Tag: israel/palestine

Fatah building new “Special Force” – with Egypt’s help

This is Palestine under Fatah: it doesn’t have a real state, doesn’t give proper support for military operations against the occupation, but still builds the elaborate domestic security infrastructure of the classic Arab national security state.

Fatah training new force in Egypt for renewed infighting

By Avi Issacharoff

Fatah has established a new security apparatus in the Gaza Strip and is recruiting thousands of militants in preparation for another round of violent clashes with Hamas. So far the organization – known as the Special Force – has recruited 1,400 combatants, a thousand of which have undergone military training.

Fatah intends to recruit an addition of at least 1,000 men to the organization, loyal to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The organization is headed by Sami Abu Samhadana, a notable operative in the first intifada.

Palestinian sources told Haaretz that the new recruitment effort was initiated some six weeks ago. According to the sources, officers from Palestinian General Intelligence service and the National Security Force were assigned to the ranks of the new organization.

They added that the organization is designed to function as an intervention force in case of a second conflagration of hostilities in the Gaza Strip between Hamas and Fatah.

The sources, loyal to Fatah, add that the cease-fire between the two rival factions is regarded as a temporary arrangement, to be terminated as soon as Hamas “perceives itself strong enough to overtake Fatah militarily.”

Therefore, the sources say, the Special Fatah Force along with Abbas’ Presidential Guard will have an important role in deterring Hamas from resuming hostilities.

More likely that the Special Force will be used to attempt to crush Hamas when Dahlan feels ready to do so.

Also intriguing is Egypt’s role in all this:

Palestinian sources say some 350 combatants from the Special Force were sent to Egypt at the beginning of March to participate in a training course under the tutelage of officers from the Palestinian Authority and Egyptian army.

The combatants of the Special Force training in Egypt were joined by several hundred soldiers of the Presidential Guard. Other soldiers of the Guard are currently training within the PA, in Gaza and in Jericho, where 500 new Presidential Guard recruits have only recently completed their training program.

The sources say both the Special Force and the Presidential Guard are exercising strict discretion in accepting new recruits. “Anyone with any sort of affiliation to Islamist groups will not be accepted,” they say. Sources add that Hamas is well aware of the mass recruiting and training in organizations loyal to Fatah, and that senior Hamas figures are pressing to militarily engage Fatah as soon as possible. They fear Dahlan and Abbas’ military force would greatly surpass Hamas’ forces in several months’ time, the sources explain.

Fantastic.

Rice’s show: Is it comedy or horror?

The Daily Star – Opinion Articles – Rice’s show: Is it comedy or horror?:

The most galling thing about Rice’s and Washington’s approach is its fundamental dishonesty. The Bush administration spent its first six years avoiding any serious engagement in the Arab-Israeli conflict, or decisively siding with the Israelis on most key contested points, like refugees, security or settlements. Now – with little time left for Rice, President George W. Bush on the ropes, his administration in tatters, America’s army in trouble in Iraq, Washington’s credibility shattered in the region and around the world, and the Middle East slipping into greater strife and dislocation – we are asked to believe that she will dedicate her remaining time in office to securing the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Does Rice take us in the Arab world for robotic idiots – simply another generation of hapless Arabs who have no options and must go along docilely with every American-Israeli initiative, no matter how insulting, insincere or desperate it may be? This initiative is all three.

The Rice approach is not serious because she does not prod Arabs and Israelis simultaneously to comply with the rule of law and United Nations resolutions. Instead, in her hasty and insincere diplomatic fishing expedition she casts her net wide in an attempt to catch enough “moderate Sunni Arabs” to play by American-Israeli rules. This is a direct consequence of two trends in the region for which the US must share much blame: the invasion and collapse of Iraq into sectarian strife that has started to spread throughout the region; and the persistence of pro-Israeli American policies for some four decades now, which have ultimately contributed to the birth of massive Arab Islamist movements that oppose Israel, side with Iran, and defy the US.

In other Arab summit related news, Qadhafi has apparently declared that Libya is an African state again and not concerned with Arab affairs.

Nicolas Sarkozy, Al Qaeda and Israel

Alain Gresh has a post on his blog about how French presidential candidate and tough guy Nicolas Sarkozy was asked whether Al Qaeda was Sunni or Shia and could not answer.

