Gaza is no longer alone

In the nations of the Arab spring, people are now rising up to demand Palestinian rights as well

A GOOD COMMENT

Ahdaf Soueif
The Guardian, Friday 16 November 2012 

".....Since he won the presidency, Mohamed Morsi has tried to be a pragmatic politician. He pressed on with "security co-ordination" with Israel in Sinai; he started sealing up the tunnels that provide a lifeline to the besieged Gazans; he rejected the proposal of a free trade area on the borders between Egypt and Gaza; and he sent an ambassador to Tel Aviv with a fulsome letter to Shimon Peres. And so he found himself uncomfortably cosied up with remnants of the Mubarak regime and aficionados of the military government.

The rank and file of the Muslim Brotherhood and their Freedom and Justice party had a hard time justifying the actions of their man in the presidential palace to the rest of the country. Progressives and liberals mocked them for their big talk on Palestine all the years they were in opposition, and their resounding silence now they were in power. Skits about Morsi's "love letter" to Peres appeared online and parodies on Cairo walls.

Now, the Israelis have pushed him – pushed him perhaps into a position where he'll find himself more at ease in his presidency, and more in tune with the people. Large groups of young Egyptians have been heading for Gaza; my youngest niece is one of them. Like the efforts of the world's civil society to send ships to Gaza, young Egyptian civilians with a passion for freedom are going to support their friends. And on a more "official" level, medics and pharmacists have already arrived there. Abdel Moneim Aboul-Fotouh, a presidential candidate and doctor, has gone – as he did in 2008 during Israel's "Operation Cast Lead", long before he had political intentions. The Arab Doctors' Union has called for donations and volunteers.....

In every Arab country where the people rise up to demand their rights, they demand action on Palestinian rights as well. Tunis has just announced that its foreign minister is heading for Gaza. In Jordan today, hundreds of thousands were on the streets and, as well as demanding the fall of their own regime, they're also calling for justice for Palestine. Protesters are out in Libya. In Egypt, people are heading for Rafah. We are heading for true representation of the people's will in the region and, in the coming years, governments will need to follow the road shown to them by their people."

"Nowhere to Run": Israel Fires Over 500 Strikes in Gaza, Civilian Toll Grows in Humanitarian Crisis

Democracy Now!

"Transcript |

Israel is continuing to pound the Gaza Strip with air strikes amidst fears that Israel could soon launch a ground invasion into Gaza. Israeli troops, tanks and armored personnel carriers are now massing near the Palestinian territory. Earlier today, 85 missiles exploded within 45 minutes in Gaza City, sending black pillars of smoke. At least 21 Palestinians have died in the most recent round of violence, while three Israelis died on Thursday. Israel said it launched 150 air strikes overnight, while Palestinians fired a dozen rockets into Israel. Israel has started to draft 30,000 reserve troops in a sign the assault may soon widen. Among the casualties of Israeli violence was the 11-month-old son of a BBC Arabic journalist, Jihad Misharawi. Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil traveled to Gaza today to condemn the Israeli attack. For more, we get a report from Rafah by Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer, who says, "One thing that we ought to talk about here is the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. This is a situation of targeting a population of civilians, exactly like Israel is shooting in a fishbowl. And there is no shelter, and there is nowhere to run for the general population. Gaza is living in a very dire situation." We also speak with Gershon Baskin, the founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, who was the initiator of the secret talks between Israel and Hamas for the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit...."

Israeli Negotiator: Hamas Commander Was Assassinated Hours After Receiving Truce Deal from Israel

Democracy Now!

"Transcript |

Israel broke an informal ceasefire on Wednesday by assassinating Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari in an air strike. The Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, who helped mediate talks between Israel and Hamas in the deal to release Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, has revealed Jabari was assassinated just hours after he received the draft of a permanent truce agreement with Israel, which included mechanisms for maintaining the ceasefire. Baskin, the founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information, joins us from Jerusalem. We also speak with Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer based in Gaza...."

In photos: Israel attacks Gaza

The Electronic Intifada

Thirteen-year-old Ahmad Abu Daqqa is mourned during his funeral in Abbassan al-Kabira, east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, 9 November. The boy was shot in his stomach by an Israeli soldier while playing football outside his home.
(Anne Paq / ActiveStills)

(20 photos)

Images disprove Israeli official’s denial that Palestinians shot down drone over Gaza

By Ali Abunimah

"Video posted on YouTube from Al-Aqsa TV shows a drone that Palestinian resistance fighters say they shot down over Gaza.
Israeli government spokesman Ofir Gendelman tweeted, “The drone that Hamas showed on TV is not Israeli and is not in service in the IDF. This is another failed Hamas PR prop.”

 However examination of images of the drone suggest it is Gendelman who is lying. In the TV clip, the anchor identifies the downed drone as a “Skylite B,” an unmanned aerial vehicle made by the Israeli weapons firm Rafael.

Compare the screenshots below from the Al-Aqsa TV clip with the image of the Skylite B from the Rafael website and marketing brochure and decide for yourself who is telling the truth....."

A Present to Foreign Secretary Hague: 11-month-old son of BBC picture editor is killed in Gaza air strike

The Independent

"Sobbing and shaking with unbearable grief, Jihad Masharawi is pictured cradling the body of his murdered 11-month-old son Omar yesterday....."

Gaza - Live Updates

The Guardian

".....

Hamas interior ministry hit

Early on Friday, 85 missiles exploded within 45 minutes in Gaza City.
One missile hit the interior ministry and another hit an empty house belonging to a senior Hamas commander.
Those strikes, together with an attack on a generator building near the home of Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, signaled that Israel is expanding its offensive beyond military targets.
 

A Palestinian firefighter tries to extinguish a fire after an Israeli air strike on the building of the Hamas ministry of interior in Gaza City. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters

The BBC's Middle East bureau chief, Paul Danahar, says the interior ministry was where people used to get passports, ID cards & permission for journalists to go into Gaza. He says the ministry is still on fire......"

Guardian Video: Egyptian prime minister arrives in Gaza

                   
                   
                                   

"Egypt's prime minister, Hisham Kandil, arrives in Gaza on Friday as the Israeli military and Palestinian militants continue to exchange fire. Shortly after Kandil arrived, rockets fired from Gaza hit several sites in southern Israel. The Israeli air force responded with an attack on the house of Hamas's commander for southern Gaza."

