The Gulf press viewpoint!

["Ken Hanly" <khanly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gulf press blasts US
Dubai
April 19 2002


Gulf and Iraqi newspapers lashed out at the United States yesterday
following Secretary of State Colin Powell's failure to force Israel to pull
out of Palestinian territories it has reoccupied, charging that Washington
was in cahoots with the Jewish state.

Saudi papers led the chorus of condemnation, with one daily accusing Powell
of having acted "like a Jewish rabbi" during his justconcluded Middle East
trip.

"Since he set off from Washington to the region over a week ago, the
secretary appeared to be ... carrying instructions, not proposals," to the
Palestinians, Al-Watan said in an editorial.

"He acted more like a Jewish rabbi, or the head of a Zionist organisation,
than like an American diplomat trying to find a solution" to the crisis
between Israel and the Palestinians, it added.

The English-language Arab News charged that the White House was more
interested in domestic elections than in brokering an end to Mideast
violence.



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"White House involvement is driven simply by the domestic political need to
keep Zionist opinion sweet back home in the face of this year's midterm
elections. Therefore, any American voting for the Republican ticket is
effectively marking his voting slip with Palestinian blood," the daily said.

Al-Madina said all that Powell managed to do was give Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon more time to carry on his "crimes" against the Palestinians.

"Let's not fool ourselves. Powell came to the region to give Sharon's plan
additional time," the paper wrote.

Powell flew back home empty-handed from his Middle East mission yesterday
after failing to secure an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire to end 18 months of
bloodshed.

In the United Arab Emirates, Al-Khaleej said US officials were merely
parroting the Israeli line.

"All US administration officials parrot the terrorist Sharon and his
generals, who are sowing death and destruction all over Palestine," the
Sharjah-based daily said.

During his tour, Powell "wielded Sharon's stick in an attempt to force the
Palestinian leadership to toe the (Israeli) line," Al-Khaleej said.

Abu Dhabi-based Al-Ittihad charged that Powell had spent "half his trip
enthusiastically watching the brutal massacres perpetrated by the war
criminal Sharon" against the Palestinians.

And at the end of it all, "Powell gave us the good news that there would be
no (Israeli) withdrawal (from West Bank cities) simply because the massacre
is not over yet and the Palestinians and their besieged president Yasser
Arafat have still not gone down on their knees," the paper wrote.

Qatar's Al-Raya said it was an open secret that Washington had been Israel's
"partner in aggression" since the start of the Israeli military campaign in
the West Bank on March 29.

"That Powell's mission should end in failure is not surprising given that
the US administration gives in to Sharon's arrogance and readily meets his
unreasonable demands," said Al-Watan, another Doha-based daily.

In Iraq, Ath-Thawra accused Powell of "legitimising the massacres"
perpetrated by Israel by describing them as "self-defence."

The secretary of state came to the region "to throw the United States'
weight behind Sharon and the Zionists who are defying the whole world with
their actions in Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Bethlehem," said the mouthpiece
of Iraq's ruling Baath Party.

"The plain truth is that Powell himself is an accomplice in the aggression,"
the paper added.

- AFP

This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/04/18/1019020685326.html