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BBC Monitoring Quotes From Middle East Arabic Press for 12 August

Posted on: Friday, 12 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

The following is a selection of quotes from editorials and comment published in the 12 August 2005 editions of Arabic language newspapers in the Middle East and North Africa, as available to the BBC at 0800 gmt. Any material from the previous day is indicated as such. Quotes from Palestinian newspapers and those published in the UK are being filed separately.

Gaza pullout

Syria's Al-Thawrah [govt-owned]: www.thawra.co "Some leading Israeli and Western political leaders have attempted to portray Israel's pullout from Gaza Strip...as a kind of Israeli compromise with the Palestinians... There is no doubt that Israel decided to abandon its settlements in Gaza not out of recognition for that which is Palestinian territory, but because of the resistance attacks... The resistance, whose impact has been felt in Gaza, is also capable of having its impact felt in the West Bank." (12) (Commentary by Ahmad Dhawa - "It is redeployment not pullout")

Egypt's Al-Ahram [pro-govt, largest circulation]: www.ahram.org.eg "The Israeli plan to pullout of the Gaza Strip is entering its final phase. The important thing at this stage is for the Palestinians to exercise the maximum level of self-restraint... One cannot rule out the possibility that the Gaza pullout may be a prelude to a future pullout from the West Bank. But this is conditional on [Palestinians] observing calm..." (12) (Editorial - "Gaza pullout prelude to West Bank pullout")

Muslim cleric's arrest in Lebanon

Lebanon's Al-Safir [Independent, leftist]: www. Assafir.com "The Lebanese authorities, who decided yesterday to arrest preacher Umar Bakri [the fundamentalist leader and founder of "Al-Muhajiroun" and "Al-Ghuraba" movements - banned by Britain the day before yesterday], have fallen into an impenetrable trap... The compromise which they [the Lebanese authorities] are seeking, that is to accept Bakri's return to Lebanon so that he can live there under house arrest [Arabic: hisar] and round-the-clock surveillance, may contribute towards kindling the already tense [Lebanese] Sunni Islamic situation." (12) (Commentary by Sati' Nur-al-Din - "last stop")

Iraq

Qatar's Al-Rayah www.raya.com "By saying Iraq should be established on a federal basis so that the Shi'is have their province, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has defused a political time bomb, which makes the situation in Iraq more confused than ever." (12) (Editorial - "Danger of splitting Iraq")

WMDs

Egypt's Al-Akhbar [pro-govt]: www.elakhbar.org.eg "The world is genuinely concerned about its attempt to repel the threat of WMDs. However, this attempt is of a selective nature, since it mainly concentrates on those countries which the USA regards as opponents and an obstacle to the implementation of its strategy." (12) (Editorial - "Nuclear weapons are not a political game")

Egypt's presidential elections

Egypt's Al-Wafd [oppos] www.alwafd.org:"Is the government going to change its nature...and will the presidential elections take place, for the first time, with no interference, rigging, or pressure?.. One cannot imagine that such a change will occur all of a sudden." (12) (Commentary by Husayn Abd-al-Rizq - "Presidential elections or referendum?")

Arab summit

Saudi Al-Watan [indep, pro-govt]: www.alwatan.com.sa "It is good that the Arabs have decided to postpone the extra-ordinary summit called by Egypt after the Sham al-Shaky blasts. The postponement has deferred the intra-Arab disputes that were to be expected at the summit, and which had been threatening to tear apart the Arab League... Relations between some Gulf and the Arab Maghreb states have not been at their best..." (12) (Editorial - "Postponement of disputes")

Hiroshima commemoration

Jordan's Al-Dustur [indep, pro-govt]: www.addustour.com "The hypocrisy of the official commemoration [of the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] is that none of those [Japanese] who spoke about the desire for peace and the danger of nuclear weapons....dared to say that the very first criminal of genocide wars is the USA, Japan's present friend and ally... What did the Japanese have to say about the USA's use of depleted uranium against the Iraqi people?... We should call a spade a spade, and we should bluntly tell all criminals 'You are a criminal'". (11) Commentary by Khalil al-Sawahiri - "It was Satan who did it")

Sources: As listed

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

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