An Event and a Regional Tendency

Israeli occupation aggressions on Gaza and the West Bank escalated, while resistance factions retaliated against killing operations and the crossings’ tightened measures like undressing women and detaining children.
The remarkable event that attracted Arab and international press attention was the size of Israeli arrests in one day. The Israeli forces arrested hundreds of Palestinians surpassing the number of prisoners that Olmert promised to release during Sharm esh-Sheik’s summit.
Meanwhile, and in the aftermath of Salam Fayyad’s emergency government’s decision to prevent anyone from possessing weapons except the authority’s organs and pulling out the cover off the resistance factions’ weapons, al-Aqsa martyrs’ battalions escalated attacks on Israeli checkpoints and positions to retaliate against the Israeli aggressions.
Experts think that Palestinian president and his government revolve in the vacuum that the Palestinian reality experienced since Oslo agreement and it seems that Abbas’ violation of what was considered by Yasser Arafat as a red ling (Accepting conditions related to resistance men’s weapons), will lead to remissions that he can talk about before Palestinian public opinion.
Olmert said the political topics related to Palestinian cause will be delayed until Abbas proves that he can eliminate Hamas in Gaza. Observers said this delay will be more deliberate after appointing Tony Blair as the quartet commissioner.

An Event and a Lebanese Tendency

Political and press sources in Lebanon focused on the debate raised by the campaign which aims at ousting the judicial investigator into the assassination of Lebanese premier Rafiq al-Hariri.
One of the loyals’ leaders, Representative Butrus Harb said this campaign is a political one and targets Lebanese judicial system and can obstruct the investigator’s work in this file and harm the judiciary and its independence.
The press linked this campaign with a memorandum submitted by the international investigation committee to the office of the attorney general, which confirms that there are no evidences or demands related to the condition of general Jameel As-Sayyid and brigadier general Rimov Azar and this guarantees their legal release from prison in accordance with the lawyers of the 4 officers, who were arrested in 2005 by orders by judge Detleve Miles.
Available press information in Beirut say that some international sides exert pressures at the UN to keep the officers under arrest, while some analysts in Lebanon linked the acceleration of international tribunal’s formation with the loyals’ wish to keep the officers under arrest.
What is noteworthy is that the US department’s human rights report which was issued this year pointed out that the four Lebanese officers are under arrest without convincing legal justifications.
The report also talked about the Lebanese ruling team’s interventions in the work of the judiciary, torture and violations of human rights investigations. At that time, the report raised debate and contests in Lebanon. The opposition said it confirms its point of view, and its doubts on the political nature of al-Hariri’s file.
Within this context, the campaign against Judge Elias Eid, who is honest and independent, reveals the size of political pressures and interventions in the Lebanese judiciary, in this case and other cases.

Arab Press

The Emirate paper al-Khaleej said a scheduled Saudi-Palestinian summit in Jordan did not take place yesterday due to conditions imposed by Palestinian authority that contradict Riyadh’s role as a mediator.
Arab papers said Palestinian clerics’ league’s endeavors to find a solution to Nahr al-Bard’s vents continued.
Al-Kahleej paper said the Israeli air force made an emergency plan to prevent pilots from escaping service in the air force.
Press reports said Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki denied his country’s involvement in Gaza events and asked Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa to inform the Arab League member-states about this stand.

Lebanese Press

Ad-Diyar said 3 Saudis, a Yemeni, an Iraqi and a Syrian were killed in al-Qalmun area.
As-Safir said Representative Boutros Harb differentiated himself from February 14 team by calling for a historic reconciliation between Syria and Lebanon.
Al-Akhbar said Hezbollah warned that without unity government, there will be no presidential elections.

International Press

The Israeli paper Ma’ariv said Palestinian resistance men raised the Israeli army’s concern due to their ability to hit a Merkava tank from the fourth generation and wound two of its crew.
International and Arab Press agencies quoted an Iranian representative as saying that the state should reconsider the gasoline portions in accordance with the system of regulating distribution, which caused angry protests in the country.
France Press Agency said Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, Lebanese representative Waleed Junblat and Iraqi president Jalal Talabani will participate in the international socialism meeting in Geneva, in addition to some Israeli officials.
Ma’arvi said the Knesset agreed initially on a draft law that demands writing in clear Hebrew on facades and stores signs or the licenses will be withdrawn.
Arab Lawyers and Politicians in Palestine said this draft law targets Arabic Walid Phares, director of the project of Terrorism Future in the institute for defending democratic systems said in an article published in the Washington Times that Iran-Damascus axis ordered Hamas to carry out the armed coup in Gaza, hoping for destroying democratic processes in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Palestine.

Arab Satellite Stations Interviews

Al-Jazeera.
Special covering of the popular front for the liberation of Palestinian’s statement Ahmed Jibril (Damscus).
Ahmed Jibril said the results of the US-Israeli plan to eliminate resistance appeared through Mahmoud Abbas’s decisions which consider armed resistance as militias and outlaw Hamas.

Syrian Satellite Station News covering
Former representative in Lebanon parliament and head of strategic center for Studies (Damascus) said that Syria was able under President Bashar Al-Assad’s leadership to confront all the attempt of containing, pressures and seductions to force it to give up its Arab hood and abstain from supporting resistance.
He pointed out that Syria will cling to its policy that defends Arab national causes until restoring legitimate rights.

Television Station’s News in Lebanon

Al-Manar said despite the authority’s team attempts to obliterate the topic of ousting judge Eid, the size of the scandal was bigger.
The NTV said fundamentalist cells appeared in al-Qalmun, where the army killed six terrorists from different nationalities.
The Future said Prime Minister Fouad al-Siniora visited Madrid to express condolences to his Spanish counterpart Jose-Luis Zapatero on the death of the six Spanish shoulders who were killed in a terrorist attack in south Lebanon.