What the Arab papers said on July 4:

Ash-Sharq al-Awsat (London; Saudi Arabia): Iran 'Intercepts Four Saudi Fishing Boats' – Iran announced yesterday it intercepted four Saudi fishing boats and its Indian crew in Iranian regional waters near the Bouchehr nuclear plant, saying they were illegally fishing in the area. But the spokesman for the Saudi border guards, Col. Muhammad al-Ghamedi, told Ash-Sharq al-Awsat the Saudi authorities had not received any indications from the Iranians or boat owners about such a move.

Akhbar al-Khaleej (Bahrain): Family: Iranian Diplomats Kidnapped in Lebanon Are Alive in Israeli Jails – Families of four Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 said in a press conference in Beirut yesterday that the men were still alive and held in Israeli jails. They said, on the occasion of the 26th anniversary of their disappearance, they had received credible information from documents and prisoners released from Israeli jails that the diplomats were still alive.

Al-Watan (Oman): Iraq: Parliamentary Division Over Security Accord with America – Divisions have appeared in the Iraqi parliament over a security accord being negotiated between the Baghdad government and the United States, after the third largest legislative bloc criticized Iraqi official statements regarding the pact. The Iraqi Accord Front said that Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zibari was speaking about the pact as if he was an American negotiator.

Al-Ghad (Jordan): Gadhafi Calls for Studying How Israel Occupied the Sinai Peninsula – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, in a meeting with tribal leaders in Egypt's Sinai, called for looking into how Israel, with its limited number of soldiers, managed to occupy the entire Sinai peninsula in 1967. He said, "It interests us, the military men, the world and history, to know how this vast and rugged region [was captured by Israel] when it is difficult to occupy even by China, which has the largest population in the world."

Al-Ahram (Egypt): Mauritania Government Resigns Ahead of No-Confidence Vote – Mauritanian President Sidi Wald al-Sheikh Abdullah accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Yahya Wald Ahmad's two-month-old government before parliament was expected to give it a no-confidence vote. The president had threatened to dissolve parliament after 39 lawmakers called for withdrawing confidence from the government, accusing these legislators of failing to carry out the needed social and economic reforms.