Arab anger at their governments grow
By NADIA ABOU EL-MAGD, Associated Press WriterMon Aug 7, 3:48 AM ET
As their anger against Israel and America swells, protesters across the Middle East are also increasingly venting their frustration at their Arab rulers, especially in moderate countries whose governments have been reliable U.S. allies.
Nearly four weeks of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel have aggravated a summer of discontent over the bloodshed in Iraq, stalled democratic reforms and price increases. Angry at their governments, demonstrators are praising a new hero: Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
"The whole region has been engulfed in anger since the war on Iraq more than three years ago," said Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian analyst with the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. "The frustration is just huge."
The rising resentment is weighing heavily on Arab leaders as their foreign ministers gather in Beirut on Monday for an emergency meeting. Moderates like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia may want a halt to the fighting, but they can't be seen as backing a U.S.-promoted cease-fire plan that Hezbollah has depicted as a surrender.
Even more worrisome for Arab leaders is the possibility violence may turn on them. On Saturday, al-Qaida announced that an Egyptian militant group had joined the terror network. While the group denied it, many fear that public anger could nonetheless boost militants around the region.
Demonstrators have denounced leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia for blaming Hezbollah — sometimes implicitly, sometimes overtly — for starting the fighting by snatching two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid.
Three straight days of protests broke out last week among the normally quiet Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia, where demonstrations are rare, though protesters were cautious not to criticize the ruling family. Hundreds of Shiites waved posters of Nasrallah, chanting "Oh Nasrallah; oh beloved one; destroy, destroy Tel Aviv."
Cairo has seen nearly daily demonstrations against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for what protesters see as his failure to support Hezbollah. On Sunday, demonstrators held up a poster of Mubarak with a Star of David on his forehead, labeling him "the enemy of the Egyptian people."
Last week, more than 1,000 protesters rallied in downtown Cairo, burning Israeli and American flags. "Arab majesties, excellencies and highnesses, we spit on you," one banner read.
Similar protests have erupted in Jordan and Kuwait, where anti-U.S. demonstrations are rare.
Lebanon may be the spark, but there's plenty of tinder for the discontent, particularly the situation in Iraq and domestic economic strains.
Iraq's unity government has been unable to curb mounting sectarian violence since it took power in May. A U.N. report said that nearly 6,000 civilians were killed across Iraq in May and June.
Late last month, the Egyptian government reduced subsidies on gas, and the price at the pump jumped 30 percent from 65 to 84 cents a gallon. Subway fares went up from 13 cents to 17. The hikes angered many in a country where the average income is less than $1,400 a year.
Egypt's "regime stabbed the Lebanese and burned the Egyptians by raising prices of gasoline," read a headline of the opposition weekly Sawt El-Umma.
Egyptian officials say the country's economy is growing at a rate of 5 percent, but they acknowledge the benefits haven't reached most of the population. The subsidy cuts were part of budget tightening the government says focuses subsidies on the most needy.
Cash-strapped Jordan is wrestling with rising commodity prices after three consecutive fuel price hikes in the past year.
"Who cares about democracy while struggling for food and butter for their children?" said Mustafa Qabbani, a 35-year-old Jordanian hotel receptionist and father of three.
"We live in a state of nonstop worry about our future in a war zone," said construction engineer Bassam Awad, 39.
The Shiite cleric Nasrallah has emerged as a hero, even among some secular Sunnis in Egypt and Jordan. In Egypt, protesters and opposition newspapers compare him with the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Arab nationalist champion against Israel.
"Nasser 1956, Nasrallah 2006: We will fight and never surrender," read one headline in a weekly newspaper run by the Nasserist party in Egypt — referring to Nasser's 1956 war with Israel, France and Britain. Nasrallah means "victory from God" and Nasser is "the victorious."
Some find the lionizing of the guerrillas alarming.
"Hezbollah took Lebanon hostage, and then came the tragedy we all know," wrote Lebanese columnist Dalal al-Bizri in the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday. "Ironically, as the number of victims increases, the party becomes more popular."
