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| Iraq + war on terrorism + Middle East conflict + critical perspectives |
 Beyond LebanonBy Brent Scowcroft, Washington Post, July 30, 2006 The eastern shore of the Mediterranean is in turmoil from end to end, a repetition of continuing conflicts in one part or another since the abortive attempts of the United Nations to create separate Israeli and Palestinian states in 1948. The current conflagration has energized the world. Now, perhaps more than ever, we have an opportunity to harness that concern and energy to achieve a comprehensive resolution of the entire 58-year-old tragedy. Only the United States can lead the effort required to seize this opportunity. The outlines of a comprehensive settlement have been apparent since President Bill Clinton's efforts collapsed in 2000. The major elements would include: · A Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders, with minor rectifications agreed upon between Palestine and Israel. · Palestinians giving up the right of return and Israel reciprocating by removing its settlements in the West Bank, again with rectifications as mutually agreed. Those displaced on both sides would receive compensation from the international community. · King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia unambiguously reconfirming his 2002 pledge that the Arab world is prepared to enter into full normal relations with Israel upon its withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967. · Egypt and Saudi Arabia working with the Palestinian Authority to put together a government along the lines of the 18-point agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah prisoners in Israeli jails in June. This government would negotiate for the Authority. · Deployment, as part of a cease-fire, of a robust international force in southern Lebanon. · Deployment of another international force to facilitate and supervise traffic to and from Gaza and the West Bank. · Designation of Jerusalem as the shared capital of Israel and Palestine, with appropriate international guarantees of freedom of movement and civic life in the city. [complete article]  Comment -- In the past five years, the United States has moved from having a pro-Israel bias, to demonstrating a mindless loyalty to Israeli interests as defined by the Israel Lobby. Yet if Washington was to stop prostituting itself in this way, perhaps Israel would finally acquire the maturity to recognize that it must work with its neighbors. Blind American support is the principal obstacle to Israel's growth.
Saying no to being a 'disposable animal'By Rami G. Khouri, Daily Star, July 29, 2006 Many Western analysts - especially Americans - tend to discuss the Arab world in the vocabulary and dynamics of the 1960s, when angry street demonstrators and wily colonels routinely overthrew incumbent regimes. But the nature and impact of mass Arab political anger have changed radically in recent decades. Since the late 1980s, angry Arabs have not bothered much with street demonstrations or attempted coups against the prevailing Arab political order that is seen to be subservient to the US and acquiescent to Israeli dictates. Instead, ordinary Arabs have done something far more significant: They have simply de-legitimized their Arab regimes and political orders, and left them behind. Arab public opinion in many places has built a parallel, more credible, order that is based on the twin pillars of resistance and affirmation, in the twin contexts of Arabism and Islamism. Hizbullah and Hamas are its two most dramatic expressions, and social and political Islamism its more widespread foundation in society. [complete article]  Hezbollah politicians back peace packageAP (via USA Today), July 28, 2006 Hezbollah politicians, while expressing reservations, have joined their critics in the government in agreeing to a peace package that includes strengthening an international force in south Lebanon and disarming the guerrillas, the government said. The agreement -- reached after a heated six-hour Cabinet meeting -- was the first time that Hezbollah has signed onto a proposal for ending the crisis that includes the deploying of international forces. The package falls short of American and Israeli demands in that it calls for an immediate cease-fire before working out details of a force and includes other conditions. But European Union officials said Friday the proposals form a basis for an agreement, increasing the pressure on the United States to call for a cease-fire. [complete article] See also, Rice: Hezbollah comments a 'positive step' (WP). Israel rejects peace offerBy Rone Tempest and Laura King, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2006 After more than two weeks of fierce fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah guerrillas, leaders from the Middle East to Washington and the United Nations signaled a sense of urgency Friday to end the conflict. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the region today for the second round of diplomacy in a week. In the hours before her arrival, Hezbollah political leaders here reversed course and agreed to join a Lebanese government proposal aimed at stopping the fighting in the country's south. Israel dismissed Hezbollah's offer as disingenuous and said it was an indication of the guerrillas' weakness on the battlefield. But the Shiite Muslim militia's willingness to participate in the initiative shows a flexibility to negotiate not previously evident as the fighting raged in southern Lebanon. [complete article] Israeli planes pound targets in LebanonAP (via NYT), July 29, 2006 Israeli troops pulled back from a Lebanese border town Saturday after a weeklong battle with Hezbollah, the bloodiest ground fighting of the 18-day Israeli offensive. Also Saturday, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah threatened in a TV broadcast to attack more cities in central Israel. Elsewhere, Israeli warplanes blasted bridges and demolished houses, killing seven people, including a woman and her five children. The battle for Bint Jbail has symbolized Israel's difficulty in pushing guerrillas back from the border, whether by air bombardment or ground assault. Hezbollah on Friday escalated its cross-border attacks, firing longer-range missiles deeper into Israel than ever before. [complete article] Israelis continue to back strong military responseBy Dion Nissenbaum, McClatchy, July 29, 2006 Rafael Ezra's artillery is pounding unseen targets miles away with blast after deafening blast. But the 21-year-old Israeli soldier isn't too concerned about whether the shells are killing Hezbollah fighters or innocent civilians. "Most of the people killed in Lebanon lived in Hezbollah neighborhoods," Ezra said while getting his hair shaved and listening to Arabic music as shells soared over a nearby hillside. "So I think they need to choose better where they live. People should know better." In the two weeks since Hezbollah sparked the clash by kidnapping two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border ambush, Israeli retaliation has killed hundreds of civilians and sparked mounting international criticism. Few Israelis, however, are shedding many tears for the civilians dying in Lebanon or wondering whether their country's tactics might make it harder rather than easier to reach a peace that would last longer than a few weeks or months. [complete article] Comment -- To be under attack is to experience fear, vulnerability, and a sense of powerlessness. To go on the attack is the easiest way of refinding ones power. It doesn't work but there will never be a shortage of pundits, politicians and leaders eager to drum up support for the righteous cause.
