Elsewhere Today (418)
Aljazeera:
'Up to 150' abducted in Baghdad
Tuesday 14 November 2006, 14:36 Makka Time, 11:36 GMT
Armed men in Iraqi police uniforms have abducted dozens of men from a government building in central Baghdad.
An interior ministry source said that 20 employees from the higher education ministry were seized, but a spokeswoman for the department itself said "100 or maybe 150" had been taken, including visitors to the building.
The gunmen drove up to the ministry's research directorate in the religiously mixed Karrada district in government vehicles.
Brigadier Abd al-Karim Khalaf, the interior ministry spokesman, said: "All interior ministry forces are on alert, searching for this group. We don't know if it's terrorists, militias or even government forces."
Alaa Makki, the head of the parliamentary education committee, said both Shias and Sunnis had been abducted in the raid and urged the government to rapidly respond to what he called a "national catastrophe".
Men abducted
Makki said the gunmen had a list of names of those to be taken and claimed to be on a mission from the government's anti-corruption body.
A female professor visiting at the time of the kidnappings said the gunmen forced men and women into separate rooms, handcuffed the men, and loaded them aboard about six pickup trucks.
The minister of higher education said that teaching in all of Baghdad's universities would be halted after the mass abduction.
Abed Dhiab al-Ujaili said: "We have no other option than to halt teaching in universities, at least in Baghdad, until we find out what happened.
"We are not ready to lose more professors."
Academics targeted
Academics are increasingly being singled out in sectarian violence, and thousands of professors and researchers have fled from the country.
A university dean and a Sunni geologist have been murdered in recent weeks. At least 155 education workers have been killed since the war began.
The security forces have been accused of taking part in, or turning a blind eye to several previous mass kidnappings which are believed to have been carried out by sectarian groups.
The Sunni minority have blamed many of the kidnappings on armed groups from the now dominant Shia parties, who control the interior ministry.
The higher education ministry is headed by a member of the main Sunni Arab political bloc.
Airstrike protest
In Shula, a predominantly Shia area of western Baghdad, mourners protested about what Iraqi officials said was a US raid that killed six people.
The US military declined to confirm any operation in the neighbourhood.
Interior ministry sources said 13 people were also wounded after US troops called in an air strike when they came under fire from al-Mahdi Army fighters loyal to cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Angry mourners chanted slogans criticising the US and supporting al-Sadr.
Agencies
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5860B721-A245-489F-AC97-F664C13F4357.htm
allAfrica: Annan Calls for High-Level Meeting
On Darfur As Militia Attacks Kill Some 40 People
UN News Service (New York) NEWS
November 13, 2006
Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called for a high-level meeting in Ethiopia this week involving the United States, European Union, Russia and China to discuss the deadly violence in Darfur, a United Nations spokesman said.
The announcement came as the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported nearly 40 civilian deaths in the last few days in attacks in Darfur by Arab militiamen - some of whom were backed by Sudanese military vehicles.
Along with the five permanent members of the Security Council and the European Union, Mr. Annan and the Chairman of the African Union also invited representatives from Congo, Gabon, Egypt, and the League of Arab States to the meeting in Addis Ababa that starts on Thursday, spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York.
Mr. Annan will attend the meeting as will representatives of the Sudanese Government, Mr. Dujarric said, adding that its purpose will be to "discuss ways in which to address the situation and move forward the peace process decisively."
Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping, Heidi Annabi, is currently in Addis Ababa after visiting Sudan where he held weekend meetings with President Omar Hassan Al Bashir and with the defence and foreign ministers. UNMIS said his discussions focused on Darfur, including the UN's support package for the African Union Mission in Darfur (AMIS).
The security situation continues to be volatile in all of Darfur's three states, with a number of reported deadly militia attacks on civilians, violent acts of banditry and clashes between Government and rebel forces in the past few days, UNMIS has reported.
In North Darfur on Friday, UNMIS said Arab militias attacked three villages, killing six civilians including four children, while in West Darfur, 300 armed militiamen backed by 18 military vehicles attacked camps for the internally displaced in the village of Sirba, killing 31 people and injuring 18 others, including women and children.
The Mission also said the attackers burned down almost 100 houses and, following this incident, 10 international non-governmental organization (NGO) staff members were relocated to El Geneina.
In a related development, Mr. Annan's latest report to the Security Council on Darfur, covering the month of September, deplores the increasing violence and repeats calls on all sides to negotiate, adding that UN efforts to strengthen the African Union force on the ground will not solve the underlying problem.
"Even as efforts to strengthen AMIS continue, it is important to reiterate that a comprehensive and lasting resolution to the crisis will come only through a broadbased political settlement, which will require the complete commitment of the Government and the rebel movements."
"This settlement will be achievable only if discussion and dialogue replace the bombings, attacks and counter-attacks of the last two months The suffering of the Darfurian population has lasted far too long."
Scores of tens of thousands of people are estimated to have died in Darfur as a result of the conflict between Government forces, allied militias and rebels seeking greater autonomy, and more than 2 million others have been displaced. However the Government has rejected the expansion of UNMIS to Darfur and at present the UN assists AMIS.
Mr. Dujarric said today that the UN was continuing to strengthen the African Union mission with a $21 million package that has the support of the African Union and the Sudanese Government.
Copyright © 2006 UN News Service. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200611131564.html
allAfrica: Rumble in Plateau:
Dariye Sacked, Declared Wanted
By Moses Ezulike and Muhammed Kabir, Jos /Kano
Daily Champion (Lagos) NEWS
November 14, 2006
Embattled Plateau State Governor, Chief Joshua Dariye who was impeached yesterday by the six-man faction of the State House of Assembly, after an investigative panel set up to try him for corruption, found him guilty of gross misconduct and abuse of office, is said to have fled the country.
Dariye was said to have fled through Kano on receiving the news of his impeachment, but was arrested. Other sources speculate that he is still holed up in Plateau, where he is taking refuge in a friend's house or he must have been arrested.
Howeever, the State Security Services (SSS) director in Kano, Baba Muhammed has denied knowledge of this arrest.
In his stead, his deputy, Mr. Michael Botmang was sworn in as the governor, by the state acting Chief Justice Lazarus Dakyen, who had earlier been sacked by Dariye.
In his acceptance speech, Botmang described his ascendance to power as "a child of necessity" and called on the people of the state to support him. He pledged to work with the people as well as to maintain an open door policy. He particularly urged members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to work together with him.
Dariye was said to have been removed by the minority faction of the house at 6.30am, under the guidance of some EFCC officials and military police personnel, who took strategic positions in and around the premises of the assembly complex. The sitting of the six-man legislature Daily Champion gathered did not last beyond 10 minutes.
Daily Champion gathered that the Dapialong team that has been in Jos in a hide out, since weekend were hurriedly brought into the chambers of the house where, they sat even without the cooperation of the clerk of the house, Mr Cornelius Sholbial, who has been in the custody of the EFCC.
The panel had adjourned Saturday evening till Monday, even with the Dariye's counsel, Mr. Pius Akubor, yet to finish with his cross-examination of star witnesses to the allegations, especially with Mr. Peter Clark, a detective and leader of the two-man team from the London Metropolitan Police, who had earlier unwittingly exonerated Dariye from the bail jumping saga in London, as well as the ownership of the controversial Flat 28 in East West London.
According to our findings, the sponsors of the Metro Police from London did not want a prolonged cross examination of their British associates, which was to have continued last Saturday, as sources reveal that the EFCC officials felt embarrassed with the testimonies of detective Clark, which they (Abuja forces) say, were on the verge of bungling of the impeachment plot, hence the sudden decision to send them packing from Nigeria.
Besides, three members of the probe panel, our sources further disclosed, were to have resigned yesterday, a situation that would have left the committee short of the maximum seven people required to do the bidding.
In a bid to abort all this, Daily Champion learnt that the Dapialong team were immediately mobilized after liaising with their Abuja benefactors "to just go and take the "suicide option" even if it ends in the law courts, after all how many court cases have been obeyed?"
At the swearing-in ceremony proper, at Government House, Ray-field, performed by the sacked former Acting Chief Judge of the state, Botmang, said his departure from his predecessor's style of governance, was that his "would be an all-inclusive administration", just as he described himself as a child of necessity.
Da Botmang who had before now been accused by Dariye's loyalists of playing a double role in the whole saga, described the occasion as "the day which the Lord has made, a day which is for all of us". He pleaded with the elders and members of his PDP to come on board and offer useful advice and input.
He pledged to work tenaciously to bring everybody together, alleging "there are people here who are only coming into this place for the first time since the last seven and half years.
"I will carry everybody along; it is for all of us, offer me your useful advice. There is nothing new about this assignment, but I want all the PDP people to join in this train", he said, assuring that he will work towards installing the PDP government in future elections.
The governor could not however hide his deep emotions when he announced to the delight of the people that the hitherto sacked Justice Dakyen remains the acting CJ of the state, just as he went round shaking hands with the people.
Out of the euphoria of the moment, the ex-deputy governor pledged to immediately change the car of his press secretary, which according to him, could not move all the while, except when pushed.
However, just as the programme, witnessed by Senator Cosmos Niagwam, the state police commissioner Mr. Ibiyinka Kayode, Commodore Jona Jang and Jimmy Cheto both of them PDP gubernatorial aspirants, as well as the party's chairman in the state, Mr. Jethro Akun, was ending, some of the hoodlums brought in by the PDP, went smashing the photograph of Chief Dariye on the walls, replacing them with that of Botmang.
Some residents among the Hausa community in the capital city, had long gone into wild jubilation as they marched past round Jos streets.
Police Public Relations Officer of the state, DSP Dominic Iornumbe, dismissed reports that Dariye may be in their custody.
Commissioner of information Mr. Yakubu Datti in an interview said that he was tendering his resignation letter alleging that he cannot be part of the charade and rape of democracy.
As at press time, the governor's state wide broadcast was still being expected.
Penultimate week, efforts by the 14 lawmakers of the state House of Assembly who have been staunch supporters of the governor, to save his neck, suffered a major set-back. The high court in Jos dismissed the suit filed by Simon Lalong, the "suspended" Speaker, who sought to prevent Mike Dapialong from parading himself as the Speaker of the House.
Dariye's camp suffered further defeat as the 14 legislators who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to Action Congress, AC, lost the suit they filed against the six lawmakers. The 14 lawmakers wanted the court to dismiss as unconstitutional the impeachment notice filed on the governor on the grounds that six members could not have formed a quorum in a House of 24 members.
But Lalong, insisted that what happened on October 5, when eight members of the House appointed Dapialong as pro tempore Speaker, was unconstitutional and an act of illegality. EFCC officials and police escort accompanied the lawmakers, who had been in their custody, to Jos. Two of the eight legislators, Pang Dongs and Peter Azi, who purportedly participated later through their lawyers, dissociated themselves from it, claiming that they acted under duress from officials of EFCC.
Before the impeachment yesterday, efforts by the EFCC to bring the governor to justice had been frustrated by the state House of Assembly despite the overwhelming accusations of looting and money laundering against Dariye. Indeed, the allegations against him are weighty. On September 2, 2004, Dariye was arrested and questioned in London by the Metropolitan Police. After a search of his hotel room, the sum of £80,000 was allegedly found. Dariye was later granted bail pending the conclusion of the case but he jumped police bail and returned to Nigeria to continue in office.
This, however, fizzled into insignificance. But shortly after the state of emergency which lasted for six months was lifted, Akin Olujimi, the then Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, forwarded a list of allegations against the governor to the state House of Assembly, asking the House to investigate the governor.
Rather than investigate the governor, however, Lalong said the priority of the House after the emergency rule was to consolidate on the prevailing peace. As part of the EFCC efforts to charge Dariye for money laundering, the commission wrote to the state House of Assembly. The legislators, however, claimed that the EFCC's letter was tampered with and that some pages of the report were missing. But it later set up an eight-man committee, headed by Usman Musa, the deputy Speaker, to investigate the allegations.
The committee gave Dariye a clean bill, claiming that upon the oral and documented evidence submitted to the House, the allegations were unsubstantiated and completely borne out of misconception and deliberate falsehood.
Meanwhile, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has declared wanted the impeached governors of Plateau and Ekiti states, Chief Joshua Dariye and Mr. Ayodele Fayose, respectively.
The commission said the two governors are wanted to assist ongoing investigation of allegations of corruption, abuse of office, fraudulent conversion of funds and money laundering.
Dariye was impeached Monday morning in a controversial manner by six members of the 24-member Plateau State House of Assembly.
A statement by head, media and publicity, EFCC, Mr. Osita Nwaja, noted that "while there is reasonable suspicion that Dariye is still in hiding in Jos, members of the public are hereby advised to note that the suspect has demonstrated a criminal ability to sneak undetected out of countries whenever he is wanted by law enforcement agencies to answer questions on alleged criminal conduct.
