Israeli tank shells kill 4, wound 30 in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Israeli tank shells killed 4 Palestinians and wounded 30 in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, medics and witnesses said.

Ahmad al-Dardasawi, 18, and Muhammad Hararah, 17, were killed in Gaza City, and two unidentified men later died from injuries sustained in the attack.

At least 26 people were wounded in the shelling, with 10 said to be in a serious condition.

Residents said a crowded mourning tent in the al-Shujaiyeh neighborhood near Gaza City was full of people paying respects to a bereaved family man when a shell struck.

Four people were also wounded in Khan Younis as Israel's army targeted an area east of city, witnesses said.

"The occupation's targeting of civilians was a grave escalation that must not pass in silence," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum. 

"Resistance must be reinforced in order to block the aggression."

The casualty toll is one of the highest in a single incident in Gaza in recent months.

Israel's army said four soldiers were injured when an "anti-tank missile was fired at an IDF patrol along the security fence in the northern Gaza Strip."
Two soldiers were seriously wounded and two moderately injured, Israeli media said.

Israeli forces targeted several sites in response, the statement added.

The attack took place during a period of increased violence along the Israel-Gaza border.

Al-Jazeera Video: Thousands flee Syria humanitarian crisis

"The United Nations is warning of an escalating humanitarian crisis inside Syria. The world body says the number of people needing aid could rise to four million by next year. At least 8,000 Syrians have fled into Turkey over the last 24 hours alone. Al Jazeera's Sue Turton reports."

Car bombers kill Syrian security men in Deraa: activists

"(Reuters) - Dozens of Syrian security men were killed when two explosives-laden cars drove into a military camp in the southern town of Deraa on Saturday, an opposition watchdog said, in what appeared to be a double suicide attack.

The first car drove into the camp and exploded, followed by the second vehicle, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement. The detonation of the second vehicle caused the casualties, it added.

Syrian state television reported that two car bombs had gone off at separate locations in Deraa, saying there was "news of casualties among civilians and big material damage in the two places". It did not mention a military target and gave no further details......."

Kuwait: Lift Protest Ban

Respect Right to Demonstrate Peacefully 

"(Beirut) – Kuwait’s authorities should revoke a ministerial order to ban all demonstrations because it denies the right to peaceful assembly. Since October 15, 2012, security forces have used teargas and stun grenades to disperse at least three large rallies protesting an effort by the country’s ruler to amend the country’s electoral law in a way that might reduce opposition representation in parliament.

Opposition groups – consisting of Islamists, liberals, and nationalists – have called for another gathering in al-Erada Square in front of the National Assembly building in Kuwait City on November 11, marking the 50th anniversary of the country’s constitution.

“The right to peaceful assembly is enshrined in the constitution Kuwaitis will be celebrating,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Authorities should lift the ban and permit people to express their views.”

Some of the rallies brought out tens of thousands of protesters, such as a “March of Dignity” on October 20 – the largest in the country’s history....."

'Assad faces same fate as Gaddafi'

The Guardian

"....
'Assad faces same fate as Gaddafi'

Bashar al-Assad faces the same fate as Muammar Gaddafi after vowing, like the Libyan leader, to die in his country, a rebel commander told the Guardian.

Assad told Russia Today  "I have to live in Syria and die in Syria." His remarks echoed Gaddafi's February 2011 pledge to "die as a martyr at the end".

Mustafa Sheikh, who heads the military council running the Free Syrian Army, said Assad had learnt nothing from recent history.

Speaking to the Guardian's Mona Mahmood, he said:

I can't believe Bashar hasn't learnt the lesson of Gaddafi's fate. Gaddafi was bought down by his own arrogance and his denial of the Libyan revolution. He could not see it until he was surrounded by it and it killed him.

Bashar wants to show the world that he is still defiant and steadfast but we all know that this is the disease of dictatorship. He thinks he can last forever and defy the rules of nature.

But Sheikh welcomed Assad's pledge not to flee Syria because it would mean he would face justice. "If he stayed in Syria it would be a favour from God, because he will be punished by the Syrian people," Sheikh said....."

Real News Video (with Transcript): The Obama Drone Doctrine

Vijay Prashad: President Obama plans to expand the use of drone attacks as a way to project US power

Noam Chomsky: Impressions of Gaza

By Noam Chomsky – 4 Nov 2012
http://chomsky.info/articles/20121104.htm

"Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force.  And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the world, are constantly subject to random and often savage terror and arbitrary punishment, with no purpose other than to humiliate and degrade, and with the further goal of ensuring that Palestinian hopes for a decent future will be crushed and that the overwhelming global support for a diplomatic settlement that will grant these rights will be nullified.

