Unhealed wounds of pain return

Arab nation still looking for pillow ... to sleep without fear

“JUST recently, to be exact last Friday, the occupying Israeli forces killed 16 Palestinian civilians and wounded more than a thousand others, including many children,” columnist, professor at Kuwait University, an advisor to Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the secretary general of Arab Fund for Human Rights, professor Dr Ghanim AlNajjar wrote for Al-Jarida daily.

“This happened because they organized peaceful demonstrations about hundreds of meters away from the border under the title ‘The Biggest Return March’ to call for the implementation of UN resolutions, which have become meaningless and remained only ink on paper.

“What happened at the border was definitely ‘murder’ using undue force, and the fear of the strong from the weak. This is a cruel repetition of a tale of a brute force armed to the teeth to encounter some people who are practicing peacefully their right. So, we saw how the strong fear the weak and expressed their weakness by decided to killing the demonstrators.

“We say the above, because killing of the unarmed innocent people has become widely prevalent, or rather the rule of the day, while the exception is the merciful killing, not only in Palestine but throughout our region which currently is contaminated with the blood mixed with mud while the latter is saturated with pain and moaning.

“As a matter of fact, it looks the time of political cholera has become so dominant and so dark that the foresight is blinded while looking at the sky to see an Indian aircraft passing directly on its way to that country which is still striving to seek the balance.

“The mind has no balance. Let the conscience of the human being leave you until the Palestinians fight themselves, and they are still talking about the cause, but the question here is which cause they are talking about?

“In the era of inter-continental cholera, Palestine is no longer a priority, there are deaths everywhere, without borders, and people are no longer interested. The refugees in the world are over 60 million, and it is no longer important. The political cholera has become the motto of the stage everywhere.

“After about a month and a half, we shall witness the advent of the anniversary of the catastrophe, just to remind the anniversary of usurping of Palestine by Israel and the displacement of as much as 70 percent of its people.

“Seventy years on and the Arab nation is still looking for a pillow to lay its head on it to sleep without fear or fear of alarm from tomorrow full of devastation and destruction as well as without asking about the time of cholera and who is responsible for and whether or not this became important?

“On May 15, 1948, Israel was established on the basis of usurping. On Dec 10, 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was issued. The Charter of the United Nations and the Declaration interacted with the genocide that was committed during a bloody world war that claimed the lives of millions of civilians. The Jews were the most affected, and the time went on to become the most harmful. Who is the victim and who is the executioner? It is the time of cholera.”

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Al-Najjar

“On the anniversary of the Land Day which the Palestinians were celebrating on March 30 of every year the unhealed wounds of pain return during such occasion,” columnist and attorney Riyadh Al-Sanea wrote for Annahar daily.

“On this occasion many Palestinians get killed, irrigate the land with their blood to claim their usurped land. Not just that, this day is an occasion for the usurpers to fill their jails with the innocent people – people who are calling for their right to return to their homeland.

“However, the Land Day anniversary celebrations are dated back to the day the Israeli authorities confiscated thousands of private plots of land in the Palestinian majority area. However, following this event, Palestine witnessed an overwhelming strike stretching from Al-Jalil (in North Palestine) to Nagev area (in South Palestine).

“Not just that, confrontations have been happening between the Palestinians and the Israelis and killing of martyrs, injuring hundreds of people and many more hundreds arrested.

“Such being the case, the Land Day can be deemed as a main event in terms of the struggle on the ground in terms of the Arab citizens’ confrontation with the Israeli policy.

“In this context, we say the first Land Day was celebrated in 1948 which now has become a yearly event to keep the entire world abreast of the usurping policy of the occupiers which is called by the Jewish settlers the land of the unknown people.

“However, this anniversary is celebrated by planting olive trees in the usurped lands in addition to carrying out various activities such as the inauguration of exhibitions showing the Palestinian heritage (products and handicrafts) as well as by organizing campaigns in support of the Palestinian cause in addition to denouncing Israeli practices in the social media and organizing rallies in Palestinian populated areas.

“However, this year like every year, the number of Palestinians who were killed by the Israeli army bullets has increased. In this context, we say the Gaza Strip only witnessed the killing of 16 martyrs on the morning of March 30, 2018 in addition to 1,400 injured in the same Strip during the Return March.”

“We got international news reporting a story about the Facebook Company, which sold data of millions of users in its database to another company that used it for political campaigns, especially the BREXIT campaign for Britain to exit the European Union,” Dr Modhi Abdulaziz Al-Hamoud wrote for Al-Qabas daily.

“The company later used the same data in favor of the US President Donald Trump’s campaign train against his opponent. Immediately all aspects of the issue were exposed. CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg quickly tendered a full-page public apology in major English and American newspapers. Investigations are still ongoing to unveil all aspects of the claims and facts in this case.

“One of the two sides of the case is negative such that it implies emergence of a ‘new colonization,’ according to the statement of an employee of a complainant company. This shows that those who possess data of millions, or even billions of people in this world, can use them to determine the fate of political, economic and social incidents in future.

“Despite the negative effects this incident has had on the share prices of the companies and its genuineness, its CEO took a positive step by apologizing in his position as the most senior official. This kind of attitude is rare in Islamic societies where we repeat day and night that apologizing for mistakes is a virtue.”

“Unfortunately, we do not see the role of Kuwait Journalists Association (KJA) in defending freedom of opinion and expression at this stage,” columnist Mohammad Nasser Al-Sanaousi wrote for Al-Nahar daily.

“Apart from the above, we have never heard or seen any action taken by KJA to defend the journalists’ freedom to express their opinions.

