Review of the Arab press

AMMAN, Jordan, June 14 (UPI) -- Egypt's al-Gomhuria commented Thursday sectarian sedition is being re-ignited in Iraq with the second attack on the Shiite Golden Mosque in Samarra. The semi-official daily noted in its editorial the first attack on the holy shrine last year had unleashed a wave of attacks and counterattacks by the Sunnis and Shiites that has left many people killed. "This by no means serves the steadfast nationalist resistance in the face of the occupation," it remarked. The mass-circulation paper suggested the U.S. forces' high alert for its troops in Iraq and the government's curfew imposed on Baghdad following Wednesday's mosque bombing indicate that the "conspiracy of sedition is entering a more bloody stage that will turn the struggle against the American occupation into a civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites." It insisted this is a scheme similar to one that is being implemented in Palestine between the supporters of rival Fatah and Hamas in order "to turn the resistance's weapons against each other."

London-based al-Quds al-Arabi said the second bombing of the Shiite shrine in Samarra was the last thing that U.S. President George W. Bush was expecting and the worst gift for British Prime Minister Tony Blair two weeks before he leaves office. "For the repercussions of this explosion are horrifying," it remarked. The independent Palestinian-owned daily argued that just as the first explosion of the same mosque had unleashed a wave of violence, this time it will have more disastrous results. It asked how such a blast took place on this specific shrine when recent attacks have been targeting Sunni and Shiite mosques, and wondered whether Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government will assume responsibility for negligence. The paper insisted that pointing the finger at al-Qaida before investigations even started shows that Maliki intends to ignite a civil war in Iraq, opining this is his strategy based on sectarian divisions. It predicted the next few days will witness new massacres across the country, "which will pull Bush into a permanent depression because he adopted a new strategy based on increasing the number of troops to contain security in Baghdad and achieve some calm to enable him to withdraw his forces."

Qatar's al-Rayah said it expected the explosion of the Shiite mosque in Samarra to unleash a new wave of terrorism that will make it difficult to prevent a widespread civil war in Iraq, whose only victims will be the people. And the fighting in Gaza between Fatah and Hamas is getting worse as it takes a turn that will make the people pay the heaviest price, it said. The pro-government daily added in its editorial that using weapons to resolve differences is only deepening their crises and is giving the enemy a good opportunity to ignite sectarian and civil strife. "What is happening in Gaza must stop, otherwise it will lead to deepening the gap between the two sides and the other Palestinian factions must exert more efforts to contain the situation," it insisted. And in Iraq, it added, the conditions warn of an "insane violence that threatens" to destroy what is left of the country and could spill out beyond its borders. The Samarra bombing, it maintained, will tighten the noose around the White House, "which, every time it delays pushing towards a political solution, it finds itself before disasters."

London-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat described the Palestinian fighting between Fatah and Hamas supporters in Gaza as a "political obscenity" by both sides as the battles have even reached hospitals and virtual war crimes are being committed. The Saudi-owned daily said Hamas is not, and will not be, a government because it is a religious trend ruled by ideology, not by politics. "Hamas did not come to lighten hope, but to declare jihad; but against whom? Against Fatah," it claimed in a commentary. Those who come to power by the people are not supposed to become the peoples' masters and are not spokesmen for God, it said, insisting that a prime minister should not address people during Friday prayers from mosques, but from government buildings. The daily, distributed in many Arab capitals, said internal violence and crises in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon are all linked, adding it is the "same hand that moves and finances, although the victims are different," but it did not name who it believes is responsible. Instead of wasting time on calming down the fighting, it argued, deep-rooted solutions must be found, starting with drying up the funding and arming and ending external interferences. Hamas has to choose between behaving as a militia or a government that is responsible for the nation and its people, it said.

Lebanon's al-Shark said in a commentary that Lebanon is passing through a very difficult stage as it is being targeted with terrorist attacks since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. The daily, which describes itself as independent but with pro-government trends, added there seems to be no end to the "criminal terrorist plan" for the country and no limits to the blood that is being shed until Lebanese "bow and surrender, asking for forgiveness from their torturers." But that will not happen, it stressed in a commentary, not by the people or by the military and security institutions. "The will for life among the Lebanese is very big, despite the death that is spreading everywhere," it said, a day after another bombing in Beirut killed an anti-Syrian lawmaker, his son and eight other people. But what is needed immediately, it stressed, is ending all signs of divisions by everyone, starting with the opposition's protest in downtown Beirut and ending with forming a national unity government. "This deep division is no longer acceptable in any form," the paper said.