Month: July 2006

Pro-Lebanese demos

Solidarity events continue around the world…
A demo was held in NYC in solidarity with Lebanon and Palestine in front of the Israeli mission to the UN on 18 July.
My friend Shehab Fakhry sent me this report…

About 300 pro-Lebanon demonstrators gathered today, July, 18th, in front of the Israeli Mission to the U.N. on 42nd street and 2nd Avenue, New York City, to protest the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and Palestine. The demonstration comes one day after a major pro-Israel rally that took place at the same place.
The demonstration is mainly in protest against the disproportionate use of power that Israel is exhibiting against Lebanon and the apparent lack of any desire on Israel’s side to limit the escalation of the crisis. It comes as an expression of anger at the undeserved death of so many Lebanese civilians, 270 to this writing, who were caught in the cross fire under the pretext of helping or even just being around members of Hizbollah.
The protest was organized by a coalition of National Council of Arab-Americans, Answer coalition, International Action Center and United for Peace and Justice. But other groups and organizations were also present: Internationalist Socialist Organization, Muslim American Society Freedom Association, Women in Black and most interestingly, True Torah Jews and Jews Against Zionism, who were going around with badges of the Palestinian flag on top of which is written “A Jew not a Zionist” and who were a demonstration hit in terms of photos!
Despite the agreement on condemning the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, there were somewhat vast differences of opinion. In a statement issued by the International Action Center, Hizbollah and Hamas are described as “freedom fighters.â€Â� The same statement unqualifiedly states that Palestine and Lebanon “have a right to fight for their land.â€Â� In more cool-headed statement, United for Peace and Justice condemn both Hizbollah’s and Israel’s attacks on civilians from both sides. Aside from condemning the disproportionate use of power on Israel’s side, the statement further calls for an immediate ceasefire and the beginning of serious negotiations.
With so many Lebanese flags and so many Lebanese, whether first or second generation, the scene was very emotional. Many of the demonstrators were sharing news about their families or friends stranded in Lebanon. Other demonstrators who spent some times in Lebanon were sharing their stories of trying, to no avail, to call the places where they stayed at, upon hearing news of bombing. Still others could do nothing but hold Lebanese flags and weep.
The Answer coalition is also calling for a national emergency march on Washington, scheduled to take place on August, 12th.

Shehab also sent me this slideshow of demo pix.

In Cairo on the same day, hundreds of Nasserist and Muslim Brotherhood activists assembled in front of the Press Syndicate, at 6pm, chanting in support of the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance, and called for the release of Egypt’s political detainees. The protest lasted for an hour.
Nasser Nouri sent me those pix.

On the following day, Wednesday 19 July, two small protests were also held in Cairo. Jano Charbel of dpa sent me this report: Continue reading Pro-Lebanese demos

MERIP on Israel’s convergence plan

Some interesting stuff worth remembering about Hamas in MERIP’s look at the convergence on the Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Hizbullah conflicts:

Frozen out of official negotiations, Hamas could only carry out public diplomacy. The movement sent up a number of trial balloons soon after its election in the form of comments to the press, op-eds in the Guardian and Washington Post, and on- and off-the-record remarks to international organizations. In February, Hamas politburo head Khalid Mashaal described the PA’s foundation in the Oslo accords as “a reality,” and said that “we do not oppose” the 2002 Arab League initiative offering Israel “full normalization” of relations in return for a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and a “just and agreed” solution to the refugee problem. Previously, Hamas had vehemently denounced both the Oslo agreements and the Arab initiative. But the US and Israel were not interested in pursuing what sort of avenues this newfound flexibility might open. Instead, the US and Israel boxed Hamas — and themselves — into a corner with stringent demands that were impossible for Hamas to accept.

Continue reading MERIP on Israel’s convergence plan

Sharqawi and Sha3er are FREE

Sharqawi and Sha3er have been finally released by 12:50am, after a long odyssey of “paper work” pending their release.

The two were taken from Tora Prison on Wednesday 1:15pm, to State Security police HQ in Lazoughli Square, where they spent a couple of hours sitting in some corridor. They were then transferred to El-Khalifa Police Station, and then to the Cairo Security Directorate, from where the two walked out ten mins to 1am.

Mabrouk ya Sharqawi… Mabrouk ya Sha3er…

Here is a picture I took of Sharqawi, talking on a mobile phone and still dressed in white prison clothes, in Bab el-Louq shortly after his release. His friends, waiting outside the Directorate, took him and Sha3er together with some family members to a downtown coffeeshop.
Sharqawi

WaPo on Egypt-US relationship

The Washington Post, in its now increasingly rarer series of editorials on Egypt, highlights the crackdown on the press and the Bush administration’s abandon of its policy of democracy promotion. Nothing very interesting, really, especially as the editorial suggests it was Bush that “inspired” the democracy movement (no, it’s existed since at least 1952 in various forms, Egyptians did not wait for Bush to start hoping for democracy) and heaps praise on the largely irrelevant former (?) regime “intellectual” Osama Al Ghazali Harb and his irrelevant new party (will he be the Post’s new Ayman Nour, since the US has forgotten about him?)

Blah.

I’m too distracted these days between Lebanon and work in Morocco to write about it much, but there are some important things taking place with the upgrade of the bilateral US-Egypt relationship. Condi Rice insisted that the US-Egyptian Strategic Dialogue (for that is it’s name) includes discussion of Egypt’s domestic situation, but the Egyptian press for the last few days has been quoting Mubarak saying that the US now understands that Egypt will not tolerate intrusion into its internal affairs etc… He literally goes on at lengths about this, and the message to the domestic audience is clear: fuggetaboutit — it being American pressure on the regime, or even deciding not to support the regime as long as it continues the current repressive trend.

What the temporary pressure from the Bush administration did “inspire” democracy activists to do (although I think the 2005 election period was more important as far as Egypt was concerned) was go to international public opinion for their cause. The result of the reversal of policy is that those who dared stick their necks out will now be served a cold dish of revenge by the regime. What started with Ayman Nour, continued with Kifaya and Muslim Brotherhood activists, the judges and most recently the press is likely to continue until the regime feels it has hammered in the message enough: you are alone. For activists, especially during the coming phase of succession-transition, this will leave two possibilities: getting off the streets and stopping (or greatly reducing) their efforts, or escalating either through campaigns by foreign-based groups (such as those started by by Egyptian-Americans recently), or through political violence.

Another week of bombing

Washington is giving another week to Israel to bomb Lebanon, and Condi would then fly down there to establish an international buffer zone.

In the meantime, at least 55 Lebanese died today, the highest daily toll so far.

The US’ stance on this will be remembered for a long time in the region — there will be a price to pay for backing Israel’s use of collective punishment.

Update: Congress (the most corrupt parliament among Western democracies) runs after the money, as it always does, and backs Israel.

Israel’s first conscientious objector

Sergeant Itzik Shabbat is a courageous and moral person:

“I know people will attack me and ask how could I not take part in this war when Qassams are falling on my hometown and Katyushas on the towns in the north,” he told Haaretz. “In my opinion, only this type of opposition that I’ve chosen will put an end to the madness that is going on now and will shatter the false feeling that the entire home front supports this unnecessary war that is based on deceptive considerations.”

He added: “Someone has to be the first to break the silence and it will be me. It is a shame that my order was signed by another Sderot resident, Defense Minister Amir Peretz.”

Hopefully more will follow.

Is Human Rights Watch racist?

OK, I know a few of the people who work at the Middle East section of Human Rights Watch, and a lot of the people who work with them. I have tremendous respect for the work they do detailing abuses in Arab countries and helping train local rights activists. I know that they are frequently under pressure to be careful about their coverage of Israel because a lot of their funding comes from pro-Israel American Jews. But this possibly tops it all. If you go to their home page, you see two stories. Here is the first paragraph of the first one:

Israel: Investigate Attack on Civilians in Lebanon

IDF Must Take Precautions to Protect Civilians Fleeing Areas at Risk

(Beirut, July 17, 2006) – The Israel Defense Forces should provide details about a bombing on Saturday that killed 16 people in a convoy of civilians fleeing a Lebanese village near Israel’s border, Human Rights Watch said today. Under international humanitarian law, all parties to an armed conflict must take all feasible precautions to protect civilians fleeing areas at risk.

And here is the first paragraph of the second:

Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians

Anti-personnel Ball Bearings Meant to Harm “Soft” Targets

(New York, July 18, 2006) – Hezbollah’s attacks in Israel on Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

No mention of deliberate targeting of civilians by Israel, although it is clearly doing that (and quite successfully.) Obviously its weapons do not hurt “soft targets” — except, oh wait, the Lebanese government says they’re using phosphorus bombs and vacuum bombs (thermobaric bombs, possibly the most lethal conventional weapons around). Perhaps this should be investigated? After all there have been many reports of people having phosphorus burns now.’

Earlier HRW had issued a call to avoid hitting civilians in both countries. But now that this has happened, a little even-handedness might be in order.

Al Jazeera journo shot in Israel

This just in:

Al Jazeera Crew Member Shot during Live Report

Doha, Qatar – July 19th 2006: Today, while an Al Jazeera crew was covering live the Israeli attack on Nablus in the West Bank, an Israeli military vehicle suddenly sped up towards Al Jazeera’s reporter, Jivara Al Budeiri, in an apparent attempt to interrupt the report. Al Jazeera’s technician Wael Tantous who was also part of her crew was subsequently shot and immediately rushed to hospital.

Since the start of the current war on Lebanon Al Jazeera crews have consistently been targeted by the Israeli authorities resulting in a constant hindrance and obstruction of their work.

Al Jazeera again emphatically expresses its strong denunciation and condemnation of this behaviour and reiterates its right to carry on its coverage with impartiality, objectivity and balance.

It’s a press release from Al Jazeera, will follow up with anything else I see.