Military

DATE=6/5/03

TYPE=WORLD OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=AQABA SUMMIT

NUMBER=6-12959

BYLINE=Andrew Guthrie

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: As President Bush completes a whirlwind diplomatic tour of Europe and the Middle East, papers around the world are expressing cautious optimism that progress has been made in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We get a sampling now from V-O-A's _____________ in this week's World Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The Aqaba summit, in which President Bush was able to get the Israeli and Palestinian Prime Ministers talking to each other, is seen as progress.

Let us begin in England, where London's Independent says in part:

VOICE: Baby steps is what seasoned Middle East observers call events such as yesterday's meeting at Aqaba, Jordan. When for example, Mr. Sharon tries to be helpful by saying that all "illegal" settlements in the occupied territories will be dismantled, he was referring to those illegal under Israeli rather than international law.

TEXT: One French view is available from Le Figaro in Paris, which is much more positive.

VOICE: Is the U-S president able to deliver peace after waging war? In Aqaba, President Bush scored points, even if for the moment the success of the summit lies only in promises. Nevertheless the Israeli-Palestinian pact has been sealed.

TEXT: Turning to Germany's financial capital, the Frankfurter Allgemeine suggests:

VOICE: Maybe the wind of political change has really hit the core conflict in the Middle East. Maybe the hesitant handshake between Israeli P-M Sharon and Palestinian new P-M Abbas was really the beginning of a negotiation process and perhaps the promise of the U-S president to offer the searchers for peace reliable support from the U-S is meant as seriously as [Mr.] Bush is now claiming.

TEXT: For the Italian view, we check in with the La Repubblica from Rome, which is partially contrite about its previous skepticism.

VOICE: The summit and even more, [Prime Minister] Sharon's surprisingly conciliatory attitude, as well as the appointment of [Palestinian Authority Prime Minister] Abu Mazen [also known as Mahmoud Abbas] in order to get rid of [Chairman Yasser] Arafat, show that our skepticism was unjustified.

TEXT: To the East, the Czech business daily Hospodarske Noviny proposed that: "President Bush has set off for what is likely to be the most important test of his foreign policy [attempting] to reconcile the Israelis and Palestinians [because] he could not avoid it any longer."

Moving on to the Middle East, Israel's Yediot Aharonot in Tel Aviv is much more upbeat.

VOICE: This was a triumphant journey for President Bush. In Sharm el-Sheikh Arab leaders pledged their loyalty to him, despite the war in Iraq -- and because of it. In Aqaba he made his image as a peacemaker.

TEXT: In East Jerusalem, in the Palestinian press, Al-Quds is much less optimistic.

VOICE: From a first look at the summit one may think that [it] has achieved "major progress". But after looking deeper into Israeli P-M Sharon's speech, one will find a number of problems that will become insurmountable obstacles to peace, especially when we examine the conclusion which confirmed Israel's acceptance of steps in the road map, but not the road map itself.

TEXT: Moving over to Egypt, a key player in all of this, the big Cairo daily al-Ahram talks of the Arab-American summit and suggests:

VOICE: It was clear from the words which he [President Bush] chose to express his pledge that the American administration truly wants to continue working to end the conflict in the middle east, first it wants to do that on the Palestinian track, and then after that on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks so that this would lead to a comprehensive settlement.

TEXT: In Lebanon, there is this relatively optimistic view from the Beirut daily An-Nahar.

VOICE: There is no doubt we have lived 48 historic hours. Today we have a serious opportunity to make a just comprehensive peace a success, beginning with establishment of an independent Palestinian State. The region changed following the fall of Saddam's regime and America's direct involvement.

TEXT: Very briefly to Asia where in Japan's Asahi from Tokyo we read:

VOICE: Both Israel and the Palestinians will have to use this historic meeting to suspend hostilities and bring an end to the Palestinian conflict that has not only left the Middle East unstable but also created a hotbed of terrorism.

TEXT: Lastly, we end on a pessimistic note from China's Global Times in Beijing which suggests:

VOICE: The consensus of opinion is that [President] Bush may achieve some agreements during his first trip to the Middle East, but has little possibility of making any major breakthrough.

TEXT: On that note from the Chinese daily Global Times, we conclude this sampling of global press reaction to President Bush's foray into the Middle East peace process.

NEB/ANG/RH