-Caveat Lector-
>From Associated Press
Friday February 19 11:48 AM ET
Syrian Paper Decries Israel Action
DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) - Israel's seizure of a village in southern Lebanon
was ``an aggressive step'' that could raise tension in the Middle East, a
Syrian government newspaper said Friday.
Israel seized the village of Arnoun late Wednesday on the edge of the
border strip it occupies in southern Lebanon, claiming that it wanted to
expand its self-styled ``security zone.''
Israeli soldiers and allied Lebanese militiamen - escorted by bulldozers,
trucks and jeeps - set up a barbed-wire fence around the village to prevent
people from coming or going without permission.
Israel has said Arnoun was used by Lebanese guerrillas as a launching pad
for attacks on the Israeli outposts.
The Syrian newspaper Al-Thawra, which reflects official government
thinking, criticized the seizure of Arnoun.
``Israel has pushed tension in south Lebanon to a climax and left the door
open to aggravating tension to the point of an explosion,'' the newspaper
said.
The seizure ``will put an end to any talk about a just and comprehensive
peace process,'' it said in the editorial.
Syria, which maintains 30,000 troops in Lebanon, considers the country its
strategic preserve.
Arnoun once had a population of about 2,000. But most residents fled after
repeated artillery attacks by Israeli gunners aimed at avenging guerrilla
assaults on their Beaufort Castle outpost.
Last month, Israeli troops demolished 14 houses in Arnoun after an Israeli
soldier was wounded nearby.
Most of the attacks on the Israelis are launched by Hezbollah, a Shiite
Muslim group that has led a guerrilla war for more than a decade to
dislodge the Israeli troops from the zone.
>From ArabicNews.CoM
People of annexed Arnoun town in South Lebanon stage sit-in
Lebanon, Politics, 2/20/99
The people of Arnoun, which was annexed by the Israeli occupation forces on
Thursday to the occupied part of South Lebanon on Friday carried out a
sit-in in al-Husseini club in Kafer Tabneet town in protest of the Israeli
annexation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli occupation forces positioned in al-Shaqelf castle
opened fire on several press correspondents who tried to enter Arnoun city.
For their part, Lebanese government representatives joint the people of
Arnoun on Friday in protest against the Israeli sealing off of their town a
day earlier. Israel and its proxy SLA Militia effectively annexed Arnoun to
their occupation Zone in South Lebanon on Thursday by installing barbed
wire and land-mines to prevent access from the rest of Lebanon.
Lebanese Minister of Public works and Transport Najib Meqati led a group to
the edge Arnoun and talked to the few old people waiting beyond the barbed
wire. Miqati said I came here on behalf of the Lebanese President and
government. We are doing our best to free Arnoun from the Israeli jail."
Old women and children behind the wires wept, demanding the restoration of
access to their village. One Lebanese woman from the village said members
of the International Red Cross Committee had entered earlier on Friday to
bring bread and medicine.
Lebanese state officials and representatives of political parties joined
the protest in the village of Kafer Tabneet, which overlook Arnoun on the
edge of the Israeli-occupied 15-km deep occupation strip of Lebanon. The
action by Israeli and SLA militia had forced residents of the largely
depopulated village to enter and exit through a checkpoint Kafer Tabneet,
one of the handful of places where one is allowed to move between the
occupied area and the rest of Lebanon.
Furthermore, the head of the Foreign affairs committee at the Lebanese
parliament A]Khalil, called for convening an emergency session on Saturday
(Today) to discuss Israel's annexation of Arnoun town to the occupied Zone
of South Lebanon seized by Israel.
In a statement on Friday, the Lebanese parliament member stressed the need
of lodging an urgent complaint to the UN Security Council in order to
debate Israel's new aggression which he described as a very grave event.
Another Lebanese Parliament member Butrous Harb condemned the new Israeli
crime which "unveiled the bellicose intentions of rulers of Tel Aviv and
their false allegations about peace."
