Press Review [Archives:2002/06/Press Review]
Al-Wahdawi weekly, organ of People’s Nasserite Unionist Organization (PNUO) 29 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
Influential Personalities Behind Aborting TOTAL’s Gas Project
Ambiguity Shrouds Circumstances of a Kuwaiti citizen Arrested in Sa’ada,
American Blacks Kill Four Yemeni Immigrants in the U.S.
PNUO Secretary-General: American Confrontation with Movements Shifted to Confront Islam
Columnist Abdulla AL-Dahshami says in his article if the Palestinian people and their national authority are under a daily war and siege, the Arab people of Iraq is demanded, in addition to the daily aggression and the deadly blockade, to accept allowing the American spying inspection teams back to their sites. The other option is to face wider and tougher hostilities.
The death train, equipped with the most sophisticated technology of destruction and weapons, is running between Iraq and Palestine. Every Arab country is put in the defendants box and an object of aggression under ready-made reasons. The anti-terror hit list contains countries of the Arab world from Mauritania to Riyadh and from Khartoum to Sana’a.
The brutality stipulated in the American politics address towards he Arab nation since the September 11, discloses an Arab reality threatened by dangers of annihilation at the American-Zionist hands, using all instruments of killing and direct destruction of Arab life constituents, political and economic. The matter has reached to include security and education areas under American demands that would ultimately change Arab governments into police stations affiliated to the U.S. administration. Their task is keeping and protecting the American and Zionist security against the Arabs, the direct victims of the American-Zionist aggressions.
Concerning Iraq there is an American policy regarding as too much the right of the Iraqi people to food and threatens them by war and seeks to change the memorandum of oil-for-food to a state imposing more restrictions on the Iraqis right to buy food and medicines they are in dire need of. And in Palestine the policy is threatening the Palestinian president with severing American relations with him for failing to put an end to ”terrorism”.
As for other Arab countries there are policies containing long lists of demands, in addition to navy fleets taking bases in Arab territorial waters. The situation has reached an extent that chairman of the Palestinian authority is put under a Zionist siege in Ramalla using American weapons. Chairman Arafat is thus a ” terrorist” not deserving confidence of Bush and Powell.
Al-Wahda weekly 30 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
New Results on Security Campaign Against Terrorism
Parliament Refuses Lifting an MP’s Immunity
Elections Supreme Committee Accused of Violating the Law
Important Archaeological Site Unearthed
Saudi Arabia Praises Yemeni Media
Columnist Said Al-Janahi writes in an article that next May Yemen would have completed 12 years of its march of pluralist democratic regime following the first full electoral session that include parliamentary elections, local elections and presidential elections. This means there is a full conviction regarding the multi-party democratic system as an greed upon approach chosen as a regime of united Yemeni republic. That has decided the political and legal participation that remained for long a topic of controversy taking various forms, especially violence as means of assuming power.
It is certain that the Yemeni experiment is still suffering from many failures not because of crises resulting from the change process to the multi-party system but rather due to absence of understanding the rules and bases of that process. Political conflict among political parties in particular has taken a stamp of antagonistic conflict instead of competitive one based on rules of modernization and development process, and knowing factors of backwardness that prevail the country. The most important of such factors are the existing gap between the countryside and the town and the gap between the south-eastern provinces and the north-western provinces hat have been deepened following the situations of 1994 war. Depending on studies of political development the basic constituents of political development concept the society is supposed to endeavor for are:
Equality, meaning that legal rules and systems should prevail and applied to all individuals,
Distinguishing, meaning the specialization and division between roles and also between institutions,
As for capability it means the necessity of availability of certain potentials for the political system, such as removing and treatment of tensions inside the society and also responding to popular demands for participation and fairness in distribution related to equality.
Al-Mithaq weekly, organ of the People’s General Congress party, 28 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
General Secretariat Reviews Draft General Budget, Prepares for Holding 2nd Ordinary Session of 6th Congress
Iryani meets Head of Iraqi Parliamentary Delegation
Discussion Seminar on Yemen-GCC:
Emphasis on Cementing Partnership & Cooperation.
Abdulmalik al-Marouni says in an article we believe that international cooperation on fighting terror is a very important issue but there the world must come to an agreement first on the meaning of terrorism, define its sources and find a clear identity of its meaning so that terror would really express its meaning whether resulted in attacking New York tower or depriving Iraqi or Cuban or Vietnamese or Palestinian children of food and medicine.
The point is that looking for the suspects and the wanted by the U.S. administration necessitates that the suspect should be condemned criminally and politically for a certain act based on evidence and indications.
We are fully aware of the extremely deep pain of America and the volume of losses it sustained because of it. We do also support every effort founded on searching for the perpetrator and responsible for 11 September events. But that absolutely does not mean approving of the American messages aimed at horrifying peoples and waving the possibility of dealing strikes to this country or that whenever possibilities of capturing a sheikh or mulla or even a school child becomes very far.
