مؤكدا على إطلاق سراح أسرى؛ شطاينتس: تجديد المحادثات لا يمس بشروط نتانياهو

عــ48ـرب

"في حديثه مع الإذاعة الإسرائيلية "ريشيت بيت"، اليوم السبت، أكد الوزير للشؤون الإستراتيجية والاستخبارات يوفال شطاينتس أنه تقرر في الاتفاق على بداء المفاوضات مع السلطة الفلسطينية إطلاق سراح عدد معين من الأسرى الفلسطينيين بينهم عدد من كبار الأسرى. وقال شطاينتس أن هؤلاء الأسرى المشار إليهم قضوا سنوات طويلة في السجون، وأن عملية إطلاق سراحهم ستكون تدريجية على "نبضات". كما أكد شطاينتس على أن إطلاق سراح الأسرى لا يمس بالمبادئ التي وضعها رئيس الحكومة الإسرائيلية بنيامين نتانياهو. وأشار في هذا السياق إلى أن قضية تجميد البناء الاستيطاني ليست على جدول الأعمال، كما أنه لا يوجد تصريحات مسبقة بشأن الحدود، وأن يلتزم الفلسطينيون بإجراء مفاوضات جدية لمدة تسعة شهور على الأقل، وعدم العمل ضد إسرائيل في الساحة الدولية خلال هذه الفترة. وقال أيضا إن رئيس السلطة الفلسطينية محمود عباس غير متحمس لتجديد المفاوضات، وأنه اقتيد إليها غصبا عنه. على حد تعبيره. وأضاف شطاينتس أن أداء عباس وحالته الموضوعية يثيران الشكوك بشأن قدرته على تقديم التنازلات المطلوبة للاتفاق. "

Real News Video: Semantics of Coup Splits Egyptians & World Leaders

Turkish PM Erdogan refuses meeting with Egypt VP ElBaradei, as liberal opposition remains silent over undemocratic practices of military rule 

Alas, Nobody Lives There Anymore

[This article was first published in Al-Shorouk newspaper in Egypt on the 16^th of July in Arabic. It was first translated at Bassem Youssef's request for Tahrir Squared. Credit for the translation goes to Nadine H. Hafez.]

By Bassem Youssef

".....
Take the leaders of the Brotherhood to court – and investigate the events at the Republican Guard. Ensure the autonomy of justice whether the victims are from your camp, or the other’s. Demand a clear framework within which all political parties are to operate, so that no party can ever spread such discriminatory, sectarian rhetoric again. Yes, the leaders of the Brotherhood must be tried just as the leaders of the National Democratic Party (NDP) were tried in the case of provision of enough evidence and within the limits of the law. But remember you will never be able to erase the existence of those thousands off the face of the Earth. You will not be able arrest those thousands and their families and children, and you will not be able to prevent them from winning syndicate elections. All you’re currently doing is repeating their past mistakes by turning a blind eye to those thousands, but you are only burying a living truth that will come back to hit you, or the coming generations in the face.

Kudos to those who have not allowed the victory high to rob them of their humanity; to those few who are currently isolated by everyone else and are not welcome in either camp unless they go with the current flow of hatred and gloating.

Humanity has now become an isolated island among wild waves of discrimination and extremism. On this island live those isolated few, their voices fading in the midst of the roaring cries for vengeance and murder. I’m not optimistic about a population increase on that island anytime soon. But maybe in the future people will migrate to it and try to get to know this thing called humanity that we’ve all been stripped of.

What I fear most is if a time comes when we pass by that island and cry in dismay: "Alas, nobody lives there anymore.""

