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What Middle East newspapers are saying about this week’s suicide bombings and the military attacks in response by Israel: Ha’aretz (Jerusalem) — The Palestinian Authority is the recognized representative institution for the residents of the territories, and Israel must deal with it for better or worse. Dreaming about its elimination is wishful thinking derived from anger, and an attempt to actualize those wishes could bring chaos. There should be no fantasizing about misguided ideas for creating a new order in the territories. The lessons of the Lebanon war should be at the forefront of Sharon’s thinking.
The Jerusalem Post — Israel has attempted to avoid having to militarily defeat terrorism itself, hoping all the while that Arafat would make a diplomatic calculation that ending terrorism was in his interest. This diplomatic approach has failed miserably. Arafat has not confronted terrorism because he stands to gain so little.
Al-Ahram (Cairo) — The suicide attacks highlight the need for all parties to immediately halt violence and sit at the negotiating table to spare the region an endless cycle of violence. No one can accept the killing of Israeli civilians, just as the collective human conscience cannot accept the daily death of innocents as a consequence of the intransigence of Israeli leaders.
Jordan Times — Ariel Sharon’s refusal to cancel its policy of assassinations and pursuit of wanted suspects makes efforts to arrive at a ceasefire even more complicated.
Al-Rai (Amman) — Palestinian bombings of Israeli civilians only increase the intransigence of the extremists in Israel, exacerbate the critical daily living conditions and difficulties of the Palestinian people, and reduce international political and diplomatic support for them.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi(Ramallah) — The bombings serve notice to Israelis that they cannot achieve security via the kind of brute force employed by Sharon, but only by changing their supremacist mentality.
Maariv(Israel) — Arafat must pay the price. The Israeli Defence Forces must hit terrorist concentrations in the territories without any restrictions. Quiet will not be restored unless Israel does something out of the ordinary.”
Al-Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) — Those who were killed are not better than the hundreds of Palestinians killed in cold blood by Sharon’s soldiers or crushed by Israeli tanks, or who perish under the rubble of their homes that are bulldozed by racist colonizers.
