On Jul 15, 2006, at 2:57 PM, Marvin Gandall wrote:
From an Associated Press dispatch today (carried in the Globe and
Mail):
"Meanwhile, Lebanon sought support from fellow Arabs at an
emergency session
of foreign ministers in Cairo on Saturday. But sharp rifts erupted as
moderate Arab states denounced Hezbollah for starting the conflict.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal called the group's actions
'unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible,' telling his
counterparts:
'These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we
cannot
simply accept them.'
Supporting his stance were representatives of Egypt, Jordan,
Kuwait, Iraq,
the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain,
delegates
said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity
of the
talks.
Another camp, led by Syria, defended Hezbollah as carrying out
'legitimate
acts in line with international resolutions and the U.N. charter,
as acts of
resistance,' delegates said."
* * *
Is this report accurate? The Palestine and Iraq delegations aligned
with the
Saudi, Egyptian, and Jordanian regimes in condemning Hezbollah?
The Palestinian foreign minister is Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior
Hamas leader.
If the Palestinian representative had been appointed by the
President rather
than the PA government,
Obviously, it's Mahmoud Abbas's people who went to the meeting. BTW,
Tel Aviv bombed the Foreign Ministry building -- Mr. Zahar is lucky
to be still alive.
<blockquote> July 16, 2006 - 11:48 PM
<http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/international/ticker/detail/
Israel_flattens_Foreign_Ministry_Hamas_offices.html?
siteSect=143&sid=6898280&cKey=1153093952000>
Israel flattens Foreign Ministry, Hamas officesAdd story to my
swissinfo panel
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - An Israeli air strike flattened the 8-storey
Palestinian Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City on Monday, part of
a campaign against the Hamas militant group and the government it
controls.
A separate air strike gutted the offices of a Hamas-led security
force in the Islamist stronghold of Jabalya in the northern Gaza
Strip, witnesses said.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after militants, some from Hamas,
captured an Israeli soldier -- Corporal Gilad Shalit -- in a cross-
border raid on June 25.
The Israeli military has since killed more than 85 Palestinians in
Gaza, about half of them militants.
The Foreign Ministry building, which was badly damaged in a previous
Israeli air strike, was completely destroyed by the early morning
blast, which tore into nearby homes, shops and offices, witnesses said.
At least nine Palestinians were injured, most of them children. No
deaths were reported.
"The explosion was so powerful that it knocked my children out of
their beds, crying and screaming," said Umm Mohammed, who lives in an
apartment across the street from the Foreign Ministry building.
Mohammed said the blast knocked out windows in the room where her
children were sleeping.
The Israeli army confirmed the air strike. An army spokesman accused
Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar of Hamas of using his offices "to
plan continued terror attacks against Israel".
Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, survived an Israeli assassination
attempt in 2003 that killed his eldest son. Hamas, which came to
power in the Palestinian territories after a January election, is
dedicated to Israel's destruction.
Israel has bombed several buildings used by Hamas and its elected
leaders, including the office of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Hamas, which controls the Palestinian government, is demanding that
Israel free Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit's release.
Israel has rejected any exchange.
Reuters (IDS)</blockquote>
Anyone know more about it and, especially, about the stance taken
by the
Palestinians?
<blockquote>Last update - 02:55 17/07/2006
Nasrallah, Palestinian hero
By Danny Rubinstein
Abu Omar's neighbors in the market next to the Damascus Gate in East
Jerusalem say they haven't seen him this happy in a long time. His
eldest son, Omar, about to complete his high-school studies, joined
an underground cell of the Popular Front three years ago. According
to the charge sheet drawn up against him, he and his fellow movement
members were planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.
Somebody turned informer, and Omar was arrested. He is now awaiting
trial - a trial that is taking time to get under way.
Abu Omar has been running around for the past two years between
police officers and lawyers, and even asked this journalist for help
in devising a plea bargain, so that his son will not sit for a
prolonged perid in prison. Now, for the first time, there is a
glimmer of hope for him: Sheik Hassan Nasrallah will bring about his
son's release.
