Children's blood

The massacre of Russian children begged answers. Rasha Saad finds a few

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"In the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles, there is no recourse for Palestinians other than to start from scratch." Hani in the London-based Al-Hayat "Somebody is having a real good time as Islamic websites for women increase." Amr Selim in Egypt's Rose El-Youssef

Columnists were appalled by the terrorist attack on the school in Ossetia which resulted in the massacre of over 300 people.

Samir Attalah wrote in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat on Monday that those responsible for the massacre are not its perpetrators, despite their inhumanity and savagery, but fake intellectuals who fill empty heads with one lesson: killings, and who portray to the world the Arab as someone who cannot eat his pie unless it is mixed with the blood of children.

Attalah advised some Arab leaders, without naming them, to ask themselves about their share of responsibility for the massacre "after preaching death and supporting the ideology of incitement as a means of national struggle and heroism. These leaders will discover that this plague will soon come to their doorstep."

The massacre in Russia caused other commentators to shed light on the whole phenomenon of terrorism in the region, bringing to the fore the kidnapping of the two French journalists in Iraq. Hazem Saghieh wrote in the London-based Al- Hayat on Monday that acts of terrorism perpetrated by Islamists are being severely criticised by Arabs and Muslims. "Yet, the horror of terrorism, particularly what the Chechens did, is too big to be confronted simply with a condemnation." According to Saghieh, statements like "they are criminals" and "Islam has nothing to do with them" are inadquate and do little to bring an end to Islamist terrorism. Nor do they establish alternatives. He noted that some of those who condemned the kidnapping of the journalists had justified their condemnation by asserting France's positive stances towards "our causes". "As if killing and kidnapping citizens of a state that does not have a positive position towards us would be alright. Saghieh added that this attitude "reflects a tribal vision of the world that fails to differentiate between peoples and rulers."

In "Islam Rejects Them", Iranian analyst Mohamed Sadiq Al- Husseini commented on the kidnappings of the Frenchmen, arguing it was an act completely forbidden by Islam. In Al-Hayat on Sunday, Al-Husseini wrote, "all kidnappings and terrorist operations carried out in Iraq are to be denounced and have nothing to do with Islam or Muslims or believers and true resistance fighters. This is all the more so in the case of the kidnapping of the French journalists by the improperly named Islamic Army."

However, Al-Husseini had reservations on calling the "organised and conscious action of violence and chaos" in Iraq "blind violence". For one, it targets independent and free Iraqis and isolates them from regional and international sympathy. Providing proof that such kidnappings do not aim at the welfare of the Iraqi people, Al-Husseini notes that this "Islamic Army" kidnapped the Iranian consul on the eve of the Najaf battle. "Now it has taken the French journalists despite France's declared opposition to the war." Al-Husseini concluded that with such actions these so-called Islamic groups "are targeting the school of religious moderation".

Lebanese newspapers continued to follow up on the controversial extension of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud's mandate which was approved by parliament on Friday. Lebanese commentators, while mostly rejecting the extension, warned of the consequences of the internationalisation of the crisis after the UN Security Council issued a resolution on Thursday condemning outside interference in the country's politics.

Perhaps the strongest rebuke came from Gobran Tweini who described the day of the vote as "black Friday". In Saturday's edition of the Lebanese daily Annahar Tweini likened the day to the Friday when Jesus Christ was crucified. "The Friday when democracy was crucified was the same day when Jesus Christ was crucified."

Tweini charged the 96 MPs who voted for amending the constitution as "contributing to the slaughter of the constitution" and hailed the 29 "men of integrity" who voted against it as "the conscience of the nation who reflect the real sentiments of all Lebanese people".

Also in Annahar on Saturday, Emile Khouri wrote that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad had consulted Lebanese politicians two months ago concerning his wish to extend Lahoud's mandate. According to Khouri, Al-Assad explained to them the critical phase that both Syria and Lebanon were passing through and which necessitated the presence of Lahoud as head of the Lebanese state. Khouri believes that Lebanese politicians misled Al-Assad on the expected reaction of the Lebanese people. "Al- Assad was eager to know the reaction in case the mandate was extended. Reactions after the extension, including the internationalising of the issue, were not expected."

In the same issue, Sarkees Naoum forecast that political confrontations between Syria and the US will continue and perhaps escalate during the coming year. He describes the confrontation as "dangerous" saying the most dangerous part "is that Lebanon will be the main arena". Naoum called on the Lebanese "to prevent the possibility of their country paying the price of confrontation or the price of a settlement if Syria reaches agreement with the US."

Naoum doubted that Syria will respond to the Security Council resolution to respect Lebanon's sovereignty. He added that if Syria succeeded in convincing China and Russia, whic abstained from the voting, to reject any additional measures to force Syria into implementing the resolution then "[this act] might lead to the US implementation of the second phase of the Syrian Accountability Act that might include the recall of ambassadors."

The odds for a dialogue between the US and Syria are, according to Naoum, diminishing because confrontation is now with the UN and because it will take the US more than a year to claim success or failure in Iraq.

Talal Salman wrote in the Lebanese daily Assafir on Saturday that the resolution is "an international guardianship of Lebanon." Salman said if it was not for the flagrant challenge which Security Council Resolution 1559 represents, protests against the extension of Lahoud's mandate would have been much louder in both the Lebanese street and in parliament.

"The Lebanese people sensed in the Security Council resolution, which is in essence American, an attempt [by Washington] to push them into a wave of civil wars, and to provoke others into helping Israel to achieve goals it was unable to achieve alone."

In the same paper Joseph Samaha wrote on Friday that from its experience in Iraq, the US knew that disagreement with Saddam does not necessarily mean agreement with occupation. In the same vein, "the Lebanese people might not receive the extension of Lahoud's mandate with flowers but they feel worse about US policy."