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Pastimes : Prophecy -- HYPE or HOPE? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: calgal who wrote (1474)	4/26/2002 10:55:05 PM
From: calgal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5569

Interesting! I can answer this one: World Opinion Roundup Who's In Charge? By Jefferson Morley washingtonpost.com Staff Friday, April 26, 2002; 10:46 AM When Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah told President Bush yesterday that U.S. policy in the Middle East was in danger of alienating the Arab world, he could have cited the U.S. State Department's own research. The Department's International Information Program's weekly media survey noted the dismal fallout of Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent Mideast trip: "Arabs view IDF (Israel Defense Forces) operations as evidence of U.S. submission to, or complicity with, Israel." And it was not only the Arabs who found fault. "'Failure' is the leitmotif sounded by European writers in describing the Powell mission," concluded the State Department's survey. Nothing provoked more commentary than Israel's defiance of President Bush's demands that Israel end its anti-terrorist operations in the West Bank. Egypt: Sons of the Serpent Sometimes the reaction verged on anti-Semitism. In a commentary for Cairo daily Akhbar al-Yawm, one columnist described the Israelis as "sons of the serpent" and asked: "how far will the US feelings against Arabs and Muslims go? It is leading to an abyss of hatred for those who are running Israel's battle from the White House." Other voices in the government-controlled press were less venomous but no less angry. "Powell is toying with us," said Al-Musawwar, a leading weekly. Ibrahim Nafie, the editor of the pro-government weekly, Al-Ahram declared: "The US, which has at successive junctures posed as the prime, then sole, sponsor and occasionally a full partner in the Arab Israeli peace process, has single-handedly undermined all its qualifications to serve in such capacities." Israel: The Whites of Bush's Eyes Hemi Shalev, a commentator for Ma'ariv, one of Israel's largest paper reported that Sharon's aides "could not hide their satisfaction in view of Powell's failure. Sharon saw the white in President Bush's eyes, they bragged, and the president blinked first." "Israel stood up to American dictates and the sky did not fall," said the Jerusalem Post, adding If there is anything the Palestinians and the Arab world should conclude from this round - which has ended with Bush swinging back toward support for Israel - it is that Arafat is running out of notches on the escalation ladder. " West Bank: Terms of Surrender For Palestinians, U.S. policy appears to have been reduced to delivering Israeli messages. Said the Jerusalem-based Al-Quds, the largest circulation Palestinian daily, "Powell adopted the Israeli stand during his latest meeting with President Arafat at Ramallah and conveyed to him Sharon's terms for surrender… Powell's mission utterly failed. " Turkey: Superpower-less Even in Turkey, the United States' most reliable ally in the region outside of Israel, commentators were not impressed with U.S. policy. "Sharon steered Powell's mission as he pleased," said Sami Kohen, a columnist for Hurriyet, the mass circulation daily in Istanbul. Kohen predicted that if American diplomacy cannot "end the occupation and violence and to restart the peace process . . . there will be more dark and tragic days ahead for the Middle East." Jordan: No Link In Jordan, also a U.S. ally at peace with Israel, the Jordan Times predicted that Washington's defense of Israeli actions as part of the worldwide war on terrorism will not persuade Arab public opinion. "Until Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands ends and a Palestinian homeland is established -- and before all of that, until Israel's shedding of Palestinian and Arab blood is halted -- there is no way that the Palestinians or Arabs will understand or sympathise with the aims of any campaign conducted by the likes of Sharon (ruthless military gamblers who have blood of civilians on their hands) or will see a link between Sharon's war of blood and destruction and Bush's understandable fight against terror. " Spain: Degree of Influence Spain's leading daily, El Pais, summed up the views of many international commentators, saying "If a country's weight is measured by its degree of influence on events, the superpower is not the USA but Israel." © 2002 Washington Post Newsweek Interactive washingtonpost.com