An Event and a Regional Tendency

The Palestinian situation has entered a new tunnel in the shadow of the political and economic consequences of Gaza’s events and their results at the level of the Palestinian authority and its institutions, and in the shadow of the Israeli and international stands which aim at nurturing the division and using it to escalate attack on resistance activists and popular gatherings in the West Bank and Gaza which resulted in killing and wounding more Palestinians.
The available information say that Israel’s coming military campaign will seek escalation through continuous exhaustion.
It will pressurize Salam Fayyad government to take practical steps coordinated with the Israeli occupation to chase resistance factions, including Fatah’s fighting base, which participates in confronting the Israeli occupation. Hence, observers argue that the stick and carrot policy which cancelled the Oslo agreement and led to the assassination of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, appears again and the question is: will Abbas and his team obey the Israeli dictations and kill Palestinians in return for lifting siege?
Israel will tighten financial and economic siege on Gaza Strip and exhaust it with continuous attacks as an introduction for invading it.

An Event and a Lebanese Tendency

National unity government imposed itself as a title on Arab League’s Secretary General Amr Moussa’s meetings in Beirut, in the light of accumulated data with the Secretary General since his two previous initiatives. He heard from president Emile Lahoud and house speaker Nabih Berri clear speeches, which considered this step as a natural necessity introduction to contain all the tense files and starting a dialogue on them between the loyals and the opposition. Representative Saad al-Hariri denied that the loyals’clinging to the priority of borders with Syria is a rejection of the national unity government as the press said.
He adopted also Samir Gagea’s call for dialogue on the governments program before forming it.
The opposition’s sources said that the disputed topics are known and dialogue on them has only one place, which is the unity government, adding that the loyals insist on an explosive agenda through trying to elect the president with the quorum of the half plus one from the parliament’s members, contrary to the consensus of the constitution’s experts, including the Future bloc representative Bahige Tabbara and despite Patriarch Sfeir’s stand, which calls for adopting the logic of the two thirds to elect the president.
The opposition sources added that the talk about a dialogue that precedes the formation of the unity government aims at wasting time, preserving the status quo, and serving the US agenda. Hence, the opposition holds the loyals responsible for escalation which harms Lebanese-Syrian relations and raises big questions on the loyals’ involvement in joint plan with some Syrian groups, which oppose the regime that starts off from Lebanon, especially for cadres form al-Bayanuni organization in the north in the aftermath of Nahr al-Bared’s recent battles, and due to the strong connection between the loyals’ symbols and Abdul Halim Khaddam’s team and developing coordination with this groups.

Arab Press

Arab press focused on Palestinian chairman Mahmoud Abbas’s speech at the Palestinian central council’s session in Ramallah and his accusation of Hamas of trying to assassinate him. He described Hamas members as killers and terrorists. Calling on Israel not to use the current conditions to tighten grip around Palestinians.
On his part, the spokesperson for Hamas Ayman Taha said Mahmoud Abbas did not behave as a president for Palestinian people.
In an article published in the Emirate paper Al-Khaleej, former member in the Israeli Kneset Azmi Bishara criticized the formation of the Palestinian emergency government; saying Palestinians are no longer a government under occupation but became an emergency government under occupation, pointing out that what is left for them is to form an occupation government under occupation.
Azmi Bishara talked about Arab and US role in the events, saying the plan aims at creating two Palestinian entities on the edge of the abyss.
The Emirati paper Al-Bayan focused on the refugees’ higher commission’s annual report which has unprecedented high numbers.
The paper quoted the report as saying that the number of refugees around the world is about 40 millions. The report also focused on conditions in Iraq, Lebanon and Sudan where the number of refugees surpasses 24 millions.
Arab press also focused on the scandal of the Iraqi orphans’ house, where many disabled were found naked and chaired in their beds and in critical health conditions.
The press said this shocked the world, pointing out that the US occupation is responsible for this.
The press also focused on the Syrian authority’s closing of a border crossing on the borders between Homs and al-Qa’, which is called al-Jayyusiah.
The press added that al-Masn’a crossing will also be closed in the coming 24 hours and the crisis of closing borders between the two countries will start.
Arab press said the meeting of the foreign ministers of the states which have a view on the Caspian sea started in Tehran, the states are; Iran, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan. The meeting will discuss the legal condition of the sea’s resources and the rules of sharing them.

Lebanese Press

Al-Hayat paper said Amr Moussa achieved a break through in Lebanon through convincing Lebanese sides to return to dialogue, while An-Nahar said the Arab delegation decided to extend its mission, saying Amr Moussa will meet today Secretary General of Hezbollah.
Al-Anwar said Lebanese army completely controlled the new part of Nahr al-Bared camp.

International Press

Thomas Friedman published an article in the New York Times service which says the image of the crisis in Palestine is that of a Palestinian civil war, adding there is a new kind of violence which has no face on borders.

Arab Satellite Stations’ News

Al-Jazeera said the Libyan Supreme Court identified July 11 as a date for judging the appeal submitted by Bulgarian nurses who are accused of injecting Libyan children with HIV virus.
Al-Arabiya said raising the Israeli flag in Cairo’s stadium raised angry reactions which considered the event as shameful.
Al-Alam said the Israeli occupation forces killed 7 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Syrian Satellite Channel said President Bashar Al-Assad discussed with former German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder the condition in the area and Arab-European relations.

Television Stations News in Lebanon

The NTV said Amr Moussa’s initiative is lost among places while he has a great ability to use expressions that do not lead to any deduction.
The NBN said the Arab delegation is still moving with difficulty in the Lebanese mine field, while the LBC said the delegating will not achieve a positive result due to the ramifications of regional and international interventions in Lebanon.
On its part, the Future said the Arab delegation’s endeavors are accompanied by a sudden Syrian step to close a border crossing without any clarifications.

Television Interviews in Lebanon

Al-Manar
Program: What Else?
Former minister Michel Samaha said the Arab delegation came in the aftermath of the Arab summit and with US conditions.

NBN
Program: Useful summary
Representative Ghassan Tueni said he agreed with house speaker Nabih Berri to consider al-Qaeda as a constituency and the Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir agree on this.