Military

DATE=03/29/02

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=PALESTINIAN PASSOVER BOMBING

NUMBER=6-125624

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: Newspapers around the world have reacted with frustration over the latest Palestinian suicide bombing in Israel. Those dailies not yet commenting on the latest attack, at a Passover Seder that killed at least 20 people, are taking a pessimistic view of the Arab League summit where the Saudi peace plan has been formally introduced.

These two developments are grabbing the headlines in many editorial columns around the globe, and we get a sampling now from V-O-A's ___________ who joins us with this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: A man walked into a hotel dining room where a Seder was about to begin in the seaside town of Netanya Wednesday [3-27] and set off explosives attached to his body. It was a particularly big bomb. The blast killed at least 20 people and injured more than one hundred others.

The attack overshadowed the Arab Summit in nearby Beirut, Lebanon, where the Saudi Arabian government was presenting a land-for-peace plan to the assembled leaders. Both events are coming in for early editorial scrutiny, and we begin our sampling in the Lebanese capital. In Al-Anwar, the editorialist used the carrot and the stick analogy, suggesting:

VOICE: The carrot in the summit was [Saudi] Prince Abdullah's initiative . which was thrown in the middle of two schools of thought: the first school of thought believes that the initiative should only be outlined in general terms. The second . believes that the initiative should be enhanced and left without any gaps that could backfire .As for the stick - - it was the Arab consensus on supporting the Palestinian resistance.

TEXT: Across town, As-Safir says of the Saudi proposal: "There is no doubt . it needs to be enhanced to become an acceptable foundation to renew the peace process."

And for one other view, Al-Liwa writes:

VOICE: Despite the absence of the Palestinian, Egyptian, and . Jordanian leaders. it appears that the summit will endorse the Saudi initiative and lift the flag of peace in the face of the United States [which] . wanted this summit to fail and did not want Arab leaders to reach a consensus over the Saudi .strategy.

TEXT: In a reference to the terrorist attack in the Israeli seaside resort, the Beirut daily Ad-Diyar runs this editorial:

VOICE: How can we compare the Arab summit to the martyr operation in Netanya? How can we compare the speeches at the summit to the blood of the Netanya hero? Time has changed. In 1937 and 1948, the Palestinians left their homeland without resistance. Today, their resistance is wringing the neck of the greatest army in the region.

TEXT: Turning to Egypt, where there was controversy over President Hosni Mubarak's decision not to attend, Cairo's well-known Al Ahram ran this column, suggesting:

VOICE: The Beirut summit could have been different . It follows September 11th, the Saudi peace initiative. and a year and a half [of] the Intifada. The world expected the Arab leaders to send a clear message categorically condemning the September eleventh attacks and confirming Arabs and Moslems are against terrorism and seeking a place [in] . the sun. Just like previous summits, the Beirut summit is definitely not enough for the Arab people who got fed up with the failure in dealing with Israel militarily and politically.

TEXT: In Jordan, Amman's Al-Dustour Thursday [3-28] carried this column in which the point was made that:

VOICE: The summit lost its political quorum when Arab efforts failed to secure the participation of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, and it lost its moral quorum by the absence of 12 Arab leaders, particularly King Abdullah the second and [Egyptian] President Hosni Mubarak.

TEXT: Taking a different view, the Saudi Arabian daily Al-Hayat, published in London, suggested that:

VOICE: No one was (in fact) absent. Those who attended had declared their positions, and those who were absent felt their absence was the best way to express their position. Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative was an attempt to break the siege on Arab strength.

TEXT: For a view from Syria, we check in with The Syria Times in Damascus, where an editorial states:

VOICE: The central issue is what Israel and the United States will offer in response to the Arabs' offer of peace. Will Israel accept the idea of full implementation of U-N resolutions on withdrawal, the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state?

TEXT: In Israel, The Jerusalem Post is, as one might expect, furious and disillusioned.

VOICE: At the same time as Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah unveiled his much-anticipated peace plan, Syrian President Bashar Assad made clear that all Israelis . are equal targets of the current terror war. Leaders of Hamas - - which claimed responsibility for the Netanya massacre - - Hizbullah, and other terrorist groups were honored guests at the Arab summit and arguably dictated its agenda as much as the Saudi prince.

TEXT: In the daily Ha'aretz from Tel Aviv, the paper suggests:

VOICE: [Chairman] Arafat is not interested in stopping the terror (the terrorist in Netanya was on the list of wanted persons that Israel has demanded the Palestinian Authority [P-A] arrest, but which roused no response from the P-A).

TEXT: And in Yediot Aharonot, a columnist warns:

VOICE: Israel is rolling towards war. A war without a name and without an objective.

TEXT: Moving on to Western Europe, the British press is upset at the latest bombing and how it will affect the summit. London's Daily Telegraph writes:

VOICE: The Arab League summit has attracted far more publicity than usual because it appears to offer an ironic counterpoint to the desperate struggle between Israelis and Palestinians, underlined by yesterday's [3-27] suicide bombing in Netanya. Its centerpiece is a peace proposal by Crown Prince Abdullah. In Beirut yesterday, that promise soon turned sour. In short, the Arabs made a mess of an occasion which.afforded the chance to present a united, conciliatory front.

TEXT: The London Times is not even slightly more encouraging as it comments:

VOICE: If the stakes were not so high, then yesterday's [3-27] chaotic performance at the Arab League summit . would have been farcical rather than tragic . But even before the first private jet landed at Beirut the summit was already destined to failure. . The hardliners succeeded in sabotaging any hopes that the Beirut summit would be a turning point, not only for Middle East peace efforts, but also in the Arab world's long and futile search for unity.

TEXT: Using fairly stark terms, London's weekly newsmagazine The Economist suggests:

VOICE: Even by the grim standards of the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there has rarely been such a disjunction between rhetoric and reality. The talks this week . has been of cease-fires, of peace, of overall settlements. But the reality . has been death and destruction, and a slide towards what looks like all-out war.

TEXT: Assessing the Arab Summit against the backdrop of the fresh violence, France's famed Le Figaro from Paris is somewhat more optimistic.

VOICE: In spite of the noted absences . and in spite of the general cacophony and the pitiful spectacle of Arab divisions, the Beirut summit was not the complete fiasco some claimed it to be before it was even finished. the Saudi initiative has been adopted, practically unchanged. Even if Ariel Sharon rejected the offer, the text will remain a document of reference for future negotiations.

TEXT: Italy's La Stampa from Turin also sees something of a mixed message in the week's developments.

VOICE: Atrocious news arrives from the Middle East . Yet a glimpse of hope emerged yesterday [3-28] from the Arab League summit, which unanimously approved Saudi Arabia's peace plan. And it is also significant that the . summit produced a solemn Iraqi document that recognizes the sovereignty and integrity of Kuwait.

TEXT: Taking a decidedly less enthusiastic view, Russia's Noviye Izvestiya comments:

VOICE: The Saudi peace offensive is continuing at a measured pace. Yesterday [3-28] the Arab summit endorsed Riyadh's proposal to normalize relations with Israel. Now that it has formally become pan-Arab, the plan will be submitted to the U-N Security Council for consideration and quiet burial.(Signed)

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