U.S. seen losing friends in Gulf over Israel
By Rawhi Abeidoh
DUBAI (Reuters): The United States, once hailed by Gulf Arabs as a savior for ending Iraq's occupation of Kuwait a decade ago, appears to be losing some of its friends in the oil-rich region over its perceived blind support for Israel.
Gulf officials and Western diplomats say criticism of U.S. Middle East policy is growing in intensity as Arabs see a pro- Israel bias under President George W. Bush.
"The United States has chosen to back aggression, betrayed Arab trust, let down its friends and sold allies short -- all for Israel's sake," the United Arab Emirates' government-controlled al-Ittihad newspaper said on Wednesday.
"America has proven to be a partner in (Israel's) aggression by supporting its attacks and dealing with the tyrant and the oppressed from the same vantage," the daily added.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday criticized both Israel and the Palestinians for the latest escalation in the fighting.
The Western diplomats said Gulf Arabs were particularly incensed by U.S. reluctance to act against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who brought the Middle East to boiling point when he ordered Monday's raid against a Syrian radar post in Lebanon and by briefly re-occupying parts of Palestinian-run Gaza.
Arabs revile Sharon, elected in February, as a man with a lethal hatred for Palestinians ever since he led Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon. In 1983 Sharon resigned as defense minister after a commission of inquiry found him indirectly responsible for the massacre a year earlier of hundreds of Palestinians in two Beirut refugee camps.
"Anti-U.S. sentiments are genuine and growing. There is a feeling of disappointment and anger. We can sense that," a senior Western diplomat told Reuters.
In a statement which diplomats say had irked Washington, a UAE minister earlier this month accused the United States of "terrorism" for its unlimited support of Israel and said "Zionists are neo-Nazis".
"The United States, which issues an annual list of states it labels as supporters of terrorism, must not forget to classify itself at the forefront of these states along with Israel," UAE Information Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zaid al-Nahayan said.
Such fiery remarks are uncommon in the conservative Gulf states. They rely on the United States and other Western powers for protection from regional powers Iran and Iraq.
But newspapers, which traditionally reflect official thinking, have frequently blasted Washington for backing Israel despite its heavy armed response to outgunned Palestinians waging a seven- month-old uprising to end occupation.
At least 381 Palestinians, 13 Israeli Arabs and 71 other Israelis have died since the uprising began in September after a controversial visit by Sharon to a Muslim holy site in Arab East Jerusalem, occupied by Israel in the 1967 war.
The United States angered many of its Arab allies, including regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia, by using its veto power last month to kill a UN Security Council resolution calling for international protection of the Palestinians.
"Let there be a second, third and even tenth veto so that they bare this broker who claims to be honest and impartial," the Saudi newspaper al-Medina said in an editorial on Wednesday.
Al-Ittihad newspaper concurred, saying Washington should wash its hands of the Middle East peace process and stop its traditional opposition for an international solution to the 53- year-old Arab-Israeli conflict.
Many Arabs had hailed Bush's victory in January, apparently hoping he would live up to the reputation of his father, former U.S. President George Bush, who was regarded as a hero in the region for leading a broad multinational coalition to evict Iraqi troops from Kuwait in 1991.
"Bush is a great disappointment for us ... He is not like his father, who knew the region well," a Gulf Arab official said.