Guardian Video: The Cheerleader for Israeli Attacks on Gaza Vows Support for the Syrian Karzai

Syria opposition to receive more support from UK, says William Hague

                   

                   

                   

                

               

Bomb Iran? No. Bomb Gaza? Yes!

By Pepe Escobar
Asia Times

"Frustrated with Obama's re-election and his pledges to pursue diplomacy with Iran, Netanyahu engineered an offensive on the last place Israeli Defense Forces can wreak havoc with total impunity. Don't expect condemnation of the Gazan assault from Gulf Arabs or Western "Friends of Syria", but Egypt could draw new battlelines...."

Here is the reaction of the Saudi king:

No support for Gaza and no condemnation of Israel! His "majesty" says that we should be rational and calm down!

العاهل السعودي يدعو إلى تحكيم العقل في أحداث غزة

"الرياض- (د ب أ): دعا العاهل السعودي الملك عبدالله بن عبد العزيز خلال اتصال هاتفي مع الرئيس المصري محمد مرسي إلى ضرورة "تحكيم العقل" في الأحداث التي تدور في غزة بين الفلسطينيين والإسرائيليين.
وذكرت وكالة الأنباء السعودية الرسمية (واس) الخميس أن الملك عبد الله تلقى اتصالا هاتفيا الليلة من الرئيس مرسي تطرق الحديث خلاله إلى العلاقات بين البلدين الشقيقين والأوضاع في المنطقة وتطور الأحداث في الأراضي الفلسطينية.

وأضافت (واس) أن العاهل السعودي أجاب على الرئيس المصري محمد مرسي "بأنه لا بد من تهدئة الأمور وإحكام العقل وألا يغلب الانفعال على الحكمة والتدبر".
وأدان الرئيس مرسي الذي تعهد مرارا باحترام اتفاقية السلام التي أبرمت عام 1979 مع إسرائيل الغارات ووصفها بأنها تهديد للأمن الإقليمي وسحب السفير المصري من إسرائيل.

واستدعى أيضا السفير الإسرائيلي بالقاهرة لتسليمه مذكرة احتجاج ودعا إلى عقد اجتماع طارئ لمجلس الأمن.

واستشهد 16 فلسطينيا بينهم أحمد الجعبري قائد العمليات العسكرية في كتائب عز الدين القسام كما أصيب ما لا يقل عن 150 أخرين بجروح منذ بداية العدوان العسكري الإسرائيلي الجديد على غزة مساء الأربعاء."

Al-Jazeera Video:تواصل الغارات الإسرائيلية على غزة

"في غزة أعلنت حركة حماس أنها لن تنجر وراء ما وصفتها بخديعة الاحتلال الإسرائيلي من أجل هدنة جديدة. وأشار المتحدث باسم الحركة سامي أبو زهري إلى أن الاحتلال هو الذي خرق الهدنة باغتياله الجعبري. وقد أعلنت كتائب القسام التابعة للحركة إسقاطها طائرة استطلاع إسرائيلية فوق سماء غزة فيما تواصلت الغارات الإسرائيلية ليلا على مناطق متفرقة من القطاع.
"

(فيديو) اطلاق القسام صاروخ فجر5 على تل أبيب

عرب48 /وكالات

"أعلنت كتائب الشهيد عز الدين القسام مسؤوليتها عن قصف مدينة (تل ابيب) بصاروخين من طراز فجر خمسة للمرة الاولى في تاريخ المقاومة الفلسطينية بالاضافة الى العديد من صواريخ الجراد ومحلية الصنع.
 "

Steve Bell on Tony Blair and William Hague's role in Israel-Gaza clash – cartoon

AND THESE PEOPLE (HAGUE in particular) SUPPOSEDLY WANT TO "HELP" THE SYRIAN PEOPLE??

The Egyptian Tartour at the Service of the Empire: Obama presses Egypt to help rein in Hamas as Gaza conflict escalates

The Guardian

"Barack Obama is pressing the Egyptian leadership to help de-escalate the bloody conflict in Gaza amid concern that a further ratcheting up of violence, such as a major Israeli ground assault, could damage the peace accords between Cairo and Jerusalem.

The Egyptian prime minister, Hisham Kandil, is expected to lead a delegation to Gaza on Friday for talks with Hamas leaders on quelling the fighting [Not support of the Palestinians as Egypt claims!] which has escalated with the Israeli assassination of the Hamas military leader, Ahmed Jabari, and the firing of hundreds of rockets from Gaza into Israel. The fighting has now claimed civilian lives on both sides.

On Thursday, the conflict threatened to escalate further as the Israelis stepped up their intense bombardment of Gaza and Hamas continued its barrage of rocket fire into Israel....."

قوات الأمن التونسية تستخدم القوة لتفريق مئات المتضامنين مع غزة

قوات الأمن التونسية تستخدم القوة لتفريق مئات المتضامنين مع غزة "

"تونس ـ (يو بي اي) تظاهر مئات التونسيين، الخميس، للتنديد بالهجوم الإسرائيلي على قطاع غزة، وتعبيراً عن تضامنهم مع الشعب الفلسطيني، غير أن قوات الأمن تصدّت لهم بالهراوات وفرّقتهم بالقوة.
وتجمّع نحو 500 شخص في ساحة محمد علي أمام مقر الإتحاد العام التونسي للشغل (أحد أكبر ثلاث منظمات نقابية تونسية) تلبية لدعوة من الأحزاب القومية واليسارية، في مسيرة للتعبير عن تضامنهم مع الشعب الفلسطيني.

ورفع المتظاهرون علم فلسطين، ورددوا شعارات منها "الشعب يريد تحرير فلسطين"، و"الشعب يريد تجريم التطبيع"، كما استهدفوا الحكومة التونسية الحالية التي تقودها حركة النهضة الإسلامية بعدة شعارات منها "يا حكومة عار عار، غزة تحت النار"، و"يا حكومة عار عليكم، فلسطين تناديكم".

وحاول المتظاهرون الوصول إلى شارع الحبيب بورقيبة وسط تونس العاصمة، غير أن قوات الأمن التي حاصرت المتظاهرين بتعزيزات أمنية كبيرة، عمدت إلى تفريقهم بالقوة مستعملة الهراوات والعصي.

