bush policy shift Blow to Mideast Peace: American Press
WASHINGTON, April 15 (IslamOnline.net) - President George W. Bush's support of Israel's claim to some of the Palestinian land occupied after the 1967 war would undermine peace prospects and infuriate Arabs and Muslims, leading U.S. dailies warned Thursday, April 15.
The American papers also argued that the move was also aimed at garnering the votes of the influential American Jews in the November presidential polls.
Breaking with a decades-old U.S. policy, Bush said after talks with Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon Wednesday, April 15, that Israel should be able to keep some Arab land captured in the 1967 war and Palestinian refugees should not be allowed to return to their homes in what is today Israel.
The New York Times regretted Bush’s remarks as a "drastic and unfortunate policy reversal" and "a costly blow to America's credibility."
In its editorial, the American daily stressed that by accepting Sharon's terms without any negotiations between Israeli and Palestinians "Bush is essentially supporting Israel's right to impose a settlement of its choice on the Palestinians."
The Times cautioned that Bush’s policy shift will "compromise any subsequent attempts by Washington to broker a lasting settlement, to put it mildly."
It recalled that the new change of heart came few days after Bush told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was visiting his Crawford ranch, that he would not back Sharon's controversial plan.
Click to read the New York Times article
The Chicago Tribune described Bush's remarks as "a death blow to the very roadmap for peace Bush helped create and a break with decades of U.S. policy."
It dismissed the u-turn policy shift as "a new blow to the image of the U.S. in the Arab world."
Click to read the Chicago Tribune article
Los Angeles Times described Bush’s statement as "a fundamental shift in Middle East strategy."
It criticized Bush denial of the Palestinians’ right of return, asserting the American president "bypassed negotiating steps envisioned in a U.S.-backed peace process."
Click to read the Los Angeles Times article
The mass-circulating Washington Post quoted independent pollster John Zogby, who has surveyed extensively in the Arab world, as describing this as "the final nail in the coffin of the peace process as far as Arabs are concerned."
The daily also expected Bush’s statements to "further aggravate the situation in Iraq, just as Israel's killing of a prominent Palestinian militant set off rioting in Iraq several weeks ago."
They "could enable Bush to chip away a few more of the Jewish voters who have traditionally been loyal to Democrats.
"And in a tight election, the small minority of Jewish voters -- who tend to have strong turnout levels -- could give Bush an edge in battleground states such as Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania," said the Post.
Click to read the Washington Post article
Meanwhile, the USA Today cautioned that by falling into Sharon's "gambit" Bush "risks inflaming the Arab world, which is a key to curbing terrorism and fulfilling his hopes of spreading democracy throughout the Middle East."
The paper editorial stressed that "progress along Bush's road map depends on his avoiding the dead ends in Sharon's plan."
It agreed with the Post argument that "Bush's statements... reflected the White House's own emphasis on winning election-year support from American-Jewish voters."