The intensity of this commitment on the part of the Israeli political leadership has been dramatically illustrated just in the past few days, as they warn that they will “go crazy” if Palestinian rights are given limited recognition at the UN.  That is not a new departure.  The threat to “go crazy” (“nishtagea”) is deeply rooted, back to the Labor governments of the 1950s, along with the related “Samson Complex”: we will bring down the Temple walls if crossed.  It was an idle threat then; not today......"

عباس يستفز الناس

".....

صفد ليست من حقه

طلع علينا عباس بتاريخ 1/11/2012 بتصريحات عبر وسيلة إعلام صهيونية تستهتر بالحقوق الوطنية الثابتة للشعب الفلسطيني، إذ قال إنه من حقه أن يرى مسقط رأسه مدينة صفد الواقعة في شمال فلسطين المحتلة/1948، لكن ليس من حقه أن يعيش فيها. وأضاف أن فلسطين بالنسبة له هي الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة (الأرض المحتلة/1967)، وأنه كرئيس للشعب الفلسطيني لن يسمح بقيام انتفاضة ثالثة مسلحة.

عندما يعلن عباس أن لا حق له بالعيش في صفد إنما هو يعلن رفض حق العودة للشعب الفلسطيني، وبهذا ينفي حقوق ملايين الفلسطينيين اللاجئين، وحقوق الذين فقدوا أراضيهم أو جزءا منها عام 1948 ودون أن يفقدوا أماكن سكنهم. ويؤكد هذا الرفض بقوله إن فلسطين لم تعد تلك التي كانت وإنما التي تقلصت إلى الضفة وغزة. وما دام يرفض حق العودة، فهو يرفض حق تقرير المصير. أي أنه يرفض الثابتيْن الفلسطينييْن اللذين تم الاتفاق عليهما بين مختلف الفصائل والقوى الفلسطينية وهما حق العودة وحق تقرير المصير.
.....

العبرة في ضعف الشعب

من المتوقع أن يتعلم القادة من تجاربهم، لكن هذا التوقع لا ينطبق على عباس في الكثير من تصريحاته بما فيها التصريحات الأخيرة على التلفاز الصهيوني. كان بإمكان عباس أن يقدم إجابات دبلوماسية حتى لا يستفز الشعب الفلسطيني أو يحقره أو يعتدي على حقوقه. كالعادة، عباس لم يوازن كلامه، ولم يحسب حسابا للشعب الفلسطيني في كافة أماكن تواجده، ولم يفكر بأن ما يتمنى أن يجنيه من هكذا أقوال لن يتحقق.
ويظهر أن عباس قدّر أن الشعب الفلسطيني قد أصابه ما أقعده فأصبح أعجز من أن يرد الفعل فيرفع إصبعه في وجه من يتحدثون باسمه. على مدى سنوات، لم يستطع الشعب الفلسطيني الوقوف في وجه سياسات قياداته التي لم تنجز له شيئا ملموسا فيما يتعلق بحقوقه الوطنية الثابتة، واستطاع خمسون فاسدا أن يسيطروا على الناس في الضفة الغربية، ويسيروهم وفق إرادتهم. وإذا كان لشعب أن يقف شاردا تائها أمام قيادات تستهتر بتطلعاته، فإن عليه ألا ينتظر حبل نجاة من السماء، أو عامود مشنقة ينصبها له عدوه. هو يشنق نفسه
".

Al-Jazeera Video: Empire - Choosing the American President

Hosted by Marwan Bishara
"The voting is over and President Obama has won a second term. This election took place against a background of rallies and conventions, social media, biting political satire, and billions of dollars of television commercials blanketing the airwaves. Through it all, the debate on the role of the federal government became increasingly polarised. The US has not been this divided since perhaps the civil war. But this is a battle that has been brewing for decades."

Al-Jazeera Video: الطيران الحربي للنظام السوري يكثف غاراته

"يكثف الطيران الحربي التابع للنظام السوري غاراته الجوية على الأحياء السكنية، مستخدما براميله المتفجرة وقنابل يرجّح الأهالي أنها فراغية. مراسلنا بيبه ولد مهادي رصد من مدينة حلب أنموذجا جديدا من الدمار الذي تحدثه تلك الغارات في مناطق شبه مهجورة ولا وجود فيها لمسلحين.
"

Twenty-six Syrian army officers defect to Turkey: report

"(Reuters) - Twenty-six military officers, including two generals, defected from the Syrian army to Turkey overnight, Turkish state media reported on Friday.