Military-Business Alliances in Egypt Before and After 30 June: Interview with Wael Gamal

by Bassam Haddad
Jadaliyya

"I had the pleasure of conducting this interview with Wael Gamal, one of the more reliable and informed journalists who addresses critically political-economic variables in Egypt. In this interview, Wael addresses the less discussed dire social and economic situation that spurred the 30 June protests and the immediate aftermath, first under the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood and recently under an anti-Brotherhood loose coalition that is unfolding at the moment. Paramount in this interview is the role of military-business relations and prospects for change in social and economic policies in light of seemingly increasing influence of big capital.
The caveat that Wael repeatedly refers to involves the wider opportunity now available for various social forces to exert pressure on government and confront elitist economic policies. Yet, it is not a struggle whose outcome can be determined in advance. Wael addresses a number of indicators to watch for as the new government is formed, and as the battle for guiding Egypt's political economy unfolds in relation to economic policies, IMF loans and "packages," and the management of subsidies.
Wael recounts significant factors that augmented resentment against the Brotherhood during the two years after the ousting of Mubarak, and treats this resentment and opposition as a force that is likely to pressure whatever current government and alliances are formed in the direction of asserting the demands for social and economic rights for wide sectors of the population. He identifies significant and strategic relations between the military and big business in current potential ruling formulas, but does not discount the ability of the non-fuloul segments of the protest movement to push forth with its basic demands.

Wael Gamal is an Egyptian journalist at al-Shurouq newspaper in Cairo. He has written extensively on Egypt's politics and society, with an emphasis on political economy."

People, power, or propaganda? Unraveling the Egyptian opposition

by Max Blumenthal
Link

Uncorroborated turnout estimates of the June 30 protests have used to justify the actions of the military.

The debate over the legitimacy of Egypt's new, military-installed government has become a popularity battle, with some of the most vocal supporters of the coup claiming that the June 30 protests against President Mohammed Morsi represented the largest demonstrations in human history, a real-life Cecil B. DeMille production, with crowd sizes ranging anywhere between 14 to 33 million people - over one-third of the entire population of Egypt.

The importance of head counts to the military-installed government's international legitimacy was on display at a July 11press conference at the US State Department. Pressed by Matt Lee of the Associated Press on whether the Obama administration considered Morsi's ouster a coup, and if it would respond by canceling aid including a planned shipment of four F-16's to Egypt, State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki countered by citing Tamarod's figures, declaring that the US could not reverse the will of the "22 million people who spoke out and had their voices heard."

Baseless claims born in an echo chamber

Among the first major Egyptian public figures to marvel at the historic size of the June 30 demonstrations was the billionaire tycoon Naguib Sawiris. On June 30, Sawiris informed his nearly one million Twitter followers that the BBC had just reported, "The number of people protesting today is the largest number in a political event in the history of mankind." Sawiris exhorted the protesters: "Keep impressing…Egypt."

Sawiris was not exactly a disinterested party. He had boasted of his support for Tamarod, lavishing the group with funding and providing them with office space. He also happened to be a stalwart of the old regime who had thrown his full weight behind the secular opposition to Morsi.

Two days after Sawiris' remarkable statement, BBC Arabic's lead anchor, Nour-Eddine Zorgui, respondedto a query about it on Twitter by stating, "seen nothing to this effect, beware, only report on this from Egypt itself." Sawiris seemed to have fabricated the riveting BBC dispatch from whole cloth.

Some Egyptian opponents to Morsi appear to have fabricated Western media reports to validate the crowd estimates. Jihan Mansour, a presenter for Dream TV, a private Egyptian network owned by the longtime Mubarak business associate Ahmad Bahgat, announced, "CNN says 33 million people were in the streets today. BBC says the biggest gathering in history."

There is no record of CNN or BBC reporting any such figure. But that did not stop a former Egyptian army general, Sameh Seif Elyazal, from declaring during a live CNN broadcast on July 3, just as the military seized power from Morsi, "This is not a military coup at all. It is the will of the Egyptians who are supported by the army. We haven't seen in the last -- even in modern history, any country in the world driving 33 million people in the street for four days asking the president for an early presidential election." CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Christian Amanpour did not question Elyazal's claim, or demand supporting evidence.

Three days later, Quartet's Middle East special envoy Tony Blair hyped a drastically different, but equally curious, crowd estimate. In an editorial for the Observer (reprinted by the Guardian), Blair stated, "Seventeen million people on the street is not the same as an election. But it is an awesome manifestation of people power." The former UK Prime Minister concluded that if a protest of a proportionate size occurred in his country, "the government wouldn't survive either."

From what source did the claim of 17 million demonstrators originate? Apparently, it was a single anonymous military official. One of the first Egyptian outlets to cite the number was the newspaperShorouk, which headlined its June 30 report, "Military source: The number of demonstrators is 17 million and increasing."

These Two Have Just Announced That They Will Continue Selling What is Left of Palestine. The Palestinian People? What Palestinian People? They Are in Deep Coma!

These Two Have Just Announced That They Will Continue Selling What is Left of Palestine...... 

The Palestinian People? 
What Palestinian People? They Are in Deep Coma!

Israel: Demolitions of Bedouin homes in the Negev desert must end immediately

"Israel must immediately halt all demolitions of Arab Bedouin homes in communities in the Negev/Naqab desert which the government has refused to recognize officially, Amnesty International said, following news that the village of al-'Araqib was once again razed by land authorities.
“The Israeli authorities must halt demolitions in these communities and change course completely to guarantee all citizens’ right to adequate housing,” said Philip Luther, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“The Israeli government’s Prawer-Begin plan would lead to the forced eviction of tens of thousands of Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel. The plan is inherently discriminatory, flies in the face of Israel’s international obligations and cannot be accepted in any circumstances.”
Bulldozers from the Israel Land Administration, accompanied by a large and heavily-armed police force in more than 60 vehicles, arrived in al-‘Araqib early on Tuesday morning and began to destroy 15 shacks, effectively flattening the village and displacing 22 families.
The village, which has never been officially recognized by the Israeli authorities despite the residents’ longstanding claims to their lands, has been demolished more than 50 times in the past three years. Each time, residents have tried to rebuild their homes, constructing makeshift shelters on the same land.  
“We have the right to remain here; our struggle has continued for generations and we will persevere,” said Aziz al-Turi, a resident from the village. “Our grandfathers are buried on this land. We will continue to rebuild and demonstrate to defend our right to live here.”
The latest demolition came a day after mass protests were staged across Israel, the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, against the proposed “Law for Regularizing Bedouin Habitation in the Negev”. This law would provide for the forced eviction of more than 30,000 residents from 35 “unrecognized” Bedouin villages in the Negev desert. In some areas, including Be’er Sheva and Sakhnin, Israeli police used excessive force against peaceful demonstrators opposing the plan.
All construction in these villages is considered illegal by the Israeli authorities, and their 70,000 residents lack basic services, including water and electricity.
Amnesty International is urging the Israeli authorities to scrap the draft law, which is expected to lead to a massive increase in home demolitions in these communities....."

Watch: Ali Abunimah, Guardian’s Ian Black and Israeli settler debate EU settlement rule

By Ali Abunimah

"What will new EU guidelines that ban funding of Israeli institutions operating inside the occupied Palestinian territories really mean?
Ali Abunimah appeared on Al Jazeera’s Inside Story on 17 July to discuss the question along with the Guardian’s Ian Black and Yishai Fleisher, an Israeli settler living in an illegal colony in eastern occupied Jerusalem.
“The settlements are war crimes, people who aid and abet the settlements are and should be treated as war criminals. In that context, this European move is very small, very little and very late,” Abunimah said.
“When I listen to the settler speak about biblical claims, biblical justifications to steal other people’s land and property,” Abunimah said of Fleisher, “I’m reminded … that at one point in humanity’s dark history, white slave owners used the bible to justify owning other human beings.”
Black argued that the EU’s “clear intention is to say that there is a difference between the State of Israel and the territories it has occupied since June 1967.”
He added that the EU move was designed to “raise awareness … that internationally the situation is untenable” and that the cost of the status quo for Israel is rising.
Black emphasized that the EU move came partly as a response to “the call from below, from ordinary citizens” in Europe for settlement goods to be labeled and for “boycott, divestment and sanctions” on Israel. “I think we’re seeing the European Union respond to that.”
Fleisher, who admitted to living in an area of eastern occupied Jerusalem being actively ethnically cleansed by settlers, claimed that the decision “delegitimizes” the European Union."

At the second kneel of the prayers, the attack began

In the early hours of 8 July, 51 Muslim Brotherhood supporters camped outside the Republican Guard club in Cairo were killed by security forces. Egypt's military claimed the protesters had attempted to break into the compound with the aid of armed motorcyclists.

After examining video evidence and speaking to witnesses, medics and protesters, the Guardian finds a different story

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo
The Guardian, Thursday 18 July 2013



LIAR, LIAR......

"......The military has said the assault on the protesters was provoked by a terrorist attack. At about 4am, the army says, 15 armed motorcyclists approached the Republican Guard club's compound. The army said the motorcyclists fired shots, that people attempted to break into the compound, and that the soldiers then had no choice but to defend their property.

But a week-long investigation – including interviews with 31 witnesses, local people and medics, as well as video analysis – found no evidence of the motorcyclist attack and points to a very different narrative, in which the security forces launched a co-ordinated assault on a group of largely peaceful and unarmed civilians.

The army turned down four requests to interview soldiers who were at the scene. A spokesman did provide footage of at least three pro-Morsi supporters using some form of firearm some time after the start of the massacre. But the earliest act of provocation the army has been able to prove – a protester throwing stones – comes at 4.05am, more than half an hour after most witnesses agree the camp came under attack......"

Al-Jazeera Video: Al Jazeera talks to Amnesty about abuse claims in Egypt

"Mohamed Lotfy is a researcher at Amnesty International, who also contributed to the report that documented allefations of ill-treatment of detainees in Egypt's prisons."

Glenn Greenwald: Growing Backlash Against NSA Spying Shows Why U.S. Wants to Silence Edward Snowden

Democracy Now!

"As Congress holds its second major public hearing on the National Security Agency’s bulk spying, we speak with Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published whistleblower Edward Snowden’s revelations. The NSA admitted their analysis of phone records and online behavior far exceeded what it had previously disclosed. "The fact that you now see members of both political parties increasingly angry over the fact that they were misled and lied to by top level Obama administration officials, that the laws that they enacted in the wake of 9/11 — as broad as they were — are being incredibly distorted by secret legal interpretations approved by secret courts, really indicates exactly that Snowden’s motives to come forward with these revelations, at the expense of his liberty and even his life, were valid and compelling," Greenwald says. "If you think about whistleblowing in terms of people who expose things the government is hiding that they shouldn’t be, in order to bring about reform, I think what you’re seeing is the fruits of classic whistleblowing."....."

Egypt May Not go the Algeria Way

Analysis by Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

"CAIRO, Jul 18 2013 (IPS) - The ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected president by the military has led some to warn of a possible Algeria-style civil war. Local analysts, however, dismiss the likelihood of the “Algeria scenario” occurring in Egypt.

“For one, Egypt’s Islamist current is much less extremist than Algeria’s was when civil war erupted in that country,” Cairo-based political analyst Tawfiq Ghanem told IPS.

Numerous comparisons have been drawn with Algeria, where in 1992 the army took over after cancelling elections that Islamist parties were poised to win. The move triggered a decade of fierce civil war between various Islamist groups and the army-backed government, in which tens of thousands of people are thought to have been killed.

Ghanem, however, dismissed the possibility of such a scenario playing out in Egypt. “Egypt’s Islamist current, including both the Muslim Brotherhood and the allied Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya (which formally renounced violence in 1997), are much more moderate in outlook than their Algerian counterparts were,” he said.

