LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 28/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april28.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
And all in the crowd were trying to
touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint Luke 06/12-19:"Now during those days he went out to the
mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God. And when day came, he
called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:
Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, and James, and John, and
Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and
Simon, who was called the Zealot, and Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot,
who became a traitor. He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a
great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea,
Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be
healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were
cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from
him and healed all of them."
He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that
he might fill all things
Letter to the Ephesians
04/10-16:"He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the
heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some
would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers,
to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of
Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of
the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We
must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of
doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But
speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the
head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by
every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly,
promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love."
Pope Francis's Tweet For Today
Christian hope is a gift that God gives us
if we come out of ourselves and open our hearts to him.
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 28/16
The Mirage of Sovereignty and the Bluff of National Unity/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq
Al Awsat/April 27/16
Lebanese Municipal Elections: Independent voices rising in Shiite controlled
areas/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/April 27/16
Will Brazil land a Lebanese president before Lebanon does/Tarek Ali Ahmad/Al
Arabiya English/ Wednesday, 27 April 2016
US Sinai pullback payback for islands handover/DEBKAfile Special Report April
27/ 2016/
The Egyptian state and its youth: Who is afraid of whom/Mohammed Nosseir/Al
Arabiya/April 27/16
On Arab press freedom, Tunisia shows the way/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/April
27/16
Trump lays out a new vision for American foreign policy leadership/Dr. Walid
Phares/Published April 27/16/FoxNews.com
Saudi general, Anwar Eshki: 'If Netanyahu accepts the Arab Peace Initiative,
we’ll open an embassy in Israel' /Jerusalem Post/April 27/16
Analysis: The limits of the Iran-Russia alliance/Reuters/Jerusalem Post/April
27/16/
The Latest Aleppo Battle May Give the Islamic State Another Reprieve/Fabrice
Balanche/Washington Institute/April
The "Two State Solution": Irony and Truth/Louis René Beres/Gatestone
Institute/April 27/16
Sweden: Muslim Government Minister Sacked After Making Nazi Allegations/Ingrid
Carlqvist/Gatestone Institute/April 27/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 27/16
Banks Start Implementing U.S. Anti-Hizbullah
Law
Lebanese Cabinet Decides to Provide Security Apparatuses with Telecoms Data
Berri to Call for Extraordinary Session if Joint Committees Make Progress on
Electoral Law
Three Syrians Arrested on Terror Group Charges
Lebanese General Prosecutor Concludes Investigations in Illegal Internet File, 7
Suspects Arrested so Far
U.S. Presents Motorcycles, Vehicles to Lebanese Internal Security Forces
Man Found Dead with Gunshot Wounds in Zahle
Jordan Bans Lebanon's Mashrou' Leila, Says Songs Contradict Religion
Jumblatt hints that Siniora may be behind Lebanon internet scandal
A Hezbollah evicting residents of Syria border town: activists
The Mirage of Sovereignty and the Bluff of National Unity
Lebanese Municipal Elections: Independent voices rising in Shiite controlled
areas
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/April 27/16
Salam chairs meeting for Supreme Privatization Council
Aoun: election laws prevented power rotation
End of submission of candidacies to Tyre municipal polls
Hariri reiterates his support for the "Beirutis List"
Berri: To commit to constitution, its principles in electoral law discussions
Jumblatt via twitter: Beirut Madinati big challenge for Beirutis to break
partisian barriers for city's interest
Bassil visits SSNP, renews calls for endorsement of election law
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 27/16
Syria opposition: Setting date for
next round in peace talks is up to UN
Kidnapped Serbian Worker in Libya Released
Aid Enters Besieged Central Syria Town, Says Red Cross
Female suicide bomber wounds several in Turkey's Bursa
Turkey: Secularism will be in new constitution
European court condemns Turkey over Alevi discrimination
Three Egypt Policemen Killed in Sinai Bombing
UN alarmed by Israeli remarks on Golan Heights
Iran's Khamenei Says U.S. Lifted Sanctions only on Paper
10 prisoners hanged in Iran in new wave of executions
Iran regime flogs woman in public 100 times
NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee chief comments on recent spate of executions in
Iran
Ex-Tehran Uni. President urges Iran’s youths to protest against dictatorship
US senator in Syria: 'Legitimate Assad government is fighting terrorist'
opposition
Knife-clad Palestinian pair shot in attempted West Bank stabbing attack
Concern in the North: ISIS cells in the Golan could use chemical weapons
Austria Adopts One of EU's Toughest Asylum Laws amid Far-Right Surge
Links From
Jihad Watch Site for
April 27/16
Pakistan: Christian teen lynched for flirting with Muslim girl.
Education Dept encourages Islam in classroom to stop bullying of Muslims.
Hugh Fitzgerald: Ivan Rioufol on the Left and Far Left as Defenders of Islam.
All he could say was ‘sex, sex, sex’”: Wave of Muslim migrant sex
assaults hits Austria.
Hamas-linked CAIR releases “toolkit” to help Muslims introduce resolutions
against “Islamophobia”.
Jesuit priest: Islam is “violent throughout its entire history” out of
“obedience to the Law of Allah”.
Jesuit astrophysicist Manuel Carreira: “Islam is the worst plague that humanity
has seen in the past 2000 years”.
National Intelligence Director: Islamic State exploiting migrant crisis, has
training camps in Europe.
Rutgers’ student paper complies with MSA’s demand, destroys all copies of issue
containing Muhammad cartoon.
Trump dominates Tuesday primaries; 71% of PA GOP voters support temporary ban on
Muslim immigration.
Netherlands: Muslims give out 15,000 free Qur’ans on King’s Day.
Rutgers displays “artwork” of Christ crucified on a dartboard, Christians
worldwide riot — no, wait…
Jihad Watch #9 among “The Top 10 Conservative Political Blogs Everyone Should
Know About”.
The Islamic State blows up Mosul’s iconic Clock Church.
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 27/16
Banks Start Implementing U.S. Anti-Hizbullah Law
Associated Press/Naharnet/April
27/16/Lebanese banks began taking measures against persons or institutions in
accordance to a U.S. law that imposes sanctions on banks that knowingly do
business with Hizbullah, banking sources said on Wednesday. The sources told al-Mustaqbal
daily that the measures are being taken on accounts in Lebanese Liras and
foreign currencies. U.S. President Barack Obama signed the Hizbullah
International Financing Prevention Act on Dec. 18. Since then, Lebanese
officials and bankers have been flying to Washington to discuss the move with
American officials.Last week, the U.S. treasury department's Office of Foreign
Assets Control, or OFAC, issued regulations aimed at implementing the Hizbullah
financing prevention act. Many in Lebanon are worried that the U.S. legislation
will have negative effects on the Lebanese banking sector, which is one of the
most active industries in the country. Assistant Secretary for the Department of
the Treasury Daniel Glaser is expected to visit Beirut next week to discuss with
Lebanese officials the details of the regulations, said al-Mustaqbal. The
regulations say Washington will target those "knowingly facilitating a
significant transaction or transactions for" Hizbullah and those "knowingly
facilitating a significant transaction or transactions of a person identified on
the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked persons." OFAC's list
includes names of officials, businessmen and institutions that the U.S. says are
linked to Hizbullah. The list includes the Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan
Nasarallah and top military commander Mustafa Badreddine as well as some
businessmen. The list also includes the group's al-Manar TV and Al-Nour Radio.
Nasarallah said in December 2015, when the law was signed, that his group does
not deal with Lebanese or foreign banks.
Lebanese Cabinet Decides to
Provide Security Apparatuses with Telecoms Data
Naharnet/April 27/16/The cabinet held a regular session on Wednesday to address
various issues and approved providing the telecommunications data to all
security apparatuses while leaving the decision of giving it to the State
Security in the hands of PM Tammam Salam. “We have requested that all security
apparatuses have access to the data including the State Security and Salam has
assured us that this will be the case,” said Education Minister Elias Bou Saab
after the cabinet session. On the H5N1 bird flu virus that was detected in
poultry farms in Baalbek last week, Information Minister Ramzi Jreij said: “The
government gave an initial approval to compensate the farmers whose poultry was
affected by the virus.” As for the waste management file, Jreij said: “The
cabinet approved the formation of a committee, chaired by the Premier, to
address waste incinerators.”Ahead the meeting, Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq
replied to complaints about the waste odor filling the air saying: “The odor is
the result of the removal of 550 tons of accumulated trash.”The session that
kicked off at the Grand Serail in a bid to tackle several pressing issues
excluded the thorny file of the State Security which officials said is being
followed up by Salam.Before the session convened, Tourism Minister Michel
Pharaon emphasized that “the solution for the State Security file is an
administrative one.”
Berri to Call for
Extraordinary Session if Joint Committees Make Progress on Electoral Law
Naharnet/April 27/16/Speaker Nabih Berri has said that he would ask the cabinet
to open an extraordinary parliamentary session if the joint committees made
progress in the discussions on the electoral draft-law. Berri told his visitors
in Ain el-Tineh that the work of the joint committees will not finish by the end
of May, when parliament’s first ordinary session ends. The second ordinary
session starts in the middle of October through the end of December. The speaker
called the joint parliamentary committees to convene on Tuesday to address
electoral draft-laws. “If the atmosphere is positive, the government would be
asked to open an extraordinary round of legislation or else we will wait till
October for the second ordinary session,” Berri said. The speaker made a rare
press conference on Monday, backing off from calling for legislative sessions to
approve what he terms as urgent bills, and instead urged joint committees to
mull the electoral draft-laws. His stance came after Christian parties warned
that they would boycott any session which does not have the electoral draft-law
as the first item on the agenda. His decision also came after a ten-member
committee, which includes MPs from the March 8 and March 14 camps and
independents, has failed to reach an agreement on a unified electoral law. Berri
told his visitors that he has asked the parliament’s employees to print the 17
draft-laws to hand them over to the joint committees for discussion. He said he
was mulling whether to chair the meetings or task his deputy MP Farid Makari.
“All the draft-laws will be discussed at the joint committees so that they are
narrowed down before being referred to the General Assembly” for approval, Berri
added.
Three Syrians Arrested on Terror Group Charges
Naharnet/April 27/16/The General Security arrested three Syrian nationals for
participating in armed attacks against the army and security forces during the
2014 battles in the northeastern border town of Arsal, it said in a statement on
Wednesday. “Within the framework of tracking down terror groups and sleeper
cells, the General Security arrested, based on the public prosecution's command,
three Syrians T.G, A.G., and A.Z. on charges of taking part in armed battles in
Arsal,” the statement said. Investigations were run and the detained have
confessed to belonging to a terror group and of engaging in armed attacks
against the positions of the army and security forces. They confessed to the
kidnapping of servicemen and to attempting to kill others. The detainees were
referred to the related authorities and efforts are ongoing to track down others
involved.
Lebanese General Prosecutor Concludes Investigations in Illegal Internet File, 7
Suspects Arrested so Far
Naharnet/April 27/16/General Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud ended on Wednesday
the investigations in the illegal internet file, reported the National News
Agency. He said that so far seven suspects in the case have been arrested and
warrants have been issued against four others. He also requested that
investigation be permitted against telecom sector employees linked to the case.
The criminal investigations are now examining how the internet equipment was
allowed entry in Lebanon without obtaining the necessary licenses from the
concerned authorities, Hammoud told NNA. Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb
revealed last month that around four illegal internet stations have been proven
to exist in the mountainous terrains of al-Dinnieh, Ayoun al-Siman, Faqra and
Zaarour. Suspects involved in the case and believed to be associated with the
state-owned OGERO were arrested on Monday over possible links to the networks.
Reports speculated that OGERO chief Abdul Moneim Youssef was involved in the
scandal. Early in March, the parliamentary media committee unveiled what it
described as a “mafia” that are taking advantage of internet services by
installing internet stations that are not subject to the state control. The
owners of these stations are buying international internet bandwidth with
nominal cost from Turkey and Cyprus which they are selling back to Lebanese
subscribers at reduced prices.
U.S. Presents Motorcycles,
Vehicles to Lebanese Internal Security Forces
Naharnet/April 27/16/U.S. Chargé d’Affaires ad interim Ambassador Richard Jones
presented on Wednesday a number of vehicles and motorcycles to the Internal
Security Forces during a ceremony at the ISF Mobile Forces premises in Dbayeh,
north of Beirut. A total of 40 Harley Davidson motorcycles, four passenger vans,
and five passenger buses were granted to the security forces, said a U.S.
embassy statement. The ceremony took place in the presence of the Head of the
ISF Mobile Forces Brigadier General Fadi al-Hachem. Anthony Fernandes, Director
of the State Department’s Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement
Affairs (INL), Office for Africa and the Middle East, was also present at the
ceremony. Jones said at the event: “The U.S. Embassy is proud to partner with
the ISF in training and equipping Lebanese security forces to keep the Lebanese
people and their homeland safe.” Since 2008, the State Department’s Office of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in
Beirut has provided over $160 million in assistance to the ISF. Today’s ceremony
“is another step in helping to ensure that the ISF has the equipment it needs to
effectively deliver law enforcement services to the Lebanese public,” Jones
continued. “Today we are marking another tangible example of the continued
cooperation between the Ministry of Interior, the ISF, and the United States
Government. We are committed to working together to further strengthen both the
professionalism and the capabilities of the ISF.” “I would like to congratulate
both the leadership of the ISF as well as its officers for the recent arrests
and disruption of a network that engaged in the abhorrent practice of
trafficking in persons. It is these kinds of achievements that help to keep
Lebanon safe for its residents and reflect the commitment of Lebanese
authorities to upholding the rule of law.“From our side, the United States’
partnership with the ISF is part of our long-standing pledge to work with the
Lebanese people and the institutions of the state, especially those in the
security sector, to build a more stable and prosperous Lebanon,” concluded
Jones. The passenger vans and the buses will be utilized by the Judicial Police
and the ISF Academy, while the motorcycles will be used for traffic management
and for VIP escort responsibilities. INL has provided $160 million in assistance
to the ISF since 2008, in support of strengthening the professional capacity of
Lebanese law enforcement and as part of the overall U.S. security assistance
program to Lebanon.
Man Found Dead with Gunshot
Wounds in Zahle
Naharnet/April 27/16/The dead body of a man was found in the parking of a
residential building in the eastern city of Zahle, reports said on Wednesday.
Ziad Ayoub al-Qasouf, 40, had sustained gunshot wounds and was found in the
parking of the Ramia building where he resides in upper Zahle. Qasouf used to
work as an accountant at the Tel Chiha Hospital and a potato chips company, the
reports said. Security forces kicked off investigation in the case and have yet
to disclose additional details on the incident.
