LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 08/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.october08.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
All may honour the Son just as they
honour the Father. Anyone who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father
who sent him
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ
according to Saint John 05/17-23/:"Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still
working, and I also am working.’For this reason the Jews were seeking all the
more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also
calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. Jesus said to
them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what
he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will
show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. Indeed, just
as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to
whomsoever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to
the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Anyone
who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him."
The Gifts Of Humbleness and
Forgiveness
Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians
4/24-32: “and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in
righteousness and holiness of truth. Therefore putting away falsehood, speak
truth each one with his neighbor. For we are members of one another. 4:26 “Be
angry, and don’t sin.”* Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, neither give
place to the devil. 4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him
labor, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have something
to give to him who has need. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth,
but such as is good for building up as the need may be, that it may give grace
to those who hear. Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed
for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry, and
slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another,
tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you’
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on October 07-08/16
Battle for Mosul and
the challenge for Abadi government/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/October
07/16
The next US presidential debate and ‘Plan B’ in Syria/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/October
07/16
Human rights organizations and Iran’s crimes against humanity/Dr. Majid
Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/October 07/16
In battle for US Senate, Iran nuclear deal looms large/By Ron Kampeas/The Times
Of Israel/October 07/16
Emanuele Ottolenghi, Saeed Ghasseminejad, Annie Fixler , Amir Toumaj/Foundation
For Defense Of Democracies/ October 07/16
Palestinians: Abbas "The Jew"/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/October
07/16
Iraq’s parliament speaker outlines post-IS plan/Mustafa Saadoun/Al
Monitor/October 07/16
Is Iran shifting its policy toward Saudi Arabia/Hassan Ahmadian/Al
Monitor/October 07/16
Speeches and eulogies won’t advance Israeli-Palestinian peace/Akiva Eldar /Al
Monitor/October 07/16
Titles
For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October
07-08/16
Khalil Meets Rahi: Our Stances Compatible with Bkirki's
Tarras Son Briefly Held as Supporters Rally in Beirut, Sidon, Bekaa
Darian to protestors: We are following up on Sheikh Tarras affair
Protest at Sheikh Tarras arrest in Sidon
Bassil Meets Italy FM, Urges Backing Lebanon in Choosing 'Strong, Legitimate'
Leader
Change and Reform Bloc: FPM's Participation in Cabinet Session Not to be Taken
for Granted
Jubeir: Saudi Arabia Won't Interfere when Problems Arise with Aoun
Salam underlines deep ties with Italy from National Museum
UK Aid Supports Economic Opportunities in Tripoli
Qassem: Solutions to Regional Crises Frozen Pending U.S. Election
Hit-and-Run Driver Arrested in Bsharri
Mashnouq maintains Information Department led by state merely
LF: March 14 wins 8 seats at LAU Jbeil elections
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on on
October 07-08/16
Matthew hammers Florida, begins
days long beating of coast
Russian warship passes through Bosphorus to join Syria mission: AFP
Syria’s White Helmets congratulate Colombia on Nobel
UN to vote on Aleppo truce, face Russian veto
Turkish police capture PKK militant suspected over Istanbul bombing
Why Narrative of "Moderates" versus "Hardliners" within the ranks of the Iran
Regime is a Myth?
Iran: The Pioneering role of The Canadian Parliament
Iran: Sunni prisoners at West Tehran Prison put under more pressure
Iranian regime’s Minister of Science acknowledges Brain Drain in Iran
Iran: she is given long jail term for writing a story which was never published!
Iran nuclear deal still fragile, UN atomic chief says
UN rights envoy urges Iran to free three dual nationals
UN envoy eyes 72-hour truce for Yemen
Seven fighters killed in Yemen clashes
Exclusive: Video of Saudi Arabia targeting five Houthi militia vehicles
Beyond Saudi Arabia; JASTA can also haunt Pakistan
Bomb hits train in southwestern Pakistan
Morocco vote pits Islamists against liberal party
Colombia’s president wins Nobel Peace Prize
Chemical weapon for sale: China’s unregulated narcotic
New IsraelIsraeli tanks fire on Gaza in response to rocket attack
Israeli tanks fire on Gaza in response to rocket attack
Links From Jihad Watch Site for on
October 07-08/16
Turkey builds 9,000 mosques, bans Orthodox Christian Liturgy
Germany: Half of all Salafists who joined the Islamic State were active in
mosques
Germany: No Christmas for kindergarteners in Kassel
US chess star won’t go to championships in Iran: “I will NOT wear a hijab”
Indonesia: Muslims enraged after non-Muslim governor accused of saying Qur’an
forbids voting for him
Austria: Jihadi’s mom says he only screamed “Allahu akbar” because he was
singing along to rap
Australia: Muslim migrant cabbie says “all Australian women are sluts and
deserve to be raped”
US does NO screening for “radical” views among refugees
Pentagon still unsure of whether to link Islam with violent jihad
Minnesota: Muslim who stabbed mall shoppers while screaming “Allahu akbar” newly
interested in Islam
Video: Hillary and the Mysterious Motives Behind Terror Attacks — Anni Cyrus’
“Unknown”
Shelbyville, Tennessee: Muslim shoots up three churches, says
“Read the Qur’an”
Links From Christian Today Site for on
October 07-08/16
UN Tells Saudi Arabia: Stop Flogging And Executing Children
24/7 Prayer For Release Of Christian Asia Bibi From Death Row
Mother Of Two Christian Men Beheaded By ISIS Is Proud Her Sons Didn't Deny Their
Faith In Final Moments: 'I Gave My Two Sons To Jesus'
Christian Relief Workers And Volunteers Stand By To Help Victims Of Hurricane
Matthew
Exclusive: Why Are There So Few Christian Refugees From Syria In The UK?
Justin Welby: Brutal Conflict In Aleppo Is 'Demonic'
Mystery Over 'Suicide' Of Priest Who Campaigned Against Drugs Trafficking
Ancient Viking Church Stone Dug Up In Sweden
Support For Death Penalty In US At Lowest Level In Four Decades
Tutu Says Christians Should Support Assisted Suicide
Trump Backs Down On Promise To Ban Muslims
So Terrified Of Being Euthanized, Christian Grandmother Gets
Herself A Tattoo
Latest Lebanese Related News published on on October
07-08/16
Khalil Meets Rahi: Our Stances
Compatible with Bkirki's
Naharnet/October
07/16/Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Friday that there is an
agreement with Bkirki on the need not to set preconditions on the future
president, and uttered commitment to “safeguarding the existing communication
with Bkirki,” the National News Agency reported. “We are keen on the adoption of
a new law for the parliamentary elections and on consensus among the Lebanese
over this issue. We hope the coming days would carry positive signs” said the
AMAL party minister. “Speaker (Nabih) Berri (head of AMAL) did not express his
position of the presidential elections, but rather submitted a package of
understandings that do not imply any limitation of the powers of the president
and do not tamper with the constitution. Speaker Berri is keen on reaching an
agreement [on the president's name] among all Lebanese, and our bloc is
participating in all the sessions devoted for the election of a president. We
are not disrupting quorum, and we will continue to attend the sessions,” he
stressed. “All the facts imply that the election of a president has become a
necessity to restore regularity to the constitutional institutions. Let us take
advantage of the world's preoccupations away from us, and work on reaching
consensus,” Khalil remarked. “There is no veto on anyone. Every party has the
right to express its opinions. Most importantly, we must all go to the
parliament and exercise this right. The position of Speaker Berri is clear and
self-determined. I do not believe anyone is pushing him to act so,” he
clarified.
Tarras Son Briefly Held as
Supporters Rally in Beirut, Sidon, Bekaa
Naharnet/October 07/16/A son of detained Sunni Muslim cleric Sheikh Bassam
Tarras was briefly arrested on Friday as supporters rallied outside Dar al-Fatwa
in Beirut, Sidon and Barelias to protest the move. The Internal Security Forces
Intelligence Branch released Omeir Tarras after Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif
Daryan held a series of contacts with a number of officials, state-run National
News Agency reported. Daryan had earlier held a meeting with the Tarras family
at Dar al-Fatwa, the headquarters of the country's highest Sunni Muslim
authority, amid a road-blocking protest outside the building. LBCI television
said the son was released "pending further investigations." NNA had reported
that “a 12-member force from the Intelligence Branch stormed the house of Sheikh
Bassam Tarras and arrested his son Dr. Omeir Tarras for interrogation.”The
cleric was re-arrested on Wednesday after a brief detention in connection with
the August 31 Ksara bombing. His new arrest is not linked to the bomb attack,
al-Joumhouria newspaper has quoted State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud as saying. “He
was summoned by the ISF Intelligence Branch for interrogation at the request of
Assistant State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Hani Helmi al-Hajjar,
who went to the branch's headquarters to oversee the investigations,” the daily
said. Hajjar “ordered the arrest of Tarras pending further investigations in
light of new information that was unveiled by Hajjar's interrogation of Tarras
last week and the judicial writs that he issued as a result,” al-Joumhouria
added. Tarras' involvement in the new case has not been confirmed until the
moment, Hammoud said. “He might be guilty or innocent,” the prosecutor noted. On
September 15, the General Directorate of General Security said Tarras was
briefly held in connection with the August 31 bombing over a meeting he held in
Turkey with the attack's mastermind. The brief arrest of Tarras, a former mufti
of the Rashaya area, had created an uproar in Lebanon's Sunni community,
especially among the ranks of the influential Muslim Scholars Committee and some
Islamic activists. The Ksara bomb attack left an elderly woman dead and at least
ten people wounded. The explosive device that was placed at a busy roundabout
was targeted against AMAL Movement convoys that were carrying supporters to a
rally commemorating Imam Moussa al-Sadr in the southern city of Tyre, AMAL
leader and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said a day after the attack. Other
vehicles were hit by the blast shortly after AMAL buses passed by the
roundabout, reports have said.
Darian to protestors: We are
following up on Sheikh Tarras affair
Fri 07 Oct 2016/NNA - Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdullatif Darian told protestors who
gathered in front of Dar-al-Fatwa on Friday that he was thoroughly following up
on the affair of Sheikh Bassam Tarras. "Dar-al-Fatwa always sides with the
dignity of our scholars. We are following up on this affair, and we are under
the ceiling of the law but also with the preservation of people's dignity," he
said.
Protest at Sheikh Tarras
arrest in Sidon
Fri 07 Oct 2016/NNA - A number of locals gathered tonight in front of
Dar-al-Fatwa in Sidon to protest the arrest of Sheikh Bassam Tarras, National
News Agency correspondent reported on Friday.
Bassil Meets Italy FM, Urges
Backing Lebanon in Choosing 'Strong, Legitimate' Leader
Naharnet/October 07/16/Foreign Minister and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran
Bassil held talks Friday with his visiting Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni
and called on the world to support Lebanon to elect a “strong and legitimate”
president. “We tackled the current challenges that are facing our countries,
especially the heavy influx of migrants and refugees and the proliferation of
criminal and terrorist organization,” said Bassil after talks with Gentiloni at
the foreign ministry. “We also reiterated the Lebanese stance that calls for the
safe return of Syrian refugees to their country,” Bassil added. He also called
on the international community to “back the will of the Lebanese people through
respecting their endorsement of a strong and legitimate leadership that enjoys
broad popular support, which would make Lebanon a strong and real partner in
fighting terror and a model for democracy and human rights.” The Italian
minister for his part hoped a diplomatic solution will soon be found to the
Syrian crisis, noting that “what Lebanon is proposing regarding the return of
refugees to their country remains something difficult” in the foreseeable
future. Ex-PM Saad Hariri's recent return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of
rumors and media reports about a possible presidential settlement and the
possibility that the former premier has finally decided to endorse FPM founder
MP Michel Aoun for the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Lebanon has
been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and
Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been
boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed
quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late
2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency
but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian
parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue
that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of
his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Change and Reform Bloc: FPM's
Participation in Cabinet Session Not to be Taken for Granted
Naharnet/October 07/16/Change and Reform parliamentary bloc sources said on
Friday that the partial participation of ministers of the Free Patriotic
Movement in Thursday's cabinet session must not be taken for granted, and that
the movement will assess its participation in the meeting each time the cabinet
convenes, al-Akhbar daily said on Friday. “The partial participation in
yesterday’s cabinet meeting does not mean a blank cheque. Our decision to
participate in the cabinet meeting will be assessed each time the cabinet
convenes,” Change and Reform sources told the daily. “Similarly it does not mean
that the FPM ministers will return to the dialogue sessions, or to the
parliament without a new electoral law,” they added. FPM Minister of Education
Elias Bou Saab attended the cabinet meeting on Thursday after speculations that
the movement would continue to boycott the sessions. But head of the FPM Foreign
Minister Jebran Bassil decided not to attend. In August, the Free Patriotic
Movement decided to boycott the cabinet meetings, the parliamentary sessions and
the national dialogue sessions over the extension of senior military posts. The
sources pointed out that the occasion on October 13 will be an ordinary
celebration, while the one on October 16 may become the beginning of a new move
to escalate measures.
Jubeir: Saudi Arabia Won't Interfere when Problems Arise with Aoun
Naharnet/October 07/16/Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told his French
counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault that his country has no positions as for the
presidential elections in Lebanon, al-Akhbar daily reported on Friday. Replying
to a question about the series of presidency meetings carried out by al-Mustaqbal
Movement ex-PM Saad Hariri to help solve the impasse, al-Jubeir told Ayrault:
“Saudi Arabia is not concerned with the steps taken by Hariri. Lebanon is
Hariri's country and he is free with his choices. Besides, we will not be
concerned when problems start emerging with Aoun,” diplomatic sources quoted al-Jubeir
as saying. The meeting between the two men came at the sidelines of the General
Assembly of the United Nations in New York late last month. Jubeir's comments
show that the presidential impasse in Lebanon is not a priority for the kingdom,
having its hands full with the situation in Yemen, according to the daily. Media
reports said that Paris is in the process of moving its diplomatic efforts to
keep up with the new presidential movement assumed by Hariri, mainly with
Tehran. The reports noted that contacts were held previously between Tehran and
Paris demanding the facilitation of the presidential elections. Hariri's recent
return to Lebanon has triggered a flurry of rumors and media reports about a
possible presidential settlement and the possibility that the former premier has
finally decided to endorse Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun for
the presidency in a bid to break the deadlock. Lebanon has been without a
president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah,
Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the
parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri,
who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate
Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal
was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as
Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more
eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary
bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Salam underlines deep ties
with Italy from National Museum
Fri 07 Oct 2016/NNA - Prime Minister Tammam Salam underlined, during a
re-opening ceremony at the National Museum, the deep strong ties between Lebanon
and Italy, whose Foreign Minister, Paolo Gentiloni, attended the event. "With
this initiative, Italy confirms the depth of its friendship with Lebanon on all
levels, and contributes to shedding light on some our history," Salam said. "We
say to our Italian friends, thank you. The Lebanese people are grateful and
proud of this friendship," he added. For his part, the Italian Minister
highlighted the importance of the bilateral relations between the two countries.