It was the biggest mass desertion of senior soldiers from President Bashar al-Assad's forces in months.
The officers, among them two generals, 11 colonels, two lieutenant-colonels, two majors, four captains, and five lieutenants, crossed into Turkey's border province of Hatay with their families and other foot soldiers, making a total of 71 people, state-run Anatolian news agency said....."

Syria Live Updates

The Guardian

"9,000 Syrians crossed Turkey

Whatever Feller and the UNHCR said to Turkey about opening its border to Syrians appears to have had a dramatic impact.

Last night a record 9,000 people came across the border, according to the UNHCR's Sybella Wilkes.
Last month Human Rights Watch said up 10,000 people have blocked at the Turkish border since restrictions were imposed in August......

The UN has warned that the number of people inside Syria needing humanitarian aid could rise sharply from 2.5 million now to 4 million by early next year, AP reports.

John Ging, operations director for the UN humanitarian office, said the UN was also forecasting that the number of refugees fleeing the violence will increase to 700,000 by early 2013. Speaking ahead of Friday’s fifth Syria humanitarian forum in Geneva, Ging said: “People need to be aware of just how desperate the situation is inside Syria for the people there ... It’s just getting a lot worse very rapidly for the ordinary people.”....." 

Arab caricature, first prize

Foreign Intervention. Muwaffaq Abdullah Qat, Syria.

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

Do you agree with the declarations of Mahmoud Abbas regarding his city of birth (Safad) and other Palestinian areas occupied in 1948?

With more than 200 responding so far, 92% said no.

Al-Jazeera Video: Blast near presidential palace in Damascus

"There have been reports of at least three deaths in an explosion near the Syrian presidential palace.

The Wednesday blast in Damascus' Mazzeh 86 district injured several people and caused damage to nearby government buildings.

Fighters reportedly targeted the palace with mortars, but apparently missed and instead hit nearby residential areas.

Al Jazeera's Dominic Kane reports."

Clinton Effort to Create Syrian Government in Exile Collapses

By Joshua Landis

"Shortly before the Doha effort to put together a Syrian government in exile collapsed, Ambassador Ford, the State Department’s ambassador to the Syrian opposition, inisted to exiles that Syrians must find a “political solution and not a military solution to their problem.” He reportedly told Syrian Opposition leaders that the international community will not create a “no fly zone” over Syria and that it will not support the Free Syrian Army militarily.” “There is no military solution to the Syrian problem,” he insisted. There is only a political solution.” This is what the Engineer Muti’a al-Batiin  مطيع البطين reports on his Face book page.
there will be no  لن يكون هنالك دعم عسكري ولن يكون هنالك حظر جوي ثم يقول:الصراحة راحة
....

Bassam Al-Khouri wrote on his Face book:

الصفحة الرسمية للمهندس مطيع البطين

في لقاء أمس مع فورد السفير الامريكي هو ومساعدة وزيرة الخارجية الامريكية كانا يتحدثان معنا عن الهيئه الجديدة المنتظر ولادتها،سألنهم ماهو الذي ستقدمه أمريكا للشعب السوري بعد ذلك ؟ فصار يتحدث عن المساعدات الاغاثية،وعندما تكلمنا عن دعم الجيش الحر من المجتمع الدولي فقال لن يكون هنالك دعم عسكري ولن يكون هنالك حظر جوي ثم يقول:الصراحة راحة…
وعند الكلام عن سقف مطالبنا قال: معنى هذا أنكم مرتهنون بقرار الشارع عندكم ..قلنا له فكيف نكون معارضة تمثل الشعب إن لم نتبن مطالب شعبنا فقال :أنتم لازم أن تؤثروا على الشعب حتى يخفض سقف مطالبه.وقال ايضاً: الحل لن يكون عسكريا في سوريا لا يوجد إلا حل سياسي.
لم يكن اللقاء الا موضحا لموقف لا يبالي بدم الشعب السوري والحقيقة التي يقرؤها أي متأمل هنا وعن دعوات هؤلاء لتوحيد المعارضة ماهي الا شماعة لتعليق وتبرير مواقف هذه الدول المناقضة لكل فضيلة
إن شعبنا في سوريا داخلا وخارجا عليه أن يعتمد أولاً على الله ثم يسعى الصادقون والمخلصون لتوحيد جهودهم والثبات حتى يأتي الله بالنصر والفرج.
بالمختصر الدعوة للتوحيد بما فيها الهيئة المنتظرة أمر محمود لكن لا يريد منه هؤلاء إلا تقطيع الوقت وانتظار أن ينهك الشعب السوري حتى يضطر للقبول بأي حل يطرح فيما بعد لانعرف مالحد الذي يمكن أن تصل اليه الأمور عند هؤلاء..

