Elsewhere today (367)
Aljazeera:
Hezbollah rockets kill eight in Haifa
Sunday 16 July 2006, 11:54 Makka Time, 8:54 GMT
Rockets fired by Hezbollah have killed eight people in Haifa, Israel's third-largest city, according to medics.
Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, warned Lebanon of "far-reaching" consequences after the attacks by the armed Lebanese group on Sunday morning.
An Aljazeera reporter in Haifa reported that Israeli authorities had declared a state of emergency in the city.
Israeli medics said more than a dozen people had also been wounded in the attacks. The city of 260,000 was hit by at least 20 rockets, including one that struck a train station.
Hezbollah said the latest attacks were in retaliation for Israel's killing of civilians and destruction of Lebanese infrastructure during the past five days.
"After the Zionist enemy exceeded all limits killing and destroying ... the Islamic Resistance announces that it bombarded the city of Haifa with dozens of Raad 2 and Raad 3 rockets at 9am (0600 GMT)," Hezbollah said in a statement.
The attacks are Hezbollah's deadliest rocket strike in at least 10 years. Hezbollah usually hits Israeli border towns and this is the first time that Haifa has been reached.
In the last five days Hezbollah has fired about 400 rockets into Israel, killing at least 16 civilians.
Israel has killed at least 80 Lebanese civilians since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed two others in a cross-border raid on Wednesday.
On Friday and Saturday the Israeli air force also struck several Hezbollah targets across Lebanon. The attacks levelled the group's headquarters in south Beirut and hit the movement's television station Al-Manar.
Aljazeera + Agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/9E89DE1C-45C9-48D6-A5C3-6F15C9C29692.htm
allAfrica:
Cabinda Separatists Divided Over Peace Talks
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks NEWS
July 14, 2006
Johannesburg
Talks on ending a 30-year separatist rebellion in Angola's Cabinda province have been underway this week in neighbouring Congo Brazzaville, but it is unclear whether rebel forces will endorse the negotiations.
Angola's minister of Territory Administration, Virgílio Fontes Pereir, met on Thursday with António Bento Bembe, a former Front for the Liberation of Cabinda (FLEC) leader who claims to represent the Cabinda Forum for Dialogue (FDC), to discuss a peace deal in which the oil-rich enclave will be awarded "special administrative status".
But a senior member of FLEC's General Staff, who wished to remain anonymous, told IRIN: "We will not cease fire because that agreement is only with Bembe - whatever he is doing, it has nothing to do with FLEC. Bembe does not represent the aspirations of the people of Cabinda."
According to statement issued by FLEC's military chief of staff on Wednesday, "military action in the field continues", with the last "action on July 4 claiming the lives of four Angolan soldiers and injuring two in the area of M'Pumbo Chionzo" in the northeast.
But the Angola Press Agency (Angop) quoted an upbeat Pereir as saying, "This [deal] will certainly bring us together, [and] can make feasible an efficacious governance in Cabinda that permits the acceleration of reconstruction and development of Cabinda and, essentially, secure the satisfaction of the diverse interests of the populations."
Raul Danda, a member of the FDC and head of a Cabindan human rights NGO, maintained that FLEC's president, N'Zita Tiago, was unaware of an agreement, and said Bembe had no authority to negotiate on behalf of FLEC. "Mr Tiago is the only one who could get the soldiers to stop fighting, and even the soldiers themselves have said they do not recognise the agreement," he commented.
A recent FDC statement denounced Bembe for allegedly negotiating with the Angolan government "for personal reasons". The FDC is the representative body of the oil-rich enclave's secessionist movements and includes civil society groups, Catholic Church representatives and FLEC.
Angop reported that the Angolan government had restated its intention to "reintegrate" FLEC separatists into both security and civil roles in a future semi-autonomous province.
"If the Angolan government needs to discuss this issue seriously they need to contact FLEC and talk to the right people. They know where to find us," the senior FLEC commander said.
Cabinda, which produces 60 percent of Angola's oil, is a sliver of land sandwiched between Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is internationally recognised as part of Angola, but Luanda's control has been resisted by the FLEC and its various offshoots since independence in 1975.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Copyright © 2006 UN Integrated Regional Information Networks. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200607140720.html
Arab News:
Silence on Palestinian Issue Sends a Loud Message
Samar Fatany, Arab News
Sunday, 16, July, 2006 (20, Jumada al-Thani, 1427)
In the name of God stop the bombs terrorizing women and children in Lebanon. It is inhumane of US President George W. Bush, who takes pride in being a man of God, to refuse to ask Israel to curb its vicious assault.
The calls to show restraint by world leaders are not enough. The international community has a responsibility to protect innocent Lebanese civilians who are targeted by the Israeli aggression that threatens the stability of the whole region.
Rage continues to dominate the Arab streets everyday. The arrogant and barbaric Israeli retaliation for the capture of two Israeli soldiers is outrageous. Prisoner exchange is a legitimate right in any war. The United Nations and the Western media have chosen to turn a blind eye to the 11,000 Palestinian prisoners that include women and children held for years in Israeli jails.
A war has been waged not to allow innocent Palestinians their freedom. Is this justice? Where is the conscience of political leaders? When will we see an end to the Israeli aggression and occupation of Arab lands? Recently, former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took part in the Fortune/Aspen Institute Brainstorm held in Colorado. Although her position on the war on Iraq was greatly appreciated by all, her silence on other aspects of America’s Middle East policy was disappointing.
In a session called “Relations Between the Arab and Western Worlds: Can They Improve?” Albright had nothing to contribute. Even after hearing a very moving presentation by a Palestinian student from Hebron about the brutality his people suffer daily at the hands of Israeli soldiers, Albright still refused to put any blame on Israel for the current circumstances.
I was disappointed because I was looking forward to exchanging views with her. I hoped she could help me understand the reason behind American policies regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict.
After listening to the student’s moving presentation I asked Albright why politicians have been unable to find a solution to the Palestinian problem after so many years and why peace remains elusive. I asked her why there lacks a mechanism to provide international intervention to separate the two sides, both of which obviously are unable to resolve their differences. It worked in Bosnia and Kosovo, so why not allow it to work in Palestine?
Albright declined to answer me even after I repeated my question a second time. I thought the whole purpose of the brainstorming exercise was to come up with new initiatives and ideas that could provide solutions to make our world a better place. Instead, we spoke in generalizations and omitted the specifics that could make a difference.
It makes me wonder if resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is beyond the US agenda. In my view this is the core issue behind the global misunderstanding and the distrust that continues to haunt the Muslim world today. It is the perception in the Arab and Muslim world that the threat of terrorism will not disappear as long as Israel is allowed to practice state-sponsored terrorism against the Palestinians. There will continue to be self-proclaimed leaders who make empty promises to rescue Arabs and Muslims from further humiliation. America must review its Middle East policies and recognize that justice and peace go hand in hand.
Former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor demonstrated her wisdom when she stressed the need for America to respect international law and treaties. It was inspiring to hear the first woman of the US high court suggest that the American people need to be better educated about international law and the global economy. She captivated the audience, and her contribution was without doubt the very best.
The conference organizers should be commended for creating an opportunity for many minds to share ideas and forge new ones to make businesses more successful and to better connect the peoples of the world. Such opportunities pave the way for global consensus and a better world for all of its inhabitants. From some of my experiences at the event, however, it seems obvious to me that our world is still far from arriving at a consensus, which means that much more needs to be done. Much more needs to be done to stop wars and the escalating tensions that are threatening our world.
— Samar Fatany is a radio journalist. She is based in Jeddah.
Copyright: Arab News © 2003 All rights reserved.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=85403&d=16&m=7&y=2006
Clarín: Continúan los bombardeos cruzados
entre Israel y Hezbollah
Varios cohetes lanzados desde el sur de el Líbano contra la ciudad israelí de Haifa, que dejaron al menos ocho muertos, provocaron una respuesta enérgica contra el sur de Beirut. El conflicto armado entró en su quinto día.
Clarín.com, 16.07.2006
La guerra en Oriente Medio entró en su quinto día y ya dejó más de 100 muertos civiles. Hoy, un ataque contra la ciudad israelí de Haifa por parte del brazo armado de Hezbollah, que causó al menos ocho muertos, generó el inmediato bombardeo, por parte de Israel, de los barrios del sur de Beirut.
Los cohetes Katiusha disparados esta mañana desde el sur de el Líbano contra Haifa dejaron además quince heridos, cinco de ellos graves. Los proyectiles hicieron blanco en la parte baja de esa ciudad que con 250 mil habitantes, es la tercera más importante de Israel.
El Estado hebreo respondió de inmediato y atacó varios barrios del sur de Beirut, donde esta mañana retumban las explosiones y varias columnas de humo negro se pueden ver desde muy lejos.
Antes del ataque contra Haifa, el ejecito israelí bombardeó la sede de la cadena de televisión Al Manar, órgano de Hezbollah, pero las emisiones sólo fueron suspendidas unos minutos y ahora continúan normalmente.
El Gobierno israelí declaró hoy que el país se encuentra en "situación de seguridad especial", un escalón menos que el estado de emergencia, lo que permitirá a las autoridades decretar el cierre de instituciones y lugares públicos cuando lo crea oportuno.
Además, la aviación israelí bombardeó durante toda la noche los barrios del sur de Beirut: Haret Hreikh, Ghoraeib, Uzai, Sultán Ibrahim y Bir al Abed. Y esta mañana los ataques se extendieron a la localidad de Yieh y a Baalbeck.
Copyright 1996-2006 Clarín.com - All rights reserved
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/07/16/um/m-01234842.htm
Clarín: Tras los ataques israelíes,
el Líbano pidió un "alto el fuego inmediato"
En la cuarta jornada de ofensiva, Israel bombardeó los puertos de Beirut, Trípoli y Junyeh. Además, destruyó seis bases de Hezbollah, puentes y depósitos de combustible. El primer ministro libanés, Fuad Siniora, responsabilizó a los israelíes por la "catástrofe humanitaria y económica" que atraviesa su país.
Imprimir
Clarín.com, 15.07.2006
La situación en Oriente Medio es cada vez más compleja. En el cuarto día de ofensiva, el ejército israelí redobló sus ataques contra el Líbano. Bombardeó los puertos de Beirut, Trípoli y Junyeh. Y destruyó seis bases de Hezbollah, que lanzó cohetes contra varias ciudades de Israel. Por su parte, el primer ministro libanés, Fuad Siniora, pidió un " alto el fuego inmediato y global bajo el patrocinio de la ONU".
En un discurso emitido por televisión, Siniora denunció "el inmoral castigo colectivo" dado por Israel a su país. Y lo hizo responsable de la "catástrofe humanitaria y económica" que padece elLíbano.
"Lo que se está produciendo es mucho más que el pseudo problema de un
intercambio de prisioneros", dijo, refiriéndose a eventuales negociaciones entre Israel y el Hezbolá chiita, que secuestró a dos soldados israelíes el miércoles y que dice estar dispuesto a liberar a cambio de detenidos libaneses y árabes en las cárceles israelíes.
En tanto, el ejercito israelí recrudeció hoy su ofensiva. Atacó con misiles los puertos de Beirut y el de Trípoli, la segunda ciudad en importancia de Líbano, y destruyó todos los radares costeros.
También atacó puentes, estaciones de servicio, depósitos de combustible y antenas de radio y televisión en el sur, norte y este del Líbano.
"Hemos destruido todos los radares costeros del Líbano", dijo en una conferencia de prensa el general Gadi Azincot, jefe de la operación. Además, informó que sus fuerzas armadas destruyeron seis bases de Hezbollah en el sur de Beirut.
"Esas posiciones son para nosotros blancos terroristas y allí no debe haber civiles", prosiguió el general Azincot. "Ellos sirven de bases para ataques lanzados contra el territorio Israelí", agregó.
El general subrayó que las bases de lanzamiento de misiles Katiusha fueron "enteramente destruidas". Y añadió: "Tenemos la intención de golpear a aquellos que nos atacan. Las operaciones prosiguen por aire, mar y tierra".
Horas antes, al menos 18 personas –entre las que había nueve niños- murieron cuando varios proyectiles israelíes impactaron contra dos vehículos que transportaban habitantes de la localidad libanesa de Shamad el Bayada, al sur del país.
Las víctimas, miembros de dos familias, fueron alcanzadas por los proyectiles cuando intentaban escapar del sur del Líbano, donde la ofensiva israelí es más intensa. En el ataque murieron nueve niños de corta edad.
Por otra parte, cuatro soldados de la Marina israelí se encuentran desaparecidos desde que un avión no tripulado y cargado de explosivos, lanzado por Hezbollah, alcanzara anoche el barco frente a las costas de Beirut.
El ataque al barco, que se encontraba a unos 16 kilómetros de la costa libanesa y con 80 soldados a bordo, provocó un incendio y sufrió severos daños materiales.
Luego del ataque contra su cuartel en Beirut, que fue volado por un misil, Hezbollah reanudó los ataques con cohetes Katiusha contra distintas localidades del norte de Israel. Ayer, una mujer y su nieto de cinco años perdieron la vida por un proyectil de ese tipo en una aldea próxima a la ciudad de Safed.
Desde temprano, decenas de cohetes fueron disparados por la milicia lib anesa contra las ciudades de Naharía, Safed, Moshav Merón y en zonas abiertas de los Altos del Golán.
Los cohetes también alcanzaron la localidad de Hatzor Haglilit, e impactaron en una vivienda de la localidad de Carmiel. Operarios de la Estrella de David Roja (equivalente a la Cruz Roja) tuvieron que atender a varias personas que sufrieron crisis de shock, aunque no se produjeron heridos.
Copyright 1996-2006 Clarín.com - All rights reserved
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/07/15/um/m-01234297.htm
il manifesto:
Beirut, inferno di bombe
Israele bombarda senza sosta il sud della capitale e del paese. Interrotte tutte le vie di comunicazione. Distrutti l'aeroporto, viadotti, edifici residenziali e centrali. Colpita una motovedetta israeliana
Salah Karim
Beirut
Tremendi boati, accompagnati dal rumore degli aerei israeliani che rompevano il muro del suono, dal crepitio della contraerea e dall'urlo delle ambulanze, scuotono da 72 ore la parte meridionale di Beirut con i quartieri sciiti, Hareth Hreik, Bir el Abed, Ghobeiri e i campi palestinesi di Bourje el Barajneh, Sabra e Chatila - gli stessi sotto il fuoco delle bombe israeliane dal 1968, gli stessi delle stragi del 1982 - e l'intero sud del paese dalla capitale, passando per le città fenice di Sidone e di Tiro, sino alla frontiera con Israele e tutta la fascia montuosa da Naqoura sino alle fattorie di Sheba sotto il monte Hermon.
