An Event and a Regional Tendency

Observers and experts concentrated on the Israeli and US stands towards Palestinian president, who will participate in Sharm el-Sheikh summit besides Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Israel and the US asked the Palestinian authority to take a firm practical stand in “fighting terrorism”, which means chasing resistance men and tightening political, financial and administrative siege on them.
Israel and the US called also the authority to “dissolve militias” and get rid of resistance men inside Fath.
Mahmoud Abbas is well-known for opposing armed resistance and it is clear that Israel and the US provided him with some money and weapons on the condition of using them in chasing resistance men and depriving them of legitimacy.
Bush and Olmert hope to force Abbas and Fayyad to carry out what was rejected by the late president Yasser Arafat, while they deny the axiomatic Palestinian rights.
This is a new campaign that coincides with the Israeli bloody campaigns against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

An Event and a Lebanese Tendency

Anxiety was reduced in Lebanon in the aftermath of Syrian vice-president Farouk al-Shara’ statements which ruled out a Syrian decision to boycott Lebanon and close the borders with it.
Meanwhile, the topic of relations between Syria and Lebanon was present in the Arab League’s delegation’s talks with Lebanese sides.
The delegation met Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah who offered a comprehensive review of Lebanese developments since the assassination of former premier Rafiq al-Hariri, stressing the formation of the unity government which is the only solution to the crisis in Lebanon.
Press and political circles said the loyals will be obliged to accept the idea of the unity government but they will cling to discussing its program before forming it. This was described by the opposition as procrastination and beguiling which aim at obstructing the new endeavors after the failure of the attempt to give the Arab League’s mission a political function in the campaign against Syria.
Meanwhile, talking about the priority of discussion concerning the name of a presidential candidate that the sides can agree on, stopped, with all the predictions about the Arab league Secretary General’s support to the nomination of a Lebanese minister who does not belong to the loyals or to the opposition. This will curb any serious optimism concerning the US clear decision to prevent solutions in Lebanon, as suggested by the US ambassador Jeffrey Feltman’s recent statements.

Arab Press

The Emirate paper Al-Bayan quoted British writer Patrick Seale as saying that he does not see US disengagement in Iraq while the building of US military bases continues.
Al-Sharq al-Awsat said Egypt will host next Monday a four-sided summit that includes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdallah, the second.
A spokesperson for Olmert said the summit will focus on joint cooperation and dealing with events in Gaza. On its part, Hamas said the summit will not be useful to Palestinian people.
The Emirate paper Al-Khaleej quoted the Israeli press as saying that the Israeli sciences minister Ghalib Majadilah’s meeting with Lebanese minister of education Khaled Qabbani in Cairo at the European-Mediterranean conference to discuss ways of developing higher education penetrates the Arab boycott of Israel.
The Israeli paper Ma’ariv said this meeting will ignite a new contest in Lebanon.
The Lebanese paper Al-Akbhar talked about Arab League Secretary General Amr Mouss’s meetings with Secretary General of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah and other Lebanese officials pointing out that his ideas do not form a complete initiative.

International Press

Noam Chomsky said in an article published in the Argentinean paper Clarin that the US attack on Iran will lead to a third world war, pointing out that Iran is unable to defend itself, but it can retaliate by destabilizing Iraq. He added that the US may work to encourage separatist trends inside Iran.
The British paper Sunday Times said the issue of forming an independent British nuclear deterring force depended on the existence of the former Soviet Union and it seems that Blair is under the influence of this illusion.
The Financial Times said Vladimir Putin enjoys a big popularity in Russia.
The Israeli paper Ma’ariv said the UN Secretary General’s envoy Michael Williams conveys messages between Damascus and Tel Aviv and he informed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Syria is ready to negotiate Israel without pre-conditions. The paper pointed out that Syria denied such communications.
Israeli former minister of defense and Likud member Moshe Arnz said Gaza is like hell and Israel is responsible for events there due to its wrong policy.

Arab Satellite Stations News

Al-Jazeera said the Arab delegation extended its visit to Lebanon another day in an attempt to convince Lebanese sides to return to dialogue but it seems the mediation is not nominated for success.
Al-Arabiya said a group of Pakistani clerics gave their higher title to the leader of al-Qaeda Osama Ben Laden as a retaliation against the Queen of England’s endowment of the title of knight on Salman Rushdie.
Al-Alam said the US occupation army said 14 of its soldiers were killed in Iraq.
The Syrian Satellite Channel said President Bashar Al-Assad stressed during his meeting with head of foreign relations committee at the Austrian parliament Caspar Einem, Europe’s important and active role in solving the area’s problems.

Arab Satellite Stations’ Interviews

Al-Arabiya
Syrian Vice-President Farouk al-Shara’s press conference in Damascus
Al-Shara’ said closing borders with Lebanon is a big step and this will only happen when it is impossible to amend Syrian-Lebanese relations.
Al-Shara’ also pointed out that Syria’s allies in Lebanon are stronger than the other side and a handful of politicians can not lead Syria to close the borders or to an armed conflict between the two countries.

Television Stations News in Lebanon

Al-Manar said the Arab delegation continued its mission but there are not signs of progress, while the NTV said that Moussa did not succeed yet in penetrating the wall of the Lebanese crisis.
On its part, the NBN said the topic of Syria’s closing of a number of borders crossings attracted immediate attention due to the consequences of such step on Syrian- Lebanese relations.
The LBC said Amr Moussa faces every day additional complexes while the Future TV said the meeting between Saudi King Abdallah and French president Nicolas Sarkozi focused also on condition in Lebanon.

Television Interviews in Lebanon

LBC
Program: The People’s Talk
Lebanese defense minister Elias al-Murr announced the end of Nahr al-Bared battles pointing out that the army destroyed all terrorists’ centers and the camp will remain a military zone and under military siege.
Al-Murr hailed the Lebanese army’s leader Michel Sulaiman saying he deserves to be elected as a president.
Al-Murr also vehemently rejected deploying international forces on the borders with Syria, proposing holding Lebanese-Syrian talks under the UN patronage.