أحببت أن أكتب هذا صراحة حتى يكون شعبنا وإخوتنا على بصيرة وعلم ومعرفة فيما يجري وما يعد

"

Syria Live Update

The Guardian

"....Red Cross struggling to cope in Syria

The International Committee of the Red Cross says it is struggling to cope with the growing humanitarian crisis in Syria despite an increase in its operations.

Speaking at a press conference ICRC president Peter Maurer said:

We are in a situation where the humanitarian situation due to the conflict is getting worse. And despite the fact that the scope of the operation is increasing, we can't cope with the worsening of the situation.
We have a lot of blank spots, we know that no aid has been there and I can't tell you what the situation is.

The medical aid group, the Union of Syrian Medical Relief Organisations, claimed Syrian troops had seized foreign aid or channelled it towards government loyalists.

Spokesman Doctor Tawfik Chamaa said:

When the regime attacks one of our medical facilities, whether it's a hospital or something else, they load up everything they can carry, and they burn the rest. They take as much as they can, and that just depends on how many soldiers they have, but most of the time they resell it on the black market......

A US-backed initiative to form a new united Syrian opposition looks to have collapsed after key opposition movements from inside the country pulled out, according to the Telegraph.

Representatives from the National Coordinating Committee, the Syrian Democratic Platform, and the Kurdish ethnic minority rejected the idea of serving on the proposed Syrian National Initiative. The Syrian National Council also voted against the proposal and the member most prominent in backing it, Riad Seif, lost his seat on the group's executive council......"

Guardian Video: Bomb explodes in Houla, Syria

                   
                   
                                 

"A bomb is dropped on the town of Houla, near Homs in Syria, just metres from where a group of people are filming. The local men are filming the destruction left in the town when they rush to take cover after hearing the thunder of a jet engine. Just seconds later there is a large explosion at the end of the street."

The politics of money in Palestine

By Ramzy Baroud
Asia Times

"Most outside funds that go into Palestine, including Gaza, come with a clear, political manual dutifully followed by those who provide the cash and those who receive it.

Palestinians face a difficult challenge to untie these impossible entanglements, but those who rent their sovereignty to the highest bidder have no business speaking of national liberation, popular resistance and empty slogans....."

Bahrain: Don’t Arbitrarily Revoke Citizenship

Thirty-One Deprived of Nationality Without Due Process, Leaving Many Stateless 

"(Beirut)–Bahraini authorities should rescind their announced decision to strip citizenship from 31 people for allegedly damaging the country’s security. The people affected included opposition political activists, lawyers, and rights activists. The order was imposed without due process of law and will leave the majority of the people affected stateless.

On November 6, 2012, the Interior Ministry issued a statement revoking the citizenship of the 31 people under article 10(3) of the Bahraini Citizenship Act of 1963 because they were “damaging the security of the state.” Article 10 provides that “the ruler” has the authority to revoke a person’s citizenship.

“The Bahrain government’s summary decision to deprive 31 people of citizenship seems to completely disregard their basic rights,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “There is no justification for equating political dissent with damaging Bahrain’s security.”

Revoking citizenship without due process violates the rights of Bahraini nationals under international law, Human Rights Watch said. Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is considered reflective of customary international law, states that, “Everyone has the right to a nationality” and, “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality.” Unlawful deportations may also violate other rights......"

Al-Jazeera Cartoon: Abbas' Latest Declarations About the Right of Return

بابا الكنيسة القبطية الجديد: لا زيارة للقدس إلا وهي محررة، ونعتز بأول رئيس مدني منتخب

عــ48ـرب

"أكد بابا الإسكندرية وبطريرك الكرازة المرقسية المنتخب حديثًا، تواضرس الثاني، أنه سيواصل سياسة الراحل شنودة الثالث، وأنه لن يسمح بزيارة المدينة المقدسة إلا بعد تحريرها، قائلا: "إلا بصحبة الإخوة المسلمين بعد تحريرها".

