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O 191211Z DEC 06
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6180
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 7270
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7664
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SIPDIS 
 
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STATE INR/R/MR; IIP/R/MR; WHA/PD 
 
DEPT PASS USTR 
 
USDOC 4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KMDR OPRC OIIP ETRD BR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: MIDEAST: PALESTINIAN GOVERNANCE; SAO PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "Palestinian Crossroad" 
 
Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (12/9) 
editorialized: "The Palestinians are on the eve of a civil war, and 
PNA President Mahmoud Abbas' decision of calling elections does not 
help to calm the situation.  However, the call for elections has at 
least the merit of breaking an impasse. A possibility is that in 
view of the threat of getting themselves involved in a fratricidal 
confrontation or losing power through the voting process, Fatah and 
Hamas will reach an understanding and finally succeed in creating a 
coalition government.... Most of the responsibility for the current 
crisis is of Hamas and its obsessive insistence on denying 
recognition to Israel's right to existence.... Developments in 
recent months have placed the Palestinians in the worst world. If 
they succeed in preventing a civil war and deciding their future 
through the ballot, they will have to choose between Hamas and 
Fatah, whose inefficiency and corruption had already led the 
population to prefer Hamas." 
 
¶2. "In The Middle East, What Was Bad Has Become Much Worse" 
 
An editorial in business-oriented Valor Economico (12/19) remarked: 
"The year is ending and any hope of peace in the Middle East was 
buried. This year was especially bloody and destabilizing in the 
region.  The final chapter - sad as the previous ones - is being 
written with the beginning of a civil war between Palestinian rival 
factions Hamas and Fatah.... Since the political chess is terribly 
complex in the region, [PNA President Mahmoud] Abbas risked 
provoking an internal war among Palestinians when he tried to pave 
the way for an uncertain dialogue with Israel.... The ballot option, 
which would be supported by the Palestinian population, is the least 
bloody and the one with most chances of fostering a truce among the 
rival factions. The climate, however, does not favor the peace 
process. A civil war is currently bloodying Iraq, Hezbollah's 
Shiites rally on streets the overcome of Lebanon's government, which 
may bring the civil war back, and the Iranian government, which 
supports the Lebanese Shiite group, has launched open challenges 
against the US and Israel. The Arabs deserve a better fate, but 
unfortunately it is not on the horizon." 
Wolfe