وتفرّق المتظاهرون في الأحياء المحاذية لشارع الحبيب بورقيبة وسط ترديد شعارات مناهضة لوزارة الداخلية التونسية التي يدير شؤونها علي لعريض القيادي في حركة النهضة الإسلامية، منها" وزارة الداخلية، وزارة إرهابية"، و"شركاء في العدوان، الأمريكان والإخوان"، وذلك في إشارة إلى الإخوان المسلمين.

إلى ذلك، قال شاهد في اتصال هاتفي ليونايتد برس إنترناشونال، إن مدينة صفاقس الواقعة على بعد نحو 275 كيلومتراً جنوب تونس العاصمة، شهدت هي الأخرى مظاهرة حاشدة للتنديد بـ"العدوان الإسرائيلي".

كما خرج العشرات من التونسيين في مظاهرة مماثلة في مدينة بنقردان الواقعة في أقصى الجنوب التونسي غير بعيد عن الحدود مع ليبيا.

وتأتي هذه التحركات الشعبية، فيما تواصلت ردود الفعل المنددة بالهجوم الإسرائيلي المتواصل على قطاع غزة، حيث استنكر الإتحاد العام التونسي للشغل ما وصغ بـ"العدوان الإسرائيلي الغادر".

وأعرب في بيان حمل توقيع أمينه العام حسين العباسي، تلقت يونايتد برس إنترناشونال نسخة منه مساء اليوم، عن تنديده بـ"مساندة أميركا لهذا العدوان"، وبـ"صمت القوى الامبريالية إزاء الجرائم التي ترتكب ضدّ الأطفال والنساء والشيوخ بأبشع وسائل الدمار الحربي".

كما ندد أيضا في بيانه بالأنظمة العربية التي "تصمت أمام العدوان الصهيوني وتهرول إلى إرضائه في حين تغدق المال الوفير لإشعال الحروب والفتن وتغذية الإرهاب في بعض البلدان العربية ومنها سوريا".

ودعا الإتحاد العام التونسي للشغل الفصائل الوطنية الفلسطينية إلى التوحّد في مقاومة العدو الصهيوني ونبذ الإنقسامات، مشدداً في نفس الوقت على ضرورة تجريم التطبيع في الدستور التونسي الجديد كأحد مداخل "خنق الكيان الصهيوني ومنع العلاقات معه" ودعماً لخيار المقاومة الذي أثبت جدواه في الإطاحة بالأنظمة الدكتاتورية في عدد من البلدان العربية.

وكان 15 فلسطينياً قتلوا في عملية عسكرية إسرائيلية متدحرجة على قطاع غزة سمّتها إسرائيل "عامود السحاب"، بدأتها باغتيال القائد في كتائب عز الدين القسّام الجناح العسكري لحركة المقاومة الإسلامية (حماس)، أحمد الجعبري ومرافقه، وأدّت أيضاً إلى إصابة 130 آخرين غالبيتهم من المدنيين، بينهم 26 طفلاً.
"

Guardian Video: Jordanian police clash with fuel protesters

                   
                   
                                   

"Protesters in the Jordanian capital, Amman, clash with riot police on Wednesday, after two days of demonstrations against a hike in fuel prices. More than 1,000 people spilled into the streets of Amman and smaller protests erupted in several provincial towns on Tuesday after Islamist and tribal opposition groups said they would demonstrate."

The end of the two-state illusion: Gaza's silver lining?

Everything we see today in Israel/Palestine is a result of the "inability to put the Oslo zombie out of its misery".

By Mark LeVine

Al-Jazeera

"....Once the fighting dies down, Israel will threaten to end its support for Oslo and even topple the PA if it goes ahead with its fight for greater international recognition. But there's little chance it would follow through on such a threat, since the alternative to the Oslo process would be direct rule over the Occupied Territories, thus making the one-state choice for Palestinians.

Sadly, if the Arab Spring was in good measure inspired by the two Palestinian intifadas, there seems to be no scenario in which a robust Palestinian civil society can lead the kind of intifada that brought an end to the rule of Tunisia's Ben Ali or Egypt's Mubarak. Neither Israel nor the international community, nor the contending poles of the Palestinian leadership will allow such a movement to emerge.

"The People want the downfall of the regime!" is clearly a sentiment most Palestinians would agree with. But unlike Egyptians, Tunisians, or even Libyans and Syrians, Palestinians must simultaneously fight multiple occupations - against their own leadership as much as against Israel.

At the same time, like an abuser whose actions are celebrated by his friends rather than condemned, Israel has little if any incentive begins treating Palestinians like full human beings. But if this latest round of bloody violence can help finally destroy the Oslo illusion, it might just force the two sides to look across the so-called Green Line and begin the long, arduous but absolutely necessary project of imagining a common and equal future in which the full humanities and rights of both sides is finally respected."

Breaking Truce, Israeli Strikes Kill "Moderate" Hamas Military Chief, Palestinian Civilians in Gaza

DEMOCRACY NOW! 
"Israel is threatening to launch a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip after breaking an informal ceasefire with an ongoing series of deadly attacks. At least 13 Palestinian civilians have been killed, including a baby and a mother pregnant with twins, in addition to more than 100 wounded. Israel says it has launched the strikes to prevent Palestinian rocket fire, but the latest round of violence began last week when Israeli troops killed a young boy in Gaza. The situation has escalated since Saturday, when Palestinian militants fired at an Israeli military vehicle near the Israel-Gaza border. After Palestinian militant groups agreed to an informal truce on Monday, Israel broke two days of quiet with Wednesday’s attack. Israel’s attack on Gaza marks its largest since the U.S.-backed operation that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians nearly four years ago. We go to Gaza City to speak with Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer......."

Al-Jazeera Video: World reacts to latest violence in Gaza

Real News Video: Israel Escalates Assault On Gaza Strip after Assassination Of Top Hamas Commander

Jihan Hafiz reports on the continued military action in Gaza

A Great Cartoon by Khalil Bendib: Assad and Bibi

How Israel shattered Gaza truce leading to escalating death and tragedy: a timeline

By Ali Abunimah

"Today, 3 Israelis were killed as a result of rocket fire from Gaza.
This came after Israel had killed 13 Palestinians, including 3 children and a woman, and injured 115, including 26 children and 25 women since yesterday, 14 November.

This will be presented by Israel – and sympathetic or careless world media – as another justification for Israel’s attacks on Gaza to stop rocket fire. But this narrative is false.

Where there was calm and an effective truce, Israel chose to shatter it, bringing about the current deadly escalation.

In general, Palestinians fired rockets, or attacked the Israeli army, as a response to Israeli attacks, seeking to avoid escalation and publicly embracing a truce. Take a look at the sequence:......."

Israel’s Real Agenda

by Philip Giraldi, November 15, 2012 

"......Understanding that Israel’s real agenda is not to fight Iran or do anything to help stabilize Syria and accepting instead that Benjamin Netanyahu intends to expand and solidify a Greater Israel provides some clarity to developments in the Middle East. Palestinians living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River in Israel, Gaza, and on the West Bank will in twelve years constitute a majority of the indigenous population, but they will be a majority forced into ever contracting enclaves and hemmed in by Israeli force majeure on all sides. It is not a pleasant prospect, being somewhat akin to the sputtering bomb cartoon that Netanyahu produced in the United Nations. Unfortunately, only the United States can influence the Israelis to rethink their destructive policies, which will ultimately also do grave damage to the American people, but there is no sign that any US politician has the courage to face the facts and do what is right."

Gaza - Live Updates

The Guardian

"...

Baby of BBC Arabic cameraman killed

The baby of a BBC Arabic cameraman was killed by the Israeli air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, the corporation says.

Jihad al-Masharawi, a Palestinian employee of BBC Arabic in Gaza, carries the body of his 11-month-old son Omar, who according to hospital officials was killed by an Israeli air strike in Gaza City 15 November, 2012. Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters.......

Muslim Brotherhood calls for Egypt to cut ties with Israel

 The Muslim Brotherhood has called for protests urging the Egyptian government to sever diplomatic ties with Israel.

Has no one told them that the Muslim Brotherhood is in power in Egypt?......

Audio: Muslim Brotherhood facing criticism over Gaza response

A lot of eyes are on the response by the Muslim Brotherhood government in Egypt, especially given its historic ties to Hamas, but Abdel Rahman- Hussein, in Cairo, says now that the group is in power it seems to be adopting a pragmatic approach taking "pretty much the same measures that Hosni Mubarak took during Operation Cast Lead" in 2008-09. He said:

The Brotherhood are facing criticism already that they are not doing anything that is too different from a regime that was overthrown by the Egyptian people and was deemed complicit in the siege of the people of Gaza ...The Muslim Brotherhood has always criticised the Mubarak regime basically for letting things happen on its border because Gaza's on the border with Egypt and the Sinai border and I think a stronger Egyptian position would have made Israel think twice about carrying out such an operation, not knowing what would happen on the other side of the border ...
There will be demonstrations [in Cairo] today and tomorrow but that's what happened in 2008. The Muslim Brotherhood along with a lot of secular opposition forces held a series of protests against the Israeli offensive during that time but they weren't in power back then. They're in power now and it seems that, basically, they're pretty much going down the same route [as the Mubarak regime]......"

Jordan police stations attacked by gunmen during protest

One gunman killed and 13 police seriously injured as demonstrators denounce the King over rising price of fuel

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 14 November 2012

"Gunmen have attacked two police stations in Jordan as demonstrators threw rocks and denounced their king over price hikes in a rare spike of violence.

One attacker was killed in the assaults, the first fatality in demonstrations in the kingdom this year. Thirteen police officers were among 17 seriously wounded in the attack in Jordan's north, police said. A police corporal was critically wounded in the second.

Two days of angry protests have threatened to push the US-allied kingdom into a wave of unrest.
King Abdullah II has so far steered his nation clear of the Arab Spring that has swept across the region, toppling the rulers of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen along the way. But Jordan's massive budget deficit and other economic woes could increasingly push the population into the opposition camp......"

"هآرتس": إسرائيل سعت إلى طمأنة حماس والأخيرة وقعت في فخ التضليل

عــ48ـرب

"قالت صحيفة "هآرتس" في موقعها على الشبكة، صباح اليوم الخميس، إن قرار الاحتلال الإسرائيلي بشن عملية عسكرية في القطاع اتخذ منذ يوم الثلاثاء في الجلسة الخاصة للجنة التساعية، دون عقد جلسة للمجلس الوزاري الأمني قبل إطلاق العدوان على القطاع، وأن المجلس عقد بعد بدء تحديد أهداف العدوان حيث طلب منه المصادقة عليها.

وقال تقرير ل"هآرتس" إن العدوان الإسرائيلي الذي بدأ الأربعاء، جاء في ختام عملية تضليل واسعة قامت بها إسرائيل وسعت من خلالها إلى طمأنة حركة حماس بأن الرد الإسرائيلي لن يكون قريبا ، ولم تقتصر عملية التضليل هذه المرة على قيادات الجيش الإسرائيلي  وأجهزة الأمن بل شملت أيضا هذه المرة وزراء في الحكومة الإسرائيلية  وكان الهدف من مناورة التضليل "طمأنة" حركة حماس  لدفعها إلى خفض درجة استنفارها وجاهزيتها لحالة وقوع هجوم إسرائيلي، حتى تقوم الحركة باستئناف عمليات إطلاق الصواريخ ضد إسرائيل وبالتالي تعقب مكان القائد العسكري لكتائب عز الدين القسام ، أحمد الجعبري واغتياله.

وقال موقع "هآرتس" إن نتنياهو عقد الاثنين لقاء مع السفراء الأجانب المعتمدين في إسرائيل في مدينة أشكلون، للتأكيد على أن إسرائيل ستسعى لوقف إطلاق الصواريخ من القطاع ، لكنه أوهم الدبلوماسيين أن الحديث لا يدور عن عملية قريبة، وترك نتنياهو نفس الانطباع عند رؤساء البلديات الإسرائيلية في الجنوب خلال لقائه بهم يوم الثلاثاء. وفي هذا السياق أعلن نتنياهو وبراك سوية أن إسرائيل ستحدد الموعد المناسب للرد على النيران القادمة من غزة.

إلى ذلك ولإكمال مناورة التضليل، فقد أرسل الوزير بني بيغن للحديث مع وسائل الإعلام من الجلسة الخاصة للجنة التسعة الوزارية ، ظهر الأربعاء، قبل ساعات معدودة من عملية اغتيال الجعبري وأعطى مقابلات صحافية قال فيها إن جولة التصعيد في القطاع قد انتهت وأن إسرائيل سترد في المستقبل مع أي تصعيد قادم.

