عائد الى يافا: مسيرة شباب عرب 48 عشية يوم النكبة 14.5.2011 أعلام فلسطين ترفرف في سماء تل أبيب لأول مرة منذ قيام الكيان الصهيوني
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Real News Video: Modern Slavery in Gulf Countries
Adam Hanieh: Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states created a super exploited migrant work force after facing a radicalized Arab working class in the 60s
Bahrain is trying to drown the protests in Shia blood
World View: Claiming that the opposition is being orchestrated by Iran, the al-Khalifa regime has unleashed a vicious sectarian clampdown
By Patrick Cockburn
""Let us drown the revolution in Jewish blood" was the slogan of the tsars when they orchestrated pogroms against Jews across Russia in the years before the First World War. The battle-cry of the al-Khalifa monarchy in Bahrain ever since they started to crush the pro-democracy protests in the island kingdom two months ago might well be "to drown the revolution in Shia blood". Just as the tsars once used Cossacks to kill and torture Jews and burn their synagogues, so Bahrain's minority Sunni regime sends out its black-masked security forces night after night to terrorise the majority Shia population for demanding equal political and civil rights.......
The al-Khalifas are aware that their strongest card in trying to discredit the opposition is to claim it has Iranian links. US embassy cables revealed by Wikileaks show that the Bahrain government was continually making this claim to a sceptical US embassy over the years, but has never provided any evidence. This propaganda claiming Iranian plots is crude, but plays successfully in Sunni Gulf states that see an Iranian hand behind every Shia demand for equal rights and an end to discrimination. It also gets an audience in Washington, conscious that its Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain and fearful of anything that could strengthen Iran.
The Bahraini monarchy, having effectively declared war on the majority of its own people, is likely to win in the short term because its opponents are not armed. The cost will be that Bahrain, once deemed more liberal than its neighbours, is turning into the Gulf's version of Belfast or Beirut when they were convulsed by sectarian hatred."
By Patrick Cockburn
""Let us drown the revolution in Jewish blood" was the slogan of the tsars when they orchestrated pogroms against Jews across Russia in the years before the First World War. The battle-cry of the al-Khalifa monarchy in Bahrain ever since they started to crush the pro-democracy protests in the island kingdom two months ago might well be "to drown the revolution in Shia blood". Just as the tsars once used Cossacks to kill and torture Jews and burn their synagogues, so Bahrain's minority Sunni regime sends out its black-masked security forces night after night to terrorise the majority Shia population for demanding equal political and civil rights.......
The al-Khalifas are aware that their strongest card in trying to discredit the opposition is to claim it has Iranian links. US embassy cables revealed by Wikileaks show that the Bahrain government was continually making this claim to a sceptical US embassy over the years, but has never provided any evidence. This propaganda claiming Iranian plots is crude, but plays successfully in Sunni Gulf states that see an Iranian hand behind every Shia demand for equal rights and an end to discrimination. It also gets an audience in Washington, conscious that its Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain and fearful of anything that could strengthen Iran.
The Bahraini monarchy, having effectively declared war on the majority of its own people, is likely to win in the short term because its opponents are not armed. The cost will be that Bahrain, once deemed more liberal than its neighbours, is turning into the Gulf's version of Belfast or Beirut when they were convulsed by sectarian hatred."
Want a Huge Laugh? Gaddafi "wants to be like the Japanese emperor, or Castro....and lead a dignified life"
Does He Look Dignified to You?
Muammar Gaddafi is hoping that a 'dignified' exit will halt air strikes
Libyan dictator plans a gradual transition from autocratic rule, say officials, as ICC arrest warrant is prepared
Martin Chulov in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 May 2011
"....Interviews with four regime members have confirmed that Gaddafi knows his time is up. "But he isn't going to run away to Venezuela," one official said. "He wants to move to the background and lead a dignified life. He himself has said he wants to be like the Japanese emperor, or Castro."
"He knows and we know that Libya doesn't have a future through imposing his cult of personality on the people and the world," said a second official. "There is no question that the country needs reforms, many reforms."....."
Libyan dictator plans a gradual transition from autocratic rule, say officials, as ICC arrest warrant is prepared
Martin Chulov in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 14 May 2011
"....Interviews with four regime members have confirmed that Gaddafi knows his time is up. "But he isn't going to run away to Venezuela," one official said. "He wants to move to the background and lead a dignified life. He himself has said he wants to be like the Japanese emperor, or Castro."
"He knows and we know that Libya doesn't have a future through imposing his cult of personality on the people and the world," said a second official. "There is no question that the country needs reforms, many reforms."....."
A Good Video From Inside Syria About the atrocities of the Bloody Regime
When the Forces of Maher (the brother of the Rabbit) Assad Paid a Visit....
Real News Video: Show of interfaith unity in Cairo
EuroNews: Under the sign of the cross and crescent moon entwined, thousands took to Tahrir square in Cairo on Friday
Opening a Border, Ending an Era
(Click on photo, courtesy of Hossam El-Hamalawy, to enlarge)
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, May 14, 2011 (IPS) - In a dramatic policy shift late last month, Egypt's post-revolutionary government announced plans to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. And on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians amassed in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand the decision be carried out without delay.
"Egypt's sovereign decision to reopen the border represents a new chapter in Egyptian policy vis-à-vis Palestine, which is finally coming into line with the popular will," Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University, told IPS....
On Friday (May 13), hundreds of thousands of Egyptian protesters swarmed Cairo's Tahir Square to condemn Israel's continued mistreatment of the Palestinians and the unabated theft of Palestinian land. Along with calling for national unity following a recent spate of sectarian unrest, demonstrators demanded the immediate reopening of the border, the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in historical Palestine, and the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Egypt.
Many protesters also called for the abrogation of Egypt's 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel. "The Egyptian people are overwhelmingly opposed to the terms of Camp David," 28-year-old demonstrator Ahmed Sherara told IPS while collecting signatures in support of the treaty's annulment.....
Egyptian activists had initially called on protesters to move en masse across the Sinai Peninsula towards the Rafah crossing. On Thursday, however, head of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Meshaal issued a statement saying that such a move was unnecessary.
"We do not ask you to march (to Rafah). Egyptians of various factions and sectors must first unite to establish a strong internal front," said Meshaal. "We cannot call on Egypt to engage in a direct clash or war with the Zionist entity at the critical stage through which Egypt is now passing."
Nevertheless, the Egyptian authorities don't appear to be taking any chances, with Al Jazeera reporting that security forces had declared a "state of alert" at all entry points into Sinai.
"No one is being allowed to enter the peninsula without express authorisation from the authorities," a North Sinai security source, preferring anonymity, told IPS."
"CAIRO, May 14, 2011 (IPS) - In a dramatic policy shift late last month, Egypt's post-revolutionary government announced plans to reopen the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. And on Friday, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians amassed in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand the decision be carried out without delay.
"Egypt's sovereign decision to reopen the border represents a new chapter in Egyptian policy vis-à-vis Palestine, which is finally coming into line with the popular will," Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University, told IPS....
On Friday (May 13), hundreds of thousands of Egyptian protesters swarmed Cairo's Tahir Square to condemn Israel's continued mistreatment of the Palestinians and the unabated theft of Palestinian land. Along with calling for national unity following a recent spate of sectarian unrest, demonstrators demanded the immediate reopening of the border, the return of Palestinian refugees to their homes in historical Palestine, and the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Egypt.
Many protesters also called for the abrogation of Egypt's 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel. "The Egyptian people are overwhelmingly opposed to the terms of Camp David," 28-year-old demonstrator Ahmed Sherara told IPS while collecting signatures in support of the treaty's annulment.....
Egyptian activists had initially called on protesters to move en masse across the Sinai Peninsula towards the Rafah crossing. On Thursday, however, head of Hamas's political bureau Khaled Meshaal issued a statement saying that such a move was unnecessary.
"We do not ask you to march (to Rafah). Egyptians of various factions and sectors must first unite to establish a strong internal front," said Meshaal. "We cannot call on Egypt to engage in a direct clash or war with the Zionist entity at the critical stage through which Egypt is now passing."
Nevertheless, the Egyptian authorities don't appear to be taking any chances, with Al Jazeera reporting that security forces had declared a "state of alert" at all entry points into Sinai.
"No one is being allowed to enter the peninsula without express authorisation from the authorities," a North Sinai security source, preferring anonymity, told IPS."
Listen to This Bastard and Traitor: عباس: العودة تتحقق بالعودة إلى أي جزء من الوطن
عــ48ـرب/ وكالات
"أكد رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية، محمود عباس، اليوم السبت، تمسك الفلسطينيين بحق العودة، لكنه اعتبر أن العودة تتحقق بالعودة على أي جزء من الوطن.
وقال عباس، خلال لقائه المشاركين في مؤتمر الملتقى التربوي الثقافي الفلسطيني الرابع المنعقد في رام الله، "القيادة الفلسطينية لن تفرط أبدا بحق العودة، وذلك من خلال القيام بالخطوات العملية، والعودة إلى أرض الوطن لإنهاء حياة الشتات لأن الوطن هو وجهتنا الأخيرة".
وأضاف "العودة ممارسة وليست شعارا، ففلسطين لنا، ومن كان من الشمال أو الوسط أو الجنوب، وسكن في أي مكان فيها، هو بالتالي في الوطن، وأنا بعودتي إلى رام الله أو نابلس أكون قد وضعت قدمي على أرض الوطن".
...."
"أكد رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية، محمود عباس، اليوم السبت، تمسك الفلسطينيين بحق العودة، لكنه اعتبر أن العودة تتحقق بالعودة على أي جزء من الوطن.
وقال عباس، خلال لقائه المشاركين في مؤتمر الملتقى التربوي الثقافي الفلسطيني الرابع المنعقد في رام الله، "القيادة الفلسطينية لن تفرط أبدا بحق العودة، وذلك من خلال القيام بالخطوات العملية، والعودة إلى أرض الوطن لإنهاء حياة الشتات لأن الوطن هو وجهتنا الأخيرة".
وأضاف "العودة ممارسة وليست شعارا، ففلسطين لنا، ومن كان من الشمال أو الوسط أو الجنوب، وسكن في أي مكان فيها، هو بالتالي في الوطن، وأنا بعودتي إلى رام الله أو نابلس أكون قد وضعت قدمي على أرض الوطن".
...."
Mass sackings in Bahrain crackdown
Part four in our exclusive series on Bahrain examines how government pressure is forcing employers to fire workers.
"More than 2,000 private sector employees, most of them Shia, have either been sacked or suspended in an expanding Bahraini crackdown on anti-government protests, an Al Jazeera investigation has found.
The General Federation of Bahrain's Trade Unions puts the figure of those who have been fired at 1,300, with Bahraini rights groups reporting that hundreds more have been suspended from their government jobs.
The International Labour Organisation says that the number of people dismissed or suspended currently stands at over 2,000.
Al Jazeera spoke to a number of people who had been fired in recent weeks. They spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing government reprisals.
One man said that lawyers asked him questions related to anti-government protests the day he was fired.....
Turning point
The turning point for this side of the crackdown came when labour unions called a general strike on March 13. Under Bahraini law, companies are within their rights to terminate the employment of staff members who miss days of work above and beyond a specified period of unexcused leave.
Another man who lost his job told Al Jazeera that he was struggling to support his family. He said that the mass dismissals were completely unexpected....."
"Dialog," Rabbit Style: Deaths as Syrian army storms border town
At least three people killed along Lebanese border, as thousands attend funeral of protester shot in Homs a day earlier.
"At least three people have been killed in western Syria, as army troops stormed the town of Talkalakh in the restive Homs province.
