Syria.....Syria......Syria.....

Syria denies killing General in car-bomb attack

By Robert Fisk

"So, they assassinated another one yesterday. A general, Francois El-Hajj by name, not known in Europe but a senior officer and the chief of the Lebanese general army staff, whose battle for the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camps earlier this year made him an obvious target for the Syrians, for the Iranians, for the Palestinians, for just about anyone else you care to note.....

The Lebanese Information Minister Ghazi Aridi blamed the Syrians for the assassination although, interestingly, and with great concern for his use of words, Walid Jumblatt, who has constantly blamed the Syrians for attacks on democratic politicians in Lebanon did not do so. Nor did Marwan Hamadi, one of Mr Jumblatt's parliamentary colleagues. It seems, therefore, that Lebanese politics are changing once again and that those who were enemies of the Syrians are no longer necessarily so......

When I had dinner with Mr Jumblatt, I made the point that what was terrible about the assassinations was we are beginning to expect them, they are part of our daily life. Every day we are expected to endure an assassination or an attempted assassination, and what is it meant to mean? Syria denied involvement in yesterday's bombing, accusing "Israel and its Lebanese instruments" in a statement from Damascus, of benefiting from the atrocity.

But if this was a warning from Syria, and if General El-Hajj was meant to die – which he did – what is the message for General Suleiman and for all Lebanese?"

Thanks, but no thanks

Statehood does not offer the equitable and fair solution the Palestinian people deserve

A Good Comment
By Ahmad Samih Khalidi
(senior associate member of St Antony's College, Oxford, a former Palestinian negotiator and the co-author, with Hussein Agha, of A Framework for a Palestinian National Security Doctrine (Chatham House, 2006))
The Guardian

"The Palestinian state has now become the universal standard for all solutions to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The international community applauds the concept. President Bush proudly proclaims it as his "vision". The Israelis have come to it belatedly, after years of steadfast refusal and rejection.

Today Israel's prime minister, Ehud Olmert, not only supports the idea but proclaims it as an existential Israeli interest: without it, Israel is fated to disappear under dire assault from the ever-expanding Arab population in both Israel and the occupied territories. This apparent human tide may yet bring disaster to the Jewish state, by demanding equal civil rights to those of the Jews themselves.

But statehood as such is a relatively recent addition to Palestinian aspirations. The main Palestinian impetus after the disaster of 1948 was that of "return"; it was more about reversing the loss of Arab land and patrimony, than the fulfilment of classical post-colonial self-determination, via statehood......

Today, the Palestinian state is largely a punitive construct devised by the Palestinian's worst historical enemies; Israel and its implacable ally, the US. The intention behind the state today is to constrain Palestinian aspirations territorially, to force them to give up on their moral rights, renege on their history and submit to Israel's diktats on fundamental issues of sovereignty.

Its core is the rump Palestinian Authority that is now fundamentally sustained by the IDF presence on the West Bank. The PA is increasingly being turned into an accoutrement of Israeli occupation; its function is to serve Israeli security interests as designated by Israel itself and the US military teams that have been overseeing the buildup of Palestinian security forces......"

A Blossoming Love Affair, with Oil Being at the Heart of the Matter

Sarkozy says Arabs don't see Gaddafi as a dictator
Oh No, He is a Great Democrat!

"PARIS (Reuters) - President Nicolas Sarkozy defended Muammar Gaddafi's visit to France on Wednesday, saying the Libyan leader was not considered a dictator in the Arab world......"

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erikat Briefing Reporters at the End of the First Negotiating Session With the Israelis Today

What if the Negotiations Fail?

The failure of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in 2000 triggered the second Intifada against the Israeli occupation, but the failure in 2007 will most likely trigger violence by Palestinians against Palestinians.

By Hasan Afif El-Hasan
Special to PalestineChronicle.com

"......Most likely nothing will be achieved by the negotiations that will follow the conference. The question is what will happen when (not if) the negotiations fail to produce an agreement or an agreement will be reached but, like many others before, it will not be implemented. Such a failure will sweep away any justification for Abbas political platform that rests on the US and Israel’s goodwill to produce a just settlement for his people.

Then, the honorable course of action for Abbas and his governing elites is to apologize to the Palestinians, declare failure and resign, but such action will not happen because of two reasons. First, relinquishing power, even if there is no real power, by resigning from office is not a tradition in the Arab countries. Some Palestinians will urge Abbas to resign but many others, whose personal fortunes are dependent on keeping him in office, will council him otherwise, and he certainly will not resign. If the corrupt and incompetent architects of Oslo fiasco never surrendered power when the Palestinian People in the occupied land rejected them in the last legislation elections, they will never give up the spoils of power and resign if they fail to negotiate a just peace for the Palestinians.

