Iraqi support for Assad infuriates Arab neighbors

The regime of Bashar Assad has accepted the proposal of international envoy Kofi Annan to stop its onslaught against opposition rebels, but on Tuesday the key word in Arab press is “doubt.”

The headline of liberal daily Al-Hayat reads: “Damascus sets April 10 for ceasefire, amid international doubt.” A photo of a group of women in the outskirts of Damascus welcoming an opposition fighter waving a rifle accompanies the article.

According to Al-Hayat, dipomats in the UN welcomed Assad’s commitment to hold his fire “with a mixture of welcome and doubt.” A-Sharq Al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned daily published in London, is less generous with Assad, calling the international community “skeptical” towards the Syrian promise.

According to the daily’s headline, “the Assad regime teeters as a result of international pressure.” The article itself, however, provides no evidence of the waning power of the Assad regime. Perhaps this is just another case of Saudi wishful thinking toward Syria.

Days after Baghdad summit, Arabs turn on Iraq

A-Sharq Al-Awsat editor Tareq Homayed lashes out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki for his position on Syria and for belittling Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

In a scathing editorial titled “Place sanctions on Nuri Al-Maliki,” Homayed explains why Maliki’s statements prove that “the current Iraqi government cannot be trusted under any circumstance.” He is infuriated by the fact the Maliki questioned the wisdom of regime change in Syria and mockingly referred to Saudi Arabia and Qatar as “those two countries.”

Attacking the fickleness of Maliki, having kept quiet until after the Arab summit in Baghdad, Homayed goes so far as to blame Maliki, a Shiite, for religiously cleansing Iraq of Sunni Muslims for the benefit of Iran.

“What connects the Baghdad government and Assad other than sectarianism, unfortunately?” he writes.

The bottom line of Homayed’s editorial is a call for action.

“There is no choice but to boycott Maliki himself, and not Iraq. Gulf states must boycott Maliki and his government… boycott him so as not to allow the emergence of a new Saddam, or another Assad.”

This unusual editorial in Saudi Arabia’s mouthpiece should be regarded as a solid indicator of a deep political crisis between Arab Gulf States and the current Iraqi government, viewed as aligned with a Shiite axis led by Iran.

Qatar has decided to harbor Iraq’s deputy prime minister Tareq Al-Hashimi who is charged by Baghdad for aiding and abetting terrorist acts against Shiites in Iraq. Al-Hayat columnist Elias Harfoush writes on Tuesday that “from now on, Iraq’s relations with its Arab neighbors will have a different quality.”

Like Homayed, he too attacks Maliki’s duplicitous position on Iraq.

“Nuri Al-Maliki, who inherited a [Baath] regime the likes of which exists only in Syria, sees no fault in defending that regime, asserting that ‘it did not fall, it will not fall and why should it fall?'”

Coptic church withdraws from Egypt’s constitutional assembly

Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera reports on Tuesday that the Orthodox Coptic church has announced its resignation from the assembly tasked with drafting a new Egyptian constitution ahead of presidential elections set for May. According to a statement issued by the church, there was “no use” in its participation, considering the overwhelming Islamist monopoly in the assembly.

Meanwhile, Al-Hayat columnist Hazem Saghiya attacks the Muslim Brotherhood for going back on its promise not to field a presidential candidate.

“This is not the first time they renege on a promise within a very short time,” he writes, providing a number of recent examples. “When the ‘Brotherhood’ does not fulfill its promises, they strengthen the many legitimate doubts about what they say and do, and about what they do not say and do not do.”

Al-Quds Al-Arabi, an Arab nationalist daily published in London, reports rumors of a deal between the military establishment and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Both Islamists and liberals in Egypt are upset with the candidacy of Khairat Shater, for different reasons. The liberals are fearful of an Islamist takeover, while Islamists are worried about splitting the vote between a number of Islamist candidates.

Jordan excludes Palestinian refugees from Syria

In its top story Tuesday, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports that Jordan is treating Palestinian refugees entering the country from Syria differently from regular Syrian nationals. Reporter Bassam Badarin writes that 95,000 refugees have reportedly entered the Hashemite kingdom from Syria, but that “original” Syrians are treated preferentially compared to Palestinians.

“The ‘original’ Syrian refugee is pampered and can leave the refugee camp at will… they get five star treatment … which is denied from dozens of refugees carrying Palestinian ID cards, who were unlucky enough to leave Syria for the same reasons.”