Israel ends Gaza raid, leaving a trail of death and destructionBy Ashraf Khalil, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2006 Israeli tanks pulled out of the Gaza Strip early Friday morning, ending an incursion that began Wednesday and left 30 Palestinians dead and a trail of damaged homes, crushed cars and uprooted trees. On the eastern edges of Gaza City's Shaaf district, deep trenches of churned earth surrounded by newly pockmarked buildings clearly showed the path taken by an estimated 50 Israeli tanks and armored bulldozers. "This used to be all olive and fruit trees," said Shaaf resident Yusuf Hamad, pointing to a wide patch of barren earth. The incursion targeted orchards used by militants for launching rockets over the border, the Israeli army said. Within hours of the tanks' withdrawal, the military wing of Islamic Jihad launched several rockets that landed near the southern Israeli town of Sderot and wounded two children, an Israeli army spokesman said. [complete article] Between Hezbollah and hellBy Paul McGeough, Sydney Morning Herald, July 29, 2006 As he juggles two mobile telephones and two cigarette lighters, Dr Ali Fayyad explains he has recently presented Hezbollah's submission on urgently needed electoral reform to the Lebanese Government. Hezbollah is a key part of that Government - it has three ministries; it has 14 seats in the national parliament; and it controls more than a third of the country's municipal councils. Fayyad is a senior member of Hezbollah's executive committee. At the modern Al-Rassoul Hospital, Ahmad Talal, 33, enters a small office wearing theatre scrubs. Al-Rassoul was built and is run by Hezbollah. Talal is on stand-by to receive the latest victims of Israeli attacks but, digressing, he reveals his pride in the hospital's No. 2 rating on Lebanon's accreditation of health institutions. And, God willing, he vows, next year it will be No. 1. Across town Ibrahim al-Mussawi guides the Herald to a dark corner in the lobby of another hotel. Urbane and intense, his languid frame folds into an armchair and he proceeds to analyse Hezbollah's split personality in the global media - in the West, they are terrorists; in the Arab and Islamic worlds, freedom fighters. Mussawi is circumspect, but others observe he has to be close to the centre of Hezbollah power to be trusted as the face of the militia for foreign TV audiences. All three attend to their tasks in the capital with all the aplomb of lobbyists, technocrats and spin doctors the world over. At the same time their leader, the bearded and turbaned Nasrallah, choreographs the Lebanon end of a brutal war with Israel. [complete article] As the shells fall around them, Hizbullah men await the IsraelisBy Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, The Guardian, July 29, 2006 Inside a well-furnished apartment in a village on the outskirts of Tyre, with shelves of books piled from floor to ceiling, a black turbaned cleric and three men sit sipping bitter coffee. By the door is a pile of Kalashnikovs and ammunition boxes; handguns are tucked into the men's trousers. The four are Hizbullah fighters, waiting for the Israelis. "Patience is our main virtue, we can wait for days, weeks, months before we attack. The Israelis are always impatient in battle and in strategy," says the cleric, Sayed Ali, who claims to be a descendant of the prophet. "I know them very well." As if to make his point, the sound of Israeli shells blasting the surrounding hills shakes the door and shutters every few minutes. Ali does know the Israelis. He started fighting them at the age of 17 when they invaded Lebanon in 1982. Three years later he was arrested with two of his comrades and spent a few months in an Israeli prison. Within weeks of his release he was fighting them again.That's what he did for the next six years. For the last five years he has been finishing his theology studies in Tehran. A month ago, he was asked by Hizbullah to return to southern Lebanon. He arrived a week before the fighting began. Standing at the window, he points to the banana plantations between us and the blue Mediterranean. "I have fought for years in these groves. We used to sit and wait for them [the Israelis] to make a move and then we would hit. They always moved too quickly, too soon." [complete article] Lebanon oil slick 'worst environmental disaster' in MediterraneanBy Sammy Ketz, AFP (via Yahoo), July 29, 2006 The Mediterranean is threatened by its worst ever environmental disaster after Israel's bombing of a power plant in Lebanon sent thousands of tonnes of fuel gushing into the sea, the environment minister charged. "Up until now 10,000-15,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil have spilled out into the sea," after Israel's bombing of the power station in Jiyeh two weeks ago, Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf told AFP Saturday. "It's without doubt the biggest environmental catastrophe that the Mediterranean has known and it risks having terrible consequences not only for our country but for all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean." [complete article] Casualties of war: Lebanon's trees, air and seaBy Hassan M. Fattah, New York Times, July 29, 2006 As Israel continues the bombing campaign that has turned parts of Lebanon into rubble, environmentalists are warning of widespread and lasting damage. Spilled and burning oil, along with forest fires, toxic waste flows and growing garbage heaps have gone from nuisances to threats to people and wildlife, they say, marring a country traditionally known for its clean air and scenic greenery. Many of Lebanon's once pristine beaches and much of its coastline have been coated with a thick sludge that threatens marine life. As smoke billowed overhead on Friday, turning day into dusk, Ali Saeed, a resident, recounted how war has changed this small industrial town about 15 miles south of Beirut. Most people have left, he said. It is virtually impossible to drive on the roads, and almost everyone hides behind sealed windows. "There's nowhere to run," Mr. Saeed said, showing off the black speckles on his skin that have turned everything white here into gray. "It's dripping fuel from the sky." [complete article] War in Middle East puts U.S.-European warming trend on holdBy Molly Moore, Washington Post, July 29, 2006 Just when President Bush was starting to mend the political rift between the United States and Europe, the latest Middle East conflict has reopened the transatlantic divide, on the streets and in government. Across Europe, leaders and citizens are expressing growing alarm over Washington's refusal to rein in Israel's bombing of Lebanon and appear increasingly fearful of the pro-Hezbollah sentiment unleashed in the Middle East by the daily scenes of destruction and civilian deaths. Many officials said they worry about backlashes in their own restive Muslim and Arab communities. [complete article] U.N. deaths 'threaten peacekeeping'BBC News, July 29, 2006 The UN has warned the deaths of four of its personnel in southern Lebanon may deter countries from contributing to a future peacekeeping force in the area. UN deputy chief Mark Malloch-Brown said they accepted Israel's apology for the losses to Israeli fire, but still had "serious concerns" about what happened. The UN has called for a three-day truce to let aid enter Lebanon, but Israel has rejected the request. [complete article] Shiite cleric calls Maliki visit to U.S. a betrayalBy Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2006 In a sermon rich with bloody imagery and religious struggle, an influential Shiite Muslim cleric Friday condemned Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's trip to Washington this week as a betrayal of Islam and a humiliation to his people at the hands of U.S. and Israeli aggressors. Sheik Aws Khafaji intertwined the bloodshed in Iraq and Lebanon, calling it a design by Christians and Jews to defeat the Muslim world. He criticized Maliki's speech before the U.S. Congress and asked: "What forced you to eat with the occupiers? Is that your reward? You know more than anybody else that the car bombings, terrorism, explosions and bloodletting in Iraq are under the protection of Zionist-American plans." The sermon during Friday prayers in Baghdad came as U.S. and Iraqi forces planned a wider crackdown to stop the unrelenting sectarian violence that has pushed this nation into an undeclared civil war. Khafaji's comments also added another sensitive dynamic to Iraqi politics — the sheik is a confidant of Muqtada Sadr, a radical Shiite cleric whose movement controls a well-armed militia and 30 seats in parliament. [complete article] Blasts in Baghdad as U.S. faces Shiite resistanceBy David Clark, AFP (via Yahoo), July 29, 2006 Bomb blasts echoed around Baghdad as sectarian death squads pursued their bloody work and the US military warned that it was facing stiffer opposition in formerly cooperative Shiite areas. The US troops' most deadly foe remains Sunni insurgents -- four marines were killed in the mainly Sunni province of Anbar Thursday -- but the coalition is now drawn increasingly into clashes with powerful Shiite militias. This trend is all the more ominous given that US commanders have decided to put around 4,000 additional troops into the mainly-Shiite capital to try to halt a surge in murderous bomb and gun attacks by rival sectarian gangs. [complete article] Iraqi official warns against coup attemptBy Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan, Washington Post, July 29, 2006 A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and warned that "we will not allow it." Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament from Iraq's most powerful political party, said in a speech in the holy city of Najaf that "some tongues" were talking about toppling Maliki's Shiite-led government and replacing it with a "national salvation government, which we call a military coup government." He did not detail the allegation. A new government would mean "canceling the constitution, canceling the results of the elections and going back to square one ... and we will not accept that," he said. Amiri is also a top official in the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which is the leading member of a coalition of Shiite political parties governing Iraq. [complete article] You're all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in SouthBy Harry de Quetteville, The Telegraph, July 28, 2006 Everyone remaining in southern Lebanon will be regarded as a terrorist, Israel's justice minister said yesterday as the military prepared to employ "huge firepower" from the air in its campaign to crush Hizbollah. Haim Ramon issued the warning as the Israeli government decided against expanding ground operations after the death of nine soldiers in fighting on Wednesday. "What we should do in southern Lebanon is employ huge firepower before a ground force goes in," Mr Ramon said at a security cabinet meeting headed by Ehud Olmert, the prime minister. "Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hizbollah. Our great advantage vis-a-vis Hizbollah is our firepower, not in face-to-face combat." [complete article] Comment -- Israel has always been happy to employ the thuggish logic of George Bush's war on terrorism: you're either for us or against us; we make no distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them.The war on civilization is, indeed, now in full swing but the joint endeavors of Israel and the United States pose a much larger threat than any two-bit jihadist could ever muster! The "hiding among civilians" mythBy Mitch Prothero, Salon, July 28, 2006 Throughout this now 16-day-old war, Israeli planes high above civilian areas make decisions on what to bomb. They send huge bombs capable of killing things for hundreds of meters around those targets to destroy them, and then blame the inevitable civilian deaths -- the Lebanese government says 600 civilians have been killed so far -- on "terrorists" who callously use the civilian infrastructure for protection. But this claim is almost always false. My own reporting and that of other journalists reveals that in fact Hezbollah fighters -- as opposed to the much more numerous Hezbollah political members, and the vastly more numerous Hezbollah sympathizers -- avoid civilians like the plague. Much smarter and better trained than the PLO and Hamas fighters, they know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators -- as so many Palestinian militants have been. For their part, the Israelis seem to think that if they keep pounding civilians, they'll get some fighters, too. The almost nightly airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut could be seen as making some sense, as the Israelis appear convinced there are command and control bunkers underneath the continually smoldering rubble. There were some civilian casualties the first few nights in places like Haret Hreik, but people quickly left the area to the Hezbollah fighters with their radios and motorbikes. But other attacks seem gratuitous, fishing expeditions, or simply intended to punish anything and anyone even vaguely connected to Hezbollah. Lighthouses, grain elevators, milk factories, bridges in the north used by refugees, apartment buildings partially occupied by members of Hezbollah's political wing -- all have been reduced to rubble. [complete article] The Middle East and the barbarism of war from the airBy Tom Englehardt, TomDispatch, July 28, 2006 On our we/they planet, most groups don't consider themselves barbarians. Nonetheless, we have largely achieved non-barbaric status in an interesting way -- by removing the most essential aspect of the American (and, right now, Israeli) way of war from the category of the barbaric. I'm talking, of course, about air power, about raining destruction down on the earth from the skies, and about the belief -- so common, so long-lasting, so deep-seated -- that bombing others, including civilian populations, is a "strategic" thing to do; that air power can, in relatively swift measure, break the "will" not just of the enemy, but of that enemy's society; and that such a way of war is the royal path to victory. [complete article] Only Hizbullah can defend against an Israeli invasionBy Jonathan Steele, The Guardian, July 28, 2006 A rally of well-dressed middle-class ladies, perhaps 40 in all, protested outside the UN's offices here on Wednesday, calling for a ceasefire. Representing the Lebanese Council of Women, they handed out leaflets appealing to Kofi Annan to get something done. They were fewer in number than the recent anti-war demonstrators in Tel Aviv, but more representative. While today's peaceniks in Israel are a lonely, though perhaps slowly growing, minority, the cry for a ceasefire is overwhelming in Lebanon. Why bother to demonstrate when the issue is so obvious? So my strongest impression of the rally came from Lamia Osseiran, one of its organisers: "The Israelis are radicalising Lebanon, even liberal democrats like me. I took part in last year's demonstrations against Syria. I was a critic of Hizbullah. Now I cannot help but support Hizbullah's fighters who are defending our country." What about Hizbullah's rocket attacks on Haifa? "It's right," she replied. "It's not only Lebanese who should have to suffer. Are human rights available only to Israelis? You can't have winter and summer on the same roof." [complete article] Tide of Arab opinion turns to support for HezbollahBy Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, July 28, 2006 At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight. Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements. The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah's main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington. An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a "new Middle East" that they say has led only to violence and repression. [complete article] Israeli strikes may boost Hizbullah baseBy Nicholas Blanford, Christian Science Monitor, July 28, 2006 The ferocity of Israel's onslaught in southern Lebanon and Hizbullah's stubborn battles against Israeli ground forces may be working in the militant group's favor. "They want to shatter the myth of Israeli invincibility," says Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, a leading Lebanese expert on Hizbullah. "Being victorious means not allowing Israel to achieve their aims, and so far that is the case." [complete article] The 'Arab system' is dying in LebanonBy David Hirst, The Guardian, July 28, 2006 It has long been whispered against Shia that they don't really share their Sunni compatriots' devotion to pan-Arab causes. So it is deeply disconcerting for the Sunni Arab establishment that a purely Shia organization, Hizbullah, should so heroically assume the championship of the main one, Palestine. And it only adds to its embarrassment that the other non-state actor, the purely Sunni Hamas, not merely fails to share that view of Hizbullah, but, under Iranian auspices, operates in growing partnership with it. The longer Hizbullah holds out, the more blows it deals the awesome Israeli military machine, the more Hassan Nasrallah will stir the Arab public, be they Sunni or Shia, against their paralytic kings and presidents. It was Sunni Muslims who demonstrated in the streets of Cairo, Amman, Damascus last week, Egypt's Sunni Muslim Brother movement that gave voice to what everyone, secular or Islamist, in the Arab world is saying: "Hizbullah, with its modest capabilities, achieved what several Arab governments, with their organized state armies, did not - as they contented themselves with mere silence about the slaughter of our Palestinian brethren." From his bunker beneath the bombs, Nasrallah - composed, charismatic, brilliantly articulate - quietly suggested to the Umma - or "Muslim nation" - that if their leaders were not up to their jobs, then their peoples could, like him, do the jobs in their place. [complete article] See also, Strength in unity (Jim Lobe). Let's declare victory and start talkingBy Ze'ev Sternhell, Haaretz, July 28, 2006 If Israel really did embark on the war in order to force Lebanon to impose its authority on the south, which is in Hezbollah's hands - or in other words, to force the Lebanese government to begin a civil war in the service of Israel - that is a sign that it is dominated by thinking even more primitive than the thinking that led Ariel Sharon to Beirut about a quarter of a century ago. But this time, we have exacerbated the problem: At the beginning of the third week of fighting, in