He also focused on the role Lebanese had played throughout centuries as a
Mediterranean country, especially in terms of humanitarian bonds and rejecting
extremism. "Culture plays a major role in social and economic development; it is
paramount in order to overcome racism among humans," he said.
UK Aid Supports Economic
Opportunities in Tripoli
Naharnet/October 07/16/At the invitation of Social Affairs Minister Rachid
Derbas and as part of his regional visits throughout the country to see how UK
Aid is supporting Lebanon, British Ambassador Hugo Shorter visited the northern
city of Tripoli, the UK embassy said in a press release on Friday.
He called on Mufti Sheikh Malek el-Chaar and discussed the latest developments
in the country. In his meeting with Minister Derbas followed by lunch in
presence of the mayors of Mina, Abdul Kader Alamuddine and Tripoli, Ahmad
Kamareddine, the head of the Chamber of Commerce in the North, Toufic Dabbousi
and head of Rachid Karami International Fair, Houssam Koubaiter discussions
focused on the latest challenges and opportunities for Tripoli, what UK Aid has
supported so far in the city and potential future projects aimed at development
and supporting local communities. This includes a $500m project spent on
renovating the Old Souk through the Lebanon Host Communities Support Project –
LHSP, as well as $7.7m allocated to ‘INTAJ’ program supporting economic
opportunities in the Bekaa and North Lebanon. Ambassador Shorter visited the
port of Tripoli to learn more about proposed plans for rehabilitation of the
port, which are currently awaiting assessment under unprecedented cheap loans
being offered by the World Bank to help boost the Lebanese economy with
large-scale infrastructure projects. This ‘concessional financing’ was made
available to Lebanon for the first time in light of the crisis, following on
from the London Conference of February this year. Former Minister of Finance
Rayya el-Hassan also briefed the ambassador on Tripoli’s Special Economic Zone
that supports the city’s economy and private businesses across all sectors in
Tripoli and north Lebanon.
Speaking to reporters at the end of his visit from the port, Ambassador Shorter
said:
‘This is my second visit to this great city, and so much has happened since
then. We are pleased that the UK and partners within the international community
continue to be part of the positive change the city is witnessing. Indeed, some
of this progress comes as a result of the commitments made at the London
Conference in February 2016. We are working with MOSA and UNDP, and the World
Bank is making new cheap loans available to Lebanon that will benefit the port’s
entire infrastructure and set up a new railway line. All this makes clear that
the international community is determined to continue supporting Lebanon’s
stability, security and prosperity. I also had the opportunity to visit an
‘INTAJ’ project funded by the UK and implemented by Mercy Corps, aimed at
tackling poverty and providing economic opportunities and see first-hand the
positive impact it has had on the lives of those working there.’
Social Affairs Minister Rachid Derbas said:
‘I welcomed today in Tripoli the British ambassador to Lebanon and the
accompanying delegation, as a framework for fruitful cooperation between the
Lebanese government, the United Kingdom and the European Union, given that
Britain is one of the major donors and is very interested in the situation of
Syrian refugees and host communities. It is known that the North has a large
population of Syrian refugees which has affected the infrastructure and the
social and economic situation. The Ambassador is on a scoping visit to meet with
heads of municipalities in Tripoli, the Tripoli International Fair, the Chairman
of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and head of the Special Economic Zone in
order to discuss the best ways of cooperation between the UK and host
communities. This is an occasion to visit the city’s special economic zone, its
islands and an opportunity to share UNDP’s study for the rehabilitation of the
7Km waterfront that will change the economic and tourism situation in the city.
We hope that the United Kingdom will be our partner in this project.’Shorter
also had the chance to visit ‘Sombrero’, to taste some of the confectionery and
sweets produced by the factory that has received UK support under 'INTAJ'
program led by Mercy Corps to address Lebanese communities’ economic needs. The
program has provided training for staff, consultancy services to review their
sales and has led Sombrero to hire 8 employees and investing in business
expansion to produce date desserts. ’INTAJ’ has successfully implemented 23
skills courses in Bekaa and North Lebanon, with over 470 people trained. It also
provided support to 21 businesses, 8 in Bekaa and 13 in North Lebanon in a range
of sectors resulting in 107 people securing full-time and part-time employment.
The upcoming period will see 2,400 trainees and support to 120 SMEs over a two
year period.
Qassem: Solutions to Regional
Crises Frozen Pending U.S. Election
Naharnet/October 07/16/Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem stated that the
latest shuttle contacts between political leaders to solve the presidency
impasse are “not part of a crisis nor part of a solution,” as he noted that the
situation in the region including Lebanon will remain the same pending the
presidential elections in the United States, al-Joumhouria daily reported on
Friday. “The current happenings in Lebanon at the level of contacts with regard
to the presidency are not part of the crisis nor part of a solution. A solution
in Lebanon must be based on consensus and agreement among its different
components,” Qassem told the daily in an interview. “Lebanon needs regularity in
its institutions in order to look after the people's needs and stop the
deterioration on more than one level,” he added. Qassem highlighted the
necessity to conduct dialogue between all parties, he said: “We have always said
that dialogue is essential. We are applying this through our talks with al-Mustaqbal
and through our participation in the national dialogue. Direct talks away from
political bickering is necessary, this is why we particpated in the cabinet
meeting,” on Thursday.
Qassem noted that “the stability of Lebanon, which lasted over five years was
due to two factors: the first factor is the refusal of Hizbullah and its allies
to be dragged into internal strife, and the second factor is that the West
wanted Lebanon to be a safe zone for fleeing Syrian refugees so that Europe does
not assume the responsibilities and burden of the displaced.”On the regional
developments and its impact on Lebanon, Qassem said: “Everything is deferred in
the region until after the United States presidential elections. The US
maneuvering today under the title of a ceasefire is not part of developing steps
toward a political solution, but it is an attempt to prevent the advance of the
Syrian forces and protect the opposition and strengthen it.”
Hit-and-Run Driver Arrested
in Bsharri
Naharnet/October 07/16/Police detained a man accused of involvement in a
hit-and-run car accident that left the victim dead in the northern town of
Bsharri, the National News Agency reported on Friday. Police arrested Sh.Y. on
October 1 on accusations of crashing into a female victim, A.L., on the Mogr al-Ahwal
highway in Bsharri which led to her immediate death, NNA added. The detainee was
referred to the related authorities.
Mashnouq maintains
Information Department led by state merely
Fri 07 Oct 2016/NNA - Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Nohad Mashnouq,
maintained on Friday that the Internal Security Forces' Information Department
was led and governed by the Lebanese state merely, stressing its personnel are
an elite. "The state is the guide of the elite in the ISF segments, on top of
which the Information Department," he said. "They are the best men, led by the
martyrdom of their martyr fellows who paid the price of their national
responsibility," he added. Mashnouq made these remarks during a ceremony held to
honor General Ahmad Hajj, at the ISF Institute in Aramoun.
LF: March 14 wins 8 seats at
LAU Jbeil elections
Fri 07 Oct 2016/NNA - The coalition of the Lebanese forces party and March 14
won today the student elections at the Lebanese American University-Jbeil,
earning 8 seats, a statement by the LF indicated on Friday. The LF allied with
Future Movement, and reaped 7 seats. Rival candidates from March 8 camp shared 5
seats, the statement added.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on on
October 07-08/16
Matthew hammers
Florida, begins days long beating of coast
The Associated Press,Cape Canaveral Friday, 7 October 2016/Hurricane Matthew
spun dangerously close to Florida’s Atlantic coast Friday morning, scraping the
shore with howling wind and heavy rain that left more than 476,000 without
power. Matthew was downgraded to a Category 3 hurricane overnight with the
strongest winds of 120 mph just offshore as the storm pushed north, threatening
hundreds of miles of coastline in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. A 107 mph
gust was recorded in Cape Canaveral. Two million people were told to move inland
to escape a potentially catastrophic blow from a storm that left more than 280
dead in its wake across the Caribbean, but many hunkered down and hoped for the
best. Some people who refused to evacuate were stranded and called for help
early Friday, but were told to stay put until conditions improved enough for
paramedics and firefighters to get to them, said Brevard County Emergency
Operations spokesman David Waters. “A family called in that the roof just flew
off their home on Merritt Island,” Waters said. It was a scene officials hoped
to avoid in other cities as the storm pushed north. In Jacksonville, where
500,000 people were told to evacuate, Mayor Lenny Curry warned that authorities
would not be able to help them during the worst of the storm. “You need to
leave, if you do not leave you will be on your own,” Curry said. Despite dire
warnings, many people along the Florida coast decided to take their chances.
In Cape Canaveral, John Long rode out the storm in his 32-foot camper in a park
about half a mile from the beach. He lost power shortly before dawn but quickly
fired up his generator. Small tree branches battered the vehicle but the large
ones on the park’s giant oak trees didn’t fall. “It was kind of loud and kind of
shaky but nothing that caused too much concern,” he said. Robert Tyler had
feared a storm surge flooding his street, which is only two blocks from the Cape
Canaveral beach.
But he and his wife, Georgette, felt fortunate Friday morning when they looked
out the front door of their one-story cinder block apartment and there wasn’t
much water. Tree branches littered the road and he could hear the transformers
blowing up overnight, but his home didn’t appear to have damage on first
inspection and his vehicles were unharmed. “Overnight, it was scary as heck.
That description of a freight train is pretty accurate. At one point it felt
like the windows were going to blow even though they all were covered with
plywood,” he said.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott called it a “blessing” Friday morning that so far
Florida was avoiding a direct hit as the storm sliced northward. Still Scott
stressed during a television appearance on “CBS This Morning” and NBC’s “Today”
show that there was still time for people living in the Jacksonville area to
evacuate. The storm was expected to bring a large volume of water onshore and
Scott noted there are a lot of low-lying areas in northeast Florida. “There’s no
reason to be taking a risk,” he said. Moe than 1.5 million people in Florida
were asked to evacuate ahead of Matthew, the first major hurricane storm to hit
the state in 11 years. The number of homes and businesses without power jumped
by the hour as the storm edged closer to the coast. More than 476,000 were in
the dark Friday morning. As of 8 a.m. EDT Friday, the hurricane was hugging the
coast of central Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center. Matthew
was centered about 35 miles north-northeast of Cape Canaveral and moving
north-northwest around 13 mph.
After Florida, forecasters said Matthew would probably hug the coast of Georgia
and South Carolina over the weekend before veering out to sea - perhaps even
looping back toward Florida in the middle of next week as a tropical storm.
The hurricane had been a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm, but weakened
slightly early Friday to a Category 3. Forecasters said it could dump up to 15
inches of rain in some spots and cause a storm surge of 9 feet or more. They
said the major threat to the Southeast would not be the winds - which newer
buildings can withstand - but the massive surge of seawater that could wash over
coastal communities along a 500-mile stretch from South Florida to the
Charleston, South Carolina, area. President Barack Obama declared a state of
emergency for Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, freeing up federal money and
personnel to protect lives and property.The Fort Lauderdale and Orlando airports
shut down. Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights Thursday and Friday, many
of them in or out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Amtrak suspended train service
between Miami and New York, and cruise lines rerouted ships to avoid the storm,
which in some cases will mean more days at sea.
Orlando’s world-famous theme parks - Walt Disney World, Universal Studios and
SeaWorld - all closed. “I never get time off. I’m a little sad,” tourist Amber
Klinkel, 25, of Battle Creek, Michigan, lamented at Universal. Patients were
transferred from two Florida waterfront hospitals and a nursing home near
Daytona Beach to safer locations. Thousands of people hunkered down in schools
converted to shelters, and inland hotels in places such as Charlotte, North
Carolina, reported brisk business. At the Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral, NASA no longer has to worry about rolling space shuttles back from
the launch pad to the hangar because of hurricanes, since the shuttle fleet is
now retired. But the spaceflight company SpaceX was concerned about the storm’s
effect on its leased seaside pad.
The last Category 3 storm or higher to hit the U.S. was Wilma in October 2005.
It sliced across Florida with 120 mph winds, killing five people and causing an
estimated $21 billion in damage.
With hurricane-force winds extending outward up to 60 miles, Matthew could wreak
havoc along the U.S. coast even if its center stayed offshore. Georgia Gov.
Nathan Deal ordered an evacuation of the entire Georgia coast, covering more
than a half-million people. It was the first hurricane evacuation along the
Georgia coast since 1999, when the state narrowly escaped Floyd. “We have a
house that sits right here on the water and we kind of said goodbye to it
thinking that, you know, the house ... might not be here when we get back,” said
Jennifer Banker, a resident of Georgia’s dangerously exposed St. Simons Island.
“You know, we pray a lot and trust God to provide.”
Russian warship
passes through Bosphorus to join Syria mission: AFP
AFP, Istanbul Friday, 7 October 2016/Russian warship “Mirage” on Friday passed
through Istanbul’s Bosphorus strait, heading to the Mediterranean to back up
Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria, AFP journalists reported. The corvette,
which left Russia’s Sevastopol base in Crimea on Thursday, is on a mission is to
protect other navy ships from other ships or submarines. Russian marines
soldiers were seen on the vessel loaded with cruise missile launchers as well as
artillery, AFP journalists reported. Mirage took part in the 2008 war between
Georgia and Russia over Moscow-backed South Ossetia region.
The Russian navy used cruise missiles to strike Syria for the first time last
October, launching them from the Caspian Sea, as well as in December, when they
were launched from a submarine in the Mediterranean. Dozens of Russian warships
have passed through the Bosphorus Strait, northbound and southbound, especially
since Moscow stepped up operations inside Syria.
Syria’s White Helmets
congratulate Colombia on Nobel
AFP, Beirut Friday, 7 October 2016/The head of Syria’s White Helmets on Friday
congratulated Colombia’s president on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, which the
rescue force had been widely tipped to receive themselves. A White Helmet
volunteer, meanwhile, was killed while responding to a bombing in south Syria
just after the Nobel winner was announced earlier Friday, the group said.
“Mahmoud al-Muhammad killed today in Daraa after responding to bombing of
civilians leaving Friday prayers,” the group said on Twitter. White Helmets
chief Raed Saleh told AFP that his group had been hoping to receive the prize,
which went instead to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to
end Latin America’s longest conflict.
“We congratulate the winner on the prize and hope for peace for all of
Colombia’s people,” Saleh said by phone from Turkey. “For us, saving a life
remains the most important prize that we could receive,” Saleh said. “This
success makes us richer than any other prize.”
