A regularly updated roundup of commentary from Arab newspapers.
The senseless actions of a few bigots
The Jordan Times commented on October 27 on recent sectarian clashes in Alexandria, saying that the last thing the region needs is a clash between Muslims and Christians.
The Jordanian daily, partially owned by the government, said that the recent clashes between Copts and Muslims outside a church over a controversial play was another "sad reminder of the need for both religious groups to be more attentive of each other's sensitivities".
It added that "as exponents" of an ancient civilization, "they should have known better than to act narrow-mindedly to gratify some need or another".
The country's only English-language daily argued that those who incited the violent demonstrations must have done so intentionally and must be held accountable because they sought to "manipulate sentiments and to produce suffering".
It said that Egypt had been a good example of religious tolerance for decades and that it would be a "shame to see what has been cultivated for years destroyed by the senseless actions of a few bigots".
For every action, a reaction
Qatar's Al Rayah daily on October 27 said that the previous day's attack by Islamic Jihad on Hadera, Israel, could not be isolated from Israeli attacks on Palestinians.
The pro-government paper said that it was natural for every action to have a reaction, "especially if it relates to the principle of resisting the occupation, which is a legitimate matter".
It added that if randomly targeting civilians draws international anger, Israel has been resorting to these methods since its establishment, saying that the Jewish state is "exclusive in exercising state terrorism in its worst forms".
But unfortunately, it opined, Israel's hostile approach "receives strong support from the United States and total international silence".
The paper accused Israel of trying to misguide world public opinion by showing that its withdrawal from the Gaza Strip was an historic concession in favor of peace, "but the facts on the ground and the measures following the pullout confirms that [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon's government has
unburdened itself from Gaza to consolidate its settlements and occupation in the West Bank".
UN report planted landmines
Syria's official Al Thawra daily said in its October 27 editorial that a UN report on Lebanese ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's killing had planted landmines in the region.
It said that the UN report by German investigator Detlev Mehlis, which implicated top Syrian and pro-Syrian Lebanese security officials, had planted landmines that made "it difficult to contain and defuse them".
It insisted that the report pushes tension in the region to its maximum limit "bringing the area to the brink of an uncalculated explosion, with unknown results".
The paper said that President Bush's accusations against Syria were the same ones made before Hariri's assassination, commenting that Bush appeared to have "forgotten every other problem in the world to pressure Syria".
It said that he forgot poverty and hunger in Africa, plagues that are threatening the world, natural disasters and his responsibilities toward his people "to devote his time, along with his secretary of state, to take turns in hurling accusations against Syria day and night".
No clear horizon
The London-based Al Hayat on October 27 said that sanctions on Syria would hurt suspects in former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's killing, posing a problem for Damascus, which relies on these officials.
The Saudi-financed daily said that if Syria decided to sacrifice some of them, it cannot hand over all of them. It argued that Syria's problem with the UN report was that it did not indicate suspicions outside the Syrian-Lebanese framework and implied a Syrian political decision to assassinate Hariri.
The other Syrian problem, it added, was that Damascus dealt with the crime as if it had nothing to do with it and had not carried out its own investigation or gathered its own evidence to refute the UN version.
The ongoing probe, it concluded, is taking place "without a clear horizon, which is meant as more pressure on Damascus, which does not seem to have many options within the sovereignty framework."
Moussa's mistake
The London-based Al Quds Al Arabi on October 27 said that Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa's visit to Iraq had caused a shift in the bloc's position on Iraq.
The independent Palestinian-owned daily said that it was still unclear whether Moussa's "concessions will lead to the results he seeks in convening a national reconciliation conference" and its success.
It insisted that any reconciliation needed to be based on basic national principles, which the paper said cannot be done when various Iraqi forces have set their conditions for participation according to their own political ambitions.
In addition, it said, reconciliation cannot take place under occupation when one Iraqi side resists the occupation and the other is seeking strength from it.
"Mr. Moussa made a big mistake when he ignored the Iraqi Islamic and Baathist resistance," the paper said. "And this is the main obstacle for any role played by the Arab League and the regimes it represents."
Syria should not fear cooperation if innocent
Lebanon's anti-Syrian An Nahar daily commented on October 25 that Syria faces a serious crisis, even if Damascus insists that the UN report on the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri is politicized.
The paper said that there was an international consensus, even among Arab countries that do not want Syria isolated, that those involved in Hariri's murder should be brought to justice.
The mass-circulation paper argued that what is facing the Syrian regime was "not a political process that it can negotiate or try to buy time as it bets on a change in the situation, but a legal and diplomatic process that has started and will continue until its conclusion".
It insisted that not cooperating with the Hariri investigation was what politicized the issue. Syria's evasion has given the United States the opening to "interfere whenever it wants to pressure Syria in a way that exceeds the objectives of the investigation".
It said that innocence cannot be proved with statements, newspaper articles, "spontaneous" demonstrations or criticism of the international report. Only Syria's full cooperation with the investigation can reveal the truth of Hariri's assassination, it said, "and Syria's claim of innocence should be the primary reason not to fear cooperation".
A conflict not of their making
Lebanon's English-language Daily Star said on October 25 that punishing Syrian officials for their possible role in Hariri's assassination could involve "innocent victims".
The independent paper said that while the international community needed to respond to the UN report when the Security Council meets on the issue on October 25, it was "equally important that they consider the well-being of the Syrian people", which it said have "no say in the way their country is managed" and should not pay the price for crimes committed by the regime.
"Only those who are proven to have been directly involved in the assassination should be punished," the paper insisted.
It said that it was a "bad idea" to open a new arena of instability in the Middle East and urged promoting an "atmosphere of cooperation, rather than conflict".
