AMMAN, 5 June 2003 — Arab and Israeli newspapers were divided yesterday on the prospects for advancing peace in the region with the summits in Jordan and Egypt at which US President George W. Bush made his Middle East debut.
Israeli papers predicted the rise of a Pax Americana in the wake of the US-led war in Iraq, while the press in the Arab states taking part in the summits were cautiously optimistic.
In contrast, the government press in Syria, which was excluded from the diplomacy forecast that peace would elude the summits in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on Tuesday and in Jordan’s Red Sea resort of Aqaba the next day.
“Peace remains out of reach and the situation can degenerate in a dangerous way at any moment,” said Tishrin, in its commentary on the Sharm El-Sheikh meeting between Bush and moderate Arab leaders.
“The peace plan examined at the meetings is focused much more on Israel’s demands than on the objective of achieving a just and comprehensive peace,” it said.
Tishrin said Israel’s conditions linked to the US-backed road map for Middle East peace were aimed at ensuring the Jewish state’s “continued occupation (of Arab land), expansion and Jewish settlements” in Palestinian territories.
Any search for peace must be based on the UN land-for-peace resolutions, it said, reiterating Syria’s line.
Jordanian newspapers, meanwhile, said Israel held the key to the success of the summit in Aqaba between Bush, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas.
“The Aqaba summit will be a real test of the readiness of the Israeli prime minister to join the unified vision for the region,” Al-Dustour said.
Israel, the daily said, must match Arab and US commitment and agree to the full implementation of the road map plan which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
On the Israeli side, newspapers said Bush has the power to advance peace.
“The willingness of the Arab leaders to publicly meet with the commander in chief of the American occupation army in Iraq is testimony to the US’s new power in the region,” Maariv newspaper, a day after the Sharm El-Sheikh summit.
Yediot Aharonot gave an upbeat assessment.
“After Iraq, the Arab rulers swear allegiance to him. There is no Quartet. The UN and EU have evaporated. Sharon obeys him. The Palestinians obey him. If there is a chance for pax, for peace, it will be Pax Americana,” it said.
But the right-wing Jerusalem Post said the Aqaba was still “unlikely to produce a breakthrough”, complaining that Israel was being urged to recognize a Palestinian state but the same demand not being made of the Arabs.
In Lebanon, The Daily Star said the summits could “degenerate into political voyeurism...or it could spark a great breakthrough in the quest for justice, peace and prosperity that all the people of the region deserve”.
Bush’s personal involvement, “despite all the criticisms and complaints that one could make, is an opportunity to be seized by the people of this region”, it said. The Arab leaders on Tuesday joined hands with Bush to pledge to do all they can to fight terrorism, whatever the motives, and move ahead with implementing the road map.
But “the Arabs have to be aware of the dangers ahead,” said the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds.
It warned of “the expected procrastination on the part of Israel to implement the road map and America turning a blind eye to what it does in the Palestinian territories”.