وبحسب "هآرتس"، فإن المركب التالي في عملية التضليل تمثل بجولة نتنياهو وبراك سوية في مقر قيادة قوات الاحتلال في الجولان، بحجة الاطلاع على الأوضاع في هضبة الجولان ومتابعة التطورات في سوريا، وشارك الرئيس الإسرائيلي بيرس هو الآخر في عملية التضليل عندما قام بجولة في بلدة سديروت.

وأوضح الموقع أن متابعة ورصد تحركات الجعبري بدأت منذ الثلاثاء لكن الأحوال الجوية العاصفة حالت دون شن الهجوم وتنفيذه الثلاثاء، واستأنفت إسرائيل رصد تحركاته صباح أمس الأربعاء وعند تعقبه تم إبلاغ نتنياهو وبراك اللذان صادقا على تنفيذ الاغتيال وإطلاق العدوان الجديد تحت اسم "عامود السحاب"."

Al-Jazeera Video: Interview: Ali Abunimah on the situation in Gaza

"Israeli air strikes have continued into the night in Gaza, after a missile killed the military commander of Hamas, Ahmed Jabari.

Dozens of rockets have been fired back into southern Israel following the strike. One has hit a shopping centre in a major Israeli city.

At least eight people have been reported killed in Gaza so far - including three civilians. Residential buildings are among those destroyed.

Al Jazeera's Shakuntala Santhrian interviews Ali Abunimah, a Palestinian American journalist, and co-founder of Electronic Intifada, an online publication about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Al-Jazeera Video: Interview with Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan

"Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan speaks to Al Jazeera about the latest Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, following the killing of Hamas's Ahmad Jabari.

"Now they have started not only an attack, but it's a long operation against Gaza. They are working to target the local leaders and also some political leaders; because of that we are expecting some days of violence," he said.

"Everyone knows that Ahmed Jabari was the leader of al-Qassam troops during the war on Gaza 2008-2009 and he was the man behind the [2006] kidnapping of Gilad Shalit. So [the Israeli military] has started with this man because they believe they have a long revenge for him."

"We will respond, that must happen. I have to say clearly we know that this road of retaliation is very long and we have to sacrifice. And we have sacrificed a lot."

[Update: Since this interview was carried out, Al Jazeera has confirmed that Ahmad Jabari's son was not killed in the Israeli attack as Osama Hamdan mentioned.]"

Déjà Vu All Over Again! Hamas Will Never Learn: Hamas military chief killed in Israeli attack

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

Will the protests in Jordan lead to a popular Intifada?

With over 1200 responding, 66% said yes.

Noam Chomsky on Gaza, and the 2 Positives of Election 2012: The Worst Didn’t Happen — and It’s Over

"World-renowned political dissident, linguist, author and MIT professor Noam Chomsky joins us to discuss his recent trip to the Gaza Strip, where he publicly called on Israel to put an end to the blockade on the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave. "[Gaza] is a lesson for people from the West," Chomsky says. "If they can struggle on under really harsh and brutal conditions, it tells us we ought to be doing a lot more." Chomsky also comments on President Obama’s re-election, saying: "There are two good things: one, the worst did not happen, and it might have. The second is, it is over. We can put it behind us and get back to work."....."

Israel Assassinates the leader of Hammas Military Wing Ahmad AlJa'bari

Al-Jazeera Video: Aleppo's residents cope as fighting continues

"Months of fighting have reduced parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, to ruins.
Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons travelled to what was once the country's commercial hub to find out how people are coping."

Al-Jazeera Video: Syrian rebels plan battle for Damascus

"Rebel units of the Free Syrian Army are in control of some areas in the outlying suburbs of the capital Damascus. Al Jazeera followed one FSA unit in the capital as they tracked and captured a Palestinian man who they suspected of collaborating with the pro-Assad militia. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra has the story."

Radical Clerics Seek to Legalise Child Brides

By Cam McGrath

"CAIRO, Nov 14 2012 (IPS) - An ultraconservative Salafi cleric recently sparked outrage among Egypt’s liberal circles when he attempted to justify his opposition to a proposed constitutional article that would outlaw the trafficking of women for sex.

Speaking on privately-owned Al-Nas satellite channel, Sheikh Mohamed Saad El-Azhary said he feared the proposed article could conflict with the local practice of child marriage. He explained that in Egypt, particularly in rural areas, there is a culture of marrying off girls as soon as they hit puberty.

“The important thing is that the girl is ready and can tolerate marriage,” El-Azhary declared......"

Four more years of the same for US, Israel on Palestine

By Jonathan Cook
The National

"....Faced with a popular consensus in Israel and political backing in the US Congress for a hard line with the Palestinians, Mr Obama is an unlikely champion even of the Palestinians' ambition to win observer status at the United Nations. A vote on this matter is currently scheduled for November 29, with Mahmoud Abbas apparently hoping that the anniversary of the 1947 UN partition plan for Palestine will provide emotional resonance. Predictably, the US and Israel have threatened economic retaliation if the statehood bid proceeds.....

The reality is that the White House is stuck with an Israeli government, with or without Mr Netanyahu, that rejects an agreement with the Palestinians. As tensions flare again on the Israel-Gaza border, as they did in the run-up to the last Israeli election, it looks disturbingly like four more years of the same."

Syria Live Updates

The Guardian

"........

This Reuters video shows people panicking and running for cover in Ras al-Ain as warplanes fly overhead, as well as a row of destroyed shops afterwards.

The beginning of the video, which the news agency cannot verify, purports to show a car in Damascus crushed by a government tank, with the driver's body still inside......

Surface-to-air missiles

Syrian rebels may have more powerful shoulder-mounted surface-to-air missiles than previously thought, if photographs posted by Brown Moses (Eliot Higgins) on his blog are correct.

His photos show a man with what he identifies as an SA-16 (“reportedly captured by Ansar al-Islam from an air defence in East Ghouta, near Damascus”) and an SA-24 (“apparently looted from Babla Base air defence base by Ansar al-Islam”) - “the latest generation of Russian surface to air missiles”.

EU enables Israeli colonialism

By Ramzy Baroud
Asia Times

"The European Union's role as a major funder of the Palestinian Authority and advocate of the two-state solution is undermined by its status as a major market for the settlements that keeps them prosperous. While the United States' economic support of Israel is openly one-sided and "unconditional", it seems the EU's financial strategy deviously ensures the very occupation the grouping is supposedly trying to end....."