Named after their protective headgear, the White Helmets rescue force operates
in opposition-held territory in war-ravaged Syria. The nearly 3,000-strong
volunteer group has shot to prominence via footage of daring, and often
heart-rending, rescue missions.
Saleh said Colombia’s success “gives us hope that it’ll be our turn in the
future” for peace in Syria, where more than 300,000 people have died since the
conflict broke out in 2011.
“We wish we had gotten the prize, because it would have been a huge push to all
rescue workers,” Saleh said, adding that his group was “glad” to have received
so much international support. The group was the subject of a Netflix short
documentary and its nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize had attracted support
from a slew of celebrities. In late September, the White Helmets won a Swedish
human rights prize often referred to an “alternative Nobel” with the jury
hailing their “outstanding bravery, compassion and humanitarian engagement”.
UN to vote on Aleppo truce,
face Russian veto
By AFP, Moscow and the United Nations Friday, 7 October 2016/The United Nations
Security Council will vote on Saturday on a draft resolution that urges Russia
and the United States to ensure an immediate truce in Syria’s Aleppo and “put an
end to all military flights over the city,” the French UN envoy said. Russia
signaled it would veto the resolution, drafted by France and Spain. “This is not
a draft which is right for adoption, I have this suspicion that the real motive
is to cause a Russian veto,” said Russian U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin on
Friday. “I cannot possibly see how we can let this resolution pass.”French UN
Ambassador Francois Delattre said on Friday he has asked for the draft
resolution to be put to a vote on Saturday. “There is no time to waste, there is
an absolute emergency in Aleppo,” he said. The draft text, seen by Reuters, also
asks UN chief Ban Ki-moon to propose options for a UN-supervised monitoring of a
truce and threatens to “take further measures” in the event of non-compliance by
“any party to the Syrian domestic conflict.”The draft urges Russia and the
United States “to ensure the immediate implementation of the cessation of
hostilities, starting with Aleppo, and, to that effect, to put an end to all
military flights over the city.”Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces,
backed by Russian war planes and Iranian support, have been battling to capture
eastern Aleppo, the rebel-held half of Syria’s largest city, where more than
250,000 civilians are trapped. Russia and China have previously protected the
Syrian government from council action by blocking several resolutions, including
a bid to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.
Turkish police capture PKK
militant suspected over Istanbul bombing
Reuters Friday, 7 October 2016/Turkish police have captured a Kurdistan Workers
Party (PKK) militant whom they suspect carried out a “motorbike bomb” attack on
Thursday that wounded 10 people near an Istanbul police station, the state-run
Anadolu Agency said on Friday. It said a total of six people had been detained
in connection with the attack in the Yenibosna neighborhood, several kilometers
from Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport, Turkey’s largest airport. The suspected
perpetrator was captured with a fake identity card in the central province of
Aksaray, traveling in a car with two other people, Anadolu said. Television
footage released after the explosion on Thursday showed damaged vehicles,
shattered glass and broken windows in the residential area, along with the
mangled wreckage of a motorbike to which the bomb was attached.
Why Narrative
of "Moderates" versus "Hardliners" within the ranks of the Iran Regime is a
Myth?
NCRI Iran News/Friday, 07 October 2016
The Next President Has a Serious Call to Make on Iran Policy
In an article published in Newsmax.com on October 6, 2016 Shahriar Kia explains,
the disastrous consequences of fallacious appeasement policy towards the
religious fascism ruling Iran, and also clarifies why the idea that "moderates"
within the ranks of the Iranian regime can be strengthened against "hardliners"
is wishful thinking. Following is the full text:
Among the many foreign policy challenges that the next President of the United
States will face, Iran will be a prominent one.
The regime in Tehran is known for its instigation of terrorism and strife across
Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. It has gained notorious fame for its violent meddling
in the internal affairs of other countries, its support for the regime of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad in slaughtering more than 500,000 Syrians, and its
track record of human rights violationsagainst its own citizens, especially
women and youth.
This makes Iran an imminent threat to regional and global stability and peace,
as well as a de facto enemy in the fight against terrorism.
And it has been proven time and again that turning a blind eye on the Iranian
regime's malicious venturing or fostering illusions that it can be an ally in
fighting ISIS will do nothing to deter or lessen this clear and present danger.
In fact, the policy of appeasement and concessions adopted by the current
administration has not only failed to rein in Iran's export of terrorism and
human rights violation, but has prodded it to further undermine global security
through manufacturing ballistic missiles, prototyping war drones, and continuing
to fill the coffers of its extremist proxies in the region with the ransom money
it receives from the West.
While Hassan Rouhani, the president of the Iranian regime, was staying in New
York to speak at the UN General Assembly, details were exposed about a deal
between the U.S. and the Iranian regime, which granted Tehran $1.7 billion in
exchange for the release of four American citizens and lifted sanctions from the
main financial institutions that fund Iran's nuclear missile program.
The Iranian regime has constantly insisted that it needs sanctions relief to
reinvigorate its bankrupt economy, but time has proven that tending to the needs
of the country's population is all but absent on the agenda of the ruling
mullahs.
Fact of the matter is, the funds released following the nuclear deal hammered
between Iran and world powers are being funneled into Iran's terrorist
activities, its support of the Assad regime and its crackdown on dissent and
opposition.
Of special attention is the state of human rights in Iran, which has
deteriorated since Rouhani has assumed office, and has become an issue of
concern among members of the U.S. Congress. Prominent members of the U.S. House
of Representatives recently introduced a resolution that condemned the Iranian
regime's mass killing of political prisoners in 1988, and called for justice for
the victims.
Silent and unpunished to this day, the 28-year-old massacre was carried out
under a fatwa by Khomeini, the founder and then–Supreme Leader of the regime,
and in the span of four months, more than 30,000 political prisoners were
executed.
The victims were mainly members and supporters of the People's Mojahedin
Organization of Iran (PMOI), the Iranian regime's main opposition group. This is
the same group that, in later years, unveiled Tehran's secret nuclear program
and has later garnered support across the globe, including on both sides of the
aisle in the U.S. congress.
Today, the PMOI is part of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, who has become the leading voice for regime change in
Iran.
The extent of the carnage waged during the 1988 massacre led to Khomeini's own
chief deputy, the late Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, to deplore the act as
"the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which history
will condemn us."
The executions were orchestrated by a group of clerics who became known as the
"death committee." What's noteworthy is that those same persons now occupy key
posts across the country. A striking example is Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who now
serves as Justice Minister in the government of the self-proclaimed "moderate"
Rouhani.
This only proves that the idea that "moderates" within the ranks of the Iranian
regime can be strengthened against "hardliners" is wishful thinking.
But unfortunately, for political and economic reasons, searching for "moderates"
and appeasing the Iranian regime has remained part of the U.S. foreign policy to
this date, inevitably resulting to the further undermining human rights in Iran,
and instability across the Middle East region.
Whoever wins the next U.S. presidential elections will have a chance to right
the wrongs and steer the foreign policy in a direction that will restore
regional and global peace and stability.
The right place to start is to put an end to over two decades of appeasement
toward the Iranian regime and holding its officials accountable for the
uncountable crimes committed in Iran and across the world. It is about time that
the U.S. stands with the Iranian people and their resistance movement.
Iran: The Pioneering role of
The Canadian Parliament
NCRI Iran News/Friday, 07 October 2016
‘Canada Can Lead Global Criticism Of Iran's Human Rights Abuses’, this is the
title of an article written by David Kilgour Former member of Canada's House of
Commons and Secretary of State published in Huffingtonpost.ca on October 6. In
this article after referring to the Worst Massacre of Political Prisoners since
WWII which was committed by Iran regime in 1988, Kilgour suggests the importance
and necessity of taking immiditate next actions, following is the full text:
The Canadian House of Commons is one of few parliaments in the world to have
formally acknowledged and denounced one of the worst crimes against humanity in
recent history.
In the summer of 1988, the still-fledgling Iranian theocracy initiated a
crackdown on political dissent, partly to save face at the end of the
humiliating eight-year Iran-Iraq War. Ayatollah Khomeini issued a religious
edict ordering the death of any political prisoner who failed to demonstrate
loyalty to the regime.
After a long series of "trials," some lasting as little as one moment, 30,000
men and women -- mostly activists of the opposition People's Mojahedin
Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) -- were executed.
Every Canadian citizen and policymaker can be proud that their country is ahead
of the curve when it comes to recognizing the emergence of new information about
the Islamic Republic.
Over the course of several weeks, the mullahs' agents hanged thousands of people
with ruthless efficiency, killing not only adult men but also pregnant women and
minors as young as 15. Active dissidents were hanged alongside people whose only
crimes were reading opposition newspapers or expressing vague sympathy for the
PMOI. The orgy of death in 1988 established patterns that continue on a smaller
scale to the present day as Iran continues to execute people on the flimsiest
pretenses, in such numbers that the Islamic Republic consistently ranks as the
country with the highest rate of executions per capita.
The international community recognizes those statistics, but appears to attach
little emotional weight to them. Knowledge of Tehran's obsession with the death
penalty does not necessarily translate to an understanding of the full extent of
the regime's brutality. Widespread ignorance about the 1988 massacre contributes
to that lack of understanding. If more parliaments would adopt resolutions such
as Canada's, which "condemns the mass murder of political prisoners in Iran in
the summer of 1988 as constituting crimes against humanity," then more
populations would understand the severe peril that Iranian democrats and
dissenters face daily.
Although it took Canada 25 years to acknowledge formally the #1988massacre and
to express ongoing solidarity with Iranian political prisoners, every Canadian
citizen and policymaker can be proud that their country is ahead of the curve
when it comes to recognizing the emergence of new information about the Islamic
Republic.
As the catalogue of such information continues to expand and reach a wider range
of countries, Canada has earned a unique opportunity to help guide international
policy in more intelligent and realistic directions with regard to Iran's human
rights abuses.
Recently, an audio recording emerged after 28 years, providing Ayatollah Hossein-Ali
Montazeri's condemnation of the massacre of PMOI supporters. At the time,
Montazeri was designated to be the Islamic Republic's second supreme leader, but
he was driven out of the regime as a result of his refusal to sign off on the
campaign of violent repression.
Despite his later status as an outsider, the information he conveyed in the
audio recording cannot be questioned. Although Iran is notorious for its
national propaganda, the regime has not attempted to deny the veracity of
Montazeri's account.
Consequently, the 1988 massacre has garnered unprecedented attention inside
Iran, and conversations about it are finally beginning to be heard in the West.
The recording could realize Montazeri's promise that the names of those involved
in the massacre "will be etched in the annals of history as criminals." More
governments and legislators will receive domestic and international requests to
condemn formally the individual perpetrators, many of whom still hold power in
Iran.
How can any country which understands the 1988 massacre and the ongoing human
rights crisis in Iran seek expanded relations with the fundamentalist theocracy?
In light of the unanimous consent for Canada's 2013 resolution of condemnation,
we should demand an inquiry into the 1988 massacre by the United Nations and
also push for the surviving architects of the massacre to be charged with crimes
against humanity.
This action would be an important first step toward bringing an end to Iran's
widespread political repression and thus ultimately clearing the way for a
secular, democratic government in the Middle East.
Iran: Sunni prisoners at West
Tehran Prison put under more pressure
Friday, 07 October 2016/NCRI - According to reports, Sunni prisoners in ward 7,
Hall 21 of Gohardasht Prison – West Tehran are under a lot of pressure. By order
of the prison officials, the Sunni prisoners are not allowed to have books. They
are not even allowed to have Quran while those who have are forced to deliver
them. It is worth mentioning that following the executions in August, there are
still 50 Sunni prisoners kept in this ward, eleven of which are on death row
while living in limbo. The prisoners have recently been threatened that all the
equipments inside the ward which the prisoners have bought with their own money
will be collected.
Mandatory religious rituals
Participating in congregational prayer in ward 2 of the Gohardasht Prison is
mandatory. Besides, the prisoners are regularly forced to pray and take part in
some special rituals despite their unwillingness to do so. The person in charge
of ward 2 is named ‘Mehdifar’ and a Mullah named ‘Soltani’ is responsible for
religious rituals by whose order all the religious rituals are held.
Iranian regime’s Minister of
Science acknowledges Brain Drain in Iran
Friday, 07 October 2016 /NCRI - Mohammad Farhadi, the Minister of Science in
Rouhani’s cabinet, has acknowledged the brain drain in Iran under the rule of
the Mullahs. According to Tasnim news agency on October 3, in his speech at the
International Science and Technology Forum in Kyoto, Japn, Farhadi pointed to
the educated population in Iran and said: “there are 11 million, namely 17
percent of the population, with a college degree in Iran while five million
students are currently studying in universities and research centers.” The
Minister of Science said: “we are facing a brain drain among the educated
population which actually means the migration of the country’s skilled human
resources.”Farhadi stressed that the brain drain has undesirable effects on the
development of countries and creates unknown variables. He added: “migration of
the skilled workers from a country prevents it from having a sustainable
development.”
It should also be pointed out that Ali Rabiei, the Minister of Labor and Social
Affair in Rouhani’s government, has announced: “ 43 percent of all the job
applicants in the country are college graduates of which about one million three
hundred thousand are suffering from unemployment crisis.” He added: “this amount
of graduates who are left behind the country’s job market, means nothing but a
truly unemployment crisis.”Also regarding the unemployment of the university
graduates, ILNA state newspaper writes: “From 1995 to 2012, about seven million
job applicants have been graduated from universities only one million of which
have been absorbed by the job market. Currently there are six thousand jobless
graduates who have a Ph.D degree and we are facing a new wave of joblessness
among graduates with high educational qualifications.”
Iran: she is given long jail
term for writing a story which was never published!
Friday, 07 October 2016 /NCRI - Golrokh Ebrahimi Iraee an Iranian writer and
human rights activist has been sentenced to six years' imprisonment in Iran for
writing a story about stoning. She faces years imprisonment even though her
writing has not ever been published. The Iranian authorities found the
piece, when the writer and her activist husband Arash Sadeghi were detained by
men believed to be members of the Revolutionary Guard. (On 6 September 2014).
She was found guilty of "insulting Islamic sanctities" and "spreading propaganda
against the system". Amnesty International called the verdict "ludicrous" and
the trial "farcical".Victims of stoning in Iran, mostly women accused of
adultery are executed by having rocks savagely thrown at them until they are
dead. Ms Ebrahimi Iraee's work describes the emotional reaction of a young woman
who watches the film The Stoning of Soraya M - which tells the true story of a
young woman stoned to death . Ms Ebrahimi Iraee was transferred to Tehran's Evin
Prison and held there for 20 days, without access to her family or a lawyer,
Amnesty International says. She says she was interrogated for hours while
blindfolded and facing a wall, and repeatedly told that she could face execution
for "insulting Islam". She says she could clearly hear the interrogators
threatening and verbally abusing her husband in the next cell. Mr Sadeghi has
since said that he was beaten and tortured while in custody. Mr. Sadeghi’s
mother suffered a heart attack at the time of his arrest and died a few days
later.Arash Sadeghi, a student in Allameh University, has already spent seven
months in solitary confinement.His trial, held in Branch 15 of Tehran’s
Revolutionary Court on February 20, was presided by the infamous Abolghassem
Salavati who is regarded by human rights activists as a judge who flagrantly
ignores basic trial principles in the cases that he oversees. Mr. Sadeghi’s
lawyer was not allowed to review his case and attend the court session. His
wife, Mrs. Golrokh Iriai was not present at the session due to illness.
