In the Egyptian al-Gomhoureya newspaper, the columnist Samir Ragab wrote that ?It would not be surprising to have the [UN fact-finding] mission report that the mass-killings and slaughters perpetrated by the Israeli forces have been instigated by the Palestinians, as a reaction to the suicide bombings mounted in various parts of Israel.? In a similar vein, an al-Ahram editorial said, ?We can only hope that the fact-finding mission soon to be dispatched by the Security Council can truly expose the truth to the international community; and that it will not help cover up the crimes perpetrated or assist the culprits to escape punishment.? If the mission fails to reach the conclusions pre-determined by the Arab world, then ?President's Bush's argument denying the Palestinians their right to martyrdom in the fight to regain their stolen land and to defend their honor and pride will thus have been proven right,? the al-Gomhoureya editorial said.
Despite a perceived US bias in favor of Israel, the Americans supported the creation of the UN fact finding team. A-Sharq al-Awsat, the London-based Saudi Arabian newspaper, contained a column explaining the US administration?s stand: ?Clearly, the White House endorsed the UN decision to hold an independent investigation into the Israeli atrocities in Jenin only because to have been the sole dissenting voice in the New York vote would have made its Middle East problems even worse. President Bush?s first instincts were to ignore the inevitable outcry and once more back his Zionist manipulators.? Since the Bush administration decided instead to make ?a tactical retreat,? as the newspaper calls it, then ?[we] can expect that both the Israelis and Americans will now start to undermine both the UN investigators and the evidence that they assemble.?
America, then, despite its agreement with the creation of the UN team, still has an unchanged ?stance over Tel Aviv?s systematic extermination of the unarmed Palestinian people defending their lawful rights,? according to the al-Ahram newspaper. ?It is these very policies,? the Egyptian paper declares, ?which fuel anti-American sentiments in the Arab world; it is these policies indeed which trigger a desire to retaliate against the US and Israel.?
Despite a perceived US bias in favor of Israel, the Americans supported the creation of the UN fact finding team. A-Sharq al-Awsat, the London-based Saudi Arabian newspaper, contained a column explaining the US administration?s stand: ?Clearly, the White House endorsed the UN decision to hold an independent investigation into the Israeli atrocities in Jenin only because to have been the sole dissenting voice in the New York vote would have made its Middle East problems even worse. President Bush?s first instincts were to ignore the inevitable outcry and once more back his Zionist manipulators.? Since the Bush administration decided instead to make ?a tactical retreat,? as the newspaper calls it, then ?[we] can expect that both the Israelis and Americans will now start to undermine both the UN investigators and the evidence that they assemble.?
America, then, despite its agreement with the creation of the UN team, still has an unchanged ?stance over Tel Aviv?s systematic extermination of the unarmed Palestinian people defending their lawful rights,? according to the al-Ahram newspaper. ?It is these very policies,? the Egyptian paper declares, ?which fuel anti-American sentiments in the Arab world; it is these policies indeed which trigger a desire to retaliate against the US and Israel.?