'Orientals' and Yankee presidents

American presidents come and go, but few, if any, seem to have the will to change the status quo in the Middle East.

 By Larbi Sadiki
 Al-Jazeera

 "..... Thus US foreign policy calls for readjustment. In the context of the Arab Spring it must not be driven by the imperative of introducing "order" into the lives of "Orientals". Security seems to be the constant that informs foreign policy-making before and after the Arab Spring; and this happens at the expense of development and a degree of self-determination such as in democratic reconstruction.

 Beyond security and oil 

 Moreover, Western leaders seem hell bent on repeating the same mistakes of manipulating "elites", recruiting them into their spheres of influence. In theory, many Western actors stand for institution-building and due process; in practice, it is largely business as usual seeking policy preferences and objectives through communication with elites, sometimes with limited legitimacy.

 Policy failure is obvious in Bahrain, where conflict resolution is managed through dialogue with elites in Manama and Riyadh. Similarly, the impasse in the Palestinian question can be put down to preference to deal with select politicians in the polarised polity. So instead of using existing legal UN frameworks as the basis for engaging with peace-making, reference is made to "client" leaders who speak and act, in the absence of legitimate mandate, on behalf of the occluded populace, the Arab "Orientals", often assumed to be silent, passive and in need of mentoring and guidance. 

 Obama's second term will not be a promenade in the White House given the onerous tasks awaiting him on the domestic front, especially in a Congress dominated by the Republicans. Even with a leaf from the books of Eisenhower, Carter and Clinton, the Middle East will prove more difficult to navigate if the moral compass of America is limited by the blind spots of security, oil and client-politicians."

Al-Jazeera Video: احتجاجات في عدة مدن أردنية على قرار الحكومة

"شهدت مدن أردنية احتجاجات واسعة ضد قرار الحكومة رفع الدعم عن أسعار عدد من المشتقات النفطية. وانتقد المحتجون في العاصمة عمان العاهل الأردني وهددوا بتصعيد حراكهم في الأيام المقبلة، وفي المقابل هاجم رئيس الوزراء عبد الله النسور جماعة الإخوان المسلمين وحذرهم مما سماه تجييش الشارع.
"

Finally.......
A Syrian Karzai Has Been Anointed...

Celebrate!

Al-Jazeera Video: Inside Story - Probing Yasser Arafat's death

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said that Russian experts will join a team of Swiss and French investigators in exhuming the remains of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat later this month. Abbas made the announcement during a ceremony to mark the eighth anniversary of Arafat's death on Sunday, in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Abbas says he hopes the Russian involvement will help the investigation."

Al-Jazeera Video: ما وراء الخبر - مصير التحقيق في وفاة ياسر عرفات

"تخوض الحلقة في مصير التحقيق في وفاة ياسر عرفات، والجدل حول فتح قبر عرفات، وتطرح السؤالين التاليين: هل يمضي التحقيق في ملابسات وفاة ياسر عرفات أم يتعثر؟ من المستفيد من الإبقاء على سر وفاة عرفاة حبيسا في قبره؟"

Netanyahu's Electoral Campaigning Over the Dead in Gaza, by Emad Hajjaj

Syrian Red Crescent estimates 2.5 million uprooted in Syria

"(Reuters) - The Syrian Arab Red Crescent estimates that 2.5 million people are internally displaced within Syria by civil war, doubling the previous figure of 1.2 million used by aid agencies, the United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday.

"The figure they are using is 2.5 million. If anything, they believe it could be more, this is a very conservative estimate," Melissa Fleming, chief spokeswoman of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told a news briefing in Geneva.

"So people are moving, really on the run, hiding. They are difficult to count and access," she said.
The United Nations said on Friday that up to 4 million people inside Syria will need humanitarian aid by early next year when the country is in the grip of winter, up from 2.5 million now whose needs are not fully met......"

Guardian Video: Syrian border town devastated by air raids – video

                   
                   
                                   

"Amateur video obtained from social media purports to show the aftermath of air raids over the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 12 people, including seven Islamist militants, were killed in the air strikes. The town, on the Turkish border, fell to rebels on Thursday. Thousands have fled into Turkey."

Al-Jazeera Video: Arab League legitimises Syria National Council

"For more on the Arab League meeting about on Syria's newly formed opposition bloc, Jacky Rowland reports from the Egyptian capital, Cairo. 

And to discuss the developments inside Syria and the recent diplomatic moves, Al Jazeera speaks with Michael Weiss, a Syria expert at The Henry Jackson Society, a UK foreign policy think tank."

Al-Jazeerac Video: Syria rebels hope to unify forces

"For months, rebel fighters in Syria have resisted calls to unify their forces. 

But in Aleppo, anti-Assad brigades have discovered that if they want to win, they'll have to put their divisions aside. 

Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reports."

Al-Jazeera Video: الثوار يسقطون مروحية للنظام في البوكمال

"قالت الشبكة السورية لحقوق الإنسان إن أربعين شخصا قتلوا اليوم بنيران قوات النظام معظمهم في دمشق وريفها والحسكة. 
من جهتها قالت لجان التنسيق إن قوات النظام قصفت بالمدفعية أحياء التضامن والحجر الأسود ومخيمي اليرموك وفلسطين.
بينما قالت الهيئة العامة للثورة إن طائرات الميغ استهدفت مدنا وبلدات عدة بريف دمشق. 
وأفاد ناشطون بأن الجيش الحر أسقط مروحية لقوات النظام في مدينة البوكمال بدير الزور. القصف طال أيضا بلدات في ريف الرقة وبلدة رأس العين في الحسكة."

Real News Video (with Transcript): Will the US Negotiate State to State with Iran?

Gareth Porter: The US has rebuffed several attempts by Iran to negotiate a resolution to the standoff, Obama appears committed to harsh sanctions 

Al-Jazeera Cartoon

The Israeli documentary putting military rule in Palestine on trial

The Law In These Parts builds a strong case against the judges responsible for Israel's draconian occupation laws

Rachel Shabi
guardian.co.uk, Monday 12 November 2012

"The Law In These Parts, an Israeli documentary awarded this year's Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury prize, examines how the country created a military-legal system to control the Palestinians in the lands Israel occupied in 1967. And at some point during the film, it becomes clear that it's the judges who are on trial. The documentary, which just screened as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival, features forceful archive footage, alongside a line-up of Israeli legal experts, explaining how they made Israel's occupation laws.


