The situation in Gaza will never lead to peace, writes Rasha Saad Headlines warned of a near humanitarian crisis as Gaza city plunged into darkness and the territory's only electricity plant was shut down after an Israeli border closure blocked shipments of fuel. "Blackout in Gaza and a looming humanitarian crisis" wrote the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. As photos were published of Palestinian children in Gaza holding candles in panic, and other infants crying on the beds of hospitals, health officials were quoted as warning that hospital generators were running out of fuel. And with Israel sealing off all crossings into Gaza since last week, representatives of International food aid agencies, which most Gaza residents rely on, were also quoted as saying that aid may be suspended by the week's end if the closures continue because of a shortage of fuel and plastic bags used to pack food. Abdul-Bari Atwan called the situation in Gaza "a holocaust." He wrote in Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the Gaza Strip is already a big prison with a million and a half detainees, half of which are children under the age of 16. "Now that Ehud Olmert has sealed all crossings, and the city is running out fuel, gas, medicine and food, Gaza has turned into a one big gas oven more devastating and more criminal than that of the Nazis," Atwan said. The Jordanian Al-Dostour wrote, "Gaza got rid of the Israeli occupation to find itself now drowning in the quagmire of inter-Palestinian rifts and still under the Israeli firing machine which has not spared a tree or human." The Palestinian issue was also the focus of Arab pundits in their assessment of US President Bush's tour of the Middle East. In the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat Ahmed Maher, former foreign minister of Egypt, wrote that President Bush has not understood the essence of the Palestinian issue which he decided to handle after a great deal of hesitation. According to Maher, the core of the problem is the continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, land and life, and its insistence on usurping the greatest possible part of the Palestinian people's rights. This is based, continues Maher, on a racist and aggressive philosophy and relentless US support even in the most atrocious practices that reflect a disregard for human life and of all the foundations in international relations after the end of Nazism and the ratification of the UN Charter. Maher believes it odd that all these practices have accompanied every stage of Bush's tour. "Not a single day has passed without an Israeli incursion; raids against civilians in their homes, streets, and cars; and casualties suffered by men, women and children. All this without the US visitors uttering a word or shedding a tear, like the tears we see whenever there is talk about the holocaust, which happened more than 60 years ago, while these massacres constitute part of a tour that we have been told aims at laying down a new beginning for a peace process," wrote Maher. Patrick Seale agrees. In his article in the London-based daily Al-Hayat entitled "The political bankruptcy of George W Bush" Seale wrote that Bush's recent Middle East tour was a unique opportunity to restore his country's prestige and that of his own reputation by making a decisive contribution to regional peace and security. But, according to Seale, Bush threw it away with the stubborn wrong-headedness which has been the hallmark of his two terms in office. "In Israel and the Palestinian territories, Bush's message was muddled and muted when it should have been clear and strong. It is highly doubtful that he has advanced the cause of Israeli-Palestinian peace," wrote Seale. Seale explained that everyone knows that, if left to themselves, Israel and the Palestinians will never make peace. The reason is simple: As the stronger party, Israel sees no immediate need for peace. More land is what it wants. Seale argued that only an American president has the power to say stop. "Only an American president can say to Israel: 'Content yourself with your 1967 borders; share Jerusalem with the Palestinians; put an end once and for all to your relentless occupation and settlement; and negotiate an immediate long- term truce with both Hamas and Hizbullah, together with an exchange of prisoners,'" Seale wrote. Bush's anti-Iran campaign launched during his visit to the Gulf was also criticised. "In the minds of the locals, the US -- not Iran -- is the aggressive intruder in the Gulf. It is the US -- not Iran -- which has smashed Iraq, releasing sectarian Sunni-Shia demons and overturning the regional balance of power," wrote Seale. Seale contends that the Gulf states want to live in peace with Iran and to trade with it as they have done for centuries. He explains that many of the leading merchant families in the Arab Gulf states are of Iranian origin, that there are half a million Iranians living in Dubai and 25 daily flights between Dubai and Iran. "Bush's attempts to pressure the Gulf states into severing their trade and financial ties with Iran is both unwelcome and unrealistic," Seale concludes. Kuwait's former minister of information and culture Saad bin Tefla echoed the same view in an article in Asharq Al-Awsat. Tefla wrote that Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed Al-Sabah paid a visit to Tehran before Bush ended his historic visit to the Gulf. The visit was followed by positive statements from both Kuwait and Iran including news about reaching an agreement demarcating the continental shelf border between the two countries, and another agreement by which Kuwait would obtain water and gas from Iran. Tefla points out that it was true that the Kuwaiti foreign minister's visit to Tehran had been scheduled beforehand but it was also linked to Bush's regional tour. For Tefla, the visit was a clear message that said: We act in accordance with our interests in the region, which might not always agree with US interests. We also do not agree with you on escalating the confrontation with Iran, besieging it and boycotting it.