La brevissima e insonne notte tra giovedì e venerdì, nell'afa di un'estate troppo simile a quella di 24 anni fa - soprattutto per l'insensibilità dell'opinione pubblica mondiale - si è subito spezzata all'alba con le bombe che hanno colpito di nuovo alcuni edifici della periferia sud. Sullo sfondo dei bagliori degli incendi gli undici aerei della compagnia di bandiera libanese la «Mea», ancora presenti a Beirut, e il jet privato dell'ex premier Najib Mikati, utilizzando una piccola pista di un chilometro e mezzo ancora agibile sono riusciti ad alzarsi in volo, dopo essere stati autorizzati dall'ambasciatore-governatore Usa di Beirut, per mettersi in salvo. Appena partiti, le bombe sono ricominciate a piovere sulle piste e, questa volta, anche sugli edifici del nuovissimo terminal simbolo della ricostruzione del paese dopo i quindici anni di guerra civile (75-90). Contemporaneamente l'aviazione israeliana, che ha compiuto oltre 1000 missioni in 48 ore e distrutto 300 «obiettivi», ha colpito i depositi della centrale elettrica di Jiyyeh, 30 chilometri a sud di Beirut, mettendola in parte fuori uso e provocando gravi black-out, e una ventina di importanti ponti autostradali spezzando in più punti sia la strada che va verso il sud, con Sidone e Tiro, sia quella verso la montagna in direzione della valle della Beqaa e la frontiera con la Siria. Spezzate queste due arterie, con un certo numero di vittime colpite a bordo delle loro auto o finite sotto i cavalcavia abbattuti - e considerando il blocco navale e il blocco aereo - l'unica strada per uscire dal Libano è quella del nord, verso Tripoli e quindi la Siria. Spaventose le esplosioni che ieri mattina hanno distrutto i cavalcavia verso l'aeroporto all'altezza del quartiere di Ghobeiri colpito più volte anche ieri in quanto colpevole di aver votato massicciamente per un sindaco vicino agli Hezbollah e quelle degli ordigni che hanno colpito Sfeir, Al-Raya, Haret Hreik, Jisr al-Matar, Mowad. I quartieri a maggioranza sciita, ma anche con forti minoranze cristiane, che hanno accolto a partire dal 1978 i contadini sciiti del sud in fuga di fronte all'invasione e ai raid israeliani. La popolazione locale in gran parte è rimasta nelle proprie case limitandosi a fare scorta di generi alimentari, di acqua e di benzina. Alcuni hanno portato i bambini dai parenti e poi sono tornati. Altri, residenti nei palazzi dove si trovano gli uffici e le abitazioni di esponenti degli Hezbollah sono stati consigliati ad andarsene dagli stessi militanti del movimento che scesi per le strade con le loro armi hanno creato un forte cordone di sicurezza attorno a questa parte della città imbandierata con le bandiere gialle e verdi della resistenza islamica libanese. Rimasti nelle loro loro case, quasi al completo, gli abitanti delle casette abusive costruite quasi sulla spiaggia nel quartiere di Ouzai, roccaforte degli Hezbollah, molti dei quali hanno passato la notte a guardare gli attacchi sull'aeroporto e sulla vicina autostrada. La strade sono semivuote. Tutti sono incollati alla televisione ed in particolare a quella vicina agli Hezbollah «al Manar» che, nonostante gli attacchi,continua a trasmettere - fino in Palestina - gli attacchi israeliani e quelli della resistenza libanese. Quest'ultima, anche ieri, ha lanciato decine di razzi sugli insediamenti israeliani al di là del confine nel corso dei quali avrebbero perso la vita altri due cittadini israeliani. Sale così a quattro civili e otto soldati uccisi e due presi prigionieri il bilancio di questi tre giorni di scontri iniziati con il blitz degli Hezbollah in solidarietà con i palestinesi di Gaza e per ottenere la liberazione dei prigionieri libanesi ancora nelle mani di Israele. Non c'è invece un bilancio ufficiale delle vittime libanesi ma dovrebbero aggirarsi attorno agli ottanta morti. Gli unici assembramenti che troviamo per le strade di Beirut sono quelli attorno ai ponti distrutti. All'ingresso del campo profughi di Borje al-Barajneh, davanti all'aeroporto, gruppi di militanti palestinesi scrutano preoccupati il cielo del mezzogiorno. Nel tardo pomeriggio sono ripresi i bombardamenti su Beirut sud dove sarebbero stati distrutti interi edifici dove si trovavano uffici degli Hezbollah. L'aviazione israeliana avrebbe anche cercato di uccidere con un raid lo stesso segretario degli Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Per fugare ogni dubbio, il leader del movimento ha parlato poco dopo alla radio «al Nour» dichiarando «Se Israele vuole la guerra, siamo pronti» e annunciando che la resistenza aveva appena respinto uno sbarco israeliano e colpito con due razzi una motovedetta.
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/15-Luglio-2006/art11.html
il manifesto:
«Nessun disarmo senza Shebaa farms»
Abu Jamra, braccio destro del generale Aoun, spiega l'alleanza con Hezbollah e perché è «irrealistico» lo scioglimento delle milizie sciite: prima la restituzione dei territori occupati da Israele e i prigionieri
Mauro Caterina
La crisi israelo-libanese e l'escalation militare che sconvolge il Medioriente ha portato alla ribalta la questione delle Mazra Shebaa, le fattorie di Shebaa. Un'area che si trova nel punto d'incontro tra Libano, Siria ed Israele. Un mix d'interessi strategico-militari, dispute su sorgenti d'acqua e strascichi della passata guerra arabo-israeliana. In tutto 25 km quadrati. Mazrah Shebaa sono un agglomerato di 14 fattorie occupate dall'esercito israeliano dopo la guerra del 1967 che si trovano a ridosso della linea blu dell'Onu tracciata dopo il ritiro israeliano dal Libano nel 2000, ora nuovamente rioccupate dall'esercito israeliano. Lo stato libanese, e soprattutto Hezbollah, rivendica questi territori come propri, mentre Israele e l'Onu dichiarano la loro appartenenza alla Siria. La rivendicazione di quest'area, col tacito appoggio di Siria ed Iran, è uno dei punti di forza di Hezbollah per continuare la resistenza contro lo stato israeliano, in un'ottica più regionale che nazionale, anche se numerosi esponenti dello stato libanese e dell'opposizione ne appoggiano la liberazione. Uno di questi è il Free Patriotic Mouvement (Fpm), partito libanese cristiano di ispirazione laica guidato dall'ex generale Michel Aoun, protagonista nel 1990 della «guerra di liberazione dalla Siria» conclusasi tragicamente col suo esilio e da tempo in rotta col partito di Hariri figlio. Dell'attuale crisi e della questione delle fattorie di Shebaa abbiamo parlato col generale Issam Abu Jamra, ex vice-premier del governo Aoun dall'88 al '90 e oggi braccio destro di Aoun alla guida del Fpm.
Mr. Jamra, qual è la posizione del suo partito su quanto accade?
Approviamo in toto le decisioni del governo e chiediamo un immediato cessate il fuoco.
Bush ha dichiarato che Israele ha il diritto di difendersi ma non vuole che Beirut venga indebolita, mentre un portavoce dell'esercito israeliano ha detto: «Non è una guerra»
Bush vuole restringere il conflitto tra Israele ed Hezbollah, dimenticando che Hezbollah fa parte del governo libanese. Quanto a Israele dopo aver distrutto gli aeroporti, i ponti sulle autostrade e le strade, dopo aver distrutto le centrali elettriche, non possono dire che si tratta di una crisi. È l'inizio della guerra, e nessuno sa come andrà a finire.
Il 2 febbraio 2006 il suo partito ha siglato l'accordo con Hezbollah.
Il nostro rapporto con Hezbollah è un rapporto su una base «nazionale», libanese. Qualcuno mi ha chiesto «Come avete potuto fare questo?». La risposta è semplice: abbiamo raggiunto una comune visione della situazione politica interna e internazionale. Se Hezbollah volesse tornare ad essere fondamentalista, allora noi possiamo essere ancor più fondamentalisti di loro. È un punto importante. Noi adesso abbiamo fatto un accordo tattico sulla base di alcuni intenti comuni e un comune interesse politico. Loro hanno bisogno di noi e noi di loro. Potrebbe anche divenire un accordo strategico, ma sempre se sarà nell'interesse del Libano. In quest'ottica siamo pronti a fare accordi strategici con qualunque partito e movimento libanese.
Si tratta di un accordo politico anche nella prospettiva di un miglioramento delle relazioni con Siria e Iran?
Hezbollah ha buoni rapporti con Siria e Iran. Ma anche i cristiani hanno buone relazioni con il papa, li possiamo criticare o bloccare? Hariri, sunnita, ha buone relazioni con l'Arabia saudita, possiamo fermarlo? No. Se questi paesi ci danno aiuto noi dobbiamo accettarlo. Non siamo un paese ricco. Questo non significa che siamo sulla loro stessa linea politica. Il problema al centro della discussione ora è la questione del disarmo di Hezbollah. Lo prevede la risoluzione 1559. Ma per applicarla ci deve essere una buona ragione nell'interesse del paese. Altrimenti perché dovrebbero disarmare? A questo punto non possiamo evitare di affrontare, preliminarmente, la questione delle Shebaa farm e quella dei due prigionieri detenuti in Israele. L'Onu deve fare una risoluzione per liberare questi due ragazzi e far tornare le «Sheba farm» dentro i confini libanesi. Solamente dopo possiamo chiedere a Hezbollah il disarmo. Questo pezzo di terra è stato sotto l'autorità libanese fino al 1957. Dal 1957 al 1967 sotto il controllo siriano e dal 1967 fino ad oggi sotto il controllo israeliano. Si tratta di una disputa fra tre paesi e non può essere risolta se non lavorando insieme. Se si vuole applicare la 1559 con la forza, il dialogo con Hezbollah non sarà di pace.
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/Quotidiano-archivio/15-Luglio-2006/art10.html
La Repubblica: I giorni più pazzi
di un mondo impazzito
di EUGENIO SCALFARI
La guerra in Libano o la sentenza sul calcio italiano? Il voto sulla presenza militare in Afghanistan o lo sciopero dei tassisti e degli avvocati? La politica economica di Padoa-Schioppa o l'ingresso del direttore del Sismi nella lista degli indagati?
Giornali e giornalisti sono alle prese con queste scelte che nelle ultime ore sono diventate affannose. Non sono soltanto scelte professionali sullo spazio e le aperture di pagina da dare all'uno o all'altro argomento, ma riguardano un attento ascolto del polso del paese, dell'interesse dei lettori e dell'audience televisiva ed anche la funzione informativa e formativa dei "media" nei loro rapporti interattivi con la pubblica opinione.
Ieri per esempio, ascoltando il Tg1 delle 13.30, mi ha fatto molta impressione il tempo dedicato come prima notizia della giornata alla sentenza su Calciopoli, le reazioni degli interessati, quella dei partiti politici e quelle dei tifosi. Nel complesso non meno di dieci minuti, cioè un tempo enorme, prima di passare al secondo argomento sulla guerra in Libano. Scelte analoghe sono state fatte da alcuni giornali che hanno destinato al pallone le prime pagine relegando più in giù gli altri temi dell'attualità.
Non si tratta di moralismo ma di strutture informative. In Italia il tifo calcistico batte qualunque altra priorità e i "media" si adeguano. La politica estera attira solo in casi di guerra aperta e totale oppure se è collegata con polemiche di politica interna. Chi è con Israele e chi contro. Chi è con Bush o con Zapatero. Il papa fa notizia quando muore e quando viene eletto dal Conclave, ma le nostre televisioni ne parlano in continuazione, credo per riflesso condizionato.
Insomma siamo un po' provinciali, diciamolo.
A me pare, comunque, che l'incendio del Medio Oriente da Beirut a Teheran, da Bagdad a Gerusalemme, dalle montagne afgane al delta dei fiumi mesopotamici, sia di gran lunga il tema dominante di questa settimana. I nostri inviati e i nostri commentatori l'hanno già ampiamente raccontato e analizzato. Ma qualcosa si può ancora aggiungere a quelle cronache e a quei commenti. Del resto la situazione evolve di ora in ora e si è talmente aggravata da farci irragionevolmente sperare che il peggio sia accaduto. Ma sarà così?
Le mie osservazioni sono le seguenti.
1. Non ha nessun senso discutere ancora su chi è stato il primo aggressore tra Israele, la gente di Palestina e il mondo arabo-musulmano. Si risalirebbe, applicando questo metodo, ai figli di Isacco e forse addirittura a quelli di Caino.
2. La realtà oggettiva è la presenza dello Stato di Israele. Disegnato col compasso del Foreign Office britannico con il timbro della Società delle Nazioni, così come furono disegnati con lo stesso compasso tutti gli altri Stati del Medio Oriente, la Giordania, la Siria, l'Iraq, l'Arabia Saudita, gli Emirati, lo Yemen.
3. Lo Stato d'Israele esiste ormai da sessant'anni e nessuno può cancellarlo. Tecnologicamente e militarmente è il paese più forte della regione. È anche il solo Stato che abbia una struttura democratica paragonabile alle democrazie occidentali. La lista degli errori che ha compiuto nei confronti degli arabi palestinesi è almeno altrettanto lunga di quelli compiuti dagli Stati arabi e dagli stessi palestinesi. Perciò è inutile rifarla per l'ennesima volta.
4. Non è invece inutile segnalare gli errori compiuti dal maggiore alleato d'Israele, di fatto garante della sua esistenza e finanziatore delle sue spese militari. L'ultimo e più grave di tutti è stata la guerra anglo-americana contro l'Iraq.
5. Quella guerra, ufficialmente durata 21 giorni ma di fatto tuttora in corso dopo quattro anni, avrebbe dovuto liberare l'Iraq da un sanguinoso tiranno, instaurare la democrazia, combattere il terrorismo internazionale e sconfiggerlo, creare un rapporto virtuoso di amicizia e collaborazione tra Bagdad e Gerusalemme, diffondere in tutto l'Oriente mesopotamico una rete di relazioni pacifiche e, in quel quadro rassicurante per tutti, avviare la nascita dello Stato palestinese.
