Blogging The Middle East

By: Vaughn Ververs
Topics: In The News

(AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Escalating tensions in the Middle East continues to dominate the news coverage and threatens to overshadow this weekend's G8 summit. Bloggers in the region and worldwide are weighing in as well, and their opinions reflect the intense and seemingly intractable nature of the region's long-running conflict.

Global Voices gathers the sentiments of bloggers in the region:

Third day after the beginning of the never ending Middle East conflict; Israel/Lebanon war, the Arabic blogsphere speaks.
Ranging between anger, celebration, condemnation and support, on both sides of the conflict, the bloggers views vary depends where they come from. Some sound extreme, others sound objective and reasonable, but all hopes that this ends with persistence peaceful and just solution for all, soon.

The Daily Telegraph in Sydney Australia takes a trip through the blogosphere, noting:

As Israel launches major offensives and goes toe to toe with militants on two fronts the conflict inevitably has spilled into the blogosphere.

Bloggers, some of them posting from the affected areas, have captured the panic, anger and sorrow that the violence has unleashed.

Philadelphia Inquirer's Frida Ghitas analyzes some Arab blogger sentiments and comes up with some surprising results:

The majority of the Arab blogs and Internet commentary supports Palestinians and remains highly critical of Israel. Still, Arab democrats are increasingly noting that, however much anyone sympathizes with Palestinians, there is little doubt that Arab autocrats, dictators and assorted rulers-for-life have long used the Palestinian cause as a thick cloak to cover up the deficiencies of their rule. The Internet, it seems, is slowly drawing out the threads of that cloak, making it transparent enough to reveal the ugly truth it seeks to conceal.

Slate provides a quick roundup of reaction, and on Technorati, Lebanon, Beirut and Israel are among the most searched topics of the day. With all the talk of whether democracy has a future in the region, there certainly seems to be the seeds of a democratic exchange of views happening online.