“What’s more, Egypt’s main Islamist factions are considerably more disciplined and have more control over their members than Algeria’s Islamic Salvation Front had at the time.”
Ghanem also pointed to Egyptians’ “historical antipathy to violence.”....."

Egypt's unrestrained democracy

The Egyptian revolution has paved the way for a democracy based on liberation from economic exploitation, political repression and ideological hegemony

By Wael Gamal , Wednesday 17 Jul 2013
Ahram Online

".........The Egyptian revolution opened the door for forces seeking the democracy of values even in Europe and the US. The struggle of the Egyptian people on the streets and the forces they created outside the traditional paradigms of power have inspired those who are today fighting for their livelihoods in Athens, Chicago, Dublin, London and Rio de Janeiro.

Time magazine is not opposed to a military coup or its risks, whose sole remedy is on the street that is now governing and has become the reference for everyone today. Instead, it is forcing on us Fukuyama’s "end of History" theory on the capitalist democracy model, in the hope of preventing Egypt’s fever from infecting the cradle of this teetering model in Europe and the US.

The Egyptian revolution and the street imposing its will in Cairo, Alexandria, Fayyoum, Suez, the Aluminium Complex in Nagaa Hamadi, Ceramica Cleopatra and Al-Sharqiya Tobacco are opening the doors of history to create a new democracy based on liberation from economic exploitation, political repression and ideological hegemony.

Behind the door lay in wait those who benefit from continuing the status quo, whether major world corporations, governments, military alliances, international financial institutions, regional powers, Muslim Brotherhood, businessmen, military and politicians in the corridors of power and guardians of former regimes. But their exertions will be unsuccessful in closing the doors; theirs is a wretched endeavour that is doomed to fail."

Bahrain, kingdom of Kafka

The absurd rules that suppress civil society activity

By Brian Whitaker

"The right of people to get together and organise themselves in pursuit of shared interests is one of the building blocks for a free and open society. It is also something that Arab regimes fear, since active citizenship undermines their authority.

Consequently, many of them have introduced laws creating arbitrary powers to restrict, control and otherwise manipulate the activities of civil society organisations.

Among Arab countries, association laws (as they are usually known) follow a general pattern that seems inspired more by the novels of Franz Kafka than sound principles of governance.

First, they require clubs, societies and other non-government organisations to register with the authorities while making it difficult, and in some cases almost impossible, for them to do so.

Organisations that succeed in registering then face of host of bureaucratic and mostly pointless rules for how they should conduct their affairs. These basically create an obstacle course to trip up the unwary and often also impose restrictions on fundraising.

Finally, the law usually gives the authorities power to close down or take control of an organisation if they disapprove of what it is doing.

One of the worst offenders in this respect is Bahrain. Although the kingdom's official media never tire of telling us about the "atmosphere of freedom and openness" created under the "wise leadership" of His Majesty King Hamad, Bahrain's associations law is probably the most restrictive among the Arab countries. 

A recent report from Human Rights Watch looks in detail at the workings of this law, along with others regulating political groups and trade unions. 

Bahrain's current law on associations dates back to 1989. Here are some of its key points......"

Al-Jazeera Video: End to Egypt energy crisis prompts questions

"Egypt has a new interim cabinet. But in the lead up to the June 30 rallies that brought down Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi the country was in the middle of a fuel crisis. There were also long electricity blackouts. But for now, both issues appear to be solved, and many people are asking how? Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from Cairo."

Real News Video: Violent Clashes erupt between Police and Morsi Supporters

Hours after 7 people were killed in latest wave of violent street clashes in city's capitol, interim president Adli Mansour announces cabinet.

Fighting new Nakba in the Negev

Popular resistance against the Prawar plan has united Palestinians of all affiliations and origins.