Abolghassem Salavati has handed down tough and inhumane punishments, including
execution sentences, to many dissidents, journalists, lawyers and members of
Iran’s ethnic minorities. As the lead judge in charge of Branch 15 of Tehran’s
Revolutionary Court, he was called the “judge of death” and “the hanging judge”
for imposing at least a half-dozen execution sentences following the nationwide
anti-regime protests in 2009. His record is considered so egregious
internationally that the European Union included him on a 2011 blacklist of the
officials of the Iranian regime who are responsible for gross human rights
violations.
Punished for
expressing her feelings
Philip Luther, Amnesty's Director of Research and Advocacy for the Middle East
and North Africa, said Ebrahimi Iraee "is effectively being punished for using
her imagination". He said Iran continues to justify the use of stoning in the
name of morality. "Instead of imprisoning a young woman for peacefully
exercising her human rights by expressing her opposition to stoning, the Iranian
authorities should focus on abolishing this punishment, which amounts to
torture," he said.
Iran nuclear
deal still fragile, UN atomic chief says
Reuters Friday, 7 October 2016/The implementation of a landmark nuclear
agreement between Iran and world powers is still fragile, the head of the UN
agency that polices Iran’s side of the deal has said, warning that small
mistakes could have grave consequences. Iran and six major powers, including the
United States, struck the agreement last year. It restricts Tehran’s nuclear
activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against the
Islamic Republic. “The implementation of the agreement is still fragile,”
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano said in an interview with
the German news agency DPA published on Friday before a trip to Germany. “Small
technical mistakes, small failures in implementation can become big political
issues that could have a large negative influence on the agreement,” he added.
Amano’s agency has reported that Iran so far has stayed within the terms of the
agreement. Those include limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium and the
number of its centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, it has installed.Iran
has also complained that the United States is not keeping its side of the deal.
It wants Washington to do more to encourage banks to do business with Iran. Many
are wary that doing so would run afoul of US sanctions still in place. Earlier
this week, the speaker of the Iranian parliament canceled talks with German
Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel intended to improve Germany’s trade ties with
Iran. The speaker, Ali Larijani, gave no reason, but the cancellation came after
Gabriel urged Iran to pursue reforms and work for a cease fire in Syria, where
Tehran supports President Bashar al-Assad. The Republican candidate for US
president, Donald Trump, has strongly criticized the deal, though he has also
conceded that it would be hard to tear it up as he had previously said he would.
The United States says it has done everything required by the agreement, which
was also signed by Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.
UN rights envoy urges Iran to
free three dual nationals
Reuters, Geneva Friday, 7 October 2016/The United Nations human rights
investigator for Iran called on Friday for the immediate release of three
Iranians with dual nationality whose health is a matter of concern. Ahmed
Shaheed, UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran, in
particular highlighted the case of the Iranian-British aid worker Nazanin
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was arrested in April with her 2-year-old daughter and
tried in August. An Iranian revolutionary court sentenced her to five years in
prison on charges that remain secret, her family said last month. "Sentencing
individuals for charges that are kept secret from defendants and their defence
lawyers is a mockery of justice," Shaheed, a former foreign minister of the
Maldives, said in a statement. He said her health had also "seriously
deteriorated" since her arrest. Zaghari-Ratcliffe works for the Thomson Reuters
Foundation, a London-based charity that is independent of Thomson Reuters and
operates independently of its news arm, Reuters News. Her daughter, now also
trapped in Iran, is being looked after by Zaghari-Ratcliffe's parents. Iran's
hardline Revolutionary Guards have accused Zaghari-Ratcliffe of trying to
overthrow Iran's clerical establishment, an accusation that the Foundation and
her husband have dismissed. "I am convinced of Nazanin's innocence," Thomson
Reuters Foundation Chief Executive Monique Villa said in a statement. "She had
no dealings with Iran whatsoever in her professional capacity as the Thomson
Reuters Foundation does not operate in Iran, directly or indirectly." Shaheed
said that two elderly men held in Tehran's Evin prison required urgent medical
attention and must also be freed. Baquer Namazi, an 80-year-old who also holds
American nationality, has been detained since February on unknown charges and
without access to a lawyer, he said. Kamal Foroughi, 77, is an Iranian-British
businessman arrested in May 2011 who is serving an eight-year prison term on
charges of espionage and possession of alcoholic beverages, he said. Shaheed
welcomed the release last month of Homa Hoodfar, an Iranian-Canadian national
arrested in June. The Montreal academic was released a week after the two
countries began talks on a restoration of diplomatic ties, broken off in 2012.
Iran does not recognize dual nationality, which prevents Western embassies from
visiting such detainees.
UN envoy eyes 72-hour truce for
Yemen
AFP, Muscat Friday, 7 October 2016/A 72-hour truce for conflict-riddled Yemen is
expected to be announced soon, the UN envoy to the Arabian Peninsula country
said Friday after talks with rebel representatives. Three months of negotiations
in Kuwait earlier this year ended without a breakthrough, dashing hopes for an
end to the war between Shiite Houthi rebels and government forces that has
gripped Yemen for more than 18 months. Fighting flared anew when the talks
collapsed in August, prompting UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to warn that
restoring a ceasefire for Yemen was critical. Speaking in the Omani capital on
Friday after talks with representatives of the Houthis, the Mauritanian diplomat
said a new truce deal was in the works as part of a wider peace plan. "An
agreement for a 72-hour renewable truce will be announced in the coming days,"
he said in remarks carried by the official Oman news agency. The Houthis and
their allies, supporters of ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh, "are convinced
of the need for a ceasefire," the diplomat said. He said he would head to the
Saudi capital, Riyadh, to meet with Yemeni President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi. The
UN envoy said he was hoping to draft a new peace plan for Yemen "in the next two
weeks" but that he first needed to carry out more consultations. The United
Nations says the conflict has killed more than 6,700 people and displaced at
least three million since a Saudi-led Arab coalition backing Hadi's government
launched operations in March 2015. Since then, the rebels have been pushed out
of much of Yemen's south, but they still control nearly all of its Red Sea coast
as well as swathes of territory around the capital Sanaa. The Saudi-led
coalition has stepped up its air raids following the breakdown of talks and
cross-border attacks from Yemen have also intensified.
Seven fighters killed in Yemen clashes
AFP, Aden Friday, 7 October 2016/Seven fighters were killed in clashes between
Houthi militias and loyalists of Ali Abudllah Saleh in southwest Yemen on
Thursday, a loyalist officer said. Four militias and three pro-government
fighters died on the edge of Taez and Lahj provinces in fighting for control of
an area overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, the officer said. The
busy shipping lane links the Suez Canal and the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden
and the Indian Ocean. Fighting between the Houthi militias and fighters loyal to
President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has spiked on several fronts since UN-backed
peace talks were suspended in early August. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in
support of Hadi’s government in March 2015, after the Houthi militias overran
much of the country including the capital Sana’a.
Exclusive:
Video of Saudi Arabia targeting five Houthi militia vehicles
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 7 October 2016/Al Arabiya News Channel
has obtained exclusive footage of Saudi-led Arab coalition targeting and
destroying five Houthi militia vehicles across the border. The coalition forces
were also able to survey militia movements across the border from Saudi Arabia
and strike gathering locations and stopped border trespassing attempts. The
footage comes a day after Saudi Arabia’s Apache helicopters killed dozens of
Houthi militias and Republican Guard officers – who are loyal to deposed
President Ali Abdullah Saleh – in targeted air strikes on Thursday at the border
near the southwestern Saudi province of Jazan. Saudi Arabia has been ramping up
counter-attacks in recent days after militias launched several cross border
rocket attacks. *This article was originally published on AlArabiya.net.
Turkey, Europe in joint effort against JASTA: Minister
By Staff Writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 7 October 2016/The Turkish
government is working with Saudi Arabia to examine measures to face the Justice
Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA), that was voted in by the US Congress
last month, Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper has reported. In an interview with the
Saudi newspaper, Turkish Development Minister, Lutfi Elvan, said his country was
looking at the legalities to respond to the controversial JASTA legislation,
through the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and with the support of
some European countries, the report added. “We cannot accept this law, which
contradicts international principles and values,” Elvan told the newspaper,
adding that a whole country “cannot be accused of terrorism because of some
attempts perpetrated by terrorists during the events of September 11,
2001.”Elvan pledged Turkey’s support for Saudi Arabia on the matter, and said
such a law would directly harm the United States. Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan, he added, had already described JASTA as a big mistake and announced
his support to the Kingdom. The Turkish minister said he believed Saudi and
turkey were targeted because they both supported peace and ‘contribute to the
establishment of security and stability in the region’ the report added. Elvan
has been in Saudi where he arrived earlier in the week on an official visit, the
newspaper added. He told Asharq al-Awsat he had met with various Saudi ministers
and businessmen. He told the newspaper he was optimistic that Saudi Arabia
remained willing to invest in Turkey, quoting a Saudi businessman who said
approximately 150 companies from the kingdom were ready to invest in Turkey.
Referring to Iran’s negative role in the region, and its apparent ongoing
support for terrorists in various parts of the region, he said Turkey had many
differing views with the republic, but he added there was still a need to work
towards the implementation of stability and security in the region.
Beyond Saudi Arabia; JASTA
can also haunt Pakistan
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 7 October 2016/As concerns related to
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) remain in the Arab world, more
and more voices are being expressed by analysts in other countries such as
Pakistan. Naveed Ahmad, a Pakistani investigative journalist and academic, says
conservatives in the United States have also mentioned Pakistan in the vein as
Saudi Arabia and that they believe Islamabad can be charged of backing terrorism
under JASTA because Osama bin Laden was found living in the country. “Pakistan
may be least prepared for such fallout as Islamabad neither admitted hosting
Osama nor launched any aggressive action against US troops conducting the
operation to eliminate the world’s most wanted man,” Ahmad wrote in Pakistan’s
The Express Tribune. Ahmad says that Obama’s objections to the legislation were
sound, though largely ignored by media and single-tracked congressmen and
senators. However, 28 senators promised to fix its shortcomings in the next
term. “The act is awfully flawed, legally and procedurally, and the amendments
made by the act apply to any civil action filed after its enactment and the
victims of 9/11,” he said. Al Arabiya English earlier reported that Pakistan’s
Foreign Office has reiterated its “concern” following the overriding of US
President Barack Obama veto on the JASTA law passed by the Congress. “We have
noted with concern the overturning of the US Presidential veto on JASTA, a law
passed by US Congress aimed at targeting sovereign states,” the Foreign Office
said in a statement.
Bomb hits train in southwestern Pakistan
The Associated Press, Quetta/ Pakistan Friday, 7 October 2016/A powerful bomb
exploded on a passenger train in southwest Pakistan on Friday, killing six
people and wounding 19, officials said. The bomb went off near the village of
Mach in the Baluchistan province, a railways official Tufail Ahmad told The
Associated Press. He said the train was heading to the garrison city of
Rawalpindi in the eastern Punjab province from Quetta, the provincial capital of
Baluchistan at the time. Ahmad said the casualties were taken to nearby
hospitals and that some of the wounded passengers were in critical condition.
Initially three people were reported dead but three more later died of their
injuries, said Mohammad Sajid, local police chief. No one immediately claimed
responsibility for the attack, but separatist groups in the province have
claimed similar attacks in the past. Baluchistan has long been the center of a
low-level insurgency by nationalist groups that demand more autonomy and a
greater share in the region's natural resources. The government says it's trying
to improve people's welfare in the province and bring the separatists into
mainstream politics. Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique denounced the
bombing as "an act of terrorism" and said authorties were still trying to
determine how the bomb was planted on the train. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
condemned the attack and ordered authorities to find and arrest those behind it.
In a statement, he also ordered health official to provide best medical care to
the wounded passengers.
Morocco vote
pits Islamists against liberal party
AFP, Rabat Friday, 7 October 2016/Moroccans vote in parliamentary polls on
Friday, five years after an Islamist-led government took office following Arab
Spring-inspired protests that toppled regimes across the region. The Islamist
Justice and Development Party (PJD) aims to fight off a liberal opposition which
says it wants to roll back the “Islamization” of Moroccan society. But the real
power will remain in the hands of King Mohammed VI. The PJD came to power in
2011, months after massive street protests. A new constitution transferred some
of the king’s powers to parliament. Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane’s PJD
heads a coalition including communists, liberals and conservatives. The PJD says
a second term would allow it to press ahead with its economic and social
reforms. While in government, it passed a controversial reform of the retirement
system and followed a relatively liberal economic policy. Its task has been
complicated by the unstable world economy and a drought this year that has hit
Morocco’s vital agricultural sector. It has also been weakened by rising
unemployment. The PJD is however credited with lowering the budget deficit, and
is popular among the urban middle classes which have largely abandoned the
secular left. It is weaker in rural areas, where a drought has ravaged the
country's all-important agriculture sector and hit farmers’ incomes. The PAM
aims to bring more women into parliament, where they hold just 67 out of 395
seats. Some 16 million Moroccans are eligible to vote, with 30 parties competing
for seats. Turnout will be a key factor, after it reached only 45 percent in the
November 2011 polls.
Colombia’s president wins
Nobel Peace Prize
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Friday, 7 October 2016/Colombian President Juan
Manuel Santos won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a surprise after
Colombians voted "No" to an agreement he signed with Marxist rebels to end 52
years of war. Santos has promised to revive a peace plan even though Colombians,
in a referendum on Sunday, narrowly rejected the accord. Many voters reckoned it
was too lenient on the FARC guerrillas. "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has
decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2016 to Colombian President Juan
Manuel Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than
50-year-long civil war to an end," said committee chairwoman Kaci Kullmann
Five.(With Agencies)
Chemical weapon
for sale: China’s unregulated narcotic
The Associated Press, Shanghai Friday, 7 October 2016/It’s one of the strongest
opioids in circulation, so deadly an amount smaller than a poppy seed can kill a
person. Until July, when reports of carfentanil overdoses began to surface in
the US, the substance was best known for knocking out moose and elephants - or
as a chemical weapon. Despite the dangers, Chinese vendors offer to sell
carfentanil openly online, for worldwide export, no questions asked, an
Associated Press investigation has found. The AP identified 12 Chinese
businesses that said they would export carfentanil to the United States, Canada,
the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Belgium and Australia for as little as
$2,750 a kilogram. Carfentanil burst into view this summer as the latest scourge
in an epidemic of opioid abuse that has killed tens of thousands in the US
alone. In China, the top global source of synthetic drugs, carfentanil is not a
controlled substance. The US government is pressing China to blacklist it, but
Beijing has yet to act. “We can supply carfentanil ... for sure,” a saleswoman
from Jilin Tely Import and Export Co. wrote in broken English in a September
email. “And it’s one of our hot sales product.”