Witnesses said the three were attempting to leave Talkalakh on Saturday and enter Lebanon, which borders the town, a day after a mass demonstration there against the rule of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
"The security forces, who had been encircling Talkalakh since the morning, fired machine guns. At least three people were killed and several were wounded," a witness told the AFP news agency.
Another eyewitness on the border told Al Jazeera that at least 19 people were wounded as the military swooped into the town.
The violence came after more than 8,000 people attended a funeral in the provincial capital of Homs for one of three protesters killed on Friday by Syrian security forces.
Mourners for Fouad al-Rajoub gathered near Bab al-Dreib and began making their way through the city, chanting for an end to the siege on Homs, Baniyas and Deraa, the major flashpoints in the country's uprising.
An eyewitness in the city said that, due to the size of the procession, the military had removed and relocated some of the checkpoints it had established throughout the city since mass anti-regime protests erupted there last month....."
"At least three people have been killed in western Syria, as army troops stormed the town of Talkalakh in the restive Homs province.
Witnesses said the three were attempting to leave Talkalakh on Saturday and enter Lebanon, which borders the town, a day after a mass demonstration there against the rule of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
"The security forces, who had been encircling Talkalakh since the morning, fired machine guns. At least three people were killed and several were wounded," a witness told the AFP news agency.
Another eyewitness on the border told Al Jazeera that at least 19 people were wounded as the military swooped into the town.
The violence came after more than 8,000 people attended a funeral in the provincial capital of Homs for one of three protesters killed on Friday by Syrian security forces.
Mourners for Fouad al-Rajoub gathered near Bab al-Dreib and began making their way through the city, chanting for an end to the siege on Homs, Baniyas and Deraa, the major flashpoints in the country's uprising.
An eyewitness in the city said that, due to the size of the procession, the military had removed and relocated some of the checkpoints it had established throughout the city since mass anti-regime protests erupted there last month....."
(Click on map to enlarge)
Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll
This brand new poll asks:
Do you see that there is still a window of opportunity to resolve the Syrian crisis through dialog?
With over 1,800 responding so far, 75% said no.
Note:
Keep an eye on this poll, because the Syrian regime and its supporters will try to influence the poll by voting en mass for a yes vote, now that the regime has discovered "dialog."
Do you see that there is still a window of opportunity to resolve the Syrian crisis through dialog?
With over 1,800 responding so far, 75% said no.
Note:
Keep an eye on this poll, because the Syrian regime and its supporters will try to influence the poll by voting en mass for a yes vote, now that the regime has discovered "dialog."
Why no outcry over these torturing tyrants?
A GOOD COMMENT
By Robert Fisk
"Christopher Hill, a former US secretary of state for east Asia who was ambassador to Iraq – and usually a very obedient and un-eloquent American diplomat – wrote the other day that "the notion that a dictator can claim the sovereign right to abuse his people has become unacceptable".
Unless, of course – and Mr Hill did not mention this – you happen to live in Bahrain. On this tiny island, a Sunni monarchy, the al-Khalifas, rule a majority Shia population and have responded to democratic protests with death sentences, mass arrests, the imprisonment of doctors for letting patients die after protests and an "invitation" to Saudi forces to enter the country. They have also destroyed dozens of Shia mosques with all the thoroughness of a 9/11 pilot. But then, let's remember that most of the 9/11 killers were indeed Saudis.
And what do we get for it? Silence. Silence in the US media, largely silence in the European press, silence from our own beloved CamerClegg and of course from the White House. And – shame of shame – silence from the Arabs who know where their bread is buttered. That means, of course, also silence from al-Jazeera. I often appear on their otherwise excellent Arabic and English editions, but their failure to mention Bahrain is shameful, a dollop of shit in the dignity that they have brought to reporting in the Middle East. The Emir of Qatar – I know him and like him very much – does not need to belittle his television empire in this way.....
Obama, needless to say, has his own reasons for silence. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet and the Americans don't want to be shoved out of their happy little port (albeit that they could up-sticks and move to the UAE or Qatar anytime they wish) and want to defend Bahrain from mythical Iranian aggression. So you won't find La Clinton, so keen to abuse the Assad family, saying anything bad about the al-Khalifas. Why on earth not? Are we all in debt to the Gulf Arabs? They are honourable people and understand when criticism is said with good faith. But no, we are silent. Even when Bahraini students in Britain are deprived of their grants because they protested outside their London embassy, we are silent. CamerClegg, shame on you.....
The arrest and charging of Shia Muslim doctors for letting their patients die – the patients having been shot by the "security forces", of course – is even more vile. I was in the hospital when these patients were brought in. The doctors' reaction was horror mixed with fear – they had simply never seen such close-range gunshot wounds before. Now they have been arrested, doctors and patients taken from their hospital beds. If this was happening in Damascus, Homs or Hama or Aleppo, the voices of CamerClegg, and Obama and La Clinton would be ringing in our ears. But no. Silence. Four men have been sentenced to death for killing two Bahraini policemen. It was a closed military court. Their "confessions" were aired on television, Soviet-style. No word from CamerClegg or Obama or La Clinton.
What is this nonsense? Well, I will tell you. It has nothing to do with the Bahrainis or the al-Khalifas. It is all about our fear of Saudi Arabia. Which also means it is about oil. It is about our absolute refusal to remember that 9/11 was committed largely by Saudis. It is about our refusal to remember that Saudi Arabia supported the Taliban, that Bin Laden was a Saudi, that the most cruel version of Islam comes from Saudi Arabia, the land of head-choppers and hand-cutters. It is about a conversation I had with a Bahraini official – a good and decent and honest man – in which I asked him why the Bahraini prime minister could not be elected by a majority Shia population. "The Saudis would never permit it," he said. Yes, our other friends. The Saudis."
By Robert Fisk
"Christopher Hill, a former US secretary of state for east Asia who was ambassador to Iraq – and usually a very obedient and un-eloquent American diplomat – wrote the other day that "the notion that a dictator can claim the sovereign right to abuse his people has become unacceptable".
Unless, of course – and Mr Hill did not mention this – you happen to live in Bahrain. On this tiny island, a Sunni monarchy, the al-Khalifas, rule a majority Shia population and have responded to democratic protests with death sentences, mass arrests, the imprisonment of doctors for letting patients die after protests and an "invitation" to Saudi forces to enter the country. They have also destroyed dozens of Shia mosques with all the thoroughness of a 9/11 pilot. But then, let's remember that most of the 9/11 killers were indeed Saudis.
And what do we get for it? Silence. Silence in the US media, largely silence in the European press, silence from our own beloved CamerClegg and of course from the White House. And – shame of shame – silence from the Arabs who know where their bread is buttered. That means, of course, also silence from al-Jazeera. I often appear on their otherwise excellent Arabic and English editions, but their failure to mention Bahrain is shameful, a dollop of shit in the dignity that they have brought to reporting in the Middle East. The Emir of Qatar – I know him and like him very much – does not need to belittle his television empire in this way.....
Obama, needless to say, has his own reasons for silence. Bahrain hosts the US Fifth Fleet and the Americans don't want to be shoved out of their happy little port (albeit that they could up-sticks and move to the UAE or Qatar anytime they wish) and want to defend Bahrain from mythical Iranian aggression. So you won't find La Clinton, so keen to abuse the Assad family, saying anything bad about the al-Khalifas. Why on earth not? Are we all in debt to the Gulf Arabs? They are honourable people and understand when criticism is said with good faith. But no, we are silent. Even when Bahraini students in Britain are deprived of their grants because they protested outside their London embassy, we are silent. CamerClegg, shame on you.....
The arrest and charging of Shia Muslim doctors for letting their patients die – the patients having been shot by the "security forces", of course – is even more vile. I was in the hospital when these patients were brought in. The doctors' reaction was horror mixed with fear – they had simply never seen such close-range gunshot wounds before. Now they have been arrested, doctors and patients taken from their hospital beds. If this was happening in Damascus, Homs or Hama or Aleppo, the voices of CamerClegg, and Obama and La Clinton would be ringing in our ears. But no. Silence. Four men have been sentenced to death for killing two Bahraini policemen. It was a closed military court. Their "confessions" were aired on television, Soviet-style. No word from CamerClegg or Obama or La Clinton.
What is this nonsense? Well, I will tell you. It has nothing to do with the Bahrainis or the al-Khalifas. It is all about our fear of Saudi Arabia. Which also means it is about oil. It is about our absolute refusal to remember that 9/11 was committed largely by Saudis. It is about our refusal to remember that Saudi Arabia supported the Taliban, that Bin Laden was a Saudi, that the most cruel version of Islam comes from Saudi Arabia, the land of head-choppers and hand-cutters. It is about a conversation I had with a Bahraini official – a good and decent and honest man – in which I asked him why the Bahraini prime minister could not be elected by a majority Shia population. "The Saudis would never permit it," he said. Yes, our other friends. The Saudis."
Why I blew the whistle about Palestine
Israel's attack on Gaza and the disastrous 'peace talks' compelled me to leak what I knew
AN IMPORTANT COMMENT
Ziyad Clot
(Ziyad Clot is a French lawyer of Palestinian descent. He was a legal adviser in the Annapolis negotiations between Israel and the PLO.)
The Guardian, Saturday 14 May 2011
"...My name has been circulated as one of the possible sources of these leaks. I would like to clarify here the extent of my involvement in these revelations and explain my motives. I have always acted in the best interest of the Palestinian people, in its entirety, and to the full extent of my capacity.
My own experience with the "peace process" started in Ramallah, in January 2008, after I was recruited as an adviser for the negotiation support unit (NSU) of the PLO, specifically in charge of the Palestinian refugee file. That was a few weeks after a goal had been set at the Annapolis conference: the creation of the Palestinian state by the end of 2008. Only 11 months into my job, in November of that year, I resigned. By December 2008, instead of the establishment of a state in Palestine, I witnessed on TV the killing of more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli army.
My strong motives for leaving my position with the NSU and my assessment of the "peace process" were clearly detailed to Palestinian negotiators in my resignation letter dated of 9th November 2008.
The "peace negotiations" were a deceptive farce whereby biased terms were unilaterally imposed by Israel and systematically endorsed by the US and EU. Far from enabling a negotiated and fair end to the conflict, the pursuit of the Oslo process deepened Israeli segregationist policies and justified the tightening of the security control imposed on the Palestinian population, as well as its geographical fragmentation. Far from preserving the land on which to build a state, it has tolerated the intensification of the colonisation of the Palestinian territory. Far from maintaining a national cohesion, the process I participated in, albeit briefly, was instrumental in creating and aggravating divisions among Palestinians. In its most recent developments, it became a cruel enterprise from which the Palestinians of Gaza have suffered the most. Last but not least, these negotiations excluded for the most part the great majority of the Palestinian people: the seven million Palestinian refugees. My experience over those 11 months in Ramallah confirmed that the PLO, given its structure, was not in a position to represent all Palestinian rights and interests.
Tragically, the Palestinians were left uninformed of the fate of their individual and collective rights in the negotiations, and their divided political leaderships were not held accountable for their decisions or inaction. After I resigned, I believed I had a duty to inform the public.....
...In full conscience, and acting independently, I later agreed to share some information with al-Jazeera specifically with regard to the fate of Palestinian refugee rights in the 2008 talks. Other sources did the same, although I am unaware of their identity. Taking these tragic developments of the "peace process" to a wider Arab and western audience was justified because it was in the public interest of the Palestinian people. I had – and still have – no doubt that I had a moral, legal and political obligation to proceed accordingly....."
AN IMPORTANT COMMENT
Ziyad Clot
(Ziyad Clot is a French lawyer of Palestinian descent. He was a legal adviser in the Annapolis negotiations between Israel and the PLO.)
The Guardian, Saturday 14 May 2011
"...My name has been circulated as one of the possible sources of these leaks. I would like to clarify here the extent of my involvement in these revelations and explain my motives. I have always acted in the best interest of the Palestinian people, in its entirety, and to the full extent of my capacity.