ويعتبر ملف زيارة أقباط مصر لمدينة القدس المحتلة، تحديًّا مستمرًّا أمام بابا الكنيسة القبطية على مدار سنوات، وعقب وفاة البابا شنودة الثالث في آذار/مارس الماضي، تصدر الملف أبرز التحديات التي تواجه البابا الجديد، إلى جانب ملفات أخرى تفرضها التطورات السياسية التي تشهدها مصر ما بعد مبارك.

لا خشية من صعود الإسلاميين إلى الحكم

وحول تطورات الوضع في مصر ووصول تيارات الإسلام السياسي إلى سدة الحكم، أوضح البابا أن الكنيسة القبطية لا تخشى صعود الإسلاميين إلى الحكم، معتبرًا أن الكنيسة تعتز بالرئيس محمد مرسي بصفته أولَ رئيس مدني منتخب.

وعبر عن أمله في أن يقود الرئيس مرسي البلاد إلى مشروع نهضة حقيقية، حيث يشعر المصريون بهذه النهضة على أرض الواقع وليست نهضة ورقية.

وشدد البابا الجديد لأقباط مصر على أن ما يطالب به الأقباط هو المواطنة الحقيقية، معتبرا أنهم يعانون من التهميش، ولم يستبعد أن يكون للكنيسة توجه رئاسي رغم أنها مؤسسة روحية."

Real News Video: Obama Wins, the System is Broken

TRNN Panel: It's not about who Obama is, it's about a system that only values money and power is in the hands of a very few

Syrian rebels fire at, miss Assad's palace

"(Reuters) - Syrian rebels fired mortars at President Bashar al-Assad's palace in Damascus on Wednesday but missed, in an attack underlining the growing boldness of forces fighting to end his family's 42 years in power.

Residents told Reuters the heavy-caliber shells hit a neighboring residential district that is home to members of Assad's Alawite sect. State-run media said at least three people were killed and seven wounded in what it described as a "terrorist attack"......"

Syria Live Update

The Guardian

".......
The rapid disintegration of Syria is now out of control, according to a particularly gloomy blogpost by Syria watcher Joshua Landis. 

The rich are fleeing in every greater numbers in order not to become targets of the poor. Everyone has a price-tag on his head ... The cousin of a friend just went down stairs in Aleppo this morning to find, “You are next. Allahu Akbar,” written on the windshield of his car ... The meltdown is well on its way and has a dynamic all its own. There is no stopping it now. Syria is unleashed. Guns rule and the strong will eat the weak. Brahimi speaks of Syria turning into Somalia and a “big catastrophe.” If that happens, it will become a prime target for American and Israeli drones, which will troll the skies in hunting aL-Qaida and those with a long beards, as is the case in Pakistan and Yemen......."

The Gulf protection racket is corrupt and dangerous folly

Sooner or later the Arab despots David Cameron is selling arms to will fall, and the states that backed them will pay the price

Seumas Milne

The Guardian, Tuesday 6 November 2012

"On the nauseating political doublespeak scale, David Cameron's claim to "support the Arab spring" on a trip to sell weapons to Gulf dictators this week hit a new low. No stern demands for free elections from the autocrats of Arabia – or calls for respect for human rights routinely dished out even to major powers like Russia and China.

As the kings and emirs crack down on democratic protest, the prime minister assured them of his "respect and friendship". Different countries, he explained soothingly in Abu Dhabi, needed "different paths, different timetables" on the road to reform: countries that were western allies, spent billions on British arms and sat on some of the world's largest oil reserves in particular, he might have added by way of explanation.....

But even if morality and corruption are dismissed as side issues, the likelihood is that, sooner or later, these autocrats will fall – as did the Shah's regime in Iran, on which so many British and US arms contracts depended at the time. Without western support, they would have certainly been toppled already. As Rached Ghannouchi, the Tunisian leader whose democratic Islamist movement was swept to power in elections last year, predicted: "Next year it will be the turn of monarchies." When that happens, the western world risks a new backlash from its leaders' corrupt folly."

