AMMAN, Jordan, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Jan. 27.
Jordan newspapers Tuesday said that a Jordanian report has been prepared on the Israeli separation barrier being built in the West Bank, and will be presented at The Hague's International Court of Justice later this month.. The English-language Jordan Times daily quoted the report as saying that a quarter of a million Palestinians will be isolated by the structure, "holding back 16 per cent of its total area, or 915,000 dunums," (each dunum is 1,000 square meters).
The Jordanian report, which the newspaper said was compiled from information provided by Palestinian, Israeli and international organizations, said the residents of 71 Palestinian communities would be separated from their farming lands and that 206 towns and villages occupied by 875,000 Palestinians, or 38 per cent of the West Bank's population, would be affected by the barrier. The pro-government daily said the report also indicated that with the barrier, Israel would "control 95 per cent of the western aquifier on which the Palestinians largely depend for their water needs."
It said that Palestinian farmers would be denied access to 36 underground water wells. The paper quoted the head of Jordan's Palestinian Affairs Department, Abdul Karim Abul Heija, as reiterating the kingdom's concern that the Israeli barrier in the Palestinian territories also threatened "Jordan's national security."
The United Arab Emirates' al-Ittihad opined that Israeli Prime Minster Ariel Sharon had "bowed to conditions" to strike a deal with the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla group to exchange hundreds of Arab prisoners this week in return for four Israelis. The official daily said in its editorial that Sharon "chose this time to achieve his interests in staying in power and to escape from the corruption and bribery scandals that are chasing inside Israel."
The Arab Gulf daily said the prisoner swap deal could turn against the Israeli prime minister "when the Israeli people discover that the long arm of the right-wing and its ability to achieve security is only a mere lie surrounded by false information aimed at remaining in power and resorting to violence to avoid achieving just and comprehensive peace in the region."
Lebanon's independent as-Safir daily ran a commentary criticizing Vincent Battle, U.S. Ambassador in Beirut, for accusing Hezbollah of being a "foreign terror organization" residing in Lebanon. The commentary said the Shiite guerrilla group was "not even categorized as a foreign terror group" by the official American description. It said that Hezbollah's Lebanese identity and role "give no doubt that there is no outside branch of a network that is preparing for a big operation against the Americans."
The paper blamed the Lebanese government for failing to "force the ambassador not to improvise in his words." It said Battle's comments reflected "a special problem facing the envoy's diplomatic work in Lebanon" and accused the ambassador of "muddling the clarity of Lebanese-American ties that could be developed," adding that his comments reflected "a specific mood in Washington that calls and plans for a war on Hezbollah."
A commentary in Kuwait's pro-government as-Siyassah daily said Syria was "now repeating the Arab habit of wasting opportunities." The paper called on Damascus to benefit from the Libyan experience in responding to the international changes, adding that "we don't want for Syria to be part of the previous mistakes of the Arabs ...Yet we hear the Syrian information minister making statements in line with the losses and defeats of the past when he says that America will lose in Iraq as long as it resorts to the principle of power" there.
The paper said the United States did not lose by depending on its power but "won and triumphed" by toppling Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq and its "war on terror" in Afghanistan. It said that America "caused a moral, ethical and humanitarian earthquake that shook the foundations of the region, including Syria and the current regime there."
The newspaper accused Damascus of "playing the role of Saddam Hussein, and the roles of (Libyan leader) Moammar Gadhafi before he was reawakened and started reading the reality of the current international situation ...Our fear now is that fate will have a role in Syria as it had a role in Iraq."
Saudi Arabia's official al-Watan daily quoted Fadwa Barghouthi, the wife of Palestinian legislator Marwan Barghouthi, who is detained in Israel, as saying she feared her husband would be killed while in custody. The pro-government paper quoted her as saying that the "Israelis could kill him and claim he committed suicide."
Barghouthi referred to Israeli media reports quoting prison administrators as saying they have installed monitoring cameras in his cell "for fear that Marwan would commit suicide." His wife said he would "never do that and there seems to be a plan to kill him."
