http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,380129,00.html Crisis in the Middle East: what the papers say Derek Brown, The Guardian, Tuesday October 10, 2000 There is no mistaking the mood of real crisis in the region, after 12 days of bloody clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinians. Nor is there much evidence of a willingness to compromise, with each side looking for the other to blink first. The Jerusalem Post, among the more hawkish of Israeli papers, is indignant about the UN condemnation of Israel's massive military response to the rioting. Its editorial sarcastically comments: "An innocent observer reading the resolution might reasonably conclude the Palestinians were quietly minding their own business when, out of the blue, Israeli forces decided to throw seven years of talks out the window and attack their negotiating partners. The opposite is the case. After weeks of official Palestinian broadcasts encouraging violence and lionizing martyrs, and after attacks against Israelis in which both soldiers and civilians were killed, Yasser Arafat took advantage of Likud leader Ariel Sharon's visit to the Temple Mount to turn the flames on full burner." The far-right Sharon is cold-shouldered by the more liberal Ha'aretz daily, which rejects suggestions that he be brought into a government of national unity. The paper comments: "Sharon's past teaches us that his temperament and personality do not tend toward level-headed thinking or restrained suggestions during times of crisis or war. Military measures taken under his command or with his permission have more than once taken on much greater proportions than initially intended. Israel is better off without a man with these kinds of tendencies in the government." The few Palestinian websites which offer English translations are woefully behind the times. Even the excellent Jerusalem Media and Communication Centre - a boon to many correspondents in the region - is somewhat behind the times, though the outrage of Palestinians is forcefully expressed. The Palestine Times, a monthly English-language digest, devotes virtually its entire web edition to the latest bloodletting, though it is already slipping behind the news. The Palestinian National Authority too is struggling to keep pace with events, and is hampered by the leaden bureaucratic prose favoured by the Ministry of Information. Here is its statement on last week's attacks on religious sites: "While the PNA expressed its indignation towards the irresponsible act that caused damage to the Joseph Tomb in Nablus, and noting the subsequent instructions issued by President Arafat to begin restoration works on the site, after which the relevant authorities began its restoration works immediately, the PNA view with contempt and extreme anger the actions of Israeli gangs who this morning burned in full view of the Israeli police the mosque in Tiberias and attempted to burn another mosque in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in Jerusalem." The ministry also offers a brief summary of headlines from the local papers, all seething with outrage against the Israelis. In the wider Arab world, there is growing concern that the conflict could infect the region. The Jordan Times, not given to scaremongering, wonders whether the proposed Arab summit will help. The paper is not optimistic, but its editorial notes: "we believe that the summit could be considered somewhat successful if it manages to achieve a unified Arab position, and if such position translates into firm and effective support for Palestinian President Yasser Arafat." In the United Arab Emirates, the Khaleej Times reports the scathing condemnation of Israel by the government: "The cabinet condemned the barbaric massacre of defenceless Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces and held the government of Israel responsible of the provocation which has led to deaths of a large number of Palestinians and resulted in severe violations of the human rights of the Palestinians and has posed a threat to the Middle East peace process and the security and stability of the region as a whole." -- Mine Aysen Doyran PhD Student Department of Political Science SUNY at Albany Nelson A. Rockefeller College 135 Western Ave.; Milne 102 Albany, NY 12222
