Pundits warned this week of the dangers of Yemen turning into another Afghanistan after reports suggest Al-Qaeda is regrouping in the troubled country following blows against it elsewhere. The warnings intensified as a Yemeni intelligence headquarters in Aden was bombed this week, carrying the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda. In the London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat Tariq Al-Homayed wrote in 'Yemen: the next battlefield' that a large number of militants have begun to gather in Yemen from all over the world, including America, Europe, Africa and, of course, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, amongst other countries, "after Yemen received a number of painful security and financial blows in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Afghanistan." According to Al-Homayed Yemen's problem can be seen in the "complexity and inter-relationship of its internal issues, which of course is something that Al-Qaeda desires as it allows the organisation to operate in the region once more". All of this, Al-Homayed argues, means that Yemen represents a genuine battlefield against Al-Qaeda, and may even replace Afghanistan [in this regard] which is what the Americans currently believe. The grand battle in confronting Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Al-Homayed wrote, would be in persuading Sanaa of the necessity of putting forward real solutions to block Al-Qaeda's path, "for the threat is not just in what Al-Qaeda is doing, but also in the extent of its infiltration and the level of its deployment." Also in Asharq Al-Awsat, Ali Ibrahim wrote, "it is clear nowadays that Yemen is one of the new but old hot spots in the region with its political, economic and security problems." Ibrahim quoted observers concerned with Yemeni affairs as saying that the root cause of the problem in Yemen is economic. This is represented in the low standard of living, high level of poverty and unemployment and a weak infrastructure, creating an ideal environment for instability, extremism and local tribal and regional battles over limited resources, Ibrahim wrote. However, Ibrahim stressed that there can be no development or investment without political stability and without a strong state that can reassure investors and businessmen. Ibrahim called on the international community "to be more generous with regards to its aid and to be more persistent in getting the Yemeni government to present a clear and transparent programme of its targets, policies and implementation. This is what is happening throughout the world." Ibrahim warns that discussing matters and providing analyses might be easy while the reality is difficult and full of complexities. "But is there a choice? People should ask themselves: will the region and the world be able to bear another failed state like Somalia?" Ibrahim concluded. Speaking of Somalia, Arab pundits expressed rage at reports that two football fans were killed by an extremist group in Somalia who warned against following the World Cup matches because they were religiously forbidden. Mohamed Diab, in Asharq Al-Awsat, wrote that a small group of Somali people had gathered in secret near the capital Mogadishu to watch a World Cup football match, and that two of those caught watching the game were put to death while the rest were imprisoned. "An extremist group who call themselves Hizb Al-Islam [party of Islam] were responsible for this. This group, which has ignored the violent Somali pirates, has turned its weapons against those who watch the World Cup," Diab wrote. Despite the killings, Diab wrote, Muslims have not heard "any of the voices that preach Islam 24 hours a day on satellite television channels come out and condemn the act of these criminals who claim to be acting in the name of Islam, when in reality Islam condemns their actions." According to Diab, "the strange media silence" surrounding this terrible crime only "strengthens the climate of insanity". Diab argues that true Islamic scholars who care about the image of Islam are required, at this critical stage more than at any other time, to firmly stand up against those who distort the image of Islam in the eyes of the world and who propagate a wrong message about Islam rather than dedicate themselves to peripheral issues. "Our preachers must rearrange their priorities surrounding religious discourse, and I think there is nothing more important than improving the image of our great faith which has been tarnished by the actions of criminals and extremists," Diab wrote. Gamil Al-Thiyabi, in Al-Hayat newspaper, seriously asked if entertainment is forbidden in Islam. "Is the Islamic world in need of more extremists to hijack Islam and turn the life of its people into hell in accordance with their criminal beliefs, and all for the sake of a piece of leather [football]?" Al-Thiyabi wondered. Al-Thiyabi wrote that Somalia is ruled by a "fragile", "weak" and "a nearly dead" government which does not control but small parts of the country whereas Islamic groups rule the rest of the country. Al-Thiyabi warned that these fatwas and their consequences vis-à-vis hijacking Islam proves that the Islamic world is living a crisis that does not end with forbidding football. A deeper problem lies in the existence of superficial extremist minds which are trying to control the minds of simple people in the name of religion and fake fatwas amidst the silence of Islamic institutions and governments, Al-Thiyabi wrote. Reports that Israel will "ease" the blockade imposed on Gaza was also the focus of Arab pundits, most of whom considered the move as a ploy by the Israeli side to escape international condemnation following its deadly attack on the Freedom Flotilla. In its editorial, the United Arab Emirates daily Al-Bayan described Israel's announcement to ease the Gaza blockade as "a trick". "After a long road of rejection of and confrontation with the international community, which demands the total lifting of the Gaza siege, Netanyahu's government invented a trick to ease the siege on Israel, not Gaza," it wrote. Al-Bayan wrote that the Israeli move also has other targets that include "obstructing moves to establish an international probe into the Israeli attack on the flotilla and at the same time stopping future Gaza-bound aid convoys or at least use it as a pretext to use violence against them." The Syrian Teshreen newspaper agreed. In its editorial it described the move as "a manoeuvre", calling on Arabs and Palestinians "to be on the alert" and "to understand the motives behind it". Teshreen also suggested that, "Arabs should impose a comprehensive mechanism whereby they pressure Israel into lifting the siege on Gaza and take advantage of international and Islamic support represented in the two brotherly countries Iran and Turkey."