6. Il progetto sulla carta era suggestivo. Purtroppo solo sulla carta. Gli effetti di quella guerra e di ciò che è accaduto nel dopoguerra sempre più guerreggiato, sono stati l'opposto di quanto sperato. Il terrorismo, inesistente in Iraq prima del 2002, ha fatto della zona centrale di quel paese la sua piattaforma di lancio. La maggioranza (relativa) sciita si è contata nelle elezioni irachene proponendosi come struttura di potere tribale. La minoranza sunnita ha scelto la guerriglia. La guerra civile tra le due etnie è ormai in pieno corso e miete quotidianamente vittime.
7. Gli angloamericani, a causa della loro presenza militare nel paese, sono sempre più considerati da tutto il mondo arabo e musulmano come il nemico unificante di cui il fondamentalismo aveva bisogno. Sia dai sunniti che dagli stessi sciiti. Una parte di questi sono sotto l'influenza della maggiore potenza sciita, l'Iran khomeinista. Presente anche in Siria e nel Libano. Più cautamente anche a Gaza.
Il peso di questa nuova presenza iraniana su tutto lo scacchiere mesopotamico è enorme. Il circolo virtuoso auspicato da Bush ha prodotto un circolo infernale del quale le vittime maggiori sono i palestinesi e Israele.
8. Israele si deve difendere dalle aggressioni di Hamas e degli Hezbollah? Certo che sì. Deve proporzionare la sua difesa ai danni "collaterali" che produce?
Dovrebbe. Per ragioni umanitarie? Ovviamente sì, ma soprattutto per tutelare il proprio interesse. Una guerra totale nella regione che portasse in prima linea l'Iran innescherebbe effetti esplosivi, diffonderebbe ancor più il terrorismo, minaccerebbe la precaria stabilità "moderata" dell'Egitto e della monarchia saudita. La presenza Usa nell'area diventerebbe stabile, il fondamentalismo sciita funzionerebbe in quel momento come una testa d'ariete. Lo scenario, anche per Israele, diventerebbe drammatico.
Che fare? Nessuno di noi sa rispondere a questa domanda. Sperare. Mantenere aperte le comunicazioni politiche in tutte le direzioni. Mobilitare risorse per non aggiungere alle altre calamità anche lo spettro della fame.
Diffondere culture di pace. Infondere sicurezza.
Si fa presto a scriverlo...
***
Vi pare possibile, cari lettori, passare da un tema di questo genere alle sorti della Juventus, di Moggi, di Carraro e di tutto quel caravanserraglio maleodorante?
Eppure mezza Italia nella settimana che ci sta alle spalle ha parlato soprattutto di questo. Con toni esagitati, ultimativi, melodrammatici.
Berlusconi, dopo aver tentato di sollevare le partite Iva contro Roma ladrona, si è ripetuto cavalcando la tifoseria juventina e milanista. Mastella ha auspicato l'amnistia sportiva in nome della vittoria ai "mondiali" (ma non c'è alcun nesso tra quei due fatti). I dirigenti dei club retrocessi in serie B hanno giurato che la retrocessione non avverrà. Adesso si attende il verdetto della Corte sportiva di appello.
Sono fuochi di paglia. Alla fine avremo un campionato di serie A e B di fatto unificate agli effetti che più contano: sponsor, diritti televisivi, calcio mercato. Ci sarà un parziale (auspicabile) ridimensionamento negli ingaggi dei calciatori e nei diritti pagati dalle tivù. Le società più ricche continueranno ad essere le più forti e quelle più povere le più deboli.
Resteranno - si spera - le punizioni contro i singoli corrotti e corruttori. Personalmente auspico che la Federcalcio ponga divieto alla quotazione in Borsa delle società sportive e ripristini un limite all'ingaggio di giocatori non italiani o (che è lo stesso) un obbligo di giocatori italiani nell'organico dei titolari. Sarebbero due provvedimenti buoni e giusti.
***
Resta il tema, ai miei occhi più importante della "bolla" sportiva, delle liberalizzazioni effettuate dal decreto Bersani, ancora in discussione con notai farmacisti tassisti e avvocati. Le prime due categorie protestano ma blandamente. Basterà qualche ritocco a pacificarle. Ma le altre due sono sul piede di guerra.
Prodi ha detto che se non si troverà accordo entro domani, il governo andrà per la sua strada e punterà alla conversione del decreto. Secondo me ha pienamente ragione.
Le città e i maggiori aeroporti non possono essere paralizzati da lavoratori che operano sulla base di licenze rilasciate dai Comuni. Il loro diritto di sciopero va tutelato entro la normativa prevista dalla legge sui pubblici servizi. Al di fuori di quella normativa c'è solo illegalità e lo Stato non deve tollerarla.
Lo stesso discorso vale per gli avvocati. Sono anche loro operatori di giustizia e debbono anch'essi stare entro le norme di legge.
Giorni fa un eminente economista, Pietro Ichino, è intervenuto sul "Corriere della Sera" per esprimere il suo dissenso dallo sciopero indetto per undici giorni dagli avvocati. Ichino è uno dei giuslavoristi che ha lavorato con D'Antona e Biagi ad una riforma del diritto e del mercato del lavoro. Era sotto tiro delle Br al punto che è tuttora sotto scorta protettiva da parte della polizia.
Dalle sue tesi sull'avvocatura si può dissentire o consentire. Ciò che mi pare indegno è l'iniziativa degli avvocati di Brescia di sottoporlo ad un pubblico processo e denunciarlo all'Ordine cui anch'egli appartiene, affinché gli siano applicate sanzioni fino all'espulsione.
Credo che Ichino vivrà in pace con la coscienza al di là di queste provocazioni, ma credo anche che gli avvocati che lo hanno scelto come bersaglio siano al di sotto della dignità professionale. Un Ordine consapevole metterebbe piuttosto loro alla sbarra con la soddisfazione della larga maggioranza degli italiani.
***
Resterebbe da discutere del mandato di comparizione spiccato dalla procura milanese nei confronti del direttore del Sismi, Pollari. L'interrogatorio è avvenuto ieri ed è stato opportunamente secretato. Perciò non ne sappiamo nulla e non possiamo fare sul suo contenuto alcun commento.
La sola cosa che possiamo osservare è che l'ingresso di Pollari nell'indagine giudiziaria affretta i tempi della decisione del governo in materia. Prodi aveva preso tempo, opportunamente secondo me, per vedere l'evolversi dell'inchiesta giudiziaria. Ora quel tempo mi pare scaduto; sarebbe molto arduo mantenere in carica alla guida d'un servizio delicatissimo un funzionario sotto indagine della magistratura. Del resto penso che spetti soprattutto a Pollari di troncare una situazione non più a lungo sostenibile rassegnando le sue dimissioni.
Evidentemente l'apertura dell'indagine nei suoi confronti deriva non soltanto da intercettazioni ma principalmente da testimonianze di alti funzionari del Sismi che sono stati lungamente interrogati nei giorni scorsi dai magistrati. C'è un gruppo di questioni che probabilmente Pollari avrà chiarito nel suo primo interrogatorio, non sappiamo in quali termini e in che modo. Esse non credo si limitino alla sua corresponsabilità nel rapimento di Abu Omar. Ci sono di mezzo le attività di disinformazione di Pio Pompa, le sue manipolazioni di dossieraggio, le sue intercettazioni illegittime di giornalisti che facevano il loro lavoro.
Perciò aspettiamo, a tempo debito, di conoscerne il contenuto.
(16 luglio 2006)
http://www.repubblica.it/2006/07/sezioni/
esteri/medio-oriente-quattro/scalfari-commenta/scalfari-commenta.html
Libération:
Déchaînement de violence au Proche-Orient
Près d'une trentaine de civils ont été tués samedi, dont dix huit brûlés vifs en fuyant leur village du sud du Liban, où Israël a étendu ses raids contre le Hezbollah et où le conflit est entré dans une spirale dangereuse, malgré les appels internationaux à la retenue.
Par AFP
LIBERATION.FR : Samedi 15 juillet 2006
Le mouvement chiite libanais qui a déclaré une "guerre ouverte" à l'Etat juif, a donné la preuve de sa puissance militaire en frappant vendredi soir un navire de guerre israélien et en revendiquant le bombardement samedi de la ville israélienne de Tibériade. Samedi, trois marins israéliens étaient toujours portés disparus après l'attaque de leur bâtiment. Le corps d'un quatrième a été retrouvé par les forces israéliennes.
Le président américain George W. Bush a exigé samedi du Hezbollah qu'il dépose les armes et cesse ses attaques sur Israël. Il a également appelé la Syrie à "exercer son influence" sur les miliciens libanais pour les convaincre de cesser de lancer des opérations contre Israël.
Le Liban, soumis à un blocus aérien, maritime et terrestre quasiment étanche, a subi de nouveaux bombardements israéliens samedi. Près de 90 civils ont été tués au Liban depuis le début de l'offensive israélienne mercredi contre Hezbollah, qui avait enlevé deux soldats israéliens et tué huit autres, et environ 250 ont été blessés, selon la police.
Dix-huit civils, dont neuf enfants ont été brûlés vifs dans un bombardement israélien sur des habitants qui fuyaient leur village au Liban sud, près de Tyr, selon la Force intérimaire des Nations unies (FINUL) et des sources hospitalières.
Des routes, dans le nord-est à la frontière syrienne et dans le nord, aux abords de Tripoli, deuxième ville pays du pays ont également été visés.
Des ponts, des réservoirs d'eau, des stations d'essence et une installation de remplissage de gaz domestique ont été détruits. Dans le sud du Liban, l'offensive d'Israël a continué à pousser à l'exode les habitants des villages frontaliers qui servent de sanctuaire au Hezbollah.
Des milliers d'habitants de ces villages ont fui à la suite des ultimatums de l'armée israélienne, lancés par haut-parleur. "Vous vouliez une guerre ouverte, vous l'aurez", avait dit vendredi soir le chef du Hezbollah, cheikh Hassan Nasrallah, s'adressant à Israël, dans un discours retransmis par la chaîne de télévision Al-Manar, peu après avoir échappé à un raid israélien.
L'armée israélienne a fait état samedi d'un tir de missile contre son bâtiment endommagé vendredi soir au large du Liban. "Regardez au large de Beyrouth et vous verrez qu'un bâtiment de guerre israélien est en feu. Nos combattants ont réussi à atteindre et détruire un navire de guerre israélien", avait affirmé Hassan Nasrallah. Un ministre israélien a affirmé samedi qu'Israël "liquiderait" le chef du Hezbollah à la "première occasion" et qu'il avait tout intérêt "à prier Allah".
La Résistance islamique, branche armée du Hezbollah, a revendiqué un bombardement samedi de Tibériade, le premier contre cette ville du nord-est d'Israël, qui a fait plusieurs blessés. Avant cela, une dizaine de roquettes tirées du sud du Liban avaient encore touché le nord d'Israël, notamment la ville côtière de Nahariya. Vendredi, deux Israéliens avaient été tués par de tels tirs, portant à quatre le nombre de civils israéliens tués depuis le sud du Liban, depuis mercredi.
Le Hezbollah dispose de roquettes capables d'atteindre Tel Aviv, la capitale économique d'Israël, selon un responsable militaire israélien.
Le Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies réuni vendredi s'est abstenu de demander un cessez-le-feu, comme le Liban le demandait, Washington s'abstenant de critiquer Israël. L'Arabie Saoudite, l'Egypte et la Jordanie ont indirectement condamné le Hezbollah, qualifiant son comportement d'"aventuriste". Les ministres des Affaires étrangères de La Ligue arabe étaient réunis samedi au Caire.
La France a décidé de mettre en oeuvre des moyens maritimes et aériens, civils et militaires pour évacuer les Français qui souhaitent quitter le Liban. Des centaines d'Européens attendaient à Tripoli d'être évacués.
© Libération
http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/monde/193618.FR.php
Página/12:
Se cierra el cerco sobre el Líbano
DESTRUCCION MASIVA Y MUERTES EN LOS DOS LADOS DE LA FRONTERA
Desde hace dos días, las principales carreteras, puentes y aeropuertos del Líbano están destruidos. Ayer murieron al menos 40 civiles y cayeron más cohetes sobre Israel. La Liga Arabe dio por terminado el proceso de paz.
Domingo, 16 de Julio de 2006
Con cada día que pasa el conflicto en Medio Oriente se complica y crece el costo humano. El ejército israelí continuó bombardeando Líbano ayer, donde los muertos civiles llegaron a 40, mientras el grupo fundamentalista Hezbolá, que declaró una “guerra abierta” al Estado hebreo, lanzó cohetes a la ciudad de Tiberíades y crece el temor en ese país de que los proyectiles alcancen objetivos en Tel Aviv. Sin embargo Israel no está dispuesto a dar marcha atrás en su ofensiva, desatada tras el secuestro de dos de sus soldados, capturados el miércoles por milicianos del Hezbolá en la frontera entre ambos países. Mientras tanto, los ciudadanos extranjeros eran evacuados del país y más de 10.000 habitantes del sur de Líbano huyeron de sus casas hacia zonas más seguras.
Desde hace dos días Líbano está totalmente aislado por tierra, aire y mar del resto del mundo. Sus carreteras y puentes han sido destrozados, su aeropuerto internacional bombardeado y los barcos israelíes patrullan en sus aguas territoriales. A todo esto se sumaron ayer ataques contra los puertos de Beirut y Trípoli, al norte de Líbano, y su sistema de radares costeros. Con el visto bueno del primer ministro israelí, Ehud Olmert, la aviación bombardeó también la sede del Hezbolá en los suburbios del sur de Beirut, zona considerada el bastión de esta milicia chiíta.
Los israelíes sumaron una nueva baja en sus filas, ya que fue encontrado el cadáver de uno de los cuatro marinos desaparecidos el viernes frente a las costas libanesas tras el ataque a su embarcación de guerra por parte de Hezbolá. Pero no desalentó a los militares israelíes, cuyos ataques provocaron ayer la muerte de 39 civiles en todo Líbano. Entre ellos, 20 personas que murieron en la ciudad de Marwaheen, de los cuales nueve eran niños. El ejército israelí lamentó la muerte de civiles, pero responsabilizó de ello a Hezbolá. “La responsabilidad de poner en peligro a la población es de la organización terrorista Hezbolá, que dirige y lanza misiles desde zonas pobladas por civiles”, acusó el ejército israelí.