The AP did not actually order any drugs, or test whether the products on offer
were genuine. China’s Ministry of Public Security declined multiple requests for
comment. For decades before being discovered by drug dealers, carfentanil and
substances like it were researched as chemical weapons by the US, UK, Russia,
Israel, China, the Czech Republic and India, according to publicly available
documents. They are banned from the battlefield under the Chemical Weapons
Convention. “It’s a weapon,” said Andrew Weber, assistant secretary of defense
for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs from 2009 to 2014.
“Companies shouldn’t be just sending it to anybody.”Carfentanil is 100 times
more powerful than fentanyl, a related drug that is itself up to 50 times
stronger than heroin.
Forms of fentanyl are suspected in an unsuccessful 1997 attempt by Mossad agents
to kill a Hamas leader in Jordan, and were used to lethal effect by Russian
forces against Chechen separatists who took hundreds of hostages at a Moscow
theater in 2002. The theater siege prompted the US to develop strategies to
counter carfentanil’s potential use as a tool of war or terrorism, according to
Weber. “Countries that we are concerned about were interested in using it for
offensive purposes,” he said. “We are also concerned that groups like ISIS could
order it commercially.” Later, dealers discovered that vast profits could be
made by cutting fentanyls into illicit drugs. In fiscal year 2014, US
authorities seized just 3.7 kilograms (8.1 pounds) of fentanyl. This fiscal
year, through just mid-July, they seized 134.1 kilograms (295 pounds), Customs
and Border Protection data show. Overdose rates have been skyrocketing.
The DEA has “shared intelligence and scientific data” with China about
controlling carfentanil, according to Russell Baer, a DEA special agent in
Washington. “I know China is looking at it very closely,” he said. Delegations
of top Chinese and US drug enforcement officials met in August and September to
discuss opioids, but failed to produce a substantive announcement on carfentanil.
China is not blind to the key role its chemists play in the opioid supply chain.
Most synthetic drugs that end up in the US come from China, according to the
DEA. China already has controlled fentanyl and 18 related compounds, but despite
periodic crackdowns, people willing to skirt the law are easy to find in China’s
vast, freewheeling chemicals industry. Vendors said they lied on customs forms,
guaranteed delivery to countries where carfentanil is banned and volunteered
strategic advice on sneaking packages past law enforcement.
“The government should impose very serious limits, but in reality in China it’s
so difficult to control because if I produce 1 or 2 kilograms, how will anyone
know?” said Xu Liqun, president of Hangzhou Reward Technology, which offered to
produce carfentanil to order. “They cannot control you, so many products, so
many labs.”Last October, China added 116 synthetic drugs to its controlled
substances list. Acetylfentanyl, a weak fentanyl variant, was among them. Six
months later, monthly seizures of acetylfentanyl in the US were down 60 percent,
DEA data obtained by the AP shows. Several vendors contacted in September were
willing to export carfentanil but refused to provide the far less potent
acetylfentanyl. Seven companies, however, offered to sell acetylfentanyl despite
the ban. Five offered fentanyl and two offered alpha-PVP, commonly known as
flakka, which are also controlled substances in China. Several vendors
recommended shipping by EMS, the express mail service of state-owned China
Postal Express & Logistics Co.“EMS is a little slow than Fedex or DHL but very
safe, more than 99% pass rate,” a Yuntu Chemical Co. representative wrote in an
email. EMS declined comment. A Yuntu representative hung up the phone when
contacted by the AP and did not reply to emails. Soon after, the company’s
website vanished.
New Israeli settlement plan risks peace, EU says
Reuters, Brussels Friday, 7 October 2016/Israel's decision to build new
settlements far inside the West Bank weakens prospects for peace with the
Palestinians, the European Union's diplomatic service said on Friday, echoing US
criticism that a two-state solution was at risk.
In a statement, the European Union External Action Service said Israel had
broken with public statements not to build new settlements, calling the plans
"effectively a new settlement in the northern West Bank.""The decision to
continue settlement building and expansion... weakens rather than strengthens
the prospects for a two-state solution to the Middle East peace process, and
makes the possibility of a viable Palestinian state more remote," the EEAS said
in a statement. On Wednesday, US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the
move was "deeply troubling" partly because it came after Israeli agreement with
Washington on US military aid designed to bolster Israel's security, he said.
The United States has agreed to give Israel $38 billion in military aid over the
next decade, the largest such package in US history, under a landmark agreement
signed on Sept. 15. Germany also spoke out this week, reiterating a long-held EU
position that settlements are illegal under international law. Communist Party (VCP)
before the opening ceremony of The 12th National Congress of Vietnam's Communist
Party (VCP) in Hanoi on January 21, 2016. (AFP)
The Associated Press, Vietnam Friday, 7 October 2016
Israeli tanks fire on Gaza in response to rocket
attack
AFP Friday, 7 October 2016/Israeli tanks shelled the Gaza Strip after a rocket
from the Palestinian enclave hit an open field on Thursday, the second such
exchange of fire in two days, officials said. The rocket slammed into the Eshkol
area of Israel bordering the Gaza Strip, which is run by Islamist movement
Hamas, the Israeli military said in a statement. The Israelis retaliated with
tank fire targeting farmland east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the central
Gaza Strip, said a Hamas security source. Israel usually retaliates to rocket
fire from the Gaza with strikes, but recent responses have been stronger than in
the past. That has led some analysts to question whether the change is in part
the result of a new policy by hardline Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who
took office in May. The minister, speaking on public television, said Israel was
not seeking an escalation. “But when it comes to the security of Israelis, there
will be no concession ... Hamas has firm control over the Gaza Strip. When it
wants to make or prevent other groups from firing, it knows how to do it,” said
Lieberman.
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on October 06-07/16
Battle for
Mosul and the challenge for Abadi government
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al
Arabiya/October 07/16
Mosul is the land, the second greatest city in Iraq, where the decisive battle
is expected to take place. The world has been waiting for two years for this
fight between the Iraqi forces and the international coalition on the one hand,
and ISIS militants on the other. It cannot be limited to a clash between good
and the evil even if it is clear that the terrorist organization named ISIS is
the evil side and the acknowledged enemy.
However, even before the battle takes place, serious problems have surfaced over
its management, namely about the role of each participating army and the course
of the war. The fate of the city after the battle is over and the destiny of
hundreds of thousands expected to be displaced are also matters of concern.
Generals from the US, Iraq, Iran, Turkey and other countries, are rushing to
Mosul and its vicinity. All of them consider this as the decisive battle to
defeat ISIS that has embarrassed world powers with its swift spread and control
over one-third of the territories of two large countries like Iraq and Syria.
The group has been committing unprecedented genocide of ethnic groups including
even the Arabs and Sunni Kurds who are opposed to them.
Everyone wants to have the honor of defeating ISIS. There are high expectations
as they are all confident that they will finally liberate Mosul, even if there
are no estimates about the duration of the war and its human cost, especially of
civilians used by ISIS as human shields.
If civilians survive ISIS, they stand a chance of falling into the grip of the
Popular Mobilization Militias, some of which are sectarian terrorist outfits
just like ISIS.
Everyone wants to have the honor of defeating ISIS. There are high expectations
as they are all confident that they will finally liberate Mosul, even if there
are no estimates about the duration of the war and its human cost
The Turkish military
Moreover, another problem has been added to these set of challenges with the
Turkish military settled on the outskirts of the besieged city. The Iraqi
government has asked Ankara to withdraw its forces, estimated to be less than
2,000 soldiers, and called it illegal as they do not have the authorization of
the sovereign state. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave a clear answer to this
when he told Jamal Khashoggi, in an interview on Rotana channel, that he would
not allow the deportation of Sunni Iraqi Arabs and Turkmen. This was a clear
accusation toward the Iraqi government. He said that he does not trust Iraqi
government’s battle management and its dealings with the Sunni Turkmen and Arab
components.
The Turkish position of intervening in Mosul has raised many questions. This is
especially because Ankara has failed to intervene earlier to protect people of
the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo and the neighboring Turkish border but is now
eager to intervene on the other side of the region.
Protecting citizens
The Iraqi government has failed many times in the past to protect its Sunni
citizens in battles in Anbar province, the latest being in Fallujah and Ramadi.
The Popular Mobilization Militias went into these battles and attacked civilians
in the two Sunni cities after asking them to evacuate the region. Nineveh and
its capital Mosul are Iraq’s most diversified provinces in terms of ethnicities
(Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs) and sects (Sunnis, Shiites and Yazidis). We haven’t
heard yet of any guarantee from the Iraqi government regarding the safety of the
people, except for verbal pledges that are no longer trusted. How can Haidar
Abadi government deal with this difficult, embarrassing and dangerous situation?
In my opinion, the Prime Minister can go to Ankara and negotiate with the
Turkish government. He should accept the Turkish troops within the forces
involved in the battle.This way he will avoid confrontation that might arise as
a result of the battle to liberate Mosul, when every force will be trying to
take control. If an Iraqi-Turkish agreement is indeed reached before the battle
with ISIS, it would be reassuring for the Iraqi Turkmen, as well as the Sunni
Arabs. For the first time after the toppling of Saddam’s regime, the
marginalized and oppressed groups will feel safe. These groups have led the
revolution against Baghdad. Legitimizing the Turkish forces’ presence in Iraq
will serve the Abadi government in managing the country and not just the
province of Nineveh. It will save him from embarrassment.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Oct. 7, 2016.
The next US presidential
debate and ‘Plan B’ in Syria
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/October 07/16
The upcoming second debate between Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and
Republican nominee Donald Trump could tackle more substantial issues compared to
the first one – which served more to get familiar with Trump’s personality and
was a test for Clinton’s. The battle of Mosul may impose itself on the debate
too since Barack Obama has decided to increase the number of US troops in Iraq
in preparation for the offensive. This is a matter of consequence for most
Americans, regardless of whether or not they understand its implications. Syria
will impose itself no matter how much the candidates try to keep the issue away,
especially if the Obama administration follows through with its threat to end
cooperation with Russia in Syria.
The terror attacks of 9/11 will jump to the forefront, casting their shadow on
US-Saudi relations as Congress has now overridden Obama’s veto of a bill
allowing Americans to sue foreign nations including Saudi Arabia in US courts.In
Mosul, Obama has approved an increase in the number of US troops deployed at the
request of Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi and in coordination with the Kurdish
Peshmerga forces. Liberating Mosul from ISIS will not be impossible, but is not
going to be easy, given divisions and mistrust in Iraq regarding the post-ISIS
order.
The return of displaced residents is another contentious issue. Past experiences
have been bitter, especially the liberation of Fallujah, because of the
atrocities that took place. Some Sunnis even believe the threat from Shiite
militias is equivalent to the threat from ISIS. If the Obama administration does
not wake up to this aspect, it would be pouring oil over the sectarian fire in
Iraq. It might be even accused of doing so deliberately.
The terror attacks of 9/11 will jump to the forefront, casting their shadow on
US-Saudi relations as Congress has overridden Obama’s veto of a bill allowing
Americans to sue foreign nations including Saudi Arabia in US courts
Abadi will involve militias in the battle believing he has no other choice and
also in compliance with Iran’s wishes. Most likely, he will consent to a leading
role for the commander of the Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani, who has
conducted himself as though Iraq battles are Iran’s own. Tehran has invested a
lot in the battle of Mosul, given the city’s proximity to Syria and Kurdish
territories. Turkey will not figure in the presidential debates because American
voters are not well aware of the complicated geopolitical intricacies. They may
have forgotten about what happened in Turkey during the failed coup attempt.
However, the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has not forgotten the
episode and continues to use all the means at his disposal to extract
concessions from the US and Russia. He insists on his nation’s priorities, such
as combatting Kurdish groups.Vladimir Putin understands the centrality of Turkey
in the war in Syria. Despite his concerns and suspicions vis-à-vis Erdogan he is
gearing up to visit Turkey, perhaps to preempt any attempts by Erdogan to forge
military partnerships with the Gulf countries especially with regard to arming
the Syrian rebels.
‘Plan B’ in Syria
Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef discussed various bilateral and regional
issues in Turkey this week including Syria in light of the US-Russia spat. Gulf
ministerial sources – who attended the stormy meetings in New York on the
sidelines of the UN General Assembly – say that efforts for a “Plan B” have
begun. Such a plan would have three legs: Gulf, Turkish, and European, all
stakeholders left out in the US-Russian arrangements. A Gulf minister, who asked
not to be named, said: “We are in contact with France and Britain and are
mobilizing support for Plan B in case the ceasefire collapses.” Yet the question
on the mind of Gulf leaders is: has the time come to implement Plan B or not
yet? The minister rejects the claim that the Gulf, Turkey, and Europe have no
cards. “The United States and Russia are parties, not mediators,” he adds,
insisting that the Syrian issue should not be a way for the two powers to manage
their relations as has been happening. The minister also said any solution
without Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar will not succeed, stressing that there
are real options under Plan B, including no-fly zones, safe zones, and arms for
the Syrian rebels.There is a military part and a diplomatic part in Plan B.
Internationally, “the priority is for a no-fly zone and a safe zone.”
Regionally, the opposition must be supported because as things stand Russia,
Iran, and the regime are only offering for the opposition to surrender, the
minister says.
Defining terminology
The minister believes that there can be no US-Russia or regional-international
accord, unless its terminology is defined. For instance, Russia insists on
excluding ISIS and the ex-Nusra Front from ceasefires using a generalist
designation that includes many rebel factions. The minister said the US is also
addressing the issue of separating terrorists from rebels very vaguely. As for
the Russians, “they want Aleppo to surrender with the rebels disarming and
leaving.”
“There is no common ground or shared language between the Americans and the
Russians.” The minister also said that when the US proposed mechanisms to reduce
violence, there were still differences over how to draft them. Hence, he
continued, there was no force backing the implementation of the agreement, and
no mechanism for monitoring, “which means the agreement is worthless”.
The minister said the Gulf countries would continue to push for a ceasefire but
also for a monitoring and accountability mechanism to rein in violators. If the
efforts fail, he said, then the work will shift toward a Plan B. In the end he
expressed hope the US would follow suit, but said US reluctance to do so is also
being factored in. The US is preoccupied and is unlikely to join any such plan.
