So new

With Lebanese parliamentary elections due, the country is witnessing a new political beginning, writes Rasha Saad

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Lebanese commentators say the upcoming elections in their country is not a goal in itself but a tunnel in which is passing through a new phase in their political history.

"A phase that is totally different to what the Lebanese were accustomed to during the Syrian power era," as described by Talal Salman, editor-in-chief of the Lebanese As-Safir newspaper.

Many commentators also focussed on the struggle between Lebanon's nationalist and sectarian movements.

Hazem Saghieh wrote in the daily London-based Al-Hayat newspaper, "today, the Lebanese people are experiencing a moment of equilibrium between sectarianism and nationalism," with "the first expanding into the second."

Saghieh added the most significant achievement of the past two months was not the withdrawal of Syrian troops and their intelligence apparatus but the metamorphose of Lebanese nationalism into a mainstream awareness.

"The total alignment under the Lebanese flag, including Hizbullah, the slogans and national acclamations are proof that politics has recuperated internally," he wrote.

However, Abdullah Iskandar was less optimistic. According to Iskandar, the Lebanese missed the chance, which huge local and regional developments offered, and wasted, once again, the opportunity to reconstruct the country. In "The wasted opportunity" Iskandar wrote in Al-Hayat that especially following the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Al- Hariri, consensus by the Lebanese people reached unprecedented levels, so much so that the first month marking his death turned into a benchmark for reconstructing a country.

However, Iskandar proceeded, when the time came for this reconstruction, through legislative elections, held for the first time since the end of the war and the Taif Accord, without any direct Syrian military presence, it became clear that the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, the international investigation into the assassination of Al-Hariri and the holding of elections, all were in fact expressions of rejecting the components of such consensus. "Consequently, when the elections campaign reaches its final days, each side will seek to increase his piece of the cake."

Iskandar laments that the slogans of freedom and equality that were brandished throughout the past period and were due to lay the foundations of a nation no longer exists, and that the "Intifada of Independence" has swiftly evaporated. The dawn of a democracy spreading over the region was curtailed and the changes people could make were abandoned.

Also in Al-Hayat Dawoud Al-Shirian commented on the Syrian government's agreement with the PR company New Bridge Strategies "to improve its image in the American society, persuade President George W Bush that it seeks good relations with his administration and is willing to be extremely flexible in its cooperation with the White House."

Al-Shirian wrote, "it is strange for some Arab regimes to ignore the fact that gaining their peoples' favour is the easiest way to gain others."

"New Syria can only improve its image by implementing radical changes of no less importance than the withdrawal from Lebanon." He argued that Damascus does not suffer from a communication breakdown with Washington or any other Western capital but does suffer "from the legacy of a long since gone political era".

Al-Shirian wrote that the image-improving contract which Syria signed with New Bridges would cost not less than a couple of million dollars. "The Syrian government should have invested this amount in Syria itself." Al-Shirian said the regime believed its problems were nothing more than a few false impressions, that its salvation depended on escaping US and international pressure, not on fulfilling popular demands and implementing internal reforms.

The surprise visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Iraq on Monday captured the attention of Arab writers who wondered about the reasons behind the unscheduled visit and found in it an opportunity to criticise the deteriorating situation in Iraq.

The Jordanian Ad-Dostour questioned what kind of support could Rice offer the Iraqis. The paper speculated that the US administration may be trying to renew its commitment to help the Iraqi leadership impose itself on Iraqis and put an end to the attacks which have taken the lives of hundreds. The paper also speculated that the visit could be a message from Rice to the Americans that she is putting her life at risk to check on the welfare of her GI sons. However, the newspaper believes that neither of these two reasons will change the bleak reality which Iraq is in.

Abdel-Bari Atwan wrote in the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi that the aim of Rice's visit was obviously a strong vote of confidence to the government of Ibrahim Al-Jaafari. However, Atwan said the secrecy and the very tight security measures which surrounded the visit "shows the unusual challenges facing the government of Al-Jaafari and all those who are involved in the political process in Iraq."

Commenting on a comprehensive social survey conducted by the Iraqi Planning Ministry in coordination with the UN on the status of Iraqis two years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the Saudi newspaper Al-Watan said the survey showed that the living standards of Iraqis has gone from bad to worse. It found that the percentage of men capable of working and the number of Iraqis who enroll in schools have fallen sharply. Moreover, the paper said, the percentage of Iraqis benefiting from basic services such as medicine, clean drinking water and a sewage system have also fallen drastically.

"What can the Bush administration say to the Iraqis and the world to justify this tragedy?" the paper asked. "Can it still talk about the model of democracy that will be built in Iraq and should be exported to the countries of the region, or will it listen to the voice of reason and get its hands off Iraq, leaving its people to reconstruct their country the same way they did decades before in Vietnam?"

In "Iraq yesterday and today... no difference", Aicha Sultan asked readers in the United Arab Emirates' Al-Bayan whether they found a big difference between the rule of Saddam and that of the Americans. The writer wrote that it took decades to oust Saddam and it will take them not less than that to take out the Americans. In a quick comparison, Sultan also asked her readers to see how many Iraqis were killed during the Saddam years and how many were killed since US troops invaded Iraq, how many cities are now in ruins and how many mosques have been destroyed.