Tag: israel/palestine

Israeli lawyers sue Lebanon for damages

Israeli lawyers want to sue Lebanon for the damage done to northern Israel. You know that among Israel’s sick society (86% of them support what’s being done in Lebanon, remember) you’re still going to find lawyers that are even sicker. I guess lawyers are lawyers everywhere.

Perhaps a settlement can be arranged, each side pays for the damage done to the other?

Actually this brings up a good point: Lebanon is bound to get aid money for reconstruction. And who will be paying for Israel’s war (and already is paysing for it)? The American taxpayer, that’s who.

See also here.

Israel’s psychological warfare

Sick fucks:

Late night calls from Israel spook jittery Lebanese
Reuters 21.07.06 | 21h23

BEIRUT, July 21 (Reuters) – At first, Bushra Khayyat tried to ignore the incessant ringing of the phone at her house in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon. It was 4 a.m., but she finally got out of bed.

“I said hello and got a recorded message from Israel,” she told Reuters.

In clear Arabic, the strong voice on the phone said: “Oh Lebanese people, we tell you not to follow Hizbollah. We will continue to strike and no one will bring your prisoners back from Israel except the Lebanese government.”

Other residents of the south have received similar calls.

“My grandmother got two calls at 5 and 6 in the morning saying the Israeli state would not stop the attacks and asking everyone to leave the area south of the Litani,” said one woman who is stranded in Sidon.

“She slammed the phone down.”

Israel has dropped flyers on Lebanon during its 10-day-old conflict with Hizbollah guerrillas, warning people to stay away from the group’s strongholds, warning them to evacuate their villages in the south or caricaturing the chief of Hizbollah.

But there was something eerie about the phone calls.

“It was a shock to get a call from Israel,” said Khayyat, who has since fled the bombardment to Syria and then France.

“I have caller ID on my landline and when I checked it came up as ‘out of area’. It’s not that I was scared, I just wished I could talk back to the voice but it was a recorded message.”

Khayyat got a similar call two nights later, this time answered by her maid, who, panicking when she heard a voice announce “this is Israel”, immediately put down the phone.

I doubt this kind of psychological warfare will get them far. I also wonder, out of curiosity, how they are doing this — how they got control of the Lebanese phone system. And how long they’ve had the ability to control it.

Update: It gets even sicker, now they want snitches:

Israel offers rewards to Lebanese for tips on Hizbollah
Reuters 21.07.06 | 21h56

JERUSALEM, July 21 (Reuters) – Israel dropped leaflets across Lebanon on Friday offering “attractive material rewards” to people who give information about Hizbollah that helps the Jewish state’s offensive against the guerrillas.
An army spokeswoman said the rewards could be a range of things, such as cash or a house. It was not clear how such items would be delivered or exactly what information Israel wanted.

The leaflets, worded in Arabic, call on people to “remove the sore known as Hizbollah from the heart of Lebanon”, gave a phone number and Web site where information could be passed on.

Confidentiality was assured, said the leaflet, entitled “All 4 Lebanon”.

Israeli aircraft dropped 23 tonnes of bombs on a Hizbollah bunker earlier this week in southern Beirut after intelligence indicated senior leaders of the group were there. Hizbollah said none were killed.

The Jewish state launched the offensive last week after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border raid.

Ground invasion to come soon?

Many Israeli analysts and sources are expecting an imminent ground invasion as the govt. there has called up more reservists and massed troops at the border. The Israeli army has also told people to leave South Lebanon. It looks like at least a partial repeat of 1982 will happen.

The Angry Arab, whose mother is in hospital in Beirut, doesn’t think so because the Israelis have destroyed the roads and bridges. He sees this as posturing to put pressure on Hizbullah.

I’m not sot sure how this squares up with the Israeli statements that they want this to be over within two weeks. Perhaps they intend to stay in a part of Lebanon until an international peacekeeping force can come in. Another interesting development is that Hizbullah refuses to negotiate directly, while Israel only wants to negotiate directly.