The statement added that Dariye speaks English, Hausa and Mushere fluently.
Fayose was also impeached in a controversial manner by the Ekiti State House of Assembly on Monday, October 18.
According to the EFCC statement, he was sighted last in Ibadan, Oyo State, "where, apart from Lagos and Ekiti, he has several properties, suspected to be proceeds of crime, even as it added that he is about 1.8m tall and speaks Yoruba and English.
The statement called on anyone who has information as to the whereabouts of Dariye and Fayose to immediately contact EFCC or the nearest police station or other security agencies.
Copyright © 2006 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
http://allafrica.com/stories/200611140064.html
AlterNet:
Bechtel Bails on Iraq
By Antonia Juhasz, AlterNet
Posted on November 14, 2006
Last month, the Bechtel Corp. became the first major U.S. contractor to announce that it was pulling out of Iraq. Bechtel's departure marks yet another significant failure for Bush's economic invasion of Iraq. It does not mark, however, the end of Bechtel's adventures in the Middle East as the company looks to take advantage of the Bush administration's expanding U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area.
Bechtel received a quiet "request for proposals" from the Bush administration more than a month before the war began, which ultimately yielded the company $2.4 billion for work on electricity, water, sewage treatment, bridges, highways, airports, hospitals, schools and more.
It is virtually impossible to assess the performance of any one company working in Iraq. Only one independent monitoring agency exists, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction (SIGIR), a congressionally mandated office tasked with oversight of all U.S. spending on Iraq reconstruction. Of the 13,578 projects planned and paid for by the U.S. government for work in Iraq, SIGIR has assessed just 65.
But even this limited oversight allows us to debunk claims made by Bechtel. For example, the company reports that it rebuilt "war-damaged bridges on key highways." But SIGIR's October report to Congress finds that "no bridge or expressway projects have been completed" in Iraq.
Bechtel also claims that it failed to build a key maternal and children's hospital in Basra because of "security concerns." While SIGIR, on the other hand, makes clear that it ordered Bechtel to be dropped from the $50 million project after the company misreported its progress and went $90 million over budget and a year and a half behind schedule.
SIGIR's October report also allows us to clearly assess the overall failure of U.S. reconstruction in Iraq. In the electricity sector, less than half of all planned projects in Iraq have been completed, while 21 percent have yet to even begin. The term "complete," however, can be misleading as, for example, SIGIR finds that the electricity sector has been hampered by the failure of contractors to build transmission and distribution lines to connect new generators to homes and businesses. Thus, nationally, Iraqis have just 11 hours on average of electricity a day, and in Baghdad, the heart of instability in Iraq, there are between four and eight hours on average per day.
While there has been greater success in completing water and sewage projects (79 percent are complete), electricity controls both water and sewage in Iraq. Therefore, the fact that 80 percent of potable water projects are reported complete does little good if there is no electricity to pump the water into homes, hospitals or businesses.
The health care sector is truly a tragedy, with just 36 percent of planned projects reported complete. Just 12 of 20 planned hospitals are complete, while only six of 150 planned public health centers are serving patients today.
What went wrong? U.S. Air Force Col. Sam Gardiner, author of a U.S. government study of the likely effect that U.S. bombardment would have on Iraq's power system in 2003, answered the question well when he said, "Frankly, if we had just given the Iraqis some baling wire and a little bit of space to keep things running, it would have been better. But instead we've let big U.S. companies go in with plans for major overhauls."
Companies like Bechtel entered Iraq with hopes of cashing in on much more than reconstruction contracts. As Cliff Mumm, head of Bechtel's Iraq operation, said in December 2003, Iraq "has two rivers, it's fertile, it's sitting on an ocean of oil. Iraq ought to be a major player in the world. And we want to be working for them long term."
Bechtel's vision was part of a larger Bush administration plan to transform Iraq from a state- to a market-controlled economy virtually overnight and by U.S. fiat. The administration implemented new laws in Iraq (virtually all of which remain in place today) allowing for, among other things, the privatization of Iraq's state-owned enterprises and for American companies to receive preferential treatment over Iraqis in the awarding of contracts.
So, Bechtel was hired instead of the Iraqi companies who had successfully rebuilt their country after the previous U.S. invasion. And, since Bechtel's contract guaranteed that all of its costs would be covered, plus a set rate of profit, it took its time, spending its first five months in Iraq doing a countrywide assessment rather than rebuilding. Bechtel then worked on expensive new facilities that showcased its skills and would serve its needs were it to run the systems itself one day (and which have proven far too expensive for Iraqis to run). The Iraqis, meanwhile, knew that the Americans had received billions of dollars for reconstruction, that Iraqi companies had been rejected, and that the country was still without basic services. The result was increasing hostility, acts of sabotage targeted directly at foreign contractors and their work, and a rising insurgency.
In the end, Iraq has not emerged as the wealthy free market haven companies like Bechtel had hoped for, at least not yet (the economic policies put in place by the Bush administration remain and the work is on-going to turn Iraq into a corporate-friendly Middle East Mecca). However, the war has not been completely useless.
One month after the invasion of Iraq, President Bush announced plans for a U.S. Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) to expand his economic vision from Iraq to the rest of the Middle East. The war intensified the pressure on countries to prove that they were with, rather than against, the Unitede States. As a result, the MEFTA has progressed rapidly, with 14 nations signing agreements with the administration.
Bechtel is a member of the U.S. Middle East Free Trade Coalition, the corporate lobbying group behind MEFTA. Thanks to the MEFTA, a new free trade agreement expected to be signed with the United Arab Emirates this year is already opening new opportunities for U.S. firms, including Bechtel. The company was recently hired by the Abu Dhabi Ports Co. of the UAE to manage the construction of a major new industrial zone at the country's Khalifa Port.
While Bechtel turns its attention beyond Iraq, U.S. taxpayers, must remain focused. Those companies that have failed in Iraq must be held accountable and forced to return all misspent funds. This money, plus the several billions of as of yet unspent U.S. reconstruction money, and new money, must be made immediately available to Iraqi companies and workers. The U.S. corporate invasion of Iraq of must be brought to a quick end and it must not be allowed to spread.
Several key committees in the U.S. Congress are set to be run by allies in this fight. Most notably, congressman Henry Waxman of California, who will chair the House committee on government reform. Now is the time to push hard and push often to expose the companies and demand action from our newly empowered elected officials.
Antonia Juhasz is a visiting scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and author of "The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time" and contributing author with John Perkins to the forthcoming book, "A Game as Old as Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption."
© 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved.
View this story online at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/44251/
Clarín: Hamas asegura que el nuevo
gobierno de unidad palestino no reconocerá a Israel
Es una de las medidas que exigía EE.UU. y Europa para levantar el asfixiante bloqueo económico que mantienen desde la llegada del movimiento islámico al gobierno. Los sectores políticos palestinos tampoco aceptarán una solución de dos Estados.
Clarín.com, 14.11.2006
El nuevo gobierno de unidad palestina que encabezará el académico Mohamed Shubair, no reconocerá a Israel ni aceptará la existencia de dos estados como solución al conflicto existente, afirmó hoy el portavoz del grupo islámico Hamas.
Al realizar la revelación, Fawzi Barhoum, vocero de Hamas, aseguró también que la postura fue aceptada por Al Fatah, el partido del presidente Mahmud Abbas, informó hoy el diario El Mundo en su edición digital.
"No se ha pedido al próximo gobierno que reconozca a Israel y no lo reconocerá", declaró el número dos del buró político de Hamas, Mussa Abú Marzuk, basado en Damasco. "Esta cuestión de reconocimiento de Israel es sin precedente en el plano internacional. No se pidió a las dos Alemanias (del oeste y del este) que se reconocieran mutuamente cuando el mundo entero las había reconocido", agregó
Esta postura podría socavar los esfuerzos palestinos para formar un Gobierno de unidad aceptable para Israel y Estados Unidos que, además, permita que Occidente levante las sanciones financieras impuestas hace ocho meses cuando Hamas alcanzó el gobierno.
Barhoum aseguró que la agenda del Gobierno de unidad nacional acordada entre esta organización y el presidente Abbas, "no reconocerá Israel y no incluirá la solución de dos estados". "Rechazamos la solución de dos estados, que es la visión del presidente de Estados Unidos, George W. Bush, porque representa un reconocimiento claro de Israel", aseguró Barhoum.
"Nuestra posición en este punto no ha cambiado. Rechazamos entrar en un gobierno que reconozca a Israel", agregó. Al considerar a Hamas una organización terrorista, cuando ese grupo llegó al poder Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea cortaron las ayudas al pueblo palestino.
Por ello, desde abril pasado el Gobierno palestino tuvo que suspender pagos a más de 165.000 trabajadores. Tanto Washington como Bruselas pidieron a Hamas que reconozca la existencia de Israel, que renuncie a la violencia y que reconsidere los acuerdos de paz existentes si quiere ser reconocido y que se eliminen las sanciones.
Copyright 1996-2006 Clarín.com - All rights reserved
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2006/11/14/um/m-01309298.htm
Guardian:
Up to 150 kidnapped from Baghdad institute
James Sturcke and agencies
Tuesday November 14, 2006
Dozens of people were killed and scores kidnapped today as insurgents in Iraq unleashed new levels of violence.
Up to 150 academics, staff and visitors were abducted when around 80 gunmen stormed a Baghdad research institute in the largest mass kidnap since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein more than three years ago.
In other attacks, at least 82 people were killed or found dead around the country. The worst violence occurred when a car bomb exploded in the Shia suburb of Sadr City, killing at least 21 people and wounding 25. There were also reports that up to 31 people had died in the Sunni stronghold of Ramadi in what local people said was a US military raid.
Today' s events unfurled as Tony Blair addressed a Washington panel that is considering George Bush's strategy on Iraq.
The armed kidnappers - wearing interior ministry commando uniforms - arrived at the research institute, at the ministry of higher education in the religiously-mixed Karrada area, in a fleet of 20 vehicles at around 9.30am local time (0630 GMT), authorities said.
Alaa Makki, the head of the Iraqi parliament's education committee, interrupted a parliamentary session to say that between 100 and 150 people, a group comprising both Shias and Sunnis, had been abducted. Three were later found unharmed in an eastern suburb. The fate of the others is unknown.
Mr Makki urged the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and the ministers of the interior and defence to respond rapidly to what he described as a "national catastrophe".
He said the gunmen had a list of names of those to be abducted, and claimed to be on a mission from the government's anti-corruption body. The kidnapped included the institute's deputy general directors, employees and visitors.
Iraq's higher education minister, Abed Theyab, instantly ordered all universities to be closed until security was improved, saying he was "not ready to see more professors get killed".
"I have only one choice, which is to suspend classes at universities," he told the Iraqi parliament.
He said the mass kidnapping had been "a quick operation", taking between 10 and 15 minutes, with the gunmen moving throughout the four-storey institute building.
Police and eyewitnesses said around 80 gunmen closed off streets surrounding the ministry of higher education and the research institute, which is responsible for granting scholarships to Iraqi professors and students wishing to study abroad.
A female professor, who was visiting the institute as the kidnappings happened, said the gunmen forced men and women into separate rooms. The men were then handcuffed and herded on to around six pickup trucks.
The gunmen - some of them masked - wore blue camouflage uniforms of the kind used by police commandos. The women were not kidnapped, but had their mobile phones taken from them.
The Iraqi Islamic party, the largest Sunni Muslim group in the country, called the kidnapping "not only a crime but a major political farce".
"How can 50 new vehicles move in ... the area most heavily controlled by security agencies in the middle of the day?" the party said in a statement.
The Shia-dominated interior ministry has repeatedly denied any collusion with death squads operating in Iraq. The higher education minister is a member of the Iraqi Accordance Front, a Sunni group in the government.
In recent weeks, a university dean and a prominent Sunni geologist have been killed, bringing the death toll among education professionals to at least 155 since the war began in 2003.
This morning's car bomb ripped through a crowded market area in central Baghdad, according to police. The blast occurred in Rasheed Street, a popular commercial area in the Iraqi capital.
In Ramadi, police and medical workers said at least 31 Iraqis were killed in clashes. A medic at Ramadi hospital said those killed were civilians who died in shelling by US tanks. A police spokesman said 20 people were killed but gave no further information. Other reports suggested the death toll had risen to 30. The US military said it was investigating the reports.
In other violence, seven minivan passengers were killed and two wounded in an ambush near Mandali on the Iranian border, police said.
Mr Blair will give evidence privately this afternoon via videolink to the Iraq Study Group (ISG), whose forthcoming recommendations are expected to pave the way for changes in Washington's strategy on Iraq.
Downing Street gave no indication of what Mr Blair would say to the ISG except that he would ensure the US panel was "fully briefed on UK ideas".
