Press doubts over roadmap

Papers in the Middle East reflect a growing anxiety over the "roadmap" for peace.

Arabic editorials reveal a deep-seated mistrust of the plan and question America's true intentions for the region.

The Israeli press is more upbeat but nevertheless is in no doubt that the road ahead will be a long one.

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One day we are bound to see Israeli tanks surrounding Abu Mazen's headquarters and we will find out that the roadmap has turned into the "road to massacre".

Al-Watan - Saudi Arabia

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The Pentagon hawks, who were drunk after military victory, want to reform the region in accordance with US and Israeli interests.

Al-Hayah - London-based Arabic newspaper

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There is no point in a map or a road as long as Israel refuses to give the Arabs their rights, and refuses to withdraw from the occupied lands.

Tishrin - Syria

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The roadmap which they have come up with to impose on the Palestinian people will only result in more coffins and destruction amongst the Palestinians.

Al-Quds Al-Arabi - London-based Arabic newspaper

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The Zionist country has welcomed the roadmap initiative with the massacre in Al-Shaja'iyah village. This means the butcher Sharon is attempting to derail the efforts aimed at realising peace in the region.

Al-Bayan - United Arab Emirates

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The plan to occupy and divide the region agreed upon between the USA and the Zionists... will continue even after the Iraqi occupation.

Al-Arab al-Alamiyah - London-based Arabic newspaper

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Israeli public opinion should realise that as long as Sharon keeps on perpetrating terrorism and massacres, as long as he carries out his policy of fraud and deception, there is no hope of the roadmap succeeding.

Al-Watan - Qatar

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How can the Arabs be convinced of the USA's "love", when they see the USA always siding with Israel in every calamity which affects the Middle East?

Al-Jamahiriyah - Libya

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The feeling of all the involved sides is that a conscious change has happened that enables a return to negotiation... but none of the sides really believe the roadmap can be implemented as it is.

Yediot Aharonot - Israel

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Not only will an overwhelming majority of the public be happy to see the IDF leaving Palestinian cities and evacuate all illegal settlement outposts, public opinion will also clearly support the establishment of an interim Palestinian state

Maariv - Israel

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The US unseating of Iraq's Baath regime... calls for more steps elsewhere in the region... This is not to say America should now go from one Arab capital to the next, and a la Napoleon, replace rulers, emancipate serfs, and impose new laws. It does, however, mean that Washington should restore political sanity where it already existed in the recent past. And no place begs for that more than Lebanon.

Jerusalem Post - Israel

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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.