Cela m’avait échappé. Il ne me semble pas l’avoir lu dans les grands quotidiens et il a fallu une remarque en passant pour me lancer sur la piste des déclarations de Nicolas Sarkozy sur Al-Qaida. Seuls quelques blogs les ont reprises et quelques sites de journaux (Marianne) et nouvelobs.com). Voici comment ce dernier en parle : « Invité sur RMC lundi 26 février, Nicolas Sarkozy a été testé sur ses connaissances en matière de terrorisme international. Le journaliste de RMC, Jean-Jacques Bourdin, lui a demandé si les combattants d’Al-Qaïda étaient sunnites ou chiites. “Il est impossible d’y répondre (…) parce qu’Al-Qaïda, c’est une nébuleuse”, a rétorqué Nicolas Sarkozy. A trois reprises, le ministre de l’Intérieur a refusé de répondre à la question. “On ne peut pas qualifier Al-Qaïda comme ça”, a-t-il insisté. “Je vais d’ailleurs vous donner un exemple : le GSPC algérien a rejoint Al-Qaïda il y a quatre ans à peine. On ne peut pas réduire Al-Qaïda à un problème sunnites-chiites. Al-Qaïda, c’est une mouvance”, a encore déclaré le candidat de l’UMP. Jean-Jacques Bourdin a toutefois tenu à lui faire remarquer que “tous les chefs d’Al-Qaïda sont des sunnites”. “Nous demanderons à des spécialistes”, a conclu le journaliste. ». Que le ministre de l’intérieur français, en charge de la lutte contre le terrorisme, soit aussi ignare pose un véritable problème : comment peut-il mener cette lutte s’il n’est pas capable de faire la différence entre les groupes chiites et sunnites ? de comprendre le fossé qui sépare, par exemple, Al-Qaida des groupes chiites, même les plus radicaux.

So it’s not just American politicians — as Gresh says, quite worrying coming from a minister of the interior. Gresh also has a long examination of Sarkozy’s pro-Israel leanings (including a reference to a Sarkozy speech given in Israel in which he praises the 1956 tripartite aggression against Egypt). One remark by a Le Monde reporter says it all: “On Israel, he has the same language that an American presidential candidate would adopt.”

Time to move

…I was just about to post on Soros column in the Financial Times, taken from the same article in the New York Book Review, but focusing on the Palestinian national unity government. Here are two excerpts:

The Bush administration is again committing a blunder in the Middle East by supporting the Israeli government in its refusal to recognise a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas. This precludes any progress towards a peace settlement at a time when such progress could help avert conflagration in the greater Middle East.

The US and Israel seek to deal only with Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president. They hope new elections would deny Hamas the majority it has in the Palestinian legislative council. This is a hopeless strategy, because Hamas would boycott early elections and, even if their outcome resulted in Hamas’s exclusion from the government, no peace agreement would hold without Hamas support.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is pursing a different path. In a February summit in Mecca between Mr Abbas and the Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the Saudi government worked out an agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which have been clashing violently, to form a national unity government. Hamas agreed “to respect international resolutions and the agreements (with Israel) signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation”, including the Oslo accords. The Saudis view this accord as the prelude to the offer of a peace settlement with Israel, to be guaranteed by Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. But no progress is possible as long as the Bush administration and Ehud Olmert’s Israeli government refuse to recognise a unity government that includes Hamas.

[…]

There is now the chance of a political solution with Hamas brought on board by Saudi Arabia. It would be tragic to miss out on that prospect because the Bush administration is mired in the ideology of the war on terror.

Meanwhile, as expected, there is some movement in Europe towards dealing with the new government and ending the financial boycott, notably from Norway. Probably soon from France, too. I understand that Germany could be more flexible as well in dealing with Hamas, but is a bit tied at the moment as it performs EU Presidency. (Another problem is that the US anti-missile shield for Poland and the Czech republic complicates relations with Washington.)

If the EU dealt with the new government, as I think it should, it would probably not immediately make a difference on the international scene. The US and Israel would hardly be impressed. But it would for sure strenghten Hamas’ moderates (the two ideologues Zahar and Siam are already no longer members of cabinet) and improve conditions on the ground for the population.

I see no reason why a cabinet with moderate people such as Finance Minister Salam Fajad, Information Minister Mustafa Barghuti and Tourism Minister Abou Daijeh could not be dealt with.

Soros on AIPAC

Billionaire philanthropist George Soros has written an article denouncing AIPAC’s grip on American politics.

On Israel, America and AIPAC – The New York Review of Books:

The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism. Politicians challenge it at their peril because of the lobby’s ability to influence political contributions. When Howard Dean called for an evenhanded policy toward Israel in 2004, his chances of getting the nomination were badly damaged (although it was his attempt, after his defeat in Iowa, to shout above the crowd that sealed his fate). Academics had their advancement blocked and think-tank experts their funding withdrawn when they stepped too far out of line. Following his criticism of repressive Israeli policy on the West Bank, former president Jimmy Carter has suffered the loss of some of the financial backers of his center.

Anybody who dares to dissent may be subjected to a campaign of personal vilification. I speak from personal experience. Ever since I participated in a meeting discussing the need for voicing alternative views, a torrent of slanders has been released including the false accusation in The New Republic that I was a “young cog in the Hitlerite wheel” at the age of thirteen when my father arranged a false identity to save my life and I accompanied an official of the Ministry of Agriculture, posing as his godson, when he was taking the inventory of a Jewish estate.