My own experience with the "peace process" started in Ramallah, in January 2008, after I was recruited as an adviser for the negotiation support unit (NSU) of the PLO, specifically in charge of the Palestinian refugee file. That was a few weeks after a goal had been set at the Annapolis conference: the creation of the Palestinian state by the end of 2008. Only 11 months into my job, in November of that year, I resigned. By December 2008, instead of the establishment of a state in Palestine, I witnessed on TV the killing of more than 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza by the Israeli army.
My strong motives for leaving my position with the NSU and my assessment of the "peace process" were clearly detailed to Palestinian negotiators in my resignation letter dated of 9th November 2008.
The "peace negotiations" were a deceptive farce whereby biased terms were unilaterally imposed by Israel and systematically endorsed by the US and EU. Far from enabling a negotiated and fair end to the conflict, the pursuit of the Oslo process deepened Israeli segregationist policies and justified the tightening of the security control imposed on the Palestinian population, as well as its geographical fragmentation. Far from preserving the land on which to build a state, it has tolerated the intensification of the colonisation of the Palestinian territory. Far from maintaining a national cohesion, the process I participated in, albeit briefly, was instrumental in creating and aggravating divisions among Palestinians. In its most recent developments, it became a cruel enterprise from which the Palestinians of Gaza have suffered the most. Last but not least, these negotiations excluded for the most part the great majority of the Palestinian people: the seven million Palestinian refugees. My experience over those 11 months in Ramallah confirmed that the PLO, given its structure, was not in a position to represent all Palestinian rights and interests.
Tragically, the Palestinians were left uninformed of the fate of their individual and collective rights in the negotiations, and their divided political leaderships were not held accountable for their decisions or inaction. After I resigned, I believed I had a duty to inform the public.....
...In full conscience, and acting independently, I later agreed to share some information with al-Jazeera specifically with regard to the fate of Palestinian refugee rights in the 2008 talks. Other sources did the same, although I am unaware of their identity. Taking these tragic developments of the "peace process" to a wider Arab and western audience was justified because it was in the public interest of the Palestinian people. I had – and still have – no doubt that I had a moral, legal and political obligation to proceed accordingly....."
Arabic version of this piece, but from Al-Jazeera:
من أجل حقوق الفلسطينيين ووحدتهم
The predicament of the Islamic Republic
Green Movement's focus on civil rights voids it of the appeal needed to spark an Arab Spring-like revolution.
Hamid Dabashi
(Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.)
Al-Jazeera
"....The Islamic Republic will not go down alone so easily - the way Ben Ali's regime went down in Tunisia, or Mubarak's in Egypt. For the ruling clergy, for one thing, does not kill indiscriminately the way Gaddafi or Assad are doing in Libya and Syria. The custodians of the Islamic Republic maim, murder, torture, and even rape judiciously, measurably, purposefully - just enough to frighten the population to submission. Their rule is infinitely more pernicious. When and if the Islamic Republic goes down, it will take the rest of the geopolitics of the region with it....
The current democratic uprising embarrasses both sides of this divide, exposes their duplicities and hypocrisies. The US must laser-beam on the atrocities of the Islamic Republic and Syria - but downplay equally corrupt and abusive rulers of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Bahrain (where it has crucial strategic interests). Now that they have lost Tunisia and Egypt to the open-ended possibilities of the people's democratic uprisings, they are trying to control the rest of the region. By the very same token, the Islamic Republic must falsely identify the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt as "Islamic", but dismiss the identical revolutionary uprising in Syria as a plot by Saudi Arabia and Israel - while at the same time bank on the military adventurism of US and NATO in Libya to accentuate the imperial project underway.
But the fact is that both the US and the Islamic Republic are deeply and identically in trouble. If the Green Movement, which the Arab and Euro-American "left" terribly misread, brought national politics to bear on the regional geopolitical scene, the Jasmine Revolutions and the Arab Spring have brought the regional geopolitics to bear on the national scene. The dialectic that has resulted is open-ended, inconclusive, and unfolding. Winners in the long run are the people and their uprisings, losers are not just the US and its allies and nemesis alike - but the very political DNA of the geopolitics of the region. We are, this generation, the bewildered discoverers of a brand new world...
Two simultaneous developments are not to the advantage of the Islamic Republic: (1) Now that they have brutally frightened people from the streets, the Green Movement has in fact become more radical, deep rooted, and will be entrenched in three simultaneous labour, women's rights, and student movements; (2) The sweeping democratic uprisings in the region are robbing the Islamic Republic of its ability to manipulate the geopolitics of its neighbourhood for its own short-term advantages. Syria here is of crucial significance - for if Syria falls to the democratic will of its people, the Islamic Republic will lose a vital link to its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is not a beneficiary of such an eventuality. Israel will not benefit from any of these democratic uprisings. Its own belligerent occupation of Palestine is becoming ever more blatantly obvious the more these democratic movements push to topple Israel's favouritism Arab potentates. Israel is the final and absolute loser of these revolutionary movements - and thus it does, just like the Islamic Republic, everything it can to stop or alter their direction.
The Iranian civil rights movement, code-named the Green Movement, is and will remain non-violent. It has neither a military wing, nor a militant ideology. Its radicalisation is not tantamount to its turning violent the way similar uprisings have in Libya, Syria, Bahrain - or even Yemen. The Green Movement has now reached deeply into its forceful constituent components: the labour, women's rights, and student movement. The ruling elite of the Islamic Republic does not have the moral or the imaginative wherewithal of withstanding the democratic challenges coming from the Arab world to face up to these far more deeply rooted discontents at one and the same time.
By indulging in sideshows, such as the one between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, it may try to divert attention both from the enduring resonances of the Green Movement and the consequences of the Arab Spring. But it will not succeed. It is too late. It may go down differently. But it will go down."
Hamid Dabashi
(Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.)
Al-Jazeera
"....The Islamic Republic will not go down alone so easily - the way Ben Ali's regime went down in Tunisia, or Mubarak's in Egypt. For the ruling clergy, for one thing, does not kill indiscriminately the way Gaddafi or Assad are doing in Libya and Syria. The custodians of the Islamic Republic maim, murder, torture, and even rape judiciously, measurably, purposefully - just enough to frighten the population to submission. Their rule is infinitely more pernicious. When and if the Islamic Republic goes down, it will take the rest of the geopolitics of the region with it....
The current democratic uprising embarrasses both sides of this divide, exposes their duplicities and hypocrisies. The US must laser-beam on the atrocities of the Islamic Republic and Syria - but downplay equally corrupt and abusive rulers of Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and Bahrain (where it has crucial strategic interests). Now that they have lost Tunisia and Egypt to the open-ended possibilities of the people's democratic uprisings, they are trying to control the rest of the region. By the very same token, the Islamic Republic must falsely identify the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt as "Islamic", but dismiss the identical revolutionary uprising in Syria as a plot by Saudi Arabia and Israel - while at the same time bank on the military adventurism of US and NATO in Libya to accentuate the imperial project underway.
But the fact is that both the US and the Islamic Republic are deeply and identically in trouble. If the Green Movement, which the Arab and Euro-American "left" terribly misread, brought national politics to bear on the regional geopolitical scene, the Jasmine Revolutions and the Arab Spring have brought the regional geopolitics to bear on the national scene. The dialectic that has resulted is open-ended, inconclusive, and unfolding. Winners in the long run are the people and their uprisings, losers are not just the US and its allies and nemesis alike - but the very political DNA of the geopolitics of the region. We are, this generation, the bewildered discoverers of a brand new world...
Two simultaneous developments are not to the advantage of the Islamic Republic: (1) Now that they have brutally frightened people from the streets, the Green Movement has in fact become more radical, deep rooted, and will be entrenched in three simultaneous labour, women's rights, and student movements; (2) The sweeping democratic uprisings in the region are robbing the Islamic Republic of its ability to manipulate the geopolitics of its neighbourhood for its own short-term advantages. Syria here is of crucial significance - for if Syria falls to the democratic will of its people, the Islamic Republic will lose a vital link to its proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon. Israel is not a beneficiary of such an eventuality. Israel will not benefit from any of these democratic uprisings. Its own belligerent occupation of Palestine is becoming ever more blatantly obvious the more these democratic movements push to topple Israel's favouritism Arab potentates. Israel is the final and absolute loser of these revolutionary movements - and thus it does, just like the Islamic Republic, everything it can to stop or alter their direction.
The Iranian civil rights movement, code-named the Green Movement, is and will remain non-violent. It has neither a military wing, nor a militant ideology. Its radicalisation is not tantamount to its turning violent the way similar uprisings have in Libya, Syria, Bahrain - or even Yemen. The Green Movement has now reached deeply into its forceful constituent components: the labour, women's rights, and student movement. The ruling elite of the Islamic Republic does not have the moral or the imaginative wherewithal of withstanding the democratic challenges coming from the Arab world to face up to these far more deeply rooted discontents at one and the same time.
By indulging in sideshows, such as the one between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei, it may try to divert attention both from the enduring resonances of the Green Movement and the consequences of the Arab Spring. But it will not succeed. It is too late. It may go down differently. But it will go down."
Friday, May 13, 2011
Report 2011: Amnesty International at 50 says historic change on knife-edge
Amnesty International
13 May 2011
"Growing demands for freedom and justice across the Middle East and North Africa and the rise of social media offer an unprecedented opportunity for human rights change – but this change stands on a knife-edge, said Amnesty International as it launched its global human rights report on the eve of its 50th anniversary.
"Fifty years since the Amnesty candle began to shine a light on repression, the human rights revolution now stands on the threshold of historic change," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International Secretary General.
"People are rejecting fear. Courageous people, led largely by youth, are standing up and speaking out in the face of bullets, beatings, tear gas and tanks. This bravery – combined with new technology that is helping activists to outflank and expose government suppression of free speech and peaceful protest – is sending a signal to repressive governments that their days are numbered.
"But there is a serious fight-back from the forces of repression. The international community must seize the opportunity for change and ensure that 2011 is not a false dawn for human rights."....."
Video:
Annual Report 2011
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 1
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 1
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 2
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 3
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 4
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 2
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 3
حديث الثورة .. 13 مايو .. د. عزمي بشاره - 4
'In Syria we have been scared all our lives. Now at least we have hope, too'
Lina Mansour
Syria is cracking down on activists such as Lina Mansour, but they will not be deterred from pursuing a better future
Dwight Holly
(Dwight Holly is a pen name for a journalist living in Damascus)
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011
"....Lina Mansour is a young lawyer in her 20s. She works for a human rights organisation and, like many doing this job in Syria, she is using another identity to talk to the media. Since last week, Syrian authorities have stepped up their campaign of arrests, trying to crack down on activists that are communicating with the world outside and those who are joining the protests inside the country.
Many, like the 28-year-old cyber activist Rami Nakhle, have already left and are working from neighbouring Lebanon. Others – among them human rights lawyer Razan Zaytoun and dissident Haitham al Maleh – are still active inside the country, often spending no more than two or three nights in one flat before moving to the next.
Lina has experienced this a couple of times, while her father, an old and well-known activist, has been regularly spending nights out of his house. But if you ask her if she is scared, she smiles and says: "We have been scared all our lives. Now at least we have hope, too." Hope that the regime will change, even if "it might take years".
She looks very confident despite the gloomy updates she is getting from all over Syria from people who continuously ring her second phone, which is registered under a fake ID.
Lina has just been meeting a friend who managed to return from Deraa, the city that has been occupied by the Syrian army for more than 10 days in order to "find and punish terrorist groups", as the official media describe the military operation.
She conveys pictures of a human tragedy taking shape: people being randomly killed, others being arrested and threatened to be shot in the head by snipers if they demonstrate. She describes a mass graveyard, corpses being thrown there without names and identity. A city with no food, no medicines, no connections with the outside world....."