By Ben White

Al-Jazeera

"From the refugees in 1949 looking over the Lebanese border at the land from which they were expelled, to the students in the Gaza banned by the Israeli Supreme Court from studying in the West Bank, Israeli colonisation has fragmented the Palestinian people over the decades with walls, fences, guns, bureaucracy and propaganda.

Overcoming that fragmentation has become further complicated in recent times on account of the moribund state of representative bodies like the Palestine Liberation Organisation, as well as the long-running split between Fatah and Hamas.
In the last few years, however, there have been moments when particular circumstances have prompted coordinated resistance, at least on a grassroots level, amongst Palestinians wherever they may be. One such example was the widespread protests prompted by the massacre in Gaza in 2008-9 (otherwise known as Operation Cast Lead). Another example is when Palestinians coalesced around the prisoners’ hunger strikes to launch solidarity activities from Haifa to Ramallah.

Now, Palestinians have united around opposition to a pending Israeli government plan to expel tens of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin from communities in the Negev that await destruction in the name of ‘development’.
The Prawer plan, some years in the making, is part of a historical drive by the Israeli government to prioritise and privilege Jewish settlement in the Negev while forcing Bedouin citizens - those who weren’t expelled in the first decade of the state’s existence - to live in approved zones and shanty towns......."

Al-Jazeera Cartoon: Gullible Arabs and "Peace"

Egypt: Morsi supporters denied rights amid reports of arrests and beatings

"Hundreds of pro-Morsi supporters arrested by the Egyptian authorities have been denied their legal rights, said Amnesty International in a new briefing published today.

The organization has gathered testimonies from detainees who said that they were beaten upon arrest, subjected to electric shocks or hit with rifle butts.

The Egyptian authorities must respect the right to due process for those who have been rounded up and are facing accusations of inciting or participating in violence in the last two weeks. Allegations of ill-treatment must be investigated urgently.

“At this time of extreme polarization and division, it is more important than ever that the office of the Public Prosecutor demonstrates that it’s truly independent and not politicized,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International. “These cases risk being seen as mere retribution rather than justice.”.....

“Establishing trust in the justice system will be impossible if only supporters of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are targeted while security forces are absolved of responsibility for unlawful killings and their failure to protect protesters from violence,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director at Amnesty International....."

As Expected, The Stooge Has Capitulated. تقدم في جهود كيري واعلان مرتقب لاستئناف المفاوضات مع إسرائيل

As Expected, The Stooge Has Capitulated

"رام الله- (ا ف ب) – اعلن مسؤول فلسطيني كبير الاربعاء عن حدوث تقدم في مباحثات وزير الخارجية الامريكي جون كيري مع الجانبين الفلسطيني والاسرائيلي مشيرا إلى أن كيري سيعلن استئناف عملية السلام قبيل مغادرته المنطقة الجمعة.

وقال المسؤول الذي طلب عدم الكشف عن اسمه لوكالة فرانس برس ان”وزير الخارجية الامريكي مصمم على أن يعلن قبل مغادرته الجمعة اعادة استئناف المفاوضات”، مؤكدا حصول “تقدم في اللقاءات مع كيري بعد ان قدم مبادرته امس للرئيس محمود عباس خلال اللقاء في عمان”.

واضاف المسؤول ان عباس “سيترأس غدا الخميس اجتماعا للقيادة الفلسطينية لمناقشة مبادرة كيري والرد عليها”، موضحا انه “يجري اليوم مناقشتها من قبل طاقم المفاوضات الفلسطيني لدراستها وادخال بعض التعديلات عليها”.

وبحسب المسؤول فان كيري “ابلغ الجانب الفلسطيني انه مصمم على اعلان استئناف المفاوضات قبل مغادرته المنطقة يوم الجمعة القادم”.

والتقى كيري بعباس لمدة خمس ساعات مساء الثلاثاء في فندق في العاصمة الاردنية على وجبة افطار.

......."