BEIRUT: Israel’s attack on Jordan yesterday [March 21] was an expensive mistake that dashed hopes for peace with its neighbours, the Arab Press said today.

“The Arabs have no other alternative but war,” said Baghdad’s “Al-Thawra” newspaper . The attack “has buried all chances for a peaceful settlement in the Middle East”, said Cairo’s “Al-Ahram”, usually reflecting official views in UAR. Press headlines and radio reports in the Arab world pictured Jordan as having “defeated” the Israeli onslaught and heaped praise on King Hussein’s Arab Legion. Even the official Damascus Radio praised the Jordanian monarch saying, “the way his forces fought deserves appreciation and admiration”. Noticeably absent were any accusations that the United States was to blame for the Israeli attack. Papers here today frontpaged American and British statements criticising Israel for its attack and a report from Washington that the United States would speed up delivery of arms to Jordan.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2018