El líder de Hezbolá, Hassam Nasralá, cuya casa fue bombardeada el viernes, se convirtió en un blanco prioritario para Israel. “A la primera oportunidad lo liquidaremos. Por eso le conviene encomendarse a Alá”, declaró el ministro israelí de Inmigración, Zeev Boim. El método de los asesinatos selectivos ha sido a menudo empleado por Israel. En 1992, el propio Nasralá sustituyó a la cabeza del Hezbolá a Abas Mussaui, liquidado en un bombardeo israelí.
El primer ministro libanés, Fuad Siniora, pidió ayer por la noche “un alto el fuego inmediato y global en Líbano bajo la égida de la ONU” y acusó a Israel “de castigar de forma colectiva a su país”, durante un mensaje televisado. Además, dirigiéndose aparentemente a Hezbolá, Siniora dijo que su gobierno es “el único que puede decidir en materia de paz o de guerra”, después de que el jefe del grupo armado prometiera el viernes una guerra abierta a Israel.
Israel exigió con vistas a un alto el fuego que Hezbolá se repliegue al norte del río Litani, que entregue al ejército libanés su arsenal de cohetes y que ese ejército se despliegue a lo largo de la frontera israelo-libanesa. “Si se reúnen esas condiciones, Israel estará de acuerdo con un alto el fuego”, anunció un jefe militar israelí. De igual forma se expresó el presidente estadounidense, George W. Bush, quien exigió a Hezbolá que deje de atacar a Israel.
Pese a la presión, el grupo fundamentalista no está dispuesto a dar su brazo a torcer y confía en que tarde o temprano, el Estado hebreo admita que la única manera de recuperar a sus dos soldados con vida es aceptar intercambiarlos por presos que están en sus cárceles. Los cohetes del Hezbolá cayeron ayer en la ciudad de Tiberíades (nordeste), situada a 45 kilómetros de la frontera libanesa. Pero lo que más preocupa a los expertos militares israelíes es que la milicia chiíta podría tener un arsenal capaz de alcanzar Tel Aviv, situada a 120 kilómetros de Líbano.Las condenas internacionales se siguieron escuchando ayer. Los países árabes repudiaron la agresión israelí en Líbano y los territorios palestinos y apoyaron exigencias de Hezbolá al pedir el inmediato cese de los ataques del Estado hebreo y un canje de prisioneros. Al término de su reunión de emergencia en El Cairo, los ministros de Exteriores de la Liga Arabe también consideraron que el proceso de paz con Israel “está muerto”, e instaron a la intervención directa del Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU para solucionar el conflicto. “Hemos decidido de forma unánime que el proceso de paz en Oriente Medio fracasó, como fracasaron todos los esfuerzos de los mediadores. Ya no queremos ni comités ni Cuarteto”, dijo el secretario general de la Liga, Amro Musa, aludiendo al “Cuarteto de Madrid”, integrado por la ONU, Rusia, la Unión Europea y Estados Unidos, patrocinadores del plan de paz “Hoja de Ruta”.
Por su parte, L’Osservatore Romano, el diario del Vaticano, denunció el inmovilismo de la ONU frente el conflicto en Medio Oriente a causa de los vetos cruzados en el Consejo de Seguridad, y lamentó la muerte del estado de derecho en la región. “La ONU, reducida al inmovilismo mientras Líbano arde”, tituló el diario, que aseguró que “la dinámica de los vetos cruzados que se utiliza en el Consejo de Seguridad impide la adopción de medidas concretas de apoyo a la legalidad internacional”.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-69992-2006-07-16.html
Página/12:
Esta guerra no puede tener un ganador
HEZBOLA SE VENIA PREPARANDO PARA HACER ESTALLAR EL POLVORIN
Por Robert Fisk*
Desde Beirut, Domingo, 16 de Julio de 2006
Será recordada como la masacre de Marwaheen. A todos los civiles asesinados se les había ordenado abandonar sus hogares en el pueblo de la frontera por los mismos israelíes unas horas antes. Váyanse, se les dijo a través de un altoparlante; y se fueron, 20 de ellos en una caravana de automóviles civiles. En ese momento fue que llegaron los aviones israelíes para bombardearlos, matando a 20 libaneses, de los cuales por lo menos nueve eran niños. La brigada de bomberos local no pudo extinguir el fuego, mientras todos se quemaban vivos en el infierno. Otro “objetivo terrorista” había sido eliminado.
Ayer, los israelíes incluso produjeron más objetivos terroristas: estaciones de servicio desde el Valle Bekaa hasta la ciudad fronteriza de Hermel en el norte de Líbano, y una serie de puentes en una de las pocas rutas de escape a Damasco, esta vez entre Chtaura y el pueblo fronterizo de Masnaa. Líbano, como de costumbre, estaba pagando el precio del conflicto entre Hezbolá e Israel, tal como calculó Hezbolá que ocurriría cuando cruzaron la frontera israelí el miércoles pasado y capturaron a dos soldados israelíes cerca de Marwaheen.
Pero, ¿quién está ganando la guerra realmente? No se puede decir que Líbano, con sus más de 90 civiles muertos y su infraestructura destruida en cientos de ataques aéreos israelíes. ¿Pero está ganando Israel? El ataque de misil contra un buque de guerra israelí del viernes por la noche sugiere otra cosa. Murieron cuatro marinos israelíes, dos de los cuales se lanzaron al mar cuando un misil teledirigido fabricado en Irán impactó contra su barco tipo Hetz en las afueras de Beirut al anochecer. Aquellos libaneses que han soportado el fuego de los buques israelíes en la autopista costera por muchos años estaban eufóricos. Puede no haberles gustado Hezbolá, pero odiaban a los israelíes.
Sólo que ahora, sin embargo, la imagen que emerge de la batalla por el sur del Líbano es más real, y es una historia fascinante y aterradora. El original cruce de frontera, la captura de dos soldados y el asesinato de otros tres fueron planeados hace más de cinco meses, de acuerdo con Hassan Nasralá, el líder de Hezbolá que escapó de la muerte a manos de los israelíes el viernes por la noche. Y el ataque de misil del viernes contra el buque de guerra israelí no provino de la inspiración de último momento de un miembro de Hezbolá que justo vio el barco.
Ahora parece claro que los líderes de Hezbolá –Nasralá era el comandante militar de la organización en el sur del Líbano– pensaron cuidadosamente los efectos de su cruce de frontera, apoyándose en la crueldad de la respuesta de Israel para acallar cualquier crítica de su acción dentro de Líbano. Estaban en lo correcto. La represalia israelí fue incluso más cruel de lo que algunos líderes de Hezbolá imaginaron, y los libaneses rápidamente silenciaron sus críticas hacia el movimiento islámico.
El siguiente ataque fue dirigido al centro de control de tráfico de Merón, una instalación militar ultrasecreta, denominado con el nombre en código “Apollo”. Allí, científicos militares israelíes trabajan dentro de cuevas y bunkers en la montañas en Merón, custodiados por torres de vigilancia, perros de policía y alambre de púas, controlando todo el tráfico aéreo que entre y sale de Beirut, Damasco, Amman y otras ciudades árabes. La montaña está coronada con una serie de antenas, y Hezbolá rápidamente la identificó como un centro de rastreo militar. Antes de lanzar cohetes a Haifa, enviaron una serie de misiles a Merón. Las cuevas son impenetrables, pero el que Hezbolá pusiera como objetivo un sitio secreto de esa magnitud conmocionó a los estrategas militares israelíes.
El “centro de terror mundial” –o lo que sea que imaginan que es Líbano– no sólo pudo abrir una brecha en su frontera y capturar a sus soldados, sino también atacar el centro del comando militar israelí en el norte. Los israelíes anunciaron ayer que el misil fue fabricado en Irán, como prueba del involucramiento de ese país en la guerra de Líbano. Este fue un razonamiento extraño. Ya que casi todos los misiles utilizados para matar a los civiles en Líbano en los últimos cuatro días fueron fabricados en Seattle, Duluth y Miami en Estados Unidos, su uso ya sugiere a millones de libaneses que Estados Unidos está detrás de los bombardeos a su país.
* De The Independent de Gran Bretaña. Especial para Página/12.
Traducción: Virginia Scardamaglia.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-69993-2006-07-16.html
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Recuerdos de la guerra civil
A SETENTA AÑOS DEL ALZAMIENTO DE FRANCO
Este martes se cumplen siete décadas del motín fascista que disparó la Guerra Civil Española. Fanny Edelman, 95 años, recuerda los grupos internacionalistas que defendieron la República. Líster, La Pasionaria y otras figuras de la gesta.
Por Susana Viau
Domingo, 16 de Julio de 2006
El 18 de julio de 1936 el generalato fascista se alzó contra la Segunda República española. El general José Sanjurjo, viejo conspirador, había fogoneado la asonada desde su exilio en Portugal mientras el general Emilio Mola, en Pamplona, daba los últimos toques al plan de acción. Francisco Franco abandonaba Canarias para ponerse al frente del que creían no iba a ser sino un golpe de mano. Los secundaban los generales Queipo del Llano, en Sevilla, y Manuel Goded, en Barcelona. Otro general, Joaquín Fanjul, se había parapetado en el cuartel de la Montaña, en el corazón de Madrid, aunque no podría resistir el sitio de las tropas leales a la República. Daba comienzo lo que sería una larga noche para los españoles y para Europa. Al mismo tiempo y muy a pesar de los confabulados, nacía uno de los relatos más bellos y heroicos del siglo XX: el que escribieron comunistas, anarquistas, socialistas durante los tres años de Guerra Civil. Fanny Edelman era una joven de 26, militante argentina del Socorro Rojo, cuando viajó a Barcelona para incorporarse, junto a su compañero Bernardo Edelman, a los grupos de internacionalistas que se sumaron a la defensa de la República. Hoy, con 95 años que no le impiden ir al teatro, al cine y a dar largas caminatas desde la sede de su partido en la calle Entre Ríos hasta el austero y cálido departamento de San Telmo, asegura que a pesar de los pesares, esos tiempos fueron los más felices. “Pasé momentos duros, descuidé en parte a mis hijos –reconoce–, pero, así y todo, no cambiaría mi historia por la de aquellos que sólo ven pasar la vida”.
–Vengo de una familia muy modesta, de San Francisco. Mi padre era obrero de los molinos Minetti y mi madre un ama de casa sacrificada, volcada a cuidar a los hijos. El era rumano y ella rusa. Yo tenía trece años cuando vinimos a Buenos Aires. Vivíamos en Tucumán y Gallo, a dos cuadras del Abasto. Soñaba con ser médica pero en aquella época eran los varones los que tenían la prioridad para estudiar. No pude entrar a la facultad, pero seguí con la música, que me gustaba mucho, después de mudarnos a Vicente López empecé a frecuentar gente muy interesante: Riganelli, Hebecquer, Alvaro Yunque, que me ayudó muchísimo con mis inquietudes sociales.
–Y las intelectuales, me imagino.
–Por supuesto, aunque mi padre era un gran lector y nos había educado en el amor a los escritores rusos. Como eran los años del golpe de Uriburu empecé a trabajar en solidaridad con los presos comunistas y anarquistas. Y me incorporé al Socorro Rojo. Fue allí que me propusieron afiliarme al Partido Comunista. Dije que sí, sin saber qué era el comunismo ni cuáles eran sus ideales y me llevó un tiempo comprender que la dictadura y las condiciones de vida del pueblo tenían una relación íntima. Esos años, ‘34, ‘35, ‘36 fueron determinantes para mi futuro: me había convertido en militante y había conocido al que sería mi compañero para siempre. Era periodista de La Vanguardia y lo habían echado porque no coincidía con la línea política de la dirección del Partido Socialista. Se fue con un grupo de izquierda y empezó a trabajar, como periodista también, en la Federación Nacional de la Construcción, muy poderosa, como se demostró en la huelga general del ‘36. En ese mismo año, Bernardo Edelman y yo nos casamos. Al poco tiempo estalló la Guerra Civil Española y nos cambió la vida. Los argentinos y los grupos de italianos y españoles dimos origen a un movimiento solidario que adquirió una presencia enorme en el país, pese a la Sección Especial. Fue una labor increíble de ayuda material y política, comida, ropa, ajuares tejidos por las mujeres de aquí para los bebés que nacían en el bando republicano. Contábamos con el apoyo de Angel Gallardo, el embajador de la República Española, un católico militante a quien no le preocupaba que la ayuda proviniera de socialistas, comunistas y anarquistas. Fue en la Federación Nacional de la Construcción que mi compañero escuchó hablar por primera vez de las Brigadas Internacionales y resolvió, junto a un amigo, alistarse con ellas. Llegó a casa y me dijo “¿Qué te parece si me voy?”. Yo le contesté: “Nos vamos”.
–¿Viajaron solos?
–No, con nosotros iban españoles, búlgaros radicados en Comodoro Rivadavia, unos albaneses que vivían en la periferia y un periodista argentino cuyo nombre no me puedo acordar. Eramos diez o doce. En agosto o septiembre del ‘37 llegamos a Amberes. De Amberes nos fuimos a París, donde se coordinaba toda la acción solidaria mundial. Se palpaba el despertar antifascista que, de todas formas, no empezaba con la República Española: ya en el ‘33, Henri Barbusse, Romain Rolland, Thomas Mann y el propio Einstein habían convocado a una reunión de intelectuales alertando sobre el peligro que representaba el nazismo en Alemania. Por esos días, en París se había inaugurado la Exposición Internacional y como teníamos un rato fuimos. Nos encontramos con el Guernica, una obra impresionante, imponente. Ahí, en París, nos arreglaron los papeles, la entrada a España por Perpignan y el destino final, en Madrid. En Madrid tomé contacto con las milicias populares, germen del ejército popular que unificó las guerrillas, porque hasta ese momento cada uno tenía su dirección y era imposible garantizar la defensa de Madrid.
–¿A quiénes reportaban?