spite of the determination and courage of the attacking soldiers, the war seems only to be beginning. That is why we should achieve a cease-fire before the campaign gets out of control, claims victims in vain and, in the long run, even turns into a strategic failure. [complete article] The alternative to Hezbollah may be occupationBy Zvi Bar'el, Haaretz, July 28, 2006 Naim Qassem, the deputy of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, said in an article published in Al-Nahar on Thursday that the group will consider it a victory if Lebanon does not become an American bridgehead in the Middle East. This does not reflect merely an ideological aspiration, but a real opposition to the deployment of a NATO force controlled by the United States in southern Lebanon. As for disarmament, if at all, Hezbollah would like to leave this issue to domestic discussions between the group and the government, without any external interference or dictates. The question now is whether it will be possible to obtain a declaration of intent from Israel and the United States. In short, will Israel agree, in advance, to withdraw from Shaba Farms, if Syria transfers an official document confirming it to be Lebanese, and if the Lebanese army deploys there in place of the Israel Defense Forces? Will Israel agree to negotiations with the government of Lebanon, and not Hezbollah, over an exchange of prisoners? These two issues are directly relevant to the way the results of this war will be viewed, because any declarations of intent on these points will be considered Hezbollah achievements. On the other hand, if Israel decides that it can register achievements without cooperating with the Lebanese government - that is, without allowing Hezbollah any gains - it may find itself faced with Lebanese unity of the kind that it experienced during its years of occupation. In that case, Israel might find itself caught in a situation similar to the one it has faced in the territories since it chose to give up its partner: a direct, long-term occupation. [complete article] How the Lebanon crisis complicates U.S. prospects in IraqBy Tony Karon, Time.com, July 27, 2006 In spite of the escalating carnage and instability in Baghdad, the Bush Administration continues to view the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as the best hope for achieving an acceptable outcome in Iraq. But that doesn't appear to be getting any closer: Sectarian violence continues at a steady clip, and the Bush administration appears to have acknowledged the failure of its recent crackdown in Baghdad by announcing that U.S. troops will be moved from outlying provinces to the bloody streets of the capital. But if U.S. congressional leaders have learned not to expect quick fixes in Iraq, many were shocked that Maliki, in the course of a visit to Washington seeking greater assistance, publicly broke with the Administration's position on Lebanon. Maliki, addressing the media, was very clear that he blamed the crisis on "Israeli aggression," and he declined to criticize Hizballah. Maliki's stance highlighted a major problem facing the Bush Administration's Middle East crisis: The U.S. has viewed Israel's fight with Hizballah as an opportunity to rally Arab support against growing Iranian influence in the Middle East. But it is not even able to rally the support of Iraq, an Arab government dependent for its security on U.S. troops. [complete article]  Nasrallah's other fightBy Olivier Guitta, Asia Times, July 29, 2006 Nasrallah's biography explains how he got close to prominent clerics in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, in particular the Sadr family. In 1975, when he was only 15, Nasrallah joined the ranks of the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Amal - which Hezbollah broke from after its creation in 1982 - led by Musa al-Sadr. From 1976 to 1978 he was sent to study in Najaf, Iraq, at the famed Shi'ite seminary the Hawze. There he met most of his mentors, starting with Iranian ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979) and also his tutor, ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr (Muqtada al-Sadr's father). He also was in close contact with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (the leading Shi'ite spiritual force in Iraq today). And finally, he was groomed by future Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi, whom he succeeded after Musawi was killed by the Israelis in 1992. Those two years in Najaf definitely left a huge imprint on Nasrallah's psyche. And that's why, when it was time to help his Shi'ite brothers in Iraq after the US intervention in 2003, and especially Muqtada, Nasrallah responded. Nasrallah, using the 1982 model of what had worked in Lebanon to kick out the multinational force, adapted some of his tactics in Iraq. [complete article] Blair to tell Bush: we need a ceasefireBy Ewen MacAskill, Simon Tisdall and Michael White, The Guardian, July 28, 2006 Tony Blair will press George Bush today to support "as a matter of urgency" a ceasefire in Lebanon as part of a UN security council resolution next week, according to Downing Street sources. At a White House meeting, the prime minister will express his concern that pro-western Arab governments are "getting squeezed" by the crisis and the longer it continues, the more squeezed they will be, giving militants a boost. The private view from No 10 is that the US is "prevaricating" over the resolution and allowing the conflict to run on too long. But diplomatic sources in Washington suggest the US and Israel believe serious damage has been inflicted on Hizbullah, so the White House is ready to back a ceasefire resolution at the UN next week. Today Mr Bush and Mr Blair will discuss a version of the resolution that has been circulating in Washington and London. [complete article] Britain lets more U.S. arms flights land in ScotlandBy hilip Webster, The Times, July 28, 2006 The [British] Government will allow more American aircraft carrying arms to Israel to stop over in Britain despite private concerns that the Pentagon was "playing fast and loose". The US has asked the Government to let two aircraft with missiles and bombs on board stop at Prestwick in the next fortnight. However, Labour MPs are furious with the US for breaking the rules governing the use of British airports as staging posts when demands on Israel for a ceasefire in Lebanon are growing stronger. The Times has been told that two aircraft that landed at Prestwick last weekend carrying "bunker-busting" bombs had been designated as civilian flights and that the US failed to notify authorities in advance of their hazardous cargoes, as the rules demand. [complete article] The Condoleezza two stepBy Robert Rosenberg, Ariga, July 28, 2006 Israel was sending messages every way it can to Damascus, telling Syria it does not want war with it. Former defense minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Home Front Commander Maj. Gen. Gershon Yitzhak, and the entire press said as much this morning. But at the same time, Army Radio reported that top officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were in Damascus this week for meetings with Syrian officials, Hizbollah leaders, and officials from the various Palestinian rejectionist groups based in Damascus. And Israeli public statements about the multinational force -- for which nobody is yet volunteering -- include mention of the need for some force with authority to monitor and prevent arms deliveries over the Syrian border into Lebanon. The call-up of reserve troops -- enough, the army believes, to occupy Lebanon’s south -- is also being regarded as a message to Syria as well as to the international community to speed up its efforts to arrange a deal that satisfies Israeli demands. In other words, there are mixed signals coming from Israel about Syria, and with President George Bush constantly pointing out that the Syrians are to blame for the situation, no wonder the Syrian armed forces are said to be on high alert. Syria has hundreds of Scud missiles, able to reach anywhere in the country. There are reports that the army has deployed Patriot anti-missile missile systems in strategic locations, and the Home Front Commander said that his troops -- and all the emergency services from police to Magen David Adom that are subject to his command in case of an attack on the rear -- are prepared for attacks on the center of the country, a euphemism for Tel Aviv and its metropolitan area. [complete article] Tying the hands of the United NationsBy Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, July 28, 2006 In the week preceding Hizbullah's July 12 cross-border raid into Israel that sparked the Lebanon war, the UN security council was wrestling with a draft resolution