Nach einem dienstäglichen Beschuß in Höhe von 16 Qassam-Projektilen und etwas über zwanzig Mörsergranaten auf verschiedene israelische Einrichtungen am Rand des Gazastreifens beginnt auch der Mittwoch mit einer Salve von 8 Raketen, vornehmlich auf zivile Ziele. Gegenmaßnahmen werden bislang keine berichtet. Unterdessen berichten verschiedene Quellen das nahezu sämtliche palästinensische Splittergruppen den ägyptischen Vorschlag für [einen] Waffenstillstand[sverhandlungen] aktzeptiert haben. Die israelische Seite hatte zuvor amerikanische Spielchen begonnen: Israel relayed a message this week to Egypt that it objected to the outlines of the cease-fire now under discussion for the Gaza Strip, since it might lead to the strengthening of Hamas and the weakening of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. [Wirklich erstaunliche Strategie: die Hamas darf nicht zu stark werden damit Abbas nicht geschwächt wird und Abbas darf nicht gestärkt werden damit Israel nicht geschwächt wird.] Immerhin hatte die ägyptische Seite nach einigen Absagen einen Mitarbeiter von Aussenminister Gheit nach Jerusalem geschickt. Dabei scheint es zu erneuten Irritationen innerhalb der Eifersuchtskoalition gekommen zu sein. Da Kadima-Aussenministerin Zicky Lllifni [der Emissionär hieß bedeutsamerweise Zaki] sich am Freitag bei einer Folge-Donor-Veranstaltung in london mit dem ägyptischen Aussenminister treffen will um als Retterin des Verhältnisses beider Länder in die Geschichte einzugehen und bei dem Vorbereitungsprozeß und den Waffenstillstandsverhandlungen das Militär und Verteidigungsminister Barak nicht einbezogen wurden reagiert der Public Security Minister Avi Dichter nach einem Treffen mit dem Chef-Mitarbeiter von Ehud Barak, Matan "shoaic dimension" Vilnai mit ägyptenfeindlichen Aussagen: "A problematic, terror state has risen which is built on the Hizbullah model," he said during a Security Cabinet meeting. "There is ongoing weapons smuggling of worrying quantity and quality from Egypt and this terror state is getting legitimacy from Egypt and maybe even more than that." Hier ein kleiner Bericht über die Verhandlungen in Cairo. Nach meiner Einschätzung ändert sich überhaupt nichts. Immerhin existieren genügend Berichte um eine ansatzweise Versorgung des Gazastreifens mit Hilfsgütern zu attestieren, aber alleine die anstehende Menge an Treibstofflieferungen [The Gaza Strip needs an immediate infusion of 15 million liters of diesel and seven million liters of gasoline to cover essential needs, the director of the Palestinian Oil Corporation in the Gaza Strip, Ahmad Ali, said on Tuesday.], das Resultat monatelanger Blockadepolitik auf zu arbeiten ist nur unilateral möglich und nicht eingebettet in einen Waffenstillstandsverhandlungsprozeß der stetig von militärischen, beidseitigen Aktionen torpediert wird. Verteidigungsminister Barak hingegen boykottiert ein angesetztes Kabinettstreffen demonstrativ um mit seiner Truppe auf den Golanhöhen ein Manöver abzuhalten: "My gut feeling is to respond immediately and with all our strength to every attack from the Gaza Strip." "However," he continued, "We must act with the proper judgment and at the correct time." Ein laufend upgedateter, sehr ausführlicher Artikel zum Gesamtthema. Eigentlich sollte bei der Kabinettssitzung die Affaire um die Tötung einer Mutter und ihrer vier Kinder in Beit Hanoun vom Wochenende sein. Leider wurde bislang darüber noch nichts berichtet. Die versprochene Aufklärung in 48 Stunden läuft in 8 Stunden ab. Wetten...., Uzi Benziman, "Deep regret would suffice". Die Auflösungserscheinungen der israelischen Regierung werden heute beispielhaft durch das "Benzin-Gaza"-Thema dokumentiert. Gestern noch hatte man der Hamas vorgeworfen sie würde Treibstoff in rauhen Mengen von Tankwagenfahrern klauen. Heute wird verlautbart die Palästinenser würden bereit gestelltes Benzin nicht abholen. [Achso, ich vergaß... Mittwochs wird in arabischen Ländern traditionell nicht geklaut. Nur Montags und Donnerstags.]
In der Westbank kommt es zu eher kleineren Aktionen marodierender IDF-Milizionäre. Ein Gerücht ist jedoch das sie eigentlich keine IDF-Milizionäre sind sondern ehemalige Katif-Siedler: Desperate for cash, Gaza evacuees from the former settlement of Katif sold NIS 3 million worth of their Tnuva stock in January, only to discover that the World Zionist Organization had put a lien on the funds. [...] Yaron London, "Testimony 41": It is worthwhile reading the recently published Hebron testimonies collected by the Breaking the Silence organization. The testimonies of more than 30 soldiers and officers who served in Hebron between 2005 and 2007 are presented in the way they were expressed, in course IDF slang, without any self pity, and for that reason the words are both credible and horrifying. Daneben wird aus Hebron berichtet: "Soldiers looted the workshop of all its sewing and processing machines, office equipment, rolls of cloth, finished clothing and supplies."
President George W. Bush said Tuesday that his administration's release of classified intelligence on a Syrian facility that it contends was built with the assistance of North Korea - and that was destroyed last autumn by Israel - sent a signal to Pyongyang that the United States knew more about its nuclear program than the North thought "and therefore it's essential that you have a complete disclosure." [Interessant. Nicht die CIA, sondern das Pentagon hat uns das Video beschert.] +++ With a nuclear energy deal with the United States snagged over its domestic politics, energy-hungry India hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a brief but highly symbolic visit Tuesday evening, keeping alive its prospects of securing natural gas and nurturing its relations with an increasingly isolated government in Tehran. +++ The president of the World Jewish Congress said Tuesday he wanted Switzerland to cancel a multibillion-dollar Swiss-Iranian natural gas deal because it threatens Israel and the U.S. Ronald Lauder, a billionaire cosmetics magnate, said the deal signed during a visit of Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey in Tehran last month has angered the WJC because of Iran's hardline president and because it comes at a time when the United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran for its nuclear program. +++ The Syrian official in charge of the Turkish-mediated contacts with Israel is Samir Taqi, head of a Damascus-based research institute, Israeli officials told Haaretz Monday. The officials said Taqi was very close to decision-makers in Damascus and enjoyed the confidence of the Turkish government. People who know Taqi personally said Monday they believed he was very well-connected to the Syrian intelligence services. ... Syria will not sever ties with Iran and Hezbollah even as part of a possible peace agreement with Israel, a senior Syrian analyst who is handling the government's contacts as it relates to the peace process said on Tuesday. "It would be naive to think Syria will neglect or abandon its strategic alliances that do not stem from the Arab-Israeli conflict," the analyst, Dr. Samir Taqi, said in an interview with Al-Manar television. [...] Bashar and Olmert: The First Test --- Eyal Zisser -- Bashar al-Asad's confirmation, in an interview to the Qatari daily al-Watan, that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had given him a commitment to return the entire Golan Heights to Syria has one meaning: Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations are warming up. For the first time since the failure of the Clinton-Hafiz al-Asad Geneva summit of March 2000, there is a real chance for the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and Syria, and perhaps even for a breakthrough. +++ Parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri said on Tuesday that he was certain a new Lebanese president would be elected on May 13. bSpeaking after a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Hariri also said he had no objections to meeting the head of the opposition Free Patriotic Movement, MP Michel Aoun.
A Tantalizing Look at Iran’s Nuclear Program.
Mittwoch, 30. April 2008
Dienstag, 29. April 2008
Updates
Am Morgen, vor einer Kabinettssitzung bedauert der israelische OM Ehud Olmert die zivilen Opfer in Beit Hanoun vom Vortag. Eine lange nicht mehr gesehene Geste, wobei er zur Aufklärung des Falls kaum etwas beizutragen hat: "The exact nature of these circumstances is still unclear to us." Interessanter Weise zensiert und Kadimas Schreiber Barak Ravid die folgenden Äußerungen verschiedener Regierungsmitglieder: Other ministers also referred to the issue during the cabinet meeting. "Hamas is using the children and the families as a human shield, but war is war and terror is terror," said Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai. "Although we do not wish to hurt innocent people, but unfortunately this happens. We must improve our PR efforts to present Israel in a better way." Housing and Construction Minister Ze'ev Boim said, "Israel must continue to develop means which will distinguish between involved and uninvolved populations. We must remember that not all the civilian population is uninvolved. The families in Beit Hanoun allow people carrying weapons to walk about between their houses and near their children." Palästinensische Gruppen kümmern sich um die Nabelschau herzlich wenig und decken das Grenzgebiet am Dienstag Morgen mit Raketen ein. Dabei ist zu notieren das die Hauptlast des Beschusses ziviler Zonen dem Islamic Jihad zugeschrieben wird während sich die anderen Splittergruppen gegen militärische Einrichtungen wenden. Die Massenangaben schwanken beträchtlich, so will der Jihad allein in der Nacht zum Dienstag 21 Projektile auf Sderot abgefeuert haben. [Nine Qassam rockets and six mortar shells fired from Gaza slammed into the western Negev Tuesday morning causing damage at three different locations, but no injuries.] Die IDF-Darstellung der Ereignisse vor der mutmaßlichen Attacke auf Zivilisten ist albern und bedenklich: "The incident began when Givati Brigade infantrymen, accompanied by combat engineers and armored units, entered an area near Beit Hanun to clear the area of militants firing Qassam rockets against communities in the Negev." Das Qassam-Niveau war am Wochenende kaum verhanden, abgeflaut aus der recht aktiven letzten Woche, während die IDF mehrere Aktionen vor der Penetrierung von Beit Hanoun vorgelegt hat. Bedenklich ist das Ganze wenn man bedenkt das die IDF scheinbar selbst an eine "Erfolgsstrategie" glaubt: Erst einsteigen und area bereinigen und dann zurückziehen, den folgenden Qassam-Regen abflauen lassen und wieder einsteigen und area bereinigen. Barak heute Morgen: "This is not the right time for a cease-fire with Hamas.", verkennt offensichtlich die Lage in der die IDF steckt. +++ Hamas gunmen on Tuesday stole at least 60 liters of fuel meant for the Gaza power station in order to fill their own vehicles. The fuel was being stored on the Palestinian side of the Nahal Oz fuel terminal. [60 Liter. ...] Amos Harel, "The Israel Defense Forces avoided accepting any form of responsibility for the death of Miyasar Abu Muatak and her four young children in a shanty neighborhood of Beit Hanun Monday. According to the army's version, the mother and children were not killed by two missiles fired from an aircraft, as the Palestinians maintain, but as a result of "secondary explosions." The missiles were aimed at two Islamic Jihad militants that had been identified carrying large bags, which are believed to have included explosive devices. As a result of the blast, the shed which was the family's home was destroyed. Defense Minister Ehud Barak did not bother with the details. As far as he was concerned, he said Monday, only Hamas - whose gunmen operate among civilians - are responsible for the death of "uninvolved civilians." [Es fehlt der Hinweis das die Bordkamera des Flieger die entscheidenden Aufnahmen gemacht hat, falls es überhaupt eine Fliegerbombe war, wobei der Einsatz von Fliegerbomben vor zivilen Anlagen wegen zwei Munitionsschleppern ein wenig sehr überdimensioniert erscheint. Kriegsrechltich gesehen kommen die Israelis da nicht raus.] [...] A Palestinian official says 30 members of various factions are gathering in Cairo to hold talks with Egyptian mediators over finding a comprehensive truce with Israel and a measure of unity among the divided factions. + Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni is scheduled to meet her Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Aboul Gheit in London on Friday, in a bid to restore ties, a Jerusalem source said on Tuesday.
Westbank - Verhaftungswellen - 14 Verhaftungen bei einem halben Dutzend raids. +++ Israeli defense officials say an amnesty program meant to get Palestinian militants to surrender their weapons has been a success. Under last year's program, Israel offered to stop hunting down dozens of West Bank militants if they agreed to halt violent activities. The men are required to surrender their weapons, serve a brief sentence in a Palestinian jail and pass a probationary term. [...] Israel is trying to block what is expected to be a stern condemnation of its policies in the Gaza Strip by the donor nations to the Palestinian Authority, which are scheduled to meet in London Thursday. In view of recent developments in the Gaza Strip, and the killing of civilians, there is concern in official circles in Jerusalem that the criticism will be severe.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa will hold talks in Beirut this week to try to help rival leaders reach a deal to end Lebanon's political crisis, political sources said on Tuesday. Moussa, who has made several unsuccessful attempts to mediate since the crisis began 17 months ago, will meet leaders of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition on Thursday, the sources said. He would be visiting the Lebanese capital to attend an Arab economic conference on May 2 and 3.
Professor William Beeman at the University of Minnesota passed along a note today from "a colleague with a U.S. security clearance" about the mysterious Syrian site targeted in a Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike. The note raises more questions about the evidence shown last week by U.S. intelligence officials to lawmakers in the House and Senate. The author of the note pinpoints irregularities about the photographs. [...] A suspected Syrian reactor bombed by Israel had the capacity to produce enough nuclear material to fuel one to two weapons a year, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Monday. Hayden said the plutonium reactor was within weeks or months of completion when it was destroyed in an air strike last September 6, and within a year of entering operation it could have produced enough material for at least one weapon. "In the course of a year after they got full up, they would have produced enough plutonium for one or two weapons," Hayden told reporters after a speech. The reactor was of a "similar size and technology" to North Korea's Yongbyon reactor, Hayden said, disputing speculation it was smaller than the Korean facility. [Die derzeitigen fachlich einwandfrei nach dem Material konstruierten Größen schwanken zwischen einer "Similarität" von 39% zu 54% und viel mehr wird dabei nicht rauskommen. Interessant an Hadleys statement ist das er mit diesem kindischen Gehabe des Festhaltens an der nicht vorhandenen "Similarität" meiner vorgetragenen Theorie das Foto "Fuel Channel" nur eine Berechnung des Baufortschritts aus dem echten Raumphotos des Vessel-Baus darstellt und somit ein ... fake is. Ein Zweitphoto wurde nie gemacht, weshalb denn auch? Der Vessel-Bau reicht als Beleg vollständig aus.]
Westbank - Verhaftungswellen - 14 Verhaftungen bei einem halben Dutzend raids. +++ Israeli defense officials say an amnesty program meant to get Palestinian militants to surrender their weapons has been a success. Under last year's program, Israel offered to stop hunting down dozens of West Bank militants if they agreed to halt violent activities. The men are required to surrender their weapons, serve a brief sentence in a Palestinian jail and pass a probationary term. [...] Israel is trying to block what is expected to be a stern condemnation of its policies in the Gaza Strip by the donor nations to the Palestinian Authority, which are scheduled to meet in London Thursday. In view of recent developments in the Gaza Strip, and the killing of civilians, there is concern in official circles in Jerusalem that the criticism will be severe.
Arab League chief Amr Moussa will hold talks in Beirut this week to try to help rival leaders reach a deal to end Lebanon's political crisis, political sources said on Tuesday. Moussa, who has made several unsuccessful attempts to mediate since the crisis began 17 months ago, will meet leaders of the U.S.-backed ruling coalition and the Hezbollah-led opposition on Thursday, the sources said. He would be visiting the Lebanese capital to attend an Arab economic conference on May 2 and 3.
