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By Amgad Rasmi in the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat

"It is obvious from the speech of the American President Bush to the Israeli Knesset, on the day of the Arab and Palestinian Nakba, that he was extremely careful to stress his total bias towards Israel." -- Mohamed Barakat, Al-Akhbar

"How are we expected to react if everything that emanates from the Bush administration seems designed to enrage and incense Arab public opinion?" -- Mursi Atallah, Al-Ahram

"Nobody knows exactly the size of natural gas exported [to Israel] nor the value of export contracts... the simplest rule of transparency necessitates the disclosure of such information which no official in the government wants to expose." -- Gamal Abul-Fotouh, Al-Wafd

"A settlement of the Palestinian issue is not likely, and if it ever happens it would not be fair." -- Fouad Hebeiqa, Al-Kifah Al-Arabi

"[The Knesset address] proved what Dick Cheney said, that the Israelis had never had a better friend in the White House than Bush." -- Aisha Al-Murri, Al-Ittihad

"The ball is still in the court of Arab leaders who can force Bush and other US decision-makers to reconsider their political stands... but will they ever do so?" -- Omar Helmi Ghoul, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida