Egypt tries to stabilize the boat
Lebanon fears civil war following Beirut car bomb, and a controversial newspaper editor calls it a day
Elhanan Miller is the former Arab affairs reporter for The Times of Israel
The announcement of Egypt’s new prime minister leads the news in Arab media on Wednesday, as the country received billions of dollars in aid from Arab monarchies in the Gulf.
“Egypt: 5 billion dollars from Saudi Arabia and 3 billion from the Emirates,” reads the headline of London-based daily Al-Hayat, reporting on “positive indications of growing support given to the new regime in Egypt.” The daily features a photo of Egypt’s new prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi (a former Egyptian finance minister), sitting next to President Adly Mansour.
“The new Egypt is formed and the aid flows in,” reads the jubilant headline of independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm. According to the daily, three deputies will be appointed for the new prime minister: one for internal security, one for economic matters, and one for social outreach. The remaining ministerial positions will remained unchanged in Beblawi’s new government.
On Monday, President Mansour issued a constitutional proclamation calling for parliamentary elections within six months, followed closely by presidential elections. The new roadmap for Egypt is supposed to end the transitional period Egypt is currently experiencing by the end of April 2014.
According to Saudi daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat, the army has warned political forces against torpedoing the constitutional proclamation, hinting at the opposition Salvation Front (headed by Mohamed ElBaradei) which at first declared the proclamation “illegal” but later retracted its comments.
Meanwhile, pro-Brotherhood Qatari news channel Al-Jazeera dedicates an article on its website to pro-Morsi rallies taking place in Cairo and in Alexandria. According to the station’s reporter, entire families have moved to the Rabia al-Adawiya square in Cairo with their belongings, indicating their intention to remain there for a long while.
Pro-Morsi demonstrations also took place in the Nile delta city of Mansoura, and in Fayoum, south of Cairo.
“Could the deposed president return?” wonders A-Sharq Al-Awsat columnist Abdul Rahman Rashed, answering that even Morsi’s supporters know that his return is impossible.
“Through their protests in demanding his return they wish to assert what they consider to be their presidential right, and present themselves as victims of political expediency. They also want to make their rivals pay a high price.”
According to Rashed, the Brotherhood now faces three choices: to join the political game under a new brand name such as “Independent Brotherhood” or “Youth” so as not to seem like collaborators with the coup; to hinder political life through protracted demonstrations; or, in the worst case scenario, to take up violence as the defeated Islamists did in Algeria.
“The leaders of the Egyptian Brotherhood know that the third option is the worst, because it will unite their rivals and justify increased persecution of their leaders by the army,” writes Rashed.
A bomb goes off in the heart of Beirut
The explosion of a car bomb in a Hezbollah-dominated neighborhood of Beirut on Tuesday has strained the already feeble political fabric of Lebanon, making major headlines in Arabic media Wednesday.
According to Saudi-owned news channel Elaph, many Lebanese citizens fear the eruption of sectarian Sunni-Shiite strife amid “The return of the explosions.”
In Beirut’s Dahieh neighborhood, citizens welcomed interior minister Marwan Cherbel with stones as he visited the site of the explosion. Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya reports that Hezbollah activists prevented journalists from covering the event.
“Fear for Lebanon,” reads the headline of an op-ed by Al-Hayat columnist Randa Takieddine.
“The biggest mistake is Hezbollah’s continued participation in fighting on Syrian land. It will bring a catastrophe to Lebanon and exasperate the Sunni-Shiite tension which is growing more dangerous day by day. Foreign visitors to Lebanon say that no one wants a civil war in Lebanon. This may be true, but everyone’s actions indicate otherwise,” writes Takieddine.
A controversial editor says goodbye
The firebrand editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Abdel Bari Atwan, announced his resignation from the daily which he managed since 1989 in a surprise goodbye op-ed on Wednesday.
“There is nothing more difficult for a man than saying goodbye to his beloved readers, especially for a writer like me who was always loyal to them throughout my journalistic voyage which lasted nearly a quarter century,” writes Atwan.
“Today I end my position as editor-in-chief of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, the newspaper I am proud to say waged fierce battles against occupations and foreign domination and corrupt oppressive dictatorships. It always stood on the side of the oppressed an downtrodden.”
“I have received death threats from Arab and Western and Israeli police states, and waged a fierce battle against supporters of the Zionist lobby in Europe and the US, before the US prevented me from visiting it. They all have tried and continue to try to defame me and silence my voice … one of the Israeli press attaches even boasted once in an interview with the British Jewish newspaper Jewish Chronicle that one of his main achievements in London was reducing my appearances on famous channels such as CNN, BBC and Sky News as an expert on Middle Eastern affairs. This is the highest and only badge of honor I received in my life.”
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