Jordan Bans Lebanon's Mashrou'
Leila, Says Songs Contradict Religion
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/A popular Lebanese
rock band says Jordanian authorities have banned them from performing because
their songs promote religious and sexual freedom. Jordan's Antiquities
Department initially told Mashrou' Leila ("Night Project") it could not perform
at a Roman Theater in the capital Amman because the show contradicts the venue's
"authenticity." However, Amman governor Khalid Abu Zeid told The Associated
Press on Wednesday that the group was banned because its songs "contradict"
religious beliefs. "The written justification officially provided is that the
performance would have been at odds with what the ministry of tourism viewed as
the 'authenticity' of the site," the band said on its Facebook site. It said the
group, whose singer Hamed Sinno is openly homosexual, a criminal offense in Arab
countries, had been "unofficially informed that we will never be allowed to play
again anywhere in Jordan due to our political and religious beliefs and
endorsement of gender equality and sexual freedom". The band, which has toured
several countries, performed in Dubai, and has gigs lined up in North America,
condemned what it called Jordan's "censorship" and stressed that it had played
the very same Amman venue three times in the past. For lawmaker Bassam al-Battush,
however, the musicians were trying to propagate "ideas which are foreign to our
society and our Arab-Muslim culture" with their lyrics about sex, homosexuality,
Satanism and "revolts against governments and societies". The six-member band
says on its Facebook page that "with their distinct approach to storytelling and
orchestration, they have crafted some of the most melancholic ballads and
raucous anthems in contemporary alternative Arabic music". The decision could
prove embarrassing for Western ally Jordan. The kingdom portrays itself as an
island of tolerance in a region where fundamentalist Islam is on the rise. The
band has performed three times before at the Roman Theater. Guitarist Firas Abou
Fakher says the group has become "large enough" to make it a target for
political attacks.
Jumblatt hints that Siniora may be behind Lebanon internet scandal
Gulf News/Joseph A.
Kechichian/April 27/16
Seoul, Korea: An unwritten code of honour among Lebanese elites was broken on
Wednesday by Walid Jumblatt when the Progressive Socialist Party leader, and
scion of a leading Druze family heavily implicated in various and sometimes
shady business activities, hinted that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was
behind the illegal internet network scandal. Seldom uninteresting and often
provocative, Jumblatt relied on his Twitter account to write: “An ambassador of
a major country asked me why I opposed Lebanon joining the World Trade
Organisation.” “My reply,” Jumblatt stressed, “was clear in that the big fish
eats the small fish and I am in favour of protecting the local industry and
agriculture sectors.”He continued with what could well become a bombshell if
proven to be correct: “My position will remain opposed to that of a former prime
minister, who used to heap praise on the benefits of free trade and open
markets,” a reference to Siniora, because, the feudal lord underscored: “We do
not want the big fish that eats the small fish or hiding the truth behind the
illegal internet.”And then he added what can only be a crisis-level provocation
when he made the following comparison: “By the way, the big fish of the World
Trade Organisation is the same one behind the illegal network.”What Jumblatt
knows about his latest claim or what kind of evidence — not just hearsay he may
have been privy to — the Mukhtara [his Shouf Mountain stronghold] master may
have seen, remained unclear. It was equally perplexing to now have a major
political figure accuse, or at least hint, that a former high-ranking government
official was involved in such Shananigans. Siniora served as premier from 2005
to 2009 and, earlier, as a minister of finance in several Rafiq Hariri
governments. A few weeks ago, Telecommunications Minister Butros Harb revealed
that four illegal internet stations existed in the mountainous regions of Al
Dinniyyah, Ayun Al Siman, Faqra and Zaarur. Suspects involved in the case and
believed to be associated with the state-owned OGERO parastatal organisation
were arrested earlier this week over possible links to the networks.Several
reliable reports speculated that the OGERO director-general Abdul Monem Yousuf
was fully involved in these scandalous transactions. A parliamentary media
committee unveiled what it described as a “mafia” that are taking advantage of
internet services by installing internet stations that are not subject to any
controls by the state, which earns between $1.2 billion and $1.5 billion each
year through the Ministry of Telecommunications monopoly. Yousuf apparently knew
that the owners of these illegal stations bypassed the state network and
purchased international internet bandwidth at nominal costs from Turkey and
Cyprus which, in turn, they sold to subscribers at reduced prices. Yousuf is
close to March 14 leaders, including Siniora, although the Jumblatt hint that
the former prime minister is implicated is a bombastic revelation in its own
right.
A Hezbollah evicting residents of
Syria border town: activists
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/April 27/16/The General Commission of Yabrud claimed
that the Lebanese party was instituting a policy of "demographic change."
BEIRUT – Hezbollah has allegedly moved to evict a number of residents from a Syrian town near Lebanon’s border, according to a local activist group. The General Commission of Yabrud claimed Monday that members of the Lebanese armed party “are emptying a number of houses of their residents” in the Qaa neighborhood of the town, which lies along the strategic M5 motorway linking Damascus to the regime’s Alawite-populated coastal bastion via Homs. Hezbollah troops backed by the Syrian army and militias seized Yabrud on March 16, 2014 amid the Shiite party’s blistering offensive that routed rebels from their positions along the M5 highway near the Lebanese-Syrian border. According to the General Commission of Yabrud, Hezbollah fighters “requested the evacuation of dozens of houses” in the Qaa neighborhood—where the party’s troops are deployed—under the pretext that they need the buildings for military purposes.“[Hezbollah members] began to bring a number of their [relatives] to the area… in the framework of the deliberate policy of occupation and demographic change in the region,” the activist group’s report claimed. The General Commission further claimed that Hezbollah had directly purchased “more than 25 houses” in Yabrud, while it acquired even more homes through middlemen. “No matter how long the occupation will last… the free [people] will inevitable return,” the General Commission vowed in their missive. Syria's opposition has repeatedly accused the Bashar al-Assad regime and its allies Iran and Hezbollah of attempting to institute demographic changes in militarily sensitive areas of the country, including Qalamoun and the southwestern outskirts of Damascus.
The Mirage of Sovereignty and the
Bluff of National Unity
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/April 27/16
Both Iraq and Lebanon are currently living two big ‘lies’: sovereignty and
national unity, and as the days go by, not only are the politicians in the two
countries proving their ability to bluff their people, but also their ability to
bluff themselves.
1920 was a significant landmark in the history of the two countries as the ‘New
World Order’ drew their maps that included several constituents. Some of these
constituents willingly accepted the new ‘national’ borders, others accepted them
as a fait accompli, and they felt that the very existence of ‘national borders’
dividing and separating what were Arab majority or character Ottoman provinces
and ‘Mutassarifliks’ (i.e. ‘autonomous districts’) was tantamount to a fatal
blow to the dream of ‘Arab Unity’.
It is worth remembering here, and always, that the ‘borders’ of the Near East’s
entities were not drawn and adopted by their peoples, who are the peoples
directly involved, but rather by the imperialist Western powers that won the
WW1. It is well known that these powers agreed among themselves to divide and
apportion the former Ottoman territories through a set of deals and agreements.
The question of ‘minorities’ – be they ethnic, linguistic, religious or
sectarian – was always a sensitive issue at the time of drawing the maps of the
British and French mandates. As artificial – even revised, as is the case of
Western Iraq/Eastern Syria – borders were being drawn, they separated
homogeneous groups while bringing together groups that had almost nothing in
common.
The new post-Ottoman ‘Caliphate’ geo-political realities were taking shape
against a background of a tough struggle between the ‘religious / sectarian’ and
‘nationalist’ identities as European- inspired ‘nationalism’, as well as rapid
urbanization at the expense of rural and nomadic patterns of settlement with all
the interaction, friction, interest-linked loyalties, concepts and ideologies.
Iraq, Lebanon and Syria have lived through all the above. However, while a
royalist regime was established in Iraq based on a melange of rural, tribal and
city elites from Baghdad, Mosul and Basra, and supported by the ex-‘Sherifian’
officers and other Faisal ibn Al-Hussein (King Faisal I) loyalists, a consensus
republican system was installed in ‘Greater Lebanon’ headed by a Christian
president.
Neither the Kurds nor the Turkmen had a say in deciding the shape of the new
Iraq, nor were the Shi’a active participants in the building process of the new
entity. Still, Faisal I succeeded with the help of wise and efficient advisers –
many of whom were non-Iraqi – in creating an ‘Iraqi’ identity. By the mid-1930s,
the ‘state of Iraq’ became a secure and thriving reality bolstered by oil
wealth, despite internal and regional tensions, including those caused by Nazi
Germany’s activities which thrived for a few years in Baghdad against the
British, affecting both the Iraqi parties and the national army.
In Lebanon, urban and rural elites adapted to the new system as well. Common
interests, traditional and ideological cross-factional political alliances
emerged, although the disagreements remained between the ‘Lebanonists’,
‘pan-Syrianists’ and ‘pan-Arabists’.
In both Iraq and Lebanon the ‘political conscience’ of Arab Sunni Muslims was
boiling with deep frustration with the ‘reality of partition’. They felt that
the new entities created by Great Britain and France came at the expense of the
destroyed dream of ‘The Greater Arab Homeland’ extending from the Atlantic to
the Arab Gulf. This romantic dream, in fact, could have faded away, perhaps, had
it not been for the loss of Palestine in 1948.
Indeed, Iraq’s Shi’a Arabs were never ‘less Arabist’ than their Sunni folks, and
neither the Christians nor the Jews, Yezidis and other minorities were less
proud of being ‘Iraqi’ than the Muslims. Even Kurds and Turkmen came together
and co-existed with the other constituents, producing many leading statesmen,
senior officers, intellectuals and poets. Arabic names were widely used then
with no association with fear or need for flattery.
In Lebanon, also, despite the fact the majority among the ‘Labanonists’ was
Christian, and the majority within the ‘pan-Syrianists and ‘pan-Arabists’ was
Muslim, these two majorities were not large as many leading ‘pan-Syrianists’ and
‘pan-Arabists’ were Christian, and many Muslim leaders were more ‘Lebanonists’
than their Christian compatriots.
The Palestine ‘nakbah’ (i.e. disaster) which shocked the Arab world and damaged
the credibility of Arab political elites left the stage waiting for a “hero”.
Soon enough the “hero” emerged from army barracks. The Arab military took over
and became involved in ‘the Cold War’ politics and the game of ‘power for
power’s sake’. The military that originally took over power under the banner of
‘filling the vacuum’ and ‘liberating Palestine’ became drawn to the
international rivalry between the ‘socialist’ east and the ‘capitalist’ west,
and failed to deal with party politics.
Contrary to the 1948 ‘nakbah’, the 1967 ‘naksah’ (i.e. defeat) uncovered to the
Arabs that the real solution may not be through the military after all. Then,
the ‘Camp David Accords’ between Israel and Egypt managed to divide the Arabs,
thus, weakening the ‘Arabist’ choice which was further weakened by Saddam
Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait. Later on, the fall of the USSR ushered in the
Arab world the collapse of the ‘Leftist’ alternative that included among others
the slogans of the ‘war of popular liberation’. Even the Palestinian resistance
movement fell victim to its involvement in inter-Arab rivalries and animosities
and lost a lot of credibility.
Four decades of accumulating mistakes, stagnation and tendency for ‘inherited’
succession, combined to bring about the popular uprisings now known as the ‘Arab
Spring’. These uprisings showed the disparity in the presence of the ‘deep
state’, or rather ‘entrenched state’, in various Arab countries; and if Tunisia
and Egypt managed their way through the ‘Arab Spring’ with a minimum of losses,
the tragedies of Syria, Yemen and Libya proved beyond doubt their fragile
structure and citizenship.
Iraq and Lebanon, while not experiencing the ‘Arab Spring’, have also been seen
as fragile and devoid of proper citizenship against the background of the Syrian
crisis made worse by Iran’s drive for sectarian and territorial hegemony; a
drive that has been fueling Sunni-Sh’i tension throughout the region since 1979.
The present and lengthy political crisis in both Iraq and Lebanon is the
clearest indication of the mirage of sovereignty and the bluff of national
unity. To turn this sad reality into a full blown tragedy, it only needed
Russia’s return to its imperialist dreams, and Barack Obama’s American
volte-face against its Middle Eastern ‘friends’, caring less about the fate of
the region’s people, strategic balance, and old alliances.
Lebanese Municipal Elections:
Independent voices rising in Shiite controlled areas
Myra Abdallah/Now
Lebanon/April 27/16
This year, municipal elections results in Shiite areas controlled by Hezbollah
and Amal Movement might not be the same as in the past
The Lebanese municipal elections are set to take place next month and unlikely
to be postponed, according to Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri’s statement
earlier this month. For the first time since 2010, electoral activity is set to
take place in Lebanon. During the past six years, the political composition of
the country has changed and several incidents and events occurred that pushed
numerous Lebanese citizens to alter their political viewpoints. As a result, the
upcoming municipal elections have witnessed the emergence of a large number of
independent candidates who aim to distance themselves from Lebanese political
alignments and promote their programs that are strictly related to social
development. Similarly, in Shiite majority areas, the two main Shiite parties –
Hezbollah and Amal Movement – who have always been the main candidates and the
main, not to say the only, winners – are facing a serious electoral competition
this year. Young candidates are running for the municipal elections and basing
their candidature more on competence and developmental ideas and less on
political affiliations.
“It is not about being against Hezbollah or Amal Movement,” said activist and
blogger Ahmad Yassine, who told NOW that he might be run for the muncipal
elections in Nabatieh, South Lebanon. “We are a group of young people,
architects, lawyers, doctors and activists, who is planning strictly to work on
developmental projects in Nabatieh. However, we do not consider Hezbollah or
Amal Movement candidates as our enemies but rather our competitors. Our
ambitions and aims are far from being related to politics.”
Similarly, many other young candidates seem made a decision t contest the
elections because they realized that politicized municipality boards were rarely
efficient in implementing development projects. They are hoping that many voters
decide to give the opportunity to new leaders in order to improve their level of
livelihoods and respond to the towns’ demands. In Shiite areas specifically,
Hezbollah and Amal Movement have rarely had serious competition, and when they
did, both candidates and voters faced serious pressure from established
political parties and affiliated families. “The problem with previous municipal
council [members] is the fact that they were elected according to their
political affiliation,” said Hassan, a resident of south Lebanon. “This was
reflected inthe municipality’s work, which rarely focused on development for the
region. The new candidates for these municipal elections gave us hope,
especially since most of them are refusing to get involved in politics and
prefer to work on the development aspect in southern [Lebanese] towns.”
