BBC Monitoring Headlines, Quotes From Palestinian Press 9 Jan 08

Jan 09, 07:13 AM

Headlines

Al-Quds: Abbas and Olmert agree on starting serious negotiations on final status issues - President Abbas strongly protested to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the contradictory positions between him and his Defence Minister Ehud Baraq who refuses to remove checkpoints ... [Prime Minster Salam] Fayyad strongly criticizes unjustified incursions, describing them as attempts to undermine government's efforts as he met [Israeli Defence Minister] Baraq to discuss this issue ... Senior Palestinian and Israeli security officers describe meeting, for the first time in seven and a half years, as positive

Al-Hayat al-Jadidah: Bush to arrive in Jerusalem on 9 January as Israel raises alert level, imposes total closure on West Bank ... US president is accompanied by 10 helicopters, 20 armoured vehicles, five chefs and an entourage of more than 600 staff members ... Palestinian government allocated 964m dollars worth of services to Gaza Strip; amount is 52 per cent of the government's expenditure as 42 per cent went to the West Bank

Al-Ayyam: Israel receives President Bush by announcing construction of 60 houses in settlements in East Jerusalem ... [Israeli] settlers erect two new settlement outposts in the West Bank

Filastin: [Hamas leader Mahmud] Al-Zahhar: Bush visit to the region is election propaganda aimed at beautifying his party's distorted image; Hamas rejects Bush visit, saying it will not serve the Palestinians

Quotes

Al-Quds: [From editorial] "President George Bush will arrive today in the region in a first visit to Palestine while it is still under Israeli occupation... We always hope that the United States, which was established on the principles of freedom by its Founding Fathers and which opens its arms to the unjustly treated people throughout the world, will find in these principles a reason to support the Palestinian people after long years of suffering."

[From commentary by Isa Qaraq] "[President Bush]: I hope that the beautiful city of Tel Aviv, sea, civilization, clean streets, warm welcome and mythical crying will not deceive you. Be a little patient, because when you visit the West Bank cities, you will discover how harsh the State of Israel is."

Al-Hayat al-Jadidah: [From commentary by Hafith al-Barghuthi] "President Bush launched his [two-state] vision when he was new in the White House but did nothing to help it materialize. Now, will he be able to implement it when he is at the end of his second term, or will he deem it enough to only draw its broad lines as he had said?"

Al-Ayyam: [From commentary by Hani Habib] "Bush Junior recognized rather belatedly that there is a need for a time-frame to make his move, to establish a Palestinian state next to the Hebrew state, succeed. His administration has decided to achieve this aim before he leaves the White House in early 2009. The Palestinians eagerly received this vow and exaggerated their optimism, perhaps because they have no other options."

[From commentary by Ahmad Majdalani] "The position taken by Olmert and Baraq has aborted President Bush's visit and the peace process even before they had begun. This visit could be the cornerstone on which the United States can establish a large regional alliance to serve the US strategy of containing [Iran]."

Filastin: [From commentary by Dr Yusuf Kamil Ibrahim] "It is clear that Bush's visit to the region will not be very successful because of the complicated dossiers in the region and because of his different visions and feelings towards the parties involved in these dossiers... The Israeli intransigence, regarding the presentation of any solutions which the Palestinians can accept, is the main reason the Palestinian dossier is complicated."

Sources: as listed

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Newsfile. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. BBC Monitoring Headlines, Quotes From Palestinian Press 9 Jan 08
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