Military

DATE=09/10/03

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

NAME=PALESTINIAN P-M CHANGE

NUMBER=6-13083

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=Washington

EDITOR=Assignments

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: The cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis has resumed with a vengeance. The blood letting comes after the resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas. The American press is commenting on both, and here is V-O-A's __________ with a cross section in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: Israeli air force jets have attacked the home of a Hamas leader, killing his son and a bodyguard and slightly injuring him. Israel says the raids are in retaliation for Tuesday's [9-9] double suicide bombings that killed 15 Israelis. The renewed violence comes as Ahmed Korei is about to take office as Palestinian Prime Minister, a replacement for the resigned Mahmoud Abbas. Mr. Korei says he will try to quickly form a small "crisis" government.

Many U-S papers, such as Ohio's Akron Beacon Journal, are barely concealing their frustration.

VOICE: On Tuesday, a suicide bomb at the Israeli army base near Tel Aviv and another near a cafe in Jerusalem further reduced hope of rescuing the U-S-backed road map to peace, even as a leadership crisis continues in the Palestinian government. The resignation of Mahmoud Abbas as Palestinian Prime Minister Saturday [9-6] confirmed the obvious. Meaningful progress in the . conflict turns on finding a candidate for prime minister capable of breaking the stranglehold of Yasser Arafat.

TEXT: In Wisconsin, Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel says:

VOICE: The latest leadership crisis to befall the Palestinian movement is -- or ought to be considered -- a wake-up call to more active leadership from the White House. The [latest] terror attacks followed a crisis in the Palestinian ranks that emerged over the weekend. . [Mr. Abbas and [his successor] Mr. Korei are right when they say Israel has not fully complied with the road map's provisions.

Most obviously, [Israel] has failed to dismantle settlement outposts erected since March 2001 . But [Mr.] Abbas also was guilty . of failing to fully implement the plan. Most obviously, he refused to "disrupt and restrain individuals and groups conducting and planning violent attacks on Israelis anywhere." He feared, not without reason, that doing so would generate a Palestinian civil war.

TEXT: Excerpts from a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorial. Westward now, to Utah's Great Salt Lake, where Salt Lake City's Tribune laments:

VOICE: Mahmoud Abbas spoke the truth, but no one would listen. Long before Yasser Arafat appointed him prime minister . in March, [Mr.] Abbas realized that a policy of violence against Israel was worsening the plight of the Palestinian people. He had the courage to say publicly that martyr attacks . had been a strategic blunder . He was right then and he is right today.

TEXT: Views of The Salt Lake [City] Tribune. In the nation's capital, the Washington Post appears to imply the so-called road map to peace is moribund.

VOICE: Bush administration officials seem to hope . they can avoid accepting the collapse of the latest Israeli-Palestinian peace process simply by declaring it still alive. "The road map is still there," Secretary of State Colin . Powell insisted Sunday.

TEXT: But the Washington Post concludes by saying, "A successful peace process will require bolder and more forceful action than any of the parties -- including Mr. Bush - have so far offered." The Los Angeles Times declares the peace plan is "in tatters now and the region threatens to spiral into greater violence," while Pennsylvania's Allentown Morning Call has a suggestion. A new constitution.

VOICE: There are things Mr. Korei can do. The road map called for the Palestinians to draft a constitution and create an independent judiciary. Mr. Abbas didn't. Mr. Korei could try to write [Chairman] Arafat out of power. He probably wouldn't succeed but it would make clearer that a big part of the problem was and is [Mr.] Arafat.

TEXT: Lastly, in Colorado, Denver's Rocky Mountain News calls the prime minister change-over "Another Pyrrhic victory for [Chairman] Arafat, and adds sadly: "The naming of a new Palestinian prime minister will change little in the Mideast." With that comment from The Rocky Mountain News, we conclude this sampling of opinion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

NEB/ANG/KL