Likewise, many residents feel that this year, the results of the municipal
elections might be different than before. In south Lebanon, similarly to other
regions in Lebanon, many young activists are running in elections for the first
time. However, this certainly does not mean that they will be able to win over
the more established political parties, who have experience in organizing
electoral campaign, more financial means to execute larger campaigns and the
ability to affect people’s chooices. “It is true that Hezbollah and Amal
Movement are facing some competition in southern towns,” said one political
activist, who spoke to NOW on condition of anonymity. “However, in my opinion,
people are not ready yet to make this change happen. I am almost certain that
the political parties will win the elections eventually, except in some towns
where there is a religious diversity.”“As organizations and civil society, we have been working for the development of
Nabatieh for the past five to six years. Our projects are related to development
and environmental awareness,” said Yassine. “In addition, we would not have run
for the elections if we did not feel that voters are currently ready to accept
the candidature of new people. We are being mainly supported by young people who
are used to social and online media, like Facebook and Twitter, and by our
families.”When asked about independent candidates’ chances to win the elections in
Nabatieh, Yassine told NOW that they have a 40 percent chance to win. “However,
even if we lost, our success will be the fact that we let people know that they
are not forced to vote for the same people and political parties all the time,
and that they have the opportunity to make a change,” Yassine told NOW.**Myra Abdallah tweets @myraabdallah
Salam chairs meeting for Supreme
Privatization Council
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, on Wednesday
presided over a meeting for the Supreme Privatization Council at the Grand
Serail, attended by Energy and Water Minister, Arthur Nazarian, Finance
Minister, Ali Hassan Khalil, Labour Minister, Sejaan Azzi, Economy and Trade
Minister, Alain Hakim, Secretary General of Privatization, Ziad Hayek, and
General Director of EDL, Kamal Hayek. Conferees took up the proposed energy
generating projects and decided to form a committee of specialists from
competent ministries under the supervision and coordination of the General
Secretariat of the Council.
Aoun: election laws
prevented power rotation
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Head of Change and Reform bloc, MP Michel Aoun,
told a TV interview on Wednesday that the consecutive election laws prevented
people from rotating power. "The election laws do not allow people to choose
power rotation," he said, upon the 11th commemoration of the Syrian troops'
retreat from Lebanon. Aoun explained that the present poll laws aimed to provide
the ruling majority in 1992. "The majority produced in 2009 seeks to remain in
power, albeit it has lost the trust of the public opinion," he remarked, adding
that that majority also seeks to control the election of a president, "even
though it is unconstitutional." "If partnership and power balance are not
ensured, Lebanon will be facing a great danger," he warned. I am afraid
independence would go to waste," he said. "Some are still seeking a western or
even eastern custody to allow the election of s president," he concluded.
End of submission of
candidacies to Tyre municipal polls
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - 48 figures presented today their candidacy to the
municipal polls in Tyre, while 67 will run for mayoral posts, National News
Agency correspondent reported on Wednesday.
Hariri reiterates his support for the "Beirutis List"
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that "our
determination to consecrate parity between Muslims and Christians in the
formation of the "Beirutis List" for the next municipal elections, is to
highlight that we are a moderate movement that accepts the other, that is open
to everyone, and that believes in coexistence and refuses all forms of
intolerance and extremism". Hariri received the Beiruti families of Tamim,
Beydoun, Boutari, Aris, Jaroudi, Kabbani, Assaf and Houry, at the "Center House"
this evening, in the presence of the candidate for the presidency of the
municipal council in Beirut, Jamal Itani. Hariri said: "Some bet that we will
ask to postpone elections, under the pretext that we fear their results, or that
we are not ready. But we proved in word and deed that we support these
elections, and will participate in them at the specified dates."
Hariri added: "We hope that the "Beirutis list", which includes very competent
persons, will form a homogeneous team, that will work for the benefit of Beirut
and its people, and will implement the necessary projects for the advancement of
the capital, so that Beirut can be as martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri wanted
it to be, a home for all and the pearl of the Orient."He said: "There are
necessary projects awaiting the next Municipal Council, most notably the
establishment of a factory to process waste in a modern scientific way, in order
to solve this problem fundamentally so it does not remain an obsession haunting
the Beirutis." Premier Hariri called on the attendees to vote for the "Beirutis
list" on May 8th, so that the municipal council which expresses the aspirations
of the Beirutis and works for the benefit of the capital can win. The head of
the "Beirutis list" Jamal Itani stressed that he will do his utmost to implement
the program which was announced yesterday and said: "Some considered that it is
difficult to implement this program, while others described it as the very
ambitious." He added: "I learned from Martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, when I
was in charge of CDR, that nothing is impossible if the person in charge is
determined and works seriously and professionally. I will respect this rule
while achieving my tasks in the next phase and hopefully I will be up to the
expectations of the Beirutis."
Berri: To commit to constitution, its principles in electoral law discussions
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri stressed during
Wednesday parliamentary meeting on the need "to commit to the constitution and
its principles while discussing the parliamentary electoral law."Berri pointed
out that the common committees have to discuss the drafts and the law drafts
regarding the elections with responsibility and gravity to overcome most of the
differences and disagreements that might appear in order to discuss it at the
General Assembly. He added that the presented drafts will be filtered based on
two main points: the nature of the electoral circle and the electoral system.
Jumblatt via twitter: Beirut
Madinati big challenge for Beirutis to break partisian barriers for city's
interest
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Democratic Gathering leader, Walid Jumblatt, said via
twitter on Wednesday that "Beirut Madinati list is a big challenge for Beirutis
to break away from partisan affiliations for the city's best interest."He added,
"My words are clearly against political parties, but just as there's a pressing
need for urgent legislations, there is also a need for urgent candidacy. So
we're neither allowed to talk, nor to tweet?"
Bassil visits SSNP, renews
calls for endorsement of election law
Wed 27 Apr 2016/NNA - Head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Foreign Minister
Gebran Bassil, visited on Wednesday Head of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party,
MP Assaad Hardan. The meeting was also attended by delegations of the FPM and
the SSNP.
Speaking to reporters following the talks, Bassil indicated that his visit was
to reaffirm the strong relation between the two parties, and their agreement on
key strategic matters, especially concerning the Israeli enemy and terrorism.On
the local scene, Bassil underlined that his party shared SSNP view on the
necessity to reach a civil secular state, "where minorities and Christians can
be protected.""This can be translated by [endorsing] an election law that would
provide true and correct representation of people, and gives political movements
and parties their role," he said, in direct reference to a proportional vote
system, with districts as enlarged as could be. Bassil added that talks also
touched on the imminent municipal and mayoral polls.
Will Brazil land a Lebanese president before Lebanon does?
Tarek Ali Ahmad/Al Arabiya
English/ Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Lebanon is entering its 24th month without a president in May, which marks one
of the longest times a country has been without a head of state ever.
On the other side of the globe, Brazil’s next president is poised to become
Lebanese-Brazilian Michel Temer – now Vice President, until President Dilma
Rousseff’s impeachment process comes through.
If this happens, another country would have managed to land a Lebanese president
before Lebanon did.
So, who is Temer? Tucked away 10 kilometers into the heart of northern Lebanon,
among the ravenous mountains and tall trees, lies the Brazilian Vice President’s
village of Btaaboura. His parents raised his siblings in an almost 200-year-old
home, while he was born and raised in Sao Paolo after his parents immigrated in
the early 20th century.
“Since he was young he would hear a lot about Lebanon, he has three siblings who
were raised in Lebanon before his family left to Brazil,” his paternal cousin,
Youmna Barbar, told Al Arabiya English this week.
From Btaaboura to Brazil, the Lebanese-Brazilian is one of millions of Lebanese
who had fled the war in search for peace and opportunity for their families.
“Around 7 to 10 million Brazilians” have Lebanese ancestry, according to the
Brazilian foreign affairs ministry.
Tucked away 10 kilometers into the heart of northern Lebanon, among the ravenous
mountains and tall trees, lies the Brazilian Vice President’s village of
Btaaboura.
Throughout his whole stay in the South American country, he had only visited his
country of origin twice, once in 1997 after Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih
Berri invited him, and the other in 2011 when he was invited by then-President
Michel Sleiman.
During his first trip to Lebanon, Temer was “very emotional” according to Barbar.
“He told me ‘my heart is going to stop’ because of how emotional it was to be in
the village where his parents lived,” she said.
“He regretted not coming to Lebanon before.”
His second visit established solid ties between the two republics, as “it was
the largest official mission to take place from a Brazilian delegation to
Lebanon,” according to First Secretary to the Brazilian Embassy in Beirut, Adam
Muniz.
“He came with the military, with many businessmen. It was a big delegation, this
was when he delivered the Brazilian flagship to UNIFIL, when he inaugurated the
Brazil-Lebanon cultural center,” he said.
Due to the large number of citizens of Lebanese origin – roughly 6% of the total
population – the ties between the two countries are strong, as is the cultural
impact the small, Middle Eastern country has had on South America’s largest
nation.
“He loves moujadara and kibbeh, his mother used to make them for him all the
time,” Barbar said, in reference to traditional Lebanese foods.
Much of Lebanon’s food and culture can be found in Brazil, especially in Sao
Paolo home to one of the most popular fast food chains called “Habib’s” – where
most Brazilians get their ‘sfiha’ (meat pie) and kibbeh (a dish made of bulgur,
minced onions, and finely ground meat), and even a sandwich named ‘Beirute’
(From Beirut).
Temer isn’t the only person with Lebanese roots who made a name for himself in
South America. The likes of Renault and Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn, famous popstar
Shakira, telecom tycoon and former world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu, and
actress Salma Hayek, have all broken onto the international scene.
A shot at Presidency
Following Brazil’s parliamentary decision to impeach Dilma Rousseff on Monday
over corruption charges, Temer seems pitted to take the helm of the country home
to over 209 million people.“I’m sure there are a lot of expectations coming from people in Lebanon and also
from the Brazilian-Lebanese community in Brazil,” Muniz told Al Arabiya English.
“He’s very influential in the Brazilian Lebanese community, especially Sao Paolo
where you find the biggest Lebanese community,” he added.
Temer began his political career in Brazil as President of the Chamber of
Deputies in 1997, where he served for three two-year terms. “He’s a very
respected constitutionalist,” said Muniz.
He was later made the President of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party in
2001. In 2011, he became President Rousseff’s Vice President.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 27/16
Syria opposition: Setting date for
next round in peace talks is up to UN
Reuters Wednesday, 27 April
2016/A Syrian opposition official said on Wednesday it was up to the United
Nations to say when peace talks would resume, after a Russian official said they
would restart on May 10, adding that the opposition would not take part until
its demands were met. George Sabra of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) was
responding to comments earlier on Wednesday by Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail
Bogdanov of Russia, a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad. “All the while
real steps aren’t taken on the ground in Syria, the participation of the
delegation of the HNC will remain suspended,” Sabra told Reuters. The HNC
suspended its participation in the peace talks last week as violence escalated
on the ground and the negotiations made no progress towards discussing a
political transition. Watch: Syrian opposition considering withdrawing from
talks
Kidnapped Serbian Worker in
Libya Released
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/A Serbian employee of a German company
who was kidnapped at the weekend in a remote part of Libya was released
Wednesday, the foreign ministry in Belgrade said. "Miroslav Tomic, 46, employed
by German firm Ferrostaal and kidnapped on Sunday afternoon... was freed today,"
a ministry statement said citing the Serbian embassy in Tripoli, without giving
details about the kidnappers. Tomic was "safe and is to return to work on
Thursday," the statement added. Serbian media had earlier said that Tomic was
kidnapped on Saturday while visiting an oil well in a remote area near the
Egyptian border. The abduction came two months after the deaths of two kidnapped
Serbian embassy employees in Libya. Embassy communications chief Sladjana
Stankovic and her driver Jovica Stepic were kidnapped in November in the coastal
city of Sabratha, 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of Tripoli, from a convoy of
cars heading to the Tunisian border. The pair were killed by a US strike on an
Islamic State jihadist camp in February, the Serbian government said, and their
bodies were returned to Serbia -- although the Pentagon disputed claims they
were killed by the strike. Libya descended into chaos after the October 2011
ouster and killing of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, and has become a magnet
for militants who receive weapons training in jihadist camps before launching
deadly attacks in other countries. Serbian citizens -- mostly doctors, other
medical staff and construction workers -- have been working in Libya for decades
due to close relations during Gadhafi's regime.
Aid Enters Besieged Central
Syria Town, Says Red Cross
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/An aid convoy for besieged civilians
entered a rebel-held town in central Syria on Wednesday for the first time in a
year, the Red Cross said. In the third such aid operation in Homs province this
week, the Red Crescent and International Committee of the Red Cross was
delivering food parcels to 12,000 families in and around Talbisseh, ICRC
spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said. The 35 trucks will also ferry in medicines,
delivery kits for pregnant women and equipment to fix water boreholes and
pumping stations, he said. The delivery to the area besieged by government
forces is the ICRC's first in three years and the Red Crescent's first in a
year. Talbisseh and surrounding areas -- controlled by rebels since 2012 -- are
home to 60,000 people, half of them displaced by fighting. Another 14 trucks are
expected to reach the area in coming days, Krzysiek said. The delivery follows
two relief operations to the nearby town of Rastan, including a convoy last
Thursday that ferried the largest aid consignment to date in war-torn Syria.More
than four million people live in besieged or hard-to-reach areas in Syria with
little or no access to food or medicines. Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011
with anti-government protests but has spiraled into a complex war that has
killed more than 270,000 and displaced millions.
Female suicide bomber wounds several in Turkey's Bursa
By Reuters Ankara Wednesday, 27 April 2016/A female suicide bomber wounded at
several people when she blew herself up near the main mosque in the northwestern
Turkish city of Bursa on Wednesday, a senior government official and a security
source said. Photographs from the scene showed the severed torso of what
appeared to be the bomber lying at the side of the mosque. There was no
immediate claim of responsibility. “The attack was carried out by a suicide
bomber. It is a woman, and she is dead. According to the information we have at
the moment, seven people are wounded,” the government official told Reuters.
Turkey has been hit by a series of suicide bombings this year, including two in
its largest city Istanbul blamed on ISIS, and two in the capital Ankara which
were claimed by a Kurdish militant group. It has also faced attacks from far
leftist groups, mostly on police and security forces. Bursa is Turkey's fourth
largest city, an industrial hub directly south of Istanbul across the Marmara
Sea and a city rich in Ottoman-era architecture.
Turkey: Secularism will be in
new constitution
Reuters Wednesday, 27 April 2016/The principle of secularism will be in Turkey’s
new constitution, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Wednesday, after the
speaker of parliament sparked a public uproar by calling for a religious
constitution. Davutoglu made the statement in a speech to his ruling AK Party in
parliament. Speaker Ismail Kahraman said this week that overwhelmingly Muslim
Turkey needed a religious constitution, a proposal that contradicts the modern
republic’s founding principles. Kahraman later said his comments were “personal
views” and that the new charter should guarantee religious freedoms.
European court condemns
Turkey over Alevi discrimination
Reuters Wednesday, 27 April 2016/The European Court of Human Rights condemned
Turkey on Tuesday for discriminating against members of the Alevi religious
minority by failing to grant their places of worship the same status and
advantages as those of other faiths.Making up about 15-20 percent of Turkey’s 76
million people, Alevis draw from Shi’a, Sufi and Anatolian folk traditions,
practicing distinct rituals which can put them at odds with their Sunni Muslim
counterparts, many of whom accuse them of heresy.
The head of an Alevi foundation argued that Turkey had discriminated against the
minority by refusing to recognize cemevis, or assembly houses, as religious
sites, which are exempted from paying electricity bills. The foundation had
piled up 289,182 euros ($358,586) of unpaid bills since 2006, when it first
applied for the exemption. A panel of seven judges at the Strasbourg-based court
ruled against Turkish courts which had said that cemevis were not religious
sites, based on an opinion from the Turkish religious authority stating that the
Alevi faith was not a religion. “The court rules that the plaintiff foundation
was subjected to differing treatment, without objective or reasonable cause, and
the method of exemption from payment of electricity bills for religious sites in
Turkish law was enacting discrimination on the basis of religion,” a summary of
the ruling read. The court has jurisdiction to hear allegations of violations of
the European Convention on Human Rights, which Turkey ratified in 1954. It did
not specify any penalty, but gave the Turkish state and the Alevi plaintiffs six
months to propose an estimate of damages for discrimination. Protests erupted in
September in Ankara when Alevis reacted against plans to build a Sunni mosque
next to a cemevi, which many said was an attempt to assimilate their community
into the Sunni majority.
Three Egypt Policemen Killed
in Sinai Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/A roadside bomb in the North Sinai
town of El-Arish killed three Egyptian police conscripts on Wednesday, the
interior ministry said. Jihadists have waged an insurgency in the restive
peninsula that has killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the army
toppled Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The interior ministry said
Monday's attack targeted a police convoy as it drove through El-Arish, the
provincial capital of North Sinai. The insurgency is led by the Islamic State
jihadist group's Egypt affiliate. The group, which often claims attacks against
security services, also said it planted a bomb on board a Russian airliner over
Sinai last October, killing all 224 people on board.
UN alarmed by Israeli remarks
on Golan Heights
Reuters, United Nations Wednesday, 27 April 2016/The United Nations Security
Council on Tuesday unanimously voiced alarm over Israeli statements about the
Golan Heights on Syria’s border with Israel, a declaration that elicited a sharp
response from Israel.
Earlier this month Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would never
relinquish the Golan Heights, in a signal to Russia and the United States that
the strategic plateau should be excluded from any deal on Syria’s future.
“Council members expressed their deep concern over recent Israeli statements
about the Golan, and stressed that the status of the Golan remains unchanged,”
China’s UN Ambassador Liu Jieyi, president of the 15-nation Security Council
this month, told reporters after a closed-door meeting. He added that council
resolution 497 of 1981 made clear that Israel’s decision at the time to impose
its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the Golan was “null and void and
without international legal effect.”Council statements are adopted by consensus,
which means all its members, including Israel’s ally the United States, backed
it. Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon issued a statement rejecting the council
complaint. “Holding a meeting on this topic completely ignores the reality in
the Middle East,” he said. “While thousands of people are being massacred in
Syria, and millions of citizens have become refugees, the Security Council has
chosen to focus on Israel, the only true democracy in the Middle East.”
“It’s unfortunate that interested parties are attempting to use the council for
unfair criticism of Israel,” he added. Netanyahu’s April 17 declaration came on
the occasion of the first Israeli cabinet session on the Golan since the area
was captured from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed in 1981. Israel’s annexation
of the Golan has not won international recognition.
Past US-backed Israeli-Syrian peace efforts were predicated on a return of the
Golan, where some 23,000 Israelis now live alongside roughly the same number of
Druze Arabs loyal to Damascus. Watch: Will war break out in Golan Heights? Liu
said the council supported a negotiated arrangement to settle the issue of the
Golan. There is a UN peacekeeping force deployed in the Golan called UNDOF.
Established in 1974, UNDOF monitors a ceasefire line that has separated Israelis
from Syrians in the Golan Heights since a 1973 war. The force has had to pull
back from a number of positions on the Golan due to fighting between militants
and Syrian government forces in the five-year-old Syrian civil war. Its
peacekeepers have been fired upon and captured by militants on several
occasions.
Iran's Khamenei Says U.S.
Lifted Sanctions only on Paper
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/Iran's supreme leader and president
accused the United States of hostility and bad faith Wednesday saying the
implementation of its nuclear deal with world powers was not being honored.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei echoed other officials in Tehran who allege that
Washington is creating hurdles for European financial institutions, more than
three months after the agreement came into force. With nuclear-related sanctions
lifted, U.S. and European diplomats have said there is no bar on non-American
banks doing business with Iran. But it is not happening in reality, Khamenei
said. "On paper they say that foreign banks can do business with Iran but, in
practice, they are fomenting Iranophobia to prevent relations. "The United
States creates disruptions and then asks us afterwards: 'Why are you
suspicious'?" Khamenei told workers in the capital.
European officials have told AFP their bankers fear they could face fines or
even criminal cases against their U.S. subsidiaries if they rush back to Tehran.
At a separate event, President Hassan Rouhani criticised a decision by the U.S.
Supreme Court last week to make $2 billion of frozen Iranian assets available to
American victims of terror attacks. U.S. officials blame Tehran for attacks
including the bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the 1996
Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Tehran threatened on Monday to take
action in the International Court of Justice against the U.S. if the $2 billion
belonging to Iran's Central Bank is "diverted" to 1,000 Americans affected by
the ruling. "This is a totally illegal action and contrary to international
rules and immunity of central banks," Rouhani said, calling it "a violation and
open hostility by the United States against the Iranian people". The U.S. court
verdict comes despite hopes for better relations between Tehran and Washington,
foes since the Islamic revolution of 1979 ended the rule of the U.S.-backed
Shah. That tumult was followed by students' storming the U.S. embassy and a
444-day hostage crisis. More than two years of talks led to the nuclear
agreement between Iran and major powers led by the United States and it involved
the first open direct negotiations between Washington and Tehran since the
revolution. But it has not heralded a thaw on other issues. U.S. sanctions still
exist to punish Tehran for its ballistic missile program and what Washington
says is its sponsorship of "terrorist groups" in the Middle East.
10 prisoners hanged in Iran in new
wave of executions
Wednesday, 27 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - Iran's
fundamentalist regime has hanged at least 10 people in prisons since the
weekend, in what has been described as a new wave of executions. Earlier on
Wednesday at least six other death-row prisoners in Ghezelhesar Prison in Karaj,
north-west of Tehran, were transferred to solitary confinement for their
imminent execution. The regime's judiciary in Mazandaran Province announced that
a 27-year-old prisoner identified by the initials Z. Ch. was hanged in a prison
in Sari, northern Iran, on Sunday, April 24. Earlier in the week, the judiciary
had announced that a second 27-year-old prisoner, identified only by the
initials H. H., was also hanged in prison in Sari on Sunday. Elsewhere, the
regime’s judiciary in Qazvin Province announced that an unnamed man was hanged
in Qazvin Central Prison, north-west of Tehran, on Tuesday. At least five
prisoners were hanged on Saturday in Zahedan Central Prison, south-east Iran.
Another three prisoners were hanged in the same prison on Tuesday. Three of
those executed in Zahedan were identified as: Jamshid Dehvari, 30; Sadeq Rigi,
35; and Mohammad Sanchouli, who is believed to have been 22 years old. Mr.
Sanchouli had been behind bars for the past five years including time he served
in the prison’s ward for juveniles. He is believed to have been under 18 at the
time of his arrest. The hangings bring to at least 46 the number of people
executed in Iran since April 10. Three of those executed were women and one is
believed to have been a juvenile offender. The National Council of Resistance of
Iran (NCRI) said in a statement on April 13 that the increasing trend of
executions “aimed at intensifying the climate of terror to rein in expanding
protests by various strata of the society, especially at a time of visits by
high-ranking European officials, demonstrates that the claim of moderation is
nothing but an illusion for this medieval regime.”Ms. Federica Mogherini, the
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy, was in Tehran on April 16 along with seven EU commissioners for
discussions with the regime’s officials on trade and other areas of cooperation.
Her trip was strongly criticized by Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the
Foreign Affairs Committee of the NCRI who said: “This trip which takes place in
the midst of mass executions, brutal human rights violations and the regime's
unbridled warmongering in the region tramples on the values upon which the EU
has been founded and which Ms. Mogherini should be defending and propagating.”
Amnesty International in its April 6 annual Death Penalty report covering the
2015 period wrote: "Iran put at least 977 people to death in 2015, compared to
at least 743 the year before." "Iran alone accounted for 82% of all executions
recorded" in the Middle East and North Africa, the human rights group said.
There have been more than 2,300 executions during Hassan Rouhani’s tenure as
President. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation
in Iran in March announced that the number of executions in Iran in 2015 was
greater than any year in the last 25 years. Rouhani has explicitly endorsed the
executions as examples of “God’s commandments” and “laws of the parliament that
belong to the people.” The NCRI in a separate statement on Sunday warned that 10
death-row prisoners, transferred to solitary confinement in Ghezel-Hessar Prison
in Karaj and Zahedan Prison, are at imminent risk of execution. It called on
international human rights organizations to take urgent action to save their
lives.
Iran regime flogs woman in
public 100 times
Wednesday, 27 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - Iran's
fundamentalist regime has flogged a woman in public in Golpayegan, central Iran,
it emerged on Wednesday. The woman, who was only identified by her initials S.
T., was given 100 lashes, state media reported. The flogging was carried out as
punishment over an affair she allegedly had with another man, according to
Najafali Alyan, the regime’s prosecutor in Golpayegan. His remarks were carried
by the state-run Serat News Agency on April 27. There haven’t been reports in
state media of women being flogged in public in Iran in recent years. The woman
is currently serving a 15-year prison sentence for her alleged role in the
murder of her husband in July 2012, although it is not clear if she had a chance
to defend herself against the charges in the regime's courts. Farideh Karimi, a
human rights activist and member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
strongly condemned the public flogging in Golpayegan. “The public flogging of a
woman in Iran is a new misogynist measure by the Rouhani government, which is
extremely disturbing and abhorrent. The women politicians from the West who
visit Iran should reconsider such outreaches and their impact in emboldening the
regime in its attitude,” she said. She added: “In view of the new wave of
suppression of women in Iran, we urge women’s rights activists and organizations
to stand up and speak out against the mullahs’ misogynist policies.”
Last week the mullahs' regime launched a new plan to suppress women for
"improper veiling." It deployed some 7,000 so-called undercover 'morality police
officers' in Tehran tasked with suppressing women on the streets and alerting
official law enforcement agencies of instances of “mal-veiling” and other
“violations” of the mullahs’ fundamentalist laws. The Iranian regime has hanged
at least 66 women and 2,300 men since Hassan Rouhani took office as President in
2013.
NCRI Foreign Affairs
Committee chief comments on recent spate of executions in Iran
Wednesday, 27 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI – Regarding
the recent spike in the rate of executions in Iran, which have numbered at least
46 since April 10, Mohammad Mohaddessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “In the
month of April, during and after visits to Iran by the Prime Minister of Italy
and the EU foreign policy chief dozens of people have been executed in Iran.
Among the latest cases was the execution of eight Iranian Baluchis in Zahedan
Prison on Saturday and Tuesday. The increasing trend of executions indicates
that the visits of senior European officials to Iran not only have failed to
improve the human rights situation; rather, they have given a message of silence
and inaction to the mullahs. This has emboldened the clerical regime in stepping
up executions and suppressing the Iranian people. This is the regime that has
been the record holder of executions per capita globally in 2015. This bitter
reality is not an issue of pride for any of the guests of the religious fascism.
We say to European leaders, in particular to Mr. Renzi and Ms. Mogherini, that
if you don’t want the Iranian people to consider you as accomplices to the
suppression by the regime, raise your voices in protest to these executions and
condition an improvement of ties with this regime to a halt in executions.”
Ex-Tehran Uni. President
urges Iran’s youths to protest against dictatorship
Wednesday, 27 April 2016/National Council of Resistance of Iran/NCRI - Dr.
Mohammad Maleki, the first Chancellor of the University of Tehran following the
1979 revolution and a former Iranian political prisoner, has from his home in
Tehran sent a message to the youths in Iran to “rise up and protest” against the
mullahs’ regime in Iran. Dr. Maleki made the plea following a statement of
support for Iranian physicist and political prisoner Omid Kokabee who underwent
surgery last week to remove his cancerous right kidney. Mr. Kokabee, 34, and his
relatives had repeatedly warned about his various problematic health conditions,
but the mullahs' regime systematically ignored their warnings in the five years
that he has been behind bars. Human rights groups say Mr. Kokabee is held solely
for his refusal to work on military projects in Iran. Iranian people, in
particular the young generation, “must rise up,” Dr. Maleki said in his message
which was recorded last Friday, April 22. “They must break the silence in the
face of these criminal actions.” “They must put fear aside and protest.”“They
must tell the oppressive rulers of this nation that they will not allow them to
act in this inhumane and un-Islamic way and violate the human rights of the wise
people and scientists, political opponents, protesters and writers of this
nation.” “Dear students and professors, I urge you to rise up and protest.”
“Until now they have executed many students of this nation. These brutal
massacres continue [in Iran]. … I urge all Iranian youths, in particular
students and professors, to protest against these despicable actions of the
regime and prevent these criminal acts from continuing,” he added. Dr. Maleki,
83, is a human rights activist who has been arrested and imprisoned by the
Iranian regime many times and is banned from leaving the country. Last November
he publicly condemned a brutal rocket attack on October 29, 2015 against members
of the main Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI
or MEK) in Camp Liberty in Iraq which left 24 people killed and dozens wounded.
In December he publicly said that the victims of the Camp Liberty rocket attack
would overcome all obstacles and continue with ever greater force their
resistance against the clerical regime, adding that they "seek freedom from
cradle to the grave."