Each judge sits in a black leather chair at a heavy wooden desk intended, you might first assume, to evoke a serious courtroom. But then, each is quietly interrogated by the film's narrator; asked to explain the military rule that they created. Why did Israel even need hundreds of new laws for occupied Palestinians? What was wrong with the existing legal system? Because Israeli law, one judge says, can only be applied if you give citizenship to the Palestinian population. Why aren't Palestinian fighters described as "prisoners of war"? Why are Palestinians attempting to enter Israel labelled as "infiltrators"?......."

Once Again—Death of the Liberal Class

By Chris Hedges
TruthDig

"The presidential election exposed the liberal class as a corpse. It fights for nothing. It stands for nothing. It is a useless appendage to the corporate state. It exists not to make possible incremental or piecemeal reform, as it originally did in a functional capitalist democracy; instead it has devolved into an instrument of personal vanity, burnishing the hollow morality of its adherents. Liberals, by voting for Barack Obama, betrayed the core values they use to define themselves—the rule of law, the safeguarding of civil liberties, the protection of unions, the preservation of social welfare programs, environmental accords, financial regulation, a defiance of unjust war and torture, and the abolition of drone wars. The liberal class clung desperately during the long nightmare of this political campaign to one or two issues, such as protecting a woman’s right to choose and gender equality, to justify its complicity in a monstrous evil. This moral fragmentation—using an isolated act of justice to define one’s self while ignoring the vast corporate assault on the nation and the ecosystem along with the pre-emptive violence of the imperial state—is moral and political capitulation. It fails to confront the evil we have become......"

Middle Eastern snakes exceed ladders for the US

Obama wasn't challenged over America's plans in Syria and Iran in the election. But conflicts in the region could proliferate in his second term

By Patrick Cockburn
The Independent

".....Could Israel bamboozle the US into joining it in an attack on Iran? I have always thought it likely that the Israelis are bluffing. Forever being on the verge of attacking Iran suits them nicely, giving them much leverage in a world that wants to prevent such a war. Israeli threats have provoked devastating economic sanctions against Iran and marginalised the Palestinians as an issue. But an actual military attack is unlikely to achieve much and would probably provoke Iran into building a nuclear device. Tales of how it was only the Israeli chief of staff and the head of Mossad who have prevented such a war being launched in the past serves Benjamin Netanyahu's purposes well, by making his threat of imminent Israeli air strikes more credible.

For the moment, the Middle East and west Asia is probably a good place for the US and other foreign powers to keep out of. Libya is a recent example of what can go wrong. Up to a few months ago,

Washington thought its behind-the-scenes role in Gaddafi's overthrow was a model of foreign intervention. It forgot that the war effort by the rebel militia brigades was something of a propaganda sham, the real war being fought by Nato air power. But, come the assault on the US consulate in Benghazi on 11 September this year, the local CIA detachment was reportedly pleading in vain to local militiamen to come to their aid.

The new political map of the Middle East has more snakes than ladders for the US, but it is not that there are no ladders at all. Obama was swift to abandon Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia during the first days of the Arab Spring. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the ruling AKP in Turkey do not want a confrontation with the US while they seek to Islamise their societies. They need to deprive their domestic opponents of any prospect of US backing. With so many conflicts cross-infecting each other, we may be entering an era of conflicts in the region exceeding anything seen since the 1960s." 

Obama and the Israel lobby: Quo vadis?

By Stephen M. Walt

"Has AIPAC lost its mojo? Does Obama's reelection prove that the Israel lobby is getting weaker, and that he can return to Middle East peacemaking with new confidence and resolve? It's no secret that Obama has a frosty relationship with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, fueling GOP hopes that Israel would be a wedge issue that would attract lots of Jewish voters and donors. At least one prominent hardline Zionist, Sheldon Adelson, spent tens of millions of dollars trying to buy the election for Romney, and he got bupkis for all that cash. So now that Obama's got a second term, will he blithely ignore AIPAC et al and pursue an even-handed approach to the Middle East peace process?......


But I don't see a sea-change; at least not yet. AIPAC and its allies don't get everything they want, of course, but they can still put real limits on what the president and his advisors are willing to try. We still have not reached the point where politicians are willing to openly acknowledge that a normal relationship would be better for both countries than the current special relationship of unconditional U.S. support. You didn't hear Obama, Romney, or any other major candidate say anything like that in 2012, which tells you that fear of the lobby remains a potent political force. That's not good for us, but it's even worse for Israelis and Palestinians. Which is why I'd be delighted if the next four years proves me wrong.   "

I Predicted That it Would be Coming: Egyptian Salafi Leader Calls for Destroying the Sphinx, the Pyramids and Pharaonic Statues!

قيادي مصري سلفي يدعو لتدمير تمثال ابو الهول والاهرامات والتماثيل الفرعونية

"القاهرة ـ(ا ف ب) - نادى القيادي بالدعوة السلفية الجهادية في مصر مرجان سالم الجوهري بتحطيم تمثال ابو الهول والاهرامات والتماثيل في مصر وذلك في لقاء له مع قناة "دريم" الخاصة مساء السبت. وقال الشيخ الجوهري انه "يجب تحطيم الاصنام والتماثيل التي تمتليء بها مصر والمسلمون مكلفون بتطبيق تعاليم الشرع الحكيم ومنها ازالة تلك الاصنام كما فعلنا بافغانستان وحطمنا تماثيل بوذا". واضاف "ونحن مكلفون بتحطيم الاصنام وسنحطم تماثيل ابو الهول والاهرامات لانها اصنام ووثن تعبد من دون الله". واضاف الجوهري ان "الله عز وجل امر نبيه (محمد) الكريم بتحطيم الاصنام، وعندما كنت ضمن حركة طالبان قمنا بتحطيم تمثال بوذا رغم ان الحكومة هناك فشلت في تحطيمه". ورد عليه الصحافي نبيل شرف الدين الذي شارك في اللقاء ان "عمرو بن العاص (الصحابي الذي فتح مصر) دخل مصر ولم يحطم تمثالا، لان تحطيم التماثيل مرتبط بعبادتها، ولا احد يعبد التماثيل الان، كذلك فان هذا التراث الانساني ملك لكل المصريين ولن نقبل من احد ان يقترب منها ونحن لكم بالمرصاد". وقدمت مداخلة في البرنامج لنائب رئيس حركة النهضة التونسية الشيخ عبد الفتاح مورو الذي تسائل في مداخلته موجها حديثه للشيخ الجوهري "من انتم مرة اخرى حتى تقومون بذلك فهل قام سيدنا عمرو بن العاص رضي الله عنه حينما جاء الى مصر بتحطيم التماثيل". وقال مورو ان "النبي (..) حطم التماثيل في عهده لانهم كانوا يعبدونها اما ابو الهول و الاهرامات فليس هناك احد يعبدها وبالتالي فأنت مخطئ وفكرك خطأ ومخالف للشرع". يشار الى ان شيخا سلفيا اخر هو الداعيه محمد حسان دعى في وقت سابق الى "طمس وجوه التماثيل وتغطيتها بالشمع". وقد عبر الكثير من المثقفيين المصريين عن غضبهم من تصريحات الشيخ السلفي وصلت لمطالبة البعض منهم وبينهم الصحافي سيد محمود الى "تقديم امثال الشيخ مرجان سالم الجوهري للمحاكمة هو ومن يسانده". "