The Lebanese defense minister said the Lebanese army would fight in the case of a ground invasion:

Lebanon’s army, which so far has sat on the sidelines of the violence raging in the country, will fight an Israeli ground invasion, Defense Minister Elias Murr said on Al-Jazeera television Thursday.

“The Lebanese army – and I stress – the Lebanese army will resist and defend and will prove that it is an army that deserves respect,” he said.

Although obviously the Lebanese army is no match as a conventional army, I wonder that — if this is more than posturing — what they would do. What would make sense is to adopt the guerrilla tactics of Hizbullah against an occupation army. But if this didn’t happen in 1982, I don’t see why it would happen now. If it did, it would certainly complicate matters…

Latest developments

From Reuters (latest civilian toll in Lebanon is 345):

July 21 (Reuters) – Here are developments in the Middle East.

* Israel calls up army reservists for possible major ground assault against Hizbollah in Lebanon

* U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will go to Mideast Sunday while resisting international pressure for immediate cease-fire between Israel, Hizbollah in Lebanon

* Three Hizbollah rockets crash into the northern Israeli city of Haifa, wounding 19 people. Other towns also hit

* Israeli troops launch small-scale raids in Lebanon to try to stop rocket attacks

* Israel’s military chief says the country’s forces have killed nearly 100 Hizbollah fighters in Lebanon during the 10-day offensive

* Four Israeli soldiers are killed in fierce battles with Hizbollah guerrillas inside Lebanon

* Lebanon’s defense minister says the army, which has not fought so far despite losing a score of soldiers in Israeli air strikes, would defend the country against any invasion

Continue reading Latest developments

Police crackdown on solidarity demos

I’m getting phone calls saying Egyptian security is cracking down now on thousands of pro-Lebanese and pro-Palestinian demonstrators in Al-Azhar. I still don’t have details. The Mosque, as well as the neighborhood, is under siege by the Central Security Forces, State Security agents, plainclothes policemen and hired thugs, according to a lawyer present in the scene.
Some people are trapped in the mosque. Others are outside, and got scattered into seperate groups by security, who assaulted some of them, confiscated the leaflets and flags they were carrying, according to the lawyer who called me.
Yesterday, the police also banned another rally in solidarity with the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance, in Zagazig, Sharqiyya Province, as Egyptian blogger Asad reports. And in Isma3ilia, ten Muslim Brothers activists were detained by security, and charged for “writing some phrases on the street walls which read ‘Together with the resistance of Palestine and Lebanon,'” according to Ikhwan Web.
UPDATE: I spoke with a blogger who was present in the scene. She said the mosque was packed with worshippers, Kefaya and Labor Party activists, but could not see a sizeable Muslim Brothers’ presence. (CORRECTION: I checked with sources, and it turned out the MB took part in the protest, led by Mahdi Akef the group’s Supreme Guide.) The security, she added, did not restrict access to the mosque, but responded brutally when the demonstrators tried to get out of the mosque. Plainclothes thugs were unleashed on the protestors and worshippers, using sticks and batons, till they pushed them back into the mosque. The blogger said she saw several activists, including Malek whose shirt was stained with the blood of another demonstrator who was injured. The activists continued demonstrating inside the mosque, chanting against Israel, US, and Arab regimes, for around an hour.
Later the security allowed those trapped inside to leave, one by one. Activists are now on their way to the Press Syndicate in 3abdel Khaleq Tharwat Street, to hold a sit in.
UPDATE: It’s 4pm, I got a phone call from the blogger again saying they are marching now in downtown! Around 150 activists managed to re-assemble, after assaults by security and thugs, in Opera Square. They are marching towards the Press Syndicate, chanting slogans against Israel, US, and the Egyptian police. Several activists haven been injured already. Released detainee Rasha 3azzab, according to the blogger, was assaulted by the thugs who slapped her on the face and pushed her to the ground.
UPDATE: 4:20pm, They have reached the Press Syndicate. I could hear on the phone slogans chanted against Gamal Mubarak.
PHOTOS: Photographers Nasser Nouri and 3amr 3abdallah sent me those pix of the earlier protest in Al-Azhar. Check out the SLIDESHOW
UPDATE: Here’s a dpa report by Jano Charbel:
Around 8,000 Egyptians demonstrate against Israel’s escalation of military strikes on Lebanon
Cairo, July 21 (dpa) –Around 8,000 Egyptians demonstrated, in Cairo and Alexandria, following Friday noontime prayers, against Israel’s escalation of military strikes on Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Black-clad central security forces sealed in around 5,000 demonstrators within Cairo’s al-Azhar Mosque as they chanted slogans against Israel ‘s targeting of civilian non-combatants and infrastructure in both Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
The demonstration was organized by the Moslem Brotherhood, and the left-leaning umbrella movement Kifaya/Enough. Other political forces present at the demonstration were members of the Nasserist Party, the Revolutionary Socialists, and the Labor Party. Former Egyptian Prime Minister Aziz Sedqi was also present. Continue reading Police crackdown on solidarity demos