US senator in Syria:
'Legitimate Assad government is fighting terrorist' opposition
Jerusalem Post/April 27/16/Republican Senator Richard Black arrived in Syria for
a visit of solidarity with "the legitimate government of Assad who is fighting
against terror groups. Contradicting the official American policy towards the
conflict in Syria, Republican State Senator Richard Black has voiced strong
criticism against the Syrian opposition describing it as "a group of terrorists
fighting against the legitimate government and the Syrian people."The Syrian
official news agency SANA reported Tuesday that Black arrived in Syrian for a
three-day visit, the first visit of an American senator in Syria since 2012.
Upon his arrival, he told the state-run news agency: "What is happening in Syria
is terror. The issue is that terrorists are fighting against the Syrian people
and their legitimate government," adding that "there is no such thing as
'moderate opposition' in this country." "Many people misunderstand the situation
in Syria, and refuse to believe that all the groups fighting against the Syrian
regime are terror groups," Black added. "I know that the Syrian President Bashar
Assad wants to have a modern state, where people would enjoy freedom of
religion," he said, arguing that Assad is a legitimate president, since "he was
legally elected in 2014 elections." Expressing wonder over the Saudi
intervention in Syria, the American senator asked: "How can states like Saudi
Arabia, where elections have never taken place, push for elections in Syria and
demand that it changes its constitution?"
In his meeting with the pro-Assad Speaker of the People's Council of Syria,
Mohammad Jihad Lahham, Black argued: "The conflict in Syria affects the future
of our civilization. Hence, if Syria loses this war, our civilization
specifically and the humanity in general will suffer dangerous repercussions.
"The Russian intervention in Syria in order to vanquish terror engendered great
changes and now I do not worry about the result of the Syrian army's battle
against the terrorists," he said. Meeting later with Bouthaina Shaaban, Assad's
media advisor, Black said that when he gets back to the US, he will warn the
American administration "not to provide military aid to the terrorists and
mercenaries that are fighting in Syria." Black, a Republican Senator for the
state of Virginia, is known as a staunch supporter of the Syrian regime. In an
interview with the Russian TV channel, Russia Today, in March 2015, he stated:
"if Assad falls, ISIS will march to Europe."
US Sinai pullback payback for
islands handover
DEBKAfile Special Report April 27/ 2016/The US withdrew its forces from the
Sinai Peninsula last weekend in retaliation for Egypt’s transfer of sovereignty
over Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia, according to debkafile’s
military and intelligence sources. They also report that the move came after
Washington protested to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi over its
exclusion from the consultations and military coordination between Egypt, Saudi
Arabia and Israel regarding the islands. The US message was clear. Since Riyadh,
Cairo and Jerusalem do not report their military steps in the Sinai Peninsula,
the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to Washington, the US sees no need to inform
them of its military steps in the Sinai. That message was conveyed by the
chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph F. Dunford, to the Egyptian
president during their meeting on Saturday, April 23 in Cairo.
On Tuesday, debkafile’s military sources reported that several days earlier the
US military secretly withdrew about 100 of its officers and enlisted men from
the multinational peacekeeping force in the northern part of the Sinai. As far
as Riyadh, Cairo and Jerusalem are concerned, there is no doubt that it was a
retaliatory measure. US sources refused to specify the current location of the
troops. The American force was withdrawn from El Gorah base, located next to the
town of Sheikh Zuweid. Gen. Dunford told al-Sisi that the Obama administration
is no longer willing to maintain forces in the northern Sinai following the
recent shelling of the base by the ISIS affiliate in the restive area. The
incident marked the terrorist organization’s first attack on US troops in the
Sinai, but its second on an American force in the Middle East. On March 19, ISIS
shelled Fire Base Bell, a US marine base in Makhmur, northern Iraq, about 77
kilometers southeast of the terrorist organization’s de facto capital of Mosul.
One marine was killed. It was not by chance that shortly before he visited
Cairo, Gen. Dunford made a visit lasting no more than 90 minutes to the US
forward base to award purple hearts to four marines for their bravery during the
ISIS shelling. But while Washington is determined to maintain Fire Base Bell,
where it has deployed HIMARS rocket launchers that can fire GPS-guided rockets
known as GMLRS capable of reaching Mosul, and awards medals to soldiers serving
at the base, it is not ready to treat its soldiers in the Sinai in the same
manner because they have the status of multinational observers. Rather than
giving out medals, it withdrew those soldiers immediately after the first ISIS
attack. At the same time, US sources launched an unprecedented personal attack
on Egypt’s president over his decision to hand over the two islands to Riyadh.
Articles attacking El-Sisi’s policy started to appear in the American media,
with one saying “The decision to transfer the islands to Saudi Arabia may be the
final nail in Sissi’s coffin.” It also described Egypt as being on the verge of
a revolution against al-Sisi.
Two other Middle Eastern figures who were involved in Cairo’s decision regarding
the islands were Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammad bin
Salman and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, who said recently that Cairo
consulted Jerusalem regarding the transfer of the islands. However, his comment
was not mentioned in US media reports, as if the development was not related to
Saudi Arabia or Israel. debkafile’s military and intelligence sources report
that one of the main reasons for Washington’s rage was the fact that Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel decided to establish and coordinate by
themselves a regional defense mechanism covering the Suez Canal, the gulfs of
Suez and Aqaba, and the Red Sea. The Obama administration prefers to ignore the
fact that the US withdrawal of its naval and air forces from those areas over
the last three years has enabled the Iranian fleet to start operating in those
waters.
Knife-clad Palestinian pair
shot in attempted West Bank stabbing attack
Jerusalem Post/April 27/16/An Arab man and woman were suspected of attempting to
carry out a stabbing attack on Wednesday against Israeli security forces
stationed at a checkpoint near Palestinian village of Kalandiya in the West
Bank, police reported.
According to authorities, the pair approached security forces at the vehicular
entrance to the military post while the woman brandished a knife. The security
forces called several times on the duo to stop. However, security forces shot
the pair after they failed to heed the calls and rapidly approached the forces
with a knife. Military doctors at the scene later declared their deaths. There
were no injuries reported among the Israeli forces. Police photographs from the
scene showed additional knives that were found during searches of the suspects'
bodies.
According to Palestinian reports, the female attacker was identified as
23-year-old Maram Abu Ismail from Jerusalem. Wednesday's incident came after a
period of significant decline in Palestinian terrorist attacks. According to IDF
data, March saw an overall number of six terrorism incidents (including
shootings, stabbings, and vehicle rammings) in the West Bank, Jerusalem, and in
Israeli cities within the Green Line, compared to 56 in February, 45 in January,
and 40 in December. In the West Bank, where most of the violence has occurred in
recent months, the IDF saw a major drop in shootings, stabbings and ramming
attacks. Yaakov Lappin contributed to this report.
Concern in the North: ISIS
cells in the Golan could use chemical weapons
Jerusalem Post/April 27/16/The security echelon in Israel has estimated that the
Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, an Islamist organization that identifies with ISIS in
the southern Golan in Syria, has acquired some of Syrian President Basher
Assad's chemical weapons stockpile, Channel 10 reported on Tuesday. Security
forces have kept a close eye on the activities of the Islamic State sympathizers
near Israel's northern border as it fears that its militants will attempt to use
the newly obtained explosive devices with mustard and chlorine gas payloads
against Israel. The threat of unconventional weapons, such as mustard or
chlorine gas, is particularly fear-inducing as it could be disseminated to
effect a large portion of the civilian population. If inhaled, chlorine gas
turns to hydrochloric acid in the lungs, which can lead to internal burning and
drowning through a reactionary release of fluid in the lungs. Similarly, mustard
gas can be proliferated through the air and cause, among other complications,
respiratory infections and ultimately death. The Yarmouk Martryrs Brigade is
currently situated in the abandoned UN outposts in the southern Golan Heights
and is presently occupied with its struggle against Syrian opposition forces. As
of now, defense authorities assert that is does not appear that the militants
are planning to launch a chemical attack on Israel. However, security experts
have not eliminated the option that they could change their tactic. There have
been multiple reports of ISIS using chemical weapons in battle. Last August, the
Wall Street Journal reported that ISIS used chemical weapons for the time during
an insurgency in Iraq. Russia similarly reported in January that there is a high
chance that ISIS has been using chemical weapons in combat in Syria. In the same
month, the Central Command Headquarters of the United States Army reported that
a chemical weapons expert from the Islamist organization in Iraq was killed in
an aerial attack by the Coalition forces in Mosul. Additionally, the Americans
captured a senior special from ISIS' chemical weapons program. Assad has
likewise come under fire repeatedly for his use of chemical weapons. Israel
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said: "the Syrians used military grade chemical
weapons and as of late have been using materials, chlorine, against civilians,
including in these very days, after the supposed ceasefire, dropping barrels of
chlorine on civilians."Furthermore, a fact-finding mission of the global
chemical weapons watchdog (OPCW) concluded in 2014 that the use of chlorine gas
has been "systematic" in the Syrian civil war, even after the country
surrendered its stockpile of toxic weapons.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Austria Adopts One of EU's Toughest
Asylum Laws amid Far-Right Surge
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 27/16/The Austrian parliament on
Wednesday adopted one of Europe's toughest asylum laws, as the country's
political leaders struggle to halt the surging far-right which is leading in
presidential polls.The hotly-disputed bill, which passed by 98 to 67, allows the
government to declare a "state of emergency" if the migrant numbers suddenly
rise and reject most asylum-seekers directly at the border, including from
war-torn countries like Syria. Rights groups, religious leaders and opposition
parties have condemned the legislation -- the latest in a string of hardline
measures against migrants -- as violating international human rights
conventions. But Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka insisted Austria had no
other choice as long as "so many other European Union members fail to do their
part" to stop the influx. "We cannot shoulder the whole world's burden," he
said. Wedged between Europe's two main refugee routes - the Balkans and Italy --
Austria received around 90,000 asylum requests in 2015, the second-highest in
the bloc on a per capita basis.
More than a million people, primarily from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, landed
in Europe last year, triggering the continent's worst migration crisis since the
aftermath of World War II. Many braved a short but dangerous sea journey from
Turkey to Greece, before trekking up through the Balkans toward western and
northern Europe. To reduce the flow, the EU recently struck a controversial deal
with Ankara, under which all "irregular" migrants reaching Greece after March 20
will be returned to Turkey. Although the pact has led to a sharp drop in
arrivals, the International Organization for Migration last week warned that the
numbers were "once again ticking up". The crisis has boosted populist fringe
parties across Europe, pressuring traditionally centrist governments to adopt a
much firmer stance on migrants.
'Dangerous tools'
Under Austria's new law, the government can now declare an emergency if the
migrant flow threatens the country's "national security". Border authorities
will then only grant access to refugees facing safety threats in a neighboring
transit country or whose relatives are already in Austria. Some groups including
minors and pregnant women will however be exempt from the rule. The restrictions
are similar to tough rules introduced by the right-wing government in
neighboring Hungary last year. "These are extremely dangerous tools that are
being sharpened here, especially if they fall into the wrong hands," warned the
leader of the small NEOS opposition party, Mathias Strolz, ahead of the vote. It
comes after the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), Norbert Hofer,
sent shock waves through the political establishment by winning the first round
of a presidential ballot on Sunday. The two candidates of the ruling centrist
coalition failed to even make it into the runoff on May 22.The FPOe also looks
set to do well in the next scheduled general election in 2018.
Far from an invasion '
Trying to stem voter desertion to the far-right, Austria's government erected
border fences and introduced an annual cap on asylum-seekers. It also pressured
other countries along the Balkan trail to close their frontiers earlier this
year, effectively shutting the route to migrants.
The clampdown left some 54,000 migrants currently stranded in Greece. It also
pushed people smugglers to seek out new routes into Europe, including via Italy,
which has so far this year seen 26,000 migrants land on its shores after setting
off from Libya. The surge in arrivals in neighboring Italy has prompted Austria
to announce plans to re-instate border controls -- including a 370-meter
(1,200-feet) fence -- at the Brenner pass in the Alps, a key transport corridor
between northern and southern Europe. The move has sparked protests at the
checkpoint in recent weeks and drawn strong condemnation from Italy. "We're very
far from an invasion," Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni told Austrian
newspaper Die Presse on Wednesday.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 28/16
The Egyptian state and its youth:
Who is afraid of whom?
Mohammed Nosseir/Al Arabiya/April 27/16
Power certainly strengthens entities and, consequently, people. Illegitimate
strength, however, is not sustainable. This is what Egyptians should have learnt
in the course of their genuine attempt to revolt against the autocratic regime
on January 25, 2011. Once they had come together, the accumulation of tiny, weak
cells (individual citizens) was able to break the power of the state, built over
decades. They define themselves as statesmen, persons who are willing to serve
their country to the best of their knowledge. In reality however, because they
have been ruled by the same regime for decades, Egyptians have come to confuse
the regime’s politicians with state entities and authorities that are supposed
to function independently of the ruling regime. On the other hand, Egyptian
youngsters, who often proudly call themselves “the kids”, represent the large
segment of society that has always been ruled by senior citizens (who only leave
their positions upon their deaths). The Egyptian state, in my view, has been
notorious for its power that, in the absence of the proper application of rule
of law, it uses only to serve its affiliates – and to demolish its opponents.
Meanwhile, the youth, who benefit from greater international exposure, have been
struggling to bring their ideas forward and to capitalize on their energies to
modernize their country. These qualities are not really recognized by the state,
which accuses the youth of importing western values that will defile our country
and insists on using its outdated mentality to overcome challenges facing the
nation. The state believes that to remain united and strong, it needs to expand
its muscle by acquiring more weapons, adopting harsher measures against
protestors and inciting Egyptian citizens against their young
Our youngsters have been subject to state manipulation for decades. Their ideas
have not been paid attention to; their energy has been used to serve the ruling
class as they have watched the country deteriorate further. The state came to
realize the power of youth only for a few weeks when they attempted to bring the
country to revolt on January 25, 2011. At that time, the state, which has made a
habit of scaring the society, was forced to flee the streets occupied by the
youth. The state’s worst nightmare is the youth taking to the streets again.
Even as the youth demanded dignity, the events of 25 January damaged the state’s
pride. Accusing a number of foreign countries of being behind the events of the
day serves to soften the impact of the revolution on the state. The state
believes that to remain united and strong, it needs to expand its muscle by
acquiring more weapons, adopting harsher measures against protestors and
inciting Egyptian citizens against their young. Meanwhile, the powerless youth
are holding fast to their single, effective tool: thinking about when they will
manage to protest against the state again.