Bahrain's hospitals are used as bait
In a health system that is being dragged deeper into the political crackdown, patients risk imprisonment just for seeking care
Christopher Stokes
(Christopher Stokes is the general director of the Brussels branch of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). )
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
"In Bahrain, to be wounded by security forces has become a reason for arrest and providing healthcare has become grounds for a jail sentence. During the current civil unrest, Bahraini health facilities have consistently been used as a tool in the military crackdown against protesters.
The muted response from key allies outside of the region such as the United States – which has significant ties to Bahrain, including a vast naval base in the country – can only be interpreted as acceptance of the ongoing military assault, which is backed by the Gulf Co-operation Council.
While the government and its supporters in Bahrain continue to refer to the protesters as rioters, criminals, extremists, insurgents or terrorists, the label that remains conspicuously absent for those who are wounded is "patient"....."
Christopher Stokes
(Christopher Stokes is the general director of the Brussels branch of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). )
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
"In Bahrain, to be wounded by security forces has become a reason for arrest and providing healthcare has become grounds for a jail sentence. During the current civil unrest, Bahraini health facilities have consistently been used as a tool in the military crackdown against protesters.
The muted response from key allies outside of the region such as the United States – which has significant ties to Bahrain, including a vast naval base in the country – can only be interpreted as acceptance of the ongoing military assault, which is backed by the Gulf Co-operation Council.
While the government and its supporters in Bahrain continue to refer to the protesters as rioters, criminals, extremists, insurgents or terrorists, the label that remains conspicuously absent for those who are wounded is "patient"....."
The youth will win in Yemen
The youth will win in YemenWe will complete our revolution and oust President Saleh, with or without international support
A GOOD COMMENT
Wasim Alqershi
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011
"....The Gulf initiative presents a way out for the regime, prolonging its life and stirring up disagreement between the youth and the opposition parties – who agreed to the initiative under pressure from the international community and to "stop the bloodshed". Our young people have decided to escalate civil disobedience until Saleh's regime is overthrown. It remains for the international community to realise that the youth will complete their revolution with or without international support.
However, the withdrawal of international legitimacy from Saleh would achieve two things: it would stop Saleh from killing any more young people; and it would reinforce the values of freedom, justice, equality and democracy for which we are struggling....."
A GOOD COMMENT
Wasim Alqershi
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 12 May 2011
"....The Gulf initiative presents a way out for the regime, prolonging its life and stirring up disagreement between the youth and the opposition parties – who agreed to the initiative under pressure from the international community and to "stop the bloodshed". Our young people have decided to escalate civil disobedience until Saleh's regime is overthrown. It remains for the international community to realise that the youth will complete their revolution with or without international support.
However, the withdrawal of international legitimacy from Saleh would achieve two things: it would stop Saleh from killing any more young people; and it would reinforce the values of freedom, justice, equality and democracy for which we are struggling....."
Video: Syria protesters take to streets after Friday prayers
Anti-government demonstrators have once again defied the Syrian regime and joined street protests in cities and towns across the country
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
Tahrir Square fills again as Egypt holds Mubarak's wife for crimes against state
Largest rally in recent weeks comes on day ousted president's wife detained on suspicion of illegally acquiring wealth
Jack Shenker in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
"Tens of thousands of Egyptians returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday in a show of national unity against sectarian tension, and to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The largest rally to be held in the Egyptian capital in recent weeks took place as Suzanne Mubarak, wife of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was detained by investigators for 15 days on suspicion of illegally acquiring wealth....
In a sign of how vibrant and fragmented Egypt's political landscape has become since the toppling of Mubarak in February, protesters came together on Friday to support a multitude of causes from local anti-corruption campaigns to unity with Arab uprisings elsewhere in the region.
Following a week of sectarian violence in Cairo in which at least 15 people were killed in clashes at a church in the poor neighbourhood of Imbaba, many demonstrators held aloft placards depicting the Christian cross and Muslim crescent, and chanted: "We are all Egyptians."...."
Jack Shenker in Cairo
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 May 2011
"Tens of thousands of Egyptians returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo on Friday in a show of national unity against sectarian tension, and to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinian people.
The largest rally to be held in the Egyptian capital in recent weeks took place as Suzanne Mubarak, wife of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, was detained by investigators for 15 days on suspicion of illegally acquiring wealth....
In a sign of how vibrant and fragmented Egypt's political landscape has become since the toppling of Mubarak in February, protesters came together on Friday to support a multitude of causes from local anti-corruption campaigns to unity with Arab uprisings elsewhere in the region.
Following a week of sectarian violence in Cairo in which at least 15 people were killed in clashes at a church in the poor neighbourhood of Imbaba, many demonstrators held aloft placards depicting the Christian cross and Muslim crescent, and chanted: "We are all Egyptians."...."
شام - حماه - تمزيق صورة الساقط من على مجلس المدينة 13-5
شام - حماه - تمزيق صورة الساقط من على مجلس المدينة 13-5
Demonstrators Ripping Poster of the Rabbit in Hama, Syria, Just Minutes Ago.
شام - حمص - الرستن - مظاهرات جمعة حرائر سوريا
DEMONSTRATION IN HOMS, Friday May 13, 2011.
شام - الكسوة - مظاهرات جمعة حرائر سوريا 13-5 ج2
شام - حلب - شبيحة النظام بسيف الدولة 13-5
The Regime's Thugs in the City of Aleppo, in Civilian Clothes
Demonstrators Ripping Poster of the Rabbit in Hama, Syria, Just Minutes Ago.
شام - حمص - الرستن - مظاهرات جمعة حرائر سوريا
DEMONSTRATION IN HOMS, Friday May 13, 2011.
شام - الكسوة - مظاهرات جمعة حرائر سوريا 13-5 ج2
شام - حلب - شبيحة النظام بسيف الدولة 13-5
The Regime's Thugs in the City of Aleppo, in Civilian Clothes
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Yemen must halt use of deadly force ahead of planned protest
Amnesty International
11 May 2011
"Amnesty International has called on the Yemeni authorities to stop using unnecessary deadly force against anti-government protesters, after security forces today opened fire on demonstrations in the capital Sana'a and the city of Ta’izz killing at least two people.
The call came ahead of planned marches on the presidential palace from the protest camp near Sana’a University.
According to Amnesty International’s latest figures, over 145 people have been killed in Yemen during months of demonstrations calling for an end to the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh....."
11 May 2011
"Amnesty International has called on the Yemeni authorities to stop using unnecessary deadly force against anti-government protesters, after security forces today opened fire on demonstrations in the capital Sana'a and the city of Ta’izz killing at least two people.
The call came ahead of planned marches on the presidential palace from the protest camp near Sana’a University.
According to Amnesty International’s latest figures, over 145 people have been killed in Yemen during months of demonstrations calling for an end to the 32-year rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh....."
Video: دعوة لـ"جمعة حرائر" وقتلى بحمص
"...
عنف الأربعاء
وباستثناء أيام الجمعة فقد كان أمس أعنفَ يوم منذ بدء الاحتجاجات، إذ أفادت منظمات حقوقية وناشطون أن 22 شخصا لقوا مصرعهم، تسعة سقطوا في حمص و13 في الحارة.
وقال رئيس المنظمة الوطنية لحقوق الإنسان عمار القربي إن قتلى بلدة الحارة سقطوا في قصف بالدبابات والأسلحة النارية.
أما قتلى حمص فسقطوا وفق حقوقيين في منطقة باب عمرو، حيث تحدث نشطاء عن منع سيارات الإسعاف من دخول الحي.
ونقلت وكالة الأنباء الرسمية عن مصدر عسكري قوله إن وحدات تواصل ملاحقة "فلول الجماعات الإرهابية المسلحة" في ريف حمص، وأوقفت عشرات المطلوبين و"صادرت أسلحة وذخائر وسيارات متنوعة ودراجات نارية استعملت للاعتداء على المواطنين".
وفي دمشق، اعتقل الأمن وفق ناشطين حقوقيين المعارض مازن عدي من حزب الشعب الديمقراطي الذي أسسه المعارض رياض الترك.
متظاهرون بحلب
وتضامنا مع حمص ودرعا وبانياس المحاصرة أيضا، تظاهر مساء الأربعاء داخل المدينة الجامعية في حلب ثانية كبريات مدن سوريا، نحو ألفي طالب، فرقهم الأمن بالهري، مستعينا بطلاب موالين لنظام الرئيس بشار الأسد، وفق ما ذكر ناشط حقوقي لوكالة الصحافة الفرنسية.
وقال شاهد عيان إن الطريق الرابط بين وسط حلب والجامعة الواقعة في غرب المدينة، قد أغلق. وتعتبر هذه المظاهرة أبرزَ بوادر انتقال الاحتجاجات الشعبية المناهضة لنظام الحكم إلى حلب وفق الوكالة.
وقد شهدت مدن وبلدات عديدة تجمعات ليلية البارحة تضامنا مع مناطقَ يحاصرها الجيش والأمن.
وأظهرت تسجيلات على مواقع "شام" و"فلاش" و"الثورة السورية" على فيسبوك تجمعات ليلية بمدينة تلبيسة قرب حمص، وفي برزة البلد وداريا في ريف دمشق، وفي حي الصليبة في اللاذقية شمالا
..."
عنف الأربعاء
وباستثناء أيام الجمعة فقد كان أمس أعنفَ يوم منذ بدء الاحتجاجات، إذ أفادت منظمات حقوقية وناشطون أن 22 شخصا لقوا مصرعهم، تسعة سقطوا في حمص و13 في الحارة.
وقال رئيس المنظمة الوطنية لحقوق الإنسان عمار القربي إن قتلى بلدة الحارة سقطوا في قصف بالدبابات والأسلحة النارية.
أما قتلى حمص فسقطوا وفق حقوقيين في منطقة باب عمرو، حيث تحدث نشطاء عن منع سيارات الإسعاف من دخول الحي.
ونقلت وكالة الأنباء الرسمية عن مصدر عسكري قوله إن وحدات تواصل ملاحقة "فلول الجماعات الإرهابية المسلحة" في ريف حمص، وأوقفت عشرات المطلوبين و"صادرت أسلحة وذخائر وسيارات متنوعة ودراجات نارية استعملت للاعتداء على المواطنين".
وفي دمشق، اعتقل الأمن وفق ناشطين حقوقيين المعارض مازن عدي من حزب الشعب الديمقراطي الذي أسسه المعارض رياض الترك.
متظاهرون بحلب
وتضامنا مع حمص ودرعا وبانياس المحاصرة أيضا، تظاهر مساء الأربعاء داخل المدينة الجامعية في حلب ثانية كبريات مدن سوريا، نحو ألفي طالب، فرقهم الأمن بالهري، مستعينا بطلاب موالين لنظام الرئيس بشار الأسد، وفق ما ذكر ناشط حقوقي لوكالة الصحافة الفرنسية.
وقال شاهد عيان إن الطريق الرابط بين وسط حلب والجامعة الواقعة في غرب المدينة، قد أغلق. وتعتبر هذه المظاهرة أبرزَ بوادر انتقال الاحتجاجات الشعبية المناهضة لنظام الحكم إلى حلب وفق الوكالة.
وقد شهدت مدن وبلدات عديدة تجمعات ليلية البارحة تضامنا مع مناطقَ يحاصرها الجيش والأمن.
وأظهرت تسجيلات على مواقع "شام" و"فلاش" و"الثورة السورية" على فيسبوك تجمعات ليلية بمدينة تلبيسة قرب حمص، وفي برزة البلد وداريا في ريف دمشق، وفي حي الصليبة في اللاذقية شمالا
..."
