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UNCLAS        MUSCAT 01151

SIPDIS
MUSCATCX:
    ACTION: PAO
    INFO:   AMB DCM POLE

DISSEMINATION: PAO
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: PAO:RHARBUCKLE
DRAFTED: PAO:DHOFFMANN
CLEARED: PAO:DHOFFMANN

VZCZCATI447
PP RUEHC RUEHEE RUEHLO RUEHFR RHMFISS
DE RUEHMS #1151/01 2051304
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 241304Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY MUSCAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6942
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0421
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0316
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MUSCAT 001151 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PPD, NEA/PI, AND INR/R/MR 
STATE PASS USTR FOR N. MOORJANI, J. BUNTIN 
LONDON FOR TSOU 
PARIS FOR ZEYA 
USCENTCOM FOR PLUSH 
FOREIGN PRESS CENTER FOR SILAS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP KPAO KMDR MU
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION:  CRISIS IN LEBANON; DANGER OF REGIONAL 
WAR; CALL FOR CEASEFIRE; ARAB LEADERS AND PUBLIC OPINION 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: "Lebanon is burning, and the whole world is standing 
still watching," according to government-owned daily "Oman," 
which also calls for a ceasefire to stop "Zionist aggression."  A 
columnist for "Oman" condemns Arab governments for "acting 
against the will of their citizens."  Privately owned "Al-Watan" 
thinks Israel wants a regional war.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------- 
COVERAGE 
-------- 
 
¶2.  Positive coverage of the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement was 
offset in the Omani press by continuing, heavy coverage of Arab- 
Israeli strife.  On Friday July 21, "Oman's" led front-page 
coverage with "American House of Representatives Agrees on a Free 
Trade Agreement with the Sultanate."  Below, however, was a 
series of four pictures related to Arab-Israeli strife, including 
a close-up of a Palestinian mother crying at a morgue upon seeing 
her son's body, an Israeli artillery unit firing towards southern 
Lebanon, and a foreigner with a baby in his arms being evacuated 
from Lebanon.  Also on July 21, private daily "Al Watan" 
relegated news of the FTA's passage to a mention beneath the 
fold, dwarfed by a large picture of the sister of a Palestinian 
who was killed by Israeli fire in a Gaza refugee camp.  Heading 
the front page was "Israel Threatens to Invade Beirut and the 
Lebanese Army Prepares," accompanied by a large photo of smoke 
rising from the town of Amariya in southern Lebanon. 
 
¶3.  On Saturday, July 22, "Al-Watan's" headlined "America Warns 
the Security Council Not to Stop the Aggression on Lebanon," 
adjacent to a large picture of Israeli reserves lining up on a 
road near Lebanon's southern border, with an inset showing a 
wounded, pregnant Lebanese woman on a stretcher.  Beneath the 
fold was the headline, "American Planes Kill Iraqis and an 
Infant," accompanied by a photograph of a weeping man standing 
over the corpse of an Iraqi girl. 
 
¶4.  On Sunday July 23, both "Oman" and "Al-Watan" carried a 
special business supplement with a Ministry of Commerce and 
Industry statement that hailed the U.S.-Oman FTA as "one of the 
most significant modern economic developments towards enhancing 
trade liberalization policies and integrating the Omani economy 
into the global one."  The timing of this statement was 
important, coming as it did on Renaissance Day, the Omani 
national holiday celebrating the 1970 accession of Sultan Qaboos. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
BLOCK QUOTES: WORLD STANDING STILL WHILE LEBANON BURNS 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶5. Government-owned "Oman" (circulation 38,000) on July 17 
editorialized on "The Regional War and the Fall of International 
Legitimacy": 
 
"This unjust war (with strange blessings from the U.S. and 
Russian) against Lebanon and its people is a crime to be added to 
the Zionist regime's crimes that it has been committing for more 
than a half century.  Regional war is not far off, if the Israeli 
escalation continues, as it continues to try and pull Iran and 
Syria into the circle of war.  International legitimacy has 
proved its failure, and the Security Council could not issue a 
resolution for a ceasefire. What is needed now is to stop Israeli 
violence through the Security Council and to negotiate about 
other pending issues.  Lebanon is burning, and the whole world is 
standing still watching, especially the Westerners who sing songs 
of justice and human rights." 
 
---------------------------- 
ISRAEL'S EXPANSIONIST AGENDA 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6. On July 19, "Al-Watan" (privately owned daily, circulation 
42,000) asked: "Israeli Operations in Gaza and Lebanon: Are they 
Bait?" 
 
"Israeli operations in Gaza and Lebanon are a cover for its 
expansionist agenda in the Middle East.  Israel will use these 
operations as an excuse to build a coalition and later attack 
Iran and Syria, using American support.  They intend by this 
destroying and attacking to block countries who call for their 
rights, and to teach a lesson to those who are seeking to recover 
what belongs to them." 
 
----------------- 
CALL TO CEASEFIRE 
----------------- 
 
¶7. "Oman" also wrote about the importance of peace in the 
Middle East on July 24 under the headline, "Stopping the 
Aggression is Necessary for Regional Peace": 
 
"A ceasefire that will stop the Zionist aggression is among the 
critical steps that should be taken on the Lebanese issue.  All 
efforts meant to stop aggression are unlikely to work without 
U.S. permission.  The new Middle East that the American 
Undersecretary of State spoke about has no meaning in light of 
the current armed conflicts, and America's quagmire, in Iraq, 
Afghanistan, and the occupied Palestinian territories.  Any 
future designs for the region will surely meet with many problems 
and objections." 
 
------------------------------------- 
ARAB GOVERNMENTS FLOUT PUBLIC OPINION 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. Also on July 24, Ubayid al-Shaqsi, a professor at Sultan 
Qaboos University, wrote an article for "Oman" entitled "Arabs 
and Resistance": 
 
"Arab governments, as usual acting against the will of their 
citizens, have failed to deal with the regional crisis.  The 
double standards applied by these regimes and the United States 
of America is causing them to lose face...they call for wider 
public participation, all the while applying pressure in order to 
change public opinion." 
 
GRAPPO