A regularly updated roundup of commentary from Arab newspapers.
Egyptians deserve to live with dignity
Egypt's semi-official Al Ahram daily said in its December 8 editorial that it hoped that the conclusion of the parliamentary elections would lead to prosperity and development for the country.
The mass-circulation paper added that conditions and opportunities were available to move forward because the new National Assembly brought an unprecedented number of opposition figures who will ensure that the government "spreads secure justice".
The paper said that it hoped that the end of the elections would be a new beginning for Egyptian society, adding that cooperation of all Egyptians was necessary to launch the country forward. "Egyptians deserve to live a dignified life and up to modern standards," the paper stressed.
Egyptian government to blame for poll violations
Egypt's opposition Al Wafd daily, however, said on December 8 that the elections this year shocked many people because candidates sought to grab seats by force.
The liberal paper, owned by Al Wafd Party, added, "No one imagined candidates would seek to win a parliamentary seat by resorting to methods used by the most backward societies, not by a state that enjoys a long civilized heritage such as Egypt."
It insisted that no Egyptian accepts hired thugs armed with knives to impose what they want in elections.
The paper blamed the government for all the violations that took place in the three stages of the polls, saying that it failed to remain neutral.
It said that the elections showed the masses opposed the ruling National Democratic Party, led by President Hosni Mubarak, and that is why they voted for independent, opposition and Islamic candidates.
The daily opined that the methods used by the ruling party to remain in power has harmed itself, "which unfortunately reflects on the reputation of the country".
Liberation from a culture of fear
The London-based Al Quds Al Arabi on December 8 commented that Egypt's ruling NDP was surprised by the substantial gains made by the Muslim Brotherhood in the elections despite the ruling party's efforts to prevent the opposition from winning seats.
The independent Palestinian-owned daily said that President Mubarak might have succeeded in his plan to stop the increase of the Islamic movement's gains by resorting to thuggery, but he gave an "even worse and bloodier image of his regime to his people and international public opinion - an image that needs a lot of effort to improve, which he does not seem to have the ability or desire to do".
The regime, the paper continued, cannot hide from the "killing, sabotage and provocations its men carried out in the second and third rounds of polls", saying that what was happening in the Arab country was "dangerous by all standards".
"The Egyptian people have lost confidence in the regime and all its promises of reform and have started to call for change," the daily said, "and what is perhaps more important is liberating themselves from the culture of fear and preparing for a confrontation, which is where the danger for the regime lies".
US promises of democracy in Iraq just 'words'
Jordan's Ad Dustour said in a December 8 commentary that the Iraqi allies of the past who returned to their country "on top of American tanks" and after exchanging leadership roles are now accusing each other of corruption days before the legislative elections.
The mass-circulation daily added that deputy prime minister Ahmad Chalabi, whom it noted was convicted of embezzling millions of dollars from a Jordanian bank that he used to chair, is now "portraying himself as a fighter against corruption by accusing the former government of Ayad Allawi of embezzling hundreds of millions of dollars".
At the same time, the paper argued, Allawi responds by accusing Chalabi of corruption "and spares no effort to say that Iraq today is worse off than in Saddam Hussein's days", adding that current Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari is also "opening other files".
The daily said that these were the people leading Iraq today and who would lead it in the near future. Add to that, it continued, the reports of US Halliburton and other American firms involved in corrupt deals in Iraq.
"What we want to say," the Jordanian paper stressed, "is that this transparent, democratic system that the United States promised [for Iraq] is nothing but words, because this is the reality".
Saddam's trial turning in his favor
Jordan's independent Al Ghad daily said on December 7 that ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possesses "instinctive skills" to use the media, saying that those who are putting him on trial gave him a unique opportunity to appear on television the way that he wants.
The mass-circulation paper, owned by local businessmen, added that the former Iraqi president has not spared a single opportunity to mobilize the Iraqi, Arab and Islamic national sentiments by starting what he wants to say with a verse from the Koran and ending it with nationalist slogans.
It said that it opposed the holding of the former Iraqi leader's trial under occupation since "America declared a unilateral war and occupied Iraq, and now wants to try its leader".
The daily stressed that it was not useful to put Saddam on trial for his crimes because "the scene there is one of an American occupation holding prisoner its leader who confronted this occupation".
Thus, it argued, instead of this being a historic trial representing the people that retrieved their freedom from a dictator, the trial has "largely turned in favor of Saddam".
Perhaps Saddam didn't know?
