This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

041544Z Jan 06

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR NEA/ARN, NEA/P, NEA/PPD, NEA/AIA, 
INR/NESA, R/MR, NEA/IPA, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR JO
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION 12/19/2005-01/04/2006 
 
 
¶1. Summary: Jordanian press in the last ten days has 
focused on regional issues, specifically the run-up to 
the Palestinian elections, Iraq's government formation 
process, and statements by former Syrian Vice President 
Abdul Halim Khaddam.  Editorial commentary follows. 
End summary. 
 
¶2. Mideast: PA Governance and Stability 
 
Oraib Al-Rantawi wrote in the center-left, influential, 
pro-Palestinian Arabic daily Al-Dustour on December 27: 
"Israel, which has not stopped for a moment its 
campaign of assassination, liquidation, and raids all 
over the Occupied Territories, wants a weak Palestinian 
leadership that has no credibility among its people, so 
it can claim that there is no reliable Palestinian 
counterpart in the peace process, and that there is no 
alternative to a unilaterally-imposed solution. The 
result. though Israel is not solely responsible for it. 
is that the PNA is now in a state of collapse and its 
authority is not more than that of a medium-sized 
faction. Consequently Palestinians now dwell under a 
masked occupation that rules them as well as their 
authority.  The moment may not be far when Palestinian 
consciousness awakens to the realization of the threats 
they face, of annexation and expropriation of their 
land and annulment of their rights. the realization 
that freedom from occupation may dictate dispensing 
with an authority that has no power or authority, and 
no function except maintaining the illusion of 
statehood and independence." 
 
Jamil Al-Nimri wrote in the independent, centrist, 
widely circulated Arabic daily Al-Ghad on January 4: 
"Postponing the elections would entangle the 
Palestinians in an inner stalemate characterized by 
lack of achievement and corrosion from within. This is 
probably what Israel wants if Israeli reports are true 
about Sharon's intent to throw out the road map once 
and for all after the Israeli elections are held and 
his plan for an alternative settlement plan, which he 
will negotiate with the Americans and not with the 
Palestinians, who are drowning in chaos and are unable 
to rule themselves and control their decisions." Al- 
Nimri adds: "Sharon's sources have denied those reports 
and Saeb Ureikat expressed his doubts that such a plan, 
if it exists, will receive any support. However, the 
failure of Palestinian elections will render this plan 
the only way out and a reality." 
 
¶3. Iraq: Reconstruction; Formation of a Government 
 
Taher Al-Adwan, Chief Editor of the independent, 
populist, opposition Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm wrote 
on December 27: "We live in a peculiar time with hordes 
of political entities raising religious slogans and 
others promoting freedom and democracy through the 
intervention of foreign powers to occupy one Arab 
country or another, and with American and British 
officials touring the Arab world to inspect the armies 
and gunboats.  Important changes have happened since 
the U.S. and Britain declared the Arab world a war 
zone.  Therefore we suggest, as a favor to us, that 
these two countries should establish a ministry of 
colonies each, so that the people of the region would 
realize that the neo-colonial governments are willing 
to bear their security and economic responsibilities 
towards the people whom they subjugate, which may 
induce them to implement the Geneva Convention and the 
Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the region, 
and end the state of confusion over the defunct Arab 
order." 
 
Al-Adwan, responding on January 4 to an op-ed piece by 
Ambassador David Hale, wrote: "The publication of the 
op-ed piece by the Ambassador is most welcome for two 
reasons: The first is that we are better off hearing 
the U.S. point of view directly from U.S. officials 
rather than Iraqi journalists who are paid by the 
Pentagon.  The other reason is that it sets an example 
in diplomatic and political action in a region where 
obscurity and silence are the rules.. [Nevertheless], 
to say that the Iraqi elections were a `landmark in the 
history of freedom' as President Bush described them, 
or a `step forward' as the Ambassador described them, 
is surprising, because the truth is altogether 
different.  Iraq at present is rife with heinous 
crimes, many of which are committed by terrorists, but 
most of them are committed by the occupation, under 
pretext of the conditions that the occupation created. 
What happened and is happening at the hands of the U.S. 
is several steps backwards, to the age of religious 
wars.  It has had negative consequences for the whole 
region, notably Jordan, whose neighbor changed from an 
exporter of oil to an exporter of terror." 
 
¶4. Mideast: Syria 
 
Nahed Hattar wrote in Al-Arab Al-Yawm on January 1: 
"The virtual suicide of former Minister of Interior 
Ghazi Kan'an, and the political and moral suicide of 
Khaddam, have eliminated any credibility of the Syrian 
regime, which should now review its strategic calculus. 
Khaddam and other Khaddams hiding with in the regime 
are the source of danger to Syria, not the Syrian 
nationalist intellectuals. I wait impatiently for the 
day when President Assad responds to Khaddam by 
dismantling the links of cronyism, the repression, and 
the corruption in the regime, releases all political 
prisoners, and holds free and fair elections that 
produce a democratic government." 
 
Former Minister of Administrative Development Bassam Al- 
Umoush wrote in the leading, semi-official Arabic daily 
Al-Rai on January 1: "Listening to Abdul Halim Khaddam, 
it was refreshing to hear the emphasis on freedom, 
democracy, and human rights, all of which we missed in 
his discourses ten years ago, when these slogans did 
not save the prisoners, widows and orphans, and those 
made homeless.  The old logic of Khaddam contradicts 
his present one.  It is incomprehensible that the human 
rights of the Lebanese should be of such importance to 
him, while those of the Syrians have always been 
meaningless." 
 
Hale