Writers showed disapproval over Hizbullah's forceful entry into Beirut's Rafiq Al-Hariri International Airport and opening the VIP lounge without prior official permission to welcome former general security department chief Jamil Al-Sayed. It was described by some newspapers as "an invasion of the airport". The editorial of the Saudi daily Al-Watan described Hizbullah's act as a reflection of the militia nature of the sectarian party which wants to impose its Iranian-influenced autocratic regime on Lebanon. "The unwise behaviour of Hizbullah was not strange. Ever since 2006, the party has treated the Lebanese state as a tool to achieve its goals and its supporters have proven they are not up to the responsibility of maintaining security and stability in Lebanon," the edit read. It has been proven, beyond doubt, that the extremist party does not believe in democracy, a national unity government or Lebanese consensus, the edit added. It has also been proven that the aim of the party militia is not to resist the enemy, but to weaken the state and control the internal as well as external Lebanese policies. Thus the edit called on regional and international powers to think of ways to get rid of that "evil party that wants to impose its own policies by force". Bassem Sakahja wondered if what happened in the airport was not a political civil war, then what does a civil war look like? "Hizbullah invaded the airport in a clear message that the party is above the law. Al-Sayed used very provocative language against the prime minister, whose group responded in a similar manner," Sakahja wrote in the Jordanian independent political daily Addustour. In addition, Michel Aoun pointed to a possible full control of Lebanon, of course, using Hizbullah weapons, while the Sunni parties are uniting their ranks against what they call a sectarian strife launched by the Shia. But what the writer found amazing is that every party thinks it is right: Al-Hariri wants his father's killer(s) to be punished, Al-Sayed wants to avenge his unfair imprisonment for five years and Hizbullah is trying to allegedly combat a hatched conspiracy. Aoun expected the coming winter to be very hot for the people as well as the state. Writers were still reacting to the call by the American bishop Terry Jones to burn copies of the holy Quran. Ali Obaid decided to thank Jones for his call because it allowed us to hear many official and unofficial voices that described his call as crazy and aimed at igniting sectarian strife in the wrong time and place. "The clear denunciation of Jones's call by many US religious leaders, men of thought and secularists came to prove how peculiar his call is," Obaid wrote in the United Arab Emirates comprehensive daily Al-Bayan. Obaid concluded by thanking Jones and wishing that the voice of sane people would always be louder than that of the crazies who call for fire. Writers predicted that the direct Palestinian-Israeli negotiations would soon hit a hard wall as there was no sign that the Israeli government would extend its freeze on settlement building due to end on the 26th of the month. Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority linked a freeze on settlement building to negotiations. Sameh Shabib wrote that after a few days the freeze period on settlement building would end and the likely resumption of settlement building would ruin direct negotiations. The US, Israel and the Palestinians are trying to come up with ideas that would spare them that dilemma. In fact, Shabib explained in the Palestinian independent political daily Al-Ayyam the current government is not capable of extending the freeze period because it is a coalition government of three parties: Likud, Shas and Israel Beiteinu which received a vote of confidence from the Knesset on the basis of its programme that included settlement building as one of its items. "Thus, it is not likely that 26 September would bring us good news: another freeze of a halt to settlement building," he stated. Shabib predicted this would constitute a serious obstacle before direct negotiations and may lead to freezing its sessions. In addition, it may lead to a new crisis among the parties in the Israeli government which would appear as another obstacle before peace. "Could that lead to the fall of that government?" The Qatari daily Al-Raya wrote that as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is about to deliver a speech before the UN General Assembly on the 25th of this month on the political developments after the start of direct negotiations, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman came out with another racist theory that is likely to ruin the basic principle of negotiations -- exchanging land for peace. He called for "exchanging land and people", hinting at the Palestinian people who stayed in their lands after the declaration of Israel in 1948 and who represent 20 per cent of the Israeli population. "Lieberman's call can only be described as a call for racial separation or ethnic cleansing that paved the way for forcing 1948 Palestinians to leave their villages. That is likely to bring more violence, instability and wars in the region," the edit read. Haitham Saleh wrote the picture showing Clinton holding hands with Shimon Peres reaffirmed the nature of US- Israeli relations which have not changed for the last six decades. Ever since the establishment of the Zionist entity, Saleh explained, the consecutive US administrations held Tel Aviv's hand and rooted it in Palestinian land. The picture also showed that the right time has come for Israel to use the same US hand to press on the Palestinians to take the track they chose for them without giving any guarantees, making any concessions or giving up any of the conditions Tel Aviv put including recognising Israel as a Zionist state, acknowledging Jerusalem as the eternal capital of Israel, building more settlements and usurping more Palestinian land. In spite of all these conditions, Saleh wondered how the Palestinian negotiator could remain hopeful and optimistic that the negotiations would deliver. If he is optimistic because the Palestinian flag was hoisted in Netanyahu's place, the head of the PA is addressed as "Mr President", or the handshake, how could he remain optimistic when Israel declared that it would resume building more settlements after the end of the claimed 10-month freeze on settlement building? "The longer the negotiations last, the more concessions the Palestinians make and the more the outcome is catastrophic. There is no way out except by holding on to their rights, uniting their ranks and recruiting all their power to create a force capable of recapturing their rights rather than begging for them," Saleh wrote in the Syrian political daily Tishreen. Ghassan Zaqtan talks about other obstacles to peace in Al-Ayyam. He assumed for the sake of argument that Israel decided to give up Palestinian land and leave the region. He expected that "we have to prepare ourselves for long decades of negotiations between the West Bank authority and the Gaza emirate on how to divide the spoils left by the previous empire. We will find ourselves bogged down in direct and indirect negotiations, mediation, etc, Zaqtan satirically concluded.