on Gaza. Sponsored by Arab countries, it called for the unconditional release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants on June 25, an end to the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israel, and a halt to Israel's "disproportionate" military response that was killing and injuring dozens of Palestinian civilians. In the event, the US vetoed the Gaza resolution on the grounds that it was "unbalanced" and, ironically in the light of subsequent events, would have exacerbated regional tensions. John Bolton, the US ambassador, said the draft "places demands on one side of the Middle East conflict but not the other". In a taste of things to come, Britain abstained from voting. The security council's failure during the period beginning June 25 to offer even a statement of concern about events in Gaza is one possible reason why Hizbullah took the incendiary action it did on July 12, capturing two more Israeli soldiers and killing several others. The Lebanese Shia militia doubtless had other motives, too. But it appeared determined to stand up for the Palestinians when the international community was evidently unwilling or unable to do so. [complete article] Israel nixes major U.N. role in LebanonBy Nick Wadhams, AP (via Yahoo), July 27, 2006 Israel's U.N. ambassador on Thursday ruled out major U.N. involvement in any potential international force in Lebanon, saying more professional and better-trained troops were needed for such a volatile situation. Dan Gillerman also said Israel would not allow the United Nations to join in an investigation of an Israeli airstrike that demolished a post belonging to the current U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. Four U.N. observers were killed in the Tuesday strike. "Israel has never agreed to a joint investigation, and I don't think that if anything happened in this country, or in Britain or in Italy or in France, the government of that country would agree to a joint investigation," Gillerman said. [complete article] Comment -- Is the Israeli ambassador as oblivious to the notion of sovereignty as he appears, or is merely expressing Israel's longstanding tendency to believe that it possesses a self-declared territorial jurisdiction outside its own borders? The U.N. post was in Lebanon - not Israel - but hey, what's the difference?As for Israel's stated interest in having NATO put troops into a buffer zone, why exactly should any government not believe that sooner or later their troops would end up coming under Israeli fire? Perhaps this willingness to internationalize the issue is simply another ruse for extending the conflict, it being reasonable for the Israelis to assume that the formation of such a force will only come about after protracted negotiations. Anatomy of an attackBy Michael Meyer, Newsweek, July 27, 2006 U.N. observers reported that fighter-delivered aerial bombs and artillery shells began falling around their compound early Tuesday afternoon. The first, an aerial bomb, fell roughly 200 meters away at 1:20 p.m., or 1320 by the U.N. mission's military-style timekeeping. Another hit at 1324. Yet another five minutes later at 1329 and still another at 1335. Two more struck at 1428 as the barrage continued, with bombs landing near the compound at 1436, 1442, 1451, 1632 and 1829. Also at 1829—6:29 p.m.—the U.N. official says, four artillery shells struck within the U.N. compound's perimeter. Three more landed within 100 meters at 1916. At 1930 -- six hours after the barrage began -- the fatal aerial bomb, released from an Israeli jet, struck the post and killed the four U.N. observers -- Canadian, Austrian, Finnish and Chinese. Over that six-hour period, U.N. officials say they made at least a dozen phone calls to Israeli commanders. Early on, Annan himself called Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to protest and was personally assured, the secretary-general said in a statement, that "U.N. positions would be spared Israeli fire." Senior U.N. officials also placed calls to Gillerman and his deputy at the Israeli Mission in New York, while in southern Lebanon the commander of the U.N. force, Alain Pellegrini, made 10 calls to his counterpart, the head of the Israeli Defense Force's Northern Command. "Pellegrini repeatedly asked them to stop. 'Shells are falling on our position,' he told them," according to Annan’s aide. "We gave them the precise coordinates" where the U.N. personnel were located. Each time, in Lebanon as well as in New York, they were given assurances that the U.N. post would not be struck, Annan's aide told NEWSWEEK. [complete article] U.N. Council "dismayed" by Israeli firing on U.N. postsBy Evelyn Leopold, Reuters, July 27, 2006 The U.N. Security Council adopted a statement on Thursday expressing shock and distress at Israel's bombing of a U.N. outpost in Lebanon that killed four unarmed U.N. peacekeepers. The policy statement, which carries less weight than a resolution, was weaker than one proposed by China and other nations, after more than a day of negotiations and objections from the United States, which wanted to make sure Israel was not directly or indirectly blamed for the attack. China, expressing frustration at the delay, earlier warned the United States its opposition to the statement could jeopardize U.N. negotiations on a resolution ordering Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment. [complete article] Israel steps up "psy-ops" in LebanonBy Peter Feuilherade, BBC, July 26, 2006 According to US and UK media outlets, Israel has reactivated a radio station to broadcast messages urging residents of southern Lebanon to evacuate the region. Some reports have named the station as the Voice of the South. The South Lebanon Army, a Christian militia backed by Israel, operated a radio station called Voice of the South from Kfar Killa in southern Lebanon in the 1980s and 1990s. The station closed down in May 2000 when Israeli forces withdrew from southern Lebanon. The Israeli newspaper Maariv on Sunday reported the appearance of a website called All 4 Lebanon which offered payment for tip-offs from Lebanese citizens "that could help Israel in the fight against Hezbollah". [complete article] History repeats with a vengeanceBy Jim Muir, BBC News, July 28, 2006 When Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982, the initial pretext - reflected in the codename given to the operation, Peace for Galilee - was to push PLO guns about 40km (25 miles) back from the border, beyond range of northern Israel. The goal sounds familiar today, as Hezbollah rockets hail down on Israel's northern cities. But the real agenda of then-Defence Minister Ariel Sharon in 1982 swiftly became clear, as Israeli forces raced to Beirut and besieged an Arab capital for the first time. It was far more ambitious: to decapitate the Palestinian movement by destroying the PLO, to eject Syrian troops from Lebanon, and install a friendly government in Beirut which would make peace with Israel. The Israelis failed to destroy the PLO, but succeeded in squeezing it out. Yasser Arafat and his fighters were obliged to evacuate on ships and be taken off to Tunis. But even that was a pyrrhic victory. Yasser Arafat ended up returning to his homeland and died as President of the Palestinian Authority. [complete article] Pander and runBy Peter Beinart, Washington Post, July 28, 2006 The Democratic Party's single biggest foreign policy liability is not that Americans think Democrats are soft. It is that Americans think Democrats stand for nothing, that they have no principles beyond political expedience. And given the party's behavior over the past several months, it is not hard to understand why. [complete article] Detainee abuse charges fearedBy R. Jeffrey Smith, Washington Post, July 28, 2006 An obscure law approved by a Republican-controlled Congress a decade ago has made the Bush administration nervous that officials and troops involved in handling detainee matters might be accused of committing war crimes, and prosecuted at some point in U.S. courts. Senior officials have responded by drafting legislation that would grant U.S. personnel involved in the terrorism fight new protections against prosecution for past violations of the War Crimes Act of 1996. That law criminalizes violations of the Geneva Conventions governing conduct in war and threatens the death penalty if U.S.