Bombing is an attempt to assassinate Egypt

The terrorist attack on the Coptic church in Alexandria is part of a programme aimed at assassinating the very concept of coexistence and the core of Arabism that is capable of assimilating all the components of Arab communities despite differences in religion, observed Gassan Charbel, editor-in-chief of pan-Arab daily Al Hayat.

Iraqi Christians are being uprooted from the land they've always belonged to in a scheme to prove that coexistence among religions is impossible; a scheme of sectarian and social sedition.

This comes only days before a referendum in southern Sudan, to separate from the North. Such a divorce will stand as an acknowledgment of the failure of coexistence in that country.

"It's no exaggeration to say that the massacre that targeted worshippers in Alexandria has also affected every Muslim in Egypt. This is nothing short of an assassination attempt of Egypt, its national unity and its religious plurality."

The sedition project targeting the Arab body requires a daring intellectual and cultural confrontation and comprehensive and genuine cooperation among Arab countries because the danger is threatening everyone and the black cloud gathering will not be lenient with anyone should it succeed in its attempt.

Expectations for Iran in the coming year

Following the Wikileaks phenomenon, which seemed to depict Iran as a major world power, the Iranians must be proud of their country's prominence on the international stage, observed the columnist Saad Mehio in the Emirati daily Al Khaleej.

Their contentment may be short-lived, as Iranians are facing sharp internal crises that will blow up in their faces in 2011.

The 76 million Iranians are in for unprecedented economic pains. Unemployment rates are expected to soar to 29 per cent, inflation to 30 per cent. The price of diesel fuel multiplied by 900 per cent. Meanwhile, oil, the country's main source of income, continues its steady decrease due to shortages in technology and investment.

The president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be attacked from almost every direction and is expected to be the new year's scapegoat. Iran's poor might take to the streets to protest at the high cost of living, as government subsidies were lifted for essential goods.

Factions of the ruling conservatives are declaring their animosity to the president, accusing him of mismanagement, arbitrariness and even squandering the state's finances on unrealistic regional ambitions.

It appears the Ahmadinejad engine has run out of fuel and might come to a halt sometime during 2011.

Palestinians face hard times in Lebanon

In an opinion article for Al Hayat newspaper, the columnist Daoud al Sharyan wrote about the plight of Palestinian refugees in host countries, primarily in Lebanon.

"All Lebanese sects talk about the rights of Palestinians in camps, but they are all untruthful. The Lebanese are using Palestinian refugees to solve their issues and time has proved that the Lebanese discourse about Palestinians in camps is nothing but political hypocrisy."

Lebanese governments have gone to great lengths to prevent Palestinian refugees from working for fear of their nationalisation that would change the country's sectarian composition.

The situation within Palestinian camps in Lebanon is tragic. Refugees live in shabby shanty-like houses, but no one in the country has paid the slightest attention to the fact that poverty and inhumane living conditions facilitate the exploitation of camp dwellers, used as pawns in terrorist schemes.

The creation of a ministry for Palestinian refugees affairs isn't enough. The solution is the nationalisation of refugees. This would recast the Lebanese situation and save the country from its present crisis as it would give Palestinians a chance at a decent living.

The nationalisation of Palestinians in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan is the way to reclaim their rights. Such a decision would save these refugees from exploitation.

Natural gas claims in the Mediterranean

American Noble Energy Company recently announced that the Leviathan claim filed off the cost of Haifa contains 450 billion cubic meters of natural gas that could transform Israel into a gas exporting country, wrote the columnist Tareq Masarwa in the Jordanian daily Al Rai.

The announcement followed an agreement between Israel and Cyprus regulating the division of areas situated between their coasts, with the exception of the Syrian-Turkish-Cypriot bank, as Syria refuses to acknowledge Israel's maritime borders.

The only problem now is Lebanon. All the agreements have been settled between Lebanon and Cyprus and the gas drilling companies are ready to start work immediately while Lebanon is famished for energy. But the Lebanese government has not convened and everything is on hold awaiting some political breakthrough.

Lebanon and Palestine are victims in the natural gas issue although they are in dire need for energy sources. Gaza's power shortage is catastrophic while in Lebanon, people in the "resistance" areas don't pay their electricity bills.

* Digest compiled by Racha Makarem