Professor William Beeman at the University of Minnesota passed along a note today from "a colleague with a U.S. security clearance" about the mysterious Syrian site targeted in a Sept. 6 Israeli airstrike. The note raises more questions about the evidence shown last week by U.S. intelligence officials to lawmakers in the House and Senate. The author of the note pinpoints irregularities about the photographs. [...] A suspected Syrian reactor bombed by Israel had the capacity to produce enough nuclear material to fuel one to two weapons a year, CIA Director Michael Hayden said on Monday. Hayden said the plutonium reactor was within weeks or months of completion when it was destroyed in an air strike last September 6, and within a year of entering operation it could have produced enough material for at least one weapon. "In the course of a year after they got full up, they would have produced enough plutonium for one or two weapons," Hayden told reporters after a speech. The reactor was of a "similar size and technology" to North Korea's Yongbyon reactor, Hayden said, disputing speculation it was smaller than the Korean facility. [Die derzeitigen fachlich einwandfrei nach dem Material konstruierten Größen schwanken zwischen einer "Similarität" von 39% zu 54% und viel mehr wird dabei nicht rauskommen. Interessant an Hadleys statement ist das er mit diesem kindischen Gehabe des Festhaltens an der nicht vorhandenen "Similarität" meiner vorgetragenen Theorie das Foto "Fuel Channel" nur eine Berechnung des Baufortschritts aus dem echten Raumphotos des Vessel-Baus darstellt und somit ein ... fake is. Ein Zweitphoto wurde nie gemacht, weshalb denn auch? Der Vessel-Bau reicht als Beleg vollständig aus.]
Montag, 28. April 2008
IAF violates Beirut airspace + IDF kills One
Ein Fall der keinerlei Erklärung bedarf. Am Wochenende hatte sich die libanesische Armee bereit für einen Waffengang mit den Israelis geäußert und sich die Hezbollah weit aus dem Fenster gelehnt; Two years after the Second Lebanon War, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah organization has bolstered its recruitment efforts at an unprecedented rate in preparation for a fresh war with Israel, The Guardian reported Sunday; schon möchte Israel auch etwas zu dem friedlichen mireinander beitragen: The Lebanese army reported that Israeli Air Force jets flew over Beirut on Monday. The army said in a statement that 12 "enemy" Israeli warplanes violated Lebanese airspace before noon Monday by flying missions over Beirut and elsewhere in the country. The IDF said it will not discuss its operational activities. [Senior Israeli government officials accused the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of concealing information about Hizbullah's activities south of the Litani River to avoid conflict with the group, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Monday. Senior officials in the Israeli military and Foreign Ministry are angry about UNIFIL's actions in recent months and believe that the force's commander, Major General Claudio Graziano, is "leniently interpreting his mission as assigned by UN Security Council Resolution 1701," the daily added. Auch die Deutschen waren schon Ziel der Israelis, so daß man davon ausgehen muß das sie selbst nicht wissen was genau vor Ort geschieht.] + Saad Hariri returned to Beirut on Saturday after an almost two-month stay in Saudi Arabia.
The latest slaughter in the Gaza Strip is generating the predictable claims and counter-claims about responsibility for the loss of innocent lives. The Palestinians say a mother, her four children and another youth were killed by Israeli tank fire, while the Israelis insist that explosives belonging to militants were accidentally set off. As is generally the case, though, whatever the immediate cause on this specific occasion, these and the thousands of civilian deaths that have preceded them are the result of the impunity with which the Israeli government is habitually allowed to run roughshod over Arabs. Im Ernst, es soll sogar schon ein Offizier abgestellt worden sein der der Weltöffentlichkeit die Belege liefern soll: The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that a blast that killed six Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza earlier in the day was not caused by an IDF tank shell, as the Palestinians had earlier reported, but was rather a result of militants' explosives. The IDF investigated the incident, which left a Beit Hanoun mother and her four children dead along with a 17-year-old passerby, and concluded that the deadly explosion occurred when the Israel Air Force, targeting two Palestinian gunmen, fired a missile and hit the gunmen's bags, which were full of ammunition. The missile caused the ammunition cache to explode with force, setting off a chain reaction of additional explosions. [Ein ziemlich schlechter Witz. Gerade die israelischen Kampfflugzeuge zeichnen solche Attacken auf. Wie in früheren Fällen geschehen muß man schlicht den Film zeigen und solange man dieses nicht tut gibt es nur die Toten als Beweis und diese sind ausschlißlich Zivilisten.] The colonel is expected to present his conclusions within 48 hours. [47, 46, 45...] Bei weiteren Gefechten in Beit Hanoun wird ein noch nicht identifizierter Mann durch IDF-Feuer getötet. Am Nachmittag wird ein zweiter israelischer Soldat verletzt. Nach Augenzeugenberichten geht der Beschuß ziviler Gebäude mit MG-Feuer und Granaten weiter.
Update: Israel on Monday agreed to remove a strategic roadblock near the West Bank city of Nablus, after Middle East envoy Tony Blair presented a list of travel and trade restrictions he wants removed to bolster peace talks with the Palestinians. [...] The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Sunday that he supported Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies. [...] Even though U.S. officials say they have gathered the most detailed evidence so far of Iranian involvement in training and arming fighters in Iraq, significant uncertainties remain about the extent of that involvement and the threat it may pose to U.S. and Iraqi forces. Some intelligence and administration officials said Iran seemed to have carefully calibrated its involvement in Iraq over the past year, in contrast to what President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials have publicly portrayed as an intensified Iranian role. [...] Presidents, prime ministers and other dignitaries who attend Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations next month will be shunned by Palestinian leaders if they visit the West Bank. Palestinian officials said the decision by Palestinian resident Mahmoud Abbas and his government in the West Bank to temporarily boycott world leaders who visit the West Bank during Israeli festivities amounted to a symbolic protest.
Juan Coles blog: What little information provided in the CIA videotape concerning the destruction of the purported Syrian reactor only provokes more questions.
The latest slaughter in the Gaza Strip is generating the predictable claims and counter-claims about responsibility for the loss of innocent lives. The Palestinians say a mother, her four children and another youth were killed by Israeli tank fire, while the Israelis insist that explosives belonging to militants were accidentally set off. As is generally the case, though, whatever the immediate cause on this specific occasion, these and the thousands of civilian deaths that have preceded them are the result of the impunity with which the Israeli government is habitually allowed to run roughshod over Arabs. Im Ernst, es soll sogar schon ein Offizier abgestellt worden sein der der Weltöffentlichkeit die Belege liefern soll: The Israel Defense Forces said Monday that a blast that killed six Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza earlier in the day was not caused by an IDF tank shell, as the Palestinians had earlier reported, but was rather a result of militants' explosives. The IDF investigated the incident, which left a Beit Hanoun mother and her four children dead along with a 17-year-old passerby, and concluded that the deadly explosion occurred when the Israel Air Force, targeting two Palestinian gunmen, fired a missile and hit the gunmen's bags, which were full of ammunition. The missile caused the ammunition cache to explode with force, setting off a chain reaction of additional explosions. [Ein ziemlich schlechter Witz. Gerade die israelischen Kampfflugzeuge zeichnen solche Attacken auf. Wie in früheren Fällen geschehen muß man schlicht den Film zeigen und solange man dieses nicht tut gibt es nur die Toten als Beweis und diese sind ausschlißlich Zivilisten.] The colonel is expected to present his conclusions within 48 hours. [47, 46, 45...] Bei weiteren Gefechten in Beit Hanoun wird ein noch nicht identifizierter Mann durch IDF-Feuer getötet. Am Nachmittag wird ein zweiter israelischer Soldat verletzt. Nach Augenzeugenberichten geht der Beschuß ziviler Gebäude mit MG-Feuer und Granaten weiter.
Update: Israel on Monday agreed to remove a strategic roadblock near the West Bank city of Nablus, after Middle East envoy Tony Blair presented a list of travel and trade restrictions he wants removed to bolster peace talks with the Palestinians. [...] The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said Sunday that he supported Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies. [...] Even though U.S. officials say they have gathered the most detailed evidence so far of Iranian involvement in training and arming fighters in Iraq, significant uncertainties remain about the extent of that involvement and the threat it may pose to U.S. and Iraqi forces. Some intelligence and administration officials said Iran seemed to have carefully calibrated its involvement in Iraq over the past year, in contrast to what President George W. Bush and other U.S. officials have publicly portrayed as an intensified Iranian role. [...] Presidents, prime ministers and other dignitaries who attend Israel's 60th anniversary celebrations next month will be shunned by Palestinian leaders if they visit the West Bank. Palestinian officials said the decision by Palestinian resident Mahmoud Abbas and his government in the West Bank to temporarily boycott world leaders who visit the West Bank during Israeli festivities amounted to a symbolic protest.
Juan Coles blog: What little information provided in the CIA videotape concerning the destruction of the purported Syrian reactor only provokes more questions.
IDF kills Seven + NHK: IDF killed 10NKos in al-Kibar
Im Anschluß an zwei israelische Militäraktionen im Gazastreifen schießen palästinensische Gruppen eine Salve von bislang sieben Projektilen und neun Mörsergranaten auf israelische Ziele in der westlichen Negev ab. In der Nacht war es in Deir al-Balah zu einer Verhaftungsorgie in deren Verlauf etwa 40 Palästinenser festgesetzt worden gekommen. Im Anschluß hatte eine Panzereiheit Zonen in Beit Hanoun penetriert, bei ausbrechenden Schießereien vornehmlich mit Einheiten der Hamas und des Islamic Jihad wird ein israelischer Soldat verletzt und ein Mitglied des Islamic Jihad erschossen. Scheinbar durch die Gegenwehr provoziert werden aus den Panzern auch zivile Gebäude unter Beschuß genommen. Bei einem Volltreffer auf ein Wohnhaus sterben sechs Personen, darunter ein 15-jähriger Passant [andere 17], vier Kinder im Alter von 6, 4, 3 Jahren und ein Kleinkind mit 15 Monaten sowie deren Mutter. Eine Armeesprecherin bestätigt zwar Panzerfeuer und Luftangriffe in der Zone, negiert aber den Beschuß ziviler Gebäude. Eine inoffizielle IDF-Quelle berichtet die IDF habe "nur" mit MG-Feuer eine Gruppe Hamasniks getroffen, die gerade Munition transportiert habe, deren Explosion wiederum die zivilen Opfer hervorrief. [Sehr unwahrscheinlich da keine Hamas-Toten gezählt werden.] In ersten Stellungnahmen verurteilt sowohl die Fatah-Regierung in Ramallah als auch die Hamas in Gaza den Vorfall, wobei Hamas-Militärchef Sami Abu Zuhri die ägyptischen Bemühungen um einen Waffenstillstand für gescheitert erklärt. Daneben hält die palästinensische Vereinigung der Tankstellenbetreiber ihre Protestaktion bei und boykottiert Treibstofflieferungen die in Nazal Oz bereitstehen. [Kein Benzin anzunehmen um mehr Benzin geliefert zu bekommen. Eine Strategie die eher weniger Sinn macht.] Der Ausfall von Gaslieferungen für Privathaushalte wird erstmals taxiert: Über 6500 Tonnen Verknappung nach den Attacken auf Nazal Oz Anfang April. Erstmals bestätigt die Hamas-Führung die Existenz von Treibstoffreserven, über deren Umfang nur spekuliert werden kann. Unterdessen setzt die Hamas die Konsolidierung der Macht im Gazastreifen fort: Nach zehn monaten Regentschaft werden sämtliche freie Ministerposten in einer Art Gegenregierung zu Ramallah besetzt und dem Parlament zur Abstimmung vorgelegt [das wiederum nicht tagen kann.] Hoffnungen auf eine Besetzung der Ministerien mit neutraleren Figuren werden nicht erfüllt, denn ausschließlich Hamas-Parteibücher werden ernannt. Unterdessen hat sich der israelische Verteidigungsminister Ehud Barak zur Tötung von Zivilisten wie folgt geäußert: "We see Hamas as responsible for everything that happens in the area around Gaza, all of the strikes, and the IDF is acting and will continue to act against Hamas, within the Gaza Strip," the defense minister said. "Hamas is also responsible, through its operations within the civilian population, like the laying of explosives, for wounding some civilians who are not involved in the operations," Barak stated. [Früher gabs noch die weitlich kritisierte Entschuldigungskultur. Heute wird dafür das Völkerrecht auf massivste Art und Weise verbogen. Ist es nun besser der Hamas die Schuld zu geben anstat sich für Morde an Zivilisten zu entschuldigen? Die Vorhaltungen Baraks sind vollständig absurd: Militärische Operationen in Lagern wie Beit Hanoun werden auf alle Zeiten in zivilen Zonen statt finden. Die Israelis hätten nur einen Ausweg: Sich im Niemandsland aufstellen und auf die Hamas warten um die "ehrliche Feldschlacht" zu wahren. Fahren sie einen Kilometer weiter ...]
In der Westbank gehen die schweren Verhaftungs- und lootingwellen marodierender israelischer Milizionäre fort, obschon nur drei Verhaftungen aus Jericho vermeldet werden. Auffällig oft werden derzeit keine Verhaftungen vorgenommen, aber halbe Ortschaften auf den Kopf gestellt. Daneben wird die "Pessach-Blockade" am heutigen Vormittag offiziell aufgehoben. Und .. Middle East envoy Tony Blair has drawn up a list of West Bank travel and trade restrictions that he wants Israel to remove to bolster peace talks with the Palestinians, officials briefed on the document said on Monday. The list calls for the removal of a number of key roadblocks, including one near the settlement of Beit El that restricts Palestinian travel to and from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where President Mahmoud Abbas' government is based, the officials said on condition of anonymity. [Dazu hat der jetzt ein halbes Jahr gebraucht.] Das ein Mann der schon mal irakische WMDs in einer Stunde über London fliegen sah sich froh über die vor Ort herrschenden Gepflogenheit der Militärzensur zeigt ist hingegen nicht überraschend: "We can't discuss the details of what we are talking about with the Israelis." Genau diese Intransparenz nebst den Ergebnissen on the ground, nämlich NULL-Ergebnisse, NULL-Entwicklung und NULL-Fortschritt lassen allerdings erahnen das Herr B. im Rahmen seiner Amtszeit den politischen Druck einer 95-jährigen Omi entwickelt hat, die verschämt am tisch schweigt weil sie vergaß ihr Gebiß anzulegen.
Statement: NHK [japanischer Sender] has learned that North Korean officials are thought to have been killed in the Israeli air strike on a Syrian nuclear facility last September. Last week, the US government announced there is a high possibility the Syrian facility was intended for nuclear weapons development. The United States criticized North Korea for cooperating with Syria in its construction. Experts in South Korea say that among the dead were officials of a military unit under North Korea's Workers' Party. Troops from another military unit that built nuclear facilities in North Korea are also said to have been killed. The sources say the remains were cremated in Syria and taken to North Korea the following month. The party unit is said to deal exclusively with export of weapons and military technology, and takes its orders directly from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Its activities are believed to be an important source of much-needed foreign currency for North Korea. A few North Korean officials survived the air raid but their whereabouts are unknown. South Korean authorities are continuing to collect and analyze information on the case.