“Subcontracting US policy to Tel Aviv”

I don’t like this man, but Pat Buchanan is one of the few American commentators who cuts through the bullshit:

Now, Israel’s rampage against a defenseless Lebanon – smashing airport runways, fuel tanks, power plants, gas stations, lighthouses, bridges, roads and the occasional refugee convoy – has exposed Bush’s folly in subcontracting U.S. policy out to Tel Aviv, thus making Israel the custodian of our reputation and interests in the Middle East.

The Lebanon that Israel, with Bush’s blessing, is smashing up has a pro-American government, heretofore considered a shining example of his democracy crusade. Yet, asked in St. Petersburg if he would urge Israel to use restraint in its airstrikes, Bush sounded less like the leader of the Free World than some bellicose city councilman from Brooklyn Heights.

He’s right — Israeli (or more accurately, pro-Israeli American) control of US Middle East policy has to stop.

Solidarity forum in NY on Saturday

Anti-war activists are planning a solidarity event with Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq, in New York this Saturday. Here’s the press release:

Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq
Stop US/Israel War on the Middle East
Emergency Forum

In the last 2 weeks, Israel has unleashed a barbaric campaign of destruction against the Palestinian and Lebanese people.
Using the pretext of recent kidnapping of 3 soldiers by Hamas and Hezollah, Israel has been bombing power plants, bridges, airports and roads in Gaza and Lebanon thus leaving millions of Arab civilians without electricity, water and food. Israel’s crimes against humanity are taking place with the support of the US government. Continue reading Solidarity forum in NY on Saturday

Latest developments

From a Reuters feed, no comment:

July 20 (Reuters) – Following are developments in the Middle East.

* Hizbollah fight fierce battles with Israeli troops on Lebanese border, as thousands more foreigners flee 9-day-old war in Lebanon

* The fighting has killed at least 311 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel

* Israeli forces take casualties in heavy fighting with Hizbollah guerrillas just inside Lebanon. Al Jazeera TV says four Israelis are killed. Israeli media report eight soldiers wounded. Hizbollah says one of its fighters is killed.

* Israeli army says 30 rockets fired by Hizbollah land in northern Israel, cause no casualties

Continue reading Latest developments

UN hints at war crimes in Lebanon

Finally, the UN talks about holding war criminals to account:

GENEVA, July 19 (REUTERS) – The scale of killing and maiming of civilians in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territory of Gaza could constitute war crimes, the United Nations human rights chief said on Wednesday.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said international humanitarian law was clear on the need to protect non-combatants in any conflict. “This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity,” she said.

“The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control,” she said, without directly accusing anyone.

Would have liked to see a stronger and more specific statement, but it’s a beginning. If Israel is not held accountable it will be able to do this again and again with impunity.

Here are Commissioner Arbour’s statement and a previous one in which she says “the destruction of Gaza’s electricity power station may be a violation of international humanitarian law.”