in favor of his friendship with George Bush; he was seduced by the adventurers of the Pentagon and the Republicans who were eager to destroy Iraq." -------------- ISRAEL: ASSASSINATION ABROAD AS DOMESTIC TOOL -------------- ¶4. On February 1, state Arabic daily "Oman" (circulation 38,000) claimed in its editorial that Israel was involved in the recent assassinations in Dubai and Tehran, "Israel Returns to Assassinations and the Mixing of Cards": "...why has Israel chosen this particular time to return to political assassinations? Is there a relationship between the assassinations of Mahmud al-Mabhouh and the Iranian nuclear scientist? Internal differences and the failures of Netanyahu's government may have again pushed the Government of Israel down the path of assassination to solve its problems and to show that Israeli intelligence is back. Political assassination is Netanyahu's means to increase his government's support in Israel." Schmierer