VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSO #0074 0311214
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 311214Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6336
INFO RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PRIORITY 7427
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO PRIORITY 7735
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC 2699

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000074 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
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: MIDDLE EAST: PROSPECTS FOR ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN DIALOGUE; 
IRAQ: PRESIDENT BUSH'S SECURITY PLAN; SAO PAULO 
 
 
¶1. "End Of A Cycle" 
 
Liberal, largest national circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (1/31) 
editorialized: "The Israeli Army's unilateral withdrawal from the 
Palestinian territories - an idea in which most Israelis placed 
their hopes for peace - did not work.... The unilateral withdrawal 
plan conceived by Ariel Sharon ignored the Palestinians. Despite 
this structural problem, the withdrawal was supported not only by 
most of the Israeli voters, but also by a significant portion of the 
international community.... The withdrawal from Gaza helped 
terrorist group Hamas' victory in the Palestinian parliamentary 
elections and intensified rocket attacks against Israel.... The 
series of fiascos marks the death of the unilateral proposal and 
reopens peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. The 
problem is that there is no leader on any side with sufficient 
support to sign accords.... Olmert became a weak prime minister who 
will hardly conclude his term. On the Palestinian side the situation 
is even worse, given the fact that President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah 
and Hamas are engaged in a bloody battle for power. It is good that 
the Israelis have abandoned the illusion that they might have 
reached peace without negotiating it with the Palestinians." 
 
¶2. "Bush's Mess" 
 
Workers' Party militant and leftist Catholic Priest Carlos Alberto 
Libanio Christo (Frei Betto) commented in liberal, largest national 
circulation daily Folha de S. Paulo (1/31): "The US intervention in 
Iraq resulted from a series of lies.... With the invasion of Iraq, 
Bush gave terrorism the status of war, enlarged its recruitment 
capability and offered its organizations concrete goals and targets. 
In Iraq, terrorists know where and who to shoot, while the 
occupation troops aim at imprecise targets and hit civilians.... 
Bush cannot withdraw the troops from Iraq without admitting a 
defeat.... In addition to the Pentagon-coordinated war, there is 
also a civil war that divided the Iraqi national unity.  The US can 
neither support the Sunnis, its historical enemies, nor the Shiites, 
who are Iran's allies. It cannot even support the Kurds because 
Turkey would not tolerate that.... Bush, the world's best advised 
man, confirmed Murphy's Law: 'If everything can be wrong, it 
certainly will be wrong.'  What is more serious is the thirst for 
revenge that moves him. He does not tolerate the fact that his 
father failed in the attempt to overthrow Saddam Hussein in 1991, 
and that his family was associated with Bin Laden's relatives in the 
oil business." 
McMullen