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A Sample of Fresh Videos From Inside Syria, Documenting Protests Against the Bloody Regime on Wednesday, May 11, 2011.
شام - برزة البلد - أحلى عراضة على الإعلام المنافق 11-5
شام - حمص - تلبيسة - مظاهرة التحدي المسائية 11
شام - حمص - تلبيسة - مظاهرة التحدي المسائية 11-5 ج2
شام - حمص - الخالدية - رجال رغم الحصار 11-5-2011
شام - حمص - تلبيسة - مظاهرة التحدي المسائية 11
شام - حمص - تلبيسة - مظاهرة التحدي المسائية 11-5 ج2
شام - حمص - الخالدية - رجال رغم الحصار 11-5-2011
شام - فلسطين - تضامن فلسطيني 48 مع الثورة في سوريا
شام - فلسطين - تضامن فلسطيني 48 مع الثورة في سوريا
Real News Video: New Egyptian Stance Towards Israel, Hamas and Iran
Samer Shehata: Egyptian government may not cooperate with siege of Gaza and isolation of Hamas; restoring relations with Iran
Noam Chomsky: "The U.S. And Its Allies Will Do Anything to Prevent Democracy in the Arab World"
"Speaking at the 25th anniversary of celebration of the national media watch group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, world-renowned political dissident and linguist Noam Chomsky analyzes the U.S. response to the popular uprisings sweeping the Middle East and North Africa. "Across the [Middle East], the overwhelming majority of the population regards the United States as the main threat to their interests," Chomsky says. "The reason is very simple ... Plainly, the U.S. and allies are not going to want governments, which are responsive to the will of the people. If that happens, not only will the U.S. not control the region, but it will be thrown out."...."
Bin Laden out, Gaddafi next
By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times
"....As for why Gaddafi gets the boot while the al-Khalifas in Bahrain, Saleh in Yemen and Bashar al-Assad in Syria get away with it - that's simple; you're not an evil dictator if you're one of "our" bastards - that is, play by "our" rules. The destiny of "independents" such as Gaddafi is to become toast. It helps if you already have a key US military base in your country - as with the al-Khalifas and the US 5th Fleet.
If the al-Khalifas were not US lackeys and there was no US military base, Washington would have no problems selling an intervention in favor of the peaceful, largely Shi'ite pro-democracy protesters against a ghastly Sunni tyranny which needs the House of Saud to repress its own people.
Then there are the legalese aspects. Imagine putting Gaddafi on trial. Martial court or civil court? A kangaroo court - a la Saddam Hussein – or offering him all the "civilized" means to defend himself? And how to prosecute crimes against humanity beyond reasonable doubt? How to use testimonies obtained under torture, sorry, "enhanced interrogation"? And for how long? Years? How many witnesses? Thousands?
It's much easier to solve it all with a Tomahawk - or a bullet in the head - and then call it "justice". "
Asia Times
"....As for why Gaddafi gets the boot while the al-Khalifas in Bahrain, Saleh in Yemen and Bashar al-Assad in Syria get away with it - that's simple; you're not an evil dictator if you're one of "our" bastards - that is, play by "our" rules. The destiny of "independents" such as Gaddafi is to become toast. It helps if you already have a key US military base in your country - as with the al-Khalifas and the US 5th Fleet.
If the al-Khalifas were not US lackeys and there was no US military base, Washington would have no problems selling an intervention in favor of the peaceful, largely Shi'ite pro-democracy protesters against a ghastly Sunni tyranny which needs the House of Saud to repress its own people.
Then there are the legalese aspects. Imagine putting Gaddafi on trial. Martial court or civil court? A kangaroo court - a la Saddam Hussein – or offering him all the "civilized" means to defend himself? And how to prosecute crimes against humanity beyond reasonable doubt? How to use testimonies obtained under torture, sorry, "enhanced interrogation"? And for how long? Years? How many witnesses? Thousands?
It's much easier to solve it all with a Tomahawk - or a bullet in the head - and then call it "justice". "
Egyptian Activists Gear Up For Third Intifadah
By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, May 10, 2011 (IPS) - Following the February ouster of Egypt’s longstanding President Hosni Mubarak, calls have been circulating in Egypt and throughout the region for a ‘Third Intifadah’ to begin May 15.
"Unlike the first two Palestinian uprisings, the proposed Third Intifadah is meant to involve the entire Arab world," Egyptian journalist and political analyst Abdelhalim Kandil told IPS.
It began with the appearance of a Facebook.com page in early March calling for a ‘Third Intifadah’ against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The page, reportedly founded by Arab pro- Palestinian groups, set the launch date for May 15 - the day on which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in 1948 to make way for the nascent state of Israel....
In the three months since Mubarak’s departure, Egypt has witnessed a spate of marches and protests in front of both Israel’s embassy in Cairo and its consulate in Alexandria, where demonstrators could be seen distributing flyers about the planned event.
The ‘Third Intifadah’ had initially included plans for a protest march to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, which has been sealed for the most part since 2007. This plan was abandoned, however, following a promise by Egypt’s SCAF-appointed foreign minister late last month that the crossing would soon be reopened on a permanent basis.
Nevertheless, the Arab Doctors Union plans to dispatch a convoy of Gaza-bound humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing - scheduled to set out from Tahrir Square on May 15.....
Notably, Palestinian faction Hamas, which governs the strip and espouses a policy of armed resistance to Israel, has not publicly endorsed calls for a ‘Third Intifadah’. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, who heads rival Palestinian faction Fatah and supports a discredited ‘peace process’ with Israel, has voiced downright opposition to the idea....[The Two Are Now Partners in Crime!]
"If the Palestinians stage peaceful protests en masse and persevere despite Israel’s inevitably violent response - and are supported by simultaneous demonstrations in Arab and western capitals - the Israeli occupation’s days may very well be numbered," said Kandil...."
"CAIRO, May 10, 2011 (IPS) - Following the February ouster of Egypt’s longstanding President Hosni Mubarak, calls have been circulating in Egypt and throughout the region for a ‘Third Intifadah’ to begin May 15.
"Unlike the first two Palestinian uprisings, the proposed Third Intifadah is meant to involve the entire Arab world," Egyptian journalist and political analyst Abdelhalim Kandil told IPS.
It began with the appearance of a Facebook.com page in early March calling for a ‘Third Intifadah’ against the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestinian land. The page, reportedly founded by Arab pro- Palestinian groups, set the launch date for May 15 - the day on which hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes in 1948 to make way for the nascent state of Israel....
In the three months since Mubarak’s departure, Egypt has witnessed a spate of marches and protests in front of both Israel’s embassy in Cairo and its consulate in Alexandria, where demonstrators could be seen distributing flyers about the planned event.
The ‘Third Intifadah’ had initially included plans for a protest march to Egypt’s Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip, which has been sealed for the most part since 2007. This plan was abandoned, however, following a promise by Egypt’s SCAF-appointed foreign minister late last month that the crossing would soon be reopened on a permanent basis.
Nevertheless, the Arab Doctors Union plans to dispatch a convoy of Gaza-bound humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing - scheduled to set out from Tahrir Square on May 15.....
Notably, Palestinian faction Hamas, which governs the strip and espouses a policy of armed resistance to Israel, has not publicly endorsed calls for a ‘Third Intifadah’. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, meanwhile, who heads rival Palestinian faction Fatah and supports a discredited ‘peace process’ with Israel, has voiced downright opposition to the idea....[The Two Are Now Partners in Crime!]
"If the Palestinians stage peaceful protests en masse and persevere despite Israel’s inevitably violent response - and are supported by simultaneous demonstrations in Arab and western capitals - the Israeli occupation’s days may very well be numbered," said Kandil...."
Bahrain: Activist Bears Signs of Abuse
Concerns About Ill-Treatment in Military Court Hearings for 14
Human Rights Watch
May 10, 2011
"(Washington, DC) - A prominent rights activist who was active in Bahrain's pro-democracy street protests appeared before a special military court on May 8, 2011, bearing visible signs of ill-treatment and perhaps torture, Human Rights Watch said today.
The activist, Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, was one of 14 defendants, most active with opposition political movements, charged with attempting to "topple the regime forcibly in collaboration with a terrorist organization working for a foreign country." His wife and daughter spoke with him briefly after the court session, the first time they had been allowed to see him since he was arrested and badly beaten on April 9. They observed multiple facial injuries, and he told them he had four fractures on the left side of his face, including one in his jaw that had required four hours of corrective surgery.
"It appears that Abdulhadi al-Khawaja's jailers tortured him during the month they held him in incommunicado detention," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Torture or ill-treatment is a serious crime, and Bahraini officials who did or authorized this treatment need to be held accountable."
Human Rights Watch has documented the routine use of torture by Bahraini security officials during similar interrogations in political and security-related cases....."
David Frum and the Winds of War
Shocker: noted neocon makes the case for invading Pakistan
by Justin Raimondo, May 11, 2011
".........Frum is not alone in nominating Pakistan for the job: the Obama-ites and the liberal “mainstream” are divided between those who say, sure, the Pakistanis are a bunch of treacherous towel-heads, but we can’t afford to nuke them just yet, and those who want to go after them in some way. Which way it will go remains to be seen: however, that David Frum is among the first to call for Pakistani blood is hardly surprising. The man is a veritable weather vane riding the winds of war, picking up the slightest breeze blowing in the direction of a potential battlefield.
Like vultures circling road-kill, the neocons’ mere presence in the vicinity is enough to tell us where the next carnage will occur. You don’t need to be a prophet to find these things out: you just have to know how to read the signs."
by Justin Raimondo, May 11, 2011
".........Frum is not alone in nominating Pakistan for the job: the Obama-ites and the liberal “mainstream” are divided between those who say, sure, the Pakistanis are a bunch of treacherous towel-heads, but we can’t afford to nuke them just yet, and those who want to go after them in some way. Which way it will go remains to be seen: however, that David Frum is among the first to call for Pakistani blood is hardly surprising. The man is a veritable weather vane riding the winds of war, picking up the slightest breeze blowing in the direction of a potential battlefield.
Like vultures circling road-kill, the neocons’ mere presence in the vicinity is enough to tell us where the next carnage will occur. You don’t need to be a prophet to find these things out: you just have to know how to read the signs."
Video: Syrian amateur video leaks out
The Independent
"Video that purports to show Syrian plain-clothes police officers shoving alleged protesters into a van has been leaked."
"Video that purports to show Syrian plain-clothes police officers shoving alleged protesters into a van has been leaked."
Tony Kushner: an angel in America
Kushner's drama has explored the McCarthyite witchhunts. How ironic that he was persecuted for criticising Israel's government
Amy Goodman
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 May 2011
"....I interviewed Tony Kushner soon after he got word that his honorary degree had been restored. He said US policy toward the Middle East "based on rightwing fantasies and theocratic fantasies and scripture-based fantasies of what history and on-the-ground reality is telling us, is catastrophic and is going to lead to the destruction of the state of Israel". He went on:
"These people are not defending it. They're not supporting it. They're, in fact, causing a distortion of US policy regarding Israel and a distortion of the internal politics of Israel itself, because they exert a tremendous influence in Israel and support rightwing politicians who, I think, have led the country into a very dark and dangerous place."
During the McCarthy era, the US was a dark and dangerous place as well. Now, amid the uprisings in the Arab and Muslim world, the recent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, and the likely recognition of Palestinian statehood by the United Nations general assembly, there is no more urgent time for vigorous and informed debate....."
Amy Goodman
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 May 2011
"....I interviewed Tony Kushner soon after he got word that his honorary degree had been restored. He said US policy toward the Middle East "based on rightwing fantasies and theocratic fantasies and scripture-based fantasies of what history and on-the-ground reality is telling us, is catastrophic and is going to lead to the destruction of the state of Israel". He went on:
"These people are not defending it. They're not supporting it. They're, in fact, causing a distortion of US policy regarding Israel and a distortion of the internal politics of Israel itself, because they exert a tremendous influence in Israel and support rightwing politicians who, I think, have led the country into a very dark and dangerous place."