–Yo al Socorro Rojo y él a la Unión de Juventudes Socialistas. El representaba al Movimiento de Solidaridad con España, que editaba La Nueva España, una publicación con una tirada de sesenta mil ejemplares. Mi compañero era el corresponsal en los frentes de guerra. El Socorro Rojo tenía como tarea fundamental abastecer las necesidades de las tropas, la distribución de alimentos, ropa, calzado y la atención a los familiares de los combatientes. La política de ingleses, franceses y norteamericanos fue de una perfidia inimaginable. Hasta tal punto que, cuando salimos de España, la carretera hacia París estaba colmada de pertrechos que el gobierno francés no había dejado pasar.
–Si tuviera que elegir una figura de la Guerra Civil...
–Las figuras femeninas más relevantes fueron, sin duda, Pasionaria, Federica Montseny y Margarita Nelken. Tengo, en lo personal, un gran recuerdo de Pasionaria. Para mí fue la gran protagonista de ese proceso, su palabra erizaba la piel, era tan grande su voluntad de transmitir a los soldados, al pueblo, la certeza de los ideales, la justeza de la lucha... Y la entrega. Una entrega total. Fue para mí la más grande, incluyendo a Negrín. Después la cultivé a Dolores, en la Federación Democrática Internacional de Mujeres, cuya secretaría ejercí a partir de 1972 y después de su exilio de Madrid. Tenía tanto dolor, tanta nostalgia de España, tanto deseo de no morir antes de volver a su patria. Lo consiguió, pero dejó un hijo, Rubén, que murió en la batalla de Stalingrado. Nunca pudo superar su muerte, la tocó profundamente, fue terrible para ella, aunque Pasionaria ya había perdido otros cuatro hijos, de hambre, anemias y enfermedad en Asturias. De los seis hijos que tuvo, al final le quedó sólo Amaya, que está ahora dirigiendo la Fundación Dolores Ibárruri en Madrid. A mí me maravillaba la fuerza de su palabra... La recuerdo hablando en un mitin, en París. La gente la aplaudía, la vitoreaba aunque no entendía el castellano, se emocionaba como si hablara en francés. Aquel fue un período determinante para mi vida y la de mi compañero.
–¿Y las Brigadas Internacionales, Fanny?
–Las Brigadas fueron, a mi juicio, una de las manifestaciones más altas de la solidaridad humana. Al frente estaban los dirigentes de los partidos socialistas y comunistas que huyeron de las dictaduras nazis y fascistas. Estaban Togliatti, al que en España conocíamos como Ercoli; Luigi Longo, que, aunque no recuerdo muy bien, creo que fue uno de los coordinadores de las actividades de las Brigadas; Hans Beimler, un alemán diputado del Reichstag, que murió en combate. En un viaje que hice a Europa, les dije a mis compañeros que quería visitar su tumba. Yo sabía que estaba enterrado en Montjuich. Bajé en Barcelona y busqué su sepultura, pero no la encontré. Conocí también a Antonio Prado, que en 1938 convocó una gran campaña de invierno del Socorro Rojo. Hacía un frío espantoso y los combatientes no tenía ropa ni calzado suficientes para soportar esas temperaturas. Resultó conmovedora la reacción del pueblo; la gente se desprendía de sus propios abrigos, de sus propios zapatos para mandarlos al frente.
–¿Conoció a Santiago Carrillo en esos días?
–Sí, Carrillo estuvo aquí, clandestino, una vez terminada la guerra.
–¿Y a Santiago Alvarez, que según creo fue fundador del Quinto Regimiento?
–Claro que lo conocí. Santiago era el presidente del Comité de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales. Fue uno de los fundadores del Quinto Regimiento, pero el jefe era Enrique Líster. El comisario político era Carlos, Carlos Contreras le llamábamos, aunque su verdadero nombre era Vittorio Vitali, secretario del Partido Comunista de Trieste, un personaje muy interesante, un hombre de una enorme cultura y de una enorme inteligencia, que nos enseñó a comprender cosas que todavía no teníamos del todo claras y me enseñó a leer entre líneas. Yo trabajé con María, su compañera, maravillosa, modestísima, de una gran capacidad intelectual. Ella era una de las dirigentes del Socorro Rojo. Años más tarde, leyendo una revista, me enteré que María había muerto en un taxi, yendo a una consulta con el médico. Y aunque le parezca mentira, recién allí, en 1942, supe que mi querida y admirada “María” era Tina Modotti.
–¿Abandonaron Madrid antes o después de la caída?
–Antes. Después nos trasladamos a Valencia porque el gobierno se había establecido ahí y luego, siempre junto al gobierno, a Barcelona. El viaje de vuelta fue muy doloroso. Regresé a España después de la muerte de Franco y en el ‘96, convocada por los Amigos de las Brigadas, y pasé por Gernika. El árbol había florecido. Era otra España. Aquella del ’36 no existía más. Esa historia había sido sepultada, ocultada. Pensé mucho en una compañera del Socorro Rojo, Matilde Landa, pertenecía a una familia muy rica, de la alta burguesía. La familia huyó y ella resolvió quedarse. Fue capturada y ejecutada. En fin... ¡ese famoso Pacto de la Moncloa! Ese Pacto fue una responsabilidad de todos los partidos, incluido el Partido Comunista de España, que se adhirió a esa falsificación.
–¿Cuáles fueron sus tiempos mejores?
–Es muy difícil. Pero dentro del horror de la guerra fueron felices los años de la Guerra Civil, muy felices porque me dieron tanto, aprendí tanto, me identifiqué tanto con aquella causa que hasta hoy me siento parte de es pueblo, sigo las cosas de España, sufro por lo que les pasa.
–¿Si pudiera, qué borraría de su historia?
–Nada. No me arrepiento de nada. Me he equivocado, pero no me arrepiento de nada. Pasé momentos malos, sombríos, descuidé quizás a mis hijos, pero tenía poderosas razones.
–¿Se lo reprocharon?
–Alguna vez, sí, alguna vez. Pero mire, yo viví una tragedia muy grande. En un viaje que hicimos de Mendoza volcó el auto que manejaba mi marido. Quedó parapléjico. Tenía treinta y ocho años. Fueron veintidós años en esas condiciones. Hubo que remontar la situación, mantener la unidad del hogar y convencerlo de que la vida no se había terminado, que la vida exigía y seguía; había que lograr que saliera a la calle en su sillón de ruedas y terminara su interrumpida carrera de abogado; había que lograr que trabajara como abogado. Mi hija tenía ocho años y mi hijo tres. En esa etapa, él insistió para que yo no dejara la actividad. Mi rol de madre quedó en parte a cargo de una compañera catalana que estaba exiliada aquí. Pero éramos tan amigas, compartíamos tantas cosas, lo hizo con tanto amor que creo que casi no sintieron esa sustitución. Además, fueron enormemente solidarios, defendieron a su padre y me defendieron. Estoy muy orgullosa de mis hijos.
–A usted le gusta la música, ¿cuál es su canción preferida?
–...“La Internacional”.
–Y también le gusta la literatura, ¿a quiénes relee?
–A Lorca, a Hernández, a Vallejo, a Miguel Angel Asturias, a Paul Auster.
–¿A quiénes reconoce como maestros?
–A Marx, a Engels, a Lenin.
–¿Un día de felicidad?
–El día en que me afilié al Partido Comunista.
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El Mundial de Zidane
Por Eduardo Galeano
Domingo, 16 de Julio de 2006
En el escenario de la cordura, un ataque de locura.
En un templo consagrado a la adoración del fútbol y al respeto de sus reglas, donde la Coca-Cola regala felicidad, Master Card otorga prosperidad y Hyundai brinda velocidad, se disputan los últimos minutos del último partido del campeonato mundial.
Este es, también, el último partido del mejor jugador, el más admirado, el más querido, que está diciendo adiós al fútbol. Los ojos del mundo están puestos en él. Y súbitamente este rey de la fiesta se convierte en un toro furioso y embiste a un rival y lo voltea, de un cabezazo al pecho, y se va.
Se va echado por el árbitro y despedido por la rechifla del público, que iba a ser una ovación. Y no sale por la puerta grande, sino por el triste túnel que conduce a los vestuarios.
En el camino, pasa junto a la copa de oro reservada al equipo campeón. El ni la mira.
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Cuando este Mundial empezó, los expertos dijeron que Zinedine Zidane estaba viejo.
Mariano Pernía, el argentino que juega en la selección española, comentó:
–Viejo es el viento, y sigue soplando.
Y Francia derrotó a España y Zidane fue, en ese partido y en los partidos siguientes, el más joven de todos.
Después, al fin del campeonato, cuando ocurrió lo que ocurrió, fue fácil atacar al malo de la película. Pero era, y sigue siendo, difícil comprenderlo. ¿Será verdad? ¿No será una pesadilla, un sueño equivocado? ¿Cómo pudo abandonar a los suyos cuando más lo necesitaban? Horacio Elizondo, el árbitro, le sacó la roja con toda razón, pero ¿por qué Zidane hizo lo que hizo?
Según parece, el zaguero italiano Marco Materazzi le ofreció algunos de esos insultos que los energúmenos suelen chillar desde las tribunas de los estadios. Zidane, musulmán, hijo de argelinos, había aprendido a defenderse, allá en la infancia, cuando recibía ataques así en los suburbios pobres de Marsella. Conoce bien esos insultos, pero le duelen como la primera vez; y sus enemigos saben que la provocación funciona. Más de una vez le han hecho perder los estribos de esta sucia manera, y Materazzi no es, que digamos, famoso por su limpieza.
Este Mundial estuvo signado por las consignas que las selecciones enarbolaron, al comienzo de los partidos, contra la peste universal del racismo, y Zidane, militante de esa causa, fue uno de los jugadores que lo hizo posible.
El tema arde. En vísperas del torneo, el dirigente político francés JeanMarie Le Pen proclamó que Francia no se reconocía en sus jugadores, porque eran casi todos negros y porque su capitán, el árabe éste, no cantaba el himno. El vicepresidente del Senado italiano, Roberto Calderoli, le hizo eco opinando que la selección francesa estaba compuesta por negros, islamistas y comunistas, que preferían la Internacional a la Marsellesa y la Meca a Belén. Algún tiempo antes, el entrenador de la selección española, Luis Aragonés, había llamado negro de mierda al jugador francés Thierry Henry, y el presidente perpetuo del fútbol sudamericano, Nicolás Leoz, presentó su autobiografía diciendo que él había nacido en un pueblo donde vivían quinientas personas y tres mil indios.
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Pero, ¿se puede reducir a un insulto, o a varios insultos, esta tragedia del ganador que elige ser perdedor, el astro que renuncia a la gloria cuando la está rozando con la mano?
Quizá, quién sabe, esa loca embestida fue, aunque Zidane no lo quisiera ni lo supiera, un rugido de impotencia.
Quizá fue un rugido de impotencia contra los insultos, los codazos, las escupidas, las pataditas arteras, las simulaciones de los expertos en revolcones, maestros del ay de mí, y contra las artes de teatro de los farsantes que te matan y ponen cara de yo no fui.
O quizá fue un rugido de impotencia contra el éxito arrollador del fútbol feo, contra la mezquindad, la cobardía y la avaricia del fútbol que la globalización, enemiga de la diversidad, nos está imponiendo. Al fin y al cabo, a medida que el campeonato avanzaba, se iba haciendo cada vez más claro que Zidane no era de este circo. Y sus artes de magia, su señorío, su melancólica elegancia, merecían el fracaso, así como el mundo de nuestro tiempo, que fabrica en serie los modelos del éxito, merecía este mediocre campeonato mundial.
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Y de alguna manera también se puede decir que Italia merecía la Copa, porque todas las selecciones, quién más, quién menos, jugaron a la italiana y con el mismo esquema de juego, línea de cuatro atrás, defensa cerrada y goles robados por contraataque.
Se impuso Italia, como tenía que ser. Al fin y al cabo, el cerrojo, el catena-ccio, le ha dado muchos bostezos, pero también le ha dado cuatro trofeos mundiales. Y a lo largo de esta cuarta victoria sólo recibió dos goles, uno en contra y otro de penal, y en la retaguardia, no en la vanguardia, tuvo sus mejores jugadores: Buffon, arquero, y Cannavaro, zaguero.
Ocho jugadores de la Juventus llegaron a la final en Berlín: cinco jugando por Italia y tres por Francia. Y se dio la casualidad de que la Juventus era la escuadra más comprometida en los chanchullos que se destaparon poco antes del Mundial. De las manos limpias a los pies limpios: la justicia italiana parecía decidida a mandar al exilio, a la serie B y a la serie C, a los clubes más poderosos, incluyendo a la Lazio, a la Fiorentina y al Milan del virtuoso Silvio Berlusconi, que practicó el fraude y la impunidad en el fútbol, en los negocios y en el gobierno. Los jueces comprobaron toda una colección de trapisondas, compra de árbitros, compra de periodistas, falsificación de contratos, adulteración de balances, reparto de posiciones en la liga italiana, manipulación de los programas de la tele.
Un ministro del gobierno anunció la amnistía si Italia ganaba el Mundial. Italia ganó. ¿Quedará todo en la nada, una vez más y como siempre? A Zidane el juez lo echó por mucho menos.
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Alguien, no sé quién, supo resumir así esta Copa 2006:
–Los jugadores tienen una conducta ejemplar. No beben, no fuman, no juegan.
Los que de vez en cuando embocaban al arco, no jugaban lindo, y los que jugaban lindo nunca embocaban al arco. Toda el Africa quedó afuera, desde temprano, y al rato nomás también marchó al exilio toda América latina.
El campeonato mundial se convirtió en una eurocopa.
Los resultados recompensaban esto que ahora llaman sentido práctico: altos muros defensivos y adelante algún goleador, un Llanero Solitario, implorando un favorcito de Dios. Como suele ocurrir en el fútbol y en la vida, pierde el que mejor juega y gana el que juega a no perder.
Los penales ayudaron a la injusticia. Hasta 1968, los partidos difíciles se definían al vuelo de una moneda. De alguna manera, así sigue siendo. Concluido el alargue, los penales se parecen demasiado al capricho del azar. Argentina fue más que Alemania y Francia más que Italia, pero unos pocos segundos pudieron más que dos horas de juego y Argentina tuvo que volverse a casa y Francia perdió la Copa.
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Poca fantasía se vio. Los artistas dejaron lugar a los levantadores de pesas y a los corredores olímpicos, que al pasar pateaban una pelota o un rival.