However, his message was expected to be similar to that in a major speech to the City last night, when he raised the prospect of a new relationship with Iran and Syria.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1947359,00.html
Guardian:
Uncle Sam no longer big in Asia
Simon Tisdall
Tuesday November 14, 2006
As a young man he was less than keen to go to Vietnam, but after his mid-term "thumping" George Bush may welcome the chance to hole up in Hanoi at this Friday's 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. Vietnam is a one-party state. After last week, the US no longer is.
Escape from the States or not, Mr Bush's attendance in Hanoi is necessitated by ongoing efforts to maintain US influence in a region increasingly dominated by China. Critics say Apec is being outstripped by rival organisations. Next month the Philippines will host the latest East Asia summit, a new Beijing-backed group that excludes Washington.
Apec is supposed to promote free trade and investment. Its communique is expected to urge a "last chance" rescue of the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) stalled Doha round of liberalisation measures. It will also raise the prospect of an Apec-wide free trade zone. Together the 21 member states account for nearly half of world trade.
But Mr Bush's hopes of furthering his free trade agenda by normalising trade ties with Vietnam's communist-capitalist bosses were dashed by Congress this week. Although the measure could be resurrected, the defeat was a sign of things to come. Many Democrats in the new congressional intake have adopted protectionist positions in response to voter concerns about "unfair" foreign competition. And Mr Bush's fast-track authority for approving a global trade deal will expire next July.
Much of the summit's unofficial work will take place off-stage. Mr Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, are finally expected to shake hands on Russian membership of the WTO, long delayed by US objections. That could help ease bilateral friction over Moscow's energy policies and its democratic deficit.
Mr Bush in turn will again press Mr Putin to back UN sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme. Russia halted discussions on a punitive resolution last week, prompting the US ambassador, John Bolton, to accuse Moscow of reneging on earlier undertakings.
Russian officials are in no hurry to endorse Washington's allegedly confrontational approach. "We have to be very careful not to derail the process. We must avoid a situation where we reach a point of no return, such as Iran withdrawing from the NPT [non-proliferation treaty]," a senior diplomat said.
The Apec meeting will see similar consultations over North Korea's recent nuclear test, involving China's president, Hu Jintao, the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe and other members of the six-party process. Oddly, North Korea was not invited to the summit even though it has agreed to resume negotiations.
Mr Bush will press South Korea to reconsider its refusal to help search the North's ships for WMD-related material. "The Republic of Korea is doing virtually nothing to impose a cost on the North," Michael Green, a former Bush official, told the Washington Post yesterday. Mr Hu and Mr Abe may prefer their new kiss-and-make-up policy.
Absent from Apec's agenda, official or unofficial, are issues of good governance, democracy and human rights. Mutual interest dictates that martial law in Thailand, corruption in Taiwan and Indonesia, free speech curbs in Singapore, racism in Australia, political persecution in China and for that matter torture and illegal detention by the US are not to be discussed. It seems Mr Bush's "freedom agenda" does not stretch to Asia.
That will suit the summit hosts. Although the US state department eased the way for Mr Bush this week by claiming that religious tolerance in Vietnam was improving, watchdogs say denial of fundamental political, civil and religious rights remains systemic.
A report by Human Rights Watch says mistreatment of homeless people is increasing before the showpiece summit. "Government round-ups to clear Hanoi's streets of 'wanderers' and 'vagrants' are landing street children in detention centres where some are beaten and subject to other forms of abuse," it says. "Street children are particularly vulnerable to arrest as the Vietnamese government attempts to present its best face."
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldbriefing/story/0,,1947692,00.html
Harper's Magazine:
Weekly Review
Posted on Tuesday, November 14, 2006. By Paul Ford
Midterm elections were held in the United States; the Republican Party lost its majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Six incumbent Republican senators, including Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, were defeated, and Santorum's daughter cried. Nancy Pelosi of California, who is expected to become the first female Speaker of the House, had lunch with President George W. Bush.[Reuters via Yahoo!][MSNBC][Boston.com] In Iraq the parliament extended the nationwide state of emergency by 30 days, and eight soccer players and fans were killed by mortar rounds. “We are the Shiite nation,” yelled a man from his hospital bed.[MSNBC] Three U.S. soldiers, four British soldiers, and 159 Iraqis were killed on a Sunday; [Aljazeerah.info][The Toronto Star] Baghdad's morgues were clogged. “Every day, there are crowds of women outside weeping, yelling, and flailing in grief,” said a morgue director. “They're all looking for their dead sons and I don't know how the computer or we will bear up.”[AP via Seattle Post-Intelligencer] The Saddam Hussein genocide trial resumed, even though Hussein was sentenced to death two days before the U.S. election.[MSNBC][ABC News Online] Fifty performances of “Saddam at the Gallows,” a new play due to open in Kolkata, India, had already sold out.[Reuters]
The principal of a high school in North Carolina apologized after an excerpt of a speech by Joseph Goebbels was played over the PA system during a soccer game,[CNN] and the walls of a prison in Missouri were painted pink and accented with stenciled teddy bears. “We made it like a day care,” explained Sheriff Mike Rackley.[CourtTVNews] Zama Ndebele, the wife of Premier S'bu Ndebele of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, promised to return her herd of Nguni cattle to the state in the wake of a cows-for-favors corruption scandal.[Business Day][IOL] Despite the objections of the Vatican, a gay rights rally was held in Jerusalem under the guard of nearly 3,000 police. Rabbi Yehuda Levin flew from Brooklyn to denounce the rally. “They are not,” said Levin, “being tolerant of our feelings.”[The New York Times] In Beit Hanun, Gaza, Israeli forces accidentally killed 18 civilians, including seven children; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the killings as a “technical failure.” The U.N. Security Council drafted a resolution condemning the attack, but the United States, represented by Ambassador John Bolton, vetoed it.[The Jerusalem Post][BBC News] Democratic senators made it clear that they would not confirm Bolton (who was installed as U.N. ambassador via recess appointment) to his position in 2007.[ABC News] Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman resigned,[CNN] and in Patna, India, twenty eunuchs were hired to sing, beat drums, and collect municipal taxes.[MSNBC]
Ed Bradley and Jack Palance died.[CBS News][Los Angeles Times.] Officials in Sydney, Australia, refused to allow a cargo ship to dock until a rogue monkey on board was captured or killed; the ship's crew later said that the monkey-a “small brown blur”-had probably been blown overboard during a typhoon.[The Age][SMH.com.au] The moon appeared to be leaking gas,[PhysOrg] there was a hurricane on Saturn,[ABC News Online] and fourteen ducklings were stomped to death in Florida.[TBO.com] The civil war in Iraq was breaking up marriages. “I love my husband, but my family has forced me to divorce him,” said Hiba Sami, a Shiite woman who was married to a Sunni man for 18 years. “We have four children and every day they cry because they miss their father.”[Reuters Alertnet] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned, and to replace him President Bush nominated Robert Gates, a member of the Iraq Study Group and former head of the CIA, who was investigated in 1991 by the office of the independent counsel for his role in the Iran-contra scandal, and was suspected to have passed military intelligence to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.[GlobalSecurity.org][Mercury News][The New York Times][BBC News][Newsday] To protest the Iraq war, a man named Malachi Ritscher committed suicide in Chicago by setting himself on fire next to a 25-foot-tall sculpture called “Flame of the Millennium.” Along with a self-penned obituary, the 52-year-old Ritscher posted a farewell message on his website in which he described the “deep shame” of a day in 2002 when he stood, knife in hand, next to Donald Rumsfeld, but was unable to bring himself to slash the defense secretary's throat. “I too love God and country,” wrote Ritscher, “and feel called upon to serve.”[Malachi Ritscher][Chicago Reader][Chicago Sun-Times] “Who's Rumsfeld?” asked Marine Lance Corporal James L. Davis Jr., who is serving in Zagarit, Iraq.[The New York Times]
This is Weekly Review by Paul Ford, published Tuesday, November 14, 2006. It is part of Weekly Review for 2006, which is part of Weekly Review, which is part of Harpers.org.
Written By
Ford, Paul
Permanent URL
http://harpers.org/WeeklyReview2006-11-14.html
Internazionale:
Brutale ironia in Iraq
Il militarismo occidentale e le dittature arabe sono le piaghe gemelle del mondo arabo moderno
Rami Khouri
Internazionale 667, 9 novembre 2006
C'è una certa ironia nel fatto che proprio il giorno in cui Saddam Hussein è stato giudicato colpevole e condannato a morte per aver torturato e ucciso migliaia di iracheni, l'ex governatore statunitense dell'Iraq Paul Bremer ha pubblicato un editoriale sul Wall Street Journal in cui elogiava il trionfo della giustizia in un paese un tempo terrorizzato dalla dittatura.
L'ironia nasce dalla sovrapposizione tra questi due uomini, molto diversi tra loro ma accomunati da un terribile destino: entrambi hanno governato l'Iraq provocando enormi sofferenze in un clima di violenza sistematica. I due sono fatti di una stoffa molto diversa, e hanno motivazioni e mezzi diversi.
L'affermazione di Bremer che "l'America ha compiuto una nobile impresa andando a liberare l'Iraq da quest'uomo malvagio" potrà essere discutibile, ma non cambia la dura realtà dell'Iraq di oggi. La storia un giorno darà il suo verdetto su questi due uomini che riflettono l'atroce convergenza tra le due forze più devastanti per il Medio Oriente moderno: il dispotismo arabo e il militarismo occidentale.
Nonostante le loro differenze, Paul Bremer e Saddam Hussein sono i simboli di questa tradizione. Bremer ha messo in ginocchio l'Iraq, ha scatenato un terribile conflitto interno e una grande sofferenza in nome della missione di promuovere la democrazia, la libertà e la legalità.
I motivi che hanno spinto lui e il suo paese ad andare in Iraq erano nobili, idealistici, forse un po' romantici, ma le loro intenzioni erano buone – se vogliamo credergli. Il regime del partito Baath in Iraq è stato un'interminabile catena di crudeltà e repressione istituzionalizzata. La sua caduta ha portato alla luce le torture e le violenze che aveva inflitto ai suoi cittadini. È chiaro che la maggior parte degli iracheni è felice della fine del regime e del fatto che Hussein e i suoi collaboratori siano sotto processo.
La storia però valuta le conseguenze delle scelte oltre che le motivazioni. L'abbattimento del regime baathista grazie a un intervento militare guidato dall'America ha provocato decine di migliaia di morti e feriti, e centinaia di migliaia di rifugiati. Il paese è devastato da una violenza cronica, alimentata da conflitti etnici e religiosi.
La coesione nazionale dell'Iraq come paese è stata messa in discussione, e se lo stato unitario dovesse crollare, le conseguenze per la regione potrebbero essere molto gravi.
L'influenza sempre maggiore dell'Iran è un'altra conseguenza della politica statunitense in Iraq, le cui implicazioni per la regione e per il mondo non sono ancora chiare. Con il trasferimento del potere da Saddam Hussein a Paul Bremer il terrore per gli iracheni ha solo cambiato forma. Non è più lo stato a terrorizzare la popolazione come ai tempi di Saddam, ora a far paura sono le varie fazioni irachene e arabe che cercano di cacciare gli americani, prendere il controllo del paese e attaccare le comunità rivali.
L'editoriale di Bremer vorrebbe contrapporre la missione americana fatta in nome della libertà al dispotismo e alle torture dei baathisti. Se la questione ci viene posta in questo modo, è facile scegliere la libertà. Ma è il modo giusto di porre il problema? O sarebbe più utile chiedersi se le conseguenze dell'autoritarismo arabo sono state più o meno terribili di quelle del militarismo occidentale?
Bremer dovrebbe chiedersi: è possibile usare il potere occidentale in modo più efficace e legittimo, collaborando con gli arabi democratici, per cancellare gradualmente la tradizione dell'autoritarismo mediorientale e degli stati di polizia? Questa oggi è la cosa più importante, perché molti dittatori arabi sono ancora al potere e opprimono i loro cittadini, spesso con l'appoggio degli Stati Uniti.
L'incoerenza degli americani nel promuovere la libertà e la democrazia in Medio Oriente ha messo gli arabi democratici nell'imbarazzante condizione di dover evitare in qualsiasi modo di essere associati con gli Stati Uniti, perché la politica di Washington è osteggiata in tutta la regione.
Quindi gli Stati Uniti si trovano nella condizione doppiamente imbarazzante di non poter promuovere la democrazia usando l'esercito per imporre cambiamenti di regime, e di non poter collaborare con la società civile araba per promuovere la democrazia con mezzi pacifici. Anche questa – la paralisi dell'America come promotrice credibile della democrazia – è una conseguenza della politica di Washington in Iraq.
I problemi più importanti legati al processo e alla condanna di Saddam Hussein non sono né i dettagli tecnici sulla correttezza e la legittimità del processo né la forza esemplare della condanna di un dittatore arabo destituito e messo di fronte alle sue responsabilità.