During the McCarthy era, the US was a dark and dangerous place as well. Now, amid the uprisings in the Arab and Muslim world, the recent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas, and the likely recognition of Palestinian statehood by the United Nations general assembly, there is no more urgent time for vigorous and informed debate....."
Hamas is Now a Full Partner in the Bankrupt Policy of "Negotiations."
مشعل: "من أجل عيون" الثورة المصرية والمصالحة، سنعطي إسرائيل فرصة سنة
عــ48ــرب ووكالات
"أبدى خالد مشعل، رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس، استعداد حركته إعطاء اسرائيل مهلة سنة لما وصفه اختبار النوايا، من أجل الاعتراف بالدولة الفلسطينية المستقلة على الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة عام 1967.
وقال مشعل: إن "هدفنا إقامة دولة فلسطينية عاصمتها القدس، على حدود 67، واختبرنا إسرائيل عشرات المرات منذ أوسلو، ومدريد، لكن من أجل عيون الثورة المصرية والمصالحة، وحتى لا نعطي إسرائيل أي ذريعة لإفساد المصالحة، فإننا مستعدون أن نعطيها مهلة سنة إضافية لاختبار النوايا".
واستدرك مشعل قائلا: "ولكن ليس معنى ذلك أننا سنعلن الحرب بعد انتهاء هذه السنة، ولكننا سنضيف أوراقا جديدة للمقاومة".
أقوال مشعل جاءت خلال اللقاء الذي جمعه بوفود من شباب الثورة المصرية، التي أطاحت بنظام الرئيس المصري السابق حسني مبارك، جرى بمنزل الاعلامي أحمد منصور، واستمر لعدة ساعات.
ورفض مشعل خلال اللقاء الذي استمر ساعتين، أن يهاجم النظام المصري السابق، فقال: "الرجولة أن تنتقد المرء وهو في سلطته وجبروته، وليس بعد أن يزول عنه ملكه، وللتاريخ، فإن النظام السابق في مصر كانت له إيجابيات في الملف الفلسطيني، وملف المصالحة، ولم تكن كل خطواته سلبية، وجهود مصر في ملف المصالحة كانت ممتدة إلى ما قبل ثورة 25 يناير، ولكن سلبيات النظام المصري السابق كانت تكوينا، ولكن عفا الله عما سلف."
يشار إلى أن مشعل كان قد أكد لصحيفة "وول ستريت جنرال"، التي تصدر في القاهرة الأسبوع الماضي، وجود اتفاق بين حماس وفتح على اختيار الطرق المناسبة للصراع مع إسرائيل، بما فيها العمل العسكري، حيث سيخضع ذلك لقرار مشترك بين فتح وحماس، وباقي التنظيمات على اختيار الأسلوب المناسب للصراع مع إسرائيل.
كما شدد مشعل في لقاء مع "الشرق الأوسط"، أمس، على أهمية وضع استراتيجية عربية فلسطينية شاملة للخروج من حالة الجمود التي تضرب عملية السلام منذ عشرين عاما.
[20 More Years of "Negotiations".....20 More International "Peace" Conferences.....200 New Israeli Colonies......800,000 New Jewish Colonists......1% of Palestine Left.....But Fatah and Hamas Are United and the Palestinians Are Celebrating!]
/عــ48ــرب ووكالات
"أبدى خالد مشعل، رئيس المكتب السياسي لحركة حماس، استعداد حركته إعطاء اسرائيل مهلة سنة لما وصفه اختبار النوايا، من أجل الاعتراف بالدولة الفلسطينية المستقلة على الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة عام 1967.
وقال مشعل: إن "هدفنا إقامة دولة فلسطينية عاصمتها القدس، على حدود 67، واختبرنا إسرائيل عشرات المرات منذ أوسلو، ومدريد، لكن من أجل عيون الثورة المصرية والمصالحة، وحتى لا نعطي إسرائيل أي ذريعة لإفساد المصالحة، فإننا مستعدون أن نعطيها مهلة سنة إضافية لاختبار النوايا".
واستدرك مشعل قائلا: "ولكن ليس معنى ذلك أننا سنعلن الحرب بعد انتهاء هذه السنة، ولكننا سنضيف أوراقا جديدة للمقاومة".
أقوال مشعل جاءت خلال اللقاء الذي جمعه بوفود من شباب الثورة المصرية، التي أطاحت بنظام الرئيس المصري السابق حسني مبارك، جرى بمنزل الاعلامي أحمد منصور، واستمر لعدة ساعات.
ورفض مشعل خلال اللقاء الذي استمر ساعتين، أن يهاجم النظام المصري السابق، فقال: "الرجولة أن تنتقد المرء وهو في سلطته وجبروته، وليس بعد أن يزول عنه ملكه، وللتاريخ، فإن النظام السابق في مصر كانت له إيجابيات في الملف الفلسطيني، وملف المصالحة، ولم تكن كل خطواته سلبية، وجهود مصر في ملف المصالحة كانت ممتدة إلى ما قبل ثورة 25 يناير، ولكن سلبيات النظام المصري السابق كانت تكوينا، ولكن عفا الله عما سلف."
يشار إلى أن مشعل كان قد أكد لصحيفة "وول ستريت جنرال"، التي تصدر في القاهرة الأسبوع الماضي، وجود اتفاق بين حماس وفتح على اختيار الطرق المناسبة للصراع مع إسرائيل، بما فيها العمل العسكري، حيث سيخضع ذلك لقرار مشترك بين فتح وحماس، وباقي التنظيمات على اختيار الأسلوب المناسب للصراع مع إسرائيل.
كما شدد مشعل في لقاء مع "الشرق الأوسط"، أمس، على أهمية وضع استراتيجية عربية فلسطينية شاملة للخروج من حالة الجمود التي تضرب عملية السلام منذ عشرين عاما.
[20 More Years of "Negotiations".....20 More International "Peace" Conferences.....200 New Israeli Colonies......800,000 New Jewish Colonists......1% of Palestine Left.....But Fatah and Hamas Are United and the Palestinians Are Celebrating!]
"
The Massacres Erdogan Warned About Are Unfolding: Syrian tanks 'shell district of Homs'
Neighbourhood in restive city "shaking" with explosions from shelling and gunfire, according to rights campaigner.
Al-Jazeera
"Army tanks have shelled a residential district in Homs, according to a rights campaigner in the Syrian city which has emerged as the most populous centre of defiance against Bashar al-Assad's rule.
"Homs is shaking with the sound of explosions from tank shelling and heavy machine guns in the Bab Amro neighbourhood," Najati Tayara, said....
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretatry general, urged Syria on Wednesday to halt mass arrests of anti-government protesters and to heed calls for reform.
Ban also said that UN humanitarian workers and human rights monitors must be allowed into Deraa, as well as other cities so as to assess the situation and needs of the civilian population.
"I urge president Assad to heed the call of the people for reform and freedom and desist from the mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and to cooperate with the human rights monitors," Ban told a news conference in Geneva.
"I am disappointed that the United Nations has not been granted access yet to Deraa and other places," he added.
Speaking to the New York Times, a powerful cousin of the president said the Assad family was not going to capitulate.
"We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end...They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone," Rami Makhlouf told the newspaper.
Makhlouf, a tycoon in his early 40s who owns several monopolies, and his brother, a secret police chief, have been under specific US sanctions since 2007 for corruption.
Suhair al-Atassi, a rights campaigner, said a demonstration broke out on Tuesday in Homs, despite a heavy security presence, after tanks stormed several neighbourhoods on Sunday and three civilians were killed.
"This regime is playing a losing card by sending tanks into cities and besieging them. Syrians have seen the blood of their compatriots spilt. They will never return to being non-persons," she told Reuters.
Demonstrators have shouted the name of Makhlouf as a symbol of graft....
Demonstrators in Baniyas had raised posters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who has had close ties to Assad, but has disputed the official Syrian account of the violence.
Erdogan said more than 1,000 civilians had died, and he did not want to see a repeat of the 1982 Hama violence or the 1988 gassing of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, when 5,000 people died....."
Al-Jazeera
"Army tanks have shelled a residential district in Homs, according to a rights campaigner in the Syrian city which has emerged as the most populous centre of defiance against Bashar al-Assad's rule.
"Homs is shaking with the sound of explosions from tank shelling and heavy machine guns in the Bab Amro neighbourhood," Najati Tayara, said....
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretatry general, urged Syria on Wednesday to halt mass arrests of anti-government protesters and to heed calls for reform.
Ban also said that UN humanitarian workers and human rights monitors must be allowed into Deraa, as well as other cities so as to assess the situation and needs of the civilian population.
"I urge president Assad to heed the call of the people for reform and freedom and desist from the mass arrest of peaceful demonstrators, and to cooperate with the human rights monitors," Ban told a news conference in Geneva.
"I am disappointed that the United Nations has not been granted access yet to Deraa and other places," he added.
Speaking to the New York Times, a powerful cousin of the president said the Assad family was not going to capitulate.
"We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end...They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone," Rami Makhlouf told the newspaper.
Makhlouf, a tycoon in his early 40s who owns several monopolies, and his brother, a secret police chief, have been under specific US sanctions since 2007 for corruption.
Suhair al-Atassi, a rights campaigner, said a demonstration broke out on Tuesday in Homs, despite a heavy security presence, after tanks stormed several neighbourhoods on Sunday and three civilians were killed.
"This regime is playing a losing card by sending tanks into cities and besieging them. Syrians have seen the blood of their compatriots spilt. They will never return to being non-persons," she told Reuters.
Demonstrators have shouted the name of Makhlouf as a symbol of graft....
Demonstrators in Baniyas had raised posters of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, who has had close ties to Assad, but has disputed the official Syrian account of the violence.
Erdogan said more than 1,000 civilians had died, and he did not want to see a repeat of the 1982 Hama violence or the 1988 gassing of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, when 5,000 people died....."
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Ally of Assad Says Syria Will Fight Protests Till ‘the End’
AN IMPORTANT PIECE
By ANTHONY SHADID
N Y Times
Published: May 10, 2011
N Y Times
Published: May 10, 2011
(Scroll down for more new posts)
NOTE:
Reading this interview reminds me so much of the arguments that Gaddafi and his son Saif used before. Namely, if the regime falls, Israel would suffer! Hence, the regime is good for stability and good for Israel. Also the same warnings that "the Salafis would take over." Gaddafi said the same!
"DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s ruling elite, a tight-knit circle at the nexus of absolute power, loyalty to family and a visceral instinct for survival, will fight to the end in a struggle that could cast the Middle East into turmoil and even war, warned Syria’s most powerful businessman, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad.
The frank comments by Rami Makhlouf, a tycoon who has emerged in the two-month uprising as a lighting rod for anger at the privilege that power brings, offered an exceedingly rare insight into the thinking of an opaque government, the prism through which it sees Syria, and the way it reaches decisions. Beset by the greatest threat to its four decades of rule, the ruling family, he suggested, has conflated its survival with the existence of the minority sect....
“If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel,” he said in an interview Monday that lasted more than three hours. “No way, and nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbid, anything happens to this regime.”.....
His words cast into the starkest terms a sentiment the government has sought to cultivate — us or chaos — and it underlined the tactics of a ruling elite that has manipulated the ups and downs of a tumultuous region to sustain an overriding goal: its own survival.....
“The decision of the government now is that they decided to fight,” Mr. Makhlouf said.....
Mr. Makhlouf’s warnings of instability and sectarian strife like Iraq’s have emerged as the government’s rallying cry, as it deals with a degree of dissent that its officials admit caught them by surprise.....
