Jordan's independent newspaper Al Arab al Yawm ran an article by Fahed al Khitan saying Arab and Jordanian support for Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is an attempt to mislead public opinion. "Those enthusiastic for the Annapolis understandings, regarding them as a reference for the peace process, are overlooking that Israel's settlement of the occupied lands has doubled, just as it has continued building the separation wall," he wrote. We should bury these references and only adhere to internationalresolutions from now on." There are lessons to be learnt from the years of procrastination, al Khitan wrote. Instead of wasting time in empty meetings with the Quartet and the Israelis, Arab countries should devise a new vision to manage the conflict. "Until then, we hope our foreign minister has a little mercy on us and stop talking about Annapolis and the road map." * Digest compiled by www.Mideastwire.com
Muhammad Bin Ali al Harfi, a regular columnist for Saudi Arabia's pro-government newspaper Okaz, wrote that Martin Luther King's "dream" was realized, even more than he had hoped for, with Barack Obama's election. "But now that King's dream has become a reality, will my own dream find its way to becoming a reality as well? I dream of an America ruled by a just president, just in every sense of the world, and democratic, also in every sense of that beautiful word. "I dream that this just president seeks justice for the Palestinians," he wrote. But these dreams will never become reality unless the Arabs and Muslims unite, al Harfi wrote. Neither Obama nor anyone else will sympathise with the Arab cause if the Arabs do not do their bit. "Obama was elected by the Americans to serve their own interests and not to serve Arab interests," he wrote. "Let us never forget that the world doesn't respect the weak."
Turki al Dakhil, a regular columnist for the UAE's independent newspaper Al Ittihad wrote that a friend of his had studied the Arabic content on the internet. He reported that although Arabic has become the 10th most used language on the internet, displacing Italian, the standard of the content is another question. "I pursed my lips in doubt but my friend added: 'More than 95 per cent of Arabic content on the Internet is religious material. Five per cent is aggressive hostile material with which each sect attacks the others'." "I am not objecting here to the internet catering to religious material, but these percentages show that we use the internet to curse and attack each other," Al-Dakhil wrote. "All of the above, my dear gentlemen, confirms that technology, whenit falls outside the hands of educated nations, only serves to enhance cultural and intellectual backwardness. May God help us all!"
Dr Wa'il al Hassawi, a regular columnist for Kuwait's independent newspaper Al Rai al Aam, wrote that the tussle between the Kuwaiti government and the parliament is like a wrestling match faked to rid spectators of their money. "The parliament sometimes corners the government and threatens it and insults it until we feel sorry for it and sympathize with it and we curse the parliament for its audacity and for violating all bounds," he wrote. "Yet we wake the next day and find that the government subjugated parliament and infiltrated its ranks with divisions so that the infighting continued while the government stands by and watches." This is just a show to cover up the mistakes of the government, Al-Hassawi wrote. "My biggest fear is that our government and parliament are now filled with sophists and we are being asked only to watch them and clap at the end of each of their endless rounds."
