TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002921 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, NEA/PA, NEA/AIA, NEA/PI, INR/NESA, R/MR, I/GNEA, B/BXN, B/BRN, NEA/PPD, NEA/IPA LONDON FOR TSOU PARIS FOR ZEYA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO XF KU MEDIA REACTION SUBJECT: TFLE01: KUWAIT MEDIA REACTION - LEBANON, ISRAEL, AND AMERICA Block Quotes -------------- 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): KUWAIT 00002921 002 OF 002 "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."