Press indignant at Bush omission

Arabic papers are bristling at the absence of any mention of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process by President Bush, two days after his State of the Union address.

Some papers voiced fears that the speech was a step backwards for Middle East diplomacy.

Others concluded that Mr Bush's speech was evidence of bias towards Israel.

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Not mentioning the conflict in Palestine has taken Bush back to the point at which he started his term. This vacuum allowed Mr Sharon to unleash his war machine on a people that lives on its own land.

Al-Hayat al-Jadidah - Palestinian newspaper

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We hope that the address by US President George Bush, which failed to mention the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, does not mean that the US will throw the dossiers of this conflict away very far, as peace will not wait for long.

Al-Jumhuriyah - Egypt

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The writers of the speech chose to ignore the road map issue totally and leave the gruesome deterioration as it is, which creates feelings of nausea and is a ticket for future disaster.

Al-Ra'y - Jordan

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Arab countries should not regard it as a passing speech ahead of the US elections but as a continuation of US and Israeli policy, which threatens the whole region's future.

Al-Thawrah - Syria

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The US president's failure to refer to the Palestinians in his address indicates the absence of a balanced and serious initiative, or any intention on the part of the US to be pro-active.

Al-Jazirah - Saudi Arabia

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In Bush's State of the Union address, his comments on the Middle East were determined by election needs. He was cautious about the roadmap and the Arab-Israeli conflict. This is what pleases the Jews.

Al-Nahar - Lebanon

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Bush's State of the Union address did not touch on any peace process, in particular the Arab-Israeli conflict. He only mentioned Jerusalem as a city which was subject to terrorism. He is clearly siding with Israel in order to gain Zionist backing for his election campaign.

Al-Watan - Oman

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For Bush to ignore the issue totally in his annual speech this week is tantamount to a new green light for Israel to continue its policies of brutal suppression.

Al-Watan - Qatar

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BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.