Month: July 2006

Oy vey indeed

Some good stuff in this Laura Rozen interview with Marc Perry, the director of the Conflicts Forum, which supports dialogue with Islamists — I’ve mentioned them before. Most notably, he shoots down this notion that what’s happening is the result of a sinister Syrian-Iranian plan:

We’ve been hearing the theory that the timing of Hezbollah’s Tuesday kidnapping of the two Israeli Defense Force soldiers was planned well in advance and with coordination from Tehran or Damascus. Can you speak to that?

Oy vey. There are a lot of people in Washington trying to walk that story back right now, because it’s not true.

Hezbollah and Israel stand along this border every day observing each other through binoculars and waiting for an opportunity to kill each other. They are at war. They have been for 25 years, no one ever declared a cease-fire between them. … They stand on the border every day and just wait for an opportunity. And on Tuesday morning there were two Humvees full of Israeli soldiers, not under observation from the Israeli side, not under covering fire, sitting out there all alone. The Hezbollah militia commander just couldn’t believe it — so he went and got them.

The Israeli captain in charge of that unit knew he had really screwed up, so he sent an armored personnel carrier to go get them in hot pursuit, and Hezbollah led them right through a minefield.

Now if you’re sitting in Tehran or Damascus or Beirut, and you are part of the terrorist Politburo so to speak, you have a choice. With your head sunk in your hands, thinking “Oh my God,” you can either give [the kidnapped soldiers] back and say “Oops, sorry, wrong time” or you can say, “Hey, this is war.”

It is absolutely ridiculous to believe that the Hezbollah commander on the ground said Tuesday morning, “Go get two Israeli soldiers, would you please?”

And my other favorite passage:

Some are proposing that the Lebanese government send its army into southern Lebanon. What do you think of that idea?

It’s a really great idea. The Lebanese army can’t collect the garbage in Beirut. Neither can the Syrian army. Southern Lebanon is Hezbollah land. … Hezbollah is the second or third most competent military force in the region, after Israel and Iran. It could probably defeat a good sized Egyptian battalion.

Ah, poor Egyptians.

Solidarity with Sharqawi from Canada

We received this from Hicham Safieddine, a Lebanese journalist in Canada.

Dear Arabist.Net,

My name is Hicham Safieddine and I am journalist currently in Montreal. I thought you would be interested to know that I read out excerpts from the letter activist Mohamad Sharqawi wrote from prison and that was posted on your website last week, on CKUT, Montreal’s community radio station. You can listen to the reading and a discussion about Sharqawi and Egypt in general on the internet at www.ckut.ca. Click on “programming and archives,” go to the Wednesday column and click on the “Caravan” show. it is part of the July 12 show. It begins around the 46 minute mark.

My heart and thought go out to Sharqawi and all of those fighting for the dignity and freedom of the Egyptian people.

Sincerely,

Hicham Safieddine

Meanwhile in Cairo, a delegation of university professors will meet with the new General Prosecutor tomorrow Tuesday, to demand Sharqawi’s release.

Just like that

Sheikh Khalifa has bestowed the gift of another new city for Egypt, to be dubbed “Sheikh Khalifa City.”

Considering Egypt’s experience with new cities — see how much of 10th of Ramadan, 6th of October, and whatever other ugly name based on a date — I won’t be holding my breath.

Al Jazeera journalist in Israel arrested

From Al Jazeera:

AL JAZEERA DEMANDS THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ITS JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF

Doha, Qatar – July 17th 2006 – 4:00pm: Since Sunday July 16th, 2006 the Israeli authorities started obstructing Al Jazeera crews from covering the present confrontation in Lebanon in northern Israel. The Israeli authorities detained Al Jazeera’s correspondent, Ilyas Karram for a period of time just after the first wave of Hezbollah missiles hit Haifa. Furthermore, on two occassions yesterday and today the Israeli authorities detained Al Jazeera’s Bureau Chief in Jerusalem, Walid Al Omary. Mr. Al Omary has not been released yet without any explanations been given from the Israeli authorities, thus preventing Al Jazeera’s reporters from carrying out their work.

International Humanitarian Law, Gaza, Lebanon, Israel

The Geneva Conventions often get brought up in the discussions of what Israel is doing in Gaza or Lebanon, so I think it’s worth looking at them in detail so we know what we’re talking about. Here are the relevant bits, from the fourth convention:

Art. 48. Basic rule

In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.

Art. 52. General Protection of civilian objects

1. Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives as defined in paragraph 2.

2. Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives. In so far as objects are concerned, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.

3. In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.

Art. 54. Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population

1. Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.

2. It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as food-stuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive.

Art. 59. Non-defended localities

1. It is prohibited for the Parties to the conflict to attack, by any means whatsoever, non-defended localities. 2. The appropriate authorities of a Party to the conflict may declare as a non-defended locality any inhabited place near or in a zone where armed forces are in contact which is open for occupation by an adverse Party. Such a locality shall fulfil the following conditions: (a) all combatants, as well as mobile weapons and mobile military equipment must have been evacuated; (b) no hostile use shall be made of fixed military installations or establishments; (c) no acts of hostility shall be committed by the authorities or by the population; and (d) no activities in support of military operations shall be undertaken.

Israel ratified in 1951. Helena Cobban has made some good arguments on the need for a single set of standards, under international law, to resolve the conflict. I should stress again that, no matter whether you are “pro-Arab” or “pro-Israeli” the underlying issue here is that Israel is using collective punishment and targeting civilians who have nothing to do with Hizbullah. This humanitarian issue needs to trump all other considerations.

Quick notes on the Israel-Lebanon war

There were a series of Israeli strikes on Lebanon overnight, including at ports. Casualty count is unsure till now, but probably between 20-40 people died.

Lebanese TV is reporting that an Israeli plane was shot down, showing footage of debris falling from the sky. Israel is denying it. Along with the strike on the Israeli ship — the most modern frigate they have, and they only have three of them — such a strike would add to the apparently growing feeling in Israel that the army underestimated Hizbullah’s abilities.

Israel has carried out a “limited” crossing into South Lebanon to go after the positions from which Hizbullah is firing rockets on Haifa, but then returned to Israel. More rockets were fired on Haifa this morning, but claimed no victims.

A lot of pundits are expecting a land invasion within a few days, but Israeli officials have said they are reluctant because the border area has been heavily mined by Hizbullah. Some expect an Israeli widening of the war to include Syria. Other Israeli experts or security sources say the whole thing will be over in a few days. Clearly things are in a state of flux as to where this conflict is going, which means that there is still hope for a stand-down.

An Israeli newspaper said that 25% of Hizbullah’s fighting capacity has been destroyed. How do they know that?

I’m not sure how Israel will be able to completely destroy Hizbullah, as it has said it would do, without re-occupying Lebanon. Nor do I see how Hizbullah would accept a peace deal involving its own disarmament, as is being talked about in Western capitals. A ceasefire looks like the best you can hope for.

Sorry for the brevity and lack of links, I will try to put something more cogent together later…

Pictures from Lebanon

Have received this email from a Lebanese friend:

Last night , 60 raids were executed all over Lebanon , from Tripoli in the north to Baalback in the East ,and in Beirut. Since Thursday 197 civilians were killed and 35o injured according to the health ministry , but this can not be a finel account since whole villages and cities are completely cut off , there’ s no way to reach them or know wht’s happening there. Now what happened in the south last night seems to be outrageous . People are fleeing in masses , there are humongous traffic jams in Saida , caused by hundreds of people fleeing to Beirut through the South. Those people have nowhere to go in here , and that’s way they hadn’t left their villages so far. This morning, the streets of beirut were full with families carrying plastic bags in whivh they packed their belongings , or what’s left of them. Appartement buildings in beirut are either full or over priced. People took in relatives and friends in their houses . Now all this is fine, it’s war , killing destroying , moving people , cutting off cities , destroying infrastructure , it’s classical. But , please , take a minute and look at any of these pictures in a different way. Some countries said they will help lebanon’s reconstruction (thanks) . Saudi Arabia said it will give 50 milion $ in aid. A small calculation of the difference in oil prices between last Wednesday and today will show how generous this offer is , especially that the Saudis political stand almost gave the israelis a green light to go on. Anyway , that was not my point . The point is , if you take a real look at the pictures , you will see: a house , a car , a shop… Destroyed ones. But , 6 days ago , they were somebody’s car , shop , and house. Inside the houses were toys for children , books and music. All gone, and no one will pay for it. The shops are all what these people own. The harbour that was burnt last night , contained goods someone had paid for. People will go bankrupt. Did I mention that the targeted areas are the poorer in Lebanon? Oh yeah , and I forgot to mention all the people who died.

What's Left Of Their Homes In Suburb Safir
I only put one picture here (it shows destroyed homes in the Beirut suburb of Safir, I think), the rest of them are on Flickr. Be warned, some of them are extremely graphic and show burnt and mutilated bodies.