The Obama administration may choose to disengage from Russia, but it will not be
implicated on the battlefield in any scenario. Its main concern is that the
presidential, and the Democratic administration in the White House, will not
give the Republican candidate any leverage against Hillary. As far as the next
debate is concerned, perhaps Trump will learn his lesson. And perhaps by then
the US voters will have decided which candidate is the lesser evil.
**This is an extract from an article first published in al-Hayat on Sept. 30,
2016 and translated by Karim Traboulsi.
Human rights organizations
and Iran’s crimes against humanity
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al
Arabiya/October 07/16
The news regarding the Islamic Republic’s massacre of more than 30,000 political
prisoners attracted the attention of the national and international media
outlets. Nevertheless, many human rights and political activists are protesting
the notion that no concrete and legal actions have been taken by the
International Criminal Court (ICC), the United Nations or human rights
organizations to hold Iranian leaders accountable. Some argue that the
international community should prevent this crime against humanity to be
forgotten in the dust of history and should give voice to the families of the
victims. This issue highlights the notion that the West is increasingly viewing
the Islamic Republic through geopolitical and tactical prisms, rather than from
a human rights point of view.
Holding Iran accountable?
A new resolution by the US Congress appears to give hope to the families of
victims who were hung, shot and buried in mass graves. The Congress resolution
is being introduced by the House Homeland Security Chair, Mike McCaul, and
cosponsored by Chairman Ed Royce, Ranking Member Eliot Engel, and Rules
Committee Chair Rep. Sessions. McCaul quotes late Hussein Ali Montazeri a grand
ayatollah who served as Khomeini’s chief deputy, calling the Islamic Republic’s
massacre “the greatest crime committed during the Islamic Republic, for which
history will condemn us”.The resolution states: “Condemning the Government of
the Islamic Republic of Iran for the 1988 massacre of political prisoners and
calling for justice for the victims. Whereas over a four-month period in 1988,
the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran carried out the barbaric mass
executions of thousands of political prisoners and many unrelated political
groups; Whereas according to a report by the Iran Human Rights Documentation
Center, the massacre was carried out pursuant to a fatwa, or religious decree,
issued by then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that targeted the
People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK)”.
This issue highlights the notion that the West is increasingly viewing the
Islamic Republic through geopolitical and tactical prisms, rather than from a
human rights point of view
This Congressional resolution consists of two crucial parts. The first part
sheds light on the crimes committed by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The
resolution references Amnesty International and other credible sources.
According to a November 2, 2007 report by Amnesty International, “between 27
July 1988 and the end of that year, thousands of political prisoners [in Iran],
including prisoners of conscience, were executed in prisons nationwide.”
Accordingly, a Judge from Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and a government
prosecutor (known as the “Death Commissions”) ordered the elimination of
opponents. Many of those who were involved in the massacre are currently serving
higher positions in Iran. For example, Mostafa Pourmohammadi was a
representative of the intelligence ministry to the notorious Evin prison, and he
was recently appointed by the so-called moderate president Hassan Rowhani to be
justice minister. Ebrahim Raeisi was a public prosecutor and is appointed under
Rouhani government to be the head of Astan Quds Razavi, which has billions of
dollars in revenues.
The procedure for the executions proceeded very fast while some of those who
were executed were teenagers and even pregnant women. Prisoners “were executed
in groups, some in mass hangings and others by firing squad, with their bodies
disposed of in mass graves”. Many, including members of the Baha’i faith, were
reportedly brutally tortured. The authorities did not inform their loved ones
about their whereabouts.
In the second part, the Congressional resolution lays out concrete steps and
recommendations to be followed in order to hold the Islamic Republic
accountable. “Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That Congress— condemns the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran for the
1988 massacre, and for denying the evidence of this manifest set of crimes
against humanity,” it says.
The second step is to urge “the Administration and United States allies to
publicly condemn the massacre, and pressure the Government of Iran to provide
detailed information to the families of the victims about their loved ones and
their final resting places”.
Finally, the Congress should urge “the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the
human rights situation in Iran and the United Nations Human Rights Council to
create a Commission of Inquiry to fully investigate the massacre and to gather
evidence and identify the names 15 and roles of specific perpetrators with a
view towards bringing them to justice”
Policy recommendations
If other governments and members of the United Nations enact similar
resolutions, Iranian leaders will be pressured to provide more information.In
addition, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights situation in
Iran can play a crucial role, by opening a full investigation to hold those
officials accountable.Finally, if the West truly stands for social justice,
liberty and democracy, Iran-West and Iran-US relations should not be primarily
anchored in tactical and geopolitical landscapes, but should focus more
fundamentally on human rights issues.
In battle for
US Senate, Iran nuclear deal looms large
By Ron Kampeas/The Times Of
Israel/October 07/16
As races heat up, candidates are using support or opposition to the
controversial accord as a means of tarring their opponents
WASHINGTON (JTA) – While the Iran nuclear deal gets fleeting attention in the
presidential race, it is shaping up as a key issue in at least nine states
integral to Democrats’ hopes of regaining control of the US Senate.
Rival pro-Israel factions are pouring money into many of those races, and
candidates are using support or opposition to the controversial deal as a means
of tarring their opponents.
And depending on what happens in November, the election could redefine what it
means to be “pro-Israel.”
Democrats are seeking four to five wins to regain control of the chamber. Up to
11 states are in play; Iran is an issue in at least nine.
Iran has entered the calculus in a way that reflects the split between J Street,
the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group, and the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee, the powerful centrist lobbying group. J Street and AIPAC,
which does not back candidates, went head to head over the Iran deal, which
exchanges sanctions relief for a nuclear rollback. The former worked hard to
keep lawmakers from rejecting the deal; the latter led the effort to kill it.
Anti-deal forces garnered more votes, but pro-deal backers kept them shy of the
necessary two-thirds majority to override President Barack Obama’s veto.
On Wednesday, J Street said it was ready to spend $750,000 backing endorsers of
the deal in four critical races, including two that include expensive ad buys on
TV.
In this file photo taken Thursday, April 2, 2015, from left, EU High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini,
Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary,
Philip Hammond, and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, line up for a press
announcement after a new round of Nuclear Iran Talks in the Learning Center at
the Swiss federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, Switzerland (photo
credit: AP/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott, File)
In this file photo taken Thursday, April 2, 2015, from left, EU High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini,
Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, British Foreign Secretary,
Philip Hammond, and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, line up for a press
announcement after a new round of nuclear talks in Lausanne, Switzerland.
(AP/Keystone, Jean-Christophe Bott, File)
Pro-Israel political action committees that lean further to the right, including
NORPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition’s PAC, are spending on candidates who
opposed the Iran deal.
“We’re aiming to fundamentally transform the political calculation by
demonstrating that the Iran nuclear agreement and diplomacy-first approaches
make for good policy and for good politics,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, J Street’s
president, said in rolling out the ad campaign.
“The Obama/Clinton Iran deal puts Israel at risk and makes us less safe” is the
title of one of several leaflets that the Republican Jewish Coalition has
distributed to Jewish homes in several key states.
Here’s a look at how the battle is playing out and what it means.
What are the numbers?
There are 34 Senate elections this year. Polling suggests that 11 could switch
parties, although incumbents in some of these have begun to pull away from
challengers in recent weeks. Ten of the races – Arizona, Missouri, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Florida
– could go from Republican to Democrat. Nevada could go the other way.
J Street is making backing for the Iran deal a factor in nine of the 11 races
while endorsing Democrats in Illinois, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Arizona,
Nevada, Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and Ohio. It’s sinking money into
the closest contests — in Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
Show me the money: How high does Iran loom?
In Illinois, where Sen. Mark Kirk, the incumbent Republican and a longtime
leader in passing Iran sanctions, faces Rep. Tammy Duckworth, contributions from
both sides of the Iran debate loom large
OpenSecrets, the campaign finance tracker, shows that Kirk’s single biggest
donor among PACs is NORPAC. Donors have funneled $130,931 to date to Kirk
through the New Jersey-based pro-Israel PAC.
J Street ranks second among Duckworth’s biggest PAC givers, sending $145,832 to
the aspirant. Only Emily’s List, a feminist PAC, has provided more.
In Wisconsin, J Street ranks third among the PACs backing Democrat Russ
Feingold, the former Wisconsin senator who is challenging the man who replaced
him, Republican Ron Johnson. Feingold, who is Jewish, has earned $68,600 in
contributions from J Street. Johnson, a millionaire who self-funded a hefty
portion of his 2010 campaign, has attracted $29,200 from pro-Israel PACs to the
right of J Street.
The Republican Jewish Coalition has launched door-knocking and phone-banking
campaigns in Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio, with a main focus on protecting
Republican incumbent senators, citing their opposition to the Iran deal.
What are the arguments?
J Street runs essentially the same ad in New Hampshire, Illinois, Wisconsin and
Pennsylvania. Its pitch is primarily political, coupling Donald Trump, who is
unpopular, with the Republican incumbent senator – Kirk, Johnson, Kelly Ayotte
of New Hampshire and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania.
“X and Donald Trump oppose the Iran deal,” it begins, and “X thinks he (she)
knows better – like Donald Trump, he (she) is wrong.”
In between, the ad cites US and Israeli security experts as saying the
“stringent” components of the deal “prevent Iran from producing nuclear
weapons.” (Israel’s government opposes the deal, and its security experts have
said the deal appears to be working. But these experts also are anxious about
the expiration date of many of its restrictions, in 15 years.)
Sen. Rob Portman, the incumbent Republican in Ohio, has run since the summer of
2015 at least three ads attacking his J Street-backed challenger, former Gov.
Ted Strickland, for backing the Iran deal. Portman’s emphasis has been how the
sanctions relief frees up funds Iran “can now use to fund terrorist groups,” as
the campaign put it in a February ad.
Sen. Marco Rubio, the Republican incumbent in Florida, ran hard during the
presidential primaries on his opposition to the Iran deal, and he’s doing the
same in his bid to keep Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., from taking his seat.
(Murphy is another J Street endorsee.)
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. speaks during a
campaign event at the InterContinental Hotel, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Atlanta.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. speaks during a
campaign event at the InterContinental Hotel, Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, in Atlanta.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
Rubio, in an interview last month with a Miami-area NBC affiliate, brought up
Murphy’s backing for the Iran deal as an example of his “loyal” support for
Obama’s “liberal agenda.” Rubio said in the interview he would work to pass
legislation that would restrict how a president can use funds to facilitate the
deal, citing the $400 million in frozen Iranian funds the United States released
in January after Iran turned over five American prisoners. The Republican Jewish
Coalition and others called that a “ransom payment” to Iran; the administration
counters that it was “leverage” needed to “achieve multiple US objectives.”
“I hope Patrick Murphy will vote to make sure something like that doesn’t happen
again,” Rubio said. “We’ll see.”
What’s the possible impact?
In previous years, candidates seeking the pro-Israel vote and money hewed to
parameters set by centrist organizations like AIPAC or those to its right. The
handful who defied those norms invited infusions of cash for their opponents
from pro-Israel givers.
J Street, launched in 2008, sought to change those terms by creating room for
candidates to embrace a more aggressive US intervention in Middle East
peacemaking.
Until this year, that metric left plenty of wiggle room: AIPAC, after all,
embraced the two-state solution, and there were plenty of lawmakers who could
comfortably work the halls of AIPAC’s policy conferences and also appear at J
Street’s annual dinner as sponsors.
J Street wants to change the Israel calculus in how candidates run for office,
and the either-or nature of the Iran debate is part of that formula.
AIPAC, however, is hardly going away: Last month, it got 88 senators to sign off
on a letter urging Obama not to allow the Palestinians to pursue statehood
recognition absent peace talks during Obama’s final months in office. Some of
the 12 who did not sign on, including Rubio, abstained because the letter
embraced an outcome — the two-state solution — no longer endorsed by the
Republican Party.
Still, two possible outcomes could nudge what “pro-Israel” means in J Street’s
direction:
* A win by Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton coupled with a
retaking of the Senate would consolidate the Iran deal as unsinkable and make J
Street’s win in last year’s congressional lobbying wars more formidable.
* J Street could also seize on the ouster of senators closely identified with
trying to kill the deal – as opposed to those who simply followed GOP party
lines and voted against the deal – as a sign that hewing the AIPAC line is box
office poison. Among those at risk who fit this bill are Ayotte, Kirk, Rubio,
Portman, Roy Blunt of Missouri and John McCain of Arizona.
Emanuele Ottolenghi, Saeed
Ghasseminejad, Annie Fixler , Amir Toumaj/Foundation For Defense Of Democracies
Published on 4th October 2016
Introduction
During the first week of September, Iranian speedboats twice harassed U.S. Navy
ships in international waters near the Strait of Hormuz. Those boats belonged to
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In the same week, news emerged
that the IRGC had arrested another dual Iranian-American national during a
family visit to the country. The commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, meanwhile,
was in Aleppo, in the company of Iraqi Shiite militias currently engaged in the
siege of Syria’s second-largest city. Indeed, only a few days earlier, the IRGC
announced the formation of a Shiite liberation army composed of Shiite militias
that Iran has been nurturing across Mesopotamia and the Levant. That did not
stop France’s mobile phone giant, Orange, from beginning talks with Iran’s
largest mobile phone operator, Mobile Telecommunication Company of Iran (MCI),
over acquiring a stake in the Iranian company. The IRGC controls MCI through a
50-percent-plus-one stake in its parent company, the Telecommunication Company
of Iran (TCI).
In short, whether its internal security, foreign adventures, or large corporate
ventures, the IRGC plays an outsized role in Iran’s internal power structure.
Established in 1979 to consolidate the Islamic revolution and fight its enemies,
the IRGC has evolved over the years into a full-fledged conventional army,
conducting and directing terrorist activity abroad. The Guard has also become a
political power broker, an economic conglomerate, and an agency in charge of
nuclear and ballistic-missile proliferation.
The interaction among military, economic, and political power is critical in
understanding the centrality of the IRGC to Iran’s current system. The Guard
exploits its influence and capabilities in one realm to increase its presence in
another. Its growing economic clout is both an end in itself and a tool to
advance its other agendas. Thus, IRGC revenues from economic activities yield
the necessary resources and political leverage to place its members in positions
of power. Conversely, the Guard’s political power serves the economic
enterprises it owns, and both its political and economic weight in turn advance
its military projects.
The IRGC’s wealth serves three important goals. First, it generates revenue to
finance the IRGC’s military activities – including the nuclear and ballistic
missile programs at home and sponsorship of terrorism abroad. Second, it offers
the Guard a network of companies, enterprises, banks, offices, holdings, and
joint ventures that can execute the regime’s procurement efforts for advanced
weaponry and sensitive technology. Third, it generates personal affluence, which
the Guard can translate into political influence. Indeed, the Guard’s growing
political and economic influence enables it to bank on public companies’
willingness to lend their services – both at home and abroad – to aid the
Guard’s efforts to procure forbidden technologies and raw materials, and to
finance their purchases through middlemen in foreign markets.