Al-Jazeera Video: ما وراء الخبر -واقع الفلسطينيين على ضوء الصراع بسوريا

"ناقش الحلقة واقع الفلسطينيين في المخيمات على ضوء الصراع في سوريا، خاصة بعد قرار النظام السوري اغلاق مكاتب حماس في سوريا. وتطرح السؤال التالي: هل من الممكن أن ينئى الفلسطينيين بأنفسهم عن الصراع في المشهد الشوري؟
"

The Butcher of Damascus Dropping Explosive Barrels on Civilian Areas in Syria, by Emad Hajjaj

Seven Syrian generals flee to Turkey

The Guardian

"....

Seven more Syrian generals have fled to Turkey, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolou.

They asked for refugee status at the border town of Reyhanli, it said.

The Turkish daily Zaman reckons 42 Syrian generals have now fled to Turkey since the uprising began.......
Oil pipeline explosion near Homs

An explosion hit the main oil pipeline feeding a refinery on the western edge of the Syrian city of Homs during fighting between rebels and army forces in the area, Reuters reports citing activists.

Video footage, which could not be independently verified, showed thick smoke rising from the pipeline which links eastern oil fields with the Homs refinery, one of two in the country.
"The pipeline exploded overnight when fighting broke out after the Free Syrian Army launched concerted attacks against army roadblocks in the area," Nader al-Husseini, an opposition campaigner, said from Homs.
The pipeline, located in a farmland area called al-Basatin, has been hit several times before, with both sides accusing the other of sabotaging it....."

Guardian Video: 5 Broken Cameras: 'The camera is a very strong weapon'

"Israeli director Guy Davidi and Palestinian Emad Burnat discuss their documentary 5 Broken Cameras, which spans five years following the Israeli military's attempts to build a separation barrier in Emad's village, Bil'in. Over five years and through five cameras smashed during protests, Emad filmed his village's struggle against the separation, alongside footage of his son growing up."

Racism in the Arab world against South east Asians : another example

Arabs are some of the worlds most racist people. The way arab treat migrant workers : African, Indian, Indonesian ...etc from Dubai to Beirut is disgusting. This video shows a saudi beating up an indian or bengali garbage man. He is laughing and enjoying the humiliation while the female filming is encouraging him to continue to beat up the poor man.

Crimes of Bashar Al-Assad the Zionist son of a Zionist

US Election, 2012 by Emad Hajjaj

Statement on the Political Representation of the Syrian Revolution

by ‎لجان التنسيق المحلية في سوريا‎ on Sunday, November 4, 2012 at 10:56pm

"Do not lose sight on what we have reached with our great revolution on a political level, which has established confidence and respect for the Syrian people and the Syrian revolution, despite the the absence of serious representation. The international community has wasted precious time and caused the revolution to miss opportunities to regroup and unite. It has led to scattered efforts and opened the doors of intervention from all directions, leaving the opportunity of blame to fall on the revolution and the people for not taking serious action against the Syrian regime before the international community. This has caused immense frustration among the Syrian revolutionaries. Today our revolution enters its toughest stages and the cruelty of the regime against our people is proven limitless. In the lack of military support for our Free Syrian Army to protect civilians and guarantee the scale in favor of the revolution and in the light of the international community's defeatist attitude based on allegations of mistakes and missteps of the political opposition, we emphasize the following:

 • It is no longer acceptable, under any pretext, to continue with the absence of a unified and effective political leadership for the revolution. 

• All political parties must come together as quickly as possible to reach the proper political representation of the revolution. 

• Political representation is the right of our revolution and is based on clear and definite principles, embodied in documents Cairo, to overthrow the regime fully and to reject any form of dialogue with him, except that in the form of details of the departure of the regime. 

• Independence of the national decision is not ensured through treasonous slogans and campaigns used by some of its opponents based on similar language and techniques as the regime's approach, but rather through hard work to break the impasse that has the political leadership and performance tottering. 

• Any formation of a new political entity must aim to represent the revolution and prioritize securing organized military support for the rebels and for relief efforts, despite personal loyalties and interests. In addition, the political entity must learn from past experiences and ensure the revolutionary mobility as a significant presence and an effective contribution to decision-making and implementation, without the domination of one party over another.  

• We clearly announce that interventions in the affairs of our revolution, as stated in Hilary Clinton's remarks, are unwelcome. It is on the international community to reconsider its defeatist policy against supporting the Syrian people and the rebels, which has lengthened the age of the regime and has extended the time for Syrians to be killed, increasing the complexity of the crisis and ultimately leading to extremism as a reaction. Finally, it calls on all the Local Coordination Committees of the Syrian opposition parties to assume their responsibilities and unite in accomplishing their projects promptly. In respect to the blood of the martyrs and in recognition of the great struggle of the Syrian people. Local Coordination Committees in Syria Monday 5 - 11 - 2012 ."

