misoft: -- excerpts from the press on the ME meetings (the last post is the challenge):
The Daily Star, Lebanon
"The 'road map' proposal is not a magic talisman but it does offer hope at a time when some break from the bleakness of mutual enmity is desperately needed.... Like it or not, in the wake of the invasion of Iraq, Bush is the self-appointed viceroy of the Middle East. His war removed a major strategic threat to Israel, which gives him considerable leverage over Sharon and might provide Sharon with the latitude he needs to make 'concessions' for the sake of peace. If the two of them can provide Abbas with the political ammunition he needs to convince Palestinian militants to give up the gun, the Aqaba summit might one day be looked back upon as a milestone."
The Scotsman, Scotland
"Crushing Saddam has cowed Syria and Iran, simultaneously reducing the flow of material aid to the Palestinian suicide bombers while removing the military raison d'être for the West Bank settlements -- they guard dry river valley approaches to Israel that could be used by Iraqi tanks. This is why Ariel Sharon can now contemplate evacuating the settlements. Meanwhile, the isolation of Arafat and the suicide bombers has allowed a new, pragmatic leadership to emerge among the Palestinians. All this is good news but, so far, all we have is a road map, not the journey itself."
The Jerusalem Times
"[Palestinian Prime Minister] Abu Mazen openly said that he is opposed to a military intifada and would stop...all incitement against Israel, and would fight hard against terrorism, including preventing funds from reaching these groups.... Abu Mazen can give promises and he can follow up on them. But without equal steps from Israel, neither Abu Mazen nor any other Palestinian leader would be able to deliver anything.... Now it is time to test U.S. goodwill and intentions since it was its promises and visions that paved the way for these painful Palestinian concessions and readiness to forsake years of liberation battles for the sake of a just and lasting political solution that would spare this region further suffering."
Arab News, Saudi Arabia
"[K]ey questions remained over whether [Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud] Abbas would be able to make good on his vows to persuade militants to stop attacking Israelis. 'We will never be ready to lay down arms until the liberation of the last centimeter of the land of Palestine,' Hamas official Abdel-Aziz Al-Rantissi said.... Jewish settlers denounced the summit as a 'humiliating ... surrender to Palestinian terror,' and at least 10,000...gathered for the first of what their leaders said would be a series of mass protests and acts of civil disobedience to vent their sense of betrayal at Sharon's hands."
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