Although the summer 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) lifted
significant sanctions on Iran, the risks for foreign investors – risks of
exposure to money laundering, corruption, and terror finance or of inadvertently
partnering with a still-sanctioned entity – have only increased. The
Revolutionary Guard lies at the heart of these risks. The IRGC launders money
from its “legitimate” businesses to fund its illicit activities; it finances
terrorist groups across the world; and it enriches itself at the expense of the
Iranian people through corruption and kleptocracy. It is for this reason, among
others, that Transparency International ranks Iran 130 out of 168 counties on
its corruption perception index, and the Basel Institute on Governance ranked
Iran as worst in the world with regard to risks from money laundering and
terrorism financing.
This report demonstrates the Revolutionary Guard’s pervasive influence in the
Iranian economy and provides an accounting of the IRGC’s nefarious activities.
Without a sober understanding of how the IRGC will exploit economic dividends
generated by the JCPOA, policymakers and the private sector cannot establish
appropriate counter-measures to prevent the enrichment of the most dangerous
elements of the Iranian regime.
Palestinians: Abbas "The Jew"
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/October 07/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9086/abbas-peres-funeral
The unprecedented outcry over Abbas's participation in the funeral of an Israeli
leader is further proof of the degree to which Palestinians have been
radicalized.
This is what happens when you unleash a tidal wave of hate against Israel and
its leaders in the media, mosques and public rhetoric. In light of this
brainwashing, how do you expect your people to respond when you, in any way,
associate with an Israeli leader?
If attending the funeral of an Israeli leader, especially one who devoted the
past two decades of his life to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, draws
such condemnation, it is easy to imagine the result of a Palestinian leader
making a peace overture to Israel.
Even if the current condemnation eventually dies down, it will have sent a
message to future Palestinian leaders: "No peace with Israel, not in our time,
and not in any time."
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is facing a barrage of
criticism for attending the funeral of former Israeli President Shimon Peres in
Jerusalem. The fury directed towards Abbas comes as no surprise to those who are
familiar with the unrelenting campaign of anti-Israel incitement that has been
taking place for many years in Palestinian society.
If attending the funeral of an Israeli leader, especially one who devoted the
past two decades of his life to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, draws
such condemnation, it is easy to imagine the result of a Palestinian leader
making a peace overture to Israel.
President Abbas is now receiving a dose of his own medicine. This is what
happens when you unleash a tidal wave of hate against Israel and its leaders in
the media, mosques and public rhetoric. This is what happens when you inform
your people that Israeli leaders are "war criminals" who ought to be prosecuted
before the International Criminal Court. This is what happens when you drive
into your people that Jews are desecrating with their "filthy feet" Islamic holy
sites in Jerusalem. This is what happens when you accuse Israel of "ethnic
cleansing", "extra-judicial executions" and "poisoning" Yasser Arafat.
In light of this brainwashing, how do you expect your people to respond when
you, in any way, associate with an Israeli leader?
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas shakes hands with Israeli Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the funeral of Shimon Peres, a former president
of Israel, on September 30. Abbas is facing a barrage of criticism for attending
the funeral, with members of his own party calling it "treason." (Image source:
Ruptly video screenshot)
It is hard to believe that Abbas and his cronies were surprised by the current
wave of reprobation. But the degree of vitriol was perhaps not predicted.
Abbas is now getting it from all quarters. The denunciations are coming not only
from his political foes in Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), but also from groups and figures belonging to
his ruling Fatah faction.
Palestinians say that the 81-year-old Abbas, who is now in his 11th year of his
four-year term in office, is facing his most serious challenge to leadership.
And there are no signs that the recriminations are subsiding. On the contrary,
each day brings with it yet another flood of reproof, prompting Palestinian
Authority officials in Ramallah to issue a stiff warning to those who are
exploiting the situation to "incite" against Abbas. However, the threats have
failed to deter his critics from proceeding with their attacks on him and
calling on him to step down.
One of those who have already paid a price for criticizing Abbas's attendance of
the Peres funeral is Lieutenant Colonel Osama Mansour, who holds a senior
position in the PA's Military Liaison Apparatus. In a post on Facebook, the PA
officer strongly condemned Abbas's move:
"If you alone decided to participate in the funeral of the killer of our sons,
then you erred. And if you took the decision on the basis of what you were told
by your advisors, then they have misled you."
Hours after the post appeared on Facebook, Mansour was suspended from his job.
Later, he was arrested by PA Military Intelligence Service officers who raided
his house and conducted a search, during which they destroyed furniture,
according to his family. A PA court has since ordered Mansour remanded into
custody for fifteen days.
The suspension and subsequent arrest of the officer sparked a new wave of rage
against Abbas and his security forces. Palestinians took to social media to
protest the crackdown on the officer, hailing him as a hero and denouncing Abbas
as a "dog" and Israeli "collaborator." Some suggested that the officer was
worthy of being appointed as a minister in the PA Cabinet for his courageous
remarks.
But the move against the senior officer did not deter many Abbas loyalists from
coming out against him for going to the funeral of Peres.
Fatah's "Youth Movement," known in Arabic as Al-Shabiba, issued a statement
calling on Abbas to "apologize" to the Palestinians for committing a "grave
mistake." Abbas's participation in the funeral was "humiliating and degrading"
for the Palestinians and a form of "treason," according to the statement. The
group pointed out that Abbas's move was in violation of Fatah's regulations,
which envisage the "full liberation of Palestine and eliminating Israeli
occupation economically, politically, militarily and culturally." Addressing
Abbas, the group stated:
"Mr. President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas. You have committed a
crime against our people by equating the executioner with the victim. We will
not allow treason to become a viewpoint."
Several senior Fatah officials sought to distance themselves from Abbas's
decision to attend the funeral of Peres by claiming that they had not been
consulted beforehand.
One of them, Tawfik Tirawi, who previously served as commander of the
Palestinian Authority's General Intelligence Service in the West Bank, announced
that he was personally opposed to Abbas's gesture. He clarified that Abbas did
not seek the opinion of the Fatah leadership before he went to the funeral:
"Had I been personally consulted as a member of the Fatah Central Committee, I
would have made it clear that I am against participation in principle, because
this is a funeral of a Zionist who wallowed, from head to toe, in the blood of
our people and other Arabs."
Tirawi went on to describe Peres as the "engineer of the Israeli nuclear project
which is designed to foil any plan to retrieve our land."
The widespread protests against Abbas's decision to participate in Peres's
funeral took a violent turn on October 3, when PA policemen used force to break
up a peaceful demonstration in Ramallah. Organized by the PFLP, the protest was
yet another sign of the strong sentiments many Palestinians harbor not only
against Abbas, but also Israel.
Palestinian lawyer Muhanad Karajeh, who works for a Ramallah-based human rights
organization, reported that he was asked by the organizers to be present in
order to document the event. The lawyer stated he was severely beaten by PA
security officers during the protest. "I was repeatedly beaten in the face and
different parts of the body," he recounted. "I know some of the officers
personally. They tore my suit although I told them I am a lawyer. They
humiliated me and cursed me and my profession."
In a desperate act to counter the spreading protests, Abbas's aides organized
impromptu marches in support of the Palestinian Authority president. The PA
leadership summons Fatah activist-thugs to take to the streets whenever it feels
the heat. Carrying photos of Abbas and the yellow Fatah flags, scores of Fatah
members marched in the streets of Ramallah in a show of force and as a message
of warning to those who would censure Abbas. "We stand behind our historic
leadership and President Abbas," declared top Fatah activist Osama Qawassmeh.
"Fatah is a red line and it is facing a conspiracy."
On social media, the attacks on Abbas were quite ruthless. Palestinian activists
circulated cartoons ridiculing Abbas. One of them depicted Abbas as a rabbi in
Israeli military uniform and a Jewish skullcap weeping next to Peres's grave.
Another cartoon featured an Arab laying a wreath on a boot next to Peres's
photo.
On Twitter, activists launched hashtags called, "Offering Condolences On the
Death of Peres is Treason" and "Normalization is Treason."
Hamas was not silent about Abbas's "treason." Mahmoud Zahar, one of the leaders
of the Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, opined that according to Islamic
teachings, Abbas qualifies as a Jew. "We hope that he will join Peres in Hell,"
Zahar said. "Abbas is an Israeli product. The man who claims to represent all
the Palestinian people has stood up against all Palestinians and Arabs."
A large group of Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and political
activists signed a petition calling on Abbas to apologize for attending the
Peres funeral, characterizing the move as an "historic and political mistake."
At least 150 Palestinians and Arabs signed the petition, which stressed that
Abbas's decision came as a "shock" to Palestinians.
The protests have, meanwhile, spread to Palestinian refugee camps in the West
Bank, Gaza Strip and neighboring Arab countries. At the Balata refugee camp near
the West Bank city of Nablus, thousands of Palestinians chanted slogans calling
for the removal of Abbas from power. The protest came during a funeral of a
Palestinian man who had been shot dead a week earlier by Palestinian Authority
policemen.
The unprecedented outcry over Abbas's participation in the funeral of an Israeli
leader is further proof of the degree to which Palestinians have been
radicalized. Frustration with Abbas and his policies is not new. More and more
Palestinians have in recent years expressed rage over his "lenient" policies
towards Israel. A particular bone in their throat is the continued security
coordination between PA security forces and Israel. They perceive this
cooperation with the Israelis as "treasonous". Many Palestinians are also angry
with Abbas for his refusal to share power and pave the way for the emergence of
new leaders.
The blame for the radicalization of the Palestinian people lies squarely at the
feet of Abbas and the rest of the PA. If you promote boycotts of Israel, expect
to be attacked when you break that boycott by associating with any Israeli,
alive or dead. Protests tend to subside, but even if the current condemnation
eventually does die down, it will have sent a message to future Palestinian
leaders. The message is: "No peace with Israel, not in our time, and not in any
time."
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. 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.
Iraq’s
parliament speaker outlines post-IS plan
Mustafa Saadoun/Al Monitor/October 07/16
Salim al-Jabouri is the fifth Sunni Arab figure to become speaker of the
parliament during the three post-2003 parliamentary terms. Jabouri belongs to
the Islamic Party, which is said to be the Iraqi wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.
He hails from Diyala province, which is witnessing political and demographic
conflicts between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds. As Mosul battle looms, Iraqi
Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jabouri speaks to Al-Monitor about the current
political situation in the country and discusses what the future might hold for
Sunni-majority provinces.
Jabouri became parliament speaker in July 2014, succeeding his former ally and
current rival, Osama al-Nujaifi. He has become one of the key players in Iraqi
politics.
Al-Monitor interviewed him at his private office in central Baghdad's protected
Green Zone. The text of the interview follows:
Al-Monitor: Where do the Sunnis stand in the [future] post-Islamic State (IS)
phase? What are your plans as Sunni leader for this phase?
Jabouri: We have had a great deal of suffering and displacement, and our main
goal now is to have the displaced return to their homes and to rebuild the
mindset of many of them, especially those who had to drop out of schools and
universities. There was a clear political imbalance. On the one hand, there were
policies that led to breeding extremism, joining terrorist groups, promoting
extremist slogans and clashing with the state. On the other hand, there was
another approach whereby state-building requires stability and security, which,
in turn, require the state to believe in stability, justice and freedom.
Moving forward, the parties representing Sunni provinces should find political
consensus either as a single entity or as several entities. We are in favor of
decentralization within the framework of the provinces, whereby each province
turns into a region and an understanding is found with the political parties and
the other components within a single state.
Al-Monitor: Do you mean consensus among the Sunni blocs or between Sunni blocs
and other parties?
Jabouri: We will first seek internal consensus among the Sunni parties, and then
we will look for a partner we can reach an understanding with within the same
state.
Al-Monitor: Will the Sunni internal agreement feature the same figures who
existed before IS?
Jabouri: Some failed to prove their worth and promote their theory, and the time
is ripe for these to step aside and allow new figures to take the lead within
the framework of the provinces. These figures should garner more support from
the public. The new political Sunni figures should have political power and
credibility. Al-Monitor: Do you fear a Sunni-Sunni clash following the IS
conflict?
Jabouri: The most important point in the post-IS phase that should be focused on
is community relations and the fear of revenge and blood feuds. The state has to
develop a plan parallel to the military plan, one with humanitarian, social,
administrative, political and military aspects. These things can guarantee the
restoration of stability, security and the previous life.
Al-Monitor: Will Diyala province, which you represent, witness a conflict in the
post-IS phase? Are there any efforts to change the demography there?
Jabouri: The problem occurred when they thought — wrongly, I must add — that it
would be ideal to use weapons to frighten partners. The outcome of that belief
has been made obvious in the conflict plaguing the different components, but
people have realized that no weapons should be allowed outside the framework of
the state. I am convinced that Diyala is capable of returning to the coexistence
phase.
There may be political conflict in Diyala, but at the community level, people
will be keen to show a united stance and live [peacefully] together.
Al-Monitor: What about the armed groups in Diyala? What is your take on them?
Jabouri: If we are to respect and build the state, we have to put an end to the
presence of militias in Diyala, strengthen the presence of the state and its
potential, and banish all armed aspects outside the framework of the state.
Al-Monitor: Have you tackled Diyala during your recent visit to Tehran? Is Iran
a major player in the fate of the province?
Jabouri: We talked about Diyala and the political situation there during my
recent visit. Diyala borders Iran, and it is an important and influential party
for several parties in Diyala.
Al-Monitor: Has the parliament turned into a space dedicated for interrogations?
Jabouri: The parliament has played its role naturally and in accordance with the
constitution and the law, and each person or group has to carry out the hosting
and interrogation operations so long as these are constitutional. It is normal
for differences to occur in parliament.
The parliament was more effective in [taking] the supervisory role in
investigative committees, the interrogations and the hosting operations. Thus,
assessments may be diverse, but I feel that this is a natural role played by any
parliament in the world, and all the parliaments of the world have their
differences.
Al-Monitor: Do you think there is something stirring under what is currently
known as the reform front in the parliament?
Jabouri: The reform front is not a solid organizational group. It is based on
the action of a group of [parliament] members from different parties. It would
be wrong to believe that the reform front could play a destructive role to
undermine the state or the government, or even convey political messages. [While
the front] could have certain political considerations, in the end it has a
supervisory role within a legal framework.”
Al-Monitor: Do you think the reform front is a prelude to a cross-sectarian bloc
or one that could answer to the desires of bloc leaders?
Jabouri: It seems that the political parties were unable to clearly interpret
[the idea of] leaving sectarianism aside within the context of their work. The
reform front represents solidarity among parliamentary groups, aiming to push
them toward taking action within the framework of parliamentary work.