Political immaturity?Egypt is currently in a state of complete political
immaturity. The state doesn’t want to understand that it will never be able to
bring back its repressive policies and manipulate its youth as it used to in the
old days; the old tricks it used to employ to handle the youth have become
obsolete. One example is the meetings between the president, and his affiliates,
to which young people were invited. They had completely different demands (even
though they were not allowed to express their opinions at the meetings). It was
a kind of monologue that only strengthened the prejudice.
President el-Sisi is continuously warning Egyptians against the “Evil People”
i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. Now an outlawed organization, with thousands of its
leaders facing prosecution in Egyptian courts, the Muslim Brotherhood today
doesn’t represent a real threat to the state. The Brotherhood will make a deal
with the state eventually – leaving the president and the state to face the real
challenge of how to deal with the youth. The Egyptian state is growing old and
weak, but its egoism is preventing it from releasing this fact. The state’s
current invulnerability could be broken at anytime. If it were politically
mature enough, the state would work on integrating our youth’s ideas and
energies into its political mechanism, with the aim of modernizing Egypt.
Reforming the state is our best option, but it is not the one foreseen by the
state. This step might lead to discarding the current ruling regime, but it will
develop and enhance the functionality of state entities and authorities. The
alternative is the collapse of the state, the scariest scenario – and the one
that, gradually and contentedly, we are moving towards.
On Arab press freedom,
Tunisia shows the way
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/April 27/16
Those following the situation of the Arab press cannot but lament it. Those able
to practice real journalism can now be described as courageous. Given the
reality of journalism’s links to an authority - whether a regime, or a religious
or political power - criticism becomes mostly directed at this authority’s
rivals. This has turned many Arab media outlets into platforms for mobilization
and incitement. What increased this role is current sectarian and political
polarization, which has narrowed professional and critical spaces. The feeble
contribution of Arab journalism to the Panama Papers, or to documents in the New
Yorker exposing the Syrian regime’s crimes, highlights the weakness of the Arab
press. In addition to censorship, it is suffering on the security and financial
levels. However, amid this bleak reality, Tunisia has made a remarkable
improvement in Reporters Without Borders’ press-freedom index - the first Arab
country to do so. This at a time when some Arab countries are imprisoning,
murdering and torturing journalists. This progress is to be added to Tunisia’s
record as the only success story of the Arab Spring, since its revolution did
not result in civil war or bitter struggle, as happened in Syria, Egypt, Yemen
and Libya.
Tunisia’s progress still far from resembles Western standards, but it is a
positive breakthrough in the Arab world and must be acknowledged.
Vigilance
Tunisia’s progress still far from resembles Western standards, but it is a
positive breakthrough in the Arab world and must be acknowledged. Admiring what
Tunisia has accomplished does not mean ignoring fears that some powerful parties
may seek to dominate or restrain the media, as there are past and ongoing
attempts to do so. The battle for press freedom in the country has not ended.
The development of technology and the spread of citizen journalism have resulted
in the rise of critical public opinion. However, the authorities - under the
excuse of security and national interests - are now more violent against those
who represent independent journalism. What Tunisia has achieved instils
enthusiasm and hope for an end to dependence on money and power. Let us keep
this torch burning.
Trump lays out a new vision for
American foreign policy leadership
Dr. Walid Phares/Published
April 27/16/FoxNews.com
Is Trump's momentum unstoppable?
Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump’s first foreign policy speech laid out a
bold new vision for American leadership in the world.
Responding to the need to re-evaluate American foreign policy which has been
adrift since the end of the Cold War twenty seven years ago, Mr. Trump has
presented a plan to reassess current U.S. security arrangements around the world
with the necessary goal of adapting to new developments and addressing emerging
threats.
Mr. Trump makes the case that American taxpayers are spending titanic amounts
defending other nations and regions which could and should be contributing more
toward their own self-defense. The principle of defending friends is not in
question, but our spending strategies have to be reevaluated, so that long term
viability is insured. Within NATO, only four of the 28 member countries are
meeting their defense commitments while the US is providing 73 percent of the
overall NATO budget.
This organization should be restructured to be able to adapt to current world
challenges, including countering the terror threats now crawling up from NATO’s
south and southeast and striking its cities, as well as to stand by its weaker
members if they face pressures. Mr. Trump clearly desires to reduce tensions
with Russia and China so as to better focus on containing our common enemy,
Jihadism.
For Mr. Trump, the worst case scenario of nuclear terror is the first priority
to be addressed before such weapons fall into the hands of jihadi terrorists who
are more than willing to use them. President Trump will never allow Iran to
obtain a nuclear weapon, and he will confront and contain Iranian expansionism.
The Obama administration has stood by helplessly as the Middle East has become
increasingly engulfed in chaos. Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen are crumbling under
civil wars, Hezbollah dominates Lebanon and Iran is using the unfrozen billions
released by Obama’s deal to purchase advanced weaponry and to destabilize the
region even further. A new U.S. policy will reverse these processes as of
February 2017. Although Mr. Trump would take steps to create safe zones in the
region to stem the tide of refugees now pouring into Europe, he has declared
that America will get out of the nation-building business and that American
citizens will never again feel their interests come second to the interests of
the citizens of foreign country.
While the world is concentrating on ISIS in the Levant, dozens of terrorist
Jihadi enclaves are being formed by radical Islamists stretching from
Afghanistan, the Sinai to Libya and progressing across Africa. They must be
contained with the help of regional coalitions. Mr. Trump also understands the
use of economic leverage to pressure China into reining in North Korea’s nuclear
ambitions.
From Paris to Brussels, from Chattanooga to San Bernardino, the urban jihadists
are wreaking havoc. Stronger counter-terrorism measures and deeper international
cooperation on the one hand, and new and smarter immigration strategies on the
other, must be set up in order to place America on a path to greater security,
not just for today, but for generations to come.
Under President Donald Trump, iihadism and Islamism will be called by their
names, inasmuch as they already are in Europe and the Arab world, and with
greater precision. Identifying, designating, and countering the jihadi ideology
will be the central core to U.S. strategic communications in order to protect
America and its allies.
Furthermore, the mother organization which has been spreading extremism and
stealth indoctrination since the 1920’s, i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood, will be
designated as a terrorist group by President Trump in coordination with the U.S.
Congress and in conjunction with a growing number of Arab countries who have
already framed it as such.
Mr. Trump will bring every possible instrument of power and intelligence to bear
so as to eradicate this terror scourge from the earth. But to achieve this goal,
the American public must be informed and educated not dis-informed and dis-educated.
A Trump administration will lead the effort to address these terror threats and
will reform the engagement and strategic communication agencies of the U.S.
government in such a way that this message is clearly understood by friend and
foe alike and is reflective of the new national consensus between the White
House and the Congress.
A new popular majority is sweeping the country during these primary elections
and another greater national current will legitimize these new principles with
the election of Donald Trump as president in November. These new foreign policy
directions will have a deeply informed public backing them, so that President
Trump can muster the energies of the American people to create a sustainable
defense, encompassing clear objectives coupled with a strong international
presence.
Now more than ever, confident American leadership is vital for a world in
disarray.
**Walid Phares, Ph.D., joined Fox News in January 2007 and serves as Middle East
and terrorism expert. He is a foreign policy adviser to Republican presidential
candidate Donald Trump and author of several books including "Future Jihad:
Terrorist Strategies Against the West" (Palgrave Macmillan Trade 2006).
Saudi general, Anwar Eshki: 'If Netanyahu accepts the Arab Peace Initiative,
we’ll open an embassy in Israel'
Jerusalem Post/April 27/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/04/27/jerusalem-postsaudi-general-anwar-eshki-if-netanyahu-accepts-the-arab-peace-initiative-well-open-an-embassy-in-israel/
Anwar Eshki, a retired Major General in the Saudi army said in an interview with
AL-Jazeera that he opposes arming the Palestinians, "like Iran does," because it
will be counterproductive. Comments by a well-connected former major-general in
the Saudi military who said Tuesday that Riyadh would establish an embassy in
Israel if it accepted the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative failed to elicit an
official response from Jerusalem. Anwar Eshki, who met publicly in June with
Dore Gold just before the latter was appointed director-general of the Foreign
Ministry, was asked during an Al Jazeera interview how long it would be before
Saudi Arabia would open an embassy in Israel “You can ask Mr. Netanyahu,” Eshki
replied. “If he announces that he accepts the initiative and gives all rights to
Palestinians, Saudi Arabia will start to make an embassy in Tel Aviv.”
The Prime Minister’s Office had no response.
The 2002 Arab Peace Initiative called for a two-state solution based on an
Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 armistice lines and making east Jerusalem the
Palestinian capital in return for “normal relations in the context of a
comprehensive peace with Israel.”The initiative also called for the “achievement
of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem to be agreed upon in
accordance with UN General Assembly Resolution 194.”In the Arab world, that
resolution is viewed as enshrining a Palestinian refugee “right of return” to
places in Israel they or their ancestors fled from or were driven from during
the 1947-1949 War of Independence. Netanyahu articulated his position on this
plan in a 2014 interview with The Jerusalem Post, saying that the initiative was
drawn up at a significantly different time in the Middle East, and is no longer
relevant. He has not voiced any different position on this plan since then.
“The question is not the Saudi peace initiative,” Netanyahu said, when asked if
he would accept the proposal. “If you read it carefully, you’ll see it was set
up in another period, before the rise of Hamas; before Hamas took over Gaza;
before ISIS [Islamic State] took over chunks of Syria and Iraq, effectively
dismantling those countries; before Iran’s accelerated nuclear program.”He also
said the plan, which called for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre- 1967 lines –
including returning the Golan – was drawn up “before the takeover of Syria by
al-Qaida on the Golan Heights.”
Netanyahu held a high-profile meeting of his cabinet on the Golan on April 17
and declared that the region would forever stay in Israeli hands, a declaration
the UN Security Council rejected on Tuesday. Eshki, in the Al Jazeera interview,
deflected one of the interviewer’s statements that he and Saudi government were
willing to take military action in Yemen but never physically protect
Palestinians in Gaza “when they are being bombed.” “I told the Iranians about
that. ‘You support the Palestinians by weapons, but we support them with
money,’” Eshki responded. “When we support the Palestinians with money, we want
them to live well, and you give them weapons to destroy themselves.” Later,
Eshki was asked: “How do you think Palestinians feel when they hear you refer to
Benjamin Netanyahu as a strong leader and a logical leader?” He answered: “I
talked about a strong leader and logical leader because it does not mean strong
against Arabs. I said he is strong in his country.”Eshki, 73, is the chairman of
the Jeddah-based Middle East Center for Strategic and Legal Studies and a former
consultant of the Saudi prince and ambassador in the US, Bandar bin Sultan.
Prior to the public meeting with Gold in New York, Eshki held half a dozen
meeting with him in various capitals.
In August, Eshki told The Wall Street Journal that “the main project between me
and Dore Gold is to bring peace between Arab countries and Israel. This is
personal, but my government knows about the project. My government isn’t against
it because we need peace.”
Another public meeting of representatives no longer holding formal governmental
positions from the two countries is to be held next month at the Washington
Institute for Near East Policy, when Prince Turki al-Faisal, longtime steward of
Saudi Arabia’s national security establishment and former Saudi ambassador to
the United States, and Yaakov Amidror, former head of the National Security
Council, will speak together. The lecture title is, “Common Interests,
Collective Wisdom: Confronting Challenges in The Middle East.”This meeting comes
amid persistent reports of backroom Israeli- Saudi security cooperation forged
out of common regional interests. Two weeks ago Egypt ceded two strategic
islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba – Tiran and Sanafir – to Saudi Arabia
in a move that Israel was apprised of in advance. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign
Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at the time there would be “no direct relationship”
between his country and Israel following Egypt’s handing over the two islands.
However, he stressed that Saudi Arabia is committed to international treaties
involving the two islands. “There are agreements and commitments that Egypt has
agreed to regarding these islands, and Saudi Arabia is abiding by these
commitments without having a relationship or communication with Israel,” he
said.
Analysis: The limits of the
Iran-Russia alliance
Reuters/Jerusalem
Post/April 27/16/
Moscow has little incentive to join the mostly Shi'ite "Axis of Resistance" as
this could ruin its ties with other regional powers such as Israel, Saudi Arabia
and Egypt.
DUBAI/MOSCOW - When Iran took delivery of the first parts of an advanced Russian
air defense system this month, it paraded the anti-aircraft missile launchers
sent by Moscow to mark Army Day. Tehran had cause to celebrate: the Kremlin's
decision a year ago to press ahead with the stalled sale of the S-300 system was
the first clear evidence of a growing partnership between Russia and Iran that
has since turned the tide in Syria's civil war and is testing US influence in
the Middle East. But the delay in implementation of the deal also points to the
limitations of a relationship that is forged from a convergence of interests
rather than a shared worldview, with Iran's leadership divided over ideology and
Russia showing signs of reluctance to let the alliance develop much more,
according to diplomats, officials and analysts interviewed by Reuters.
Some Iranian officials want a strategic alliance, a much deeper relationship
than now. But the Kremlin refers only to ongoing cooperation with a new
dimension because of the conflict in Syria, in which both back Damascus. "We are
continuously developing friendly relations with Iran, but we cannot really talk
about a new paradigm in our relations," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
last month.
Russia agreed to sell the S-300 system to Iran in 2007 but froze the deal in
2010 after sanctions were imposed on Tehran over its nuclear program. Moscow
lifted the self-imposed ban in April last year as Iran and world powers got
closer to the deal that led eventually to the nuclear-related sanctions being
lifted in exchange for Tehran curbing its atomic program. Russia is now weighing
the financial and diplomatic benefits of arms sales to Tehran against the risk
of upsetting other countries including Saudi Arabia, the United States and
Israel, or seeing Iran become too powerful.
"There is a military-economic aspect to this alliance which is beneficial to
both sides," said Maziar Behrooz, associate professor of Mideast and Islamic
history at San Francisco State University, who has studied Iran's relationship
with Russia. "But on a geopolitical level, Iran and Russia can only form a
tactical short-term alliance, not a strategic one. I think the ideological
differences between the two are just too deep."
BACKING FOR DAMASCUS
The relationship, long cordial, appeared to reach a new level last September
when Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a military intervention in Syria
in support of Iran's ally, President Bashar Assad. Iran had already deployed its
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), who had rallied Assad's troops to check the
opposition's momentum. But it took Russian air power to break the stalemate and
give Assad the upper hand.
