Daily: Annapolis meeting a defeat for Palestinians

A prominent Syrian newspaper on Saturday described this week's U.S.-organized confab in Annapolis as a defeat for the Palestinians and for peace in the region.

 

"The U.S. administration has the right to consider the Annapolis meeting a brilliant victory, but not for the Palestinian people ... only for Israel," said the front page editorial in the Tishrin daily.

 

"While the Bush administration and Israel may consider what happened and what could happen to destroy the Palestinian cause a victory, we consider it a defeat for a just and comprehensive peace," Tishrin said. "That peace," it added, "can only be achieved by ending Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories."

 

The newspaper criticized U.S. President George W. Bush's statement at the opening session of the Annapolis meeting in which he referred to Israel as a 'Jewish' state, calling it "a consecration of Israeli racism."

 

It described the meeting as "a carnival that reminds us of similar celebrations since Oslo until today, and of agreements that with time have gone with the wind."