It is an incredibly eventful day across the Middle East. Frankly, there is too much happening, and events are really too disparate to make them easily analyzable together. Nonetheless, below are some of the key events going on right now:
Massive Street Protests in Egypt
Thousands of Egyptian protesters have taken to the streets today in many different locations. Some reports list the number at up to 100,000. Groups such as the April 6 Youth Movement have been organizing on Facebook, among other places (their Facebook page has 87,000 followers), and seem to have the Egyptian police genuinely baffled. The protesters are moving rapidly and acting creatively, including by giving the police flowers in an attempt to defuse potential violence. Egyptian state police are mostly hands-off , which is unusual for them, but there has been some violence against the protesters. There are current reports that Egypt is attempting to block the Twitter website to prevent communication.
UPDATE: To show how fast things are moving, there are move and more reports of police violence coming in. The Guardian has a good feed of reports going on, and Soysauce has posted some other good links as well. From the Guardian just now:
Downtown Cairo is a war zone tonight – as reports come in of massive occupations by protesters in towns across Egypt, the centre of the capital is awash with running street battles. Along with hundreds of others I've just been teargassed outside the parliament building, where some youths were smashing up the pavement to obtain rocks to throw at police.
Clay Claiborne also has a good diary on these and other protests in the region: BREAKING: Protesters Plan Massive "Day of Wrath" in Egypt Today.
"The Palestine Papers" roil Israel and Palestine
For those who don’t know, Al Jazeera obtained approximately 1,700 internal documents from years of negotiation between Israel, the US, and the Palestinian Authority. The documents show that Palestinian negotiators have offered huge concessions, including letting Israel control large swaths of land, keep the vast majority of settlements, own nearly all of Jerusalem, and exclude basically all refugees. Israel rejected all of these offers and demanded more.
The documents portray the Palestinian Authority as yielding to every Israeli position and colluding to keep Palestinians ignorant, while they portray Israel as refusing every offer and simply using the negotiations to continue the status quo. Two excellent diaries already written on this are:
Explosive Leaked Documents: The Palestine Papers by Heathlander
The Palestine Papers by Lefty Coaster
The only news I will add is that PA Prime Minister Abbas has sent his thugs to try to close the barn door by attack Al Jazeera’s main office in Palestine:
Hundreds of Palestinians loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas broke into Al-Jazeera's offices in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, a day after the media agency released two decades of secret information known as the Palestine papers.
About 250 Abbas loyalists rallied in support of the president in front of the building housing the local Al-Jazeera office on the seventh and eighth floors. A small group climbed the stairs to the station's offices, where they tried to break in. They did succeed in shattering security cameras, glass door panels and station logos.
New Lebanese Government Formed
Hezbollah and the resistance, aligned with Walid Jumblatt’s Druze faction, manage to form a new government with billionaire Najib Mikati as PM. Mikati, a former premier, is something of a consensus candidate, not closely aligned with any faction. The coalition is fairly slim, 68 MPs in a 128-member parliament (barely enough to pass the 65-member majority, as Harriri rejected any form of unity government), and so will not likely last too long in Lebanon’s fractured political environmental. Nonetheless, the US will certainly move to cut off and isolate the government, and Israel will certainly grow more aggressive on the southern border. These moves could help undermine the government, could help unify Lebanese and strengthen the new government (as external enemies so often do), or they could lead to war.
There have been some protests among Harriri’s Sunni supporters, and even some small clashes, but no significant violence.
Hezbollah's Sunni rivals, who support Hariri, demonstrated for a second day across the country including the capital Beirut and the main highway linking the capital with the southern port city of Sidon. A senior military official said several armed men fired in the air in west Beirut, but the army intervened and dispersed them.
The largest gathering Tuesday was in the northern city of Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni area and a hotbed of fundamentalists where thousands of people converged at a major square. Al-Jazeera said none of its crew was injured when protesters attacked the station's van.
Soldiers also clashed with demonstrators in the town of Naameh, south of Beirut, and two civilians were wounded, security officials said.
Hariri thanked people for their support but called for restraint.
Tunisia’s new government under continuing pressure from protesters
Despite President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali being driven out, protests continue over each new "leader" that attempts to set up an interim government. Protesters are trying to clear out all figures from the old regime, but the Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party is deeply entrenched in society, and may not be removable.
Other News:
Protests spread across many countries in the Middle East, including self-immolations
5,000 Yemeni protesters win the freedom of one prisoner and the promised freeing of others
Obama gives the State of the Union tonight.
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As I said at the top, there is a lot going on in a lot of areas, and these articles only scratch the surface. Anyone who would like to add new articles or analysis is more than welcome to post them.