Meantime, the chief of the Supreme Islamic Shiite Council I Sheikh Muhammad
Mahdi Shams Eddine called for " repelling the new Israeli aggression by
escalating acts of resistance against the occupation troops." He called on
the Lebanese government to lodge a complaint to the UN Security council in
this regard.
Israel bombs house of Ahmad Na'eem Haidar in Arab Salim town
Lebanon, Military, 2/20/99
News reports from South Lebanon said that the Israeli intelligence service
and pro-Israeli Lahd militia stormed a number of villages in the western
and central sectors.
The Lebanese national resistance forces on Friday carried out a series of
operations against the Israeli occupation forces and its pro-Israeli
militias in the occupied part of South Lebanon. In a statement, the
Lebanese resistance said its men attacked, on Friday morning the occupation
position in Sujod, al-Sweida and al-Debshe. Direct hits were achieved.
Meantime, the Israeli occupation forces continued to launch their attacks
on areas close to the occupied part of South Lebanon and the Western Bekaa.
Lebanese security sources said Israel's artillery on Friday pounded the
hills of Birket Jabbour in the Western Bekaa.
Moreover, the Israeli occupation forces also on Friday bombarded Litani
river areas, the outskirts of Kafer Rumman, Arab Salim and al-Nabatieh
al-Fawqa, the deserted Lebanese army barracks in al- Nabatieh and the
mountain of Sujod. On Thursday night and Friday dawn, the Israeli artillery
bombarded al-Hamra farm, Yahmur plain and the Habboush river valley.
However, the Israeli bombardment of Arab Salim town resulted in damaging
the house of the Lebanese citizen Ahmad Na'eem Haidar.
<<It occurs to me that, following the Europeans, the U.S. eventually gets
drawn in, to areas with conflict with some expectation of and
responsibility for resolution. A<>E<>R >>
Jordan and the emergence of a Hashemite state
Jordan, History, 2/20/99
The emergence of the Hashemite state as it is known today goes back to 80
years ago. It is a story which started at the end of the first world war
and the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the launching of what is
known as "the greater Arab revolution," led by al-Sharif Hussein in
al-Hijaz.
Before these two events, during the Ottoman era and far beyond in oldest
time, Jordan was an integral part of Syria, geographically speaking.
However, East Jordan has ever been part of Syria or Bilad al-Sham. On its
territories the famous al-Yarmouk battle took place marking the conquest of
Bilad al-Sham by the Arabs.
Throughout history, East Jordan had no real significance. It was a mere
crossroads for caravan transit between al-Bilad al-Sham and al-Hijaz. When
the Turks joined World War I in 1914 beside Germany, the process of events
drastically changed in the region.
Thence, Britain, France, Russia of the Tsar had agreed to partition what
was known as the Middle East as one of the war's gains, from the Ottoman
Empire (which used to be called the "sick man"). However "Greater Syria" or
"Syria proper" and Mesopotamia were the very object of a conflict between
Britain and France, a conflict which resulted in the famous Sykis - Picot
agreement of 1916.
According to the agreement France and Britain divided among themselves the
influence areas. "Syria proper" was divided into four parts. France was
given Syria and Lebanon, Britain was given Palestine (besides the
Mesopotamia ). East Jordan was kept -- as part of Palestine -- under the
British mandate but had no definite status.
Just one month after signing Sykis - Picot agreement, the greater Arab
revolution was announced in al-Hijaz. It was the aim of Hussein, the Sharif
of Mecca, as a leader of the revolution, that Arabs would announce their
independence from the Ottoman Empire by announcing the united Arab kingdom,
composed of all Arab territories in Asia.
It was agreed then with Britain (according to Hussein - MacMahon
correspondence) to support the Arab revolution, under the condition that
the Arabs will help the British and the axis countries against the Ottoman
Turks.