Clinton’s Effort to Build a Syrian Government in Exile Seems Doomed

by Joshua Landis, Nov. 3, 2012, Syria Comment

".....Washington’s Plan A, which was to create the SNC, went down in dust. By all accounts, Clinton cannot even stand to hear the name, SNC, uttered any longer.

Plan B was to set up the US office in Istanbul to meet and take the measure of Syrian militia leaders and local coordinating committee directors. The militia leaders scared Washington and the CIA. The word got out that they were “penetrated” by al-Qaida and Salafi types.

Plan C is now in the making. It is to return to the educated Syrians in the hope of doing a little shake-and-bake. Clinton is reconstituting some sort of US-friendly leadership drawn from elements of the old SNC with generous add-mixtures of Coordinating Committee types, some government defectors, and others who will join. It sounds as if the SNC is boycotting. Michel Kilo has said he will not join. Others are also taking a wait-and-see attitude.

The object of this exercise seems to be to glue some sort of US-friendly educated elite onto the military effort that looks too Islamist for Washington’s taste and not very human-rights observant.
But can this last minute fix possibly work?

This effort is almost identical to US and British efforts of the 1950s to stop Syria from slipping into the hands of the USSR, Nasser and the leftist Baathists......


Today, Washington is again trying to rally the pro-Western elites of Syria into putting their shoulders to a common wheel with America. In 1957, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iraq cooperated in Washington’s efforts for regime change. Today Qatar replaces Iraq, but the line up of states helping the US in its “struggle for Syria” has hardly changed. Other aspects that have not changed are the infighting among Syria’s elites and the general resentment and distrust that Syrians share toward the US . It is hard to be optimistic."

Bashar al-Assad wants war not peace reveals Syria's former prime minister Riyad Hijab

The Telegraph

"In his first full interview with a Western newspaper since he fled to Jordan in August, Riyad Hijab, the former prime minister, told The Daily Telegraph that he and other senior regime figures pleaded with Mr Assad to negotiate with the Syrian opposition.

One week before his defection, Mr Hijab, the vice-president, the parliamentary speaker and the deputy head of the Baath party together held a private meeting with Mr Assad.

"We told Bashar he needed to find a political solution to the crisis," he said. "We said, 'These are our people that we are killing.'

"We suggested that we work with Friends of Syria group, but he categorically refused to stop the operations or to negotiate."

Mr Hijab referred to the war waged against the Muslim Brotherhood by Mr Assad's father, Hafez, which led to the deaths of up to 10,000 people in an assault on the city of Hama.

"Bashar really thinks that he can settle this militarily," he said.
"He is trying to replicate his father's fight in the 1980s."......" 

النائبة زعبي: تصريحات عباس فائضة إسرائيليا وخارجة عن الشرعية فلسطينيا

عــ48ـرب

"في تعقيبها على تصريحات رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية، محمود عباس، الأخيرة، والتي اعتبرت تنازلا منه عن حق عودة اللاجئين، للصفة الرسمية التي يتمتع بها، واعتباره أن فلسطين هي الأراضي الواقع ضمن حدود 1967، والباقي فهو إسرائيل، قالت النائبة حنين زعبي إن تنازلات عباس تجعله فائضا عن الحاجة إسرائيليا، وخارجا عن الشرعية الفلسطينية. فإسرائيل تعرف أنه فائض عن الحاجة كونه لا يمثل شعبه، وكون تنازلاته لا تعكس أي رغبة فلسطينية حقيقية، مما يجعل المجتمع والسلطة في إسرائيل تستخف في دوره وفي قدرته على التوصل لأي حل اكثر من أي وقت مضى.

وأضافت، في لقاء مع "فلسطين اليوم"، إن تصريحات عباس تدل على انقطاعه المطلق ليس فقط عن شعبه الفلسطيني بل عن خصمه الإسرائيلي، فهو غير مدرك لذهنية وعقلية المجتمع الاسرائيلي الذي تزيد مثل هذه التنازلات من عنصريته ويمينيته وتعززها، في الوقت الذي يظن فيه عباس أنها تلينه وتجعله أكثر تقبلا لنضال الفلسطينيين ولحقوقهم.

