Newspapers in the Arab world have backed Syria's postponement of the peace negotiations, accusing Israel of creating obstacles and time-wasting.

Syria's Al-Thawrah newspaper said that "by interpreting the performance in the previous two rounds of negotiations, one reaches the conclusion that they were a well-thought out Israeli plan to murder the talks.

"It appears that Israel has plenty of time. If given the chance, the entire century may not be enough for it We refuse to have these negotiations open to the unknown, open for an entire century, or maybe for an entire millennium."

Egypt's Al-Akhbar accused Israel of not wanting to normalise relations with the Arabs and questioned Tel Aviv's "strange demand" to have Syrian President Hafiz al-Asad head the Damascus delegation.

"This makes Arab citizens wonder what Israel has to do with Syria's level of representation in the peace negotiations, particularly if Syrian negotiators have full authority to talk on behalf of their government," it said.

Define new border

In Israel, Tuesday's edition of the Jerusalem Post invited readers to vote whether or not they believed Asad would join the talks.

Early results showed an overwhelming majority believed that the Syrian president would remain in Damascus and leave any future negotiations to his representatives.

The Post said the "main point holding up the renewed talks seemed to be Barak's refusal to define the new border".

Lebanon's Al-Safir newspaper questioned whether a third round of negotiations would take place "if there is no substantial change in the recent US and Israeli stances.

"There will be no third round because actually there was no second round on 4 January. Instead, there were Israeli attempts to outsmart, hide and evade the core of the issue - the prior commitment to return to the 4 June boundary."

Esssence of peace

Syria's Al-Ba'th newspaper also criticised the Israeli stance in the latest round of talks, which it said was "limited to appearances".

It added that the Israeli delegation "failed to depart from a mentality of manoeuvres and blackmail to enter into the essence of the peace process and deal with its requirements seriously and honestly".

Damascus-based Tishrin said the Israeli delegation's efforts were "not aimed at achieving peace; rather it focused on updating the Israeli military arsenal and blackmailing for more American taxpayers' money".

Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper said in an editorial that Barak was "humiliated at Shepherdstown".

Criticised Asad

One occasion "was when he agreed to a summit conference with someone who has a lower political rank and who cannot even hiccup without first getting express permission from Hafiz al-Asad".

The paper also criticised Asad for his absence from the negotiations.

Further afield, Iran's Tehran Times said, under the headline "Syria should think twice before sitting for talks with Israel", that "Israel knows no negotiating table, sincerity and honesty. Its basic characteristic is to usurp others' properties and commit all known crimes against the deprived - that is what it has been doing for the past 50 years."

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), 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.