Militarily, the two powers proved complementary. Iran brought disciplined ground
troops who worked well with their local allies, while Russia provided the
first-rate air power that Iran and Assad lack. Diplomatically, the joint
operations have made Tehran and Moscow central to any discussion about the
regional security architecture.That is important for Putin as he has sought to
shore up alliances in the region and increase Moscow's influence since Libyan
leader Muammar Gaddafi, a Russian ally, was killed. How well Moscow will fare
when it comes to winning lucrative business contracts now the nuclear-related
sanctions have been lifted is less clear. There is little sign so far of Russian
companies making new inroads into Iran. This is partly for ideological reasons.
The Iranian establishment is divided, with President Hassan Rouhani's faction
more interested in trading with the West than struggling against it, even if
many US policies are still condemned. Russia has little incentive to join the
mostly Shi'ite "Axis of Resistance" to Western interests in the region which is
championed by the more conservative Iranian faction as this could ruin its
relationships with other Middle Eastern powers such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and
Egypt.
The Latest Aleppo Battle May
Give the Islamic State Another Reprieve
Fabrice Balanche/Washington Institute/April 27/16
Aside from President Obama, none of the main players in Syria has an interest in
rushing toward Raqqa, so they will likely focus on exploiting the various
campaigns around Aleppo instead.
Despite the ongoing peace negotiations in Geneva, each camp in the Syria war is
preparing for a general resumption of hostilities in the Aleppo area. In
addition to the strategically important city itself, the Islamic State-occupied
territory between Aleppo and the Euphrates is increasingly becoming a focal
point, shifting attention away from the group's stronghold to the east and
likely further delaying the Obama administration's goal of pushing IS out of its
"capital" in Raqqa.
CONTINUED ENCIRCLEMENT
On February 27, a ceasefire temporarily halted the Russian- and Iranian-backed
Syrian army campaign to encircle the rebel-held portions of Aleppo city. By that
point, the army had already cut the road to the border town of Azaz with the
cooperation of the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, or PYD (see PolicyWatch 2554,
"The Battle of Aleppo Is the Center of the Syrian Chessboard"). That resulted in
a hostile reaction from Turkey, which fired on the Kurdish militia to prevent it
from taking Azaz city and the nearby Bab al-Salam crossing point. The Syrian
army had also advanced against the al-Qaeda-affiliated rebel group Jabhat al-Nusra
Front to the south of Aleppo and against Islamic State (IS) forces to the east,
widening the perimeter around Kuweires military airport.
CLICK ON MAP TO VIEW HIGH-RESOLUTION VERSION.
Meanwhile, on the northeastern side of the IS enclave, the PYD seized Tishrin
Dam and crossed the Euphrates in December but did not take the opportunity to
press further and seize Manbij city. The group's main partner against IS, the
United States, opposed any such offensive because it would anger Turkey, which
had repeatedly warned the Kurds not to advance west of the river (see
PolicyWatch 2542, "The Die Is Cast: The Kurds Cross the Euphrates").
Today, the Assad regime strategy in Aleppo is apparently focused on creating a
double belt around the city in order to isolate the eastern neighborhoods held
by Arab and Kurdish rebels, which are connected to the opposition stronghold in
Idlib province and the western supply line from Turkey via the Castello road. To
form the innermost part of this belt, army forces north of the city advanced to
less than a kilometer from the Kurdish-held district of Sheikh Maqsoud by
seizing Mallah on April 14, and they are preparing to push further south soon.
As for the outer belt, recent troop movements indicate that a broader offensive
is brewing west of the city, between Zahra and Khan al-Asal, which should
complete the encirclement of all rebel forces in the Aleppo area. Eventually, in
the absence of a political agreement, the army will likely try to isolate the
entire Idlib province in a similar manner.
The regime's recent moves are in line with its broader counterinsurgency
strategy, which involves cutting the opposition's supply lines from neighboring
countries and separating rebels from civilians by forcing the latter to flee.
This is why Bashar al-Assad has brazenly continued deplorable tactics in the
middle of a supposed ceasefire and peace negotiation, from dropping dynamite
barrels on eastern Aleppo to bombing markets in Maarat al-Numan and Kafr Nabl.
Assad has been using the Geneva process simply to buy time, and he would abandon
the talks with Russia's tacit consent the moment they threaten his hold on
power. In any event, he will not substantially change his military strategy in
the meantime.
WHAT NEXT FOR THE MANBIJ-AZAZ CORRIDOR?
Thus far, the Syrian portion of the U.S.-led campaign against IS has relied
almost entirely on the Kurds, but this approach is not militarily sufficient to
defeat the group. It is also politically problematic because the PYD wants to
take Manbij before supporting any southern offensive against Raqqa. Manbij is an
essential step toward connecting the two Kurdish enclaves on the border with
Turkey, and the Kurds have already proven that they will turn to other patrons
if Washington does not support them in this goal. In January-February, Russian
air support helped the PYD seize several villages held by Arab rebels, and this
close coordination could be repeated on a larger scale between Manbij and the
Afrin enclave to the west, against rebels and IS alike.
Yet Turkey has proven equally determined to prevent this scenario. As mentioned
previously, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan deployed artillery to shell PYD
positions two months ago in order to protect Azaz. According to private
conversations with officials and other individuals in Washington and Damascus,
Ankara also permitted thousands of rebel fighters, including Jabhat al-Nusra
elements, to cross Turkish territory from Idlib province to Azaz, preventing the
rebel corridor from collapsing completely. These fighters were then used against
IS forces east of Azaz -- Erdogan's way of taking the field before the PYD and
Syrian army begin their own offensives in earnest, with the goal of showing
Washington that Turkish-supported rebels can defeat the Islamic State without
further PYD advances.
This strategy has had mixed results, however. The transferred rebel units made
few territorial gains, and half of them were quickly retaken by IS, pushing
30,000 more refugees toward the Turkish border. Apart from its general interest
in preventing enemy advances, the Islamic State is particularly keen on
protecting the town of Dabiq near the western front. In radical jihadist
eschatology, Dabiq is the location where Islamic and anti-Islamic forces will
fight on Judgment Day, so the group is willing to engage in costly fighting
there.
Indeed, the divorce between Turkey and IS now seems final -- in the past,
Erdogan looked the other way when the group was receiving support through
Turkish territory given its efforts against the Assad regime, but recent IS
terrorist attacks in Turkish cities have ended any remaining tolerance. Erdogan
also likely understands that it is better to support U.S. efforts against IS if
he wants to influence President Obama's stance on the Kurdish question in Syria.
According to a private conversation with a well-informed Turkey expert, Obama
asked Erdogan not to oppose U.S.-Kurdish efforts to take Manbij during their
March 31 meeting in Washington. The Turkish leader apparently rejected that
request, demanding that the Arab tribes currently fighting alongside the PYD
break off from the group and take Manbij on their own. Yet these Arab tribes do
not have the military capability to do so. Moreover, unlike Raqqa, Manbij is
home to a large Kurdish minority, so it makes tactical sense to involve some
Kurdish forces in its conquest. From a political standpoint, though, that would
represent a further step toward the creation of a Kurdish state in northern
Syria.
BROKEN CEASEFIRE MEANS A RAQQA REPRIEVE?
The resumption of fighting west of Aleppo, in the Ghab Valley and north of the
Alawite Mountains, left little doubt that the fragile February ceasefire was
over for good. Although Jabhat al-Nusra was never formally involved in the
agreement, it did generally respect the ceasefire up until the end of March. The
group also depends on Turkish goodwill for much of its materiel support, so it
is difficult to imagine that Nusra forces or allied units took the initiative on
their own to trigger large-scale hostilities (see PolicyWatch 2579, "How to
Prevent al-Qaeda from Seizing a Safe Zone in Northwestern Syria"). Rather,
Ankara and perhaps Saudi Arabia seem to have ordered their local proxies to take
action. The regime bombardments in Marat al-Numan and Kafr Nabl on April 19
threw oil on the fire, but they are not the real cause of the ceasefire's
collapse. As mentioned previously, Turkey seemed eager to take action of its own
as a way of preventing Assad and the PYD from moving quickly against IS in the
north.
For their part, although Damascus, Moscow, and Iran never viewed the ceasefire
as anything more than a temporary measure, the early resumption of fighting
around Aleppo is not necessarily good news for the Syrian army. Regime forces
had needed a break in the west so that they could focus on important goals in
the south and east, such as reopening the road to Deir al-Zour, relieving the
loyalist enclave that has been surrounded since year one, and buffering Homs and
Damascus from IS raids. The recent victory over IS forces in Palmyra was the
first step in that plan, but Deir al-Zour remains the principal goal because it
is the key to regaining control of the Euphrates Valley and cutting Raqqa off
from the Islamic State's holdings in Iraq. The fact that Assad's best general --
Suhail al-Hassan, nicknamed "the Tiger" -- is on the Deir al-Zour front reflects
the town's importance to the regime's broader military strategy.
Yet with the exception of President Obama, none of the main players in the
conflict is in a hurry to advance on Raqqa itself or oust the Islamic State from
Syria. For Erdogan, the group remains the enemy of his enemies, so he continues
to avoid full-scale Turkish participation in the anti-IS campaign. For Assad,
the group is a perfect foil, giving Western governments another reason not to
force him out of power. The pro-Assad coalition believes that the United States
is unable or unwilling to destroy IS in Syria without his help. Finally, for the
Kurds, fighting the Islamic State is the best means of uniting their enclaves in
the north and building a state of their own.
**Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the
University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.
The "Two State
Solution": Irony and Truth
Louis René Beres/Gatestone Institute/April 27/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7925/two-state-solution
"The establishment of
such a [Palestinian] state means the inflow of combat-ready Palestinian forces
into Judea and Samaria ... In time of war, the frontiers of the Palestinian
state will constitute an excellent staging point for mobile forces to mount
attacks on infrastructure installations vital for Israel's existence..." —
Shimon Peres, Nobel Laureate and Former Prime Minister of Israel, in 1978.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964; three years
before there were any "occupied territories." Exactly what, then was the PLO
planning to "liberate"?
Both Fatah and Hamas have always considered, and still consider, Israel as
simply part of "Palestine." On their current official maps, all of Israel is
identified as "Occupied Palestine."
"You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel, and establish a
purely Palestinian state. ... I have no use for Jews; they are and remain,
Jews." — PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, January 30, 1996 (2.5 years after signing
the Oslo Peace Accords).
In view of these repeatedly intolerant Arab views on Israel's existence,
international law should not expect Palestinian compliance with any agreements,
including those concerning use of armed force -- even if these agreements were
to include explicit U.S. security guarantees to Israel.
There is no lack of irony in the endless discussions of Israel and a Palestinian
state.
One oddly neglected example is the complete turnaround of former Israeli prime
minister Shimon Peres. Recognized today as perhaps the proudest Israeli champion
of a "Two State Solution" -- sometimes also referred to as a "Road Map to Peace
in the Middle East" -- Peres had originally considered Palestinian sovereignty
to be an intolerable existential threat to Israel. More precisely, in his book,
Tomorrow is Now (1978), Mr. Peres unambiguously warned:
"The establishment of such a (Palestinian) state means the inflow of
combat-ready Palestinian forces into Judea and Samaria this force, together with
the local youth, will double itself in a short time. It will not be short of
weapons or other military equipment, and in a short space of time, an
infrastructure for waging war will be set up in Judea, Samaria and the Gaza
Strip. ... In time of war, the frontiers of the Palestinian state will
constitute an excellent staging point for mobile forces to mount attacks on
infrastructure installations vital for Israel's existence..."
Now, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in apparent agreement with this original
position of Peres on Palestine, is nonetheless willing to go along with some
form or another of a Palestinian state, but only so long as its prospective
leaders should first agree to "demilitarization." Netanyahu, the "hawk," is now
in agreement with the early, original warning of Peres, the "dove." Peres's
assessment has been Netanyahu's firm quid pro quo.
For Israel, as Mr. Netanyahu understands, legal mistakes and misunderstandings
could quickly give rise to potentially irreversible harms. With reference to the
particular matter of "Palestine," the underlying hazards are complex,
longstanding, and possibly global. These hazards would also only be exacerbated
by any newly mandated (by the U.S., Russia, and/or United Nations) Israeli
return of the Golan Heights to Syria. Then, armed militants could once again
start shooting down at the farmers below, laboring on the Israeli plain.
History can help us better to understand the real outcome of any "Two-State
Solution." From the beginnings of the state system, in 1648, following the
Thirty Years' War, and the Peace of Westphalia, states have routinely negotiated
treaties to provide security. To the extent that they have been executed in good
faith, these agreements are fashioned and tested according to international law.
Often, of course, disputes arise when signatories have determined that continued
compliance is no longer in their presumed national interest.
For Israel, its 1979 Peace Treaty with Egypt remains fundamental and important.
Still, any oscillating regime change or Islamist ascendancy in Cairo could
easily signal an abrogation of this agreement. These same risks of deliberate
nullification could apply to an openly secular Egyptian government, should its
leaders (today, this would mean President el-Sisi) decide, for absolutely any
reason, that the historic treaty with Israel should now be terminated.
Any post-Sisi regime that would extend some governing authority to the Muslim
Brotherhood, to its proxies, or to its jihadist successors (such as ISIS), could
produce a sudden Egyptian abrogation. Although the cessation of treaty
obligations by the Egyptian side would almost certainly represent a serious
violation of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the governing
"treaty on treaties," there is little if anything that Israel or the so-called
"international community" could do in response. In the still-insightful words of
seventeenth-century English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes: "Covenants, without the
sword, are but words...." (Leviathan).
Back to Palestine. As recently as last Friday, Palestinian Authority (PA)
television, not Hamas, threatened the Jews, not just Israelis, with genocide:
PA TV Preacher: "Allah, punish Your enemies, the enemies of religion, count
their numbers and kill them to the last one, and bring them a black day. Allah,
punish the wicked Jews, and those among the atheists who help them. Allah, we
ask that You bestow upon us respect and honor by enabling us to repel them, and
we ask You to save us from their evil." [Official PA TV, April 22, 2016]
That is just part of a wider security problem. Under law, Israel has a
"peremptory" (irrefutable, not open to challenge or appeal) right to remain
"alive." It was, therefore, entirely proper for Mr. Netanyahu to have previously
opposed a Palestinian state in any form. After all, both Fatah and Hamas have
always considered, and still consider, Israel as simply part of "Palestine." On
their current official maps, all of Israel -- not just West Bank, Judea and
Samaria -- is prominently identified as "Occupied Palestine." As for Jerusalem,
an April 15, 2016, UNESCO resolution was expressly dismissive of "so-called"
Jewish sites, including the Western Wall.