The clear impression that one gets from the mood in the street is
that Nasrallah is now the unchallenged hero of the Palestinians. He
is running a one-man show. Unlike the gaggle of Palestinian leaders -
Mahmoud Abbas, Ismail Haniyeh, Khaled Meshal, Mahmoud al-Zahar,
Mohammed Dahlan and many others - who compete with, gossip about and
plot against one another, Nasrallah is serving in all of the posts:
president, prime minister, foreign minister, ideologue. He has no
competitors; he is the sole spokesman. In a brilliant move -
according to the Damascus Gate pundits - he has succeeded not only in
kidnapping the Israeli soldiers, but even more importantly, he
"kidnapped" the entire Palestinian problem and wrested control over
it. The last person to do this before him was Saddam Hussein, after
the invasion of Kuwait, when he declared that he would withdraw only
if Israel got out of the territories. He then threatened to launch
rockets. Saddam Hussein failed.
What will be Nasrallah's story? The world according to the
Palestinians is now divided into two: the camp of struggle versus the
camp of negotiation and compromise. There are four main elements in
the first camp: Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. The camp of
compromise is much larger, with Egypt, Abu Mazen and Fatah, Jordan,
Saudi Arabia, the government of Lebanon and nearly all of the other
Arab states; it also has the backing of the West and nearly the
entire international community.
FULL TEXT:
<http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/739077.html></blockquote>
And, in relation to Iraq, about Sadr's role in particular?
He's hinted the Mahdi Army might attack US troops, with whom they've
recently again been skirmishing, as a result of the Israeli
aggression, so
it's hard to see how the stance of the Iraqi government, to which the
Sadrists belong, could sit well with him.
Sadr always says the right thing at a time like this, but can he
deliver?
<blockquote>Sadr warns Israel, U.S. on Lebanon
<http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0715mideast-iraq0715.html>
New York Times
Jul. 15, 2006 12:00 AM
BAGHDAD - The radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said Friday that
Iraqis will not "sit by with folded hands" while Israel strikes at
Lebanon, signaling a possible increase in attacks from his mercurial
militia, the Mahdi Army.
In a written statement, Sadr also said that he considers the United
States culpable in the conflict unfolding in Lebanon because America
is the largest foreign ally of Israel.
Sadr's statement was issued at a time of rising tensions between the
U.S. military and the Mahdi Army, with U.S. forces carrying out raids
against Mahdi hideouts and arresting senior leaders.
U.S. commanders have strongly denounced militias in recent days and
have pledged to try to curtail the militias' death squads, which they
say are feeding the spiraling cycles of sectarian violence. Many
Sunni Arabs blame the Sadr militia for abductions and killings.
"Eyes are shedding tears, and the heart feels pain and sadness for
our people in Lebanon due to the bombing, terror and clear aggression
that the Zionist enemy conducts and that is shielded by a number of
countries, including the United States," Sadr said in the statement.
"Let it be known to everybody that we in Iraq will not sit by with
folded hands before the creep of Zionism," the statement continued.
"It will enslave us if we keep silent."
It is no surprise that Sadr should rise to Lebanon's defense. Since
2004, he has transformed his organization into one similar to
Hezbollah, the militant Shiite faction there. Sadr's organization now
counts members in the parliament and important ministers, in addition
to thousands of impoverished young men ready at a moment's notice to
take to the streets with AK-47 rifles.
Both the Mahdi Army and Hezbollah have strong ties to Iran, and all
three subscribe to a fundamentalist Shiite theology. Some military
officials in Iraq have said that Shiite militiamen here may have
gotten bombmaking technology from Iran through Hezbollah.</blockquote>
Yoshie Furuhashi
<http://montages.blogspot.com>
<http://monthlyreview.org>
<http://mrzine.org>