Turkey's foreign minister said Monday there was still a lot to achieve before any peace agreement between Israel and Syria. Ali Babacan told reporters Monday that an agreement between the longtime enemies requires "strong political determination" on both sides. ... Uzi Benziman, "Above all, Olmert must want peace": It's not clear whether Ehud Olmert's situation regarding the possibility of initiating peace moves with Syria resembles that of the man who wants to but can't, the one who can but doesn't want to, or the one who can't and convinces himself that he doesn't want to anyway. ... Amir Oren, "Peace or the nuclear option": The news emerging from Cairo astonished Israel. The new Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak's successor, announced his country was withdrawing its membership from the International Atomic Energy Agency and would lay the cornerstone of its new nuclear reactor. "We are pursuing peaceful use of nuclear power," the Egyptian head of state declared. "We do not need foreign bribes. We are not interested in their supervision nor do we accept another country having a monopoly on nuclear weapons in the region." Egypt's announcement reverberated in Jerusalem. It was perceived as a clear break by Cairo with Washington, which would lead to the cessation of U.S. aid to Egypt. What could Israel do then, bomb Egypt?
Palestinian judges ordered the execution of a man for collaborating with Israel in Hebron on Monday. Judges say the man provided information that helped Israeli forces kill four Palestinian militants. On Monday, they ordered he be executed by a firing squad. The order still has to be signed by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. [...] Avi Issacharoff, "Ramallah refuses to dance to Hamas' cue": Half an hour later than scheduled, the lights were dimmed and the audience quieted down at Ramallah's packed Kasbah Theatre. City luminaries, humble villagers and Europeans garbed in smart suits sat side-by-side to watch a performance by the Italian dance troupe, Bottega. For an instant, one might have thought that the well-dressed crowd had assembled in Tel Aviv or a European city. But the large number of smokers who filled the mezzanines revealed the event's actual location.
Über das Wochenende kam es zu verstärktem Aufkommen von Rechts[-extremisten]gebrabbel. Hier die Auszüge: Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman Monday lashed out at the police investigations conducted against him, saying that "the police and prosecutors are holding a hunting expedition against me,' and accusing them of "blackmail." In a news conference, he also attacked investigative journalists Amnon Avramovich and Mordechai Gilat, calling them "the champion of the corrupt and his deputy." He said they had carried out a "media witchhunt" against him. [Die angst ist verständlich: The state prosecutor will apparently appeal the 18-month sentence handed down to Shas MK Shlomo Benizri for corruption, a senior justice official said on Sunday. The verdict itself, in which Benizri was acquitted of the indictment's major bribery charges, may also be appealed. [...] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni should be tried and sentenced to death for treason for holding negotiations over the future of Jerusalem, the editor of a right-wing Israeli journal said Sunday. "Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, who are leading open negotiations over the handing over of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, must according to international law and guidelines on treason be sentenced to death," Aryeh Stav, editor of Nativ said on Sunday. [...] Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters.
In der Westbank gehen die schweren Verhaftungs- und lootingwellen marodierender israelischer Milizionäre fort, obschon nur drei Verhaftungen aus Jericho vermeldet werden. Auffällig oft werden derzeit keine Verhaftungen vorgenommen, aber halbe Ortschaften auf den Kopf gestellt. Daneben wird die "Pessach-Blockade" am heutigen Vormittag offiziell aufgehoben. Und .. Middle East envoy Tony Blair has drawn up a list of West Bank travel and trade restrictions that he wants Israel to remove to bolster peace talks with the Palestinians, officials briefed on the document said on Monday. The list calls for the removal of a number of key roadblocks, including one near the settlement of Beit El that restricts Palestinian travel to and from the West Bank city of Ramallah, where President Mahmoud Abbas' government is based, the officials said on condition of anonymity. [Dazu hat der jetzt ein halbes Jahr gebraucht.] Das ein Mann der schon mal irakische WMDs in einer Stunde über London fliegen sah sich froh über die vor Ort herrschenden Gepflogenheit der Militärzensur zeigt ist hingegen nicht überraschend: "We can't discuss the details of what we are talking about with the Israelis." Genau diese Intransparenz nebst den Ergebnissen on the ground, nämlich NULL-Ergebnisse, NULL-Entwicklung und NULL-Fortschritt lassen allerdings erahnen das Herr B. im Rahmen seiner Amtszeit den politischen Druck einer 95-jährigen Omi entwickelt hat, die verschämt am tisch schweigt weil sie vergaß ihr Gebiß anzulegen.
Statement: NHK [japanischer Sender] has learned that North Korean officials are thought to have been killed in the Israeli air strike on a Syrian nuclear facility last September. Last week, the US government announced there is a high possibility the Syrian facility was intended for nuclear weapons development. The United States criticized North Korea for cooperating with Syria in its construction. Experts in South Korea say that among the dead were officials of a military unit under North Korea's Workers' Party. Troops from another military unit that built nuclear facilities in North Korea are also said to have been killed. The sources say the remains were cremated in Syria and taken to North Korea the following month. The party unit is said to deal exclusively with export of weapons and military technology, and takes its orders directly from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. Its activities are believed to be an important source of much-needed foreign currency for North Korea. A few North Korean officials survived the air raid but their whereabouts are unknown. South Korean authorities are continuing to collect and analyze information on the case.
Turkey's foreign minister said Monday there was still a lot to achieve before any peace agreement between Israel and Syria. Ali Babacan told reporters Monday that an agreement between the longtime enemies requires "strong political determination" on both sides. ... Uzi Benziman, "Above all, Olmert must want peace": It's not clear whether Ehud Olmert's situation regarding the possibility of initiating peace moves with Syria resembles that of the man who wants to but can't, the one who can but doesn't want to, or the one who can't and convinces himself that he doesn't want to anyway. ... Amir Oren, "Peace or the nuclear option": The news emerging from Cairo astonished Israel. The new Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak's successor, announced his country was withdrawing its membership from the International Atomic Energy Agency and would lay the cornerstone of its new nuclear reactor. "We are pursuing peaceful use of nuclear power," the Egyptian head of state declared. "We do not need foreign bribes. We are not interested in their supervision nor do we accept another country having a monopoly on nuclear weapons in the region." Egypt's announcement reverberated in Jerusalem. It was perceived as a clear break by Cairo with Washington, which would lead to the cessation of U.S. aid to Egypt. What could Israel do then, bomb Egypt?
Palestinian judges ordered the execution of a man for collaborating with Israel in Hebron on Monday. Judges say the man provided information that helped Israeli forces kill four Palestinian militants. On Monday, they ordered he be executed by a firing squad. The order still has to be signed by the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas. [...] Avi Issacharoff, "Ramallah refuses to dance to Hamas' cue": Half an hour later than scheduled, the lights were dimmed and the audience quieted down at Ramallah's packed Kasbah Theatre. City luminaries, humble villagers and Europeans garbed in smart suits sat side-by-side to watch a performance by the Italian dance troupe, Bottega. For an instant, one might have thought that the well-dressed crowd had assembled in Tel Aviv or a European city. But the large number of smokers who filled the mezzanines revealed the event's actual location.
Über das Wochenende kam es zu verstärktem Aufkommen von Rechts[-extremisten]gebrabbel. Hier die Auszüge: Israel Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman Monday lashed out at the police investigations conducted against him, saying that "the police and prosecutors are holding a hunting expedition against me,' and accusing them of "blackmail." In a news conference, he also attacked investigative journalists Amnon Avramovich and Mordechai Gilat, calling them "the champion of the corrupt and his deputy." He said they had carried out a "media witchhunt" against him. [Die angst ist verständlich: The state prosecutor will apparently appeal the 18-month sentence handed down to Shas MK Shlomo Benizri for corruption, a senior justice official said on Sunday. The verdict itself, in which Benizri was acquitted of the indictment's major bribery charges, may also be appealed. [...] Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni should be tried and sentenced to death for treason for holding negotiations over the future of Jerusalem, the editor of a right-wing Israeli journal said Sunday. "Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, who are leading open negotiations over the handing over of Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, must according to international law and guidelines on treason be sentenced to death," Aryeh Stav, editor of Nativ said on Sunday. [...] Israel's ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday called former President Jimmy Carter "a bigot" for meeting with the leader of the militant Hamas movement in Syria. Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, "went to the region with soiled hands and came back with bloody hands after shaking the hand of Khaled Meshal, the leader of Hamas," Ambassador Dan Gillerman told a luncheon briefing for reporters.
Sonntag, 27. April 2008
Terror kills Two + IDF One
Bei einer Verhaftungsaktion im Gazastreifen in Beit Lahia wird die 14-jährige Mariam Marouf am Samstag Morgen getötet. Der Vater der getöteten, Talat Hassan Marouf, ein Hamas-Funktionär wurde verhaftet. Bei der Aktion mit mehreren Panzern und Luftunterstützung wurden weitere neun Personen verletzt, darunter drei schwer. Bei sporadischen Qassam-Raktenangriffen [Freitag vier, Samstag eine, Sonntag zwei] die allesamt dem Islamic Jihad zugeschrieben werden wird ein Friedhof im Süden Ashkelons getroffen und mehrere Gräber verwüstet. Am Sonntag Abend bricht in Sderot bei einem Treffer auf eine Gasleitung ein Feuer aus. [Verängstigender war dieser Vorfall in Ashkelon: Israeli citizens are accustomed to the sights and sounds of fighter planes soaring across the sky, but nothing could prepare Ashkelon's residents for the drama that took place against the backdrop of their city's otherwise blue skies on Sunday afternoon. Thousands of picnickers making the most of their Passover vacations at the beach and in a nearby national park were caught surprised to see an Air Force fighter jet diving to a significantly low altitude and proceed to carry out a series of flying maneuvers above their heads.] Am Samstag abend werden zwei unbewaffnete Plaästinenser am Kissufim Crossing festgenommen. Derweil gehen die internen Gespräche über den Sinn eines Waffenstillstandes mit Israel weiter: The Palestinian organizations are preparing for another round of talks in Egypt in regards to the offer for a truce with Israel. According to estimates, the parties will accept the proposal presented by Hamas leader Dr. Mahmoud al-Zahar over the weekend. ... Abu Mujahed, a spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, told Ynet on Sunday that the different organizations tend to accept al-Zahar's offer in order to "ease the Palestinian people's lives," but stated that the blockade on Gaza must be lifted and that the truce must be mutual and apply to the West Bank as well. Israel is waiting for the results of talks between Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups in Cairo this Wednesday before it takes a position on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip. Security officials have said that if Hamas cannot restrain the smaller groups, first and foremost Islamic Jihad, there will not be much point to the agreement. Without completely restraining the smaller groups, the firing of Qassam rockets from the Strip will soon resume, they say, as has happened in the past. + Exiled Hamas political leader Khalid Mash'al says that Hamas is open to a tactical truce with Israel, but is prepared to escalate violent attacks if Irael rejects an offer for a ceasefire. Mash'al made these comments during an interview with Al-Jazeera television after a day of meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, who has been mediating between Hamas and Israel. Mash'al said that his movement is still waiting on Egypt's official stance on the issue of a six-month ceasefire. + A delegation of leaders from the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) will travel to Cairo on Monday to meet with senior Egyptian officials to discuss efforts at mending the ongoing political split in internal Palestinian politics, a PFLP source said on Saturday. The delegation will include Abdul Rahim Mallouh, a member of the PFLP's executive committee, Deputy Secretary-General Maher At-Taher, Jamil Al-Majdalawi and Rabah Mhanna. + Another left-wing faction, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) also received an invitation from the Egyptian Government to attend talks in Cario. The DFLP will also send a delegation to Cairo on Monday. [...] In wie weit dieser Bericht der Wahrheit entspricht ist nicht feststellbar: Hamas militiamen in the Gaza Strip on Sunday attacked fuel trucks headed toward the Nahal Oz border crossing, forcing them to turn back, sources in the Palestinian Petroleum Authority said. The fuel was supposed to go to the UN Relief and Works Agency [UNRWA] and hospitals in the Gaza Strip, the sources said. "Dozens of Hamas militiamen hurled stones and opened fire at the trucks," the sources added. "The trucks were on their way to receive fuel supplied by Israel. The drivers were forced to turn back. Some of them had their windshields smashed." The Palestinian Petroleum Authority reached an agreement with Israel over the weekend to receive 250,000 liters of fuel after UNRWA complained that it did not have enough fuel to distribute food aid to more than 500,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian Authority Health Ministry also accused Hamas of blocking fuel supplies to hospitals and clinics in the Gaza Strip. The ministry said Hamas gunmen opened fire at a number of trucks that were trying to transfer fuel to the hospitals and clinics. Eyewitnesses in Gaza City said that at least on four occasions over the past few weeks, Hamas militiamen confiscated trucks loaded with fuel shortly as they were on their way from Nahal Oz to the city. + Hamas' government in the Gaza Strip asked a striking Palestinian fuel association on Sunday to resume deliveries in the impoverished territory, a Hamas official said. + Médecins Sans Frontières' (MSF) medical activities in the Gaza Strip are being seriously hindered by a lack of fuel. Diesel and gasoline have been unavailable on the market for the past week. MSF teams have had to limit their visits to the most severely ill patients, who make up only one fifth of the patient population of MSF post-surgical care programs. This week, only half of the expected patients have been able to travel to MSF health facilities. There is a waiting list of 90 persons who have not yet received any health care. "The cessation of our activities may result in a severe deterioration of all of our patients' general state of health," explained Duncan McLean, MSF Head of Mission. "Currently, MSF is operating from its emergency stockpile and has no more than 10 days worth of fuel. Unless supplies resume, the situation may very quickly become tragic." + The acting speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Ahmad Bahar, appealed to the leaders of Arab States and the United Nations on Saturday to "to shoulder their historical and moral responsibilities [to relieve] the ongoing disaster in the life of the people due to the embargo imposed on the Gaza Strip" Palestinian lawmakers held a rally in front of the ambulance and emergency center in Gaza City in order to amplify their demand that the international community compel Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip. Most ambulances have been forced to stop running in Gaza due to a shortage of fuel resulting from the blockade. Bahar warned that a "catastrophic" humanitarian situation is looming in Gaza if thes siege continues. [...] Am Sonntag kommt es in der Zone vor Deir al-Balah zu israelischen Aktivitäten. Die Hamas zeigt sich sehr erfreut das die USA ihrer Praxis Menschenrechte auszuhebeln präsidialen Segen erteilt: The Geneva Conventions' ban on "outrages against personal dignity" does not automatically apply to terrorism suspects in the custody of U.S. intelligence agencies, the Justice Department has suggested to Congress in recent letters that lay out the Bush administration's interpretation of the international treaty. Lawyers for the department, offering insight into the legal basis for the CIA's controversial interrogation program, reasserted in the letters the Bush administration's long-held view that it has considerable leeway in deciding how the conventions' rules apply to the harsh questioning of combatants in the war on terrorism. Andere Beschlüsse erfreuen sie nicht sehr: Hamas expressed a vigorous objection on Sunday to resolutions passed in both houses of the United States Congress this week stating American support for Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. Warum das mit dem Waffenstillstand nichts wird? Pressure is picking up on Israel to reach a cease-fire deal with Hamas in the Gaza Strip ahead of US President George W. Bush's planned visit to Jerusalem in two weeks, defense officials told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. ... Hätten sich die USA rausgehalten, ... jetzt sinken die eh schon niedrigen Erwartungen auf unter 5%. Die Antowrt gibt: "Our mission in Gaza has not yet been completed and a period of difficult trials lies ahead," said Maj. Gen. Yoav Gallant on Sunday evening at a ceremony for Golani Brigade troops who took part in combat efforts against terror groups in the Gaza Strip over the past few months.
Ein mutmaßliches Mitglied des Islamic Jihad aus Tulkarm tötet vor der Nitzane Shalom Industrial Zone zwei Sicherheitsleute. Aus Tulkarem werden drei Verhaftungen gemeldet, die in Zusammenhang mit dem anschlag gebracht werden. Am Samstag schießen israelische Siedler aus Kfar Tappuah [Ultra-National] auf einen palästinensischen Piolizeischüler und verletzten ihn moderat. Am Sonntag kommt es zu mehreren IDF-Verhaftungswellen in Bethlehem, Kfar Qaddoum und in der Gegen Jenin. Fünf Verhaftungen werden notiert, viele Hausdruchsuchungen finden statt. IRIN reports: It was difficult for 87-year-old Jamil Khader to discover that nearly all of the 1,400 olive trees his extended family planted in February had suddenly gone missing, having been uprooted and stolen. ... Of the missing trees, 1,000 had been donated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which said Jeet and the neighbouring villages were especially vulnerable due to their limited land access and proximity to Israeli settlements. Am Samstag Abend wird ein palästinensischer Infiltrator am Hunnenschutzwall vor Elkana angeschossen und verhaftet. Über Bewaffnung des Mannes ist nichts bekannt. Am Sonntag beschießen al-Aqsa-Mitglieder einen Siedlerbus in der Gegen Ramallah. [...] The International Monetary Fund on Friday praised the Palestinian government for what it calls 'bold reforms' and said it was making strides toward fiscal sustainability. + Billions of aid dollars pledged to the Palestinians to bolster peace talks with Israel are having a muted economic impact because of Israeli restrictions on travel and trade, the World Bank said on Sunday. The lending agency told donor nations in a report that per capita income in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 2008 would be static, if not lower, despite the $7.7 billion in aid pledged to the Palestinians in December. The World Bank said modest gains in economic growth in the occupied West Bank, where Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas's government holds sway, were not sufficient to offset the "severe contraction" seen in Hamas-controlled Gaza. + The Palestinian economy won't grow this year, largely due to Israeli restrictions on movement and despite billions of dollars in aid meant to shore up support for peace talks, the World Bank predicted Sunday. + Tony Blair, der eigentlich Verantwortliche für das wirtschaftliche Desater bekommt einen Aufpasser aus Condis Riceauflauf mit Quarks Truppe: ternational Mideast envoy Tony Blair has tapped a senior US diplomat to run his office in Jerusalem. Blair's office says Robert Danin will serve as his new head of mission. Danin will take a leave from his current job as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs. Zur Personenbeschreibung von Danin dürfte dieses Zitat von der 2006er Herzliya-Konferenz ausreichen: "Liberal democracies are combating global terror. Terrorism in Israel is not new; however, the existence of global networks of extremists is new. After 9/11, the US and its allies entered a war on terror. It is a battle of arms and of ideas. It requires the use of military force. But to win the war, we must win the battle of ideas."
"Is it logical? A nuclear site did not have protection with surface to air defenses? A nuclear site within the footprint of satellites in the middle of Syria in an open area in the desert?" Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper in an interview conducted before the U.S. accusations were made. At that stage, he was commenting on media reports that said the target was a nuclear site. "The truth is that the raid was at a military site under construction," Assad said in the interview. "We are against mass destruction weapons for Israel, Iran or others." [...] Scott Ritter: It looks as if Israel may, in fact, have had reason to believe that Syria was constructing, with the aid and assistance of North Korea, a facility capable of housing a nuclear reactor. The United States Central Intelligence Agency recently released a series of images, believed to have been made from a videotape obtained from Israeli intelligence, which provide convincing, if not incontrovertible, evidence that the "unused military building" under construction in eastern Syria was, in fact, intended to be used as a nuclear reactor. Syria continues to deny such allegations as false. [...] Israel would be open to participating in a senior-level meeting with the Syrians brokered by Turkey to test the waters for renewed peace negotiations, Israeli officials said on Sunday. Such a preliminary meeting between Israeli and Syrian representatives would be the next step in mediation efforts by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who held talks over the weekend with Syrian President Bashar al Assad, the officials said. [...] All this should have raised an alarm with the CIA that something nuclear was taking place in Syria. But according to U.S. media reports late last week, the Americans caught on only in Spring 2007, after receiving photographs of the reactor and its environs, which were taken by Israeli agents. The photographs, according to the reports, confirmed without a doubt that the site was a nuclear reactor. [...] Background Briefing with Senior U.S. Officials on Syria’s Covert Nuclear Reactor and North Korea’s Involvement We received indications in ’05 that the Syrians and North Koreans were involved in a project in the Dayr az Zawr region of eastern Syria, but again, no specific information on the nature or the exact location of the work. But you can see, as evidence mounts, more confident there is cooperation, more confident it involves nuclear-related people. [...] Größenbesprechung: Just How Big Was Al Kibar Again? [...] The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency on Friday slammed Israel for an Israel Air Forces strike last September on an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," in a statement released Friday. [...] ISIS, still thinks: We measured the footprint of the Yongbyon reactor building and compared it to that of the suspected reactor building in Syria and found the two footprints were approximately the same.
News-Letter Landis.
Ein mutmaßliches Mitglied des Islamic Jihad aus Tulkarm tötet vor der Nitzane Shalom Industrial Zone zwei Sicherheitsleute. Aus Tulkarem werden drei Verhaftungen gemeldet, die in Zusammenhang mit dem anschlag gebracht werden. Am Samstag schießen israelische Siedler aus Kfar Tappuah [Ultra-National] auf einen palästinensischen Piolizeischüler und verletzten ihn moderat. Am Sonntag kommt es zu mehreren IDF-Verhaftungswellen in Bethlehem, Kfar Qaddoum und in der Gegen Jenin. Fünf Verhaftungen werden notiert, viele Hausdruchsuchungen finden statt. IRIN reports: It was difficult for 87-year-old Jamil Khader to discover that nearly all of the 1,400 olive trees his extended family planted in February had suddenly gone missing, having been uprooted and stolen. ... Of the missing trees, 1,000 had been donated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which said Jeet and the neighbouring villages were especially vulnerable due to their limited land access and proximity to Israeli settlements. Am Samstag Abend wird ein palästinensischer Infiltrator am Hunnenschutzwall vor Elkana angeschossen und verhaftet. Über Bewaffnung des Mannes ist nichts bekannt. Am Sonntag beschießen al-Aqsa-Mitglieder einen Siedlerbus in der Gegen Ramallah. [...] The International Monetary Fund on Friday praised the Palestinian government for what it calls 'bold reforms' and said it was making strides toward fiscal sustainability. + Billions of aid dollars pledged to the Palestinians to bolster peace talks with Israel are having a muted economic impact because of Israeli restrictions on travel and trade, the World Bank said on Sunday. The lending agency told donor nations in a report that per capita income in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in 2008 would be static, if not lower, despite the $7.7 billion in aid pledged to the Palestinians in December. The World Bank said modest gains in economic growth in the occupied West Bank, where Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas's government holds sway, were not sufficient to offset the "severe contraction" seen in Hamas-controlled Gaza. + The Palestinian economy won't grow this year, largely due to Israeli restrictions on movement and despite billions of dollars in aid meant to shore up support for peace talks, the World Bank predicted Sunday. + Tony Blair, der eigentlich Verantwortliche für das wirtschaftliche Desater bekommt einen Aufpasser aus Condis Riceauflauf mit Quarks Truppe: ternational Mideast envoy Tony Blair has tapped a senior US diplomat to run his office in Jerusalem. Blair's office says Robert Danin will serve as his new head of mission. Danin will take a leave from his current job as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs. Zur Personenbeschreibung von Danin dürfte dieses Zitat von der 2006er Herzliya-Konferenz ausreichen: "Liberal democracies are combating global terror. Terrorism in Israel is not new; however, the existence of global networks of extremists is new. After 9/11, the US and its allies entered a war on terror. It is a battle of arms and of ideas. It requires the use of military force. But to win the war, we must win the battle of ideas."
"Is it logical? A nuclear site did not have protection with surface to air defenses? A nuclear site within the footprint of satellites in the middle of Syria in an open area in the desert?" Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper in an interview conducted before the U.S. accusations were made. At that stage, he was commenting on media reports that said the target was a nuclear site. "The truth is that the raid was at a military site under construction," Assad said in the interview. "We are against mass destruction weapons for Israel, Iran or others." [...] Scott Ritter: It looks as if Israel may, in fact, have had reason to believe that Syria was constructing, with the aid and assistance of North Korea, a facility capable of housing a nuclear reactor. The United States Central Intelligence Agency recently released a series of images, believed to have been made from a videotape obtained from Israeli intelligence, which provide convincing, if not incontrovertible, evidence that the "unused military building" under construction in eastern Syria was, in fact, intended to be used as a nuclear reactor. Syria continues to deny such allegations as false. [...] Israel would be open to participating in a senior-level meeting with the Syrians brokered by Turkey to test the waters for renewed peace negotiations, Israeli officials said on Sunday. Such a preliminary meeting between Israeli and Syrian representatives would be the next step in mediation efforts by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who held talks over the weekend with Syrian President Bashar al Assad, the officials said. [...] All this should have raised an alarm with the CIA that something nuclear was taking place in Syria. But according to U.S. media reports late last week, the Americans caught on only in Spring 2007, after receiving photographs of the reactor and its environs, which were taken by Israeli agents. The photographs, according to the reports, confirmed without a doubt that the site was a nuclear reactor. [...] Background Briefing with Senior U.S. Officials on Syria’s Covert Nuclear Reactor and North Korea’s Involvement We received indications in ’05 that the Syrians and North Koreans were involved in a project in the Dayr az Zawr region of eastern Syria, but again, no specific information on the nature or the exact location of the work. But you can see, as evidence mounts, more confident there is cooperation, more confident it involves nuclear-related people. [...] Größenbesprechung: Just How Big Was Al Kibar Again? [...] The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency on Friday slammed Israel for an Israel Air Forces strike last September on an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," in a statement released Friday. [...] ISIS, still thinks: We measured the footprint of the Yongbyon reactor building and compared it to that of the suspected reactor building in Syria and found the two footprints were approximately the same.
News-Letter Landis.
Samstag, 26. April 2008
Updates
Zuvor dürfen wir gerne erinnern: "The meeting in November should define the principles settling the questions over the final status (of the Palestinian territories)," Abbas said in an interview with AFP in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly. "Then we will begin negotiations on the details under a timeframe, which ought not to exceed six months, to reach a peace treaty," he continued. Sechs Monate später: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that he failed to achieve any progress in Middle East peace talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and he is returning home from Washington with little to show for his visit. ... Abbas' aides said he was also upset after his lunch Thursday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. While discussing what a peace deal would look like, Rice did not mention the Palestinian goal of creating a state based on borders before Israel captured Gaza from Egypt and the West Bank from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day war. "We demanded that they talk about the '67 borders," Abbas told AP, showing a rare flash of anger. "None of them talks about the '67 borders."
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus Saturday for talks on bilateral ties and his government's efforts to facilitate peace negotiations between Syria and Israel. The one-day visit came after Syrian President Bashar Assad revealed earlier this week that Turkey has been mediating between Syria and Israel since last year and had recently passed a message from the Jewish State expressing a readiness to swap the Golan Heights for peace. [Der Vorgang ist höchst interessant, wenngleich im Kleingedruckten genügend Fallen zum Scheitern liegen. Die Israelis wollen den Golan nicht ganz aufgeben, die Syrer ihre strategischen ties zur Hezbollah/Hamas nicht aufgeben... wichtig der Versuch der Türkei über das konservativ-islamistische System eine türkische Vormachtstellung gegen den iranischen Einfluß in der Region zu installieren. Langfristig eine sehr gute Wahl, da die Türken keinerlei territoriale Ansprüche stellen und bei den Arabern eigentlich verhaßter sind als die Israelis, jedoch die Möglichkeit haben unpolitisches Geld zu verschieben. Die Erfahrungen mit dem "blasphemischen" Reichtum der Ölaraber hat die Gesellschaften Arabiens al-Queda beschert und so manches gefallene Projekt. Die Türken sind pragmatischer und aufstrebend-rational, während die Araber-Fürsten traditioneller Kriegs-Symbolik anhängen. Dabei war es der "Westen" der die Türken aus Arabien vertrieb und dabei die Fehler machte um die wir heute reden. Die Türken haben den Makel allzu spät verstanden zu haben das ein demokratischer Weg ein gangbarer Weg ist. Die Zeit der Minderheitenverfolgung, Folter und Kurdenkrieg geht nicht spurlos an Ihnen vorbei. Trotzdem sind sie besser als die "None of them talks about the '67 borders."-Lügner aus dem Weißen Haus, das wohl eher einem politischen Plumpsklo ähnelt.
Das politische Plumpsklo spricht: Es werde ein Reaktor, und siehe da war ein Reaktor: "One really wonders how that could be. These CIA indeed managed to paint a computer graphic so that it fits their interpretation of a very blurry photograph. Who would have expected such a capability within that organisation?" [Die Zusammenstellung und die verlinkten screenshots sind eine Menge Arbeit. Große Arbeit.] Die Relevanz des Materials tendiert gegen Null. Trotzdem ist die einschätzung der CIA passabel: Große Wahrscheinlichkeit eines nuklaren Baus mit mittlerer Wahrscheinlichkeit einer nordkoreanischen Hilfestellung und Unwahrscheinlichkeit das ein strategisches Interesse der Syrer an Atomwaffen besteht. Lapidar gesagt haben die Syrer kein Interesse an einer Atomwaffe, da sie "nur" Israel zum Feind haben. Eine Atomwaffe in die Nachbarschaft schicken ist lächerlich. Ein nukleares Projekt das zum Ziel hat langfristig atomwaffenfähiges Plutonium herzustellen nicht. So richtig kommt da niemand auf den Trichter: Die Einbindung der Syrer in das iranische Waffenprogramm. Viel wurde produziert über die syrische Taktik die Bush-Admin auszusitzen, wobei niemand erklärt hat weshalb der Iran ein unbedingtes Interesse an der strategischen Position Syriens hat. Hezbollah und Hamas sind selbstfinanzierte Zirkel die mit arabischem Geld handlen und eigene Finanzimperien schufen. Die Unterstützung des Iran muß symbolisch bleiben, jedoch kann ein Staat wie Syrien iranische Finanzhilfen sehr gut gebrauchen. Assads Spiel den Iranern eine Anlage zu bauen in der sie ihr waffenfähiges Plutonium "gekocht" bekommen ist nur der logische Schritt aus der Anküdigung des Westens den Iran lieber umfänglich zu zerstören als eine iranische Bombe zuzulassen. Man melkt die Kuh Iran, genauso wie die Kuh von den Russen und Chinesen gemolken wird. Die Israelis können solche Umtriebe in ihrer Nachbarschaft nicht zulassen. Der Schuß vor den Bug ist angekommen. In der Folge werde ich einige Artikel und Meinungen verlinken, die allesamt den Fehler aufweisen, das sie der USA dabei eine Rolle zuschieben. Dies ist ihr Fehler. Die USA spielt im Nahen Osten lange schon keine Rolle mehr, außer der Rolle das ihr Plumpsklo entweder Naziverglieche oder Kalter Kriegs-PR verbereitet. "The feel of a cold-war-era newsreel about the Korean War." [...] The problem here is that it [the Reactor Computer Model] does NOT match the dimensions of the photo “fuel-channel” AND not the earlier photo “vessel”. [...] Lots of questions though remain unanswered, including why release the information now, what does this mean for an escalation in Israeli-Syrian tensions, or conversely a breakthrough in back-channel peace negotiations, what does it mean for the US-North Korea talks, and why would Syria have been pursuing a nuclear program? Here is a quick attempt to look those issues. [...] The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency on Friday slammed Israel for an Israel Air Forces strike last September on an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," in a statement released Friday. [...] On the surface, the CIA evidence that Syria was building a Yongbyon-type nuclear facility is compelling. There are some writers who seem less convinced.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus Saturday for talks on bilateral ties and his government's efforts to facilitate peace negotiations between Syria and Israel. The one-day visit came after Syrian President Bashar Assad revealed earlier this week that Turkey has been mediating between Syria and Israel since last year and had recently passed a message from the Jewish State expressing a readiness to swap the Golan Heights for peace. [Der Vorgang ist höchst interessant, wenngleich im Kleingedruckten genügend Fallen zum Scheitern liegen. Die Israelis wollen den Golan nicht ganz aufgeben, die Syrer ihre strategischen ties zur Hezbollah/Hamas nicht aufgeben... wichtig der Versuch der Türkei über das konservativ-islamistische System eine türkische Vormachtstellung gegen den iranischen Einfluß in der Region zu installieren. Langfristig eine sehr gute Wahl, da die Türken keinerlei territoriale Ansprüche stellen und bei den Arabern eigentlich verhaßter sind als die Israelis, jedoch die Möglichkeit haben unpolitisches Geld zu verschieben. Die Erfahrungen mit dem "blasphemischen" Reichtum der Ölaraber hat die Gesellschaften Arabiens al-Queda beschert und so manches gefallene Projekt. Die Türken sind pragmatischer und aufstrebend-rational, während die Araber-Fürsten traditioneller Kriegs-Symbolik anhängen. Dabei war es der "Westen" der die Türken aus Arabien vertrieb und dabei die Fehler machte um die wir heute reden. Die Türken haben den Makel allzu spät verstanden zu haben das ein demokratischer Weg ein gangbarer Weg ist. Die Zeit der Minderheitenverfolgung, Folter und Kurdenkrieg geht nicht spurlos an Ihnen vorbei. Trotzdem sind sie besser als die "None of them talks about the '67 borders."-Lügner aus dem Weißen Haus, das wohl eher einem politischen Plumpsklo ähnelt.