“Economic risk is the second threat to journalism. A young journalist cannot find the sum that motivates him. The profession is deteriorating under economic pressure, cultural weakness and disappearance of the employer and those who love the job.

“Thus, many have complained about the level of journalism today. KJA should play a crucial role in reforming the new generation and make them grow culturally and intellectually.

“Therefore, KJA should establish a training institute to update information, promote culture, and hold seminars and discussions to guarantee freedom of the press and various talents.”

“If the government manages to cleanse itself of corruption, it will set itself as an example and pave the way for other files to be opened,” Saud Al-Samaka wrote for AlSeyassah daily.

“The start of the process should be by blocking all ways for corrupt MPs who keep surviving by facilitating illegal services and suspending all proposals that are in favor of the public only because they aim at squandering the public funds, such as the early retirement proposal.

“If the government does so, the Parliament with majority MPs who deal with illegal services will be led to a collision. This collision would be used by the government to announce that the Parliament is not cooperative, and then early elections will be held.

“The government should refrain from intervening in such elections. It should limit to enforcing the relevant regulations and following up the elections to ensure justice. Then the stage of assigning ministers begins with choosing either from within or outside the ruling family. The assigned minister has to refrain from depending on regular consultants to form the helping teams. He also has to avoid adopting quota as the basis for forming his teams. The teams should include efficient responsible members regardless of their tribe, class or sect.

“Corruption has extended from financial issues to moral ones, represented by existence of fake certificates and fake citizenships as well as theft of scientific researches and obtaining senior positions. This is an unprecedented level of corruption that Kuwait has never reached before.

“The government justifies its inability to execute the developmental projects by claiming that there are constitutional bodies that make it very difficult to execute projects. Actually this talk is not real.

“Kuwait has experienced the constitutional system since 1962, about 60 years ago. All giant projects were established under the supervision of constitutional bodies. The difference between today and the past is that Kuwait, in the past, had enthusiastic executive figures, and it did not witness interference in the parliamentary elections and the selling of votes. None of the voters were holders of fake or dual citizenships. The candidates were pure Kuwaiti citizens.

“The problem in Kuwait is the lack of strong will. There is no problem with the constitutional bodies.”

“We have problems similar to those in other countries across the world. We suffer from real and redundant unemployment problems and we complain about skyrocketing prices in the same way the whole world is complaining. Also, our youths need accommodation, which is synonymous with every other country,” Dr Khalid Ahmad AlSaleh wrote for Al-Rai daily.

“We share resemblance with other GCC countries in terms of demographic structure. We are different from other parts of the world in terms of the volume of problems concerning Bedoun residents. There could be a day when we will resolve the problem of price hikes or even the housing problem, but we can never find a solution to the demographic structure and Bedoun issue. What is the meaning of solving the demographic structure issue? Buildings will become empty, and private hospitals and schools will be shut down.

“The balance in economic strengths will change such that the profitable businesses upon which few Kuwaiti families depend will become weak. The government will end up losing alliance, and Kuwait will change. Who wants to see Kuwait change?”

“There is no society that is free of racial, sectarian and sectional differences. Kuwait is not an exception in this regard. The only thing is that it is escalating at different levels of seriousness and usage from time to time depending on the situation,” Prof Faisal Al-Shuraifi wrote for Aljarida daily.

“Although Kuwaiti Constitution frowns upon all types of discrimination and treats all citizens equally in terms of responsibilities and rights, nationalism has been reduced and is not put into practice in the real sense of it.

“Citizens have been battling with the effects of divisions lately. I will not go into details for certain reasons known to majority of citizens.

“The Constitution does not discriminate among citizens except for only one instance, which is restricting those who have the right to represent constituents at the National Assembly and ministerial portfolios. This is the only exception whereby it insists that those who occupy the seats should be Kuwaitis by origin.”

“Bad legislations are worse than spoilt food and even chronic diseases. It is even worse than corruption itself, because it kills everybody and affects all. It is not limited to those who consume it or gets infected by it,” Prof Ghanim Al-Najjar wrote for Aljarida daily.

“Corruption grows and is bred under the administrative regulation of constitutional legislation nursery that protects and strengthens it so much that it becomes a rule rather than an exception. Bad legislation activity transforms corruption from being isolated incidents into an overriding strong tradition that is difficult to infiltrate.

“The problem with bad legislation is that those who create it are not necessarily corrupt. They may not even have any personal interest in mind, but they do it for different purposes. It could be a way of exploiting political opportunities or based on the need to come out with political production. In the process, they may exaggerate by producing bad laws, the damages of which outweigh usefulness.”

“In 2006, Kuwait witnessed a severe political crisis between the government and political parties represented in the National Assembly,” Uwaid Al-Sulaili wrote for AlShahed daily.

“These parties played a reckless role in provoking the street against the government and accusing it of sponsoring corruption, buying votes and insisting on rejecting the reduction of the electoral constituencies from 25 to five. The parties then launched a campaign under the slogan “We want it five”, which was not intended for reform. The whole country was occupied by this campaign. The next few days proved that the actions of the political parties are based on interests and personal agendas without elaborating on the positive and negative aspects of such political calls.

“After years of reducing the electoral constituencies and establishing alliances among sectarian and tribal political powers as well as depriving a large segment of the Kuwaiti society in being represented in the National Assembly, His Highness the Amir of Kuwait issued a decree known as ‘one-vote decree’ to put an end to the majority’s control and the deprivation of the minority segments in the society due to exchange of votes.”

— Compiled by Zaki Taleb