Tan aburrido resultó el Mundial que los dueños del negocio no han tenido más remedio que ponerse a imaginar proyectos para inyectar entusiasmo al decaído espectáculo. Una de las ideas nacidas en el seno de la FIFA propone castigar el empate con cero puntos. Otra sugiere agrandar los arcos para aumentar los goles. Y otra, si no te gusta la sopa dos platos, proyectan una Copa cada dos años.
Pero el fútbol profesional, espejo del mundo, juega por ganar, no por disfrutar, y el cálculo de costos se burla de estas inútiles piruetas imaginarias de los burócratas que comandan el fútbol mundial.
Menos mal que el fútbol profesional no es todo el fútbol. Basta con asomarse a las calles, a las playas, a los campitos, para comprobar que todavía la pelota puede rodar con alegría.
En el fútbol profesional, el que sale en la tele, poca alegría se ve. Parecemos condenados a la nostalgia del viejo tiempo de los cinco forwards, y a la triste comprobación de que ahora nos queda uno solo, y al paso que vamos ni uno quedará: todos atrás, nadie adelante.
Como ha comprobado el zoólogo Roberto Fontanarrosa, el delantero y el oso panda son especies en extinción.
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Las vergüenzas de un escritor
Por Juan Gelman
Domingo, 16 de Julio de 2006
Dijo que el operativo de las fuerzas armadas israelíes en Gaza “está fuera de toda proporción” y que “lo avergüenza ser amigo de Israel”. Estas palabras no provienen de algún “judío que se odia a sí mismo”, como Tel Aviv y sus lobbies de Occidente califican a todo judío de la diáspora –o no– que rechaza sus políticas de colonización y agresión al pueblo palestino. Pertenecen a Mario Vargas Llosa, quien no entra en esa categoría por razones obvias: no es judío ni se odia a sí mismo. El gran novelista las formuló en una entrevista al diario israelí Haaretz (www.haaretz.com, 9-7-06): “Israel –agregó– se ha convertido en un país poderoso y arrogante y cabe a los amigos ser muy críticos de sus políticas”. Qué habrá pensado en materia de proporciones el Premio Jerusalén 1995 y miembro honorario de la Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén cuando días después tropas israelíes, en represalia por la captura de dos de sus soldados, incursionaron en el sur del Líbano, bloquearon sus puertos, bombardearon el aeropuerto de Beirut y dos bases militares libanesas, causaron la muerte de 53 civiles y provocaron la respuesta de Hezbolá (Reuters, 13-7-06).
Tel Aviv recibe de EE.UU. un promedio de 15 millones de dólares diarios en concepto de subsidios y ayuda militar. Las ONG palestinas, unos magros 232.000 dólares diarios que además la Casa Blanca ha suspendido desde el triunfo en las urnas de Hamas. Gracias a la ayuda norteamericana, las Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel cuentan con más de 3800 tanques, 1500 piezas de artillería pesada, 2000 bombarderos, helicópteros de combate y cazas, incluidos los F-16 de fabricación estadounidense, y un número indeterminado de bombas nucleares que se estimaba en 300 a fines de la década pasada. El año que viene se cumplen 40 desde que Israel ocupa territorios palestinos con mano de hierro y sus tropas han vuelto a entrar en Gaza. La respuesta, esos atentados suicidas que siegan la vida de inocentes civiles israelíes, es ciertamente repudiable. Pareciera, como señaló Vargas Llosa, que “paradójicamente, los extremistas de uno y otro lado comparten una agenda cuyo propósito es impedir cualquier posibilidad de negociaciones y de concesiones mutuas”. Claro que una cosa es una cosa y otra cosa es otra cosa.
La notable periodista israelí Amira Hass ha hecho los distingos. “Un palestino es un terrorista cuando ataca a civiles israelíes y cuando ataca a soldados israelíes acantonados a las puertas de una ciudad palestina... cuando una unidad del ejército israelí irrumpe con tanques en su vecindario y el palestino dispara contra un soldado israelí que emerge por un instante de la torreta de su tanque... cuando es alcanzado por fuego procedente de un helicóptero mientras empuña su rifle. Los palestinos son terroristas tanto si matan a soldados como si matan a civiles.” Agrega: “El soldado israelí es un combatiente cuando dispara un misil desde un helicóptero, o un obús desde un tanque, contra un grupo de personas reunidas en Kahn Yunis (poblado de Gaza)... cuando dispara una granada contra una casa (palestina) de la que el ejército israelí afirma que ha salido un cohete Qassam y mata a un hombre o una mujer... el soldado israelí mata a gente armada y mata a civiles... mata a comandantes de batallones de terroristas asesinos y mata a bebés y ancianos que se hallan en sus casas. Más exactamente, éstos caen bajo el fuego israelí” (Haaretz, 9-10-02).
No es el único modo de morir que los palestinos conocen. La Cruz Roja Internacional ha informado en El Cairo que entre 3000 y 7000 palestinos esperan desde fines de junio el permiso para regresar a Gaza. Se amontonan del lado egipcio de la caseta de cruce al poblado fronterizo de Rafah y578 de ellos necesitan atención médica urgente (Haaretz, 11-7-06). El martes 4 fallecieron una joven palestina de 19 años que había sido operada en un hospital cairota y cuyas condiciones se deterioraron durante la espera hasta que le llegó la muerte, y un infante de año y medio por infarto. Dos enfermos más cruzaron esa otra clase de frontera, un hombre de 68 años y un muchacho de 15 que habían sido tratados de enfermedades cardíacas en la capital de Egipto (Reuters, 11-7-06). Los demás siguen aguardando el permiso israelí para volver a Gaza mientras se escriben estas líneas.
No son los únicos que esperan: por primera vez desde la Guerra de los Seis Días de 1967, Tel Aviv prohíbe ahora la entrada de palestinos con ciudadanía extranjera, en su mayoría estadounidenses, pero también europeos. Varios miles no pueden regresar a sus casas y puestos de trabajo, o visitar a sus familias, en el territorio palestino ocupado de la Ribera Occidental. Esta medida también incluye a extranjeros casados con una palestina o un palestino y a profesores visitantes. Hace falta un permiso emitido por la Autoridad Palestina y autorizado por los funcionarios israelíes, pero este mecanismo se interrumpió en septiembre de 2000. “El Ministerio del Interior y la Administración Civil (de Israel) declinaron comentar el hecho de que durante 40 años los ciudadanos palestinos residentes en países occidentales no necesitaban un ‘permiso de visita’” (Haaretz, 11-7-06). Pero ése es un detalle y el gobierno de Israel no es detallista.
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/contratapa/13-69966-2006-07-16.html
The Independent:
Evacuation for Britons as crisis in Lebanon grows
By Andrew Johnson
Published: 16 July 2006
Two Royal Navy warships were dispatched to Lebanon last night in advance of a possible evacuation of up to 10,000 British citizens from the blockaded country.
The Ministry of Defence said it had sent the Royal Navy's flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, and an amphibious assault ship, HMS Bulwark, which is capable of carrying hundreds of people. HMS Illustrious is currently at Gibraltar and HMS Bulwark off the coast of Spain, by Barcelona.
Between 3,500 and 4,000 British families are registered in Lebanon, a Foreign Office spokesman said, with a further 10,000 individuals of dual nationality. Others could be holidaying in the country, which has suffered days of bombardment and blockade by Israel, following the kidnap of two Israeli soldiers by the militant group Hizbollah.
The international airport in Beirut is out of action after its runways were destroyed and Israeli warships are blockading the country's ports. The main road from Syria has also been bombed.
Dr Edward Smith, a British dentist based in Cyprus who is on holiday in Beirut, said he would welcome any evacuation.
Speaking from the Duke of Wellington, a British bar in the Mayflower hotel in central Beirut, he said he was due to leave Lebanon yesterday but had no way of getting out. "I'm on holiday with my wife and we are stranded," he said. "We can hear the bombs and the worry is if it escalates. People are keeping off the streets and all the shops are closed. Our hotel is, however, full of people who have left the south of the city, where the bombing is worse."
But the MoD said that no final decision had yet been taken on a full-scale evacuation. A spokeswoman said it was making "contingency plans". She added: "We're advising British nationals to get ready for departure at short notice if the situation changes."
European nations have started voluntary evacuation of thousands of their citizens from Lebanon. France has lined up ferries to take some of its 17,000 citizens from Lebanon to Cyprus, where Air France flights will take them to Paris. A convoy of 410 Italians and other EU citizens left yesterday.
The US State Department said yesterday that it was trying to determine how it might take out some of the 25,000 Americans in Lebanon and remove them to Cyprus, where they would be able to join commercial flights.
The escalating crisis in the Middle East is likely to force its way on to the agenda of the G8 summit of the world's richest countries, which began in St Petersburg today.
Russia is hosting the conference for the first time since joining the elite club, and the discussions are expected to focus on climate change and world trade. It hopes to assess progress, since Tony Blair put Africa and the plight of the world's poorest countries at the top of the leaders' agenda at last year's conference in Gleneagles, Scotland.
That meeting resolved to relieve the debts of 18 poor countries and to increase aid by $50bn (£27bn) a year. Development groups were disappointed because 60 countries needed the relief. The aid increase was only half of what the UN had said was required, and virtually no progress at all was made on the most important issue of all for the Third World °© getting it a better deal to sell its products through trade.
Mr Blair is due to make a presentation on Africa and progress since Gleneagles.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1180251.ece
The Nation:
Fear and Shopping in Beirut
by ANNIA CIEZADLO
[posted online on July 15, 2006]
Beirut
The first warplanes sheared through the sky at about 3:30 am Friday, just as the call to prayer wavered out from the mosque, the faint, pre-recorded voice of the muezzin drowned in the rising growl of their engines. The bombings began soon after, and the anti-aircraft guns kicked in at about 4 am; we didn't get to sleep until dawn. I woke up at 9, when a text message bleeped into my cell phone. It was from a friend in Baghdad, who wrote "I hope U R OK and fine. We all here in Iraq feel worried about U." I was glad to hear from him, but his message didn't make me feel any better: When Iraqis are texting from Baghdad to see if you're OK, you know it's not good.
We were ready for this, sort of. The day after Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, all of Beirut prepared for war in time-honored Lebanese fashion: shopping. We bought siege food, anything that doesn't need refrigeration--powdered milk, canned hummus, beans, cracked wheat. Less rationally, however, we bought comfort food, compiling a collective shopping list of fear and craving: I bought a chocolate cake mix for no reason. Yogurt, which will spoil once the electricity dies, disappeared from the shelves. And everyone lined up to buy bread. It's going to mold in a day or two, but who doesn't feel better after smelling freshly-baked bread, and who knew when we'd smell that again? I bought five loaves of it. So many Beirutis bought bread, in fact, that the baker's syndicate issued a statement to the local radio stations that people shouldn't stockpile bread, because they have enough flour to continue making it. "If you do continue to stockpile bread," warned the bakers, "it will contribute to the crisis." Does that mean if I stop buying bread, Israel and Hezbollah will stop bombing each other?
Our politics were as schizophrenic as our shopping baskets. The first day, everyone I talked to was furious at Hezbollah. "How can I express my anger?" wrote a Lebanese friend in a mass e-mail blazing with sarcasm. "Maybe by saying bravo to Hizbollah, thank you to Hizbollah. Thank you for ruining the entire season for the poor Lebanese who have been struggling so hard to cover the losses of last year's events... for destroying the tourism industry and infrastructure? for weakening yet again an already weak government and flushing all the hopes of millions of Lebanese down the drain? should I say more?"
But then Israel bombed the airport, and suddenly, surprisingly, I was hearing cautiously approving statements from people who'd always railed against the Shi'ite militia before. These were Christians and secular Muslims, not Hezbollah partisans, but they saved their wrath for Israel and the US. "I am angry, definitely, at the Israelis," said my friend George, who until now had always been adamant that the Party of God should give up its arms, like all the other militias that sprang up during the Lebanese civil war. "They have replied in a very aggressive manner. It shouldn't take this much to get back the two hostages. But what I'm also angry at is the US. They haven't done anything yet. They say that they are the country which helps the underprivileged countries, but they have done nothing to help us."
As if this wasn't confusing enough, another friend confessed to feeling nostalgia for Ariel Sharon--wishing the man his critics once called the "Butcher of Beirut" were still in command, instead of a relatively inexperienced Israeli government with everything to prove and Hamas on its hands. My American friends were all calling me up, asking if this whole thing was hurting Hezbollah's credibility or helping it. I had no idea, and I don't think anyone else did either.
Late Friday night, at about 8:30, Hezbollah's bearded, apple-cheeked leader, Hassan Nasrallah, announced that his fighters had just bombed an Israeli warship. Look out of your windows, he said, and you'll see the ship that attacked your homes in flames. "Now in the middle of the sea, facing Beirut, the Israeli warship that has attacked the infrastructure, people's homes and civilians--look at it burning," he said in a tape-recorded message. He promised the Israelis more "surprises."
It was a hot night, and we had all the windows open. As soon as Nasrallah made his dramatic announcement, I heard cheers and clapping from nearby apartments. Soon after that, cars took to the empty streets honking in celebration, as though the death and destruction that had been and would surely follow were a wedding or a World Cup victory. Don't they realize this means more bombings, more missiles, another war, I thought? Is he trying to take us all out with him, make Lebanon into a nation of shaheeds?
As usual, my mother-in-law summed it up best. "Why is Hezbollah doing this now? What are they thinking?" she complained. "Look at Egypt and Jordan, and all the other Arab countries--they're not attacking Israel. It's only in Lebanon that we we carry the board sideways," she said, using a Lebanese expression for someone who tries to force a board horizontally through a doorway, stubbornly ramming it against the doorframe, instead of simply turning it vertical to carry it through.
Copyright © 2006 The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060731/fear_shopping_beirut
The Observer: Children die in convoy attack
as Israel widens Lebanon assault
Inigo Gilmore in Nahariyah, Patrick Wintour in St Petersburg and Tracy McVeigh
Sunday July 16, 2006
Israel steeply escalated its military campaign against Hizbollah in Lebanon yesterday with a series of air strikes that left more than 35 civilians dead, including a single strike on a convoy of families fleeing the fighting in a village near Tyre in the south of the country that killed more than 20 people, most of them children.
The intensification of the conflict, in which Hizbollah fired missiles deep intoIsrael, came as international leaders appeared to be deeply split over how to respond to a crisis that threatens to spill over into a full-scale war involving Syria and Iran as well as Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. Last night the Lebanese Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, declared the country in a 'state of catastrophe'.