Das politische Plumpsklo spricht: Es werde ein Reaktor, und siehe da war ein Reaktor: "One really wonders how that could be. These CIA indeed managed to paint a computer graphic so that it fits their interpretation of a very blurry photograph. Who would have expected such a capability within that organisation?" [Die Zusammenstellung und die verlinkten screenshots sind eine Menge Arbeit. Große Arbeit.] Die Relevanz des Materials tendiert gegen Null. Trotzdem ist die einschätzung der CIA passabel: Große Wahrscheinlichkeit eines nuklaren Baus mit mittlerer Wahrscheinlichkeit einer nordkoreanischen Hilfestellung und Unwahrscheinlichkeit das ein strategisches Interesse der Syrer an Atomwaffen besteht. Lapidar gesagt haben die Syrer kein Interesse an einer Atomwaffe, da sie "nur" Israel zum Feind haben. Eine Atomwaffe in die Nachbarschaft schicken ist lächerlich. Ein nukleares Projekt das zum Ziel hat langfristig atomwaffenfähiges Plutonium herzustellen nicht. So richtig kommt da niemand auf den Trichter: Die Einbindung der Syrer in das iranische Waffenprogramm. Viel wurde produziert über die syrische Taktik die Bush-Admin auszusitzen, wobei niemand erklärt hat weshalb der Iran ein unbedingtes Interesse an der strategischen Position Syriens hat. Hezbollah und Hamas sind selbstfinanzierte Zirkel die mit arabischem Geld handlen und eigene Finanzimperien schufen. Die Unterstützung des Iran muß symbolisch bleiben, jedoch kann ein Staat wie Syrien iranische Finanzhilfen sehr gut gebrauchen. Assads Spiel den Iranern eine Anlage zu bauen in der sie ihr waffenfähiges Plutonium "gekocht" bekommen ist nur der logische Schritt aus der Anküdigung des Westens den Iran lieber umfänglich zu zerstören als eine iranische Bombe zuzulassen. Man melkt die Kuh Iran, genauso wie die Kuh von den Russen und Chinesen gemolken wird. Die Israelis können solche Umtriebe in ihrer Nachbarschaft nicht zulassen. Der Schuß vor den Bug ist angekommen. In der Folge werde ich einige Artikel und Meinungen verlinken, die allesamt den Fehler aufweisen, das sie der USA dabei eine Rolle zuschieben. Dies ist ihr Fehler. Die USA spielt im Nahen Osten lange schon keine Rolle mehr, außer der Rolle das ihr Plumpsklo entweder Naziverglieche oder Kalter Kriegs-PR verbereitet. "The feel of a cold-war-era newsreel about the Korean War." [...] The problem here is that it [the Reactor Computer Model] does NOT match the dimensions of the photo “fuel-channel” AND not the earlier photo “vessel”. [...] Lots of questions though remain unanswered, including why release the information now, what does this mean for an escalation in Israeli-Syrian tensions, or conversely a breakthrough in back-channel peace negotiations, what does it mean for the US-North Korea talks, and why would Syria have been pursuing a nuclear program? Here is a quick attempt to look those issues. [...] The United Nations nuclear monitoring agency on Friday slammed Israel for an Israel Air Forces strike last September on an alleged nuclear reactor in Syria. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said "the unilateral use of force by Israel as undermining the due process of verification that is at the heart of the nonproliferation regime," in a statement released Friday. [...] On the surface, the CIA evidence that Syria was building a Yongbyon-type nuclear facility is compelling. There are some writers who seem less convinced.
Donnerstag, 24. April 2008
Small Update
Update: Two Israeli security guards were shot dead overnight Friday in a shooting attack at the Nitzanei Shalom industrial zone, near the West Bank city of Tul Karm.
Update: Die "Präsentation". Kommentar:
“Only two still photographs”
There are NO photographs in the video and the shown graphics are from different times. Second one before the pressure vessel was finished and the first one with the fuel channels. If the graphics are based on photos, Mr. Spy visited the site two or several times. But the first checks of the two graphics are not really compelling: Both graphics show a window that can be used to check the proportions of the room. And the room with the fuel channels is much bigger than the room with the vessel.
Has anybody read the famous book “The Syrian art of making rooms bigger and enlarge the diameter of a 15t orsomething steel and grafite-vessels”?
"Syrian Reactor": In Washington on Thursday, lawmakers were briefed by US officials behind closed doors on charges that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor at a site destroyed by an Israeli raid in September. US officials also gave lawmakers a video presentation that included photographs of the Syrian nuclear facility, a top US official said on condition of anonymity. Nach ersten geleakten Äußerungen von Leuten aus dem Hinterzimmer von Bush, die das angebliche Video aus dem eine Videomontage gefertigt wurde gesehen haben wollen läßt sich sagen das wohl die Qualität des Materials derartig schlecht ist das man allerhöchstens nichts damit beweisen kann. Einer wollte allen Ernstes sogar Löcher für die Brennstäbe entdeckt haben, womit wohl dargestellt werden soll das die Anlage betreibsbereit gewesen sei. Leider, anstatt Bildmaterial einfach vorzulegen verplappert man sich lieber: The reactor was reportedly not yet complete but far enough along to demonstrate a resemblance to the reactor at Yongbyon, which supposedly is being dismantled. [Für Fans: The main structural element of a reactor, a graphite stack with fuel channels, absorber rods and surrounding metal structures, is housed in a concrete vault. The vertical graphite stack columns contain fuel channels and control rod channels. The graphite stack is carried by a welded steel structure resting on a concrete foundation. On top the graphite stack is spanned over by an upper steel structure resting on the annular water tank of the biological shield. A welded shell enclosing the graphite stack, as well as the upper and bottom steel structures form a sealed reactor space. To prevent graphite oxidation and to improve heat transfer from graphite to fuel channels, the reactor space is filled with a helium-nitrogen mixture. Provision is made to replace the fuel channels and control rod channels on the shutdown and cooled reactor. The fuel channels are tubes whose lower and upper portions are fabricated from corrosion-resistant steel, while the central part is made of Zircalloy. The split graphite rings in the channels provide thermal contact with the graphite bricks of the stack. Suspended in the fuel channel is a fuel assembly bank. The fuel assembly bank consists of two fuel assemblies. Each fuel assembly contains 18 fuel rods in the form of sealed Zircalloy tubes which are filled with uranium dioxide pellets. Light water coolant is fed into the lower end of the fuel channels. From the fuel channel the coolant is fed into the separators. To improve heat exchange, the upper fuel assembly carries special intensifying grids. Removal of irradiated fuel elements, their handling and charge of fresh elements are performed on load by means of a refueling machine mounted in the central room. The biological shield is made of carbon steel, serpentine crushed stone and gravel, concrete, sand, water.] Nach derzeitigem Stand der Dinge hat das White House Personal also die Syrer Löcher bauen sehen, weil Löcher sind natürlich für einen Reaktorbau das wichtigste überhaupt. Es gibt allerdings schon Leute die wissen mehr: The United States is convinced that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor, the White House said on Thursday. "We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement. "We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on September 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes," she said. Perino also said North Korean and Syrian nuclear cooperation underscored the need for "further steps" by the international community against Iran's nuclear activities. Immerhin! Ich glaube diese Geschichte hier kann heute zu den Akten gelegt werden: An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday. Schlußwort: The positive aspect of the testimony on the air strike, the analysts added, was that it would increase Israel's deterrence by showing the country's impressive operational abilities. [Jeder macht sich so lächerlich wie es eben geht.]
A U.N. agency suspended its aid operations in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an emergency shipment of fuel designated for its use was blocked by petrol-hungry Palestinian farmers. +++ Hamas on Thursday proposed a six-month truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, with an option to extend it afterward to include Palestinians in the West Bank. Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, speaking in Cairo after meeting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, said the truce must include an end to the Israeli blockade of the coastal strip. +++ Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the U.S. State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of the Islamist group Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.
While Israel hopes to hold onto several clumps of settlements, Olmert has said Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank for a future Palestinian state. Those sections will likely be those located on the other side of the separation barrier Israel is erecting in the West Bank and that is nearly complete. More than 70,000 Jewish settlers live in these areas. As part of U.S. involvement in Mideast peace talks, American officials have expressed interest in the bill. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has raised the issue in meetings with Olmert, officials from his Kadima Party said. + U.S. President George W. Bush, trying to shore up a faltering Middle East peace process, assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday that Palestinian statehood remained a high priority in his final 10 months in office.
A former U.S. envoy and Mideast negotiator called Thursday for peace talks in which Israel would yield the Golan Heights to Syria in return for a peace treaty and withdrawal of support for Hezbollah militants, but said Syria was not likely to negotiate with Israel without American presence. Martin Indyk, former ambassador to Israel, told the House Mideast subcommittee that Israel had enlisted Turkey to help register its interest in peace negotiations to Syria. But Indyk, who was a U.S. negotiator during former President Bill Clinton's efforts in 2000 to mediate an agreement, said, "Syria will not sit down with Israel without the United States in the room." Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that Israel was genuinely interested in restarting talks with Syria
Update: Die "Präsentation". Kommentar:
“Only two still photographs”
There are NO photographs in the video and the shown graphics are from different times. Second one before the pressure vessel was finished and the first one with the fuel channels. If the graphics are based on photos, Mr. Spy visited the site two or several times. But the first checks of the two graphics are not really compelling: Both graphics show a window that can be used to check the proportions of the room. And the room with the fuel channels is much bigger than the room with the vessel.
Has anybody read the famous book “The Syrian art of making rooms bigger and enlarge the diameter of a 15t orsomething steel and grafite-vessels”?
"Syrian Reactor": In Washington on Thursday, lawmakers were briefed by US officials behind closed doors on charges that North Korea helped Syria build a nuclear reactor at a site destroyed by an Israeli raid in September. US officials also gave lawmakers a video presentation that included photographs of the Syrian nuclear facility, a top US official said on condition of anonymity. Nach ersten geleakten Äußerungen von Leuten aus dem Hinterzimmer von Bush, die das angebliche Video aus dem eine Videomontage gefertigt wurde gesehen haben wollen läßt sich sagen das wohl die Qualität des Materials derartig schlecht ist das man allerhöchstens nichts damit beweisen kann. Einer wollte allen Ernstes sogar Löcher für die Brennstäbe entdeckt haben, womit wohl dargestellt werden soll das die Anlage betreibsbereit gewesen sei. Leider, anstatt Bildmaterial einfach vorzulegen verplappert man sich lieber: The reactor was reportedly not yet complete but far enough along to demonstrate a resemblance to the reactor at Yongbyon, which supposedly is being dismantled. [Für Fans: The main structural element of a reactor, a graphite stack with fuel channels, absorber rods and surrounding metal structures, is housed in a concrete vault. The vertical graphite stack columns contain fuel channels and control rod channels. The graphite stack is carried by a welded steel structure resting on a concrete foundation. On top the graphite stack is spanned over by an upper steel structure resting on the annular water tank of the biological shield. A welded shell enclosing the graphite stack, as well as the upper and bottom steel structures form a sealed reactor space. To prevent graphite oxidation and to improve heat transfer from graphite to fuel channels, the reactor space is filled with a helium-nitrogen mixture. Provision is made to replace the fuel channels and control rod channels on the shutdown and cooled reactor. The fuel channels are tubes whose lower and upper portions are fabricated from corrosion-resistant steel, while the central part is made of Zircalloy. The split graphite rings in the channels provide thermal contact with the graphite bricks of the stack. Suspended in the fuel channel is a fuel assembly bank. The fuel assembly bank consists of two fuel assemblies. Each fuel assembly contains 18 fuel rods in the form of sealed Zircalloy tubes which are filled with uranium dioxide pellets. Light water coolant is fed into the lower end of the fuel channels. From the fuel channel the coolant is fed into the separators. To improve heat exchange, the upper fuel assembly carries special intensifying grids. Removal of irradiated fuel elements, their handling and charge of fresh elements are performed on load by means of a refueling machine mounted in the central room. The biological shield is made of carbon steel, serpentine crushed stone and gravel, concrete, sand, water.] Nach derzeitigem Stand der Dinge hat das White House Personal also die Syrer Löcher bauen sehen, weil Löcher sind natürlich für einen Reaktorbau das wichtigste überhaupt. Es gibt allerdings schon Leute die wissen mehr: The United States is convinced that North Korea helped Syria build a secret nuclear reactor, the White House said on Thursday. "We are convinced, based on a variety of information, that North Korea assisted Syria's covert nuclear activities," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement. "We have good reason to believe that reactor, which was damaged beyond repair on September 6 of last year, was not intended for peaceful purposes," she said. Perino also said North Korean and Syrian nuclear cooperation underscored the need for "further steps" by the international community against Iran's nuclear activities. Immerhin! Ich glaube diese Geschichte hier kann heute zu den Akten gelegt werden: An upcoming joint US-Israel report on the September 6 IAF strike on a Syrian facility will claim that former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein transferred weapons of mass destruction to the country, Channel 2 stated Monday. Schlußwort: The positive aspect of the testimony on the air strike, the analysts added, was that it would increase Israel's deterrence by showing the country's impressive operational abilities. [Jeder macht sich so lächerlich wie es eben geht.]
