‘Peace imposed on ME Arabs’
‘Israel rejects give and take policy’
“IN HIS sublime speech the Amir of the country and the Leader of Humanity Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, we pray to Almighty Allah to protect him, at the Arab-European Summit, emphasized that ignoring the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people was the cause for tension and violence in the Middle East, in addition to the failure to reach a peaceful, just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people,” columnist Mishref Eqab wrote for Al-Shahed daily.
“The speech of HH the Amir is considered a clear roadmap for building a just, lasting and comprehensive peace hinting that the intransigence of Israel and its practices against the Palestinians fall within the scope of genocide and crimes against humanity. It is strange that the Israeli politicians talk about peace between them and the Arabs, and some of them have unfortunately received the Nobel Peace Prize.
“However, it has been many years since the launch of the Arab Peace Initiative, but its provisions have not seen the light of day and nothing has been achieved from their proposals, but the Arab countries are still adhering to the initiative and promoting it in international forums, while Israel continues to practice terrorism against the Palestinian people.
“When every change takes place at the top of the US administration, there is a lot of talk about peace, and the initiative has become one of the most important basic peace initiatives in the Middle East.
“In this context, we say the courageous Arab peace initiative presented by the Arab countries at the Beirut Summit in 2002, was actually aimed at the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories 1967, with the possibility of exchanging agreed lands between the two sides, and establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“Likewise, the initiative had called for setting up a just and agreed solution to the issue of the Palestinian refugees, and in return the Arab countries recognize Israel and normalize relations with it, and the initiative won the consent of the Arab League in 2002 and the same was reaffirmed at the Algiers Summit in 2007.
“The Arab desire for peace and the willingness to recognize Israel and normalize relations with it did not tickle the emotions in Tel Aviv and it did not move an inch in the direction of the desired Arab peace. Israel’s position on the initiative did not change and from the first moment it categorically refused to deal with it -- the peace which the Arabs are looking forward to, but it looks like Israel has been betting for time hoping the Arabs will give up their previous attitudes towards Israel and gradually shift from the square of enmity against Israel to the square of normalization with no price paid for this normalization, particularly in terms of dealing with the Palestinian cause and this means Israel doesn’t like to link between peace with the Arab states and the Palestinian rights.
“Not just that, Israel is currently attempting to prevent the Arab states from using the Palestinian cause as a trump card or as a bargaining chip. Not just that, it is Israel which is currently working to penetrate the Arab ranks and hold negotiations with every Arab state separately to drag them one by one into the normalization process under different circumstances.
“This has already happened before when peace treaties were signed with Egypt and Jordan before settling the Palestinian cause. In other words, Israel strives to reach normalization just for the sake of normalization and peace against peace only.
“Israel is supported by the consecutive American administrations which is striving to impose its policy and its solution on the Middle East crisis and request the Arabs to succumb to its demands in a prelude to weave the ArabIsraeli coalition to encounter the common enemy - the extremist terrorist groups - but not to settle the Palestinian cause.”
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“At dawn Friday, Jan 3, 2020, the commander of the Jerusalem Corps affiliated to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Qassem Soleimani and the deputy chairman of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Authority Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, were assassinated along with their the companions in Baghdad upon orders from the American President Donald Trump following the attack on the American embassy in Iraq by pro-Iran militias on Dec 31, 2019,” columnist Dr Abdullah Al-Delmani wrote for Al-Anba daily.
“However, the political statements issued by the US administration and the Iranian Foreign Ministry, post the assassination, confirmed no war will happen between Iran and the United States as a result of those assassinations.
“In spite of the above, the pro-Iran Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has pledged to take ‘just revenge’ against those who killed Soleimani and Al-Mohandes. He hinted the revenge is responsibility of the people who resist injustice throughout the world.
“For their part, pro-Iran militia leaders in Iraq have issued statements calling on the government in Baghdad to end the US presence in Iraq.
“As a matter of fact, Qassem Soleimani, was not just a military commander, his name was linked to drawing up and implementing the Iranian foreign policy and exporting the Iranian revolution and supervising of Iranian armed militias in the region in general and in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen in particular.
“In this connection, we say anyone who follows up the political developments in the Middle East and the accompanying escalation over the past year that preceded the assassination of Soleimani, will inevitably recall the ships crisis passing through the Gulf waters in addition to the attack on some ships in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ports in addition to shooting down the US drone over Iran.
“Moreover, the repeated Iranian aggression on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the last of which was the attack on the Saudi oil installations which the experts say was launched from deep inside Iran.
“In spite of the above, the American tit-for-tat for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani outside Iran is a message to the Iranian leadership that the US doesn’t want to get involved in war against Iran, it rather strives to encounter Iran’s ‘arms’ in the region and minimize its role in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen and in case of escalation by Iran, America will most likely resort to more painful assassinations that shall take place in the areas of Iranian influence in the region.”
“I, just like many others, have become convinced that the issue of forgery of nationality is not in doubt in terms of quantity. As per the information provided to us, nearly 200,000 nationalities were obtained by people through forgery. This means the total number of those who obtained Kuwaiti citizenship in this manner are up to about 15 percent of the population of Kuwaiti citizens”, Saud Al-Samaka wrote for Al-Seyassah daily.
“They do not live in Kuwait but in their mother countries, and only enjoy Kuwait’s privileges of salaries, homes, houses rented to others, and monthly food ration supplies. If they are ill, they receive treatment overseas at the expense of Kuwait. About 30 percent of the people are considered as citizens of Kuwait; others are not related to Kuwait. One half of them are fraudulent and the other half have dual citizenship and do not live in the country.
