Military

DATE=05/09/02

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=MIDDLE EAST BOMBING

NUMBER=6-125664

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=YES

EDITOR=ASSIGN

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The latest Palestinian suicide bombing that resulted in the death of at least 16 people, the injury of dozens more and the shortening of Prime Minister Sharon's trip to Washington, is widely commented on in the foreign press. We get a sampling now from V-O-A's __________ in this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: In the Israeli press, we find editorial hesitation on expanding the recent Operation Defensive shield that did heavy damage in the West Bank to the Gaza strip.

In other papers there was renewed frustration at the seemingly intractable situation between Israelis and Palestinians. Some papers suggest that just when there is a lull, and modest peace efforts begin to make progress, another bomb goes off, Israeli civilians are killed, and another round of reprisals is anticipated. We begin our sampling in Israel, where Ha'aretz suggests:

VOICE: [President] Bush has no interest in pressuring [Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon at this time. The administration believes it would be wasted time to invest efforts in solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the President is only interested in the appearances of involvement, to soften the arguments against his 'neglecting the region.' The terror attack in Rishon Le Zion, while the Oval Office meeting was underway, proved the limits of American influence.

TEXT: There was frustration tinged with anger in this commentary in Yediot Aharonot from Tel Aviv:

VOICE: As long as [Chairman] Arafat remains here, the diplomatic process with the Palestinians can only be a waste of time and even cause direct harm - - to the dialogue between the peoples, the future generation of Palestinian leaders (whom Arafat succeeded in suppressing) and the hope of both peoples for a practical solution. After Tuesday's bombing . the time has come to banish Yasser Arafat - - the man and his legacy.

TEXT: For the Palestinian view, we check in with East Jerusalem's Al-Quds, which comments:

VOICE: Without trying to justify the killing of innocent civilians, whether they happen to be Palestinians [or] . Israelis, it is important to emphasize that the Israeli aggression against Palestinian cities, camps and villages, for the last six weeks, has made life unbearable for the Palestinian people. We believe that all bloody violence against Israeli civilians, inside the green line, must be stopped now. The Palestinian Authority has condemned the most recent suicide bombing near Tel Aviv . But this Palestinian condemnation is equally directed at the Israeli military operations against the Palestinian innocent civilians, who have been killed at checkpoints, in their fields and at their doorsteps.

TEXT: An editorial in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds from East Jerusalem. Over the border we go now, to Egypt, where in Cairo, the world-famous Al Ahram notes:

VOICE: We would be wasting a long history of struggle and honorable steadfastness for [Chairman] Arafat if we deprived him of the leadership of the Palestinian military intifada for merely ratifying . imprisonment, under American and British guardianship, of those accused of killing the Israeli minister.

TEXT: In Morocco, the French-language daily Le Maroc Aujourd'hui suggests:

VOICE: [Prime Minister] Sharon is doing his best to postpone the solving of the conflict in the Middle East. The delegation that accompanied him [to] . Washington wanted to marginalize the Saudis, accusing them of financing terrorism.

TEXT: On that same sub-text of the Middle East situation, the Saudi-owned daily Al-Hayat, published from London for the whole Arabic-speaking world, suggests:

VOICE: . Israeli allegations against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism, of transferring money to the Hamas movement and to families of suicide bombers will not affect Riyadh's success in convincing the U-S administration of Saudi views related to how to settle the Palestinian issue.

TEXT: Turning to the plight of the Palestinians directly, the Saudi, Jeddah-based Al-Madina laments:

VOICE: Occupation generates nothing but resistance. The pressure of attacks, confiscation of freedoms, demolition of homes and displacement, lead to nothing but explosions. Israelis and their U-S supporters pay no heed to such basics. There is no way to get around the search for an alternative solution to the Palestinian situation.

TEXT: Turning to Western Europe, we move to London, where the British Financial Times says:

VOICE: Another shocking attack against Israeli civilians is threatening to derail fragile international efforts to contain the Palestinian-Israeli conflict . It also cast[s] a shadow over recent U-S attempts to play a more prominent role in the search for peace.

TEXT: Moving on to Germany's financial capital, The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung suggests:

VOICE: [George] Bush is realizing something that [President] Clinton had to learn as well: In the long-run, Washington cannot remain uninvolved in the Middle East. It has to aim at a steady and consistent involvement. In this context, the Bush administration has not shown itself to be on top of things, because statements from Washington about the Israeli military offensive, [Prime Minister] Sharon, and [Chairman] Arafat's future role have been contradictory. All of this is not too convincing.

TEXT: Another view that U-S Middle East policy is floundering comes from Hamburg, where -- in the words of the Financial Times of Deutschland -- "the biggest obstacle to progress is the U-S's zig-zag course."

In Northern Europe, however, Norway's Aftenposten has a more positive view of the Bush administration's involvement in the region.

VOICE: The passive attitude that President Bush had [at] . the beginning of his [term] . as . president seems to have disappeared. That is why the U-S is planning, together with the E-U, Russia and the U-N, a peace conference this summer. The rest of the world wants to take responsibility for getting the parties together again.

TEXT: On that positive note, we conclude this sampling of editorial comment from the world press on the latest twists and turns of Israeli Palestinian debacle.

NEB/ANG/SAB