-held detainees die in custody from abusive treatment. In light of a recent Supreme Court ruling that the international Conventions apply to the treatment of detainees in the terrorism fight, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has spoken privately with Republican lawmakers about the need for such "protections," according to someone who heard his remarks last week. [complete article] Sergeant tells of plot to kill Iraqi detaineesBy Robert F. Worth, New York Times, July 28, 2006 For more than a month after the killings, Sgt. Lemuel Lemus stuck to his story. "Proper escalation of force was used," he told an investigator, describing how members of his unit shot and killed three Iraqi prisoners who had lashed out at their captors and tried to escape after a raid northwest of Baghdad on May 9. Then, on June 15, Sergeant Lemus offered a new and much darker account. In a lengthy sworn statement, he said he had witnessed a deliberate plot by his fellow soldiers to kill the three handcuffed Iraqis and a cover-up in which one soldier cut another to bolster their story. The squad leader threatened to kill anyone who talked. Later, one guilt-stricken soldier complained of nightmares and "couldn't stop talking" about what happened, Sergeant Lemus said. [complete article] General explains Baghdad buildupBy Julian E. Barnes, Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2006 For months, American commanders in Iraq have talked of their desire to withdraw most U.S. troops from Baghdad's dangerous streets and pull them back to the relative safety of big, wellguarded bases outside the capital. In an interview Wednesday, the commander of day-to-day U.S. military operations in Iraq explained why he plans to do the opposite -- push more American troops into the city's neighborhoods, making them responsible for stopping sectarian violence. Army Lt. Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli also said he wants U.S. soldiers to oversee an army of Iraqis digging water and sewer lines and other public works to create jobs for Baghdad's residents. Military officials plan to start with a budget of about $75 million to $100 million for the projects. [complete article] Series of woes mar Iraq project hailed as modelBy James Glanz, New York Times, July 28, 2006 The United States is dropping Bechtel, the American construction giant, from a project to build a high-tech children’s hospital in the southern Iraqi city of Basra after the project fell nearly a year behind schedule and exceeded its expected cost by as much as 150 percent. Called the Basra Children’s Hospital, the project has been consistently championed by the first lady, Laura Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and was designed to house sophisticated equipment for treating childhood cancer. Now it becomes the latest in a series of American taxpayer-financed health projects in Iraq to face overruns, delays and cancellations. Earlier this year, the Army Corps of Engineers canceled more than $300 million in contracts held by Parsons, another American contractor, to build and refurbish hospitals and clinics across Iraq. [complete article] Israeli troops battle an unbending foeBy Charles A. Radin and Alon Tuval, Boston Globe, July 27, 2006 "In my opinion the Hezbollah fighter is much tougher than the Israeli one," said a member of the Israeli special forces who was hitchhiking yesterday from his post on the northern border to his home in the Galilee. "I've seen them face to face, they shot at me and I at them, and I killed more than one. "They wait for you, they ambush you on every occasion. ... Compared to them, the Palestinians are nothing," said the soldier, who like other soldiers interviewed yesterday spoke on condition of anonymity because he was commenting without the permission of his commanders. A reservist from an elite unit of airborne foot soldiers, who was preparing to enter combat along the northern border, said that in addition to being good shots and skillful guerrillas, Hezbollah fighters have the power of religious fervor behind them. "Death is almost welcomed by them," he said. "A soldier that is trained well and has religious zeal, even if his capabilities are mediocre, is a serious fighter. They are not at the level of the Israeli special forces, but their zealousness is a very important factor." This soldier -- and most others interviewed -- said that Israel's ground troops are fully capable of dealing with Hezbollah, but that defeating the group will require house-to-house warfare, of which there has been little so far. "We have been training for years for a scenario like this one, but we have not been deployed yet," the soldier said. Former senior officials and analysts said that Israel's initial approach to the conflict was overly influenced by the desire to minimize casualties in the Israeli ranks, and that this approach is failing. [complete article] Comment -- Both commentators and reporters never tire of reminding us that Hezbollah is "dedicated to the destruction of Israel." Are we to conclude that if Hezbollah is able to claim some kind of victory in this war then Israel's days are numbered? As the Boston Globe reports, "Behind the increasing calls for a major ground offensive, analysts say, is a spreading recognition among Israeli citizens that this is a conflict Israel must win decisively, or find itself in mortal peril."Mortal peril? Would the return of Lebanese prisoners and a withdrawal from Sheba Farms threaten the existence of the state of Israel? I think not, but what would be at peril is Israel's ability to pursue unilateralist policies even when they enjoy unequivocal and uncritical support from Washington. Israel's future may not be at stake, yet the humiliation of some form of defeat might push the Jewish state to realize that it can no longer afford to regard its adversaries with contempt. The bitter pill that Israel might be forced to swallow is accepting that its future depends on its willingness to find an equitable accommodation through which it can peacefully co-exist with neighboring states and the Palestinian population. Let it bleedBy Christopher Dickey, Newsweek, July 26, 2006 Worthy-sounding meetings of ministers, like the International Conference for Lebanon held in Rome today, rarely get very much done. The participants here were high-powered, to be sure: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the prime minister of the country in question, Fouad Siniora, plus a slew of Europeans and Arabs (but no Israelis or Hizbullahis). Instigated by Washington, it was all for show. The assembled dignitaries expressed their "determination to work immediately to reach with the utmost urgency a ceasefire" in the war that started two weeks ago today when the Hizbullah militia crossed the border to capture two Israeli soldiers, and Israel responded with a massive counterattack the length and breadth of Lebanon. But, at American insistence, the ceasefire would have to be one that's "lasting, permanent and sustainable." Which means the flames searing Lebanon, threatening Israel and endangering the most volatile region in the world will go on for weeks, if not months, to come. The consolation prize: a promise of "immediate humanitarian aid." [complete article] Comment -- As the emissary of peace-postponed, Condoleezza Rice might fittingly come to be known as the Angel of Death*. If she is right in saying that peace can come too soon, then every death that precedes the durable peace she seeks must in some perverse sense be a timely death. This is America's new message to the new Middle East: For the sake of a sustainable peace, let the killing continue. And since America's allies buckled under pressure to do nothing, not surprisingly, the Israelis now claim that "the world" has given its consent for the fighting to continue.The ultimate irony in Israel's ability to engage in unrestrained violence is this: All those who imagined that Israel just needed the freedom to fight on its own terms without being shackled by concerns about international opinion, also imagined that once the Israeli military was let loose, it could easily dispatch its enemy. Now, with each passing day Israel's aura of invisibility diminishes while that of Hezbollah grows in strength. *In the same spirit that Richard Perle came to be known as the Prince of Darkness. Israel seeks to align public expectations with realityBy Laura King, Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2006 Even before Wednesday's bruising day on the battlefields of south Lebanon, Israel's leaders had begun scaling back public expectations of a decisive -- or a quick -- victory over the guerrillas of Hezbollah. Heading into the confrontation, senior Israeli officials had declared that the Shiite Muslim militia would be dealt a blow from which it could not recover. Its arsenal would be destroyed and its fighters driven out of south Lebanon, the officials said. Some spoke openly of killing Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, who triggered the confrontation two weeks ago by sending guerrillas on a deadly cross-border raid that led to the capture of two Israeli soldiers. "We intend to break this organization," Defense Minister Amir Peretz said of Hezbollah during the conflict's first days. The army's chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz, declared that Israel wanted to make it clear to the Lebanese "that they've swallowed a cancer and have to vomit it up." With the fighting in its third week, however, Israelis are being told that Hezbollah can be weakened but not eradicated, that Israeli forces will not be able to police the border zone themselves, and that Hezbollah's rockets continue to pose a threat to Israeli towns. "The target is not to totally dismantle Hezbollah," said Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a former head of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic security service. "What we are doing now is to try to send a message to Hezbollah." [complete article] Israel OKs call-up of 30,000 soldiersBy Ravi Nessman, AP (via Yahoo), July 27, 2006 Israel's government decided Thursday not to expand its battle with Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon for now, but authorized the army to call up 30,000 reserve soldiers in case the fighting intensified. The Lebanese health minister said up to 600 civilians have been killed in the campaign, including as many as 200 still buried in the rubble of destroyed buildings. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, meanwhile, said she was "willing and ready" to return to the region to work for a sustainable peace agreement. But President Bush suggested he would support the offensive for as long as it would take to cripple Hezbollah. [complete article] Israel debates strategy shift after truce talks failBy Greg Myre and John O'Neil, New York Times, July 27, 2006 Israel's security cabinet today decided against expanding its ground offensive in Lebanon, a day after the heaviest fighting in the two-week-old conflict killed 9 Israeli soldiers and dozens of Hezbollah fighters. Before the meeting, Israeli officials said they regarded the failure of an international conference to reach agreement on a cease-fire plan as clearing the way for further assaults on Hezbollah. [complete article] Time won't help Israel disarm HizbullahBy Augustus Richard Norton, Christian Science Monitor, July 27, 2006 With the Bush administration providing diplomatic cover, Israel is playing for time. Israel's premise is that the longer its war continues, the more it will wear down Hizbullah. The Israeli military is fighting intense battles to capture border villages with a view to re-creating a buffer zone. Hizbullah fighters, honed by two decades of Israeli occupation, are defending their soil fiercely. Despite international demands for a cease-fire, and the anguished pleas of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insists that conditions need to be "right" before the US will endorse one. But the idea that time favors Israel's goal of disarming Hizbullah is dubious for five reasons: [complete article]  Syria will emerge stronger from the Lebanon debacleBy Joshua Landis, Syria Comment, July 26, 2006 The present Israeli campaign in Lebanon will strengthen the Syrian regime. Many analysts are beginning to come to this conclusion. Why? 1. The three states in which the US has promised to create democracy and a better future – Palestine, Iraq, and Lebanon – have experienced chaos, growing radicalism and a decline in their economies. Syrians see this and will cling tighter to their regime, whether they like it or not. 2. Democracy, the American export, has been further discredited in the eyes of Middle Easterners. The US promised Lebanon’s new anti-Syrian democratic coalition that it would be protected and backed by Washington in its struggle with Damascus. This turns out to have been a false promise. Democracy led to weakness and division in the Lebanese government. Washington and Israel lost patience with the Lebanese government after little more than a year and chose to punish it for not showing the characteristics of a powerful dictatorship that can destroy opposition groups. Washington has turned against its own democratic experiment. The lesson is that Washington cannot be trusted, is not sincere about democracy, and will not back its Arab allies against Israel. [complete article] Try talking with SyriaBy David W. Lesch, Washington Post, July 27, 2006 ...Assad is more securely in power and more confident in his leadership today than he has ever been -- although perhaps, as recent events have shown, maybe a bit overconfident. He has weeded out most of the "old guard" from his father's reign, and he funneled the international pressure related to the Hariri assassination and subsequent withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon into a nationalistic response that has coalesced in support of the regime. From Assad's point of view, the United States is stuck in a quagmire in Iraq. It is also deeply concerned about Iran. Meanwhile, President Bush's democracy promotion has hit a brick wall. But Assad continues to talk to practically no one from a Western government. [complete article] The third week beginsBy Robert Rosenberg, Ariga, July 27, 2006 The progress of the war is clearly disappointing to at least the Israeli media. Soldiers interviewed in the wake of operations -- even after yesterday’s difficult battle -- show very high morale and eagerness to go back into battle, with no doubts expressed about how their commanders are leading them. But ex-generals are showing up on TV, explaining how when they were in charge, they did things differently. Amos Yaron, for example, was on TV the other night saying that when he led a corps into Lebanon in 1982, it only took him four days to reach Beirut, a comment that seemed to say that the current military leadership is not effective. Some military commentators have pointed to the fact that the chief of staff and the head of military intelligence are both from the air force, with complaints that they don't appreciate the need for detailed ground intelligence of the kind that supposedly would have prevented the events yesterday. [complete article] Israel using chemical weapons: doctorsSydney Morning Herald, July 27, 2006 Lebanon is investigating reports from doctors that Israel has used weapons in its 15-day-old bombardment of southern Lebanon that have caused wounds they have never seen before. "We are sending off samples tomorrow, but we have no confirmation yet that illegal weapons have been used," Health Minister Mohammed Khalife said. The Israeli army said it had used only conventional weapons and ammunition in attacks aimed at Hizbollah guerrillas and nothing contravening international law. [complete article] Israelis ignored repeated warnings before killing U.N. observersBy Rory McCarthy, Suzanne Goldenberg and Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, July 27, 2006 Israel came under mounting pressure last night to explain why its military ignored repeated warnings and bombed a prominent UN post in southern Lebanon, killing four unarmed international observers. The four UN soldiers, from China, Austria, Finland and Canada, were taking shelter in a bunker at the white, three-storey building in Khiyam on Tuesday after at least six hours of Israeli bombing and shelling, when it was destroyed by what UN sources say was a precision-guided aerial bomb. The UN contacted Israeli forces up to 10 times about the strikes. The UN's deputy general secretary, Mark Malloch Brown, made several calls to the Israelis to protest at the shelling and to call for it to stop, he told the security council yesterday. In response, Israel reportedly promised to halt the firing. An Irish army officer warned the Israelis six times. [complete article] West fears Hezbollah's organized fighting styleBy Rowan Scarborough, Washington Times, July 27, 2006 Hezbollah's display of coordinated attacks and small-unit action is surprising the world community and making Western nations think twice about agreeing to put peacekeeping troops between the militant Lebanese Shi'ite group and aggressive Israeli forces, military analysts say. "It's not that they are fanatical," said retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert H. Scales Jr., a decorated Vietnam combat veteran. "But in many ways, they are quite deliberate. It shows reasonable command and control and training in small-unit action. ... In terms of enemy combatants, the most military competent enemy combatant is Hezbollah." [complete article] Americans showing isolationist streak, poll findsBy Jim Rutenberg and Megan C. Thee, New York Times, July 27, 2006 Americans are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the state of affairs in the Middle East, with majorities doubtful there will ever be peace between Israel and its neighbors, or that American troops will be able to leave Iraq anytime