According to witnesses and photographs from the scene of the worst incident, an Israeli missile incinerated a car and a small truck full of families leaving their Lebanese border village of Marwaheen near Tyre after the Israeli army used loudhailers to tell residents they had just hours to go. Pictures showed charred bodies of children strewn across the road.
UN peacekeepers recovered the bodies. Half the passengers were children or teenagers, according to medical sources. It was the deadliest single strike since Israel started an air campaign against Lebanon after two of its soldiers were captured by Hizbollah on Wednesday.
Relatives gathered at a hospital to identify the dead said they came from two families - Abdallah and Ghanem.
Around 100 residents sought shelter at a nearby UN base, but left after officials were unable to confirm the warning by Israel, a UN spokesman said.
Other residents had tried later to leave and were killed in the missile strike, the spokesman said, adding that the Lebanese authorities had asked the UN to help evacuate about 160 people remaining in Marwaheen. They would be relocated in the morning. Relatives blamed the UN for the deaths, pelting peacekeepers with stones when they arrived with the bodies after the strike.
"If they had taken people in to begin with then they would never have died," said Mohammed Oqla, who was at the hospital.
Last night an Israeli military spokeswoman said they were still investigating the reports of the incident.
Other air strikes flattened Hizbollah's headquarters in Beirut and attacked roads, bridges and petrol stations in the north, east and south of Lebanon, cutting the country off from the outside world and hitting Hizbollah strongholds including the leader Hassan Nasrallah's home and office. The northern port of Tripoli was also attacked, the deepest strike yet into Lebanese territory.
Israel's campaign has so far killed at least 100 people, all but three of them civilians, and choked off Lebanon's economy, including its growing tourism industry.
On a separate front, Israeli troops also yesterday fired several missiles at targets in Gaza, killing at least two.
Hizbollah fired dozens of rockets into Israel, some reaching Tiberias, 22 miles inside the border, the furthest Hizbollah missiles have so far reached. They killed two Israeli civilians and injured several.
One Katyusha rocket hit the roof of a seven-floor apartment building in the Shmuel neighbourhood of Tiberias, a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, damaging several homes.
There were furious political exchanges throughout the region, with Israel accusing Iran of supplying increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hizbollah. Israel claims that the device that damaged one of its naval ships off the Lebanese coast on Friday, killing four sailors, was an Iranian-made guided missile.
Tension grew when Israeli warplanes fired four rockets at a border crossing point between Lebanon and Syria yesterday - Iran has threatened Israel that it will respond ferociously if there is any incursion into Syrian territory. But Syria swiftly announced that there had been no attacks within its borders.
There is a growing chasm in the international community. President George Bush yesterday angrily rounded on Hizbollah for starting the violence and demanded Syria intervene.
At a joint press conference with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, at the G8 summit in St Petersburg, he said: 'In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why the violence occurred in the first place.' Bush, visibly angry, added: 'And that's because Hizbollah has been launching rocket attacks out of Lebanon into Israel and because Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. The best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking. And therefore, I call on Syria to exert influence over Hizbollah.'
But in keeping with Russia's traditional role as a counterweight to the US in the Middle East, President Putin added: 'We believe that the use of force must be balanced. But in any case the bloodshed must be stopped as soon as possible.'
The European Union has asked Israel to show restraint and Britain was yesterday trying desperately tried to straddle the divide between America and other world leaders at the G8 summit, by saying it would not become involved in the 'blame game', or 'finger pointing'.
Number 10 instead focused on trying to find what it described as a 'mechanism' to de-escalate the crisis.
The EU, France and Russia have all condemned the Israeli air strikes as 'disproportionate' but Tony Blair's spokesman, speaking on the way to the G8 summit, refused to condemn the Israeli actions. Instead he said it was essential for the captured Israeli soldiers to be released 'and for all sides to act with constraint'.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1821706,00.html
The Observer:
The Road to War
We could all be in deep, deep trouble
Jason Burke and Julie Flint in Bierut, Inigo Gilmore in Nahariya, Conal Urquhart in Gaza and Patrick Wintour in St Petersburg
Sunday July 16, 2006
Beirut was silent yesterday morning. Smoke still hung in the blue sky like a vague threat, but after a night of violence - physical and verbal - the port city waited. A few shops in the centre warily raised their steel shutters, but the Shia Muslim areas in the south of the city were empty. Occasional cars worked their way around the rubble left by the air strikes of the evening before, some packed with families leaving, others filled with families going to funerals. Then came the blasts in the middle of the day, loud enough to rattle windows across the entire city. Plumes of flame and smoke spouted once more above the tattered buildings. And everyone knew that there would soon be more cars full of refugees, and more cars heading to funerals.
There were many funerals last week, and this weekend there were more. At least 13 Lebanese villagers, including women and children, were killed yesterday in an Israeli air strike on a convoy of vehicles evacuating a village near the southern border. And few expect the funerals to stop soon. Yesterday Israeli and Hizbollah leaders declared 'open war'; bodies of four Israeli sailors were retrieved from a warship struck by a Hizbollah drone; beyond Beirut, bombing continued in the Hizbollah heartland of southern Lebanon and even reached the Syrian border; and dozens of Hizbollah rockets continued to fall randomly on civilian areas in northern Israel, reaching as far south as Tiberias, some 40km inside Israel's borders, causing minor injuries and provoking panic. Further south, though the worst violence of the week had ebbed, the Gaza Strip, from where rockets have been fired into Israeli towns, remained tense, with reports of an Israeli air strike and two dead.
And as the violence continued, so the shock waves around the region and the world grew deeper. The crisis, which has pushed oil prices to a historic high of $78 per barrel and weakened stock markets around the world, dominated the agenda of the G8 summit of rich nations in St Petersburg, dividing international leaders. In the Middle East itself, Syria and Iran, deeply implicated in the events of the past week, are on high alert. The Egyptians, Jordanians, Turks, Saudis - and, of course, the Iraqis - are all very nervous. America is increasingly involved. Diplomats are frantically formulating plans to defuse what one described to The Observer as 'a powder keg that could blow out all the lights'. And all this in just five days.
The questions are now manifold and evident; answers less so. How and why did the crisis explode so powerfully and so quickly? What are the regional ramifications? And what happens next?
As ever in the Middle East, the crisis can be traced back to a variety of causes. The timeline can start a few days ago - with a daring cross-border raid by Hizbollah militants on Tuesday that led to the capture of two Israeli soldiers and the deaths of eight more. Or it can start two weeks ago - with the kidnapping of another Israeli soldier by hardline Palestinian militants from the Hamas organisation in the Gaza Strip. Or it can start months, years or decades ago in the myriad interwoven causes that link Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon in 2000, the development (with Iranian assistance) of the Hizbollah militia in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon 18 years earlier, and even the Iranian revolution of 1979, or the Arab-Israeli wars of 1973 and 1967.
For Ehud Olmert, the recently elected Prime Minister of Israel, the crisis started on Wednesday with Hizbollah's cross-border attack. It should have been expected. The militia's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, has repeatedly said that it would seek to capture Israeli soldiers on or near the border, and has been trying to do so since moving back into the frontier zone following the Israeli withdrawal six years ago. The army was 'caught with its pants down', said one Israeli commentator last week.
As soon as Olmert - said by associates to be 'incandescent' with rage - heard of the incident, he called an emergency meeting of the inner security cabinet. Around the table with the right-wing Prime Minister, who leads the Kadima party, were his senior ministers and leaders of the other parties, including the profoundly orthodox Shas, who comprise the ruling coalition. The politicians were briefed by the head of the army, Lieutenant-General Dan Halutz, the head of the internal security service, the head of Mossad, and a series of other military advisers.
Halutz's plan mixed various aims. There was little real hope that the pressure on Hizbollah might force the immediate return of the soldiers. But a land, air and sea blockade would prevent Hizbollah receiving supplies and prevent the militia evacuating the hostages to Syria. A tight cordon coupled with air strikes would allow the destruction of Hizbollah's military capacity. In addition, the physical damage wreaked by the bombing would force the government of Lebanon (and the international community) to act against the Islamic militia, hopefully implementing a recent UN Security Council resolution calling for Hizbollah's disarmament and the positioning of Lebanese troops on the southern border. Civilian suffering leading to anger against Hizbollah would, the politicians and military men knew, force the Lebanese, or the international community, or both, to act rapidly. The plan was accepted unanimously. 'If our security and economy is being hit,' said one minister, 'so shall Lebanon's.'
Their responses were, given Israel's history, relatively predictable. The Jewish state's strategic doctrine has always relied, along with massive foreign aid, on a powerful, ruthless and immediate response to any threat. As a final bonus, the Hizbollah attack offered an opportunity to restore the 'deterrence factor' - a key aim of the hawkish chief of staff who has a significant influence on a government that contains fewer former soldiers than almost any other previous Israeli administration. 'There has been a progressive decline in deterrence over the past six years and the defence establishment want to re-establish it,' said Jonathan Spyer, a former adviser on international relations to the Israeli government and a research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs Centre in Hertzeliya. 'They see it as a very serious big boy's game.'
Crucially, Halutz's plan was not new. Indeed, according to Gerald Steinberg, professor of political studies at Bar Ilan University, it had been sitting 'on the shelf' for some time. 'The scenario that has been followed has been worked on by the military for several years,' Steinberg said. 'Sharon was briefed on it when he was Prime Minister and it is probable that Olmert knew about it.' Yet the more hardline Israelis were not the only ones acting according to a script. Indeed, the script may well have been written elsewhere: in Beirut, Gaza, Damascus and Tehran.
On Thursday morning, the people of the village of al-Dweir, a few miles from the Israel-Lebanon border, gathered at the mosque for a family funeral. Rockets launched by Hizbollah fighters could be heard echoing off the low hills of the border area. Overhead, Israeli jets and drones circled unheeded by a crowd full of Hizbollah members and supporters. Before long, the yellow and green flag of the Shia group was fluttering.
Dr Yousef Akkash was among the mourners. His brother, killed along with his wife and eight children earlier in the day when Israeli planes obliterated their home, was possibly a member of Hizbollah, but Akkash was not sure. 'I hope he was,' Akkash said. 'If he was engaged in Hizbollah activities, then it was his fate.' But it was a fate that lay in the hands of shadowy men in different countries.
Israeli diplomats last week insisted on an 'axis of evil' linking Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Hizbollah, Damascus and Tehran. 'They are united to destabilise the situation and act against the wills of most people and governments in the region to progress a peace process,' said Barnea Hassid, an Israeli spokesman.
The argument here is simple. The past few months have seen several developments that have displeased those who stand to benefit from continued strife. There has been an improvement in relations between moderate Palestinian leaders and Olmert, who is committed to a disengagement of Israeli forces and settlers from the West Bank and hints that even elements of Hamas might be shifting towards a more pragmatic position. In addition, the Syrians, forced to leave Lebanon last year, have become marginalised and Hizbollah has begun to lose credibility. In addition, Tehran is under huge international pressure because of its nuclear programme. Nothing would benefit hardliners in Gaza, Lebanon, Damascus and Tehran more than a nasty and bloody war. 'It is a good thing for Damascus and Tehran,' said Spyer. 'They are largely behind what we are now seeing..'
However, experts point out that there is little history of contact between Hizbollah and the Sunni Muslim Hamas. And though a senior Hamas militant in Damascus is suspected of running the kidnapping of the Israeli soldier in Gaza, that does not mean, says one Western intelligence source, that the Hizbollah strike last week was part of a co-ordinated strategy. And the relationship between Iran and Hizbollah may be more nuanced than often thought. 'The Iranians are in trouble over the nuclear programme, and the Syrians are under pressure, too, and chaos and diversions benefit both,' said Nadim Shehadi, of London's Chatham House think tank. 'But Hizbollah is more linked to Tehran than Damascus.'
An axis may exist, but in a rougher, more informal form than the tight-knit institutional connections seen by the Israelis and their allies. 'If you ignore state borders, you can see a broad anti-American and anti-Israeli front, with Iran leading it. They are playing a clever game. The Iranians are playing chess: their opponents are playing poker.'
One critical question is the degree of support that Hizbollah, which has a well-armed militia and a large social programme, has among Lebanon's poor Shias. The consensus is that the militia had been losing support before the crisis. That may be one reason for Wednesday's attack, even if the reaction of the Israelis was greater than foreseen. 'Hizbollah was being squeezed,' said Steinberg. 'It was "use-it-or-lose-it" time.'
Initially, it looked as if those tactics might have worked. On Wednesday night, as news of the kidnapping broke, teenagers on motorbikes rode up and down Beirut seafront waving the party's yellow flag and honking horns. Even after bombardment chewed up the highway to Damascus and put the airport out of action, celebrants were setting off firecrackers. But as the extent of Israel's onslaught on Lebanon's infrastructure became clear, the atmosphere changed.
'In 1982, I was anti-Israel,' presidential candidate Chibli Mallat told The Observer. 'But this offensive has been provoked by a blatant violation of the demarcation line and the abduction of soldiers. I cannot put the blame on the Israelis. They did not start it.'
Few Lebanese accept Hizbollah's claim that its aim was to barter the release of the handful of Lebanese still held in Israeli jails: they blame Hizbollah for plunging Lebanon back into war. Everywhere there is widespread recognition that, even if the Lebanese government, with its pro-Syrian President and predominantly anti-Syrian administration and parliament, wanted to rein in Hizbollah, it could not. 'The Israelis blame the Lebanese government for not controlling Hizbollah,' said architect Simone Kosremelli. 'Is Italy able to control the Mafia? Could England control the IRA? Israel must know that 50 years of conflict have not brought a solution. There must be another way.'
If there is, it will almost certainly involve the international community. Vladimir Putin, Russia's leader, had hoped to use this weekend's G8 summit to showcase the economic progress in his nation. Officially, education and the fight against HIV head the agenda, but attention has focused on the Middle East - and divisions between the summiteers. The splits echoed those over Iraq three years ago, with France's Jacques Chirac leading condemnation of the Israelis, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso saying that the use of force by Israel was 'disproportionate', Putin calling for the Israeli response to be more 'balanced' and President Bush avoiding any condemnation of Israel, saying 'the best way to stop the violence is for Hizbollah to lay down its arms and to stop attacking.'
However, with a meeting this weekend of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo disintegrating in mutual recriminations, the EU lacking a clear strategy and the UN lacking credibility, the Americans may hold the real key. 'The Israelis tend to go as far as they can, as quickly as they can, to make their point and strengthen their negotiating position before the international pressure on them gets too much to bear,' said one Western diplomat. 'The US can bring 10 times as much pressure to bear as anyone else.'
Bush has so far largely left discussions with Israeli leaders to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Rice, after conversations with UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, has backed the dispatch of a UN team to the region to attempt to negotiate a truce, but few believe it has much chance of immediate success.
A key question is whether Israel will escalate its military response to Hizbollah's continued provocation - yesterday rockets fell deeper and deeper inside Israel. A spokesman refused to rule out a ground offensive, though casualties would be high and the political fall-out of a botched operation potentially devastating. However it may be that a negotiated settlement - exchanging prisoners in Israeli jails as part of a more general agreement that would see the return of the captured Israeli troops and Hizbollah pulling back from the frontier - is possible. Though Israeli demands for the disarmament of Hizbollah may be unrealistic in the short term, they may not be in the long term.
However, it may be that a fuse has been lit. 'The nightmare scenario is war in Gaza, widespread war against the Israelis in Lebanon and between factions, Syria and Iran being dragged into the conflict and a steady escalation from there to who knows where, widespread conflict, oil prices through the ceiling, bombs going off all over the place' said the diplomat. 'You don't usually see the nightmare scenario evolve in the Middle East but, if it does, we are all in deep, deep trouble.'
Perhaps the most hopeful sign is that the vast bulk of the Lebanese and Israeli populations still do not wish harm on one another, though tensions have heightened antagonisms and, in Israel at least, provoked a strong pro-war solidarity.
During a rocket barrage on Friday afternoon, a missile landed in a kibbutz on the edge of the northern Israeli town of Nahariya. As the community had already been almost entirely evacuated, there were no casualties.
Avi Hever, a long-time resident, was one of just four men who chose to stay behind after the first missiles landed last week. 'I was watching TV when I heard the missile go over the house and explode,' he said. 'I went into a safe place between the two walls and the house was shaking all over. Its unpleasant, shocking; it makes you freeze.'
Pointing to empty rooms, he explained that he has sent his wife and two children to his family in Tel Aviv, an exodus mirroring that of Lebanese civilians further north. The Observer asked if he sympathised with those caught up in the same conflict living just a few miles away over the border.
'It's quite hard to feel empathy at the moment, when just 10 minutes ago a rocket hit here and I was in danger. But empathy will come,' he said, glancing across the neat houses, with their groomed front lawns, the Star of David flags flapping defiantly from the rooftops. 'We do want peace and the Lebanese want the same as us. But it's up to them now; they have to choose which way they want to organise their life, with Hizbollah or without it.'
Outside the village of Damour on Lebanon's coast, holes that are dozens of feet wide have shattered a key highway overpass that connects Beirut to the south of the country. It is also the only way out of the war zone for many of south Lebanon's residents, who have been clambering over the piles of rubble and around the craters on their way to Beirut or the northern Bekaa Valley and safety.
'This is a fight between Hizbollah and Israel,' said Umm Mohammed, 36, a Shia woman from outside Tyre. 'Why must they hurt civilians? I have small children.' And she looked nervously to the sky.
Key Players of the Conflict
Sheik Hassan Nasrallah: Chief of Hizbollah in Lebanon
Has close links to Syria and Iran. Told Israel: 'You wanted an open war and we are heading for an open war'.
Bashar Assad: President of Syria
Denied being behind the Hizbollah attack. Syria's relations with Lebanon strained since last year's killing of former Lebanese premier Rafif Hariri that led to withdrawal of Syrian troops.
Fouad Siniora: Lebanese Prime Minister Critic of Syria
but he has been so far unable to disarm Hizbollah, a group he calls 'legitimate resistance'. In a difficult position with two Hizbollah ministers in his cabinet.
Ehud Olmert: Israeli Prime Minister
Said he would agree to a ceasefire if Hizbollah returned the two captured soldiers and stopped firing rockets but has rejected calls for restraint from UN's Kofi Annan.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: President of Iran
Iran was where Hizbollah was founded and it retains close links. Tehran warns of a 'fierce response' if Israel strikes at Syria.
Countdown to Crisis
25 January: Hamas defeats moderate Fatah in Palestinian elections.
10 April: EU severs political contact and suspends direct aid to Palestinian government.
9 June: Hamas calls off 16- month military truce after seven members of a Palestinian family are killed on a Gaza beach by Israel shell. Four days later a family of nine die in Israeli missile strike in Gaza.
25 June: Palestinian militants launch raid into Israel, killing two Israeli soldiers and kidnapping Cpl Gilad Shalit.
29 June: Israel troops, having pushed into Gaza, detain Hamas lawmakers and cabinet members. Air strikes.
12 July: Hizbolla captures two Israeli soldiers and kills eight. Israel calls it 'act of war' and widens Gaza offensive, killing 24 civilians. Air strikes destroy 10 bridges in Lebanon, and hit power stations and a water facility.
13 July: Israel bombs Palestinian Foreign Ministry and Bierut airport. Navy blockades Lebanese ports. The US
14 July: Israel bombs Beirut-Damascus road and Shia suburbs of Bierut: 67 Lebanese civilians dead. Hizbollah launches 130 missiles at Israel, killing at least two civilians. Israeli ship is hit by an explosives- filled drone, four dead.
15 July: In the village of Marwaheen - 500 yards from the Israeli border, an air strike kills up to 13.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,1821573,00.html
The Observer:
Israel's response risks its security
Henry Siegman
Sunday July 16, 2006
In Lebanon as in Gaza, it is not Israel's right to protect its civilian population from terrorist aggression that is at issue. It is the way Israel goes about exercising that right.
Despite bitter lessons from the past, Israel's political and military leaders remain addicted to the notion that, whatever they have a right to do, they have a right to overdo, to the point where they lose what international support they had when they began their retaliatory measures.
Israel's response to the terrorist assault in Gaza and the outrageous and unprovoked Hizbollah assault across its northern border in Lebanon, far from providing protection to its citizens, may well further undermine their security by destabilising the wider region.
On the surface, the situations in Gaza and in Lebanon may seem similar, but there are important differences. No matter how one judges the rights and wrongs of the recent Hamas assaults and Israeli reprisals, in Gaza the fundamental casus belli is Israel's occupation that has now lasted for nearly 40 years. Israel's leaders continue to suffer from the delusion they can defeat violent Palestinian resistance to that occupation without offering the Palestinians a credible, non-violent political path to statehood, promised in various international agreements.
Following the precedent set by Ariel Sharon with his unilateral disengagement from Gaza, his successor as Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, believes that if Israel dodges the bullet of a bilateral peace negotiation with the Palestinians - something it has successfully done so far by claiming 'there is no Palestinian partner for peace' - it will be able to create unilaterally a rump Palestinian state that will leave in Israeli hands large chunks of Palestinian territory and make a mockery of Palestinian national aspirations.
Despite the massive imbalance of forces, the Palestinians will never abide such an outcome. In 1988 and in 1993, as part of the Oslo agreement, they recognised Israel's legitimacy in 78 per cent of what used to be the Palestine mandate, leaving themselves with 22 per cent, less than half the territory assigned to them by the United Nations in 1947. No Palestinian leader, now or in the future, will agree to further Israeli land grabs to accommodate settlements established in violation of international agreements and international law, whose illegality even the utterly one-sided Bush administration has had to concede. On this territorial issue, as on that of Israel's efforts to deny Palestinians the right to site the capital of their prospective state in East Jerusalem, there is no daylight between any of the Palestinian parties. President Mahmoud Abbas would be no less unyielding on these issues in a negotiation with Israel than would Hamas.
On the other side of the Israeli-Palestinian divide, if Hamas wishes to enable the international community, and particularly European countries, to end sanctions that have so brutally punished the Palestinians, it must at least be prepared to say that, even if it is now unwilling to pronounce on Israel's legitimacy - given Israel's continued violation of previous agreements and its ongoing theft of Palestinian land for its settlements - the elimination of the state of Israel is not Hamas's goal. Rather its goal is a sovereign Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamas must understand that Palestinian violence to punish Israelis is self-defeating. The new Hamas regime will achieve nothing if it is not prepared to offer Israel a non-violent political path to security within Israel's pre-1967 borders. Hamas cannot have it both ways: it cannot demand recognition by the international community as the legitimate government of the Palestinian Authority if it is not willing to enforce law and order. It must be willing to suppress the various militias and end their illegal activities. Otherwise, its proposals for a hudna [truce] with Israel remain meaningless.
Similarly, the Lebanese government cannot allow the uninhibited operation of Hizbollah's militia and its freedom to violate international borders at will and still maintain its own legitimacy. That said, Israel will quickly lose what international support it had for opposing Hizbollah's terrorism if it continues its assaults in Lebanon without regard to the consequences not only for Lebanon and for the wider region, but for its own long-term security as well.
Indeed, the point of Hizbollah's aggression is the expectation that Israel would act in ways that will only deepen its isolation. Nothing is likely to achieve the goal of Israel's enemies more effectively than disproportionate measures that even its friends cannot support.
Hizbollah's naked aggression against Israel has nothing to do with the Palestinian cause. The two are linked only in the following sense: Hizbollah would not have attacked Israel if it could not have invoked Israel's assaults on Gaza's civilian population as its pretext. As long as Israel's policies allow this conflict to fester, it remains vulnerable to the depredations of radical groups that will exploit the Palestinian tragedy for their own ends.
· Henry Siegman is a Senior Fellow on the Middle East at the Council on Foreign Relations, a visiting professor at the Sir Joseph Hotung Middle East Program of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and former head of the American Jewish Congress. These views are his own.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/focus/story/0,,1821576,00.html
The Observer:
Massacre of Haiti innocents
The shaky peace that has held since February's election was shattered two days ago by a shanty town bloodbath of men, women and children, reports Reed Lindsay in Port-au-Prince
Sunday July 16, 2006
The killings began before dawn. Men armed with automatic rifles walked through the hillside slum of Grand Ravine, warning of a fire and yelling for residents to come out of their cinder-block and sheet-metal shacks. Those who obeyed were gunned down.
Several hours later, Haitian morgue workers and UN peacekeepers from Sri Lanka piled bodies in one of the slum's main thoroughfares, a rocky stream bed at the bottom of the ravine after which the neighbourhood is named. The body count totalled 21, including three women and four children. Most of the victims were killed with a bullet to the head.
Yves Jean-Philippe, a 56-year-old street vendor, was found in a dirt courtyard, his eye socket ripped apart by a bullet. Alnosia Desir, wife of a Christian pastor, was shot in the mouth and throat in her bedroom. The body of Jean Willerme Sanon, 12, lay face down on a twisting pathway, his head split in half.
'What is shocking is that all victims appear to have been innocents. We're talking about women and little children - these were no bandits,' said Jean Gabriel Ambrose, the Port-au-Prince JP whose job is to verify the names and ages of victims of violent crimes, along with the cause of death, before the bodies are taken to the morgue.
The massacre was as unexpected as it was gruesome. For several weeks, rival gangs had exchanged fire in a turf war over control of the slum. But the massacre that took place last Friday was so arbitrary - family members, neighbours, human rights observers and police all agree the victims were not gang members - that UN and Haitian officials believe it may have been in part an attempt to destabilise the newly elected government of President Rene Preval.
'I don't believe it was a spontaneous attack,' said Desmond Molloy, who heads the UN's disarmament, demobilisation and re-integration programme in Haiti. 'This massacre creates an atmosphere of fear and, when people are afraid, it's very hard to establish any degree of stability.'
The killings in Grand Ravine have shattered five months of relative peace that had followed Preval's landslide victory on 7 February. The election marked the first sign of improvement after two years of severe crisis and violence that followed US Marines whisking former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide into exile in February 2004.
Preval came to power supported by many members of Haiti's tiny but powerful elite. The daily firefights between UN peacekeepers and armed groups loyal to Aristide in the sprawling slum of Cite Soleil stopped, and a surge in kidnappings that had panicked foreigners and Haiti's small number of middle and upper classes abated.
In Grand Ravine and the neighbouring slum of Martissant, opposing gangs made peace during a 19 March football match sponsored by the UN. But the truce did not last long. 'In recent weeks, we'd been aware of a heightening of tensions among the gangs along political and territorial lines,' said Molloy.
On one side was a gang based in Grand Ravine associated with Aristide's Lavalas party. On the other were two allied gangs in neighbouring slums, one based in an area called Ti Bwa, while the second was opposed to Aristide and called the Little Machete Army. The latter earned its name at another football match in Martissant in August 2005 that ended in bloodshed when police officers began shooting in the stadium and the machete-wielding gang hacked to death the fleeing spectators.
Both residents of Grand Ravine and Haitian government officials blame the Little Machete Army and the Ti Bwa gang for the massacre last Friday. What remains a mystery is what provoked these gangs to murder more than 20 innocent people.
Haitian police chief Mario Andresol suspects the attack is related to the killings at last year's football match, which appeared to be a joint effort by the Little Machete Army, backed by rogue police officers, to eliminate the Grand Ravine gang. Andresol arrested 15 police officers for their alleged participation in the stadium killings, but the judge handling the case has since released most of them, including two senior officers, Renan Etienne and Carlo Lochard.
Some residents of Grand Ravine accuse Lochard of reuniting with the Machete Army since his release. 'The same police officers who made the alliance with the Machete Army are the ones who helped commit the massacre,' said Joseph Albert, an unemployed resident of Grand Ravine. 'Lochard has given them guns and money.'
Andresol was confirmed by the senate to continue his term as police chief the day before the massacre occurred, leading some observers to speculate that the killings represented a warning to him.
Since the massacre, Sri Lankan peacekeepers have so far managed to ward off more violence. But dozens, perhaps hundreds, of the area's poor residents have fled anyway.
The UN and Haitian police have launched an investigation into the massacre, but hopes of identifying those who pulled the trigger, not to mention those who provided the guns, remain dim.
'This is my 13th conflict, and it's been the toughest one to find out what's really going on,' said Molloy, a former Irish army officer who headed the UN's disarmament programme in Sierra Leone before coming to Haiti in 2004. 'It's very difficult to nail down the motives behind actions in Haiti and there's often a mix of political, economic and territorial motives at play.'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1821479,00.html
posted by attilav at 16:44
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