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TEXT: I'm_________ with a look at editorial opinion in Friday's American newspapers -- many of which are commenting on the situation in the Middle EAst. Florida's Sun-Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale says:
VOICE: It is not easy to make peace when you don't really want it. Despite statements to the contrary all around, and despite the actions of the Arab League … Thursday, many Middle Eastern leaders continue to act as if they don't.
TEXT: In California, The Fresno Bee says of the suicide bombing at a Passover dinner in Israel Wednesday:
VOICE: … its timing seemed to be aimed not only at Israel but at Arab leaders gathered in Beirut to discuss a new peace proposed by Saudi Arabia.
TEXT: The New York Times comments on the Arab acceptance of the Saudi peace plan.
VOICE: The Arab League took an admirable, if long overdue, step … when it offered to establish normal relations with Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state's being built on the land captured in the 1967 war. The assertion that Israelis have a right to peace and security … rings hollow, however, when juxtaposed with the league's indifference toward one of the most horrific Palestinian suicide bombings to date. …
TEXT: Boston's Christian Science Monitor says:
VOICE: This week's events … offer up a stark choice for the United States. How much should it push a political settlement on the players while the violence rages on?
TEXT: In California, The Los Angeles Times comments:
VOICE: The despicable attack of a Palestinian suicide bomber … may well kill a Mideast peace process that was showing faint signs of life. But a display of restraint now by Israel could be a powerful signal of strength.
TEXT: The Salt Lake City [Utah] Tribune comments on President George W. Bush recent promise to double foreign aid as long as recipients strive to reduce corruption.
VOICE: … [the] proposal that foreign aid …be tied to political and economic reform is a straight forward call for some sanity in the way the United States doles out money to poor and developing countries… ..that … will encourage recipient countries to effect … improvement[s] that can get them off the dole…
TEXT: Several papers have commented on Senator Jesse Helms' dramatic turnabout on help in fighting AIDS. The San Antonio [Texas] Express-News is one.
VOICE: During his nearly 30 years in the …Senate, Jesse Helms has made a name for himself, mainly for attacking foreign aid and harshly criticizing liberals, gays, feminists, civil rights activists and anyone else he considered a troublemaker. But life is full of surprises. The … North Carolina … Republican …has had a change of heart - - partially [reversing] himself on the AIDS issue and now plans to co-sponsor legislation that would add 500-million dollars to …fight … mother-to-child transmission of the deadly disease in Africa. … The sooner that happens, the better."
TEXT: That concludes this editorial sampling of Friday's U-S press. I'm___________.
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