A U.N. agency suspended its aid operations in the Gaza Strip on Thursday after an emergency shipment of fuel designated for its use was blocked by petrol-hungry Palestinian farmers. +++ Hamas on Thursday proposed a six-month truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip, with an option to extend it afterward to include Palestinians in the West Bank. Former Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar, speaking in Cairo after meeting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, said the truce must include an end to the Israeli blockade of the coastal strip. +++ Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter denied on Wednesday that the U.S. State Department warned him not to meet with leaders of the Islamist group Hamas before he made a recent trip to the Middle East.
While Israel hopes to hold onto several clumps of settlements, Olmert has said Israel will have to give up most of the West Bank for a future Palestinian state. Those sections will likely be those located on the other side of the separation barrier Israel is erecting in the West Bank and that is nearly complete. More than 70,000 Jewish settlers live in these areas. As part of U.S. involvement in Mideast peace talks, American officials have expressed interest in the bill. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has raised the issue in meetings with Olmert, officials from his Kadima Party said. + U.S. President George W. Bush, trying to shore up a faltering Middle East peace process, assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday that Palestinian statehood remained a high priority in his final 10 months in office.
A former U.S. envoy and Mideast negotiator called Thursday for peace talks in which Israel would yield the Golan Heights to Syria in return for a peace treaty and withdrawal of support for Hezbollah militants, but said Syria was not likely to negotiate with Israel without American presence. Martin Indyk, former ambassador to Israel, told the House Mideast subcommittee that Israel had enlisted Turkey to help register its interest in peace negotiations to Syria. But Indyk, who was a U.S. negotiator during former President Bill Clinton's efforts in 2000 to mediate an agreement, said, "Syria will not sit down with Israel without the United States in the room." Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's Office on Thursday said that Israel was genuinely interested in restarting talks with Syria
IDF kills One + Hamas accepts truce [says official]
In der Nacht zum Donnerstag wird durch bei einem Luftangriff in Beit Hanoun ein palästinesischer Zivilist getötet und zwei verletzt. Desweiteren verletzen israelische Bodentruppen mit Kampfhubschrauberunterstützung bei einer Operation im selben Ort mindestens sechs Personen, darunter auch Bewaffnete. Östlich von Beit Hanoun werden bei einem späteren Luftangriff drei Bewaffnete verletzt. Während am Vortag sieben Qassam-Raketen auf israelisches Territorium abgeschossen werden verhält man sich heute ruhig. [Die israelische Presse in Form der Haaretz verbreitet dabei Unwahrheiten: One Palestinian militant was killed and three wounded in an Israel Air Force attack near the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanoun, Palestinian security officials reported.] Nach israelischen Angaben werden seit gestern etwa eine Million Liter Treibstoff für das Elektrizitätswerk im Gazastreifen geliefert um eine Versorgung für etwa drei Tage zu gewährleisten. [Israel once again pumped industrial diesel to the Gaza Strip's sole power plant on 23 April, just hours before it was scheduled to stop operations due to a lack of fuel. An Israeli official told IRIN about one million litres would be sent in, provided no "security incidents" took place. The plant said it needed about 3.5 million litres a week, though Israel has committed to transferring only 2.2 million. Speaking to reporters in Gaza, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry called on Israel to restore sufficient fuel supplies to Gaza and allow the passage of humanitarian and commercial goods. "The collective punishment of the population of Gaza, which has been instituted for months now, has failed," Serry said. He made his comments following an announcement by John Ging, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, that his organisation and the World Food Programme would have to stop distributing food due to the shortage of fuel for their vehicles.] Nach jüngsten Angaben will die Hamas den Waffenstillstand auf Basis ägyptischer Vermittlung mit den Israelis ratifizieren: Hamas will tell Egyptian mediators on Thursday that it is prepared to accept a truce with Israel in the Gaza Strip with a timetable for extending it to the West Bank, a Palestinian official close to the talks said. "Hamas's position is that they agree to a calm in Gaza and the West Bank but it would begin in Gaza at this stage and then apply to the West Bank after an agreed and specified period of time," said the official, who declined to be named. Zuvor hatte Polit-Führer Haniyeh sich wie folgt geäußert: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday said that a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas must include the West Bank as well as Gaza, in addition to hinting that the Palestinian militant group would respond positively to an Egyptian-brokered truce proposal. Aufgrund der israelischen Sicherheitsarchitektur ist ein Waffenstillstand in der Westbank vollkommen unmöglich. Bei einem Dutzend sicherheitsrelevanter Ereignisse in der Westbank werden in den letzten 36 Stunden 15 Personen verhaftet und eine Person angeschossen. Zusätzlich wurden sieben Hamas-Mitglieder durch die Fatah verhaftet. [...] Bei den Studentenwahlen an der Birzeit-Universität wird ein enorm hoher turnout mit fast 83% notiert: Fatah 25 seats, Hamas 19, PFLP 5, Islamic Jihad 1 und PPP [Kommunisten] 1 seat. Sehr schön repräsentativ: Die Alleinregierung der Fatah ist unmöglich. Mehrheiten gibts nur mit der Hamas. Über ein Viertel der jungen Intellektuellen vor Ort haben Hamas gewählt, oder fast 1500. + A group of left-wing activists, foreign peace activists and Palestinians arrived at the illegal Yad Yair outpost near Ramallah Thursday and attempted to take over one of the caravans, which is used as an improvised synagogue. Der palästinensische Staatsbesuch in Washington entpuppt sich derweil für Präsident Abbas als einzige PR-Katstrophe: Ehud Olmert, the current Israeli prime minister, said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements that it hopes to retain in a final peace deal, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements across Palestinian territories on the West Bank. In an interview this week, Sharon's chief of staff, Dov Weissglas, said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed this understanding in a secret agreement reached between Israel and the United States in the spring of 2005, just before Israel withdrew from Gaza. ... Israeli officials say they have clear guidance from Bush administration officials to continue building settlements, as long as it meets carefully negotiated criteria, even though those understandings appear to contradict U.S. policy. Derartig in der Presse vor dem Treffen mit Bush abgewatscht zu werden hat etwas von offiziellem Rausschmiß. Zudem: Aaron David Miller, who spent two decades as a Middle East negotiator, said he did not expect the White House meetings this week to produce much. "The main event in the Arab-Israeli peace process is not right now an American story," Miller said. "It is a story about two politicians, Abbas and Olmert, who for their own reasons may see an interest in reaching an agreement. And it's a story about torturous negotiations between Israel and Hamas, both of whom understand that it may be in their own interest right now for a temporary standoff." Die Hamas hat iÜ nun das Problem das sie durch ein solches Verhalten so oder so der Gewinner ist. Sorgt sie für eine anhaltende Waffenruhe steht sie als "Partner" der Israelis da auf den man sich verlassen kann und der unter zähem Ringen palästinensische "Interessen" hochhält, während Abbas wegen Geld den Kopf in den Hintern der Zeitgeschichte steckt und Palästina verrät. Schießt die Hamas weiter gilt das Gleiche nur unter dem Titel "bewaffneter Kampf". Related: President George W. Bush hosts Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House on Thursday to try to bolster him and shore up a fragile U.S.-backed peace effort with Israel.
Etwas wichtiger ist der Dammbruch der in Sachen Syrien durch verschiedenste Äußerungen und Aktivitäten ausgelöst wurde. Die Taktik der Bush-Admin die Syrer als rouge-state zu deklassifizieren um eine pro-amerikanische libanesische Präsidentschaft zu installieren fliegt den Strategen um die Ohren.
1. A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today. The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington. [Nun, ein Videobeweis wäre ein Beweis den man anerkennen könnte. Wobei das Argument schon zählt: Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha yesterday angrily denounced the U.S. and Israeli assertions. "If they show a video, remember that the U.S. went to the U.N. Security Council and displayed evidence and images about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I hope the American people will not be as gullible this time around," he said.] Das Problem für beide: But beginning today, intelligence officials will tell members of the House and Senate intelligence, armed services and foreign relations committees that the Syrian facility was not yet fully operational and that there was no uranium for the reactor and no indication of fuel capability, according to U.S. officials and intelligence sources. David Albright, president of Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) and a former U.N. weapons inspector, said the absence of such evidence warrants skepticism that the reactor was part of an active weapons program. "The United States and Israel have not identified any Syrian plutonium separation facilities or nuclear weaponization facilities," he said. "The lack of any such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor is part of an active nuclear weapons program. The apparent lack of fuel, either imported or indigenously produced, also is curious and lowers confidence that Syria has a nuclear weapons program." Der Bau eines Reaktors an der IAEA vorbei ist against the rules. Die Ausschaltung des Komplexes unter Berücksichtigung möglicher Gegenschläge ist nicht nur völkerrechtswidrig, sondern fahrlässig. Ein Reaktor der gerade gebaut wird in der Größenordnung wie dargestellt könnte waffenfähiges Plutonium nicht unter einem Zeitraum von 5 Jahren herstellen, wobei die Anlage bereits 2003 ihren Baubeginn feierte, es also höchst fraglich ist ob eine Anlage die 2007 in eher rohem Zustand nach vierjähriger Bauzeit wirklich ein verstärktes Interesse an Atomwaffen signalisiert. Die Kernfrage hier wird sein wann die Videoaufnahmen gemacht wurden: video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer, wäre eine Wiederaufnahme was allerhöchstens zu dem arabischen Trend der Nuclearisierung der Elektrizitätswirtschaft paßt. Da anders als im Libanonkrieg das Versagen der einzelnen israelischen Befehlsteile und Politiker nicht transparent dargestellt wird muß abgewartet werden welcher Hornochse hier zuständig ist. Bedenkt man Punkt zwei hätte man dies schon vor einem halben Jahr haben können. Libanon hätte einen Präsidenten und möglicherweise wäre ein Problem im Nahen Osten der Lösung näher.
2. Israel ready to return Golan: Israel has passed a message to Syria that it would withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace, according to a Syrian government minister. The expatriates minister, Buthaina Shaaban, said the message had been passed on by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. She said Mr Erdogan had informed the Syrian President Bashar Assad of the offer by telephone on Tuesday morning. [...] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed this week that his country exchanged messages with Israel via third parties to explore the possibility of resuming peace talks. Cham Press, which cited unidentified diplomatic officials for the report on Erdogan, didn't provide details. Erdogan called the Syrian president yesterday and relayed the same message from Israel, Al-Watan reported from Damascus. The daily didn't provide additional information. Editorial: Peace with Syria is once again knocking at our door, and it even seems to be meeting with a less-frosty reception on the Israeli side. The time is ripe for negotiations with Syria, especially since U.S. President George W. Bush's reign is drawing to a close, and among his potential successors, whether Democrat or Republican, there is a willingness to negotiate with Bashar Assad instead of boycotting him. [...] Leaders of communities in the Golan Heights held a special meeting in Katzrin on Thursday following recent reports suggesting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is willing to cede Israeli control of the Golan in exchange for comprehensive peace with Syria. A statement issued after the meeting concluded asserted that "all construction and development projects in the Golan are going ahead as planned, propelled by the certainty that any attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty in the Golan will cause severe damage to state security and thus is doomed to fail." The Golan Heights, stressed the statement "belongs to the people of Israel, who will never agree to give it up." [...] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a warning to Syria on Thursday not to side with the Americans. "We must always be prepared to thwart the plans of the US in the region," Ahmadinejad told Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in Teheran.
To be continued...
Etwas wichtiger ist der Dammbruch der in Sachen Syrien durch verschiedenste Äußerungen und Aktivitäten ausgelöst wurde. Die Taktik der Bush-Admin die Syrer als rouge-state zu deklassifizieren um eine pro-amerikanische libanesische Präsidentschaft zu installieren fliegt den Strategen um die Ohren.
1. A video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer convinced the Israeli government and the Bush administration that North Korea was helping to construct a reactor similar to one that produces plutonium for North Korea's nuclear arsenal, according to senior U.S. officials who said it would be shared with lawmakers today. The officials said the video of the remote site, code-named Al Kibar by the Syrians, shows North Koreans inside. It played a pivotal role in Israel's decision to bomb the facility late at night last Sept. 6, a move that was publicly denounced by Damascus but not by Washington. [Nun, ein Videobeweis wäre ein Beweis den man anerkennen könnte. Wobei das Argument schon zählt: Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha yesterday angrily denounced the U.S. and Israeli assertions. "If they show a video, remember that the U.S. went to the U.N. Security Council and displayed evidence and images about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. I hope the American people will not be as gullible this time around," he said.] Das Problem für beide: But beginning today, intelligence officials will tell members of the House and Senate intelligence, armed services and foreign relations committees that the Syrian facility was not yet fully operational and that there was no uranium for the reactor and no indication of fuel capability, according to U.S. officials and intelligence sources. David Albright, president of Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) and a former U.N. weapons inspector, said the absence of such evidence warrants skepticism that the reactor was part of an active weapons program. "The United States and Israel have not identified any Syrian plutonium separation facilities or nuclear weaponization facilities," he said. "The lack of any such facilities gives little confidence that the reactor is part of an active nuclear weapons program. The apparent lack of fuel, either imported or indigenously produced, also is curious and lowers confidence that Syria has a nuclear weapons program." Der Bau eines Reaktors an der IAEA vorbei ist against the rules. Die Ausschaltung des Komplexes unter Berücksichtigung möglicher Gegenschläge ist nicht nur völkerrechtswidrig, sondern fahrlässig. Ein Reaktor der gerade gebaut wird in der Größenordnung wie dargestellt könnte waffenfähiges Plutonium nicht unter einem Zeitraum von 5 Jahren herstellen, wobei die Anlage bereits 2003 ihren Baubeginn feierte, es also höchst fraglich ist ob eine Anlage die 2007 in eher rohem Zustand nach vierjähriger Bauzeit wirklich ein verstärktes Interesse an Atomwaffen signalisiert. Die Kernfrage hier wird sein wann die Videoaufnahmen gemacht wurden: video taken inside a secret Syrian facility last summer, wäre eine Wiederaufnahme was allerhöchstens zu dem arabischen Trend der Nuclearisierung der Elektrizitätswirtschaft paßt. Da anders als im Libanonkrieg das Versagen der einzelnen israelischen Befehlsteile und Politiker nicht transparent dargestellt wird muß abgewartet werden welcher Hornochse hier zuständig ist. Bedenkt man Punkt zwei hätte man dies schon vor einem halben Jahr haben können. Libanon hätte einen Präsidenten und möglicherweise wäre ein Problem im Nahen Osten der Lösung näher.
2. Israel ready to return Golan: Israel has passed a message to Syria that it would withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace, according to a Syrian government minister. The expatriates minister, Buthaina Shaaban, said the message had been passed on by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. She said Mr Erdogan had informed the Syrian President Bashar Assad of the offer by telephone on Tuesday morning. [...] Syrian President Bashar al-Assad confirmed this week that his country exchanged messages with Israel via third parties to explore the possibility of resuming peace talks. Cham Press, which cited unidentified diplomatic officials for the report on Erdogan, didn't provide details. Erdogan called the Syrian president yesterday and relayed the same message from Israel, Al-Watan reported from Damascus. The daily didn't provide additional information. Editorial: Peace with Syria is once again knocking at our door, and it even seems to be meeting with a less-frosty reception on the Israeli side. The time is ripe for negotiations with Syria, especially since U.S. President George W. Bush's reign is drawing to a close, and among his potential successors, whether Democrat or Republican, there is a willingness to negotiate with Bashar Assad instead of boycotting him. [...] Leaders of communities in the Golan Heights held a special meeting in Katzrin on Thursday following recent reports suggesting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is willing to cede Israeli control of the Golan in exchange for comprehensive peace with Syria. A statement issued after the meeting concluded asserted that "all construction and development projects in the Golan are going ahead as planned, propelled by the certainty that any attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty in the Golan will cause severe damage to state security and thus is doomed to fail." The Golan Heights, stressed the statement "belongs to the people of Israel, who will never agree to give it up." [...] Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a warning to Syria on Thursday not to side with the Americans. "We must always be prepared to thwart the plans of the US in the region," Ahmadinejad told Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in Teheran.