AIPAC is protected not only by the fear of personal retaliation but also by a genuine concern for the security and survival of Israel. Both considerations have a solid foundation in reality. The same two factors were at play in the United States after September 11 when President Bush declared war on terror. For eighteen months thereafter it was considered unpatriotic to criticize his policies. That is what allowed him to commit one of the greatest blunders in American history, the invasion of Iraq. But at that time the threat to our national security was greatly exaggerated by the Bush administration. Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney went so far as to warn that the threat would manifest itself in the form of a mushroom cloud. In the case of Israel today the threat to national security, even national survival, is much more real. Israel needs the support of the United States more than ever. Is this the right time to expose AIPAC’s heavy influence in American politics? I believe this consideration holds back many people who are critical of the way AIPAC conducts its business. While the other architects of the Bush administration’s failed policies have been relentlessly exposed, AIPAC continues to be surrounded by a wall of silence.

His central argument is that US policy in the Middle East must stop being subservient to AIPAC and its allies and make an aggressive push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace. This means talking to Hamas on the foreign front and countering AIPAC’s negative influence on the home front, starting with countering what he terms as AIPAC’s “success in suppressing divergent views” among American Jews. Timed as Saudi King Abdullah’s peace initiative is once again on the table, let’s hope this can have some influence and that Soros will put his considerable amount of money where his mouth is.

The Teapacks: Push the button

The Israeli band The Teapacks’ song “Push the button” may be banned from the Eurovision song contest for being too political. I think the song is funny and in parts catchy (I love the gypsy folk music accordion thing) and should not be banned, but then again I don’t think the Israelis should be allowed to contest Eurovision generally for political reasons and because they are not Europeans.

Either way, this is a clever PR coup from the Israeli officials who presented the song to Eurovision — but don’t see it as anything more than that.

Apartheid

As some of you may remember, I mentioned last week that Israeli Apartheid Week was held in New York. As we’ve all seen from the reaction to former President Carter’s recent book, some people find the use of the word “apartheid” offensive, shocking, or far-fetched. Even within the Palestinian solidarity movement, there has been some discussion of the term’s usefulness and drawbacks. But when looking at the Occupied Territories–where settlers and Palestinians live in different areas, drive on different roads, go through different checkpoings, and are definitely subject to different treatment–it’s hard to argue that the term does not apply. And a South African law professor and UN human rights investigator agrees.

Policeman strikes against guarding Israeli embassy

I don’t have a link for this (Update: Here is the story on the MB website), but thought it was worth posting — it’s telling of the anger at the regime for its support of Israel these days:

An Egyptian policeman has been referred to a military court because he refused to guard the Israeli embassy in Cairo .

Major general Adel Al Helali, a senior aid of the Interior Minister and Giza security manager, ordered policeman Mohamed Khalaf Hassan Ibrahim who is serving in the force guarding the Israeli embassy in Anas Bin Malek st. in Giza to appear before a military prosecution to investigate with him over the incident of a sit-in and hunger strike that he staged in protest at transferring him from Bab Sharq police station, Alexandria, to Giza security department, in the force entrusted with guarding the building of the Israeli embassy .

The policeman filed several complaints to the presidency, calling for returning him back to his work in Alexandria because he refuses to guard the headquarters of the Israeli embassy in Cairo due to the crimes Israel is committing in the Middle East , in addition being unable to afford the expenses of traveling and living away from his family .

The military prosecution jailed him for 15 days pending trial, and was sent to Um Al-Misriyeen hospital to receive treatment and artificial feeding after he insisted on maintaining the hunger strike till his demands are met .

The regime is rather trigger happy on military tribunals these days…

Dodgy Gaydamak backs Netanyahu

Should I be surprised that so many Israeli political figures seem to be criminals of one kind or another? I suppose not, the country has been at the center of many illicit trades for a while now (human trafficking, conflict diamonds, drugs, weapons), obviously with politicians/officials’ support. And in any case, politicians worldwide seem to be increasingly corrupt. And this particular character (how can someone who holds Israeli, French, Russian and Angolan passports not be dodgy?) seems both unsavory and dangerous:

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Right-wing Israeli-Russian billionaire Arkady Gaydamak has said he planned to create a new political party to focus exclusively on socio-economic issues.

“I intend to create a new party within one month after having examined all the bureaucratic procedures,” Gaydamak told AFP.

“The state of Israel is passing through a major crisis because it is being managed by some inefficient people.”

“As an Israeli citizen I consider this my duty,” he added. “I have certain experience in political, economic and social affairs.”

Gaydamak, a long time ally of right-wing Likud party leader and former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said his own polling showed he had broad support from Israel’s large Russian minority and could count on between 25 and 30 percent support in a nationwide vote.

The AFP story doesn’t say that Gaydamak is wanted in France and under investigation in Israel.