Arabic Digest

A daily roundup of the region's news translated from Arabic newspapers

The many challenges ahead for Egypt

Egypt's military command was quick to issue a statement confirming that it would abide by all previously signed international treaties, thus quieting demands for the annulment of the Camp David treaty following president Mubarak's downfall, observes Abdulrahman al Rashed in the London-based daily Asharq al Awsat.

Why did the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces do that, and on the second day of the revolution?

As the Supreme Council has among its members leaders who are familiar with the details and commitments of the Camp David treaty, they knew that their silence would be dangerous.

It could be that they didn't want to give Israel any pretext to open a front in a demilitarised zone at a time when the Egyptian army was preoccupied with internal security.

Such an official declaration also saves Egypt from future liability from any unilateral breach of the treaty or from possible plots to implicate new Egypt in a premature confrontation with Israel.

"The relationship with Israel and the peace treaty will be postponed till after the promised elections. Many external challenges await Egypt in the near future, and any decision it makes will have serious repercussions internally and externally."

The best the current leadership could do is to refrain from appearing publicly with the Israeli leadership.

So long sectarianism in the Arab world

"The success of the Egyptian revolution has left one big loser and one big victor in the Arab region," wrote the columnist Saad Mehio in the Emirati daily Al Khaleej.

"The loser is sectarian and tribal trends, which throughout the last three decades had the upper hand in all Arab public policies."

It was a system that went haywire in 1979 when Egypt waived its leading role for Israel first, then Iran and Turkey. For the Arab world, that was nothing short of a decapitation, not only as Egypt is the largest and most predominant Arab state, but also because it has been the only socially homogenous and politically unified Arab community.

It was natural then that sectarian and tribal categories appeared to fill the void, due to the fragility of the national fabric in other Arab countries.

Now, after the revolution, Egypt will reclaim its traditional regional leading role, supported this time by its strategic weight and also by the strength of a new political system based on citizenship and democracy.

Then all other movements and phenomena would disappear in all Arab countries.

The biggest victor will be Arabism, a democracy that will be lifted by young citizens and in which national emotions are balanced with economic and social interests.

"This is indeed a new dawn in the Arab region."

No notion of 'us' and 'them' in Bahrain

The recent developments that unfolded this week suggest a future that may differ from the past, and we hope that the difference would be positive and more conducive for tolerance and peace, observed Mansour al Jamri, the editor-in-chief of the Bahraini daily Al Wasat.

Following Manama's protests that left two citizens dead, the king apologised and ordered the formation of an investigative committee, while the Wefaq party suspended its membership in parliament.

In an unprecedented move, Bahrain TV showed live images of the protests around Pearl Roundabout, but the accompanying commentaries were provocative. Earlier this week, the UK's The Guardian published Bahrain-related WikiLeaks documents that revealed that claims of certain external loyalties in Bahrain were never supported by evidence.

"We hope that the promised future reforms will ensure the respect of all factions in the community and that they will achieve fair and equitable citizen rights. The "us" and "them" notion doesn't exist in Bahrain, as Bahrain TV is trying to portray it. There is only one people, one free and honourable people that deserves respect and appreciation without any prejudice or accusations against any of its groups. This simple demand may seem difficult for some, but it holds the key to solve many of the issues we are now facing."

Egypt's fortunes must be returned

Britain must give priority to the tracking of the fortune of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and his entourage since London has received a formal request for the same from the government in Cairo, says columnist Mazen Hammad in the Qatari daily Al Watan.

Any delay in seizing money, securities and gold bars that are supposedly deposited at British banks would facilitate their smuggling abroad. Although British law forbids police from suspending any bank accounts without proof of abuse, speedy action is of the essence even if it is just to confirm the existence of such accounts in UK banks.

During his 30 years in rule, Mr Mubarak was able to amass a fortune of cash, gold and real estate in Egypt and around the world. It is said that the former president and his sons have deposited their fortunes in various banks in Paris, London and the US.

The EU requires the support of member states in order to freeze bank accounts of former leaders, but Switzerland expressed its intention to freeze all Mubarak accounts within its banks.

Experts are warning that unless expeditiously tracked, the fortunes of Mr Mubarak and his sons could easily be transferred to less Interpol-cooperative countries.

* Digest compiled by Racha Makarem