Second and most important, Israel and the US will never abandon their man, Abbas, and his team because they will not find better Palestinians to serve their interests. Abbas is needed to continue the fight against the Palestinian resistance that may threaten Israel’s security and he is the most likely to eventually accept peace on Israel’s terms. The Palestinian Authority under Abbas and Fayyad including its security apparatus has become an agency of Israel and the US, suppressing the right of resistance against occupation.

Given the tax money which Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians and some financial and material aid from the US, Abbas can deliver the West Bank elite beneficiaries of his regime and the middle class government employees who are dependent on their salaries to provide for their families livelihood. The support of the middle class is essential for the survival of any regime in any country. As for the political opposition in the West Bank, his security forces can be equipped and trained to control it in cooperation with the Israeli military, but the opposition will not lie down without a fight especially since his regime loses legitimacy after its failure to produce a settlement.

The failure of the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations in 2000 triggered the second Intifada against the Israeli occupation, but the failure in 2007 will most likely trigger violence by Palestinians against Palestinians, a re-run of their in-fighting during the 1936-39 revolt against the British. The civil war in 1936 led to the abeyance of the national movement and the triumph of Zionism in 1948, but a civil war in 2007 will seal the fate of the Palestinians’ national cause and the completion of the Zionist colonialists’ project."

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

The question is:

Do you support Al-Qa'ida attacks in Algeria?

With about 4,000 responding so far, 85% said no.

J'lem official: U.S. efforts on Iran are inadequate

"A senior political official in Jerusalem has fiercely criticized U.S. President George Bush's administration for the way it has dealt with the Iranian nuclear issue.

The official said that the administration was not doing what was required of it to create an international coalition and wide agreement to pressure Iran over its nuclear program.

This criticism was one of only a few heard from a senior member of Israel's political echelon with regard to U.S. policy on the matter.

The official mainly spoke out against Bush's failure to enlist support from China, Russia and, to a certain extent, India, for increased pressure on Iran and North Korea.

According to the official, the Bush administration has insisted to stress matters such as human rights in china and to express the U.S.' concern over China's policy on Taiwan, and as a result, has neglected to gain its support in the struggle against Iran.

The official added that the approach of the Bush administration has been the same toward Russia - focusing on human rights and on the federation's struggles with Chechnya - thus allowing both China and Russia to take a "deliberate" approach to the Americans.

Meanwhile, Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi called for international pressure on Iran, but said that the IDF recognized the need to prepare in the event that global efforts fail.

"The international community must act with determination to stop the nuclearization of Iran, but should this action not succeed, we in the Israel Defence Forces must prepare for any scenario," Ashkenazi said.

"In the coming years the need to strike at significant long-range targets will become far more important, therefore the capability to act both defensively and offensively against various threats will be upgraded greatly with a strong emphasis on long-range capability," he said without elaborating."

The "Moderate" (helping the US) Face of Syria: Iraq Praises Syrian Cooperation in Boosting Security

Al-Manar

"12/12/2007 Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari on Wednesday praised Syria's efforts to stop the flow of militants into his country saying the security situation in occupied Iraq was improving.

"There is better security cooperation on the part of Syria to help the Iraqi government to police the (Syria-Iraqi) border and to prevent the movement of fighters" into Iraq, Zebari told a press conference in Damascus.

"The security situation in Iraq has started to improve. We appreciate the measures taken by Syria," he said at the joint conference with Syrian counterpart Walid Muallem without specifying the nature of the measures.

"The data on the ground shows a drop in the movement of members of criminal gangs and terrorists in Iraq, because of the (Syrian) application of these measures."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday gave assurances of his country's support for national reconciliation in occupied Iraq and the strengthening of Iraqi institutions, the state news agency SANA said."

***

What other services to Bush is Bashar going to offer next? Throw Hamas leaders out of Syria? Cut off arm supplies to Hizbullah? Torture more Maher Arrars rendered by the CIA? Whatever it takes to save the regime.

New Poll Reveals How Unrepresentative Neocon Jewish Groups Are

by Glenn Greenwald
Salon.com

"A new survey of American Jewish opinion, released by the American Jewish Committee, demonstrates several important propositions: (1) right-wing neocons (the Bill Kristol/Commentary/ AIPAC/Marty Peretz faction) who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews; (2) viewpoints that are routinely demonized as reflective of animus towards Israel or even anti-Semitism are ones that are held by large majorities of American Jews; and (3) most American Jews oppose U.S. military action in the Middle East — including both in Iraq and against Iran......"

Clergy Joins “Tapegate” Battle

by William Fisher
Inter Press Service

"NEW YORK - A coalition of more than 130 religious organisations has joined a growing chorus calling for appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations regarding the Central Intelligence Agency’s destruction of videotapes and its use of “harsh” interrogation techniques......"

Israel’s Palestinians Speak Out

by Nadim Rouhana
(Nadim Rouhana is Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Analysis at George Mason University and heads the Haifa-based Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Research)

The Nation

"The Annapolis peace talks regard me as an interloper in my own land. Israel’s deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, argues that I should “take [my] bundles and get lost.” Henry Kissinger thinks I ought to be summarily swapped from inside Israel to the would-be Palestinian state.

I am a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship–one of 1.4 million. I am also a social psychologist trained and working in the United States. In late November, on behalf of Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Research, I polled Palestinian citizens of Israel regarding their reactions to the Annapolis conference and their views about our future, and how they would be affected by Middle East peace negotiations......

Palestinians inside Israel have developed a history and identity after nearly sixty years of hard work and struggle. We are not simply pawns to be shuffled to the other side of the board. We expect no more and no less than the right to equality in the land of our ancestors. Israeli Jews have now built a nation, and have the right to live here in peace. But Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic, nor can it find the security it seeks by continuing to deny our rights, nor those of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, nor those of Palestinian refugees. It is time for us to share this land in a true democracy, one that honors and respects the rights of both peoples as equals."

Torture, Lies and Videotape

Are Americans Really "Better Than That?"

By RAY McGOVERN
CounterPunch

"A boyish, inquisitive face with an innocent look peered out from the Washington Post's lead story yesterday on torture. It was well groomed, pink-shirted John Kiriakou, a CIA interrogator who could just as easily pass for the local youth minister

The report by the Post's Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen, which describes Kiriakou's experience in interrogating suspected terrorists, raises in an unusually direct way an abiding question: Should the United States of America be using forms of torture dating back to the Spanish Inquisition?........"

By Naser Jafari

Video: IDF leaves Palestinian home in shambles after weapons search

Contributed by Bea

By Haaretz Staff and Channel 10

"Last Thursday, in the middle of the night, soldiers arrived at the Nasser household in the village of Yata in the southern Hebron Hills.

They came on a routine search for concealed weapons based on intelligence information, but the damages they left behind at the Palestinian family's home were nothing but routine."

Gaza makes an appeal to you!

Global Research, December 12, 2007

Visit the Recently Set Up Site of Popular Committee Against Siege

"......In the meantime, the harsh siege imposed on the Gaza Strip has been continuing for the past seven months, but with more cruelty. The siege hinders the freedom movement for people and goods into and out of the Gaza Strip. Therefore, the humanitarian situation has severely deteriorated and the fragile Gaza economy is dying out. That economy was already weak due to Occupation procedures is now on its knees. Accordingly, the Gaza Strip has turned into a big "Ghetto". All Gaza houses carry stories of pain and suffering!

Basically, the Gaza Strip depends on importing goods through the Occupied Territories that are under Israeli occupation control. Since the start of this siege, the Occupation has prevented raw materials from coming into the Gaza Strip as well as banning the exportation of Palestinian homemade goods! Additionally, unemployment rates have reached a sharp level of 70% percent. Therefore, Gaza civilians have not been able to even secure their basic human needs, in addition to the dramatic decrease of income which reached less than $650 per capita yearly.

Until this moment, the Occupation has failed in subjugating the Gazans. Thus, Occupation is seeking all methods and means to reach this subjugation......

In the health field, there is real danger, as sick people have double trouble with a life of suffering. Occupation doesn't permit medical parts and medications to be brought in. Besides, this occupation prevents sick people to leave abroad for treatment.

Reports and statistics issued by health sections say that there 1500 people in urgent need to undergo surgery for various diseases like kidney failure, heart disease and cancer of all sorts. Three hundred of those sick people are in a very dangerous situation.

More than 137 medical machines are out of order due to unavailability of spare parts, 23 of these machines are for kidney dialysis out of 66 machines. Eighty-six sorts of medications have vanished and another 132 kinds will be not available soon!

Since the launch of Popular Committee Against Siege, PCAS, in November 2007, 29 victims resulted from siege have been counted. Those victims were from the sick people banning from travel. They died in front of cameras and the whole world witnessed the way they died. Yet, no one has done anything or taken any action. Those sick victims were always wondering and asking…when will we travel to be treated? This same question is being asked by hundred of other sick people!......

Since PCAS started working to face this siege, it has contacted many figures and parties. Yet, we have not heard any position or stance that has been taken. There are no factual actions to alleviate the suffering of people. Thus, we call upon you and we ask persons of conscious to move on and please do something, even by words, in order to help tens of thousands to avoid a crisis that seems inevitable."

Ramy Abdu
Spokesman
Popular Committee Against Siege

Ahhhh...The Fruits of Annapolis: Israeli military attacks close several media centers in Nabulus

"Israeli military forces invaded the Northern West Bank city of Nablus early on Wednesday and shut down several media offices and agencies in what is considered the most violent direct action against Palestinian media since the beginning of the al Aqsa intifada.

Local sources reported that military forces invaded the city at around 1.00 am and forcibly entered the offices of several organizations, confiscating property.

Issa Abu Al Ez, director of Afaq TV station in Nablus, reported that the invading troops assaulted an employee of the station who was on duty at the time of the raid, before confiscating broadcasting equipment and computers.

Following the raid they army issued the station with a closure notification. The notice was written in Hebrew and Arabic and signed by Israeli army chief, Jadi Alof. It demanded the closure of the TV station and all its branches, with a right of appeal within 14 days.

The military claim the closure was due to illegal activity being conducted at the station which the army views as a terrorist group, loyal to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist organizations.

According to the same sources the military attacked other media offices named "An Najah press" and "Al Ruwad press", where they confiscated computers and documents.

Hamas sources stated that the media organizations which were targeted last night had previously undergone similar attacks from armed forces loyal to the Fatah movement including attacks on the Afaq station in February 2007 and on An Najah and Al Ruwad in June 2007."

***

Israel and its Palestinian Lahad collaborators are taking turns in suppressing Palestinians in the West Bank; isn't this partnership sweet? Isn't this what "peace" is all about?

Waterboarding Our Democracy

By Robert Scheer

"When the CIA destroyed those prisoner interrogation videotapes, was it also destroying the truth about 9/11? After all, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, the basic narrative of what happened on that day comes from the CIA’s account of what those prisoners told their torturers. And what about those congressional leaders, including Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, who were briefed on the torture program as early as 2002?....."

The Israel Lobby and the War Party

Or do I repeat myself?

By Justin Raimondo

".....The Israelis don't want to negotiate, but they're willing to go through the motions – after all, why not? It's just another way for them to thumb their noses at everyone, including their American benefactors. They'll never make meaningful concessions: there's no reason to as long as there are no constraints on their behavior. As long as a steady stream of American aid and arms keeps the Israeli ship of state afloat, Israel is the regional superpower, with none of its neighbors a match for its nuclear-armed military might.

Why should the Israelis be interested in peace, when war has been so good to them? War gave them their country to begin with: first against the British, then against the indigenous Arabs, then against the entire Arab world – all of whom they beat handily.....

Israel is sitting pretty, right now, openly threatening its patron and financier, the United States government, with taking the Iranian nuke matter into its own hands and launching an attack on suspected nuclear facilities – leaving U.S. troops in Iraq to face the Iranians and their Iraqi allies. Gee, thanks a lot, guys....."

Sderot mayor resigns due to security crisis

Following heavy rocket barrage on his town Wednesday, Eli Moyal declares he can no longer bear responsibility for safety of Sderot residents. 'Maybe this will persuade the government to do something,' he says

"Sderot Mayor Eli Moyal submitted his resignation to the interior minister Wednesday, citing the ongoing security crisis in town as the main motive for the move.

A salvo of 18 rockets hit the southern town earlier, injuring several residents.

"This was a necessary move, and perhaps the only thing that could persuade the government to do something," Moyal told Ynet. "I have been mulling this decision since the morning, while Qassam rockets kept falling on the town."....."

Ethiopians protest racism in Israeli schools

Hundreds gather in front of City Hall to rally against racial segregation in local school, racism towards Ethiopians in Israeli society. 'We won't keep quiet anymore, enough,' says community leader

"Hundreds of Ethiopian-born Israelis rallied in Petach Tikva Wednesday in protest of what they defined as racist policies in the city's education system, as well as the wide-spread racism towards Ethiopians in Israeli society in general......."