Bottom lines

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The Jimmy Carter spotlight. By Ali Khalil in the UAE daily Al-Khaleej

"The social contract between citizens and the state is in need of a redefinition: the role of the rich, the rights of the poor, and the responsibility of the state." -- Lamees El-Hadidi, Al-Alam Al-Yom

"The era of cheap food is gone." -- Makram Mohamed Ahmed, Al-Ahram

"The emergency law has become part and parcel of the regime's behavioural pattern it adopts towards society." -- Fahmy Howeidy, Al-Dostour

"Israelis differ on numerous things, but they all agree on carrying on their settlement policy, judaising Jerusalem by building more settlements and imposing a de facto situation on Arab and international parties." -- Al-Quds

"The Abbas-Olmert meeting is a mere farewell party between a man who spent his life in quest of peace for his people and another seeking to reach an agreement at the end of his political life, but failed to seize the right moment." -- Hazem Mubyadein, Al-Rai

"Thus the crisis ended with a winner and a loser. The former was the whole of Lebanon and the latter was sectarian strife." -- Edmond Saab, An-Nahar