Arab anger flares at Israeli incursion

Thu Jun 29, 2:46 PM ET

CAIRO, Egypt - Anger flared across the Middle East on Thursday over Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip, and Arab governments were assailed for not aiding Palestinians. The Egyptian government's top rival, the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, urged Egyptians to gather at pro-Palestinian demonstrations Friday, the day of weekly Islamic prayers.

The Israeli offensive put the governments of U.S.-allied Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia in a bind.

They have been cold to the new Hamas government, having done little to help amid the West's financial boycott to pressure Palestinians into moderating their positions on Israel. That has resulted in many Arabs feeling their governments are leaving the Palestinians in the lurch.

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood accused Arab leaders of being impotent.

"We haven't heard even a whisper from you," Mohammed Mahdi Akef said. "You can't provide medicine and milk and the necessities of life to our besieged people in Palestine .... You take a hesitant stance toward their freely elected government, fearing the spread of the virus of freedom to your own fertile pastures."

Akef called on Arabs and other Muslims to "express your anger over what is happening, make the thunder of your voices heard ... using the peaceful means that are at your disposal."

The Brotherhood called for protests in Cairo and other Egyptian cities after Friday prayers. Past protests organized by the group have erupted into clashes with security forces.

In Jordan's capital, Amman, some 50 people held a sit-in protest, holding banners reading: "Wake up Arab nation! Save the babies, the old men, the land and our honor."

Jordanian columnist Taher Adwan accused the Israelis of being "criminals and killers."

"What is frustrating is that the world, under U.S. pressures and bribes, has put them above the law," he wrote in the independent newspaper Al-Arab Al-Yawm.

The head of an alliance of Persian Gulf countries - some of which have taken quiet steps toward economic ties with Israel - called the Israeli offensive "barbaric."

"This dangerous escalation against the Palestinian people is a war against innocent civilians, women, children and the elderly that has left Gaza without water and electricity," Abdel Rahman Attiye, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, said in a statement issued on behalf of the group's six member countries.

An emergency session of the 22-member Arab League in Cairo urged Arab nations to provide "urgent support" for the Palestinians.

But Abdul Khaleq Abdulla, a political scientist at United Arab Emirates University, said, "There's absolutely nothing the Arab world can do. The Palestinians are left alone to go through all this by themselves."

Egyptian officials urged the Syrian-based political leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, to obtain the release of an Israeli soldier whose abduction set off the confrontation.

An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said both Abbas and Egyptian officials called Syrian President Bashar Assad to ask him to persuade Mashaal to order the soldier's release. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak spoke with Abbas on Thursday, Egypt's state news agency said.

Mashaal, meanwhile, sought help from Arab leaders to stop Israel's incursion, a statement from his office said.

"This situation demands that Arab officials and the international community take a tough stance," Mashaal's top aide, Moussa Abu Marzouk, told Al-Jazeera television. "They should pressure Israel to withdraw from the middle of cities and stop shelling civilians."

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