Pundits focussed this week on the Tunisian Intifada and its success in having ousted Tunisian leader Zein Al-Abidine Bin Ali. In the Tunisian newspaper Al-Sabah Hassouna Al-Mesbahi noted the motivation behind the uprising, that those who follow Tunisia's modern history know that all the popular uprisings which the country witnessed ever since the 19th century, while differing in its details, are similar in their motives and goals. "Popular uprisings in the country erupt when Tunisians, especially those in the centre and south of the country, feel the state is sidelining them and is inconsiderate to their problems and concerns," Al-Mesbahi explained. Al-Mesbahi warned that the country is now facing a crucial moment because of "the political vacuum resulting from the collapse of the regime, the consequent chaos which has spread across the country and the fear of the future which appears gloomy and unpredictable." Al-Mesbahi called on all Tunisians with their different social, ideological and religious backgrounds, to work on letting this phase pass peacefully. In the UAE daily Al-Bayan, Fadila Al-Maeini wrote that the biggest optimist would never have expected that the popular uprising in Tunisia would bear fruit. "No one imagined that a cart of vegetables and fruits would push out the chair of the president or that young Mohamed Bouazizi, by setting himself on fire, would also burn a whole political regime and ignite the spark of change," Al-Maeini wrote. Al-Maeini maintained that the Arab masses supported the Tunisian will of change and wish they can do the same in their own countries but warned that "the situation in most Arab countries is not only bad but tragic." "What is happening in Tunisia carries lots of lessons that should benefit dictatorships who turned their countries into police states and where the masses have no other option but an uprising to oust them," Al-Mesbahi contends. In the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, Khaled Saghia said he was proud that what happened in Tunisia helped break idols, most importantly the stereotypical image of the Arab masses. In this context, Saghia wrote, Tunisia's uprising brought back confidence in the Arab street and the value of the individual. Saghia explained that since the 1967 defeat, Western as well as Arab intellectuals were encouraged to point to the backwardness of the Arab masses as the main reason behind their deteriorating condition. Saghia added that the result of this way of thinking was "a 'modernising' campaign by armies that rob on the pretext of achieving the promise of democracy or the dream of belonging to the 'civilised nations' category. This is the ideology that accompanied the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq." In the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi Abdel-Bari Atwan wrote an open thank you letter to the Tunisian people. "Our thanks to the Tunisian people, our thanks to the fragrant blood of the martyrs that baptised this great victory, and our thanks to the army that took the side of the people, turned its back on dictatorship and the corrupt, and put Tunisia, its security, and its stability above all other considerations," Atwan wrote. "The tyrant has fled, the same as all other tyrants. He fled with his money and his corruption. He realised that the moment of truth had come. However, he will not find comfort in his luxury exile, and will not feel safe, because the souls of the uprising martyrs will continue to haunt him, and their blood will turn into nightmares that will deprive him of sleep even in his grave," Atwan added. In the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat George Semaan focused on the role of the Tunisian army in the revolt. In "Tunisia: the beginning or a bird singing outside the flock?" Semaan wrote that while it would be hard to predict the turn which the Tunisian crisis will take, the urgent question today in light of this fogginess and the security mayhem is whether the army would be able to contain the political process which will witness fierce competition over the inheritance of the regime. Semaan noted that there seems to be no names seeking positions within the army command and capable of managing the process, although the military institution played a major role in eventually getting Bin Ali to leave. Semaan explained that the army never played a role in political life in the past, unlike the police and the security apparatuses on whose backs President Bin Ali rode to become ruler. "Therefore, the transitory phase could be difficult, and what is important is for the military to play its role, not only in protecting the Tunisian border and soil, but also in maintaining the constitution and getting the partisan entities and civil society forces that all led this unified national uprising to organise democratic elections from which a new regime would stem," Semaan wrote. In Asharq Al-Awsat, Tariq Al-Homayed agreed that all eyes are fixed on the Tunisian army, amidst the silence of its leader, Gen Rashid Ammar, asking if it will play the same role as the Turkish army during the 1980s. "The army, which withdrew from clashes with protesters before Bin Ali fled the country, today is back on the streets to enforce security, and to confront those associated with the ousted president. What exactly is the role of the Tunisian army here? Is it following in the footsteps of the Turkish army during the 1980s?" Al-Homayed wrote that the Tunisian army has given its support to [Mohamed] Ghannouchi to form a national unity government. It is also targeting the former president's men, and has arrested Bin Ali's interior minister. The army has not revealed any political ambition as of yet, at a time when the bulk of top political figures in the Tunisian political scene are symbols of the Bin Ali era. Al-Homayed argues that if we want to know whether the Tunisian army will play the Turkish game, we will have to wait for the days ahead. "We must examine the formation of the Tunisian government, which parties are in opposition and which are excluded, in order to know what future awaits Tunisia. Yet early indications suggest that the army was a key factor in the president's departure, particularly as no political parties orchestrated the mass demonstrations, not even individual leaders."
