AMMAN, Jordan, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Feb. 14:
Lebanon's al-Mustaqbal daily commented on the first anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination Tuesday by accusing the Syrian regime of having committed the crime.
The paper, owned by the Hariri family, said the Syrian regime and Lebanon's former pro-Syrian security services killed the former premier because "these killers knew there will be no independence for Lebanon without Rafik Hariri and that he was giving independence to the Lebanese ... an independence from Syria, so they killed him." It insisted the Syrians knew that Hariri's political position in the Arab, Muslim and international arena qualified him to ensure an independent Lebanon after a Syrian withdrawal.
And now, a year after his assassination, it continued, the Lebanese realize why the Syrian intelligence services killed the man, adding that Damascus could not digest its withdrawal and would not recognize Lebanon's independence.
The paper accused Syria of trying to incite sedition and chaos and attempting to destabilize Lebanon after it pulled out so the country would seek to remain under an imposed Syrian trusteeship. But the Lebanese converge at Hariri's grave in downtown Beirut Tuesday, it said to "swear by his soul that they deserve independence."
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London-based ash-Sharq al-Awsat said much has changed in the year since Rafik Hariri's assassination, but the danger threatening the country has increased with a series of assassinations and explosions targeting political leaders and journalists.
The Saudi-owned daily added the assassination created a new atmosphere of demonstrations and protests in Beirut, a national consensus on finding the truth behind Hariri's murder, speeding up the withdrawal of the Syrian forces and punishing the implicated chiefs of the security forces. It warned the series of assassinations was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of threatening civil peace in the country, saying last week's protests against cartoons in a Danish newspaper insulting Prophet Mohammad was an attempt to "bring back scenes of the civil war." It added that recent statements by Lebanon's acting interior minister warning that al-Qaida was trying to find accomplices in the country was an alarm bell. It cautioned against reports of extremist groups working in the country trying to "impose extremist ideas and exploiting the security weakness."
Combining all these factors, the paper argued, indicates that more dangerous times of "brutality and destruction are coming, and nothing can protect Lebanon, amid these storms, except the unity of its people and its main political leaders on the interests of the country."
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Lebanon's an-Nahar commented on a recent reshuffle in the Syrian government and in President Bashar Assad's advisory team, saying while it was too early to tell, this change could have positive and negative results.
The anti-Syrian daily said the optimistic speculation is that the reshuffle, especially naming Syria's former ambassador to Washington, Walid al-Mualem, as foreign minister, could contribute to improving the deteriorating relations between Syria and the United States. It said that al-Mualem knew the United States well after having lived there for a decade during crucial Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations, adding he has been labeled as a professional and calm diplomat. In addition, the mass-circulation said, the new foreign minister was close to the late Syrian President Hafez Assad and enjoys good relations with Arab and foreign diplomats in Washington, "which makes Arab governments ready to deal with the man."
The negative and pessimistic results of such a reshuffle, the paper opined, is that it will not present much in terms of removing the tension between Damascus and Washington because the foreign and information policy will remain in the hands of the new vice president and former foreign minister, Farouk Sharaa. It stressed that Sharaa is seen by his peers in the international community, and even in the Arab and Muslim world, as being responsible for the failure in Syria's foreign policy and the country's alienation from the rest of the world, adding that Assad draws the guidelines for this policy.
It warned that indications show the Syrian president is not about to review or change his foreign policy, saying it would not be in Syrian or Lebanese interests for a confrontation with the United States and international community.
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London-based al-Quds al-Arabi blasted Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' "pre-emptive" measures that could obstruct Hamas' assumption of power after the latter's sweeping victory in last month's legislative elections.
The independent Palestinian-owned daily criticized Abbas' decision to call for a Palestine Legislative Council session with the participation of the former lawmakers, most of whom are Fatah members, to amend a law allowing the president of the Palestinian Authority to appoint judges in the constitutional court without referring to the legislative council, or parliament.
"Such appointments cancel out the independence of the judiciary," the paper argued, "because it makes the judges fall under the orders of the president, with no interference from the legislative council. This amendment is dangerous by all standards and must not be passed."
It opined that such "illegal steps" cannot create a proper atmosphere to push forward the Palestinian democratic process and the peaceful transfer of power through the ballot boxes. The daily warned it could lead to a "serious stage of dangerous and unnecessary confrontations between the defeated Fatah and the victorious Hamas."
The paper called on the Islamic Hamas movement to work towards canceling such amendments and other bills that "consolidated political and financial corruption in the PA." It called for revoking the extra appointments in Palestinian institutions, especially in the judiciary, because "they were not made on the basis of cleanliness and merit, but on the basis of accountability and factional considerations."
