Israel's attempt to assassinate Hamas political leader Abdul Aziz al-Rantissi was clearly aimed at torpedoing the US-backed Middle East peace roadmap, Gulf newspapers charged today.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel "Sharon dealt a devastating blow to the roadmap" when he ordered the helicopter raid on Gaza City Tuesday that left Rantissi wounded, said Qatar's Al-Raya.
"This terrorist act aims at ... thwarting efforts to revive the peace process," it said.
The attack on the Palestinian Islamist leader "also aimed at undermining relations between the Palestinian Authority and resistance factions," the paper said, urging the US administration to "intervene immediately to halt Sharon's madness and force Israel to implement the roadmap."
Al-Watan, another Qatari daily, said the attack "shows once more that Ariel Sharon is not suing for peace but seeking to abort the Palestinian national dialogue as well as Arab and international peace efforts."
Abu Dhabi-based Al-Ittihad said the attack, which killed two people and wounded 27 others, was part of "a strategy applied by successive Israeli terrorist governments."
Dubai's Al-Bayan accused Israel of carrying out "a deliberate attempt to kill the roadmap," while Al-Khaleej, another newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, charged that both Sharon and US President George W. Bush sought to use the roadmap to bring about "the total judaization of Palestine."
Sharon "is not interested in carrying on with the peace process, irrespective of the concessions made by the Palestinians," wrote the Saudi daily Al-Watan.
The attempt on Rantissi's life "targeted the peace process and the inter-Palestinian dialogue," said Al-Jazira, another Saudi newspaper.
AFP