وقالت أيضا إن مثل تلك التصريحات تضع النضال الفلسطيني في خانة التطرف والإرهاب كونها ترسم سقفا آخر للنضال هو القبول بالشروط والخطاب الإسرائيلي.

وأنهت زعبي تصريحاتها  بالقول إنه مع هكذا سلطة سيدوم الاحتلال ويقوى، وبانه لم يعد بالإمكان القفز عن دور السلطة للنضال ضد الاحتلال، بل أصبح التخلص من دورها السياسي شرطا من شروط النضال ضد الاحتلال.

"

Syria rebels 'capture oilfield'

Activists say Syrian rebels have taken control of the al-Ward oilfield, which supplied fuel for the Assad regime's tanks

(Click on map to enlarge)

guardian.co.uk, Sunday 4 November 2012

"Syrian rebels captured an oilfield in the east of the country on Sunday after three days of fierce fighting with government troops protecting the facility, activists said.

The head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said rebels overran the al-Ward oilfield in the province of Deir el-Zour near the border with Iraq. About 40 soldiers were guarding the facility that the rebels had been pounding for the past three days, he said, adding that opposition fighters also captured several regime troops.

Oil was a major source of revenue for the cash-strapped regime of President Bashar Assad before the and US imposed an embargo on Syria's crude exports last year to punish the government for its crackdown on protesters early on in the uprising.

"This field used to supply the regime with fuel for its tanks and our aim was to stop these supplies," Omar Abu Leila, an activist in Deir el-Zour, told the Associated Press by telephone. He said there had been heavy fighting recently near the oil facility just east of the city of Mayadin......"

Mahmoud Abbas outrages Palestinian refugees by waiving his right to return

Images of Abbas burned by refugees who say he has conceded on one of the most visceral issues on Palestinian agenda

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
The Guardian, Sunday 4 November 2012

"The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, is facing widespread condemnation and anger in the Palestinian territories and abroad after he publicly waived his right to return to live in the town from which his family was forced to flee in 1948, a repudiation of huge significance for Palestinian refugees.

After his image was burned in refugee camps in Gaza, Abbas rejected accusations that he had conceded one of the most emotional and visceral issues on the Palestinian agenda, the demand by millions of refugees to return to their former homes in what is now Israel......

The president told Channel 2 he accepted he had no right to live in Safed, the town of his birth, from which his family was forced to flee in 1948 when Abbas was 13 years old.
"I visited Safed before once, he said. "But I want to see Safed. It's my right to see it, but not to live there.".....

The comments sparked protests in Gaza, where protesters in refugee camps burned images of the Palestinian president. Abbas was denounced on Twitter by pro-Palestinian activists.......

Following the broadcast of the interview, Israel's president, Shimon Peres, said Abbas's comments were a "brave and important public declaration".......

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Syria - The changing face of Syria's opposition

"As the Syrian National Council regroups in Doha, we ask if the US is dictating who should lead the opposition? Teymoor Nabili speaks to Rim Turkmani, Flynt Leverett & Osama Kadi."

Real News Video (with Transcript): Obama's or Romney's Foreign Policy: Does it Matter Who Wins ?

Larry Wilkerson: All US administrations have similar foreign policy, but the neo-con group around Bush/Cheney was more dangerous and many of the same characters are advising Romney 

There’s nothing new in Mahmoud Abbas’ and the PLO’s renunciation of Palestinian refugee rights

By Ali Abunimah

"Israeli- and US-backed Palestinian Authority leader and nominal PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas caused renewed consternation among Palestinians last week with his renunciation, on Israeli television, of the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes from which they were ethnically cleansed by invading Zionist gangs during and after 1948, and his redefinition of Palestine to include only the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In a “clarification” on the Egyptian TV channel Al-Hayyat, Abbas resorted to his usual tactic of blaming the media for somehow distorting words that everyone could hear come out of his mouth and claimed his words had been misinterpreted and that he was speaking only personally and not representing policy..

But he is lying. Abbas’ words demonstrably represent long-standing Palestinian Authority and PLO policy of giving up refugee rights....."

Guardian Video: Syria: 'The internet has been central to the revolution'

                   
                   
                                   

"Dlshad Othman is a Syrian digital security expert and human rights activist living in the Republic of Ireland. From a small village outside of Dublin, Dlashad works to ensure the safety of activists and journalists on the digital frontline of the Syrian uprising against President Bashar al-Assad."