Unmistakable symbols of nationalistic fervour and jingoism; Gamal Nkrumah reviews the latest trend The London-based Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat featured a curious mix of articles reviewing and analysing the situation in Palestine, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Sudan -- not necessarily in that order. The four countries jostled for position and space in Al- Hayat 's front and inside pages throughout the week. By the end of the week, however, it was clear that Iraq unquestionably received the lion's share. In a provocatively-entitled opinion piece in Al- Hayat, "The butchering of the aged", Zoheir Quseibati outlined with caustic sarcasm the options available for Iraq: unity or disintegration. The writer, clearly on the side of national unity, hailed the heroic acts of the resistance fighters -- though it upset him that the interim administration insisted they were foreign fighters. Iraq's interests are ill-served by such allegations, Quseibati wrote. "Nobody envies the head of the Iraqi interim administration for the impossible task he faces." The puppet government installed in Baghdad must start thinking the unthinkable, he suggested. The future of Iraq was likewise ponderously contemplated in, "Popular resistance and Iraqi unity" by the veteran parliamentarian and distinguished Egyptian political commentator Mustafa El-Fiqi. "We all have been witness to the profound suffering of the Iraqi people over the past decades -- the bloody wars, the mass graves... and the crippling sanctions. "Still," the writer concludes, "all is not lost in Iraq... History teaches us that Iraqi resistance to foreign occupation is not restricted to a certain ethnic or religious group. Iraqi resistance to foreign occupation is a genuine populist movement whose aims is twofold: deliverance of Iraq from oppressive dictatorship and an end to repressive foreign occupation." El-Fiqi concluded on an upbeat note. "I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And the brightness of the light is such that it will surely dissipate the darkness of the bitter past. We shall soon see a free and prosperous Iraq emerge from the ashes with an indomitable Arab identity." A report by Ibrahim Badi from Jeddah assessing the efforts of ordinary Saudis at battling terrorism, painted a bizarre picture depicting the new wave of nationalism in the wake of terrorist attacks in the kingdom. The report, "Saudis combat terrorism by sticking posters on their cars", sheds light on some of the subtle changes and unsuspected ripple effects of the terrorist attacks. Some of the posters -- "God protect our nation from the evil-doers" and "We shall save our nation by sacrificing our lives" -- indicated an unprecedented degree of patriotism hitherto unseen or unheard of in Saudi Arabia. The front page banner of Al-Hayat likewise tackled Saudi efforts to combat terrorism. The paper revealed that Saudi King Fahd ordained a handsome financial reward to the kingdom's military men for their perseverance in the struggle. "The terrorists," the banner read, "confessed during interrogation their methods of enlisting young men for heinous acts." Al-Hayat was peppered with reports about American pressure to transfer Hamas activists from Syria and Lebanon to Iran. The paper's Wednesday edition also gave prominence and pride of place to US President George W Bush's call for the world to stop supporting the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. In an article that appeared on Monday, the nature of American-Israeli relations was analysed. "The weirdest aspect of the so-called Israeli spy scandal is that it was considered a scandal in the first place," wrote Jihad Al-Khazen in Al-Hayat. "The neo- conservatives pay allegiance first and foremost to Israel," he warned. "And that should come as no surprise to anyone." The Pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat similarly had a healthy blend of topics ranging from the lifting of US sanctions imposed on Libya in return for Libya's payment of compensation to the families of 270 victims of the Lockerbie disaster. Moreover, "Libya, which last year dismantled its weapons of mass destruction programme, urged Iran to do likewise with its nuclear facilities." Iraq featured prominently on Asharq Al-Awsat 's pages this week. "An Iranian official discloses that Tehran enlisted 3,000 intelligence agents in Iraq," ran a front page headline of the paper's Tuesday edition. "[Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad] Allawi told Asharq Al- Awsat that security, institution building, and the reduction of unemployment top the priorities of the Iraqi government," ran another front page headline. Sudanese papers naturally dwelt at length on the intractable crisis in Darfur. The Sudanese daily Al- Ra'i Al-Aam published a lengthy treatise by former Sudanese Foreign Minister Mansour Khaled in which he extolled the virtues of democracy and human and civil rights. He stressed the need for "brainstorming on constitutional and economic issues that impact the Sudanese people." He expounded on the ramifications of the Naivasha peace process between the SPLA and the Sudanese government, putting particular emphasis on the "integrity-based" and "people-led" solutions to Sudan's many intractable social and political problems. In his capacity as senior adviser to the leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the chief armed opposition group in Sudan, Khaled concluded that "people can be mobilised behind [peace] agreements." Al-Ra'i Al-Aam also reported in its front-page headlines on the regional and international reactions to the Darfur crisis. "[Chadian President Idris] Deby asks [Libyan leader Muammar] Gaddafi to intervene in Darfur", ran one headline, and "[Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak describes the Darfur crisis as far weightier than the capabilities of the Sudanese government to resolve alone," ran another headline. Iraq continued to dominate the headlines of many an Arab newspaper. Syria's daily Tishreen, like most other Arab papers, highlighted the fast deteriorating security situation in Iraq, especially the latest spate of assassinations, hostage taking and random killings. "American troops blast Falluja suburbs and [British Prime Minister Tony] Blair describes the situation as "horrific" were typical banner headlines depicting the mayhem in Iraq. They included, "The death and injury of 18 Iraqis" and "The assassination of two members of the Muslim Ulamaa Council". The paper also stressed the turning tide in international reasoning on Iraq with New Zealand completing its pullout from Iraqi soil, and India reiterating its refusal to send troops to Iraq. News emanating from Iraq also featured prominently in Jordanian papers. "The assassination of two members of Al-Ulamaa Al-Muslimin (Muslim religious scholars) in Baghdad," trumpeted Jordan's daily Al-Dostour. "An American air raid on Falluja. The slaughter of an American hostage and the release of 18 former Iraqi military men," the paper announced. But Al-Dostour also featured domestic concerns, in particular those of the large and long-suffering Palestinian communities of Jordan. "The Sons of Gaza [society] plead with the Jordanian government to review its decision to increase the fees for temporary passports and identification cards. "The general director of Palestinian affairs Abdul- Karim Abul-Haeigaa yesterday received a large delegation representing the services committee of Gaza Camp." The delegation, the paper noted, expressed its wish that the Jordanian authorities look into the various grievances of the Palestinians in the camps and in particular the decision to increase the fees for temporary passports from 50 dinars to 100 dinars. The paper noted that Abul-Haeigaa said that he will look into the issue and relay the grievances of the residents of Gaza Camp to the relevant authorities. Kuwaiti newspapers, on the other hand, featured a wide range of matters more mundane. "The Kuwaiti Traffic Department concedes to a serious crisis of traffic in Kuwait" -- a country of barely two million people and one million cars -- noted the Kuwaiti daily Al-Watan. "How are 200 traffic police patrols dealing with Kuwait's one million cars?" ran a headline in Al- Watan. Why, one wonders, should a country as tiny as Kuwait have a traffic crisis? Is it a question of too many plush cars per capita?
