Israel's aggression on Gaza was the issue of the hour, as Doaa El-Bey not surprisingly discovered Raqqan Al-Majali says the current Israeli aggression is "the acme of genocide and savagery" that aims to humiliate the Arab leaders and people. Al-Majali wrote that the Arabs received a double shock from the attack: facing the Zionist and racist vengeance embodied in the immoral and inhuman holocaust in Gaza. Secondly, they were shocked by the steadfastness and courage of Gaza. Although Gazans have limited access to weapons, they are capable of enduring the stifling blockade and they are now facing one of the world's biggest and most modern military arsenals. Meanwhile, Arab states, who pay billions of dollars to buy weapons and build armies, and who have huge populations, have not shown any support for Gaza. "The Arab person who defeated the Israeli army in Lebanon is the same person who is fighting with very limited means in Gaza. He will be able to defeat Israel by his steadfastness and ability to confront aggression," Al-Majali wrote in the Jordanian independent daily Addustour. The Omani daily Al-Watan hailed the unified stand of the peoples in the Arab and Islamic states in their denunciation of Israeli attacks against Gaza. "The steadfastness of the Palestinians before the Israeli military machine and the unprecedented Israeli encroachment on human rights and international conventions incited a strong and unified Arab and Islamic stand against Tel Aviv's aggression in the last few days," an editorial read. The editorial regarded the stand as the best response to those who claim that there is an international understanding of the motives that made Israel initiate that attack. Al-Watan criticised the European Union's deficient role which failed to show support for the Palestinians. In addition, as a signatory of the 2005 border crossings agreement, it failed to secure Rafah and guarantee the continuous and safe delivery of food and drugs to the Palestinians, especially to women and children. The editorial concluded by emphasising that in the absence of a unified and strong political will, words or limited support to the Palestinians will not boost international peace. Like Al-Watan, the Qatari daily Al-Raya hailed the worldwide popular demonstrations against the Israeli aggression. However, it underlined that it should be accompanied by strong official Arab and Islamic stands in order to force the international community to put pressure on Israel to stop its aggression against Gaza. Thus the call for holding an Arab summit is an extremely important and pressing demand at present, it said. "It is dangerous to leave the situation as it is in Gaza. If they unite, Arab states will be able to take a firm and positive stand to save their brothers in the Strip," Al-Raya wrote. The Saudi daily Al-Jezirah wrote that Israel was pursuing a strategy of complete destruction in Gaza. In a show of supremacy, it is not only aiming at Palestinian fighters but also at innocent civilians without mercy. The newspaper's editorial read that Israel has the might but the Palestinians have the right. That is, Israel has the military supremacy and the support of the decision-making states to fight Palestinians but the Palestinians have the right to defend their land and history against the Israeli aggression. "Such a right could be regained by more national unity, especially in the light of new realities, and away from any partisan divisions or ideological coups," the editorial added. Elias Harfoush wrote that judging from its attack on Lebanon in 2006, Hamas could be a winner if it faces the Israeli aggression with steadfastness. He noticed the similarity between Israel's present attack and its attack on Lebanon two years ago. The deliberate escalation of the aggression from intensive air attack to ground attack in both cases, besides the huge number of casualties, are characteristics of both aggressions. In addition, the declared objectives in both cases are the same -- to protect Israeli settlements from rockets fired from Hizbullah in Lebanon and from Hamas in Gaza. Another undeclared objective is to eliminate Hamas, but given that Israel failed to realise that objective in Lebanon concerning Hizbullah, it declined from declaring eliminating Hamas an objective of its present attack. "The current Israeli assault on Gaza partially aims to compensate the Israeli leadership for its failure in Lebanon and raise the morale of the army," Harfoush wrote in the London-based independent political daily Al-Hayat. However, if the Gaza war ends the same way as it did in Lebanon, by keeping Hamas and other activists in Gaza, Hamas would come out the winner. Hizbullah's steadfastness and ability to confront the aggression for 33 days allowed the party to have a leading role in the Lebanese political map. Likewise, Hamas's steadfastness could pay off in their struggle with Israel as well as their struggle with the Palestinian Authority.
