The assassination of Pierre Gemayel, Lebanon's industry minister and a leading anti-Syrian politician, has pushed the country to the precipice of instability and sectarian strife.
The proposal for a new peace initiative by France, Spain and Italy to solve the Israeli-Palestinian issue, and the US Senate's endorsement of the India-US nuclear deal were some of the developments that made an impact this week. The events were contemplated, analysed and commented on. We present here excerpts of editorials from the regional and the international press.
Political assassination in Lebanon
The powerful Gemayel family of Lebanon has once again suffered another death blow. Pierre Gemayel, whose grandfather founded the Christian Phalangist party, fell to the assassins' bullets on Tuesday. His uncle, Bashir, was killed in 1982 in a car bomb a few days after he was elected president of the country. Although the identity of the killers is not known, speculation is rife. But one thing is certain - Lebanon is in turmoil, just like it was days before the civil war which started in 1975.
Lebanon's The Daily Star captured the looming fear of uncertainty in the country. "There was no such thing as a routine political killing ... but Tuesday's assassination threatens repercussions - and signals intentions - that are nothing short of extraordinary," it said.
Elaborating on the issue, it remarked: "With the Lebanese political climate already fouled by soaring tensions, the timing alone indicates that the people who orchestrated the attack are both ruthless and reckless ... the assailants' identities and immediate demands are unknown, but their message is clear: They will bring the country to - and possibly beyond - the brink of disaster to get their way."
Calling the situation in Lebanon a "bloody collision course" Britain's The Daily Telegraph stated that Gemayel's death would further destabilise an already precarious political situation. "He was a leading member of the Christian Phalange Party, which is heavily armed and will now be out for blood. While the identity of his assassins is unknown, the finger of suspicion inevitably points towards Damascus. That could put the Phalange on a bloody collision course with Hezbollah, Syria's client political (and terrorist) grouping in Lebanon."
The New York Times too suspected Syria's role in the killing. In a guarded comment, it stated: "It is too early to know who ordered this week's assassination ... but there are many reasons to suspect Syria. If the cabinet now loses even one more minister, through intimidation or worse, Lebanon's pro-Western government will collapse - a collapse that Hezbollah, Syria's ally and henchman, has been publicly seeking."
The Independent, however, believed that the ramifications of Gemayel's assassination would be felt all over the Middle East. It expressed its anguish by saying that "in a region where so much is interconnected, it casts a pall much further afield ... Whoever gave the order for Gemayel's assassination understood Lebanon's fragility and set out to thwart an incipient new order in the region. We can only hope that these forces do not succeed in that nihilistic endeavour".
A new peace plan
France, Spain and Italy are pushing for a new peace plan, independent of the "Roadmap" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It is seen as an abandonment of European countries' slavish endorsement of America's biased Israel policies.
Saudi Arabia's Arab News remarked: "If this is indeed the substance of an initiative due to emerge next month from the Brussels summit, the Europeans will have to do more than work out the details among themselves. It is imperative that Russia, which with the UN, US and the EU has been part of the Quartet charged with driving through the Roadmap peace plan, is involved from an early stage. If Moscow backs the new proposals, the UN may do so too, thus leaving Washington isolated. The new Democrat Congressional majorities are sure to be more pro-Israel than even Bush, but as America faces a new Vietnam disaster in Iraq, its power to obstruct a EU peace initiative is lessened."
Lebanon's The Daily Star was a bit sceptical about the feasibility of the plan. It stated: "There is a danger that the European plan will be regarded as too ambitious because it proposes to include so many actors, and indeed, Israel's initial reaction has been to dismiss it out of hand." Sounding an optimistic note, it remarked: "In the end, what is most important is that a growing number of international players are investing energy into reviving a peace process. We can no longer afford to take the fatalistic view of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as a problem that is too impossible to solve. Rather, we should see it as a problem with a number of possible solutions."
Indo-US nuclear deal
As the decks are cleared for the India-US nuclear deal to become law, Washington and New Delhi are on the threshold of creating history since America has no such agreement with any country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The Senate, in an overwhelming and bipartisan margin of 85-12 votes, approved the deal, with little opposition.
India's national daily The Hindu was optimistic about the draft deal becoming law without any hurdles due to the massive bipartisan support for the Bill.
"By any yardstick, 85 to 12 is a handsome margin. It augurs well for the next stage in the legislative process when the Senate and the House of Representatives are expected jointly to adopt a harmonised version of the final law - before the year is out."
The Times of India commented: "Accomplishing the deal will be historic, because it would indicate that Cold War blinkers have finally come off in India-US ties. India's non-proliferation record has been impeccable and it deserves at least as good a deal as China, whose record is shoddy."
Pakistan's Daily Times, while addressing the unease of Pakistan over the deal and Islamabad's argument that it should also get the same treatment as India, said: "This is a misplaced notion for two reasons: this deal is sui generis and India has got it on the basis of factors that Pakistan lacks; secondly, Pakistan might just have got it if it had not presented itself as a state of proliferation concern to the world."
Backing the deal, The San Francisco Chronicle believed the agreement reflected reality and cemented a crucial strategic alliance between Washington and New Delhi. "... After 30 years of neglect on the subject, President Bush was right to take up the issue. He has resolved to cultivate a powerful new friend - the world's largest democracy, a surging industrial power and regional counterweight to China and Russia," it added.
