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DE RUEHJM #0909/01 1481005
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O 271005Z MAY 08
FM AMCONSUL JERUSALEM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1654
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC//DAS-ZD/DACS-ZK//
RUEAHQA/CSAF WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
RHMFIUU/CMC WASHINGTON DC
RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC//POLAD//
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 7133
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 4120
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 3973
RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 5471
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 3889
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2451

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 JERUSALEM 000909 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE PASS BBG 
STATE FOR NEA, NEA/IPA, NEA/PPD 
WHITE HOUSE FOR PRESS OFFICE, SIT ROOM 
NSC FOR ABRAMS 
CMC WASHINGTON DC FOR POLAD 
 
JERUSALEM ALSO FOR ICD 
LONDON FOR HKANONA AND POL - TSOU 
PARIS ALSO FOR POL 
ROME FOR MFO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KMDR KPAL KWBG KPAO IS
SUBJECT: JERUSALEM MEDIA REACTION (5/27): The Peace Process - a 
Process, but no Peace? 
 
 
------------- 
Main Stories: 
------------- 
 
Reports about a "comprehensive prisoner swap" between Hezbollah and 
Israel dominated coverage in all dailies. The dailies highlighted 
that the expected truce will include "large numbers" of Lebanese and 
Palestinians in Israeli jails. According to coverage in all dailies, 
the exchange is "coming soon."  Related reports on a truce between 
Hamas and Israel also generated front page coverage in all dailies. 
According to reports, "Amos Gilad, a senior aide to Defense Minister 
Ehud Barak, is due to return to Cairo next week for talks in an 
attempt to reach calm in the Gaza Strip."  Al-Quds quoted an Israeli 
official saying, "it is too early to talk about the failure of a 
truce."  All dailies highlighted that Egypt is "exerting efforts to 
achieve calm." 
 
The dailies highlighted comments made by Palestinian Prime Minister 
Fayyad during a session for the Council of Ministers in Ramallah on 
May 26.  All dailies quoted Fayyad "praising" the success of the 
Bethlehem Investment conference and describing it as "a glorious 
success," adding that "the conference sent a message to the whole 
world that the Palestinian Authority is able to build government 
institutions." Related coverage on the front page of Al-Ayyam 
reported that 2.5 million dollars in American assistance will be 
announced in Jenin on May 28 through USAID projects. 
 
Ma'an News Agency reported that Fatah's Revolutionary Council (the 
party's political leadership body) is divided in opinion about the 
performance of the "caretaker" government of Prime Minister Salam 
Fayyad.  A formal evaluation of the current government is on the 
body's meeting agenda. Fayyad's critics, who believe that the 
government has not followed the Fatah party line, are expected to 
demand changes in the ministerial cabinet.  Others are said to 
support the current cabinet. 
 
Ma'an News Agency reported that Baha Atiyya, a member of the Muslim 
Brotherhood in the Egyptian Parliament, criticized comments by the 
Palestinian Ambassador to Egypt, Nabil Amr, against Hamas.  Atiyya 
called on the Egyptian government to expel Amr, saying that he could 
not legitimately represent the Palestinian people.  Atiyya called 
Amr's remarks "sectarian," saying that his words did not represent 
the voice of Palestinian resistance, but rather the narrow interests 
of the Fatah movement. 
 
The dailies reported that former US President Jimmy Carter on May 25 
urged European governments to break with US policy and lift the 
international boycott of Hamas and the blockade of the Gaza Strip. 
In an interview with the British daily The Guardian published on May 
26, Carter also claimed that Israel has 150 nuclear weapons. 
Related coverage in all dailies quoted King Abdullah II saying in a 
meeting with a U.S. Congressional delegation that the region will 
remain in disorder until the Palestinian issue is solved. 
 
The dailies and online news agencies reported that Israel halted the 
implementation of a plan to open 20 Palestinian police stations in 
the West Bank. 
 
------------ 
BLOCK QUOTES: 
------------ 
 
¶1. Under the headline, "Carter's Statements" (05/27), the daily 
editorial in the independent Al-Quds opined, "Former U.S. President 
 
JERUSALEM 00000909  002 OF 002 
 
 
Jimmy Carter will be remembered in history as the Godfather of the 
first Arab-Israeli peace process, for which he won a Nobel Peace 
Prize. In recent years, Carter has continued to issue statements 
that oppose Israeli stands - starting with his recent famous book, 
to his recent visit to the region, his meeting in Damascus with the 
leader of Hamas' political bureau Khaled Meshal, and Israel 
forbidding him from entering Gaza.  Yesterday Carter said that the 
siege of Gaza is "one of the greatest human rights crimes now 
existing on Earth." Moreover, he declared that Israel possesses more 
than 150 nuclear weapons. Carter also said the United States had to 
begin holding direct talks with Iran about its nuclear program 
instead of starting a cycle of punishment and boycott.  One only has 
to applaud Carter for his courage, and keep in mind that American 
presidents usually find out the facts after they finish their term 
in the office, once they have no desire to serve another term." 
 
¶2.  Independent daily Al-Ayyam carried an op-ed by veteran columnist 
Hani Al-Masri titled "Continuing with the Negotiations: the Worst or 
the Best of Two Evils?" (05/27): "... The failure of the Annapolis 
Conference caused a Palestinian and Arab depression and resulted in 
losing the bet they placed on a losing horse - that the Bush 
administration would actually try to be an objective power. 
Unfortunately, they are continuing to bet on yet another losing 
horse, i.e. the bet on the negotiation for a peace process, when it 
is becoming clear that it is a process devoid of any peace.  As a 
matter of fact, the process is a big obstacle to peace because it 
gives the illusion that something is being done with the multiple 
political and economic conferences that have happened (Annapolis, 
Paris, Moscow, Berlin, and Bethlehem,) which undermines other 
initiatives and makes the peace process a process about negotiation 
only... Suspending the negotiations, if it happens, would not be a 
strategic step going back to armed resistance, but a strategic step 
towards negotiations.  Suspending the negotiations would provoke 
international intervention, which would stop this process from going 
in an empty circular motion... After the many failures that the 
American administration has faced in the Middle East, it now needs a 
success, and it can't afford any more disappointment. It is 
important to keep the negotiations going, and [the American 
administration] would not seriously consider punishing the 
Palestinian leadership [for strategically suspending 
negotiations]... especially since the only alternative to the 
current [Palestinian] leadership is Hamas..." 
 
 
WALLES