What the Middle East papers say

The Arab press urges caution on the US while newspapers in Israel demand strong action on terrorism

Brian Whitaker, Middle East editor Friday September 14, 2001

Ha'aretz, Israel

"The United States now regards all terror organisations and all countries providing them with asylum as potential enemies and legitimate targets, even if these organizations and countries had no part in this week's terror attacks on America.

"The Palestinian Authority... will have to abandon its hypocritical stance and clearly show where it stands. If it continues to be involved in terrorism, or if it continues to give the green light to terrorists to operate from within its territory, the PA will become an enemy in the eyes of the United States."

Gulf News, United Arab Emirates

"Governments which have sympathised with America in these troubled times have expressed the hope the US errs on the side of caution and seeks no revenge and takes no action until its allies are similarly convinced of the guilt of the perpetrators of these acts. For should America jump to conclusions and act precipitately, it will lose much of the compassion and support it has gained in the past few days."

Daily Star, Lebanon

"Given the justified outrage sweeping the United States - and much of the rest of the planet - the first glimpses of future US action are beginning to appear... But as America's policymakers gather in their government offices and private thinktanks, perhaps it would be wise for them to pause for a moment to consider the results of past US policies and programs in the region. For many of those policies and programs have proved over time to have unforeseen, often ugly, negative consequences."

Jordan Times

"Let us leave no doubt that terrorism should be condemned and eliminated from our fragile world. The bitter truth is that injustices long prevailing in our region have led to extremism and as such, the battle aganst terrorism should address such injustices. If the US is to lead this battle it has to uphold its principles. A superpower whose influence is basically decisive in managing the world's affairs should recall its noble values and reassess how it has applied its ideals of fair-handedness and justice so that one set of standards based on international legality is applied indiscriminately to all."

Jerusalem Post, Israel

Before September 11, the idea of a meeting between Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, as terror aided and abetted by Arafat continued unabated, was suspect, to say the least. Today the idea of such a meeting is obsceneż

"Israel should be at the forefront of those who argue that there is nothing inevitable about state terrorism continuing to be part of the landscape of international relations. But we cannot make this argument if we continue to live in the world that existed before September 11, a world in which terrorists

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Media/attack/story/0,1301,552010,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), September 14, 2001