AMMAN, Jordan, May 11 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for May 11:
Palestinian al-Quds daily welcomed in its editorial Thursday the international Quartet's decision to resume provisional assistance to the Palestinians, but warned that stall tactics will increase Palestinian suffering.
The Jerusalem-based paper said the Quartet's decision to form a mechanism to send aid to the Palestinians without going through the Hamas-led government means it will be weeks before the funds reach the Palestinian territories, complaining the people were in desperate and urgent need of assistance. It also complained that while the committee -- made up of the United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations -- placed conditions on the Palestinian government, it did not do the same for Israel, "which continues to erect the separation barrier, occupies Palestinian lands and expands its (Jewish) settlements."
The mainstream paper said the Quartet would have done better if it offered quick and urgent funds to meet the Palestinian people's immediate needs, and then to find a mechanism, "although this measure is not fair to start with." The international group should have also pressured Israel to implement international resolutions and peace accords, it said.
The paper added it hoped the Quartet would reconsider its policies towards Israel and its unilateral measures and to consider its former envoy's report "that largely blamed the difficult economic conditions on Israel."
--
Jordan's ad-Dustour said there is some relief to be found in the Quartet's decision to resume provisional assistance to the Palestinians because it will contribute to the economy and ease the daily suffering of the people.
The paper said in its editorial there are many questions over the international community's unethical behavior in halting aid to force the Hamas government to recognize Israel and "stop armed resistance."
But the international community's demands on the Hamas government to recognize the Quartet's "road map" for peace and the previous peace accords with Israel are international demands, it said. Nevertheless, the mass-circulation paper argued, "this should not mean besieging and starving the people to force Hamas to ride the peace train."
The daily, which describes itself as independent but is partially owned by the Jordanian government, said the Hamas government will eventually find itself needing to "ride the peace train" to achieve independence and stability for the Palestinian people, since the "slogans of resistance, no matter how attractive, will not achieve positive results."
--
London-based al-Hayat commented the Quartet's decision to ease the sanctions on the Palestinians came for the interest of Israel, not to end "its policy of starvation," but to prolong it.
The Saudi-financed daily complained the Quartet "is once again giving the world a lesson in blackmail: There is no policy for the powerful in the international community except starvation to grab political compromises for Israel." It insisted this blackmail started before the Palestinian elections in January and before Hamas came to power, saying that only the equations are changing.
The paper, distributed in most Arab capitals, argued that as long as the Quartet moves according to the Israeli agenda, it will continue to place preconditions on food, adding that land-for-peace was no longer on the table. It complained that Israel is allowed to behave in any way that pleases it, while the Palestinians are only allowed to "live in big prisons that were set up by the Israeli war criminals."
--
Another London-based daily, ash-Sharq al-Awsat, said the letter that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent to President George W. Bush was seen by Arabs as evidence of reports in the region that Iran is ready to reach an understanding with the Americans.
The Saudi-owned paper commented the Iranians were never enemies of Washington as they claim, saying they have been cooperating in the past four years. It said that when the United States invaded Afghanistan, most Arab countries refused to offer any support to the Americans, while Iran "not only agreed to open its air space for the U.S. air forces, but even signed an agreement allowing American planes to land and offered assistance should their planes fall."
Tehran, it said, also gave many concessions for the war on Iraq and offered a commitment on behalf of its allies in Iraq to cooperate with the occupying forces. "With that, the United States toppled the two worse enemy regimes of Iran," it opined.
The daily said, however, that Washington was unlikely to make large compromises to Iran on its nuclear program or regional influence, no matter how many concessions Ahmadinejad makes to the Americans, because the United States does not trust the Iranian regime.
Washington's refusal to compromise with Tehran will compromise American interests in the region, the paper said.
--
Lebanon's as-Safir said in an opinion column that Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush does not constitute a shift in Tehran's policy, since the Iranians have been the primary beneficiaries of American policy in the Arab and Muslim world.
Nevertheless, it argued, seeking direct negotiations with Washington contradicts the Iranian "mobilization rhetoric" against America, and the letter did not seek conditions for Iran's minimum demands.
The independent daily, with pan-Arab trends, opined the Iranian president's letter contributed to the "dissipation" of the American campaign against Tehran in the U.N. Security Council and showed that Iran "was indeed scared" of international sanctions. It said the content of Ahmadinejad's letter must not have been embarrassing for Bush, since the first's accusations against the latter revolved around the mismanagement of American foreign policy, which it said was a cause of controversy within the United States.
