No historical equivalent

Gad Gilbar, a professor of modern Middle East history at the University of Haifa, told Xinhua that the changes we are currently seeing are unprecedented.

"It's a long process. We have certainly not seen the end of it, and the outcome isn't clear. We are in the first phase of a quite complicated historical process," Gilbar said.

Gilbar said that looking back through the history of the Middle East, there has never been an event similar to the current development on a regional scale.

"In the 1920s and 1930s, there were revolts against the imperial power such as Britain and France," Gilbar said, "but nothing like the current events, where the masses are demanding a higher living standard."

According to Gilbar, the desire for a better life is the main objective of the protesters. He believes there is a kind of equation between demonstration and democracy, where the government is responsive to what people want.

Arabic democracy

Shadi Hamid, deputy director of the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar, said that the wide-spread protests are indeed the start of a long struggle, but also a test of an old saying that democracy is a western concept that will never work in the Middle East.

"This is the way that democratic transitions work -- they are supposed to be messy, uncertain and unpredictable," Hamid said, " You don't know who is going to win the next election and you are not always sure when the next election will be."

Hamid said the key question is whether the process will descend into more violence, making more likely a serious political unrest over a prolonged period.

He believes that it's likely to happen if there is stalemate in these countries between protestors and the government, when neither side is willing to back down.

There has always been the conception that Arabs were passive and politically apathetic, Hamid said, "but the recent events have disproved that completely."

"It's not right to say that Arabs were not ready and not interested in democracy -- they always were. It's only a matter of time and right circumstances," he said, "The Arabs have shown that they are willing to fight and die for democracy at a level that no-one really expected."

"This is a democratic moment and Arabs are showing and proving - - if there was any doubt before -- that democracy is truly universal," Hamid added.