RAY weekly, organ of Sons of Yemen League party, 29 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
116 False Work Contracts for Jobs in Saudi Arabia, Discovered
Hadhramaut Governor Calls for Studying Ways of Arranging Yemen Situations in Its Relations with the Gulf
Ten Political Parties Approve Principles on Trade Unionist Work
A RAY article discusses dimensions of the American campaign for toppling Arafat this new step is in favor of Sharon’s terrorist policy and reflects hegemony of the Hawks over the American administration. The U.S. president George Bush has decided to openly stand by Israel’s prime minister Sharon and supported tightening the military siege clamped on the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat inside his office in Ramallah city. Bush has on Friday paved the way for his stand when he accused Arafat of supporting terrorism and assisting the organizations that carry out commando operations against the Zionist occupation. Earlier the American administration has accused Aafat of having links to the alleged arms smuggling drama. What draws the attention is that Washington’s position is coinciding with the Israeli escalating attack on Arafat as an introduction to ousting him and bringing a new leadership meeting the Israeli desires and goals.
This scheme is rejected by the Palestinians and they consider Arafat as a historical symbol and he is supported by all Palestinian organizations even those that disagree with Arafat’s way of running affairs of the authority and dealing with activists of Hamas, Jihad and the Popular Front.
Ath-Thawri weekly, organ of the YSP, 31 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
Two Germna Figates Take Part in Monitoring Red Sea Coasts, Aden Gulf
American Military men Visit Tribes Areas
On 8 February, A group of Abyan, Dhalie Activists on Trial
Collective Trial of Al-Thawri newspaper Editors, Writers.
The political editor of the newspaper says in an article that it is certain that Sharon has been trying to ride the wave and exploit international and regional situations and variables following 11 September events and Afghanistan war, the international campaign against terror and the growing enmity tendency towards the Arabs in order to reshuffle cards and place the Arabs and Palestinians in the circle of terror. His objective is to implement his reckless schemes. Sharon is assisted by the official stand of the United states that is biased to Israel in following this policy. Other factors in this regard failure of the European, Russian and the UN Security council role to raise to the level of the dangerous development of events, despite their ex[pressed support and sympathy towards the Palestinian cause. Sharon is also exploiting the confused Arab official and popular stand that is suffering a state of bewilderment since the events of 11 September.
To abort Sharon’s hostile designs and maintaining the peace process necessitates the unity of Palestinian people ranks behind Chairman Yasser Arafat, achievement of an active and effective Arab and Islamic solidarity action. The situation also dictates an active role by the United Nations, security council, European Union, Russia, China and a more responsible and neutral role by the United States the sponsor No. one of the peace process.
Ash-Shoura weekly, organ of the Yemeni Union of Popular Forces, 27 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
Britain Refuses Anew to Handover Abu Al-Hamza Despite His Son’s Release
Some Political Parties Sign Agreement of Principles for Securing Trade Unions Independence
Call for Pardoning Al-Biedh
Financial, Administrative Corruption in Accounts of Expatriates Ministry
Ali Hussein al-Dailami says in an article that discussion and differences heated up about woman and her role in the society. Discussion centered on whether her role is restricted to household affairs and raising children or whether she is free to choose the shape of her life and consequently she has the right to rise up against what happens to her of bad treatment.
After we confirm the humanitarian status of the human and his rights it is necessary to ask first what are the human rights. Is confining woman at home and restricting her movement part of the legal requisites? Or are they derived from habits and traditions reflected on our daily behavior?
The queries I have already made need to be answered but before that we should think about them and discuss them with open minds.
26 September weekly, organ of Yemeni Armed Forces, 31 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
President Saleh: Israel The Biggest Terrorist State in the World
The U.S. Siding with Israel Encouraged it to Step up its Aggression on the Palestinians
Interior Minister Conduct Bilateral Talks with his GCC Counterparts
Turkish Delegation Visits Defense Complex, Command and Staff Academy.
In its editorial the newspaper confirms that if America wants to play the role of honest mediator it has to change its current policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict and stops its blind bias to Israel because this will make it lose many of its friends and perhaps its interests in the region.
The latest version of the American bias to Israel are the tough statements made by president Bush considering the Palestinian legitimate struggle in self-defense and for gaining independence as terrorism and even supporting the siege against Arafat in Ramalla in addition to repeating the same Israeli accusations. This would normally encourage committing terrorist acts to make by that a parity between the victim and executioner.
Annas weekly, 28 Jan. 2002.
Main Headlines:
Private Cars to Protect Judges from Kidnapping
Closure of 67 Health Installations in Sana’a, Taiz
Mohammed AS-Sabri writes on the relationship between Yemen and the GCC saying we are neither among the optimists nor the pessimists about what would come out of after the Muscat 22nd summit that approved Yemen’s participation in some of the GCC bodies. The reason is that experiment has proved that relations between Arab governments change mostly so suddenly without being dependent on reasonable or clear vision.
It seems that the limited step that was realized recently has a long and thorny way to run on the relation between Yemen and the GCC countries if Yemenis’ and Gulf people intentions proved actually to be good and decided to go shoulder by shoulder on the same road.
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