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No sympathy for israel { May 19 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11414-2003May19.html?nav=hptop_tshttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11414-2003May19.html?nav=hptop_ts
Arab Pundits See Terror Attacks Aiding Sharon
By Jefferson Morley
washingtonpost.com Staff
Monday, May 19, 2003; 4:40 PM
Israeli extremism, not Palestinian extremism, is ultimately to blame for the string of suicide bombings in the last two days in Israel and the occupied territories.
That is the rough consensus in the English-language online media in the Middle East. The attacks, while almost universally condemned, evoke no sympathy for Israeli government outside of Israel itself.
The most frequent media criticism of the five attacks mounted against Israeli civilians and soldiers by the Islamic fundamentalist group Hamas is not that they harmed civilians but that they harmed the prospects of the diplomatic proposal as the "road map." More than one online pundit said the attacks gave Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon an "excuse" to reject the terms of the so-called road map, the international peace plan which calls for a cessation of Palestinian terror and cessation of Jewish settlements.
"The surge in violence before and after the three-hour talks serves to underscore the complexities involved in making the latest initiative work," said the editors of the Khaleej Times, a government-controlled Web site in the United Arab Emirates.
"Israel's foot-dragging has been a source of great exasperation from the outset," they say.
"Sharon pre-empted any slim chance of progress during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's visit to Israel last week by declaring he would make a decision on the roadmap after returning from talks with President Bush in Washington. Powell's subsequent suggestion that formal Israeli acceptance was not essential to the overall objective of galvanising the peace process has evidently emboldened Sharon to push ahead with his effort to modify the plan.
"The Israelis must not be allowed to use the surge in violence to bolster their attempt to condition acceptance of the roadmap to the Palestinian Authority's progress in tackling militant groups. "
Jihad Al Khazen, a senior editor at Dar al hayat, a respected daily based in London and Lebanon, said Israel is seeking to force the new Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, to do what its own security forces are unable to accomplish.
"Sharon wants Abbas to go through a Palestinian civil war to the benefit of Israel, who was unable by itself, to suppress the Intifada and end the armed resistance. Now, it wants the Palestinians to do the job in its place. First, Abbas is not naive; second, he wouldn't be able to, even if he wanted, and if he tries, he would definitely fail."
In Oman, the most pro-American country in the Persian Gulf, The Times of Oman says the only hope for peace is U.S. pressure on Israel.
"Sharon could not have asked for a more appropriate time for the Palestinian fighters to mount an attack. Have no doubt, he would use it as a perfect ruse to delay the roadmap further. Remember, he had delayed its release by US President George Bush by over two months. The Palestinian attacks could come in handy for him in further delaying it and ultimately sending it down the tube. "
"It is important that the United States, the only country which has some sway over Israel, convince it that attacks such as those happened yesterday in Jerusalem need to be factored in before it agrees to implement the roadmap clauses. The point that the Palestinian leaders raise is that there is invariably a link between the Israeli security and the Palestinian freedom. "
"It is incumbent on President Bush to tell Sharon point-blank that all what the latter should do is implement the roadmap and not renegotiate it."
"Can Bush Stand Up to Sharon," asks Arab News columnist Hassan Tahsin The suicide attacks, he says in the Saudi-based news site, "will become Sharon's excuse for not wanting to implement the road map as it is."
Particularly ominous, say the editors of the Jordan Times was Sharon's decision to cancel his scheduled trip to Washington to meet Bush.
"We absolutely condemn the Palestinian suicide bomber who killed seven people aboard a Jerusalem bus on Sunday.
"But this terrorist and his group would not have achieved their goal had Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon not put off a trip to Washington for crucial talks with President George W. Bush and top US officials on the roadmap for Middle East peace. In those talks, Bush was expected to press Sharon into finally accepting the roadmap for peace. . . the only proposal that enjoys almost universal consensus in the international community.
"Instead, these Jerusalem bombers handed over to him on a silver plate the perfect pretext to continue ignoring international and regional peace efforts. "
In Israel, the editors of the liberal Tel Aviv daily, Ha'aretz agree, saying Sharon's decision to cancel his Washington trip "will be recorded as an achievement for the rejectionists and terror."
Only the conservative Jerusalem Post rejects that argument.
"If the US wants the Arab world to break decisively with the idea of 'good' terror, it must show the way by not treating the Palestinians differently than the Taliban or Saddam Hussein just because of the Palestinian claim to a good cause."
That, of course, is the argument most likely to resonate in Washington. It is also the least likely to resonate among opinion makers in the Middle East. The difference is the most immediate obstacle on the road to peace.
Clarification:Last week, the Roundup misconstrued the views of Robert Rabil, a Middle Eastern affairs analyst based in Washington. He is not, as the column suggested, a defender of the Syrian role in Lebanon or Hezbollah. To the contrary, he says these forces have played a negative role in Lebanon. We regret the error.
© 2003 Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive
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