To be continued...
Dienstag, 22. April 2008
Truce talks
Während die Fronten einen relativ ruhigen Dienstag erlebten sorgt die Hamas mit verschiedenen Ankündigungen für ein brutales Durcheinander ... in der deutschen Medienwelt. Als eines der schlechtesten Beispiele nehmen wir mal den hier. "Bisher lehnte die Hamas das Abhalten eines Referendums in dem von ihr kontrollierten Gazastreifen ab: „Wir werden einer Volksbefragung nur zustimmen, wenn das gesamte Volk daran teilnimmt, also auch die Palästinenser im Exil“, erklärte Hamas-Sprecher Taher Nunu auf telefonische Anfrage. Mit dieser Bedingung sichert sich die Hamas vorab ein Votum gegen eine Friedenseinigung, denn Israel wird dem Rückkehrrecht palästinensischer Flüchtlinge niemals zustimmen." Erstens bezieht sich bisher auf die Referendumsschlacht 2006. Hierbei wird gerne vergessen: "Some Hamas officials reacted to Abbas' challenge with atypical warmth, given the antipathy that has grown between Hamas and Abbas' Fatah faction. Violence between Hamas and Fatah gunmen in the last few days has left at least 10 people dead. On Thursday, at least one Fatah security official was killed and several wounded in gunbattles with fighters from the new Hamas force. Speaking via videoconference from Gaza City, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas told the Ramallah meeting that "the area of agreement in political vision is very close, but we need to strengthen our national unity." Hamas Cabinet spokesman Ghazi Hamad said Haniyeh's government is "not opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders." Zweitens, nachdem die Hamas schon im Unity-Government PLO-Beschlüsse mittrug und ihr Gegenputsch gegen Dahlan erfolgreich war wurde sie von Verhandlungsführer Abbas explizit von den Verhandlungen ausgeschlossen. ["Ich habe als Chef der PLO und der Palästinensischen Autonomiebehörde die volle Amtsbefugnis, Verhandlungen mit Israel zu führen. Sobald ich eine Einigung erreiche, werde ich ein Referendum einleiten und zudem das Parlament befragen. Vorläufig werde ich weder die Hamas noch die Fatah befragen." [Abbas, Taz, 21.09.07]] Und letztlich Drittens folgt die Hamas im Punkt der Exilpalästinenser Forderungen der UN: "Any deal would have to be put to the Palestinian people as a whole and then it would be for them to decide in a referendum whether this is something they want to support or whether they don't support it." [U.N. Middle East envoy Michael Williams, Ende August 2007.] In den deutschen Schreiberlingstuben hat sich scheinbar großflächig ein arbeitsparendes Modell durchgesetzt: Wenn die Hamas etwas äußert muß es negativ gegen Israel gemeint sein, egal was es ist. Dabei ist der eigentliche Vorgang nur natürlichen Ursprungs: Hamas politburo chief Khalid Mash'al and senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar are at loggerheads over the proposals set out by former US president Jimmy Carter, the right wing Israeli daily newspaper Maariv reported on Tuesday. According to Maariv, Zahhar is urging further military actions against Israeli targets and is refusing to allow captured Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit to send a message to his family. Der "bewaffnete Arm" meutert gegen den "politischen Arm", der in sich ebenso zerstritten ist. Haaretz-Burston hat heute sehr richtig bemerkt das es hier eine Gleichheit zwischen Israel und der Hamas gibt die sie zu gefährlichen Feinden werden läßt: Beide wissen nicht was sie eigentlich wollen. Das klassische israelische Beispiel wäre der "Siedlungsausbaustopp bei gleichzeitigem natürlichem Wachstum". Zudem spricht die Hamas aus dem territorialen und politischen Split mit der Fatah/Westbank heraus. Alleine schon die Milliarden die der PA [ohne das diese Ergebnisse vorlegen könnte] zur Verfügung gestellt werden lassen auch Hamas-Augen lüstern glotzen. Und was am wichtigstens erscheint: Die Äusserungen zum Thema Friedensverhandlungen und Grenzziehungen sind doch überhaupt nicht aktuell. Derzeit spekuliert man über ein Rahmenabkommen das noch in diesem Jahr eventuell unterzeichnet werden soll, wobei nicht ein Verhandlungspunkt geklärt ist. Wir reden über Verträge die nicht von Abbas unterzeichnet werden können, da dieser wie auch Bush nur noch eine begrenzte Halbwertzeit aufweist. Hier wird viel wichtiger ob das Vertrauensverhältnis zB zwischen Marwan Barghouti und der Hamas stabil genug ist um die Zeit zu überstehen und ob dieser überhaupt von den Israelis frei gelassen wird. Ein Ersatzkandidat "strongman" Dahlan, der weiterhin amerikanischer [und israelischer] Wunschkandidat für die Abbas-Nachfolge ist wird allerhöchstens den Konflikt verlängern. Insofern sind längst geäußerte und wiederholte statements über "Grenzziehung" oder eine weichere Sprachregelung innerhalb der Hamas zwar sehr beachtliche modifikative Elemente die es nicht brüsk und teilweise dümmlich zu ignorieren gilt, aber sie sind eben nicht mehr. Davon abgetrennt ist das derzeit dringlichste Thema ein vollständig anderes: Hamas plans to give its final response on Thursday to a proposed Egyptian-mediated truce, a senior official from the Islamist group said on Tuesday. Hamas lawmaker Salah Bardawil also said that Hamas is considering whether to accept a truce with Israel which would take effect just in the Gaza Strip. Hier geht es ums prinzipielle Überleben des Gazastreifens, um die Frage eines großen Krieges, einer Wiederbesatzung oder um eine eine etwas friedlichere Übergangszeit bis endlich Bush, Olmert und vor allem die unnütze Condis Riceauflauf mit Quark aus dem Amt sind. Realpolitik. Kommentar von Helena Cobban: Hamas-Israel ceasefire near? + Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice expressed concern Tuesday that a recent meeting between the former president Jimmy Carter and the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal could confuse U.S. efforts to broker a Palestinian-Israeli peace accord.
Am Dienstag werden zwei Qassam-Raketen-Abschüsse und vier Mörsergranaten an der Grenze Gaza-Israel notiert. Dabei kommt es zu einem Treffer in Sderot, der gottlob nur Sachaden an einem Zivilgebäude und Schockopfer produziert. In der Westbank kommt es nur im Raum Qabatia und in Jenin zu Aktionen marodierender IDF-Milizionäre, die in Jenin eine Einrichtung der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate looten. Während zwei Grenzübergänge zum Gazastreifen für Lebensmittel geöffent werden gerät die Stromversorung mal wieder bald außer Kontrolle: Sources in Gaza warned of the total collapse of all electricity, medical, sanitation, drainage, and other power-related systems in the Strip due to an extreme shortage of fuel. In addition, the Palestinian Energy Authority (PEA) said that the Palestinian power station would cease to function as of Wednesday.
Daniel Levy empfiehlt J-Street. Webseite von J-Street. Für den erweiterten Horizont ist der News-update von Landis zuständig.
Und die Pleite des Tages: U.S. authorities on Tuesday arrested an American engineer suspected of giving military secrets involving nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.
Am Dienstag werden zwei Qassam-Raketen-Abschüsse und vier Mörsergranaten an der Grenze Gaza-Israel notiert. Dabei kommt es zu einem Treffer in Sderot, der gottlob nur Sachaden an einem Zivilgebäude und Schockopfer produziert. In der Westbank kommt es nur im Raum Qabatia und in Jenin zu Aktionen marodierender IDF-Milizionäre, die in Jenin eine Einrichtung der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate looten. Während zwei Grenzübergänge zum Gazastreifen für Lebensmittel geöffent werden gerät die Stromversorung mal wieder bald außer Kontrolle: Sources in Gaza warned of the total collapse of all electricity, medical, sanitation, drainage, and other power-related systems in the Strip due to an extreme shortage of fuel. In addition, the Palestinian Energy Authority (PEA) said that the Palestinian power station would cease to function as of Wednesday.
Daniel Levy empfiehlt J-Street. Webseite von J-Street. Für den erweiterten Horizont ist der News-update von Landis zuständig.
Und die Pleite des Tages: U.S. authorities on Tuesday arrested an American engineer suspected of giving military secrets involving nuclear weapons, fighter jets and air defense missiles to Israel during the 1980s, the Justice Department said.
Montag, 21. April 2008
IDF kills Three - Baranes fired
IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Gabi Ashkenazi decided Monday that the commander of the ninth Armor Corps regiment will be dismissed from his position, due to his failure in commanding troops during the terror attack at the fuel terminal in Nahal Oz, in which two Israeli citizens - Lev Charniak and Oleg Lipson - were killed. Ashkenazi's decision was based on a recommendation he received from Southern Command chief Major-General Yoav Galant. He remarked that the regiment commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Yair Baranes, did not finalize the attack in the manner expected of a commander of his rank. [...] Am Abend werden drei Mitglieder des Islamic Jihad vor Jabailia in der Nähe der Grenze zu Israel bei einem Versuch den Erez-crossing zu attackieren getötet. Die Darstellung der IDF die Milizionäre wären auf Infiltrationskurs gewesen zeigt das die IDF einen zero-tolerance-Kurs in Grenznähe [hier 300 Meter] eingeführt hat. Zuvor war bei einem Treffer im Kibbutz Gevim ein 4-jähriger Junge durch ein Schrapnel einer Qassam-Rakete veletzt worden. Das Volumen der Angriffe bleibt einstellig [vier bis fünf], seltsamerweise bleiben aber Maßnahmen der IDF dagegen gänzlich aus. Von Ausspielen der Lufthoheit und strategischer Neuausrichtung kann keine Rede sein. Die Grenzen bleiben dicht: The Kerem Shalom crossing, which was targeted by Hamas in a double car bombing over the weekend, will likely remain closed until after Pessah, which ends on Saturday, senior defense officials said Monday. Treibstofflieferungen bleiben aus und As for the crossing at Nahal Oz, where fuel is transferred to the Strip, last Thursday Palestinians fired at a fuel truck. Security sources told Haaretz last night that Dor Alon, the company operating the terminal, has let the army know that it intends to reevaluate its role in transfering fuel to the Palestinians in light of the dangers to its staff. [Was die großmäuligen Ankündigungen die Lieferungen sämtlich über Ägypten abwickeln zu lassen angeht hört man derzeit nur Stille.] [...] Former US President Jimmy Carter on Monday said that Hamas had agreed to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders if it is accepted by Palestinians in a referendum. But Hamas say national reconciliation is necessary between Hamas and Fatah before the referendum is carried out. Carter said this means Hamas will not undermine Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' efforts to negotiate an agreement with Israel and will accept any deal if the Palestinian public endorses it. ... "We have offered a truce if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, a truce of 10 years as a proof of recognition." [Deswegen unlogisch: Abbas verhandelt nicht auf eine 67-Grenze hin, sondern eine Wall-Grenze, falls man das was Abbas tut wirklich verhandeln nennen kann. Eigentlich verwaltet er nur den Mißstand und er wird froh sein wenn er nächstes Jahr in Rente gehen kann.] In Washington, deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey brushed aside Hamas's offer, saying the group's past rhetoric contained "all this language about truces and other kinds of issues. But the bottom line is, Hamas still believes in the destruction of the state of Israel; they don't believe Israel has a right to exist," adding it was clear "that nothing has changed" in Hamas's attitude - including that the group still refuses to explicitly recognize Israel and denounce terrorism. Die scharfe Rhetorik ist gegen Carters Einmischung gerichtet, da mit den Verhandlungen mit der Hamas die anstehende show in Washington in ihrer Bedeutung mächtig reduziert wird. Dabei stellt sich die Legitimitationsfrage immer drängender: Both Fatah and Hamas continue to lose support among the Palestinians, and the level of trust in political leaders also dropped. Support for Abbas fell from 18.3% in November to 11.7% this month. The poll also showed that fewer Palestinians are satisfied with Abbas's performance. Support for Haniyeh also went down, from 16.3% in November to 13.3% this month. The same applies to Fatah's imprisoned leader, Marwan Barghouti, whose popularity moved down from 14.3% to 12.8% during the same period. With regards to confidence in the political parties, support for Fatah decreased from 40% in November to 32.5% this month, while Hamas's popularity went down from 19.7% to 17.8%. [...] Ein Brandanschlag auf das Ad-Dira-Hotel in Gaza City, bevorzugte Lokation auch von ausländischen Journalisten sorgt für Sachschaden. Eine Streitschrift des PCHR zum Thema Macht der Hamas in Gaza: PCHR is deeply concerned over the continued ban on visits for its lawyers to their clients in the prisons administered by the dismissed government in Gaza. The Centre views this ban as a violation of International Law and relevant international standards. Specifically, this ban violates the right of detainees to lawyer visits. The Centre is concerned that this ban is motivated by the perpetration of illegal actions such as torture and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment against prisoners. [...] Egyptian diplomatic sources denied on Monday that foreign minister Ahmad Abu Al-Ghait said that Hamas' participation in a Palestinian national unity government could impede the Palestinian Authority's (PA) political efforts to reach a compromise with Israel. [Immerhin hat die Hamas es nun geschafft das sie in aller Munde ist.]
Für die Westbank dämmert langsam die anberaumte Investitionskonferenz: Palestinian officials hope to raise $1.5 billion from foreign investors at a conference planned next month in the West Bank, the Palestinian foreign minister announced Monday. More than 300 foreign investors, including a Saudi representative and a government minister from the United Arab Emirates, are expected to attend the gathering in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki told reporters. The conference is scheduled from May 21 to 23. [Na, wenn ihm da mal niemand in die Suppe spuckt.] Ansonsten Ruhe: In Qalkilia schießen unbekannte al-Aqsa-Männer auf ein PA-Gebäude. In azzun wird ein Palästinenser bei Rangeleienen mit marodierenden IDF-Milizionären verletzt. Und aus der selben Gegend wird ein Feuerüberfall der al-Aqsa auf ein israelisches Militärfahrzeug berichtet.
Update: A handful of Syrian Jews celebrated the start of the Jewish Passover holiday Sunday with prayers at Damascus' only synagogue, saying they feel free to openly practice their religion just as Muslims and Christians do. Und Ergänzung zum letzten post: Zalman Shoval, The message I received in Washington about two weeks ago was clear and included a trace of displeasure: Why do you have people, and ministers in particular, who continue to amuse themselves with the baseless notion that conditions for peace between Israel and Syria have been created? Indeed, in holiday interviews with the prime minister, as well as the wave of previous news stories, we repeatedly heard about messages being seemingly conveyed and feelers seemingly being sent out between Jerusalem and Damascus. Before we address the matter, we should consider whether Israel should or should not be taking America’s position on this matter into consideration. [Die mal wieder für Wochen abgetauchte Condis Riceauflauf mit Quark hat angedroht sich in das Thema Libanon-Syrien am Rande einer Konferenz in Kuwait einzumischen... Das hat gerade noch gefehlt.] ... Hanin Ghaddar, "Blow by blow": Member of Parliament Michel Murr’s break with the Change and Reform bloc some weeks ago certainly ruffled Christian feathers in the opposition. As for the Shia in the opposition, there seem to be very tangible divisions emerging, too, between Amal Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who recently returned from a regional tour to renew calls for national dialogue, and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who has recently been altogether more concerned with the Israel-Lebanese border. ... und nett zum Abschluß der aufruf des USA-Generalsekretärs Ki-Moon die Hezbollah zu entwaffnen. Wirklich orginell der Kleine.
