Cablegate: Media Reaction Report - Situation in Occupied Territories
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 004415
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DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY; BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU;
AF/PA; EUR/WE /P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA; INR/P; INR/EUC;
PM; OSC ISA FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR
ITA/EUR/FR AND PASS USTR/PA; USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA;
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - Situation in Occupied Territories
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran
PARIS - Tuesday, June 27, 2006
(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:
Situation in Occupied Territories
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran
B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:
Today's headlines and editorials are overwhelmingly devoted to
President Chirac's interview last night on France 2 television, and
the second lead story is this evening's France-Spain World Cup
soccer match. Le Figaro's editorial, entitled "Chirac, Like Zidane,"
(France's star player about to retire) brings both stories together
as Alexis Brezet writes: "Like Zidane, Chirac won it all, but it was
a long time ago. Like Zidane, Chirac is getting ready to call it a
day... Yet the President showed last evening that again, like
Zidane, he does not want to change team players: the first reason
for his surprise intervention was reasserting his support for PM
Villepin..." Brezet concludes that for Chirac, his legacy will be
"entirely different, depending on whether the Socialists or his
party wins the next presidential election."
International news is dominated by the kidnapping of the Israeli
soldier by Hamas and Israel's threat of retaliation; Al-Qaeda's
escalation in violence as demonstrated by the Internet pictures of
the execution of the Russian hostages; and Washington's response to
North Korea: Le Figaro reports that "Washington wants to deploy
Patriots in Japan." In Les Echos, senior editorialist Jacques
Hubert-Rodier pens an op-ed on conflict management. (See Part C)
Embedded with NATO troops in Afghanistan by the Embassy Press Office
in Paris, Le Figaro's Adrien Jaulmes writes a one-page report on
"The Elusive Taliban of Kandahar." "Operation 'Assault Mountain' is
supposed to inflict a decisive blow to the Taliban in Southern
Afghanistan. But despite the strikes and some victories, the
students in religion have taken a foothold on the doorstep of
Kandahar, their former capital... The coalition's offensive is
supposed to 'clean up' the southern provinces before NATO take over
command... The coalition's strategy varies little and depends for
the most part on America's overwhelming firepower. Communiqus
follow one another, with NGO's pointing to the number of civilian
deaths..." Jaulmes quotes an Afghan policeman: "There is increasing
resentment against the Americans..." and a teacher: "When they say
they have killed Taliban, it is generally not true. The dead are
tallied as Taliban, but the real Taliban are at large..."
In Le Monde, former French Ambassador to Washington, Francois Bujon
de l'Estang, President of Citigroup, France, pens an op-ed entitled
"Paris, the Future Financial Capital of the World" in which he
demonstrates that the NYSE-Euronext merger is a positive step for
the French stock exchange, with no danger of seeing the
Sarbanes-Oxley legislation imposed on European companies.
La Croix devotes its lead and several stories to the teaching of
Islam by women in Morocco, but also in other Muslim countries, as a
way to counter fundamentalism. France's Muslim community, according
to La Croix, sees such initiatives as positive steps.
(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:
Situation in Occupied Territories
"Peace as Target"
Bernard Guetta on government-run France Inter radio (06/27): "It is
eminently clear that peace was scoring points. Hence the kidnapping,
which is targeting neither the soldier nor the Israeli army. The
target is the glimmer of peace... The difficult and tense
negotiations within the different Palestinian factions were about to
succeed... Never, since the Oslo accords, had peace had such a
chance... But the Palestinian extremists could not accept the idea
of a compromise... A kidnapping was a sure way of triggering the
cycle of violence. Israeli troops are ready to enter territories
recently evacuated with the risk of causing many casualties. Unless
Abbas and the Hamas ministers are able to find the Israeli soldier
before it is too late. This scenario, the optimistic one, would
bring about a rapprochement among the Palestinian factions. All is
not lost, but the chances for success are limited."
"Israel Threatens to Use Force"
Patrick Saint-Paul in right-of-center Le Figaro (06/27): "The Gaza
Strip is a small territory which the Israelis know well. Hamas
activists know they cannot hold out for long with an Israeli
hostage. The pragmatists hope to avoid a bloody and costly military
operation and to save their government by liberating the Israeli
soldier. But no one knows whether Israel will allow this dangerous
precedent... Israeli soldiers have traditionally been trained to
launch firepower whenever a soldier is held hostage, regardless of
the implications for the hostage."
Conflict Management - North Korea - Iran
"Predicting the Wars of the 21st Century"
Jacques Hubert-Rodier in right-of-center Les Echos (06/27): "The
crisis with North Korea and Iran is coming to a head. Even China
claims to be worried by Pyongyang's nuclear threats. Arab nations
are for their part concerned about Iran's desire for power... For
the time being the escalation is only verbal, with Washington
calling for a diplomatic approach... But military options have been
circulating in the U.S., and now Washington wants to deploy Patriots
in Japan... Mired in Iraq, today's America is not the America of
2003... Iran and North Korea's objectives are not the same... These
nuclear proliferation crises demonstrate to what extent it has been
impossible to reap the 'dividends of peace...' America is navigating
in 'un-chartered waters,' as new non-state players appear, such as
al-Qaeda... Hostilities around the world are diminishing thanks to
international peacekeeping operations. But the world remains a
dangerous place nonetheless... Four years later, Afghanistan is not
pacified... Nations need to be on the lookout and anticipate: while
France's predictions about Iraq were accurate, France did not
foresee Yugoslavia's breakup, while the U.S. had pretty much
anticipated it. This speaks in favor of a closer international
cooperation in matters of prediction and prevention. Post 9/11 has
led to a closer cooperation in fighting terrorism between the U.S.
and France, including at the worst of our relationship. But there is
always a major unknown: how the actors themselves will react. Iraq
is a case in point: the war could have been avoided. As in the case
of Iraq, the crises with Iran and North Korea will depend on the
attitude of the major powers, but also on the nations' leaders
themselves and the internal situation. Neither Ahmadinejad nor Kim
Jong-Il are predictable." STAPLETON