Syrian exile: 'My mother is dead. And it was my father who killed her'

When Loubna Mrie joined the revolution, she incurred the wrath of her father, an Assad loyalist

Martin Chulov
The Guardian, Sunday 11 November 2012

                   

                   

                                    

"When revolution first came to Syria, Loubna Mrie decided she would break new ground to help it succeed.

Deeply affected by the images of dead protesters across the country, the 21-year-old Alawite – the daughter of a leader of the regime's thuggish Shabiha militia and member of Syria's most privileged minority – left her home in the regime heartland of Latakia and travelled to parts of Syria where death tolls were mounting.

She soon became a feature at demonstrations and even ventured near the frontlines of the regime's fight with an armed opposition, delivering medicines to wounded rebels and finding homes for fleeing families.....


Last week the revolution took a toll that not even 19 months of exile and enmity had prepared her for. "I learned that my mother is dead," she said. "And it was my father that killed her."

Alone in a house in Turkey, Mrie now feels racked with guilt. "My mother was kidnapped immediately after I made the video with the rebels on August 11," she said. "I waited for 10 days. I begged my father to tell me what he knew about it, to let me know. He used to curse me and hang up the phone. Some of my dad's friends told me that she was dead.....

"I started to go to the houses of the dead people," Mrie said. " At the time there was a huge gap between them and the Alawites. Both were convinced that each side was fighting the other.

"For six months I tried my best to raise awareness that this revolution is not against us. We were fighting for dignity and democracy.

"In January I went to Hama and spoke in the name of my sect. I wanted to tell them that my blood is theirs. My father used to tell me that I was a criminal and that he was ashamed of me and that he didn't see me as his daughter.

"The stupid thing about this government is its claim that it is trying to protect the people, that it is protecting the Alawites. [Assad] doesn't care if you are Alawite, Christian or Shia. If you are against him, he will kill you.""

Al-Jazeera Video: Bahrain deploys paramilitaries to patrol city

"Bahrain's paramilitary National Guard has been deployed into new areas in an apparent sign that authorities are stepping up efforts to quell political unrest.

A government statement said on Saturday the Guard, a force separate from the regular military, will be patrolling "strategic locations" that have been scenes of arson attacks and clashes.

Al Jazeera's Mereana Hond reports."

Al-Jazeera Video: Six killed in Gaza as Palestinians, Israelis exchange fire

"Six Palestinians have been killed and many more injured in a series of clashes with the Israeli military.
It's the most serious escalation of violence since 2009. 

Israelis too have been injured as rockets were launched across the border from the Gaza Strip.
Al Jazeera's Nadim Baba reports."

Unifying the Syrian Opposition, by Emad Hajjaj

Current Al-Jazeera (Arabic) Online Poll

Do you support the voices calling for the Shari'a to be the main source for legislation in Egypt?

It is early, but with about 200 responding, 77% said yes.

لماذا أخفق اليسار في فهم المسألة السورية؟

"لا نزال نصطدم بموقف يسار يدافع عن السلطة في سوريا، ويعتبر أن ما يجري هو مؤامرة. ليست المسألة هنا هي مسألة خطأ عابر، وكذلك ليست نتاج خطأ عاطفي، بل لا بد من التمييز بين من لهم مصلحة مباشرة ومن يأتي موقفهم نتاج خطأ معرفي. وإذا كان هناك "قريبون" لهم مصالح مباشرة فإن الكثير من اليسار العربي والعالمي يتحاكم لخطأ معرفي يشي بطبيعة الوعي الذي يتحكم بهؤلاء.

ورغم أن السلطة تمارس كل الوحشية كعصابة مافيا فإنه لم يطرح السؤال حول طبيعة السلطة السورية، ولا لمس طابعها المافياوي المجرم، وهو ما يشير إلى "غياب الأخلاق" عن هذا اليسار، لتصبح القيم المجرّدة أهم من البشر، وأكثر تأثيراً في تحديد المواقف من ممارسات وحشية تدمّر وتقتل دون رادع

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التناقض في سوريا هو بين طبقات شعبية مفقّرة ورأسمالية مافياوية تسيطر على السلطة، هذا هو جوهر الوضع. وهذا هو التناقض الرئيسي الآن، أي خلال الثورة خصوصاً. وهو في عمقه يفرض تحقيق التغيير الذي يفرض التناقض الحتمي مع الإمبريالية، كل الإمبرياليات وليس الأميركية فقط.

ومن أجل تجاوز الرأسمالية كنمط، وإنْ لم يكن الوضع مهيأ لذلك الآن نتيجة عجز اليسار بالتحديد، وهامشيته وانعزاله عن الطبقات الشعبية. لكن ليس من خيار سوى السير لتحقيق التغيير الجذري.

على أساس ذلك يمكن فهم وتفسير أدوار القوى الإمبريالية والإقليمية، ويمكن تحليل سياسات المعارضة المهمشة والمأزومة، والمتلبرلة. وكذلك يمكن تناول مسار الثورة ومشكلاتها، ونتائج سيادة العفوية فيها. اليسار يعاني من قصور تحليلي، ومن "نخبوية"، ومن مثالية مفرطة. هذا ما أوضحته الثورة السورية بشكل جلي."