Für die Westbank dämmert langsam die anberaumte Investitionskonferenz: Palestinian officials hope to raise $1.5 billion from foreign investors at a conference planned next month in the West Bank, the Palestinian foreign minister announced Monday. More than 300 foreign investors, including a Saudi representative and a government minister from the United Arab Emirates, are expected to attend the gathering in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki told reporters. The conference is scheduled from May 21 to 23. [Na, wenn ihm da mal niemand in die Suppe spuckt.] Ansonsten Ruhe: In Qalkilia schießen unbekannte al-Aqsa-Männer auf ein PA-Gebäude. In azzun wird ein Palästinenser bei Rangeleienen mit marodierenden IDF-Milizionären verletzt. Und aus der selben Gegend wird ein Feuerüberfall der al-Aqsa auf ein israelisches Militärfahrzeug berichtet.
Update: A handful of Syrian Jews celebrated the start of the Jewish Passover holiday Sunday with prayers at Damascus' only synagogue, saying they feel free to openly practice their religion just as Muslims and Christians do. Und Ergänzung zum letzten post: Zalman Shoval, The message I received in Washington about two weeks ago was clear and included a trace of displeasure: Why do you have people, and ministers in particular, who continue to amuse themselves with the baseless notion that conditions for peace between Israel and Syria have been created? Indeed, in holiday interviews with the prime minister, as well as the wave of previous news stories, we repeatedly heard about messages being seemingly conveyed and feelers seemingly being sent out between Jerusalem and Damascus. Before we address the matter, we should consider whether Israel should or should not be taking America’s position on this matter into consideration. [Die mal wieder für Wochen abgetauchte Condis Riceauflauf mit Quark hat angedroht sich in das Thema Libanon-Syrien am Rande einer Konferenz in Kuwait einzumischen... Das hat gerade noch gefehlt.] ... Hanin Ghaddar, "Blow by blow": Member of Parliament Michel Murr’s break with the Change and Reform bloc some weeks ago certainly ruffled Christian feathers in the opposition. As for the Shia in the opposition, there seem to be very tangible divisions emerging, too, between Amal Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who recently returned from a regional tour to renew calls for national dialogue, and Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who has recently been altogether more concerned with the Israel-Lebanese border. ... und nett zum Abschluß der aufruf des USA-Generalsekretärs Ki-Moon die Hezbollah zu entwaffnen. Wirklich orginell der Kleine.
IDF kills est. Ten - Two Suicidators kill themselves - Unknown One
Am Samstag Vormittag kommt es zu einem weiteren Kommandounternehmen der Hamas auf einen israelischen Grenzübergang zum Gazastreifen: Nach offizieller Darstellung sollen drei Fahrzeuge im Morgengrauen und Nebel und unter Mörsergranatenbeschuß den Grenzübergang attackiert haben: Ein "gepanzertes" Fahrzeug hätte eine Bresche in den dortigen Zaun geschlagen, zwei als israelische Militärjeeps "verkleidete" Fahrzeuge wären in den Stützpunkt eingedrungen wo sie Explosionsladungen zündeten. Bei der Explosion werden dreizehn israelische Soldaten verletzt, die Fahrzeuglenker und zwei weitere Milizionäre der Hamas kommen im ersten Fahrzeug ums Leben. Zur selben Zeit kommt eine unbekannte Anzahl von Milizionären bei einer ähnlichen Aktion in einem gepanzerten Fahrzeug am Kissufim-Crossing um. [Palästinensische Angaben: An Israeli warplane bombed a jeep in city of Rafah, in the Gaza Strip, killing a police officer and wounding four other others, among them a young girl on Saturday, witnesses and medics said. Abweichend: Palestinian sources reported Sunday that an Israeli fighter jet fired at a car driving in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah. According to the sources, IAF strike was in fact a targeted assassination attempt gone-wrong on Ra'ad al-Atar, a senior Izz al-Din Din al-Qassam – Hamas' military wing – operative.] In der Folge kommt es zu sechs Qassamraketen-Abschüssen, einigen Luftangriffen und israelischen raids auf den Gazastreifen die nach derzeitigem Stand sechs Hamas-Angehörige im Jabalia-Flüchtlingslager und in Zaytoun getötet haben. Die zuvor als produktiv empfundenen Initiativen in Sachen Waffenstillstand der Ägypter [Egypt said on Friday it was making good progress trying to negotiate a tacit cease-fire, including a prisoner exchange, between Israel and the militant Palestinian group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said his government was speaking with both sides to get a "period of quiet," which would help Israeli and Palestinian negotiators achieve a deal more easily in U.S.-mediated Palestinian statehood talks that exclude Hamas. "Hamas wants to call it a period of quiet. That suits the Israelis because they do not want to reach a signed, written agreement with Hamas," Gheit said of Egypt's mediation attempts in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. "We are making good progress [mediating] but the difficulty we face is that often, certain trends inside Israel challenge the idea and certain trends inside Gaza challenge the idea and maybe, maybe there could also be a foreign element," he said with a smile, referring to the United States.] und der Carter-Initiative [Carter and Meshal held more than four hours of talks Friday night that discussed how the Islamist group could be drawn into a Middle East peace plan and drop its opposition to peace talks between Israel and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the rival Fatah faction. Carter demanded that Hamas stops firing rockets on Israel while he pursues efforts with Israel and the West to lift the siege on the Gaza strip, which is ruled by Hamas, politicians familiar with the meetings said. "Carter also asked Meshal to adopt more flexible public statements and talked to him as a leader of a national liberation movement, not as the terrorist Israel and America try to depict him as being," one of the sources told Reuters. "Meshal is a first among equals in Hamas. He has to secure agreement from the rest of the Hamas leadership," he added.] werden durch zwei brüske statements negiert: Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior officers at the Israel Defense Forces Gaza Division Saturday that Hamas will pay for the attack on the Kerem Shalom Crossing earlier in the day which left more than a dozen soldiers injured. + Hamas spokesman Sami Abu-Zuhri on Sunday rejected an Egyptian plan for a cease-fire agreement with Israel, Al Jazeera reported. [Den Anderen da gibts auch noch: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he was determined to achieve a "framework agreement" laying the foundations for a peace deal with Israel before the end of US President George W. Bush's term in office.] Editorial: "All of Gaza can't be razed", Hamas can be blamed for the latest conflagration in the Gaza Strip. First came the attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot; then came Wednesday's ambush, in which three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed; and then yesterday, an attempt to infiltrate Kibbutz Keren Shalom was foiled. Meanwhile, the Qassam and mortar attacks have resumed fully. Hamas clearly wants to drag Israel into an increasingly violent retaliation in Gaza, and Israel must not fall into this trap. + King Abdullah II of Jordan conferred Sunday with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and said that Israel must lift the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and stop expanding Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. In a royal court statement, the king also stressed the need for "tangible progress" in the ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and Palestinians. [Keinerlei Bewegung]
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Sunday that he has exchanged messages with Israel through a third party to explore the possibility of resuming peace talks, the country's official news agency SANA reported. During a meeting with ruling Baath Party officials, Assad commented on media reports about indirect contact between the two countries. "There are efforts exerted in this direction," he was quoted as saying. An Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, on Thursday quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Israel and Syria have been exchanging messages to clarify expectations for any future peace treaty. [Hatte das Interview erwähnt, aber vergessen zu verlinken.] ... Israeli officials were further incriminated by the fact that in 2007 Prime Minister Olmert also said he was not concerned by an imminent war with Syria, but that he was unhappy with the public discussion about peace between Syria and Israel. One should question the logic behind Ehud Olmert's "irritation" regarding public overtures of peace between Syria and Israel. [13] Realpolitik is definitely being played by Israel in regards to Damascus in a consorted effort to de-link Syria from Iran and its other allies. In this regard, Damascus publicly insisted that there be no secret talks between Syrian and Israeli officials as to the conditions for peace. [14] The rationale for the Syrian insistence on transparency was to deprive Israeli of any means to covertly try to divide Syria from its Middle Eastern allies by generating suspicions of betrayal. [Full text an location here: "The March to War: Israel Prepares for War against Lebanon and Syria", by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya.] + Transcript of a panel discussion of few days ago by Martin Indyk, Shibley Telhami and David Ignatius in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution on VIEWS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST: PUBLIC OPINION IN THE ARAB WORLD (results of the poll on Arab public opinion).
David Barstow, "Pentagon's influence lurks behind TV military analysts".
The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the launching of a formal investigation into the killing of a Reuters cameraman in Gaza, after a U.S.-based human rights group accused troops of either firing recklessly or targeting the cameraman. Fadel Shana was killed while filming an IDF tank in Gaza on Wednesday, a day of heavy fighting. His final footage shows the tank firing a shell in his direction. Palestinian medics say five others were killed in the incident, including four teenagers.
Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows in Christianity's holiest shrine on Palm Sunday, and pummeled police with palm fronds when they tried to break up the brawl. The fight is part of a growing rivalry over religious rights at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected. It erupted when Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses.
Hussein Agha + Robert Malley: "Into the Lions Den": In its final year in office and the first year of its Israeli–Palestinian diplomacy, the Bush administration has introduced the latest and in some respects oddest idea for achieving peace, the shelf agreement. Its logic is straightforward. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas should conclude a final peace treaty by the end of 2008. The Israeli and Palestinian people subsequently would ratify it in near-simultaneous referenda or elections. And then, once approved, the treaty ought simply to be put aside (on the aforementioned shelf) until circumstances permit it to be carried out. No agreement can be fully put into effect immediately upon signature. But whereas a phased agreement includes an approved schedule, with starting date and endpoint, implementation of a shelf agreement would depend on an assessment by the parties that specified conditions have been met. ...
Besprechung des bereits Verlinkten "Schwarzuchs Hebron": Donald McIntyre: "Our reign of terror, by the Israeli army - In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions, beatings and torture, Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on Hebron"
A fact-finding committee has been set up to investigate the abduction and murder of a Palestinian intelligence officer in the Gaza Strip, representatives from Palestinian parliamentarian blocs and independent lawmakers announced at a press conference in Ramallah in the central West Bank on Sunday. 35-year-old Sami Khattab from Deir Al-Balah was found dead in a field south of Gaza City on April 15. His mutilated body showed signs of torture. He was abducted by unknown assailants on April 13. Khattab's family accused the Palestinian internal security services of murdering him.
As the 18th Parliament session to elect a new Lebanese president looked likely to face the fate of earlier sessions, reports emerged that the foreign ministers of Syria and France are expected to discuss the Lebanese crisis on Tuesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Iraq to be held in Kuwait. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora discussed in a phone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Sunday the potential prospects of the Kuwait conference. Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri went ahead with his preparations for holding national dialogue among the rival parties, despite the ruling coalition's objection to participating in such talks.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said Sunday that he has exchanged messages with Israel through a third party to explore the possibility of resuming peace talks, the country's official news agency SANA reported. During a meeting with ruling Baath Party officials, Assad commented on media reports about indirect contact between the two countries. "There are efforts exerted in this direction," he was quoted as saying. An Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, on Thursday quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying Israel and Syria have been exchanging messages to clarify expectations for any future peace treaty. [Hatte das Interview erwähnt, aber vergessen zu verlinken.] ... Israeli officials were further incriminated by the fact that in 2007 Prime Minister Olmert also said he was not concerned by an imminent war with Syria, but that he was unhappy with the public discussion about peace between Syria and Israel. One should question the logic behind Ehud Olmert's "irritation" regarding public overtures of peace between Syria and Israel. [13] Realpolitik is definitely being played by Israel in regards to Damascus in a consorted effort to de-link Syria from Iran and its other allies. In this regard, Damascus publicly insisted that there be no secret talks between Syrian and Israeli officials as to the conditions for peace. [14] The rationale for the Syrian insistence on transparency was to deprive Israeli of any means to covertly try to divide Syria from its Middle Eastern allies by generating suspicions of betrayal. [Full text an location here: "The March to War: Israel Prepares for War against Lebanon and Syria", by Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya.] + Transcript of a panel discussion of few days ago by Martin Indyk, Shibley Telhami and David Ignatius in the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, The Brookings Institution on VIEWS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST: PUBLIC OPINION IN THE ARAB WORLD (results of the poll on Arab public opinion).
David Barstow, "Pentagon's influence lurks behind TV military analysts".
The Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday the launching of a formal investigation into the killing of a Reuters cameraman in Gaza, after a U.S.-based human rights group accused troops of either firing recklessly or targeting the cameraman. Fadel Shana was killed while filming an IDF tank in Gaza on Wednesday, a day of heavy fighting. His final footage shows the tank firing a shell in his direction. Palestinian medics say five others were killed in the incident, including four teenagers.
Dozens of Greek and Armenian priests and worshippers exchanged blows in Christianity's holiest shrine on Palm Sunday, and pummeled police with palm fronds when they tried to break up the brawl. The fight is part of a growing rivalry over religious rights at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the site where tradition says Jesus was buried and resurrected. It erupted when Armenian clergy kicked out a Greek priest from their midst, pushed him to the ground and kicked him, according to witnesses.
Hussein Agha + Robert Malley: "Into the Lions Den": In its final year in office and the first year of its Israeli–Palestinian diplomacy, the Bush administration has introduced the latest and in some respects oddest idea for achieving peace, the shelf agreement. Its logic is straightforward. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas should conclude a final peace treaty by the end of 2008. The Israeli and Palestinian people subsequently would ratify it in near-simultaneous referenda or elections. And then, once approved, the treaty ought simply to be put aside (on the aforementioned shelf) until circumstances permit it to be carried out. No agreement can be fully put into effect immediately upon signature. But whereas a phased agreement includes an approved schedule, with starting date and endpoint, implementation of a shelf agreement would depend on an assessment by the parties that specified conditions have been met. ...
Besprechung des bereits Verlinkten "Schwarzuchs Hebron": Donald McIntyre: "Our reign of terror, by the Israeli army - In shocking testimonies that reveal abductions, beatings and torture, Israeli soldiers confess the horror they have visited on Hebron"
A fact-finding committee has been set up to investigate the abduction and murder of a Palestinian intelligence officer in the Gaza Strip, representatives from Palestinian parliamentarian blocs and independent lawmakers announced at a press conference in Ramallah in the central West Bank on Sunday. 35-year-old Sami Khattab from Deir Al-Balah was found dead in a field south of Gaza City on April 15. His mutilated body showed signs of torture. He was abducted by unknown assailants on April 13. Khattab's family accused the Palestinian internal security services of murdering him.
As the 18th Parliament session to elect a new Lebanese president looked likely to face the fate of earlier sessions, reports emerged that the foreign ministers of Syria and France are expected to discuss the Lebanese crisis on Tuesday on the sidelines of an international conference in Iraq to be held in Kuwait. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora discussed in a phone conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal on Sunday the potential prospects of the Kuwait conference. Meanwhile, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri went ahead with his preparations for holding national dialogue among the rival parties, despite the ruling coalition's objection to participating in such talks.
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