Lebanon's An Nahar daily said on December 7 that it was natural for a dictator such as Saddam to say that he was not afraid of execution, as he stated during his trial, but described as "strange" that he accused the Americans and Zionists of seeking his execution "as if he doesn't know the sentiments of the majority of the Iraqis".
The anti-Syrian paper said that it was possible that he never knew how his people felt during his rule because he behaved as if "he was Iraq and the rest don't mean anything", adding that his intelligence and security services executed his "tyranny without relaying the sentiments" of the people toward him.
When Baghdad collapsed, the paper argued, Saddam went into hiding until his capture and did not have the chance to see the relief of the Iraqi majority for having "gotten rid of the nightmare in their lives".
The mass-circulation paper said that it did not know whether the former leader was surprised by the testimony made in court against him or whether he knew of these events having taken place during his rule.
The paper said that if he knew the fear that he instilled in his people due to his tyranny, he would not need to resort to the "well-known enemies like the Americans and Zionists to justify an inevitable fate wished for him by the majority of Iraqis".
Saddam's soap opera trial
Saudi Arabia's Al Riyadh asked in a December 7 commentary if the Arab public ever imagined watching on their television screens the former Iraqi president being questioned and "unable to comment except in quotes, as if we are watching any other program or television show".
The semi-official daily said that the "nice thing is that the trial soap opera has a very high quality scenario where we don't know the ending".
It said that the Arab viewers are asking whether Saddam will be put to death, whether he will be convicted, what is the mystery behind the assassination of a defense lawyer and what comes after the death of the primary witness in the trial.
The paper said that these questions "turned away boredom and makes us want to monitor the trial that is being carried out like the Mexican soap operas".
" ... And the show continues on any channel of your choice!" the paper concluded.
US opens dialogue with 'axis of evil' nation
Bahrain's Akhbar Al Khaleej said on December 7 that reports of meetings between American and Iranian officials on Iraq shows that the United States is on the verge of being convinced that it has taken itself into a new quagmire similar to Vietnam.
The pro-government daily warned that getting out of the Iraqi quagmire will not be as easy as going into it "when the Americans stepped on all international charters and ignored its allies to invade and occupy Iraq".
It opined that the expansion of terrorist attacks inside and outside Iraq was one result of the "American adventure", noting that Washington regarded Iran, before its invasion, as a supporter of terrorism and one of President George Bush's "axis of evil".
"And now America opens dialogue with Iran to help put an end to the so-called terrorism in Iraq, which shows the double standards of American policy," it remarked.
Palestinian reputation on the line
The Palestinian Al Hayat Al Jadeeda newspaper on December 6 commented on the suicide attack outside a shopping center in the Israeli town of Netanya on December 5.
The mainstream West Bank daily said that the Palestinian people did not need bomb attacks targeting civilians.
If the occupation has failed in destroying the national Palestinian entity, the paper continued, "then, in return, we should admit that the explosions will not be able to bring out the real picture of the resistance when it only targets civilians".
The daily warned against putting the Palestinian reputation on the line in the world by describing such attacks as being resistance or struggle "because the Palestinian majority does not agree with that".
It asked how long "will we remain silent to those who always put us and our fate on the edge of the abyss"?
Israel exploits suicide attacks
Egypt's semi-official Al Ahram daily said in its December 6 editorial that the Netanya bombing was a result of the Israeli escalation and is aimed at ensuring a continuation of the violence to prevent reviving the peace process.
The mass-circulation paper said that such attacks have no justification, adding that they only bring adverse results to the Palestinian cause and give justification to the Israelis in continuing their own escalation of violence against the Palestinians.
They also put the Palestinian Authority in an awkward position, the paper stressed, saying that these attacks give the impression that the leadership cannot impose security and order and that the Palestinians are not represented by only one leadership.
"What is more serious," the Egyptian paper said, "is that the Israeli government exploits these suicide attacks to stop any movement toward the peace process ... which means losing more time and keeps the Palestinian issue in the trench of violence and counter violence".
'Martyr operations' only solution?
Qatar's Al Rayah commented on December 6 that the "martyr operation" in Netanya was a response to the "Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people, which no longer differentiates between human beings and olive trees".
The pro-government daily said in its editorial that the Israeli occupation authorities have in the past 10 months killed 144 Palestinians and arrested 3,500 others. It said that the claim that the attack would lead to an Israeli escalation was irrelevant because the Israeli military leadership had vowed to resume its assassination of Palestinian activists before the Netanya bombing.
The Qatari paper said that the Palestinian factions appeared to believe that the only solution to their cause in light of the continued Arab and international silence to the "occupation's crimes" were the "martyr operations, which is the Palestinian defense in the face of the Israeli machine of war and destruction".
