The opposition parties have lost their credibility as the revolution moves forward and the government refuses to budge, says Nasser Arrabyee "Saleh must leave, and opposition leaders must leave," the Yemeni young protesters were chanting late Tuesday after defected army and opposition leaders prevented them from marching to the presidential palace to force Saleh out. In the meantime, the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders were in a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh discussing a stalled deal to transfer power from the defiant Saleh in one month in return for immunity from prosecution for him and all his aides. A total of 30 persons from both the government and the opposition (15 each) are still waiting to sign the US-backed and Saudi-led deal. Publicly both sides say the deal is the best solution for their crisis, but privately each side is waiting for the events to decide the end. The young protesters are fed up with dialogue, negotiations and deals. They want only to force Saleh out of his palace. But that is not easy. Najeeb Al-Sadi is one of the first anti-Saleh protesters who set up his tent in the Change Square at the gate of Sanaa University early last February. But after more than three months, the 32-year-old Al-Sadi told Al-Ahram Weekly he is very bored and frustrated, like thousands of young people who thought at the beginning removing President Saleh would take only a few days inspired and emboldened by what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. "I'm not bored with our revolution, I'm bored and frustrated with the leaders of the opposition who did nothing but obstructed us," Al Sadi complained to the Weekly, calling himself an independent, after he resigned from the Islamist party, Islah, the largest opposition group leading the anti-Saleh protests. Al-Sadi agrees with thousands of young people like him who say the opposition leaders were behind the failure or at least the delay of the revolution. He says the opposition leaders turned "our revolution" into a crisis, and they prevented the silent majority of the people from joining the revolution. "Some leaders of the opposition are even worse than Saleh, so people ask what's the difference," Al-Sadi said. Since last Friday, those fed up and frustrated young people have been trying to make a final attempt to march on the palace, using Facebook and word-of-mouth. But the rebel military leaders are preventing this: "The soldiers of Ali Mohsen ask for a permit from the opposition committee, and this committee is only implementing the instructions of the Islah Party," another independent protester Adel Abdu told the Weekly. "Of course those who belong to parties stick to their parties' positions whether to march or not, but we just say to those who want to march 'Do it!'" said lawyer and leading protester Ameen Arrabyee, who belongs to the Islah Party. Marching to the presidential palace is a slogan often used to threaten Saleh by the protesters since February. But, it is very dangerous in an armed country like Yemen, where people understand the word to mean war. The popularity of Saleh increased when spokesman of the opposition Mohamed Qatan threatened last March they would march to the "bedroom" of President Saleh in the palace. Such a call was considered as "a big shame" by the majority of Yemenis. But independent young people still insist on marching and look at it as the only solution. "We'll do it at the end even if 10,000 of us were killed," said Al-Sadi. While protesters in the street, including the majority of the opposition party, refuse the US-backed and Saudi-led GCC deal for transferring power from Saleh in one month, the ruling party and opposition leaders still exchange accusations of foiling the last hope to avoid a possible armed confrontations. If the planned march to the palace goes ahead, "the Saleh forces would start immediately bombarding the 1st armoured division of Ali Mohsen, if it allows protesters to march forward," said a military expert close to Saleh's top military leaders. While receiving international envoys from the GCC, UN, EU, US, Russia, and China, and also sending his envoys to all of them, the defiant Saleh keeps manoeuvring. For instance, Prime Minister Ali Mujawar, Saleh's political advisor, Abdel-Karim Al-Eryani, and Vice President Abdu Rabu Hadi were sent by Saleh this week to GCC leaders, EU and US, and Turkey respectively. The embattled Saleh is also still mobilising his supporters and attacking the opposition leaders. Earlier this week, for instance, Saleh said the opposition is planning to cut hands, legs, and heads to achieve their political goals while demanding his ouster. Saleh even claimed the tongue of a poet- supporter in the capital Sanaa was cut last week. Addressing more than one million supporters, Saleh said "Cutting the tongue is only a start, then hands, legs and heads will be cut also by those extremists and terrorists," Saleh told his supporters who rallied at Sabeen Square near the presidential palace after the Friday sermon. The young poet Walid Mohamed Al-Rumaishi, was one of Saleh's supporters and he used to recite enthusiastic and fiery poems against the opposition leaders. Last Wednesday, the young-man Walid was reportedly found in a Sanaa street with his tongue cut out after he was kidnapped by gunmen believed to be bodyguards of the opposition leaders. Saleh sent the poet Walid abroad for treatment at the expense of the state. The Friday speaker for anti-Saleh protesters, Tawhib Al-Dubai, said President Saleh and his adviser Abdel-Karim Al-Eryani are Kafers, infidels, enemies of Allah. Al-Dubai likened Saleh and his adviser Al-Eryani to Pharaoh and his adviser Haman, the symbol of infidelity in the holy Quran. "We will not leave our sit-in squares even if we are crucified," said Al-Dubai, who urged the protesters to refuse the GCC plan and any initiative before Saleh steps down. Not to be outdone, the Friday speaker for Saleh's supporters in Sabeen Square, Sharaf Al-Kulaisi, rejected any compromise with the opposition. He said the word "joint" or "common, used by the Yemeni opposition coalition [joint meeting parties], was mentioned in the holy Quran only twice and in both cases it was only to mean allying for falsehood, corruption and sabotage, but not allying for truthfulness and justice.
