Palestinians have served a notice to Israel

The Gaza border protests and America’s potential withdrawal from Syria were the two topics that captured the attention of newspapers in the region

Prior

to last Friday’s Palestinian protest, organisers said the march would be nonviolent, but warned of possible military fire from Israeli forces ... They were dead right, wrote the Saudi Gazette. “Friday’s march comes as part of the demands of Palestinian refugees for the full implementation of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 of December 1948, which stipulates that ‘ the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live peacefully with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date’. No Israeli government would ever accept millions of Palestinians since it would spell the end of Israel as a Jewish- majority state. Setting the date of the final march to be the day United States President Donald Trump’s administration moves the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem is guarantee for an explosive situation.”

The Jordan Times noted that no less than 16 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire and hundreds more were injured on Friday, and that the Palestinian people decided to show to Israel, and the international community, that their thirst and longing for their homeland has not been extinguished with time, and that it never will. “Israel and the international community have thus been served with a live notice that the Palestinian cause is not a lost cause, and that sooner or later, the Palestinian people in diaspora and in neighbouring countries will regain their inalienable rights to their country. Israelmust draw its own conclusions from the Land Day protest and edge closer towards reality by negotiating seriously with the Palestinians in order for them to enjoy a homeland of their own on Palestinian soil.”

US troops in Syria

Regarding US withdrawal from Syria, the London- based Pan- Arab paper Asharq Al Awsat said that apart from defeating Daesh, the presence of American troops has had no critical role in the Syrianwar. “However, their withdrawal would make it easier for the Iranian regime to complete ‘ the final chapter’ of its full takeover of Syria, and control over Iraq and Lebanon. The US has limited its presence in Syria to fighting Daesh, without interfering in the war between the Syrians themselves. Even if Syrian President Bashar Al Assad wanted to turn a new page and everyone agreed to stop the bloodshed, no one would believe any promise of the withdrawal by Tehran’s forces.”

The Syrian situation should not be left to Russia, whichhas tied thehands of Syriawith military agreements for the next 10 years, said Kuwait’s Arab Times. “The American presence will strike a balance in confronting both sides in a conflict. In order to avoid becoming a permanent occupation [ force], the US Army should not leave Syria at a time the Arab countries are trying hard to regain Syria from the Iranian hands in a bid to prevent its regime from becoming Tehran’s puppet. The outcome is the rationality of today’s victor. The rational language that Saudi Arabia’s Crown PrinceMohammad Bin Salman used is waiting for the future of the region with certainty, since his statement was not based on illusion. His vision sees the futility of war and its negative impact on theArabWorld.”