Israel's assault on the humanitarian aid flotilla brought protesters on to the streets in numerous western countries yesterday, with 
demonstrations in Washington, London, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Greece, Cyprus – and of course Turkey which seems to have suffered the brunt of the casualties. In Jerusalem, a small number of Israelis protested too, though rather more seem to have joined an anti-Turkish demonstration in Tel Aviv.

Arab leaders were generally vociferous in their condemnation of the attack, though with the exceptions of Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt, plus a sit-in at UN offices in Syria, there was not much activity reported from the Arab streets. Of course, that's hardly surprising. Impromptu demonstrations are not tolerated in a lot of the Arab countries and next Friday's Muslim prayers may be the first opportunity for many to express their feelings.

Over the next few days, Arab governments may well allow some public venting of wrath – they can scarcely do otherwise – but they are always nervous as to where it may lead. 

I am reminded of an interview with the Egyptian blogger-activist, 
Hossam el-Hamalawy, while researching my book, What's Really Wrong with the Middle East, a couple of years ago. 

"The Palestinian cause has always been the main radicalising factor for the Egyptian students," he told me. "If you look at the anti-Sadat opposition – for example, who was leading it – it was the Society of Supporters of the Palestinian Revolution in Cairo and Ain Shams universities."

He continued:

You'd start by chanting in support of the Palestinians. A few minutes later, people would start asking, "So why isn't our government doing anything to help the Palestinians?" 

And then, a few minutes later, it would be: "And why is the government sending the troops when we are demonstrating peacefully and they are not sending the troops to help the Palestinians fight the Israelis?" … and it's the same government that's giving us a shitty educational system, that's giving us a bad health system … people start reflecting on their local situation from the Palestinian cause.

It's not a coincidence that the slogan that was raised in 2000 by the radical left and which got picked up immensely back then was "The road to Jerusalem passes through the Arab capitals."

Another at the time slogan was:

Thawra, thawra, hatta nasr
Thawra fi Filasteen wa fi Masr

["Revolution, revolution until victory. Revolution in Palestine and in Egypt"]

Hamalawy continued: 

Cracks started to happen and people were chanting against the regime in ways that did not exist in the 1990s, from October 2000 – one week after [start of] the intifada.

In 2002 I saw also the April riots over the Jenin massacre and for the first time I heard the slogan:

Hosni Mubarak zay Sharon
Nafs il shakl, wa nafs il lawn

[Hosni Mubarak is like Sharon – same shape, same colour]

Even we, as radicals – we were shocked, but happy of course. We were like: Woah! 

In 2003, with the Cairo downtown anti-war riots, people were burning Mubarak's posters, and what's interesting to note is that the radicalisation was happening all because of regional issues. It's as if you start with Palestine and end up in Cairo.

The political consequences of yesterday's attack on the aid ships could be especially interesting in Egypt because of the Mubarak regime's complicity with Israel in maintaining the Gaza siege (for which it is handsomely rewarded with American aid). One effect of Israel's action is to further undermine the regime's credibility among the Egyptian public.

Writing for the Arabist blog, Issandr el Amrani says yesterday's protest in Cairo was the biggest about Palestine since the Gaza war – which, considering the regime's unwillingness to tolerate such protests, came as a surprise:

This evening, thousands gathered at the al-Fath mosque on Ramses Square and staged an impressive protest, even if they were penned in by several hundred uniformed riot control troops and police officers, as well as tons of plainclothes security people and a bunch of baltiguiya (street toughs hired to intimidate, and need be, beat up protesters).

He continues:

We might see more in the next few days, including on Friday after prayers. This may revive local activism on Gaza as well as linkages made between the situation there and the situation in Egypt – notably the Mubarak regime's collaboration with Israel on the blockade. Expect a fierce fight in the media over this in the next few days, and more opportunities to express all sorts of grievances. But when Turkey expels its ambassador and Egypt is seen to be doing nothing, it looks very, very bad for Cairo.