“The problem is that the number of people with forged and have dual citizenships is nearly a third of the population. In addition to their undue financial costs to the state, most of the violations, breaking of the laws, crimes of forgery, residency trafficking and other illegal actions emanate from them.
“These numbers were not obtained randomly or exaggerated. They are obtained from the files documented by the competent authorities and those in charge of these bodies. According to information and our knowledge of some of them, those officials enjoy complete confidence, honesty, patriotism and experience in dealing with these two files even if they have had the opportunity and orders have been issued to them. “
“The wheel of reform would have moved immediately, but here lies a problem. The information at our disposal is that the political – represented in His Highness the Amir (May Allah protect him) and His Highness the Crown Prince (May Allah protect him) – is keen to end this problem that threatens sovereignty and poses the most serious dangers to the incoming generations who are children and grandchildren of the founding people of Kuwait.
“However, there are obstacles, as there are people with disabilities who are involved in the forged files. Some of them are financial beneficiaries in the continuation of this problem. They consider it a trade that constitutes a quick profit without cost. The obstacles are certainly because those people are not ordinary elements, while the ordinary elements have no solution or power to protect those files packed with counterfeiters and dual nationality holders.
“Today we should have gone beyond hearing the alarm bells of these two files, and yet we are still unable to move towards decisiveness. The reason is that these obstacles are represented by the “mafias” of influence from MPs, ruling family members and tribal barricades operating in this bazaar and are stakeholders in keeping these files open forever to become a burden for the present and future children and grandchildren.
“Therefore, the issue can only be solved by the slogan, ‘Only iron can bend iron’. I am motivated by jealousy of this country. I am the author of these lines addressed to the political leadership, as the latter is keen about Kuwait, its people, their children, their grandchildren and their future. We ask it to kindly issue a direct order for the opening of these two files soon. And that their matter be entrusted to a body chaired by a person who is accredited with honesty and zeal for Kuwait. He should also seek help from Kuwaiti men. The period of time within which this problem should end must be specified to ensure the files are forever folded.”
“The sand collapse at one of the projects in the Al Mutla’a area has become the talk of the town. The accident is tragic, because it killed 6 Nepalese workers and injured 3 others, and there is still one missing, we have not heard any news of finding him until now,” columnist Dr Adel Behbehani wrote for Annahar daily.
“We have learned about the formation of a neutral committee comprising specialists from the College of Engineering and Petroleum at the Kuwait University, the Department of Experts in the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Security and Safety at the Kuwait Municipality. It is assumed that this committee has begun its work in collecting field information and investigation, to determine who is responsible for this tragedy. The work was to be completed within a week.
“We, in the legal capacity that we hold, do not believe that one week is sufficient to determine responsibility for such a tragic accident, especially since the bodies involved in the accident began, and from the first moment, to deny their responsibility and declared their innocence about this negligence, carelessness and disregard for human life.
“We see what has been published by the newspapers that various official bodies such as the Ministry of Housing, Public Works, the Kuwait Fire Service Directorate, private sector companies, original contractor, subcontractors, safety and security engineers, the project supervising engineer and others who have a relationship with this great incident absolving themselves of responsibility.
“Therefore how the investigation can be completed with all these or most of them in a week? How will the aforementioned committee compile a report within a week in a proper legal responsibility report in an event in which almost all legal responsibilities are on the table for research and investigation?”
“Before facing all kinds of challenges, it is necessary to deal with the files and pending issues that have gone through years of postponement which in turn have been affecting the daily lives of citizens who end up paying the price for the tension between the executive and legislative authorities throughout the successive parliaments”, Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“The project of ‘Building and Development’ is a future project that exceeds the dimensions of the present. It aims at taking Kuwait into the ranks of developed and advanced countries in accordance with the supreme desire to transform it into a global financial and commercial hub.
“Therefore, the first step to be taken is to focus on comprehensive reform and combat corruption to stop the violations that have exhausted the public funds – this is a joint responsibility.
“There is a Chinese adage that goes like this - ‘To build a strong house, you must make sure the foundations are strong and solid’. In this context, before taking any new step forward, it is necessary to go back a little to hold accountable the negligent people who contributed to wasting public funds one way or another, as well as those who caused financial catastrophes in light of the trend to devote accountability tools for reward and punishment, fighting corruption and enhancing transparency.”
“The word ‘homeland’ means a lot; it means safety, stability, tranquility and reassurance. In general, the definition of that word is in itself. It is an emotional bond that each person experiences and feels passionate about individually”, Abdulrahman Al-Awwad wrote for Al-Sabah daily.
“Nevertheless, there remains one thing that everyone agrees on - a person who loves his country feels a sense of belongingness, respect and pride towards it. He also feels unlimited amount of love towards his land, and a huge passion and desire to uplift his country and provide all whatever is precious for its development.
“Our beloved country is celebrating National Days these days. Flags are hoisted all around the country including all the suburbs and streets. Kuwaitis, by nature, love their country. Their great and many sacrifices were witnessed on the soil of this country in many situations.
“Perhaps the concept of patriotism today requires us all to create memories of these national holidays and ensure a serious breakthrough towards greater and more comprehensive love, which translated to patriotism with dedication to work. This is because dedication to work and sincerity in it is the real beginning towards serving the country. It is an expression of love.”