The Arab forces fought against the Turks from Mecca in the south until
Aleppo in the North under the leadership of four of al-Sharif Hussein's
sons: Ali, Abdullah, Faisal and Zeid. When the war was over and the allied
countries won, the first Arab country was announced in Syria (as it is
known today) and with East Jordan as part of it, under Prince Faisal.
Iraq and Palestine came under the direct British control. Lebanon became
under the full French control. The Arabs then believed the British alleged
support for the establishment of an Arab state, but Britain resorted to
implementing the Sykis - Picot agreement instead of obliging itself to the
promises given to al-Sharif Hussein during his correspondence with
MacMahon.
In July 1920, Britain permitted France to enter into Syria, occupy it and
defeat the Arab army in it, to occupy Damascus and topple Faisal from the
throne. As Faisal was removed from Syria, France did not continue its
invasion to the south toward East Jordan, which used to be part of the
Syrian Kingdom under Faisal. Therefore, East Jordan remained under British
control.
The French troops were met with great resistance from Syrian nationalists
who were working in East Jordan. In the meantime, the Syrians and
Jordanians were asking for the help of al-Sharif Hussein in al-Hijaz to
send one of his sons to lead a new Arab resistance against the French.
Once again al-Sharif Hussein asked his second son Abdullah to head to the
north towards Syria. Al-Sharif Hussein was then in a very bad situation,
after his forces were defeated by Ibn Saud's troops before the year 1919.
His condition had already begun to worsen when Britain suspended financial
aid to him in June 1916, but despite these difficult conditions he did not
hesitate to send his son Abdullah to Syria.
Prince Abdullah was the foreign minister for his father in al-Hijaz
kingdom. He left Mecca for al-Madina and then with some troops he used the
train together with a group of volunteering Bedouins, and following a very
tiring journey he arrived in Muaan, in Jordan in November, 1921. From
Muaan, Abdullah announced that he came as a deputy for his brother Faisal,
calling upon the Syrians to commit to his leadership to attack the French
in Damascus to restore the throne.
Following drastic events, in March 12, 1921 the Cairo conference was held,
and some 50 sessions within its framework were held, attended by all sides
concerned in the Middle East. The conference concluded with the
establishment of a four-element plan, the most important of which was the
throne of the Mesopotamia (Iraq was still then named so), which was given
to Faisal Bin al-Hussein (Prince Faisal who was removed by the French from
Syria), with the Iraqi people requesting to have Faisal as their King
rather than a ruler from Britain, and Abdullah was appointed as the King of
East Jordan.
Abdullah's first government was composed of seven persons. They were all
Syrians except one; The Prime Minister of the government, who was
officially the first premier for East Jordan, was a Lebanese Druze, Rashid
Talee. The second Prime Minister was Syrian Rida al-Rekabi. The elite of
intellectuals which surrounded Prince Abdullah were from Syria, al-Hijaz
and Palestine.
On May 25, 1923 Britain recognized the government of East Jordan, a day
that is until now proclaimed by Jordan as its national day. Following World
War II, Britain announced the independence of East Jordan Emirate on March
22, 1946 and two months after Prince Abdullah was invested as King of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
On December 1, 1949 the Ariha conference was held and recommended the
annexation of the West Bank to Jordan. On April 5, 1950 the two banks were
officially annexed to Jordan. Almost one year later, on July 20,1951, King
Abdullah was assassinated at al-Aqsa mosque square in Jerusalem. Under King
Hussein, who inherited the monarchy from his grandfather Abdullah,
relations between Syria and Jordan had their ups and down. The most crucial
stage was during the Black September events in September 1970.
This was the month in which King Hussein of Jordan finally decided that the
Palestinians in his country had too much power and were in danger of taking
over the running of the state themselves. They, therefore were crushed.
This was done bloodily in September.
Syrian leaders with their commitment to Palestine felt they should not
stand idly by. On September 19, armored units from Syria crossed the
Jordanian frontiers but withdrew a few days later, having suffered
casualties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
A<>E<>R
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