CAIRO -- Regimes throughout the Arab world don't relish the prospect
that the United States might have a Jewish vice president.
Arab newspapers and officials are lambasting the nomination of
U.S.Senator Joseph Lieberman as the running mate of Democratic presidential
candidate Al Gore. Gore chose the Connecticut senator in a move that quickly
galvanized the Democrat's moribund campaign.
Arab analysts and officials in the region are predicting a sharp increase in U.S. support
for Israel if the Democrats again win the White House in November.
Egypt, Washington's leading ally in the Middle East, has been vociferous
in its criticism. The government mass Al Akhbar daily entitled an editorial
on Lieberman "The Judaization of America" and said Gore has sold himself to
Israel.
But leading members of the regime of President Hosni Mubarak softened the criticism by taking an opposite tack. They said Lieberman has been a friend of Egypt in the Congress and was one of the first to support a free trade agreement between
Cairo and Washington.
"I believe that the nomination of Senator Lieberman is a plus, and not a
minus," Egyptian presidential adviser Osama El Baz said. "Senator Lieberman
is a man of honor. He is a man of dignity; he is a fair-minded person. He is
not an anti-Arab at all. To the contrary, he is a friend of Egypt."
In Amman, the English-language Jordan Times welcomed the Gore-Lieberman
ticket as reflecting pluralism in U.S. politics.