The daily argued that if the international community wanted the Palestinians to stop these acts, it should also work to pressure Israel to stop its own aggression, because recent history has shown when the Palestinians have stopped their operations, the Israelis do not stop killing Palestinian civilians.
Saddam winning over public opinion
The London-based Al Quds Al Arabi on December 6 commented on the trial of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, saying that Saddam exerted every effort to manipulate each moment of the hearings in his favor to win over Iraqi and Arab public opinion.
It said "he appears to have succeeded substantially in this regard".
The independent Palestinian-owned daily, which referred to Saddam as the "Iraqi president", said that his defiance and statements that he is not afraid of being executed showed that he was concerned more about his country and the Arab nation rather than himself.
"Such rhetoric receives positive and widespread response from many Iraqis and Arabs," the paper argued, "and portrays the Iraqi president as a courageous man who does not fear death, defying his executors and who sticks to his principles and beliefs".
Saddam's lynch mob
Jordan's independent Al Ghad daily on December 6 published a cartoon depicting the trial of Saddam Hussein as being orchestrated and instigated by the United States to allow Iraqis who suffered during his regime to seek their revenge.
It shows a grinning US Marine on a balcony, holding a fishing pole with a disheveled Saddam, dressed in US orange prison clothes, hooked up on its end. He is tied up and hanging upside down above a mob of angry Iraqis trying to grab him and clearly seeking to lynch him.
All Iraqis should vote on December 15
Jordan's Al Rai daily said in its December 5 editorial that it's time that Iraqis realized that they have no other homeland except Iraq, and that all will lose if they put political, sectarian or ethnic priorities ahead of their country's higher national interests and those of the entire Iraqi people.
"It is not in anyone's interests to push one sect, to boycott or to subdue it," the paper commented, adding that there was still a lot of room for political dialogue to ensure the success of the political process.
It argued that the past two-and-a-half years have proven that there was no way out of the Iraqi bloodshed without dialogue and compromise.
It was not in the Iraqi people's interests to escalate their disputes before the upcoming general elections this month, the mass-circulation paper, partially owned by the government, commented.
The polls are supposed to establish a new democratic, united Iraq for all its people, one that would respect human rights. The only way to know their influence was through the ballot boxes and to invite all Iraqis to cast their votes on December 15.
Occupation is not liberation
The London-based Al Hayat commented on December 5 that it was better for the Americans to call things by their name, saying that the occupation cannot be described as liberation and killing cannot be termed life.
The Saudi-financed daily, distributed in most Arab capitals, argued that Iraq has become an "experimental field where the struggles of ideas, calculations and restrictions are taking place that limit moving forward".
It said that the country was now heading for a democracy according to the "American prescription", adding that Iraq was drowning in the "bitter taste of sectarianism and the stench of death".
The daily said that the reality has turned into a nightmare, based on illusions. The US administration's problem is that "it wants to tell the opposite of truth" to the Americans and Iraqis alike.
Orchestrated lies
Qatar's Al Watan said on December 5 that if the US administration sees nothing wrong
in lying to its people, it can hardly feel embarrassed about lying to the Arabs and the rest of the world.
The pro-government daily criticized Washington's financing of Iraqi newspapers to publish "promotional articles" that support the United States, saying that it was another "losing adventure after Sawa Radio and Al Hurra TV".
It said that orchestrated lies have become the administration's official domestic and foreign policy, just as the Bush administration "endorsed the lies of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction as a legitimate justification to launch its war on Iraq".
Exchanging one dictatorship for another?
The London-based Ash Sharq Al Awsat commented on December 5 that Egyptians have become weary of the "tyrannical characteristics" of their regime, but do not want to exchange it with one that is ruled by the Muslim Brotherhood, which the paper said uses religion to impose another type of dictatorship.
The Saudi-owned daily said that the Islamic movement in Egypt has used Islam to a point where anyone who criticizes the organization's position is accused of criticizing Islam itself. It called for "overcoming all the red lines the [Islamists] draw for us and to adopt a secular world without feeling guilty".
The commentary, written by an Egyptian woman columnist, said "we should not accept silence or wrongly support the Muslim Brotherhood just because it is banned from political activities or because the government tried to violate its limits when it arrested and harassed the Brotherhood's voters in the latest elections".
The paper added that while people denounce violence and fraud in the elections, "we must also reject the positions of the Muslim Brotherhood, especially regarding their positions regarding women".
Review of Arab editorials
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