TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002921

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TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO XF KU MEDIA REACTION

SUBJECT: TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND
AMERICA

Block Quotes
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Saturday, July 22, 2006

-- "Lebanon and the Voices of the Dignity Guards" was Mona Al-Ayaf's
piece in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (7/22):

"'For what' is the question that must be answered by all political
parties, associations, and organizations that practice politics
under the cloak of Islam. They lead the innocent into bloody
battles in the name of Islam. These battles consume countries and
people while the dictatorial regimes and those calling for Arab
dignity raise their voices with blessings and cheers for them."

-- Jaber Mohamed Al-Hajri penned in "Israeli Terrorism" in
progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (7/22):

"I do not support discussing whether Hezbollah was right or wrong
for abducting the two Israeli soldiers. I am a strong believer that
Israel is the snake that injects its poisons at every moment into
Palestine. What it does to children, women, and unarmed civilians
there makes us support what the Islamic resistance in Lebanon is
doing."

-- "Open War" was the title of Dr. Abdul Mohsen Yousef Jamal's
commentary in progressive Arabic daily Al-Qabas (7/22):

"A result of the Zionist-American war on Lebanon is a change in the
balance of power and the Arab political landscape. The war has
revealed the phony media that has portrayed the Israeli army as an
undefeatable one. It has been two weeks and they have been unable
to fight Hezbollah.... This war has revealed that the world is run
by Zionists, especially the American administration. Bush has
become nothing more than a spokesperson for them."

-- In "Lebanon's War and Hezbollah's Weapons" Political Science
professor Dr. Shafiq Nazem Al-Ghabra editorialized in moderate
Arabic daily Al-Rai Al-Aam(7/22):

"The question remains, who is responsible for what is happening in
Lebanon? It is difficult to put Hezbollah in the same category as
Israel, since Israel is a big power that occupies Arab and
Palestinian lands and destroys all as it leaves that land.
Hezbollah, on the other hand, is a power that successfully removed
Israel from southern Lebanon. But, it is commonly known that every
resistance movement turns into something else after liberation."

-- In "Premeditated Plan, Not Reaction" Liberal columnist Ahmed
Al-Deyyain stated in moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai Al-Aam (7/22):

"After all that has taken place it would be naove to think that
Israel's objective is the release of its soldiers abducted by
Hezbollah and HAMAS.... It is widely believed that Hezbollah and
HAMAS gave Israel reason to launch its offensive. This might be true
on the surface, but the intensity of the attacks makes this argument
irrational."

-- "The Losers" was the title of Dr. Sami Nasser Khalifa's piece in
moderate Arabic daily Al-Rai Al-Aam (7/22):

"It has become clear that the Zionist occupation is unable to defeat
the heroic Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah. The evidence of
this is that since the beginning of the Zionist offensive and until
now we have not heard of the targeting of a group of Hezbollah
fighters or the destruction of any of their military hardware. All
we see is the targeting of the innocent Lebanese, their residence
and their land, which means that the Zionists lost the battle from
the start."

-- "The Resistance, Israel, and the United States" is the title of
Mubarak Bin Shafi Al-Hajri in the moderate Arabic daily Al-Watan
(7/22):

"Israel and the successive administrations in Washington claim that
the reason for using such force is the presence of terrorist parties
and groups in the region. They also claim that the force used gains
its legitimacy from the universal fight against terrorism."

-- "The War in Lebanon, to Where?" is Kuwait University Political
Science Professor Dr. Abdullah Khalifa Al-Shaijy's piece in moderate
Arabic daily Al-Watan in which he commented (7/22):


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"What is strange is the world's silence to the point of acquiescence
toward the genocidal war in Lebanon. A war that is broadcast on
television screens everywhere and is watched by the United Nation,
Washington, Europe, and the Arab World. Everyone is standing still,
not exerting the minimal efforts to call upon the Zionist war and
destruction machine to stop at once."

-- "Phony Prayers" was the title of Ahmed Al-Baghdadi's piece in
pro-government daily Al-Seyassah (7/22):

"The American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized while
receiving the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir that she is praying
for the Lebanese people who are under siege.... Ms. Secretary, those
who pray to God must be a believer and cannot take innocent human
life for granted. Your American government takes for granted the
killing of Lebanese in cold blood and without any feelings of guilt
towards human innocence."