Press avoids raising hopes

Arafat "may have lost control of the Palestinian street"

Middle East commentators almost without exception took a wearily pessimistic view of the summit meeting in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm-el-Sheikh, with much criticism of the United States.

The Jerusalem Post doubted whether the summit could achieve anything, saying that even with an agreement, Yasser Arafat might no longer be in a position to restore order to the Palestinian areas.

"Arafat may have lost control of the Palestinian street, having pumped up expectations and emotions to a totally unrealistic level and would have great difficulty in defending and implementing any agreement," the paper said.

The question is whether American and European involvement can reduce the level of violence and create some stability in the region

The Jerusalem Post

The Post said that high-profile events such as the summit might even exacerbate the situation.

It suggested that a low-key approach, involving both American and European negotiators, might be more beneficial in the long term.

"The history of the Middle East has repeatedly demonstrated that grand summit meetings are more conducive to sharpening the conflict than to constructive and realistic planning.

"The question is whether carefully planned and less visible American and European involvement can reduce the level of violence and create some stability in the region," the Jerusalem Post argued.

Messianic faith

Another Israeli paper, Ha'aretz, warned its readers not to expect too much from Sharm-el-Sheikh.

It said it was over-ambitious for President Clinton to expect to pull off "one final diplomatic achievement" before completing his term of office.

The US must be brought to understand that unless it abandons its blatant alignment with Israel, its vital interests in the region will be endangered

Egyptian paper Al Ahram

"The chances of this happening appear to be zero and American administration officials know this," Ha'aretz said.

"A combination of messianic faith in the peace process, a lack of understanding of the reality of the Middle East and complete blindness to the world views of leaders such as Assad and Arafat" had continually led American negotiators to entertain unrealistic hopes of success, it added.

A commentary in the Egyptian paper Al Ahram said that US attempts at mediation were doomed to failure for as long as America was seen to favour one side over the other.

"As a participant in the Sharm-el-Sheikh summit, the US must be brought to understand that unless it abandons its blatant alignment with Israel, its vital interests in the region will be endangered," it said.

The Iran Daily said that the US had yet to prove itself to be "even handed" in promoting the peace process.

As a result, no good could come out of the summit.

The paper also lambasted Egypt for agreeing to host the summit, saying it was "really surprising" that an Arab state should do such a thing.

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.