Calls for Washington to Pressure Israel Over Peace
Syria Media Report, 27-May-09
Calls for Washington to Pressure Israel Over Peace
Syria Media Report, 27-May-09
Syrian newspapers have urged Washington to press Israel to reach a settlement with Arab states and end the decades-long Palestinian Israeli conflict.
In a May 20 opinion article, Bassam Hashem wrote that it was urgent for Washington to move “quickly and directly” to achieve peace in the region instead of making “hollow” promises and postponing action.
He said that talks between US president Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on May 16 had not yielded any positive results.
Other newspapers called for a “more active” US role regarding the Palestinian issue.
In an editorial published on May 21, editor-in-chief of official newspaper Tishreen Sameera al-Masalma noted differences in the positions of the US and Israel regarding the future of a Palestinian state.
Masalma said that Obama clearly wants a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict, which is not, according to her, what the Israeli government is seeking.
The author urged the US to put more pressure on Israel to accept peace, arguing that regional stability is in the national interest of the US.
In the same issue of the daily, columnist Ezzeldin al-Darwish called on the US to stop what he said was Israel’s “extremist and racist” government from undermining the rights of the Palestinian people.
The author said that the US could play a positive role in the region by establishing the right conditions for peace and stability.
