[Reuters] Jonathan Wright - Arab governments have weathered ten days of public outrage at their passive response to the Israeli assault in Gaza and can easily survive as long as the Israeli operation takes, political analysts said. Only a minority of Islamists and other political activists are willing to come out on the streets and risk abuse at the hands of state security agents. "More than half of the public accept the Egyptian idea that Hamas was irresponsible and was irrational....They are not going to fight, or take a stance against Egypt or Saudi Arabia," said Sateh Noureddin, columnist at the Lebanese newspaper as-Safir. "To a lot of Egyptians the idea of Hamas being a fundamental threat makes sense," said Issandr el-Amrani, Egypt and North Africa analyst at the International Crisis Group.
2009-01-07 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive