Saturday, December 1, 2012

A look at Iran’s 1979 revolution and Egypt’s turmoil

By Joseph Mayton
Bikya Masr

"CAIRO: Egypt is a country currently split politically and socially. The chasm is massive and it is hard to see any solution to the ongoing impasse that has seen thousands of liberal and secular Egyptians take to Tahrir Square demanding President Mohamed Morsi rescind his presidential declaration that gave him sweeping powers. On the other side, there are the ultra-conservative Salafists and the conservative Muslim Brotherhood touting their president as the symbol of a revolution they largely did not take part in.

With a draft constitution officially delivered to the president on Saturday, full of Islamic law and a lack of clauses that guarantee women’s rights and ostensibly retracts all the gains of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak. In many ways, what we are witnessing is very similar to the Iranian Revolution of 1979.

Maybe Iranians are watching the current political unrest in Egypt and saying, “see, told you this would happen.” Maybe Egypt will not fall into the ultra-conservative nature that has come to represent Iran, but right now, Iran’s modern history is as important as it has always been as Egypt looks for a future......"

Al-Jazeera Video: حديث الثورة


"الجزء الأول: التطورات الميدانية في سوريا، خاصة القتال في دمشق ومحيطها وقرب منطقة المطار. الجزء الثاني: المشهد السياسي في مصر في ضوء مظاهرات المعارضة ضد الإعلان الدستوري وضد التسرع في التصويت على الدستور.
"

Walk Like an Egyptian, by Adam Zyglis, Cagle Cartoons, The Buffalo News


EI’s Rami Almeghari joins Norman Finkelstein and others to debate Palestine UN bid on RT’s CrossTalk

By Ali Abunimah

"Now that the Palestinians have had their international legal status upgraded at the UN, what difference will it make? What will now happen with the so-called “peace process”? Will we see an end to the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands any time soon? And, how will this UN resolution make Israel more isolated? CrossTalking with Norman Finkelstein, Raanan Gissin and Rami Almeghari."

The UN vote to recognise Palestine legitimises a racist status quo


There's bitter irony in the UN's recognition of a much-diminished Palestinian state on the anniversary of its 1947 partition plan


guardian.co.uk,
On 29 November 1947, the UN general assembly voted to partition Palestine between native Palestinians and overwhelmingly European Jewish colonists. The partition plan granted the colonists (one-third of the population) 57% of the land, and granted the native inhabitants (two-thirds of the population) 43%. On 30 November, the colonists embarked on the military conquest of Palestine, expelling hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. They declared their state on 14 May 1948. Of the 37 Jewish signatories to the "Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel," only one was born in Palestine, the Moroccan Behor Chetrit. Palestinians rejected the plan as it dispossessed them of their lands.....

By recognising a diminished Palestinian state, the vote effectively abandons the UN understanding of the "Jewish state" as one that has no right to discriminate against or ethnically cleanse non-Jews. The new arrangement confers the blessing of this international forum on the Israeli understanding of what a "Jewish state" entails– namely, the actually existing legal discrimination and ethnic cleansing practised by Israel –as acceptable. That this occurred on 29 November, the date of the partition plan, reiterates this date as one of continuing defeats for the Palestinians who continue to suffer from Israel's colonial laws, and repeats UN guilt in denying Palestinians their rights not to suffer dispossession and racism. The Palestinians, however, whose majority is not represented by the PA, will no more heed this new partition plan than they did the last one and will continue to resist Israeli colonialism until it comes to an end and until Israel becomes a state for all its citizens with equal rights to all regardless of national, religious, or ethnic background."

Egypt’s new constitution limits fundamental freedoms and ignores the rights of women


30 November 2012


"A draft constitution approved by Egypt’s Constituent Assembly falls well short of protecting human rights and, in particular, ignores the rights of women, restricts freedom of expression in the name of protecting religion, and allows for the military trial of civilians, Amnesty International said.

“This document, and the manner in which it has been adopted, will come as an enormous disappointment to many of the Egyptians who took to the streets to oust Hosni Mubarak and demand their rights,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

Freedom of religion is limited to Islam, Christianity and Judaism, potentially excluding the right to worship to other religious minorities such as Baha’is and Shi’a Muslims.

The constitution fails to provide for the supremacy of international law over national law, raising concerns about Egypt’s commitment to human rights treaties to which it is a state party...... "

Egypt’s ElBaradei, Moussa, Sabahi join Tahrir sit-in against Morsi

By Joseph Mayton
Bikya Masr

"CAIRO: Egyptian activists received a boost late on Friday as the founder of the Constitution Party Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the Conference Party Amr Moussa and founder of the Popular Current Party Hamdeen Sabahi all declared their support and participation in the ongoing sit-in in Cairo’s Tahrir Square until President Mohamed Morsi’s constitutional decree is revoked, spokesman of the National Front for Salvation Hussein Abdel Ghani was quoted as saying.

It is the latest action by opposition leaders to continue pressure on Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood to listen to the people’s will over the decree and the constitution, which Morsi is expected to approve on Saturday and put forward for popular referendum.
Egypt’s constituent assembly finalized on Friday morning the draft constitution by consensus.

The draft will be presented to President Morsi on Saturday in preparation for putting it to a popular referendum.......


Egypt is facing a political impasse many say is similar to early days of the January 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak."

Friday, November 30, 2012

Al-Jazeera Video: Ali Abunimah tells Al Jazeera UN bid changes nothing

AN EXCELLENT VIDEO!

U.N. Approval of Palestine as "Non-Member State" Shows Isolation of U.S., Israel Stance on Statehood

Democracy Now!

"Printer-friendly
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted recognize the sovereign state of Palestine, upgrading its observer status from "entity" to "non-member state." The move is viewed as a victory for Palestinians, but a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, who were joined by only a handful of countries in opposing the decision. With more than 190 members in the General Assembly, there were 138 votes in favor, nine against and 41 abstentions. Three countries did not take part. The vote came on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. Resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. "This was a referendum on the United States’s mediation of the peace process between Israelis and Palestinians," says Yousef Munayyer, executive director of the Jerusalem Fund and its educational program, the Palestine Center. "The vast majority of the world, I think, said yesterday that that has failed, and it’s time for a different approach."...." 

Egypt's draft constitution translated


Egypt Independent’s translation of the draft constitution will be updated throughout the day.

"Constitution Preamble


We, the people of Egypt,

In the name of God and with the assistance of God,
declare this to be

Egypt’s Constitution and the document of the pioneering, peaceful revolution, which was started by Egypt’s promising youth, protected by the Armed Forces, championed by the patient Egyptians who gathered in Tahrir Square on 25 January 2011 to assert their rejection of all forms of injustice, oppression, tyranny, plunder and monopoly, to fully proclaim their rights to a decent life, to freedom, to social justice and human dignity — all rights granted by God before being prescribed in constitutions and universal declarations of human rights;

A promise of a new dawn worthy of Egypt’s history and civilization, the same civilization that gave humanity the first alphabet, that opened the way to monotheism and the knowledge of the Creator, adorned the pages of history with creativity, established the oldest state on the banks of the timeless Nile, while from the beginning understanding the meaning of identity, and embodying the values of citizenship.
....

bla, bla, bla....."

Al-Jazeera Video: Syrian rebels acquire heavy weapons

Al-Jazeera Video: Tahrir reacts to Egypt's draft constitution

Al-Jazeera Video: ما وراء الخبر- إغلاق مطار دمشق الدولي


"تناقش الحلقة أسباب إرسال النظام السوري تعزيزات عسكرية إلى محيط مطار دمشق الدولي بعد إغلاقه كليا أمام حركة الملاحة، وقطعه الاتصالات والإنترنت عنها. ما الذي حمل النظام السوري على اتخاذ هذه الإجراءات؟ وكيف ستنعكس على موقفي النظام والثوار في المواجهة المفتوحة بينهما؟ودلالات إغلاق النظام السوري مطار دمشق وقطعه الاتصالات والإنترنت عنها.
تقديم: غادة عويس
تاريخ البث: 29/11/2012
الضيوف: نبيل الأمير, محمد فارس, صفوت الزيات
"

Real News Video (with Transcript): UN Palestine Vote Gives PA Access to International Criminal Court


Phyllis Bennis: In a vote of 138 to 9, UN General Assembly votes to give Palestine status of a non-member state 

More at The Real News

Egypt: New Constitution Mixed on Support of Rights


Draft Adopted Without Consensus Amid Political Crisis
"(New York) – The final draft of a constitution approved on November 29, 2012, by Egypt’s 100-member constituent assembly protects some rights but undermines others. The constitution, approved in the midst of a political standoff between the president and the judiciary, provides for basic protections against arbitrary detention and torture and for some economic rights but fails to end military trials of civilians or to protect freedom of expression and religion.

The constitution drafting process has been extremely contentious, and a number of assembly members resigned in protest over what they said was the failure of the dominant Islamist factions to compromise on key issues, including the place of religion in affairs of state. The decision comes on the heels of President Mohamed Morsy’s controversial November 22 Constitutional Declaration immunizinghis decrees from judicial review.

“The decision of constituent assembly leaders to move a flawed and contradictory draft to a vote is not the right way to guarantee fundamental rights or to promote respect for the rule of law,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Rushing through a draft while serious concerns about key rights protections remain unaddressed will create huge problems down the road that won’t be easy to fix.”......"

Tea and tear gas in Tahrir Square

Amnesty International

".....On Tuesday, as the gas dispersed, we found one young boy sitting on a pavement, holding an empty gas canister in his hands. US-made, it had written first-aid instructions in a language the boy couldn’t read.

Walking through the area, we saw protesters holding similar canisters. All were wondering what to make of them – why objects made so far away were once again being used on the streets of Cairo. All tear gas canisters we examined had the manufacturing date of March 2011 and had therefore been sold to Egypt after the uprising.......

The latest decision was a further blow to a process that was supposed to mark Egypt’s return to human rights and rule of law. As we looked over the articles approved by the assembly this morning, our disbelief grew. Very basic provisions that would have enshrined human rights are vague or missing; there are no articles which explicitly ban discrimination against women.

Instead, reform has been replaced with repression. The draft bans criticism of religion, and explicitly allows for the military trials of civilians – a last minute concession to the army that has written injustice into the very cornerstone of Egyptian law.

In one tumultuous week, Egyptians have been forced in disbelief and anger back into the sidelines. Days ago, the protesters made it clear that President Morsi’s only way out was to strike down his own decree. But the botched constitutional process has only fanned the flames of the protesters’ anger.

One thing is certain: the protesters will not accept a return to rule by decree, or accept a constitution written by a committee that doesn’t speak for them. "

Qatar: Outrageous life sentence for ‘Jasmine poet’


"A life sentence handed today to a Qatari poet has all the hallmarks of an outrageous betrayal of free speech, Amnesty International has said.

Mohammed al-Ajami, also known as Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb, was tried on charges of incitement “to overthrow the ruling system”, and “insulting the Amir”.  

He was arrested in November 2011 following the publication of his “Jasmine Poem”, which broadly criticized governments across the Gulf region, saying “we are all Tunisia in the face of the repressive elite”. 

“It is deplorable that Qatar, which likes to paint itself internationally as a country that promotes freedom of expression, is indulging in what appears to be such a flagrant abuse of that right,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Director......"

Egypt at tipping point as anger, uncertainty continue to rise

| 29 November 2012
Bikya Masr

"Egypt is on the brink as the government of President Mohamed Morsi appears to be pushing through a constitution despite numerous withdrawals from the drafting committee, ongoing strikes, protests and a large sit-in in Tahrir Square against the president.

The iconic square, the heart of the January 2011 uprising, has been in full swing for the past week, with protesters building up a strong showing daily and a makeshift tent city having been erected demanding that Morsi withdraw what has been described by activists and opposition political leaders as a power grab to rival the Mubarak era.

Activists have continued to block of Tahrir Square, a new wall was added to downtown Cairo on Qasr el-Aini street near the square and protesters attempt to clean garbage that has been strewn across the center of the capital.

More and more groups have joined the opposition sit-ins, including the judiciary, which is threatening to push Egypt into a massive shutdown of the country.
Making matters worse, on Thursday, Morsi and his fellow conservatives began pushing through a constitution that has most liberals and secular activists angry that during this crisis the government would attempt to pass a document seen as divisive and limiting on freedoms.......


The constituent assembly, despite seeing the withdrawal of all women and many other members in protest over the Salafists – Islamic puritans – went forward with ensuring Islamic statutes and Islamic law, or Sharia, would remain a focal point of the document.
It means that Islamic law will continue to be the main source of legislation, unchanged from the previous constitution under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.
The role of Islam has been long disputed and has frustrated many Egyptians who had hoped that civil law would supercede any religious tendencies......


Egypt is facing a political impasse many say is similar to early days of the January 2011 uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak."

Thursday, November 29, 2012

No Time to Waste

By Maysaloon

Thursday, November 29, 2012

"If the fighting around Damascus Airport today wasn't the starting bell for the battle for Damascus, I don't know what is. Let us look at this in perspective for a second. At the start of the year Assad was carrying out a "victory" tour of Baba Amr in Homs. The district had fallen after bitter fighting and the situation didn't look any bleaker for Syria as it did back then. Today there is fighting inside and around Damascus. Assad is barely holding Aleppo in the North, and bases as well as checkpoints are falling at a now daily rate. Assad's once feared (by Syrians) air power is suffering regular losses, and now, for the first time, a dramatic and very deliberate cutting off of Syria's access to the internet appears to have been carried out on a national level for the first time.

Damascus is the final goal, and there are reports that the regime has geared up its elite units in a line of defence around the core of the city. In spite of any hopes otherwise, the regime has displayed an almost fanatical obsession with retaining power, and it seems there was never any hope for a peaceful route to change in the country.....

What needs to happen now, and not when Assad falls, is frank dialogue with all - whether they are Islamists, Free Syrian Army, Jabhat al Nusra, the Kurds, whoever it may be, about core principles. For the sake of the country and their children they have to agree that political disputes, however paralysing, must never again transform into armed conflict......"

Al-Jazeera Video: ما وراء الخبر- وسائل التصعيد العسكري في سوريا

EXCLUSIVE: Julian Assange on WikiLeaks, Bradley Manning, Cypherpunks, Surveillance State

Democracy Now!

"Printer-friendly
In his most extended interview in months, Julian Assange speaks to Democracy Now! from inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he has been holed up for nearly six months. Assange vowed WikiLeaks would persevere despite attacks against it. On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that the credit card company Visa did not break the European Union’s anti-trust rules by blocking donations to WikiLeaks. “Since the blockade was erected in December 2010, WikiLeaks has lost 95 percent of donations that were attempted to be transferred to us over that period ... our rightful and natural growth, our ability to publish as much as we would like, our ability to defend ourselves and our sources has been diminished by that blockade.” Assange also speaks about his new book,  “Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet.” “The mass surveillance and mass interception that is occurring to all of us now who use the Internet is also a mass transfer of power from individuals into extremely sophisticated state and private intelligence organizations and their cronies,” he says. Assange also discusses the United States’ targeting of WikiLeaks. “The Pentagon is maintaining a line that WikiLeaks inherently as an institution, that tells military and governmental whistleblowers to step forward with information, is a crime. They allege that we are criminal moving forward,” Assange says. “Now the new interpretation of the Espionage Act that the government is trying to hammer into the legal system, and which the department of justice is complicit in, would mean the end of national security journalism in the United States.”....." 

Real News Video (with Transcript): Micromanaging the Syrian Revolution

VERY GOOD VIDEO

Hamid Dabashi: The brutality of the Assad regime created conditions for the US, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey to arm proxies forces and attempt to control the outcome of the struggle 

More at The Real News

Mursi to speak as Egypt's Islamists seek way out of crisis


"(Reuters) - The body writing Egypt's new constitution began a session to vote on a final draft on Thursday, a move President Mohamed Mursi's allies in the Muslim Brotherhood hope will help end a crisis prompted by a decree expanding his powers.....

MURSI SAYS HE IS NO PHARAOH

Leading opposition figure and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa slammed the move to accelerate the constitution. He walked out of the assembly earlier this month. "This is nonsensical and one of the steps that shouldn't be taken, given the background of anger and resentment to the current constitutional assembly," he told Reuters.

The decree issued by Mursi has set him further at odds with opponents and worsened already tetchy relations with the judges, many of whom saw it as a threat to their independence. Two of Egypt's courts declared a strike on Wednesday.

Mursi was unrepentant in the interview published overnight....."

Netanyahu’s War Crime


by , November 29, 2012 

"There has been considerable debate over who “won” the recent fighting in and around Gaza, though the question itself might lack relevancy as both sides have largely returned to the status quo ante. Hamas has indeed proven itself capable of resisting Israel and has gained the respect of its Arab neighbors while its political opponent Fatah has again looked weak and vacillating. That many of the frequently homemade Gazan rockets were able to penetrate Israeli defenses and even strike near Tel Aviv is also being promoted by some as a game changer, but in reality the actual impact was more psychological than lethal. Israel blinked because it had become clear that there were no real military targets remaining in Gaza and only civilians, many of them children, were being killed. Continuing the air assault or initiating a ground invasion would only lead to a major public relations victory for the Palestinians in the court of world opinion....."

From Egypt to Muhammad Morsi: Roll back your decree OR LEAVE! By Carlos Latuff


Losing the plot: Why did Israel attack Gaza - again?


Israel is interested in anything but peace, interested in nothing but "maiming and murdering more Palestinians".

AN EXCELLENT PIECE
Al-Jazeera

".....But underlying all these factors is Netanyahu's instinctive fear of the Arab Spring, of the succession of Arab revolutions - the democratic uprising from one end of the Arab world to another - that poses THE existential threat to Israel. To imagine Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or even the Islamic Republic, as an existential threat to Israel is a silly joke that the Israeli propaganda machinery has turned into a deadly serious phantasm.

But the Arab revolutions, even in this nascent and turbulent stage (or particularly in this stage) are the existential threat to the Jewish apartheid settler colony - and neither the Likudnik nor the liberal Zionists seem to have a clue how to reconfigure the fate of six million plus human beings trapped inside a bankrupt ideology, within thick apartheid walls and now even capped by an Iron Dome.

Raining bombs on innocent Palestinians in Gaza was yet another desperate attempt to pull the clock back to December 2008-January 2009, just a year before the Arab revolutions began - it was a murderous nostalgic act of a desperate Zionist whom history has left behind. 

So, yes, perhaps, Netanyahu was also testing Morsi? But if so, he was not the only one - Egyptians and Arabs at large are also testing Morsi. As soon as the Israeli, American, Saudi bait went down, Morsi swam for it, jumped for a supercilious power grab and within minutes that he brokered a truce and started cozying up to Obama, suddenly a bizarre looking tyrant emerged from him. But not so fast brother! - for the Egyptians were out in their streets calling him "Mohamed Morsi Mubarak" and pharaoh, and torching the office of the Muslim Brotherhood faster than he could call uncle and run to his brothers.

Morsi was delusional trying to grab more power. But the fear of Netanyahu and the cause of his having lost the plot is not Morsi - it is in the volcanic eruption that brought Morsi to power in the first place. Israel that he leads, plus Saudi Arabia and other retrograde Persian Gulf potentates and the US, on one side, and opposing them the ruling clergy in Iran and the mass murderers holding to power in Syria, are all afraid of one concrete and abiding fact: the Arab revolutions - that will - sooner than later - dismantle all these regimes. In the excellent words of Haidar Eid, a professor at Al-Aqsa University in Gaza:

Now is the moment of truth, the moment of sending a clear message to the new Arab world: The Mubarak and Abu el-Gheit era is gone. That the power of deterrence, in light of the massive imbalance of power between Israel and the Palestinians, lies with the ordinary citizen in the streets of Tunis, Cairo, Rabat, Doha, Amman and Muscat. The demonstrations, which have erupted in London, New York, Glasgow and other cities must be translated into a new, concrete reality steered by Palestinians and Arabs. Egyptians, in particular, should be partners, not mediators. "

Re-constituting Egypt


It is "very healthy" that Arabs protest when a president claims new sweeping powers that "undermine their revolutions".

Al-Jazeera


"Today, new Egypt is re-constituting itself through public engagement, not disengagement as in the Mubarak era. The notion of an omnipresent president no longer exists. Even Morsi buckles under pressure; and he may have to rescind decisions and inevitably may have no option but to retract or adjust some of his latest decrees. This may in the short run be at the expense of his standing. However, in the long run it will strengthen his profile as a resilient and responsive president.

The latest sparring between state and society should be taken as evidence of a country re-constituting itself dialogically, even if this means interim confusion, low-key violence and cacophony, from within and without....."

Executed Gaza 'collaborators' were in custody before war began

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Seven Palestinians who were accused of spying for Israel and publicly executed during the latest assault on Gaza were already in jail when the war started, and several had been held for more than a year.

Masked gunmen shot the alleged collaborators in two public attacks at the height of Israel's eight-day bombardment of Gaza, killing one person on Nov. 16 and another six people on Nov. 20. 

At the time, security officials said one man had confessed to aiding Israel while the six others "were caught red-handed" and "possessed hi-tech equipment and filming equipment to take footage of positions."

A Ma'an review of publicly available records as well as interviews with experts in Gaza show that all of these men had been in the custody of the Hamas government for months and in one case years before Israel launched its "Pillar of Cloud" operation. 

Ashraf Aweida, the first victim, had been held on suspicion of spying but had not been formally convicted before his body was dumped in the street outside Shifa hospital along with a note claiming he had confessed to assisting in Israeli assassinations, according to human rights activists in Gaza. The six others who were killed Nov. 20 had all been formally sentenced to death no later than September. 

Palestinian human rights activists and a senior Hamas official have condemned the killings as illegal, saying the men should have been brought to justice under the law. 

According to public records maintained by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and other groups, six of the seven men had already had their day in court by the time Israel launched its assault Nov. 14.

Three of them -- Amer al-Aef, Zuheir Hamouda and Ghassan Asfur -- were sentenced to death in 2012. Two others, Ribhi Bedawi and Fadel Abu Shalluf, received the same sentence in 2011. The sixth victim, Naim Ashur, was convicted of treason in March 2010, according to the Independent Commission for Human Rights, the Palestinian Authority's official rights ombudsman.

"Prior to the attack on Gaza they were all in custody," said Handi Shakura, the director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights' democracy development unit, in an interview. 

"We have no information as to whether they were released or handed to militants. We are waiting for the results of the government committee. We are hopeful we will see a real investigation and action by the government," Shakura told Ma'an. 

Images of the victims -- including one showing a man's lifeless body chained to a motorcycle and being dragged throughout the streets of Gaza City -- underscored the sentiment toward informants after Israel launched its brutal air assault, which killed over 170 people and injured hundreds. 

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Steve Bell on William Hague and the UN's Palestine statehood vote - cartoon


The Guardian,

معهد بيغن السادات: أمريكا وأوروبا ستوافقان على صفقة مع مرسي تتغاضيان بموجبها عن تصرفاته الدكتاتورية في مصر مقابل تعهده بلجم حماس والمقاومة والمحافظة على حدود إسرائيل الجنوبية

معهد بيغن السادات: أمريكا وأوروبا ستوافقان على صفقة مع مرسي تتغاضيان بموجبها عن تصرفاته الدكتاتورية في مصر مقابل 
تعهده بلجم حماس والمقاومة والمحافظة على حدود إسرائيل الجنوبية

A VERY IMPORTANT POST

زهير أندراوس

"الناصرة ـ 'القدس العربي': قال البروفيسور هيلل فريش، الباحث في معهد بيغن السادات والمحاضر في جامعة بار إيلان، قال في ورقة بحثية أعدها ونُشرت على موقع المعهد الالكتروني أمس الأربعاء، إن الرئيس المصري محمد مرسي أثبت أنه قادر على أن يكون دكتاتورا على خطى سلفه حسني مبارك.
ولفت إلى ان تعزيز سلطته عن طريق حل المجلس العسكري الأعلى، الذي كان يُدير شؤون البلاد، ومنح نفسه صلاحيات واسعة على النظام القضائي، لم تأت من فراغ، بل أن المرسوم الدستوري (تجاوز السلطة القضائية) الذي أصدره الخميس الفائت لم يكن من قبيل الصدفة، أنما جاء هذا المرسوم الديكتاتوري بعد نجاح الرئيس المصري في لعب دور الوساطة ونجاحه في التوصل إلى اتفاق لوقف إطلاق النار بين إسرائيل وحماس.
وشدد الباحث الإسرائيلي على أن مرسي يسعى إلى تعزيز سيطرته على مصر مع الاستمرار من الاستفادة من المساعدات الغربية، التي تحصل عليها بلاد النيل، على حد تعبيره. واعتبر الباحث أن المرسوم الدستوري هو ضربة أخرى من قبل مرسي، ففي آب (أغسطس) من هذا العام فوجئ الجميع بعزل المجلس العسكري الأعلى بقيادة المشير محمد حسين طنطاوي، والاستعاضة عنه وعن بقية الجنرالات والقيادات بجنرالات تُعيد بعض الهدوء إلى البلاد، مشيرا إلى أن مرسي استغل مذبحة شرطة الحدود 15 الذين قُتلوا من قبل مجموعة جهادية بالقرب من الحدود المصرية في غزة كعذره لتطهير الجيش المصري من القيادة التي كانت مسؤولة، وشددت الورقة على أن عزل القيادة العسكرية مر بدون احتجاجات أو أي أعمال أخرى في الشارع المصري أو داخل المؤسسة العسكرية، ومضى قائلاً إن مرسي لم يُكلف نفسه عناء توجيه الدعوة للجنرالات المقالين إلى الاحتفال بالنصر في حرب أكتوبر 1973، على الرغم من أنهم كانوا من قدامى المحاربين البارزين في هذه الحرب.
وساق البروفيسور فريش قائلاً إنه في الـثاني والعشرون من الشهر الجاري وجه الرئيس للمرة الثانية ضربة أخرى، في تصرف غريب عجيب، واستغل الوضع، بعد المرسوم الديكتاتوري للتوجه إلى حضور مؤتمر عن التنمية الاقتصادية في كراتشي، باكستان، وأصدر مرسومًا رئاسيًا (يطلق عليها اسم 'حماية الثورة القانون') الذي أنهى عمليًا عمل لجنة صياغة الدستور، الأمر الذي أدى إلى انسحاب معظم العلمانيين واللبراليين وممثلي الكنيسة القبطية منها، علاوة على ذلك، تولى المسؤولية لإقالة النائب العام، الذي لا يحظى بشعبية في مصر بسبب عدم محاكمة الفلول من النظام البائد، أي نظام حسني مبارك، مشددا في المرسوم على أن هذه القرارات نافذة، ولا يمكن لأي هيئة الاعتراض عليها.
وساق الخبير الإسرائيلي قائلاً إن الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وحلفاؤها الأوروبيون، على الرغم من خطابهم الديمقراطي، لم يرتق رد فعلهم إلى المستوى المطلوب واكتفوا بالتنديد واللوم الضعيفين، على حد تعبيره، وعبروا عن قلقهم من تصرفات مرسي، ولكن لا أكثر من ذلك، ذلك أن هذه الدول، كانت أكثر مهتمةً بنجاح الرئيس مرسي في وقف إطلاق النار بين حماس وبين إسرائيل، على حد تعبيره.
بالإضافة إلى ذلك، تساءل البروفيسور الإسرائيلي في ورقته البحثية عن مسألة التوقيت، لافتًا إلى أنه ما هي العلاقة بين إعلان المرسوم الرئاسي، الذي دفع منتقديه إلى تسميته بفرعون جديد، وبين وقف إطلاق النار في غزة؟ مجيبا أن هذا الأمر يبدو وكأنه لغزا، ولكن في الواقع كان الترابط والتوقيت بين الحدثين: المرسوم ووقف إطلاق النار، ترابطا منطقيا ومقنعا، على حد قوله.
فقد تعهد الرئيس مرسي، وهو عضو بارز في حركة الإخوان المسلمين، تعهد للحركة التي ينتمي إليها قبل أن ينتخب لرئاسة الجمهورية، أنه سيُبت نفسه من خلال وقف إطلاق النار في غزة وهو الأمر الذي لم يسع الرئيس السابق مبارك إلى فعله، ناهيك عن تحقيقه. وتابع الباحث قائلاً إن مبارك يُصور بشكل خاطئ من قبل وسائل الإعلام على أنه كان حليفًا لإسرائيل، ولكن خلال فترته تمكنت حركة حماس من إدخال كميات كبيرة من الصواريخ والعتاد العسكري من شبه جزيرة سيناء إلى قطاع غزة، زاعمًَا أن الرئيس المصري المخلوع استخدم حركة حماس لاستنزاف الدولة العبرية على الجبهة الجنوبية.
وأشار الباحث فريش إلى أن موقف مبارك تغير بعض الشيء بعد قيام مئات الآلاف من الفلسطينيين في قطاع غزة، في كانون الثاني (شباط) من العام 2008 باقتحام معبر رفح الحدودي إلى شمال سيناء، زاعما أن العشرات من مقاومي حماس ومن الجهاديين اخترقوا الحدود واستقروا في سيناء، الأمر الذي أدى في نهاية المطاف إلى تحول شبه الجزيرة إلى مرتع للإرهابيين وإضعاف السيطرة المصرية في المنطقة، على حد قوله.
وتابعت الورقة البحثية قائلةً إن مرسي، خلافًا للرئيس المخلوع مبارك، بات ملزما بوقف جميع الهجمات الصاروخية من قطاع غزة، وتحديدًا من قبل حركة حماس، باتجاه، جنوب الدولة العبرية، كما أنه أصبح ملزمًا لوضع حدٍ لكل أشكال المقاومة الفلسطينية من قطاع غزة ضد أهداف إسرائيلية، وهذه المقاومة هي التي تُميز حماس عن السلطة الفلسطينية في رام الله بقيادة محمود عباس.وزاد: توقيت وقف إطلاق النار ومرسوم مرسي يشير إلى وجود علاقة مع غزة، ذلك أنه يُحاول إجبار أمريكا وحلفاؤها الأوروبيون إلى التوصل لاتفاق معه وفق هذه الصيغة: اسمحوا لي أن أكون فرعون في مصر، وبالمقابل سأُقدم لكم الاستقرار على الجبهة الإسرائيلية.
بكلمات أخرى: مرسي يقول: أعطوني مملكتي، وأنا سوف أعطيكم الأولوية في التحالف معكم في المنطقة. واختبار مرسي، كما يُسميه البروفيسور فريش سيكون: هل الولايات المتحدة وأوروبا، ودول الخليج على استعداد قبول هذه الصفقة ببساطة: هل ستقبل هذه الدول منح قرض صندوق النقد الدولي لمصر بقيمة 4.8 مليار دولار، مع خمسة مليار يورو من المساعدات، وأموال إضافية من المال الخليجية؟ وهذه الأموال هدفها إنقاذ الاقتصاد المصري الذي يعاني من الاضطرابات الداخلية.
وخلص الباحث إلى القول إن السياسة الخارجية لأمريكا كانت دائمًا تعاني من التوتر بين المثل العليا للديمقراطية (جيفرسون) نشر والواقعية (هاميلتون)، وبالتالي يُمكن الرهان على أن واشنطن، على الرغم من الخطاب الديمقراطي، المصادقة على الصفقة مع مرسي، لكن الصفقة قد تكون مؤلمة، بناء على التجربة العراقية وأمثلة أخرى كثيرة تشير إلى أن أمريكا تُفضل مصالحها على مبادئها الراقية، على حد تعبيره."

Nothing nuanced in Assad's bloody survival strategy

by Amal Hanano
Link


During Israel's assault on Gaza last week and the continuing Assad regime assault on Syria, media biases that have been developing for months have crystallised. While the Palestinian tragedy exposed the historical mainstream media bias towards Israel, the Syrian tragedy exposed another kind of bias against Syrian people's aspirations for freedom.

This group of journalists, bloggers and social media activists have mocked the revolution while warning against the "reactionary" tendency to frame Syria as a humanitarian crisis instead of a geopolitical catastrophe. Though they are committed to drawing attention to the unrest in Bahrain, cheering any whisper of trouble in Saudi Arabia, welcoming the unfolding protests in Jordan and expressing outrage over every Palestinian death in Gaza, they continue to watch with "critical" eyes as dozens are killed in Syria every single day.Some activists, intellectuals and human-rights advocates who are defined as leftist, anti-imperialist and fiercely pro-resistance have struggled with the Syrian revolution since its inception in March 2011. After all, Bashar Al Assad inherited his father's role as the champion of Arab "resistance", even while he slaughtered his own people.

They claim that the "real" story is more nuanced than a narrative of a people simply demanding the toppling of an oppressive regime. They frame the Syrian political opposition as a western conspiracy against a sovereign nation, but fail to acknowledge the almost impossible task of forging a unified political body out of the power vacuum left by a 42-year-old regime that rules with an iron fist against dissent.


Every detail in our "official" lives was informed by the military: our drab khaki school uniforms, with our shoulder markers changing like military ranks as we passed from one grade to the next; our mandatory military training; and the Baath student organisations we were urged to join. Favoured junior Baathists were awarded bonus grades and given special opportunities. Of course, many were mukhabarat in the making.

Those of us lucky enough to avoid these traps only knew half the evil we faced everyday. We knew our government would never fight Israel and free the Golan. We knew this was Syria's role in a game of Middle East geopolitical chess: the resistors. Crocodile tears were routinely shed by the regime for Palestine while no one did anything for Palestinians, and while Palestinian refugees in Syria were treated as second-class citizens. But we did not imagine the sinister role the army would finally play.

As if ambivalent silence were not enough, abuse of the Syrian revolution reached a new low in the past weeks. Syrian photographs and videos have been mistakenly portrayed on blogs, social media, and television channels as photographs from Gaza. Sometimes the same people who claimed that images of Syrian atrocities were fabricated propaganda now pass these images off as Palestinian.
The irony that Syrian images are now used as false propaganda, after having previously been labelled as false propaganda, is stunning. Why the ambiguity, the betrayal? Why the hypocrisy?

The fact that images of Syria's dead are so easily confused with images from Gaza is evidence that not only are our people and our landscapes interchangeable, the violence is interchangeable as well. Our buildings collapse the same way from bombs falling from the sky, our dead children's bodies hang limply the same way in their weeping fathers' arms, and our mothers wail the same way as they bury yet another son. Syrians know this. As do Palestinians.

Last Friday, tens of thousands of Syrians stood in their smouldering, ruined cities and towns,

risking their lives as bullets rained down, to chant for freedom and chant for Gaza. Unlike the 

tyrant and his treacherous army, the Syrian people expressed true resistance, which does 

not come from a nationalism textbook or an empty slogan. They didn't need a nuanced 

argument to chant: Syria and Gaza are one.

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Israel and Hamas: Will the ceasefire hold?

Al-Jazeera Video: في العمق- المقاومة الفلسطينية والعالم العربي الجديد


"تستعرض الحلقة دور حركة المقاومة الفلسطينية (حماس) في صدارة المشهد السياسي العربي الجديد والذي جرع العدوان الإسرائيلي السم، وأفشل بعض الرهانات العربية التي ساومت على عدم استمرار المقاومة الفلسطينية.
"

Real News Video: Palestine Activism in the UK


Across Britain growing numbers of people are acting in solidarity with Palestinians 


More at The Real News


Real News Video: 50 Children Killed and 450 Injured in Israeli Attack on Gaza

Jihan Hafiz in Gaza: As people dig out of the rubble, a Palestinian doctor says civilians were targeted by Israeli attack

More at The Real News
  

A Different War in Gaza, and the War Ahead

By Ramzy Baroud
Palestine Chronicle

"....However, Israel’s intentions were not exactly about achieving peace and tranquility. For decades, Israel’s sought to have complete monopoly over violence, thus the right to punish, deter, intervene, occupy and ‘teach lessons’ to whomever it wanted, whenever it wanted. Its recent targeting of Sudan, its past strikes against Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, appalling wars in Lebanon, and constant threats against Iran are all cases in point.

Certainly, something big has changed. Not that Palestinians managed to narrow the imbalance of power, but that they succeeded in imposing their resistance as a factor in Israel’s ‘security’ equation that was exclusively determined by Israel.

Despite their heavy losses, thousands of Palestinians danced with joy throughout the Gaza Strip. They kneeled and prayed among the rebels, thanking God for their ‘victory’. Masked armed men were crowded by jubilant Gazans cheering for resistance. Israel and its benefactors began assigning blame by pointing the finger mostly at Iran. But their words drowned in the echoes of Palestinian chants. All parties know that something fundamental has been altered, although the battle is anything but over. A war of a different kind is about to begin."

Egypt’s Brutal Security Forces Also Victims of State Brutality


By Mel Frykberg


"Three people have been killed, more than 400 wounded and over 200 arrested as clashes between Egyptians protesting President Muhammad Morsi’s attempt to expand his presidential powers and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and Egyptian security forces continue to rock the capital and enflame major cities around the country......"

Pharaoh Morsi, by Khalil Bendib


Live Updates

The Guardian

"....

Rebels in Aleppo province shot down a military helicopter with what appeared to be an anti aircraft missile, according to video footage from activists. The footage provides possible confirmation of reports that rebels have access to the kind of heat-seeking missiles they need to stand any chance of overcoming Assad's increasing reliance on air power. Syrian rebels have slowly been acquiring portable antiaircraft weapons known as Manpads, according to the New York Times. These include stocks seized from stormed Syrian bases, and according to the unconfirmed accounts of some rebel commanders, via smuggling from outside.
....."

Nobel peace laureates call for Israel military boycott over Gaza assault


Letter with 52 signatories including artists and activists also denounces US and EU 'complicity' through weapons sales

in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk,
A group of Nobel peace prize-winners, prominent artists and activists have issued a call for an international military boycott of Israel following its assault on the Gaza Strip this month.

The letter also denounces the US, EU and several developing countries for what it describes as their "complicity" through weapons sales and other military support in the attack that killed 160 Palestinians, many of them civilians, including about 35 children.

The 52 signatories include the Nobel peace laureates Mairead Maguire and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel; the film directors Mike Leigh and Ken Loach; the author Alice Walker; the US academic Noam Chomsky; Roger Waters of Pink Floyd; and Stéphane Hessel, a former French diplomat and Holocaust survivor who was co-author of the universal declaration of human rights.

"Horrified at the latest round of Israeli aggression against the 1.5 million Palestinians in the besieged and occupied Gaza Strip and conscious of the impunity that has enabled this new chapter in Israel's decades-old violations of international law and Palestinian rights, we believe there is an urgent need for international action towards a mandatory, comprehensive military embargo against Israel," the letter says.

"Such a measure has been subject to several UN resolutions and is similar to the arms embargo imposed against apartheid South Africa in the past."

The letter accuses several countries of providing important military support that facilitated the assault on Gaza. "While the United States has been the largest sponsor of Israel, supplying billions of dollars of advanced military hardware every year, the role of the European Union must not go unnoticed, in particular its hefty subsidies to Israel's military complex through its research programmes.

"Similarly, the growing military ties between Israel and the emerging economies of Brazil, India and South Korea are unconscionable given their nominal support for Palestinian freedom," it says......"

Guardian Video: Tahrir Square: teargas fired at protesters



                   
                   
                                   

"Egyptian police fire teargas at protesters camping in Tahrir Square in Cairo in the early hours of Wednesday morning. More than 100,000 people took part in a protest in Cairo on Tuesday against a decree by the Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, that grants him sweeping constitutional powers."

Gaza War may strengthen Iran's hand

By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Asia Times

"The impressive rocket capability of Hamas in the recent Gaza conflict and the limitations of Israel's protective "iron dome" shield have undermined Israel's hostile posture towards Iran. That could prove a very strong positive in Tehran's favor in forthcoming negotiations on its nuclear policy and in efforts to secure a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction......"

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Al-Jazeera Video: Protesters return to Tahrir Square

Mohamed Morsi and the fight for Egypt


President Morsi says his power grab is temporary. But history shows that such measures have a habit of becoming permanent

in Cairo
The Guardian,
Egypt's muddled transition from dictatorship to democracy has entered a dangerous phase with the president and his Islamist supporters arrayed against the rest – each side claiming to be the true defender of democracy and the revolution. President Morsi says his controversial decree (euphemistically called "constitutional declaration") is only a provisional measure to defend the revolution and ensure a swift passage to democracy. And a presidential spokesman has now said that only decisions related to "sovereign matters" will be protected from judicial review. He may be sincere. But exceptional temporary measures in Egypt have a history of becoming permanent.....

Morsi and his supporters may be right in suspecting that old regime stalwarts within the administration are trying to thwart a transition to democracy. But they are equally guilty of pursuing a narrow Islamist agenda. The decision to protect the controversial constituent assembly – packed with Islamists and their supporters – from any legal challenge, seems to provide evidence for that. The Muslim Brotherhood and its allies feel they are entitled to draft a constitution to their liking, ignoring many well-founded legal and political arguments that such an important document should not be written by the winners of an election, but by representatives of a broad spectrum of Egyptian society....


The Muslim Brotherhood also bears part of the blame, because it supported that roadmap, thinking it would enable the Brotherhood to take power quickly. Things didn't turn out that way. And when existing laws stood in its way, it decided to change the rules to its advantage.

The scene is now set for a mighty confrontation as more and more judges and politicians line up against Morsi and his party. In fact, Morsi has succeeded in something no one else has: unifying the fractious liberal and leftist groups......."


Iran losing Arab sympathy for backing Assad: Hamas


AFP , Monday 26 Nov 2012


"Iran must reconsider its support for the Syrian regime if it does not want to alienate Arab public opinion, the deputy chief of the Iranian-backed Palestinian movement Hamas said on Monday.


"Iran's position in the Arab world, it's no longer a good position," Mussa Abu Marzuk, whose movement's politburo had been based in Damascus, said during a briefing to reporters at his new headquarters in the Egyptian capital."It has to address its position, so as not to lose public opinion," he said.

Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, relocated its leadership from Damascus to Qatar and Egypt after a rift with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his brutal crackdown on the revolt against his regime that began in March last year. As a result, his Islamist movement is no longer as close to Tehran, which supplies weapons to Palestinian militants, as it once was.
"Iran asked Hamas to adopt a closer position to Syria. Hamas refused, and this has affected our relationship with Iran," Abu Marzuk said.

Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal confirmed last week that Iran "had a role in arming" the movement's militants in Gaza during their eight-day conflict with Israel, and thanked Tehran, despite the disagreement over support for Assad."

Egyptian President Battles Judiciary


(Cartoon by Daryl Cagle)

"Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi issued a controversial decree last week that temporarily puts his decisions beyond judicial challenge. While critics decry the move as a blatant power grab, the presidency says it was necessary to safeguard Egypt's post-revolution democratic transition......"

Real News Video (with Transcript): Shaky Truce Between Israel and Hamas Opens Lands to Farmers


Last week, Palestinian farmers along the buffer zone in the besieged Gaza strip could not access their farmlands. Now with an Egyptian brokered ceasefire in place, farmers are able to reach the lands for the first time in 10 years 

More at The Real News
 

Real News Video (with Transcript): Qatar Tries to Decouple Hamas from Iran


Hamid Dabashi: Qatar and Saudi Arabia want to control the region, pushing Hamas towards a Muslim Brotherhood led Egypt 

More at The Real News

Guardian Video: Syrian children killed by cluster bomb, say rebels



                   
                   
                   
               

Syria: Evidence Shows Cluster Bombs Killed Children

All Governments Should Press Damascus to Stop Using Cluster Munitions
Human Rights Watch
November 27, 2012

"(Washington, DC) – Compelling evidence has emerged that an airstrike using cluster bombs on the town of Deir al-`Assafeer near Damascus killed at least 11 children and wounded others on November 25, 2012. The Syrian government should immediately cease its use of this highly dangerous weapon, which has been banned by most nations.

“This attack shows how cluster munitions kill without discriminating between civilians and military personnel,” said Mary Wareham, arms division advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Due to the devastating harm caused to civilians, cluster bombs should not be used by anyone, anywhere, at any time.”

According to video footage and testimony from local residents, at least 11 children were killed in the strike on Saraya neighborhood in the eastern part of Deir al-`Assafeer. Two residents told Human Rights Watch that the cluster bomb strike occurred as a group of at least 20 local children were gathered in a field where they usually play......"

Egypt: Morsy Decree Undermines Rule of Law

New Law May Bring Some Accountability but Invites Abuse of Freedoms
Human Rights Watch
"(London) – President Mohamed Morsy’s Constitutional Declaration granting his decrees and laws immunity from judicial review even if they violate human rights until mid-2013 undermines the rule of law in Egypt. If Morsy were to pass a law violating human rights, victims would have no means to challenge the law on the basis of rights set out in the March 30 2011 constitutional declaration. It also appears to give the president the power to issue emergency-style “measures” at any time for vague reasons and without declaring a state of emergency.

The president also issued a law providing for new investigations of those responsible for violence against protesters. But the law also creates a new court to prosecute people under vaguely defined and overly broad laws dating from ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s rule which have historically allowed for abuse, including prosecuting people for insulting the president or the judiciary. Morsy also announced measures that seem to interfere with the independence of the judiciary.

“Egypt is in serious need of judicial reform but decreeing that the president rule by fiat is no way to achieve it,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Egypt’s president now has more power than last year’s military rulers who used their position to violate human rights. And President Morsy has exempted himself from any independent judicial review.”......"

Monday, November 26, 2012

MUST READ: Syria Embassy in Tehran told UK embassy in Minsk last week about how Gaza was secretly getting weapons from Ukraine

Link to leaked emails


The Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic with residence in Tehran, the
Islamic Republic of Iran, presents its compliments to the esteemed
Embassy of Great Britain in Minsk, Republic of Belarus and has the
honour to inform that this office in response to escalating GAZA conflict
has the honour to submit preliminary report on weapons 
that come from Ukraine and Belarus.

Since 2008 Iran is the main transit point for Palestine armament.
Ukraine 2008 arms trade operations sanctioned by The Minister of Defense
Anatoly Gritsenko and conducted over Ruslan SALIS GMBH cargoes has
become difficult to control.

The large volume of 1.2D projectiles of Ukraine origin found in Egypt
and Syria en route to GAZA delivered by Ukrainian An 124-100
aircrafts, officially transporting EC725 Helicopters cleared at ULDUS
Entry Point.

Today the crisis in GAZA formed our clear understanding that the
information is not complete, but through investigations it became clear
beyond a doubt arms smuggling across the Iranian border from neighboring
countries like Azerbaijan and the payment of funds over offshore
companies controlled by the former high rank military command of Ukraine
also come by persons abroad and now we have information about people
driving these actions outside Syria granted asylum in Belarus and
Ukraine.

The Embassy of the Syrian Arab Republic with residence in Tehran to the
Embassy of Great Britain in Minsk, Republic of Belarus, while expressing
its gratitude for the cooperation, avails itself of this opportunity to
renew to the Embassy of Great Britain in Minsk, Republic of Belarus, the
assurances of its highest consideration.

Tehran, 19th November, 2012

Suspected cluster bomb attack by regime condemned by rights groups


Ten children killed and 40 injured in incident near Damascus, which opposition claims was caused by outlawed weapon

AN IMPORTANT STORY
in Beirut
The Guardian,
The death of 10 children in an apparent cluster-bomb attack near Damascus has been widely condemned by human rights groups, which claim that the outlawed weapons have been increasingly used by the Syrian regime against civilians over the past two months.
Images of the dead and wounded children were uploaded to the internet by residents of the town of Deir al-Asafir, hours after a vacant block of land where children had gathered was hit.
The uploaded videos also showed scores of spent cluster bomblets, with the shells they were discharged from. Small indentations in the ground, where some of the bomblets had landed, were also visible, along with a large shell embedded deep in the soil.
"May God punish you, Bashar," one of the residents is heard saying of the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as a video pans across a room of dead children, many of them wrapped in white shrouds. Residents contacted in the town claimed that up to 40 people, some of them children, had been wounded.
Opposition groups have insisted since late in the summer that the Syrian regime has been using the banned weapon – a claim that has been denied by officials in Damascus.
There was no independent confirmation of the attack. However, numerous images of spent shell casings have now been published from opposition-held parts of the country. None had so far had the visceral effect of the gruesome footage from Deir al-Asafir, which is believed to mark the first time in the Syrian conflict that cluster bombs have killed a large number of victims.
"It is the first confirmed video that we have seen of what has been an increasingly clear use of these munitions," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director of Human Rights Watch. "The vast majority of the casualties have been caused by ordinary dumb bombs. These are very different. They are Soviet-made weapons and they are dropped from jets, which is a clear indication of who's responsible, because the opposition doesn't have warplanes."......."

حول بيان مرسي التوضيحي


بيان الرئيس مرسي التوضيحي بعد اجتماعه بمجلس القضاء جيد ويبدد المخاوف. والترحيب به واجب.
وأهم ما فيه هو أن الإعلان الدستوري، بما في ذلك عدم جواز الطعن بقرار الرئيس، مؤقت وتنتهي صلاحيته مع صدور دستور جديد للبلاد.
والحقيقة أن سن دستور منذ البداية كان سيوفر على مصر الإعلانات الدستورية التي صدرت عن المجلس العسكري، وذلك الذي صدر عن الرئيس. ويفترض ان تعتبر الديمقراطيات العربية الق
ادمة بتجربة مصر.
الدستور الديمقراطي هو الذي يدور فيه وعلى اساسه الخلاف السياسي. تأجيل إقرار مبادئه تجعله جزء من التنافس السياسي، ويصبح الإطار الذي فيه وبموجبه يدور الخلاف هو موضوع الخلاف، ما يمنع الاجماع الوطني والسقف الذي يجمع التيارات والأحزاب.
يفترض ان يشرح الرئيس مثل هذه القرارات كمستوجبة وإلا نشأ فراغ دستوري، وكمؤقتة حتى الاستفتاء على الدستور،
ولا بد منها لاستكمال مهام الثورة، ويفترض ان يفعل ذلك في خطاب للشعب المصري وليس لمؤيديه. كما يفترض ان يعمل هو شخصيا على إقناع من انسحب من الجمعية التأسيسية ان يعودوا إليها، وليس ان يخسر مستشاريه من غير الإخوان
. لا بد لمؤسسة الرئاسة ان تخرج من عباءة الإخوان، وأن تجهل مهمتها بناء مصر الديمقراطية، وان تأخذ بعين الاعتبار في المشاورات وفي التعيينات الرئاسية ذلك التحالف الواسع الذي أوصل مرسي للرئاسة، فهو لم يصل بأصوات الإخوان وحدهم... وأن تخاطب المصريين بشكل عام.

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