To escape from hunger and pain, thousands of Palestinians from Gaza crossed into Egypt after the Gazans - victims of Israeli atrocities - dismantled the border fence. The other main event that grabbed the headlines this week was the global stock market crash which created a worldwide panic, fears of recession and depression. These events were contemplated, analysed and commented on. We present here excerpts of editorials from the regional and the international press.
Gaza's plight
The people of Gaza who have been suffering from the Israel blockade, imposed a week ago in response to the firing of rockets, did what any human being would do to survive. They breached the Rafah border crossing into Egypt and thousands of them entered the Egyptian Rafah to buy essential commodities and fuel. Surprisingly, the international community is now waking up to the plight of the Gazans, but they did nothing when Israel enforced the blockade a week ago.
Arab News warned that if the Israelis did not cease their collective punishment of 1.5 million people, further stampedes were inevitable.
"Having done it once, Gazans will be all for breaking through again if the physical barrier is restored or even if the Egyptian border police block their crossing. This could produce a most dangerous crisis for Cairo. Will the order be given to use force, maybe lethal force, in order to stop a further crossing? Is this perhaps what the Israelis want to achieve with their cynical and inhuman starvation of the Palestinians of Gaza - to have Arab firing on Arab?" it said.
Jordan Times were all praise for the bold step taken by the people of Gaza. It complimented them for their collective stand and Egypt for allowing them to enter the country.
It remarked: "It is a triumph of the human spirit, 350,000 people defying a world that has failed them in particular and Palestinians in general. Congratulations to Gazans. The little man can still do something. And congratulations to Egypt, too, for not stopping them. Quite apart from the fact that Egypt could not afford the political cost of preventing starving masses of Palestinians from seeking food, Egypt is absolutely right in helping Palestinians avoid starvation."
Israel discards peace for a war of attrition, stated Qatar's Gulf Times.
It criticised Israel for the situation and said that desperate times call for desperate action and at the same time blamed the US for not doing anything to rein in Israel. It lamented: "Unfortunately, just as Gaza has been plunged into darkness this week so has any imminent prospect for peace that was promised earlier this month by United States President George W. Bush on his tour of the region.
His visit proved once and for all that there will be no triumph of hope over experience during his tortuous term in office."
Bearish market
Global stock markets tumbled, after the US announced tax cuts amid the fears of global recession and a slowdown of the US economy. Although the markets, from Europe to Asia, stabilised a bit later, the panic that it created wiped off billions of investors' money.
Commenting on the event, Washington Post said: "The sequence of events illustrates how little room policy-makers have to manoeuvre, and how easily their well-intentioned steps can go awry."
The Times of India remarked: "Corrections are a natural corollary to dramatic climbs in financial markets. Indian stock markets have been witnessing a phenomenal rise in recent times and have been outperforming all other markets amidst concerns over valuations."