Il problema principale è che il militarismo occidentale e le dittature arabe sono piaghe gemelle del mondo arabo moderno. È un bene che il regime di Saddam Hussein non sia più in grado di brutalizzare il suo popolo; ma è un male che l'Iraq sia ancora sconvolto da nuove forme di sofferenza, di morte e di terrore provocate dall'invasione americana.
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Jeune Afrique: Le régime décrète l'état d'urgence
pour arrêter les violences
TCHAD - 13 novembre 2006 – AFP
Le gouvernement tchadien a décrété lundi l'état d'urgence sur l'essentiel de son territoire pour tenter d'enrayer les graves violences entre tribus arabes et non-arabes qui ont embrasé l'est du pays et fait plus de 300 morts et des milliers de déplacés.
Une dizaine de jours après le début de ces affrontements, les autorités de N'Djamena ont également décidé, lors d'un conseil des ministres extraordinaire, d'installer dans les régions sous état d'urgence des ministres aux pleins pouvoirs et de rétablir la censure pour la presse privée.
"Compte tenu de la gravité de la situation et de l'ampleur que prennent ces affrontements, le gouvernement a adopté un décret instituant l'état d'urgence dans les trois régions actuellement touchées, Ouaddaï, Wadi Fira (Biltine) et Salamat", dans l'extrême est du pays, a-t-il indiqué.
L'état d'urgence a été étendu "par prévention dans les régions de Hadjer Lamis (Chari Baguirmi, ouest), du BET (Borkou, Ennedi, Tibesti, nord), du Moyen-Chari (sud) et la ville de N'Djamena", a ajouté le communiqué.
Dans ces régions, les autorités ont décidé de nommer des ministres résidents dotés "de tous les moyens et de tous les pouvoirs".
Sous leurs ordres, l'armée et la police pourront ainsi "user de tous les moyens à leur disposition pour mettre fin aux affrontements et protéger toutes les populations", a précisé lundi soir le Premier ministre Pascal Yaodimnadji.
En outre, la "censure préalable" a été rétablie pour les journaux privés du pays, ainsi que l'interdiction du "traitement par les radios des questions pouvant porter atteinte à l'ordre public, à l'unité nationale, à l'intégrité du territoire et au respect des institutions républicaines".
Ces mesures "s'expliquent par le fait que les mises en garde répétées du gouvernement et toutes les recommandations du Haut Conseil de la communication (HCC, organe de régulation des médias) sont régulièrement foulées au pied", a justifié le gouvernement.
La flambée de violences des derniers jours a débuté il y a deux semaines dans la région du Salamat, autour de la ville d'Am-Timan, où elle a fait selon le gouvernement "une centaine" de morts. Elle s'est ensuite propagée à celle du Ouaddaï, frontalière du Soudan, puis de Biltine, plus au nord.
Dans le seul secteur de Goz Beïda, à 700 km à l'est de N'Djamena, ces raids ont fait au moins 220 morts, des dizaines de blessés et des milliers de déplacés, essentiellement parmi les tribus non-arabes, selon un bilan provisoire établi par le Haut-Commissariat des Nations unies pour les réfugiés (HCR) sur la foi de témoignages.
Selon ces mêmes récits, la plupart des attaques sont le fait de groupes arabes en tenues militaires, lourdement armés, circulant pour la plupart à cheval et escortés de véhicules.
Leur origine reste à établir mais leurs victimes les désignent comme des "Djandjawids", ces cavaliers arabes supplétifs de l'armée du Soudan, qui multiplient depuis trois ans les massacres de populations africaines dans la région soudanaise voisine, le Darfour.
Les organisations humanitaires se sont jusque-là gardées de mettre en cause des éléments venus du Soudan mais ont relevé le caractère "organisé" de leurs raids et leur similitude avec les événements du Darfour.
Le gouvernement tchadien a lui franchi le pas en mettant ces violences sur le compte d'une "stratégie globale élaborée et mise en oeuvre par le gouvernement soudanais pour la déstabilisation du Tchad".
Il y a trois semaines, N'Djamena avait déjà mis en cause le Soudan, l'accusant de soutenir les rebelles tchadiens hostiles au président Idriss Deby Itno. Khartoum a catégoriquement nié.
© Jeuneafrique.com 2006
http://www.jeuneafrique.com/jeune_afrique/article_depeche.asp?
art_cle=AFP65316lergisecnel0
Mail & Guardian:
A bad week for fascists
John Matshikiza: WITH THE LID OFF
13 November 2006
Of course the word going around when the death of former president PW Botha was announced was: “How could they tell anyway?” The invincible old crocodile had been lounging around at his place in the Wilderness virtually unseen by human eyes, except for his youngish new wife, who popped up from time to time to say that he was not only fit and well but had healthy sexual appetites to boot. She was around to prove it.
All the more shame that the stuffy, proto-Stalinist SABC saw fit not to broadcast what was to be the last interview with the disreputable old reptile a few months ago. Chief executive Dali Mpofu came out saying that they were not going to wave flags for the last old fascist of the apartheid days, not even in the public interest. And yet, lo and behold, both the current State President, Thabo Mbeki, and his self-declared archrival Jacob “Jace the Ace” Zuma came out with what amounted to little less than eulogies on the passing of the finger pointing, jowly, deceased juggernaut, and flags were flown at half mast around the country. As the British satirical weekly used to say: “Pass the sick bag, Alice.”
It was a time of sea change around the world, as it happened. Botha’s age-mate and fellow fascist Augusto Pinochet was confined to house arrest (not that he’d left the house in ages anyway) as new charges finally appeared to be found to stick for his inhumane rule over the Latin American state of Chile following his vicious overthrow of the elected lefty leader Salvador Allende. Pinochet, like Botha, will probably pass on in his comfortable wilderness before having to be actually dragged through the courts. A 90-year-old doesn’t need it anyway and, apart from being unrepentant like the “total onslaught” PW, probably wouldn’t have much idea of what he was being accused of anyway.
While the old fascists crumble to nothing, the young fascists are getting a punching on the nose elsewhere in the world. Britain’s Tony “Blah-Blah” Blair, with nothing much to lose as he nears the end of his term of office, has suddenly come out of the twilight zone as a born again environmentalist. Pity there won’t be much environment left to save as he rides off into the sunset. Shame he didn’t spend a substantial part of his time at the helm of British politics doing something about it. Instead, he joined his buddy George W Bush in unleashing a human environmental catatrophe over Afghanistan and Iraq and, like PW Botha and Augusuto Pinochet, never expressed an iota of doubt and regret about his actions. Meanwhile, Afghanistan and Iraq continue to burn in spectacular fashion.
The good news is that Bush’s Republican Party received a relatively sound thrashing at the hands of the Democrats in the United States’s so-called mid-term elections. Former presidential contender John Kerry almost blew the whole thing when he proved to be a poor joke-maker and, instead of putting across the point that if you have an uneducated idiot in the White House you get bogged down in an unwinnable series of wars in the Middle East, gave the impression that the grunts on the frontline are themselves uneducated idiots.
Now, here was fodder for Bush’s Republicans to raise a storm in a teacup, as they say. They fondly imagined that this minor gaffe would turn around their fortunes in an election that they were clearly about to lose. Apart from anything else (and this is the point that all the commentators have failed to, shall we say, comment on) in a voluntary army such as the one that is indeed bogged down in the unfriendly desert, you have to be pretty much of a fool indeed to want to get stuck out there. But, instead of using that as his defence, Kerry spent two whole days trying to say that he wasn’t talking about the guys who were actually carrying lethal weapons on the front line. Like any patriotic American, he actually thought they were great guys. It was the president he was getting at, he said.
Anyway, the Republicans lost Congress in spite of all that. They lost a couple of seats in the Senate as well. Not that this means that much will change in American politics. Popular Democrat Jimmy Carter, if you remember well, almost got himself bogged down in a military debacle in Iran. Democrats John F Kennedy and Lyndon B Johnson ensured that America’s highest post-World War II body bag count came out of an unjust war against Vietnam and the South-East Asia region generally. It took right-wing Republican president Richard Nixon to get them out of all that mess and take the kudos.
So it is not clear what the outcome is going to be for either Afghanistan or Iraq, even if some sleepy-eyed Democrat like John Kerry succeeds George W Bush when his time is finally up. For now, however, it is good news that the voting population of the US of A has said they’ve had enough Bush-speak about the war and its reasons, and are probably pissed off with his economic policies as well (given the disastrous Enron scandal, among others).
Meanwhile, the people of Iraq continue to suffer. And the post-apartheid South African government offers a moment of silence for the Great Crocodile, PW Botha, now technically extinct. Not that I’m depressed or anything.
All material copyright Mail&Guardian.
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?
articleid=289759&area=/insight/insight__columnists/#
Página/12:
Blair y su plan para Irak
INCORPORAR A IRAN Y SIRIA AL PROCESO DE PAZ
Martes, 14 de Noviembre de 2006
Después del fracaso en las elecciones legislativas, George Bush se sentó a analizar cuáles serán los cambios en la ocupación de Irak, entre los que estaría la incorporación de los demócratas y de Tony Blair al debate. El presidente estadounidense se reunió ayer con el llamado Grupo de Estudio sobre Irak, un equipo bipartidista e independiente que está preparando un informe con críticas y propuestas a la dirección que mantuvo el gobierno desde la invasión de 2003. Fue sólo una reunión preliminar, sin propuestas concretas. Una de ellas podría ser, según adelantó la prensa, la inclusión de Irán y Siria en el proceso de pacificación iraquí. Esta propuesta ya había sido esbozada por el premier británico, quien la volvió a defender anoche. “Lo esencial de la respuesta a la situación actual en Irak se halla en el exterior de las fronteras de ese país”, afirmó.
La victoria aplastante de los demócratas la semana pasada forzó a Bush a poner primero en su agenda la situación de Irak, y con ella la de todo Medio Oriente. Por eso se reunió ayer con el Grupo, dirigido por el ex secretario de Estado de su padre James Baker. Y por eso, también, el jefe del Comando Central Estadounidense, el general John Abizad, realizó ayer una visita sorpresa a Bagdad para reunirse con el premier iraquí, Nuri al Maliki, y reafirmarle el compromiso de la Casa Blanca con el proceso de pacificación de ese país. El viaje del máximo jefe militar estadounidense para esa región coincidió con un momento de fuerte inestabilidad política.
Poco se sabe de lo que se habló en la reunión del panel bipartidista, el presidente Bush y algunos de sus principales coolaboradores: el vicepresidente, Dick Cheney; el consejero de Seguridad Nacional, Stephen Hadley, y el jefe de Gabinete de la Casa Blanca, Joshua Bolten. Bush habló con la prensa y se mostró contento. “Comienzan a entender que la victoria conlleva responsabilidades”, afirmó. Para la Casa Blanca fue una oportunidad para intercambiar ideas; para los medios, un intento de Bush para conocer de antemano cuáles serán los ejes del informe. El Grupo, dirigido por Baker y el ex congresista demócrata por Indiana Lee Hamilton, tendrá una videoconferencia hoy con Blair.
En estos días, en Washington todos están discutiendo qué hacer con el pantano en el que se ha convertido Irak. Tantos los republicanos como los demócratas están divididos en este tema. Los primeros reconocen que la política actual ha sido rechazada de forma contundente por la opinión pública en las últimas elecciones. Sin embargo, siguen sosteniendo que una retirada temprana de las tropas llevaría a un caos aún mayor en Irak y en Medio Oriente. Este mismo miedo es compartido por algunos demócratas, que temen que un repliegue provoque una derrota humillante para el país, como fue Vietnam. Otros miembros importantes de la oposición, en cambio, ya están fijando una fecha para el inicio de la retirada de los soldados.
El tema está tan presente en Washington que una de las primeras declaraciones que hizo el primer ministro israelí, Ehud Olmert, cuando llegó a Estados Unidos el domingo fue sobre Irak. “Si hay un retiro prematuro antes de que Irak tenga un gobierno robusto, con una autoridad fuerte, que pueda prevenir que el país caiga en una guerra civil, Estados Unidos deberá pensar en las posibles ramificaciones en los países árabes vecinos con gobiernos moderados”, le dijo al diario The Washington Post y al semanario Newsweek.
Olmert no es el único que está analizando el conflicto desde una lógica regional. En el Grupo de Estudio sobre Irak hay quienes estarían a favor de incluir a Irán y Siria en la pacificación de la nación iraquí, como también proponen algunos demócratas y Blair, quien ayer le pidió a Teherán que coopere para conseguir la paz en Irak. Pero la nueva estrategia de Bush por ahora no llega tan lejos.
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Página/12:
Un gobierno sin chiítas
Por Robert Fisk*, Martes, 14 de Noviembre de 2006
Los chiítas, la comunidad más grande del Líbano, no están más representados en el gobierno libanés. Podría ser parte de la empecinada política del Líbano o podría ser el momento más peligroso en la historia de este trágico país. Durante el fin de semana, Hezbolá y el movimiento Amal se retiraron del cuerpo político libanés, dividiendo el suave, totalmente falso y brillantemente concebido (por los franceses, por supuesto) sistema confesional que une a esta torturada nación. Habrá manifestaciones de Hezbolá en las calles –lo que hace y no hace Hezbolá– para exigir un gobierno de “unidad nacional”, que significa que Sayed Hassan Nasralá, ganador de la llamada “victoria divina” contra Israel el pasado julio, insista en otra administración pro-siria en el Líbano.
Para un mundo que ha decidido apoyar la “democracia” del Líbano, esta es una noticia grave. La renuncia de seis ministros del gabinete, dos de Hezbolá, tres de Amal y otro muy próximo al presidente Emile Lahoud, no pueden derrocar a un gobierno (que necesita que renuncie un tercio, es decir ocho de los 24 ministros, para destruirlo), pero en una sociedad confesional significa que la comunidad religiosa más grande ya no está representada en la toma de decisiones del gobierno. Hezbolá es la carta de Siria aquí, el pulmón por el cual Irán respira, y están advirtiendo que las manifestaciones callejeras pueden dividir al país.
¿Lo que está en juego? El tribunal internacional que supuestamente debe juzgar a aquellos responsables por el asesinato del ex primer ministro Rafiq Hariri el 14 de febrero del año pasado y la posibilidad de que la “unidad” nacional que Hezbolá demanda pueda crear un gabinete que pueda convertirse una vez más en la criatura de Siria dentro del Líbano. No es tan fácil, por supuesto –nada lo es en el Líbano–, pero es suficiente para asustar al gabinete democráticamente electo de Fouad Siniora, el amigo y confidente de Hariri y aún más, a los estadounidenses que apoyaron la “democracia” en el Líbano y luego no les importó nada durante los feroces bombardeos israelíes al país, el pasado julio.
¿Qué provocó esta extraordinaria crisis en un momento en que miles de tropas extranjeras todavía están llegando al Líbano para asegurar una paz que cada día parece más destructiva? Claramente, un elemento es el tribunal. El viernes, la ONU le presentó a Siniora los términos de la corte que debía juzgar a los sospechosos por el crimen de Hariri, hombres que probablemente resulten ser agentes de inteligencia –tanto libaneses como sirios– del régimen del presidente Bashar Assad, en Damasco. El presidente libanés, Emile Lahoud, el amigo más fiel de Assad, dijo que necesitaba más tiempo para estudiar las recomendaciones de la ONU antes de convocar a una reunión de gabinete el lunes (por ayer) para permitirle al Parlamento votar las propuestas de la ONU. Después de la reunión, el gabinete aprobó el texto de la ONU.
Siniora –un economista amigo de Hariri y ningún caudillo– dijo que no aceptará las renuncias. Está esperando que los muchachos de Nasralá regresen al gabinete, conscientes de que su continuada ausencia –por más legal que sea el gabinete– dividirá al país. Los cristianos probablemente representen menos de un 30 por ciento de la población del Líbano y los sunnitas, que los apoyan, componen una mayoría que los chiítas no pueden superar. El bloque de Hariri tiene mayoría en el Parlamento, pero el general rebelde cristiano Michel Aoun –cuyos partidarios se están cansando de su alianza electoral con Hezbolá– dice que el gabinete no es representativo. Quiere a tres de sus leales en el gobierno.
Los cristianos y los sunnitas musulmanes del Líbano están siendo ahora separados de sus correligionarios chiítas. Las protestas callejeras entre los cristianos y los sunnitas por un lado y los chiítas por el otro, apenas pueden ser persuadidas de que la mayor parte del ejército libanés –una fuerza reformada con alguna integridad– es chiíta. Malas noticias, de verdad.
* De The Independent de Gran Bretaña. Especial para Página/12, desde Beirut.
Traducción: Celita Doyhambéhère
© 2000-2006 www.pagina12.com.ar|República Argentina|Todos los Derechos Reservados
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Página/12:
Bush y Olmert buscan aislar a Irán
Estados unidos NO VA A NEGOCIAR CON TEHERAN SI NO ABANDONA SU PLAN NUCLEAR
Mientras el anfitrión Bush prefería hablar más de Irán que de Irak, golpeado por las pasadas legislativas, su aliado israelí subrayaba el “completo entendimiento” de ambos sobre la “amenaza” nuclear de ese país. Israel llegó a insinuar la posibilidad de usar la opción militar.
Por Sergio Rotbart
Desde Tel Aviv, Martes, 14 de Noviembre de 2006
El presidente norteamericano, George W. Bush, negó que vaya a negociar directamente con Irán y llamó a imponerle el aislamiento internacional hasta que este país “renuncie a sus aspiraciones nucleares”. El anuncio se produjo al final de la reunión que Bush mantuvo con el premier israelí, Ehud Olmert, en el marco de la gira de este último por los Estados Unidos. En su anterior visita, el pasado mes de mayo, Olmert le había presentado a Bush su programa de retirada parcial de Cisjordania, con el que ganó las últimas elecciones. Ahora, una vez descartado ese plan de su agenda gubernamental, el dirigente israelí dialogó con su anfitrión sobre el armamentismo nuclear de Irán, el cese de fuego en el Líbano tras la última guerra y la situación de la Autoridad Palestina. Su viaje estuvo precedido por una serie de declaraciones centradas en la “amenaza iraní” y las formas mediante las cuales Israel se enfrentaría a ella, incluida la opción militar.
Israel dejó atrás la estrategia de bajo perfil de adoptar la vía diplomática para frenar, a través de la ONU, el desarrollo nuclear de Irán. El viraje hacia una línea más frontal se produjo días antes del viaje de Olmert a los Estados Unidos, cuando el premier israelí dijo que Irán debía temer que le ocurriese algo que no quería que sucediera. Esa postura se endureció el pasado fin de semana, esta vez en boca del viceministro de Defensa, Ephraim Sneh, quien declaró al diario Jerusalem Post que “Israel no descarta una acción militar contra Irán”. En vísperas de su partida a Washington, Olmert le dio un nuevo retoque a la retórica persuasiva. “Es absolutamente insoportable para Israel aceptar la amenaza de Irán con arsenal nuclear. Yo prefiero no hablar de las opciones, pero Israel tiene muchas opciones”, les dijo a los periodistas de Newsweek y de The Washington Post. A ello se la suma la reciente declaración de Tzipi Libni, la canciller israelí, que aseguró que “culminó la era de la ambigüedad y la indiferencia por parte de la comunidad internacional ante el armamentismo nuclear iraní”.
Nunca antes, en tan poco tiempo, tantos encumbrados representantes del gobierno israelí le habían dedicado semejante arsenal discursivo al tema. Ephraim Sneh, cuyas declaraciones provocaron la protesta de Teherán ante el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU, sostuvo que las sanciones no influirán sobre el gobierno de Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, por lo que Israel debe prepararse para frenar “a cualquier precio” la aspiración iraní a armarse con tecnología nuclear. El viceministro de Defensa y dirigente laborista agregó: “Yo no estoy llamando a que Israel dé un golpe militar preventivo contra Irán. Esa es la última salida, aunque a veces es la única”. Y sentenció que el presidente iraní “puede matar al sueño sionista sin apretar el botón”, dado que la sola posesión de armamento nuclear provocaría una ola de emigración de judíos desde Israel al exterior.
El recurso a asociaciones que cuentan con una clara connotación traumática en el imaginario histórico de los israelíes tampoco faltó en las afirmaciones del premier Olmert, quien comparó a Ahmadinejad con Adolf Hitler. “Es capaz (refiriéndose al presidente iraní) de perpetrar crímenes contra la humanidad y hay que frenarlo”, afirmó. El premier israelí dijo que su país y EE.UU. tienen “un completo entendimiento de objetivos sobre Irán”. Bush añadió que “un buen lugar por donde comenzar es trabajar juntos para aislar a Teherán”. Olmert fue más lejos. Preguntado sobre si su país considera un ataque preventivo contra las instalaciones nucleares iraníes, dijo: “Espero no tener que llegar a ese punto”.
Si bien la necesidad de actuar férreamente contra el armamentismo iraní es compartida, en principio, por la administración norteamericana, resulta muy poco probable que, tras la derrota del Partido Republicano en las elecciones legislativas y la atención puesta en una posible retirada de Irak, sea incluida en la nueva agenda del presidente George W. Bush. Difícilmente, por lo tanto, las insinuadas amenazas del gobierno israelí contra Irán surtan algún efecto esperado en Washington. Tal vez sus destinatarios más propensos a adoptarlas como un urgente llamamiento a la acción sean los líderes de las federaciones que componen la comunidad judía de los Estados Unidos, con quienes Olmert tiene programado encontrarse hoy. Bush, en cambio, prefiere abocarse a resucitar el canal diplomático israelí-palestino mediante medidas que sean bien vistas por los Estados europeos, los países árabes prooccidentales y el nuevo Congreso demócrata. Hacia esa dirección apuntan los interminables esfuerzos por formar un nuevo gobierno palestino, que provoque el levantamiento del embargo económico y diplomático que varios países le impusieron al gobierno encabezado por Hamas.
De lograrse el acuerdo entre las dos fuerzas políticas más importantes de la escena palestina, Al Fatah y Hamas, no producirá el efecto esperado de un poder compartido hasta que no se pacte el intercambio de prisioneros palestinos detenidos por Israel (incluidos los ministros y parlamentarios de Hamas) por la liberación de Gilad Shalit, el soldado israelí secuestrado en el límite sur entre Israel y la Franja de Gaza, en el pasado mes de junio. De la disposición israelí a liberar a los palestinos “secuestrados” (como se los define en la prensa de Cisjordania y Gaza) también depende, por ende, la creación de un gobierno alternativo al que lidera Hamas, la condición que exigen tanto Israel como los demás países que lo decretaron, para levantar el embargo y reanudar el proceso de la negociación diplomática. El boicot a la Autoridad Palestina ya fue anulado por la Liga Arabe, cuyos miembros respondieron así al veto que impusieron los Estados Unidos en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU a la propuesta de condenar a Israel por los ataques de artillería contra la localidad de Beit Hanun (en el norte de la Franja de Gaza) la semana pasada, que provocaron la muerte de diecinueve civiles palestinos que dormían en sus casas.
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http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/elmundo/4-76136-2006-11-14.html
Página/12:
México está que explota
DESALOJAN LA SEDE DE LA ONU POR TEMOR A UN ATAQUE
Por Gerardo Albarrán de Alba
Desde México, D. F., Martes, 14 de Noviembre de 2006
En medio de la tensión, los acuerdos entre el gobierno federal y la Asamblea Popular de los Pueblos de Oaxaca (APPO) comenzaron a implementarse. El gobernador de Oaxaca, Ulises Ruiz, destituyó al máximo representante del área de Educación del estado, Emilio Mendoza Kaplan. Mientras tanto, el miedo instalado por las recientes bombas se hacía sentir en la sede de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas en México. El edificio fue desalojado ayer, luego de recibir una amenaza de coche bomba frente al edificio de 14 pisos que ocupa en la colonia Polanco (una de las zonas más caras de la ciudad). De hecho, el cuerpo diplomático acreditado en México ya había expresado al gobierno de Vicente Fox su preocupación por la seguridad en embajadas y consulados, luego de los ataques con bomba ocurridos la semana pasada en esta ciudad, la crisis en Oaxaca y el clima de incertidumbre hacia la toma de posesión del presidente electo Felipe Calderón, el próximo 1º de diciembre.
Este hecho se suma a los temores de violencia generalizada en México expresados ante la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores por el embajador de Belice, Salvador Figueroa, decano del cuerpo diplomático, quien hizo llegar al jefe de protocolo mexicano la inquietud de las 79 embajadas y 39 organismos internacionales acreditados en México, cuyas instalaciones estarían en riesgo. De éstas, sólo unas cuantas –como la de Estados Unidos– cuentan con vigilancia policíaca las 24 horas. La Cancillería aseguró al embajador Figueroa que no existe peligro para los inmuebles que ocupan las sedes de embajadas y misiones diplomáticas en la ciudad, según la Secretaría de Seguridad Pública del Distrito Federal.
Los temores de los diplomáticos extranjeros obedecen al clima de incertidumbre que vive el país luego de las controvertibles elecciones presidenciales del pasado 2 de julio y a la tensión poselectoral que aún no desaparece, particularmente por el amago del Partido de la Revolución Democrática que insiste en impedir la toma de posesión de Felipe Calderón como presidente de México el próximo 1º de diciembre. Por su parte, el PRI “sugirió” a Calderón reconsiderar su asistencia al palacio legislativo de San Lázaro y buscar otra manera de asumir el cargo. Pero el conservador Partido Acción Nacional advirtió ayer que la ceremonia protocolaria se realizará en la Cámara de Diputados “aunque sea necesario el uso de la fuerza pública”, según el coordinador de la bancada derechista Héctor Larios, quien ayer coincidió con el coordinador de los senadores de ese mismo partido y ex secretario de Gobernación Santiago Creel, al advertir que “si hay violencia (ese día) no será por parte nuestra y si alguien la ejerce se le aplicará la ley”.
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Página/12:
Brujas
Por Leonardo Moledo
Martes, 14 de Noviembre de 2006
Mientras sonaba una pertinente música folk en la radio, el dentista se puso todo el aparataje (barbijo, guantes), me hizo abrir la boca, inmovilizando mi voz, y mientras esgrimía el torno en el aire, empezó a hablar:
–Ayer estuve leyendo sobre la caza de brujas –dijo. (Mi dentista es muy aficionado a la historia.) El zumbido del torno, nítido, único, se aproximaba peligrosamente a mi boca–. ¿Sabía usted que el número de víctimas fue incalculable, que los más optimistas lo hacen ascender a 500 mil personas y que los cálculos más pesimistas a 9 millones?
–Ughhh... aghhh –balbuceé.
–... que fueron quemadas, ahorcadas o descuartizadas, acusadas de delitos como copular con íncubos o súcubos (diablillos terrenales representantes de Satanás que, según un cálculo teológico, contabilizaban 1.758.064.176), utilizar niños no bautizados en sus horribles preparaciones o desatar violentas tempestades y tormentas mediante el sencillo rito de tirar un poco de agua por sobre sus hombros, o volar por los aires? –aplicó sin piedad el torno sobre una de mis muelas mientras un estremecimiento de horror me recorría de pies a cabeza.
–Ahhhhhh... –dije–. Uhg... ahhhh –el torno se retiró–. As drukas... gonhesaban...
–Sí, claro que confesaban –siguió, mientras se acercaba con un gancho que clavó en algún lugar indeterminado de mi boca– ante la brutalidad de las torturas que les esperaban: los suplicios eran tan crueles como perversos: el squassamento, descripto en una Historia de la Inquisición publicada en 1692, cuenta cómo a la prisionera se le ataban las manos y los pies a los que se sujetaban pesas hasta que su cabeza tocara la polea, y de repente se la dejaba caer, soltando la cuerda, pero sin que llegara a tocar el suelo; la sacudida hacía que brazos y piernas se le descoyuntaran. Aquí hay una caries –clavó el gancho hasta el fondo y con un solo movimiento sacó el torno. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....
–También se utilizaban tiras de azufre a las que se les prendía fuego sobre el cuerpo del acusado o tornillos que comprimían manos y pies. Si las víctimas eran acusadas de profanar la hostia, el procedimiento consistía en arrancarles pedazos de carne con tenazas al rojo vivo, o extirparles las manos o los pies. Después de todo esto, cuando la condenada confesaba, era trasladada (en general en una camilla, porque no podía moverse por sus propios medios) a la pira, donde, si no se arrepentía de su confesión, se le concedía la gracia de ser estrangulada antes de ser quemada, pero se le exigía que reconociera que la sentencia había sido precisa y el juicio, justo. Esta caries es muy profunda –me dijo–, me parece que lo más práctico es sacar la muela y hacer un implante.
–... plante... –susurré mientras dos enormes pinzas brotaban de la mesita ultrasofisticada.
–Pero había un verdadero manual de torturas –me dijo el dentista mientras me clavaba una aguja–. El papa designó a dos inquisidores, Heinrich Kramer y Jacobus Sprenger, para que procedieran a la “corrección, encarcelamiento y castigo justos de cualquier persona sin impedimento ni obstáculo algunos”. Kramer y Sprenger, dos estudiosos teólogos, se convertirían en fundamentales para la persecución luego de escribir lo que sería el manual más detallado de tortura, castigo y asesinato de las brujas –la anestesia bienhechora se esparció por mi boca–. Puede hacerse un buche.
–El Malleus Maleficarum (Martillo de las brujas) –dije– se publicó por primera vez en 1486 y allí se detallan y analizan los hechizos que las brujas eran capaces de practicar: hoy el texto parece el producto de la mente sádica de dos facinerosos maniáticos, pero en su momento fue la justificación escrita de la matanza que se daría en los siglos XVI y XVII.
–Bueno –dijo el dentista–, ¿ya está? ¿No siente nada aquí? –y acercó las pinzas de reflejos metálicos que aferraron la muela; la muela se partió, y grité, con anestesia y todo, pero él la mantuvo agarrada con firmeza y empezó a tirar–. En el Malleus, los inquisidores dejaban en claro que no creer en la brujería es signo evidente de herejía, y definían con precisión las torturas a las que había que someter a las acusadas (el 90 por ciento eran mujeres) para obtener su confesión. Lo que pasa es que la raíz está un poco infectada y por eso no prende la anestesia –dice mientras seguía tironeando–. Primero se le mostraban a la acusada (que era acusada en forma anónima, dicho sea de paso) los aparatos de tortura, y a veces, sólo con verlos, sentía tal terror que confesaba. Pero ahí no terminaban sus penurias, porque después de la confesión se la empezaba a torturar para que delatara a otras brujas que iban a seguir, obviamente, la misma suerte: torturas, hoguera y nuevas denuncias. Pero... qué agarrada que está esta raíz –dijo el dentista, mientras se aferraba a una manija de la ventana para apoyarse y tirar con más fuerza, mientras el ayudante me sujetaba al sillón.
–... asta... asta...
–Hasta que la persecución y quema de brujas se convirtió en un verdadero negocio: por un lado, estaba el jugoso botín que representaba la confiscación de los bienes de las brujas. Y muchas personas vivían de la caza y quema de brujas: era un trabajo muy bien pago. Matthew Hopkins, el joven inquisidor que lideró una masacre en Inglaterra entre 1645 y 1647, obtenía alrededor de 30 libras al día cuando el salario medio era 500 veces menor. Sosténgalo que ya sale. Pero además, y aunque parezca increíble, los gastos de tortura y quema corrían por cuenta exclusiva de la víctima y de su familia que debía pagar los “honorarios” de los torturadores y la leña, y en algunas detalladas cuentas de gastos se contabiliza “el traslado, la comida y el vino del verdugo y sus ayudantes”. ¡Al fin! –después de un decidido tirón, el dentista saltó para atrás, haciendo trizas los vidrios de la ventana a la que se había aferrado y arrastrando junto con la raíz que finalmente se había desprendido aparatos, espejos, ganchos y vasos para buches.
–Bueno, listo –me dijo–. Verdaderamente, le aseguro, por eso, que cuando alguien bromea sobre la caza de brujas se me eriza la piel... ¿Vio cuando dicen que las brujas no existen, pero que las hay, las hay? Pienso en toda la gente que padeció y murió por frases como ésas. Todavía en 1782 se quemaron brujas.
Le pagué sus honorarios, lo saludé, salí tambaleándome del consultorio y miré con lástima al próximo paciente.
“Ojalá a éste le toque la Revolución Francesa”, pensé, rencoroso.
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http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/contratapa/13-76132-2006-11-14.html
The Independent:
Our new friends in the Middle East
Iran and Syria were demonised to justify the invasion of Iraq. Now Britain and the US want their help sorting out the mess ...
Published: 14 November 2006
2003: THE AXIS OF EVIL
President George Bush's State of the Union address refers to the "axis of evil": Iraq, Iran and North Korea. The implication is that Iraq is the first to be dealt with in the "war on terror". But Iran aids the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, keeping the lid on Shia unrest. Tehran is dismayed as international jihadists and Sunni insurgents target the Shia majority in the hope of triggering civil war. Mr Bush rejects an overture from Iran, under pro-reform President Mohammed Khatami, to review their relationship, frozen since the US embassy hostage-taking of 1979. Instead, the US accuses Iran of sponsoring terror and seeking nuclear weapons. The crisis deepens after Iran admits it has a uranium enrichment facility. Iran fears the US wants regime change.
Syria is added to the axis of evil by John Bolton, arch hawk, whose position as US ambassador to the UN is under threat after last week's mid-term elections. The neoconservatives believe a new democratic Middle East will sweep dictatorships from power after Saddam's fall, and Syria is in trouble after opposing the war and because senior Saddam aides - and weapons of mass destruction, the US claims - are brought across the border. Syria is accused of harbouring "terrorist" organisations. Syria tightens border controls, but fears of regime change are fuelled when Condoleezza Rice brands Syria as an "outpost of tyranny". Further setback for Syria when France and the US ensure expulsion of Syrian forces from Lebanon.
2006: THE PEACE BROKERS?
Robert Gates, the new US Defence Secretary, is an advocate of dialogue with Tehran to enlist its help in extricating allied forces from Iraq. Tony Blair, who wants Iran to help stop cross-border attacks on UK troops, backs this, setting the scene for demise of Bush's neoconservative policy. But Iran is now in the grip of a hardline leadership, headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is defiant over its nuclear programme. Iran faces UN sanctions. Ahmadinejad will aim to make Bush and Blair sweat before he agrees to help.
President Bashar al-Assad, flush with success of Syria's proxy militia in Lebanon, holds the key to success in Iraq and Middle East peace. Courted by Bush and Blair, whom he upbraided at their last meeting. Syria harbours a leader of the radical Palestinian Hamas movement, and is a supplier of Hizbollah. Assad will play hardball on the UN's case against Syrian officials accused of assassinating former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. And there is the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in 1967.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1981732.ece
The Independent: A belated recognition
of where the real power in the land lies
Anne Penketh
Published: 14 November 2006
The Iranians and Syrians must have been choking on their tea last night. After three years of being branded a part of the axis of evil and an outpost of tyranny and ordered not to meddle in Iraq, they are being invited to be part of the new Middle East.
But not the one advocated three years ago by the neoconservatives who predicted that the fall of Saddam Hussein would give rise to a wave of democracy that would sweep Arab dictators from their pedestals. That dream was shattered for good last week by the American midterm elections which propelled the Democrats into the driving seat of Congress for the first time in 12 years.
The new watchword is "recalibration". Do not expect any recognition in the coming days that the new policy of Tony Blair and the US is capitulation, or even a U-turn, as they go cap in hand to the leaders of Syria and Iran, accused of fomenting trouble in Iraq and supporting terrorist groups in the broader Middle East.
Last night, Mr Blair's spokesman insisted that no "concessions" are being offered to Iran and Syria, and the Prime Minister stressed that the diplomatic overtures do not mark a policy shift. The two countries can either co-operate, or face isolation, Mr Blair said.
But the midterm elections have made the search for an exit strategy even more urgent. The insurgents can smell the defeat of a superpower. So unless the US and Britain can persuade Iraq's neighbours that it is in their interests to help curb the insurgency, the coalition forces risk being dragged even deeper into a civil war.
Why should Iran and Syria help the US and Britain at this stage? Because it is in their interests to do so - and retain important leverage in their own region. The Iranians have long felt slighted by the Americans, who rewarded them with the "axis of evil" speech after they helped the US in Afghanistan and in Iraq in the days that followed the overthrow of Saddam.
The Syrians, too, say that they have acted on US requests to control the porous border with Iraq, and have deployed 10,000 troops there.
But one thing has changed in the three years since the US and Britain invaded Iraq. And that is the rapport de force in the region, where Iran and Syria hold the upper hand after the Lebanon war. Mr Blair and Mr Bush - and Ehud Olmert of Israel - now have the role of lame ducks.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article1981710.ece
ZNet | Israel/Palestine
Only a pawn in their game
by Miko Peled; November 14, 2006
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain:
Only a pawn in their game.
Bob Dylan
The lines of this great poem by Bob Dylan reverberate as Israel continues its assault against innocent Palestinians, unarmed and with nowhere to go while Gilad Shalit, a French Jewish boy who innocently decided to serve in Israel's army of terror is still held captive.
While the life of Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian resistance fighters from his army post is precious, and while all who value human life should hope for his release, it is clear that the mass killings of innocent Palestinians executed by the Israeli government have nothing to do with securing his freedom.
As though the killings were not fruitless enough, in a move that was planned long before the kidnapping, the Israeli Army carried out the arrests of elected Palestinian officials in the West Bank, and tried to connect them to Gilad Shalit's kidnapping.
In an odd chain of events, the Israeli Attorney General planned these arrests to be carried out by the army, in territories that are illegally occupied by Israel. This in itself raises several questions:
1. Are the elected officials of a foreign government not protected by immunity? 2. Why is the Israeli army executing arrests for the Attorney General? 3. What jurisdiction does the Israeli Government have to arrest elected officials of another nation?
The answer to all of these questions is simple: no one takes Palestinian sovereignty seriously. Furthermore, Israel and the US care little whether these officials were elected democratically or not. The only thing that matters is that they are Palestinians and as such they are subject to the whims of Israel. The Palestinian Authority is a fig leaf that allows Israel to present itself as willing to make peace with Palestinians on the one hand, while on the other hand allows it to blame the Palestinians for not being the right partner for peace.
Here are some examples of how the Palestinian Authority is being played by the Israeli government: People in Gaza are starving - the PA is responsible. There is internal strife among Palestinians - the PA is responsible. There are no peace talks, and there will never be a Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, once again it is the PA responsible. It used to be Arafat's fault, then Abu Mazen and now it is Hammas. It is time to admit that the emperor has no clothes: as long as there is a Palestinian Authority Israeli terrorism will always have a scapegoat and the Palestinian people will never be free.
But let us return to Gilad Shalit. He is not the first, nor will he be the last pawn Israel has cynically used to justify its brutal assaults against Palestinians. The 1982 invasion of Lebanon that resulted of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian deaths was blamed on the attempted murder of Israel's Ambassador to the UK. To justify its latest assault on Lebanon Israel used the abduction of two soldiers by Hezbollah (they too have to date not been released even though Israel has pummeled Lebanon and spread millions of cluster bombs over that country). Interestingly enough, the cynical practice by Israel to use Jewish victims to justify its brutality works; it has brought Israeli society and world Jewry, to support brutal attacks against innocent, defenseless people over and over again. Jews around the world are all comfortably numbed by Israel's claims to being "the most moral army in the world" fighting to keep Arab terrorists at bay.
There are two scenarios under which Israel will stop its attacks against the Palestinian people. The first and the one most likely to occur given Israel's new cabinet appointment of Avigdor Lieberman, is a complete end to Palestinian existence. Israel and its evangelical Christian ally the US want to see the total destruction of Palestinian cultural, social and political existence, albeit for different reasons. To achieve this end they justify the use of any means including subjecting over 3 million people to a brutal military occupation, starvation, killing of innocent men, women and children and arrests, torture and assassinations of local political leaders. This may take several decades to complete but according to the militant Zionists in power today, it is well worth the wait.
The second scenario is more complicated. It calls for the end of Jewish hegemony over Palestine, or "The Land of Israel". In this scenario the two nations will live under one political umbrella. Neither side will have complete political hegemony over the land nor will they have control over one another. The two nations will enjoy national sovereignty, cultural independence and religious freedom, all of which will be protected by a constitution. There will be a one-person one vote in which Israelis and Palestinians will elect the legislative and executive branches of government.
The most common argument against the creation of one democratic political entity in Israel/Palestine is that Israel will never agree to it. The fact is that Israel has become a chauvinistic, militant Jewish State and as such it never had, and presumably never will agree to a political compromise with the Palestinian people. However, Israelis represent only a little more than half of the population under Israeli rule. Census reports show that there are approximately 5.5 million Israelis and 4.5 million Palestinians living under Israeli law. It is a state that provides safety and democracy only to its Jewish citizens and no two nations can expect peace under these conditions
Gilad Shalit is one Jewish boy that is being used as a pawn in Israel's game. But he is not the only one. Every child in Israel is a pawn in the dangerous game that Israel is playing. The excuse of security for the Jewish people is keeping millions of Jewish children from a life of peace and security in their homeland. Jews and Palestinians are being held hostage by a militant Israeli agenda that is becoming more extreme each year. Stopping the Jewish extremists who govern Israel is the only way to free Gilad Shalit, along with thousands of Palestinians who were kidnapped and are being in held by Israel.
(The writer is the son of Israeli general Mattityahu Peled.)
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=11409
ZNet | Israel/Palestine
Pinochet in Palestine
by Joseph Massad; al-Ahram; November 14, 2006
Before the United States government subcontracted the Chilean military to overthrow the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende in 1973, it carried out a number of important missions in the country in preparation for the coup of 11 September. These included major strikes, especially by truck owners, which crippled the economy, massive demonstrations that included middle-class housewives and children carrying pots and pans demanding food, purging the Chilean military of officers who would oppose the suspension of democracy and the introduction of US-supported fascist rule, and a major media campaign against the regime with the CIA planting stories in newspapers like El Mercurio and others. This was in a context where also the Communist Party and the Leftist Revolutionary Movement (MIR) criticised and sometimes attacked the Allende regime from varying leftist positions.
The Chilean example is important to keep in mind when one looks at the Palestinian situation today, as it functions as a sort of training video for US-planned anti-democratic coups elsewhere in the world. Not only are the US and Israel financially backing the open preparation for a coup to be staged by the top leadership of Fateh (and in the case of Israel allowing weapons' transfers to Palestinian Authority [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas's Praetorian Guard), but so are the intelligence services of a number of Israel-and US-friendly Arab countries whose intelligence services have set up shop openly in Ramallah more recently, making their longstanding and major, though understated, involvement in running the Palestinian territories more open and shameless. Indeed the intelligence "delegation" of one such Arab country has rented out a multi-story building in Ramallah to conduct their operations there.
Israel has helped this effort all along by kidnapping and arresting Fateh members who resist the collaborationist policies of the top leadership. As for the leadership itself, it has periodically purged members of Fateh who oppose its policies, and marginalised those in the Diaspora who continue to resist them. The Fateh/PA coup leaders consist of Abbas and the ruling triumvirate of Mohamed Dahlan, Yasser Abd Rabbo, and Nabil Amr. The profiles of these three make them well suited for the tasks ahead. Dahlan is universally known as America's and Israel's main corrupt military man on the ground. Abd Rabbo (aka Yasser Abd Yasser, literally "Yasser worshipper of Yasser" on account of his subservience to Arafat) is the architect of the Geneva accords, which recognise Israel's right to be a racist Jewish state as legitimate and reject the right of Palestinian refugees to return as illegitimate. He recently upheld the Israeli position when fighting with the Qatari foreign minister and his staff during the latter's visit to the occupied territories. Amr is the former PA information minister, and a former visiting fellow at the Israel lobby think tank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. He is also the speechwriter for Abbas and Dahlan.
Abbas and these three have undertaken not only to launch massive strikes by the Fateh security thugs that they have armed to police the territories on behalf of Israel, and strikes by the bureaucracy that staffs the PA ministries, but also have coerced large numbers of Palestinians, including teachers and professors, under the force of guns, to uphold a strike against Hamas, when most of them had voted for Hamas in the first place and refuse to strike. Palestinians who have fought for decades to keep their schools and universities open against Israeli draconian closures and suspension of Palestinian education, are now forced by Fateh and its armed thugs to stop the Palestinian educational process with strikes against Hamas, and threaten to shoot people if they refuse to follow Fateh's coup directives.
In addition, Abbas and the Fateh/PA triumvirate have organised demonstrations in Ramallah by middle-class Palestinians, including housewives, who brought out their pots and pans, in a scene borrowed from 1973 Santiago, in demonstrations against Hamas. The Fateh-controlled press, especially Al-Ayyam is fomenting major anti-Hamas propaganda campaign in preparation for the coup and is thus playing the same role as El Mercurio did in Chile. Al-Ayyam is aided in its efforts by the anti-Hamas secular Palestinian intelligentsia, most of whose members are on the payroll of the bankrollers of the Oslo process and its NGOs. These old leftist Palestinians, like their counterparts in Lebanon, are better known today as the right-wing left, as they take up right-wing positions while insisting that they are still leftists based on positions they had held in the 1980s or earlier.
The plan is that the Fateh/PA rulers would do their utmost to provoke Hamas to start the war at which point Fateh, with the aid of the intelligence services of friendly Arab countries, as well as assistance from Israel and the US, would crush Hamas and take over. Indeed, the first unsuccessful round took place when the Israeli government kidnapped a third of the Hamas government, both cabinet ministers and parliament members, and placed them in Israeli jails. This was not sufficient to bring Hamas down, and not for lack of help that Fateh rendered the Israeli occupiers. Aside from the initial burning of the Legislative Council building, Fateh thugs have also burned the prime minister's office, shot at his car, burned offices in different ministries several times, harassed and threatened Hamas ministers and parliamentarians whom Israel failed to kidnap and arrest, refused to allow the government ministries to operate, and so forth. Hamas however, is wisely adamant that it will respond by force only when Fateh launches an all-out war to bring about its planned coup, but not before.
Fateh's planned coup is not only based on the popularity of Hamas and its electoral victory but also on Hamas's increased ability to defend itself against Fateh forces. If the US and Israel armed Fateh thugs under Arafat's leadership to crush the first Palestinian Intifada and any remaining resistance to the occupation since 1994, today, Hamas is almost as well- armed as Fateh forces and can defend the rights of the Palestinians to resist the Israeli occupation and the well-armed Palestinian collaborators that help to enforce it. This is where the situation today differs measurably from that of the mid-1990s. To offset this new balance of forces, the United States government, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, has been training Abbas's Praetorian Guard in Jericho for over a month with American, British, Egyptian, and Jordanian military instructors, and is providing arms to them in preparation for the confrontation with Hamas. The Israeli cabinet in turn has recently approved the transfer of thousands of rifles from Egypt and Jordan to Abbas's forces. The Israelis also approved a US request that Israel allow the Badr Brigade - part of the Palestine Liberation Army currently stationed in Jordan - to deploy in Gaza. These steps have been conceived by General Keith Dayton, the American security coordinator in the occupied territories, who wants the Badr Brigade to function as Abbas's "rapid reaction force in Gaza". As a possible step to increase its security and military roles in the occupied territories, the Jordanian government recently established a legal committee to review the provisions of Jordan's decision to "disengage" from the West Bank announced on 31 July 1988, effectively suggesting the possibility of a reversal of part or all of these provisions. More recently, the Israelis intensified their bombings and killings in Gaza, most recently in Beit Hanoun murdering over 50 Palestinians in a few days.
Mahmoud Abbas and his ruling triumvirate are reticent at the moment to start an open war for fear of a public backlash. They prefer to remove Hamas through imposing a "national unity" government that would undercut Hamas gradually and peacefully. However, Abbas and his triumvirate are quickly losing patience. Indeed, in a hastily-arranged meeting of the Diaspora-based Fateh Central Committee set to convene in Amman three weeks ago to ratify the coup plans, members of the committee opposed Abbas's US and Israel-supported coup, which forced Abbas to cancel the meeting altogether claiming falsely lack of quorum as the reason. This speaks to Abbas's desperation in engineering the coup without adequate preparation. Indeed, rumour has it across the occupied territories that the desperate attacks committed recently against Palestinian Christian churches were the work of undercover thugs. Those who sent them want Palestinian Christians and the world at large to think that these were Hamas acts in response to the pope's racist pronouncements against Islam. Hamas duly condemned the attacks. Few in the occupied territories believe that Hamas was behind them and most know that they were the work of undercover agents.
The Fateh plan is simple: where Israel and its Lebanese allies failed to crush Hizbullah in the Sixth war, Fateh and its Israeli allies will succeed in crushing Hamas, even if the ongoing Israeli war against Hamas and the Palestinian people becomes an all-out Seventh war. The flurry of visits by Condoleezza Rice to the area in the last few weeks hoped to put the final touches on this plan. If Hamas, like Hizbullah, could be provoked into a military response, the coup planners believe, then Fateh's and Israel's wrath (backed by the US, Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) would be unleashed to finish Hamas off. The Fateh leadership and its thugs are sharpening their knives for the showdown. Hamas has remained calm despite the pressure.
In the meantime, Ramallah proper (excluding the surrounding villages), continues to be what many now refer to as the Palestinian Green Zone, sheltering, in addition to the intelligence staff of Israel and Israel-friendly Arab countries, those Palestinians who are paid and protected by the Oslo process, whether the Oslo bureaucracy, its technicians, and hired intellectuals, or the business and middle classes recently habituated to the new name-brand consumerism that the Green Zone can offer. This opulent life contrasts with the life of the rest of the Palestinians outside Ramallah who live in misery, hunger, and under the bombardment of the Israelis and the attacks of savage Jewish colonial settlers, not to mention the harassment by Fateh thugs. In Ramallah itself, the trigger-happy thugs shoot at random during their demonstrations, injuring and sometimes killing passers by "in error". Even the few secular intellectuals who deign to oppose Fateh inside Ramallah are harassed in different ways. Some of them experience mysterious robberies that are repeated every time they make anti-Fateh statements. The preservation of Ramallah as the Green Zone is paramount to Abbas and the Fateh/PA triumvirate, whose fear of any reform introduced by Hamas would strip the elite of the benefits of corruption and the dolce vita that Fateh-rule has ensured for them.
Meanwhile, Abbas and his triumvirate will continue to treat Hamas the way Israel has treated the PLO and other Arab countries all along. In the interminable negotiations that Hamas held with Fateh to avert a showdown, whenever Hamas would agree to a Fateh demand, Fateh would up the ante and insist on another concession or claim that its initial demands always included the now expanded terms, even though they did not. Moreover, Fateh would also publicly interpret Hamas's concessions as having included things that Hamas had not agreed to at all. If this is reminiscent of the post-Oslo negotiating strategy that the Israelis used successfully with Arafat, this is because it is the same strategy. Abbas has gone so far as to walk away from negotiations, and refuse to speak to Hamas leaders, just as the Israelis have done often with the PA. Moreover, if the Israelis would often carry undercover attacks against Western interests to implicate Arab governments, the clearest example being the infamous Lavon Affair of the mid-1950s targeting Egypt, similar operations are being committed to implicate Hamas by undercover agents, like the recent example of the attacks on the churches illustrates. There may be many more such operations being planned.
Whatever fig leaf still covered the Fateh leadership's complete collaboration and subservience to Israeli interests has now fallen off. As a result, there is very little left that can restrain Fateh's actions. The next few weeks will be decided by how much Fateh leaders are itching for a fight to save their skins and fortunes, and how much patience Hamas can muster in the face of so much thuggery. In the meantime, what has been unfolding in the Palestinian territories is nothing short of the Chilean script.
Pinochet is in Palestine. His success however remains far from certain.
* The writer is associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University. He is the author of The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians (Routledge, 2006).
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=11410
ZNet | Israel/Palestine
Ehud von Olmert
by Uri Avnery; Gush Shalom; November 14, 2006
THE NAME of Franz von Papen is familiar to everyone who knows the history of the German republic that was born after World War I and that died when Hitler came to power.
What made him deserving of a place in history? Not his talents. On the contrary, during his short term as Reichskanzler (chancellor), he was as much a failure as his predecessors. Neither was he a very interesting person - just an ordinary politician from the minor nobility ("von"), a member of the "Zentrum", a German party like our own "National-Religious Party", before it lost its mind.
No, the name of von Papen is remembered only because he paved the way for the Nazis to take over Germany. It was he who advised the President of the Reich, an almost senile Field Marshal, to appoint Hitler as Reichskanzler. Von Papen told him that Hitler was just another demagogue with a big mouth, who, once in power, was sure to moderate his views. And anyhow, for safety's sake, all the important positions - War Minister, Foreign Minister etc. - would be given to non-Nazis. Hitler would be Kanzler in name only, unable to move.
Well, everybody knows what happened next. After getting his foot in the door with the help of von Papen, Hitler stormed into the building, instituted a reign of terror, threw his opponents (including the assistants of von Papen himself) into concentration camps, changed the law and established the dictatorship that led Germany to disaster.
Now there is a danger of Ehud Olmert becoming the Israeli von Papen.
I HAVE always been careful to avoid the example of the famous shepherd who used to cry "Wolf! Wolf!" just to tease the others.
Many times, this or that Israeli politician has been accused of being a fascist. But to be a fascist, it is not enough to espouse extreme nationalist views or to carry out racist policies.
There is no scientific definition of fascism. But from experience one can say that it is a combination of world view and personality type, radical nationalism, racism, a cult of violence, dictatorship and more. When asked who is a fascist, I answer: When you see one, you will know.
Or, as the Americans say: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.
More than once, Menachem Begin was called a fascist, but he was far from it. He was indeed an extreme nationalist, but also a confirmed democrat, with decidedly liberal views (like his guide and master, Vladimir Ze'ev Jabotinsky). Rehavam Ze'evi, who advocated "voluntary transfer" of the Arab population, came close to the definition, but he lacked the special character that makes the fascist.
The only leader in the history of Israel who can accurately be defined as a fascist was Meir Kahane. He did not grow up in this country but was an import from the US. He was and remained alien in appearance and style, and failed to impress the general public.
Now Israeli democracy is threatened by a much more dangerous individual.
AVIGDOR LIBERMAN is a clever person. It is not easy to nail down his views. They are always formulated in a slick and elusive way. But the rule applies to him: When you see him, you will know.
When he came to Israel from the Soviet Union, he already brought with him a racist outlook. He wants a purely Jewish state, with no Arabs. For this, he is prepared, so he says, even to give up Israeli territory in which a dense Arab population is living. He proposes to get these citizens out of Israel, together with the land they are living on. Not a second Naqba, God forbid: the Arabs will not be driven from their lands, as then, but will be expelled together with their land. In return, Israel will annex the territories on which the settlers, one of whom is Liberman himself, are living.
What's wrong with that? The basic idea is wrong: the turning of Israel into a state "cleansed" of Arabs. In German that would be called "Araber-rein". (Actually, it's an inversion of the Nazi phrase: not Juden-rein, but Rein-für-Juden. That is clearly a racist slogan, which appeals to the most primitive instincts of the masses.
The chances of this actually happening are, of course, nil. But the very voicing of this idea prepares the way for something even worse: the simple expulsion of the masses of Arabs from Israel proper and the occupied territories. Without euphemisms, without exchanges of territory, without any kind of spin. Once the fascist genie gets out of the bottle, no power can stop it before it leads to disaster.
The annexation of the settlements will, of course, put an end to any chance of peace.
But the menace of Liberman lies not only in his acknowledged or unacknowledged views. It is imprinted in his character. Witness: he is the sole leader of his party, which is almost entirely composed of new immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Like previous waves of immigration, this is a group of people who did not grow up in a democratic society, and tend to have an oversimplified view of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Many of them live in Israel as if on an island, read only the local Russian-language press (almost entirely far to the right), and are isolated from the liberal and democratic tendencies in the country. They have pushed out Nathan Sharansky, who looks too weak, and vote for a tough, authoritarian leader whose main election slogan, even in Hebrew-language broadcasts, was "Da, Liberman!" (Yes, Liberman!) What does that remind one of?
Liberman does not hide his intention of totally changing the structure of the Israeli political system and establishing an authoritarian regime, headed by a strong leader (himself). As a first step, he has submitted a bill for the establishment of a "presidential" regime, in which the president would have almost dictatorial powers. He would not be dependent on the Parliament, which would become unimportant, and would control all the instruments of power himself. The immediate model is Vladimir Putin, the gravedigger of Russian democracy, but it seems that Liberman is far more extreme.
WHY DOES Ehud Olmert court this man? Why does he insist on including him in his government and agreeing to vote for his proposals? Why is Libermania fast becoming the hottest topic in Israeli politics?
Simply: Olmert, completely bankrupt, is clutching at straws.
Only seven months after becoming Prime Minister by a stroke of luck - Ariel Sharon's stroke - he is left with nothing, and right with nothing, too, it seems:. The public already understands that the Lebanon War, in all its facets, was a total fiasco. His refusal to appoint a Judicial Commission of Inquiry has deepened the feeling of defeat. The central slogan of his election campaign - "Convergence" - has become a bad joke. >From the famous "Social Agenda" nothing has remained. Olmert & Co. have been left without any plan, any mission, except one: to hold on to power at any price.
One of the hallmarks of a person like Liberman is a talent for sensing and exploiting the weaknesses of others. He is making Olmert a seductive offer: he would join the government and bring with him his 11 votes in Parliament - without anything in return. Literally for nothing.
In the past he has demanded the post of Minister of Defense, or at least Minister of Police (officially "Minister of Interior Defense"). Now he talks about a nebulous title: "Minister in Charge of Long-Range Strategy" (translation: the bombing of Iran). But he does not insist even on that. He is prepared to be a minister without portfolio, not even demanding that two or three of his colleagues also become ministers, as the size of his party would justify.
An offer that cannot be refused. Liberman knows that the title is unimportant. What is important is to get his foot in the door and gain legitimacy as a minister. The rest will come in due course.
For the despairing Olmert, out to hold on to power, this looks like a gift from heaven. He has opponents in the government, especially in the Labor Party. His parliamentary majority is not safe. And here comes Liberman and provides him with complete security in office. People have sold their souls to the devil for less.
The official justification is: "One cannot reject any Zionist party" (a wording that automatically counts out all Israeli Arab parties). Adapting the famous words of Dr Samuel Johnson, it could be said: "Zionism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Olmert wants to gain some more years - or months, or weeks - in power. Power for its own sake. Power for no cause or purpose, for no idea, for no action. In return, he is ready to open the door to the forces of darkness. What does he care? After him the deluge.
I HAVE said more than once that I believe in Israeli democracy. The immigrants from the Soviet Union are not the only ones who grew up in a dictatorial system - almost all Israelis, or their parents, grew up under tyrannical regimes. But Israeli democracy, the miracle that has no logical explanation, is holding up even in these difficult circumstances.
However, we cannot ignore the dangers that threaten our democracy now. Years of a brutal occupation have corrupted the state and the army, racism is flourishing in our daily life - not only against the inhabitants of the occupied territories, not only against the Arab citizens of Israel proper, not only against foreign workers. There exist in our society deep schisms that can be exploited by fascism in its search for power.
When Rome was in danger from the approaching Carthaginian army, the cry went up: "Hannibal ante portas!" We should now raise the cry: "Liberman at the gate!"
Ehud Olmert will be a passing episode in the annals of Israel. In a few years, nobody will remember him. Unless he acquires the status of the Israeli von Papen.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=11408
ZNet | Israel/Palestine
We overcame our fear
The unarmed women of the Gaza Strip have taken the lead in resisting Israel's latest bloody assault
by Jameela al-Shanti; The Guardian; November 14, 2006
Beit Hanoun, November 9, 2006 - Yesterday at dawn, the Israeli air force bombed and destroyed my home. I was the target, but instead the attack killed my sister-in-law, Nahla, a widow with eight children in her care. In the same raid Israel's artillery shelled a residential district in the town of Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip, leaving 19 dead and 40 injured, many killed in their beds. One family, the Athamnas, lost 16 members in the massacre: the oldest who died, Fatima, was 70; the youngest, Dima, was one; seven were children. The death toll in Beit Hanoun has passed 90 in one week.
This is Israel's tenth incursion into Beit Hanoun since it announced its withdrawal from Gaza. It has turned the town into a closed military zone, collectively punishing its 28,000 residents. For days, the town has been encircled by Israeli tanks and troops and shelled. All water and electricity supplies were cut off and, as the death toll continued to mount, no ambulances were allowed in. Israeli soldiers raided houses, shut up the families and positioned their snipers on roofs, shooting at everything that moved. We still do not know what has become of our sons, husbands and brothers since all males over 15 years old were taken away last Thursday. They were ordered to strip to their underwear, handcuffed and led away.
It is not easy as a mother, sister or wife to watch those you love disappear before your eyes. Perhaps that was what helped me, and 1,500 other women, to overcome our fear and defy the Israeli curfew last Friday - and set about freeing some of our young men who were besieged in a mosque while defending us and our city against the Israeli military machine.
We faced the most powerful army in our region unarmed. The soldiers were loaded up with the latest weaponry, and we had nothing, except each other and our yearning for freedom. As we broke through the first barrier, we grew more confident, more determined to break the suffocating siege. The soldiers of Israel's so-called defence force did not hesitate to open fire on unarmed women. The sight of my close friends Ibtissam Yusuf abu Nada and Rajaa Ouda taking their last breaths, bathed in blood, will live with me for ever.
Later an Israeli plane shelled a bus taking children to a kindergarten. Two children were killed, along with their teacher. In the last week 30 children have died. As I go round the crowded hospital, it is deeply poignant to see the large number of small bodies with their scars and amputated limbs. We clutch our children tightly when we go to sleep, vainly hoping that we can shield them from Israel's tanks and warplanes.
But as though this occupation and collective punishment were not enough, we Palestinians find ourselves the targets of a systematic siege imposed by the so-called free world. We are being starved and suffocated as a punishment for daring to exercise our democratic right to choose who rules and represents us. Nothing undermines the west's claims to defend freedom and democracy more than what is happening in Palestine. Shortly after announcing his project to democratise the Middle East, President Bush did all he could to strangle our nascent democracy, arresting our ministers and MPs. I have yet to hear western condemnation that I, an elected MP, have had my home demolished and relatives killed by Israel's bombs. When the bodies of my friends and colleagues were torn apart there was not one word from those who claim to be defenders of women's rights on Capitol Hill and in 10 Downing Street.
Why should we Palestinians have to accept the theft of our land, the ethnic cleansing of our people, incarcerated in forsaken refugee camps, and the denial of our most basic human rights, without protesting and resisting?
The lesson the world should learn from Beit Hanoun last week is that Palestinians will never relinquish our land, towns and villages. We will not surrender our legitimate rights for a piece of bread or handful of rice. The women of Palestine will resist this monstrous occupation imposed on us at gunpoint, siege and starvation. Our rights and those of future generations are not open for negotiation.
Whoever wants peace in Palestine and the region must direct their words and sanctions to the occupier, not the occupied, the aggressor not the victim. The truth is that the solution lies with Israel, its army and allies - not with Palestine's women and children.
Jameela al-Shanti is an elected member of the Palestinian Legislative Council for Hamas. She led a women's protest against the siege of Beit Hanoun last Friday jameela.shanti@gmail.com
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=107&ItemID=11398
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