soon, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. A majority said the war between Israel and Hezbollah will lead to a wider war. And while almost half of those polled approved of President Bush’s handling of the crisis, a majority said they preferred the United States leave it to others to resolve. Over all, the poll found a strong isolationist streak in a nation clearly rattled by more than four years of war, underscoring the challenge for Mr. Bush as he tries to maintain public support for his effort to stabilize Iraq and spread democracy through the Middle East. [complete article] See also, Analysis: Bush foreign policy struggling (AP). An estimated 800,000 people uprooted by attacks, says Lebanese bodyIRIN, Reuters, July 26, 2006 An estimated 800,000 people have been affected in Lebanon by the current crisis, with hundreds of thousands forced to leave their homes, according to the Lebanese Higher Relief Council established by the Lebanese government to deal with the crisis. A spokeswoman for the Council, Mouna Souccarieh, told IRIN on Wednesday that some 100,000 were foreigners who were evacuated, including some Lebanese with dual nationality. Around 150,000 more people, mainly Syrian, Lebanese and other foreigners, crossed the border into Syria since the Israeli attacks began on 12 July, she said. [complete article] Israel's "New Middle East"By Tanya Reinhart, Electronic Lebanon, July 26, 2006 Beirut is burning, hundreds of Lebanese die, hundreds of thousands lose all they ever owned and become refugees, and all the world is doing is rescuing the "foreign passport" residents of what was just two weeks ago "the Paris of the Middle East". Lebanon must die now, because "Israel has the right to defend itself", so goes the U.S. mantra, used to block any international attempt to impose a cease fire. Israel, backed by the U.S., portrays its war on Lebanon as a war of self-defense. It is easy to sell this message to mainstream media, because the residents of the north of Israel are also in shelters, bombarded and endangered. Israel's claim that no country would let such an attack on its residents unanswered, finds many sympathetic ears. But let us reconstruct exactly how it all started. [complete article] Haifa, suddenly vulnerable, by turns is stoic and fearful, stir-crazy and looking to fightBy Steven Erlanger, New York Times, July 27, 2006 Haifa, a city of 250,000 people, beautifully rising along a mountain, on Wednesday looked like a Hollywood set during an actors’ strike. The streets were almost empty, the shops shuttered, the gas stations closed, the street lights blinking their cycle of stop and go for no particular reason. There have been periods of threat before, especially farther north in Nahariya and smaller towns, but missiles had never reached Haifa. Now, with Hezbollah employing more sophisticated and longer-range Syrian and Iranian missiles, this multiethnic city, one of Israel’s jewels, is suddenly vulnerable. Dozens of missiles have struck Haifa in recent days, completely paralyzing it. They have driven residents into shelters or out of the city, and many who have stayed have sent their children farther south, where the missiles have not yet reached. [complete article] Palestinians in Gaza worry about becoming the 'forgotten war'By Joshua Mitnick, Christian Science Monitor, July 27, 2006 As fighting between Israel and Hizbullah continues to rage in Lebanon and northern Israel, Palestinians find themselves at the margins of a regional conflict that has shifted attention away from their six-year uprising for the first time. The two-week war between Israel with the radical Shiite militia has also highlighted the Hizbullah-Iran alliance as a major Middle East flashpoint that has overshadowed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And at times, a resolution to the ongoing Gaza clashes has been seen as contingent upon an eventual cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hizbullah. "The Palestinians have to prove that they are not in the same basket, and that they should not be punished for the Lebanese cause," said Omar Shaban, a Gaza-based political analyst. "We have our own political agenda. We need a political solution. What is going on in Lebanon is different. Hizbullah has no political agenda. Lebanon is not occupied by Israel." [complete article] Babies among dead on Gaza front lineBy Anne Penketh and Daniel Howden, The Independent, July 27, 2006 Only the bloodstains on their white shrouds spoke of the tragedy that had unfolded. Two Palestinian girls, one just eight months old, were dead. They were killed when an Israeli tank shell struck a house near Jabalya in the besieged Gaza Strip. Yesterday marked the end of Cpl Gilad Shalit's first month in captivity and Israel stepped up operations inside the Strip in an operation codenamed Sampson's Pillar. The ferocity of the response to that kidnapping, and the determination of operations to stop Palestinian militants' rockets, saw a barrage of air strikes and raids yesterday that killed at least 19 Palestinians, including three children and a handicapped man. [complete article] Congress expects Islamic Dawa to support Israel, condemn HizbullahBy Juan Cole, July 26, 2006 The US Congress, aside from a strange inability to recognize the disproportionate use of force when it sees it, does not seem to realize that the Dawa Party of Iraq, from which Nuri al-Maliki hails, is a revolutionary Shiite religious party not that much different from the Lebanese Hizbullah. The members of Congress also don't seem to realize that the Iraqi Dawa helped to form the Lebanese Hizbullah back in the early 1980s. The Dawa was in exile in Tehran, Damascus and Beirut and it formed a shadowy terror wing called, generically, Islamic Jihad. The IJ cell of the Dawa attacked the US and French embassies in Kuwait in 1983, in an operation probably directed by the Tehran branch, which was close to Khomeini. My understanding is that Nuri al-Maliki was the bureau chief of the Dawa cell in Damascus in the 1980s. He must have been closely involved with the Iraqi Dawa in Beirut, which in turn was intimately involved in Hizbullah. I am not saying he himself did anything wrong. I don't know what he was doing in specific, other than trying to overthrow Saddam, which was heroic. But, did they really think he was going to condemn Hizbullah and take Israel's side? [complete article] Dean calls Iraqi PM an 'anti-Semite'By Brian Skoloff, AP (via Yahoo), July 27, 2006 Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean on Wednesday called Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki an "anti-Semite" for failing to denounce Hezbollah for its attacks against Israel. Al-Maliki has condemned Israel's offensive, prompting several Democrats to boycott his address to a joint meeting of Congress and others to criticize him. Dean's comments were the strongest to date. "The Iraqi prime minister is an anti-Semite," the Democratic leader told a gathering of business leaders in Florida. "We don't need to spend $200 and $300 and $500 billion dollars bringing democracy to Iraq to turn it over to people who believe that Israel doesn't have a right to defend itself and who refuse to condemn Hezbollah." [complete article] Foes take aim at McKinney in surprise Georgia raceBy Jennifer Siegel, The Forward, July 28, 2006 A surprisingly close race involving one of the pro-Israel community's least favorite lawmakers, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, is poised to become a Middle East proxy fight. McKinney, a left-wing Georgia Democrat with a long history of criticizing Israel, finds herself in an unexpected run-off election after failing to win a majority in her July 18 primary. A defeat in the August 8 runoff would be McKinney's second ouster from Congress in four years and cap a series of major gaffes, including her delayed apology after allegedly hitting a Capitol Hill police officer in March. For months, McKinney, whose district includes parts of the Atlanta suburbs, has been raising out-of-state money from Muslim and Arab Americans. Now, with her stumble in the primary, the legislator's pro-Israel critics are quickly rallying behind her rival, former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson. Like McKinney, Johnson is an African-American. [complete article] Christian Right steps up pro-Israel lobbyingBy Bill Berkowitz, IPS (via Antiwar), July 27, 2006 Over the past two decades, as the Christian Right has grown in political power in the United States, there has been a parallel growth in support for Israel. Organizations made up of conservative evangelical and Jewish leaders have been founded, and millions of dollars have been raised and donated to charities in Israel. Now, a new group plans to take it up a notch, becomin |