“We will not go out, leave on our boat, go gambling, you know,” he said at his plush, wood-paneled headquarters in Damascus. “We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end.” He added later, “They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone.”.....
More than just an icon of outrage, Mr. Makhlouf represents broader changes afoot in the country. His very wealth points to the shifting constellation of power in Syria, as the old alliance of Sunni Muslim merchants and officers from Mr. Makhlouf’s Alawite clan gives way to descendants of those officers benefiting from lucrative deals made possible by reforms that have dismantled the public sector....
He warned the alternative — led by what he described as Salafists, the government’s name for militant Islamists — would mean war at home and perhaps abroad.
“We won’t accept it,” he said. “People will fight against them. Do you know what this means? It means catastrophe. And we have a lot of fighters.” "
"DAMASCUS, Syria — Syria’s ruling elite, a tight-knit circle at the nexus of absolute power, loyalty to family and a visceral instinct for survival, will fight to the end in a struggle that could cast the Middle East into turmoil and even war, warned Syria’s most powerful businessman, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad.
The frank comments by Rami Makhlouf, a tycoon who has emerged in the two-month uprising as a lighting rod for anger at the privilege that power brings, offered an exceedingly rare insight into the thinking of an opaque government, the prism through which it sees Syria, and the way it reaches decisions. Beset by the greatest threat to its four decades of rule, the ruling family, he suggested, has conflated its survival with the existence of the minority sect....
“If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel,” he said in an interview Monday that lasted more than three hours. “No way, and nobody can guarantee what will happen after, God forbid, anything happens to this regime.”.....
His words cast into the starkest terms a sentiment the government has sought to cultivate — us or chaos — and it underlined the tactics of a ruling elite that has manipulated the ups and downs of a tumultuous region to sustain an overriding goal: its own survival.....
“The decision of the government now is that they decided to fight,” Mr. Makhlouf said.....
Mr. Makhlouf’s warnings of instability and sectarian strife like Iraq’s have emerged as the government’s rallying cry, as it deals with a degree of dissent that its officials admit caught them by surprise.....
“We will not go out, leave on our boat, go gambling, you know,” he said at his plush, wood-paneled headquarters in Damascus. “We will sit here. We call it a fight until the end.” He added later, “They should know when we suffer, we will not suffer alone.”.....
More than just an icon of outrage, Mr. Makhlouf represents broader changes afoot in the country. His very wealth points to the shifting constellation of power in Syria, as the old alliance of Sunni Muslim merchants and officers from Mr. Makhlouf’s Alawite clan gives way to descendants of those officers benefiting from lucrative deals made possible by reforms that have dismantled the public sector....
He warned the alternative — led by what he described as Salafists, the government’s name for militant Islamists — would mean war at home and perhaps abroad.
“We won’t accept it,” he said. “People will fight against them. Do you know what this means? It means catastrophe. And we have a lot of fighters.” "
Saudi Arabia flogs orphan girls
News from the most awful place in the Arab world
Six orphan girls aged between 12 and 18 have been flogged in Saudi Arabia after being convicted of attacking the head of their orphanage, an official has said.
The girls received 10 lashes each at a women's prison in Medina, Islam's second holiest city.
"The order against the six orphans is a legitimate court order," Mohammed al-Awadh, the public relations manager at the ministry of social affairs, told Reuters. "The ministry does not have the right to interfere in a court order."
He gave no details of the ruling, but the Arabic language Okaz newspaper said the girls had been convicted of "acts of mischief" and attacking the director of the orphanage.
The girls defended their actions, saying they were harassed by the director, Okaz reported.
International human rights groups have criticised the Saudi justice system for applying corporal punishment for petty crimes, as well as limb amputations for thieves and beheadings for murderers under its strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Saudi officials say the practice is widely approved by Saudi society and is a deterrent to crime.
أردوغان يحذر من مجازر في سوريا-Video
قلق أممي بعد رفض أعمال الإغاثة
This is a very clear indictment of the Syrian regime and a rebuttal of its lies, by none other than its ally Erdogan!
"حذر رئيس الوزراء التركي رجب طيب أردوغان الثلاثاء من مرحلة قال إنها بدأت الآن في سوريا على غرار ما جرى من قبل في حلبجة العراقية وحماة وحمص السوريتين، في وقت دعت فيه الأمم المتحدة السلطات السورية إلى تحديد موعد فوري لدخول البعثة الإنسانية للمدن السورية المحاصرة.
وقال أردوغان -في حديث للقناة السابعة الإخبارية التركية- إن من الخطأ أن يقوم نظام بإطلاق الرصاص على أبناء شعبه، مبديا قلقه من تجاوز عدد القتلى في سوريا الألف.
وأضاف أنه لا يريد أن يرى تكرار أعمال العنف التي وقعت في حماة سنة 1982، أو قتل الأكراد العراقيين بالغاز في حلبجة عام 1988 عندما لقي 5000 شخص حتفهم.
قلق أممي
في غضون ذلك، عبرت الأمم المتحدة عن قلقها بشأن رفض السلطات السورية حتى الآن السماح بوصول وكالات الإغاثة الإنسانية إلى درعا ومدن محاصرة أخرى، داعية إلى تحديد موعد فوري لدخول البعثة الإنسانية.
وقالت مسؤولة الشؤون الإنسانية بالأمم المتحدة فاليري أموس إنها قلقة بخصوص عدم القدرة على الوصول إلى اللاذقية وجبلة وبانياس ودوما، فضلا عن مدينة درعا التي تشهد حصارا شديدا منذ أسابيع.
وأضافت أموس في بيان أنه "برغم الطلبات المتكررة المقدمة للسلطات السورية للسماح بالوصول، ومن بينها طلب من الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة، لم تتمكن البعثة المقترحة إلى درعا يوم الأحد الثامن من مايو/أيار من الانطلاق".
وذكرت أن الهدف الأساسي للبعثة هو تقييم الوضع بشكل مستقل ووضع خطة للاستجابة إذا لزم الأمر.
وتابعت مسؤولة الشؤون الإنسانية بالأمم المتحدة أن "ما يبعث على القلق بشكل خاص هو توارد أنباء تؤكد أن كثيرا من الجرحى لا يطلبون العلاج في المستشفيات خوفا من التعرض للانتقام".
وقالت مديرة مركز الأمم المتحدة للإعلام في القاهرة خولة مطر في مقابلة مع الجزيرة إن الوضع في سوريا بحاجة أيضا إلى بعثة لتقصي الحقائق المرتبطة بالانتهاكات
...."
This is a very clear indictment of the Syrian regime and a rebuttal of its lies, by none other than its ally Erdogan!
"حذر رئيس الوزراء التركي رجب طيب أردوغان الثلاثاء من مرحلة قال إنها بدأت الآن في سوريا على غرار ما جرى من قبل في حلبجة العراقية وحماة وحمص السوريتين، في وقت دعت فيه الأمم المتحدة السلطات السورية إلى تحديد موعد فوري لدخول البعثة الإنسانية للمدن السورية المحاصرة.
وقال أردوغان -في حديث للقناة السابعة الإخبارية التركية- إن من الخطأ أن يقوم نظام بإطلاق الرصاص على أبناء شعبه، مبديا قلقه من تجاوز عدد القتلى في سوريا الألف.
وأضاف أنه لا يريد أن يرى تكرار أعمال العنف التي وقعت في حماة سنة 1982، أو قتل الأكراد العراقيين بالغاز في حلبجة عام 1988 عندما لقي 5000 شخص حتفهم.
قلق أممي
في غضون ذلك، عبرت الأمم المتحدة عن قلقها بشأن رفض السلطات السورية حتى الآن السماح بوصول وكالات الإغاثة الإنسانية إلى درعا ومدن محاصرة أخرى، داعية إلى تحديد موعد فوري لدخول البعثة الإنسانية.
وقالت مسؤولة الشؤون الإنسانية بالأمم المتحدة فاليري أموس إنها قلقة بخصوص عدم القدرة على الوصول إلى اللاذقية وجبلة وبانياس ودوما، فضلا عن مدينة درعا التي تشهد حصارا شديدا منذ أسابيع.
وأضافت أموس في بيان أنه "برغم الطلبات المتكررة المقدمة للسلطات السورية للسماح بالوصول، ومن بينها طلب من الأمين العام للأمم المتحدة، لم تتمكن البعثة المقترحة إلى درعا يوم الأحد الثامن من مايو/أيار من الانطلاق".
وذكرت أن الهدف الأساسي للبعثة هو تقييم الوضع بشكل مستقل ووضع خطة للاستجابة إذا لزم الأمر.
وتابعت مسؤولة الشؤون الإنسانية بالأمم المتحدة أن "ما يبعث على القلق بشكل خاص هو توارد أنباء تؤكد أن كثيرا من الجرحى لا يطلبون العلاج في المستشفيات خوفا من التعرض للانتقام".
وقالت مديرة مركز الأمم المتحدة للإعلام في القاهرة خولة مطر في مقابلة مع الجزيرة إن الوضع في سوريا بحاجة أيضا إلى بعثة لتقصي الحقائق المرتبطة بالانتهاكات
...."
Despite the sanctions, Assad sends troops into the villages
The death toll from the insurrection, which began in mid-March after protests in Deraa, now stands at 757, with 9,000 people who have been arrested still in custody
By Khalid Ali
The Independent
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
"The Syrian regime continued its brutal wave of repression yesterday as it sent troops into southern villages around the trouble-hit city of Deraa in spite of EU sanctions announced earlier this week, which targeted top Baathist officials.
Shooting was heard as the army moved in on the five villages in the early hours of yesterday, though no casualties were reported....
The sanctions come as one Syrian human rights group said the death toll from the insurrection, which began to gather momentum in mid-March after protests in Deraa, now stood at 757. The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria also said 9,000 people who had been arrested were still in custody. The Independent has also learned that there are now plans by prominent activists inside and outside Syria to issue a declaration within a matter of weeks to establish what has been described as a "shadow government".
A document, being circulated among academics, religious leaders and opposition political figures, is calling for the creation of a Syrian "national council" to devise a blueprint for a post-Baathist state.
Ausama Monajed, a London-based spokesman for the National Initiative for Change, an opposition umbrella group, said: "We plan to get hundreds of people to sign the document. It is a vision for the transitional period."
According to Wissam Tarif, executive of the Spain-based Syrian rights organisation Insan, the declaration would provide a "road map" for the kind of political system which might follow the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who has been in power since 2000 and who took control after his father died following 30 years in power.
"What they are doing is very important," he said. "They are trying to figure out what might happen next."
Activists have not decided where the declaration will be made, but it is likely to happen in a neighbour of Syria, such as Turkey or Jordan....."
By Khalid Ali
The Independent
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
"The Syrian regime continued its brutal wave of repression yesterday as it sent troops into southern villages around the trouble-hit city of Deraa in spite of EU sanctions announced earlier this week, which targeted top Baathist officials.
Shooting was heard as the army moved in on the five villages in the early hours of yesterday, though no casualties were reported....
The sanctions come as one Syrian human rights group said the death toll from the insurrection, which began to gather momentum in mid-March after protests in Deraa, now stood at 757. The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria also said 9,000 people who had been arrested were still in custody. The Independent has also learned that there are now plans by prominent activists inside and outside Syria to issue a declaration within a matter of weeks to establish what has been described as a "shadow government".
A document, being circulated among academics, religious leaders and opposition political figures, is calling for the creation of a Syrian "national council" to devise a blueprint for a post-Baathist state.
Ausama Monajed, a London-based spokesman for the National Initiative for Change, an opposition umbrella group, said: "We plan to get hundreds of people to sign the document. It is a vision for the transitional period."