Palestine, while not yet a fully sovereign state, is still a "nonmember observer
state" of the United Nations. In that more limited capacity, "Palestine" had
already been admitted into UNESCO, and, unsurprisingly, joined enthusiastically
in the April 15, 2016 resolution calling into question all "Jewish sites."
In the strict Islamic view, and not merely in narrowly jihadi or Islamist
perspectives, Israel is described as the individual Jew writ large. The Jewish
State, in this doctrinal view, must be despised and uprooted on account of the
allegedly innate and irremediable "evil" that purportedly lurks within each and
every individual Jew. This insidiously murderous viewpoint is a far cry from the
more fashionable idea that Israel is somehow despised in the region "only" for
legitimate political reasons, that it is supposedly an "occupier." In reality,
the Israeli is routinely despised in the Islamic world because its people do not
submit to Islam. This alleged Jewish infirmity can never hope to be "healed."
A current Egyptian textbook of "Arab Islamic History," used widely in teacher
training colleges, expresses these basic and crudely determinative sentiments:
"The Jews are always the same, every time and everywhere. They will not live
save in darkness. They contrive their evils clandestinely. They fight only when
they are hidden; because they are cowards. ... The Prophet enlightened us about
the right way to treat them, and succeeded finally in crushing the plots they
had planned. We today must follow this way, and purify Palestine from their
filth."[1]
In an earlier article in Al-Ahram by Dr. Lutfi Abd al-Azim, the famous
commentator urged, with complete seriousness:
"The first thing that we have to make clear is that no distinction must be made
between the Jew and the Israeli....The Jew is a Jew, through the millennia ...
in spurning all moral values, devouring the living, and drinking his blood for
the sake of a few coins. The Jew, the Merchant of Venice, does not differ from
the killer of Deir Yasin or the killer of the camps. They are equal examples of
human degradation. Let us therefore put aside such distinctions, and talk only
about Jews."[2]
Writing also on the "Zionist Problem," Dr. Yaha al-Rakhawi remarked openly in
Al-Ahram
"We are all once again face to face with the Jewish Problem, not just the
Zionist Problem; and we must reassess all those studies which make a distinction
between "The Jew" and "The Israeli." And we must redefine the meaning of the
word "Jew" so that we do not imagine that we are speaking of a divinely revealed
religion, or a minority persecuted by mankind ... we cannot help but see before
us the figure of the great man Hitler, may God have mercy on him, who was the
wisest of those who confronted this problem ... and who out of compassion for
humanity tried to exterminate every Jew, but despaired of curing this cancerous
growth on the body of mankind."[3]
Finally, consider what Israel's original Oslo Accords "peace partner," Yasser
Arafat, said on January 30, 1996, while addressing forty Arab diplomats at the
Grand Hotel in Stockholm. Speaking under the title, "The Impending Total
Collapse of Israel," Arafat remarked unapologetically, and without any
hesitation:
"We Palestinians will take over everything; including all of Jerusalem. ... All
the rich Jews who will get compensation will travel to America. ... We of the
PLO will now concentrate all our efforts on splitting Israel psychologically
into two camps. Within five years, we will have six to seven million Arabs
living in the West Bank, and in Jerusalem. ... You understand that we plan to
eliminate the State of Israel, and establish a purely Palestinian state. ... I
have no use for Jews; they are and remain, Jews."
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, U.S. President Bill Clinton, and PLO
chairman Yasser Arafat at the Oslo Accords signing ceremony on September 13,
1993. In 1996, Arafat publicly stated: "We Palestinians will take over
everything ... You understand that we plan to eliminate the State of Israel, and
establish a purely Palestinian state. ... I have no use for Jews; they are and
remain, Jews." (Image source: Vince Musi / The White House)
In view of these repeatedly intolerant Arab views on Israel's existence,
international law should not expect Palestinian compliance with any pre-state
agreements, including those concerning use of armed force. This is true even if
these agreements were to include certain explicit U.S. security guarantees to
Israel. Also, authentic treaties can be binding only upon states, therefore any
inherently non-treaty agreement between a pre-state "Palestine" and Israel could
quickly prove to be of little or no real standing or effectiveness.
What if the government of a new Palestinian state were somehow willing to
consider itself bound by the pre-state, non-treaty agreement? Even in these very
improbable circumstances, the functioning Palestinian government could still
have ample pretext, and opportunity, to lawfully terminate the agreement.
Palestine, for example, could withdraw from the "treaty" because of what it
would regard as a "material breach" -- a purported violation by Israel that had
allegedly undermined the "object or purpose" of the agreement. It could also
point toward what international law calls Rebus sic stantibus ("fundamental
change of circumstances").
Here, if Palestine might decide to declare itself vulnerable to previously
unforeseen dangers -- perhaps even not from Israel but from other Arab armies or
their sub-state proxies -- it could lawfully end its previous commitment to
remain demilitarized.
There is another factor that explains why Prime Minister Netanyahu's conditioned
hope for Palestinian demilitarization remains misconceived, and why Prime
Minister Peres's earlier pessimism remains well-founded. After declaring
independence, a new Palestinian government, one possibly displaying the same
openly genocidal sentiments, could point to particular pre-independence "errors
of fact," or "duress," as appropriate grounds to terminate the agreement.
Significantly, the usual grounds that may be invoked under domestic law to
invalidate contracts can apply equally under international law, both to actual
treaties, and to less authoritative agreements.
Any treaty or treaty-like agreement is void if, at the time of entry, it is in
conflict with a "peremptory" rule of international law, a rule accepted by the
community of states as one from which no deviation is permitted. Because the
right of sovereign states to maintain military forces for self-defense is always
such a rule, "Palestine" could be well within its lawful rights to abrogate any
agreement that had, before its independence, compelled demilitarization.
In short, Benjamin Netanyahu should take no comfort from any legal promises of
Palestinian demilitarization. Should the government of a future Palestinian
state choose to invite foreign armies or terrorists on to its territory,
possibly after the original government had been overthrown by more militantly
jihadist or other Islamic forces, it could do so not only without practical
difficulties, but also without necessarily violating pertinent international
rules.
The core danger to Israel of any presumed Palestinian demilitarization is always
far more practical than legal. The "Road Map" to "Palestine" still favored by
U.S. President Barack Obama and most European leaders, stems from a persistent
misunderstanding of Palestinian history, and, simultaneously, of the long legal
history of Jewish life and title to disputed areas in Judea and Samaria (the
West Bank) and Jerusalem. At a minimum, President Obama and, even more
importantly, his successor, should finally recognize that the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964; three years before there were
any "occupied territories." Exactly what, then was the PLO planning to
"liberate"? This is a primary question that still cries out for a reasonable
response.
A Palestinian state, any Palestinian state, would represent a mortal danger to
Israel. This danger could not be relieved, even by the stipulated requirements
of Israel's current prime minister, or by any pre-independence Palestinian
commitments to "demilitarize."
Ironically, if by chance, a new state of Palestine would actually choose to
abide by such pre-state commitments, it could then become more susceptible to a
takeover by a jihadist organization such as ISIS.
In a staggeringly complicated region, filled with ironies, there are legal
truths that should assist Israeli leaders to choose a more promising remedy to
war and terror than an illusory "Two-State Solution." Shimon Peres's early
warnings about "Palestine" were on-the-mark and should be heeded today.
***Louis René Beres is Emeritus Professor of International Law at Purdue
University. He can be reached at: lberes@purdue.edu
[1] Bernard Lewis, Semites and Anti-Semites, W.W. Norton, 1999, pp. 218-19.
[2] "The Arabs and the Jews - Who Will Destroy Whom?", Dr. Lutfi Abd al-Azim,
Al-Ahram Iktisadi, September 27, 1982.
[3] Al-Ahram, Egypt, Liberal Party, July 19, 1982.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Sweden: Muslim Government
Minister Sacked After Making Nazi Allegations
Ingrid Carlqvist/Gatestone Institute/April 27/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7923/sweden-muslim-minister-sacked
"This is not about
freedom of speech, this is about insulting people's faith. I cannot see anything
that has to do with freedom of speech here." — Mehmet Kaplan, on the Mohammed
cartoon controversy, 2005.
Mehmet Kaplan told Turkish media that the reason young Muslims join ISIS is "the
rampaging Islamophobia in Europe." As a solution to the problem, he suggested
that the Swedish government support mosques financially, ostensibly to
counteract ISIS's recruitment.
In 2014, three Muslims became ministers in the Swedish government. Clearly the
most fervent and committed believer was Mehmet Kaplan, 44, who took on the role
of Minister for Housing and Urban Development.
Kaplan came to Sweden from Turkey, at the age of one. Despite many claims that
he is in fact an Islamist, until now Kaplan has been untouchable. That is, until
it emerged that he said that Israel treats the Palestinians the same way the
Nazis treated the Jews in Germany. At a hastily summoned press conference on
April 18, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced that he had accepted Kaplan's
resignation.
Mehmet Kaplan was a minister in Sweden's government until last week, when he was
forced to resign after revelations that he compared Israel's treatment of
Palestinians to that of the German Nazis' treatment of Jews. (Image source:
Wikimedia Commons/Jan Ainali)
Kaplan, a member of the Green Party, has a history of being affiliated with
various Muslim organizations connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2005, he
denounced the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, for publishing cartoons
depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed. In an interview with the Christian
magazine Dagen, he said, "This is not about freedom of speech, this is about
insulting people's faith. I cannot see anything that has to do with freedom of
speech here. This is an insupportable provocation."
In 2010, Kaplan was aboard one of the ships of the flotilla sailing to the Gaza
Strip, with the aim of breaking Israel's naval blockade. He, along with several
others, was arrested after the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) boarded the vessel.
Once safe and sound back in Sweden, he complained that the IDF "acted like
pirates."
In 2011, he invited the well-known Islamist and anti-Semite, Yvonne Ridley, to
the Swedish parliament for a seminar. Ridley, a supporter of Hamas, has called
Israel "that disgusting little watchdog of America that is festering in the
Middle East."
Since becoming a minister in the Swedish government, Mehmet Kaplan has continued
to stir up controversy. He has made several hair-raising remarks, such as, in
the summer of 2014, when he compared Swedish Muslims who go to Syria to fight
for the Islamic State, to Swedish volunteers fighting for Finland in the 1939
Winter War, when Finland was attacked by the Soviet Union three months into the
Second World War. Under the slogan "Finland's cause is ours," 8,260 Swedes
traveled to Finland to aid their neighbors. To compare this courageous and
highly moral effort to that of murderous jihadis, willingly joining the killing
machine known as ISIS, rightly upset many Swedes. When the Finnish media
criticized the Swedish minister, Kaplan retreated, saying that it "was not a
good comparison," and that he was "against young Swedes joining the war in
Syria."
In the fall of 2014, it was time for the next controversial statement. Kaplan
told the Turkish media that the reason young Muslims join ISIS is "the rampaging
Islamophobia in Europe." As a solution to the problem, he suggested that the
Swedish government support mosques financially, ostensibly to counteract ISIS's
recruitment.
This thought evidently made Social Democrat Party member Nalin Pekgul (a Kurdish
Muslim) furious. In an opinion piece for the business paper Dagens Industri, she
wrote that the only reason more people did not openly criticize Kaplan was their
fear of being labeled "Islamophobes":
"Appointing Mehmet Kaplan government minister is surprising and appalling. ... I
am convinced that Mehmet Kaplan said exactly what he meant and that he regards
the jihadis as freedom fighters. ... Mehmet Kaplan says that he believes in the
equal value of all human beings and equality between the sexes, but very few
secular Muslims believe that he is not in fact an Islamist. With Mehmet Kaplan
in the government, [Green Party leaders] Gustav Fridolin and Åsa Romson have
sent a clear signal to the Muslims of Sweden -- that the Islamists now have the
support of the Swedish establishment."
Social anthropologist Aje Carlbom supported Pekgul's conclusion that Kaplan is
an Islamist. In an opinion piece for the magazine Dagens Samhälle, Carlbom
wrote:
"When it comes to identity politicians in general, this might seem like
political mudslinging. One should be aware, however, that Kaplan has his
ideological background in the Islamist movement that, for the past 20 years, has
been hard at work trying to gain influence in various political arenas."
Last week, another scandal exploded around Kaplan. It all started with the
Turkish National Association of Sweden holding a meeting in central Stockholm,
where Association Vice President Barbaros Leylani made a speech in which he
agitated against Armenians and shouted to the audience: "The Turk awakens! The
Armenian dogs should take care. Death to the Armenian dogs!"
Leylani was forced to resign from his organization, but soon pictures surfaced,
taken at a Ramadan dinner in July 2015, where Mehmet Kaplan could be seen dining
with Barbaros Leylani. To make matters worse, members of the Islamist
organization Milli Görüs were visibly present, as were members of the Turkish
ultra-nationalist, right-wing extremist organization, the Grey Wolves.
Kaplan said that he had no knowledge of their presence, and that it is his job
as a politician to meet with representatives of "Turkish civil society in
Sweden." Prime Minister Stefan Löfven called Kaplan's presence at the dinner
"deeply regrettable":
"As a government minister, one has a responsibility to act in such a way as
never to raise any doubts about what organizations or values one represents.
That is why it is deeply regrettable that Mehmet Kaplan ended up in this
company, and he realizes now that he needs to be more meticulous."
On Sunday, April 17, the final straw appeared. The daily Svenska Dagbladet
published pictures taken by the Somali Star, a local Swedish-Somali TV station.
In the segment, which aired in 2009, Mehmet Kaplan compared Israel's treatment
of Palestinians to that of the German Nazis' treatment of Jews:
"There are certain similarities, which many Jews have actually testified to. The
persecution in the 1930s -- the persecution under Nazi Germany -- against the
people thought to be the most deviant, people were treated in such a way that
they constantly had to explain why they had chosen a certain way of life."
This turned out to be a bit rich, even for Sweden's notoriously Israel-critical
Foreign Minister Margot Wallström. Come Monday morning, Wallström made a
statement: "I think this is an appalling statement, and I strongly denounce
this." Wallström did not want to speculate about the consequences at that point,
and explained that it was up to Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to decide Kaplan's
fate.
And so Löfven did, only hours later. At a televised press conference, Löfven
said that Kaplan had handed in his resignation, and that he had accepted it.
There can be little doubt, however, that if it had been up to Kaplan, he would
have remained at his post.
***Ingrid Carlqvist is a journalist and author based in Sweden, and a
Distinguished Senior Fellow of Gatestone Institute.
Follow Ingrid Carlqvist on Twitter
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of the Gatestone
website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without
the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.