UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Khaleej Times, Dubai, May 6: Urgent steps are required to contain the aftermath of Myanmars deadly cyclone that has taken approximately 4,000 lives and left hundreds of thousands homeless and in desperate need for essentials like food and drinking water.

Already the deadliest cyclone since the 99 Indian storm that was responsible for around 10,000 lives, death figures from Myanmars tragedy could rise dramatically, and very fast, if the right sort of help fails to reach targeted areas in time.

Uninspired ruling junta

As U.N. teams and aid agencies rush uninvited supplies to affected regions, Myanmars isolated, uninspired ruling junta is put to the sternest test in recent memory. Judging from the cyclones immediate aftermath, Myanmar has apparently decided not to let unexpected circumstances alter the international diplomatic status quo, even though the changed situation owes to a crying humanitarian catastrophe. Still, the international community, particularly the aid-agency bloc, is bound to act, and the armys rigidity will only make it more difficult for them to reach areas and people most in need of help in time, adding to the final death and misery.

ISRAEL

Jerusalem Post, May 6: This Independence Day finds some of us in a funk. The prime minister is under intense police scrutiny. Faith in the basic decency of the men and women who lead the nation has waned. The political system has been irresponsibly undermined by elected officials, judges, holy men and the media. Some in the national-religious community still feel alienated by the trauma of disengagement.

Perspective

And yet a degree of perspective is in order. From 70 CE, when most Jews were exiled, until 1948, when Jewish sovereignty was regained, this land remained at the epicenter of Jewish aspirations. Absent the collective dream of a return to Zion, the Jewish people would have long ago disappeared from history. And, by the grace of God, we have returned!

The process of state-building remains incomplete - but look how far we’ve come. The Jewish population in 1948 was 650,000; today it’s 6 million. In its first 44 months, while practically bankrupt, Israel absorbed 700,000 Jews. In just 30 years, a million Jews from the former Soviet Union were absorbed. And in the past six years Nefesh B’Nefesh has brought 15,000 olim from affluent countries to Israel.

EGYPT

Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, May 7: For the first time in long months, progress was reported to have been made in peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel. The unconfirmed reports about this progress were announced as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met ... for yet another routine photo session.

Significantly, the headway came a few hours after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice left the area following a brief visit meant to set the stage for a farewell trip by U.S. President George W. Bush this month. Whether the reported breakthrough is real or false should not be an issue. What matters the most is to see such progress on the ground. ... What has remained unchanged on the ground is the Palestinians’ ordeal.

Humanitarian disaster

In fact, their tribulations have worsened over recent months. Around 1.5 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip are threatened with a humanitarian disaster due to an inexorable Israeli blockade. The situation belies any talk about progress in peacemaking. Ironically, reports about this progress coincided with the Olmert government’s announcement of expanding a Jewish settlement in Nablus in West Bank. Until this alleged progress is translated into acts on the ground, the only explanation for citing such headway at present is to raise false hopes ahead of Bush’s upcoming visit.