According to Wissam Tarif, executive of the Spain-based Syrian rights organisation Insan, the declaration would provide a "road map" for the kind of political system which might follow the regime of Bashar al-Assad, who has been in power since 2000 and who took control after his father died following 30 years in power.
"What they are doing is very important," he said. "They are trying to figure out what might happen next."
Activists have not decided where the declaration will be made, but it is likely to happen in a neighbour of Syria, such as Turkey or Jordan....."
A Sample of Fresh Videos From Inside Syria, Documenting Protests Against the Bloody Regime, May 10, 2011.
شام جاسم مظاهرات أسبوع التحدي قبيل الاقتحام 10 5 ج1
شام - جاسم - مظاهرات أسبوع التحدي قبيل الاقتحام 10-5 ج2
شام - حمص - حي القصور - مظاهرة التحدي يوم 10-5 ج1
شام - حمص - حي القصور - مظاهرة التحدي يوم 10-5 ج3
شام - جاسم - مظاهرات أسبوع التحدي قبيل الاقتحام 10-5 ج2
شام - حمص - حي القصور - مظاهرة التحدي يوم 10-5 ج1
شام - حمص - حي القصور - مظاهرة التحدي يوم 10-5 ج3
رامي مخلوف وتصريحاته المفاجئة
رامي مخلوف وتصريحاته المفاجئة
رأي القدس
"فاجأنا السيد رامي مخلوف رجل الاعمال السوري، وابن خال الرئيس بشار الاسد بالتصريحات التي ادلى بها الى صحيفة 'نيويورك تايمز'، وقال فيها انه 'لن يكون هناك استقرار في اسرائيل اذا لم يكن هناك استقرار في سورية'.
مصدر المفاجأة ان مثل هذا الربط، الذي لجأ الى مثله العقيد الليبي معمر القذافي، لا يمكن ان يخدم النظام السوري الذي يفترض ان ينتمي اليه السيد مخلوف، وجرى وضعه على رأس قائمة العقوبات الامريكية المفروضة على مجموعة من المسؤولين السوريين المتهمين بلعب دور كبير في تنفيذ سياسة القمع الدموي التي استخدمت لمواجهة الانتفاضة السورية.
الورقة الاقوى في يد السلطات السورية كانت تتمثل في كونها دولة ممانعة تدعم المقاومة في كل من لبنان وفلسطين، وتتصدى للمشروع الاستيطاني التوسعي الاسرائيلي، ومثل هذه التصريحات ربما تخدم الكثيرين الذين يشككون في هذا الطرح، وتضعف الكثيرين في المقابل الذين يدافعون عن سورية بحماسة بسبب هذا الطرح ايضاً.
استقرار سورية لا يمكن ان يكون مرتبطاً باستقرار اسرائيل، بل هو نقيضه تماماً، لان اسرائيل التي تحتل الاراضي العربية، وبما فيها هضبة الجولان السورية، والمقدسات الاسلامية والمسيحية في القدس المحتلة يجب ان لا تنعم بالامن والاستقرار، سواء استقرت سورية او لم تستقر، واذا كان هناك تهديد للاستقرار والامن السوريين فهو يأتي من اسرائيل نفسها، ومؤامراتها، وليس من ابناء الشعب السوري الذين يمارسون حقهم الطبيعي في المطالبة بالاصلاح الديمقراطي، وما يتفرع عنه من حريات، وشفافية واحترام لحقوق الانسان والقضاء العادل المستقل.
فالاسرائيليون هم الذين اغاروا على المفاعل النووي الوليد قرب دير الزور، وهم الذين اغتالوا الشهيد عماد مغنية قائد الجناح العسكري لحزب الله، واللواء محمد سليمان احد ابرز العقول السورية الامنية والشخص الذي قيل انه يقف خلف الطموحات السورية النووية. ولا ننسى الغارات الاسرائيلية على منطقة عين الصاحب تحت ذريعة وجود قاعدة لتدريب قوات المقاومة، والامثلة في هذا المضمار عديدة لا يتسع المجال لذكرها جميعاً.
الغرب عادى ويعادي سورية، ويفرض الحصار عليها لانها رفضت مشاريع الهيمنة الامريكية في المنطقة، والغزو الامريكي للعراق وغضت النظر عن توجه المقاومين عبر حدودها الى العراق المحتل، مثلما دعمت حزب الله في لبنان في مواجهة العدوان الاسرائيلي صيف عام 2006.
ان يدافع السيد مخلوف عن النظام الذي فتح امامه ابواب الرزق حتى كون ثروته الهائلة، فهذا امر منطقي ومتوقع، لكن ان يقع في الخطأ نفسه الذي وقع فيه الزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي حتى لو كان ذلك من خلال زلة لسان، او لعدم التبصر بالامر، نتيجة لعدم الخبرة في السياسة، فهذا امر ربما تترتب عليه عواقب غير محمودة، خاصة اذا جاء هذا الربط غير الموفق بين الاستقرارين السوري والاسرائيلي مرفوقاً بالعزم على مواصلة الحرب ضد ابناء الشعب السوري المنتفضين من اجل الحرية والعدالة والاصلاحات الديمقراطية.
"
رأي القدس
"فاجأنا السيد رامي مخلوف رجل الاعمال السوري، وابن خال الرئيس بشار الاسد بالتصريحات التي ادلى بها الى صحيفة 'نيويورك تايمز'، وقال فيها انه 'لن يكون هناك استقرار في اسرائيل اذا لم يكن هناك استقرار في سورية'.
مصدر المفاجأة ان مثل هذا الربط، الذي لجأ الى مثله العقيد الليبي معمر القذافي، لا يمكن ان يخدم النظام السوري الذي يفترض ان ينتمي اليه السيد مخلوف، وجرى وضعه على رأس قائمة العقوبات الامريكية المفروضة على مجموعة من المسؤولين السوريين المتهمين بلعب دور كبير في تنفيذ سياسة القمع الدموي التي استخدمت لمواجهة الانتفاضة السورية.
الورقة الاقوى في يد السلطات السورية كانت تتمثل في كونها دولة ممانعة تدعم المقاومة في كل من لبنان وفلسطين، وتتصدى للمشروع الاستيطاني التوسعي الاسرائيلي، ومثل هذه التصريحات ربما تخدم الكثيرين الذين يشككون في هذا الطرح، وتضعف الكثيرين في المقابل الذين يدافعون عن سورية بحماسة بسبب هذا الطرح ايضاً.
استقرار سورية لا يمكن ان يكون مرتبطاً باستقرار اسرائيل، بل هو نقيضه تماماً، لان اسرائيل التي تحتل الاراضي العربية، وبما فيها هضبة الجولان السورية، والمقدسات الاسلامية والمسيحية في القدس المحتلة يجب ان لا تنعم بالامن والاستقرار، سواء استقرت سورية او لم تستقر، واذا كان هناك تهديد للاستقرار والامن السوريين فهو يأتي من اسرائيل نفسها، ومؤامراتها، وليس من ابناء الشعب السوري الذين يمارسون حقهم الطبيعي في المطالبة بالاصلاح الديمقراطي، وما يتفرع عنه من حريات، وشفافية واحترام لحقوق الانسان والقضاء العادل المستقل.
فالاسرائيليون هم الذين اغاروا على المفاعل النووي الوليد قرب دير الزور، وهم الذين اغتالوا الشهيد عماد مغنية قائد الجناح العسكري لحزب الله، واللواء محمد سليمان احد ابرز العقول السورية الامنية والشخص الذي قيل انه يقف خلف الطموحات السورية النووية. ولا ننسى الغارات الاسرائيلية على منطقة عين الصاحب تحت ذريعة وجود قاعدة لتدريب قوات المقاومة، والامثلة في هذا المضمار عديدة لا يتسع المجال لذكرها جميعاً.
الغرب عادى ويعادي سورية، ويفرض الحصار عليها لانها رفضت مشاريع الهيمنة الامريكية في المنطقة، والغزو الامريكي للعراق وغضت النظر عن توجه المقاومين عبر حدودها الى العراق المحتل، مثلما دعمت حزب الله في لبنان في مواجهة العدوان الاسرائيلي صيف عام 2006.
ان يدافع السيد مخلوف عن النظام الذي فتح امامه ابواب الرزق حتى كون ثروته الهائلة، فهذا امر منطقي ومتوقع، لكن ان يقع في الخطأ نفسه الذي وقع فيه الزعيم الليبي معمر القذافي حتى لو كان ذلك من خلال زلة لسان، او لعدم التبصر بالامر، نتيجة لعدم الخبرة في السياسة، فهذا امر ربما تترتب عليه عواقب غير محمودة، خاصة اذا جاء هذا الربط غير الموفق بين الاستقرارين السوري والاسرائيلي مرفوقاً بالعزم على مواصلة الحرب ضد ابناء الشعب السوري المنتفضين من اجل الحرية والعدالة والاصلاحات الديمقراطية.
"
Real News Video: Sectarian Conflict in Egypt
Samer Shehata: Salafists' attacks on Coptic Christians opposed by vast majority
Military-Salafi relations in Egypt raise questions
Al-Masry Al-Youm
Via Angry Arab
"In recent decades, the term "Salafi" has been used to label groups that advocate a literal reading of Islam and seek to revive the lifestyle of the Salafor early Muslims. In Egypt, Salafism is more a school of thought, rather than an organization with a hierarchy. The roots of the school can be found in Saudi Wahhabism, which first emerged in the 18th century in the Arabian Peninsula. Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia has been spreading such fundamentalist ideas in Egypt by exporting radical books and financing certain Salafi activities. Egyptians working in the Gulf and then returning to Egypt have also helped to spread such views. Under Mubarak, Salafis generally kept a low profile and remained out of politics, although they were used by the former regime to counter the Muslim Brotherhood. During the 25 January revolution, Salafi scholars denounced protests as un-Islamic and warned Muslim youths against engaging in the uprising, but the hard-line Muslims became visible once Mubarak and his security apparatus fell. They were emboldened to stage more protests along sectarian lines. Some went further, announcing the formation of political parties to compete in the parliamentary elections slated for September. Some observers allege that the sudden emergence of Salafis is orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, which seeks to abort the Egyptian revolution for fear that the same revolutionary model would be reproduced on its soil. Younis expects that after the Imbaba incident, the army will deal a blow to such radical groups. However, he voiced fears that giving the military a free hand in uprooting Salafis might threaten the prospects for a transition to civil democratic rule..."
Via Angry Arab
"In recent decades, the term "Salafi" has been used to label groups that advocate a literal reading of Islam and seek to revive the lifestyle of the Salafor early Muslims. In Egypt, Salafism is more a school of thought, rather than an organization with a hierarchy. The roots of the school can be found in Saudi Wahhabism, which first emerged in the 18th century in the Arabian Peninsula. Since the 1970s, Saudi Arabia has been spreading such fundamentalist ideas in Egypt by exporting radical books and financing certain Salafi activities. Egyptians working in the Gulf and then returning to Egypt have also helped to spread such views. Under Mubarak, Salafis generally kept a low profile and remained out of politics, although they were used by the former regime to counter the Muslim Brotherhood. During the 25 January revolution, Salafi scholars denounced protests as un-Islamic and warned Muslim youths against engaging in the uprising, but the hard-line Muslims became visible once Mubarak and his security apparatus fell. They were emboldened to stage more protests along sectarian lines. Some went further, announcing the formation of political parties to compete in the parliamentary elections slated for September. Some observers allege that the sudden emergence of Salafis is orchestrated by Saudi Arabia, which seeks to abort the Egyptian revolution for fear that the same revolutionary model would be reproduced on its soil. Younis expects that after the Imbaba incident, the army will deal a blow to such radical groups. However, he voiced fears that giving the military a free hand in uprooting Salafis might threaten the prospects for a transition to civil democratic rule..."
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