DUBAI If U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright reads newspapers in the Persian Gulf Arab region on Wednesday, she will find one stark message: Arabs do not trust Washington as an honest broker, seeing it as pro-Israel.
Albright arrived in Saudi Arabia, the leading power in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region, on Tuesday to seek support for a U.S.-led summit in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt which ended on Tuesday with an Israeli-Palestinian commitment to end violence.
On the second day of her visit, commentators in the region, which hosts U.S. troops and is a strong U.S. ally, urged Arab leaders to take action against Israel and work to involve powers other than Washington in the Middle East peace process.
Some dailies urged Palestinians to carry on with their "uprising" against Israeli forces.
Saudi Arabia's Al-Madina, referring to what Arabs see as a clear U.S. bias, said in an editorial that Washington was "the enemy and the judge at the same time".
The Saudi Al-Watan said: "Every day the United States tells Arabs or shows them positions that hurt their feelings, dignity and humanity".
Arabs Lost Confidence in U.S.-Paper The Riyadh daily in Saudi Arabia said Arabs have "lost confidence" in the U.S. role and urged Arab leaders due to meet at a summit in Cairo at the weekend to overcome disagreements.
"Arabs are at a crossroads with only four days separating Sharm el-Sheikh from their summit," it said.
"What is feared is that disagreements over formalities might make Arabs lose any positive sight. America and Israel bet that Arabs are incapable of winning in war or in peace." Albright held talks With King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah on Tuesday and U.S. officials said Albright and the crown prince expressed "mutually felt deep pain and anguish" about three weeks of Palestinian-Israeli violence in which more than 100 people, mostly Arabs, have been killed.
Crown Prince Abdullah, heir apparent of the world's largest oil exporter and a known pan-Arabist, has spoken in unusually blunt language since the violence started, talking of "decisive measures" if Israel continued attacks on Palestinians.
It was not immediately clear what those measures were after the kingdom ruled out cutting oil supplies or jacking up the price of crude oil.
Some analysts have suggested that the crown prince may be hinting that if blind support for Israel is maintained, Washington would no longer be able to rely on consistent support from its Saudi friends.
Similar Sentiments in Rest of Persian Gulf The analysts say other Persian Gulf Arab states share Prince Abdullah's sentiment.
In the United Arab Emirates, the English-language Persian Gulf news said in editorial that the Sharm el-Sheikh summit was likely to "exacerbate the situation because it has proven once again to the Palestinians that Israel and America are not willing to deal with them fairly".
"This would put added pressure on Arab leaders who are meeting in Cairo...the greatest challenge for the Arab leaders will then be to keep up with the popular sentiment sweeping across the entire Islamic world, which is demanding concrete action against Israel," Persian Gulf News said.
It said Arabs must involve the United Nations, European Union and Arab League in the peace process "in order to diminish the overbearing role of America which has shown that on account of its pro-Israel stance it cannot act as an honest broker".
Qatar's Al-Raya said the results of Sharm el-Sheikh "reflected the American and international prejudice against the Palestinian people and its just cause".
The UAE's Al-Khaleej said: "What is important now is for the Palestinian authority or any other Arab party not to interpret the call to halt violence as putting an end to the uprising." (Reuter)