Al-Monitor: Do you think the Iraqi National Alliance (INA) with its new
leadership will create a new relationship with the Sunni parties other than the
one that was built when Nouri al-Maliki headed the government?
Jabouri: The new head of the [INA], Ammar al-Hakim, is a good and acceptable
figure able to crystallize the [INA] as an institution. But the [INA] is still
asking itself who its partner should be, and we are also asking them: Who do you
favor as a partner? Will it have a tendency toward the old close alliance with
the Kurds, or is it looking for a Sunni partner? If the Sunnis do not agree,
which party will achieve understandings with the [INA]? The Sunni blocs are
required to have a common vision, not necessarily as a single entity — but they
should present a united front over which they could negotiate with other parties
in the Iraqi state. Al-Monitor: Do the Sunni blocs need to reconcile with one
another, especially since there are significant divisions between them?
Jabouri: The United Nations has a reconciliation project that it intends to
present, and it is important that everyone accept it. There is a semifinished
project to achieve community reconciliation, and it stems from comprehensive
national foundations. The majority of this project’s items are still being
discussed, and if they are agreed upon, the project will provide an important
model for the next stage in Iraq. I have unofficially overseen these items, and
they will be shared with all political parties.
Al-Monitor: There are calls to divide Mosul. How does a Sunni leader like
yourself feel about them?
Jabouri: The parliament believes the situation in Mosul should be determined by
its own people. Personally, I'm against the division. I am for maintaining the
administrative borders of Ninevah and against any outside interference in its
affairs.
Al-Monitor: What about the [alleged] abuses committed by the Popular
Mobilization Units? Have you filed lawsuits? Do you have evidence and proof?
Jabouri: We have filed lawsuits regarding some incidents, and we spoke to
international organizations about such violations. We have filed a lawsuit
regarding the Saqlawiyah incidents; those who killed, kidnapped and pointed
their weapons at the wrong people have clearly abused the state. Al-Monitor: How
possible is it for the conflict in Anbar between the Islamic Party and the Sunni
Waqf [Religious Endowment] to result in new conflicts? Jabouri: If we do not
learn from our previous experiences, new political disagreements could arise and
thus harm the community. The Sunni Waqf must not be involved in politics. There
are personal conflicts that should be settled.
Al-Monitor: What is the nature of the current relationship between you and
Maliki?
Jabouri: It is a normal relationship, like any other relationship with any
prominent figure. The only difference is that it is at a stage of understanding,
but there is no alliance or agreement. There is understanding in terms of
managing crises within the parliament and the political process. There is no
denying that there is joint coordination with the head of the [INA], [Hakim],
and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. I think this is a normal relationship that
is limited to discussions and dialogues, but no alliances. Al-Monitor: What is
the nature of your personal relationship with Iran? It is said to be stronger
than the relationship between the Shiite leaders and officials there. Jabouri: I
do not know the nature of the relationship between Shiite leaders and Iran. I
have a formal relationship with Iran; there is nothing special about it. Some
wanted to criticize the relationships I build by claiming that I am relying on
Iran [for political backup], but that is not true. I have a good relationship
with Iran, just like I have good relationships with Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the
US. However, considering my official title, I sometimes succeed in convincing
these parties with our demands, but fail at others.
Is Iran shifting its policy
toward Saudi Arabia?
Hassan Ahmadian/Al Monitor/October 07/16
TEHRAN, Iran — “Saudi rulers' refusal to offer a simple verbal apology was
indicative of their ultimate impudence and shamelessness,” said Iran’s supreme
leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sept. 5, addressing the families of the 464
Iranian pilgrims who died in the hajj stampede last year. Khamenei went on to
criticize Saudi management of the annual pilgrimage, calling on Iranians and
other Muslims to hold the Saudis accountable. “The stampede demonstrated that
this government is not qualified to manage the Two Holy Mosques,” said Khamenei.
Yet, his tone was not unprecedented in Saudi Arabia and Iran's shaky
relationship. What was new, however, were the wording and tone of subsequent
statements by President Hassan Rouhani and his foreign minister, Mohammad Javad
Zarif.
The increasingly tough rhetoric by the administration of President Hassan
Rouhani toward Saudi Arabia may herald the beginning of a paradigm shift.
Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 22, Rouhani demanded
that the Saudis stop spreading their ideology of hatred, cease divisive
policies, and accept their responsibility for the protection of pilgrims’ lives
and dignity. Nine days earlier, on Sept. 13, Zarif had gone even further in a
New York Times op-ed, “Let Us Rid the World of Wahhabism,” on the
ultraconservative Islam espoused by Saudi Arabia. In accusing Riyadh of
promoting Wahhabism, Zarif described the movement as the “key driver of
violence” in the Middle East. He also argued that there is no such thing as an
ancient Sunni-Shiite conflict, but a conflict between Wahhabism and mainstream
Islam. Zarif asserted, “Saudi Arabia’s sponsorship of extremism repudiates its
claim to be a force for stability.” Such rhetoric is new in Tehran’s stance
toward Riyadh.
The Rouhani administration came to office in 2013 with a win-win attitude toward
resolving foreign policy issues. Rouhani and Zarif’s rhetoric was all about the
need for dialogue to bridge differences. At his inauguration, Rouhani alluded to
the need to enhance Iran’s relations with its neighbors, specifically mentioning
Saudi Arabia. Indeed, Rouhani began his tenure with calls to revive “brotherly
relations” between the two nations.
Zarif was even more vocal about the need for dialogue, even penning an op-ed for
the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat advocating dialogue. He declared, “Iran’s
priority is its neighbors.” Zarif went on to cite the need for a win-win rather
than zero-sum game, proposing the creation of a regional security framework
among the eight littoral states of the Persian Gulf. He also appointed Hussein
Sadeq, a well-known proponent of rapprochement with the Saudis, as ambassador to
Riyadh. Thus, the rhetoric of Rouhani and Zarif signaled that things had changed
in Tehran when it came to Riyadh, but why?
Perceptions are paramount in shaping policy, begging the question of what
perceptions have taken shape in Iran about Saudi Arabia during Rouhani’s tenure.
That the Saudis are on the offensive against Iran is the dominant perception in
daily political and media debates in Tehran. This view is based on and shaped by
various realities — that is, other perceptions. These include Saudi policies in
the Middle East with an obvious anti-Iranian dimension, a hostile attitude and
policies toward Iran’s friends in the region, anti-Iran rhetoric by the Saudi
Foreign Ministry and economic war waged against Iran by keeping oil prices low.
From Iran's perspective, these four factors have been evolving since the
eruption of the Arab Spring in 2010-11. Indeed, developments such as Riyadh’s
execution of the dissident Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in January, the hajj
stampede in September 2015 and the molestation of two Iranian boys at the Jeddah
airport in April 2015 have been interpreted in Tehran as continued and flagrant
offenses against Iran.
There has also been a growing debate in Iran on the reason behind Saudi
policies. Some argue that the Saudi stance toward Iran is a mere indication of
Riyadh’s regional opportunism. Others see it as an attempt to counter the United
States' shift in strategic behavior in the Middle East, which includes a new
approach to Iran. Another argument posits that Iran’s rising role in the region
has motivated the Saudis to adopt a reactionary policy. Regardless of these
theories, there is a consensus in Tehran that Saudi policies are anti-Iran, and
such consensus on foreign policy issues is rare.
There is also a new phenomenon in that internal political debate is being
discussed in public. Until now, only Israel (occupying Palestinian territories)
and the United States (having instigated the 1953 coup that toppled the
democratically elected government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh) had been
public foreign policy issues. Saudi Arabia is now in a position to join Israel
and the United States as the third. In other words, given perceptions of the
current situation, Iranians are concerned about the future of the standoff with
Saudi Arabia, and there is a wide range of opinion about what should be done
going forward. The shift in perception of Saudi Arabia is important considering
Iran’s recent history and could mark a paradigm shift.
Zarif’s New York Times op-ed reflects the public nature of the Saudi issue and
the way it is perceived by Iranians. In addition, Rouhani’s criticisms, which
note that the problems between Iran and Saudi Arabia go beyond bilateral
relations, reflect the changing dynamics in the Tehran-Riyadh relationship.
Thus, despite the Rouhani administration's initial agenda of rapprochement, a
deadlock with Saudi Arabia has evidently been reached. Comparing Rouhani’s
international and regional approaches, one cannot miss his success at the
international level, highlighted by the nuclear deal, while on the other hand,
his policy toward Saudi Arabia has not borne fruit. This, coupled with public
perceptions, has changed the public and political mood in Tehran toward Riyadh,
hence the change in official rhetoric about Saudi Arabia.
After years of a mindset inclined toward rapprochement, new thinking on how to
deal with a hostile Saudi Arabia is gradually taking shape in Tehran. It holds
that beyond the (unlikely) prospect of direct conflict, there is nothing more
the Saudis can do to damage Iran’s national security or hurt its regional
allies. This outlook could very well lead to an escalation in tension and forms
of indirect conflict between the two rivals. In this case, the question becomes
whether the Saudis have closed off all their options for checking Iran by
already having played all their cards vis-a-vis Iran and overextended themselves
in the region. On the other hand, for various reasons, Iranians have during the
past decades not viewed Saudi Arabia as a threat. Thus, it is up for debate
whether Tehran's new rhetoric is a true indicator of a change in Iran's
longstanding view of Riyadh as not posing a danger.
Speeches and eulogies won’t
advance Israeli-Palestinian peace
Akiva Eldar /Al Monitor/October 07/16
What brought US President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande to
the funeral of a former president of a tiny state in the Middle East? Why did
former US President Bill Clinton, Britain’s Prince Charles, prime ministers and
ministers from around the world and the region trouble themselves to Jerusalem’s
Mount Herzl cemetery? What was the reason late President Shimon Peres, who
passed away Sept. 28 at the age of 93, drew such an outpouring of respect and
adulation? And this begs a more important question: What of all this remained
once Air Force One took off from Ben Gurion Airport?
American presidents have made historic speeches about the Middle East, and have
delivered inspiring eulogies at the funerals of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and
President Shimon Peres — but all that has not brought peace any closer.
They didn’t come to Jerusalem to eulogize the ninth president of the State of
Israel and one of its shortest-serving prime ministers. It appears that no
foreign dignitaries attended the funerals of the fifth president, Yitzhak Navon,
and of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. (Late Prime Minister Menachem Begin
wanted a private ceremony.) The world’s busiest leaders do not cross oceans to
bid a final farewell to “friend” Peres, nor to “friend” Yitzhak Rabin, as
Clinton fondly called (using the Hebrew word “haver’’) the assassinated leader
at his funeral in 1995.
They came here first and foremost to convey a message to the Israeli public:
This is how the world treats Israeli leaders who decide in their final years to
exchange the dangers of war for the risks of peace. Do not believe politicians
who tell you that the whole world is against you (Israelis). As you can see,
VIPs and barons have come from the ends of the earth to stand beside you in your
grief and envelop you with love. You can rely on us that we will stand by you
through all your trials and tribulations.
“We feel the weight of responsibility that Shimon seemed to wear. … For Shimon,
let us choose life, as he always did. Let us make his work our own,” Obama said
at Peres’ graveside. In 1995, Clinton had said at Rabin’s graveside, “His spirit
lives on. … Now it falls to all of us who love peace and all of us who loved him
to carry on the struggle. … As you stay the course of peace, I make this pledge:
neither will America forsake you.”
Nonetheless, an evil spirit of terror and fear has overcome Rabin’s spirit of
peace, assassinated almost 21 years ago. Despite the trauma that shook Israeli
society to its core, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the man who led the
incitement against Rabin and the Oslo Accord, removed Peres from power after
winning the 1996 elections. A conversation I had with a cab driver shortly after
the Peres funeral on Mount Herzl illustrates the limited impact of funeral
diplomacy. “No wonder all these goys [non-Jews] pay their respects to Peres,”
said the driver, who described himself as right wing. “If it were up to him, he
would have given the Arabs everything they want, including Jerusalem. We’re
lucky to have Netanyahu,” he said on condition of anonymity.
“And what do you think about the fact that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
attended the funeral?” I asked. “Well, really,” the driver scorned, “why should
he miss a photo opportunity with world leaders?” I thought to myself that if
Abbas had stayed away from the funeral — as many of his aides advised — the
driver would have probably repeated the worn mantra that the Palestinians never
miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Politicians’ image depends on the opinions of the beholder. This image, like
this opinion, does not change upon their death. To an outsider — and to many
Israelis who identify themselves as “centrists” — Peres was “a man of peace” who
understood that peace was more important than territories. In the eyes of the
Israeli right, Peres was and remained an incorrigible man of compromise, who in
his great naivete, or wickedness, was willing to uproot Jews from their land. In
the eyes of those on the left, Peres was viewed as one of the founders of the
West Bank settlements, an accomplice to the criminal wrongdoings of late Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon and of Netanyahu. In the eyes of most world leaders,
Netanyahu is a leader lacking vision and who prefers the risks of war to the
chance of peace. In the eyes of most Israelis, Netanyahu is a Jewish patriot,
one who doesn’t kowtow to outsiders. He protects our homestead even as genocide
swirls around us and the world, including Obama’s United States, stands aloof.
A poll conducted last June for the monthly Peace Index issued by the Israel
Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University indicates that one-fourth of Israeli
Jews (23%) prefer the status quo (vis-a-vis the Palestinians); about one-third
(32%) support the annexation of the West Bank without granting equal rights to
the Palestinians; and 19% ticked off the option of annexation with equal rights
for all. Some 12% would rather the international community force Israel to
withdraw to the 1967 borderlines, and very few support a binational state.
Peres’ death, like the assassination of Rabin, will in no way bring an end to
the occupation and to the conflict with the Palestinians. Our salvation will not
be found in flowery eulogies and fiery speeches. After all, in a 2009 speech at
Cairo University several months after taking office, Obama said the only
solution to the aspirations of both sides is in having two states in which
Israelis and Palestinians can each live in peace and security. In that same
speech, described as “historic,” Obama pledged to “personally pursue” the vision
of two states “with all the patience and dedication that the task requires.” In
the eulogy he delivered at Peres’ grave more than seven lean years later, Obama
urged “Israel’s next generation and its friends” to complete the labor of peace
begun by their ninth president.
The findings of the Peace Index indicate that without a lot of help from
friends, the task of peace will last for endless Israeli generations. On Nov. 8,
the American people choose another man or woman to be their next president. On
Jan. 20, Obama will move out of the White House. The outgoing president’s true
test of friendship will take place in the interim period: the vote on accepting
Palestine to the United Nations. Then we will know if he is a true friend of
Israel, or yet another American politician who has learned to pronounce the
world “friend” (“haver”) in Hebrew.