Will he or will he not? As the world ponders whether Mahmoud Abbas will run in January's elections, China-Africa cooperation showed more certainty. Doaa El-Bey reviews the issues, the clear and not so clear While Germans were celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Palestinian activists were being hailed for making another hole in the apartheid wall in the West Bank, the second time this week. The editorial of the London-based independent political daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi praised the success of the activists in breaking another piece in the racist wall built by the Israeli authorities. It said this could be the first step towards its fall and the fall of the state that built it, replacing it with another democratic and fair state under which all religions can live in peace with no discrimination. Israelis believe they could be more secure behind the wall because they still believe in ghettos. But, the edit added, all walls that were built for such purpose did not protect those who built it. Although the balance of power is tilting towards Israel at present because it possesses a huge arsenal of American weapons, it failed to impose its will on the ground either in Lebanon in 2006 or in Gaza at the beginning of the year. In addition, the edit said, Palestinians who possess a strong will and firm determination to recapture their occupied lands will be able to break the apartheid wall by hook or crook. "The annexation wall will eventually fall like the Berlin Wall. And like the Germans, we will celebrate the end of Israeli racism and the establishment of genuine justice, equality, coexistence and democracy," the edit predicted. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's declaration that he would not run for the elections in January was met with surprise. Some observers believe nobody can resolve the Palestinian issue except Abbas. Saleh Al-Qallab asked what the Arabs would do if Abbas insisted on not running. Would they come out of their state of indifference and try to persuade the US that leaving Israel to act in the manner it pleases is not only unacceptable to the Arabs but also exposes US interests in the region to major danger? Al-Qallab wished that the meeting of an Arab monitoring committee which consists of 16 states and which is likely to be held soon, would not only call on Abbas to reconsider but also tell the US that its hazy stand will push the Middle East towards extremism and terrorism. He warned against believing the US argument that Israeli Prime Minster Binyamin Netanyahu promised behind closed doors to stop settlement building including the so-called natural growth settlements but did not want to openly declare so for fear of the fall of his government. Washington also argues that it does not want the present government to fall for fear that the next government could be worse. If the US is serious in its commitment to stop the Middle East from becoming a victim of terrorism and extremism, Al-Qallab wrote, it should push Netanyahu to abide by his commitments to peace, as it did with his predecessor Yitzhak Shamir when it forced him to attend the 1991 Madrid conference. "The problem is not whether Abbas will run for the elections, but in the Israeli government which does not want peace. It is trying to postpone negotiations for as long as possible to waste time," Al-Qallab wrote in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds. Hassan Khidr regarded Abbas's declaration, which was accompanied by criticism of Israel and the US as a sign that he is pessimistic and bored of procrastination, as an indication that the negotiations had reached a deadlock. The US is not serious in taking a more objective stand on the issue and the Israelis are not willing to reach a solution that meets the minimum Palestinian demands. In the independent Palestinian political daily Al-Ayyam Khidr reached a few conclusions: we will not be able to reach a final resolution with Israel, with violence or without, except through negotiations. Rejecting US mediation would be a gift to the Israelis who are against the two-state solution. Instead, the writer suggested, we should maintain a positive relationship. Third, which Khidr described as a personal matter, he would vote for Abbas if he decided to run for the elections, not because he is a genius leader, unique fighter or wise ruler, but because he is not a megalomaniac. The penetration of the group called Al-Houthi into Saudi territory was firmly confronted. The editorial of the Saudi daily Al-Riyadh stated that the Saudi fight with Al-Houthi was on more than one front. The fight is not about those who managed to control a few kilometres of mountains or cross the Saudi border but against those who are trying to establish pockets for Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. They also aim to smuggle drugs into the monarchy. Whoever understands the present environment in the Arab world will realise how conflict centres were created in Sudan, Somalia and Iraq. But the attempts by some groups to create similar centres in Saudi Arabia and Yemen were met by internal and external obstacles. Domestically, they do not have the resources to finance them, like opium in Afghanistan whereas externally, it is not possible for them to get air or sea support. "They are a group of prowlers who committed a strategic mistake by involving themselves in a fight with two professional armies in Saudi Arabia and Yemen," the edit described the group. Jameel Al-Zayabi wrote that both Saudi Arabia and Yemen declared they would vanquish Al-Houthi and whoever supports them with money, weapons or ammunition. However, he asked about the real power of the group and how weapons are smuggled to it from Iran and how Yemen cannot stop these weapons from reaching their target. Although the result of the conflict is a forgone conclusion in favour of Saudi Arabia, Al-Houthi can still wage a guerrilla war against Riyadh because it is launching a proxy war on behalf of Iran. Saudi Arabia tried before to prevent skirmishes with Iran. But when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for turning the pilgrimage season into a season of misleading political slogans and conflicts, he forced Riyadh to engage in a military uprising to secure its borders with Yemen. "Saudi Arabia would come out victorious from such a battle. It would strike Al-Houthi, Al-Qaeda and whoever supports them. But Yemen should apply stricter security measures to control the smuggle of weapons to these extremist groups that work according to a regional agenda," Al-Zayabi summed up in the London-based independent political daily Al-Hayat.