It urged Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to take a "very bold stand and cooperate" with the UN investigation and for the international community to "do what is best for the people of the region" by advocating an atmosphere of cooperation to "ensure the Syrian people do not become the innocent victims of a conflict that is not of their making".
Change from within or else ...
Egypt's Al Ahram said on October 25 that it was concerned that the trial of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the UN report on Hariri's assassination were not based on an Arab commitment to the principles of justice and to the idea of accountability of leaders.
It said that the initiative in both cases came from international forces that told "the Arab world that the absence of a stable and strong system based on justice, fairness, accountability and punishment is the reason for the deterioration of conditions in these countries, breeding corruption, political and social backwardness that create evil".
The semi-official daily said that there was no doubt that the world situation has changed, not only on the economic level that Arab leaders focus on, but also on a political and social level. It said that it was now imperative for societies that have failed to join the trend to change themselves; otherwise, this change will be imposed on them from outside.
The mass-circulation paper warned that if the masses did not know how to get rid of their tyrants, others would be found to do it, as in Iraq.
The Egyptian paper added that the Arab world was no longer immune from change that could come from outside if it does not happen internally.
Arabs must regain strength, dignity
Qatar's Al Watan on October 25 said that the Israelis, backed by the Americans, continue to reject launching final status negotiations with the Palestinians, insisting that the Palestinian leadership should first "fight terrorism".
The pro-government daily said that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, as well as US President George W. Bush, have refused a request by Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to start such negotiations away from the attention of the media.
"What would force Sharon and his ally, Bush, to accept any offer that falls short of the Palestinian Authority aiming their guns in the hearts of the Palestinian resistance, which is the only thing that stands in the way of Israeli conditions?" the paper asked.
It argued that nothing would persuade the Israelis to start serious final status negotiations as long as the Palestinians and the Arab world as a whole are "in their worst state of weakness and fragmentation".
It added that it was natural for Israel to reject the negotiations. Israel "is at the peak of its strength because of American support for Israeli political ambitions that do not include any desire to accept a settlement with the Palestinian people".
Until the Arabs regain some of their strength, dignity and some pan-Arab nationalist responsibilities, the region will continue to witness Israeli insolence, the paper said.
Mehlis report serves hostile colonialist interests
Syria's official Al Thawra daily on October 24 blasted the UN report on the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri, submitted by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on October 20, as lacking any truth.
The state-run paper said that the report was exploiting the February killing of Hariri to serve "the hostile colonialist interests of the United States and Israel, as well as other international parties".
It insisted that the report harms Mehlis' "professional historic record", saying that the chief investigator contradicted the principles of justice and international law.
The Syrian paper said that no honest international or local court would accept hearing such a case based on the findings in the Mehlis report or to "implement the obvious American political agenda".
Close your ears to bad advice
Ash Sharq Al Awsat on October 24 said that it was surprised by the Syrian media reaction to the Mehlis report on former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination.
The London-based, Saudi-owned paper said that the Syrians failed to see the repercussions of the report.
The Saudi-owned daily said that the United States and France did not need hard evidence against Syria in the Hariri killing because the issue was political, not technical.
It said that Washington used the pretext of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction to invade Iraq, though the country did not have these weapons.
The paper added that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was "stupid" for failing to "understand the game and was a victim of the strategic analysts on the satellite channels, who are the same ones making similar analyses on the Syrian question".
It blamed Arab analysts for inciting Damascus to take a defiant position and urged Syria to "close its ears to the bad advice of strategic analysts".
The paper said that Syria should start looking for a practical way out of its crisis, starting with cooperating with international investigations and changing its rhetoric.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
Al Quds Al Arabi on October 24 said that Syria was now more isolated after the release of Detlev Mehlis' report on the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri and it blasted the US administration for exploiting the report to fight Damascus.
The independent Palestinian-owned paper predicted that no matter what the Syrians do to cooperate or defy the international community, the result will be the same: The overthrow of the regime through gradual sanctions and then military strikes.
The paper added that while Syria's weakness was that its regime was a dictatorship, it still had strong cards that Washington and the West failed to see. These include:
1) No clear alternative to the current regime. 2) The collapse of Syrian security would create chaos spreading from Iraq to the Mediterranean. 3) Sanctions will lead to more Syrian cooperation with anti-US fighters in Iraq. 4) Sanctions will add popular resentment against the US, making US forces in the region an easy target for retaliation.
Protecting Arabs from the American agenda
Al Khaleej said in its October 24 editorial that the Bush administration was using the model of its policy on Libya against Syria to get what it wants.
The United Arab Emirates daily said that Washington was giving Damascus two choices: the model of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi - who met all American conditions to end the sanctions on his country - or the model of Saddam Hussein.
It argued that caution was needed to protect the Arabs from the American agenda as Washington tries to exploit the Hariri assassination to achieve its interests in the region.
The paper said that in order to prevent the Hariri probe from becoming politicized, it was important to "deal transparently with the investigation to reach the real truth" behind Hariri's killing find the perpetrators, "not the truth that is drawn up and planned for in a certain direction".
It said that failing to cooperate openly with the international probe would allow "those who seek to exploit the case to sharpen their knives to strike one country or another".
Saddam or Muammar?
A political cartoon in Jordan's independent Al Ghad on October 24 expressed the choices for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad following the release of the Mehlis report on the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.
It showed a sweating and confused-looking Assad sitting at a table as he holds two cards in his hand, clearly trying to choose between them. One of the cards is the ace of spades with a picture of a bearded and scruffy Saddam Hussein. The other card is a two of diamonds with a picture of Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi dressed as a joker.
Review of Arab editorials
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